Mastodon, Pterodactyl, Triceratops, Sabretooth Tiger, Tyrannosaurs-- if shouting out those animals means anything to you then you are either a huge fan of the Natural History Museum or you grew up in the 1990s. Those are the prehistoric calling cards of the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
First airing in the states on August 28th, 1993, the classic Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was a runaway hit. Taking footage from a Japanese show called Super Sentai and repurposing it for American fans created a phenomenal.
The original series lasted 145 episodes and since then, we’ve seen countless spinoffs and continuations. However, today, we’re going to focus on the original recipe Rangers-- the ones we fell in love with 25 years ago.
Even though he wasn’t technically an original Power Ranger, we’re still going to include a few facts about Jason David Frank. Because we all know Tommy the Green Ranger was the most popular.
So, let’s learn a thing or two about the OG Rangers who tackled the likes of Rita Repulsa, Goldar, and Putties (so many Putties).
Grab your Power Coin and strike a pose because it's morphing time, as we present you with the 15 Things You Didn’t Know About The Original Power Rangers Team.
15. Most Of Them Quit Over Pay Disputes
“The Power Transfer, Part I and Part II” were the 27th and 28th episodes in the second season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
The two-parter had massive ramifications on the show’s future. Nowadays, it is commonplace for a show to drop bombshells during the middle of a season. However, in 1994 on a kid’s show, it was a big deal.
These were the last episodes that would feature the entire original Power Ranger lineup. Jason, Zack, Trini, Kimberly, and Billy would never be seen on screen together again.
Jason, Zack, and Trini were selected to travel to Switzerland to take part in an international peace conference. Of course, things were less than peaceful behind the scenes.
Austin St. John, Walter Emanuel Jones, and Thuy Trang all walked off of the show over disputes with their pay.
The non-union show apparently paid them less than minimum wage.
14. Amy Jo Johnson Almost Quit Acting Before The Show
Amy Jo Johnson’s first six months in Los Angeles were rough for the young actress. In addition to the west coast being a total shock for the New England born actress, the jobs just weren’t’ coming.
Breaking up with her boyfriend was the final straw. She sold her possessions and was ready to move back home.
Then, like kismet, she met a man named Walter Rainey. Rainey would be Johnson’s acting coach for the next ten years. One day, during a class, she met Katy Wallin, a casting director.
Wallin was working on Power Rangers and suggested Johnson come in for an audition. She showed up, crushed the audition, got the job, and was cast as Kimberly, the first Pink Ranger.
13. David Yost Quit After Being Harassed Over His Orientation
Billy, the Blue Ranger was the last of the original Power Rangers to be consistently featured on the show. Of course, Jason eventually returned, this time as the Gold Ranger. However, Billy shot almost had a consistent gig going on between Mighty Morphin’ and Zeo.
It was originally reported by producers of the show that David Yost quit the show due to disputes over pay.
It wasn’t until 2010, nearly 15 years later, that Yost admitted the real reason why he left.
He was sick and tired of constantly being harassed by crew members over his orientation.
Yost said that his character wasn’t taken seriously as a hero because the folks behind the scenes didn’t think a gay hero was believable.
12. Austin St. John Lived In His Jeep After Leaving The Show
Leaving the low, but steady paying gig of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers had to be a tough decision for Austin St. John.
Sure, his show was a massive hit, but his paychecks failed to reflect that. He soon began to make a living doing appearances. He’d show up, get recognized, and collect some money.
However, that gig quickly dried up. That’s when St. John hit rock bottom.
He went from being the leader of the Power Rangers to living in his car. He was literally living the life of a starving artist. With just his dog, he drove around the Arizona desert where he would pull over and sleep in his jeep.
He managed to make a few bucks here and there by bouncing for nightclubs and teaching martial arts. Luckily, a friend of his took him in and helped the former Red Ranger get back on his feet.
11. Walter Emanuel Jones Is Missing A Finger
The show never did anything to hide the fact that Walter Emanuel Jones (and by proxy his character Zack) was missing a finger.
Sure, while in costume there were five fingers on each glove. However, when in his civilian clothes, it could clearly be seen that he was missing his left middle finger.
This is even more prevalent when Zack strikes his classic, “It’s morphn’ time!” pose.
Perhaps, the most surprising aspect of this little fact is that so few people noticed that his finger was missing.
At one-point rumors had swirled that Jones lost his finger during a stunt gone wrong on set. This is not the case, the missing digit was a result of an accident that occurred when he was four years old.
10. All But One Teenager With Attitude Was All In Their 20s
This one probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Especially back in the 1990s, it wasn’t out of the ordinary for teenagers to be played by adults-- just ask Jason Priestley from 90210.
The cast of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was no different. Thuy Trang, Walter Emanuel Jones, David Yost, and Amy Jo Johnson were all over 20 years old, with Yost being the oldest at 24.
Oddly enough, Austin St. John, who played the leader Jason, was the only true teenager, barely making it at 19.
It actually makes sense to hire young(ish) looking actors to play teens. There are a lot more rules when it comes to hiring actual teenagers. They can only work so many hours a day and have to spend a portion of their time on set with a tutor.
9. Tommy Wasn’t Supposed To Be A Main Character
Despite not truly being one of the original Power Rangers, Tommy Oliver quickly became the show’s breakout character.
First debuting in the 17th episode of the show’s first season, it wouldn’t be long before the Green Ranger was leading the team. That being said, this was not the shows original plan.
Tommy was supposed to be written off of the show at the end of the season.
However, when producers found out just how much of a hit the character was, they decided to bring him back as the mysterious White Ranger.
We bet Jason David Frank counts his blessings every day because he has made his career off of Power Rangers. In addition to being a Green and White Ranger, the character has been Red and Black Rangers as well.
8. The Pilot Featured A Different Yellow Ranger
In addition to featuring an extremely unsettling scene that shows that “teenagers with attitude” morph into actual dinosaurs, there is a huge difference between the first episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and its unaired pilot.
The character of Trini was played by a different actress. That’s right, the original Yellow Ranger was played by an actress named Audri Dubois. After being let go from the show, Dubois would work in Hollywood as a stunt choreographer and stunt double.
According to Walter Emanuel Jones, who played the Black Ranger Zack, Dubois was fired after she asked for more money.
This is a bit ironic because, as we mentioned before, that is the same reason why Jones, Austin St. John, and Thuy Trang were eventually let go.
7. Billy’s Last Name Came From Bryan Cranston
Have you ever read the last name of the Blue Ranger and thought to yourself, “That’s funny, he has the same last name as the dude from Breaking Bad. What a coincidence!”
Well, it actually isn’t a coincidence. Billy Cranston does indeed get his last name from the award-winning actor, Bryan Cranston.
Long before he was scooping up Emmy Awards left and right as Walter White, Cranston was scrambling for work.
The jobs weren’t coming, so he didn’t have the luxury of being picky. The highest profile work he managed to land was voicing two of the show’s monsters.
As a "thank you" to the actor, the show’s writers gave Billy Bryan’s his last name.
So, if you ever find yourself watching some classic MMPR and Snizard or Twin-Man pop up on your screen remember, they are the monsters who knock.
6. The Yellow Ranger Was A Man In The Japanese Version
It’s clear as day when it’s watched today through the eyes of an adult, but if you were a first-grader watching the show when it originally aired there’s a great chance this one snuck by you.
Have you ever noticed that the Pink Ranger has a skirt, but the Yellow Ranger doesn’t? Pretty weird, huh?
This doesn’t boil down to two women having different fashion senses either.
It is because MMRP repurposed the bulk of its action footage from the Super Sentai series Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger. In that particular series, the Yellow Ranger just so happened to be a dude.
Fun fact, in addition to looking like a man (because he is one), the name of the character on the Japanese show was "Boi."
5. They Did Most Of Their Own Stunts
When producers were casting the roles of the five original Power Rangers, they wanted the actors to be well-versed in martial arts. This is because a lot of the big set pieces were simply repurposed Japanese footage.
To add something new to the mix, they wanted to have scenes where they fought outside of their costumes.
The show was also on a shoestring budget, so avoiding stunt doubles was an easy way for producers to cut corners.
Austin St. John (Jason), Walter Emanuel Jones (Zack), and Thuy Trang (Trini) were all accomplished martial artists in their own right. Even Amy Jo Johnson (Kimberly) and David Yost (Billy) had pedigrees in gymnastics.
This made the group of youngsters believable as Angel Grove’s resident butt kickers.
4. You Could Learn Karate From Jason David Frank
Lucky Power Rangers Fan Club members had access to a video where Jason David Frank taught them all about the history and discipline of martial arts before teaching kids some of his patented moves.
If this still sounds like something you need in your life, then we have good news for you. The entire 40-minute long video can be found on YouTube. So you can punch, kick, jump, and flip along with the Green Ranger himself.
If that sounds like child’s play, then you can step your game up. Jason David Frank offers a subscription plan where you can take video classes and learn a style of martial arts he devised himself called Toso Kune Do.
The plan offers two classes per week for the low price of $29.50 a month.
3. All Of The Men Appeared In Other Power Rangers Shows
Technically, the main characters from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers made their return in the “Legendary Battle” episode of Power Rangers: Super Megaforce. However, none of the five are seen unmasked. So, we’re not counting it.
We already mentioned that David Yost appeared as Billy on Power Rangers Zeo. Another Ranger who would join the Zeo team was Austin St. John, who played Jason the Red Ranger.
Since his original color of choice was already taken, Jason would take up the mantle of the Gold Ranger for 17 episodes.
He would return once more for the Power Rangers: Wild Force episode aptly titled, “Forever Red”. Although the character of Zack didn’t return to Power Rangers, Walter Jones voices the villainous Gerrok in “Forever Red".
Amy Jo Johnson has yet to return, and sadly, Thuy Trang died in a car accident in 2001, making a full reunion impossible.
2. Billy Is The Only Team Member To Appear In Every Mighty Morphin Episode
It’s downright surprising that the majority of the original Power Ranger characters didn’t appear in every episode of the series. The only character to be featured in every single episode is Billy Cranston.
Sticking through it all, the Blue Ranger outlasted the rest of his teammates.
Jason, who started out as their leader, could only be seen in 79 of the episodes. The Ranger with the second amount of episodes is Kimberly, who was in 138 out of 145 episodes.
Even though Billy was in all 145 episodes, the actor who played him, David Yost was only in 143. That is because the character was de-aged for a few episodes in season 3.
If we dock Billy some points here, then they only character to appear in every episode of MMPR is their trusty robot sidekick, Alpha-5.
1. Amy Jo Johnson And Jason David Frank Had Cameos In The 2017 Movie
Die-hard Power Ranger fans were outraged when Walter Jones said that none of the original Rangers were invited to be a part of the 2017 reboot.
It would have been cool to see the surviving members pop up and share the screen with the new group of “teenagers with attitude.” It turned out, Jones was half right. The majority of the OG Rangers weren’t invited to cameo in the film.
The only two Rangers who showed up were Amy Jo Johnson and Jason David Frank, the originally Kimberly and Tommy.
They even had to fight for screen time. In the final cut of the film, the Pink and Green Rangers had a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo. However, there was another scene with the two that wound up on the cutting room floor.
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Can you think of any other interesting facts about the original Power Rangers team? Sound off in the comments!