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.

1.35 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. 

1.30 The Rockstar

 

Episode 30, Season 1

 The Rockstar

Writer: Peggy Nicoll

Director: Terence H. Winkless

Episode Summary:

We open with our favorite teenagers packing the car for a field trip (whether this is school sponsored or just for funsies remains unanswered).  Trini packs some “exotic cookies” that turn out to be escargot and everyone enjoys before she unveils what escargot actually is and the teens comically throw the “exotic cookies” over their shoulders.  Through exposition we find out that Jason is not going on this trip because his cousin, Jeremy, is in town and he wants to hang out with him.

We cut to Rita who tells us of her evil plan to obtain the Mirror of Destruction which, true to its name, destroys anything that stands in its path.  Luckily for our Rangers, this mirror is hidden in Angel Grove so they don’t have to travel very far to battle Rita’s evil plan. 

Bulk and Skull are eating a large pizza (the sloppy joe pizza to be exact) and Bulk picks a fight with Jason.  He makes some martial arts moves that are rather uncomfortable to watch and Jason merely evades and lets Bulk make a fool of himself.  He tells Jeremy to remember brains over brawn.  Jason and Jeremy then practice some karate kicks and Jason tells his cousin how martial arts helped build his confidence and made him a better person and the same old crap we hear in every after school special.

Realizing I’m taking too long to get to the point of the episode, I’ll sum up the rest of the ep in one paragraph.

Jason and Jeremy fight some putties on the beach, Jeremy finds a map  that produces an earthquake.  Our teens feel said earthquake in their car (yes, scientifically this baffled me, too) , must be Rita and not the fact that we live in California.  Scorpina then summons Rockstar (cleverly named because it shoots rocks).  Rockstar kicks a morphed Trini and Zack in a pool with rocks attached to their bellies.  Billy shows up despite the fact that he was not in the morphing sequence.  Jeremy finds the mirror and kills some putties with it (not before telling us brains before brawn) and then he masterfully kills Rockstar with it.  Scorpina grabs the mirror and Rita makes her grow.  Goldar joins and the Rangers are able to destroy the mirror.  Jeremy then recounts the story and the Rangers’ egos grow as he tells them how awesome they are.

Facts:

-First on-screen – Jason, Zack, Kimberly, Billy

-First line – “This is going to be fun!” - Billy

-Focus - Jason

-Last Line – “I have a martial arts class that I need to teach.  Come on, Jeremy.” – Jason

-Tommy does not appear in this episode nor is he mentioned

-Jeremy kills the monster, not the Rangers

Observations:

First of all – this is probably the second episode where we see a monster destroyed but NOT by the Rangers (with Alpha 5 destroying the Genie earlier in the season).  But note that Jeremy does not gloat about this when recounting his story later.  I think this humility is perhaps a greater lesson for the kiddies watching at home rather than us constantly being beat over the head with “brains over brawn”.

Second, there are some scientific aspects of this show that really just . . . left me in pain.  Billy didn’t realize what escargot was until he thought about it for a second, he’s a brainiac he should have known exactly what escargot was when Trini said it the first time.  Then we have them feeling the earthquake in the car – which just doesn’t happen.  Then we have the Rangers with rocks on them in the pool.  They were floating in the pool, not sinking.  It makes one question if these rocks were really rocks or rather some Styrofoam prop (my money’s on prop).  I get that drowning Rangers might be too heavy for kids to watch, but having floating rocks is just dumb.

Overall, I didn’t personally enjoy this episode due to the lack of Kimberly (or for that matter, Tommy) – but I can see how this show might be one of those episodes that people distinctly remember from 20 years ago.  If you’re a kid watching this and see someone who looks like you practicing karate with Jason the Red Power Ranger, that’s pretty cool. 

Not to mention, I think Jeremy is undervalued in this episode.  He’s an actual teenager (which at this point none of the actual Rangers are), and he’s actually not that bad with martial arts.  His moves aren’t as polished and tight as Jason’s, but they’re still not too shabby form-wise.  He’s got his wits about him and fights some Putties, kills Rockstar, finds the Mirror of Destruction and recognizes when it’s “too hot to handle” and doesn’t get power hungry.  NBD.  No other kid on the show (at this point) has shown herself/himself as being capable and have all been damsels in distress (for lack of a better phrase).  Trini’s cousin Sylvia?  She couldn’t fight her way out of a paper bag without Trini.  Kimberly and Trini’s “sister” Maria?  Punky Brewster was captured within minutes of us being introduced to her.  Billy’s protégé, Willy?  Forced to hang out in a monster’s eyeball.  Zack’s entire Hip-Hop Kido class?  Sleeping on the job.

We’re getting away from the idea that only the Rangers are the heroes and getting more into the fact that other people, normal average people, have the power to be heroes inside of them.   Now lets go sing some Kumbayahs.

1.26 Gung Ho!

Season 1, Episode 26
"Gung Ho!"
Director: Robert Hughes
Writer: Mark Hoffmeier

Episode Summary:

Tommy and Jason are training for the Team Ninja competition and having trouble cooperating.  Despite the fact that Zack is coaching and Billy designed a computer program to get them into shape, their constant bickering about who is right and who is wrong is getting in the way of progress.  Because obviously this conflict has been building up since . . . ?  Trini tells the boys they need to learn to GUNG HO!  Kimberly and Trini are walking to the park discussing the conflict between Jason and dreamy Tommy when Rita sends a band of putties to attack the girls.  But wait, these aren't just ordinary putties - they're Super Putties made from the Super Putty from the last episode (CONTINUITY!)!

The other Rangers try to help the girls fight off the Super Putties and then regroup at the Command Center since they've never before had that much trouble with henchmen.  Zack (who leads with "it's morphin time" as the de facto second in command) leads Kimberly, Billy, and Trini into battle against the Super Putties while Zordon comes up with this *amazing* plan to get Tommy and Jason to cooperate - he sends them to gather the only weapons they can use to defeat the Super Putties.  What's the catch?  He gives them a map . . . split in two . . . and gives them each half.  Fool-proof. 

Tommy and Jason still won't gung-ho and even though they find the landmarks they should be, each takes credit for something without helping the other.  Sigh.  They finally spot the weapons and are attacked by a giant mecha-beast.  They morph and Jason comes up with a plan that finally incorporates teamwork - Tommy you're better with a sword (I don't know what this assumption is based on) and I can get up the hill faster to get the weapons, so you take my sword, and I'll take your shield since I'll be defenseless.  They do so and Jason discovers . . . some other team of Rangers weapons!

He steals the other Rangers weapons and brings them to his friends who use them to shoot down the Super Putties.  We then find out the mecha-beast?  Really our good friend Titanus whom Zordon's never mentioned before and can apparently turn Megazord into the ultimate weapon.  Thanks.

Shirtless Tommy and Jason battle fully cloaked ninjas in the Team Ninja Finals and apply their team-working skills from earlier to win the competition.  Yay.

Facts:

-First line - Jason "I could've had you man."
-Last line - Jason "Yeah, we make a great team."
-First on-screen - Tommy and Jason
-Focus - Tommy and Jason
-Introduction of the Super Putties
-Introduction of Titanus the Carrier Zord
-Tommy's shield is transferable

Observations:

I like the plot of this episode - I really do.  It makes sense to have a rivalry between the leader of a team that's been in place and a newcomer that has a lot more power (and a much bigger Zord, if you know what I'm sayin').  But since Tommy became a good guy, he and Jason have been friends and Jason's welcomed the addition to the team, so this conflict seems to come out of nowhere.  But again, I think the conflict makes more sense than the previous episodes of no conflict.  It gives an interesting kick to my study of the power struggle on the team.

Let's talk about the guns.  They very explicitly say "Zyuranger" on them.  I get that we use the Japanese source footage a lot - but is there really no way we could have re-filmed this scene?  Also, when do the Rangers actually use these guns to battle Super Putties again?  They made it sound dire that they get these weapons, yet the Rangers seem to battle the Super Putties with ease later in the series.

Lastly, in Zyuranger, the Zords are guardian beasts that are alive - Titanus seems to exhibit this quality as well.  I don't know how else they would have addressed Zordon hiding this weapon that could have really helped during the Green Ranger saga except to say that Titanus is different from the other Zords.  He really does have freedom of choice and now he's choosing to help the Rangers.

1.21 Green with Evil Part V: Breaking the Spell

Season 1, Episode 21

"Green with Evil Part V: Breaking the Spell"
Writer: Gary Glasberg and Stewart St. John

Director: Robert Hughes

Episode Summary:

The Rangers are still in disbelief that Tommy could be the Green Ranger (the DNA match courtesy of Alpha).  Now that Jason's back in charge he directs the other Rangers to split up and try to find Tommy and appeal to him on a personal level. There's no way anybody can be evil because they want to be - it has to be a spell!  Predictably, Kimberly finds him at Ernie's and whispers to him that she knows he's the Green Ranger and that they can help him overcome Rita.  His eyes glow green and he greets her as "Pink Ranger" (HE KNOWS!) and declares once again that Rita is his queen so back off.  We close-up on Kimberly's face and discover that she really needs to clean her eyebrows.  Seriously.





Rita gives Tommy his very own zord - DRAGONZORD! which he summons with his Dragon Dagger (a dagger that has a flute built in to it - very manly).  Dragonzord goes on a rampage through the Warehouse District in Angel Grove and the Rangers morph into action.  Alpha revives Zordon who then revives the Rangers Zords by making their morphers glow.  Jason's T-Rex then battles Dragonzord and wins (you'd think Dragonzord would have the size advantage, but no).  Jason jumps to the ground and decides to have hand-to-hand combat with Tommy and Zordon informs Jason that he needs to destroy Tommy's Sword of Darkness to break Rita's spell over him.  He knocks said sword loose and destroys it with his Power Blaster freeing Tommy.

Jason asks Tommy to join the Rangers and fight on the side of good, which he bashfully declines since he's so ashamed of his actions.  The other Rangers convince him and then we morph as a six-member team and pose for the camera and say various threats to Rita about how awesome being good is.  Zordon then displays a toy commercial, I mean, new battle-mode for Dragonzord that combines the Mastodon, Triceratops, and Sabre-Tooth Tiger (I totally had this toy - and it was awesome).  Tommy takes the same pledge the other five Rangers took in episode 1 and we end on a high-five, er, six shouting "POWER RANGERS!"  The epic Green Ranger mini-series concludes.

Facts:

-First Line - Kim "I can't believe that Tommy's the Green Ranger."
-Last Line - All "POWER RANGERS!"
-Focus - Tommy
-Jason says "morphinominal" for the first time
-Rita introduces us to Dragonzord and the Dragon Dagger and the summoning song
-Zordon introduces Dragonzord Fighting Mode
-Tommy joins the Rangers, our first sixth Ranger

Observations:

Alpha really drove most of the action in this mini-series.  He kept morale from hitting rock-bottom by giving his rousing speeches, he discovered the identity of the Green Ranger, he protected the Command Center from further damage, and he revived Zordon - TWICE.  Forget Jason and Zack's leadership ability in this mini-series, for the first time ever I'm on Team Alpha.  Ai yi yi yi yi indeed.

This episode really shows the limitation of using the Sentai footage as in Zyuranger the Green Ranger is driven to tears (in his un-morphed form) to dissolve the Sword of Darkness because he cannot bring himself to kill his brother (the Red Ranger).  Additionally, Dragonzord is battled by Goldar and Megazord in Zyuranger since the Green Ranger attempts to assassinate Bandora (Rita).  Furthermore, since the Zords are "guardian beasts" in Zyuranger, they automatically come together to show the Rangers the new battle mode instead of having Zordon introduce it.  Obviously MMPR could not use all of this footage in their storyline and had to splice the Dragonzord footage, cut out the assassination attempt completely, and film an entirely new scene with Jason shooting the Sword of Darkness.  If you go through the final fight with Jason and Tommy slowly, you can definitely pin-point when we switch from the Japanese to the American footage because a) Tommy's shield suddenly becomes some cheap material instead of metal and b) US Jason is a much bigger guy than Japanese Geki.

So now the Morphinominal Project takes a new turn - looking at the composition of a six-member team.

1.19 Green with Evil Part III: The Rescue

Season 1, Episode 19
"Green with Evil Part III: The Rescue"
Writer: Mark Ryan & Stewart St. John
Director: Robert Hughes

Episode Summary:

We open with Jason and Goldar battling it out – with Jason grunting and Goldar taking stabs at him with his sword.  Then we shift over to the Command Center with some very sad Rangers still lamenting the loss of Zordon.   We see a lot of wandering around after Zack comes up with the brilliant plan to split up and look for Jason.  For some reason we’re checking all around Angel Grove thinking perhaps Jason just forgot to show up for the big fight.

After a comical encounter with Bulk and Skull, Kim runs into Tommy where he sasses her off again and accuses her of “worrying” again – she then convinces Zack that he should talk to Tommy since he probably thinks she made it up for an excuse to talk to him.  Which is a lot more astute an observation than I think anyone in Angel Grove is capable of making.  While chasing down Tommy, Zack and Kim are attacked by putties who, they note, do not attack Tommy.  Wtf?

We learn about Rita’s new weapon – Scorpina – who is this really hot Asian woman in spandex and an uneven pony-tail.  Rita sends Green Ranger in to finish the job with Jason (Goldar is so pissed) while he waves his Sword of Darkness in Jason's face.  Conveniently Billy is able to get their communicators back on-line and they teleport Jason out of there (hooray!) before Tommy does any real damage.  Jason rejoins the team, Scorpina kicks their collective ass and then Rita pulls her team back (again).  Oh no, what could she be planning?  Thankfully she employs some exposition and tells us.

See, Megazord runs on solar energy (because this is California, duh) and she plans on creating a solar eclipse to cut off their energy source.  Instead of, I don’t know, attacking at night.  That said, we end with a giant Goldar attacking Angel Grove and the team pondering what’s up and how to fight this battle with most of their resources depleted.

Facts:

-First Line - Zack "Come on Alpha, you almost had a lock on Zordon."

-First on-screen - Jason

-Last Line - Jason "We don't have a choice."

-Introduction of SCORPINA!

Observations:

I can’t help but think the Rangers really aren’t too bright.  How many more hints do you need that nice guy Tommy who suddenly turned into a dick who wears green all the time is the Green Ranger?  I mean, nothing wrong with giving him the benefit of the doubt in order to drag this mini-series out yet another episode I suppose.

That said, seriously nothing happens here.  I feel like I waited for Godot the whole episode.  They wrap up the Jason cage-fight, they tell us the plan Rita is going to use in the next episode to defeat Megazord, and we’re still looking for Zordon.  Trini and Billy never leave the Command Center and even Kimberly is given very little to do.  Zack has some damn decent plans when he’s forced to take on the leader role.  Split up to look over Angel Grove because we can’t teleport?  Be proactive and find him instead of waiting at the Command Center?  Seriously, Zack is carrying this team and earning the unofficial title of “second-in-command”.

The only thing worth noting is the introduction of Scorpina - in Sentai-world, she and Goldar are married.  You can see this in the Japanese footage as they seem to squabble like a couple and even have this romantic way of battling the Rangers together and leaving before they're defeated.  She's the first foe the Rangers face that looks like a human - which is why I find it odd that they considered killing her.  Usually they're vary wary of battling anyone human.  Anyway, Rita is nervous about how pretty Scorpina is and asks the opinion of her henchmen.

1.18 Green with Evil Part II: Jason's Battle

Season 1, Episode 18

"Green with Evil Part II: Jason's Battle

Writer: Tom Wyner, Cheryl Saban, and Stewart St John

Director: Robert Hughes

Episode Summary:
We open with some very sad Rangers at Ernie's trying to relieve some stress as Jason angrily punches a bag.  He and Zack question the true identity of the "Green Ranger dude" and lament the loss of Zordon, Alpha's virus, and the overall destruction of the Command Center.  Then we see Rita going on about yet another ancient relic that apparently everybody but the Rangers and us the audience knew about for centuries (I really hate being left out of the loop) - the Sword of Darkness.  We cut to Tommy in the same alley he was first abducted and Bulk and Skull confront him about the whole karate mess in the hallway the day before.  Tommy shines some green light in his eyes and then shoots lasers out of his eyes at them as they run away - in all honesty, if this didn't start Bulk and Skull thinking about the true identity of certain Power Rangers, I don't know how much more of a blatant clue they need.

Back at school, Kimberly asks Tommy why he didn't show up yesterday for their pseudo-date and he responds very Greg Brady-like with "something suddenly came up" and then she states the obvious - you're being kinda not yourself.  Tommy is apparently on his period as he shoots back something like "the whole world doesn't revolve around you, Kimberly."  Gees.  All she asked was why you stood her up, take a Midol and get over it Tommy.  Tommy then has to prove his worthiness to Rita to earn the aforementioned Sword of Darkness by fighting some putties - without his powers!  Spoiler alert: he succeeds.

Jason, doing the responsible thing, informs Tommy that he won't be able to make their date, I mean workout plans to which Tommy (apparently still PMS-ing) comments "oh, I understand all right" and then shoots Jason off into another dimension wherein he has to cage-fight Goldar for his morpher!  Oh no!  Kimberly and Zack use the Rad-Bug to drive to the Command Center to meet up with their fellow Rangers and morph so they can battle the evil Green Ranger with his Sword of Darkness.  Without Jason, they form Megazord and (sort of) defeat the Green Ranger.  We close on Jason on his back in the cage fight with Goldar declaring it will be the end of him.

Facts:
-First line - Jason - "Man, I wish I could get my hands on this Green Ranger dude."
-Last line - Jason - "What's your point?"
-First on-screen Ranger - Jason
-Focus Character - Tommy and Jason
-First time Jason does not morph in an episode
-First time Zack says "it's morphin time"

Observations:

Jason's gone (a Red Ranger has to face an enemy alone - a novel concept) and Tommy becomes more powerful.  Kimberly is upset that Tommy stood her up and everyone notices Tommy's overall moodiness - yet how do we not put two and two together to see that Tommy is the Green Ranger?  While Zack, Trini, and Billy are all in this episode and all have some sort of function (Billy fixes Alpha, Trini watches, and Zack drives the Rad Bug and says "it's morphin time") - the show is still driven by Jason/Tommy/Kimberly.  Get used to it, folks.

Zack says "it's morphin time" for the first time which is kind of cool.  Without Jason, we see Zack take up second-in-command duties and (in my opinion) make a much better call than Jason would.  Green Ranger kicked our butt last time, so let's beat him to the punch, escalate the battle (against Zordon's rules, but hey, Zordon's in another dimension right now) and form Megazord to fight a 6 foot tall man.  Genius really.  And guess what?  It works.  But let's not get used to a Ranger having a good battle strategy.

All in all, the episode progresses the saga, but really could have been condensed into five minutes (much like the other episodes in the saga) and starts to feel a bit drawn out.  Plus, Tommy's hair is really starting to bother me.

Project Phase One - Results

After last week's sneak-peek at the first ten episodes, I'm happy to present my first round of results.  So let's look at the data and make some inferences about the power hierarchy in the Power Rangers original lineup.

Character Development

Observations.

As we looked at before, the first and last lines of the show are important to draw the viewer in to this world of spandex-clad heroes and leave us feeling compelled to come back and watch the next episode as well.  In line with the results after episode 10, it appears that Kimberly kept up the trend of opening episodes whereas Zack took over the lead for closing episodes.  Given, his lead over Kim for closing episodes is merely 6%.  Nearly half of all episodes open with a Kimberly line (as they should).  One would expect this to correlate with another parameter - first Ranger to appear on-screen in each episode.

However, despite the fact that Kimberly has a knack for opening episodes, she is not as often the first on-screen Ranger.  That honor belongs to underdog, Jason.  To be fair, a majority of Jason's appearances are alongside another Ranger (i.e. we see him sparring with Zack or teaching Trini a new karate move).  This is evident in his correlation with Zack's first on-screen appearances.

While opening and closing shows is important - what's going to keep a viewer coming back for more?  The character carrying the story for each episode.  This is indicative of who the audience finds the most entertaining to watch or the character they're most willing to come back for.  My findings are not at all surprising - Kimberly and Trini are tied with 6 episodes each.  While Trini had the early lead after episode 10, it appears that Kimberly is more than making up for lost time.  To add a personal anecdote, "Foul Play in the Sky" was my first episode in 1993 and look where I am now.  Kimberly clearly drew me in for more.

Conclusions.

While Jason may be the designated leader of them as a fighting squad, there's not much in the way of character development leaving him rather flat.  Billy is at least fleshing out to have individual interests and show some semblance of a personality.  Zack is largely ignored in the beginning episodes - left behind to be a supporting character with only one episode about him wherein he believes himself to be forgotten (my guess is he's seen the rest of the show and realizes it's highly probable that he was in fact forgotten).  Trini and Kimberly have the highest concentration of episodes about them with Billy not too far behind.  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 - but I'm wondering now if it's simply that Amy Jo Johnson is the break-out star of the show. 

The question becomes - was MMPR successful because of Kimberly?  Or did Amy Jo become successful because of MMPR?

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.  With the exception of Zordon calling the Rangers to action in the first two episodes - it's almost all Jason.  However, starting in "Power Ranger Punks" we notice something new and different - someone who is not Jason gets the opportunity to say those words.  Prior to this episode, even if a Ranger morphs on their own, they do not say the words but merely hold out their morpher and assume the morphing pose.  Billy and Kimberly muster up the strength to say the words together for the first time - and then Kimberly seems to forget that she's a girl and starts saying it all over the place (by this I mean twice). 

Looking at who is the first to action - we see that the numbers are pretty evenly split.  There is somewhat of a correlation between being the character focus of the episode and having the first hit - but not enough to suggest a trend.  We can see this in the fact that the girls (combined) get the first hit nearly half the time and are also the episode focus about half the time - but Jason and Zack's first hit percentages throw off any sort of statistical correlation.

Lastly, let's look at who kills the monster.  After episode ten, we noticed that Trini was the only Ranger to kill a monster on her own and it happened all of once.  Continuing the trend from our last observation, Megazord continues to be the most dominant monster-killer (at 44% of all monster killings).  What's interesting to note is that Alpha 5 is responsible for defeating a monster (the Genie) and ties himself with Trini at one monster each leaving most monsters defeated by either Megazord or through the Rangers combined weapons (63% of the time this is the case).  However, we notice another new parameter that was not present in our last observation - Kimberly kills two monster on her own giving her the lead as Ranger who's killed the most monsters on her own.

Conclusions.

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.  The only times monsters are killed by individual Rangers instead of the team are when the girls do it.  Or more specifically, when Kimberly does it.

Morphing Order Flow-Chart

While I attempted to put aside my own bias (that Kimberly is the best Ranger ever FTW) - the data is suggesting that Kimberly is in fact the most important all-around Ranger.  While she doesn't take command the way Jason does, she's a utility player that takes command when Jason's not around.  She drives storylines and shows us something no other Ranger does: popularity.  I think a lot of this comes from the fact that the characters (with the exception of Billy and Kimberly) are rather flat and not given much to do and never stray far from their stereotypes characters.  Zack always dances and says something sassy, Trini always does everything, and Jason always kicks things.  Billy's a nerd - but he can also be a valley girl and a punk.  Kimberly's a girly-girl - but she's also a gymnast, a nerd, and a punk.

I'm interested to see what happens with the other characters, will they be developed further or has Saban relegated them to background characters while he fleshes out the characters the kids have shown an interest in (Kimberly and I suppose Billy).  Next we're moving in to the Green Ranger saga which will completely throw everything for a loop.  Hold on to your morphers, kids, things are about to get morphinominally kookie.