Power Rangers Samurai premieres Monday, February 7th at 8pm ET on Nickelodeon.

(Courtesy: Henshin Grid)

You can pick up a digital copy of this issue from Barnes and Noble, and our Europeans can pick up a copy on newsstands now!

(Story courtesy: SnoopsWarner via Rangerboard)

THE HARTFORD COURANT
June 30, 1995 Friday, STATEWIDE
SECTION: CONNECTICUT LIVING; Pg. E1
HEADLINE: FOR WOMEN WHO LOVE MORPHIN RANGERS TOO MUCH
BYLINE: COLIN McENROE; Courant Columnist

“I get some crazy letters from some older women . . . The strangest one said that she could feel my hair, I’m in her dreams, fate put us together and that I’m a ‘gargoyle of God’ to her.”

– Jason David Frank, who plays Tommy, the white Mighty Morphin Power Ranger

***

Dear Tommy,

Tommy, Tommy, Tommy.

Sometimes, in the afternoon, I am out in my cutting garden, musing over some dreamy puzzle of life such as: assign a hypothetical numerical value to the importance you place on your ability to control the “bad” things in your day and then another numerical value to the importance you place on doing work that is “useful” to others, and divide the sum by the percentage of time you feel bored.

Now think of a fish.

Was the number 7?

Tommy, my name is Gail Sheehy. I am a famous lifestyles researcher, and I love you very much.

Anyway, at these moments, when I am thinking about these questions (such as: How many friends do you have, friends to whom you confide everything, excluding those who share your ability to change into a distinctly different being with a metallic face?), I feel your hair.

Right there in the cutting garden. I’ve got a Hemerocallis “Green Flutter” daylily in my hand. But suddenly, it’s your hair. I feel your hair.

The other night I was having dinner with my friends — Judy Collins, Wonder Woman, Maya Angelou, Linda Ellerbee and April from Mutant Ninja Turtles — and we were talking about our journeys, and suddenly the bite of chicken tarragon in my mouth was your hair.

More than 73 percent of British women over 50 say they can feel hair of a person not technically present if that person is a burnished scimitar of virility poised to guide them on through the passage from semi-provisional middlescence to faux age-inventorying self- forgivenesshood.

Oh, Tommy.

Dare I ask? Does a woman over 50, a woman of passion and mastery, a woman typical of 38 percent of lactose-intolerant women 40 to 55 earning more than $100,000 (pre-tax), does this woman dare ask a sinewy, demi-articulate costumed hominid a question that springs from the very core of her heart?

In an average week, are you more likely to whip-kick an awesomely savage giant crow with fire-spuming artillery mounted on its head than to engage in sexual intercourse?

If you answered yes, which of the following best describes the reasons you feel you are not in a loving relationship?

* Others will find out I am not as good as they think.

* Portly radioactive blue dogs who breathe flesh-rending plasma will take over the planet if I relax my vigilance.

* Chronic constipation/diarrhea.

* Feelings of worthlessness when I see my action figure discounted in stores.

Oh, Tommy, perhaps that was too much.

But is it so wrong of me to want what 62 percent of allergic-to-shellfish Canadian women between the age of 52 and 58 responding to a survey in Wonderfully Complicated Woman magazine said they wanted: to lie back in bed with a younger man who has recently power- chopped vicious purple isotope-festooned iguanas into submission, to feast on his aluminum-tasting kisses while the afternoon light glinting off his space-age plastic helmet plays across the ceiling, to watch him subsequently touch the medallion covering his ripped, washboard abdominals and transform himself into a saber-toothed tiger who bounds out of the room to go fetch croissants and brie?

Because that’s what I want. At this passage, I am 130 percent more certain about 4/5 of the things that claimed 55 percent of my emotional life 8 to 12 years ago.

So I know that I want . . . oh . . . I want . . . oh! . . .

A gargoyle of God.

There. I’ve said it.

Attached is a 14-page questionnaire. Please take time to complete it. Think carefully about the texture and humanness of your answers. You are in my dreams, fate has put us together, etc.

And use a No. 2 pencil.

Power Rangers’ Power Gun/Blade Blaster and Power Morpher

[...] Yes, we couldn’t all live the glorious lives of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers like Jason, Kimberly, Trini, Zach, Billy, and Tommy, but we could dream, and the sweet Morpher that came with the toy set in question went a long way. The Power Morpher lit up, had built-in sound effects and came with all five original power coins. The package also included the super sweet Power Gun, which could convert to become the “Power Sword” (sorry He-Man) for close range combat, and looked like a T-Rex to boot, so dino- awesomeness points have to be awarded for that.

Read the rest of the article to find out what other Power Rangers toy made it on the list, and how far up!

(Courtesy: Jer)

BTW, if you’re not following him on Twitter, get to it!

(Courtesy: barnyardfx.blogspot.com)

Even though I had written and directed for television before, SPD was my first Executive Producer gig. I was brought on to “expand the vision” of the show, and bring a new and fresh element to the PR franchise. My background was in Special FX and Production Design. I don’t know why I am capitalizing those titles, but I guess it makes them look more Important.

I wanted the futuristic Earth of 2025 (yes, 2025!!!!) to be coherent, the environments and the characters all feeling grounded, interactive with each other. The storyline we came up with made Earth a safe haven for aliens, much as the US was to immigrants back when the Statue of liberty was more than a tourist attraction. So it was important to me that there were actually ALIENS in the show, which always seems to be the first thing cut out of any sci-fi TV!

Greg has also posted a lot of pictures of the process, so check them out, and give him feedback on his entry on Twitter!

(Courtesy: barnyardfx.blogspot.com)

What’s Next?

[...] Jesus Didn’t Tap has been sold to our troops and all around the world. I’m donating it to a cause, to the army. I want to help them out. I have a couple more things in mind. I wanna do a lot of things, like women’s shirts for breast cancer. It’s a clothing line to help people out, not just to help me out. It’s helped me through all that I’ve been through in the past year and a half. Whether things are going good or things are going bad, it’s just what you gotta’ do. But I’m a warrior and a trooper and I work through it. There are a lot of things I want to do with it. It’s just a matter of time.

Ann had to this to say, “I really thought it was my last day and I was on the way out. I feel like he’s saved my life and I don’t know what could have happened if he hadn’t come in.

“Everyone in hospital has been calling him a little hero. They said the longer you are out the worse it is for you. He told the staff that he was being Red Power Ranger and was picking me up.”

(Courtesy: Hartlepool Mail)

A Christian himself, the 34-year-old Frank is a decorated karate black belt who teaches at his Rising Sun martial arts gym in Houston. Covered in muscles and tattoos – including a giant Jesus Didn’t Tap on his forearm, a likeness of four-year-old daughter Jenna on his chest and a variety of gambling designs on his beefy left bicep – the kickboxer says he hopes his product does some good.

“I sell shirts to all sorts of people because I don’t really judge any of them. I’ve got people coming up that are stumbling drunk buying a shirt and I feel if they buy that shirt they might wake up in the morning and go ‘Hey who bought this Jesus shirt? Wow, maybe I should go to church.’

“I’m just trying to reach out to as many people as I can.”

Frank proudly talks of the e-mails from customers “saying how they bought a shirt and it changed their life.”

“I had one guy bought a shirt here and he said ‘You know I had 20 kids in his basement and we saw this on Thiago Alves when he beat Matt Hughes (at UFC 85 in June in London) and I had to explain to all the kids what that meant, so I had like a little preaching ceremony going for about 30 minutes or so.”‘

Frank says the company is getting so many prayer requests, “it’s almost like a ministry in itself.” So he brought his aunt, a pastor, on board to handle those.

Who knew he was such Jesus homeboy? I can dig it. Now, if only the store didn’t have pink shirts for women. *points to name of site*

(Courtesy: jkahn913 from Rangerboard.)