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The Lone Power Ranger
Recently I happened to come across an episode of the new Power Rangers show, Power Rangers Dino Thunder. Now, I haven’t watched any Power Rangers since the first transfer of power way back in season two or early season three, when the chastity-belt-wearing Lord Zed was in charge and the show went from campy-funny-bad to just plain bad. Over the years the show has somehow survived to this day in its current season of twelve. Anyway, this episode of Dino Thunder was a flashback episode where Tommy was explaining the history of the Power Rangers to the new blood, a computer nerd, a jock, and an alternative wanna-be singer girl. What luck, I was able to catch up with those ten years of Powers Rangers in a mere half-hour. And yes, you did read that correctly, Tommy, the original evil Green Ranger turned good White Ranger is still on the show. I was a little surprised at first, but then I thought that since none of the Power Ranger kids have gone on to successful movie careers anyway, it wasn’t really that surprising. Besides having three first names, Jason David Frank is the only regular actor on a show that changes its actors every two – three years. I remember reading something a long time ago (around the time of season two I believe) where Jason David Frank was quoted as saying something like, “I want to be the next Bruce Lee.” Well it’s been, what, ten years since he said that and he’s still on the same show. I did a little searching on Internet to see just how much he has been on the show and found that he’s been on seven of the twelve seasons of Power Rangers. Apparently in 1997 he took a break from Power Rangers, to be in a bunch of crappy shows, including MTV’s terrible Undressed where he gets some from a chick that also happens to be a Power Ranger. These bad roles must have been dishonorable for his quest to become the next “Dragon” because he went back to Power Rangers in 2002. For all you Power Rangers statisticians, I found that he’s been on 190 episodes and counting and, obviously, is the character that’s appeared most in the show. Along with the stats I got sent to a creepy fan site, where you're assured it's unofficial. Gee, I never would have guessed that. Damn you, Internet! There’s also a Jason David Frank fan club. He must think pretty highly of himself to have his own fan-club. You can’t blame the guy for having it though. I suppose if I was once the White Ranger and got to pilot the White Tiger Zord, I’d have my own fan club, too. It appears that instead of being the next big martial arts action hero, Jason David Frank will just continue to be in the cushy position of Tommy for the rest of his life. It certainly doesn’t require any strenuous acting ability, although his acting has gotten a little better. At least he cut his hair, he actually looks somewhat respectable now. Above all, it’s good to know that as long as 5 through 10-year-old boys exist, Jason David Frank will have a job. - Shawn - 10/03/04 |
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