Posted in: Fox, Netflix, TV | Tagged: Austin St John, mighty morphin power rangers, power rangers, Thuy Trang, Walter Jones

Power Rangers Crew on How Cast's Push For Fair Wages Led to Firings

Members of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers production team discuss how members of the cast pushing for fair pay led to firings.

It's easy to get caught up in the nostalgia as networks like Disney and Nickelodeon are regularly churning out live-action children's programming, but it's also hard to forget how much of that fame came at a price as we found out from the controversial lives from former Disney stars like Britney Spears and Lindsey Lohan to what Investigation Discovery unraveled in Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, chronicling the allegations of abuse and misconduct on certain Nickelodeon programming. ID has unleashed another docuseries surrounding the Power Rangers franchise in the ID docuseries Hollywood Demons episode, "Dark Side of Power Rangers." Adapted to American TV by Israeli businessman and producer Haim Saban in 1993, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers drew inspiration from Toei's Super Sentai series in Japan. As magical as the first two seasons of the series were for its young cast, three would see their days come to an end after a miscalculated plea to executives.

'Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers' Stars Thuy Trang, Austin St. John and Walter Jones' Stand for Fair Wages Cost Them Their Jobs

As the primary stars of MMPR contracts came up while filming season two of the series, the late Thuy Trang, who played the original yellow ranger Trini Kwan, along with black and red rangers Zack Taylor and Jason Lee Scott, played by Walter Jones and Austin St. John, respectively, decided to fight for fairer wages as the children's martial arts show was becoming a success with Trang acting as the trio's voice. "The owners of the stations all came," stunt coordinator Jeff Pruitt recalled (via Entertainment Weekly). "(FOX's) Rupert Murdoch came, they brought out the Power Rangers. Thuy went up to the microphone and started reading this speech. How rotten Fox was for not paying them more money, and how they all deserved more money… the station owners were just looking like, 'What is this?' When it was over, she walked backstage, and she just ran to me and grabbed me and started crying, and said, 'What did I do? Oh god, what did I do?' She regretted it instantly, but it was kind of too late."

Trang, Jones, and St. John, along with castmates Amy Jo Johnson (Kimberly Hart/Pink Ranger), David Yost (Billy Cranston/Blue Ranger), and the late Jason David Frank (Tommy Oliver/Green Ranger) were never able to reap from the series success at its peak. "One of the things Saban said was, 'Look, I'm giving them the chance to become stars.' But from the actors' point of view, it was, 'Well, now the show has taken off, and I'm still not making any money,'" Pruitt said. A demand made by Trang, St. John, and Jones, who shared the same representation according to director Worth Keeler was a percentage of toy sales, "and that was never, ever going to happen," and the stage stunt was the result. Sadly, the stunt would send a chilling effect on the rest of the cast, whoever dared to speak out, and it was easily replaceable with St. John admitting the cast had to take second jobs despite a grueling filming schedule. Aside from Trang, who passed in 2001, the original surviving cast found their way back to the franchise in one form or another through spinoffs, variations, and films.

Hollywood Demons airs Mondays on ID and is available to stream on Max.

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