Season One: Episode One: The Day of the Dumpster (aka, the Pilot).

 

   The Day of the Dumpster. 

    Where it all began....

    Sentai Notes: 

    For a little background information, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was inspired by the Japanese series Super Sentai, a series of interrelated shows that featured teams of warriors facing off against evil characters. Haim Saban (no relations to the University of Alabama coach, as Nick Saban pronounces it as "Say-bin" instead of "Sah-Bahn") had this idea of adopting Super Sentai to American television in manner of Godzilla: King of the Monsters. In that movie, footage from the original Gojira is spliced together with original American footage of a commentator. Here, Saban would have American footage intercut with footage from the Japanese (the latter featuring battles). In this case, he did this with the latest installment, Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger ("Kee-OH-you Sin-TIE JOO-en-JAH!", meaning "Dinosaur Task Force Beast Warriors"). 

Click here to see the awesome opening in Japan.

Now click here for the opening of Power Rangers.

   The footage from Zyuranger is used for the villains and zord battles (the former dubbed over with voice actors playing the roles), leaving original American footage to be shot by Adrian Carr. In the original show, Rita Repulsa is named Bandora, an ancient and evil woman who became a witch and brought down the dinosaurs with her powers (don't ask). Assisting her are a couple of monsters with different characteristics. The henchman Griffozar is most commonly seen, who personally takes on the Rangers many times, and is basically a dumb brute who doesn't talk until several episodes in. His opposite is Pleprechan, the genius monster maker who makes for Bandora the monsters and golems (the troops make up the body of her invading forces). Then there's Tottopatto and Bukkubakku, who basically serve as comedic relief at times, almost like the evil version of C-3PO and R2-D2. 

    When translated to the American show, not only are the characters dubbed in English but they are also renamed. Bandora becomes Rita, Griffozar becomes Goldar, Bukkubakku and Tottopatto become Squat and Bamboo, while Pleprechan becomes Finster. All five retain their personalities and roles, though Goldar is allowed to talk here and becomes basically Rita's second in command. 

     As the footage shows, Bandora and her minions are accidentally set free when a group of Japanese astronauts land on the fictional Planet Nemesis, a kind of Planet X that crosses paths with Earth once every 65 million years. In Power Rangers, Rita and her minions are freed in the same manner, though the astronauts are of undetermined origin this time. One thing of note, in Zyuranger, two of the astronauts are killed, their shuttle shrunk with kids inside, and about to be destroyed, which instigates the plot of the pilot. In Power Rangers, we don't know the fate of the astronauts, but with the way Rita was waving her wand at them implies it wasn't kid-friendly. Another change is the amount of time Rita was in the Dumpster, going from 65 million years to the more logical ten thousand years. The first season opening even has Rita emerging with her arms stretched and saying, "Ah! After ten thousand years I'm free! It's time to conquer Earth!" 

    Now the Rangers are the same in uniform, but the people to fill their boots are changed with the nationalities. In Zyuranger, the Rangers are five ancient warriors asleep in suspended animation and woken up to face Bandora by the Mysterious Sage Barza, an ancient wizard who takes up many jobs in the show to pay the bills (he starts out as a janitor) while maintaining a secret base of a cave for the Rangers underneath Tokyo (the way the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is hidden within London itself). 

     Power Rangers abandoned that approach and instead made it a team of "teenagers with attitudes" who are given the powers by Zordon, described as an interdimensional being trapped in a time warp (more on that later), assisting by the robot Alpha Five. In contrast to Japan where the warriors are homogenous people, we see a diverse cast with the Power Rangers. The Red Ranger remains the leader of the team, now named Jason (played by Austin St. John), a white jock who does athletic classes in his pass time. Next is Zack (Walter Jones), the cool, Hip-hop digging, black dude who becomes the Black Ranger. Billy (David Yost), the male, white nerd, becomes the Blue Ranger, who handles the technical issues and data research in defeating a monster (though earlier episodes have him wearing overalls, glasses, and speaking in poly-syllable words to make him sound nerdy, otherwise Billy had the body of a tank since Yost was gymnast). The Pink Ranger is Kimberly (Amy Jo Johnston), the combination of beauty and strength. One change in the cast concerns the Yellow Ranger: in Zyuranger, the Yellow Ranger was male, with the interesting name of Boi. The decision to make him a girl seems to be in the early stages of production, allowing for the creation of Trini, an Asian American student with the beauty of the Pink Ranger and the brains of the Blue, along with courage of the Red, while filling the check mark for inclusion of minorities like the Black. 

    In addition, the Power Rangers are given three rules to follow or else lose their powers: Never use the powers for personal gain, never escalate a battle unless forced to, and to keep their identity a secret. These three rules, the ability to morph, adding a technological side to the good guys stands apart from the largely fantasy based Zyuranger, whose heroes are known to civilians. Some of the morphing used in Power Rangers is a way to put the good guys into the Japanese footage to link up to the Rangers in uniform. 

    While the pilot follows "The Birth" from Zyuranger, it deviates from the second act onward, since there is no Zord battle in the latter. Plus, to show how everything works, it was decided to have the Rangers face the putties (the golem from Zyuranger) and then face Goldar with the Zords in a kind of upping the odds.  

    Strategy Notes: 

   This will cover strategy since, after all, it's a show that promotes team work. Not being a cadet in the Academy won't disqualify me from make observations on how both the good guys and the bad guys adopt the art of war. 

   The use of strategy on the Power Rangers will be noted in their first battle with the putties. Realistically, they are practically frozen by fear in the start (Kimberly is even heard screaming as we cut to commercials). But Jason takes charge quickly and uses the teamwork to face the putties. He has each of the teens use their strengths against the opponents as a test: Zack goes into a dancing move to confuse the putties, Kimberly uses her gymnastics, and Trini uses martial arts, and Billy bobs and weaves to make himself a harder target. Of course, it doesn't work out too well, so Jason suggests they morph into Power Rangers to even the odds. 

   When Rita makes Goldar grow, the Rangers have to call on their Zords. Jason continues the leadership role by calling the Zords out. He then leaps up and boards the Tyrannosaurus Zord. That is to set the example for others to follow. Upon entering the cockpit, we see the first of sixty "log-on" moments, which follows in line to the "All wings, report in" from Star Wars. They are basically checking to see if communications systems are on line and if they work, to which each of the remaining four respond. 

    The Zords come together and Goldar shows that there is no certainty after the first moment of the engagement. He can leap in the air and kick the Megazord, and do some sword tricks, which the Megazord doesn't do. One thing Sun Tzu spoke of is to "know your enemy as well as yourself." Jason knows himself and his team, but knows less about Goldar. So he has to improvise. If the Megazord can barely handle him without weapons, it's time to bring up the Power Sword. Upon sight of the armed Megazord, Goldar makes a tactical retreat, allowing the Rangers to win by forfeit. 

   Biblical or Mythological Homage: 

  Some of the monsters in the show, along with episode plotlines, come from ancient myths and established literature, so this will get pointed out along the way. While the series as a whole seems New Age, an occasional homage to the Bible, or something shared with Judaism and Christianity pop up now and then.      

    Rita is set up as a witch (riding a tricycle instead of a broomstick) with a magic wand that can make monsters grow or send power beams across space to Earth. Her original form's name, Bandora, to Western audiences would sound like Pandora. In Greek Mythology, Pandora was the world's first woman, given a jar on her wedding night, which she opened out of curiosity, unleashing all the evils in the world. She promptly closed it to leave hope remaining. Rita / Bandora have a similar situation, only they are the ones coming out of the jar.  

   Voiced by Barbara Goodson, Rita certainly sounds like the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. In fact, a great deal of homages to Oz are visible in Power Rangers, a wicked witch, a wizard who communicates through a head, and the heroes going on quests for powers that help them win. 

    When viewed in a certain angle, Rita Repulsa's head and neck dress gives her the appearances of the Baphomet. You can just draw out the pentagram with her hair forming the upper corners, her breast plate for the lower corners. 

   Goldar will be referred to as "Monkey Boy" a few times later on, but his Sentai Counterpart, Griffozar, is based on the legendary griffin, a creature with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion, with wings. You will notice how Goldar has wings and his face has something of a mane in his helmet, but his demonic face hardly looks like a monkey's. 

   The rest of Rita's minions are inspired by other mythological creatures. Finster, as his Sentai counterpart shows, is a leprechaun, and not the friendly one you see on St. Patrick's Day. Bamboo's original form is that of a vampire and Squat is a hobgoblin (a fat one, of course). The last is ironic since Finster looks more goblin-like than Squat. 

     The putties are called "golems" in Zyuranger, those monsters made of clay. As a Jew, Saban would be familiar with golems, while many would think of Golem from The Lord of the Rings. Perhaps that is why they are renamed putties, but they share the same origin as the golems, as do other monsters in Power Rangers. 

    I don't know how much of an influence of Judaism is in Power Rangers (though there is plenty of New Age wisdom in the later episodes), but considering the Command Center's exterior is The House of the Book at Brandeis-Bardin, it does make it resemble a synagogue, if not the old Temple of the Jews. The fact the inside is not to be known to outsiders resembles the old priestly order that forbade outsiders from entering the inner sections of the Temple, which they were guardians of, with Alpha playing out the role of the high priest (sort of). Meanwhile, the Rangers look up to Zordon as though he were God, using the whole interdimensional being as code for a deity, and the time warp as a science fictional tabernacle, but how can a god wind up trapped inside a tube like that is beyond me (the God I worship is omnipotent and therefore can never be trapped in anything, by the way[1]). The whole Is-Zordon-God approach is never followed through in the series. 

     In Zyuranger, the Zords are guardian beasts representing dinosaurs and prehistoric beasts, yet merge together to form a beast god. For a largely Judeo-Christian influenced country like America, as well as the need to keep things secular (apparently) on a kids show, that concept is not used and instead the Zords become mere robots. That to me is why they never ever stated if Zordon was meant to be a stand in for God, since as far as I can tell Saban wouldn't have been able to do so on a good conscience. 

   Misc. Notes: 

    This will cover moments that can be considered humorous, along with things that may or may not have aged well. This show came out in the nineties, after all, and some things have changed since. 

   Bulk and Skull are introduced here. Samurai Karasu, whose blog "Ranger Retrospective" (an antithesis to this set up), considers them the best part of Power Rangers, sort of having the whole bully in school cliché of the nineties to remind us the heroes have lives when not fighting evil. They are set up with the personality of Laurel and Hardy, with Bulk coming in and saying something, and Skull will add emphasis with "Yeah" and repeat what Bulk said. 

     Bulk and Skull are indeed funny as a whole, but the pilot shows something of them that hasn't aged well. They come in to harass Kimberly and Trini. Skull attempts to respect their wishes when they say no, only for Bulk to grab him, shake his head, and try again. Again, the girls say no, but Bulk and Skull begin the whole toxic masculine approach that nearly gets rapey, with Zack coming in as a white (err, black) knight to the rescue. Thankfully, the girls show they can handle the situation without the help of a man, without actually saying, "we can handle this situation without the help of a man." When the bullies come in, the girls simply grab their wrists and toss them onto the mat, then tell them to take Jason's class. In short, Bulk and Skull in Season One are less attractive as characters than later on, but that is the beauty of character growth. Still, someone should have told them no means no. 

     Also introduced is Ernie (don't ask where Bert is), the owner of the Juice Bar the teens hang out in, just like in Saved By the Bell having its characters hang out in a diner. He's heavy-set, but loveable. Frequently in the early episodes, he'll offer drinks on the house when something good happens. 

     Rita's presence is felt in an earthquake, though the show has people running in a panic when it hits. I am from a place that doesn't get many earthquakes, but I am sure the people in California know better than to run around like wet hens during one. 

     Alpha mentions they are heading into the ocean, a reference to a misconception of tectonic activity in California would cause the state to wind up in the Pacific (it will actually lead to one end breaking off from the other and the gap flooded). 

    As anyone watching will notice, all five teens selected to be the Power Rangers are wearing the colors associated with their respective uniform. Kind of a foreshadow. 

     As far as I can find, there is no evidence the casting of minorities to the color of their suits (black guy as the Black Ranger and Asian as Yellow Ranger) was intentional. If anything, it just sort of happened. In fact, originally, Trini was going to be an African American like Zack, and they filmed the pilot first with Audri Dubois playing her. But when Fox Kids ordered a season and the episode was given a makeover, a cast change was done to have Vietnamese American actress Thuy Trang play Trini, it obviously made her Asian American. Still, in later seasons they would mix around the races and  colors to prevent something like this from happening. 

     Finally, a spoiler: the order we see the rangers introduced in the credits matches the order of their departure from the series. First to go are Jason, Trini, and Zack, in season two, then Kimberly in season three, and Billy departs in the fourth season, Power Rangers Zeo.

   Thoughts: 

     Now the moment you've been waiting for, reader. 

     "The Day of the Dumpster" is not the worst of pilot episodes, but it is not the best either. It is kind of rushed together, then put together with Scotch tape and glue, then presented as complete. As a kid, I was like most and too dazzled by the action and special affects to notice the flaws. As an adult, I do wonder what happened to the astronauts on the Moon and how can Rita and her minions breathe in a place that has no air. 

    But I do enjoy the episode for the sake of nostalgia. It comes with Zack and his lingo and dance moves, the way Kimberly says, "Not" when she pulls a joke on everyone, and the thing of teens being able to do things like attend school, lead classes, and fight evil, without any effort. All the while, presenting as a great preview of the things to come with the climatic Zord fight. It really is cool watching it call come together near the end and see the good guys win. In this gloom and despair time we live in, we need such upbeat scenes. 

[1] As a Catholic, I have tried to find a way the series as a whole could appeal to Christians and where to find God in the series. It's much tougher than trying to face off Rita and her monsters all together, I do admit, so it's base to look in individual episodes. But, I will add plenty of times a Christian parallel appears in the later episodes.