Alpha 5

"Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi!"

- Alpha 5's catchphrase

Alpha 5 (Alpha for short) was the robotic assistant to the rangers during Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Power Rangers Zeo, as well as the first few episodes of Power Rangers Turbo.  Alpha was an extremely important factor in the Power Rangers' battle against evil and acted as a secondary mentor to them, under his friend, the wise sage Zordon of Eltar. Alpha would use the exclamation "Ai yi yi" in moments which invoked emotions of any kind, from panic to elation (most commonly panic); in more extreme situations, the exclamation could contain four "yi"'s, five "yi"'s or, in rare cases, six or seven "yi"'s; this has become a well-known catchphrase for most of the Alpha robots. He worked in the Command Center most of the time, only getting out on a few occasions, and almost always obeyed every command and order that Zordon issued. Surprisingly, while Alpha 5 is a robot, he has an amazing range of emotions that make him very humanlike.

He's tender, compassionate, easily terrified, sweet, curious, and charmingly childlike. Who knows how many thousands of years he's been in the service of Zordon, but he still maintains a sort of wonder while looking out at the world. As mentioned throughout this article, Alpha, though he is programmed for good (and evil, if only for two hours), is fully sentient and autonomous and therefore has independent thought.

Character History
Alpha was a fully-sentient multifunctional automaton robot built by King Lexian on the planet Edenoi thousands of years ago; his memory banks contain many fond memories of that planet, but we never see those memories so we don't know what his "childhood" was like there. He is the second Alpha automaton to be in the service of Zordon, succeeding Alpha 4. Zordon later befriended him and took him in as his trusted assistant and surrogate son, serving as a father figure in place of his creator and "father", King Lexian of Edenoi. Alpha 5 thus assisted Zordon in the creation of the original Power Rangers as well as the Command Center. Alpha was an adviser, mechanic, tech-wizard, and overall friend to the Power Rangers from Mighty Morphin leading up to Power Rangers: Turbo, where he departed for Eltar. Alpha was dearly loved by the Rangers and Zordon, but sometimes they shut him out and occasionally teased him (as he misunderstands jokes, in the typical manner of a young child). His despair and need for the love of Zordon and the Rangers only came up to the surface when he was turned evil by Finster's personality-altering disc. Alpha is constantly left alone in the Command Center/Power Chamber, and very rarely gets to leave; as a result, he is constantly left alone and gets very sad and upset. This serves as a catalyst for his later conversion to evil.

Alpha's close friend from his days living on Edenoi is Lerigot, the wizard of Liaria. No information has been given as to when and how they met, however.

During the events of Rita Repulsa's return and subsequent sham wedding to her boss Lord Zedd, Finster and two-Z-Putties ambushed Alpha and reprogrammed him with orders to imprison the Rangers in the Specter Theater, a power vortex that drains away the energy of the Morphin Grid, and to cut Zordon off from our dimension so the Rangers could not be warned of the danger they were about to encounter. This was accomplished by a CD infused with a computer virus that corrupted his programming. Luckily, the Rangers break free and remove the CD from Alpha's systems, restoring him to normal with little memory of his corruption. Thus, if only for a short time, Rita gained a valuable ally in her quest to defeat the Power Rangers and conquer Earth.

In Power Rangers: Turbo, when the opportunity presented itself, Alpha 5 left with Zordon to the planet Eltar and was replaced by Alpha 6, his "brother" whom he programmed in the Power Chamber before leaving. His last known appearance is in the episode Passing the Torch, where he and Zordon returned to witness the veteran rangers passing on their powers, and oddly, he is in his old robot body rather than his shinier, more advanced one. He hasn't been seen or heard of since, unfortunately. Wild Force writer Amit Bhaumik has said that he takes the view that Alpha was destroyed in the battle when Dark Specter invaded the planet Eltar, but there's no official confirmation of this whatsoever. However, Richard Horvitz can still do Alpha's voice, and Alpha is still remembered and loved by cast and fans alike. It was implied by Bhaumik that Alpha 7 was in fact Alpha 5, but rebuilt with a stronger body and tuned up with a database function.

Personality
Alpha's personality throughout most of his appearances was like that of a sweet, innocent, endearing and loving child, albeit one that is neglected and abused on occasion (though verbally and emotionally more so than physically). He is also quite panicky, quoting his iconic 'ai yi yi yi yi yi yi!' when in a panicked state (but as mentioned above, he uses the phrase for any emotion). In The Wedding, however, thanks to Finster's personality-altering computer virus (inside of a compact disc) and Alpha's subsequent reprogramming for evil, Alpha was transformed into an angry, obnoxious and megalomaniacal brat bent on destroying his former friends and becoming famous for their deaths as a result, being fueled by bitter resentment and envy over the Rangers "teleporting here and there, having all the fun, getting all the glory" and leaving him alone in the Command Center all the time. He even silenced Zordon three times, once by simply muting him, by commanding him to be silenced, and again by cutting him off from our dimension (though not by un-anchoring him the way Tommy did in Green With Evil, due to repeated footage recycling) and repeatedly insulted and mocked him. He also, while he is in this brainwashed state and having complete fealty to Zedd and Rita, seems to act like an abused and neglected child that has been bestowed with too much power, as he declares that the Command Center would be all his when the Rangers become Zedd's prisoners in The Wedding ("With the Rangers prisoners of Lord Zedd and no Zordon, the Command Center will be mine! ALL MINE!").

In relation to the above statements, Alpha also gets very sad when the Rangers leave him alone and treat him as if he is invisible; this is shown in The Wanna-Be Ranger, A Friend in Need and The Wedding. This is also shown in Alpha's Magical Christmas and its audio book adaptation Lord Zedd's Holiday Humbug.

Abilities
Alpha does not have much in the way of attacking enemies, but in Power Ranger Punks and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Live, he can shock enemies with electrical charges of white energy. However, this does little damage to enemies, only stunning or shocking them briefly. His movie counterpart attempted to fight in a more traditional fashion, but did not defeat Ivan Ooze.

Through the power of the Universal Morphin Grid, Alpha has the ability to create organic matter, such as flowers; he can also utilize its power to create clothing and, in his Christmas special, decorations, toys and Christmas gifts. In the same special, he also can rearrange the lights in the Command Center to form various shapes. It is unclear if he used his powers to create weapons for himself and the Eltarians during the war on Eltar before Dark Specter conquered the planet.

Appearance
Alpha is a young robot that is only about four feet high, and has a red-and-gold casing over a black body. His head is flying saucer-shaped, and his "eyes" are a red bar that flashes across its front, similar to the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica (the 1978 to early 1980s versions). He has a gold lighting bolt on his chest that flashes. On Alpha's arms are two golden "elbow caps" that limit the movement of his arms. He also has big and clunky feet.

The Alpha 5 costume was constructed in such a way that Sharf, Sellner and Kistler could not sit down while wearing it, similar to the C-3PO costume in Star Wars. Any scenes where Alpha sits down would have required the costume to be partially disassembled first. This principle is true for Alpha 6 too, but Alpha 6 appears to walk much more freely.



In Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, he was upgraded with a shinier, more advanced version of his body, this one being much "beefier". His body is now blue instead of black. His arms are bigger, his flashing lightning bolt now points straight down and is arrow-shaped, and the small dome on top of his head is gone. He is also now much shinier and more reflective. Gone also are the gold elbow caps as well, allowing for more greater movement of the arms. This body was later used for Alpha 6, and parts of it were used for Alpha 5's upgraded form Alpha 7.

Portrayal
Alpha 5 was voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz and suit acted by Romy J. Sharf, Sandi Sellner and finally Donene Kistler. As an homage to Alpha 5, the character Alpha 7 that appears in the anniversary special Forever Red has the same voice actor and personality (and even the 'ai yi yi yi yi yi yi!' catchphrase in a deleted scene), but has pieces of the the Alpha 6/Turbo-movie Alpha 5 body and is suit acted by an uncredited performer. The identity of Alpha's voice actor remained a mystery for several years because Richard was credited under a different name at the time for most of the series; Alpha's Magical Christmas credits him under his actual name. Richard spells out the first part of Alpha 5's catchphrase as "ai" (like the Japanese word for love) when he does autographs for fans; when asked to do his voice he often says "Ai yi yi, Zordon, the Power Rangers are in trouble!". In fact, in another recent interview, Richard has confirmed that he himself came up with "ai yi yi" as Alpha 5's signature line when filming for Day of the Dumpster began.

Popularity and Legacy


Alpha 5 is considered a beloved favorite character by fans; Alpha's Magical Christmas was made to give him a starring role in a Power Rangers project, as he had a supporting role during most of his appearances. Years after Alpha's departure for Eltar, Bandai America issued a Gosei Morpher/Power Rangers Action Card Game card bearing Alpha's image. The image however features several minor discrepancies from the original costume from later season 1 but more resembles his body from season 3/Alien Rangers/Zeo, such as additional segments on his shoulder pads and pelvic parts, as well as additional plating beneath his visor, although most notably is Alpha's hands; they resemble the robotic, segmented hands that Alpha 6 possessed, rather than the foamlike hands that Alpha 5 originally possessed in his first two bodies.