 This article is about an episode in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
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A Star is Born is the thirty-second episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
Synopsis
Tommy eagerly auditions for a karate commercial especially when he sees that he's up against a clueless Bulk. Meanwhile, the rest of the rangers are enjoying a day at the beach.....until Scorpina crashes the party and traps them in a cocoon from which they can't seem to escape. To make matters worse, no one can contact Tommy since he took off his communicator!
Plot
Tommy and Bulk both announce that they are trying out for a Martial Arts commercial, and the auditions are being held at Angel Grove High School. On the moon, Rita is feeling under the weather, and instructs Goldar to take over the world and destroy the Power Rangers as she rests.
Bulk obviously flunks the audition, but is told by an exasperated and sarcastic judge, "looks like we found our man." Believing her, Bulk flaunts this information in front of Tommy, somewhat distracting him and causing some doubt.
The other Rangers are playing ball at the beach when Scorpina arrives with a platoon of Putty Patrollers. The Rangers morph and do battle at the beach as Tommy prepares for his audition. Scorpina traps the Rangers in some sort of cocoon, through which they are unable to communicate or teleport. The Putties proceed to roll it off a cliff. Zordon and Alpha attempt to contact Tommy, but he left his communicator in his bag out in the hall as he goes in for his audition. However, he aces the audition and is spoken to by the judges afterward.
The Rangers manage to escape the cocoon as Zordon has Alpha summon the Zords. They are teleported into the cockpit as Goldar sends down Babe Ruthless, a baseball-themed monster. They first attempt to attack using their individual Zords, but the combined power of Babe Ruthless, Goldar, and Scorpina is too much. Zordon does manage to contact Tommy, however, and he arrives with Dragonzord. The Zords merge into the Dragonzord Battle Mode, and with the Tyrannosaurus Dinozord in remote control, they manage to destroy Babe Ruthless, causing Goldar and Scorpina to retreat. But Scorpina quickly comes back, attacking Angel Grove in human form, commanding a large buglike monster which jumps off of her hand and grows into a giant hideous freak. The Rangers disassemble Dragonzord Battle Mode and form the Megazord. The monster traps the Rangers' Megazord in another cocoon, but the Dragonzord's tail drill breaks them free. Then forming the MegaDragonzord and finish off the bug monster. Rita is furious that Goldar failed to defeat the Rangers and forbids him from ever doing so again without her presence.
Back at the Youth Center, the commercial airs. Bulk did indeed get the part; the part of the bumbling untrained karate wannabe, contrasted against Tommy's skill.
Cast
- Austin St. John as Jason Lee Scott (Mighty Morphin Red Ranger)
- Thuy Trang as Trini Kwan (Mighty Morphin Yellow Ranger)
- Walter Jones as Zack Taylor (Mighty Morphin Black Ranger)
- Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly Ann Hart (Mighty Morphin Pink Ranger)
- David Yost as Billy Cranston (Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger)
- Jason Frank as Tommy Oliver (Mighty Morphin Green Ranger)
- Paul Schrier as Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier
- Jason Narvy as Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch
- Richard Genelle as Ernie
- David Fielding as Zordon (face)
- Robert L. Manahan as Zordon (voice)
- Romy J. Sharf as Alpha 5
- Richard Steven Horvitz as Alpha 5 (voice) (as Richard Wood)
- Machiko Soga as Rita Repulsa
- Barbara Goodson as Rita Repulsa (voice)
- Takashi Sakamoto as Goldar (Zyuranger Footage)
- Danny Wayne Stallcup as Goldar (American Footage)
- Kerrigan Mahan as Goldar (voice) (as Ryan O'Flannigan)
- Takako Iiboshi as Finster
- Robert Axelrod as Finster (voice)
- Minoru Watanabe as Squatt
- Michael J. Sorich as Squatt (voice)
- Hideaki Kusaka as Baboo
- Dave Mallow as Baboo (voice) (as Colin Phillips)
- Ami Kawai as Scorpina
- Wendee Swan as Scorpina (voice)
- Richard Epcar as Babe Ruthless (voice)
- Richard Cansino as Weaveworm (voice)
Notes
- This is the last episode in the 2010 remastered version of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, which featured a segment generally known as the "Final Episode Montage", where multiple screens display all the special effects used in all 32 episodes. The viewer gets a close up on a highlighted section showing special effects for all the major characters, Green Ranger, Blue Ranger, Pink Ranger, Red Ranger, Yellow Ranger, Black Ranger, Bulk and Skull and Rita and her henchmen.
- This is the first time in the series where monsters grow without the help of Rita.
- This is the first episode in which Robert L. Manahan provides the voice for Zordon. It would become permnant beginning with the episode "Birds of A Feather."
- If one believes that Babe Ruthless truly enlarged himself and it wasn't the same magic that grew Goldar and Scorpina, then Babe is the first monster to enlarge himself without external assistance and this is technically the first episode where a monster makes themselves grow without external assistence (which would become the common growth methods in Lost Galaxy and Jungle Fury).
- This is the last episode to have Dragonzord Battle Mode destroy a monster. Ironically, the monster it destroyed was the first battle its Super Sentai counterpart had, the same with the Shogun MegaFalconZord / Super Muteki Shogun .
- This is also the reason why the battle lasted longer here than it did against Spidertron in the episode "Itsy Bitsy Spider."
- The reason that this episode had two monsters is because neither Babe Ruthless nor Weaveworm's counterparts had much usable footage prior to their Zord fight.
- Babe Ruthless was a small Japanese kid for the entirety of his small sized screentime and only existed for a single shot in this form before growing which wouldn't have been worth using.
- Weaveworm remains in that small insectoid form for most of the equivalent Zyuranger episode and his giant form was the only time he assumed a proper form.
- The concept of a bug like creature turning from a bug form to a more humanoid form (the Weaveworm) would later be copied by the Barrilian Bug monster in the Power Rangers In Space episode "The Barillian Sting."
Errors
- Despite the Pink Ranger being trapped inside the cocoon, she is missing from the battle with Scorpina and the putties on the beach and is also not seen getting trapped in the cocoon with the other Rangers either.
- Tommy disappears when the Rangers leave the Zords and go to face Scorpina and doesn't reappear until after the Worm Monster traps Megazord.
- Despite it being on the scene as part of the Dragonzord Battle Mode when the Worm Monster grows, the Dragonzord vanishes until after Megazord is trapped in the cocoon and is then seen emerging from its hiding place when Tommy summons it.
- When the Rangers first get trapped in he cocoon, the cocoon is stood upright, but the shots of them inside suggest the cocoon is on its side as all the Rangers are stood in a line.
- Inside the cocoon the Rangers wear their communicators on the outside of their suits, something they’ve never done before (they’ve always just spoken into their glove gauntlet as though the communicator was underneath).
- Dragonzord Battle Mode’s cockpit has the combined Dinozord emblem on the back wall in several shots due to footage of the Megazord cockpit (with the emblem) and DBM’s cockpit (without the emblem) being used interchangeably.
- For some reason, the karate commercial uses Bulk and Tommy’s audition tapes, rather than properly shot versions on a set instead of an Angel Grove High School classroom.
See Also
- Ep. 23: I Like, Like the Super Miracle Ball - Super Sentai counterpart in Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger. See comparison page. (Babe Ruthless Megazord fight footage)
- Ep. 38: Princess Mei's Seven Metamorphoses - Super Sentai counterpart in Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger. See comparison page. (Weaveworm fight footage and story)