Day of the Dumpster

**"Day of the Dumpster"**
"Day of the Dumpster"
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Production Information
Series	Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Production Code	#PR-101
Original Airdate	August 28, 1993
Season Episode No.	1-1
Incarnation Episode No.	1-1
Total Episode No.	1
Written by	Tony Oliver & Shuki Levy
Directed by	Adrian Carr
Enemy	Rita Repulsa
Series Chronology
Next Episode	"High Five"

From Power Rangers Universe

This article is about a/an episode in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

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[edit] Summary

A space shuttle makes a trip to moon, where the astronauts find a "dumpster" that they foolishly open, releasing the monsters Goldar, Squatt, Baboo, Finster and their master, sorceress Rita Repulsa. At the Angel Grove Youth Center, five youths, Jason, Zach, Billy, Trini and Kimberly, are practicing their gymnastics and martial arts skills. Two jerks, Bulk & Skull, walk in and hit on Kim and Trini, who flip them. Bulk & Skull, later look foolish in Jason's karate class.

An earthquake starts, and Jason, Zach, Billy, Trini, and Kimberly are teleported to the Command Center of Zordon, a being trapped in a time vortex. He tells them that they are needed to save the world. He gives them their Power Morphers and explain how they have powers and gear related to the ancient spirits of dinosaurs. But they are skeptical and leave.

As they walk through the mountains, they are ambushed by Rita's goons, the Putty Patrollers. The fight goes badly, and in desperation, they use the Power Morphers. They are immediately teleported to a rooftop where they confront Goldar and more Putties. Now the Rangers easily dispatch them, but Rita uses her staff to enlarge Goldar. The Rangers call their Zords, which combine into a tank. It then converts into a giant robot, Megazord, which then summons a Power Sword that forces Goldar to retreat. Zordon lays down the rules for using their powers, and that they must keep their identities a secret.

[edit] Cast

Austin St. John as Jason
Thuy Trang as Trini
Walter Jones as Zack
Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly
David Yost as Billy
Paul Schrier & Jason Narvy as Bulk & Skull
David Fielding as Zordon

[edit] Behind the Scenes

[edit] Production History

The was the first episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to air in the United States. The footage of Rita escaping from the space dumpster (as well as some basic story elements) are taken from episode 1 of Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, titled "Tanjou" (The Birth). The battle between Megazord and Goldar is taken from episode 6 "Tate!! Daizyujin" (Arise!! The Great Beast God).

The premiered version of "Day of the Dumpster" was actually the third version of the episode produced. The original version was produced in late 1992 amd was Saban's second attempt at bringing Sentai to the US, after a failed attempt in the 1980s. After being turned down by various networks, the pilot was picked up by Margaret Loesch at FOX Kids. However, the network ordered revisions, and after some casting and cosmetic changes, another version of this episode was produced.

The new version of the pilot also underwent scrutiny. It was felt that the cast was being too mean to the bullies during their initial introduction so these scenes were reshot. Also changed from the second pilot was the morphing sequence. In the second pilot, the Rangers called out their respective avatar while the color of their morpher would overlap the screen. The aired version changed this to the familiar lightning bolt sequence.

[edit] Fandom

A common misconception among fans of the show is that Rita's space dumpster was located on the moon. While her palace is on Earth's moon, this episode (or subsequent ones) never specifically state where her palace is located. In fact, there are several contradictions between the moon and where her dumpster is found. While the moon has no atmosphere, a clear blue sky is seen when Rita escapes. Also, when the planet is first shown, the astronauts are clearly seen bypassing Earth's moon and heading to a large desert planet with some traces of water. In real life, the closest analogue to the planet seen would be Mars, but it is worth noting that in Zyuranger, Rita's equivalent, Bandora, is actually on a planet whose orbit would cause it to come near Earth every 230,000 years.