Project Phase Two - Results

Project Phase Two - Results

So we’ve completed what should have been the end of the Power Rangers series altogether only to find that their appeal and their power was too much for Fox to say “no” to them.  20 more episodes were ordered for the season but wouldn’t air for a few more months so that they could be, you know, filmed.  So let’s make some inferences after the first half of season one.

Character Development

Observations.

We suggested before that while the action is cheap to produce, the reason kids keep coming back for more is the teens in their Saved by the Bell/California Dreams scenarios of regular high schoolers who fight crime.  In order to see who has mass appeal, we looked at who opens and closes the show – who gives us our first line to draw us in and who leaves us with our last line to make us want to come back for more?  As has been true all along, Kim is the Queen of opening shows with 14 openers – roughly 35% of the time, Kimberly said the first piece of dialogue. Also keeping in line with our first phase, Zack picked up his pace in closing the shows (11 out of 40) with Kim smoked at only 7 openings.  What we’re seeing here is that Zack gives us catharsis and closure and entertains us with a quick ending one-liner.  Kimberly is complex and makes us want to stay tuned for the next 30 minutes.

At the beginning of the series, we saw quite a bit of rotation with focus characters though many more episodes were about Kimberly than about anyone else.  What I think this really shows is a balance between keeping both girls and guys interested – girls might be more interested in the teen scenes whereas boys might enjoy the action more (in theory).  We see a little over ¼ of all episodes revolving around either Kimberly or Trini or both whereas less than ½ are focused on strictly the boys.  How can this be?  The boys make up 2/3 of the team yet less than ½ of the episodes.  The answer I came up with is that Saban is trying to toe the line between girls vs guys episodes and the fact of the matter is the girls are greatly outnumbered so there’s going to be more episodes about just Trini or just Kimberly as opposed to any one singular guy.

Conclusions.

Jason doesn’t necessarily get too many focus episodes (2 out of 40 about him alone) –but as a teen he definitely rounds out more as a supporting character.  He developed some comedic chops as well as the noble leader . . . without being boring *cough cough* every Red Ranger ever.  Billy is becoming more of a team member rather than just their resident geek, his contributions to the team are real and he’s definitely less of a joke as we moved along in the season.  Zack picked up a few more episodes dedicated to him and developed a lot more outside of the Rangers via his “relationship” with Angela.  Trini and Kimberly have the highest concentration of episodes about them – and good lord are they ever the concerned teens.  Future of America the two of them what with caring about pollution, volunteering to be big sisters to the less fortunate, befriending every minority known to man, these two are really ahead of their time.  My original hypothesis was that perhaps episodes tend to focus on the girls since female viewers are more likely to tune in for story as opposed to action – and I still maintain that’s true.  Then there’s Tommy.  More and more episodes are about Tommy.  He gets two whole mini-series about just him and his character takes off like wildfire. 

BACK TO ACTION!

Observations.

The three main components to look at for the morphed Rangers are: who says "it's Morphin time", who is the first to action (first hit), and who kills the monster.  If Jason is the leader, we would assume that he says "it's Morphin time" the most - and the data support this – 80% of the time it is Jason who says it.  The only time Jason doesn’t say it is if someone morphs after the group and Jason isn’t present.  It can be assumed that whoever says “it’s Morphin time” in Jason’s absence is next in line of command of that particular group.

Next, let's look at who kills the monster.  I was surprised to find that only Kimberly and Trini had killed monsters on their own (of the Rangers) – we have a lot of group weapons and a whole lot of Ultrazord action.  And that one time with Jason’s cousin, Jeremy.  But interesting that on three occasions one of the girls is the only one responsible for a monster death.  This is a dynamic I really find interesting because more often than not, they kill monsters in their Zords or with their group weapons, very rarely on their own.  I was even more surprised to find that not even Dragonzord had defeated anyone on his own – take THAT Tommy.

Last, there's the Power Order.  The Power Order is the order in which you see the Rangers appear after morphing whether it be through flipping in the air or a pose (left to right).  By tracking which position they stood in (farthest left = position 1, etc) I looked at, on average, where did each Ranger appear in the lineup and does that even matter?  Jason appears most often as the first flipping Ranger or the middle standing Ranger - so it looks like the middle Ranger in a lineup is the most visible/powerful/important.  Again, on average, our Rangers can be found here:

Kimberly and Trini set a precedence for female rangers to follow – you can be girly, you can be into shopping, you can be into saving the environment – you can do anything you like and it has no bearing on whether or not you can fight and/or kill a monster all by yourself.  Empowering, no?  Please, take note Samurai and Megaforce.

Conclusions.

Originally, I said “my original hypothesis was that Kimberly and Trini may lead in character development and story lines - but when it comes to action, Jason is the man.  He's the martial arts expert (in real life) and it can be assumed that he therefore should kick the most ass on the show.  But the data is suggesting this isn't necessarily the case.  Jason leads and commands - but he's much more of a team player than I would have thought.”  I maintain this to be true – he really does lead a team.  He doesn’t venture off on his own too much and does take command over the others – but he truly does make decisions that (most of the time) make sense.  He is a team player and a leader. 

Morphing Order Flow-Chart

While the Rangers are still kind of caricatures of real people, there is a bit of development in them.  They’re stereotypes yes, but they are strong people and you get why Zordon chose them.  Kimberly and Trini are strong women when it comes to the battlefield, Billy does machines, Zack holds his own and is a solid all-around person – and Jason and Tommy are obviously expert martial artists.  You’re not left wondering “wtf” about anyone being on the team anymore.  Everyone has a place and a reason for being there – which is perhaps the greatest message you can send to kids.  Everyone has a purpose.

And then there’s Tommy.  He became wildly popular – arguably the most popular Ranger of all time ever.  Is it because he was an amazing martial artist? Eh, Jason was pretty decent, too.  His acting chops aren’t any better/worse than anyone else’s, but there is something about him.  They make him the romantic interest for Kimberly and give him this dark brooding thing with him being all evil and proving himself to be good.  Not to mention he has a damn shield.  His character was just made to be cool.  Which is kind of unfair to the other five but eh what can you do.  The sixth ranger took off wildly in Sentai and it would become a staple in the US series as well.

Tommy forever changed the dynamic of the Rangers and nothing will ever be the same again.

1.40 Doomsday Part 2

Episode 40, Season 1

Doomsday Part 2

Writer: Stewart St. John

Director: Terence H. Winkless

Episode Summary:

We pick up where we left off with our teens discussing their options at the Command Center.  Jason has this bright idea to take the Zords at half power to battle Cyclopsis and Lokar despite the fact that everyone in the room says “Jason that idea sucks” or “Jason, nobody’s ever done that before” or “Jason, everything in the entire morphing grid could disappear.”  So naturally we morph and head right to Megazord.

It’s dark out and Megazord seemingly has some upgrades in that it can function at night now (despite learning that it runs on solar energy in the Green with Evil mini-series).  Cyclopsis cuts off Dragonzord’s tail and Megazord’s arm and then beats him with it as all the Zords disappear and the Rangers de-morph and land (in daylight) on the stage at the Power Ranger Day festival.  Don’t worry, Billy informs us that along with the solar power issue, Zordon apparently upgraded the Zords to go to their hiding place and not die in the event that they were defeated in battle.  Thanks for letting us know that when Zordon was threatening Jason with the whole disappearing-in-the-morphing-grid business.

With Rita’s Palace on Earth, Alpha is able to hack her computer and get into her spells and learn what weaknesses Cyclopsis has they can exploit – turns out he can’t adjust quickly to changing battle modes.  The Rangers and Goldar visit Billy’s garage for some chill time before jumping back into their respective Zords and battling it out til the end.  For the record: Ultrazord 1, Cyclopsis 0.

Power Ranger Day is officially introduced by Mayor Kerrington as the Rangers shake everyone’s hands and pat Tommy on the back pitying him and his non-Rangerness.  The Rangers are given a choice at the Command Center – do you want to keep fighting evil or are you guys cool with all the work you already did?

Group high-five shouting “POWER RANGERS!” is their response – so I guess we’re getting a second half to season 1 after all!

Facts:

-First on-screen – Jason

-First line – Zordon – “Cyclopsis is one of Rita’s most terrifying creations.”

-Focus – All

-Last Line – All – “POWER RANGERS!”

-Rita and Zordon both store their pertinent information on computers

Observations:

The most interesting thing that popped out at me in this episode is the fact that Rita’s secrets and spells and everything is on her computer.  This almost passed me by when I remembered this is 1993.  Along with having a female mayor in Angel Grove, Power Rangers was pretty ahead of its time in converting all of Rita’s files to her computer.  However, we’re teaching the kiddies a bad lesson about hacking in this episode.  Still, this is part of what made Power Rangers so exciting at the time, we weren’t just dealing with crime fighters in spandex suits, we were dealing with technology and issues unique to this period in time.  A great combination of ancient magic and mythology with the computer age. 

This was supposed to be the end of the series – at this point Saban has burned out all the original footage from Zyuranger and didn’t know what to do with this runaway hit.  What we’ll see in the episodes that aired approximately 3-4 months after this episode is specially made footage dubbed “Zyu 2.”  This will be the only part of the Power Rangers series that does not follow Japanese aired footage.

That said, at the halfway-ish point of Season 1, we’ve seen the teens tackle pollution, friends with disabilities, responsibility, female empowerment, computer hacking, nuclear waste . . . very much issues of the time.  This is what newer seasons like Samurai have been missing.  The cutting edge of what’s happening now as opposed to sticking with formulaic topics.

1.39 Doomsday Part 1

Episode 39, Season 1

Doomsday Part 1

Writer: Stewart St. John

Director: Terence H. Winkless

Episode Summary:

Kimberly reads in the local paper that the Mayor wants to honor Angel Grove’s heroes via Power Rangers Day and hopes they turn up at the park for the festival.  Wink wink nod nod our teens say they think the heroes can make it.  All the while Bulk and Skull reveal a tinge of jealousy in Angel Grove’s respect for the Power Rangers and want to steal their thunder just a bit by creating alter-egos the Incredible Bulkster and Super Skull.

Zack gets turned down yet again by Angela for a date because he’s not a Power Ranger – pfft, gold digger.  Kimberly wonders why Tommy isn’t at the festival – it’s suggested perhaps he feels left out – but seriously, what kind of best friend/boyfriend/etc doesn’t show up for his girlfriend’s holiday?  Rita decides to steal the Rangers thunder, but is far more successful thank Bulk and Skull – she makes the whole crowd disappear and resurrects her ages old Zord – CYCLOPSIS!  Through the help of Lokar the giant head they defeat the Power Rangers Megazord and send our teens crying to Zordon.

In the Command Center we learn the citizens of Angel Grove are trapped in Rita’s dimensional vortex, and once someone gets stuck in Rita’s vortex – they don’t come out.  Unless, you know, you defeat Lokar/Cyclopsis/etc.   Jason realizes they’re the only hope those people have.  Too bad they don’t have a history of saving people on record or those people might have reason to be afraid.

Facts:

-First on-screen – Kim

-First line – Kim - “And because of their contribution . . . “

-Focus – All

-Last Line – Zordon - “They will all be trapped in Rita’s vortex forever.”

-Angel Grove is progressive and has a female mayor – Mayor Kerrington

-Cyclopsis hasn’t been seen in 10,000 years

-Bulk and Skull create super hero alter-egos

Observations:

There’s very little Ranger combat in this episode as most of it’s done in the Zords – which makes sense, this is supposed to be the Rangers biggest and deadliest battle.  The stakes are high.  All in all, the episode does a good job getting the excitement level pretty high pretty early on.  Which, again, makes sense since this and Doomsday Pt 2 are essentially the mid-season finale.

It hit me how cool it was that Mayor Kerrington is a woman – this is 1993 and that’s pretty damn progressive for a kids show.  I like the message it sends – women can be more than teachers (sorry Mrs Applebee) – they really can do anything they put their minds to.  Saved by the Bell eat your heart out.

We also see a continuation of the Zack/Angela storyline which is sweet.  I can’t tell if she’s just busting his chops or if she really doesn’t like him and he’s just not getting the hint.  Either way, way to keep your chin up, bro.

Lastly, continuity error much?  Megazord battles in the dark when we learned in the Green with Evil story line that it runs on solar energy.  Maybe Zordon made some adjustments to their power source when we weren’t looking?  Also - maybe try some editing to make it look not so obvious that Rita's Palace says "Bandora's Palace" from the Zyuranger footage without telling us that she beat up someone named Bandora first.

1.38 A Bad Reflection on You

Episode 38, Season 1

A Bad Reflection on You

Writer: Peggy Nicoll

Director: Robert Hughes

Episode Summary:

Scorpina is tasked with a mission alongside The Twin Man – duplicate the Rangers and ruin their goody reputation.  These “evil” rangers wear sunglasses and chew gum and go on dates with Skull, so you know they’re bad news.  They’re so bad, they put laundry soap in the water fountain so Principal Caplan would get creamed in the face with a bunch of laundry soap.

That said, our teens get detention for the “evil” rangers crime!  In detention, we learn that Bulk is sadly illiterate.  Rather than pity him for spelling his own name incorrectly, the “good” Rangers laugh at him.  He pulls out a massive feast his mother packed him for detention and once again they laugh at his unfortunate battle with obesity.  Through Bulk’s television set he brought to detention, we learn that the “evil” Rangers are attacking ordinary citizens with lawn chairs – IT’S MADNESS!

 

Zack confuses Bulk and Skull with this concept of “counting” so they can morph of there and save their reputations.  The “good” Rangers battle the “evil” rangers –  “evil” pink tricks Trini into kicking “good” Kimberly - who turns out to be a putty in disguise.  We uncover the Big Bad – The Twin Man and beat him with the power weapons.

We transport back into detention and watch as Bulk and Skull are sentenced to another detention because the Rangers are big fat liars.

Facts:

-First on-screen – All

-First line – “Mr Caplan – can we give you a hand?” - Billy

-Focus – All

-Last Line – “Get a life.” - Zack

-Bulk spells his name “Buulk”

-The actual Rangers do not appear until 4:30 into the episode

-Sunglasses and gum = up to no good

Observations:

This is quite an enjoyable episode.  Obviously the same actors play both the evil and good Rangers, but all five of them differentiate their evil counterparts enough to make it believable that they actually are being framed.  We also learn that, yet again, evil Billy dresses much better than and is way cooler than real Billy.  I want to give credit to Trini for being the most believable of the five – everyone else performed caricatures of themselves where as her “bad” was much more subtle and evil in a way.

The unmorphed sequences show the actors have some decent acting chops, I don’t think a story-line like this could be pulled off with the same amount of believability by the cast of Samurai . . . but maybe Megaforce.  This episode brings the five rangers back to their roots before Tommy.  It’s a good standalone story that is just fun to watch.  We don’t progress the story any and we don’t earn any new weapons, but we don’t need to – the mid-season finale is about to come up (*spoiler alert*) in the next two episodes.

The thing is – this “evil” Rangers story line works so well in this episode I wouldn’t be surprised if we see it again . . . and maybe again . . . and possibly even again.  Obviously if something works well, do it over and over and over.

1.37 Clean-up Club

Episode 37, Season 1

Clean-up Club

Writer: Mark Hoffmeier

Director: Terence H. Winkless

Episode Summary:

Mrs Applebee is teaching another generic lesson plan which involves our students showing videos of their projects.  Bulk and Skull are filming a documentary while Trini shows off her editing skills in a video about Pollution Problems in Angel Grove (a VERY 1993 message).  Trini’s video essay is – in a word – perfect.  It brings Billy to talk about O-zone depletion and the effects pollution will have on the earth – silly Billy, there’s no such thing as global warming OR a hole in the O-zone layer!

Rita sends the Pollutacorn to tackle Trini’s clean-up efforts while Jason and Zack have a playful interaction karate chopping bottles and cans as founding members of the Clean Up Club.  Our teens dance and flip away the hours while cleaning up the trash in Angel Grove park proving that not only do they save the world by fighting monsters – they also do community service.  Putties mess up their groove while Pollutacorn dirties up Angel Grove again. But who’s really the monster?  Pollutacorn or the people who dirtied up Angel Grove to begin with?

Zordon calls his Rangers back so Billy can perform a situation analysis with Alpha – which I guess is what the kids are calling it these days?  We learn that to defeat Pollutacorn we must chop off his horn – which Jason does using his newly acquired Dragon Shield and Dragon Dagger – Tommy eat your heart out.  We call on Megazord, downtown Angel Grove is destroyed yet again but at least we got rid of all the pollution!  A newscast thanks the Rangers for saving the world yet again with no mention of who will pay to repair the damages.  Again.

Facts:

-First on-screen – Billy

-First line – “My video project is called “Pollution Problems in Angel Grove” - Trini

-Focus – Trini

-The Power Rangers are noticed by the public at large, but identities unknown

-Jason uses Dragon Shield in battle . . . again

-cleaning up dirty parks is cool!

Observations:

The episode itself isn’t heavy in moving the story for the season along – it’s yet another stand-alone episode (of which there are many in MMPR) but it’s entertaining to watch.  While the episode may seem PSA heavy, I don’t find this terribly out of character for a kids/teen show in 1993.  Just look at every episode of Saved by the Bell ever.  There is a subtlety to the message though, while they do beat you over the head with “pollution is bad” you discover this through a genuine interest on the teens part to help the world.  They’re super heroes who save the world every day – it’s not an unnatural thing for them to be interested in this.

I think there is an innocence in this episode that can go under-appreciated.   I could easily be annoyed with how preachy this episode is (and in fact, if an episode of the current Power Rangers Megaforce copied this story line I would find it incredibly annoying) – but I shouldn’t be.  They are teenagers in high school, these are the sorts of things teenagers do.  High schoolers learn about climate change and pollution and many of them have to fulfill customer service hours for graduation.  While the actors are obviously in their 20's in these scenes, you have to remember they’re portraying high school teenagers.

Looking at it in context, this episode and its story have held up.  I’m actually kind of impressed with that.  It’s not what I would consider a stand-out episode, but it reminds me of why I watched this every morning before school.

Also, re-watching I am really learning to appreciate Jason as a Red Ranger.  And I am loving the way the DragonShield looks on the red tyranno costume.

1.36 Birds of a Feather

Episode 36, Season 1

Birds of a Feather

Writer: Julianne Klemm

Director: Robert Hughes

Episode Summary:

We start off with Zack teaching a mixed martial arts class – apparently he became a certified instructor at Ernie’s Gym and Juice Bar at some point despite no formal martial arts training.  His students are practicing some hardcore striking drills when we get a motivational speech about the upcoming youth Martial Arts tournament to be held later that day! Zack’s protégé is then scurred by Bulk and Skull’s protégé, Biff.  As it turns out, Biff’s got some mad skills for a kid.

 

We skip to the tournament where Zack’s protégé, Cameron, learns a hard lesson that every MMPR kid eventually learns – you can never count on your Ranger to be there.  Ever.  We head to the Command Center where Zordon informs us that Rita sent the Hatchasaurus and Zordon sent the Dragonzord to take care of it . . . without a pilot?  Srsly. The Rangers morph and finish the job with Megazord.  But oh no, the Hatchasaurus is not dead!  Cardiotron (the heart of the monster) is still operating!  And he’s taken the Dragonzord hostage!  His Megareceptors just aren’t working!

Jason hops inside Cardiotron and uses the Dragonshield to take him down from the inside.  Something something something, summon Ultrazord, end of monster. We head back to the tournament just in time to watch Cameron win in the ultimate battle against Biff. 

Facts:

-First on-screen – Zack

-First line – “Ready one, two, three, four, five six . . .”- Zack

-Focus – Zack 

-Last Line – “Proud because you believed in yourself!” - Zack

-Jason uses Dragon Shield in battle

-Zack performs his kata to hip-hop music

Observations:

Pity Tommy didn’t get to be a part of the tournament – he loves martial arts competitions.  This is the first post-Green Ranger episode and it always baffled me that while Tommy is no longer a Ranger, why did they isolate him from hanging out with the team?  Exclusivity much?

It’s also about time we get a Zack themed episode.  The monster and the story don’t necessarily match up, but who really cares?  We get another canned episode about the Power Rangers helping out their community and caring for the local kids until something bigger comes along and then they abandon them.

After all the drama of the Green Candle two parter, you don’t necessarily expect too much from this episode – it’s good to get a breather in from a feel-good episode.  Also, the red looks so cool in the Dragon Shield.

1.35 Green Candle Part 2

Episode 35, Season 1

Green Candle Part 2

Writer: Gary Glasber & Stewart St John

Director: Robert Hughes

Episode Summary:

We pick up in the Command Center – the Rangers pondering if there’s a way to rescue Tommy’s powers.  Billy and Alpha chat a little bit and voila – a plan is born.  Billy is going to use these things that resemble giant crutches to build a portal to Rita’s dimension so Jason can go in, fight Goldar, and snatch up Tommy’s Green Candle so we can call it a day.  Jason’s the only Ranger who’s ever SEEN the dimension and he has the most visible biceps so it only makes sense to send him and only him.

The Cyclops monster is engaging in a bit of cosplay and dressing up like the Dragon Megazord and causing general chaos on the newly rebuilt downtown Angel Grove.  Tommy can’t stand to sit idly by and morphs into action.  He’s a bit weak losing his powers and all so he jumps in the Dragonzord cockpit and starts . . . losing the battle.  Zack decides to jump through Billy’s portal and ask Jason to come back and finish the battle with them – he points out that while Tommy may lose his powers, it’s not nearly as bad as him losing his life.

The Rangers morph, call on Megazord, Titanus and the gang to form Ultrazord and take down the monster.  Except uh-oh, the candle officially burned out.  At the Command Center Tommy gives his power coin to Jason so Rita can’t have the Dragonzord or his powers and we watch as Tommy slowly turns into a civilian again.  We cut to Tommy practicing a kata by the lake – Kimberly approaches him and informs him that the Rangers (and more specifically her) miss him.  Tommy *gasp* reaches for Kim’s hand and kisses her before asking her to the dance.  Kim turns away and makes Tommy’s little teenage heart panic before saying “k.” 

Facts:

-First on-screen – Tommy

-First line – “I don’t believe this.” - Tommy

-Focus – Tommy 

-Last Line – “YES! - Tommy

-Jason officially owns the Dragon Coin

-Kimberly and Tommy become the first Power Rangers couple

Observations:

Tommy’s gone and we get a pretty decent story out of it.  The great thing about the Green Ranger entering the scene is that we get more of a story arc that carries through the season rather than singular 30 minute episodes that don’t have a continuous story.  The Green Ranger loses his power and adds quite a bit of drama.  Kimberly and Tommy finally admit their feelings to each other and give us some adorable acting – it’s believable that they’re both nervous teenagers who are friends who like each other.

Again, I understand with the constraints of the Zyuranger footage why they needed to take away Tommy’s powers – it just seems like they could have set up the story of how Tommy came to touch this wax a little sooner.  Or perhaps given us a good reason why Jason is the only Ranger who could go and fight Goldar in Rita’s dimension – it seems to me that if Zack went with him the first time they could have double-teamed Goldar, gotten the candle, and been home in time for supper.

 

In terms of MMPR season 1 story-telling, this is as good as it gets.  The story moves the season along and sets the stage for more drama with Tommy.  The reason he was so popular at the time – and still amongst hardcore MMPR fans – is this curse he has to bear.  He’s allowed to show more character through his suffering.  He’s dark and mysterious and it makes his character so alluring – just like Burai in Zyuranger.  Without the appeal Burai brought to the table, the sixth Ranger would not be commonplace in Sentai/Power Rangers today.