Right now, you can watch the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once and Always reunion special on Netflix. It brings back several of your favorite actors who were initially poorly paid when the franchise began and, while some performers chose not to take part, there is some confusion on who is standing in for Jason David Frank as the Tommy Oliver character who leads the team.
The answer is not entirely clear. Frank chose to not participate in the special which was filmed before his death last year, and during the program the character only appears in his morphed form. The odds are it is a stunt performer who is not yet publicly named (and may never be), however, there are some tributes to Frank to a degree when he is on the screen.
The show uses archived audio of Frank from earlier appearances in the franchise, and, probably out of respect, the character is written out of the scene where he is shrunken down and kidnapped by the resurrected robotic Rita Repulsa after a couple of fight sequences. In the end, the surviving and participating rangers gather for a dinner and fans are presented with earlier footage of the cast hanging out and listening to some music before a tribute to Frank and the also-deceased Thuy Trang come up on screen. This has moved a number of people to tears and evoked strong emotions online, though, for others who are more critical of those who steer the franchise, using Frank’s voice after his disagreements with Hasbro is downright ghoulish and akin to robbing someone’s grave in order to make a couple of bucks to satisfy those who want to see investment returns.
Those looking to revisit Frank’s earlier run in the role can find the first episodes in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers franchise on Netflix today. As well, if you are curious about what happened to others in the original cast, you can read about them here and find out just why Kimberly Hart actress Amy Jo Johnson declined to go over to New Zealand and participate in the project here. Another reboot of the property for the big screen is also in development, and, though news about it has been quiet in recent years, it has been reported it will involve some time travel, not bring back any old cast, and will be at Paramount and set in the 1990s as well.