Out of curiosity since the movie was coming out, I've been binge watching the early Power Rangers series (I'm just doing Mighty Morphin and will end with Zeo. I didn't like the third blue ranger as a kid, and the concept of him sounds like it would hinder what I've been liking so far). I was expecting it to be horrible, but there's been things that pleasantly surprise me. The big monster fight scenes cut from the Japanese series are very similar to the cheesy Godzilla films and were enjoyable in the same way. I also didn't remember the stop action animation and British speed-up humor style, and they work for the spots they're used in. The fight scenes over all are well executed, even if the set up can be a bit over-the-top for the move performed.
The cast is huge (six original rangers+five others I'll be watching later, Alpha, Zordon, Bulk & Skull, Ernie, Rita, Goldar, Finster, Squatt, Baboo, Scorpina, Lord Zedd, Rito), and for the most part, they're distinct and memorable. I haven't gotten to the Rocky, Adam, and Aisha introduction, and I know they aren't particularly flushed out until Zeo (hence why I want to watch Zeo), but, considering they aren't going to be replacement clones, is admirable. The show is very formulaic and repetitive, but the way they allow the occasional characterization moment that reinforces the modus operandi is interesting from a writing perspective. For the most part, you can watch the episodes in any order, and not really be out of sorts. However, you can notice Billy's fighting growth throughout and Bulk & Skull's gradual antagonism decay. They also keep a good record of character and bring things up to help flesh them out (Jason's fear that failure will cost the lives/powers of his team after Tommy loses his powers; Zack and Angela's story). The monster of the week set up works rather well, even for binge-watching, because the story set up gets tweaked and it's really just the method of resolving things that's completely verbatim. It actually uses the set up to explore the characters a little, and Rita often chooses the monster to enforce the set up. Also, conversations for the most part are emphasizing info/moments that aren't the most predictable. For easy to infer conversations (info and character reaction), they typically jump once you can figure out what the rest of the conversation will be. Technobabble is just used as a joke for Trini to interpret for everyone else. Serious use of it is rather rare. This method makes the first couple episodes slightly too jumpy, but it works to the show's benefit in the long run.
That last paragraph should be just expected for any good tv show (though some of what I said is only for episodic tv shows). However, the kicker is that early season power rangers had ridiculous season lengths. The four seasons I want to watch in total have 205 episodes (I'm in at around 60-70 at the moment; the beginning of the second season). At that turnout quantity for a toy product placement show, I was expecting much, much worse. That being said, the acting can be a bit rough at times (at least for the most part, it errs on the over-emphasis side than the completely wooden side). Also, new tech should have better set up than intro in the middle of battle. The continual need to make up reasons why Tommy doesn't join every fight get tedious (due to lack of footage of the green ranger from the original). Though I do like that they use this to give flaws to Tommy (namely his forgetfulness).
Over all, for something that's so hamstring together, there's actually a lot of promise with the material (or at least for direct reboots).
It also showcased why MtG can't work that well as an episodic format to me. Namely, episodic stories work since they can build nuance on why everything always appears the same. In good episodic shows, circumstances do change, but everyone flows back to the status quo because it's the most comfortable to them. The issues aren't gone, but rather not up for display. It's allows for slow storytelling about the non-mains. Constant plane-jumping doesn't allow the growing nuance of the background.
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