Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
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The Original Power Rangers, with the then new white ranger
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is a live-action television and movie series, based on the Super Sentai series Kyōryū Sentai Zyu-Ranger, literally Dinosaur Task Force Beast Rangers and often abbreviated as ZyuRanger (after the Kunrei-shiki romanization). The Super Sentai genre was already one of Japan's hottest tokusatsu properties. The show first aired on Fox Kids on August 28, 1993 (Entry on TVTome.com (http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/GuidePageServlet/showid-1905/epid-30618/)) and ended on February 17, 1996. Although it was a children's series, it became known as one of the cultural icons representing the 1990s.
The series takes place in the fictional town of Angel Grove, California. After a space expedition to the moon revealed a dumpster, astronauts open the dumpster and inadvertently release the villain Rita Repulsa from confinement. When word of Rita's release came to Zordon, he ordered his robot assistant, Alpha 5, to find five "teenagers with attitude," who would defend the Earth from Rita's attacks. The story would continue on to subsequent incarnations, often with new villains.
Although the series started off with five rangers, the sixth, the Green Ranger, joined later on in the episode arc "Green With Evil". The Green Ranger appeared on and off throughout the series through various storylines until he was replaced permanently with the White Ranger, who remained from "White Light" until the end of MMPR.
The theme music, Go Go Power Rangers, was often parodied, and many of its subsequent incarnations contain the words "Go" or "Power Rangers" in their theme music.
The various Power Rangers over the years have been replaced, partly based on evolving storylines, and partly because the actors behind these characters were rumored to be holding out for greater pay.
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Cast
The Power Rangers
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- Walter Emmanuel Jones as Zachary "Zack" Taylor (The Black Ranger) (1993–1994)
- Johnny Yong Bosch as Adam Park (The Black Ranger) (1994–1996)
- Jason David Frank as Thomas "Tommy" Oliver (The Green Ranger) (1993–1994), (The White Ranger) (1994–1996)
- Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly Hart (The Pink Ranger) (1993–1996)
- Catherine Sutherland as Katherine "Kat" Hillard (The Pink Ranger) (1996)
- Austin St. John as Jason Lee Scott (The Red Ranger) (1993–1994)
- Steve Cardenas as Rocky DeSantos (The Red Ranger) (1994–1996)
- David Yost as Billy Cranston (The Blue Ranger) (1993–1996) (Note: "Cranston", whilst generally accepted by the fanbase as Billy's last name, was not officially stated in the show's continuity.)
- Thuy Trang as Trini Kwan (The Yellow Ranger) (1993–1994)
- Karan Ashley as Aisha Campbell (The Yellow Ranger) (1994–1996)
The other good guys
- David Fielding as Zordon (1993–1994)
- Robert L. Manahan as Zordon (1994–1996)
- Richard Steven Horvitz as Alpha 5 (Voice) (credited as Richard Wood)
- Kim Strauss as Ninjor (1995–1996) (Voice)
- Paul Schrier as Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier
- Jason Narvy as Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch
- Gregg Bullock as Lt. Stone (1995–1996)
The villains
- Machiko Soga as Rita Repulsa (1993) – In Japanese Super Sentai, Soga plays as Queen Bandora (1992)
- Carla Perez as Rita Repulsa (1994–1995)
- Barbara Goodson as Rita Repulsa (Voice)
- Ed Neil as Lord Zedd
- Robert Axelrod as Lord Zedd and Finster (Voices)
- Tom Wyner as Master Vile (Voice)
- Kerrigan Mahan as Goldar (Voice) (credited as Ryan O'Flannigan)
- Ami Kawai as Scorpina
- Wendee Lee as Scorpina (Voice)
- Bob Pappenbrook as Rito Revolto (Voice)
- Michael Sorich as Squatt (Voice)
- Dave Mallow as Baboo (Voice) (credited as Collin Phillips)
- List of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers monsters
Trivia
- Due to the unforeseen popularity of the series, Saban, the company that produced Power Rangers, was faced with the possibility of exhausting all of its Zyuranger footage with no more to fall back upon in order to continue producing the show. The company contacted Toei (the company which produced/produces the sentai series in Japan) as well as Rainbow Productions (the company that designed and produced the monster suits), requesting another half-season's worth of Zyuranger footage... specifically for Power Rangers. The two Japanese companies agreed, creating around 25 brand-new monsters and filming both human- and zord-sized battle footage for each. These monsters are collectively known in the Power Rangers fan community as Zyu-2, a term coined by Power Rangers fan Chris Funaro. Around this time, Saban was also negotiating a deal with Toei to acquire footage from Gosei Sentai Dairanger, the sentai series which followed Zyuranger. Saban used more than half of the Zyu-2 costumes in the remainder of season one of Power Rangers. When they decided to replace the Dinozords with the mecha from Dairanger in season two (termed Thunderzords in Power Rangers), the Zord footage of the remaining Zyu-2 monsters became obsolete. To compensate for this, Saban attempted to splice the Zyu-2 and Dairanger footage to ensure that the Zyu-2 monsters were not seen fighting with the old Megazord that was not supposed to be there. In other words, it would show only the monster attacking followed by a shot of just the Thunderzords taking the damage. This did not always work, for occasionally the monster could actually be seen making physical contact with the old Megazord.
- Billy Cranston (David Yost) wears blue plaid boxer shorts. In the episode "Power Ranger Punks", Billy (David Yost) and Kimberly (Amy Jo Johnson) become punks after drinking Rita's potion. Viewers can see the top of Billy's boxer shorts in his punk outfit, which is a blue plaid pattern. However, after the spell is removed by Alpha and Zordon, Billy immediately notices this and hides the top of his boxer shorts from sight.
- Lord Zedd is the first American-made villian that is only part of Power Rangers and not the Sentai Series. Others villans that would follow this are Divatox, Astronema, Scorpius, and Trakeena. But after Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue ended, each of the following series used a US Original Villian as the main villian and occasionally one of the other villians as well (Master Org of Power Rangers Wild Force is an exception since the costume came from Dairanger, even though he did not exist in Gaoranger, the sentai that Power Rangers Wild Force was based upon).
- The suits of several monsters were modified in some fashion in order to create new monsters for American footage. Such monsters were:
- Pudgy Pig was disassembled, and parts were used for Turkey Jerk in Season 2's "Storybook Rangers."
- Mr. Ticklesneezer was repainted and clad in a Santa Claus-like suit, becoming Grumble the Elf in Season 2's "Storybook Rangers".
- Snizard was repainted and modified with a cobra hood to become the Cobra Monster in Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue's "The Cobra Strikes."
- Chunky Chicken was also disassembled for use in Turkey Jerk.
- Grumble Bee was repainted and given buck teeth to become Waspicable in Power Rangers: In Space's "The Wasp With A Heart"."
- Primator was repainted and given extra fur, and became the Snow Monster in Season 2's "Storybook Rangers."
- Salaguana was disassembled into the reptillian parts of Triter from Power Rangers: Zeo's "King For A Day."
- Silver Horns was repainted and a tongue was added, becoming Repellator in Season 3's "A Friend In Need."
- Merrick the Barbaric's head was removed, and his body was used for Incisorator in the Season 3 episode, "Changing Of The Zords, Part II". Ironically, Incisorator's episode aired before Merrick's.
- The expression "Morphinomenal" was coined by Billy Cranston.
- Similarily, "It's Morphin Time!" was first spoken by Zordon.
- The Ninja and Shogun UltraZords are the only zord formations in Power Rangers history that are made from American Footage. No suits or props were used in making them; the Bandai toys of each Zord were used to bring them to life on the show. The American versions of the toys were used for this, which presented some problems as the American versions are often noticeably different than the Japanese versions (and thus, the actual Zords on the show). For example, the left arm of the Japanese Shogun MegaZord toy (and the real Shogun MegaZord) is white. For some reason, the left arm of the Shogun MegaZord toy was repainted pink for the American version. Thus, the arm would suddenly switch colors whenever the Shogun UltraZord was formed.
- According to the "Reality Check" PSA of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Amy Jo Johnson, David Yost, and both their respective characters are accomplished martial artists and gymnasts.
- As the title says, the announcement is a reality check, or something that clarifies or serves as a reminder of reality often by correcting a misconception.