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Zack Taylor

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 This article is about a/an ranger in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

"It’s Morphin Time! Mastodon!"
―Zack's roll call.[src]

"Jason, we've gotta back down."
―One of Zack's most famous lines when the Megazord was being blasted by the Grumble Bee's sonic attacks.[src]

Zachary "Zack" Taylor is the first Black Ranger of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Retroactively, he is also referred to as the Mighty Morphin Black Ranger or Black Mighty Morphin Ranger, though these are in reference to the show, as opposed to proper labels. He is also the second-in-command to Jason Lee Scott until Tommy Oliver returned as the White Ranger.

Biography

Mighty Morphin Era

"Mastodon!"

Zack Taylor was a student who attended Angel Grove High School. A very enthusiastic, upbeat person, he was very close with his friends Jason Lee Scott, Billy Cranston, Trini Kwan, and Kimberly Ann Hart. Zack is a prankster and particularly enjoys holidays such as Halloween, to scare his friends; in contrast he was greatly afraid of bugs and snakes, a fear he partially conquered when he fought the monster Spidertron. He enjoys dancing at every chance he gets, and even developed his own fighting style, Hip Hop Kido, which he occasionally taught. As a close friend to both Jason and Tommy, all three liked to work out together and practice their martial arts. Zack served as Jason's second-in-command prior the arrival of Tommy and his becoming the White Ranger and eventual leader of the team.

Zordon chose Zack to be the Black Ranger.

When Rita Repulsa had been released and her intention was to take over Earth, Zack and his friends were chosen by Zordon to defend Earth as the Power Rangers. Although initially dismissive of being chosen, Zack soon discovers that he is right for the job. Zack became the Black Mighty Morphin Power Ranger, and controlled the Mastodon Power Coin and the Mastodon Dinozord.

Throughout the remainder of the first season, Zack attempts to gain the affections of fellow school student, named Angela, though she would turn him down several times before conceding to go on a date with him. When their date was ruined by a monster attack, Zack's chances with Angela seemed slim. However, he refused to give up and succeeded in making amends with her after several ruined attempts, earning a kiss on a lips for his efforts. When Lord Zedd came to Earth for his own ambitions, Zordon gave the Rangers new Zords to battle Zedd's more powerful monsters. Zack gained control of the Lion Thunderzord.

The Power Transfer

Zack and Jason moments before the Power Transfer.

Later on, a peace conference was soon held to be attended in Switzerland, and only three teenagers were selected to go. Zack, along with Jason and Trini were selected. With his zest for living, upbeat attitude, and charm, Zack was a natural choice at the peace conference. Three of their friends, Adam Park, Rocky DeSantos, and Aisha Campbell would replace them as Rangers. Zack's last Ranger mission was to find the Sword of Light, which he would use to transfer the Rangers' powers. Adam became Zack's successor as the new Black Ranger. His current whereabouts following his return from the Peace Conference is currently unknown. As he has never returned to being a Ranger before The Legendary Battle it is assumed he returned to a normal life.

Legacy of Power

Tommy and Team Original Photo.jpg

Zack was featured in a chronicle of Power Ranger history compiled by Tommy Oliver shortly after he formed the Dino Rangers, which was found by the nascent Ranger team in the Dino Lab. Legacy of Power

Bully for Ethan

Zack appeared in the picture of the old MMPR team that Dr. Tommy Oliver had with him as a memento of the past during the time when he returned as the Green Ranger again. Kira found the image in this episode while helping Tommy.

Super Megaforce

The five Mighty Morphin Power Rangers join the battle.

Zack and the other Mighty Morphin Power Rangers returned, with his powers somehow fully restored, as part of the army of Legendary Rangers led by Tommy that helped the Mega Rangers defeat the Armada once and for all, fighting in a huge battle against hundreds of X Borgs and dozens of Bruisers. Legendary Battle

Beast Morphers

The other four Mighty Morphin Power Rangers come to help.

Even though it's not officially revealed if Zack was the Black Ranger at the time and not Adam (as both of them share the Mastodon Power Coin), a Black Ranger responded to his old teammate's signal and returned alongside his fellow Mighty Morphin Power Rangers as part of the Legendary Dino Rangers army. When Evox summoned his massive Chimera Zord, his team joined in summoning the Megazord and aiding in its defeat. With Evox on the run again, the teams departed.Grid Connection

Family

Black Mighty Morphin Ranger

Ranger Costume

Zords

Arsenal

Appearances: MMPR S1 Episodes 1-60, MMPR S2 Episodes 1-21, 23-28, SM Episodes 20 & LBEV, BM S2 Episode 13


Black Ranger with Dragon Shield (An Oyster Stew)

Zords

Arsenal

Appearances: MMPR S1 Episode 60


Legendary Ranger Devices

The Mighty Morphin Black Ranger Key.

The Black Mighty Morphin Ranger Key is Zack's personal Ranger Key. This key along with the majority of the Core Ranger Keys are seen lining the Command Center's interior walls. This key is mainly used by Jake Holling (Super Megaforce Green) who uses it to fight as the Black Mighty Morphin Ranger.


MMPR Black Dino Charger

As part of SDCC 2015, Bandai released an exclusive Dino Charge Mighty Morphin' Charger set with each Dino Charger depicting four pictures. In Mighty Morphin' Black's case, it featured his Ranger form, the MMPR title, the Mastodon Dinozord, and the Power Axe.


MMPR interactive CD-ROM

  • Zack's birthday was given as May 3, making him a Taurus.
  • Zack's birthplace was given as Washington, D.C.
  • Zack's favorite food was meatloaf; his favorite subject was American history.
  • Zack was supposedly the fastest sprinter on Angel Grove High's track team.
  • Intuition was the guide of Zack's life, as he frequently acted on gut feelings.

MMPR fan club video

  • Asked about favorite foods, Jason admitted he liked big bowls of ice cream, though not as big as Zack would eat.
  • Asked about what music he liked, Jason said he liked hip hop, which he got from hanging around Zack too much; Zack and Jason would often dance around and have a good time in one of their garages, until someone would walk by, embarrassing them.
  • Being interviewed himself, Zack sat in the Juice Bar; he had his hair in braids and wore a communicator.
  • Zack described himself as the fun, bouncy member of the group, the crazy, fun-loving, spontaneous jokester; he added that he was a guy everyone got along with, and he'd always have an ear for people.
  • As an instance of being caught off-guard, Zack described seeing an old lady acting weird and then turning into a Putty; he remarked that he should've known Rita had been up to something.
  • Zack's favorite ice cream was cookies and cream.
  • On the topic of music, Zack said he liked hip hop, since he loved anything he could dance to, and although he claimed to be able to dance to almost anything, hip-hop had a funky groove he liked; he also enjoyed a variety of other music from rap to old-style rock 'n roll such as Elton John and Billy Joel.
  • With regard to his plans for the future, Zack thought he'd go to college, where he'd have more time to discover what he wanted to do; some ideas he'd considered were going into advertising, in which he could be creative and come up with jingles, or being a travel agent so he could see the world.
  • Asked how he'd come up with hip hop kido, Zack said he'd combined dancing with martial arts, figuring it was the best way to have fun and defend oneself at the same time.
  • Talking about her friends, Kim said she loved Zack, calling him fun and a great party guy who could always entertain people.


Appearances


Appearances in other media

Multiverse

Alter ego Designation Dimension
Zack Taylor (Miguel Nunez) Bio-Rhythm Green Bio-Man (1986)
Zach (Walter E. Jones) Black Ranger Lost Episode (1992)
Zachary "Zack" Taylor (Walter E. Jones) Black Ranger (I) TV series
Zach Davis Black Ranger (I) Hamilton Comics
Zzzzack Black Meower Ranger Mighty Morphin Meower Rangers (2017)
Zack Taylor (Ludi Lin) Black Ranger (II) Power Rangers Movie (2017)
Zack Taylor Black Ranger (I) & All-New Black Ranger Boom! Studios
Zack Taylor Black Ranger & Mastodon Sentry World of the Coinless
Zack Taylor Black Ninja Ranger Black Mighty Morphin Ranger Army
Zack Taylor Armored Black Ranger Black Mighty Morphin Ranger Army
Zach Taylor "Mecha" Black Ranger Black Mighty Morphin Ranger Army
Ms. Taylor Black Ranger ♀ Black Mighty Morphin Ranger Army
Sir Zachary Black Knight Ranger Black Mighty Morphin Ranger Army

Notes

MMPRShieldBlack-LW.png

  • Zack was the first person to speak in the Day of the Dumpster (pilot)|original pilot for the show and the first non-villain character to speak outside of grunting in the actual pilot episode. He is thus the first person to speak in the entire franchise.
  • Controversy over Thuy Trang and Walter Jones being cast the Yellow and Black Rangers led to accusations of racism against Saban. According to Tony Oliver at Power Morphicon 2007, the producers were unaware of this being racially insensitive until the 10th episode.
    • However according to IMDb, Walter Jones was originally cast as Billy the Blue Ranger. But it was Jones' idea he be cast as Zack, saying he'd be more recognizable as the Black Ranger, so he was re-cast.
    • In addition, unlike Trini, Zack was not left as the only Black Ranger to be of the race in question as a result of this controversy; roughly 15 years later, Samuel Benta was cast as Will Aston in Power Rangers Operation Overdrive, although there has not been another African-American Black Ranger since then.
  • Walter Jones, the actor portraying Zack, is missing the middle finger on his left hand which he apparently lost in a childhood accident, but somehow the camera almost always managed to avoid portraying this.
    • However near the end of "Island of Illusions, Pt. 1", the viewers can see the missing finger. His missing finger can also be seen in his morphing sequence, where the other Rangers show 5 fingers on the top of their Morphers. If the viewers also look closely in "The Wanna-Be Ranger", Primator tricks Trini and Kimberly that the others are having trouble in the park as Zack. Zack actually stays behind and drinks Trini's banana shake, and his missing finger is seen. And in the end of Switching Places, he is talking to Zordon on his communicator, his missing finger can be seen.
  • He's the only original Mighty Morphin Ranger who is not featured in Power Rangers: Super Legends.
    • The reason for this was because he was replaced by Adam despite him already appearing as Zeo Ranger IV-Green in the game.
  • Due to the morphing order of the five original Rangers, this makes Zack technically the very first character in the series to morph into a Power Ranger.
  • Zack is also the very first Ranger in the series to be officially introduced. However he's not the first Ranger to appear onscreen. This title belongs to Kimberly.
  • Zack shares the name of the 12th president of the United States.
  • Zack is one of three original Rangers to leave the series and make no further appearances in character. Trini and Billy were the other two; however Thuy Trang (The actress that portrayed Trini) was killed in a tragic car accident in 2001, and David Yost (the actor that portrayed Billy) left the show as a result of homophobic remarks made by the crew (Yost is openly gay) and is unlikely to return.
  • Zack's fun-loving and wisecracking personality sharply contrasts with his Sentai counterpart, Goushi, who was the serious voice of reason.
  • Zack's personality is very similar to Billy's Sentai counterpart.
  • While Zack's Zord is a mastodon, his Sentai Counterpart's Guardian Beast is a mammoth. This can be forgiven, as a mastodon and a mammoth look somewhat similar to each other.
  • The spelling of Zack's name is often disputed, with several sources including official merchandise spelling his name as "Zach." However, as confirmed by opening credits, it is officially spelled "Zack".
  • The name Zack Taylor was originally used in a pitch by Saban for an adaption of Choudenshi Bioman called Bio-Man. The character was to be Green2, and he was a detective, and an Aries instead of a Taurus.
  • Zack is also the first Ranger to serve as second-in-command as his Sentai counterpart, followed by Aurico, Chad Lee, Taylor Earhardt, Hunter Bradley, Sky Tate, Flynn McAllistair, Kevin, Chase Randall and Ravi Shaw.
  • Zack was the first Ranger to have a solo morph.
  • Zack is a playable character in Power Rangers Legacy Wars.
  • Zack is the first Black Ranger to be second-in-command, followed by Tommy Oliver, Will Aston and Chase Randall.

See Also

References

Black Rangers
Identities
Zack • Adam • Corcus • Carlos • Danny • Tommy • Will • Dillon • Jake • Chase • Javier
Adam (alternate continuity) • Zack (2016 comic) • Zack (alternate continuity) • Vesper • Jamie

Secondary Rangers
Phantom Ranger • Magna Defender • Mike • Anubis • Jarrod • Bat Ranger
Zack Putty • Putty • Zane • Abraham • Osamu • Psycho Black • Bison Shadow Ranger • Evil Black Overdrive Ranger
Mastodon Sentries

Power Sets
Black Ranger • Black Aquitar Ranger • Phantom Ranger • Black Space Ranger • Magna Defender
Black Wild Force Ranger • Black Dino Ranger • Black Overdrive Ranger • Jungle Fury Bat Ranger
Ranger Operator Series Black • Megaforce Black Ranger • Dino Charge Black Ranger
Black Ranger (1995 movie) • Black Ranger (2017 movie)

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