Episode no. Season 1
Episode 1 Written by Tony Oliver
Shuki Levy ← Previous
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"High Five" | Directed by Adrian Carr Production code 101
1801 (Re-version) | |
Original air date August 28, 1993
May 22, 1999 (Pilot 1)
January 2, 2010 (Re-version) | ||
"Day of the Dumpster" is the first episode of the American television program Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and the Power Rangers franchise. It first aired on the Fox Network on August 28, 1993 as part of its Fox Kids programming block, and was later released on VHS and DVD. A new re-version of the episode later aired on January 2, 2010, on the American Broadcasting Company, as part of the ABC Kids programming block. As with the first season Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episodes, most of the 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.
Contents
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. 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.
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 to conquer the nearest planet, 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. Farkas 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 Rita causes an earthquake. In the Command Center, Zordon, the wise wizard who battled Rita several years ago, tells his robotic assistant, Alpha 5, to bring him five 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. They refuse to believe him, until Rita sends her Putty Patrollers to attack them. They are overpowered, but Jason suggests using their recently acquired Power Morphers. The five then morph into the Power Rangers for the first time, defeating the Putties in the process. Rita, however, uses her magic staff to turn Goldar into a giant to attack the city, but the Rangers 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 accept Zordon's offer and under three conditions: not to use their power for personal gain, not to escalate a battle unless Rita forces them to do so, and to keep their identities a secret. Zordon promises that he will be there to advise them whenever they need it.
Primary cast
Secondary cast
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 and Bobby Val as Skull, different voice actors for the villains, the local hangout being a bowling alley instead of Ernie's Juice Bar, and Alpha having a different body shape. In its original unaired, unedited form the archetypal Zords are referred to as "Droids", the Power Morphers referred to as "Transmorphers" and Zordon was referred to as "Zoltar". The morphing and teleportation sequences were also different.
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. Scenes from the second pilot would later be used for the episode "Big Sisters".
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 similar to the movie Creepshow and adding onomatopoeia words on screen, akin to the Batman show from the 1960s, or possibly even referencing 1994's Super Sentai, Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, which was the source material for Season 3 and Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers.