MaNiC mOnDaY #5 - Yellow

It's Monday again, and the theme for this week is Yellow!

And the first thing that came to mind was.. Power Rangers. And not just because I have kids, either. The first season of Power Rangers aired in the US in 1993. And I know you're all thinking, "But Asara, weren't you like, a sophomore in high school then?" Yes, I was. But I loved that show. I had vinyl stickers on my school binder, and even a small collection of toys and figurines, most of which were given to me by my friends. So I had to dedicate this Manic Monday to the Yellow Ranger of the first season, Trini Kwan, played by Thuy Trang.

In Season One of MMPR, all of their fighting machines (Zords) were dinosaurs. Jason (the red ranger) had a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Kimberly (the pink ranger) had a Pterodactyl, Zack (the black ranger) had a Mastodon, Billy (the blue ranger) had a Triceratops, and Trini had a Saber-tooth Tiger. When they would assume their ranger powers, they each recited the name of their Zord. Trini definitely had the biggest challenge there.. I mean, YOU try to say Saber-tooth Tiger in the same time as it takes to say Mastodon or Triceratops!

And of course, I have to mention the obvious. The YELLOW ranger is of Asian descent. Yes, and the BLACK ranger is African-American. How they got away with that I think we'll never know. Both of these characters were replaced in the second season, and what always struck me as funny was that the new yellow ranger was African-American, and the new black ranger was of Asian descent. Weird, huh?

A lot of the footage of the first season was taken from the original Japanese Super Sentai franchise, Kyouryuu Sentai Zyuranger. This can be seen even in the costuming, as the Japanese Ranger team only had one girl, who was the pink ranger. This is why the pink ranger in the American series has a skirt incorporated into her costume, while the yellow ranger does not.

Trini as a character was generally very quiet. She was one of the smarter ones of the group, but the thing that made her stand out was her dedication to her training in kung fu, and her compassionate nature. She was written out of the cast during the second season, along with Zack and Jason, due to pay conflicts. The three of them were suddenly chosen to attend a Teen Peace Conference, and were then replaced by Aisha (yellow), Adam (black) and Rocky (red).

While browsing through Wikipedia for information to include here, I found out that the actress that played Trini passed away in a car accident in 2001. She was 27 years old. I found this video on YouTube, dedicated to her.