It all started in a hotel room.
I thought it’d be a great opportunity [to create an American version of Super Sentai].
I’d never seen anything like it on TV in Europe or Israel or America.
Amy Jo Johnson, Thuy Trang, Austin St. John, Walter Emanuel Jones, and David Yost on ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’.
But it took eight years of trying to convince different people.
But I didn’t give up.
Finally, Margaret Loesch at Fox Kids said she’d give it a try.
The Power Rangers.
Thus began a casting search for “teenagers with attitude” and martial-arts skills.
AUSTIN ST. JOHN:I wasn’t an actor.
I was actually in high school.
APower Rangersballoon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
I said, “You know, I’m really not interested in acting.
I don’t like cameras.
I don’t like large groups of people.”
Amy Jo Johnson at the premiere ofSaban’s Power Rangersmovie in 2017.
I begged them to let me read for the role of Billy, and they told me no.
They didn’t think that I fit the way that Billy was supposed to be.
I ended up losing my voice so I couldn’t sing with my group so I went for nothing!
Austin St. John, Walter Emanuel Jones, Jason David Frank, and David Yost at theSaban’s Power Rangersmovie premiere in 2017.
But a few days after I got back my agent called and said they still wanted to see me.
And they’re like, “That’s awesome.
So can you come back again tomorrow?”
[Trang and Frank were cast later.]
We’d go across the street to a Bob’s Big Boy and rehearse together.
I’d had my ponytail for forever every black belt I knew had a ponytail.
But I was like, “Ugh, okay.”
I said, “I cut my hair!”
And he handed me a piece of paper with info aboutPhantoms.
I was confused and thought I’d lost the part and they just wanted me to teach.
Out of everyone, I actually picked Thuy.
It was meant to be.
Once cast, the pilot proved to be quite the experience.
Walter, he had to teach me some critical things about acting.
Little details, like, “Austin, can you remember your lines?”
“You should probably be facing the camera.”
I was like, “Oooh, yeah!
Yeah, that makes sense.”
My instinct was always to turn away from cameras, you know?
My learning curve was straight up.
It made us a little more aggressive, because the boys were already aggressive and she was also aggressive.
ST. JOHN:The original pilot was pretty violent.
I fought the biggest bully and I had kick after kick after kick right across his face.
But Fox kicked back the first pilot.
They were like, “This is way too violent.”
They cut all that out.
So obviously, there was mass debating going on, and then it was reworked.
our faces would morph into our dinosaur, and that was kind of strange.
I thought it was kind of cheesy.
But she was very courageous…to a point.
ST. JOHN:We filmed so hard and fast for the first year.
Saturday was when we were called to do voiceover.
I didn’t go out for almost a year.
We finally got a week off for Christmas at the end of the year.
I slept for a day to try and get my energy back.
At 19 you shouldn’t have to do that, you know?
“Walter’s changed.”
But I was just really busy.
JOHNSON:I had to learn a lot because I had never been on a set really before.
It was quite a grueling show, but at the same time we were all so young.
I look back at that time sort of as my college years, in a way.
I really wanted to be a good actor.
I would break down the scripts, I would really make a run at do it up.
As an actor, you take your job and you make it as grounded as possible.
FRANK:They brought me in [during the 17th episode of the first season].
I was told when I was hired, “Don’t get excited.
You’re here for 10 episodes, your character dies off on the show.”
I said, “Hey, I’m happy to do one episode.”
Then, I saw the mouth [on the helmet] didn’t move.
I was like, “Man, I probably don’t even have lines in this episode.”
JONES:In the beginning, I thought it was weird Zach would dance in battle.
I was like, “My friends are in danger, why would I dance?
It’s like I don’t care?”
It was boiling hot-hot, desert, 100-plus degree heat.
One guy went down with heat exhaustion.
I don’t know how we didn’t have more.
Then, the command center [set] used to be freezing cold.
Wearing nothing but spandex, we used to hold each other just to stay warm.
YOST:The suits were sort of like wearing pajamas.
The uncomfortable part was the helmet.
Then came their first chances to experience their fame.
Adjusting stardom was difficult for the young cast.
It was a nonunion show.
From there, I was mobbed.
Security finally got me out of there.
JOHNSON:I found it incredibly overwhelming.
I remember going to Hawaii and getting off the plane to do an appearance there.
It scared the heck out of me.
Halfway through the show’s second season, after more than 80 episodes, Trang, Jones, andSt.
FRANK:I’ve heard everything: “You were my father figure.”
“Hey, I named my baby after you.”
It’s really cool to have been a part of that.
It changed my life and I just wanted to say thank you."
“I’m a computer IT person.”
“I’m a doctor.”
I have one fan that’s a paleontologist, which I find fascinating, all because of Billy.
And so, thank you."
It’s very humbling.
I did move on.
I taught martial arts around the world.
I became a firefighter-paramedic.
I spent four years in the Middle East for the war.
I was gone for 20 years.
I remember saying, “What do you mean they come to see you?
lt’s been 20-something years.”
He goes, “Dude, they grew up.
They’re showing it to their children.
Their parents who watched it with them come with them.
We have three generations of fans now.”
It blew my mind.
