Day of the Dumpster

"Day of the Dumpster" is the first episode of the first season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and the series premiere of the Power Rangers franchise. It was initially broadcast on August 28th, 1993 on the Fox Network, as part of the Fox Kids programming block.

Plot
Following the accidental release of long-imprisoned evil space-sorceress Rita Repulsa, a benevolent sage known as Zordon drafts a group of five teenagers to help protect the planet as dino powered warriors of goodness.

Synopsis
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, Zack, Billy, Trini, and Kimberly are hanging out at Ernie’s Youth Center. The guys are working on karate, while the girls are practicing gymnastics. 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 sage who battled Rita long ago, tells his robotic assistant, Alpha 5, to bring him five "overbearing and overemotional humans" (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 as they leave. They are overpowered, but Jason suggests using their recently acquired Power Morphers.

The five teens 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 in response 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 not to use their power for personal gain, not to escalate a battle unless Rita forces them to do so, and keep their identities a secret. Zordon promises that he will be there to advise them whenever they need it. And so, the first team of Power Rangers unites to defend the Earth.

Cast

 * Austin St. John as Jason Lee Scott (Red Ranger)
 * Walter Jones as Zack Taylor (Black Ranger)
 * David Yost as Billy Cranston (Blue Ranger)
 * Thuy Trang as Trini Kwan (Yellow Ranger)
 * Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly Ann Hart (Pink Ranger)
 * Paul Schrier as Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier
 * Jason Narvy as Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch
 * Richard Genelle as Ernie
 * David Fielding as Zordon
 * Romy J. Sharf as Alpha 5
 * Richard Steven Horvitz as Alpha 5 (voice)
 * Machiko Soga as Rita Repulsa
 * Barbara Goodson as Rita Repulsa (voice)
 * Danny Stallcup as Goldar
 * Takashi Sakamoto as Goldar (Sentai Footage)
 * Kerrigan Mahan as Goldar (voice)
 * Minoru Watanabe as Squatt (suit)
 * Michael J. Sorich as Squatt (voice)
 * Hideaki Kusaka as Baboo (suit)
 * Dave Mallow as Baboo (voice)
 * Takako Iiboshi as Finster (suit)
 * Robert Axelrod as Finster (voice)

Production History
The was the first episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to air in the United States. The footage of Rita escaping from the space dumpster (as well as some basic story elements) was taken from episode 1 of Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, titled "Tanjou" (The Birth). The battle between Megazord and Goldar was taken from episode 6 "Tate!! Daizyujin" (Arise!! The Great Beast God).

The premiered version of "Day of the Dumpster" was actually the third version of the episode produced. The original version was produced in late 1992 and was Saban's second attempt at bringing Sentai to the US, after a failed attempt in the 1980s. After being turned down by various networks, the pilot was picked up by Margaret Loesch at FOX Kids. However, the network ordered revisions, and after some casting and cosmetic changes, another version of this episode was produced.

This new version of the pilot also underwent scrutiny. It was felt that the cast was being too mean to the bullies during their initial introduction so these scenes were re-shot. Also changed from the second pilot was the morphing sequence. In the second pilot, the Rangers called out their respective avatar while the color of their morpher would overlap the screen. The aired version changed this to the familiar lightning bolt sequence.

Fandom
A common misconception among fans of the show is that Rita's space dumpster was located on the moon. While her palace is on Earth's moon, this episode (or subsequent ones) never explicitly state where her dumpster was located. In fact, there are several contradictions between the moon and where her dumpster was found. While the moon has no atmosphere, a clear blue sky is seen when Rita escapes. Also, when the planet is first shown, the astronauts are clearly seen bypassing Earth's moon and heading to a large desert planet with some traces of water. In real life, the closest analogue to the planet seen would be Mars, but it is worth noting that in Zyuranger, Rita's counterpart, Bandora, was actually on a planet whose slanted orbit would cause it to come near Earth once every 230,000 years.