Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 1 Review

From the Command Center, Episode 1. the collaboration

between the Pop Culture Network and the Geek

Cast Radio Network. This is Front of the Command

Center, the podcast, episode one. I'm Scotty

Cash. Joining me from the Geek Cast Radio Network

is TFG1 Mike, and today we will be getting into

Power Ranger talk with the Mighty Morphin Power

Rangers season one. What's going on, Mike? What's

going on, Scotty? Not much, man. I'm just ready

to do this episode. I'm actually really excited.

Yeah, this is going to be awesome. We actually

had, and this isn't normally where I would put

the fan stuff. The fan stuff will usually come

at the end of the episode, but when I originally

did the postings for this and for the little

interview that we had done with Lisa Jay over

on PopCultureNetwork .com, a couple of our people

over there. I forget the name off the top of

my head. They had commented that they had just

listened to it and really liked it. So it's getting

off to a good start so far. I'm sorry, I don't

mean to interrupt. I've also gotten a bunch of

emails stating that Sentai did show before Voltron.

No. Sentai originally showed in 75. Oh, did it?

I've got about three or four emails. And I sure

didn't mean to forward those to you, too. And

let me see if I still have them. I can still

do that. That's all right. It's no big deal.

And that's fine. But when I said in episode zero

about Voltron versus Mighty Morphin, as a kid,

as a four or five -year -old kid back in the

80s watching Voltron, I saw that giant cartoon

robot. And then come 1993, I see a similar giant

live -action robot that... The feet look exactly

like, well, not exactly, but like the colors.

They're the exact same colors as Voltron's legs.

You know what I mean? I mean, you know, it's

just one of those things to me Voltron came first.

I get that Sentai, that's fine if it was out

in 1975. We specifically said in episode zero,

we know nothing about Sentai. Yep. So we are

specifically focusing on the Americanized version.

of Power Rangers. Let me see here. What else

did I have to bring up? Let's see. The Lord Zedd

and Rita Repulsa, a .k .a. Robert Axelrod and

Barbara Goodson interview has been rescheduled.

It will air after episode one. Any interviews

that we do get from any of the cast members,

whether it be MMPR cast or SPD cast or whatever,

will pretty much get released whenever they are

done. But the actual episodes of From the Command

Center will air every month on the 11th, just

so we're clear to everybody, to the listeners

and all that. The interviews are like bonus episodes.

Yeah, exactly. There was something else I had

to bring up. What was it? Um, crap. I don't remember.

I'm your favorite pop culture network, uh, person.

Is that what you wanted to bring up? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. There you go. Um, Oh yeah. Did you ever,

uh, did you ever find your morphers dude? My

morpher? Yeah. Your morphers. Yeah. That you've

been waiting on forever in the mail. Oh, Oh no,

no. Yeah. Yeah. I did an episode on, I'm like,

uh, two, Two times ago. Well, I was waiting for

an actual, it was a custom morpher. Like, her

name's Jessica, and she has her own eBay and

all that stuff, but she makes a morpher completely,

she redoes everything on it. Like, she molds

everything about the morpher. Sweet. Yep, it's

different coins, it's different, it doesn't have

sounds, but it has all the, like... The lights.

No, it doesn't have any lights either. It just,

it pops open. Oh, cool. But, you know, it's pretty

amazing how she does it. But, yeah, that's what

I was waiting on, and I was waiting on the Zeonizer

from Samurai, the new one. Yeah, speaking of

Samurai. Yeah. Yeah, how about that? They still

haven't shown us the damn introduction. Yep,

yep. Yeah, I've got a couple more emails. about

that, stating that it's supposed to show in May.

Oh, really? Yeah, I'm like, May? Really? Why

May? And apparently the new toy line is going

to come out, the new toys are going to come out

in June. So they're trying to push, hold off

for May. Because pretty much what Saban does

is he just makes 30 or 20 minute commercials.

Yeah. No doubt about it. I mean, Power Rangers

in America is completely commercials. You know

what I mean? Yeah. I don't know. I don't know

whether it was Saban or Nickelodeon or whoever

amongst those people that have the deal to put

Samurai on the air, and I'm not sure. Maybe the

listeners can email and let us know. I just think

it would have been better if they would have

just held off and not shown us anything Samurai

yet. I would have much rather have had the story

from the beginning instead of throwing us into

these... generic episodes. I mean, like, the

episode, not this past week's episode, but the

week before that, we got a little bit of a glimpse

of what Emily's background was, but not much.

The fact that supposedly her sister was supposed

to be a samurai ranger and not her. Boy, am I

glad that didn't happen. I'm glad Emily was the

one that was the ranger and not the sister, because

the sister just didn't sound right to me. No

disrespect to Paul Schreier, but, uh, no. I have

to just say no to Bulk now. It's the same comedy

as in MMPR. It's the same stuff. Except for it's

worse now because we've already seen it a hundred

times and in every single episode it ends with

Bulk getting something shot in his face. I'm

like, come on. They even did, like, what did

he step on this time? It was like a water bottle

or something. I don't remember what it was. You've

got to be kidding. I mean, like, the whole point

of, and we will get into this as Bulk's progression

goes along throughout Power Rangers as we go

through each season and series. I mean, the whole

point of Bulk's transition from Episode 1 of

MMPR Season 1 all the way up to... What was it?

In space, I think. I don't know. I stopped watching

after... Yeah, I think he carried through in

space because he and Skull ended up on a distant

planet or something. I forget. We'll get to it

as we go along. But throughout his whole time

on Power Rangers back in the day, he had this

character progression. And now with Samurai,

it's like, oh, this is... Old Bulk. This is Bulk

before he had character development, and I don't

like that. And I still can't stand Spike. I got

an email from somebody. I don't know if I've

already told you this, but apparently Skull is

going to be on Samurai, and Spike is his son.

Yeah, I mean, I kind of figured that Spike was

his son, but... But I don't know why he – I guess

Saban actually wanted to have a quote -unquote

Skull's son. It wasn't like Skull was busy. I

can't think of his name right now. Jason Narvey.

Jason. It's not like Jason was busy. They just

wanted to go a little bit different route. So

it was somebody else squirting stuff in Bulk's

face. But, yeah. I wouldn't necessarily mind

that except for the fact that because this is

– quote -unquote Skull's son. The problem is

the bad imitation of Skull by the actor that

plays Spike. That's the problem. Yeah. Well,

I think that... I don't know. I think when the

actors get there, they're like, look, if you

guys are good, we don't want you. If you're terrible

and cheesy, we'd love it. So they're just like...

They're terrible and cheesy. All of them. Yeah.

Pretty much. I don't know. It's like... For the

longest time, I was trying to make myself believe

that I was 50 -50 on Samurai. But after this

fishing episode, I don't know, man. I just can't.

I'm still going to watch it, and I'm still going

to love it just because it's Power Rangers. But

I'm not going to like it that I love it, if that

makes any sense. It makes perfect sense. I hate

this. I'm like, I hate this, but I really enjoy

it. I like the way the Swordfish Zord looked.

Yeah, no doubt about the Zord. The Zord was awesome.

I don't know. It was like, look, you need to

capture this Zord. So this giant tree thing,

this tree sap that is in their lungs or whatever,

you know, you can heal it. So he's like, I got

to catch this fish. So he was out there fishing,

and then random white Mr. Miyagi come along and

try to help him catch a swordfish. It was just

like, that was too out there, dude. Yeah, very

much out there. So with that, we are going to

go to a classic. MMPR bit, and we'll be back

with the introduction. That's right. I had to

find that very first morphing sequence, so I

hope everyone enjoys that. Just for a quick overview,

Season 1 of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, which

is an American television series created by Han

Saban and Shucky Levy, began airing August 28,

1993 on Fox Kids. The series follows the events

of five, later six, teenagers chosen by the wise

Sage Zordon to become Power Rangers in order

to stop the evil Rita Repulsa from taking over

the planet Earth. And the first season comprises

60 episodes and concluded its initial airing

May 23, 1994. The first season of MMPR uses footage

and elements from the Super Sentai series. I...

Zoo Ranger. That's all I'm saying. I can't pronounce

that first part. Zoo Ranger. That's all I'm saying.

Regular cast members during Season 1 include

Austin St. John, Thoy Trang, Walter Jones, Amy

Jo Johnson, David Yost, Paul Schreier, Jason

Narvey, and David Fielding. Fielding later replaced

by Robert L. Manhan. Jason David Frank joined

the main cast 17 episodes into the season. So

what are your general memories, specifically

on season one of MMPR, sir? Well, most of all,

watching it every single day because that's how

they were able to do 60 episodes is it played

five times a week. And it was awesome. And I

remember watching it with... a neighbor kid,

Jeremy, that lived across the street. I think

I want to say it was on in the mornings at first,

and then it moved to the afternoon. Yeah, you're

right. When season two came along, that's when

it aired at like seven at night, but we'll get

into that later. But yeah, I remember watching

it in the morning, so Jeremy would come over

at seven o 'clock. We'd watch it until 7 .30,

or it's either 7 to 7 .30, 7 .30 to 8, and then

we would go to school. But it was just always

awesome. Yes. For me, same thing. It came on

in the mornings, and it was just great. It was

just so awesome. I mean, let's face it. There

wasn't a lot in early morning television in 1993.

By this time, we're 13. We've outgrown Sesame

Street and Mr. Rogers. Transformers was no longer,

for me specifically, Transformers was no longer

on the air. Yes, there was Ninja Turtles, but

I think that came on in the afternoon back then.

There wasn't a whole lot of morning programming.

I mean, yes, you could count Animaniacs, but

honestly, back then, I wasn't into Animaniacs

like I am now. I've learned my lesson. Please

don't send me any hate mail. But, I don't know,

it just, you know, I saw the premise of the American

series and just loved it. And I gravitated towards

it. And, of course, once the, and I know we'll

get into this because I know Scotty really doesn't

like this part, but once the Green with Evil

five -parter happened, I was hooked. Like, once

Tommy came on, I was hooked into this show. I

was like, I have to watch this. So getting into

the characters, now, I don't remember ever hearing

their names. Like, we all know their first names,

but I don't ever remember hearing any last names

said in the show, if they were said, other than

Tommy's. But Tommy's the only exception. I remember

hearing Tommy Oliver. here and there throughout

episodes of season one but i don't remember hearing

any of their last names it was just jason zach

billy trini and kimberly you know their last

names yeah i do know their last names but i i

don't remember hearing them say them on the show

that's the thing right yeah uh you've got jason

lee scott who is the original red ranger uh as

well as the original leader of the power rangers

zach taylor the original black ranger Billy Cranston,

the original Blue Ranger. Trini Kwan, the original

Yellow. Kimberly Hart, the original Pink Ranger.

And, of course, Tommy Lee. Lovely. Good job.

Great. We have a Motley Crue reference. Lovely.

Tommy Oliver, originally the Green Ranger, later

the White Ranger, and then White Ninja Ranger,

portrayed by Jason David Frank, credited as Jason

Frank in Season 1. I think between the two of

us, we're both going to pick Tommy as our favorite

Ranger. But, I mean, before Tommy came in, before

the 17th episode, did you have a favorite Ranger

out of the original five? Well, Jason, no doubt

about it. I don't know. Most people like the

leader anyway. He got most of the – he always

got to say it's morphing time. He had the only

standalone Zord pretty much, you know, when it

came to Zords. And they weren't the Megazord.

It was always Jason. He was just the leader,

and it's always easy to – take to the leader.

And they did a good job on picking the cast for

these guys, too. Yeah, they did sort of a good

job. Well, have you seen some of the audition

tapes? Oh, no, no, no. I'm not talking about

the actual casting of the people as far as the

roles. That was great. But what I'm specifically

meaning is something that Lisa Jay hit on, I

believe she hit on in our little talk with her.

The fact that they made Walter Jones and Thoy

Trang the Black and Yellow Rangers, considering

Walter is black and Thoy is Asian. Yeah, he's

came out and said numerous times that that was

by sheer 100 % accident and he had no intentions

of doing anything like that. It was just, you

know, because originally the Sentai Yellow Ranger

was a guy. Okay. I mean, yeah. It's not an issue

for me at all. It's just what I've heard in the

fandom. You know what I mean? I don't care. I

like that Zack is the Black Ranger. I always

thought Zack was the cool one. Outside of Jason,

out of the males, I like Zack the best of the

original five. And then, of course, What were

you going to say? Did you ever see the Zordon

the Racist skit? No. I'm going to have to watch

that, I guess. It is hysterical. It's the people

from, I want to say Funny or Die, or one of those

websites, and it pretty much touches on, it's

a fake Zordon, it's a fake cast, but I don't

know, it's awesome. You'll definitely have to

watch that, and boys and girls need to watch

it at home, too. You know, talking about their

last names, they did say their last names. But

like you said, if you weren't really paying attention

for it, you would have missed it. Like when Jason

was in a karate tournament or something, they

would say his name versus the other guy. Or when

Trini's, I want to say it was her uncle. I'm

almost positive they said her name or his name,

which would also be her last name. Yeah, it wasn't

like they ever referred to them. I don't know

if I've ever heard Billy's last name. I don't

remember if we ever did, but, I mean, just, like,

amongst, like, Zordon and, you know, Alpha and

just the kids themselves, they never. I mean,

it might have been said, like, in background,

like you said, with Jason during the karate tournament,

stuff like that, but, I mean, just generally,

unless you're looking for it, we just knew them

by their first names. And then, of course, Tommy

comes in. Now, why didn't you, I know that you

had mentioned on one of your video episodes of

From the Command Center, you didn't really like

Tommy's introduction being evil. Why is that?

Well, it's because I bought the toy. I had the

Green Ranger toy in the Dragon's Door before

it even came out. I was hooked to Power Rangers.

by like episode 5 and I was just like this is

the greatest thing ever I went out and I bought

the toys and I got the Megazord and then I went

in there a couple weeks later and I had this

Green Ranger and I was like well I gotta have

this and then when he came he was the bad guy

and I was like this is stupid I hate this so

I just wasted all my money on this stupid Green

Ranger I hate him and I wish it would all break

and then he became a good guy and I was like

well this is the greatest thing ever I'm glad

I invested in this But Green with Evil by far

is, you know, it's up there with Forever Red.

You know what I mean? It's just like, I don't

know, it's awesome. Yeah, Green with Evil, just

the introduction to Tommy was just awesome. I

actually had the opposite effect that you had

because I had already, like, by the time that

I realized, oh, hey, there are toys of these

things. I had already seen the five -parter,

so I knew, you know. So I'm coming from a standpoint

of, oh, okay, he's evil. Oh, wait, he's good.

Because really, I mean, you don't know in the

beginning. I mean, you don't know until obviously

Rita kidnaps him. Right. Or Ranger naps him or

whatever you want to call it. Ranger naps him.

I like that. Yeah, there you go. You know what

I mean? Because you don't know because he's like,

you know, this mysterious new kid in town. Don't

really know too much about him. Kimberly's getting

all wet for him and whatever else. You know what

I mean? And then all of a sudden Rita Ranger

nabs him and then he's evil. That works in the

real world too. If you get Ranger nabbed, you're

evil. That's just how it works. But I did like

his overall storyline from turning bad to good.

And I do like a lot of his other adventures as

we'll go along. Let's talk about some of the

allies. You've got the giant floating head of

Zordon. Awesome. Alpha 5. This is probably the

only voiced version of Alpha that I can actually

stand. Alpha 6 and Alpha 7 and Alpha whatever

they use later down the line. just doesn't compare

to Alpha 5. Alpha 6? Yeah. What season is that?

We'll get to it. Oh, geez. We'll get to it. Actually,

Alpha 5, obviously Alpha 5 is the original. Alpha

6 was a completely different voice, but it was

the same kind of design as far as the robot goes.

Alpha 7 was, if I remember correctly, it was

voiced by the same guy that voiced Alpha 5. And

it had more of the Alpha 5 design. So that's

not too, too bad. But Alpha 6 was just horrible.

I think that comes in Power Rangers in Space.

I think that's where that is. That's why I don't

know. Again, if I'm not remembering that correctly,

fans, don't lambaste me. We will get to it as

we go along. And just when I was going through

the script and looking at the information, I

found a... A Christmas story reference with Power

Rangers. Scott Farkas Bulk Bulkmeyer. How about

that? Because Farkas Bulk Bulkmeyer, obviously

portrayed by Paul Schreier, is Bulk. And when

I saw the Farkas, I'm like, wait. The only other

time I've ever seen the name Farkas was on Scott

Farkas from the... From A Christmas Story, the

bully from A Christmas Story. Right, that's awesome.

I know. And you have Eugene Skull, Skullovich.

Well, you hear Skullovich and Bulkmeyer a ton

in the episodes. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you do. And

I think that was intentional, though. Yeah. What

do we think of Bulk and Skull initially in Season

1? I was always a fan of them, to be honest with

you. I mean, it was, again, you know, we've talked

about this before, but it was kind of always

like a low point before the high point came.

So it was kind of like leading you into, well,

you know what's next. You know what I mean? It's

pretty much the same episode every single day

anyway, just with a little bit of a different

this. But it was kind of like, oh, here comes

stupid Bulk and Skull. You know, now it's time

for business. So I always liked Bulk and Skull.

Yeah, I – as I said before, I like – it kind

of got old each episode, their constant antics

as far as like in the very beginning. Like in

Day of the Dumpster, the very first episode,

Bulk starts hitting on Kimberly and Trini. And

Skull is kind of like this background kind of

skittish character at first. He doesn't really

want to get in on Bulk's – this is just me reading

into it, just me from what I've seen. He doesn't

really want to get into it too much. And then,

of course, that changes over time. I don't mind

their later adventures as an episode progresses.

But when I first saw them in Day of the Dumpster,

I'm like, oh, great. Here's the comedy relief.

Lovely. Right. Yeah, they always seem to put

themselves where they shouldn't have been. It's

like, well, we're going to go on this dinosaur

adventure, and Bulk and Skull would just happen

to be there, too. And I liked how they would

always just barely miss. finding out who the

Power Rangers were. That was going to be their

fame and fortune. They were going to find out

who the Power Rangers were. I don't know. I did

enjoy them. I will say I was sick of them by

just like you later on in some of the episodes.

I wish they just would have went away. At first,

it was kind of like they just kept them around

later on just because, I assume. You know what

I mean? Yeah. And then you have Ernie, who is

the juice bar owner or the juice bar manager,

Jim and juice bar manager. I liked Ernie, but,

I mean, obviously Ernie is one of those side

characters that really doesn't have too much.

I mean, sure, he's there at the beginning, like

if there's a karate tournament going on or if

the Rangers are meeting up at the juice bar,

he's there. And at the end of the episode, obviously,

he's there to, you know, if they're going to

hang out there again. I don't dislike Ernie at

all, but he was only there for a certain point

of beginning and ending. He really had nothing

to do with the actual main part of each episode.

Yeah, well, he had to make the cakes that were

thrown into Bulk's face every episode. Or kicked.

Yeah, or the sandwich, or the milkshakes, or

the soda, you know. And then you have Mr. Kaplan

and Miss Appleby. Mr. Kaplan, I believe, was

the principal or vice principal of the school.

And then Miss Appleby was their teacher. And

this is one of those things with Miss Appleby.

You know, they always said, like, whenever you

would see them at the school going, quote -unquote,

going between classes, and I put that in air

quotes because every time you see them, they're

in Miss Appleby's class. They say they have other

classes, but we never actually see the other

classes. It's kind of like Saved by the Bell.

Yeah. They only had the one teacher. Maybe it

was just the same teacher, and she just taught

everything and everybody. And then for lunch,

she cooked. Yes. Out of the secondary allies,

do you have a favorite? Nope. Nope. I kind of

like Skull more than Bulk a little bit just because

Skull is more – he's not the antagonist of everything.

He's more of, oh, I'm going to follow Bulk. Whatever

Bulk does, I'll do. And I know that's kind of

like being a follower and all that stuff and

you should really take your own destiny in your

hands. But I don't know. I like the mellowness

of Skull versus the in -your -face. Stuff that

Bulk does. I always liked it how Skull looked

up to Bulk. And even when Bulk got embarrassed

or beat up or whatever, Skull would still be

like, you know, he slipped during that fight.

Or, you know, he meant to do that. Just stuff

like that. They went together well. But I wouldn't

say I had a favorite. Yeah. Moving into the villains

of Season 1, we have Rita Repulsa, portrayed

by... I'm going to try not to butcher this name,

but I'm pretty sure I'll end up butchering it.

It's Matico Soga in Season 1 and Carla Perez

onwards. And she was voiced by Barbara Goodson.

So yes, sorry Scotty, Barbara Goodson was never

in the Rita costume. See, and the only reason

I think that is I've seen a Jason David Frank

video. And Barbara's there with him and she's

talking exactly like him or, you know, like Rita.

And I'm like, oh, that's definitely her. And

then when you go back and you look, I mean, she

really does resemble Rita. I mean, it's pretty

much obviously all you can see is, you know,

Rita's face because she's got that fake hair

or big hat or whatever you want to call that

thing. So, I mean, they could definitely she

definitely could have could have passed as Rita.

We'll have to mention that to her when we talk

to her. Is she going to get mad and hang up on

us? No, let's hope not. I was never Rita! And

then we have the main big bad villain. I guess

you could call him a soldier. We have Goldar,

who is voiced by Kerrigan Mahan, credited as

Ryan O 'Flanagan in the first two seasons. I

don't know if it's a voicing. or what the deal

is, but the first episode, Day of the Dumpster,

Goldar's voice does not sound like what he sounds

like throughout the rest of MMPR. It sounds so

different to me. I'll have to go back and listen

to it. I don't think I've ever paid that close

attention to it. See, because I've done a lot

of cartoon reviews and voice actors and all that

stuff, I've come to notice if a voice is different.

I don't know. My ear is just trained to voices

on some characters. And it's only in that first

episode, Day of the Dumpster, that it doesn't

sound like he sounds throughout the rest of the

series. What did you think of Goldar? I liked

Goldar. He's the... uh, the general, I guess.

And he was, you know, he was, he did, he did

a, he was a good general and he's exactly what

a general is. And all the other bad guy, you

know, I don't know what I'm looking for here,

but you know, he was always tough when he needed

to be, but you know, he, he always lost, but

he was always like, you were always scared. Oh

no, not Goldar. Even though he never won. You

know what I mean? Yeah. I, it's funny. Like,

When I went back and I watched Day of the Dumpster

before we recorded this, I hadn't watched, like,

majority of, like, the very first few episodes.

I hadn't watched them in years. Like, I know

for a fact I have not seen Day of the Dumpster

since probably 1995, you know, in reruns or syndication

or whatever. And I was like, oh, okay, so she's

going to make Goldar grow. Power Rangers are

going to come in and swipe them with a power

sword, and that'll be that. But, no, that's not

what happens. Goldar disappears before they can

deliver the final blow, and I was like, you know,

me sitting here, a 31 -year -old man just being

disappointed, oh, fuck, Goldar didn't get killed

in the first episode. Lovely. God, I'm such a

geek. Next up we have Scorpina, who was portrayed

by Amy Kawai in Season 1 and Sabrina Liu in Season

2, one episode only. She was voiced by Wendy

Lee. Scorpina almost, to me, and I know this

is bad, she could have been Trini's mom. Yeah,

she was pointless. I never got why she became

a giant scorpion -faced person when she... uh

got big did you ever see that yeah like she was

she was yeah she was you know the you know the

the asian chick when she was normal size and

then when she make my scorpina grow she was like

a giant like lobster thing and i was just like

what really yeah that made no sense um and then

we have the three comedy villains which are finster

who was voiced by robert axelrod Squat, voiced

by Michael Sorich. And Babu, voiced by Dave Mallow.

I love all three of these villains. And they're

not even really villains. Like I said, they're

more of comedy villain characters than anything

else. Absolutely. And I swear, Squat is Bulk.

And Babu is Skull. No doubt about it. No doubt

about it. I love Babu. I love all of them. Yeah,

I do too. I love Babu and Squat more than I like

Bulk and Skull. Yeah. No doubt about that. I

was asleep. He was always asleep. Oh, that's

hilarious. And then Finster was the monster and

putty maker. Yep. You'd think he would have got

fired. He made a lot of monsters that didn't

do very good. Yep. But that's why Rita would

get mad every once in a while, and she'd make

her own monster. And speaking of Rita getting

mad, boy, that woman has to have had a lot of

headaches in her day. She told you every episode

she had headaches. I know. I know. It's so hilarious.

It's just... And just the way that Barbara put

the emotion, like she's so defeated in the voice.

She's like, oh, I have a headache. Or there will

be times where Barbara would do, you're giving

me a headache, or something like a higher, angrier

version of it. And it was just so hilarious.

And then you've got, let's see. Rita's father,

Master Vile. Did he show up in Season 1? I think

so. I could have sworn he did. If he didn't,

I know he shows up in Season 2 and Season 3.

I don't honestly remember at this point in time.

Yeah, I think these next three... Master Vile,

Locar, and Hydra Hog, they all showed up in Season

2 and Season 3, which I don't know why they're

in the Season 1 script. So I flubbed. You're

fine. No doubt. Putty Patrollers. Okay, out of

all of the Rangers, out of all the Power Rangers

series, little mini -villains before the big

bad monster, I like the Putties the best. These

guys were so... They tried to mimic karate moves,

and then... It's like, oh, fight them for ten

minutes to distract you from fighting the actual

monster who's destroying the building over there.

And then, oh, they just disappear. That's how

they work. I know. They were part -timers. Yeah,

next month, next episode, we'll talk about their

upgraded versions and just... all kinds of plot

holes with, with those. Um, let's get into the

arsenals and all that, uh, arsenal and zords

and stuff like that. Um, you get the power morphers,

which everybody knows by now. Um, uh, let's see,

you know, you got Mastodon, Pterodactyl, Triceratops,

Sabertooth Tiger, Tyrannosaurus, Dragonzord,

and of course, Tigerzord. Um, And, of course,

Tiger Zord came actually in Season 2. But, again,

some of this information that we've gathered,

it was very hard for me to split up between seasons

because it kind of runs all together on the Internet.

And, of course, they have the communicators,

which are the wristband watches created by Billy.

Wait a second. The communicators were not created

by Billy. Yeah, they were. Yep, they sure were.

Billy. Oh, no, no. Okay, okay. I'm thinking of

them more first. Okay, yeah. Yeah, the communicator's

really was like, hey, I've also made these. And

they were in the lockers. They're like, I also

made these so we can, you know, contact. And

they're just kind of like, they expect stuff

like that from Billy. So they were just kind

of like, oh, cool. Thanks, Billy. Instead of,

hold on, wait, what? You pretty much made cell

phones on our wrists? That's clever. Calling

Dick Tracy. Calling Dick Tracy. No, I got confused

there for a minute because I confused the communicators

with the Morphers. Because if it had said the

Morphers were created by Billy, I'm like, no.

There's no way. He's a smart guy. I know he's

a smart guy, but he's not that smart. What gave

it away? His bibs? His bibs that he wore for

the first half of the first season? And the fact

that in the very first episode, everybody else

except for Billy has some – like Kimberly does

the gymnastics. Zach has this breakout hip -hop

dancing. And Trini and Jason have karate moves

or kung fu moves or whatever. But yet Billy is

like – Throughout the entire first episode of

Day of the Dumpster, when the putties show up,

Billy's like ducking and just getting his ass

handed to him because he has no fighting skill

whatsoever. Yep. Of course, that changed. I actually

didn't mind that. I actually didn't mind that,

as opposed to, I don't know if you've seen RPM,

and I don't want to get too ahead of myself.

I haven't seen RPM. Well, they have the Green

Ranger in there. It's kind of like Billy at the

beginning, except for he's Billy all the time.

Oh, like he's just worthless constantly where,

you know, they didn't give Billy any any hobbies

or anything. But throughout the first, you know,

season, they made him try to learn yoga and get

rid of, you know, his is to try to learn karate

and to try to learn this. And so, you know, I

mean, I didn't really mind that too much. And

then. As far as some of the other weapons, we

have blade blasters. Each ranger minus Tommy

carries a sidearm blaster that can also convert

to a short sword. The original five rangers could

also combine their blasters' firepower into a

single shot by forming a human pyramid and crossing

the beams of their blasters. Don't you know you're

not supposed to cross the streams? Well, no,

when you do it in a triangle, it's fine. That's

a bad image. Well, it's not really a bad image

considering where I'm taking the reference from.

I'm taking it from Ghostbusters. Ah, okay. You're

not supposed to cross the streams. Yeah. And

then, of course, you have the Power Blaster,

which is made up of the Power Sword, the Power

Axe, the Power Lance, the Power Daggers, and

the Power Bow. These weapons individually, to

me, sucked. I liked the sword, and that's about

it. Yeah, I mean, Jason's one -handed sword thing,

that was fine, but the rest of them, they were

all useless until you combined them into the

Power Blaster. Yeah, I would have been real pissed

when Zack got a giant axe and Jason got a sword

and Kimberly got a bow and arrow and Billy got...

What do they call them? Lance. Yeah, the lances

that are, you know, they're probably about a

foot long each. And then Trini gets handed these

little, these butter knives. What am I supposed

to do with these? She's like, do I get more than

two? Are these like Chinese stars? Can I just

throw these? Nope. She'd try to fight with them.

You know what I mean? And it's like, she might

as well have just been like karate chopping people.

That's hilarious. But I would have been kind

of upset if I was Trini. I'd have been like,

no, we're going to have to have a sit down talk

or something about this. Oh, hell. Oh, man. And,

of course, we can't go talking about weapons

without talking about the Dragon Shield and the

Dragon Dagger. Yeah, the Dragon Dagger. Well,

let's start with the Dragon Shield first. At

first I was like, I know they were trying to

distinguish Tommy from, like, instead of just

having green and white. I know the gold dragon

shield was to distinguish him from the other

five, as far as visually. And then later, in

the episode where he has to transfer it to Jason,

I believe it's specifically stated that the dragon

shield gives him more protection from attack.

At first I was like, really? They've got a gold...

I mean, of course, this is me, you know, 13,

14 years old. Really? They've got, you know,

a gold... shield thing on this guy what is he

super special and again i was you know 13 and

i was i was ignorant so you know you'll have

to excuse that but um you know the dragon shield's

really awesome he looks like on on the toys and

and you can talk about this but the toys it looks

so weird with that like seeing a toy without

the dragon shield no doubt about it yeah the

the dragon shield is makes makes Tommy... I don't

know. Little things like that make characters

that much better. You know what I mean? If Tommy

wouldn't have had his dragon shield, he might

not have been as popular. I know that sounds

stupid, but it's just like it made him that much

cooler. It made him the leader, even though he

wasn't the leader. It made him stick out. It

made him tougher. You know what I mean? It was

just... I don't know. There's a lot of little

things that made Tommy... the better ranger,

you know, and that was probably one of them.

Oh, Hmm. I did not know this. The dragon shield

is also most recognizable way to tell the difference

between the Japanese and American footage of

the series. As in the original Japanese footage,

the shield was made of hard foam or rubber while

in the Americanized made the American made footage.

It was made of shiny polyester. Hmm. Interesting.

Why don't you talk about the dragon dagger, since

you love that instrument. I do. I actually own

a real -life dragon dagger, and I can actually

call the dragon Zor from time to time. No, it's

Tommy's weapon. It's Tommy's power bow or power

daggers, power lance. He gets a dragon dagger,

which is extremely awesome. He also has, throughout...

Well, I guess when he was the evil ranger, he

also had that sword of evil or whatever. Yeah,

the sword of evil. Yeah, but I don't know. The

dragon dagger was used to call the dragon sword,

and it was wonderful. I absolutely love the initial

call theme, because he plays it like a flute.

And it's so – I mean, honestly, I think this

is where they – and I know I'm going to end up

in this show bridging gaps when it comes to MMPR

and the actual television series and Mighty Morphin

Power Rangers, the movie, because that's just

the way that my brain is. I know that the movie

takes place out of continuity of the TV series,

but we'll get to that later. It's funny to me

that – The dragon dagger is like a flute. Whereas

later in the movie, you see Ivan Ooze with a

vertical actual flute weapon that he destroys

the command center with. I thought that was so

cool and weird. It's a nice little comparison.

That's the same exact flute that Willy Wonka

calls those little bitty guys to take the people

away. Oh my god, we're not even one episode in

and we already have an Oompa Loompa reference.

Lovely. Alright, so getting into these Zords,

we have, as I said before, the Tyrannosaurus,

Mastodon, Triceratops, Sabertooth Tiger, Pterodactyl,

and then of course the... The Dragonzord, but

these five initial zords would form the Megazord

battle station, and then they would actually

form the actual robot of the Megazord. Do you

have a specific zord that you like other than,

I mean, just out of the original five? Yeah,

I like the T -Rex. I've always liked the T -Rex

dinosaur, you know, when you had to learn about

dinosaurs in school, or just in general, yeah,

I always liked the T -Rex. Jason was my favorite,

therefore his Zord was my favorite. It was a

standalone Zord. I just really liked the T -Rex.

What about you? For me, I would have to agree

with you. I kind of like the Triceratops and

the Sabertooth Tiger as well. More so for what

they will become in Season 2, and we'll get to

that once we get to Episode 2. Because, sadly,

at the end of Season 1, the Dinozords... Is it

the end of Season 1 or the beginning of Season

2 where the Dinozords get destroyed? I think

it's the beginning of Season 2. Yeah, it's the

beginning of Season 2. Well, I'm pretty sure

it's the end of Season 1. Yeah, because their

Zords are gone in the beginning of Season 1,

or the end of Season 1, and then in Season 2

is when they hit primetime at 7 o 'clock, and

it started with the end of Season 1, where they're

kind of like, their faces are all burnt, and

the Zords were taken underground. I mean, I could

be wrong. Right, yeah. I'm sure we're going to

get emails to let us know that we were right

or wrong. They're probably doing it right now,

and this hasn't even aired yet. Listen. I know.

Exactly. I got a nice email about my show that

I talked a little bit about on this week's From

the Command Center, the video edition. Cool.

Yeah, I suck about 11 or 12 times in his email.

But I'm pretty sure it was the last episode.

Are you looking into it right this second? No.

Okay. No, no, no. I don't really... When it comes

to the actual Megazord, I prefer the robot. I

mean, I know that the robot is only used for

fistfights and sword battles, and of course later

once it becomes multi -combined with Dragonzord

and Ultrazord and all that stuff, there's other

attacks, but... I never really cared for the

Megazord battle mode. Oh, where it was lame.

Yeah, it was lame. Where it's just the four of

them instead of all four. I'm like, really? They're

just doing this to save, you know, not to save

time, but to make time progress and show you

that it has, you know, multiple forms. But, I

mean, what was your favorite part of the Megazord

originally? Um, I don't think I had a, like a

favorite part per se. I don't know. I just, I

loved the, the going from the battle mode to

the, to the, to the standup mode or whatever,

whatever you call it. I did love the transformation,

you know? Yeah. That was pretty awesome. Megazord

has been initiated. What'd they say? Yeah. Yeah.

Megazord sequence has been initiated, and then

after like two or three moves, Megazord activated

or whatever. I'll have to grab those sound effects.

And the lights pop on like, you know, they turn

off the lights because they're saving money.

Yeah, exactly. And then, of course, Dragonzord.

Dragonzord is awesome. Yes. I actually can make

a Transformers reference to Dragonzord. Be careful.

For those of you who might have played a little

game called Transformers War for Cybertron, Trypticon's

dinosaur mode in that game, he has, Trypticon

is at the end battle of War for Cybertron, and

he has a move where he turns and lashes his tail

out at you. And I swear, it looks just like Dragonzord.

That's awesome. I like Dragonzord's missiles,

and I like his spinning tail tip attack. Yeah?

Yeah. What about his leap dropkick? Oh, yeah.

There is that. Yeah, I know, but I mean, like,

as far as his, like, outside of him doing karate

or martial arts, I mean, you know, his actual

physical, I just, I more so like the sound effects,

like the missiles loading into his fingers. I

always like that. And I love his little roar.

It's so cool. What about you on Dragon Zord,

since Dragon Zord is your favorite Zord? It is,

dude. It's the greatest Zord out of all the Zords

ever. I don't know. I just loved everything about

it. I like standalone Zords that don't combine.

They just feel stronger to me. They don't need

any help, if that makes any sense. But I don't

know. I'm trying to look up this episode, episode

60, to see. I think you were right. It looks

like that in Season 2 was the beginning of the

end for the Dinosaurs. Yeah, that's what I remember.

Because that's another thing, and we'll get to

this later, but MMPR, MMPR Season 1, really,

it just ends on a regular episode. It's not like

nowadays where you have seasons that end on cliffhangers.

So, what did you think of the Dragonzord battle

mode, where it combines with the four other zords

minus the T -Rex? Well, there was... Oh, okay,

I know what you're talking about. The battle

mode. It was, I don't know, it was super awesome.

Yeah, I like that battle mode a lot better than

the original Megazord battle mode. Yeah. It's

probably the best combination out of two different

Zords that there is, even to date, in my opinion.

You know what I mean? Because throughout every

season, the Zords end up combining in some way

or another. I don't know. I just love the colors

about that thing. Yeah. I also like the Mega

Dragon Zord, where technically the two Zords

fully combine with each other. I also love that.

And then, of course, you have Titanus the Carrier

Zord. Kind of lame. It is. One of the reasons

why I think Titanus is lame is because every

sequence that you see, because they have to get

into the Dragon Zord battle mode or the Mega

Dragon Zord mode to go into Titanus. One of the

reasons why I think it's super lame is because

every time it shows... The Mega Dragonzord going

into Titanus. It shows a giant explosion where

the damn zord's feet are supposed to be. I mean,

seriously? Seriously. The thing is going to explode

when you're trying to stand in it. That makes

no sense. I know that they're trying to do special

effects and all that, but I mean, really? I mean,

that's almost as bad as all the pyrotechnics

behind the actual rangers with the different

colored fog lights. Hey, there's nothing the

matter with fog lights. Not fog lights, smoke.

I got you. The different colors, you know, it's

like they're sending up signals to the army.

Oh, help us, help us, we need help. But I mean,

I just, you know, it just makes no sense. Makes

no sense to me. I don't really, I don't know,

I don't really like Titanus. It's because it's

pretty much a carrier Zord, but it didn't really

do anything. You know what I mean? Like, all

the other carrier Zords, like Tor, Tor was like

a giant shield for the different Zords, you know,

and stuff like that. And it's like, Tor is just

like a carriage. Yeah. I mean, Titanus is...

I know this is going to sound so horrible, but

Titanus is kind of like Ronimus Prime's... Battle

Station mode from the 1986 toy. It's useless.

Yeah. Apparently when you ride on something,

it gives you more firepower. I know. But... If

the fans didn't know you liked Transformers,

they're going to know by the end of this episode.

Yeah, that's true. They're going to be like,

who is this Transformers guy? Well, if they go

over to geekcastradio .com, they will know. Yes,

they will. 400 podcasts. Actually, it's funny.

I'm going to have to go back to my podcasting

math document and just add it all up now and

see, because honestly, I don't even know at this

point. There's a lot. Yeah, there's a lot. Almost

three years worth of podcasting. And of course,

just... One last note on the Ultrazord. He was

technically... Let's see. Basically, like I said

before, the season didn't really have a climactic

ending. I think the climactic ending was the

episode, the two -parter Doomsday, where Cyclopsus,

Goldar's warzord, comes in. where the rangers

have to kill this thing, but its head was still

intact. They later discovered that they need

to change Zord formations multiple times frequently

in order to confuse Cyclopsis and catch it off

guard. At the end of their third battle, the

rangers form Ultrazord again, and this time obliterate

Cyclopsis in seemingly low car as well, because

it is later never seen again following that battle.

Again, I wouldn't have so much of a problem with

Titanus if there wasn't an explosion inside the

thing when the Mega Dragonzord was going to stand

in it. I mean, I'm all for pyrotechnics and all

that and special effects in a show like this,

but really? Up next, we're going to move on to

some behind -the -scenes stuff. And really, what

you're going to hear is my buddy, SpadeOfTheBaltMatrix

from YouTube. He loves Power Rangers just like

we do, and he is more informationally gathered

on the Sentai stuff, so I have tapped him to

give us Sentai lessons every episode of From

the Command Center, so you'll hear that next.

Hey, gang, this is Spade of the Bolt Matrix,

and welcome to the first Just the Facts for Super

Sentai. Now, what is Super Sentai? Well, Super

Sentai is a long -running tokusatsu production

in Japan. Now, tokusatsu is live action. You've

got Super Sentai, Ultraman, Kamen Rider, Metal

Hero. A lot of that has been adapted for the

U .S. and shown in the U .S. Toei Agency and

Bandai originally started this stuff way back

in the 70s. Actually, in 1975, to be exact, with

the original GoRanger. And it's been continuing

strong ever since. Now, the Sentai we're going

to be talking about today is what spawned Power

Rangers as we know it here in the U .S., specifically

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. That original series

was called Koryu Sentai Jurenja. It's spelled

Z -Y -U -R -E -N -G -E -R, but it's pronounced

J -U -R -E -N -J -A, or Jurenja. It's a really

weird pronunciation. I don't speak Japanese,

but hey, what can I tell you? Now, as we know,

there were Zordon, Jason, Billy, Trini. There

were five Rangers. Well, they weren't so much

teenagers with attitude as the original Zyuranger

were five young warriors from an ancient civilization

of dinosaur -evolved humans. Let me say that

again. They were five warriors from an ancient

civilization of dinosaur evolved humans. I can't

make this stuff up. Also... We know her as Rita

Repulsa, but in Japan, she was known as Bandora

the Witch. And she was released from what we

know as the space dumpster on something called

Planet Nemesis by two astronauts. You know, it's

never shown in Power Rangers what that was. I

always assumed it was Mars. But not really. So...

We have the Red Ranger, the Black Ranger, the

Blue Ranger, the Pink Ranger, and the Yellow

Ranger. We have Jason the Red Ranger in this,

well, not Jason. We have Geki the Tyranno Ranger,

Goshui the Mammoth Ranger, Don the Tricero Ranger,

Boy the Tiger Ranger, a male, and May the Terror

Ranger. And instead of Rita Repulsa and the evil

Goldar and whatnot, there was the Bandora Gang.

They were merciless minions of darkness who were

sealed away with Rita Repulsa. I'm sorry, with

Bandora. You see, this is going to get a little

bit weird. Bandora and her minions were located

in Bandora Palace, which was on the moon. No

description of how they got there. They just

were. It was there. So, Bandora's gang. Well,

we'll talk about Bandora in a bit. She's a little

bit more complicated than Rita. But first off

was Grifforzar, otherwise known as Goldar. After

Goldar, we have Lami. Now, who was Lami? Well,

she was Scorpina. and she wasn't just this random

villainess. She was actually Griffizar's wife.

She didn't get sealed away with the rest of the

crew. She actually had to wait 170 million years

for her husband to return, and they had a baby.

I'm not going to get into that. Next up is Topat,

who was Babu, and Bukbok, who was Squat. They're

the... kind of comic relief for the show the

actor they can afford they can assume human forms

and they're actually the same the same actors

as they are in the suits so yeah they're kind

of the comic relief and they're really really

annoying and then there's and i'm going to get

this mix i'm going to get this wrong is putty

putty con putty putty con was the was finster

He was the one that made all of the monsters

using his gadgets and whatnot. So yeah, there

are a little bit of a difference. What we saw

in the U .S. versus what was shown in Japan was

kind of the same, except Rita Repulsa, or I'm

sorry, I keep calling her Rita, Bandora. Her

background's a little bit different. Witch Bandora

was originally the queen of the fairy tribe Dahl

until her son Kai was accidentally killed by

a Tyrannosaurus. Just destroyed by the grief,

she went mad, sold her soul for the power to

avenge her son, and she went on a murdering spree

to destroy and kill all the dinosaurs. The problem

was she completely, in her just rage to kill

everything, she completely forgot about her son

Kai and the pain of his death. Her plans were

kind of weird in that when she was back on the

moon in modern times, which was then 1992, her

plans all involved doing extreme harm or excessive

harm to children, which is ironic given what

happened to her son. Oh, and, um... She has her

own theme song and rides a giant tricycle. I'm

not kidding. And the whole thing about her having

a headache, that was actually in the original

Japanese show as well. Her going, oh, I have

a headache. That was in there. Totally in there.

The putties were called golem soldiers. And,

yeah, they were putties. What can I say? Something

that's also interesting in True Ranger was, for

the first time, you had a Sixth Ranger. That

never happened before. The most there was ever

was five. True Ranger was the first time there

was a Sixth Ranger. And the Green Ranger. The

Green Ranger was, in fact, the brother of the

Red Ranger. He was from the same tribe as Geki.

He was actually corrupted. by bandora and his

powers were related to candle the candles once

the candles ran out he lost his power and his

life in fact he was the first permanent death

of super sentai first one that ever died hence

why tommy lost his powers we couldn't have in

america him dying he just lost his powers uh

it's a very interesting series especially when

you see later in the time where bandora's past

really starts to come around and they start to

realize oh boy she's really effed up it's an

interesting series and i do recommend you check

it out there are a few groups subbing it but

they're really not that far Unfortunately, it's

not one of my favorite series simply because

the animosity towards children in this series,

while it makes sense for the plot, is really

kind of creepy because they're really doing some

nasty things to kids. There are monsters that

eat children. Now, yes, the children are saved

in the end, but for crying out loud, why do they

have to eat the kids? I realize that this is

the first time for Just the Facts for Super Sentai.

It'll be better going later. And this is Spade

of the Bolt Matrix saying, you know what? This

is an interesting series. If you have a chance,

check it out. But I would stick with Mighty Morphin.

I've seen the series as a whole. Mighty Morphin's

actually better. We are back. Scotty Cash and

Mike. Now listen, folks. Please do not fast forward

through the Sentai stuff, even though you don't

like it. Or maybe you don't know about it yet.

It is a pleasure. Or no, no, no, that's not the

right word. He's doing us a good deed by telling

you guys about this and even telling us about

this. Because when I first got into, well, when

I started doing From the Command Center, I wanted

to know about Sentai and nothing, I couldn't

find anybody. except for message boards. And

I don't, I would rather hear it from somebody.

Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. And it's just,

it's just better that way. And that's why I've

employed or not employed. I'm not paying him,

but that, that, that, that, that's why I've tapped

a straight of the bolt matrix to, to do that

for us. So it not only informs us, but it also

informs the listeners as well. for those of you

who might be Sentai fans, and we've specifically

said that we know nothing about it, and I'm not

going to sit here on a podcast trying to talk

about something that I know nothing about and

look like a jackass. Yep. Now, here's where we're

going to talk about the overall season stories,

our favorite episodes, stuff like that. Basically,

as I said before, Jason, Zack, Trini, Kimberly,

and Billy are all given the ability to morph

into Power Rangers by Zordon in order to put

a stop to Rita Repulse's evil schemes. Later

during the season, of course, Tommy Oliver is

introduced as a villain, but initially becomes

the sixth member of the Power Team. Meanwhile,

Bulk and Skull act as bullies in comic relief

in Angel Grove High, where the Rangers attend

high school. Now... For me, I loved Day of the

Dumpster just because of the introduction that

it gave to us. Immediately, I took to Squatt

and Babu and Finster. I liked Rita. Goldar, meh.

Goldar kind of grows on me as Season 1 goes along.

Yeah, he's the normal, doesn't really matter,

head of the bad guys kind of type of guy. Yeah.

And that's how most of the guys like that are.

You don't really care about them, but they're

there. You know what I mean? Right, yeah. One

of the sub -plot lines that I actually like,

and I think it runs throughout MMPR, is Zach's

plot line with trying to get Angela to date him.

I do remember that, yes. I absolutely love that

because it's something that takes us out of...

Just the fighting and the zords. They're actually

giving depth to the characters. My other favorite

episodes, of course, Green with Evil 5 Parter.

I tried watching Island of Illusion 2 Parter.

I didn't really care for that one. I love Calamity

Kimberly as a one -off because it's Kimberly

having a bad day. I thought that was really,

really cool. Yeah. The Green Candle two -parter,

Doomsday two -parter, pretty much all the double

-part episodes. I like Return of an Old Friend

is probably my... It's right up there with Green

with Evil. The whole Tommy storyline throughout

Season 1, even though they probably didn't do

it on purpose because they were sending him off

to do VR Troopers, just what they did when they

brought him back. I mean, you talk about a main

event, that's like... You're just so excited

that it's like brand new all over again. You

know what I mean? Because you're not sure if

he can fight. He can only fight certain battles

because he doesn't have much power left. So he's

got to be careful. And then he comes back and

Zordon gives him a little bit of power. And so

he's able to continue the fights. And then they

give him enough power where... Or no, no, then

he gets hurt or something and he goes into like

a small coma, but then the dragon coin itself...

Right. What happened was, was because Tommy's

powers weren't up, like he couldn't physically

go into battle anymore because they were so drained,

Zordon said, oh, I will give him some of my own

power, and then Billy and everybody's like, well,

that could, you know, destroy you, or that could,

you know... fade you from existence and that's

actually what happened and what they had to do

at the end of the episode was each of them had

to take the five power coins and say the the

power coin name and pointed at zordon's little

little bubble there and it brought him back yep

and i really liked excuse me i really like that

as well one of the ones i'm trying to remember

which episode it is there's an episode where

like it's it's power rangers day do you know

what i'm talking about Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah,

like where it's like celebrating. Yeah, they're

going to celebrate the Power Rangers and Bulk

and Skull show up in spandex. Yep. What about

it? Oh, what the hell was I going to say? Damn

it, I lost it. Crap. Talk about some of your

other favorite episodes while I try to remember

this. I like the football episode. I believe

it was just football season or something along

them lines. It was one of my favorites. I'm a

big football guy, and Ernie got some. some screen

time and anytime they can get away from the normal

guys, even though I don't really care about Ernie,

I don't really care. You know what I mean? I

don't, I don't care about the principal, but

when they, you know, when they get their own

kind of their own episode, you know, that's,

it's, it makes for a good episode just because

it's a little something different that you're

not, you're not used to seeing all the time,

but you know, Tommy knows absolutely nothing

about football. So, so Ernie's going to teach

him. You know, how to play football, and it's

just like, and all the other Power Rangers are

like, yeah, you should try out. We're going to

go play football at the park. So, I don't know.

I enjoy that episode. What I was going to say

about the Power Rangers. day episode was. At

the beginning of the episode, before all the

battling happens and before all the crowd disappears

and all that, they mention, I wonder if Tommy's

going to show up. Because I believe at this point,

he has lost his powers. I believe this was before

Return of an Old Friend. I don't think he ever

actually lost his powers in Season 1, did he?

Well, after the Green Candle, yeah. Did he technically

lose his powers? Because I thought it was just

you can't morph anymore or something like that.

Maybe that's it. I think that might be it. Right

at this point, I'm not too sure. All I know is

at this point, he had been off the show for a

while. Yep. And by the time this Power Rangers,

like Honor Power Rangers Day episode came up.

At the beginning of the episode, the five, you

know, Kimberly, Zach, Trini, and Billy, and Jason

are all like, oh, I wonder if Tommy's going to

show up. And Kimberly's like, oh, I'm sure he'll

show up. And at the end of the episode, after

all the battling and everything else, and the

crowd reappears at the podium and all that, you

see two kids arguing about which ranger is the

best ranger. And then all of a sudden, hands

over. And he goes, I'll let you guys in on a

little secret. They're all great. And I just,

like, I hadn't seen that episode in so long.

And I literally, kid you not, I almost fell out

of my chair just from seeing Tommy. Oh, God.

That's awesome. Yes. I liked, I don't know what

episode it was. I liked the, when the five, the

five. teenagers came to their school and they

made a bad Rangers. Oh yeah. I think that was

power punks. Was it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, it

was, was power punks. The one where, not where

they turned the Rangers bad, but they had like

another black guy, another white kid with glasses.

You know what I mean? And then they were, they

were picking on a Billy's friend. Yeah. Yeah.

That's right. And Jason or Tommy and Zach, uh,

uh, ran him, ran him out of the school or whatever.

That was a good episode. Yeah, that was a really,

really good episode. But my favorite standalone

episode is probably the football episode. I mean,

it didn't have anything to do with anything.

But my favorite series is no doubt about it,

Green with Evil. I'm sure anybody that likes

Power Rangers, their favorite series is Green

with Evil. I like both the series. I consider

Green Candle two -parter as part six and part

seven of Green with Evil because it's continuing

Tommy's story. Yeah, Tommy's story was just good.

Yeah, it was written really well. So, I think

since this, do we have any other thoughts on

the overall plot lines of season one? I don't.

Okay. Not really. So, next up, what I'm going

to put in is Go Green Ranger. Oh, no. We've got

another problem. Aye, aye, aye, aye. It's Dragonzord

in battle mode! It can only be an impostor. Let

me take him on, Zordon. But you will be all alone

against them, Tommy. Give me this chance. I can

handle them. Very well, then. And let the power

protect you. All right. It's morphin' time! Dragonzord!

Go Green Ranger. That song is so awesome. That's

another one of those small things that makes

Tommy who Tommy is. You know what I mean? He

gets his own song. Yeah. And since we're talking

about the music in this segment, I should say

that Ron Wasserman did all 155, or wait, how

many total episodes were there originally? What

do you mean, from season... Like, from the entire

MMPR run, season one through three. Because it

says 155 episodes is what Ron Wasserman did for

music from 95 to 96. I'm sure it was. I'm pretty

sure it was at least 60 and 60, wasn't it? Yeah,

yeah. And then you have Kenneth Burgomaster,

who did 32 episodes, and Noam Kennell did 19

episodes. I mean, Ron Wasserman is the man behind...

the music of MMPR. He just is. Of course, I didn't

know that was what his name was back in the day,

because if you look at Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,

the soundtrack, A Rock Adventure, it lists him

as Aaron Waters. Hmm. I wonder why. I think it's

a pseudonym, and I think it was also, I think

they had named, I think he and his wife had named

their son Aaron. So, I don't know. Because I

had always thought back as a kid and even now

until about three weeks ago before I started

doing research for this episode, I had always

thought, oh, well, who the hell is Aaron Waters?

And then I had to look it up on Wikipedia, and

I looked up Aaron Waters specifically, and it

says it's a pseudonym of Ron Wasserman. I never

knew the guy's actual real name was Ron Wasserman.

I just thought, oh, okay, it's some artist named

Aaron Waters. Cool. Let's talk about the – The

theme song specific to Season 1 with, like, the

voiceover stuff, like with Rita at the beginning

saying, ah, after 10 ,000 years, I'm free and

all that. What did you think of the original

theme song for MMPR Season 1? Oh, I loved it.

No doubt about it. It's been my ringtone many

different times on my phone. And even today on

Samurai, I'm pretty sure it's Samurai, that they

even do the... Go Power Rangers in their own

little way. They do. And even in different Sentai

episodes, they do Go Go Power Rangers. You know

what I mean? Yeah. It's just so, so awesome.

There is other music that we will eventually

get into and talk about, but that's more so towards

Season 2 and Season 3, but just overall... I

love the music for this series. It's just so

cool. It fits the series so well. It's definitely...

What the word am I looking for here? I guess

I'd just say it's awesome. Just all the putty

music, the Megazord music, just all of it is

just... I don't know. I know there's a lot of

people that choose Sentai over Mighty Morphin

Power Rangers in every scent. But you can't sit

there and tell me that the Sentai music is better

than the Power Rangers music. There's no way.

I know, Mike, that you haven't seen a lot of

Sentai, if any at all, but the stuff that I have

seen hit and miss, their music is just like,

I don't know if Japanese people like that kind

of music. I'm just like, wow, this is stupid.

This is 100 % terrible. It's just like upbeat,

like jazzy. Power Ranger music. I'm just like,

this does not go at all with this. I love the

instrumentals. I love a lot of the... First of

all, speaking of the actual soundtrack, Mighty

Morphin Power Rangers A Rock Adventure. I love

how they've kept the show versions. quote -unquote

show versions of the songs where they have actual

audio from the episodes. I mean, we'll get to

this. I'm specifically saving White Ranger Tiger

Power for next episode because that is what happens

in Season 2. Spoilers! Oh, no! But, I mean, just

the overall way... You guys are probably not

going to be able to find Mighty Morphin Power

Rangers A Rock Adventure. or MP3 download. You

might be able to find MP3 download, but I know

you're not going to find the CD anywhere because

I've looked for it. I actually had to have a

friend send it to me so I could have the songs

that were on that original CD that came out back

in the 90s. But I just remember as a 13 -year

-old dork, and I used dork as in just total just

dork, and I just remember listening to that.

soundtrack over and over and over and over and

over. It was just so awesome. That is awesome.

I remember having that CD. Yeah, I remember having

it too, and it was so, so awesome. So now, we're

going to go to some ads from both Geekcast Radio

Network and the Pop Culture Network. Sweet. And

now, here are your ads from the Geekcast Radio

Network. Tooncast is dedicated to the cartoons

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Saved by the Bell, and much, much more, only

on geekcastradio .com. Hey guys, this is Optimus

Solo from the Geekcast Radio Network, and I was

thinking the other day that maybe I've been too

hard on the folks over at IGN. I mean, they had

to put some effort into their Top 100 Animated

Series of All Timeless, right? I mean, maybe

it's just me that wants to punch a baby when

I read it. So in all fairness, I thought we should

gather some of the people who were involved with

this list and get their opinions. So what do

you guys think about the IGN list? I didn't think

it was physically possible, but this both sucks

and blows. Okay, anyone else? Dumb, dumb, dumb!

Those dudes are so dumb! I'm afraid to ask, but

anyone else? Epic fail. Homer, they put your

show at the top of your list. You gotta like

their list, right? I stand by my disappointed

groan. So I guess we should do something about

it then. Are you pondering what I'm pondering?

I am, brain. I think we should unveil the Geek

Cast Radio Network's Top 100 Animated Series

of All Time list. I second that emotion. And

I know that our list will be much better than

the IGN list. Do you know why? We watch a lot

of TV. That and the fact that we are teaming

up with This Week in Geek, the Pop Culture Network,

Chicken Pop Pod, and some other great geek sites.

By your powers combined. We will give you a list

geeks everywhere can be proud of. And here are

some ads from our collaborators, the Pop Culture

Network. Hey guys, I'm Rob Bays, and if you love

toys, come check out my show, Not Mitten Box,

every Tuesday on the Pop Culture Network. You're

listening to a podcast on PopCultureNetwork .com.

Be sure to head on over to the site at www .popculturenetwork

.com to check out more podcasts and videos featuring

toys, comic books, video games, and all the things

you love. And while you're there, be sure to

check out the Pop Culture Network store, where

everything you purchase helps to keep us producing.

Just head over to popculturenetwork .com and

click on store. What it is, friends? Sweenholic

here, inviting you to join me every Monday for

Radical Retro Turtle Toy Talk. What's that, you

ask? Radical Retro Turtle Toy Talk is my weekly

video series in which we take a look at my favorite

toy line of yesteryear, Vintage Playmates Teenage

Mutant Ninja Turtles. If you're a green team

-goer, I'm betting you'll have a great time getting

reacquainted with old friends or meeting new

ones for the first time. That's Radical Retro

Turtle Toy Talk at www .radicalretro .com, part

of the Pop Culture Network. So now it's time

for some legacy and reception and controversy

and stuff like that. Despite the show's popularity,

it was also subject to much controversy from

parents who felt the show was too violent for

young children. Note that this was 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, why TV obtained the Canadian broadcast

rights to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, which

played to a receptive audience on weekday afternoons,

trailing the American broadcast by several months.

However, due to complaints sent to the recently

formed Canadian Broadcast Standards Council,

YTV removed the series from their lineup due

to its violent content. Despite not actually

being a member of the CBSC board, YTV compiled

and pulled the series before the end of its first

season, 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. Although commercials

for toys and videos were advertised on the network,

newer versions of the series are run on... I

guess that's the version of channel that they

have up there. You know what? I get the whole

thing of not having V -chips and the actual TV

ratings back then, but I mean seriously. By the

time someone who was born in the 80s got to age

13, as long as they weren't whacked out of the

head, you know the difference between television

violence and, you know. This isn't like Jackass,

where you go out and you try to mimic what stupid

-ass Johnny Knoxville does on his show. You know

what I mean? Yep. When I was watching Power Rangers,

I could tell, okay, this is a TV show. It's fake.

It's filmed. It's entertainment. I'm not going

to go out there and try to do a spinning kick

backflip off my back porch to emulate Tommy.

Yep. And I'm not saying that that's what move

Tommy would use. I'm just using that as an example.

It's just, ugh. Well, yeah, they have to have

something to complain about. And it just goes

back to the fact that educate your kids. Or how

about this? Change the channel. Do you really

need to take time out of your day to call a broadcast

place and complain about this or complain about

that? You know what I mean? There's violence

everywhere, even back in 1993, 1994. Right. I

don't know. They just need something to complain

about. Yeah, that's pretty much what it is. Did

you ever get to watch the interview with David

Yost that Lisa had done? I sure did. Well, that's

the other thing I want to bring up as far as

the controversy, because I believe it was last

year's interview, Lisa from No Pink Spandex.

had talked with David Yost, and he had revealed

that he had left the show on the subsequent Power

Rangers Zero production due to homophobic reactions

as to his sexuality, citing that he walked off

set one day because he was called a 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... Pagator? I

guess that's how you say his name, 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 employed 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. I'm sorry. I'm going to believe

the actor over a producer. I mean, if this guy

– I mean, you know, I will put the link. I will

put links to each part of the interview that

Lisa Jay from No Pink Spandex did with Billy

into this post so the fans can actually see this.

I mean, this is the first time we've heard from

David Yost in years. I mean, after Zio, he just

kind of like disappeared, went behind the camera.

I know he's done stuff. in production and stuff

like that in Hollywood. But like, as far as like,

he just up and disappeared after Zio and no one

ever knew what happened to him. And then, you

know, last year, Lisa did this interview with

him. So I'm going to put the links to the video

in, in the actual post here, uh, for episode

one of from the command center. So you guys can

actually watch that video. And I encourage you

to watch the interviews. Because it's just, it's

a very emotional thing. And I, you know, producers

will always say, oh, they left over a page. You

know, that's a PR answer. That's a public relations

answer. Well, that's why Jason and Zach and Trini

left, you know, quote, you know, well, that's

what they said anyway. Yeah. And they come to

find out. What's his name? Jason's real name

is... Austin St. John. Austin had some issues

with his mom. His mom was sick, and before she

passed away, he wanted to spend time with her.

So how do you confuse that with money? Right,

yeah. So who knows? As one little last quick

thing before we go into the outro, we're going

to talk about some Power Rangers releases. Now,

again, like I've said in this episode, breaking

up and finding each individual Rangers series

stuff for informational purposes, because the

information is all cobbled together, and I didn't

want to split it up. So basically, this is where

you're going to get all your DVD knowledge for...

Episode 1 is where you're going to get all your

DVD info for anything Power Rangers. As of October

2009, 33 Power Rangers DVDs have been released

in the United States. You have Mighty Morphin

Power Rangers The Movie. Turbo Way Power Rangers

Movie, Power Rangers Ninja Storm Volumes 1 -5,

Power Rangers Dino Thunders Volume 1 -5, SPD

Volumes 1 -5, Mystic Force Volumes 1 -3, Operation

Overdrive Volumes 1 -5, Jungle Fury Volumes 1

-2, RPM Volumes 1 -2, and the Bandai Demo DVD

of... as well. Internationally, additional DVD

releases have occurred, such as Lightspeed Rescue,

Time Force, and Wild Force in Germany as free

DVDs attached to the Jetix magazine published

in the UK. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season

1, Season 2, and Season 3. Power Rangers Zeo

Turbo in space have been released in Germany

as well, with Power Rangers Lost Galaxy due out

in June 2009. Of course, this article is two

years old. Yeah, so pretty much In Germany and

the UK, every season has been released. Yeah.

Why can't we have that here? I have no idea.

It's because – well, at the time, back in 2009,

Disney still owned Power Rangers. No, it's because

they hate me, Mike. That's why. No, it's not

because they hate you. It's because Disney hated

Power Rangers. Well, I hate Disney now just because

you said that. Now – We should mention that if

anyone out there has a region -free DVD player,

you can buy... Like, I know for a specific example,

Time Force and Dino Thunder have quote -unquote

complete series where it's just one box set with

all of the episodes. If you have a region -free

DVD player, you could buy these, but just be

forewarned, the region 2 DVDs of Power Rangers

stuff are in the PAL format, so if you don't

have a region -free DVD player, you're screwed.

Yeah, if you, I mean, I've looked into this many

times. I've been real close to pushing the buy

it now button. The region free DVD players, they're

not really that bad. They're not really that

bad. I just keep holding on for American releases.

Yeah, absolutely. And you can go buy the DVD

players for probably $30. I mean, they're not

that expensive. $30 to $50, you know, $10, $15

shipping. But then you've got to buy the Seasons,

and the Seasons are not cheap. They're like $40,

$50, $60 a piece. Yeah. I mean, like, for me

specifically, like, I mean, obviously there's

YouTube. There was a time that the iTunes Store

previously made Power Rangers episodes available,

part of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, all of

SPD, and the first 26 episodes of Mystic Force.

As of July 2009, Turboy Power Rangers movie is

the only Power Rangers selection available via

the iTunes store. And of course, we all know

Apple and Disney don't get along, so that's probably

why they're not in there. I sure did have a few

of the Power Rangers episodes. Oh yeah, I still

have White Light Parts 1 and Part 2. Yeah, I

don't have my iPod anymore, so I don't have anything.

Well, see, I use iTunes specifically on my computer,

so I'm like you. I don't have an iPod or anything

anymore either, but I've always used iTunes on

my computer. What was the other thing I was going

to say? There's also some video games. We had

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers the

movie, and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers the fighting

edition. I absolutely loved these games. Yep,

I played them, and I still have them all. I love

the Super Nintendo versions because I was a big

Super Nintendo guy back in the day. It's the...

Well, the movie one. I just got that not too

long ago. I can't remember what I got it for.

Maybe it was the... No, it wasn't the 64. Maybe

it was the Sega. Maybe I got my Sega back out

and was playing it. But it was pretty terrible.

The Fighting Edition was probably my favorite

even though you could only be like two people.

Yeah, wasn't that where you could pit Zord versus

Monster? Yep. Yeah, see, I love that game. That

game was so cool. I'm trying to remember what

the original Power Rangers was. I'm pretty sure

it was just like the movie, except for they morphed

into just their own characters. SNES version

of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is a side -scrolling

action game composed of seven stages with two

different gameplay styles in the initial five

areas. The player controls one of the five original

Power Rangers, Jason, Zack, Kimberly, Billy,

and Trini. as their essential location is being

invaded by Rita Rapalza. So basically, it's like

Power Rangers for... It's kind of like Mega Man

for Power Rangers. Yep, it's the same thing.

It's not quite as good as Mega Man, because Mega

Man's wonderful, but we know what you mean. So

yes, that's going to do it for us. I think we

all need a hero, so we're going to go to that,

and then we're going to come back with the outro.

Skull, what's that sound? Uh, uh, I think it's

those gray guys behind you. What gray guys? Uh,

hey, Skull. Aw, yeah, Bulgy. They're coming toward

us. Ah! Ah! We need the Power Rangers! Ah! Aye,

aye, aye. Rangers, come quick. What is it, Alpha?

Look at the viewing globe. Bolt and Skull are

being attacked by putties. They look like your

normal run -of -the -mill putties. They are Lord

Zedd's new army of putties. I'm afraid they will

be significantly more difficult to defeat. So,

Scotty, what are your final thoughts on Season

1? If you're new to the Power Rangers, just per

se, maybe somebody's like, I've never seen the

Power Rangers, maybe I want to check this podcast

out. You have to watch it. It's absolutely wonderful.

Season 1 is probably my favorite season, just

because it's the original season. I do love Season

2 a ton, and Season 3 is good, but Season 1,

I'm always a homer for... origin stories and

and character builds so season one is the season

for me yeah for me i you know i love the plot

lines like like the overall continuity of the

of the episodes like from day of the dumpster

to the green with evil to green candle to return

like i love the overall continuity of it And

I do love some of the individual episodes because

some of those are nice story points and stuff

like that. You know, Dragonzord is awesome. We

can't say that enough. Dragonzord is awesome.

Tommy is awesome. You know, so, I mean, Season

1, you know, if you're going to get started on

Power Rangers, go back to the beginning. Yep.

You know, don't just, you know, and we fully

admit there are going to be some series later

that... downright suck. But if you're going to

start on Power Rangers, start at the good stuff.

Start at the beginning. On season one, it's probably

got the best acting, too. You know what I mean?

Because there's none of them that are just completely

cheesy. Zach kind of plays an airhead, kind of,

to a certain extent. Not like, duh, like a blonde.

Yeah, he's more of a jokester type. He's more

like a, I don't know, you know, but just the

acting then is just tenfold better than like

Samurai now or Jungle Fury or way better than

Wild Force. It's just, there's just, you know,

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers season one, two,

and three are just the best by far. Yes. Thank

you for joining us here on From the Command Center.

There are so many ways to get in contact with

us. Leave feedback for the show. Visit the network

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on some network stuff to actually get all of

our shows on one page in iTunes, so I'm not sure

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However, we normally release every month on the

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that, but you can always go over to the episode

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download the episode. Do it. Yes, do it. You

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this episode of From the Command Center and wish

you'll join us next time when we'll be continuing

Mighty Morphin. Power Rangers talk with MMPR

Season 2. For now, I am TFG1 Mike with Scotty

Cash. Thank you for listening. Until next time,

we'll see you in one month. Let the power protect

you.