Dragon Dagger - Reception and Controversy

Reception and Controversy

Despite the popularity of the series, it was also subject to much controversy from parents who felt the show was too violent for young children. The show had aired before television stations issued content warnings, the V-chip, and television ratings. In the USA, numerous complaints were sent to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In 1993, the Canadian broadcast rights to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers were jointly purchased by the over-the-air Canwest Global System and the YTV cable channel, and the series played to a receptive audience on weekday mornings on Global Television in Ontario and weekday afternoons on YTV, the latter trailing the American broadcast by several months. However, due to complaints sent to the recently formed Canadian Broadcast Standards Council and a negative assessment from that body over the show's violent content, YTV removed the series from their line-up. Despite not actually being a member of the CBSC, YTV complied and pulled the series before the end of its first season; Global (which was a CBSC member) ultimately did the same. While a phone-in poll was conducted to see if viewers wanted MMPR back on YTV, no further installments of the Power Rangers franchise ever aired on the network (until 2011's Power Rangers Samurai), although commercials for toys and videos were advertised on the network. Later Disney-era versions of the series were broadcast on Family.

In 1994, the murder of a young Norwegian girl by three of her young friends prompted Swedish-owned TV3 to pull MMPR from its broadcast schedule in all of its market countries. However, MMPR was not related to the event. Instead, the young children responsible were fans of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon.

In 1994, the New Zealand Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) upheld several complaints from members of the public about the level of violence in the show. The main concern of those complainants was that the show portrayed violence as the primary means of resolving conflict, and that this was influencing children to behave more violently more frequently. Immediately following the BSA decision, the second season of the show was all but canceled by Television New Zealand. New Zealand is the only country in the world where this show has been prematurely withdrawn from public broadcast to date. DVD and video releases of the more-recent Power Rangers series that were filmed in New Zealand can be found at The Warehouse, although general sales through video stores and other retailers are scarce. Later series in the Power Rangers franchise, such as Power Rangers: Mystic Force and Power Rangers: Jungle Fury, were filmed in New Zealand, but the programs were still not shown in the country, until 2011, when Samurai premiered.

When brought up on VH1's I Love the '90s, the original cast members interviewed (Amy Jo Johnson, Walter Emanuel Jones) as well as other celebrity commentators, made fun of how the original line-up had Jones' role as the Black Ranger and Thuy Trang's role as the Yellow Ranger because the actors and characters were of African and Asian descent, respectively.

In a 2010 interview with fan blog "No Pink Spandex", David Yost revealed that he had left the show in the subsequent Power Rangers: Zeo production due to homophobic reactions to his sexuality, citing that he walked off set one day because " was called 'faggot' one too many times." He also stated that the producers would often ask other cast members what they thought about his homosexuality, and this made him uncomfortable as well. Shortly after this interview, producer Scott Page-Pagter stated that Yost left over a pay dispute and that the allegations of homophobia are false; he added that Yost did not get along with any of the crew. In the episode where Yost's character appeared for the last time, "Rangers of Two Worlds", footage from previous episodes was used as well as vocal work from a separate, uncredited actor, to conceal the fact that Yost was not present during the taping. A tribute to the Blue Ranger and Billy was seen in the closing credits of this last Billy episode.