Part Two

                  MMPR Q&A - Life And Times Of Power Rangers

Question:

So what was it like- I'm sure there are plenty who wanted to know- when you 
first became Power Rangers?

Answer:

Billy was the big problem. (Trini)

Oh yeah, that's it- proceed to reveal my personal life. I'll be listening to 
your version. Then we'll hear about you. (Billy)

Well- Billy went a bit crazy back then- he knew everything about his 
morphed ability because of the process- but he still couldn't believe 
anything. I suppose it's his scientific mind, but he had to prove it all. 
Sometimes me or Zack would come up here after school when Alpha got onto 
the communicators and started yelling "He's here again".
 
I came up here once- Billy had all this stuff set up. There were gas 
bottles, a hydraulic press- goodness knows how he got it all up here. He 
was morphed of course.. (Trini)
 
When isn't he? (Jason)

Well anyway- he had the gas torch alight and was trying it on himself in 
morphed mode. It was hilarious! (Trini)

When any threat hits us in morphed mode, there is usually a very small time 
before the suit cancels it. He would place the torch on his arm, yell out, 
and then go "aaah". It was the coolest thing I've ever seen him do. He 
would say "Now children, don't try this at home". We couldn't stop 
laughing. (Zack)

He used the hydraulic press and put his arm in it, and pressed the button. 
He busted the press- there was oil everywhere, Alpha was really angry. You 
should have seen his dad when he took the press back broken. It took him 
months of his pocket money to pay it off. (Trini)

I came up here once and found Billy here with Skull's video camera, 
goodness knows how he ever got Skull to part with it. He had set it up on 
the panel over there and was jumping all over the place morphing in and out 
of his blue uniform. Zordon was talking to him- Billy just didn't listen. I 
stopped the camera and had a look- it was huge- it would have been great 
for skull's school project. Then Zordon ordered Billy to take the tape out 
and told Alpha to destroy it.. and Billy had to pay up to Skull for the 
tape. Skull stalked him for weeks.. (Kimberly)

Yeah, alright- that was more or less what happened I suppose. Those 
experiments helped me to understand what was going on- I don't care what 
you all say about them. Next time, you can hand your communicators back. 
Trini- You aren't innocent either. Nor is Kimberly here. I came up once and 
found them with a bag of hats and a makeup box. They were both morphed, and 
Kimberly was doing up Trini- she had lipstick all over the front of the 
helmet mouthpiece, and one of those Power Rangers caps that the Committee 
have been selling. Every now and then  she would step back and remark 
"Cool" and then go back to it. Alpha had covered his face in lipstick too. 
Zordon says "You must not use your powers for your own reasons"- I fail to 
see how dressing up Trini was in the interest of the Power Rangers. (Billy)

It might have confused the putties. (Kimberly)

Ha Ha. You know the suit's proximity effect is canceled if you cover it. 
You're forgiven, I suppose. (Billy)

Actually, Kim and Trini's skills are more suitably demonstrated on Alpha. 
There was one time when Alpha found out we were going to a fancy dress 
party at the youth center. Zordon must have been asleep or something- Alpha 
teleported himself to the youth center and mingled with the crowd. I just 
stood there, my eyes must have been on the other side of the room. Kim 
started dressing Alpha up- and he won the contest! (Jason)

It was hard to get him out of the youth center- Bulk wanted to remove 
Alpha's head because he thought there was someone inside. Fortunately we 
were able to utilize a strategically accurate series of proposals to avert 
the situation from escalating into an uncontrollable outcome. (Billy)

What?

He means we got him out using the old restroom trick. Billy- I thought you 
were going to try and talk English at these interviews? (Trini)

Whoops, sorry. (Billy)

A little while back, I received a distressing call on MY communicator. It 
was Alpha- doing his best to cry I think, in-between his "Aye Ai Ai" 
attacks. I came up here- it seems that Zack had been trying in vain to 
teach Alpha more of his Hip Hop Kido. Zack must have got a little angry at 
him and grabbed Alpha's teddy, ran outside and hid it somewhere down the 
hill. He  teleported off somewhere and left Alpha to find it. We all 
laughed it off later- Alpha's really attached to his teddy. Zack went back 
and got it a few hours later. I'm surprised Rita didn't turn it into a 
monster.. (Tommy)

Yeah well.. Don't forget when I found YOU at home with the Dragon Dagger on 
your shelf- Your Mom was right there- dusting the shelf! (Zack)

That was a mistake- I forgot about it because of Jason's class. I took it 
back immediately after that. (Tommy)

Quite often after some of our fights, we're still caught in town in morphed 
mode. All these people run up and start saying stuff to us and Kimberly 
gets all embarrassed, it's a good job they can't see her. A while ago they 
used to keep calling us "Superhuman" on the news and it got her furious. 
When we started calling her "Mrs. Superhuman 1993" she went really angry. 
She tipped Tommy's kit bag out the window at school. I think she's calmed 
down now...(Jason)

It's not that, I was just annoyed- I didn't like being different, it can be 
hard. I've kinda got off that thing about "superhuman" now.. (Kimberly)

Wish I could say the same about Billy.. He's still up here at every 
possible chance, and always in morphed mode. He makes a reach for his 
morpher as soon as he hears the teleporter busy signal to try and change 
back before one of us gets here- but he's always too slow. (Trini)

It's more comfortable. You stick to your Mantis Kung Fu, and Ill remain 
with my morphed mode thanks.. (Billy)

Question:

Has anyone ever been killed in one of Rita's attacks?

Answer:

Fortunately not- yet. It's a miracle that no-one has been actually killed- 
but there's always heaps of people in hospital after an attack. There was a 
very close call once. Some people were having a "Hurricane party" style sit 
in during an evacuation demand in Angel Grove. Four of them are now in 
wheelchairs. Idiots! (Zack)

What happened is that the DragonZord had been under the control of Goldar. 
The Dragonzord is not one of Rita's monsters, it's ours. And the damage was 
not reversed when Rita was defeated. We felt bad for weeks afterwards, 
Tommy got really depressed and was sick because he thought it was all his 
fault- he is the one who was supposed to be responsible for the Dragon 
Dagger, which controls the Dragonzord. It took us a while to realize we had 
no control over the situation. (Jason)

It was really an accident, nothing could ever have been done. (Kimberly)

The damage done to Angel Grove when Rita sends her monsters to the city 
center is unbelievable, even for us. I remember one time when Goldar was 
smashing things up, he had been grown by Rita, and for some reason this 
particular combination wasn't an illusion. We had all been pinned down and 
were having real problems with the putties which just kept coming, Zack and 
Tommy had been captured in the dark dimension. This continued for about 
half an hour and we were just worn out, no matter what our morphed bodies 
could or couldn't do. I watched as four huge buildings came down, two were 
flats and one was a really old church, all in areas where Goldar had not 
been before. All I could do was stand and realize how many people's 
livelihoods this destroyed- even if they were still safe in the evacuation 
sites they had nothing to return to. The putties kept smashing me into a 
wall- it seemed as if they were laughing at it all. I lost it- just cried 
and cried- just couldn't stop, turned to jelly, blamed it all on myself. 
Zordon had to teleport me back here to snap me out of it, I couldn't even 
remember how to morph back into the real me- Alpha five had to force 
release me from my morphed state. (Trini)

(A pause was held at this point- Trini was in tears for a while)

These are the stories noone else hears. (Billy)

The dreams and nightmares we get can be really disturbing. Once Goldar used 
this against us and it nearly destroyed us. In a dream we all shared, we 
were absolutely convinced that the next day Zordon would call us to task 
and strip our powers away from us and desert the Earth altogether. It 
turned out to be the work of some illusionary crystal Rita had developed- 
when the crystal was destroyed the effect was reversed. (Jason)

And I can remember the fight with that fish thing where Rita attacked my 
self confidence using a fear I had from early childhood years. I became a 
useless blue blob of jelly and blamed myself. The illusion reversed a 
little while later, but it left me feeling very insecure for weeks 
afterwards. (Billy)

We need each other to survive. It's the teamwork and instant acceptance in 
the Power Rangers which allows us to go on. Yeah it's all amazing and we're 
heroes and all that- but sometimes we find ourselves suddenly coming up 
here of our own accord to escape life, not knowing why. Next thing we're 
all balling our eyes out and Alpha has to act as, well.. Mom, I suppose. I 
find it real hard not sharing the identity with my Parents.. I can see the 
day coming when that will have to be compromised, regardless of what Zordon 
says. Everyone needs a shoulder to cry on, especially when you have to 
stand and watch some of the things we have seen happen in Angel Grove. 
(Kimberly)

Question:

You were mentioning earlier about your feelings as Power Rangers. Do you 
wish to elaborate on this more?

Answer:

Yeah- only my emotional fits which leave me crying- well all of us- we've 
said that before. It was really hard to turn up to that power rangers day 
and mingle with some of the people we knew so well- and they didn't have a 
clue who we were. Zack loved it- but Trini and me were balling our eyes out 
when we returned back here. (Kimberly)

Zordon keeps giving us lectures about all sorts of stuff, especially what 
we mustn't do when we're morphed. It's darn hard when I know I could do so 
much with it. Billy's inventions, especially the teleporter, could solve 
world hunger and pollution problems- but what good is that if Rita has 
destroyed the planet the next day! (Jason)

Zordon has about the driest personality I've ever come across. Sometimes I 
would really feel relieved if he would just lighten up a little bit. But I 
can understand why he's so serious. If it wasn't for him we would have been 
defeated by Rita long ago. (Kimberly)

COPYRIGHT 1994
PAUL MATTHEWS
SYDNEY AUSTRALIA

UNLICENSED DRAFT NOT FOR PUBLICATION, CIRCULATION OR SALE

TERMS AND LIKENESSES COPYRIGHT TO SABAN ENTERTAINMENT INC. USA.


                                       1