This is Part Four of the ORIGINAL Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Frequently Asked Questions File, written by Terri Ann Guingab. The most up-to-date version of this file is stored at the following location: http://osf1.gmu.edu/~tguingab/power You may also obtain recent copies by e-mailing me at tguingab@osf1.gmu.edu, or tguingab@vms1.gmu.edu. Note the number "one" in osf1 and vms1. It is not a letter "L". 9. Now that it has debuted, where can I find out more about the movie? Will there be a sequel? There is a Movie FAQ available through Manny's WWW site (http://ic.www.media.mit.edu/Personal/manny/power) that was written by Paul Matthews. He had the distinct pleasure of not only working on the set, but also building the antennas you see for about 3 seconds of the movie. Paul has also authored a "What Could've Been" Movie file, which details the differences between the MMPR shooting script, and the actual finished product. You'd be surprised at how much they've cut out! There is already talk about a sequel, but nothing has been set in stone yet. Speculation is that it will be filmed in either Mexico, Australia or Canada. 10. How many Power Rangers rip-offs are there? At the time of this writing, there are four: "V.R. Troopers" and "Masked Rider, both Saban-produced shows; "Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad", produced by Dic; and "Tattooed Teenaged Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills", the underdog of the group. I honestly don't know that much about the shows, mainly because two of them air at the ungodly hour of 7:00 AM (geez, who ever heard of getting up that early? :]), and the other one is, well, _really_ bad. Here are quick synopses for anyone who's interested (and hey, if you have time, write up a FAQ and Episode Guide for these puppies...I'm sure tons of folks will be interested). "V.R. Troopers" features a trio of alien fighters who fight in the realm of Virtual Reality. Ryan Steele (played by Brad Hawkins), whose father disappeared several years ago, is recruited by the mysterious V.R. Professor Hart to fight the evil Grimlord -- a tyrant with plans to extend his V.R. domain into the real world. Grimlord's Real World alter ego is Karl Ziktor. Ryan is aided in his quest by Kaitlin Star (played by Sarah Brown), a photographer for the local underground newspaper; and J.B. Reese (played by Michael Calvin Bacon), a computer genius. VRT gets its footage from Metaladar and Speilban. adavid@pixi.com provided me with information about VR Troopers' second season: The program is now using footage from SHAIDER. The plot is that Ryan lost his original powers in an effort to rescue his father from Grimlord....They have a new weapon called "Troopertron" which is a conversion of the VR Skybase....Additionally, Kaitlin Star is now able to replicate herself whenever the situations involving JB Reese get out of hand. This is because Grimlord created an evil dpulicate of Kaitlin which somehow tunrs on him....In the original series (SPEILBAN), it is his long lost sister that takes the identical costume of Speilban's female companion. Additionally, Colonel Icebot is actually Spielban's father who was transformed by the evil empire that kidnapped him along with his sister, who was also a villainess in earlier episodes before joining her brother. "Masked Rider" is about the adventures of Dex, grandson to the King of Edenoi. His home planet was enslaved by the evil Count Dregon; as a result, the denizens of Edenoi have been in a constant battle for their freedom. Dex controls the power of the Masked Rider, which essentially turns him into a mean, green, Grasshopper machine (yes, you read that right. A Grasshopper.) "Masked Rider" gets its footage from the popular Japanese show "Blackrider RX", one in the "Kamen Rider" series of shows. adavid@pixi.com says that the 1 hour premiere of Masked Rider was actually cut from "Kamen Rider ZO" "Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad" has a similar concept to VRT, but instead of fighting in a Virtual Reality World, the fighting is done inside the computer. Instead of fighting evil V.R. monsters, the main hero, Matthew Lawrence (of "Mrs. Doubtfire" and brother of Joey "Whoa!" Lawrence fame) fights evil computer viruses brought to life by Kilokhan by transforming into Servo, a hi-tech robot warrior. When not fighting computer viruses, Sam (Matthew Lawrence) and his friends moonlight as a struggling rock band. The band consists of Tanker (Kevin Castro), Syd (Robin Mary Florence), and Amp (Troy Slaten). Kilokhan teams up with Malcom (Glen Beaudin), the actual creator of the viruses. SSSS gets its footage from Gridman. "Tattooed Teenaged Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills" is an All-American production featuring four completely different teens from, you guessed it, Beverly Hills, joining forces to do battle against Gorganus and his evil aliens. Their powers are based on astrological beings, and together, they can form Knightron. A special tattoo glows on their arms when they are called into battle by Nimbar, a huge pile of intergalactic squishy stuff. Nimbar maintains the Galactic Portals, of which Earth is one. When it's time to fight, these normal teens transform into "American Gladiator" flunkies, using their martial arts "skills" to destroy foam latex blobbies. The teens in this case are Swinton/Apollo (Rugg Williams), Drew/Centaur (K. Jill Sorgen), Gordon/Taurus (Richard Nason), and Laurie/Scorpio (Leslie Danon). 11. What is Sentai? Sentai is part of a trio of genres that fall under the category of "Tokusatsu", or, "live-action special effects shows" (as nsasaki@acs.ucalgary.ca informed me). Coincidentally, the other two genres that make up the trio of tokusatsu are the metal heroes (Metalder, from which VRT gets its footage from), and the Kamenriders (Blackrider RX, from which MR gets its footage from). For more information on tokusatsu in general, visit Eugene Glover's tokusatsu site, located at http://www.primenet.com/~gridman/toku.html. Sentai is a genre of shows featuring superheroes, evil alien (usually) bad guys, cool fighting machines, and a lot of karate action. That's the short definition. For a longer definition, lurk alt.tv.sentai or rec.arts.anime. There have been several different shows in the sentai genre, of which ZyuRanger and DaiRanger are only two. In Japan, a sentai series (featuring one team/enemies/general plot line/set of machines) will run for a year before being replaced by a completely new series (featuring _unrelated_ teams/enemies/general plot line/set of machines). ZyuRanger ran in 1992/93, DaiRanger in 1993/94. The current series in Japan is KakuRanger (please forgive my spelling on all of these). Billy Teo (art20657@leonis.nus.sg) posted a list of all the Sentai series a while back. Robert Chou was kind enough to collate a list of translations (and provide spelling corrections/ full names). Years listed are the year each show began to air (with the series ending the following year): The list of sentai shows are as follows : DATE TITLE TRANSLATION ==== ===== =========== 1975 Himitsu Sentai Secret Task Force GoRanger FiveRanger ============================================================ 1977 Jacker Dengekitai Blitzkrieg Team JAKQ NOTE: JAKQ = 'picture' playing cards: Jack, Ace, King, Queen. ============================================================ These two shows were not originally considered part of the Sentai productions, but were labelled together recently by Toei in an attempt to commemorate the " 20th anniversary of the Great Sentai series". As such there is a new catchphrase to describe the Super Sentai shows as a long running series, but it's not as catchy. The original Sentai productions begin with... (note: the letters (M) and (F) in the COLOR section denote each member's gender) ============================================================ 1979 Battle Fever J Same COLORS: Orange (M), Blue with white (M), Red with white (M), Black with yellow (M), Pink with baby blue and white (F) ============================================================ 1980 Denshi Sentai Electron Task Force DenjiMan Electromagnetic Men COLORS: Red (M), Blue (M), Yellow (M), Green (M), Pink (F) ============================================================ 1981 Taiyo Sentai Sun Solar Task Force Sun Vulcan Vulcan NOTE: Only three rangers, but the team was made up of five members COLORS: Red (M), Blue (M), Yellow (M) ============================================================ 1982 Dai Sentai Goggle Great Task Force Five Goggle Five COLORS: Red (M), Blue (M), Black (M), Yellow (M), Pink (F) ============================================================ 1983 Kagaku Sentai Science Task Force Dynaman Dynaman NOTE: The source for USA's "Dynaman" footage. This had a team of six, but there were only five rangers. COLORS: The same as Goggle Five ============================================================ 1984 Cho Denshi Bioman Super Electron Bioman NOTE: There were five rangers and one robot helper COLORS: Red (M), Green (M), Blue (M), Pink (F), Yellow (F) ============================================================ 1985 Dengeki Sentai Lightning (Electric Changeman Shock) Task Force NOTE: Dengeki literally means "Lightning", but the Changeman kanji character used in the title means "Electric Shock". This team had six members, but only five of them were Rangers. COLORS: Red (M), Blue (M), Black (M), Pink with white (F), White with pink (F) ============================================================ 1986 Cho Shin Sei Super Nova Star Flash FLASHMAN Man NOTE: First show with dual robots. According to mcastill@ss.ca.gov, team had three zords, as opposed to one. COLORS: Colors and genders were the same as Bioman. ============================================================ 1987 Hikari Sentai Light Task Force MASKMAN MaskMan COLORS: Red (M), Blue (M), Black (M), Pink (F), Yellow (F) (Terri's next logical question -- why didn't they use *this* series for Power Rangers? It would've certainly cleared up the question of Miss Trang's disappearing and reappearing body parts.) ============================================================ 1988 Cho Zyuu Sentai Super Beast Task LIVEMAN Force Liveman NOTE: First super combined robot. COLORS: Red (M), Green (M), Black (M), Yellow (M), Blue (F) ============================================================ 1989 Kosoku Sentai High Speed Task Force TURBORANGER TurboRanger NOTE: This team had six members, but only five were Rangers. There were three zords, and the combination of these made the fourth zord. COLORS: Red (M), Blue (M), Black (M), Yellow (M), Pink (F) ============================================================ 1990 Chikyuu Sentai Earth Task Force FIVEMAN Fiveman COLORS: Red (M), Blue (M), Black (M), Pink (F), Yellow (F) ============================================================ 1991 Cho Jin Sentai Birdman Task Force JETMAN Jetman NOTE: Team of six, but there were only 5 rangers COLORS: Blue (M), Black (M), Pink (F), Yellow (F), Aqua-Blue (F) ============================================================ 1992 Koryu Sentai Dinosaur Task Force Zyuranger Beast Ranger COLORS: Same as the first season of Power Rangers, except that the Yellow Ranger was male. ============================================================ 1993 Go Sei Sentai Five Star Task Force Dairanger DaiRanger NOTE: "Dai" is a pun for "great", but in the show, it is named after an ancient chinese tribe called "Dai". COLORS: No information on the exact makeup available (Miguel, help!). I would assume it's Red (M), White (M), Yellow (M), Green (M), Pink (F) ============================================================ 1994 Ninja Sentai Ninja Task Force Kakuranger Hiding Ranger COLORS: Red (M), Blue (M), Black (M), Yellow (M), White (F) ============================================================ 1995 Cho Riki Sentai Super Power Task OhRanger Force King Ranger NOTE: OH could also = Overdrive Hardware COLORS: Red (M), Blue (M), Green (M), Pink (F), Yellow (F), Black (M) ============================================================ Battle Fever J was different from its predecessors Goranger and Jacker in the introduction of the giant robot and giant enemy battle senario. (team colors, member genders, and some of the notes were provided by mcastill@ss.ca.gov) 12. So what is Dynaman? Dynaman is a show that ran on USA's Night Flight on both the USA channel and in their syndicated show. The format was similar to Woody Allen's "What's Up Tiger Lily?" -- the footage remained untouched, but American voices were dubbed over, only this time, with a comic twist (an enemy princess who worries about people staring at her tail, for example). Yes, Dynaman featured heroes dressed up kind of like the Power Rangers. Yes, Dynaman featured battles with super-huge machines. Yes, Dynaman stole footage from a sentai show (Kagaku Sentai Dynaman). _But_, NO, Dynaman and Power Rangers do not use the same footage. In fact, the source shows for MMPR weren't even conceived of by the time the folks at the USA channel started hacking away. 13. Then what is Voltron? Voltron was an animated cartoon from waaaaaaaaaay back (like, the early eighties, when Duran Duran used to be, like, totally awesome) that featured a similar concept of five teens with mega-sized machines (shaped like lions, I believe) who fought aliens in outer space. hcremean@vt.edu suggests that the reason there may be a similarity is because the original Japanese version of Voltron was produced by Toei. NLAric@aol.com sheds more light on the world of Voltron: Voltron: Defender of the Universe The giant robot is formed by five different colored robots of the Voltron Force. The suits and lion colors are a little more complex than Power Rangers. Here it goes: Name Color Lion Color Lance Red Blue Princess Allura Blue Pink Hunk Yellow Orange Pidge Green Green Keith Black Red Keith is the captain of Voltron Force and when Voltron comes together he commands it from the head. Planet Arus: Voltron is actually the protector of Planet Arus. But, hey, Universe, Planet, it's his slogan. Anyways, King Alfor is, hence the title, king of the planet. He is also the father of Princess Allura, the Blue Lion pilot. Coran is in charge of the Castle of the Lions Control Center and is also Allura's adviser. The Black Lion is parked in front of the castle, which is its "Hiding Place". The Red Lion hides under molten rock and the yellow lion hides under the desert sands. Nanny is there for, I guess comic relief, along with Cheddar the mouse and his little mouse friends from Arus, the mice are friends of Alura. And then there is a character mentioned that I do not know about. His name is Sven. I think he pilots some kind of lion for Voltron Force or something. Anyways, Pidge is the brainiac and acrobatic. That's what's there in the Arus. Planet Doom: Sounds like a place a bad guy would be, eh? King Zarcon rules this lovely planet, or should we say enslaves. But he wants more slaves, so he goes after planet Arus all the time. Zarcon has his people to fight for him, Robot Raiders, Robeasts (large evil space robots to battle Voltron) and a bunch of henchmen. Yet, he never seems to succeed. Go figure. Haggar is his powerful evil witch. This evil witch has a blue cat. Good for him. Prince Lokor is in with evil plots with his dad, Zarcon. He has his own warship and everything. And then there is Yurak, one of Zarkon's Robot commanders. Voltron: Wowwy Zowwy! He has eyebeams and a Blazing Sword! Red lion forms his right arm as green forms the left. Voltron was copyrighted in 1984 and 1985. E_BISSON@tuna.stmarys.ca listed some of the similarities between Voltron and MMPR: --Voltron has five teammates who pilot mechanized lions that can combine to form one large humanoid robot with a sword (obvious similarity) --One member is put out of commission but returns later (similar to Tommy) --Battle technique: Take on the bad guys separately, fail, combine mechas, carve them up with a sword (where have we heard this one before?). In older versions of the FAQ, I promised E_BISSON's full story on Sven. For those who are interested, here it is: Sven was a member of the original team sent by the Alliance to Arus in order to pilot Voltron. He was also their top navigator. Shortly after they succeeded in recovering Voltron, Sven was attacked by the witch Hagar and one of her Robeasts. In the fight he was struck across the back by the Robeast -- the American producers seem to have cut out the actual scene -- and is badly injured. We don't find out *how* badly until later in the season. At the time the medical facilities on Arus were pretty primitive, so Sven had to be sent off-world. Princess Allura takes over Blue Lion, and Sven is not heard from for a good deal of the season. About two-thirds of the way through the first season, Allura's cousin Romelle (from the planet Pollux) is captured by Lotor (one of the resident bad guys, as you may remember). She escapes into a system of caves, and is rescued by a rather mad individual who has been in the caves for some time - guess who. Sven denies his own identity ("Sven? There *is* no Sven!"), as he feels that he failed his teammates, but under pressure from Romelle breaks down and explains his situation. At this point we find out that Sven had actually been paralysed. The planet he had been sent to was invaded by Lotor and its inhabitants taken as slaves. Sven himself was left at the caves because he was unfit for work. Somehow he recovers (there are a few odd things about him - more of that in a bit), and winds up living in the caves "like an animal". At the end of this story arc Sven returns to Pollux after he and Romelle are rescued (there is a budding romance between these two), but he continues to live alone, a good distance from civilization. Presumably he's not used to people anymore. Throughout the last third of the season Sven crops up occasionally, and he plays an important part in the season finale. He succeeds in confronting Lotor - for whom he has developed an almost insane hatred - and in the fight they both fall from the top of Lotor's tower into the water below. However, they both survive. Sven continues to appear off and on through the whole second season, even piloting Blue Lion again in at least one episode. Sven has also shown a few unusual abilities. In addition to that interesting burst of healing (strength of will, perhaps?), he has moved around boulders taller than he is (when he first encounters Romelle - to prevent followers) and has demonstrated some sort of 'true-sight' ability (he is able to determine which was the real Hagar out of about a dozen duplicates during the near-fatal battle early in the show). He's an odd one, alright. As kumquat@sat.net was so kind to point out, there is a tiny thread of continuity between the two incarnations of Voltron. Pidge was somehow related (a cousin, perhaps?) to one of the team members in the vehicle version of Voltron. According to jen@ll.mit.edu: Actually, the two Voltrons were in the same universe, except that only one was stationed on Arus. Pidge (Green Lion pilot) was supposed to be related to one of the vehicle pilots (Chip) in the other Voltron. Of course, the two original shows (Go-Lion and Dairugger XV) had nothing to do with each other, but an hour-long briding episode was made with all new footage showing both Voltrons teaming up. There were toys made up for each Voltron, including a third Voltron which was, to my knowledge, either never released in the U.S. or released only on a very limited basis -- this Voltron consisted of three separate robots which would combine when the time was right. 14. Is there a soundtrack available? Sure is...it's been out since at least October or November 1994. It's entitled "The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: A Rock Adventure". It should be available in the kids section of your local music store (or Toys R' Us, or even some other toy stores. I got my own personal copy at Walmart). It's available in tape and cd format, although the cd format is very, *very* elusive. Included is music from the show (well, duh), that in some cases has been lengthened so that it actually sounds like a song. The extended version of the MMPR theme is quite nice, actually. When you go out to shop for this little gem, make sure you don't get it confused with other MMPR read-along books and tapes that are out there. Also, a new cassingle called "Go, Go Power Rangers", featuring the very popular (in Europe...insert obligatory David Hasslehoff+Germans comment here) Euro-Dance Mix and the Long Version of the theme song (plus the Movie version) is available in stores right now. And just released on June 6, 1995, the soundtrack for "MMPR: the Movie" can now be purchased at a Walmart near you. Featured on the soundtrack are the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Van Halen, and a bunch of other bands whose names I can't remember. Worth a listen, at the very least. Take care to not confuse the soundtrack with the original score of the movie. The score contains the orchestral music heard in the background. The soundtrack is a collection of songs found in the movie. 15. Speaking of the Movie Soundtrack, what do the Russian words at the beginning of Snap's 'The Power' mean? You mean, you never took Russian in school? Tsk, tsk, tsk...it's such a handy language as well... Anyway, Maria Platonova (maria@platosha.com) sent me the following translation: "American company Tranceptor Technology began to produce computers called Personal Companion." 16. What were the words to the song Kim sang in 'Song of Guitardo'? Down the road, we never know, What life may hold in store. Winds of change, will rearrange, Our lives like not before. But you'll never stand alone, my friend, Memories will never die. In our hearts, they'll always live, And never say good-bye. Thanks to MAXMOUZE@aol.com for cleaning up the lyrics. 17. Why is Tommy the new leader of the Power Rangers, apart from the obvious fact that Austin St. John is no longer on the show? Kathie Whitmore (OShaun@aol.com) came up with an excellent treatise on why the sudden switch in leadership had to occur. Here's a rather philosophical argument on why Zordon would decide to appoint Tommy (as the White Ranger) as the New Leader of the Power Rangers. The argument could be posed that "Who is the best to be the leader of the Good Guys?" Often it is pointed out that to be Good there must be Evil as well. Tommy -- although it was not his choice at the time -- was an "evil" Green Ranger at the start. Once the spell Rita had him under was broken he had all the more reason to fight against Rita and her Evil plans. Tommy also had all those episodes where his powers were "waning" and had to be conserved. He well understands the frustrations of being on the side-lines and unable to help when he most wanted to. But although he was never happy about the situation -- he never really "whined" about it. He did all he could with whatever he had and as I recall in the Last Green Ranger episode he even fought WITHOUT any special powers. This takes patience, courage, honor and wisdom. For this he was rewarded -- he was given the powers of Good as the White Ranger -- and his new powers ARE supposed to be greater than the original Rangers' powers -- after all Zordon had all that time since the creation of the original Rangers to improve on the process and he also realized that with Zedd the Rangers would be facing even greater Evil monsters. I think that Jason was a good leader for the Rangers at the start -- but they were setting the audience up for the change in leadership when they had him questioning his own leadership abilities (Missing Green) -- because he had been unable to save Tommy's Green Ranger powers (in the Green Candle). BUT to Jason's credit I think it was a good example for us all (not just the children who watch the show) -- that when Tommy was introduced as the NEW leader of the Power Rangers -- that Jason was as happy and as pleased as anyone there. He did NOT question the choice -- he accepted it with good grace. I only hope that I could be so mature if I was in a similar situation. 18. Where is Angel Grove? Good question. No one is quite sure. :) Here are some clues that have been given in the show that may or may not indicate Angel Grove's location: --In "Foul Play in the Skies", when the rangers are first fighting the Snizzard there are some statues in the background that look very familiar to those on Easter Island. (submitted by dudette@ois.com.au) --In "The Great Bookala Escape", Billy mentions that it never snows in Angel Grove. This cuts out most northern locations in the United States. --In "Return of the Green Ranger", the period clothing and the accents of the residents of 1700's Angel Grove suggested that the city existed in colonial times, which cuts out the west coast. --But, as a005641t@bcfreenet.selflin.lib.fl.us (David Messina) notes, in the episode "Storybook Rangers", Zedd is seen directing his staff's rays towards the western side of the United Staff. --In "Changing of the Zords, pt. 3" Rocky mentions that there are never any quakes in Angel Grove. This low level of geologic activity may or may not mean that Angel Grove is somewhere on the eastern half of the United States. --However, in "Wild West Rangers", Kimberly was transported back to the Old West, which does make it possible for Angel Grove to be somewhere in the middle to western portion of the United States. --Then again, there are several scenes from different episodes that depict beaches, waterfronts, etc., which indicates that Angel Grove must be near a substantial body of water. --Also, in "Different Shade of Pink, pt. 1", a newscast states that a foreign spy is suspected to be hiding out in the "southern coast of the United States". Bulk and Skull's reaction to the situation indicates that Angel Grove does fall into this geographic area. And dudette@ois.com.au writes, "In a Power Heroes and Villains magazine I bought it says the Command Center is in a desert in California, which means Angel Grove would be too." --But in "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie", several city landmarks (Darling Harbour, The Opera House (I believe that made an appearance in the movie)) plus the abundance of Australian accents indicates that Angel Grove may be Sydney, Australia (probably because the movie was filmed in Sydney, but that's another matter entirely. :)) --Also, as dudette@ois.com.au writes, "Return of the Green Ranger part 1" features Kimberly mentioning a mall called the Galleria. Dudette says that there is a shopping center by that name in Perth, Australia. So, with all this evidence, the only conclusion that I can come up with is the handy-dandy X-men plot device that states that Angel Grove is really in an alternate dimension that is different from our own. :) Seriously, though, if you have any thoughts/clues that could be included in this mystery hunt, I'd love to hear them. 19. Are replicas of the communicators available for purchase? Toy guru Pam again writes: I believe we discussed this a while back. J.C. Penney had a wristwatch in [1993] catalog last year that somewhat resembled the communicators, and played a bit of the "Go Go Power Rangers theme at the touch of a button. However, since the Zyurangers didn't use communicators in the Japanese version of the show, there was no original Japanese toy to knock off. Thus, the quality was rather poor. I thought it looked like a cheap hunk of plastic. Maybe next year.... >From aga1450@is.nyu.edu: I think I have found what the prop people used to make the communicators. There is a watch by a company called "Jalga" (there are similar watches by other companies, but Jalga's is the closest) that is almost identical to the McDonalds' toy except that it is a real watch and doesn't have a "speaker" grill under the three stainless steel bars. You can find this watch all over the East and West Village in NYC, but there is a watch store around 28th St. and Broadway that has them in large supply (they are sometimes very hard to find and always very expensive (around $35- I only paid $14). 20. Umm, when Trini morphs...why does she seem to gain an extra...uh, appendage? Because in ZyuRanger, the Yellow Ranger was a male. 21. Is MMPR banned in Canada? Where else is it banned? Andrew_Young@kiwi.com gave me a very detailed answer to this question: 1. Power Rangers orginally aired in Canada on YTV (the Canadian cable youth channel) and in Southern Ontario on the CanWest Global Television system (sort of a mini-network). Global held the non-cable station rights for the whole country (as it does for all U.S. TV shows it airs) so they're sold local syndication rights to regional stations (CanWest owns several stations out west in British Columbia). 2. CanWest voluntarily belonged to a group set up by the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) that monitored violence in children's programming. Prompted by a few parent's complaints, the group (whose name escapes me right now) reviewed MMPR and deemed it too violent. The main concern was that as soon as an alien or putties show up in Angel Grove the first reaction from the Rangers is to start kicking evil butt. CanWest/Global was a member of the anti-violence group, YTV was not. YTV voluntarily decided to drop the show when the controversy broke in the second season (YTV didn't pick up any of the second season episodes anyway) and CanWest had Saban produce an edited version that took out things like kicks to the head and other extreme violent acts. 3. CanWest/Global has decided to no longer carry the show. They claim that their decision has nothing to do with the violence controversy (Global is picking up more shows from Cinar and Nelvanna, the Canadian animation house that produces Eek! The Cat). MMPR is effectively not broadcast by Canadian stations anymore. 4. MMPR is now only seen on Fox affliates that reach Canada via broadcast or cable (there are NO Fox affliates in Canada - American broadcasters are not allowed to hold broadcasting licenses within Canada). 5. Although MMPR was attacked, similar shows such as Super Human Samurai Syber Squad, Masked Rider and VR Troopers. MMPR was essentially used as a scapecoat. To answer the second question...well, this can get tricky. The show was banned in Norway when two adolescent boys were charged with beating a small girl to death. Somehow, their actions were associated with what was shown on Power Rangers. Because of this occurence, the show was also banned in Sweden. *However*, several weeks later, in a court of law, it was determined that the boys' actions were in no way influenced by the show Power Rangers (in fact, I don't think they were even fans of the show...my mind is cloudy on this point). Shortly afterwards, MMPR re-appeared on Norweigan airwaves. However, it has yet to re-appear on Swedish airwaves. Australia has flirted with the idea of banning MMPR as well. According to Paul Matthews, Network 7, who airs MMPR, classified the show as "G", meaning children could watch it unsupervised. This G rating also allowed the show to air during a particular time slot that starts at 4pm. The ABA (a government authority that oversees the classification of shows done by networks) had different ideas. After viewing only three episodes, they found that two of the three ("Day of the Dumpster" and "Mighty Morphin Mutants") were not suitable for a "G" rating. According to paulmat@ibm.net: The problem is the Putties. They are too human like, too much loose flesh dangling off the likes of Danny Stallcup and David Wald has left the ABA with the opinion that Rangers' feet and hands projected against "soft body tissues" (the words "Torso" and "Buttocks" are used) are too strong for unsupervised viewing. The exact faults were: Day of the Dumpster: First putty fight. Faults as mentioned above. Mighty Morphin Mutants: The problem is the putty which fails Goldar's test to become a mutant Ranger. In the ABA's opinion, the putty exhibits "Humanlike characteristics" and is eventually "Blown away" by a weapon because he/she/it...doesn't measure up. The ABA considers this may cause distress to young unsupervised viewers who are themselves as hopeless as the putty...and since the event did not seem to have any bearing on the main plot of the episode...they frowned on it and have given the network a severe caning. If caught again they could lose their license. To my knowledge this is a history first in Australian TV broadcasting. Network 7, in response to the ABA's report, re-classified Power Rangers as a "PG" show, and moved it to the 3:30 timeslot (where, presumably, "PG" shows are allowed to air). At first, the episodes were on schedule to be edited before airing, a la' the Canadian way. But Paul reports that the cutting has stopped and that Australian TV is now showing Power Rangers as they were originally created. According to Reuter's, Kuala Lampur has also taken MMPR off its airwaves, but not because of the violence. No, Malaysian officials feel that all their drug problems would be easily solved if the word "Morphin" were removed from the title "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers". As if my 5 year old's penchant for syringes and houkkas is fueled primarily by the title of a kid's t.v. show. Certain Malaysian government officials believe "Mighty Morphin" is a reference to morphine. They also worry that children could be fooled into thinking that drugs can make them as strong as the Rangers. All together now...Whatever! The only other country that I know of that has actively banned MMPR -- and to this day, continues to ban MMPR -- is New Zealand. Geez, do you think some people have just a touch too much time on their hands? (not including FAQ-writers, of course) Of course, if any of our international MMPR fans would like to correct me on this question, please feel free to e-mail me at tguingab@osf1.gmu.edu. 22. Are any of the Rangers or Ranger actors dead? About as dead as Linda McCartney is (the person, not the career :]). 23. But I heard that [insert name here] died in a fatal [insert heavy machinery, vicious squirrel, transportation vehicle, and/or Chia Head here] accident! Trust me. They're not dead, Jim. However, those Chia Heads are dangerous things, let me tell you... 24. Is Billy going to be killed off/crippled? Well, there certainly has been enough in the show to lead one to that conclusion, no? Unfortunately, I can't give a definite answer on this one. It's pretty obvious that no one is ever going to be "killed off" in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. As for David leaving, all I can say is that things change every day. Maybe he'll stay, maybe he'll go, who knows? It's not like Power Rangers is the best job in the world. However, I think we can all be pretty sure that the character of Billy will *probably* not be crippled in any Command Center-type accident (or else it would've already happened when the Command Center blew up). 25. Any other bits of trivia you'd care to share about Power Rangers? Sure, why not? Those who have read earlier versions of the FAQ know that this used to be the "Bits of Trivia You Never Wanted To Know About Power Rangers" section. But, since I've reorganized the FAQ somewhat, I've decided to throw the miscellaneous stuff near the end, where it should be. So.... --Billy has a Red Belt in Karate. --The "Special Weapons" the PRs get in "Gung Ho!" have the word "Zyuranger" clearly printed on the side (in English). Zyuranger, for the uninitiated and/or those who weren't paying attention at the beginning of this document, is the Japanese tv series from which Season One of the Power Rangers got its battle footage. --The outside of the Command Center makes a cameo appearance in the movie "Deadlock", starring Rutger Hauer and Mimi Rogers. Instead of it being stuck in the desert, though, it's situated in a very nice park with several trees. 76740.773@compuserve.com has also mentioned that the Command Center may have made another cameo in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Descent". --There are 13 types of putties that I've seen (there are probably more, but I've never really bothered to check). These are: Ball-handed putties Blade-handed putties Regular Glove-handed putties Paddle-handed putties (these four come in a pumpkin variety as well) Football Putties Morphing Putties (seen in eps like "Bad Reflection" and "No Clowning") Super Putties Season Two "Z" Putties (these can only be destroyed by punching/kicking the "Z" that's on their chest) csmith@cps203.cps.cmich.edu has discovered one other kind of putty: Dark Putties (similar to regular putties, but the costume is black) --There were 50 episodes of the original Zyuranger series, from which 60 episodes of MMPR's first season were culled. --Romy J. Sharf, the person inside the Alpha 5 suit, is actually a 28 year old woman (well, she was in 1994). She's also completely blind while in the costume. The same goes for her Season Two replacement, Sandi Sellner, and the Season Three victim, Donene Kistler. In the movie, the tradition of walking around a steaming hot Command Center completely blinded by the tin can you happen to be trapped in fell to the capable hands of Peta Maree Wilson. --Bulk and Skull's real names are (drum roll please...) Farkus Bulkmeier (Bulk) and Eugene Skullovich (Skull). --During the making of "MMPR: The Movie", several actresses were filmed in the role of "Dulcea", including Mariska Hargitay (the daughter of Jayne Mansfield). Gabrielle Fitzpatrick won out over all these ladies. Ask Paul Matthews (paulmatt@ozemail.com.au) for more information about the movie. He's compiled a wonderful "What Should've Been" list, which compares the finished movie with what was actually written in the script. --The population of Angel Grove is 376,000, and is 241 feet above sea level (contributed by csmith@cps203.cps.cmich.edu). --It takes 2 weeks to film 4 episodes. --The voice actors seem to be a rather tight-knit group, with monthly poker games at Scott Page-Pagter's house. --geneva@unix.infoserve.net noticed that Karan Ashley has a pierced belly button. --The lady who sings "To Be With You" (featured in "The Potion Notion" and "Forever Friends") is Kathy Fisher, wife of former MMPR Music Man Ron Wasserman. (contributed by MAXMOUZE@aol.com) --Mr. Wilton, featured in episodes such as "Wizard for a Day" has actually been on the show before -- as a news anchorman. (contributed by eschmidt@scudc.scu.edu) --It appears that the actresses who played Bulk and Skull's mothers in "Doomsday" returned in the second season as Bulk and Skull's "girlfriends" in "Goldar's Vice Versa". --Jeff Deckman, first season writer, says that the classroom set featured more prominently in the first season was the same set used for "The Wonder Years" and is now used for "Masked Rider". --According to STHJ@maristb.marist.edu, Saba (The White Ranger's Saber) is featured in the Bible. Check out Psalms 72: 10 ("Kings of Saba will carry gifts to him.") and 72: 15 ("Gold to him from Saba!"). --Also according to STHJ@maristb.marist.edu, the song Skull sang in Potion Notion is actually the first two lines of "O Fortuna", from Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana". (btw, for those who don't know what song I'm talking about, remember the song playing in the background in the movie "Glory" where everyone was getting their collective posteriors forcibly assaulted? That comes from Carmina Burana as well.) --According to Paul Matthews, Paul Schrier and Jason Narvy got to do a bit of directing on their own while in Australia. Their scenes are featured in "The Wedding" mini-series and "Return of the Green Ranger". --Bulk holds the record for the most hot dogs eaten at the Youth Center (taken from a Saban Entertainment informational sheet). --Skull met Bulk in the hospital nursery when they were isolated from the rest of the babies (again, taken from a Saban Entertainment informational sheet). --Tengu is Japanese (?) for long nosed or beaked goblin. (contributed by amrst31@vms.cis.pitt.edu) --What marital arts teaches, according to Billy in "Day of the Dumpster": Courage Kindness Integrity Fitness Loyalty Discipline --Goldar officially received his wings in the second season. However, he had them in Day of the Dumpster, if one looks at the viewing globe carefully. --Finster comes from a planet called "Claydoious" (taken from a Saban Entertainment Information sheet). 25. Why did you write the MMPR FAQ? Well, I could go into great detail about how I've always loved the show, and how its message of hope and justice has given me the inner strength to persevere through my own private tribulations, but I won't. Frankly, I did it because I have no life. ========== And that's it (for now, at least)! Questions? Comments? Corrections? Send them to: tguingab@vms1.gmu.edu I'd also love to hear from any other Power Rangers fans. C'mon, I know you're out there -- admit it. If it makes you feel any better, you're not alone. Smile! :) Copyright 1994-1996, Terri Ann Guingab