Posted in: TV | Tagged: amy jo johnson, David Yost, Jason David Frank, mighty morphin power rangers, Thuy Trang

Power Rangers: Amy Jo Johnson, David Yost Remember Departed Castmates

Amy Jo Johnson & David Yost remember departed Mighty Morphin Power Rangers castmates Thuy Trang & Jason David Frank during Chicago's C2E2.

It seems like a lifetime ago since Amy Jo Johnson and David Yost helped introduce a generation of Americans to the Japanese super sentai genre in the children's sci-fi martial arts franchise Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in 1993. Johnson, who played Pink Ranger Kimberly Hart, appeared in 138 episodes of the original series, while Yost, who played Blue Ranger Billy Cranston, in 156. The two reunited during the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) for the MMPR series panel (via Entertainment Weekly), and among the subjects were their late cast members: Thuy Trang (Yellow Ranger Trini Kwan), who passed in 2001 from a car accident, and Jason David Frank (Green Ranger Tommy Oliver), who passed in 2022 from suicide, as the two shared memories of their lost friends and castmates.

Power Rangers: Amy Jo Johnson & David Yost Remember Thuy Trang and Jason David Frank

Johnson reflects on her cameo with Frank in Lionsgate's 2017 Power Rangers reboot, "I remember we hadn't seen each other in a very long time," she said. "We had a blast, and it was really cool to watch him on that set. We would wrap, and they'd be like, 'Okay, Jason and Amy can go home,' and he wouldn't go home. He'd stay on that set and watch until they fully wrapped, like 12 hours later. He just loved the franchise so much." Frank, Johnson, Yost, Walter Jones (Black Ranger Zack Taylor), and Austin St. John (Red Ranger Jason Lee Scott) have appeared off and on through the franchise's several spinoffs. Johnson's last to date was the 2017 Dean Israelite film, while Yost's was featured in Netflix's Power Rangers: Cosmic Fury. He also appeared opposite Jones in the 30th-anniversary reunion special Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always, which also features Johnson's song "Down the Road" (originally performed in an MMPR season two episode) that includes tributes to Frank and Trang.

"I always thought [Jason] was harassing me," Yost joked. "It's like, I gotta get more into this film. That's why he's hanging around the set. Jason was obviously a very talented person. He's probably one of the smartest people I've ever met. I'll probably get in trouble for saying this, but he's not here to beat me up anymore: He didn't finish high school, and I've always been amazed at how intelligent he was as a businessperson. I meet a lot of people that go to Harvard and all these Ivy League schools, and they have these business degrees, but they could never compete with the way that he was. I was always impressed by his ethic in terms of work in building a brand and building who he was. He had rock-star energy, like on set when he would get on his ATV…and then ride off into the distance, and we'd see him going over the horizon while we're shooting… They're like, 'Where's Jason?' And then maybe 15 minutes later, this little spec would come over the horizon, and here he comes."

The two also discussed Trang, who had roles in the comedy Spy Hard and The Crow: City of Angels in 1996 after her work on MMPR. "She was awesome to work with. She became a very dear friend of mine," Johnson said before sharing a story about the 1994 Los Angeles earthquake. "One of my favorite memories is, during the earthquake, she was sleeping over… Thuy was sleeping in my bed, and we woke up, and it sounded like nuclear war was happening. And we sat in the doorway, and we both prayed in our own ways and then lit candles on a gas stove." "The power's out all throughout the city," Yost added, "Rreeways have collapsed, and our phones are ringing somehow, saying, 'You guys, you have to come to work.' The mayor of Los Angeles is saying, do not leave your house, but you need to come in through that now. So, we all drove down there, and inside the studio, the ceiling had fallen down, and we were getting ready in the dark, and they're trying to find a generator to get power. And, finally, after about five hours, they said, 'Yeah, We can't do this.' It was really crazy. At least we were all together."

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