Mighty Moshin' Emo Rangers
Mighty Moshin' Emo Rangers is a television Mini Series on MTV UK. The show is a parody of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and it also pokes fun at the emo stereotype. Mighty Moshin Emo Rangers is directed by Chris Phillips and Nick Pittom, who both live in Essex, England; sound design is by Dominic Sinacola who lives in Southampton. The show's theme song was performed by local Essex post-hardcore band Fei Comodo.
Starting out as a fan-film project that was distributed on YouTube, Google Video and Myspace, the show was quickly picked up by MTV UK in 2006, and has also made its way to the US MTV.[1]
Although a specific release date has yet to be announced, Phillips and Pittom have stated they wish to release a DVD of the show.[2]
Background
The creators have given two versions for how the idea of the show came about.
1) One story suggests that in November 2004, Chris was upset due to a breakup with his girlfriend. His friend Nick told him to "Quit being emo, you Emo Ranger!" to which Chris replied with "You Mighty Moshin' Emo Rangers!"[2]
2) Another version comes from an interview with Chris; "I was sitting at my computer chatting to a friend, Pat. Pat sent me a picture of him dressed as a ninja leaping across a recording studio, and I said 'you look like an emo ranger'. I sat there for a few minutes and thought 'that sounds kind of funny' and then just heard in my head the term 'Mighty Moshin' Emo Ranger'. The more I thought about the name the more I was convinced there should be a show called Mighty Moshin' Emo Rangers, but there wasn't, which was annoying, 'cos I wanted to watch it." [3] However the story came about, using a Sony HDR-HC1 camcorder, Chris and Nick (who work as professional video editors) decided to film a low-budget Power Rangers parody based on the idea.[4]
Characters
The Emo Rangers
Ross
The Introspective White Emo Ranger. Ross loves tight jeans and his hair. He is constantly having deep inner thoughts about his own mind and the world around him. He also likes writing on himself with a permanent marker. He is generally considered the leader of the Emo Rangers. His Emozord takes the form of a stereotypical Emo Kid, though its appearance seems more like a generic robot in Season Two . In Season Two, he wields the Introspective Emo Shield.
Luke
The Chaos Mohawk Red Emo Ranger. Luke hates the government, capitalism and even his own mother. Luke has amazing leg strength and uses it when fighting. His Emozord is that of a man with a mohawk and wields the Chaos Mohawk Belt.
Stef
The Bleeding Heart Pink Emo Ranger. Stef was dumped in front of her whole school. She was left heart broken and so uses her powers to break the hearts of the bad guys. She loves taking pictures of herself for her MySpace/Facebook. In Season One, her Emozord took the shape of a ptereodactyl, much like Kimberly of the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, whereas in Season Two it is a humanoid lady bug.
John
The Chronic Stoner Green Emo Ranger. John loves to chill himself out...a lot. His special powers include blowing smoke at enemies and using his massive bong robot. In season two, having changed his ways, he becomes as the StraightxEdge Blue Emo Ranger. However, the Chronic Stoner Ranger is brought back to life by the Evil Empress. As the Chronic Stoner, he piloted an Emozord shaped like a giant bong; as the StraightxEdge, it resembles a giant samurai. His change in theme also grants him StraightxEdge Samurai Mode, which allows him to summon his StraightxEdge Samurai Sword.
Vicken
The Weeping Tears Yellow Emo Ranger. Vicken loves to write deep meaningful poetry. She also cries her enemies away with a depressing weeping tear attack. She is close friends with Stef, and loves Teddy Bears. She pilots an Emozord shaped like a Chinese Dragon, something chosen seemingly at random; and wields the Weeping Tears Tissue Box, much to her own dismay.
Fai
The FashionxCore Purple Emo Ranger. Fai is the trendiest kid on the scene. She appears to be in a couple with Luke. She comes along to save the day when the rangers are in trouble, and destroys enemies by giving them a makeover. This is a nod towards Power Rangers, by introducing a new member into the team when a monster is too strong for them to defeat. As such, her costume is slightly different, and she is granted her own Emozord, separate from the others. It could be described as a giant robotic version of herself. She wields the FashionxCore Hair Straightener and Skipping Rope.
Allies
Captain Emohead
A floating emo stereotype head of unknown origin, Captain Emohead is the sassy-mouthed mentor to the Rangers, who gives them their powers and tells them when missions are afoot, and is always enthusiastic about what he is doing (even if he's insulting a Ranger). This character is a parody of Zordon.
Emo 5
An emo-themed robot that hovers around inside of the base, Emo 5 aids the Rangers in getting into the mood to face their next challenge. This character is a parody of Alpha 5. After not appearing for the previous two episodes, it is revealed in Season 2 that Emo 5 was sold on eBay to pay off the bills Ross had run up calling sex lines.[5]
Emo Fight Bot
The combined form of each of the Emozords. The Emo Fight Bot possesses an Emo Sword and a large guitar as weapons, and has been seen to combine yet again with the FashionxCore Emozord.
Burp and Scott
Bullies at the high school the Emo Rangers attend. Burp is an average man with a fat stomach. His partner Scott is a skinny teenager from Scotland because of his name. They are a parody of Bulk and Skull.
Lieutenant Stone Age
A caveman who dresses like his MMPR counterpart, Lieutenant Stone.
Villains
Evil Empress
The Evil Empress is a goth-themed space alien villain who lands on the moon and immediately decides to unleash her monsters on England. This provokes Captain Emohead to recruit the Emo Rangers to stop her. Her character is based around Rita Repulsa, but when she speaks her voice doesn't match up similarly to what Rita was known for. Oddly, she apparently gives up after episode three, as all proceeding monsters are independent and she is never mentioned again.
Colonel Crusher
The first of the Empress' monsters, Crusher is an archetypal robot villain who attacks England right around the time the Rangers are first called. He is destroyed by the Emo Megazord.
Hoodie Patrol
The Evil Empress' foot soldiers. Similar in many ways to the Putty Patrol of Power Rangers, but instead of soldiers of clay, they are simply hypnotised teenagers with hoodies. Ironically, they are slightly more effective in combat, but are always dispatched without serious setbacks. They are mostly absent from Season Two, but show up in You Want Cries With That, oddly under the control of Burger Clown. Their appearance also leaves the face exposed, taking away from their similarity to the Putties.
Santa
The main antagonist of the Christmas special. Santa piloted a colossal robot which resembled himself. Evidently, a Talk Show host transformed into a psychotic monster for no real reason, and used a special device to make Santa's robot super powerful, to the point where it was able to take out both the MegaEmoZord, and the FashionxCore Emo Rangers Emozord. The day was only saved when Panic! at the Disco destroyed the device, weakening the robot and giving the Rangers a chance to fuse their zords and destroy it.
Funky Monkey
A gorilla monster created by the Empress. Funky Monkey used a special Eye Beam to hypnotise teenagers into becoming the Hoodie Patrol. He wasn't a very powerful opponent, as he was defeated single-handedly by Ross.
Unnamed Giant Robot
A colossal robot that completely owned the Rangers. The robot also disintegrated Luke's Emo Hair after releasing a fireblast. The metal monstrosity was so powerful, Captain Emohead had to recruit Fai into the Emo Rangers to save the city.
Chronic Stoner Ranger
The former identity of John, abandoned when he decided to give up drugs, brought to life by the Evil Empress. The Chronic Stoner Ranger was to summon vines of marijuana to ensnare his opponents as well as use an updated version of John's old Emozord, with which he was able to defeat the current one. He was defeated when he got the munchies in mid battle.
Evil Teddy Bears
An army of Teddy Bears, created after the Evil Empress noticed how much Vicken loved them. They were led by Vicken's own favorite teddy. They eventually constructed a giant robot that was defeated by the Emozord.
Sold Ya Boy
A rapper who opposes all things emo, and teamed up with the Evil Empress to trick teenagers into paying for music. He controlled an army of hypnotised teenagers and was later fused with Avril Lavigne to become the Pop/Rap Collaboration monster.
The famous pop star. Apparently an android under the control of the Evil Empress. She was able to outfight Ross using her guitar before being fused with Sold Ya Boy to become the Pop/Rap Collaboration Monster. Ross was able to salvage her body after the fight and reactivate her as a sex slave.
Pop/Rap Collaboration Monsteer
A robotic monster created from the fusion of the Sold Ya bOT and Avril Lavigne. It wasn't big enough for the Emozords, so the Rangers destroyed it by combining their weapons together.
New Rave Pirates
Space pirates who came to Earth to introduce a new genre of music called New Rave to distract the humans while they stuck rods of nuclear energy up their butts. After seeing how ridiculous New Rave fans looked, he figured aliens had to be involved. They piloted a Giant New Rave Robot. They may have possibly been a reference to the Power Rangers Turbo villainess Divatox.
Burger Clown
An evil clown of unknown origin who runs the Burger Clown Restaurants. His evil plan is to take whiny Emo kids and mince them up into ultra-fattening and addictive burgers. He somehow replaced the Evil Empress as the commander of the Hoodie Patrol. He also had three giant robots in the forms of a Milkshake, a Burger and a pack of Fries. Captain Emohead describes eating his burgers as someone defecating in your mouth.
MTV broadcast
In September 2006, MTV broadcast five episodes and a Christmas Special on MTV UK's MTV2 channel. These episodes were show at 8:30 PM GMT Monday through Thursday.
Filming locations
Mighty Moshin' Emo Rangers was filmed in the same town as the one the producers and actors reside in, Chelmsford. The actual locations are as follows:
- Chelmsford, Moulsham Street: During the scene with the large evil robot walks up throughout the city, you can clearly see the sign that says 'Moulsham Street.'
- Chelmsford, Central Park: This is where most of the main battle takes place, in episode 1, when the Emo Rangers face off against the Hoody Patrol. Additionally, the scene where Funky Monkey attacks an amusement park were filmed in Central Park while a travelling circus visited the town.
- Chelmsford, Oaklands Park: Once an explosion has taken place, you can see people being blasted over the fence away from the explosion.
- Chelmsford, High Street
- Chelmsford, Baddow Road
Season two
Emo Rangers had become infamous for its long awaited second season, which was announced back around 2006. The production was halted for unknown reasons, and many claims that the episodes were out turned out to be Rick Rolls.
Season Two premiered on 12 July 2010, about four years after being announced. The first episode, "Weed Better Sober Up" parodied the "Return of the Green Ranger" saga from Power Rangers and introduced the StraightxEdge Emo Ranger. The new season has vastly improved effects and has a larger number of episodes, giving the illusion of a proper TV show, unlike the previous season which was essentially made up of three episodes repeatedly edited into different ones. Each episode focuses on a particular Ranger, usually a single fight before the entire team shows up.
Video game
Recently the Emo Rangers also released a flash videogame, titled "Go Go Emo Rangers", which closely follows the events of the first Emo Rangers video. It is published across several online gaming websites across the Internet, including Newgrounds.
Cast
- Ross Fretten as Ross
- Luke Markey as Luke (as Luke Markey)
- Stef Braithwaite as Stef
- John Penn as John (as John Penn)
- Vicki Symes as Vicken
- Fai Archer as Fai
- Paul Garson as Paul
Emo Rangers: The Movie
On June 20, 2014, the Emo Rangers Facebook Page announced that they are currently filming the Emo Rangers Movie, using a 5 million dollar budget, at Shepperton Studios. No further information was released about the film as of July 2015.
References
- ↑ "MTV UK's Mighty Moshin' Emo Rangers page". Archived from the original on 2006-11-09.
- 1 2 Kozak, Angela (2005-05-26). "Emo Superheroes Subject Of British Short Film". Chart. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
- ↑ "Emo Rangers", Panic magazine, Issue 4, August 2006
- ↑ Rangerboard.com Emo Rangers thread
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY1RfKrHUwI&playnext=1&videos=v-s49KrEKZQ&feature=sub