See The Original Power Rangers Morph Again For Long-Awaited Reunion
Power Rangers: Once and Always reunites some of the original actors with the cast of season two in a Netflix exclusive special.
It’s hard to believe that 30 years ago, a group of teenagers with attitude were first selected by Zordon to protect the planet Earth. Since then, the franchise has produced 21 series with 29 seasons, including three feature films (1995, 1997, and 2017). In honor of the upcoming 30th anniversary, the Netflix special Power Rangers: Once and Always, brings the earliest Rangers together for an all-new adventure. It’s Morphin’ Time!
Created by David Yost, who played the first Blue Ranger, Billy, has been years in the making as a way to honor the legacy of the iconic franchise. Joining Yost is Walter Jones, reprising his role as Zack, the original Black Ranger. The two friends admitted to picking up right where they left off from the very first Power Rangers series.
Unfortunately, one of the other actors pushing for the reunion special recently passed away, the legendary Green Ranger, and the man with the record for most appearances in the Power Rangers franchise with 257 episodes, Jason David Frank. The Hall of Fame martial artist passed away back in November, which means that hopefully he was able to film some footage for the reunion special. Joining the pair of original Rangers are a trio of early replacement rangers, and a new character with connections to the first Yellow Ranger.
Other returning stars include Steve Cardenos, as Rocky Redford the second Red Ranger, Johnny Young Bosch as Adam Park the second Black Ranger, Karen Ashley as Aisha Campbell the second Yellow Ranger, and Catherine Sutherland as Kat Hillard, the second Pink Ranger. Making their first appearance is Charlie Kersh as Minh Kwan, the daughter of Trini, the first Yellow Ranger.
Walter Jones left the series in the second season, alongside Austin St. John (Jason, the first Red Ranger) and Thuy Trang (Trini, the first Yellow Ranger), over a pay dispute and an attempt to unionize the production. All of the original cast, including Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly, the first Pink Ranger, were getting paid only $60,000 a year for the stunt-heavy and physically demanding show.
Over a hundred actors have played Power Rangers over the years, but the group returning for the reunion special is the most recognizable, outside of the complete original five. Alpha-5, Zordon’s helper robot from the first series, also returns as does the original set, which looks incredibly quaint by modern standards. Back in 1993, cheesy special effects, re-used footage from the original Japanese Super Sentai series, and super simple plots somehow combined to create television magic and launch a billion dollar franchise that has created generations of fans.
Within a year of its debut, Power Rangers toys and merchandise sold for over $1 billion dollars, with actual fights breaking out in malls across America to get their hands on the Megazords. Other shows that attempted to cash in on the formula perfected by Haim Saban include Superhuman Samurai Cybersquad, the actually successful VR Troopers, Big Bad Beetleborgs, and the best of the bunch, which was an actual show that aired on television, Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters From Beverly Hills.
Power Rangers: Once and Always will be an incredible nostalgia trip for millions of fans across the planet when it premieres April 19th, exclusively on Netflix.
