Command Center (Mighty Morphin)

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This article is about a base in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers Zeo, and Power Rangers Turbo.

For the movie version of this base, see Command Center (movie).

The Command Center, and later, the Power Chamber, was the headquarters for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the Zeo Rangers, and the Turbo Rangers. It also served as the home of Zordon and Alpha 5. It possessed highly sophisticated computers that were capable of incredible feats of science fictions, including teleportation, scanning and contacting other temporal dimensions, and identifying the names of new monsters mere seconds after they have been created.

Initially, the base was called the Command Center, and used in the first series. At the beginning of Power Rangers: Zeo, storylines and a new scene design led to the location being renamed the Power Chamber, though beyond superficial differences there was little to no change in the building's function. It appeared also, as the Command Center, in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, though it had been thoroughly redesigned. Only the external shot of the building remained consistent for all incarnations of the structure, though even that was tweaked in the two theatrical movies. The building still stands today in Burbank, California

Use of the location continued until 1997, and the culmination of Power Rangers: Turbo. The Brandeis-Bardin institute's House of the Book located in the Simi Valley, digitally placed among the Vasquez Rocks, was used as a filming location for the exterior. The interior was, of course, filmed on a set. The Brandeis-Bardin Institute has also been used as a location for several other TV series and films, such as Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, The Lawnmower Man, Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny, and Jurassic Park, amongst others.

History

According to the series and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, Zordon had set up the building called the Command Center on Earth millennia ago, as an outpost to be used in his fight against evil. Zordon himself was trapped in a "plasma tube", appearing just as an ethereal head in a column of light, and the day-to-day maintenance of the facility fell to his robotic companion, Alpha 5.

The building was located in a mountainous region, nestled between the twin peaks of a mountain, in the area that would later be called California. It was located near to the fictional city of Angel Grove, the setting for much of the action in the first five years of the show's run. Its location was supposed to be a closely-guarded secret.

Command Center

The Command Center was introduced in the pilot episode of the show, Day of the Dumpster. The five original teens were teleported to the Command Center by Zordon and Alpha 5 to receive their powers, becoming Power Rangers. The Command Center henceforth served as an "official" meeting point for the Rangers, and they would frequently gather there to learn about new threats before leaving to tackle them. Often they would "Look to the Viewing Globe", a large crystal ball-like object that could display pictures of events occurring in the city, most often of attacking monsters (actually Super Sentai footage not shown otherwise) Zordon and Alpha 5 used the Command Center to construct new weapons for the Rangers, as well fix the zords when they were damaged. The Center and the Zords were linked, with the destruction of the Thunder Megazord and White Tigerzord during the first confrontation with Rito Revolto triggering an explosive feedback that damaged the Command Center as well.

The inside of the Command Center resembled a large, low, circular podium, on which people could walk, with computer consoles arranged around its edge; one console had a rotating light within a pink-orange crystal that served as an alarm; it would go off whenever any evil activity surfaced. It also had a very distinctive descending wail (in Alpha's Magical Christmas, however, the wail ascended instead). On one side was Zordon's plasma tube, and the Viewing Globe was opposite. Beyond the ring of computers were no walls, but rather a blackness, dotted with lights, resembling the night sky. There were no obvious doors leading into or out of the main room (most travel to and from the Command Center was by teleportation), but occasionally computer-generated doors were added to access secret locations.

The Command Center could only be entered at will by those who possessed a power coin; as a result, while Zordon and Alpha could allow visitors such as Rocky, Aisha and Adam to enter the Center before they were Rangers, Lord Zedd had to explicitly ask for the shield to be lowered to let him in after he had captured Kimberly and Ninjor to issue his demands (Changing of the Zords), while Tommy was able to attack the Command Center directly after he first became the Green Ranger under Rita's influence. While the Center was linked to Zordon, with the building often being depicted as losing power when Zordon was completely cut off by external forces, it retained some power during the time when he was trapped in another dimension after the Green Ranger attacked the Center. When the other five Rangers were corrupted by the Hate Master, Billy was able to remotely cut off power to the Command Center that rendered it unable to contact Zordon or recharge, but Aisha- the only Ranger unaffected by the Hate Master's spell- was able to teleport back to Angel Grove by using Alpha as a temporary power source for the teleporter, leaving him to work on a means of freeing the other Rangers from Hate Master's influence, although he only acquired the power to do so once Aisha was able to talk her teammates partially back to normal so that she could turn off Billy's jammer (Stop the Hate Master).

In Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, the Command Center was featured with a brand new design. In this, the main room was a brightly-lit oval chamber with a large set of sliding double-doors at one end, opposite Zordon's energy tube (similarly redesigned). The computer terminals were still present, but spaced differently around the room, leaving space for coloured glass columns of indiscernible purpose. The Viewing Globe was still present, located to one side. More info is listed on the Command Center (movie) page.

In the Series 2 episode "Wild West Rangers", the exterior of the Command Center was slightly altered, with the side of the building resembling the Wild West-era style.

Power Chamber

Main article: Power Chamber

In 1996, two evil villains, Rito Revolto and Goldar attempt to blow up the Command Center by placing a bomb outside. Master Vile predicted blowing up the Command Center would start a chain reaction which would disintegrate the "Morphin Grid" forever, robbing any Ranger teams from Morphing in traditional methods. This plan was foiled by Alpha 5, who defused the bomb. However, Lord Zedd succeeded, via a time paradox, to destroy the Rangers' Power Coins. Needing a new power source, the Rangers went through time to reassemble the Zeo Crystal. TV STORY-Water You Thinking? to TV STORY-Hogday Afternoon, Part II

A short time later, Rito and Goldar were able to teleport into the Command Center from a forgotten series of passageways running underneath the facility. The villains were able to plant an implosion device, take the Zeo Crystal, and leave. The Rangers teleported out to safety, but their mentor Zordon and companion Alpha 5 seemed destroyed in the blast. TV STORY-Hogday Afternoon, Part II

Wandering up to the ruins of the Command Center, the Rangers discover the Zeo Crystal. It created a hole in the ground which swallowed up the Rangers and took them to the hidden passages. Following the noise of Alpha's voice, the Rangers were lead to a vortex. Meanwhile above ground, the exterior of the Command Center rebuilds itself. Walking through the vortex, the Rangers return to their base of operations, but this is a more futuristic version, the second generation of strategic command outposts. Zordon, still very much alive, announces the facility is known as the Power Chamber. TV STORY-A Zeo Beginning

Alpha 5 is shown coming out of one door of the Power Chamber (his bedroom, apparently) wearing pajamas and a nightcap while holding his teddy bear, suggesting there are quite a few rooms in the Chamber. TV STORY-Inner Spirit

Design

The Power Chamber has an unusual shape. It is almost circular, but the back wall curves inwards. At the front of the Chamber was a plasma tube where Zordon, and later Dimitria, could communicate through. In front of Zordon was a computer bank, and another one to one side. Also in the Chamber were two double doors at each side, a bio-bed, a viewing globe built into the wall, and two displays on the wall. One of these was a map of Earth, another a diagram of the Chamber. A rotating alarm (with the same wail as the old Command Center alarm) is above the displays on the wall next to Zordon's tube. Along the back wall were several glass display cases, each containing the Mighty Morphin suits, and the center case containing their Power Weapons.

Scene Change

180px-Power Chamber 3 — The Power Chamber redesigned as shown in Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie

A new Power Chamber set was introduced for Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, and was also used in the Power Rangers: Turbo series. This was a significant change from the original Power Chamber set as seen in episodes of Power Rangers: Zeo. Among other things, the tubes along the back wall containing the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers suits were changed to colored tubes of light. The rotating alarm was changed to a trapezoid shape. No explanation was made in the movie or the television show for the significant change to the set.

Off to one side of this Chamber through one of the double doors was access to the Hidden Chamber. This resembled the design of the old Command Center without the console ring, with the columns of light to one side of a plasma tube for Zordon, and other columns of lights and a tube for Dimitria. In this Chamber, Tommy, Kat, Tanya and Adam transferred their powers to TJ, Cassie, Ashley and Carlos respectively. TV STORY-Passing the Torch

Notable events

King Mondo apparently knew of the location of the Power Chamber, although later Divatox did not. King Mondo activated a nuclear non-reflective protective shield around the Chamber so that the Gold Ranger, who was teleporting to the Chamber at the time, would smash into the field mid-transit and be destroyed. The Gold Ranger had to be redirected until Billy could find a way to lower the shield.

When the Earth's temperature was rising rapidly by Mondo's Defoliator monster, there was a danger that the Chamber's heat shield would fail.

The Power Chamber momentarily lost power when Main Drain was draining power around Angel Grove to energise himself.

When Earth became frozen in time, there were no ill-effects inside the Chamber. When Angel Grove began vanishing, the Rangers teleported to the Power Chamber, to find it not there. In actuality, the Power Chamber had been transported to a hidden dimension where it could not been seen by the Rangers.

Destruction

At the end of Turbo, Rygog and Elgar found the Power Chamber by tracking the Rangers' teleportation beams. Having discovered its location, and having defeated both of the Rangers' Megazords, Divatox's forces attacked the Power Chamber en masse. Hordes of Piranhatrons raced up to the Chamber, having teleported into the area undetected. The Rangers tried to hold them away from the Chamber, but were forced back inside.

Once there, the Piranhatrons used a battering ram to break open the main doors, while others scaled the walls and smashed in through the roof. Though the Rangers and Alpha 6 fought bravely, they were overwhelmed by the Piranhatrons, and Elgar managed to destroy Zordon and Dimitria's plasma tube to ensure that they wouldn't be able to come back before he planted explosive charges. When the charges were detonated, the building was completely destroyed by the explosion, leaving only a pile of rock and rubble. Before Divatox could claim victory and find the Rangers among the rubble, she was recalled to the Cimmerian Planet by Dark Specter, prompting the Rangers to pursue her into space and abandon the former Command Center location forever. Most people tend to think the destruction of the Power Chamber led to the Turbo Powers dissipating. But as you can see in that episode, the Rangers didn't demorph until long after the PC exploded. They actually lost their powers just after Eltar, which was stated by Justin to be the true source of the Turbo Energies TV STORY-Chase Into Space, fell to Dark Specter's forces.

Since the explosion it's currently unknown what became of the rubble surrounding the Command Center or the items stored there, such as the Sword of Light and the Sword of Power.

It was also suggested that the Zeo Crystal was also stored in the Power Chamber following the Rangers change into their Turbo Powers but its whereabouts are currently unknown.

Footage of the explosion that destroyed the Power Chamber was recycled from the destruction of the Command Center at the end of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Real Life

In reality, the Command Center exterior is the Brandeis-Bardin Campus retreat building of the American Jewish University. The site itself is heavily landscaped so for photography of the Command Center the building was visually cropped along side the Vasquez Rocks formation in the Sierra Pelona Mountains to add a desolate looking mountainous terrain.