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'Power Rangers' All-Star Trailer1:00
A group of high-school kids, who are infused with unique superpowers, harness their abilities in order to save the world. Check out this promo trailer for the 'Power Rangers' movie in HD.
- February 22nd 2017
- a month ago
- /video/video.news.com.au/Entertainment/
The original Power Rangers, (from left) David Yost, Thuy Trang, Jason David Frank, Austin St John, Amy Jo Johnson and Walter Emanual Jones.
THE Mighty Morphin Power Rangers blasted onto TV screens for the first time back in 1993, where they did battles in skin-tight spandex with a series of weird and wonderful monsters.
The TV show hasn’t been off air since then, going through 24 different incarnations.
Now it’s set to hit the silver screen in a big budget movie — Power Rangers — with the reboot coming from the team behind Twilight, Divergent, and The Hunger Games.
Actors who have starred in the series have gone on to find fame, and some not so much fortune, for the right and the wrong reasons.
Last week Ricardo Medina, who played the Red Lion Wild Force Ranger from 2002 — 2003, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the US after he stabbed his roommate to death with a sword.
But what happened to the original six teens who captured the hearts of kids around the world back in the 90s? The five surviving members have revealed all, including more than a few backstage scandals, to news.com.au.
JASON DAVID FRANK (GREEN RANGER / TOMMY OLIVER)
24 years after the first show aired, Jason David Frank is still the green Power Ranger.Source:Supplied
Still going strong since he took on the role of Green Ranger tommy Oliver, 24 years ago, Jason David Frank is what you could call the granddaddy of the Power Rangers universe.
He also filmed a cameo role in the upcoming Hollywood blockbuster, but says he won’t know if he has made it into the final cut until he sees the film at the premiere on March 23.
He said of the show’s success: “It was like a soap opera with karate. You had a love story between the green and the pink. All the individual characters, kids can relate to. You’ve got the smart kid, you’ve got the sports guy. It has never left the air for 25 years. That is amazing to me.”
Jason has starred in six series of the Power Rangers, as well as two movies, and his cameo in the latest film.
He said there were pay disputes on set, which led to a lot of rotation with the cast: “Working on a show was a dream for me. But politics got involved and money got involved and three cast members left.
“Maybe it wasn’t well paid in comparison to other shows, but for me, 25 years later, I have my businesses and I am financially secure.”
He added: “It got to the point for me where I was like, ‘oh my gosh, will someone just come to work and be happy with what we have got.’ It started to affect me, in that when people would leave the show, we would have to shoot with body doubles, and stunt doubles.
“If you are going to get your feelings hurt and feel insecure then maybe Hollywood isn’t the business to get into. You have to be thick skinned. Especially in the Power Rangers.”
Jason said his worst injury was on the first day of filming for the first movie he starred in: “I got injured quite often, but mostly from playing around. We would do crazy stunts off set. We would run up trees and do backflips.
“I landed face first on the floor on the first day of the movie and I thought I had knocked my teeth out.
“I was all scratched up and I went to make up. And they had to put this new skin plastic on me and paint me up. I had to cheat in the movie and shoot from the good side.”
AMY JO JOHNSON (PINK RANGER / KIMBERLY ANN HART)
Amy Jo Johnson now.Source:Supplied
Amy Jo Johnson pictured in her Power Ranger days in 1995.Source:News Corp Australia
Amy Jo Johnson scored the role as the Pink Ranger after attending her very first audition in LA. An accomplished gymnast, she had no agent and says backflips were quite helpful in getting the part.
She said of the show, which she starred in until 1995: “A lot of the stunts we were doing were a bit dangerous.
“I don’t think we were regulated by the union, there were a few times when I feared for my life.”
Despite loving being a Pink Power Ranger, the overwhelming popularity of the program was difficult to deal with: “We didn’t know they way that show would blow up the way it did.
“The personal live appearances were incredibly overwhelming — I wasn’t prepared for all those people who thought they knew who we were. It really frightened me,” she told news.com.au.
“There were some really great kids, they were amazing. But there were some creepy adults. I had a stalker in the 90s it was quite scary, but it came along with the territory, with a kid’s show being watched by adults.”
Amy Jo said after one public appearance she had nightmares for three months: “I dreamt about nuclear war and the world was ending.”
She revealed when she left the show it took a year and a half to get another role, because there was a “stigma” attached to being in the pink suit.
But she added she has never wanted to be very famous: “I really love the career I have had, because it’s quite under the radar.
“I have worked consistently for the last 20 years, on some pretty great shows, but never become a really big star. I was very afraid of becoming famous — it frightened me.”
Amy Jo, who had a recurring role on Canadian drama Flashpoint for six years, now lives in the country.
She has just made her first film, The Space Between, which she crowdfunded on Indigogo.
She busked in Toronto wearing her pink Power Rangers suit as part of a dare by David Yost.
Amy Jo joked: “That is never going to happen again! One of my best friends was like, ‘you are so brave — how can you do that (as a) 45 year old?’
“It wasn’t the original costume — if I had that, I would sell that thing on eBay!”
Amy Jo Johnson busking in her Power Rangers costume
Now loving her new direction of writing producing and directing, she says she has found her “happy spot.”
She has a cameo in the upcoming Power Rangers movie and added she didn’t know how long her appearance her was in the film: “Maybe if you blink then you might not see!”
DAVID YOST (BLUE RANGER / BILLY CRANSTON)
David Yost now.Source:Supplied
David Yost then.Source:Supplied
David Yost played Blue Ranger Billy Cranston, who was named after THE Bryan Cranston, who was then doing voiceover work for the show’s producer Haim Saban.
He starred in over 200 episodes of the series, which morphed into Power Rangers Zeo.
David left the series suddenly, and although it was assumed it was to do with a pay dispute, it was actually because he was being bullied over his sexuality.
“I left without telling anyone why I left. I just walked off set one day. I was struggling with my identity and sexuality. There were a few people around the set who made my working environment less than desirable,” he told news.com.au.
David added he had to make the break to keep his mental stability, as in the early 1990s being gay on a kids TV show, was just not accepted: “It was really difficult. I was going through so much mental turmoil made it unbearable.”
He went through conversion therapy in a bid to try and combat his homosexuality: “I put myself through that. I spent about two years trying to do that. It is very unsuccessful and it was very unhealthy and led to me having a nervous breakdown.
“But that is where you kind of hit rock bottom. And it made me realise I had every right to be happy. It took several years but now I am finally myself.”
He says the cast are still friends and see each other quite regularly on the Comic Con circuit: “We went through so much together. We got to rise to fame together. We had a really close bond and amazing chemistry.”
One of David’s upcoming projects is a film called The Order which stars 17 of the former Power Rangers cast: “It’s good against evil and they get divided. It’s really exciting. It is an action film, but nothing to do with super heroes or spandex.”
David said he loves hearing about how his character has inspired people: “Never did I think 25 years ago my character made people feel OK, they may have worn glassed and been considered nerds, were picked on and bullied, but they looked to my character and thought, ‘if Billy can do it I can do it.’ It’s really humbling.”
AUSTIN ST JOHN (RED RANGER / JASON LEE SCOTT)
Austin St John now.Source:Supplied
Austin St John then.Source:Supplied
He was the youngest member of the cast, but Austin St John was the original leader of the Power Rangers team as Red Ranger Jason Lee Scott.
He went for the role after accepting a $20 bet from a friend and wasn’t even an actor at the time.
Austin also left the show after getting involved in a pay dispute, and said the day he walked out was one of his worst, but he had to “stand up” for himself.
He turned his back on acting and worked for 12 years with the emergency services in the Washington DC area.
Austin said: “After that I spent four years in the Middle East during the war working as a medic attached military operations. Now I’m retired from medicine and producing and acting again in Hollywood.”
He said he has “mixed emotions” about the new film, and hasn’t even seen a trailer yet.
He told news.com.au the enduring appeal of the Power Rangers is: “Because it speaks to the child in everyone ... beyond culture, colour, sex, religion.”
WALTER EMANUEL JONES (BLACK RANGER / ZACK TAYLOR)
Walter Emanuel Jones now.Source:Supplied
Walter Emanuel Jones then.Source:Supplied
Walter Emanuel Jones played Black Ranger Zack Taylor for a season and a half before he was replaced by Johnny Yong Bosch.
He says he hasn’t had any involvement on the new movie: “I am bummed about that. They didn’t ask me to be part of it, so I am little bummed. But I am going to the premiere and I am excited about that.”
Walter revealed the worst thing about wearing the Power Rangers suit was how revealing it could be: “It was slightly embarrassing when you got into the suit because you couldn’t hide anything, every bump and curve was captured. It was like, ‘OK I’m basically naked.’
“If you had to go to the bathroom you had to have help because the zip was in the back and you couldn’t get out of it yourself.
“My suit was black so it was fashionable but in the hot sun that is not the colour you want to wear, because it sucks up in the heat. And in the morning when it is cold, the air goes straight through it because it is spandex.”
Walter returned to the series on two other occasions as a voice performer and has also starred in shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Shield and NYPD Blue.
THUY TRANG (YELLOW RANGER / TRINI KWAN)
Thuy Trang and Amy Jo Johnson in their Power Ranger days.Source:Supplied
Thuy Trang was Yellow Ranger Trini Kwan — her family left Vietnam in the 1970s so they could start a new life in America.
Thuy started her acting career young, starring in a number of commercials. She then went on to play the role in Power Rangers for one and a half seasons before leaving at the same time as Walter Emmanuel Jones and Austin St John.
After leaving, she appeared in The Crow: City of Angels, and Spy Hard.
Tragically she died in a car accident in 2001.
Four of her co-stars — Amy Jo Johnson, Austin St John, David Yost and Walter Emanuel Jones went to her funeral.
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