Day of the Dumpster

"Day of the Dumpster"
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 1
Directed by	Adrian Carr
Written by	Tony Oliver Shuki Levy
Production code	101 1801 (Re-version)
Original air date	August 28, 1993 May 22, 1999 (Pilot 1) January 2, 2010 (Re-version)
Episode chronology
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List of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episodes

"Day of the Dumpster" is the first episode of the American television program Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and, as a result, the first episode of the Power Rangers franchise. It was initially broadcast on August 28, 1993, on the Fox Network, as part of the Fox Kids programming block, and was later released on VHS and later DVD. A new re-version of the episode later broadcasted on January 2, 2010, on the American Broadcasting Company, as part of the ABC Kids programming block. As with all of the first season Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episodes, the vast majority of scenes featuring the Rangers in costume and the Zords are taken from the Japanese tokusatsu series, Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, the 16th entry of the Super Sentai franchise.

The VHS of this episode ranked #35 in a list of top video sales, and #11 in a list of top kids' video sales, for the year of 1994 as compiled by Billboard.^[1] The tie-in 3D read-along audio cassette of "Day of the Dumpster" became the number one seller at Walden Kids, displacing The Lion King.^[2]

Plot summary

Two astronauts explore the moon and come across a space dumpster. When they open it, the evil sorceress Rita Repulsa and her minions Goldar, Squatt, Baboo, and Finster emerge from a 10,000-year captivity. Rita decides the time has come to conquer Earth and rebuilds her palace on the moon.

In the city of Angel Grove, California, Jason Lee Scott, Zack Taylor, Billy Cranston, Trini Kwan, and Kimberly Hart are hanging out at Ernie’s Youth Center. The guys are working on karate, while the girls are practicing gymnastics. Farkus Bulkmeier and Eugene Skullovitch (a.k.a. "Bulk" and "Skull") come to harass them, but end up making fools of themselves.

The five teens are later sitting down to some fruit shakes from Ernie’s Juice Bar when an earthquake begins, caused by Rita. At that moment, in the Command Center, Zordon, the wise sage who battled Rita many millennia ago, tells his robotic assistant, Alpha 5, to bring him five "overbearing and overemotional humans" (a.k.a. teenagers) to defend the Earth from Rita.

Jason, Zack, Billy, Trini, and Kimberly are then teleported to the Command Center, where Zordon explains the situation and declares them as the first Power Rangers. At first they don't buy into it, until Rita sends her Putty Patrollers to attack them. They are initially outmatched by the Putties, until Jason suggests using their recently-acquired Power Morphers. The five teens then morph into the Power Rangers for the first time and defeat the Putties. Rita, however, uses her magic staff to turn Goldar into a giant and unleashes him on the city, but the Rangers, in response, summon the Dinozords and combine them into the Megazord. After an evenly-matched battle, the Rangers force Goldar to retreat when they summon the Megazord's Power Sword.

Back at the Command Center, the five teens are finally convinced that they can save the world from Rita’s evil, and they agree to the following rules: (1) “Never use your power for personal gain”; (2) “Never escalate a battle unless Rita forces you to do so”; (3) “Keep your identity secret.” Zordon promises that he will be there to advise them whenever they need it, and thus the first team of Power Rangers comes together to save the world.

Cast

Primary cast

• Austin St. John as Jason Lee Scott, Red Ranger
• Thuy Trang as Trini Kwan, Yellow Ranger
• Walter Emanuel Jones as Zack Taylor, Black Ranger
• Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly Hart, Pink Ranger
• David Yost as Billy Cranston, Blue Ranger
• Paul Schrier as Farkas “Bulk” Bulkmeier
• Jason Narvy as Eugene “Skull” Skullovitch
• David Fielding as Zordon

Secondary cast

• Machiko Soga as Rita Repulsa
• Richard Genelle as Ernie
• Romy J. Sharf as Alpha 5
• Richard Steven Horvitz as the voice of Alpha 5
• Barbara Goodson as the voice of Rita Repulsa
• Kerrigan Mahan as the voice of Goldar
• Michael Sorich as the voice of Squatt
• Dave Mallow as the voice of Baboo
• Robert Axelrod as the voice of Finster

Unaired pilots

The original pilot episode, in an edited form, was shown in a 1999 special titled "The Lost Episode," which was hosted by Austin St. John and Walter Jones. It contained the same basic story as the released "Day of the Dumpster," but with several differences. This included actress Audri DuBois in the role of Trini, different voice actors for the villains, and the absence of Ernie's Juice Bar. In its original unaired, unedited form the archetypal Zords are referred to as "Droids", the Power Morphers referred to as "Trans Morphers" and Zordon was referred to as "Zoltar".

A second pilot episode was presented in 2007 at the inaugural Power Morphicon convention by Tony Oliver. This featured Thuy Trang as Trini, Jason Narvy as Skull, and Richard Genelle as Ernie, as well as other aspects that made it to the aired series premiere.

Re-versioning

As part of the 2010 re-versioned broadcast of the series, several visual effects were added to the scenes to produce the effect of new footage being broadcast in addition to some scenes removed. This includes cutting in comic book-referenced graphics and adding onomatopoeia words on screen, akin to the Batman show from the 1960s.^[3]

References

1. ^ "The Year in Video 1994: Top Video Sales". Billboard: January 7, 1995
2. ^ McCormick, Moira (October 29, 1994). "Mighty Morphins power up audio sales". Billboard (Nielsen Company) 106 (44): 71. ISSN 00062510. 
3. ^ "The Suffolk Journal » Blog Archive » Power Rangers rebroadcast ‘morphinominal’". February 17, 2010. http://suffolkjournal.net/2010/02/power-rangers-rebroadcast-morphinominal/. Retrieved 2010-06-27. 

External links

• Mighty Morphin Power Rangers at TV.com