The Bechdel Cast - Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995) with Carlos Camacho

Episode Date: November 13, 2025

It's Morphin Time! Caitlin, Jamie, and special guest Carlos Camacho discuss Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995)! Here's the Reddit thread of "Slime, Sludge, and Goo in Movies" - https:...//www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1gxsovx/slime_sludge_and_goo_in_movies/ Follow Carlos on social media at @carloscreates2018 and check out his podcast The Horror Agenda and follow it on IG at @thehorroragenda  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:30 every weekday afternoon on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And she said, Johnny, the kids didn't come home last night. Along the central Texas plains, teens are dying, suicides that don't make sense, strange accidents, and brutal murders. In what seems to be, a plot ripped straight out of Breaking Bad. Drugs, alcohol, trafficking of people. There are people out there that absolutely know what happened. Listen to Paper Ghosts, the Texas Teen Murders, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Starting point is 00:02:41 Cheers. We, exactly. I do feel like if I was a power ranger, I would also be a frog. Okay. I think, I think, do you, what would be your animal? Have you thought about this? I haven't given it. Have you spent time of your one human life thinking about this?
Starting point is 00:03:00 No, maybe like, I mean, I love cats and I love red pandas. And I love raccoons. Maybe it would be like the raccoon Power Ranger. Ooh, that would be a cute one. Yeah, I was a frog kid. I was like, I think I would stick with what works for me. That tracks for you, Jamie. What is that?
Starting point is 00:03:20 What do you mean when you say that? It's a compliment. You fucking. freak there no it's just like every time i've told someone uh i played the oboe in high school they've been like yeah that makes sense to me and you're like sounds about right fuck you that's a loser instrument and we both know it everyone knows it all right all right all right i can't get triggered at the top of the power rangers episode uh we are covering muddy morphine sorry sonny's barking at the wall. Okay. We are covering
Starting point is 00:03:54 1995's Mighty Morphan Power Rangers The Movie. Yes. Also, we are the Bechtel cast, and my name's Caitlin. I don't think we've done that yet. My name's Jamie Loftus, and this is our podcast where we take a look at your favorite ooze-covered movies and discover that there's actually quite a bit to talk about with regards to intersectional feminism. Ouse and all. And we have an incredible returning guest joining us. He's got a Ph.D. in sociology, okay.
Starting point is 00:04:28 And being a teenager with attitude. True. He's host of the horror agenda podcast, an aspiring screenwriter. And you know him from our episode on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle's Secret of the Ouse. It's Carlos Camacho. Hello. Hi. I'm not going to take it personally.
Starting point is 00:04:50 I'm back for two ooze episodes. I was going to say. You're our goziest guests. Resident Ouse movie expert. Oh, Resident Ouse is a good title for a movie also. That's good. Jot that down. Yeah, let's write that.
Starting point is 00:05:07 Thank you for returning to the show to unpack the Power Rangers for us. Yeah, again, just like there's so much to talk about with this. movie and also with this franchise so let's let's just get right in um yeah what is your history with the power rangers franchise who uh it's been central to my life for most of my life at this point um literally grew up watching the show saw i'm assuming i saw this movie in theaters i definitely saw turbo in theaters and i was so wrapped that my family ate like all the popcorn and I was like, oh, is there food?
Starting point is 00:05:52 And they're like, you didn't eat? And I was like, I was watching the movie. I was distracted. I was focused. This is what you wanted. Were none of you locked in? They weren't. They weren't locked in.
Starting point is 00:06:05 But yeah, I collected the toys, dressed up as Power Ranger for Halloween. I had the gloves that made the noise that you hear so often in this movie. And I still have it. I was telling Caitlin off mic, I have a bookshelf. I have a bookshelf with all of my, like, Ph.D. books, race, sexuality, gender, all that stuff. And then on the top is my Power Rangers shrine, where I have the original Megasurred, the flip-top head Power Rangers,
Starting point is 00:06:34 toys from the movie, stuff from Comic-Con, art. I'm that guy in my friend group. They're like, turtles or Power Rangers, we know how to pluck the nostalgia buttons of this guy. I feel like everyone Everyone should have their comfort nostalgia property That you're like Is it flawed? Sure But it's mine
Starting point is 00:06:57 It's mine Okay so you know the lore This is this is going to be a fun one I'm excited I'm so excited Caitlin was your history with the Power Rangers So I was a big fan of the show I wasn't sure if I had seen this movie or not
Starting point is 00:07:14 I was like, well, I'll watch it and I'll, I will see if anything is familiar. Turns out it wasn't as I was prepping for this episode. So I was like, okay, I have not seen this movie. But I've probably seen every episode of the show because my afternoons, when I got home from school as a kid, were watching Power Rangers and then VR Troopers, if anyone remembers that show. No, what is that? It's a similar show made by the same horrendous Zionists.
Starting point is 00:07:44 Oh, boy. We'll get into it. We'll talk about it. But I think it's three virtual reality troopers versus the six Power Rangers. But they just, they do similar things. They're like teens or young adults who fight interdimensional beings and stuff and they have suits and all that fun stuff. I was really enjoying. I found, of course, I found a Power Rangers YouTuber who this is their life. And they were making fun of, I guess, an observation I had also made, but I was like, oh, maybe it's different in the TV show where he was like, so they're teenagers with attitude, except they really don't have attitude and they really don't really transgress in any way. They're always nice. They are not teenagers with attitude at all. They don't have distinct personalities either, really, at least that come through in the movie. Right. For all of these reasons that I didn't realize. that are really interesting where you're like we can't really have a character if we're constantly
Starting point is 00:08:49 cutting to a different person possibly a decade ago in a suit. It's fascinating. Okay, so my favorite parts of the show were bulk and skull because the comic relief that they provided was top-notch when I was, you know, seven or whatever. And I loved Alpha-5, the little robot assistant those were the characters that I remembered the most. I couldn't tell you a single plot line of any of the episodes. I didn't even remember like what the Rangers' names were or anything like that. But I was like, Balkan skull, they're getting into some goofy little hijinks. They're having fun.
Starting point is 00:09:36 And then the little robot guy is going beep boop. And I thought that stuff was awesome when I was a kid. I was like the robot I was calling in my notes definitely not C3PO who works for definitely not the Wizard of Oz who when he gets sick is definitely not nice palpatine you're like there's so many random visual references I loved it yes Jamie what is your relationship with Power Rangers so I figured I would be a little different here
Starting point is 00:10:08 so I remember the Power Rangers being around but I was a little too young to actually watch it. I remember my older cousins who were really into it. I remember them watching it. It was like I for some reason associate Power Rangers with the WWE because it was something my older cousins could watch that I couldn't. And it involved fighting. So much of what I knew about the Power Rangers work was like secondhand information. They were sort of forbidden to me. And then by the time I was old enough to watch, they weren't really popular anymore. more, and I think I just watch the Powerpuff girls, which is weirdly a similar premise where it's like superhero children who work for a weird old man, a premise as old as time.
Starting point is 00:10:54 That's also Charlie's Angels, except they're grown-ups. Anyways, so the only thing I really remember outside of their existence and like seeing the toys around and stuff was I remember for some reason Rita Rapulsa had a really strong icon effect on me i both so it was such a weird childhood sense memory where i remember being like she's so cool but she she and maybe this is me just projecting my like her tagline but i was like but i remember i was like but i i associate her with having a headache because her voice is very annoying but also her but also her like catchphrases i have a headache which is so i don't know if i don't know what it is but yeah i i don't i don't have deep lor
Starting point is 00:11:39 knowledge at all. And so I guess it's like I had some fun and I also just learned a lot prepping for this episode because there really is just like, Caitlin, you alluded to a huge reveal that I didn't know because I was like Saban could have meant absolutely anything in the world to me. We'll talk about the creator. We'll talk about, I mean, there's just, I feel like part of, this movie is first of all iconic. Like the bad guys are thrown. against a wall they exploded to purple cum you're like yeah you're like yeah you're like exactly i love that i love when the random definitely not xeno warrior princess character is like it's every every character in this movie is definitely not another very popular character but when she's like it's the thing of
Starting point is 00:12:29 ultimate power and then just points to a gigantic like penis-shaped rock you're like yeah the big throbbing cock of power and then they get that like it just it was like it was like we're going to talk about all the controversies and also I was laughing so much like it's low rent in the best way where they're like we're animals and then they hike on foot the entire way it's like it's so silly I love it the budget was $15 million and I'm like did you mean $15 because where did the money go I think it was to pay I think a lot of it went to that the soundtrack the soundtrack the soundtrack the soundtrack was very expensive and also I would guess I don't know but I bet that those like very now very dated like screensaver PlayStation 1 uh effects at the end were expensive at the time even though it does look like PS1 it was great yes indeed let's take a quick break and then we'll come back for the recap let's do it What up, y'all? It's your boy, Kevin on stage.
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Starting point is 00:17:32 Sorry, we panicked. We thought there was more. it. Okay. We did Megasurred power now. Yes, yes, yes, it's time. Yeah, I like that like, they'll be fighting in a battle for so long and then finally they're like, okay, let's bust out our special powers. And it's like, you had these the whole time. Like, why didn't you do it sooner? I am very sad. Lour reasons. Right. I'm, I'm so fascinated by like how, yeah, it just seems like by design. And it seems like merchandising by design and also because of like how these adaptations had to work, like these characters cannot really have person, or they can only have personalities to a very specific point. And so I was like, okay, my robot chicken pitch for this
Starting point is 00:18:17 is like, what do these kids talk about on the long hike? I literally cannot imagine a conversation about them that is not strictly like, okay, we're at the big penis. What do we do now? Like they, I would love to know what they're chatting about. I guess they do, it seems like they do in the TV show, right? Do they have parents? Like, yes. From what I remember from the show, the parents are very much not involved. Like you have a guest episode where I think it's Halloween and the parents get kidnapped into some like alternate dimension. There's an episode in I think the first season when the original cast was still there where Trini's uncle comes by and bonds with Billy over like science
Starting point is 00:18:58 and nerd stuff because he's like really good at martial arts like Trini but then also good at like brainiac things like Billy. And so there's sort of like a meeting of the minds there. But yeah, this is very much kids with no adults around other than like they have a home to go back to. But their parents are never concerned about them skipping school, doing anything or perhaps appearing on the news involved in shenanigans. Just like, don't care.
Starting point is 00:19:24 Again, one of the iconic things where they're like, no one can know, but then it's like everyone knows. Everyone knows. Including Fred the child. the most 90s kid to ever 90s it's true
Starting point is 00:19:38 um okay here is the recap it is one of the shortest recaps I've ever written because there is because there's almost no plot to this movie oh yeah but so much happens yes they're like they're I guess it is mostly and then they're fighting these guys and then they're fighting these guys and then there's a
Starting point is 00:19:57 secret dinosaur bone that kills the dinosaur it's it's a lot of like characters showing up somewhere and then fighting yeah and then moving to a second location and then fighting some more that's true but at the beginning we get a very star warsian opening exposition crawl and we learn about an interdimensional being named zordon who came to the city of angel grove california question mark. I think so. And established a command center where he, his assistant Alpha 5, the little robot guy who I love, and a group of six teenagers work together to fight evil. And these teens called the Mighty Morphan Power Rangers can transform into these, or I don't know, I don't think it's them transforming, but they're able to like summon the, like planes and other machinery.
Starting point is 00:21:05 Yeah, Carlos, you, how does it work? So there's a, well, first off, the film is non-canonical to the show. Like, you find it right in that, like, exposition dump. Because in the original series, Zordaum picks five teenagers. The sixth teenager is a surprise, and he's initially evil. And his arc is where the Green Ranger comes, tries to destroy them, becomes a good guy. and loses his powers because he's, like, tied to Rita's Green Candle. It's a whole thing.
Starting point is 00:21:37 Of course. Okay. And we all know Rita's Green Candle. I really enjoyed. I watched a bunch of, like, you know, those, like, canon summary videos. And the green, I mean, the Green Ranger story is compelling. It's real good. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:21:52 So is that Tommy? And then he becomes the White Ranger? Mm-hmm. Okay. So Alpha and Zordan work in their basement. They have a secret lab. they build the white ranger so that they can bring in new footage because like jamie was saying the show is originally spliced with like very little um u.s footage and a lot of like taking
Starting point is 00:22:13 japanese footage so it's like oh we ran out of uh super senai judenja footage now we have to switch to a different show because in the super centi version which is like japanese power rangers each season was in and of itself it was like a one shot season so it's like the power rangers then the Ninja Rangers, then the, like, it was all different. Okay. In the U.S., they, like, sewed it together because they're like, they're not going to get rid of these guys and watch a new show with all new people, which they eventually did later on, where it's like you've got the Mystic Rangers,
Starting point is 00:22:44 you've got the Dino, oh, what is it, Dino Thunder comes back. Like, there's so many different seasons of Power Rangers over the decades. My brother watched Dino Thunder, I think. Okay. Yeah, so for listeners who aren't aware, because I did not know this, This Power Rangers is a licensed adaptation because I was also worried that they just stole shit. But they, so it is a licensed adaptation of a Japanese show called Super Sentai that goes back to the 70s that super villain, real life supervillain, had wanted to adapt in the West, I think pretty early on into that series.
Starting point is 00:23:21 Also, Stan Lee wanted to adapt it at some point. I'm like, damn, that would have been cool. But wasn't able to get it off the ground until the 90s. So, and then what you said, Carlos, so much of the early series is just the American teenagers taking off the helmet and having a plot and then putting the helmet back on and then cut into footage from Super Sentai that could be from God knows when, kind of. Right. Yeah. And sometimes you can see that it doesn't add up. Like, it's like very clearly filmed differently because it's like film versus like whatever technology they were using.
Starting point is 00:23:56 It's just like, these are two different people. It is so wild to think, yeah, like, it's like intercutting a movie from today with a movie from like 2007. Like, it's just bizarre. Well, you know who didn't notice? Me. My seven-year-old ass brain. No one. I mean, of course not.
Starting point is 00:24:13 I think that unfortunately, you know, the producers of this show took a risk on maybe kids are not media literate and they don't give a fuck. Uh-huh. And that risk paid off. Yeah. It's so interesting thinking about this time of like really aggressively, I mean, it still happens, obviously, but like really aggressively merchandised shows where the content is like there's not much going on. It's just like, we just need enough plot to justify selling a toy. And it worked. That was like the entire 80s and 90s, it felt like.
Starting point is 00:24:48 Mm-hmm. Yeah. Anyway, so we get all of this exposition about the Power Rangers and their machines called Zoh. I wonder what it's a reference to. Then we meet the Power Rangers as they're jumping out of a plane and skydiving and then later rollerblading. No explanation. Well, I guess there is an explanation. I love that it's just the Power Rangers and their bullies in a plane.
Starting point is 00:25:18 Yeah, they're hanging out as friends almost. But we meet Billy the Blue Power Ranger. Kimberly, the pink one, Adam, the black one, Aisha the yellow one, Rocky, the red one, and Tommy, the white one. And he seems to be kind of the leader of the group. We know that because he's in the middle of the poster and Fred says, hey Tommy. And you're like, okay, got it. Also, there are the two bullies from the show, bulk and skull. iconic and they do
Starting point is 00:25:56 their bullies are like 35 years old love it they're also completely inconsequential to the plot of the movie yeah to the point where you're like why are they even on screen but how dare you I thought they're I'm a fan
Starting point is 00:26:12 I love them a long time fan so anyway we see them doing you know extreme sports the Power Rangers meanwhile a large glowing orb egg thing is discovered at a construction site. And it seems to give off this evil
Starting point is 00:26:32 energy, which Zordon is able to sense using all of his evil sensing equipment at the command center. So he summons the power rangers. I forgot this, that they're able to teleport. They have teleportation technology. Wow. And so they teleport to the Command Center and Zordon who is this like large disembodied Wizard of Oz's head but nice like he's the Wizard of Oz but nice and Palpatine but nice and yes he looks like Palpatine and he tells them that an evil interdimensional being named Ivan Ouse has returned after many millennia and just checking Carlos is this a new character at the time okay I didn't know if Ivan Ouse was already canon.
Starting point is 00:27:26 I just know that I love him. Ouse is new. Mordaunt, the guy, like the pig man who's hanging out with Goldar is new. Because some of the characters from the original series are like face characters in the Japanese footage. So they can't necessarily translate them in the same way, I guess. So you get Rita and Z coming back. Goldar comes back. But everybody else is like, there's no finster, no squat, no babu, no scorpina.
Starting point is 00:27:53 and then Mordaunt is there. Yes. Characters that we all know and love. Yes, our favorites. I do never read. I was glad Rita was there and then I was so sad that she was instantly banished. So rude.
Starting point is 00:28:08 Yeah. Okay, so Goldar, is he this sort of like gargoyle looking, like winged? Oh, the golden armor. Yeah. Okay. That makes sense. Yeah, I guess the operating thing here is don't think too hard and you'll probably get it right right yeah okay so back at the construction site the main
Starting point is 00:28:30 villains of the power rangers rita repulsa and lord zed show up with goldar and then mr pigman and they open this egg and out comes ivan ooze oh and we're cheering woo i love it's too bad he's not a canonical character and he never comes back no no there's even a link up of all of the villains in the show when it'll become relevant later when Zordon dies in the TV show
Starting point is 00:29:04 and ooze is never there the tangu are they tanga or tangu because they changed the name between the movie they're tanga on the show they're tangu in the movie they come back but none no ooze or the oozy creature purple guys
Starting point is 00:29:20 that's too bad I hate to hear that because what a character he's so great he's probably one of the best parts of the film like the standout i i mean talk about let's let's just give not to shout out a man right from the jump but like yeah i didn't say that i didn't say that we got a shout out mr paul freeman who's just like leaving it all on the field like it's who i guess was most famous for playing Renee Beloc in Raiders of the Lost Arc. Oh my gosh, that's him. Which I haven't, well, I have seen, but I don't really remember very well. But yeah, that's, I figured you would like that. I was just like, there's no way Ivan Ouse is played by any actor who I would ever recognize from anything. So I didn't even bother looking it up. But he did such a good job. He really, like, I was taken. It's, I think, far and away, the best performance in the movie by and it's not even close. These kids couldn't see Ivan ooze with the Hubble telescope. It's ridiculous.
Starting point is 00:30:26 And there's a telescope in the movie that's very, very young point. There is. Well, okay, I am shook to my core. I can't believe he plays belloc. Yeah. It's wild. It's range. It's range.
Starting point is 00:30:37 I also love that this movie was, there, oh, there's like one shot because it's just so sloppy and funny. This happens a lot in Lost as well, where this movie was shot in Australia. and so sometimes people are randomly Australian and you're there's like this the I think it's like a security guard who morphs into Ivan Ouse and he's like hilarious and you're like
Starting point is 00:30:58 where the fuck are we and then he just turns into Ivan Ouse and then you forget that's amazing okay so we meet Ivan Ouse and Lord Zed instructs him to kill Zordon and he's like
Starting point is 00:31:13 happy to do it the Power Rangers then show up and deal with the minions that Ivan Uze conjures before he fucks off to somewhere else. And the Power Rangers are outnumbered. So they invoke their mighty morphine powers and fight these Uze minions. And there's a lot of karate or some similar type of martial art. There's a lot of goofy sound effects. There's a lot of horrible puns.
Starting point is 00:31:46 they have gadgets they have like batman like gadgets that they're using usually which i and correct me from right it becomes a trend that usually Kimberly Aisha and sometimes Billy are like damseled at some point in the fight and then it ends up being fine and they get to kick someone before the end of the fight but I felt like Kimberly and Aisha in particular you see them be like oh no and then Tommy comes in or um the other one. I'm honestly shocked. I remember it that many names. Oh, no. I go to my notes. I'm like, why is Aisha trapped here? Why is Aisha trapped again? Kimberly screaming again. Why are we doing this? We'll talk about it. Aisha is always alone. I'm like, she's fighting by herself in every scene. Yeah, well, that's what, that's what we'll talk about.
Starting point is 00:32:38 That's what we're here for. Yeah. We come to this place. Yes. Also, the song that's happening on the soundtrack during this fight scene, it's like, Like, action boy now, action girl now. We should start playing that. That should be added to everyone's like gym playlist. Like, I was, I was hyped. It was awesome. And eventually the Power Rangers defeat the Ouse minions.
Starting point is 00:33:06 But, oh no, there's special powers and suits vanish because Ivan Ouse has gone to the command center and he trashes the place and he nearly kills Zordon. So the power rangers return to the command center and discover that Zordon is dying and that he needs some sort of vague, great power to keep him alive. Which is contained in the penis rock, which we don't know yet. He needs the coin from the penis rock, obviously. I have another canon question for you, Carlos.
Starting point is 00:33:45 Is there, is there any reason why Kimberly in particular is like, Zordan's like my father? I was like, what? No. Okay. Not that I can recall other than he is the only adult person that like engages with them outside of their principal who's useless, their teachers who don't really seem engaged or concerned that like Balkan Skull are like bullies TM in the school. Like none of the adults are functional. So it's just like, I guess this is the closest thing I have to a dad who's, like, sending me on dangerous missions to go fight bad guys. But it gave me powers to do it, I guess.
Starting point is 00:34:23 It's so wild. Yeah, because Zordon is like such an amalgamation of other characters. She's like, wow, every mentor character is just ultimately sending a child to do their dirty work for them. And The Wizard of Oz is the only character who's ever like appropriately called out for it. And Ouse says it. He's like, oh, Zordon's still using a bunch of teenagers. to do his dirty work. It's like, imagine if you picked adults who are not from the same high school,
Starting point is 00:34:49 like six adults from around the world who maybe would have more skills and talents to, like, do this work. It's bad. No, teenagers. It's bad. It's, yeah, kids. I mean, you could say the same of one, what's his name? Dumbledore.
Starting point is 00:35:05 Like, all these mentor characters that are like, you might die, but you'll definitely learn a lesson. You're like, I don't. It is weird. Anyway, the rangers return to the command center. Zordon is dying. So Alpha 5 is like, well, I can send you to this distant planet and retrieve a great power that I'm pretty sure is there. So Alpha 5 teleports them to the planet of Fados.
Starting point is 00:35:36 Meanwhile, Ivan Uze stages a coup against Rita Rapulsa and Lord Zed. and traps them in a snow globe. Yeah. Okay, pretty iconic. And then he makes more ooze minions. These ones look like birds. This is another rip-off from the Wizard of Oz. This is another direct rip-off.
Starting point is 00:35:59 Yeah. 100%. It's awesome. I'm not saying that as a criticism. Yeah, no, it's homage. Question work, yeah. Well, the tangu are like Japanese folkloric. Like, it's derived from a thing.
Starting point is 00:36:13 Yeah. I don't know in depth about it. I just know that, like, because they end up coming back for the TV show because they are in the Japanese franchise, because they are part of, like, the folklore. Though I don't know if it's exactly the same style of look, but like the winged fighter is a thing. Right, because they look very different than the first ooze minions that he conjures out of his blob of ooze come. Well, what is it? What is the thing he said? There's just so many great Ivan U's line. where he's like, meet my kids, isn't it?
Starting point is 00:36:46 Like, he's got some of the best line reads. It's great. He's really, I love when, like, a character actor just fully commits to being in a kid's movie. I was thinking a lot of, I don't expect either of you to have seen this. I watched it with my niece last year. Elmo's Adventures in Grouchland, Mandy Patankan is the villain in that. And he is unbelievable. like just again
Starting point is 00:37:13 leaving it all in the field and did not have to love it that rocks in any case Ivan ooze tells the bird ooze monsters to fly to the planet
Starting point is 00:37:30 of Fadoos and destroy the power rangers then we cut to Fadoos the power rangers begin their search for the great the very specific great power that we know exactly what they're talking about but then the bird monsters show up what are they called again tangu tangu they show up but the teens don't have their mighty morphin powers anymore since zordon is dying and he's the one who gives them their powers so the powers are
Starting point is 00:38:03 gone so they're not very good at fighting but then this dais x woman in a green bikini Keeney shows up and wards off the Tengu. This is Dulcea who is like, oh yeah, me and Zordon go way back. So I'll help you guys. And also I feel like there is heavily implied sexual tension between her and Tommy, which and maybe I'm projecting, but like he keeps, I mean, also it's one of those CW, you know, issues. where, like, these characters are canonically 15, but they're visibly 25. So you're like, canonically, I have an issue.
Starting point is 00:38:47 Obviously, these actors are probably the same age. But he kept being like, what do you mean? And she's like, be paid. Like, I don't know. I was just feeling, I was sensing a little bit of a, like, Dom vibe from her, which is fine if they're both 25, but canonically, they're not. Right. Well, also, they so heavily sexualize her in her costuming.
Starting point is 00:39:07 Oh, yeah. So I don't think you're necessarily, like, reading too far. into that so yeah i guess yeah everything she's doing is sexualized right she was initially i'm sure this is in your notes for later jamie but was like um mariska hargette from svu was originally supposed to play dulccia oh my god which would have been a weird because her mom is jane mansfield it feels like a weird like continuation um but yeah i read that she got she because there's pictures of her in costume and then she got fired for and this gets into the whole world of Power Rangers' labor issue, expanded universe.
Starting point is 00:39:48 She was fired because she took off Christmas and New Year's, was what I read. They basically had her on hold for a while where she was just like there but not really doing anything. So she's like, it's the holidays. I'm going home to be with my family. I'll be back. And then she's like, oh, I'm ready. And they're like, we don't need you.
Starting point is 00:40:08 You've been let go. And it's just like, what? What? There's a clip of her on, I think, Fallon, one of the late night shows talking about it and showing the pictures to the audience, yeah. I mean, the pictures are great. I mean, and the actor who ended up doing the part is also great. I'm just like, I guess she didn't get to see her family over the holidays. Like, they're like, leave your family's celebration. You're playing Dolce, Dulceia. Dulcia. Yes. And she shows. the power rangers this monolith in the distance, aka penis, power, or rock. The big penis in the distance, yeah. Because that's where this great power is.
Starting point is 00:40:55 But she says that no one who has ever tried to obtain the power has survived, but maybe the power rangers will. And she gives them new, like, animal spirit power. which come with costumes that happen to be the same colors as their Power Ranger suits. Which means more toys. Every time they change outfits, you're like, okay, got it. More toys, more toys. Yes.
Starting point is 00:41:24 Also, I did not write down who gets which animal because it's, again, completely inconsequential to the plot, except for maybe Adam who gets the frog because he's insecure about it. What a small arc. for him. I liked it. Yeah, I mean, I do think that the animals that they're given also sort of speak to the broad stereotypes applied to the characters, too, where especially with Kimberly, who is
Starting point is 00:41:57 like always like given, quote, unquote, the most feminine thing of the crane. Like the, I think like they'll see us as like the graceful crane and, you know, the agility of the crane. a feather. Yes. Because she's got to be light. To be clear, she's skinny. Like, you're like, okay.
Starting point is 00:42:18 We get it. Sure. We'll circle back to that. Yes. Meanwhile, on Earth, Ivan Ouse wants to build an army of mindless drones to do his bidding. So, and bear with me for this plan. He goes to a factory to make a bunch of evil ooze. then gives it out
Starting point is 00:42:41 to kids at a carnival and he's also disguised himself as this like purple wizard man and he gives out the ooze the ooze feels very gag coated oh yeah I bet they sold the ooze did they sell it they had to have sold the ooze
Starting point is 00:42:59 probably but I don't remember having it at all listeners did any of you have the ooze yeah let us know and so he he attributes ooze to the kids so that the kids will bring the ooze home and their parents will open it and be brainwashed to do the work that Ivan ooze once done, such as dig up his giant evil robots from underground. And somehow, this plan works exactly as intended. Instantly.
Starting point is 00:43:35 And this is where I was, and this is morbid. But this does, to me, anyways, turn into kind of a Jonestown scenario with Ivan Uze as Jim Jones, because this is also escalating to mass. Everyone's going to just walk off a cliff. It feels very Kool-Aid-coated, where you're like, did he have to do? Like, he's like, you will all do my bidding, and then you're going to die. And then you're going to die. Wow, they drank the Kool-Aid.
Starting point is 00:44:09 they drank the ooze. Almost. If Fred hadn't blasted them with that purple cum stuff, they would have but also I'm not even sure if that's true. I don't know. We'll talk about it. Right. So this kid Fred realizes that something weird is happening
Starting point is 00:44:25 with all the parents in town. So he goes to like start investigating. Back on Fados, the Power Rangers set off toward the monolith. They have to traverse a big forest where some dinosaur skellingtons come to life and attack them, so they have to fight off the dinosaur.
Starting point is 00:44:47 Then they reach the monolith, which is guarded by these big, scary rock monsters with spiky weapons. So there's another fight scene. And then the monolith opens, and the great power within is unleashed. And it gives the power rangers new suits and zords. And that allows them to teleport back to Earth. But, oh, no, Ivan Ouse's giant robots are wreaking havoc in the streets of Angel Grove.
Starting point is 00:45:26 So the power rangers summon their new zords to fight the giant robots. And this is kind of like a Star Warsy kind of thing where they're in these little like battlefighter. It was cool. I liked it. They look like, they look like shit. It's nuts. Yeah, the CGI is horrible here and they're fighting individually in their little like ships at first. But then eventually they come together into the megazord. And it's definitely not a transformer. Definitely not. Definitely not. Meanwhile, that kid Fred is trying to rally all of the other children who are partying and rolling on ooze. They're rolling on ooze to sea.
Starting point is 00:46:14 And he's like, we have to come together and save our parents. Because the parents are, as you alluded to, Jamie, are about to jump into a pit to their deaths. Which seems extreme. Surely Ivanus could have found use for them elsewhere. You would think. Something. So the Power Rangers, meanwhile.
Starting point is 00:46:36 lure Ivan Uz who has transformed himself or like entered one of the robots and so now he's a huge evil robot they lure him into space and into the path
Starting point is 00:46:52 of a comet which hits Ivan Uz and kills him and that's the big climax of the movie I guess and then the Power Rangers head to the command center to save Zordon but they're too late he's dead this is one of my favorite
Starting point is 00:47:13 and like with all due respect to the actors playing the Power Rangers they're the scene that they I don't know why they kept this shot but it's like it's a pan of all the kids when they're when they're like it's too late Zordon's dead and then you see each actor one by one try to cry and fail it's all of them being like oh and then they just close their eyes like one and then the last one i think jason he doesn't even react he just stands there you're just like god we got we got to help these 25 year old children you know what's hilarious there is not a power ranger named jason oh wait is there there was there on the show or something i don't know well his real life name Tommy is jason david frank maybe that's what i
Starting point is 00:47:57 so it's the actor and jason was the original red ranger okay i was definitely thinking about one of those guys. Let's go with that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You were talking about the actor and not the character. Sorry, I just know so much about Power Rangers.
Starting point is 00:48:13 My wires are getting crossed. Anyway, so they discover that Zordon has died. But then they put their great animal spirit powers together and it brings
Starting point is 00:48:29 Zordon back to life. And they rejoice. And then The movie ends with a big celebration in Angel Grove. And everyone's like, thanks, Power Rangers, fireworks, fireworks. And that's the end. So let's take a quick break and we'll come back to discuss. What up, y'all?
Starting point is 00:48:57 It's your boy, Kevin on stage. I want to tell you about my new podcast called Not My Best Month, where I talk to artists, athletes, entertainers, creators, friends, people I admire who had massive success about their massive failures. What did they mess up on? What is their heartbreak? And what did they learn from it? I got judged horribly. The judges were like, you're trash. I don't know how you got on the show. Boo. Somebody had tomatoes. Now, I'm kidding. But if they had tomatoes, they would have thrown the tomatoes. Let's be honest. We've all had those moments we'd rather forget. We bumped our head. We made a mistake. The deal fell through. We're embarrassed.
Starting point is 00:49:33 We failed, but this podcast is about that and how we made it through. So when they sat me down, they were kind of like, we got into the small talk, and they were just like, so what do you got? What? What ideas? And I was like, oh, no. What? Check out Not My Best Moment with me, Kevin on stage, on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast.
Starting point is 00:49:55 And she said, Johnny, the kids didn't come home last night. Along the central Texas planes, teens are dying. that don't make sense. Strange accidents and brutal murders. In what seems to be, a plot ripped straight out of breaking bad. Drugs, alcohol, trafficking of people. There are people out there that absolutely know what happened. Listen to paper ghosts, the Texas teen murders,
Starting point is 00:50:24 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the podcast Health Stuff, we are tackling all the the health questions that keep you up at night. Yes, I'm Dr. Priyanka Wally, a double board certified physician. And I'm Hurricane Dibolu, a comedian and someone who once Googled, Do I have scurvy at 3 a.m? On health stuff, we're talking about health in a different way. It's not only about what we can do to improve our health,
Starting point is 00:50:51 but also what our health says about us and the way we're living. Like our episode where we look at diabetes. In the United States, I mean, 50% of Americans are pre-diabetic. How preventable is type 2? Extremely. Or our in-depth analysis of how incredible mangoes are. Oh, it's hard to explain to the rest of the world. Like, your mangoes are fine because mangoes are incredible, but like you don't even know.
Starting point is 00:51:19 You don't know. You don't know. It's going to be a fun ride. So tune in. Listen to Health Stuff on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Big Take podcast from Bloomberg News dives deep into one big global business story every weekday. A shutdown means we don't get the data, but it also means for President Trump that there's no chance of bad news on the labor market. What does a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich reveal about the economy?
Starting point is 00:51:50 Our breakfast foods are consistent consumer staples, and so they sort of become outsize indicators of inflation. What's behind Elon Musk's trillion dollar payout? There's a sort of concerted effort to message that Musk is coming back. He's putting politics aside. He's left the White House. And what can the PCE tell you that the CPI can't? CPI tries to measure out-of-pocket costs that consumers are paying for things, whereas the PCE index that the Fed targets is a little bit broader of a measure.
Starting point is 00:52:23 Listen to the big take from Bloomberg News every weekday afternoon on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your pay. podcasts. And we're back. Isn't the last song? It's like a Van Halen song. Yeah, I think so. Just to go through the 90sness of this, there's the Power Rangers orchestra.
Starting point is 00:52:51 So that's, let's leave that alone. Red Hot Chili Peppers, a band called Shampoo, question mark. Yes. They're the ones who do, uh-oh. We're in trouble when the kids are partying. Oh, okay. I know that song. Okay.
Starting point is 00:53:05 Devo, snap, exclamation point. Fun Tomas featuring Carl Douglas, don't know. Of course. Van Halen, they might be giant. Like, there's just so many, like you were saying earlier, Caitlin, the had to have been an expensive soundtrack for sure. Carlos, where would you like to start the discussion here? Oh, my God, there's so much.
Starting point is 00:53:33 Good luck. Oh, goodness. I guess this is the Bechdel cast. Let's talk about how Aisha and Kimberly keep getting, like, the short end of the stick in their fights. They're like, equally power rangers. Kimberly's one of the OGs, and it's like, we need to yell for help. Like, what's happening here? Repeatedly, it stinks.
Starting point is 00:53:58 I'm curious how much this character is. the show. I'm like it's the 90s so I'm assuming it does but um but yeah I mean it's like we have these sort of five featureless teenagers personality wise they're they're all basically the same person and so I feel like a lot of what we have to go off of with them are these like broad character stereotypes where uh you can tell this even if you don't watch the show but like Kimberly is like the hyper feminine white girl um and her costumes pink Her costume's pink, and she's a girl. Girl TM.
Starting point is 00:54:33 And so, of course, we're going to give her love interest. Of course we are. And it's Tommy. And he's going to be saving her a lot. So there's her. And then I think it's also equally important to talk about who is not in this movie and why. So this movie, and Carlos correct me as our resident expert because I'm new. I'm new to the culture here.
Starting point is 00:54:54 But there are three original Power Rangers who are missing from this movie because, so the original U.S. series went from 92 to 96. This came out in 95. So the original yellow, black, and red ranger, I think are all gone at this point. Who, okay. And the reason that is is because of a pretty serious labor dispute that really foreshadows, we'll be talking about the extensive villainy of Zionist billionaire Heim Saban. But he's also been at it labor-wise for a long time. The original characters who are not there
Starting point is 00:55:36 are Trini Kwan played by actor Tui Trang, who played the Yellow Ranger, the only Asian cast member. Certainly nothing going on there. In similar fashion, we have Zach Taylor
Starting point is 00:55:51 played by actor Walter Emmanuel Jones, the only black cast member of the original Power Rangers playing the Black Ranger. He has said that this was like a choice that he made and that like he's not bothered by it, but it's been talked about extensively. And then the Red Ranger who was played, who is a character named Jason Lee Scott played by a guy named Austin St. John, three names, really challenging. But these three characters are missing because, so this show, as we've
Starting point is 00:56:26 talked about, is an amalgamation of old. footage from Japan and contemporary footage at the time from the US. So the kids are shooting a lot, but they're not necessarily performing everything, which is at the heart of this labor dispute. So the like Mighty Morp and Power Rangers becomes really successful right away in the US, primarily in merchandising and toys. And like this is disputes we've talked about over the years where like Star Wars is the most famous one where like Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill, like they weren't cut in on merchandising and lost out on God knows how much money by not having that in their contracts. Similar issue going on here is that none of the young actors are cut into
Starting point is 00:57:10 merchandising. And I think what Carl Saban and co-say is, well, you're not even doing the stunts. And people like the suits. They don't like you. Sorry, is this name Carl Saban? I thought it was Haim. Hame Saban. I don't know why I called him Carl Sabon. Let's be on. I think it's, let's focus on the names that I got right. right, which is amazing. You did wonderful. And let's just, why am I, anyway. Are you thinking of Carl Sagan?
Starting point is 00:57:36 Yeah, I'm thinking of Carl Sagan. I'm, honestly, don't know. Okay, so I'm Svon. It's been Carl in my head for days now for some reason. Oh, wow. Well, again, he's an evil, heinous piece of shit. I don't care if I get it. But on the labor piece of shit side,
Starting point is 00:57:57 So these are non-union actors at the time, which basically means you can pay non-union actors anything they'll agree to. Most people start non-union while they build a resume, and then they join SAG and are in a union, get a standard rate and have people to help them negotiate their contracts. So this started as a non-union show, became extremely successful, and then half of the cast who were all represented by the same manager at the time, the red, yellow, black rangers, go to Saban and Co at the, you know, beginning of the second season, I guess, and they're like, hey, we want a cut of merchandising. And the thing that's, like, really wild to me is like, they're like, we want to become union actors. And they say, no, fuck you. I'm not exactly sure. I know that the actor who played Kimberly, uh, let's see, let's see if I get her, Amy Jo Johnson. Everyone in the 90s had three names. Amy Jo Johnson later expressed regret for not having doing this because it seems like the all the kids were or the young actors were given the same bad deal but only three of them fought against it and I think because they weren't a united front or maybe it would have gone this way anyways we'll never know um Saban was like we are going to bank on the fact that kids care more about the suits than they care about you and they just did away with the characters entirely so. So, you know, not only is this like a massive labor issue and as Amy Jo Johnson has said that this means that the remaining cast members, sure, they're still on Power Rangers, but they're still making like shitty wages and being put in unsafe conditions constantly and they're not protected by a union. Like Amy Joe Johnson said she was almost electrocuted on the set of the spoofy. And like, you know, just there were all of these malpractice issues because it wasn't an above board set.
Starting point is 00:59:57 because they weren't union. So it not only left the remaining cast members in this very vulnerable place, it got these other actors, you know, cast out of this very successful franchise just for advocating for basic, basic, basic, labor rights. And also you lose two people of color in the primary cast. So that is where how we get the new characters of Aisha, who, oh my God, there's so many names, who is played by the actor, Help Me Out. Karin Ashley, I think.
Starting point is 01:00:31 Karen Ashley, yes. So she comes in and takes up the Yellow Ranger role as Aisha, and then we get a different Black Ranger frog. Johnny Youngbash. Yes, the frog and a different Red Ranger. But this was all very recent, like, around the time that this movie was being made, like those decisions had sort of just happened and they're you know
Starting point is 01:00:58 not that you would expect someone of Heimsabon's character to ever express remorse over having done this. It just shows like from moment one this was a business endeavor and that even the people who you would think you would want to treat well
Starting point is 01:01:13 and pay over, they were making $60,000 a year maybe. They were making $600 an episode on like the most popular children's franchise like in the West. Like, it's just, it was ridiculous. So that is like, whatever.
Starting point is 01:01:30 I just wanted to give context for who these characters are and that like half of this cast is sort of new to the kids watching it. Yes. I'd also like to dive just a little bit deeper into the racial component here because the conversation about the original Black Ranger being played by a black actor, the original Yellow Ranger being played by. by an Asian actor.
Starting point is 01:01:55 That's a conversation that has been happening since the 90s. Like it's been like until you know it's bad if people were noticing it in the 90s. Particularly because I mean, and it's just like it just shows the aggressive racism of the makers of this franchise, the American franchise specifically because this is taken from an Asian franchise. Right. And it is still extremely anti-Asian in its portrayal of its only Asian character who unfortunately died very young three train died in a car crash when she was only 27 the the racial components i know
Starting point is 01:02:30 that it's been like you're saying like debated since the 90s and walter emmanuel jones has said like it doesn't bother me and i'm like great but i think it is a valid critique regardless for sure well i was curious to see if anyone from the cast and or crew has said anything about this over the years. And so I'm pulling from a variety article from earlier this year. So this is about the series. Quote, head writer Tony Oliver said that none of us were thinking stereotypes when these casting decisions were originally made, which is why the show ran for two seasons with the black character, the Black Ranger, and the Asian character, the Yellow Ranger. It wasn't until my assistant pointed out in a meeting one day that Oliver realized these castings,
Starting point is 01:03:22 were upholding stereotypes. Oliver added, it was such a mistake. The piece goes on to say, quote, co-creator Shuki Levy previously told complex that Jones and Trang's casting wasn't intentional at all. At that time, Hame, Saban, and I were new to this country. We didn't grow up in the same environment that exists in America with regard to skin color. We grew up in Israel, where being a black person is like being any kind of color. it's not something we talked about all the time. It wasn't a big issue, unquote. So first of all, so many layers of, yeah, it's like, where to begin? Yeah, famously tolerant and non-racist, fake-ass country of Israel. Like, are you fucking serious? Yeah. Second, just like the privilege of not
Starting point is 01:04:11 thinking about or not having to think about race or not noticing the racist implications behind casting choices. Like, I also just like don't believe it. I also just like don't believe it. I think that they stopped casting Asian and black actors in these roles because they were criticized for it, not because they were like, oh, we, someone brought up a gentle, like, someone gently told me. And I was like, I didn't know because it's like, not only is that privilege, I don't believe that that's how they, why they stopped doing that. I'm guessing they stopped doing that because they got in trouble for it. Right. And Saban is just a fucking monster.
Starting point is 01:04:46 I mean, like to this day, he is still with us and still aggressively. pouring money into pro-Israel causes. To this day, he's been denounced by the Arab American Institute in the last year. He has well over $2 billion from, I'm assuming, merchandising that he stole from these actors, as well as, like, different investments that he's made that I didn't honestly look into because I didn't want to know anything else about him. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:05:17 Understandable. Yes. And then in response to those comments made by the headwriter and co-creator, this is pulling from another variety article, Walter Emmanuel Jones, again, the actor who played, who originally played the Black Ranger in the series. And was also in Brink, I didn't realize. Oh. One of my childhood faves. Apparently there's footage of him from a documentary made about the Power Rangers saying something on set like, oh, of course, like the black guy plays the Black Ranger, go figure. So he, you know, he was commenting on it at the time.
Starting point is 01:06:02 He later says in an Instagram post, I've always believed in focusing on the positive. I understand the impulse to address what might be seen as cultural insensitivity, but calling it, a mistake, that's the reference to the head writer Tony Oliver's comment, but calling it a mistake would dismiss the impact it had on countless people around the world, who found inspiration and representation in TV's first black superhero, morphin into none other than the black power ranger. It wasn't a mistake. It was a milestone. It was an honor, unquote. So it's a complicated thing you know the actor not being particularly bothered by it is that's good i mean that's good and it's also like i mean and again we we don't know this guy uh right but i think it is
Starting point is 01:06:55 like a very complicated thing when i believe that walter emmanuel jones and a lot of these original actors still do work for the franchise right so it's like who know like it not to cast doubt on the quote like i hope he feels fine about it but it's like if you're still making appearances as a former cast member of the power rangers you probably wouldn't be disparaging uh the power rangers so it's it's a tricky thing yeah but yeah i mean and we've i think we've talked about this in a number of examples of how you know the characters of trini and of sack meant a lot to a lot of kids and that like that is for all of this franchise's faults and there are many like that that still has value too and then as far as the new characters who are
Starting point is 01:07:50 brought in for wait sorry i'm seeing the link you sent carlos oh my god another labor layer oh carlos just put in the chat uh the original yellow ranger audrey dubois was originally cast as the Yellow Ranger before being replaced by Thui Trang, due to her requesting financial help to move to L.A. to film the series. So another just like this company being an absolute piece of shit and not doing the bare minimum for their actors. Come on. Horrendous.
Starting point is 01:08:22 They also were like gotten rid of on the show in like the most anticlimactic and shitty way. Um, so if we have later, uh, when Kimberly leaves the show and gives her powers to the New Pink Power Ranger, played by Catherine Sutherland, I believe. Like, she gets to take her power coin, put it in her hand, and, like, you see the transfer of power from Kimberly to the new Ranger. With the original trio, they are seen in the show with, like, reused footage, or they're shot from behind, or somebody's in a wig, or you don't really get to have that same moment of them giving Rocky, Adam, and Aisha, their powers.
Starting point is 01:09:02 It's just like, oh, we're going to be in a suit and then teleport away. They don't get to say goodbye. There's no sort of conclusion. It's just like, you're off the show now. We've got these new characters who all of a sudden are taking up like half of the episode because we've got to introduce these heroes who care and are worth being the replacements for Jason, Zach, and Trini. Which is so, yeah, I saw that clip that literally it's so clunky. It's like them in silhouette.
Starting point is 01:09:32 uh because it's body doubles it's not actually the actors the actors had already quit and then voice doubles being like hey we're going to switzerland uh we're going to the peace conference and they're like oh man we're going to miss you so much you're just like okay um and then the final or not the maybe i don't know maybe uh another sort of controversy that is around a cast member who is in this movie is david yost who plays billy granston who i was like wow that's So close to Brian Cranston. Brian Cranston also did voices for the original Power Rangers series. And he plays, I think, Zordon in the 2017 adaptation.
Starting point is 01:10:11 So the Cranston is strong with this franchise for some reason. But that David Yost, who is another actor who is now, like, involved again in the expanded Power Rangers universe. But he didn't talk about this for years, but stopped acting. and left the show shortly after, or he stayed till 1995. So he stayed through the movie and then he stayed on the show for a little bit after that
Starting point is 01:10:41 into Power Rangers Zio, question mark. But then he left and he said due to extensive homophobic harassment that he received on the side of the show from, I honest, I didn't go super deep into it. I read the interview where he first spoke about it.
Starting point is 01:10:59 It sounds like what, really plagued him the most is that it was coming from the highest level it was coming from the producers he was getting harassment from crew and possibly cast but like it was also being encouraged like the cast was being encouraged to interrogate his sexuality by the producers of the show um to the point where he felt so uncomfortable and there's literally like video footage from the 90s that it's which it's very in passing but it was a part of the like Power Rangers behind the scenes clip where he's being like flipped off by a crew member and being called David like to his face in a BTS thing like so it's just you know obviously we we believe
Starting point is 01:11:46 him anyway but but the but the fact that there's like footage that was released to the public that backs up what he's saying it just sounded like it was extremely traumatizing and he didn't return to power Rangers uh for he he he he he weirdly, I was like fascinated. He's moved to behind the scenes work. He worked on the real housewives of Beverly Hills for a while as a segment producer. I was like,
Starting point is 01:12:12 what a life. And now he's like back involved in the Power Rangers universe as of like a couple years ago, but he kept it at arm's length for a long time because the homophobic harassment was so severe. As we talked about, Amy Jo Johnson later regretted not encouraging
Starting point is 01:12:29 the rest of the cast and herself to stand with the three who ended up getting fired over labor disputes and also almost died on the set of this movie and she does not fuck with the Power Rangers now she's an she's an indie film director in Canada and I love that for her oh good for her so that's understandable I was like I would also move to Canada and say fuck the Power Rangers but so that's the context yeah so to circle back to the conversation about gender. Oh my gosh, yes. The conversation you started an hour ago, Carlos.
Starting point is 01:13:10 I mean, this is all important. This is all relevant. Like, there's intersectionality. It's all layered. It's all in there. Indeed. Well, and then to speak to the intersection of gender and race when it comes to Kimberly and Aisha, so Kimberly is white, Aisha is black, and wouldn't you know,
Starting point is 01:13:29 the white character has far more focus, more lines of dialogue, generally more screen time, and just a more prominent character overall. She's also given, and it's like, I don't even, not, I'm not saying this is a pro, but she has a love interest in Jason. Aisha does not. I feel like Aisha is very largely plot-wise and often just in the shots by herself, where there are like micro-relationships where we're like, oh, Jason and Kimberly like each other, Billy and the Black Ranger, the Frog Ranger, our friends or something. But Aisha is just like kind of by herself a lot, which is a shame because I guess in this series and you two actually watched it, but like Kimberly and Trini were best friends. And that was like something that was frequently coming up on the show of like how they were BFFs. And this movie
Starting point is 01:14:27 doesn't really have space for any relationship between any of the Power Rangers, but it's like they don't even bother to do the kind of nice sort of misogynist thing of, oh, the two girls are friends. And the fact that it's, I think that we see this a lot with how black women and girls are portrayed on screen of like there's a lot of attention drawn to how feminine Kimberly is. In this, I think, very like white colonial mindset way and I wouldn't say that like I don't know maybe I'm wrong but I wouldn't say that like Aisha is aggressively othered um like she's given the character of a bear which is I would say like comparably strong to what the other power rangers are given in terms of an animal like I don't really have an issue with it certainly stronger than a frog
Starting point is 01:15:18 that's true frog and crane I'm like I don't I'm not so sure about that uh The cranes seem flimsy to me. No offense to cranes, but... I don't know, but that also comes up in intersectional feminist masterpiece Kill Bill. So who knows? Oh, true. But I didn't think she was othered. I just feel like she was, like, neglected pretty severely in this.
Starting point is 01:15:43 Yes. And then to the point, you were just making Jamie about, like, Kimberly's given the hetero love interest. She's also more sexualized in her costuming. because when she's not in the Power Rangers suit she's wearing short shorts and a very form-fitting crop top versus Aisha who's wearing like a baggy hoodie and I'm not advocating for them to be equally sexualized
Starting point is 01:16:09 but like it's like everyone loses in this scenario which is true of most subjugation like it's just like both of these characters are losing I think Amy Jo Johnson when they were like Amy, why didn't you come back for the 2023 movie? She's like, because I'm 53 and I don't want to have to wear a spandex for the Power Rangers
Starting point is 01:16:29 anymore. And I was like, fuck yeah. And I think adding insult to injury, it's also the kind of part they'd written for her was like negligible at best. It's like I'm not coming back to do this thing that has been not great in all of these ways that has followed me
Starting point is 01:16:45 for decades for you not to give me a real part. Because I watched it, of course. Like, Billy's character and Zach's character play a huge role. It's really about them. Everyone else is just kind of in the background and they mourn Trini's character because they kill her off in the show because the original actor is passed in real life. But it's like, yeah, makes total sense why you wouldn't want to come back for this.
Starting point is 01:17:09 I get it, Amy, Amy, Joe, I get it. You're chilling in Canada. You're like, I'm not getting it. And making music. Like, she's like making music too. Yeah, she's like an indie pop, maybe indie folk. I don't know genres, but she, like, makes music as well. Good for her. Good for her. I feel like, yeah, because because there are, I mean,
Starting point is 01:17:31 and this isn't necessarily relevant to the conversation, but there are cast members who, like, did not have as fruitful post careers as Amy Jo Johnson did. I think she probably ended up doing, having the most fruitful post-Power Rangers career and is suspiciously the only person who refuses to engage now. And also that just worth mentioning that Jason David Frank, who plays Tommy, was very, I mean, he was like basically the face of the series, it seems like, for years and years and years, very involved in the fan community, all this stuff. And then he, unfortunately, took his own life in 2022. And so the movie that we were just talking about that Amy Jo Johnson was like, fuck this movie, it is also dedicated to the memory of those two original cast members, Jason David Frank, and Thuetran. And yeah. I guess the one thing I'll say about the gender piece that's very clear, when they're calling their zords, everyone gets into their zord and has a cute little moment.
Starting point is 01:18:30 Kimberly's is very stereotypical. It's just like, oh, nice stereo. It's just like, you are in a giant zord, which is pretty similar to what she says when she gets in the, I think, the taradactyl in the original series for the first time. Oh, really? So I think it's a callback, but I'm like, doesn't age. And then we don't see Aisha say anything When she gets into her Zord Like a second
Starting point is 01:18:52 Like you literally just have to her to be like Let's kick some butt let's like do something Like anything Anything in the Zord Nothing I kept waiting for even just Like 90s cast off girl boss Moment of like One of the girls saving the other
Starting point is 01:19:09 Or something anything I'll take anything And they know it's always One of the guys has to swing in If it's Kimberly it's her love interest has to swing in and save her and she you know like it's and and going back to your point gaitland is ayesha has literally no character that we know of Kimberly sort of has a character because she's been on the series for a long time but yeah the reason iisha is there is because trini isn't there for all of these horrible so it just like goes up and up and up and up i will say that
Starting point is 01:19:42 I feel like the romantic kind of thing that's going on between Kimberly and, oh, God, what's his name? Tommy. Tommy. It's every generic 90s name ever. I feel like is not played up so much to the extent that I didn't even totally notice it. And it also could be that I was watching this movie in a fugue state. so maybe it's a me thing but i like loki did not really pick up on it oh really yeah it's i i think i mean it's definitely there but i agree it's not like harped on in the way that other franchises
Starting point is 01:20:27 would harp on it true yeah but and this is speaking to something you were saying earlier carlos but the the women are power rangers as well they are warriors they have this theoretically the same powers as their male counterparts but they keep getting the damsel treatment where they're like put into you know a tight spot and either have to be saved or the story in that moment is really focused on like oh my god look how much danger they're in because they're trying to the movies needing ways to heighten the tension heighten the stakes yeah how do we do that oh no one of the girls is in trouble. So that happens quite a bit. There are a few instances here and there where like one of the boys gets in a sticky situation as well, but it's never really, um, harped upon
Starting point is 01:21:21 the way that it is when the, the teen girls are in a tight spot. Yeah. You mentioned this also, Carlos. Like, they're screaming a lot. Like, anytime a bad guy shows up, they're like, ah! And it's like, you're a warrior. And sure, they're scary. Get it together. Like, the boys aren't screaming. Like, it's just all of these very gendered, reductive tropes are happening. The dinosaur skeleton fight scenes, like the perfect example. You have Rocky the Red Ranger get slammed into a wall and seemingly knocked unconscious. And then almost instantly, he's back up, no screaming, no yelling.
Starting point is 01:21:58 Mima, Aisha, and Kimberly both get cornered different times in the same fight and have to be saved by either Adam or Rocky or Tommy, who then immediately backflips on of the dinosaur to like decapitate it. It's just like we could have just little tweaks. We could have done little differences there. Like it didn't have to be this. It's no, absolutely not. It's also fixable because the plot is so goofy too.
Starting point is 01:22:19 Like anyone could the getting back into stuff I liked because we we had to spend all. I mean like there is so much to talk about with this. Like yes. We had to. But getting back into stuff I liked the the dinosaur being the dinosaur sequence ending with I think Tommy like yanking just. a random bone from it and you literally hear like and then and then the fight's over when you're like it's like a cartoon oh okay yeah it's kind of adorable um yeah i mean this is this is more of a plot issue um where that seems like it's not an issue in the actual tv show but just the power rangers
Starting point is 01:22:59 like what they're fighting for and then what fred who i'm pretty sure is just a movie character he's like the randomest character like the Power Rangers and Fred like they're not fighting for the same thing the Power Rangers seem like not invest this is why I was like do they have do they even have parents because they're so like kind of keeping the whole like
Starting point is 01:23:23 all of the parents are going to walk off a cliff in I think their hometown they're like not worried about that at all to the point where I think it's like the Frog Power Ranger saves the kids from this random almost train accident And then the kids are like, oh, we're going to make it.
Starting point is 01:23:39 We're going to go save our parents. And the frog power rangers like, good luck, kids. I was like, do you not care? Don't your parents live there? So then I spiraled out and like, do they not have parents? Is that why they don't care what happens in the city where they live? I would still care. Well, Zordon is their daddy.
Starting point is 01:23:57 Yeah. Or maybe their parents didn't get oozed because they didn't bring home the ooze. So like, oh, yeah, the perfect plan. Distribute ooze to the children. and the children will bring it to their parents. The parents will obviously open the ooze. I mean, and that dad with three brain cells to his name was... And he dug in.
Starting point is 01:24:16 He's like, loom. He was like, my son's not home. I guess I'd better... Let me play with some gag. Honestly, I'm like, I'm laughing and yet I'm like, hmm. Well... Here's the thing. If I was a parent, and I hope to be one day, if my kid brought home ooze,
Starting point is 01:24:35 I would want to touch it, but I would be like, kids are dirty. I'm not touching theirs. I'm going to go to this store and get my own. Your own ooze. My own oes, yeah. Okay. Good clean ooze. Yeah, not contaminated ooze.
Starting point is 01:24:50 Yeah. Well, for the Fred subplot, I was like, well, every movie has to be about fathers and sons. So we need to wedge a fathers and sons thing in here. Yeah. The thing that I thought was hilarious about this is toward the end, Fred goes to, the construction site where the parents are all about to like jump off of a cliff or into the pit or whatever. Into the pit.
Starting point is 01:25:14 You're just like, oh, oh, that is just, it reminded me of just as I was researching how the American version, in one of the few instances where I'm like siding with the American version of Super Sentai, that they would change a lot of plot points because the original Super Sentai was so gruesome, where I guess in Super Sentai, they're, would be children regularly just like murdered in cold blood um and the american version was like we're kind of uh we're going to not include those parts and i'm you know in a show for five year olds i'm i'm pro that but but then you you get the little senses of it of like no we're okay if we jones town these random characters these adults yeah well okay so they're the adults are
Starting point is 01:25:59 about to jump in the pit. Fred gets hold of some huge water nozzle. And there are also children who are trying to like physically push the parents away from jumping into the pit. Fred starts spraying the water to try to again also push the parents back. But he ends up just like blasting the children with the water rather than any of the adults. Yep. Wow. It's just like. It's like, the fire hose. Yeah, full of like purple gack. No, I think, no, it's just water. I think it might just be the color of like the quarry is like it's colored in an odd way, but I think it's just supposed to be water. Yeah. Okay. So clearly I misunderstood what was happening there. It also felt like he thinks that him doing that is what saves them when in fact it is the power rangers blowing up
Starting point is 01:26:52 the villain is what saves them. But I think that Fred spends the rest of his life being like, if I hadn't blasted our parents with a fire hose they all would have died like yeah wait there's a really good Ivan ooze line I wanted to shout out oh please I have a few lines I enjoy as well oh Iisha big moment for Aisha her spaceship kicks Ivan ooze in the balls so that's yes that's fun that's fun we like that that that line passes the Beckville test you have Kimberly what are you doing taking care of business yes it is a very funny pass But, yeah, when I produce says, now I'm starting to get really angry. And then he just stretches out and, like, enters a robot in a way that I wouldn't say is unsexual. And then he says, I feel big again. Which is awesome. Like, what do you mean again? Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 01:27:49 My favorite lines were, I think this is Billy during one of the early fights in the movies when he's, like, punching one of the ooze minions and then he goes you ooze you lose okay that's good writing and then my other favorite like what the fuck who wrote this thing is so the power rangers they arrive on planet phaedos and they keep talking about how urgent it is that they get the power so that they can save zordon zordon is actively dying like the sense of urgency is talked about a lot but they are moving so fucking slowly they these kids there's no urgency in their movement these kids need to be in school like I I don't understand what is going on in these kids brains they're given these like because even if they are not able to do these animal powers for whatever
Starting point is 01:28:47 reason I would I at least want to see them wonder why the fact that they're like all right cool we went to the big we like made it to the thingy and Zena was there and she gave us these powers but but we're we can't use them and we're not going to try and we're just going to travel on foot and we're going to walk to the
Starting point is 01:29:09 we're going to walk to the penis and it's set up it's set up she turned into an owl so it's like if that's her power why didn't we turn into a wolf oh yeah we literally see her do it so it's like plant never never Never pay off.
Starting point is 01:29:25 Until they get the Zords, I guess, technically would be the payoff. But it's like, that's too, she wasn't an owl zord. She was an owl. Right. Right. Yeah, she didn't turn into a spaceship, although I wouldn't have hated if she did. No, it would be cool. Her character cracked me up.
Starting point is 01:29:40 Is she in other stuff? Nope. Oh, good. So there's this YouTuber called Mistair Fusion, who actually, for the 30th anniversary of the movie's release, did a comparison between the movie. and how the TV show handles the transition. Because this was the transition from, like, one set of powers to the ninja powers. And so in the TV show, the way they did this was different.
Starting point is 01:30:05 With Turbo later, the movie is canon. So, like, the movie is the transition. In here, there's a guy named Ninja, who's, like, a Dudley-Doo-Right kind of character, who's in a blue suit. He's basically a zord that turns into a bigger zord and comes back later. to help the Rangers, but, like, they have to go through, like, four episodes to get the powers to, like, reclaim them, get the same suits, fight the tanga, and then get the powers to come back, because Tommy technically destroys their powers in the TV show.
Starting point is 01:30:40 Alpha's like, you're pushing the Zords too much. You're going to, like, overthrow the powers. And then he's like, we got to do whatever it takes. Immediately the swords explode. They lose their powers. they fall out of their swords. There's a bit more meat for the movie.
Starting point is 01:30:58 These kids are a mess. These kids are a mess. It's wild. I love them. Yeah, it is like, I don't know, it is so, whatever, just like speaking to like, and I would love both of your feelings on this too
Starting point is 01:31:11 because I was trying to put a little time like putting this franchise into a larger context around like merchandise, heavy franchises, international franchises, the exchange of entertainment culture between the U.S. and Japan, which is a very complicated subject. Because it is just like, it's so silly, but it's also like it's a rich text, these power rangers and it's history with super centi and which I kept, I'm immature, so I kept accidentally saying hentai and then going, he he.
Starting point is 01:31:46 And then saying, sorry, sentai. because it didn't occur to me until I was doing some just kind of basic background research that this is sort of similar to how Godzilla became popular in the U.S. is by showing original footage from Japan and then just throwing in a couple American actors and releasing it as if it's completely original content. It's just very interesting. And I know we don't really have the bandwidth within this episode to fully get into international relations. But just because like the U.S. and Japan, there is still such an intense cultural exchange today, it's just like a very particular moment.
Starting point is 01:32:29 And I just had a lot of fun watching the like the original cuts, which feel like as a grown up, you're like, oh yeah, that's a different person 20 years ago. But it still somehow kind of works. Like, it works. Rita Repulsa, like, it's very badly dubs, but it works. Oh, I wish, that's my main note for this movie. At the end of the day, I know it's been an hour and a half, but Rita Rapulsa, get her out of the snow globe. Get her out. Because she's such a prominent character in the series.
Starting point is 01:33:04 I was expecting her to be something in the movie, but... I kept waiting for her to, like, join forces with Ivan Uze, at least. I'm like, don't get rid of Ivanoos. I love Ivanoos. But, you know, talk about silencing women, putting greener-R-Pulsat in a snow globe. Come on. After throwing goo on her mouth to shut her up and Zed so happy about it, like, no, she's so important that voice is iconic.
Starting point is 01:33:31 It's so sad. She does come out at the end. Yeah. Well, she's rooting. She and Lord Zed are rooting for the power rangers because they hate Ivan U's so. much that they're like, I hope they kick his ass. And then they do by throwing him into a comet. And that's awesome. Worth mentioning, I think, again, I got to talk about bulk and skull. Now, the fat character's name being bulk, first of all. There's also a part where Skull asks
Starting point is 01:34:07 bulk, are you hungry? And bulk says always. So just casual fat phobes. present in the bulk character. I really wanted them to be a larger part of the movie as well, but they are like barely even tertiary characters. Like, they get nothing. It really does just feel like random fan service of like, they're on the show and they jumped out of a plane. See ya.
Starting point is 01:34:37 It's too bad. I would see a whole movie about those guys. They have more of a role in Turbo, but they similarly have nothing to do with the main plot and the TV transition between seasons. But it's also the fat phobia is so much worse. It's like they're the bully TM characters, but like re-watching Power Rangers as an adult, you're like, you guys are doing too much to these so-called bullies.
Starting point is 01:35:01 Like you're really bullying them. Like there's moments where it's just like, are you guys the good guys? I'm having my doubts. You should go to an anti-bullying seminar. I think about that with, I don't know why this example. like just jumped right to my mind but there was a similar thing with the bully on boy meets world where there was just a I vividly remember to the point where it like occurred to me as a child and I'm like they're being really mean to him they're like making these like fatphobic
Starting point is 01:35:31 comments I think maybe there's one episode where he's like that hurt my feelings and the so I guess maybe they called it out at some point and then continued to do it but yeah this this franchise is especially and it always like sticks out even more when that's one of the character's few moments on screen at all. Like, it's just stating the broad, cruel stereotype, and then we don't even see them again. But you flew out. Like, there's so many other cast members that they did not fly out.
Starting point is 01:36:01 You flew out Bulk and Skull for what? To have them play second fiddle to Fred, who we never see again, who nobody knows, just because you'd be a kid insert. What the hell? Yeah, Bulk and Skull could. feel i mean no offense to that kid but you're like who the fuck is that that is like i'm not convinced that that wasn't like a i like that is the most generic ass kid in the entire world i wanted to say this while i was thinking of it because i went into deep reader repulse the lore because i was like
Starting point is 01:36:36 damn she's so cool that her original first of all her grievance is very valid because here's how she enters the show in the pilot, pulling from scholarly journal Wikipedia here. Rita Rapulsa is an evil space witch bent on ruling the universe. Being a powerful sorceress, Rita has conquered many worlds, a master large collection of monsters, and putty patrollers to do her bidding. Origin story. Imprisoned in a space dumpster by Zordon, Rita was cast into space where she would float for 10,000 years before arcing back to the moon in 1993, once freed by two Astros.
Starting point is 01:37:13 She and her minions reclaimed their headquarters and started a second campaign on Earth to defeat Zordon and take the planet for Lord Zed. Now, the Lord Zed thing, I don't know what that means, but she is right to be hell-bent on destroying Zordon. He imprisoned her in a space dumpster for 10,000 years. That was rude. He should not have done that. I also hate, there's something like I reject Zordon. I don't like him. No, he freaked me out.
Starting point is 01:37:38 I think that Zordon is kind of Heim Sabon coded. in that he's a creepy weirdo who doesn't do anything and his whole thing is I do not compensate these young people for their labor but they do my bidding while I just fucking hang out in a room
Starting point is 01:37:54 and collect wealth that is not mine. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I don't, I'm sort of canonically a Zionist, I don't know. No, but this is the thing that becomes even worse
Starting point is 01:38:08 for the continuity of the show if you follow movie canon. So in later season, there are a bunch of other villains that come together. Zordon has one of the Power Rangers, spoilers for I guess Power Rangers in space, has the new Red Ranger destroy his tube, and when he does, he explodes in like an essence of good ray
Starting point is 01:38:30 that like turns Rita into a normal human, turns Lord Zed into a normal human, arguably eliminates all evil from the universe because he exploded. And I'm like, that didn't happen in the movie. Like in the movie when his tube exploded, he just died. But, like, he self-sacrifices to save the universe.
Starting point is 01:38:47 For what? Because somehow evil comes back to the universe later when they start to, like, cross different timelines and play with different show continuities later. But, yeah, Zordon seems to be a, like, typical bad mentor where it's like, you must do this for the greater good. Don't go be a gymnast because then you can't be a Power Ranger. You can teleport.
Starting point is 01:39:10 Why can't she go do her routine on the balance? balance beam and then come back to Angel Grove. Why does he only attack Angel Grove? Like the adult questions you ask, it's just like, why Angel Grove? Why the US? Why? Because it's the hell mouse or something. You're like, why is this villain only attacking Burbank? Which has been referenced in like newer and more meta commentary in movies where it's like, yeah, he seems to only attack Japan in like a Godzilla movie or in some other thing. It's just like, yeah, but like there's a whole world. Why did Zordon have Ivan Uze buried near his ectomorphicons near his lab instead of on Fados, on Aquatar, on Eltar? Literally anywhere else, it's like bad planning my guy. What if this
Starting point is 01:40:00 fails? I got to be honest, none of this occurred to me. None of it at all. Wow. No, you're totally right i i watch this and rewashed this way too often so i'm like deep deep deep into lore no okay thank you that's why you're here we need you does anyone have anything else they'd like to talk about um i'm sure i do but i'm gonna stop myself yeah i i joke with my friends i'm like this is a horror movie given how bad the cg i has aged in this movie like oh yeah the the footage from the the show is so much better age, because it's like a person in a, like, suit, I think, still in this season. They haven't gotten to, like, animation yet.
Starting point is 01:40:48 So just there's some ways that this is not hold up, but it's still a fun little nostalgic tickle in the brain. True. Yeah. I felt like the bad effects, at this point, I feel kind of nostalgic for this kind of bad effect. It doesn't really bump me because you're just like. Like, this is, I do believe this is the best they could do at the time.
Starting point is 01:41:12 I've turned around on it. Oh, yeah. The technology just wasn't really there in 95. It's just teenagers sitting inside of a screensaver. And I celebrate that. Beautiful. Does the movie pass the Bechto Test? Yeah.
Starting point is 01:41:26 It does with the, what are you doing? Taking care of business. Knee to the knotsack of the Ivan Oos giant robot. Which is plot. Yes, I was like a very plot relevant 90s girl power pass. True. Do they talk to each other aside from that, though? No, but they talk to Dulcea.
Starting point is 01:41:53 Yes. And then, but the context is about Zordon. And it's like, our leader Zordon said, you know Zordon? It's just like, can we talk about something? Like the powers, can we talk? And then they go into Ivan Ouse and then the boys jump in. And so, yeah, I don't think Aisha and Kim. talk to each other at all.
Starting point is 01:42:09 No, which again is just like, they're not even doing the bare minimum that they were doing in the show by making the only two girls BFFs. And I was reading, I don't know, I was like reading some synopsies about Kimberly and Trini from the original show. And it's so 90s and goofy, where it's like Trini and Kimberly both start after school clubs and Trini is more popular. And so Kimberly gets possessed by the jealousy monster. And like, you know, it's like all very.
Starting point is 01:42:37 you know, goofy kind of stuff, but it's, it's something where I'm like, that, that scene particularly drove me up a wall because you're, first of all, you're like waiting for it to maybe pass the bucketal test and then it doesn't, but I'm like, you guys are standing right next to each other. Please, just turn your head and speak. Like, it's just, I don't know. I'm glad that it wasn't really like this in the show, but in the movie, it really does feel like these kids are complete strangers to each other. Yeah. One of your favorite people actually had something to say about that. I'm going to try to find it. I opened up the tab. Give me one second. What if Alfred Molina was like, I have to say something about. Oh, no, this is fully sarcastic, your favorite
Starting point is 01:43:19 person. Oh, right. Oh, even better. Even better. So there's a Roger Ebert review on this film. Okay. You know what? At least he covered it. At least he covered it. He gives it half a star and he starts it. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the movie is about as close as you can get to absolute nothing and still have a product to project on the screen. The movie is like those synthetic foods that have no fat, no sugar, no vitamins, and no calories, but they come in bright packages and you can chew them. And he goes on to comment like we did about how there's no real character. Because I imagine they anticipated, you're going to watch the show, you're going to see the movie,
Starting point is 01:43:57 you know these characters. So this is like another adventure they're on rather than catering to a new audience. It's like, who is Tommy, who is Kimberly, who is Adam, Aisha? Rocky, et cetera. Right. Yeah. It is interesting that I was at least happy to see that there are technically characters that are established in the show.
Starting point is 01:44:18 But it really, this movie is really assuming that you either don't care if there's characters or you already watch the show, which I guess in 1995 was a reasonable guess. But it makes it very confusing to watch 30 years later. Well, I mean, like when you watch the, for example, Ninja Turtles movie, those characters are still very distinct from each other and very well defined in the movies so it's not hard to do especially if you've already established
Starting point is 01:44:49 the personalities of those characters as you've done in the show. And it's like if I'm remembering correctly it's like it really is simple enough with the turtles for it to be like I'm the blank one like that's all you really got to do but this movie doesn't even really do that because I'm like I don't know which
Starting point is 01:45:06 what like I guess Tommy's the leader one Kimberly's the pink one the other the other three or four I'm like I have no idea which one you are or what you do yeah and Billy like it wasn't always the best but like he was the tech nerd of the group so he was always like saying very nerdy things
Starting point is 01:45:27 very sciencey things and it's just like you couldn't keep some of that where it's like oh we're going to do something like science like no even if it's nonsense, Alpha has a bunch of technological nonsense lines. Billy doesn't get any of that. So it's like the character that was there. Now he's just boy number five, boy number three, whatever number you want to put him in in the order.
Starting point is 01:45:51 Really bizarre. I'm like, all this said, I had a great time watching this. It's so great. I watched it twice to prepare, revisited the pilot, and watched some of Mistair Fusion to get into the vibe. Great time. Wow, thank you for all your work. And also for listeners, it's currently on YouTube for free. Like, you can, you can check it out if you really need to like, I don't know, I just,
Starting point is 01:46:18 I felt very like, it's, it's, it's exactly, you can tell it's going to be a good movie because it's exactly 90 minutes long with credits. You're like, oh, good, they hit it. If you need something to put you in a fugue state. Yeah. This will do the trick. It is intense. It is an intense movie.
Starting point is 01:46:37 I had a really good time watching it. But, you know, I don't know. I mean, Power Rangers, they are still around. I feel like they're possibly in the process of trying to do a larger reboot because they did. I didn't see it, but I know that like towards the end of like every reboot had to be Christopher Nolan coded. They did a like dark reboot of the Power Rangers, which I'm like, did you see that, Carlos? I did. I fully saw it in theaters.
Starting point is 01:47:04 And then immediately went to the Toys Arrest, because Toys R Us was still open, went to the Toys R Us and bought the Megasord because I got caught by the consumers. It works. I had fun with it. It was a fun movie. It works. I really, as I was watching yesterday, as someone with no nostalgia for this series, I'm like, should I get to read a Repulsa action figure? Like, that could be cool. I mean, do it.
Starting point is 01:47:29 Do it. Yeah, I should. I think I should. I already bought a pad my Amadol. a doll this year. I can't stop humiliating myself. It's getting bad. I mean, it sounds good to be. But yeah, I think Caitlin and I were talking about this off mic that they are working on a Disney Plus reboot series of the show. And I think there's talks about like once and always arranger the reboot or the sequel movie with like the original
Starting point is 01:48:00 Billy and Zach. I think they're talking about doing another version of that, but that could just be like rumor speculation but yeah the rangers live on the rangers live on baby um and does super centi live on as well oh that i don't know yeah i'm oh it's saying 1975 to present yeah yeah wow wow so there has been a new season of so this is something i found fascinating and i was like oh i can't really think of outside of like soaps like american shows like this there's been a new season of Super Sentai with a new like their anthology like they're like you're saying Carl's it's an anthology show with like new characters new stuff I think people come back and forth but like every
Starting point is 01:48:41 year since 1975 so for over 50 years there has been it is wild yeah and some of them sounded really fun there's like one season that I watched a like every season of Super Sentai explained because I'm really cool but there was one that was like, there's like one that's like a mystery season. And then I don't know, it just sounds cool. So, okay, that's all I have to say, I promise. Which brings us to the Bechtelcast nipple scale. Oh, boy. Oh, don't make me do this. You have to. This is our scale where we rate the movie zero to five nipples based on examining it through an intersectional semenous lens. I'll give it one nipple because we see women fighting sometimes, question mark.
Starting point is 01:49:40 And that's sort of the whole purpose of the show is that these teens are fighting evil. And so they let two women do that. 30% of them are girls. So that's nice, but otherwise, with everything we've talked about, this is not an intersectional feminist text, if you can believe it. But I will give it one nipple, and I'll give that nipple to Rita Rapulsa, best character. I'm iconic. Legend. I'll also give it one nipple. I think the best thing you can say is that the girl Power Rangers are at least presented as being equally important.
Starting point is 01:50:26 They are not, as women and girls often are presented as strictly sidekicks or love interests. However, they are still subject to a lot of classic 90s tropes with regard to gender. But also, as we've discussed, this franchise is no stranger to severe racial stereotypes and fatphobic stereotypes. And behind the scenes, homophobia and is run by a billionaire Zionist. And so the, you know, issues with this franchise run to its core. It's very of its time. But I don't know. I mean, like watching this, I very much understand its appeal.
Starting point is 01:51:08 Like, it's, it is fucking fun. It starts with people jumping out of a plane for really no reason at all. And it continues to make that exact amount of sense for the entire time. So I'm going to give it one nipple because, like you said, Caitlin, girls are there. and I'm going to give it to, I guess I'm going to give it to Aisha because she needs something. I'm like, she is not given much. Yeah. Carlos, how about you?
Starting point is 01:51:36 The nostalgia wants to go higher because, like, I feel like I'm Caitlin's rompometer. This is like 10 out of 10 for me. It's off the charts. This is so good, so fun. The nostalgia, I want to give this super high, but given the stuff we talked about, I don't think that's fair as a listener who like listens to every episode I'm like why did they rate this so high like I understand the nostalgia but like and part of me wants to like be that person right now you're welcome to be too like no judgment we do that all the time well here's the thing
Starting point is 01:52:14 the nipple scale is the end all be all thing and if you mess this up changes the course of history every time. So follow your heart. I think the best I could do, like edging between like two and a half and three, I think you do have Rita sort of sidelined, which is not great. You do have Kimberly and Aisha doing a lot of cool stuff.
Starting point is 01:52:42 They get damseled a bunch. There's no real equivalent. I think Rocky's in trouble a couple of times and one of the other guys has to save him, but never one of the girls has to save him, which could have been in a fun little, twist. You have Dulcea who, on paper, Master Warrior of Fados, nobody can get to this power. She defends people from, like, trying to start down the path, saves them from the tangu.
Starting point is 01:53:06 She's an owl. She becomes an owl, which is dope. But then she's like half undressed, which like, she's in a tropical climate, I guess, but like, why did we need to do that? We did it. But also, I mean, this is a climate where Aisha is wearing a hoodie and. Dulcia is wearing nothing and the owl well the owl is completely naked
Starting point is 01:53:28 also if she's like this like warrior that outfit is not providing very much protection that is not armor and she's not that powerful because she's like if I leave this room I will turn into dust but can the owl leave
Starting point is 01:53:44 I don't know unclear because we see the owl still there like at the end so kind of a useless power when you think about it if the owl also can't go anywhere. It's like you cannot cross this part of the island or the world. Like, how does that work? Is like the whole planet, this one continent?
Starting point is 01:54:02 It's unclear. We can keep going. I wasn't seeing food there. Like, what does she sustain on? What did the Rangers eat? Well, they ate the dinosaurs and that's why they're skeletons. Exactly. To be fair, I think I'll end a little lower.
Starting point is 01:54:19 I think I'll just go two, two nipples. give one to Aisha because I want to boogie with the bear Another pass I was thinking about what we were reading When Kimberly's caught in the electromagnetic deadlock from Ouse She's like, oh my God, I need help, I'm burning up in here Aisha's like, girl, use your thrusters And I'm just like, yes True
Starting point is 01:54:42 Which saves Kimberly's life arguably I'm like, why didn't she remember? I don't know But her friend was there Yep. So two nipples for, one for Aisha, and I guess Kimberly. Yeah. Oh, no, we got to give it to Fred. Give it to Fred. Feminist icon Fred.
Starting point is 01:55:01 The most important character in the movie. No, no, no, Kimberly. Kimberly gets the second nipple. That would be funny. I can't be on the back-do cast. I give Fred a nipple. That's illegal. Poor friend. And then Fred's, like, goofy-ass dad being like, I love you, son. And having that be kind of the last thing, you're like, like who are these people right after a no homo moment from bulk and skull because it's
Starting point is 01:55:25 1995 like bulk goes to hug skull because they're not dead they saved the day and then he's like hand up shakes his hand i totally that's so funny that does feel like they're doing some sort of 1995 bingo card at the end where they're like oh we didn't do a no homo moment oh we didn't have a father saying i love you son like and then and van halen song we're good there's also a moment where Ivan ooze and then what's the gargoyle looking goldar goldar they're both disgusting their crush on a teenage girl they're like Kimberly the pink one's so cute am I right you think so too you're like you're like that is a teenager and you're thousands of years old that said Ivan ooze top 10 cinema characters I've ever seen five purple boogers for him yes he put his whole
Starting point is 01:56:17 Ivan Ossie into that part I we didn't deserve the amount of effort that he put into it but I'm glad we got it. Ivenosy. Well, Carlos, thank you for joining us for yet another Ouse movie. Come back for more Ouse movies or something else, I guess. But I was, I found a Reddit thread and me going on Reddit, it's so scary to me. Good for you. But I found a thread called slime, sludge, and goo in movies.
Starting point is 01:56:54 So there's so many things we could choose from for you to come back and discuss. But thank you so much for being here. Tell us where we can follow you and anything you'd like to plug. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I love coming on the show, love listening. You've introduced me to so many cool guests over the years. It's been great. Yeah, I'm on Instagram still for the time being.
Starting point is 01:57:21 Meta's awful. Zuckerberg is trash. But yeah, Carlos Creates 2018 on Instagram, on Blue Sky. Those are like my two major social media places. I have a podcast called The Horror Agenda, where we cover horror movies mainly, but we also cover horror podcasts, comics. And we do a lot of short films, which, A lot of people don't give enough love to, which has been really great.
Starting point is 01:57:50 And that's The Horror Agenda on Instagram and wherever you get your podcasts. Amazing. Thank you so much for coming back. Yeah, we can't wait to see what you bring us next. There's so many. I want to send me that link, Caitlin. I want to know the other movies. We'll do.
Starting point is 01:58:08 Well, and we could even include it in the description of this episode. What should I come back for? Yeah, yeah, you have to start thinking now. All right, well, we oozed and we lost. Bye. Bye. Bye. The Bechtelcast is a production of IHeartMedia, hosted and produced by me, Jamie Loftus.
Starting point is 01:58:34 And me, Caitlin Durante. The podcast is also produced by Sophie Lichtenen. And edited by Caitlin Durante. Ever heard of them? That's me. And our logo and merch and all of our artwork, in fact, are designed by Jamie Loftus, ever heard of her? Oh, my God.
Starting point is 01:58:51 And our theme song, by the way, was composed by Mike Kaplan. With vocals by Catherine Voskrasinski. Iconic and a special thanks to the one and only Aristotle Acevedo. For more information about the podcast, please visit Linktree slash Bechtelcast. The Big Take podcast from Bloomberg News keeps you on top of the biggest stories of the day. My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day. Stories that move markets. Chair Powell opened the door to this first interest rate cut.
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Starting point is 01:59:54 In what seems to be, a plot ripped straight out of Breaking Bad. Drugs, alcohol, trafficking of people. There are people out there that absolutely know what happened. Listen to paper ghosts, the Texas teen murders on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Robert Smith, and this is Jacob Goldstein. And we used to host a show called Planet Money. And now we're back making this new podcast called Business History about the best ideas and people and businesses in history. And some of the worst people, horrible ideas and destructive companies in the history of business.
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