Power Rangers Q&A
by : Paul Matthews

GENERAL QUESTIONS Q: Why are you called the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers"?

Zack: Because we're Mighty
Kimberly: And we're Morphin'
Jason: And because Zordon called us "Power Rangers." It's a cool name, so we're not changing it.
Tommy: Actually, it was the TV media which tacked the "Mighty Morphin" on the front. The name seems to have stuck on us. Fine by me.
Billy: Do you envisage an alternative descriptive term for us?

Q: Where did all those photos come from which are in circulation?

Jason: The media has a field day in Angel Grove. Sometimes I think they are in league with Rita just to draw us out so they can get their cameras clicking.
Kimberly: Most of the pose shots were taken during that "Power Rangers Day" thing last year. At the end of that, we jumped in the air and teleported back here- and that's when most of the photos were taken.
Trini: I'm sure you know about the Angel Grove Power Rangers Appreciation Committee, they are the group that arranged the Power Rangers Day last year. They apparently hold most of the licences for the Power Rangers stuff- and use the profits to rebuild parts of the city damaged by battles.

Q: What is the biggest problem at the moment for the Power Rangers, that is, other than Rita?

Jason: The rest of the world is treating it as a joke now.
Trini: Many countries are unaware of ours or Rita's existence. In my parents' country, no-one cares about it, they just think it's another American prank! They have no idea of the serious-ness of Earth's predicament.
Kimberly: The only place where people treat Rita seriously is here in Angel Grove. Sure the rest of the world watches the news, but it has been going on now for nearly two years and I think many people outside Angel Grove have convinced themselves that it doesn't concern them, and that she'll never attack anywhere else.
Zack: Sometimes I think we should do a big worldwide romp with the Zords just to convince everyone outside Angel Grove that they exist- But there's no way Zordon would consider that!

There is a small pause...

Billy: Money can sometimes get a little thin for my experiments....
Kimberly: Not! No Way! Only because you keep trashing everything!

Q: How long will you remain Power Rangers?

Jason: What a question! To be honest, we don't think about that much. If we can get the upper hand on Rita then maybe the Power Rangers can disappear as quickly as they came.
Billy: Zordon occasionally gives us the chance to give up- but we never do, it's far too important for that. Rita knows who we are and will cause us real problems if we ever left. So much so that the replacement Power Rangers would probably have to spend all their time protecting us.
Tommy: I suppose we'll grow old if this never ends. Maybe the grey hair will confuse those darn putties.

Q: Why do you always wait for the defensive reaction? Why don't you launch a once and for all attack on Rita in her castle on the Moon?

Kimberly: Because it would never work - That was Zordon's mistake, and why he's trapped where he is. Defeating Rita can only come from playing her games. She really is very powerful and if we don't handle the situation very carefully she'll just get angry and do something really bad- something even she doesn't know she's capable of.
Jason: Zordon's rule is - "Never escalate a battle unless Rita forces us". I'm afraid it's the only way we can be sure of keeping her exactly where we want her, and where Zordon can watch her progress. It's sort of a classic standoff. Rita doesn't destroy Earth because she knows we're here and she's unsure of our ability. So she is determined to destroy us Power Rangers first, and we all know that will not happen- well we hope....
Trini: Rita spends her time watching our every move- it's invasive and leaves us feeling exposed. She seems to watch our actions and use them as inspiration for her next attack. We'll start doing something say, at school. It'll give her an idea and before we know it she has developed another monster based on that theme.
Kimberly: It's a real pain. Especially the Putties. They've ruined so many of our projects at school it's not at all funny. It all works out in the end, but I often find myself crying myself to sleep that night. For anyone who wants to be a Power Ranger- forget it if you want a normal life.
Tommy: There was a time last year when Kimberly and I were designing a model float for the Angel Grove flower festival. Rita was watching, and she sent the putties to trash it. It happened right in the youth center- it's amazing no-one else was around at the time. It was so low- it took her ages to design it.
Trini: Yeah- fortunately Tommy put some time in to rebuilding it- he came up here and had Alpha replicate the flowers with the teleporter. Then they went to Billy's garage and spent all night on it.

Q: Why Superheroes? Why not just a special task force?

Kimberly: To protect Earth from itself! I must admit we didn't believe it at first, not at all. We walked out of here and started heading straight back towards Angel Grove!
Billy: I suppose the important thing is that it has worked out. At least by having mysterious superheroes, we don't have to worry about the technology becoming ubiquitous on earth. The last thing we need is a whole planet of power rangers with dubious morals.

Q: Are any changes planned for the Power Rangers?

Jason: Zordon has for a while been working on the possibility of creating another power coin & morpher for Tommy, because the Green one is really unreliable and cannot be fixed properly ever since Rita damaged it with that candle thing. We had the chance to destroy that Green Candle but missed out, so the damage has become permanent- one of the few cases where this has happened.
Trini: The new ranger morpher will form a white suit uniform and should have the same abilities as our others.. but we haven't started testing it yet. Zordon is confident it will work, and Billy has helped him a great deal by obtaining some materials from my uncle which we would otherwise not have been able to obtain here using this equipment.
Billy: We are also planning modifications to the Zords, but it is too premature to decide just what these changes will be. Most of the changes will probably be cosmetic, giving them a new exterior appearance and thus adding confusion to Rita's instinct driven monsters.

COMMAND CENTER QUESTIONS Q: Okay, so now the important stuff. Where are the restrooms in this center?

Jason: (Laughing) There isn't one! You'll have to trek outside!
Zack: All there is in here is this command room, and a small room the other side of that pylon which seems to have become "Blue Ranger Scientific Laboratories Pty Ltd". I wonder if they pay any rent or taxes....

Q: Why hasn't anyone ever found this Command Center before?

Jason: To be honest, we don't know. Maybe Alpha used to erase the memories of anyone who found it. One thing we do know is that it has certainly been here for a very long time!
Billy: The Command Center, like most of our other facilities, is powered directly by the morphing grid. There is however a planetary reserve which uses energy from deep within the earth- and it works, I've tested it.
Kimberly: Alpha keeps it clean, what a job- all that desert dust.
Billy: Actually the atmosphere in here is strictly controlled, but no matter what Alpha tries, the dust still seems to get in. We can do quite a lot from this centre. We can monitor, intercept or jam any radio or television signal anywhere in the world- not that we have done so yet. Alpha and Zordon release the Power Ranger Media Alerts from here using the overide system. Alpha can monitor the exact conditions of all the Zords and work on them by remote using the teleporter and replicator functions which are controlled from over there. He can also monitor the exact condition of us, when we are in our morphed states.
Tommy: The Security is pretty tight, as you know we had to give you some of Billy's token coins to get in here. Normally the only way to enter is by us Rangers teleporting in. We can go outside the frame though, once we are here. Alpha can authorise entry of non- ranger personnel such as yourselves. For this we have made up the token coins you have, which Billy and Zack normally keep stored inside their morphers.
Billy: We've only made one change to the place - and you can thank Zack for that one. (Billy points to a rather large new- looking CD stereo stack on a table in the entry corner of the center, and the battered black speakers on each side of the desk)
Zack: You don't expect us to be here without some music do you? And anyway, I had to teach Alpha the Hip Hop Kido. I couldn't teleport that stereo in- I had to pay for a courier to bring it all the way out here and leave it down the other side of the mountain, then I had to carry it up here! And before you ask -NO- I was not in morphed mode when I carried them up!

Q: What are those round columns and the neon lights for?

Billy: The columns form spatial reference points for the teleporter, so they must be kept very still and precisely adjusted. Any coordinate which Alpha calculates for the teleporter has five dimensional measurements, and the zero point is at the centre of the intersecting lines drawn from an exact point in the top of the columns, to the centre of the viewing globe. The neon lights aren't neon- they are passive collectors which can draw power from the morphing grid and convert it to Direct Current electricity. They connect to that panel just there. All the apparatus in here works off fifteen hundred Volts DC. It has special insulation fields. When it goes wrong it usually causes some major sparks.
Kimberly: You asked- You receive an answer! We warned you!
Zack: "Goes wrong"- cool- like when Alpha clobbers it with his hip hop moves.

Q: And what about the viewing globe?

Billy: It's also part of the teleporter system. Actually, just about everything in here is somehow part of, or dependent on, that system. The Globe display can be programmed with co-ordinates anywhere in this universe, and we've also developed a way of penetrating into Rita's Dark Dimension with it- but it only works this way if she's not watching, because otherwise she just casts illusion spells on it which gives us an incorrect image.

LIFE AND TIMES OF POWER RANGERS Q: So what was it like- I'm sure there are plenty who wanted to know- when you first became Power Rangers?

Trini: Billy was the big problem.
Billy: Oh yeah, that's it- proceed to reveal my personal life. I'll be listening to your version. Then we'll hear about you.
Jason: Well- Billy went a bit crazy back then- he knew everything about his morphed ability because of the process- but he still couldn't believe anything. I suppose it's his scientific mind, but he had to prove it all. Sometimes me or Zack would come up here after school when Alpha got onto the communicators and started yelling "He's here again".
Trini: I came up here once- Billy had all this stuff set up. There were gas bottles, a hydraulic press- goodness knows how he got it all up here. He was morphed of course....
Jason: When isn't he?
Trini: Well anyway- he had the gas torch alight and was trying it on himself in morphed mode. It was hilarious!
Zack: When any threat hits us in morphed mode, there is usually a very small time before the suit cancels it. He would place the torch on his arm, yell out, and then go "aaah". It was the coolest thing I've ever seen him do. He would say "Now children, don't try this at home". We couldn't stop laughing.
Trini: He used the hydraulic press and put his arm in it, and pressed the button. He busted the press- there was oil everywhere, Alpha was really angry. You should have seen his dad when he took the press back broken. It took him months of his pocket money to pay it off.
Kimberly: I came up here once and found Billy here with Skull's video camera, goodness knows how he ever got Skull to part with it. He had set it up on the panel over there and was jumping all over the place morphing in and out of his blue uniform. Zordon was talking to him- Billy just didn't listen. I stopped the camera and had a look- it was huge- it would have been great for Skull's school project. Then Zordon ordered Billy to take the tape out and told Alpha to destroy it.. and Billy had to pay up to Skull for the tape. Skull stalked him for weeks....
Billy: Yeah, all right- that was more or less what happened I suppose. Those experiments helped me to understand what was going on- I don't care what you all say about them. Next time, you can hand your communicators back. Trini- You aren't innocent either. Nor is Kimberly here. I came up once and found them with a bag of hats and a makeup box. They were both morphed, and Kimberly was doing up Trini- she had lipstick all over the front of the helmet mouthpiece, and one of those Power Rangers caps that the Committee have been selling. Every now and then she would step back and remark "Cool" and then go back to it. Alpha had covered his face in lipstick too. Zordon says "You must not use your powers for your own reasons"- I fail to see how dressing up Trini was in the interest of the Power Rangers.
Kimberly: It might have confused the putties.
Billy: Ha Ha. You know the suit's proximity effect is canceled if you cover it. You're forgiven, I suppose.
Jason: Actually, Kim and Trini's skills are more suitably demonstrated on Alpha. There was one time when Alpha found out we were going to a fancy dress party at the youth center. Zordon must have been asleep or something- Alpha teleported himself to the youth center and mingled with the crowd. I just stood there, my eyes must have been on the other side of the room. Kim started dressing Alpha up- and he won the contest!
Billy: It was hard to get him out of the youth center- Bulk wanted to remove Alpha's head because he thought there was someone inside. Fortunately we were able to utilize a strategically accurate series of proposals to avert the situation from escalating into an uncontrollable outcome.

Q: What?

Trini: He means we got him out using the old restroom trick. Billy- I thought you were going to try and talk English at these interviews?
Billy: Whoops, sorry.
Tommy: A little while back, I received a distressing call on MY communicator. It was Alpha- doing his best to cry I think, in-between his "Aye Ai Ai" attacks. I came up here- it seems that Zack had been trying in vain to teach Alpha more of his Hip Hop Kido. Zack must have got a little angry at him and grabbed Alpha's teddy, ran outside and hid it somewhere down the hill. He teleported off somewhere and left Alpha to find it. We all laughed it off later- Alpha's really attached to his teddy. Zack went back and got it a few hours later. I'm surprised Rita didn't turn it into a monster....
Zack: Yeah well.. Don't forget when I found YOU at home with the Dragon Dagger on your shelf- Your Mom was right there- dusting the shelf!
Tommy: That was a mistake- I forgot about it because of Jason's class. I took it back immediately after that.
Jason: Quite often after some of our fights, we're still caught in town in morphed mode. All these people run up and start saying stuff to us and Kimberly gets all embarrassed, it's a good job they can't see her. A while ago they used to keep calling us "Superhuman" on the news and it got her furious. When we started calling her "Mrs. Superhuman 1993" she went really angry. She tipped Tommy's kit bag out the window at school. I think she's calmed down now....
Kimberly: It's not that, I was just annoyed- I didn't like being different, it can be hard. I've kinda got off that thing about "superhuman" now....
Trini: Wish I could say the same about Billy.. He's still up here at every possible chance, and always in morphed mode. He makes a reach for his morpher as soon as he hears the teleporter busy signal to try and change back before one of us gets here- but he's always too slow.
Billy: It's more comfortable. You stick to your Mantis Kung Fu, and I'll remain with my morphed mode thanks.

Q: Has anyone ever been killed in one of Rita's attacks?

Zack: Fortunately not- yet. It's a miracle that no-one has been actually killed- but there's always heaps of people in hospital after an attack. There was a very close call once. Some people were having a "Hurricane party" style sit in during an evacuation demand in Angel Grove. Four of them are now in wheelchairs. Idiots!
Jason: What happened is that the DragonZord had been under the control of Goldar. The Dragonzord is not one of Rita's monsters, it's ours. And the damage was not reversed when Rita was defeated. We felt bad for weeks afterwards, Tommy got really depressed and was sick because he thought it was all his fault- he is the one who was supposed to be responsible for the Dragon Dagger, which controls the Dragonzord. It took us a while to realize we had no control over the situation.
Kimberly: It was really an accident, nothing could ever have been done.
Trini: The damage done to Angel Grove when Rita sends her monsters to the city center is unbelievable, even for us. I remember one time when Goldar was smashing things up, he had been grown by Rita, and for some reason this particular combination wasn't an illusion. We had all been pinned down and were having real problems with the putties which just kept coming, Zack and Tommy had been captured in the dark dimension. This continued for about half an hour and we were just worn out, no matter what our morphed bodies could or couldn't do. I watched as four huge buildings came down, two were flats and one was a really old church, all in areas where Goldar had not been before. All I could do was stand and realize how many people's livelihoods this destroyed- even if they were still safe in the evacuation sites they had nothing to return to. The putties kept smashing me into a wall- it seemed as if they were laughing at it all. I lost it- just cried and cried- just couldn't stop, turned to jelly, blamed it all on myself. Zordon had to teleport me back here to snap me out of it, I couldn't even remember how to morph back into the real me- Alpha five had to force release me from my morphed state.

A pause was held at this point- Trini was in tears for a while.

Billy: These are the stories noone else hears.
Jason: The dreams and nightmares we get can be really disturbing. Once Goldar used this against us and it nearly destroyed us. In a dream we all shared, we were absolutely convinced that the next day Zordon would call us to task and strip our powers away from us and desert the Earth altogether. It turned out to be the work of some illusionary crystal Rita had developed- when the crystal was destroyed the effect was reversed.
Billy: And I can remember the fight with that fish thing where Rita attacked my self confidence using a fear I had from early childhood years. I became a useless blue blob of jelly and blamed myself. The illusion reversed a little while later, but it left me feeling very insecure for weeks afterwards.
Kimberly: We need each other to survive. It's the teamwork and instant acceptance in the Power Rangers which allows us to go on. Yeah it's all amazing and we're heroes and all that- but sometimes we find ourselves suddenly coming up here of our own accord to escape life, not knowing why. Next thing we're all balling our eyes out and Alpha has to act as, well.. Mom, I suppose. I find it real hard not sharing the identity with my Parents.. I can see the day coming when that will have to be compromised, regardless of what Zordon says. Everyone needs a shoulder to cry on, especially when you have to stand and watch some of the things we have seen happen in Angel Grove.

Q: You were mentioning earlier about your feelings as Power Rangers. Do you wish to elaborate on this more?

Kimberly: Yeah- only my emotional fits which leave me crying- well all of us- we've said that before. It was really hard to turn up to that power rangers day and mingle with some of the people we knew so well- and they didn't have a clue who we were. Zack loved it- but Trini and me were balling our eyes out when we returned back here.
Jason: Zordon keeps giving us lectures about all sorts of stuff, especially what we mustn't do when we're morphed. It's darn hard when I know I could do so much with it. Billy's inventions, especially the teleporter, could solve world hunger and pollution problems- but what good is that if Rita has destroyed the planet the next day!
Kimberly: Zordon has about the driest personality I've ever come across. Sometimes I would really feel relieved if he would just lighten up a little bit. But I can understand why he's so serious. If it wasn't for him we would have been defeated by Rita long ago.

SECRETS OF THE MORPHED MODE Q: Why those costumes? Why the "Morphin" ? What happens to make you Power Rangers?

Zack: If only they were! Our Power Ranger suits are not costumes, in fact they are an integral part of us, just like our own skin. It can get pretty dangerous if a suit is damaged or "eaten through".
Billy: The suits are not clothes at all. We cannot take them off or put them on. They are regenerated around our bodies when the morphing process is complete and act as proximity deflection fields. The harder a foreign object hits them, the harder the force is repelled back into the object, like a well inflated football. We can't wear anything on top of them, or the proximity effect is nullified.
Trini: We don't think of them much as suits- they are us! When I'm morphed, I don't feel- well- it just has no description you would understand. It's like our bodies are totally different. There's a whole heap of things I don't feel, but some of my senses become really sensitive and- well- really weird. It's the only word I can use for it- being morphed, I mean.
Kimberly: As for the color scheme, it's so cool, and this is the '90s you know. Zordon might be dry, but he's a great artist. I've been thinking of getting him to redesign my bedroom.
Tommy: They are really weird inside! I've been the Green Ranger for nearly a year, and I've never got used to it. You need to remember that there's alot more to morphing than putting on a fancy outfit. There's a stack of internal changes which the morphing system makes to our innards- I can't believe what it does to my body. When activated, it feels like my whole skeleton is turned really heavy for just a second and then compensated- it leaves me totally out of air and gasping. My whole body tingles for a few seconds afterwards, like I've run out of blood, or something. Occasionally I get wondering if the morphing process was ever designed with our human anatomy in mind. I still don't know what planet Zordon comes from, but he's not Human.
Billy: Sometimes I still become really scared about the morphing process- I've sat here discussing it with Zordon, sometimes for days on end. If the morph was ever to fail during a battle, the morphing grid frame would instantly rip us apart. There are safeguards to prevent this happening, but with the Green Coin we're not sure of it's long lasting abilities anymore. Maybe we should get danger money.
Trini: It's really painful if you have to morph back out of suit by force, it's happened to me twice, and I was aching in bed for days afterwards. My doctor got all suspicious and sent me to a specialist. The old folks made a real fuss, fortunately by the time the specialist saw me, it had healed itself.
Tommy: It's clear that our normal human anatomy seems to cease functioning while we are morphed. I spent days and days in morphed mode in Rita's dark dimension but never felt hungry, thirsty or anything. Once I de-morphed back to my normal state, I was starved! I went into town and ate everything in sight- almost as much as that pig at the juice bar that time. Ernie had never seen me eat so much. Even Bulk gave up watching.
Billy: I didn't mean it about that danger money thing by the way....

Q: How did you learn to be Power Rangers so fast?

Zack: The first time we morphed, stacks of stuff happened, it was like we had taken a crash course in 2 seconds. Suddenly I knew all about my abilities in morphed mode. The same thing went for driving the Zords.
Jason: Most of the superpower abilities available to us in morphed mode are either controlled by thought or by "pose", i.e. a particular feature will be activated by taking up a certain position - that is the reason why we often strike all those weird poses in morphed mode. Our martial arts interests have really helped all of us with this.

Q: What's your favorite function in morphed suit?

All: JUMPING!
Kimberly: The jumping function is the coolest. You can jump nearly 600feet into the air off a solid surface, but you have to be careful not to leave a hole in the ground where you jumped from.
Billy: Megazord is 165 metres high when it's assembled. We have to jump off the ground right up to the top sometimes. You just bend down, spring up and off you go. It's great. It looks even better on the TV news. I can't believe it's me.
Trini: I almost wish I could go outside one day and just jump all day in morphed mode. But Zordon won't allow us to train in suit at all outside the Command Center, and you can't jump far in here! Fair enough I suppose. It took four of us the best part of a whole day just to convince Zordon to let us turn up at that "power rangers day" thing last year in morphed suit without having Rita there aswell. As it turned out, she was there uninvited anyway.
Zack: I still can't believe the jump function in morphed suit. You can actually fly if you try hard enough- Jason has to hover in the air for about 5 seconds when we assemble the power blaster and he does it using the jump function, like a pause button on a video. It's pretty morph'nominal when you come back down to earth too. If you're not careful, you just leave a huge hole in the ground. I've found it's actually best to fall down on my back, especially on a concrete pavement, otherwise it gets smashed up.
Jason: Zack gets a kick from going back to the fight scenes in town and looking at the cracks and holes he leaves all over the place....
Billy: Yes, and of course such damage done by us power rangers does NOT revert to it's former condition when the monster is destroyed! So we have to be very careful when in the city in morphed mode, let alone in the Zords.

Q: When you morph into suit, where do your normal clothes go?

Billy: They are removed by teleportation and stored- well that's not quite right, there are some left underneath. Our power morphers have a cavity inside them which acts as a "storeroom" for items like our clothes, and our combat weapons, which are teleported in and out of the cavity as a suit function, also being shrunken or expanded accordingly. It's all extremely high tech stuff using the thought dimension and morphing grid system, and it operates outside our time domain which makes it seem as if it happens instantly. I still don't really understand it myself, It's one of the most difficult parts of the process to understand- but it sure works!
Kimberly: The way they come back out, I sometimes wonder if my clothes haven't been to hell and back. But I'm not complaining, we just got a new ironing press at home.

Q: Where does your power source come from for the suits?

Billy: A construction known as the Morphing Grid. I know we say it comes from the ancient dinosaurs, and I suppose in a way this might be true when you consider the thought dimension calculations required for our morphed mode. The Morphing Grid was built by ancients - Zordon refers to them as the Morphing Masters. It's like a huge power grid which can be accessed anywhere, and again exists in our universe outside the time dimension, which means you can't measure it using Earth technology. But it is energy - just like electricity or anything else. It is possible to wear down the store of power in the grid- it was not designed to supply large amounts of continuous energy.
Tommy: Energy is actually channeled using the coins, which are the heart of our Power Ranger suit system. The energy can be transfused from there to anywhere else in our morphed bodies, even our human muscles and parts which feels weird when we use it because it makes our bones feel really heavy when we start using it.
Billy: The coins can be transformed into special crystals. In this form they can carry the signature of our own selves as an entity represented only in the thought dimension. It's the security system for the Zords which enables them to draw energy from the morphing grid.

Q: Is there anything else you can do as Morphed Power Rangers?

Zack: Stacks! We're still finding functions that even Zordon knows nothing about. Like the Natural Electrical Earth! Last week I was thrown against one of those big power line towers near the junkyard at Lakemba (northern suburbs of A/G) and reached up and grabbed a bare 300,000 volt cable. I was glad to be in morphed mode then I can tell you! There were sparks absolutely everywhere, it must've looked way cool.
Kimberly: Next time there's a blackout, find Zack!
Trini: We can usually heal ourselves of most diseases by just coming here and morphing in and out of suit once- although Zordon thinks that's using the power for our own means. I quickly reminded him of the sickness which I was forced to endure at home in bed because my suit failed that day last year- caused by me being a power ranger. Tit for tat, that's what I say.
Jason: Apparently they work quite well as spacesuits, with oxygen supply and everything. We haven't tried that yet. They also have full communications systems between us, although for most normal comms we use Billy's communicators. We can work fairly O.K. under deep water when morphed in suit too- that's a weird experience because unlike in air, where the suit protects against all temperatures and heat loss, underwater the suit gets physically wet and very cold. Definitely a design point for the next model....
Billy: Jason- in our morphed state our bodies do not rely on the energy released when hydrocarbons are oxidized. All our energy to exist is supplied from the morphing grid.
Jason: What?
Trini: He means that when we're morphed, we still breathe- but what we breathe is irrelevant. I remember the time we caught Billy panelbeating the Rad Bug in his garage last year- His mom and dad were out, the door closed and here was Billy, in full morphed mode, smashing chunks of steel with his fist to try and bend it behind the old engine bay. You could feel the vibrations down the end of the street, and it was like an earthquake outside his house. Inside his kitchen there was smashed china everywhere, and the microwave had fallen off the shelf and smashed. He didn't know about the vibrations.. Zordon was not impressed. Billy tried to explain that it was "power rangers" business.. but I don't think it went down too well. Since then there has been a strict rule- no morphed mode outside the Command Center unless it's a battle.
Billy: I might just remind you Trini that it was your Zord which fell on the Rad Bug in the first place trashing the back! We needed the Rad Bug running as soon as possible because we were having trouble with the teleporter at the time. The bug was so badly damaged it took days just to get it back home without Dad finding out. There's no way I could have bought it here to the Command Center to work on it.
Trini: You could have rolled it down to the workshop at School - it's been there before and noone ever asked any questions. They've got all the gear there you need without using your hand as a sledgehammer!
Billy: I didn't have time for that! It would have taken days, not to mention cost a significant sum of money- you know- that green stuff....

Zordon bought the Power Rangers back to order at this point, being strangely silent for the rest of the interviews, even the comments that directly concerned him.

Q: Who designed and built the Power Ranger suits?

Billy: Zordon designed them, but I'm not sure who constructed the power morphers, which are really the only physical item which has been manufactured as such. You'll have to ask Zordon that one.
Jason: The Power Morphers were made under contract to the organization Zordon was part of, last time he faced Rita's wrath. I'm not sure exactly where. However Rita had the Green one until he used it on Tommy.
Billy: They're made of the same materials as this Command Center- they regenerate themselves perpetually using teleporter replication sequences. That's why each time we morph into suit, it looks brand new.

Q: What are some of the other functions you can do in morphed mode?

Trini: It depends, we're still discovering things. Last time Me and Kim worked out this great acrobatic move at the Gym. The others there thought it was great, but we knew it would probably give us the ability to take out three putties at once. What we discovered is that when morphed, we could jump sideways and run up trees and walls- this is something the putties can't do, and it confuses them like crazy. They vanished as soon as they saw it!
Jason: We can transfer power around the group if necessary. Any one of us can assume the power of the whole group. This can be especially useful where a single combat is the only way out.
Trini: We have also improved our various martial arts skills over the years, especially Billy, who was hopeless at the start -sorry Billy.
Billy: I just remembered another aspect of the morphers too- did you know that they are age independent? That's right. It would not matter if I was 10 or 60 years old- when I morphed, my body size would revert to the same size as the others. I think that's pretty weird. Zordon was telling me one day that he was once considering that he should recruit younger people as Rangers- around 10 years old. The system is designed to expand a smaller body during the morphing process to match the "desired durability".
Kimberly: It's a quick way to grow up! Nah! I would've missed all those cool years....
Billy: No! The recipient returns to their original size during de-morphing- apparently. Trini thought we should try it on Jason's cousin.. Zordon however, did not. Anyway, our power coins cannot be transferred without alot of fuss and bother.

Q: What about those explosions? Doesn't the shockwave affect you?

Kimberly: Well that depends on what you mean by "affect" doesn't it?
Zack: We don't feel them much- the suits see to that. But we definitely HEAR them! They are deafening. Glad I'm not a heavy metal fan.

Q: Do you find the helmets obstruct your vision and senses?

Kimberly: That's another really weird thing. I know I've got the helmet on, but I can't feel it at all. It gives us a full view just as if wasn't there. We can hear everything, too.
Jason: The helmets are part of our head- They are our head- when morphed, that is.
Billy: Just like the suits, we can't take the helmets off in morphed mode. But Zordon has been working on a modification which may allow us to do just that- or at least appear as doing it. It's his belief that it will help to confuse the putties, especially when Rita has them impersonate other creatures. There has been one time when she changed her putties to look like us Rangers- I'm sure you remember it. Zordon says it's a common tactical approach from Rita, and that we should expect it again.
Kimberly: It'll be a blast to see what our heads look like when they're morphed- we've never seen any part of our own bodies while we are morphed. We used to make a game of working out what we would look like morphed but without the suits. For a while we all thought our skin turned jet black, or silver or something. We still don't know.
Billy: I must disappoint you Kimberly. Zordon says that what you will see when we remove a helmet is only an illusion of our unmorphed head- in fact the helmet will still be there, and it will be the removed helmet in our hand which will be the fake. I told you before- it can't be done, unless you want to end up looking like a horror movie, that is.

THE ENEMY Q: Now I get to ask you the question most of Angel Grove media has always wanted to know- who ARE the enemy?

Zack: Well you already know about Rita, Goldar and Scorpina. There are three other of her geeks.
Billy: There's Finster, who seems to have the responsibility for creating most of the monsters. Then there's Baboo, who'se a sort of chemist and gadget fan. Finally there's Squatt- and he just seems to do Rita's bidding. We often find him sneaking around our houses and at Angel Grove high, and we've caught him dozens of times in the park. - He hasn't been game enough to tackle the youth center yet.

Q: What ARE the Putty Patrollers?

Billy: The Putties are "animated animal beings", "brainless bodies" created through the "animation of matter" process which Rita uses for most of her monsters. Although they operate independently their purpose is a collective, and what one believes is correct, all will follow. Their decisions are made from dubious instinctual programming from Finster.

Q: Why do you fight the Putties without morphing?

Trini: The Putties are driven by instinct and more importantly, their confidence. The trick in defeating Putties is to gain their confidence - make them think they are winning the fight. The best way to do that is to appear as powerless as possible, and as fragmented as possible. That's why we always spread out and divide the group of putties we are fighting.
Jason: You must play their game, otherwise you can't make them think they're winning. This involves stacks of acrobatic stuff - you must really put on a show for the Putties! This initially gains their confidence, but suddenly they reach the end of their abilities- their confidence crashes and the collective group vanish back to their domain.
Kimberly: We also need to consider our identity problem. Many times the Putty Patrollers' attack is the first indication to us that Rita is planning something bigger. This can happen after weeks of peace, and we do have lives to live outside being Power Rangers. The Putties often attack us when there are still other people around us, it makes morphing very difficult without blowing our identity.

Q: How does Rita do the things she does?

Billy: She is quite skilled at illusions, but stupid at everything else. By using her illusions and also using some of the technical abilities of the "thought dimension" which is basically the same universal dimension which allows us to operate as Power Rangers. Unlike Rita's creations, technology contains no illusions, it is all scientific and repeatable!
Jason: Her illusions are ALWAYS reversible. Much of the damage her monsters do to Angel Grove is illusion,- it miraculously comes good once we've destroyed the monster. But don't take it as a joke- the damage is done in our time and space - to remain forever unless the monster and illusion controls are destroyed.
Kimberly: To be honest, she still has tricks up her sleeve. Usually it's the first time we've seen that particular trick. Of course it usually jogs Zordon's ancient memories, who then updates us on the best method to fight it.

Q: What is "Rita's Dark Dimension"?

Jason: It's like a "parallel universe" which occupies no space in our own but still occupies the same time, matter and thought dimensions. How it exists Ill never understand. Lots of things won't work there. Billy says that there are dimensional anomalies with it. Occasionally some of us have been catapulted into or out of it as our human selves without being morphed- and this can create all sorts of internal damage like internal bleeding etc. It's awful, terrible to even think about.
Kimberly: There was one time when Jason returned from the Dark Dimension, felt O.K. and we thought nothing more of it. Later on at home, he woke up in the middle of the night feeling really sick. His parents rushed him to the medical center, and they discovered it was a burst artery in his stomach. They gave him drugs, kept him under observation for a few days and it eventually healed. But the doctor was asking his parents all these really awkward questions about how it came to be- apparently the artery had somehow been moved right over to the other side of his body from where it should have been. It was only then we realized in horror what had happened- it had occurred when he returned through the dimensional rift from Rita's dark dimension.
Billy: Alpha has developed a device especially for scanning our anatomy now, and it can be used instantly we suspect any problems, and especially if we're ever teleported through the rift without being morphed.

Q: Is there anything really distinctive about Rita's attacks?

Kimberly: Funnily enough, she never attacks at night, or at least not yet. I think the Putties are scared of the dark!
Tommy: She has been known to conduct operations at night- the Nightmare Crystal attack occurred at night. She frequents caves in the area with her putties for various reasons. She also frequents a cave in Hungary- goodness knows why, we have reason to believe it's a source of putty for her monsters. We've been there several times and there's no evidence of anything. Really weird.
Zack: Other than that probably not- she has even attacked us underwater- and ruined my date at the same time.

Q: Have you ever considered going after evil forces other than Rita?

Jason: There is a major problem with that- Rita herself. If we do anything like that, she will immediately use the situation against us. The Power Rangers Day last year was the best example. She takes hostages. And as soon as we have a hostage situation, it's too dangerous.
Kimberly: It's too risky all the while Rita is prancing up and down ready to destroy this planet. People are going to have to solve their petty problems without help from the Power Rangers. And anyway- all that will happen is death and destruction. No-I don't think I could ever get fighting anyone from here on earth- it would be far too hard to control my actions in morphed mode.
Zack: Yo right there. We haven't actually ever fought anyone "normal" when we're morphed. It would be too easy to rip their arm off, or something.
Jason: Rita's monsters & putties have most of the energy deflection abilities that we do in morphed mode. I said most- it's that little extra which gives us the edge.

THE ZORDON QUESTIONS Note: This series of questions were conducted at the Power Rangers' Command Center with Zordon. Jason was the only Power Ranger present during the questions.

Q: Why did you choose Teenagers for your team?

Zordon: I needed a team with enthusiasm, drive and stamina- and an acceptance to learn. Alpha and Myself had conducted very extensive research on all the aspects of human existence here on this planet. I came to the conclusion that humans of this age bracket were the best choice.

Q: Have you ever regretted your decision?

Zordon: No I have not- although the Power Rangers get a little worked up sometimes, just like Alpha here. They have fun, but as long as that doesn't compromise our task, then it only adds to the enthusiasm they have for themselves and their part in the fight against Rita. Billy does talk a lot I suppose, but I have time for them all.

Q: Why must they keep their secret identities?

Zordon: Primarily that is to keep Rita busy. All the while she is being distracted by the Ranger's everyday lives, she is not being destructive anywhere else on Earth. The Power Rangers have their own lives to live. I cannot take that away from them. It is that life outside this Command Center which drives them when they are here.

Q: Why do the Zords look like Dinosaurs?

Zordon: That may not be the case for too much longer. Initially our studies showed that the power and agility of Earth's early Jurassic creatures would be a good model for the Zords- and as such their design calculations match. Power from the Morphing Grid can be used more efficiently if the consuming device is modeled on a thought dimension process. Dinosaurs were a good choice. The Ranger's power crystals are also designed using this approach. For a while now we have been studying other earth creatures, and even mythical models from human history, which might be equivalent in nature to the Dinosaurs. The result may be a redesign of the Zords, as Billy told you last week.

Q: The Power Rangers have told us about their Morphed State. But what does it actually do to them? How does it work?

Zordon: This is difficult to explain to you. When they hold up their morphers and activate them, the morphers set off a very complex procedure of replication, teleportation and alterations to the Ranger's human bodies. Because this is done outside the time domain, it appears to you as if it happens instantly. However when I watch it from this dimension, it takes twelve seconds, and looks quite amusing. It replaces most of their body with different materials technology, and deactivates a large amount of human functions by simulating them. There is alot of matter and energy conversion going on. It also references them in every way to the Morphing Grid- all of their movements are referenced in this way. They're not robots but... it would be close. The Ranger's signature- you might call it a life force I suppose, but this is an incorrect term- is removed from them and takes residence in the power coins. From there they control everything in Morphed Mode. When they activate the Megazord they convert the coins to special crystals, this allows them to combine their signature with that of the Zord, which in turn is calculated from the Dinosaur equations etc. For Tommy, it's the Dragon Dagger which does this job of controlling the Dragonzord. This approach joins them mentally with the Zords- they become one- and know in an instant all their abilities. It's the ultimate interface between human and machine, and it works very well with your species, unlike some others I can think of. This seems to be because humans find it so easy to focus on one task at a time. Many other species in the universe cannot do this well- they are too instinctual. So the Power Rangers are somewhat unique to Earth- and your species. As the morph process is completed, the morpher forms a fabric around the altered body to contain it. This fabric has a primary field generated at every fiber intersection, making it inpenetrable. It's not unlike living skin- which is why the Rangers refer to it as such- and why they don't feel what is really going on. The fields derive their power directly from the grid, and react passively to any matter or energy moving closer to them- thus producing a proximity activated situation where any energy directed towards the outer suit will be deflected back out. The Rangers can also control the wholesale direction of this energy either instantaneously or over a short time, and this gives them their jumping ability. Billy has already explained to you about the weapons.

Q: Is the morphing process dangerous for them?

Zordon: No, it is absolutely safe as long as the morphing grid does not fail to supply their energy. Where I come from, this technology has been in use for longer than anyone can remember!

THE ZORDS Q: The Zords- What are they? Who built them? How old are they?

Zack: Ho! Man! One at a time!
Jason: They date back to the last fights between Rita and Zordon here on Earth, about 7000BC we think. They were designed by a team under Zordon and built by contractors. There is some evidence that human civilizations had something to do with their construction as well- and that throws our history books into a few conflicts. We've only just opened that can of worms.
Billy: The Zords are perpetual machines just like the Command Center here- they renew themselves using a complex series of teleporter and replication technologies- they are almost totally self repairing. This last feature theoretically should allow us to completely redesign the Zords without touching them physically. Perhaps the only part of them that doesn't repair itself is the mess Jason and Tommy leave behind. They must really clean up their act you know. We can't have Superheroes leaving juice containers and cake crumbs on the bridge of Megazord....
Tommy: Not! What rubbish! You know we can't eat or drink while we're in Morphed Mode! You're spinning stories again. We cannot enter the bridge of any zord without being morphed anyway.
Kimberly: They seem perfectly adapted to trashing Rita's monsters- they were obviously designed for it. As for the similarity with Dinosaurs, as Billy said a while ago, it's necessary to understand this "thought dimension" thing to appreciate the similarities between our Zords and the ancient Dinosaurs.
Trini: There's bits of Zordon's stuff all over Earth. Apparently there are still a number of Zord machines we have not found or activated yet.
Jason: The Zords are stored in various places around the U.S. as everyone would know- except for the Saber Tooth Tiger which is stored in Africa. Once aroused, they move very fast. They typically take about 2 minutes to arrive from the time they are summoned.
Billy: They use a different style of teleportation to move themselves- called type one. Unlike the teleporter we use ourselves here, The one used by the Zords doesn't allow the transport of living tissue without killing it. We cannot be inside the Zords when they teleport from their storage places, even when we are molecularly transformed.
Trini: Sorry guys- he means when we're in morphed mode.
Billy: The Saber Tooth Tiger is the only Zord we've had mechanical trouble with, ever. It seems to have a habit of bending itself, chassis and all. It was necessary to completely reconstruct it to fix the problem and Alpha has done it once but it isn't as hard as it sounds- nearly all the work is carried out from here by remote control.

Q: How are they controlled?

Trini: It's much easier than anyone thinks. As Power Rangers it is our job to form strategy, not operate machines. They are like computer games to operate. There are dozens of prearranged sequences which each of our zords can undertake. These we suddenly knew when we became Power Rangers. Zordon calls it "Mutual Understanding" or something- it's one of the functions of our morphed mode.
Billy: Really all we are doing is issuing instructions to the zords to undertake prearranged sequences in an order which we select. In the case of Dragonzord this is usually done by full remote using the dragon dagger, but it still has a bridge if required.
Zack: The moves they have when assembled are so cool. They move just like a hip hop dancer, with stacks of speed- no jerky robot movements or nothing like that. I reckon I could have the Megazord doing the hip-hop kido if we tried.
Billy: The computer software systems which are in use to control the Zords are really the heart of their abilities- and it is unbelievably complex. None of us, not even Alpha or Zordon could hope to understand the zords to that level, so we all hope nothing ever goes wrong with the software command layers. It hasn't yet. It's very much a secret of the contractors who built them for Zordon.. and as far as we can tell they are still in existence but a very long way away in space and time- there's no way even using all the technology available to us, that we would ever be able to find them again. Earth really is out in the middle of nowhere it would seem- as far as space is concerned anyway. In all our travels we've never seen anyone else out there, only Rita 's establishment on the moon. Kimberly thinks she can jump that high.
Kimberly: Not!

Q: How are the Zords powered?

Jason: That's a good one- its a long story! Go Billy- I'm going to get some drinks.

Jason teleported away at this point and returned with some drinks about 5 minutes later.

Billy: There are three basic power sources for the zords, solar power, the morphing grid, and physical reserves. Each type can supply about one third of the total Megazord's power capability. Solar power is obvious- the zords have extremely efficient surface coverings which convert light and heat to power. If you ever touch one you will find the surface extremely cold- that is why. Unfortunately when the sun goes down, or we operate the zords underwater, this power source is lost. The Morphing Grid can supply power direct to the Zords just like it powers us when we're morphed. It is continuous and reliable. The Physical reserves consist of static fusion reactor units in each zord, along with a stash of matter fuel which they regenerate when in storage by using their teleporters to grab material from their surroundings. That is why they are usually buried so deep in the ground or underwater- they literally consume the ground beneath them and fall into it. One project Zordon has been working on for a while is to teleport some earth back to their resting places, to prevent the massive craters that result. There's plenty of seawater for Dragonzord. The power is distributed within the zords using high voltage D.C. electricity- even the control panels operate at fifteen hundred volts D.C.- and the wiring is really thin, like optical fibers. It breaks all the time and just grows back.
Zack: Ho! But when it does, it's like HUGE sparks everywhere man.
Billy: The weapons on the zords are all massively over-rated. This is the reason why we form the Megazord- it gives us the ability to channel the full available power from all five zords into one weapon at a time. Each zord has an energy surplus of seventy percent over it's requirements. That means when we assemble Megazord the math works out at something like twelve hundred percent over capacity availability on a bright sunny day. More than enough to convince most of Rita's illusion animated monsters to eat dust. It's great- Goldar and Scorpina now know what Megazord can do. If we form it, they run away without even trying.

Q: What about the Power Sword and other weapons?

Billy: The Power Sword is actually stored in Kimberly's Pterodactyl Zord, and when we call out "Power Sword" it is teleported about 1km into the sky and hurled back towards us through space- during which time it is able to collect a very large store of internal energy from the morphing grid. This energy is used to constantly replicate the blade within the sword- so no matter what we plunge it into, the blade will not falter until this energy runs out- which has only happened once. It's an almost passive device containing no mechanisms- that it works at all I still can't really understand. But it's our principle weapon which usually penetrates the force field of just about any of Finster's horrible creations. It can also be used to power Megazord itself when it becomes absolutely necessary. The other weapons are all fixed in the various zords, and as I said before, these can be fired with much more force when the zords are assembled together.

Q: What about the Carrier Zord, Titanus?

Billy: Basically a huge traveling powerhouse. With the various zords assembled as the "Megadragonzord" we have the maximum amount of energy type weapons on our towering metal fortress. Joining it to Titanus provides a massive short term energy surplus- fifty thousand percent more than the separated zords themselves. This allows us to fire all the weapons at maximum power all at once. We use this where strategy favors it over use of the power sword- especially if the monster has a very hard external force field, or if there are several monsters fighting us.
Jason: Not quite right there. Many of Finster's monsters have tricks attached which allow them to blow apart and reassemble- usually another beast inside the main monster. In these cases we can blow it up dozens of times and watch it reassemble- depleting our own reserves just as Rita wishes us to. These cases call for less brute force and more intelligence- we usually pack the zords up and come back here to think it over first. Sometimes that's very very hard to do- while we leave the fight scene, the monster does heaps of damage to Angel Grove- fortunately most of it is reversed when we finally destroy the monster.
Billy: Just on that subject- Virtually all direct damage done by any of Rita's monsters is temporary if the monster can be destroyed. The illusion only lasts as long as the monster itself- but it's real enough until the monster is destroyed. Unfortunately "third party" damage is not reversed. For example, if one of Rita's beasts knocks the top off a building, and that piece hits another building on it's way down- the original damaged building is restored once we destroy the monster, but the other building which was damaged by the falling piece is not- this damage is permanent.
Zack: Ho! The damage done by the Putties isn't an illusion mate! I've hobbled home dozens of times bruised after un-morphed putty fights. Then there's the endless questions from Mum and Dad, they think I'm starting to get beat up at school or something. I tell them about the putties, I think they've stopped believing me. "Why do they always attack you" they ask. And I can't tell them why, of course.

Q: How DO you maintain them?

Billy: As we have stated before, our technology here is based on the ability to manipulate matter within machines by using the teleporter. It's like the ultimate Computer Aided Manufacture. Of all the materials which go together to make the Zords, virtually all can be replicated by the teleporter. The one percent which cannot, is usually located on the bridge of each zord anyway, and so it's rarely a problem. The Zords have their own teleporter for the task, but we can use the one here for more complex investigation or redesign work. Alpha is the expert on that.
Trini: What Billy is trying to say is that without the Teleporter here, the Power Rangers would not exist.
Billy: The only problem is that this process involves the conversion of energy back to matter- and if you know Einstein's law then you know how much energy this requires. So to carry out the works often takes a long time while the energy reserves of the morphing grid catch up. This is why we often have to let the Zords lay over for twelve hours or more after a major fight to let them repair themselves. When we take you to see T-Rex which we'll do later, you will immediately notice that there are virtually no service access points anywhere on the machinery. No screws, hatches or panels. It is impossible to service the internal workings of the Zords any other way than by using the teleporter. Since there is no need to allow for access to any of the components of the Zords, then it is possible to pack fantastic amounts of extremely high powered machinery inside them. None of the materials are anything like those we use here on Earth, they are all hybrid alloys and combinations of elements, most of which do not even appear on my table of elements from school. It's a whole new approach to technology, completely different to anything I've ever seen here on earth. The Command Center, the Morphers and our Weapons are all the same. The Zords have literally thousands of primary field generators- so the weight and center of gravity is forever being artificially shifted around the outer frame, under the control of the command software.

POWER RANGERS TECHNOLOGY Q: What about this "Power Rangers Technology" then?

Billy: A few days after we first became Power Rangers, I started asking Alpha 5 all these questions, and he showed me a book which was under the panel there. I was amazed that it was written in English - I still can't work out why this is so. The book is like an encyclopedia, but it explains about the thought dimension- and most of the technology here. The thought dimension is simply another dimension in this universe just like time or space - you can measure it and move in it, in fact that is exactly what is happening to all of us at night when we dream. It's not magic, it's quantifiable and totally reliable. There are a lot of scientific formulae which Earth scientists have got wrong, because they do not include measurements in the thought dimension. When you include them it becomes easy just like most other math. I've been using the book as a basis for my scientific experiments at home, to learn. It gets really crazy sometimes between me and other scientists. They simply won't believe what they see! Not long ago our school had a science fair. I helped four friends with projects as well as submitting my own, and in ALL of them I used what could be called power rangers technology. No-one even turned an eye! Here was the technology right in front of their eyes and they couldn't care. I was that close from teleporting away from right in front of the judges to try and convince them they were wrong! I don't think they would have blinked if I did, their minds were so closed. I got marked down in my project because they thought a few formulae were wrong. They weren't wrong- they were complete! And the thing worked right in front of their eyes but they still didn't care. I am pretty satisfied that "Power Rangers Technology" as it is referred to will never be considered by Earth's scientific community- it's just too bizarre and different for stuffy university corridors.

Q: What developments have you made using this advanced technology?

Billy: Well the first one was the Communicators, which are really quite simple adoptions of ordinary electronic circuits to transmit signals outside the time domain. They work with the teleporter unit installed here in the Command Center, and we use it to teleport either here, or to coordinates that Alpha can calculate. The Communicators are so low tech that even Rita does not know how they function. Unfortunately they do not work in her dark dimension which has put us power rangers in compromised situations in the past. The teleporter locks onto our power morphers for coordinates. The Rad Bug is another simple development. It's nothing special, just a normal car with a primary field generator inside, which can surround the car. The program for it runs on an old '286 in the front boot. The primary field generator is an electrical device which can interact with gravity fields in the same way as magnets and electricity are related, except that there's another dimension to be measured known as "movement of atomic structure". The Zords use the same system, but much, much more sophisticated controls. Alpha 5 helped me with it as well.
Kimberly: Then there was his stupid mind reader!
Billy: It wasn't stupid at all.
Kimberly: What do you mean? It swapped our brains for a whole day. Ooh! Living inside Billy's body. It made morphing feel like a Sunday picnic in the park.
Billy: Well living in yours was a bit daunting too- an experience I will never ever erase from my memory. The experiment was my first attempt at studying the morphing process itself- how our coin and crystal signatures are somehow transferred to our morphed bodies. It was supposed to allow either of us to think about the other and read information from each other's signatures. Instead it swapped them. The really strange thing is that it worked on Bulk and Skull as well- and they're not Power Rangers.

Q: Have you abandoned the mind swap experiment now?

Billy: No, not exactly- but I have stopped using that apparatus. It's too hazardous to experiment on aspects like that outside the Command Center. It's too easy for Rita to interfere with my equipment at home- that's what I'm sure happened with Kimberly and Me. I detected traces of Squatt's footprints outside on the driveway that night- so if I have any risky experiments I do them here now, or not at all.

Q: How can you teleport? How does that work?

Billy: That panel there (Billy points to a panel in the center) is the Teleporter Unit, which is part of this Command Center. It uses a scheme known as "Type 2 Teleportation" which transfers any matter out of time and space, represented only in the thought and atomic dimensions. because it is outside time, we don't die when we teleport. The unit then swaps the air in the destination with our body from the place we teleported from and well- there we are! There is also a fancy hologram projection unit in there which creates that fancy lightning effect and noise when we teleport- otherwise we would just vanish into thin air. Zordon says it's more theatrical to have it in there, and that it can help to confuse the putties sometimes.
Kimberly: Besides, it looks really, really cool and- so '90s. It suits my image perfectly.
Billy: The circuits are electronic, and as far as I can tell, fairly simple. I have been able to teleport things across my garage at home using a teleporter I built purely from parts from Angel Grove Radio Surplus- there's an experiment in the book about it. All I have to do now is to work out how the coordinate system works. The one here in the center is tied into our power morphers, but I want to work out a system which is independent of that- one which can be used totally outside our Power Rangers setup. Maybe I can sell the rights.... Then again, maybe not.
Kimberly: You'll have to spend a few years convincing Zordon of that one.

Synopsis:
It's been 15 months since the Power Rangers were interviewed at the Command Center. Since that time Angel Grove has seen villains, fights and changes to the Power Rangers. There has been much water under the bridge. Lets again go inside the Command Center and line up the team with Zordon and pop some more questions to them.

Date: 12th October 1995.
Location: MMPR Command Center
Present: Zordon, Billy, Tommy, Aisha, Katherine, Alpha.

Q: Why couldn't the others be here?

Tommy: Adam and Rocky are helping painting a mural on Ernie's carpark wall. They promised their time before you called us. Sorry. The'll probably be over later on this evening.

Q: What happened to Jason, Trini and Zack?

Billy: I think you know that already. Circumstances changed and so did three members of the team. Recently Katherine has joined us to replace Kim as the Pink Ranger.

Q: Can you give us a brief rundown of the changes that have occurred in your operation since we last met?

Billy: Weeel lets see. You may remember from last time that we were working on replacing the Zords. Thats now happened three times! The emergence of Lord Zedd forced Zordon to play his hand earlier in remodelling the zords.
Tommy: At more or less the same time, I was having all sorts of trouble retaining the powers of the Green Ranger. Eventually it was necessary to put the Dragonzord on ice permanently to ensure it couldn't be used by the enemy. It's still there. Alpha's forever trying to think up ways of using it, but there aren't any.
Billy: The new Zords were all modelled of the original ones, using the same element scheme software. About the same time Zordon an Alpha were working on a way of creating a new Ranger and linking it to the grid. He kept us in the dark for a while, but we eventually found out it was Tommy.
Zordon: Once we had been successful in producing a new Ranger, we were capable of developing a completely new Zord for him - the Tigerzord. The element scheme is esentially a carbon copy of the mothballed Dragonzord. I was amazed at just how well it worked. The success of that venture has led to many more discoveries. Alpha and I were just beginning to believe we really understood it all when Ivan came along and that was the end of our Morphing Grid as we knew it. Now we are pretty much back where we were before - learning about how the Ninjetti powers were able to invoke a restoration in our power ranger scheme but linked to the Nathadian Grid. To confuse the issue further we now have Ninjor, who I knew a very long time ago. He's a fine warrior but rather secretive. His catch-cry is that he can't be a miracle worker if everyone knows his tricks. Typical Ninjor. It's taking us a while to work the whole lot out, because the Rangers now have three separate and yet linked power sources from which they draw. The good news is that unlike before, these are all almost totally independent of the enemy.

Q: And the new Zords?

Zordon: As Billy said, the zords were remodelled as a virtual analog teleport overlay on the old ones. Thats why the Rangers retained their old creature identities. When Ivan destroyed this Command Center he totally obliterated the morphing grid what was created for me by Dulcea and the Nathadians so long ago. Our only chance was to return to the source and see if the Rangers could somehow use the Ninjetti powers to restore our own. None of us were prepared for what actually happened.
Billy: When we arrived on Phaedos, Dulcea identified new creature identities within our own selves. I think we explained the importance of this before but just incase- the essence of a Power Ranger's ability to control external forces through mutual understanding comes from energy measured only in the dimension of thought. So the more that this thought aspect of our powers can be readily linked to our own human thoughts, the more powerful is our ability to draw on and control the external energy we receive in morphed mode.
Katherine: I'm new here, but I think what Billy is trying to say is that it's easier for me to think of myself as a crane when in morphed mode than a human- it means we can control just about everything. The problem now for me is that I have inherited Kim's beast, and as a result I cannot control the cranezord at all. Ninjor says it will be necessary for me to go and find my own identity in order to gain the respect of a zord created with a like beast personality. I dont know if this means returning to Phaedos or whether Ninjor can do it or what. Ninjor is a pest sometimes, he never tells us what he's thinking.
Zordon: The Rangers are now using what we call the Shogunzords. It's totally ironic, but Zedd found them. Because of the Nathadian connection we were able to reverse the controls on them permanently. Ninjor knows where they came from, I believe they may have come from Ninjor's home planet actually. As usual, he's not talking. Still, they are an excellent design nore than capable of warding off Zedd's current attacks. Alpha here has been able to fully link them with our center here.
Alpha: Except for that the computer still reads them as being the old ninjazords, and I get so confused as to which one is which. Oh why can't life get simple again?
Zordon: I have a feeling it will get more complicated before it gets simpler, Alpha.

Q: You were speaking of the three different power sources you now have- can you elaborate on that?

Billy:Well, there's the morphing grid itself, which as far as we can tell is an exact copy of our old one but controlled only from the Nathadian Monolith on Phaedos.
Zordon: That is a real benefit because there is no way Zedd or Rita can affect it there.
Alpha: As far as this Command Center is concerned, it's like the old grid is still there. The computers here react the same way as they did before the old grid was destroyed. Again this can be very confusing as it often gives conflicting warnings of faults which don't exist.
Billy: Then there are the powers we have as Ninjetti Warriors. None of us clearly understand how these work except that they use the same human-beast-mutual understanding bond that our morphed mode does. It was this power that enabled us to somehow reverse time and restore this Command Center after Ivan had destroyed it.
Aisha: What we never expected on Phaedos was to get our old powers back as Power Rangers. Dulcea explained that we would become ninjetti warriors. I think it is our own willpower coupled with the new powers which restored Zordon's Ranger system.
Zordon: As part of the order of the Meledon, I had long dreamed of being able to tap the nathadian power in the way the Rangers have. The Nathadians were very good at mutual understanding design. The fact that the Ninjazords were still stored on Phaedos was a shock to me. I had heard about them only in legends.
Alpha: It is impossible to monitor the Rangers in Ninjetti mode. None of the instruments here register their existence whenever they transform into the Ninjetti mode. However Ninjor can trace them and monitor them.
Billy: The third power comes from Ninjor's temple. Don't ask me how it works, I do not know.
Tommy: Oh gosh. Billy admitting he doesn't know. Is this being recorded?

Q: Billy, you sit here now in morphed mode but with your helmet off. I thought last time you said that was impossible?

Billy: You may remember that last time I said that Zordon was experimenting with a way of removing our helmets in morphed mode. Shortly after your interview we stumbled on an accidental discovery which resulted in us developing a "Standby mode" which is what my body is in at the moment. Basically it's the real me under here, except that the morphing suit has not been swapped back to my civilian clothes. The internal grid support structure however is gone, and so I can remove my helmet. The standby mode also returns all of our body functions to us.

Q: Okay, now the big question - WHY a Standby mode?

Zordon: Originally we wanted to develop it as a means of confusing the putties. But actually the most useful aspect of standby mode is that it provides the Rangers with a total failsafe against a forced release from their morphed state. As a halfway point, it means if they lose power for any reason, the grid can be disconnected from their physical bodies without pain or danger because the external suit field remains active even when their helmets are off. It was Alpha who made the discovery while we were working on the White Ranger program, and as such we were able to adopt it into all the other Rangers aswell. Oh and one more thing I remember was mentioned last-time. The Ranger's human bodies do not turn weird colours in morphed mode. However if you were to see a morphed Ranger their skin would appear rather wet-looking, because there is an outer aqueous layer imposed by the process.

Q: What happened to the Putties?

Tommy: When Zedd came on the scene, he took Rita's putties and changed the way they worked. He reduced their collective interaction which made it much harder to confuse them and reduce the confidence of a group of putties. Turns out the only way to destroy them was literally to smash them to bits.
Billy: The collective interaction for the putties was replaced by something Zedd placed in the "Z" on their chest. If you tried hard enough to hit it then the putty would lose it's ability to hold itself together and just shatter. It was hard to do. Zedd's putties would wear us out much quicker than Rita's.
Aisha: When Ivan Ooze was dug up he "introduced" us to the Tengas. Ivan called them "Tengu" but it seems they are real creatures unlike the putties which are contrived. They come from some distant planet and are well known to Ninjor as the choice of most troublemakers. I guess it's because they're still pretty silly, and it's easy to pull the feathers over their eyes.
Tommy: When Ivan was destroyed we thought the Tengu Warriors had gone with him. But it seems Zedd found out where they came from and got some more. They are totally different to the old Putties because they always work individually in order to try and split us up. They are not fooled they way the old puttles were and the only way to defeat them is to convince them that they are going to get thrashed if they don't run away.
Aisha: We don't fight the Tengas without our powers. And I suggest the same goes for anyone in Angel Grove! We know that before, civilians would occasionally be attacked by Putties and sometimes they would take them on and win. Don't try this with the Tengas, they will rip you apart. Run the other way, very fast and seek shelter.
Zordon: The Tengu Warriors have presented us with the biggest headache I have ever had to deal with. They are real creatures and very difficult to trace with the equipment here. We have to be on top of them instantly or they will injure and kill civilians within seconds. Alpha has developed various new ways of keeping track of the Tengu Warriors. We have placed a ring of sattelites around the earth which give us a picture of Zedd's teleport paths, which he uses to move the Tengu around. However as Angel Grove citizens know so well, Tengu Warriors fly with grace and diligence so our co-ordinates are often wrong.
Tommy: When fighting the Tengas we morph into the Ninjetti forms. In this form we can use a host of powers and illusions related to our beast indentities which can't easily be used when fully morphed as a Power Ranger. The tradeoff is of course that the Ninjetti forms have virtually no defensive capability. If a Tenga hits us, then it's our human body they're hitting, and we usually come away even more bruised than we did when we took the Putties on with no powers at all.
Zordon: The Morphed mode of a Power Ranger was designed for dealing with illusionary beasts and monsters. Since the Tengas exist in reality with no external power source from Zedd, Rita or anyone else, fighting them as a morphed power ranger can be more of a liability than an asset. The main problem that we still have is that as soon as the Rangers move to adopt their Ninjetti forms, they literally vanish from our instruments here. We can track Billy's communicators though, and this is the only way we can know where they are or teleport them away.

Q: How does Ninjor get here?

Billy: In matters regarding Ninjor- we have no idea. Alpha has done some studies while Ninjor is around, and found that he is using much the same morphing grid scheme that we used to before becoming Ninjetti. He must have a teleporter and some other gear on his home planet. I have no idea where it gets it's energy from though, we believe he too succeeded in Ninjetti mastery yonks ago.
Zordon: That is correct Billy, Ninjor is a Ninjetti Warrior. Ninjor was on the council of the Order of the Meledon just as Dulcea and Myself were. However the others would forever ignore him because of his odd secret ways. It was Ninjor who had a hand in trapping Ivan Ooze on Earth.

Q: Why does Earth, and Angel Grove in particular, seem to be the centre of the universe?

Zordon: Well, the reason for that is complicated. Actually historically it is not very central to where all the trouble used to happen back in the Meledon days. The main reason why Earth got into trouble, and why I came here, was because of Rita. The trouble followed her, and I have no idea why she came here. It's been band-aid solutions ever since that time, and it seems one legacy of the past becomes the next problem. Ivan came to Earth chasing Finster, if I remember. As for Angel Grove, well that's because the Command Center is here. Sorry. It could have been anywhere.

Q: Kat, how is it that you can change into a... a cat?

Kat: My mates at school in Australia always said I was a bit of a cat, actually. But I think it's another one of those crazy spinoffs from the Nathadian Ninjetti powers, like the same ones that allowed the Rangers to restore Zordon and the Command Center after Ivan destroyed it. Somehow me becoming a Ninjetti restored that part of Rita's original spell on me. What is crazy is that at the moment I'm supposed to be a Crane, because that was Kim's beast identity. It's like who's who in the Zoo, you know?
Tommy: As far as we can tell, Kat will have to go back to Dulcea and become a cat under the Ninjetti form. Or mabe not. I don't know, Zordon doesn't, and Ninjor's no help in these matters. For now, Kat's the Pink Ranger and it seems to work.
Zordon: My Power Ranger system allowed for a fairly easy transition in team members because I allocated them with a beast link which I decided on. With the Ninjetti, it's down to the reaction between the monolith units and the person seeking the power. The upshot is that they are that much more powerful and in control, but it makes housekeeping a bit of a mess. I was never totally sold on the idea, even back in the Meledon days, when literally everyone wanted to become a Ninjetti. Unfortunately when Ivan came on the scene we had no choice, it was Phaedos or Bust.

Q: How did Ivan get into the Command Center?

Alpha: He Oozed through the door in his natural form. For some reason in this form the computer did not recognise him as a foreign body until he was already inside and it was too late.
Zordon: The fact that he could enter here like that became known to him just before the Ancient Morphing Masters and Ninjor trapped him. I was not surprised that it would be his first move after escaping. I didn't bet on Zedd and Rita moving so fast to free him. It all happened so fast.
Billy: The other big difference with Ivan was that his monsters, Hornitor and Scorpitron, were not illusions. They were technical constructions just the same as our own zords. Everything they did to Angel Grove was real.
Aisha: What was amazing was that the city was truly evacuated by the time the monsters started hacking away. The Parents were at Ivan's factory and the kids were at Ernie's which are both on the southside of town.

Q: What other troubles are you having at the moment?

Billy: The Teleporter. We've only got one, and it's the old one. We need to use it now more than ever before. It builds the Zords and maintains them. It moves us about. It runs all of Alpha's new scanner network. It's been modified so many times to enable us to deal with Zedd's timewarps. It's dying, and we can't go down the mall and buy a replacement, unfortunately.
Tommy: We're all still coming to terms with Kim's not being here. Billy is now the only remaining Ranger who was here on that first day that Rita got free. I guess everything changes.
Aisha: What's amazing is that Zedd and Rita have never even tried to go after them in their new locations and use them as hostages. I can't understand Zedd at all. But still, I don't want him to start thinking that way because we could never fight it.

Billy: It's like Zordon said before. While ever the Power Rangers are protecting Angel Grove, Zedd and Rita won't look any further because their puny minds are totally occupied with the task of getting rid of the Power Rangers. And I used to think that the Cold War was a crazy standoff.

Q: The old zords - what happened to them?

Tommy: They were utterly destroyed. The inevitable happened.
Billy: Their element scheme was totally obliterated when the morphing grid collapsed. When the Ninjetti powers gave us the new Ninjazords from Phaedos, we didn't bother about the possibility of restoring the old zords the way we did the Command Center and Zordon. It would have been impossible anyway because we never really fully understood how they worked. They too were a product of one of Zordon's Meledon friends. Nevertheless we did find that the teleporter contained maintenance backups of them, so we tried using them in the fight for Ninjor. The results you know.
Aisha: When they were destroyed, it was like the last shred of the old was gone. I had no idea I could get so attached to a.. machine. They are more than machines. They are part of us. They are like a horse to it's rider. They become extensions of who we are. The new Shogunzords don't feel that way at the moment though, but it's early days I suppose. I yearn for the day I might be able to restore the Bear from Phaedos. Now that really is a Zord!
Tommy: The only original zord left is Dragonzord- and we can't use him.

Q: What about Titanus?

Billy: No, the element scheme from Titanus was used to create Tor, which in turn was destroyed along with the others.

At this point, Aisha, Tommy and Katherine departed for prior engagements.

Q: Billy, since the others have to leave, could we take a chance to further discuss some of the Power Rangers Technology with yourself and Zordon?

Billy: Yes, I don't see why not. But Ill warn you, I'm not as much an expert as I once was. I know very little about how the Ninjetti powers work.

Q: Can you begin by outlining differences between what our scientists believe to be true, and what You and Zordon see as the universal way?

Billy: Well, Earth is pretty much on track except that half of the picture is missing. The most commonly misunderstood concept about the universe is that of dimensions. Our scientists believe that this universe can be measured in only four dimensions, but actually it's six. The additional two are known to us as "Thought" and "Movement of Atomic Structure." Naturally the "Thought" dimension is measured in terms of intelligent thought. This can exist on a plane together with the other five to allow us to define things in the universe that Earh scientists do not yet understand. It is this principle which is the basis of illusion, and virtually every magician on the planet knows about it, although they rarely identify and measure it in the way we do here with Alpha's instruments. An illusion is simply a movement in only the fourth and fifth dimensions, being time and thought. Since no movement or definition exists in space, no possible effects on other space defined items can occurr. Understanding thought as a dimension is the basis of most technology here in the Command Center. It is the foundation of what Zordon calls "Mutual understanding", the method in which we can mentally become one with our Power Ranger identities, gain the respect of the Zords, and perform most of the functios we do in morphed mode. Then there is "Movement of Atomic Structure", the sixth dimension. This dimension is measured in sub-atomic definitions which can in turn only be seen by creating measurement instruments defined as an illusion and not measured in space. The sixth dimension defines the way in which mass and energy can be related without changing the space and time parameters in our universe. You have heard that E=MCsquared. Well yes it does, but the problem is that "C" isn't constant when measured in relation to movement of atomic structure. Earth scientists will baulk at this, but it's true. Using the high level mathematics which Alpha is rather good at, we can define "C" as anything we want, and thus control energy and matter and convert it back and forth at will. We can also do this outside the dimension of time, and that's how the teleporter works. If you are totally confused, thats good because you're going to get even more so. Just when you thought there were only six dimensions, then Zedd, Rita, Ninjor, Dulcea and the Nathadians come along. What we find is that our existing universe with it's six dimensions can be "modulated" to superimpose non-real dimensions over the real ones. Alpha has records of over seven thousand different additional dimensions which have been defined or "overlayed" over the milenia. There are probably many, many more. They come, go, are created and destroyed as their inventors come and go and change things. The dimensions are overlayed on existing dimensions by modulating the existing dimensions in various frequencies and using the three modulation techniques currently used to create radio waves on earth, being amplitude, frequency and phase modulation. The whole science is called "Multi-Dim Mechanics", and the maths is high power stuff, but it's fantastic fun. The old Morphing Grid was a multidim creation. The Ninjetti power is similar except it has some very interesting time variants which have given us tons of added abilities along with the synbiotic animal nature ability. A simple example might be to create a device which measures time, say a clock. Then take that measurement and conduct a mathematical calculation on it which modulates the initial value by some amount. Then you can affect a related dimension using the result whilst the original remains unaltered. This is how every single illusion that Rita and Zedd come up with, works. Of course the difference with Ivan was that he didn't use this strategy but simply played it very simple like we do. The result was that we were completely unprepared.

Q: So how does the Teleporter work in this regard?

Billy: The Teleporter first maps the existence of all atomic structure over time in a defined co-ordinate space. It then creates a substrate matter field by modulating time, the field is itself modulated by thought, either Ours or Alpha's. If it's ours then the color of our beast nature will be reflected in the field. If Alpha's or Tommy's, it'll be white since neither of them were created within the older Power Ranger setup that the morphing masters defined. This is one of the reasons why our new Ranger could only be White. The color is important because this is the carrier frequency for the second sideband on the thought dimension, where our "soul" is carried within a teleport. Without that thought control we, or whoever was in the field, would die instantly because we would be frozen in time. The rest is fairly simple. The teleporter replaces the matter inside the field with something appropriate, usually air. The matter that was there becomes pure energy which can be easily moved about the place using factorisation sequencing, which is basically a domino effect defined in atomic structure only. As the teleporter changes the coordinates, the domino effect continues forward, moving the entire field which can be seen as the color streaks you see when we teleport. Finally at the other end the process is reversed, well more or less, and there we are. The coordinate calculations are incredibly complex though. The entire Command Center here is the coordinate calculation point for the teleporter. I imagine the Nathadian Monolith must have a similar arrangement because we were able to get back here from Phaedos before our teleporter was repaired. The Ninjetti Powers also handle the morph into our ninjetti mode which as Alpha has said, is not traceable from here. But it's the same basic technology underneath.

Q: Where is the Command Center powered from now the grid has been destroyed?

Billy: It is powered by the Ninjetti powers from Phaedos. It is essentially one dimensional grid scheme feeding another, as far as we can tell. Its great because Zedd has absolutely no control over it. The old Morphing Grid to some extent drew some of it's power from the enemy. In times of conflict that is good because it weakens the enemy however when we are having problems, it used to be a real pain as it would prevent us from breaking through into some of Zedd's weird dimensions. To my knowlege, the Nathadians have not yet sent us a bill for the power. If they do we'll give it to Ninjor.

Q: Is there any chance that the Earth scientific community will discover the basis of what you are describing here?

Billy: Nope. It's a Catch 22, like that "what came first, the chicken or the egg" stuff. There's no way you can start to understand the technology without already having access to the measuring equipment which itself can only be created using advanced six dim mechanics. Our secret is safe. What I have told you is useless without access to here.

Aisha returned, this time with Rocky and Adam.

Q: Have you dealt with the problem you were having before with your parents?

Billy: Well yes, and no. My mom knows, my Dad doesn't. Kim's Dad knows, but her mom doesn't. Kat's parents don't know.
Aisha: My mom knows.
Rocky: My olds don't know yet.
Adam: All my Mom knows is that I'm a Frog. She doesn't know I'm a Ranger.
Zordon: The Rangers have been dealing with these problems for a while. Experience has shown that each case is different and I treat everyone as individuals.
Alpha: I'm afraid I'm going to have to terminate your little talk here guys and gals, there's something wrong over here, and I don't like it.

At this point, the interview was terminated to be recommenced at a later date.

The End