SABAN'S POWER RANGERS: THE MOVIE [2017] [PART 2]

Welcome to part 2 of my look at the "POWER RANGERS" franchise. 

Last time I mentioned that the RANGERS did a t.v. crossover with the "TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES" but I forgot to mention that there is now a "MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS/JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA" comic book mini-series crossover event!

[I added this image because I thought it looked really cool and because me and some friends of mine were talking about "WONDER WOMAN" earlier.]

The crossover comic book mini-series is being published by DC COMICS and BOOM STUDIOS and will released as a graphic novel in october. 

[Coincidently IDW  and DC COMICS has recently released a "BATMAN/TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES" graphic novel crossover and a  "BATMAN/TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES ADVENTURES" comic book series as well!]

Both "BATMAN", "THE JUSTICE LEAGUE" and the "TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES" [ Well, A different version of them anyway!] have all met the "POWER RANGERS" by now!

BOOM STUDIOS has also made two more "POWER RANGERS" graphic novels as well:

"MIGHTY MOPHIN POWER RANGERS: PINK"

and "SABAN'S POWER RANGERS: AFTERSHOCK": the official movie sequel!

Did you know that THUY TRANG was not the first actress to play "TRINI / THE 1ST YELLOW MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGER"?

Actress AUDRI DuBOIS played "TRINI" in the unaired pilot episode!

DuBOIS was fired because she asked for more wages and was replaced by TRANG.

Tragically TRANG died in a car accident near SAN FRANCISCO on September 3, 2001.

AUSTIN ST. JOHN, WALTER EMANUEL JONES, AMY JO JOHNSON and DAVID YOST attended her funeral but fellow "RANGER" JASON DAVID FRANK was unable to attend do to the death of his older brother ERIK although DAVID FRANK did send his condolences to the TRANG family.

The "POWER RANGERS: TIME FOCE" episode "CIRCUIT UNSURE" is dedicated to TRANG'S memory.

Singer/actress BECKY GOMEZ [aka "BECKY G"] plays "TRINI" in the new "POWER RANGERS" movie.

GOMEZ'S "TRINI" also makes franchise history as the first LGBT "RANGER" and movie superhero in blockbuster history!

Did you know that MMPR/ZEO co-star DAVID YOST ["BILLY/THE BLUE MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGER"] is also gay in real-life?

YOST quit during season 4 [ZEO] because of crew members bullying him for his sexuality.

It was because of that, that YOST ended up having suicidal thoughts and left during production instead of finishing the season and completing work on "TURBO: A POWER RANGERS MOVIE".

After YOST left the series, he attended conversion therapy for two years hoping to change his sexuality.

At one point YOST had a nervous breakdown forcing him into psychiactric hospitalization for five weeks!

YOST has since then accepted his sexuality and works as a filmmaker in various T.V. projects including the BRAVO series "THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS" [as a segment producer].

[DAVID YOST at a major hollywood event.]

RJ CYLER plays "BILLY" in the 2017 film

Did you know that it took HAIM SABAN seven years to get "POWER RANGERS" onto american television?

SABAN had been trying to sell the show to t.v. networks but everyone thought that "Guys in spandex suits and dinosaurs was too weird".

Then, in 1993, SABAN met with FOX CHILDREN'S PROGRAMING President MARGARET LOESCH who took an instant liking to the whole concept. 

                                               [LOESCH]

Did you know that the series was originally going to be called "DINO RANGERS"?

                              ["DINO THUNDER" FAN-ART]

Did you know that AMY JO JOHNSON had decided to leave L.A. right before she was cast as "KIMBERLY/THE 1ST PINK MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGER'?

JOHNSON had just moved to L.A., was going through a break-up, sold all of her personal belongings and was on the verge of moving back home to CAPE COD, MASSACHUSETTS!

The reason JOHNSON ended up staying is because the night before she planned to leave she met the man who would become her acting coach, WALTER RAINEY. [I was unable to find a picture of RAINEY.]

RAINEY convinced JOHNSON to come back and take an acting class and met KATY WALLIN, who is also a casting director who was casting for "POWER RANGERS" at the time. and the rest, as they say, is history!

                                        [WALLIN]    

"KMBERLY" is played by british actress/singer NAOMI SCOTT in the 2017 film.

Did you know that "TOMMY/THE GREEN/WHITE MIGHTY MORPHIN/RED ZEO/1ST RED TURBO/BLACK DINO THUNDER POWER RANGER" [JASON DAVID FRANK] was only going to  appear in a couple of episodes but the fans loved him so much that they sent hundreds of fan-mail begging SABAN to keep "TOMMY" in the series. SABAN granted their wishand FRANK stayed on for six seasons?!

FRANK played "THE GREEN MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGER" [S1&2], "THE WHITE MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGER" [S2&3], "THE RED ZEO POWER RANGER" [S4], "THE 1ST RED TURBO POWER RANGER" [S5] and "THE BLACK DINO THUNDER POWER RANGER" [S12]. FRANK and co-star PAUL SCHRIER [BULK] have the longest runs as cast members in "POWER RANGERS" history!

[SCHRIER with co-star JASON NARVY [SKULL]]

The identity of the new "TOMMY/THE GREEN RANGER" actor for the 2017 reboot film series is currently unknown!

[The 2017 film series reboot post-credits scene is a foreshadowing of future events with "THE GREEN RANGER".]

Did you know that 2017 film reboot co-star BRYAN CRANSTON [ZORDON] also voiced two villains from season 1 and that "BILLY/THE BLUE MMP RANGER" is named after him!

[CRANSTON]

He voiced the monsters "SNIZZARD" in the episode "FOUL PLAY IN THE SKY" and "TWIN MAN" in "A BAD REFLECTION ON YOU" and plays "ZORDON" in the new movie.

["SNIZZARD"]

["TWIN MAN"]

[2017 "ZORDON"]

The crew must have really liked CRANSTON'S performance because they decided to give his last name to "THE BLUE RANGER", thus naming him "BILLY CRANSTON". CRANSTON once said in a REDDIT AMA: "Someone once told me that they named "THE BLUE POWER RANGER" after me, his last name was "CRANSTON". I found out years later that it was true."

CRANSTON has also voiced some english dubs for Japanese anime including "STREET FIGHTER 2: THE ANIMATED MOVIE", "MACROSS PLUS" and more under the screen names "LEE STONE" and "PHILL WILLIAMS".

["FEI LONG" from "STREET FIGHTER 2: THE ANIMATED MOVIE" under the name "PHILL WILLIAMS".]

well were on the subject of actors who have played "ZORDON":

Did you know that his name was originally "ZOLTAR" and that DAVID FIELDING {the actor who played "ZORDON" throughout seasons 1-4] was only filmed once?

FIELDING was not the only actor to play "ZORDON" in the T.V. series actors ROBERT L MANAHAN, WINSTON RICHARD [S2-6] and NICHOLAS BELL ["MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS: THE MOVIE"] voiced him as well. FIELDING is the only "ZORDON" actor to have his name appear in the shows' opening credits/theme song.

Did you know that WALTER EMANUEL JONES ["ZACK/THE 1ST BLACK MIGHTY MORPHIN  RANGER"] is missing a middle finger on his right hand?

[JONES and his missing middle finger with co-star THUY TRANG [TRINI] in one of the few shots with the absent appendage.]

The film crew had to use some clever camera tricks to avoid showing the injury on camera [though there are few times shots from certain episodes that expose the truth]!

This was also done to avoid any inconsistencies with the japanese footage because "THE BLACK RANGER" in the "SUPER SENTAI" series ["ZYURANGER"] has all ten fingers!

[Notice the difference between the picture of "ZACK" and "TRINI" and the one with "THE BLACK RANGER" with the actors fingers here!] 

This fact has led fans to believe that JONES lost his finger during production at some point but in an interview JONES later revealed that he lost his finger in an accident when he was only four years old!

Did you know that before production started JONES originally auditioned for the role of "BILLY" but JONES decided to play "THE BLACK RANGER" instead because he thought he would be even more recognizable as "ZACK/THE BLACK RANGER"?

This would become completely ironic because some activist groups deemed this casting move to be "RACIALLY INSENSITIVE".

"ZACK" is played by actor LUDI LIN in the new "POWER RANGERS" movie.

Did you know that AUSTIN ST. JOHN ["JASON/ THE 1ST RED MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGER" and 2ND "GOLD ZEO POWER RANGER"] was named "The greatest red ranger of all time" and "The most popular red ranger of all" in two separate online/T.V. voting contests held ABC FAMILY [in 2004] TOON DISNEY [in 2007]?

Did you know his real name is JASON GEIGER and not "AUSTIN ST. JOHN"? 

 ST. JOHN'S management team felt the name JASON GEIGER was not strong enough so the actor came up with the name "ST. JOHN" himself and the name "AUSTIN" was suggested by his managers, who got the inspiration from "STEVE AUSTIN" the main character from  the hit T.V. series "THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN" [played by actor LEE MAJORS].

Did you know that ST. JOHN is also a paramedic and martial artist?

ST. JOHN has been studying martial arts since he was five years old and has a second degree black belt in Taekwondo and a first degree black belt in Judo and is currently practicing Kenpo and Shenkito!

[Cover art of ST. JOHN in a martial arts video titled "UAV KARATE MASTERS: AUSTIN ST. JOHN"]

Both ST. JOHN and WALTER EMANUEL JONES reunited to co-host the T.V. special "POWER RANGERS: THE LOST EPISODE".

[ST. JOHN on the set of/in studio filming "POWER RANGERS: THE LOST EPISODE".]

Did you know that ST. JOHN was originally considered to comeback to the series and play "THE BLACK DINO THUNDER RANGER"?

However there were two problems with that:

1: He already played a "BLACK RANGER" ["THE GOLD ZEO RANGER"].

2: Due to "TOMMY" being the more popular "RANGER", they decided to cast co-star JASON DAVID FRANK instead!

Did you know that when ST. JOHN attended "POWER MORPHICON 4" in 2014 he met YUTA MOCHIZUKI [i'm sorry if I typed his name wrong!] who played "JASON"'S Japanese "SUPER SENTAI: ZYRURANGER" counterpart "GEKI/THE RED ZYRURANGER".

"JASON" MEETS "GEKI" "THE 1ST RED MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGER/RED SUPER SENTAI ZYRURANGER" AT "POWER MORPHICON 4" IN 2014!

"JASON" is portrayed by DACRE MONTGOMERY in the 2017 film.

Did you know that many former "POWER RANGERS" cast members are teaming up for a new action/thriller movie-event called "THE ORDER"?

The cast will include:

ERIN CAHILL ["THE PINK TIME FORCE RANGER"], AUSTIN ST. JOHN ["THE 1ST RED MIGHTY MOPHIN RANGER/ GOLD ZEO RANGER"], CATHERINE SUTHERLAND ["THE 2ND PINK MIGHTY MORPHIN/PINK ZEO/1ST PINK TURBO RANGER"], NAKIA BURNISE ["YELLOW ZEO RANGER/1ST YELLOW TURBO RANGER"], KAREN ASHLEY ["THE 2ND YELLOW MIGHTY MORPHIN RANGER"], STEVE CARDENAS ["THE 2ND RED MIGHTY MORPHIN RANGER/BLUE ZEO RANGER"], PAUL SCHRIER ["BULK"], DAVID FIELDING ["ZORDON"], HILARY SHEPARD ["DIVATOX"-She was the first actress who played her in "TURBO: A POWER RANGERS MOVIE" and the second half of season 5 "POWER RANGERS: TURBO" after CAROL HOYT [both actors also play "DIVATOX"'S sister "DIMITIRA"!]. shepard was on maternity leave at the time.], AZIM RIZK ["THE BLACK MEGA FORCE RANGER/GREEN SUPER MEGA FORCE RANGER"], YOSHI SUDARSO ["THE BLUE DINO CHARGE/DINO SUPER CHARGE RANGER"], ALYSON SULLIVAN ["THE YELLOW WILD FORCE RANGER" under the name ALYSON KIPERMAN], WALTER EMANUEL JONES ["THE 1ST BLACK MIGHTY MORPHIN RANGER"], JASON FAUNT ["THE 1ST/2ND RED TIME FORCE RANGER"] and DAVID YOST ["THE BLUE MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGER"].

"THE ORDER" also has some "NONE-RANGER" celebrities including:

MARINA SIRTIS [The "STAR TREK" franchise],

GEORGE LAZENBY [The "OO7" franchise - "ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE"],

MICHELE NICHOLS [Also from the "STAR TREK" franchise], 

BRAD HAWKINS ["SABAN'S VR TROOPERS" - VIRTUAL REALITY TROOPERS]

and GIGI EDGLEY [The "FARSCAPE" series].

Well I hope you guys enjoyed this special look at the "POWER RANGERS" franchise. "SABAN'S POWER RANGERS" is now on DVD, Blu-Ray and digital HD.

Be sure to support the sequels [they need the money!] and as "ZORDON" would say "AND REMEMBER, MAY THE POWER PROTECT YOU!".

OH!, And by the way, be sure to check-out the latest T.V. series season DVD release - "SABAN'S POWER RANGERS: DINO SUPER CHARGE: THE COMPLETE SEASON" - in stores now!

And remember: "GO, GO POWER RANGERS!"

Farewell for now!