Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Pilot

The Original Pilot episode produced in late 1992 or early 93. It was Haim Saban's second attempt at bringing Super Sentai over to America, after a failed try earlier on.

All other networks turned this pilot down, except Margaret Loesch of Fox Kids. It was the same episode as "Day of the Dumpster" except for some violence and the bowling alley. After some rewriting and some slight recasting, roughly the same episode was made ("Day of the Dumpster"). The only time it aired was May 22, 1999. By the way, Austin St. John and Walter Jones hosted the special.

'Bulk' appeared with the punks but was not named. Ernie was not in the bowling alley they hung at. The Samurai Pizza Cats (which was distributed in the US by Saban) briefly appeared in a TV at the bowling alley before the news about Rita interrupted. In "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," Will Smith had a girlfriend that protected him against a bully in a bowling alley. He accused her of being a Power Ranger. She had a haircut just like Audri Dubois in the pilot! my own crazy mind, I think this coincidence is funny.


Other major differences are the Command Center in general (the columns have brighter blue and green rings and pour out light and the whole place is darker), Zordon (Zoltor in the pilot) looks much rougher and Alpha looks like an abomination (with a hamburger with cheese head and clunky body). The pilot was really interesting and I am glad they changed everything for the show itself.


Another major difference is the presence of Audri Dubois as Trini. In an interview (I can't find a link to it), she said she turned down being part of the show because she didn't like being part of the commitment, didn't like the contract Saban did, little pay and having to sign off their likeness for merchandise and toys. Audri said that Trini was originally going to be a shy character and Saban made the character more like her. So basically Thuy Trang was playing a character like Audri. Above is a picture from the 1999 special showing the audition of the original cast.

Goldar and King Sphinx had different names. Also it has been said that the Zords were originally called 'Droids' but changed to Zords for the 1999 broadcast. Some scenes of this were edited from the original product, the "punks vs. the Ranger teens" battle in particular was too 'violent' for Fox Kids' standards. It supposedly ran about 16 minutes, while the cut that aired (and is on YouTube) is a little under 14. The cap at the right above is of the teens being attacked, it was used for "Day of the Dumpster," it is funny because the teens aren't even wearing the same clothes!

We saw these outfits they are wearing above in a lot of cards and merchandise, but never saw them wear tem on the show. Thuy Trang is shown wearing the same outfit as Audri Dubois on the pilot. I remember they drew them in coloring books and cardboard cuts with these outfits on.

Audri Dubois will be attending the Power Morphicon 2010 this weekend.

Most of information from this site.
For a summary of the episode, click here for Power Rangers Central Website.