 This article is about an episode in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
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The Wanna-Be Ranger is the fourth episode of Season 2 & 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, Trini, and Zack are enjoying a friendly basketball game, they are suddenly alerted by Zordon to the Command Center. Zordon informs the team that he will be forced to temporarily de-energize, 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 himself, calling himself "Alpha Ranger". After scaring away Bulk and Skull, who are trying to discover the secret identities of the Power Rangers, Alpha finds Dylan and discovers that 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, but 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. Afterwards, the girls return to the Youth Center and confront the real Zack, who says that 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 that Zordon has returned. Zordon briefs them on Alpha 5's predicament and reveals that they have mere minutes to save him from self-destruction. However, they must battle and defeat Primator first. The monster confuses the Rangers with his shape-shifting abilities, forcing them to retreat and regroup at the Command Center.
Zordon explains that Primator cannot 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. They find Tommy, seemingly in pain because of his waning powers, but become wise when "Tommy" suggests they surrender to Zedd. Using the mirror he brought with him, Billy is able to expose "Tommy" as the Primator. With Primator's shape-shifting powers now useless, 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 still 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
- ??? as Dylan
- 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)
- ??? as Dylan's mom
Notes
- The original script title for this episode was "Where in the World is Alpha?". The episode's actual title makes reference to not only Primator's shapeshifting powers but also Alpha's wish to become a Power Ranger like his friends.
- The episode was adapted into the book Alpha, the Hero.
- Alpha 5 leaves the Command Center for the second time in series history. His first time outside was in Life's A Masquerade in the previous season, though he most likely got Zordon's permission to leave so he could hang out with the Rangers. Alpha expresses his sadness at being alone in this episode, which happens again in The Wedding.
- Alpha's gender (male) is again stated in this episode, but his programmed age is audibly confirmed by Primator when he is in Billy's form ("You are a naughty, naughty little boy, aren't you Alpha?"). This explains the reason why he has his teddy bear that he occasionally holds, and why he acts so innocent, endearing and occasionally bratty.
- With that being said, he is presumably under the age of 10, although anyone can have a teddy bear at any age.
- Although the mirror used to outsmart Primator was stated to belong to Kimberly, it was blue and has a picture of the Triceratops Coin on its back when Billy uses it. This is because the mirror was taken from Zyu2 footage, which tapped into the characterization of the Blue Ranger as being technologically adept. Other one-off devices from Zyu2 footage would similarly be blue and/or feature the Triceratops Coin imagery.
- First time the Red Dragon Thunderzord Transforms from Dragon to warrior mode through lightning and first appearance of its Power Staff.
- First of only two times the Dragonzord fights alongside the Thunder Megazord.
- In the two Yellow Ranger sequence, the Primator-fake has visible clasps on the helmet while Trini does not... except for one shot (the second shot after all six Rangers and the disguised Primator pose) where they've switched helmets.
Errors
- The Dino Megazord is faintly visible beside the Dragonzord through the explosion Primator causes, and its right shoulder can be briefly seen in the corner of the screen when the Dragonzord begins to go one-on-one against the monster at the beginning of the fight.
- Dylan's line "soccer is a game where you kick a ball with your foot" was clearly read off of a cue card.
- After Zordon disappears, Jason instructs Alpha and the other Rangers to keep in contact yet the next time the boys are seen, they are at Billy's lab conducting an experiment in which their ears are covered.
- Based on their original positions and movements during the fight between Red Ranger and the disguised Primator, it was actually Primator who was beaten back and rejoined the others. In addition, the background changes behind the fake Red Ranger between his warning and attacking.
- 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.
- Trini calls Billy by name in front of Dylan when the Rangers arrive to save Alpha.
- Zordon uses a grammatical error twice--he says, "Alpha is in the arms of a little boy named Dylan, who he tried to rescue", and that Primator has the power to disguise himself as any of the Rangers, "thus making it impossible for you to know who to fight". The correct grammar is "whom".
- Bulk and Skull didn't seem to recognize Alpha from the costume party back in Life's a Masquerade.
- Kimberly is seen having fallen down after {Primator turned into Fake Jason despite the fact thaat he had not attacked them yet.
- This was because there was a sequenece where he posed as Jaosn and pulled the same trick he did as Fake Trini and pumelled them. The reason that this was cut is cunclear but the script indicates it was either cut to remove violence in a show widely criticised for it or because the episode had been going on for two long.
- The Primator disguised as the Yellow Ranger was visibly a few inches shorter than the real Yellow Ranger, a weird discrepancy for a monster meant to mimic the Rangers to fool them.
- The Zyu2 production team likely noticed this and filmed the rest of Primator's scenes accordingly: only the Black and Red Rangers are seen alongside Primator disguised as them and both are filmed so any discrepancy in height is better hidden.