While Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie would end up being non-canon due to disputes between 20th Century Fox and Saban, resulting in the show's third season introducing the Ninjazords and the replacement to Dulcea in the form of Ninjor (as well as Rito Revolto), Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie would be the prelude to Power Rangers Turbo, as scenes from this film was seen in the first episode (which would take place after the events of this film).
This film centers around the Power Rangers as they are caught in a plot by the space pirate Divatox to use the Golden Key held by the wizard Lerigot to enter the island of Muiranthias awaken a demon named Maligore so she can marry him and bring forth a reign of terror across the galaxy. When former rangers Jason and Kimberly get captured to serve as a sacrifice, and Lerigot taken in a prison exchange revealed to be a ruse, Tommy, Tanya, Adam, and Katherine take up their new turbo powers and zords to give chase, and are soon joined by Justin, a young boy who learns of their secret while visiting an injured Rocky.
The characters are good. Justin (played by Blake Foester) replaces Rocky as Steve Cardemas, the actor of the latter, left the show (some sources stated a pay dispute, while others claim he was focusing on his martial arts carreer to the point of opening a dojo), and the heads of the Fox network, whose Fox Kids block aired Power Rangers at the time, wanted a character younger than a teenager to be a Power Ranger. Also, the script had to go through a lot of rewrites due to many factors (one of them being David Yost leaving the show, as it was planned to have Billy create the Turbo Powers, as well as a scene where Divatox destroys the Zeo powers), as well as having some filmed scenes cut (like Katherine using a flamethrower-type weapon, which while cut from the film, was still on the back of the VHS cover, which probably confused some Power Rangers fans).
While the film is 100% original footage, the suits, zords, and some of the characters are taken from Gekisou Sentai Carranger, a season that is known for fans for being more light-hearted to the point where it was considered the franchise parodying itself. Here, Divatox is the big bad, the honor that was held by Carranger's , who here, is now Rygog, one of Divatox's henchmen. Larigot, who is a hobbit-like alien wizard, can be seen as Power Rangers' version of Dappu, only without the mentor role, which is still filled by Zordon. Also, Kimberly and Jason appear in the movie as hostages of Divatox, and even Rita Repulsa appears in a scene. And let's not forget Bulk and Skull, who are comic relief.
As for the movie, it is okay. It is an original story, but it does suffer from some setbacks (like Larigot being helped by monkeys in Africa, which I think is silly and could have given the idea to turn Bulk and Skull into monkeys for the first half of Power Rangers Turbo), but it does have some nice action scenes, and the megazord fight is a lot better looking than MMPR: The Movie, as this time, they had the common sense to use suit actors instead of horrid computer animation for the Turbo Megazord and Maligore. Plus, as it's a motion picture, it has a lot more of a budget than the actual show (which uses stock footage to minimize cost and only require the actors to voice act, which is still good), and some elements, both used and scrapped, would show up in later seasons (Maligore would be reused for Dark Specter in Power Rangers In Space, and a scrapped idea for a mermaid to aid the rangers would be used in Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue). This movie is an okay watch for fans of the franchise, but don't expect anything spectacular or game-changing.
This film centers around the Power Rangers as they are caught in a plot by the space pirate Divatox to use the Golden Key held by the wizard Lerigot to enter the island of Muiranthias awaken a demon named Maligore so she can marry him and bring forth a reign of terror across the galaxy. When former rangers Jason and Kimberly get captured to serve as a sacrifice, and Lerigot taken in a prison exchange revealed to be a ruse, Tommy, Tanya, Adam, and Katherine take up their new turbo powers and zords to give chase, and are soon joined by Justin, a young boy who learns of their secret while visiting an injured Rocky.
The characters are good. Justin (played by Blake Foester) replaces Rocky as Steve Cardemas, the actor of the latter, left the show (some sources stated a pay dispute, while others claim he was focusing on his martial arts carreer to the point of opening a dojo), and the heads of the Fox network, whose Fox Kids block aired Power Rangers at the time, wanted a character younger than a teenager to be a Power Ranger. Also, the script had to go through a lot of rewrites due to many factors (one of them being David Yost leaving the show, as it was planned to have Billy create the Turbo Powers, as well as a scene where Divatox destroys the Zeo powers), as well as having some filmed scenes cut (like Katherine using a flamethrower-type weapon, which while cut from the film, was still on the back of the VHS cover, which probably confused some Power Rangers fans).
While the film is 100% original footage, the suits, zords, and some of the characters are taken from Gekisou Sentai Carranger, a season that is known for fans for being more light-hearted to the point where it was considered the franchise parodying itself. Here, Divatox is the big bad, the honor that was held by Carranger's , who here, is now Rygog, one of Divatox's henchmen. Larigot, who is a hobbit-like alien wizard, can be seen as Power Rangers' version of Dappu, only without the mentor role, which is still filled by Zordon. Also, Kimberly and Jason appear in the movie as hostages of Divatox, and even Rita Repulsa appears in a scene. And let's not forget Bulk and Skull, who are comic relief.
As for the movie, it is okay. It is an original story, but it does suffer from some setbacks (like Larigot being helped by monkeys in Africa, which I think is silly and could have given the idea to turn Bulk and Skull into monkeys for the first half of Power Rangers Turbo), but it does have some nice action scenes, and the megazord fight is a lot better looking than MMPR: The Movie, as this time, they had the common sense to use suit actors instead of horrid computer animation for the Turbo Megazord and Maligore. Plus, as it's a motion picture, it has a lot more of a budget than the actual show (which uses stock footage to minimize cost and only require the actors to voice act, which is still good), and some elements, both used and scrapped, would show up in later seasons (Maligore would be reused for Dark Specter in Power Rangers In Space, and a scrapped idea for a mermaid to aid the rangers would be used in Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue). This movie is an okay watch for fans of the franchise, but don't expect anything spectacular or game-changing.