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 Wild Force| Ninja Storm |DinoThunder |Space Patrol Delta 

|Mystic Force|Operation Overdrive|Behind The Scenes Story

For over twenty five years a show called Super Sentai dazzled audiences in Japan. The show was ( and stil is) a live action show that features five young heroes with special powers who battle evil monsters. Each one of our heroes received  gigantic robots called mecha. They could be used to fight off monsters when they grew to gigantic size. The mecha could usually form together to form one superior gigantic robot. Each year our heroes would defeat their enemies and our story would be finished. The next year a new threat and a new set of heroes (with a new back story and brand new powers) would be introduced and the cycle would repeat itself. The Super Sentai show was a success in Japan. Although it seemed simplistic by design Super Sentai shows usually had some story of storyline and even had some adult situations (Sentai was/is a kids show but in Japan kids shows have much less content restrictions than in US).

An American television producer named Haim Saban discovered Super Sentai years before Power Rangers even aired. He thought of an ingenious business plan that could make the show a success in the US market. He wanted to buy Super Sentai footage from Toei ( the company that produced  Super Sentai). With the action footage at his disposal he would hire American actors to shoot American scenes. The American and Sentai footage would be mixed together to create a unique kids show.

The only problem was many Networks did not share Saban's enthusiasm with the idea. Many children's networks turned his idea down. Saban pitched the idea for years with no success. Their was a famed un-aired pilot that featured dubbed Bioman footage ( an early Super Sentai incarnation). Finally Saban was able to find a Network to air the show. The young Fox Network decided to give Mighty Morphing Power Rangers ( as the show would come to be called) a chance.

Young actors were cast to play the roles of our heroes. Austin St. John was cast to play Jason, the Red Ranger. Walter Jones was cast to play Zack, the Black Ranger . Amy Jo Johnson was brought in to play Kimberly, the Pink Ranger. Thuy Trang was brought in to play Trini,the yellow ranger. To round out the cast David Yost was cast as Billy, the Blue Ranger. The footage of the show was taken from the season of the previous years  Super Sentai, which was named Zyuranger. It involved five ancient worriers who were awakened to use their dinosaur powers to fight an evil witch. Power Ranger utilized the footage of Zyuranger but had a much different storyline. MMPR ( as Mighty Morphing Power Rangers is called for short) was about an evil witch who was freed from her prison on the moon. An ancient wizard named Zordon recruited our heroes (who were five ordinary teens) to battle Rita and her evil forces. Rita Repulsa was taken from the Sentai footage of Zyuranger's main villain, Bandora. Dubbing was used to give the villian an American sound.

MMPR  debuted in the fall of 1993 on the Saturday morning lineup of Fox Kids ( it should be noted that an unaired pilot was produced before than that had a different actor cast as Trini and had some differences than the actual first episode). Day of the Dumpster was the title of the official first episode. Power Rangers was  aired every weekday morning  as well as on Saturdays. The production values of the show were far from revolutionary but that was the intent. Power Rangers was this fun campy show with bright colors. It was supposed to be fun and lacked the complexity or seriousness of its Sentai counterpart. MMPR was a show kids could watch without having to think. The Ranger's characters were taken from teenage stereotypes. The Rangers were excellent role models for kids, as they seldom did  anything wrong. They were perfect characters in the mold of characters from old classic shows (like Leave it to Beaver or the Brady Bunch).

Saban was credited as Executive Producer of the show but he had almost little  to do with the actual production of the show. He fronted the money of course as it was his company that owned Power Rangers ( Saban Entertainment). Saban's fellow Executive Producer Shuki Levy, ran the show at this point, along with a very highly skilled production  staff. Producer Jonathon Tzachor also heavily ran the show.   The shows first Supervising Producer ( another name for Story Editor basically) was Tony Oliver. Oliver would continue on as a Co-Producer after his stint as Supervising Producer ended. After that he even coming back still for VA roles and to write/produce specials. Oilver was best known for his role as Rick Hunter  in the Robotech cartoon.  He was a key part of PR's early creation. Around the second or third season a writer on the MMPR writing staff became the story editor and is credited with some of Power Rangers greatest episodes from the  early seasons. This man is known as Doug Sloan.

Power Rangers was a huge success from the get go, vastly becoming the most popular kids show on television. Toy sales grew out the roof and toy stores were easily sold out. Kids couldn't get enough of their favorite superhereos. One move that greatly attributed to Power Ranger's fast growing popularity was the introduction of a new character. His name was Tommy and he was the evil Green Ranger sent by Rita to destroy the Rangers ( Saban Entertainment had earlier  requested that Toei create a sixth ranger in  Zyuranger). Tommy was played by Jason David Frank. Soon it was revealed to the Rangers that Tommy was under an evil spell. After being freed from the spell he joined the Rangers.

Tommy quickly became the most popular character on Power Rangers and clearly helped lunch the franchise. Kids loved Tommy so much that when the writers tried to write him off ( Tommy was only supposed to be a temporary character) their was a huge backlash of letters asking that Tommy be kept on.  The writers of MMPR listened to the fans of the show and decided to keep Tommy around indefinitly (even though his counterpart in Zyuranger was killed off). MMPR was so popular Saban Entertainment commissioned Toei to create new Zyuranger footage specifically for Power Rangers.  Fox extended Power Ranger's first season and the new Toei footage was used to produce the additional episodes required. The extra footage has effectivly been referred to as Zyu-2 footage.

Power Rangers was easily renewed for a second season. Seasons two footage was taken from Zyuranger and  the following Super Sentai show ( Dairanger). Our heroes got new zords and a new villain named Lord Zedd. Lord Zedd was completely American produced. The show itself took on a more American feel. Yet the show retained its campy  and innocent elements. Tommy was given completely new powers and became the White Ranger. 

Unfortuantely, all was not happy on the set of Power Rangers at this time. Saban Entertainment was supposedly underpaying its actors (the actors union was not nearly as strict on them as they would be later). Actors; Austin St John, Walter Jones, and Thuy Trang asked for a raise. When it was denied they refused to continue working. Using stock footage the producers were luckily able  to make it seem like the actors were still there. They wasted no time to cast replacements for the departed actors. They  quickly wrote the there original  characters off by having them sent to a peace conference. Rocky replaced Jason and was played by Steve Cardensa. Adam replaced Zack and was played by Johnny Yong Bosch. Aishia replaced  Trini and was played by Karen Ashley . It became a Joke on the set around that time, that if people weren't good they would be sent to a peace conference.

MMPR more than survived the cast change. This  was  the height of MMPR"s popularity. A movie was produced featuring the Power Rangers at this time. A take off was created by Saban Entertainment, called VR Troopers( Jason Frank was orginally supposed to star in the show,which at the time was called Cybertron, before fan demand kept him on Power Rangers). The show had similar theme to Power Rangers and footage was taken from another action adventure show from Japan. Various PR like series were produced by revival companies as well. One notable take off was DIC's Super Human Samuri Cybersquad. It featured four teens who went into a computer to fight an evil computer program. The show took footage from the Japen show named Gridman. Their was also the short lived Tattoed Teenagers From Beverly Hills.  Saban would later come out with more take offs of its own. Mask Rider and Big Bad Beattleborgs were Saban Entertianment's other PR like projects. Some of these shows had limited success but none would achieve the level of Power Ranger's own success ( although Big Badd Bettleborgs always beat  PR in the ratings for a short time).

The Power Rangers movie had mixed succuss. The movie was directed by Bryan Spicer and  was produced by a completely different crew than the show was. The movie was shot in Sidney, Austrilia. Production values for the movie far exceeded those of the show. All footage was one hundredd percent original. Paul Freeman was cast to play the shows villian, Ivan Ozze. Freeman is best know for his role in "Raiders of the Lost Ark."   Interestingly enough, the movie didn't  fit into the shows continunity. This was due to the fact that 20th Centurty Fox owned the movie and any use of its plot or props would have forced the show to pay royalities to the movie studio).

 

MMPR entered its third season, following the movie ( which had come out in the summer). Season three utilized footage from the latest Super Sentai series (Kukuranger) to go with footage  from Zyuranger and Dairanger. PR continued as it always had been. Amy Jo Johnson decided to leave the series and was replaced by Australian born Actress Catherine Sutherland ( who was cast to play the character of Katherine Hillard). Originally Sutherland had been looked at to play a role in the movie ( she auditioned for the Dulcea role). This helped her get her role in the series. 

Unfortunately during the third season,  the popularity of Power Rangers began to wane. As history shows fads and kids shows don't last long as kids find something else to flock too. Ratings began to declineDespite its waning popularity (and end as a fad) PR was still able to continue on. Toy sales ( although lower) remained high enough to make the show profitable to all the companies involved. For the shows fourth season a new fresh direction was planned in  hopes of making PR number 1 again.

Mighty Morphing Power Rangers was changed to Power Rangers Zeo. Footage would be taken from the Super Sentai show called Ohranger. This had to be one of the biggest changes in the the shows history up  to that point.  Our hereos were given  brand new suits for the first time in the three year run of Power Rangers ( not counting the movie).  Karen Ashley left the show before Zeo began and was replaced by actress Nikia Burrise, who  played the role of Tonya. David Yost's role in the series was reduced as his genius like  charater (Billy) stepped aside as a Ranger in order to  take care of the Ranger's technology ( serving as the ranger's tech specialist). Long time favorite villians Rita and Zedd were replaced by the evil Machine Empire ( the villian footage was taken from Ohranger).

Zeo failed to bring back the fad Power Rangers had endured but it was a worth wild addition to the series ( ratings continued to fall). The general theme of the show was freshened  up and character writing became a little more realistic. The Rangers were stilll dogooders but you did act more realistic at certian points. For instance, in one episode Rocky met a blind girl. Tonya had to deal with her abusive boyfriend ( nothing physical just bad for her self essteem). Perhaps most looked upon as the high point of the season was the return of Austin St. John to the series. He reprised his role as Jason, this  time becoming the Gold Ranger.

The story goes like this. Just after VR troopers had ended, the actor who played Ryan Steele ( the main character on VR troopers) was set to play the mysterious new Gold Ranger. Brad Hawkins even did the vioce for the Gold Ranger in his earlier morphed apearances . The character of Ryan Steele seemed all set to cross over to the PR universe. This was only natural as VR Troopers was run by the same company as Power Rangers ( and at one time had Doug Sloan as its story editor). But things changed over the summer hatius of Zeo.  Austin  expressed interest about returning to the show. So Ryan Steele was written out of the show completely ( except for some  vioce dubs) and Jason was penciled in as the Gold Ranger. The Gold Ranger was introduced as an alien named Trey ( not played by Brad Hawkings). Eventually Trey was injured during battle and had to pass the powers along to Jason until he got well. This was a present surprise to most Power Ranger fans at the time. The Gold Ranger story arch gave us many twists and turns, teasing the secret identity on many side characters (  especially Billy) .

With Jason's return we got the depature of another former alumni. David Yost became unhappy with his limited role and decided to leave the show entirely ( without given the writers a chance to right him out properly). Like they did when the original three left a few years ago the writers improvised heavly). Billy was given a proper send off using clever plotting. The character was given a rapid aging problem. This allowed the team to give him a proper send off whthout David Yost. There was a rumor that Billy's had a role in the new Turbo Power Ranger Movie that was never fillmed  ( explaining a plot hole as to what happened to the Zeo crystal). This rumor was very untrue. There was no such scene in any of the movie scripts. So that ended up being  a big myth. Zeo ended and producers decided to change the theme again ( as they would every year from this point).

It should be noted that future Power Rangers story editor Amit Bhaumik (who once webmasters Power Rangers Online Archives)  worked with Joe Rovang, Derik Smith and others to produce a fan film called Scorpion Rain. Scorpion Rain  would provide a more statisfiying connection between Zeo and its succeeding incarnation. When Amiit went on to work on the show he would later use aspects of it  as a back story to "Forever Red" ( more on that later). So it is debateable to many as to whether Scorpion Rain is canon or not.

A second movie was produced. This time the show's production staff produced the film. Production values were lower than the first film. The movie was based on the Super Sentai known as Car Ranger. It was titled, Turbo A Power Rangers Movie. Austin  St John remained to appear in the  movie. Amy Jo Johnson returned to be in the movie. Young Blake Foster (eleven years old) was cast to play Justin Stewart. He took the place Steve Cardensa, becoming the first kid Power Ranger. Cardensa made a cameo in the film. Hillary Shepard Turner was cast as the movie's villian, Divatox.

The movie was a box office failure. Its story led into Power Rangers Turbo ( the fifth season of PR). Turbo used Carranger footage. Steve Cardensa had already left the show and made on final apearance in the season primiere. Blake Foster stayed on to play Justin in the show, as planned. Foster was brought in because Shulki Levy decided it was a good idea to have a kid ranger on the show ( partly due to Beattleborg's own success with child protaginists). Levy's plan really didn't do anything to add to PR's popularity in the long run  remains one of the most controversial moves in Power Rangers history (at least to the net fandom).

Turbo was based off of a car theme. For the second time in two years the Rangers got new suits and zords. Orginially Lord Zedd and Rita were set to return as the main villains again ( they even had a story arch in Zeo which ended with them taken out the Machine Empire). Unfortunatly by the time Turbo was set to air the actor who played Lord Zedd wasn't available. Their role in Turbo series  had to be dropped but Lord Zedd and Rita did have a cameo in the new movie. Turner reprised her role as Divatox in  the turbo series but not until the second half of the show ( she was pregnant so actress Carol Hoyt stepped into play the role untill Shepard returned,Hoyt also played the Rangers new mentor Demitira). Bob Manahan ended his role as Zordon ( but would return to play a fairly major role the next season). Hoyt's Dimitria was brought in as the Rangers new mentor when the series began.   

During the Turbo series some major changes began to happen that would change Power Rangers Forever. First Power Ranger producer Jonathon Tzachor (who had been infulencial in the deveolpment of the show from the beginning) was getting more and more power from Levy. Around this time Levy stepped aside as showrunner and Tzachor became the full time leader of the show( although both Saban and Levy were still credited as executive producers through Time Force). Another major change began to happen in the ranks. Long time story editor Doug Sloan left the show shortly before the second half of Turbo. As it was time for him to move on. Long time staff member Judd Lynn was promoted to Story Editor along with Jackie Marchand. Yet another change was made in front of the camera. Jason David Frank was ready to move on and had wanted to leave Power Rangers following Zeo. Catherine Sutherland also expressed interest in leaving. Frank was convinced to  stay on the show for the first half of Turbo when he could than be written out. Nikia Burrise, Johnny Bosch and Blake Foster were going to stay on the show with the new actors who would replace  Frank and Sutherland. Tracy Lynn Cruz was brought in to play the role of Ashley. She was an extra in season three's "A Season to Remember". Roger Vesquez was brought in to play Carlos. The two would both replace Tommy and Kat. Sometime after Trazchar and  Lynn took over, it was decided to start fresh entirely. Burrise and Bosch were written out of the show as well. The Carlos and Ashley characters would replace their characters instead. Selwyn Ward and Patricial Ja Lee would now replace Frank and Sutherland as TJ and Cassie. Blake Foster remained on the show. Thus the second season of Turbo took on a much different feel  with all these changes.

Turbo was only the beginning of the changes that were taken place in PR. Lynn began to drastically improve the writing and remove some of the campiness from the show, creating better crafted stories. These changes came into full effect in  time for the next season. The next season was probably one for the most ambitous seasons up to that point. Power Rangers would adopt the footage of Megaranger. But they would not stop there. The staff of Power Rangers created a completly original storyline that took the Rangers into Outer Space. The premise was introduced in Turbo's finalie. The Rangers lost their powers and heard that Zordon had been kidapped by some evil leader named Dark Spector. The Rangers than took a spaceship to find Zordon minus Justin ( Blake Foster decided to leave the show). Carol Hoyt also left the show leaving the Rangers without a mentor for the first time. Turbo setablized the ratings  decline  that had  plagued MMPR Season 3-Zeo.

A new actor named Chistopher Heyman Lee was brought in to play an alien named Andros, who was the new Red Ranger ( TJ became the Blue Ranger). Andros gave the Rangers their new space powers and they joined him to help find Zordon on his  Astromegaship. Power Rangers took on a more serial type feel . For the first time there was a continuing storyline and deeper characters. The show also created villians that for the first time weren't comic releif. The lead villianess was Astronoma( played by a model named Melody Perkins) a serious villian who was more than meant the eye. Later she would be revealed to be Andros' sister. Her master was Dark Spector who was the leader of all the evil the Rangers had  faced up to this point. Spector's look was taken from a character in Turbo Movie (Mailgore). The Rangers had to find Zordon before his powers were drained for good. Past villians also returned for guest staring apearances.  Blake Foster also returned for one episode as did Johnny Young Bosch. Andros' best friend Zhane later became part of the show as the Silver Ranger (played by Justin Nemo). Andros was a far deeper character than Power Rangers had been used to up to that point, as was his sister Karone/Astronoma. The season has become one of the universally praised seasons by Power Ranger's Internet fans. In a lot a ways it took Power Rangers to a whole new level. Its finalie ( Countdown to Desturction) featured a final showdown between the forces of good and evil. Countdown to Destruction ended the plots of the preivous five years of Power Rangers. It is considered by many to be the best episode of Power Rangers of all time. Zordon's sacrificed himself to save the universe. Andros was finally reunited with his sister Karone ( who was a reformed Astronoma). Past evils were either destoryed or made human. Many people who did not have access to the Internet thought it to be Power Rangers series fanilie.

Nothing was farther  from the truth as many would find out. As Saban Entertainmet was planning yet another even more ambitous season. The cast would be changed yet again and a new theme would be present. Power Rangers Lost Galaxy would take footage from the Super Sentai entitled, Gingaman. Power Rangers would  spin the concept into another Space season. It was about five young hereos who recieved the mystical Quasar Sabers that let them become the Galaxy Rangers. The season started compelely fresh like it was a new show( this was the first time PR fully ultilized the sentai method  by totally changing the themes and casts from year to year from this point on). One notable exception to this was a team up between the space rangers and Lost Galaxy Rangers ( another Super Sentai tradition). Unfortuantely, during filming Valiere Varone ( the actor who played the new Pink Ranger named Kendrix) had lukiamea and needed to be written of the show. Patricia Ja Lee was set to remain on the show after the team up to take Varone's place. But the deal fell through over money and credit placement issues.  Lee did not stay past the teamup as orginally planned. Instead Meledy Perkins was brought back to reprise her role as Karone. She would become the new Pink Ranger. Following union rules Valiere was still credited during her absence.Varone later went into remission from the cancer and was thankfully able to return in the fanile of Lost Galaxy ( even being part of the next season's team up).  Lost Galaxy was full of many plot twists and richly developed  characters. The villians were again more serious like the Space villians. Special Effects  were very first class. Ratings for the first half  of Lost Galaxy were the biggest in the history of the franchise ( although Power Rangers was still far removed from the fad it was  years earlier.) Toy Sales also soared for the first time in years. Ratings went down during the second half of Lost Galexy since Fox stopped promoting it as much in favor of promoting their new japenese import (Digimon). Some attribute this to what they thought was a lackluster first half of the season  ( considering the second half to be good). Toy Sales continued to  remain up.

The next season of Power Rangers contined the Super Sentai traditon of changing casts and stories. The show got its footage from the Super Sentai Show entitled Go Go V. The budget for Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue( the name of the name of the season)  was cut more considerably than it was for Lost Galaxy.  Lightspeed Rescue brought the show back to Earth and was more similar to the year of the Super Sentai it took footage from. It still had some very key differences yet kept the rescue theme from the sentai. Lightspeed Rescue is universally hated by most members of the fandom but did have its bright spots and probaly is very  underrated. Lightspeed Rescue was just a little more episodic than the preivous two seasons had been. There was still a season long mission in the season, despite its episodic nature. One of the major things about Lighspeed Rescue was that it was the first PR show to make its own American made Ranger. There was not clear six Ranger in Go Go Five so a new one was made. The new ranger was called the  Titanium Ranger. Ratings  remained lower then LG's first half, but still better then MMPR season 3 and Zeo.

Following Lightspeed Rescue came one of  most the most universally  loved seasons ( although it has its detractors), Power Ranger Time Force. Time Force took a lot fo the story and theme from that years Super Sentai (TimeRanger). We got many themes that we hadn't gotten in Power Rangers before that time. We saw the price of revenge and hate. We also learned that "everyone  makes their own destiney". Time Force was very much human story that had very human characters. It also featured a unusally tough pink ranger named Jen. She served as the offical leader of the team and was probably was the toughest female ranger to date. Time Force today remains a special place in the hearts of a lot of Internet Power Ranger  fans. Ratings for Time Forc continued PR's trend of lowerer ratings. , since LG 's second half.

By the end of Time Force big changes were starting to come . Changes that would soon change the way Power Rangers was produced forever. Long time story editor Judd Lynn had decided to leave after Time Force, as did Jackie Marchand. A new Story Editor was brought in, Amit Bhaumik. Amit has the unusual distinction of being a fan of the show  before working on it.  At one time he ran one of the best sites in the fandom, Power Rangers Online Archives. Amit was student of  televison writing during the time he ran his site.  His site has since been shut down but was still a remarkable site in the fandom's history. It was  unprecedented  for him to be a fan and reach the level of story editor on the show.

The next season of Power Rangers was called Power Rangers Wild Force and took footage from the Super Sentia show, Gaoranger. It again took many of the plots from that years Sentai but put a more original spin on things. The season itself brought back some of the campiness of Power Rangers but still kept the mores serious storytelling.The show itself is often  condemned by the  Internet fandom but is also thought of as underrated by others. Amit was responsible for writing that years team up with Time Force. "Reinforcements From The Future". The multi part episode is  thought of as one of the best team ups of all time. Amit was also responsible for another famous episode, "Forever Red". In what would have seemed like a pipe dream to many fans just a year earlier, all the Red Rangers from the past ( save Steve Cadensa's Rocky) were reunited in one special episode that marked the Tenth anniversary of Power Rangers. This episode was probably one of the best in Power Ranger's history and we will probably never see anything like it again.

During Wild Forces run more big changes were taken place behind the camera of Power Rangers. Saban was trying to get out of a deal with Fox over Fox Family( a cable station he co-owned with Fox and was responsible for programming). Saban eventually sold his company to Disney along with his shares in Fox Family( Disney bought Fox's shares as well). Fox was ready to terminate its kids block for low ratings anyways. So before production on WF finished,  Disney bought Power Rangers. The Power Rangers production crew remained the same at this point and  became MMPR Productions. Once Fox ended its kids block the remainder of Wild Force was shown on ABC Kids. ABC Family (the new name for fox family) also showed Power Rangers Wild Force on a one week delay. Reruns of old Power Ranger seasons were also shown on ABC family for the first time anywhere in years.

Unfortunately Disney dropped another bomb sell. In  the interest of  cost, production of   the show was moved form its long time home in Valencia California to New Zealand. In New Zealand it would cost  Disney much less to produce the show. Also its was cheaper to hire non union actors and non union writers. With the show going non union and the production change Disney released almost all the staff and crew who worked on Power Rangers over the preivous decade. Thus after ten years of service the company that had now been called MMPR Productions ceased to exist. Lots of the people who worked on the show for years of their life were now out of a job due to studio politics. A production company out of New Zealand, Village Roadshow Pictures would now produce the show for Disney. Koichi Sacomoto (long time director and stunt coordinator on the show ) was one of the few lucky crew members to remain on the show. Fortunately former story editor Doug Sloan was brought in as Executive Producer and Show runner. His Partner was also a former member of the Power Rangers staff (Ann Austen). Sloan brought back some past Power Ranger writers  ( who had left the show before the take over) to join his new staff. The most notable was Jackie Marchand, who returned as story editor.

Thus, Power Rangers Ninja Storm was produced. The season took footage from the Super Sentai Show called, Hurricanger. Ninja Storm brought a lot  of lightheartedness of Power Rangers ( even more so that Wild Force) but it still had a serious story. It was a mixed bag among  the fandom, some people loved the  new direction while others hated it. Never the less Ninjas Storm aired on ABC and ABC Family like Wild Force had before it. The new staff completed its first year of Power Rangers. Ninja Storm was the first season in a  long time not to do a team-up due to union and cost issues.

Doug Sloan would interact heavily with fans at this point. Posting On Rangerboard and the Newsgroup. Sally Martin and Jason Chan ( Tori and Cam on Ninja Storm)  would aslo make apearances at Rangerboard. Doug would interact with the fans for the rest of his tenure on the show

The next incarnation of Power Rangers was dubbed Power Rangers DinoThunder. It took Footage from  the Sentai Show called Abaranger. DinoThunder brought the anticpated return of one of the most beloved Rangers. . Jason David Frank was able to be lured back for the season. He would reprise his role as Tommy Oliver ( Now a Doctor in Paleontology). Tommy would become the Black Ranger and mentor the three young students he would make Power Rangers. The very thought of this excited most Power Ranger fans  to no end. It was first revealed in a press release only intended for  a promotional release. The deal with Frank wasn't officially done yet so it was denied as a rumor. Later the shows Promo's revealed that Frank was indeed returning.

DinoThunder  toned down some of the humor Ninja Storm had brought us. DinoThunder  had  plenty of seriousness and plot development to keep it  interesting for the PRIS-PRWF fans. DinoThunder was a show full of story lines and action. DinoThunder featured the five hundredth episode of Power Rangers ( it ended up being largely a clip show remembering the shows past). We were treated to the storyline of Trent the Evil White Ranger.  Jason David  Frank had to leave during filming. Producers had his character become stuck in morphed form untill the Actor could return. He returned in a episode called, "Fighting Spirit". The episode featured the Tommy character battling his past selves ( the Green Ranger, White Ranger, Red Zeo Ranger).