No Pink Spandex » Blast from the Power Past

Blast from the Power Past – Jason David Frank Morphs Back Into Action!

Lisa J — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:32:58 +0000

We have a saying over here at No Pink Spandex: Stay away from the spandex. It doesn’t breathe. Don’t ask me how I came up with it, but it just seemed apt for what we usually cover on the podcast and on this site. We talk about the current show but we also keep up with what the Power Ranger alums are doing. 9 times out of 10, they’re not in spandex. They’re wearing regular clothes doing regular things. Not Jason David Frank. This man is not afraid of the spandex. This man wears the spandex like a badge of honor, thrusting his colorful shapes at you. This man has balls.

(Photo courtesy: Tony R. Ray)

Let’s put this in context. This past weekend, Jason had a boot camp of the Ranger persuasion. Eight adults paid a ton of dough to train with him and they had a damn good time. One of them brought their Green Ranger cosplay suit along. The rest is history. According to Jason, it’s been 8 years since he’s worn any Power Ranger suit. Folks at home who are good with math will calculate that back to the Dino Thunder days.

And of course, you have to round things off with some putty-esque butt-kicking…only with your boot camp students!

[youtube width="480" height="295"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aeweXmIXjs[/youtube]

I think it’s very cool of Jason getting back in the spirit of his Ranger days and donning the spandex once again. Who’s next? Steve Cardenas? Walter Jones? Johnny Yong Bosch? Next convention appearance, make that happen!

Blast from the Power Past – “Tommy Turbo, the White Power Ranger”

Lisa J — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:04:52 +0000

Jason David Frank is known to visit martial arts schools around the country, teaching kids and adults about self-discipline and self-respect. He’s also best known as Tommy Turbo, the White Power Ranger. What? Did I say something wrong?

In this video, Northland Cable News in Forest City, NC reports on Jason’s visit to the Ray Rice Martial Arts Center (around the same time as Power Rangers Turbo). After the news segment, there is also footage shot during the day of his visit (including some outtakes).

[youtube width="480" height="295"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLvcKH9yNxA[/youtube]

(Courtesy: My Personal Dojo YouTube Channel)

Blast from the Power Past – Amy Jo Johnson on “The Sharon Osbourne Show”

Lisa J — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 01:58:55 +0000

About a month ago after a regular recording of the NPS podcast, the guys and myself usually shoot the breeze about random things, and more often than not our “breeze” rolls right back to Power Rangers. Amy Jo Johnson came up in conversation, and we talked about how fans online usually exaggerate how Amy Jo hates Power Rangers now and wants nothing to do with the show. Then Spy brought up that the fans may not be far off because of a March 2004 appearance on The Sharon Osbourne Show.

In the interview with Sharon, Amy is first asked about her experience on Power Rangers, and literally Amy’s response is “Well, um, it was – it was ok.” I really hate to be the one to mention this, but pay attention to what Amy first talks about: the negative. She ends up saying that it was “a good experience”, but not before mentioning the difficulties filming the show.

[flv:http://awwman.com/video/ajj_sharon_show_032110.flv 320 240]

All in all, I still think that fans do exaggerate how Amy Jo “hates” Power Rangers, because people’s opinions and reactions to situations change over time. At one point, Steve Cardenas didn’t want to talk about Power Rangers at all, and now he’s going to conventions and is the nicest person you can meet. Things do change. Just because Amy Jo wanted to leave Power Rangers to pursue other things and become more than just the “Pink Ranger” doesn’t mean she abhors the show.

Just saying.

(Video Courtesy: Spy)

Blast from the Power Past – Steve Cardenas Then and Now

Lisa J — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:39:57 +0000

The highlight of Power Rangers back in the day was that you got to see the actual ranger actors pull off great martial arts and stunts. None of this covering-your-face-to-hide-the-stuntie business. What we didn’t get to see a lot of were the actors who were martial artists doing their stuff outside of the show. How would we? Most of us were drooling kids, the Internet was AOL with its lovely modem noises…you get the idea.

Now, we’ve got technology to show us what our favorite rangers really can do. Sure, you’ll be able to see video of Mike Chaturantabut (Chad from Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue) doing his XMA thing, or Jason David Frank do demos at conventions, but is there video of any rangers showing their skills back in the day and then now sans Power Rangers? Enter Steve Cardenas.

The first video is from a 1996 tournament that Steve won. The second is from the gold medal Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu match at American Nationals 2009, which Steve won. Still got it.

[flv:http://awwman.com/video/steve_cardenas_karate_1996_020610.flv 480 360]

[youtube width="480" height="295"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yt_LsdRZ5o[/youtube]

Blast from the Power Past – Thuy Trang Interview

Lisa J — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:18:20 +0000

This clip is from the documentary Encyclopedia of Martial Arts: Hollywood Celebrities in 1995. Thuy Trang was one of the many martial artists featured, and she talked about how she almost died as an infant, but it was the persistence of her mother that kept her alive. She also talked about how she got on Power Rangers, so check it out below!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acIzMclRd8k[/youtube]

For those who are still unaware, Thuy passed away September 3, 2001 in a car accident. She was 27.

Blast from the Power Past – We Choppin’ It Up!

Lisa J — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:31:05 +0000

Ok, so this clip isn’t too far in the past, but it does have Keith Robinson (Joel from Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue) doing an interview and they go into his Power Ranger past. And he really gets into it by creating a Power Ranger scenario and everything. Seriously, Keith should always narrate what’s doing down!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksZWSPg2T3k[/youtube]

(Courtesy: Spy)

Blast from the Power Past – And Use a No. 2 Pencil

Lisa J — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 04:38:58 +0000

When I was in middle and high school, I lived in libraries. Not only because I had term papers to do, but because I grew to love them. So when I could find the time to procrastinate on a paper, I took that opportunity and ran with it. This find is the result of one of my procrastinating sessions. And while I don’t encourage such behavior, to this day, I’m glad I spent a good 2-3 hours on a computer looking up newspaper archives on Power Rangers.

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.