The Wanna-Be Ranger

This article is about an episode in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

The Wanna-Be Ranger
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Season 2), Episode 2x04
Air Date(s)	September 13, 1994
Production Information
Written by	Ellen Levy-Sarnoff Daniel J. Sarnoff
Directed by	John Stewart
Episode Guide
Previous	The Mutiny
Next	Putty on the Brain

The Wanna-Be Ranger is the fourth episode of the second season and sixty-fourth episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Synopsis

The Rangers find themselves seeing double when Lord Zedd attacks them with Primator, a monster that can impersonate one Ranger at a time.

Plot

While Jason, Kimberly, Tommy, Billy, and Trini, are enjoying a friendly basketball game, Zack shows up and scares Kimberly while wearing a white gorilla costume, that he was using to perform at his little cousin's birthday party. Zack takes off the costume to join in the game. However, they are suddenly alerted by Zordon to the Command Center. He informs the team that due to a galactic imbalance caused by the upcoming alignment of the planets in the Solar System, he will be forced to temporarily lose his powers, leaving Alpha 5 in charge. After the Rangers teleport back to Angel Grove, Alpha expresses his sadness on being alone in "this big, scary Command Center".

Meanwhile, Lord Zedd senses the sudden flux in energy. Realizing Zordon's powers are down, he transforms Zack's gorilla costume into Primator, which possesses the power to shape-shift into the likeness of any of the Power Rangers, either morphed or unmorphed.

Back at the Command Center, a bored Alpha 5 is scanning the Viewing Globe when he sees a little boy, Dylan, who needs help in the park. He considers contacting the Rangers, but decides to help the boy, calling himself "Alpha Ranger".

After scaring away Bulk and Skull, who are trying to discover the secret identities of the Rangers, Alpha finds Dylan and discovers the boy has been separated from his mother. Alpha befriends Dylan, who teaches Alpha to play soccer. Squatt notices that Alpha has left the Command Center and notifies Zedd.

Meanwhile, Primator shape-shifts into a Billy look-alike and confronts Alpha and Dylan and tells Alpha to take him to the Command Center. However, when "Billy" is caught in the reflective surface of his helmet, Alpha sees Primator's true form and realizes "Billy" is a fake. Primator attacks Alpha, who orders Dylan to run to safety and activates his self-destruct sequence so that Primator can't use him to find the Command Center.

With its plan thwarted, Primator transforms into a Zack look-alike and lures Kimberly and Trini into a trap, as the girls end up battling and defeating Zedd's Putties.

Afterward, they return to the Youth Center and confront the real Zack, who says he knew nothing about the Putty attack. Jason tries to contact Alpha at the Command Center but gets no response.

The Rangers teleport there and find Zordon has returned. Zordon briefs them on Alpha 5's predicament and reveals they have mere minutes to save him from self-destruction. However, they must battle and defeat Primator first and Zordon explains the monster's shape shifting ability, making Kimberly realize that Primator disguised himself as Zack to trick her and Trini. Kimberly apologizes to Zack and the Rangers morph.

The monster confuses the Rangers with his shape-shifting abilities, forcing them to retreat and regroup at the Command Center.

Zordon explains that Primator can't maintain his shape-shifting ability upon seeing his own reflection, using Alpha's encounter with the Primator as an example.

Equipped with a mirror, the Rangers teleport back to the battlefield, but somehow get separated. Jason, Billy and Trini find Tommy, seemingly in pain because of his waning powers, but become wise when "Tommy" suggests they give up. Jason kicks "Tommy" down, saying the real one never gives up so easily. Using the mirror he brought with him, Billy exposes "Tommy" as the Primator and the other three Rangers arrive. With Primator's shape-shifting powers now obsolete, Lord Zedd has no choice but to make his monster grow.

After a harrowing battle, the Dragonzord and the Thunder Megazord destroy the monster, but the Rangers must rush to help Alpha before he self-destructs.

The Rangers teleport to Alpha's location, and Billy is able to restore Alpha's systems to full operation with just seconds to spare, and Dylan is reunited with his mother.

With Alpha's greatest adventure ended, Zordon chides him for leaving the Command Center unprotected and failing to inform the Rangers that he would be leaving, reminding Alpha that even though he meant well, a true hero knows the meaning of responsibility. Trini then teases Alpha about being grounded for a few thousand years, and Alpha laments not ever being able to learn to play soccer.

Cast

• Austin St. John as Jason Lee Scott (Mighty Morphin Red Ranger)
• Jason David Frank as Tommy Oliver (Mighty Morphin Green Ranger)
• Thuy Trang as Trini Kwan (Mighty Morphin Yellow Ranger)
• Walter Jones as Zack Taylor (Mighty Morphin Black Ranger)
• David Yost as Billy Cranston (Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger)
• Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly Ann Hart (Mighty Morphin Pink Ranger)
• Paul Schrier as Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier and Primator (voice)
  • Primator was also portrayed by David Yost, Walter Jones, Thuy Trang, Amy Jo Johnson, Austin St. John, and Jason David Frank when transformed into their respective characters. David Yost and Walter Jones were the only ones to portray Primator disguised as unmorphed Rangers, while the others provided voice work.
• Jason Narvy as Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch
• Colton James as Dylan
• Ann Knapp as Dylan's mom
• 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)
• Ed Neil as Lord Zedd
• Robert Axelrod as Lord Zedd (voice)
• Danny Wayne Stallcup as Goldar
• Kerrigan Mahan as Goldar (voice) (as Ryan O'Flannigan)
• Michael J. Sorich as Squatt (voice)
• Dave Mallow as Baboo (voice) (as Colin Phillips)

Songs

• Fight
• I Will Win

Errors

• The first shot of the "Today on Power Rangers" shows the Thunderzords with the Dairangers visible on top of their heads.
• When Jason answers Zordon's message at the start of the episode, Trini is right beside him but has vanished in the close-up.
• After Primator-Billy catches Dylan's soccer ball, Dylan runs off but is suddenly right next to Alpha, who is quite far away).
• When Alpha falls over and says "ten minutes to self-destruct," a lump can be seen in his "throat" before vanishing.
• In the wide shot of the Rangers arriving to confront the Primator, Zack is next to Kimberly and Trini is next to Jason but the roll call has them swap positions.
• Primator disguised as the Yellow Ranger is visibly shorter than the real Yellow Ranger.
• In the two Yellow Ranger sequence, the Primator fake has visible clasps on the helmet while Trini does not.
• Based on their original positions and movements during the fight between Red Ranger and the disguised Primator, it appears to actually be Primator who rejoined the others.
  • In the uncut Zyu2 footage released nearly twenty years later, this is indeed the case as Primator, in the form of the Red Ranger, attacks the others while they are off-guard.
• During a close-up of Jason and the Primator fighting, the background changes behind the fake Red Ranger from a seafront to a blue sky.
• Kimberly falls down after Primator turned into fake Jason, despite having not attacked them yet due to cuts in footage.
• When Primator hits the Rangers with his Red Ranger eye blasts, the Rangers are sent flying before the hits landed.
• Although the mirror used to outsmart Primator was stated to belong to Kimberly, it was blue and has a picture of the Triceratops Power Coin on its back when Billy uses it.
  • The mirror was taken from Zyu2 footage, which utilized the characterization of the Blue Ranger as being technologically adept.
• The Megazord is briefly visible beside the Dragonzord when Primator blasts them, and its right shoulder can be briefly seen in the corner of the screen when the Dragonzord begins to fight the monster.

Notes

• The original script title for this episode was "Where in the World is Alpha?".
• The episode was adapted into the book "Alpha, the Hero", and Primator would be used in Lord Zedd's Holiday Humbug, a picture book adaptation of Alpha's Magical Christmas.
• This is the first of only two times that the Dragonzord fights alongside the Thunder Megazord.
• There were many instances of cut footage in this episode:
  • After Primator is knocked out of the Yellow Ranger disguise and uses his spear weapon, the episode cuts footage of him using the weapon on the Power Rangers.
  • A shot of the Primator's tail coming out from between the fake Tommy's legs during the fight against him with his spear was cut.
  • There was originally a sequence of the Rangers posing in front of a fountain, followed by Jason and Tommy then leap up and punch Primator.
  • Jason and Tommy blasting the Primator with their Power Weapons was cut.
  • A scene of the Power Blaster being used on the Primator was cut.
  • The Megazord and the Dragonzord attack Primator.

External Links

• Watch The Wanna-Be Ranger on the official YouTube page