Hi, I'm Amy Jo Johnson. I played Kimberly the Pink Power Ranger on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. And I'm co -writer with Matt Hodson on MMPR The Return. And you're listening to the Oblivion Bar podcast. Welcome to the Oblivion Bar podcast with your host Chris Hacker and Aaron Knowles. Hello everyone, welcome to episode 155 of the Oblivion Bar podcast, the official podcast of the Fancy Shop in St. Charles, Missouri.
I'm your floating head existing outside of time giving directions to teenagers with attitude, Chris Hacker, and joining me this week is my confused Android advisor and second in command, my co -host and BFF, Aaron Knowles. Welcome everybody back to the Oblivion Bar podcast for episode 155, boy boy, do we have... a special treat for you all here today because we are joined by the original Pink Ranger, Kimberly and Hart, a .k .a. Amy Jo Johnson's on the Oblivion Bar podcast live, Aaron from C2E2.
Yes, you make it almost sound like zero energy there. I was just thinking because you make it sound like she's on the grid here with us right now. She's not here right now. No, she's not here right now. But yeah, no. And we've said this. We say this in the conversation. I don't know how much I want to really prep this.
I don't know how much I want to really set this up, Aaron, because I think if you just say out loud to everyone listening right now, Amy Jo Johnson, the again, the original Pink Ranger famed director, songwriter, all the she was on Felicity, guys. All right. Do I need to say any more? Suzy Q is joining us on the Oblivion Bar podcast. Yeah, it's insane. Do we need to say much more? Honestly. And here's the thing.
I want to kind of preface all this because our setting that we had for this conversation. God, horrible. I'm so sorry. Horrific and it's not your fault. It's not Amy's fault. It's not my fault It was just a we had we were helped We were kind of dealt a bad deal when it came to our situation in terms of where Amy was staying because we wanted to meet her where she we want to make this as easy as possible Yeah, for her right? Yeah, she's with her daughter at CTE to you.
She didn't hear she was busy traveling She was busy doing stuff all day. She wanted to spend time get back to her family and we totally understood that so we wanted to facilitate an interview in a place that was closed and convenient for her and that was you know, what I found was, okay, so I went and I did the normal thing that I usually do when I conduct interviews. I usually go and I scope out where I'm gonna conduct it or at least a good place to do it.
And that's what I did was I went to her hotel. I asked the people actually at the desk, I was like, hey, I'm about, you know, one of your guests is coming on a show. You know, I'm not gonna name names just because I don't need a name drop, but we're doing an interview. Is there potentially like an office space, something that I could use to interview her?
And they're like, no, sir, unfortunately, you know, we only have the ballrooms, places like that, that you have to put that in a deposit, pay for, blah, blah. And I'm like, okay. Which is dumb, by the way, stupid. Slightly makes sense, but also is dumb. You know, why not facilitate something? 30 minutes is all we need. Exactly. I'm not going in there and like shitting on the floor and you guys have to like clean it up and call in. I was planning on doing that, but yeah, you're right.
Yeah, I thought about it, but no, I found this spot upstairs and during the week, obviously secluded. It was nice. It was quiet. There wasn't a lot of people walking through. I didn't account for the fact that the interview was Friday night and there was gonna be a lot of drunk and disorderly people going through the lobby, which to be honest, still caught me off guard with the fact that that was a fairly nice like hotel. Like that's a swanky hotel.
Like that's a Michael Jordan like backed intercontinental, you know, John Wick looking fucking, you know, like hotel. Like you don't expect people to be walking through being belligerently drunk or loud, you know? There was a steakhouse attached to it. So that definitely plays into it. Luckily. You know, there was this back hallway and you know, Amy was totally cool about it. She even helped carry a chair back there. We brought she led the way.
Yeah, she went and she was like, this is not going to do. Again, there was like several things that like I was super like I was a bit embarrassed about, but she definitely took charge, like, like led the way. It was a good sport, was a good sport, typical Power Ranger power move. Yeah. So just took over the team. We were again, we were Alpha five and Zordon and she was like, listen, I got this. Pterodactyl bitches, let's go total baddie with an addy. That's right.
We didn't get to call her a baddie with an addy during that conversation. Glad I didn't. It goes without saying, Aaron, she already knows, you know. And but the thing is, all that to be said in this conversation, we obviously don't have the equipment that we have here that you're listening to right now. So there is kind of that you want to kind of understand that. But again, I think all things considered with the environment, with the equipment, with the time of day, we had a long con.
All three of us had a long con before that. Amy. Definitely more so than either one of us. But, you know, we all were kind of feeling the effects of C2E2 before that conversation. And truthfully, all that to be said, all of those prerequisites out of the way. Great conversation. I've already added to the episode, obviously, because you're about to listen to it. But when I was listening, I was like, wow, we really I mean, we persevered through this thing.
And again, I think a lot of credit is owed to to Amy and what she gave to us. All things considered. Absolutely. You know, and everything that led up to the conversation again, super friendly.
Shout out to her boyfriend Matt Hudson who was actually her co -writer on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers The Return Which we I mean to be honest, I had no idea that that was her boyfriend So neither like that was it that was an incredible play plot twist and then the fact that Chris you got to meet him As well at C2E2. I didn't get a chance to I tried swung by the booth a couple times I went and got some more signatures and I paid for them.
So it was you know, it was definitely a fun opportunity to to really get to like, I don't know, like live out a childhood fantasy. 100%. Yeah. I mean, this is, we often talk about what are the perks of this show is a labor of love. Let's be honest. Like this is the thing that we don't necessarily have to put out, but we like doing it cause it's fun. And there are perks.
This being one of them, why in the world would Amy Jo Johnson want to talk to us for any other reason outside of the fact that we have a platform that we have comic creators on. And like you said, Aaron, unfortunately we didn't get to have Matt on the show, but we all made a pact.
that down the road once the return is finished and done, we're all going to get together virtually and discuss this book in detail because outside of the fact that we just want to talk to Amy Jo Johnson, this book is for Power Rangers fans. Like if you are a fan of Power Rangers, whether that be an older fan like me, I say during the conversation, I was prime for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers fandom. I was born in 91, so I was like right there in the heat of it.
Or if you follow the franchise going forward and you're still a fan today, this is something that I think you can latch onto and enjoy because it. balances that nostalgia of the old show elements of that original series, those first couple of seasons and brings it into the future. And I don't know if this is necessarily canon, but it doesn't matter because it's a good story and the art is incredible, too.
Yeah. I mean, that's the other thing is I don't think it's a canon story story, because when I was looking and doing some research, it said that it was more of like a what if story. So like an alternate kind of timeline. So I find it to be very interesting. And it's. The other thing that I was going to I was going to tell you also is I don't know if you saw this, but Austin St. John, who is also the power, who was the Red Power Ranger, he was at the convention as well.
Had a brief conversation with him. I would like to, you know, it would be cool to get another Power Ranger Billy or David Yost, who played Billy. He was there as well. And he's definitely interested in coming on to the show as well. And I'd love to just get all of them. Yeah, just all. And then like mash it all together in one episode and then. Call it like the, the dragon episode. Yeah. That'd be cool.
Getting to meet each of these, like, you know, actors was an incredible experience that, that, you know, honestly didn't even think it was going to happen. The name didn't think I could make it happen, but it was a great opportunity. So I'm super psyched about that. Can't wait to, to, to continue working to get these guys on. Cause it would be, it would be totally cool to get more power Rangers on. Can I really quick? I just want to because we don't really talk about him during the conversation.
But Nico Leon, who is the artist on this series, really good. Like this is this is a really good looking book. We don't really get to talk about the return as much as I would like to. Again, we're going to have a conversation down the road. But I will say, let me just kind of set up the return for everybody just in case for whatever reason you haven't either heard of this or wasn't weren't familiar.
But in an alternate universe, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers finally defeat Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd. But a terrible at a terrible cost in the wake of a tragedy, the team went their separate ways. 22 years later, the long disbanded team reunites to mourn the loss of the beloved friends. But Zach and Billy have some unexpected information to share. Jason, the Red Ranger, has been operating as a lone vigilante and has since disappeared.
Will the remaining Rangers be able to track him down, especially with a mysterious figure in pursuit? And again, this is kind of told from the perspective of Kimberly in the stories, obviously, because Amy is a co -writer on the series. But I think and again, you'll hear it in this conversation. Amy is very quick and very often giving a lot of credit to Matt. and not only his love for the medium, but his ability to kind of take over and understand kind of the inside baseball of comics, right?
Enough preamble, Aaron, before we get into the conversation with Amy, let's talk about Patreon really quick. Tell the people how they can support the show. You guys can help support the show by visiting us over at patreon .com forward slash Olivia and BarrePod. For your support, you can have access to the grid, which is our weekly exclusive bonus podcast episode. only for the Patreon members. It's where we get to just let loose, have fun and just go off the rails. You know what I'm saying?
Yeah. You get episode transcripts, you get early access to normal episodes. You get to hear that before everybody else. And a special shout out at the end of each episode, which I do. And I get to call everybody out and tell them how much we appreciate them. It's honestly the best way to support the show. It's a good time. Again, you won't see anything like it anywhere else. And it's just, again, all that you do to support us. We give right back to the show.
It all goes right back into the show because we want to make this show the best that it can be 100%. And you know how we can make it the best it can be is by having Amy Jo Johnson on the show, which you're going to listen to here in just a moment. So without further ado, let's go ahead and get into our conversation live from C2E2 with the original Pink Ranger, Kimberly Ann Hart, Amy Jo Johnson. Hey everyone, Aaron Knowles here, co -host of the Oblivion Bar podcast.
Have you ever wondered how you can support those who have served or serve our country currently? If you have, listen up. Shred the Stress is a nonprofit that I started which is dedicated to supporting the mental, emotional, and physical health of our military communities using one wheels, electric scooters, and other personal electric vehicles. You can support several ways, following us on social media at Shred the Stress on all platforms, donating to paypal .me forward slash shred the stress.
or even choosing Shred the Stress as your Amazon Smile supported nonprofit. That's right, you can support Shred the Stress with every Amazon purchase. For more information, please go to shredthestress .org and if you need support, never be afraid to reach out. this week's special guest. Hello everyone, welcome back to the Oblivion Bar podcast.
I am Chris Hacker, I'm joined here by my BFF and co -host Erin Knowles and joining us this week here live at C2E2, you may know her as the original Pink Ranger, Kimberly Hart. We are joined by the wonderful Amy Jo Johnson. Welcome to the show, Amy. Thanks for having me. Yeah. Before we get into like the questions and all the things, I have to give a big, big kudos to my friend Erin Knowles here. He is my friend. BFF, heterosexual life partner, all the things.
All the things that we've been through. Yeah, I'm telling you. Well, he is the one who made this all happen. So Erin, thank you so much for bringing us all three of us here together. I didn't do anything. I just reached out to... My boyfriend did it, actually. yes. I was saying. I told him, offer to come on your show. And he checked you guys out and he was very excited. Yes, that's incredible. He's like, you have to do this. Okay, so here I am. Who's the boyfriend?
Matt, the co -writer of The Return. yes, of course. Yeah. Matt Hudson. Shout out to Matt. And also I'm going to be feeding off the fact that Matt got to our website that I've worked on. Aaron will tell you, worked on it to like legitimize the whole thing and the fact that he said yes, or you said yes because that is incredible. So, Aaron, I'm going to pass the baton off to you. Do you want to ask our first question here?
Sure. First, I'm going to, I'm going to just say thank you so much for being here. I actually talked to David Yost earlier today and just. the amount of revelry, the amount of people that just appreciate what you have all done, what you have done throughout your career as well. It's appreciated so much, the things that you stood up for, the things you kind of worked on, especially with like union stuff and how actors are treated at the beginning of their careers. I super appreciate it.
My wife is actually a SAG actress as well. So knowing the stuff that you went through doing non -union work at the beginning of your career is just immensely like just kind of... It's hard to appreciate something that seems kind of like tragic, but at the same time... I wouldn't call it tragic. It was my first job as an actress. I mean, in hindsight, I had a blast personally, and I stayed on the show until I was ready to leave. And I was super young. It was my first gig.
I didn't have an agent yet. So I didn't really understand the situation that we were in until after. and then getting more educated with like safety on set. Yeah, because some of our audience members might not know there was quite a few incidents that occurred, especially during the production of the movie where at least almost, I think at this one time you were almost set on fire. in Turbo, in the second movie, not in Australia, but when we were shooting.
Yes, I think I was hanging with Austin over a volcano or something like that. And It was a little sketchy. And I said, I don't think I can do this. And actually Austin stepped up and was like, get us down from here. This is not safe. And we stopped. I don't remember how they fixed the situation. Cause I mean, we still shot it. I don't remember. Yeah, we still did it. I don't know. Maybe they turned off the fire or made the flames a little bit smaller. I'm not sure.
But I kind of wanted to bring your mind back to that first kind of place in your career because you're originally from, I think, what, Massachusetts? Yeah, Cape Cod. Yes. So what kind of motivated you and spurred that kind of change in your life to move to LA to start your career? Well, first, I moved to New York City and I went to AMDA, American Musical Dramatic Academy. And I actually was there for the first year.
And then I didn't get asked back to the second year because I had really bad stage fright. And so then I ended up going to Lee Strasburg Institute. And then I followed a boy cross country to Los Angeles. He was a very nice guy. And he drove a little red Miata and I had my little red rabbit. gosh, it would be W. And it was so, I mean it was like a piece of work. I remember I had to use a screwdriver to turn it on. Like it was just, anyway, no comparison to his Miata.
Sure. Anyway, and then I went out to LA. Yeah. And Power Rangers was my first real audition. Wow. And remind me, and I might be remembering this incorrectly, but you guys talked, already talked about it in terms of like unionization and all that and how you guys were paid next to nothing. Was it like 160 or what was it? 600 a week? I thought it was 700, but I don't know. David Yost's hindsight is way better than mine.
I think we got paid $700 a week, but I do know that at one point David came over and my house apartment that I was renting and he opened a drawer and it was filled with checks that I hadn't put in the bank yet. Like, I don't know what I was doing. We were just working six days a week and I'd get paid and I'd stick it in a drawer and then I don't know. At some point he's like, you have to put that in the bank. I'm like, okay.
I'm just hoping that one time they merge into a giant check that I can carry down. That's right. Sorry, I just had this thought of after I left the show, I didn't work for two years. And so we didn't make a ton of money during the show. And I remember going to Stan in the unemployment line. my gosh. And realizing that I really, cause there was no online unemployment at that time. And realizing how big the show was. I mean, that is - It's outstanding in the unemployment line.
That was kind of, I mean, that centers around the questions I had. It's like, you guys, it seemed like within the six months of the show kind of debuting, it kind of blew up, correct? I mean, Fox Kids and everything that, I mean, I know as a young person that grew up with it, I mean, I was born in 91. So I was in the heat of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, you know, madness. You were a baby. shoot. Sorry, that's Matt. Let me just turn this off. He wishes he could be here.
He's coming tomorrow actually. good, we might swing by and say hi. So my question was just kind of like, what was the revelation? You know, you were young, like you said, you were just kind of like living by the seat of your pants, just going forward, weren't thinking when you finally realized how big it was, was there ever a moment you're like, how are we this big? And just still, you know, yeah, there was a lot of very surreal sort of. my God, what is happening moments?
I remember one during lunch when we were shooting, not at Castaic Lake, because we weren't there yet. We were still in Culver City. And all of a sudden there was like a bus of kids that were in the park having a picnic or something and they started screaming. And we were like, I was like, wow. And I remember Austin and maybe even Walter just really eating that up. And we're just like, wow. And anyway, the whole thing was kind of like, okay, this is a show that kids really like.
As I'm wearing pink spandex on national television, okay. Well, I'm telling you, I mean, truthfully, and I don't mean to like take it to the realm of just absolute weirdness when you're right here in front of me, but you were like my first crush, I would say as a young person, you watching you guys up there everything like every Saturday morning. I like for the majority of my life leading up to, you know, into adulthood. My mom even made this funny, Kimberly is your big crush.
And I carried the pink, I had an actual pink, I don't know what you call those dolls, but it was kind of like - They're kind of like Barbie dolls, but not, you're talking about the - They're like a fabric doll. The fabric one. You know what I'm talking about? They're so weird, aren't they? Yeah, but yeah, I had them, everyone's looking at me like, why do you have pink range? I'm like, have you guys seen Kimberly? She's awesome.
You were so young though, because the show came out 92, didn't it air? So you were one. I was one. I'm very very very very very very very very very You went so little. I know. Well, I kind of want to make sure that we, you know, we talk about it also your, your other creativity that's kind of like spawn, you know, spurred from, from the rest of that. You've done three big albums. You had a... I don't know about big. I've done three albums. You've done three albums. I have an EP coming out soon.
Okay. But you've had, you've had, you know, selections from those featured in feature films. You know, you've had what you were nominated for. What was it? Or you won a Gemini award. I was nominated for a Gemini. For Flashpoint. Flashpoint, yes. So you've done, and then I'm sorry, I know we talked about this, there was an episode of a show, Superman and Lois. Superman and Lois. That I directed. Tried and true. Absolutely, yeah. Which is an incredible series too. Yeah, so good. I just send it.
So I'm just curious, a lot of what you've done throughout your career has felt very emotional and emotionally charged, especially in some of the movies that you've... your micro, as they say, micro budget films, but when you're writing these films, when you're writing these music or these songs, these albums, how does that, how do you like kind of do that process? Or for you, because we find that it tends to be very unique per creator.
What's it like for you kind of putting yourself out there with others? Yeah, you know, I'm a very much an open book. I think a lot of the times, maybe to a fault, I don't know. I think as an actor, I was, almost too vulnerable. I didn't enjoy the entire ride of being an actress. I mean, I had moments where I loved working on a show like Flashpoint or I did The Division or Felicity and even Power Rangers and the families that you get from those shows.
But I much rather be behind the camera and writing and directing is my absolute passion. And music has always been... sort of a cathartic place for me to work through things that I'm going through, losses, just stuff. Like the three songs that I have coming out soon, which are all done, I'm just figuring out like the release date, they're all from journals, lyrics from journals that I've had from years ago even, and then some of them from now. But I don't know, I think that's what art is, right?
Like you just kind of throw yourself at it. And I don't think I'm the most consistent artist. But that's okay. In what way? What do you mean by that? Well, because I'm a feeler. I'm not like a cerebral person. I don't like, I'm like, I write from the gut. I used to try to act from the gut, but I like, actually, I'm going to take half of that back. I write from the gut and I've learned structure and I've learned how to write properly within the realms of getting a script going.
And then, With directing, it's the first time that it's like the technical aspects of it. Every aspect of directing is so intriguing to me that I do the homework that I really sort of dive in into any other aspect of creative stuff that I do. For me, directing is like, I think I found exactly what I was meant to do. Sure. Yeah. What aspects? That was a long random tangent. That's a perfect way to describe it. Yeah. Especially when you find your niche that's...
That is an absolute, I don't know, like, epiphanic moment. That's a neat word. Yeah, I just made it up. To find your purpose in your meeting, it's freeing. It's relaxing. I felt almost like an exhale of like, okay. Although I find directing and getting movies up and off the ground way harder than it ever was to... book a TV show as an actress. I was very lucky in that way. I worked consistently as an actor and it's harder to get an entire movie up and off the ground.
Yeah, actually that tied into a question I had, which was taking all the time that you had from the 90s on, you're working as an actor, going through all that. Now you're in the director seat. Is there a particular lesson that you learned from being an actor that you sort of try to bring to your sets? Is there some kind of safe zones or some kind of less, some kind of rule that you have in place when you're on set that you wish you had when you were an actor?
I don't know about I wish I had, but there's certainly things that I've taken from my time as an actress into how I direct. A few things that sort of pop into my head. I love to turn the camera on and not turn it off until we're done with that setup and it can drive not the actors love it and editor loves it as well. A DP might not love it if he has like haze happening in the room.
Consistency. Yeah, but I find to give the actor the time to be able to run through the scene, reset, run it again, reset, even run it a third time is really freeing, I've found. So I love working that way because I think you really get cool stuff coming from.
actors and then the other piece of advice that I was given by Tom Kavanaugh somebody connected me with him before I went to do Superman and Lois and He advised me to proceed with gratitude and I'm telling you it's like a really great way to approach Working as a director because I think everybody is there to collaborate everybody's doing trying to do their best everybody is trying to bring what they have to the table and I even if it's not what you had in mind or
whatever, as long as everybody is appreciated, I think then it works well. I'm not going to lie. You have like this when you talk about directing, you have this like energy that you put off. I'm not going to when we first started this, when you're like getting ready to walk back, I was so nervous. I was so nervous. Aaron wants to admit this now. We're 16 minutes in now. I know. I just want to put obviously people could probably tell that I was nervous.
But you have this vibe when you talk about this energy. super calming so you can tell, you know, normally when you get to that like rhythm of talking about something that you know, it just kind of flows out of you. It becomes this calming almost flowy feeling. So it's kind of taking me over to like I'm relaxing now. I feel like I'm turning off my eyes. I'm starting to relax. Yeah, yeah.
So no, but it's, I'm absolutely happy like, you know, when people find their passion, like I said, because for me, Chris, you're kind of the same way. Chris is a, I'm, because one thing I want to talk about is the return obviously. Writing that and you said that you have this method of how you direct but you're a little bit different when you create and write. He's trying to get into writing also so I love when he talks. Screenplays or comic books? Comics, yeah.
So I'm trying to get him to motivate himself. So hopefully talking to other people who've actually gone out and done it is gonna make it better but I want to hear about the return and how it was kind of like why now? And then what kind of inspired this what if love letter? Can we briefly set up the return just in case? I'm sure most folks are familiar with your return to Power Rangers. This is a brand new story through Boom Studios with you and your partner slash your co -writer.
What's his last name? Matt. Matt Hotzman. Thank you. And then the artist is? Nico Leon. Thank you. Yes. And you have three issues out thus far as of this recording, which we're on April 26th. So. And it's great thus far. I feel like it's got a great mixture of a nostalgia, but also bringing something new, something, a very interesting perspective. So yeah, just to kind of, you know, build off what Erin's saying, what brought you back to the franchise in this form?
So right before the pandemic started, I had an idea for a TV show called Olivia Heart, and it would be about Tommy and Kimberly's daughter. And so it was sort of this futuristic kind of like dark angel. mixed with Supergirl kind of idea that I had and I was writing this pitch and I realized very quickly that this is a franchise that is owned by Hasbro now and it's like, it would be a gazillion doors to crawl through.
So I was telling Matt about it, my boyfriend, who is a massive comic book collector and his dream has always been to write a comic book. And with talking with him, we were like, this would, well, actually he said, this would make a really great comic book. My idea for the show was very, very different than what this is now. Then the pandemic hit.
And so then we had a lot of time on our hands and just sort of dreamt up this story of a what if knowing that the 30th anniversary is coming and then reaching out to Boom. And, you know, Matt had read all these books on how to pitch to comic book. places. Publishers and such. Yeah. And he said, you cannot send them this outline and everything that we've written. Like that is like you just not allowed to do that. And I said, but that's what I'm exactly what I'm doing.
Sorry, I'm Kimberly Hart. They're going to look at this pitch. You got it? I don't know if they will. But to be fair, if you went in that way, I'm almost positive that Boone would be like. Yes, we're listening. Well, it took a year. So I wrote to Daphna, who was the editor at the time for Power Rangers. And she did respond and she was quite excited, but we really never heard back. Whatever, it doesn't matter. I'm making a really, I'm making, this is getting really boring. What I'm talking about.
We're in the process. We gotta trust the process. Okay, well then it was about a year later. They asked, they were doing the Kickstarter for, I don't know, they were. releasing all the issues of Power Rangers or something. And they asked me and David and JDF to be a part of that. And then I said, me and Matt have this comic book idea. What it is and where it was way before Jason left. And when that happened, there was a moment between me and Matt where we were like, no. how is this gonna work?
And it's ended up being this really sort of beautiful tribute to him as well that is really kind of cool. That the storyline was already there before, so that was really interesting. And nice, in a strange sort of cathartic way to revisit his character as well. You guys are so intrinsically tied, not only as you know, option.
friends outside the show but of course within those first couple seasons you guys are dating of course in the show and he's a foil at one point and it's all this like this really cool the way you tie in the return with obviously your guys the child that comes and takes over the role of the Pink Ranger of course we've got Rita Pulsar's kid in there as well Olivia yeah it's all great stuff I'm sure I don't need to tell anyone that's listening to this right now but
If you're a fan of the Power Rangers in any sense, whether that be the current stuff or the Mighty Morphin stuff from the beginning, this is like, this is our bag. This is our bag. You guys are doing a great job. Thank you so much. We really were, what's so great about me and Matt as a team in writing it was me bringing the perspective of Kimberly and playing that character. But Matt is also 14 years younger than me. So he comes from that. generation. He was more of a Ninja Turtles person.
But I really... We could be friends. Yeah. So yeah, he's the Ninja Turtles guy. I'm the Power Rangers guy. Yeah. But really one of the things that we wanted to do is try to figure out the right tone for you guys to love it and have it still be nostalgic to what the show is. You nailed it. good. So what I was going to say is we actually had a panel today earlier at the convention and we were talking about kind of these... titles that have kind of hit mainstream, that have come out of nowhere.
Now, Power Rangers is much different because Power Rangers, and I was talking to Chris about this, Power Rangers always feels like there's always like a team there. Like there's always a Power Rangers team that is like there saving the day and being like the Rangers, the team. But it's different because as an old head, we look back at the original team and it's like, that's our team. And even though there's always a Ranger there, it also still feels like that old team never left.
But this... really feels like the first, kind of like out of nowhere, the real first like throwback to what feels nostalgic. It just hits, like it hits in a way that is, again, when I talk to you like about your creative passion, you can feel it in there, whether it's, you know, your storytelling and Matt helping you, like you guys have nailed it. that's so cool.
Yeah, we went back and we watched a bunch of episodes and really tried to figure out the right place to jump off of where this new sort of universe. begins with Rita instead, with not having the white ranger. And it's fun. It's fun. It's so nice that people really loved it. You know how much that means? Like it's, it's really cool. Especially most, I mean, I'm happy about a lot of things that of the success of the comic book, but for Matt, because this is his dream to write comic books.
And the fact that you guys are loving it so much, I think is really cool because I'm hoping it sets. up because he's such a good writer. I think it also helps, to be honest, again, for us old heads to know that there is your stories together, but you are essentially where a lot of this is inspired from. It's coming from you. Matt's helping, but he wasn't necessarily there. So I think it helps us as fans feel like ...
That's one of my questions is going to be, there is such a connection, a strong connection between the fans. all the way back to you, their kids, their generations, all this inspiration that has come from you and what your team did in the original Power Rangers. How do you reconcile that feeling now, looking back on everything that's happened and this story? Yeah, especially with it being the 30th anniversary, right? And David and Walter and Catherine and Johnny and I forget who else.
Steve go, I don't know, doing the anniversary. I had chosen not to do that. One, because I have not been in front of the camera in a long time and I stopped acting for a reason. I really wanted to just focus on writing and directing. So in doing this, it's really nice to have this gesture to the franchise. I keep using the word cathartic, but it has been a sort of cathartic thing, especially with revisiting. Tui's character a bit has been really cool. Or just playing homage to her character.
And then revisiting Tommy with missing Jason. My brain just keeps going to the fact that Matt had brought so much to the table as well. With carving the story out. He understands comic books so... I mean, I write screenplays. So I don't necessarily, and he writes Green Place too as well, but that's what, but he reads, I mean, the man buys probably, I don't know, 20 to 30 comic books a week. I wanna know about Matt's pool now. I'm curious. you guys have to talk to Matt.
He's gonna be here tomorrow. You could probably pull him aside and do an interview with him. That'd be incredible. We'd love to. I'm working on it, unfortunately, but if I can find my way around at some point. Yeah, no, because he is lost to set. You guys would love him. But anyway, what I was gonna say about that is, Collaborating on the storytelling was truly between Matt and I and coming up with the story and watching all of the stuff and bringing the heart to it.
But when it comes to the technical side of it, like when Daphne and Kenzie send us the book to spot check for lettering, that's really Matt. I mean, I'll go back after he does all the notes and then read it and be like, I don't know if that should be right there. It's all that stuff, like the technical stuff that he's so good at. Yeah. Did you apply it in your directorial skills? You're kind of going back and reviewing it, editing it. Well, we both do. But he's a first AD. And that's how we met.
So on Tammy's Always Dying, which was my feature that I directed, he was my first AD. So he was like my right hand man and also runs the set and does so much more. You probably nailed that gig, didn't he? As your AD? he was awesome. He did. He kissed me at the wrap party, but shh. That's all you have to do. I was like, you know what? You have to nail your job, kiss the wrap party. He made me laugh the entire shoot and that was nailing his job. Yeah. That should be a movie.
He's going to kill me that I said he kissed me at the wrap party. No, he was awesome. He's a very, very good first AD. He's one of the best. assuming. he's awesome because he has a very dry sense of humor. He keeps the crew laughing and he's pretty great. Well Amy, we're kind of nearing the end here. I don't want to keep you too long. You've had a long day. It's been a long con for all of us here.
I just want to say from both of us, appreciate you so much and all the conditions that we've dealt with in the last 30 minutes and just agree. I know. Will you guys please edit me to sound? I kept spacing out because of all the noise and everything but anyway. Like you said. We made a pact already. We put our hands in the middle. You guys didn't hear or see it, but we put our hands in the middle. We said we're gonna bring Matt on virtually and you virtually at some point down the road.
We'll talk about this all together and we want people walking behind us. I wish he was here tonight. Yeah, but you guys definitely need to talk to him about this as well. We thank you so much for joining us. I'll pass the buck off to you if you have anything you want to say.
I just want to ask before we do go if there's anything that you want to plug, anything that's coming up, any other projects that you might want to... I have so many irons in the fire, but it's like I'm waiting for the water to boil for everything. But anyway, I have an EP coming out. That I have control over because I'm the one who went with an awesome producer named Nick. And so that's called Still Here. And I don't have a release date yet. The songs are finished.
I'm just trying to figure out the right way to do it. It's a crazy world. It's like we can. be creative and be artists in this world where there's like this online presence where you just like can throw things out there. And so it's like, okay, when do I throw it out? You know what I mean? It's easy to put it out there now that it used to be, right? Like podcast is an example of that. We could literally just edit, record, edit and put it out there. You could throw it out there tomorrow.
It's still about timing. You gotta make sure you get it right on the right time. It's about timing and figuring out like when is the right moment. Yeah. Yeah. And how many issues is the return going to be just kind of as a last question? So we have one more issue coming. Sure. Issue four. We have ideas and we're hoping that there's more. There's like a page turner in every issue, which is incredible.
Like every time that last page, you're like, my God, I don't want to spoil too much, but you know, yeah. Yeah, I'm hoping. Issue four, I think is we really love it. But and so we have ideas for more after that. We'll see how everything unfolds and see how it goes. But. Yeah, thanks for having me guys. That's been an absolute blast. Again, I'm honored that you agreed to come on the show and as Power Ranger fans, this is just an incredible experience.
And you have inspired us, you've inspired many people, and if we could ever speak on their behalf, just a small percentage, it would be just to say thank you. Aw, thanks. And just real quick, so you want to write comic books? Yeah, that's my passion. That's the eventual goal, right? So, yeah. That's cool. Yeah, and like you said earlier, the script writing and comic writing, they are not exactly the same, but there are, I would say they're cousins, right? In the way that they're formed.
Sure, storytelling, right? Yeah, and it's something I've been wanting to do for a long time and we didn't get time to get there and maybe we can in our next conversation, but the imposter syndrome is real, you know? And I'd say that's my big, they say that comparison is the enemy of something. Re -tuning? Maybe, yeah. so you're getting in your own way. 100%, yeah.
I've had my favorite author yell at me on the show telling me to get my ass to writing and put it out there and I'm still nervous about doing it. But it's interesting to hear about your idea for the show and how you thought Hasbro, it would be too many doors being... One of the titles that I actually want to write as far as the book is a Hasbro franchise or property. So I know all that. It's a... Ghostbusters based story. that's cool.
I don't know if I'll ever be able to, but I, you know, I talked to other Ghostbuster comic books. There are, yes. But this one's a book. I want to do a book for it because I have a, it's like a fictional, historical fictional, like World War II, kind of like spin off for Ghostbusters. But why do you need Ghostbusters? I, that's, and that's the, that's what the editor that I spoke to kind of says, like try and like just, you know, change a couple of small things.
But I happen to be a huge Ghostbusters. I volunteer with the New York City Ghostbusters. And so I'm just a fan of the Ghostbusters. It just fits perfectly. Wait, wait. Hang on a second. You do what? Like real life Ghostbusters? Yeah, so we have a volunteer. There's groups all over the world. but they're not really going to fight ghosts. No, no, no. You're going to know more than I do in just a moment. No, I have no idea. It's fun racing. I want to volunteer with the Ghostbusters.
When you come to New York, are you going to be at New York Comic Con? No. I'm like. I would want to volunteer with real live Ghostbusters. Are they real live Ghostbusters? I mean, they believe they are. Really? I'm stunned. I'm sure. What are we talking about right now? I don't know. We're about to get out of here. This is what happens. This is what you want. This is exactly what happens. Everybody, from Erin and I and Amy, Joe Johnson, thank you so much for being here. We appreciate it.
Thank you. You guys are awesome. We'll talk to you hopefully sometime in the future. OK, awesome. All righty, there's that conversation with Amy Jo Johnson. Once again, we cannot thank Amy enough for coming on the show. And we also, again, should give a big shout out to Matt for making it happen, because had he not looked at our website and seen that we were a legitimate operation here and not.
I mean, we are a couple of Yahoo's, but outside of that, we're a couple of Yahoo's that have we we put on a good show, put on a clean show, right? You know, we do things we do some things all right. So we appreciate Matt checking us out. And again, we've already said a couple of times, we'll say it one more time at some point down the road. We're going to have them back on the show to talk about the return in its entirety.
Full spoilers, all the things that will do for episode one fifty five of the Oblivion Bar podcast next week on the show. Aaron, I have no idea what we're doing. No clue. We were just prepared to know. No clue. So we'll figure that out. We'll figure that out as we go. You got to follow us on our socials to figure it out because episode one fifty six is currently a mystery. We were supposed to talk about the Knuckles TV show. We're Knuckles. We didn't talk about Knuckles.
Unfortunately, I didn't hear any good things about it. Did you? I've heard that it's fun. Like it has like some stuff, but I hear that it's just like, I mean, it's not, it's not anything that needs to be analyzed, like analyzed. Like I've heard it's just like, it's cool. It's, it's like, there's some fun things to check out. which is really disappointing because, you know, I happen to, I love Idris Elba. Yeah. You know, so it's kind of in this universe too. The universe is good.
Yeah. I mean, it's peacock, man. Peacock is just, truthfully, peacock is fucking up. They just they do not do anything great. I have not seen one thing on Peacock that I'm like, wow, they host a lot of the shit that you want to watch. Exactly. Had it had it not been for the office and parks and rec being on Peacock, I would not have Peacock. No doubt about it. But I will say I have heard a lot of good things about fallout. Maybe we'll talk about fallout. I know you like it.
I would absolutely rewatch fallout again. Again. I'm down for it. I'm going to do it. We we also have some interviews. coming down the pipeline, nothing to announce quite yet, but maybe we'll talk about Fallout, because as someone who's never played Fallout, I really like the series. It's pretty good. They're doing like this whole like next gen thing on PlayStation five. So it might be a good time for you to pick it up. I'm going to tell you right now. I will not do that.
I have no time for video games. I would love to. I genuinely love to play some one of the fall games, especially is it New Vegas that everyone really likes? New Vegas, number four. And I think number four is the one that's getting like the next gen treatment on the PS5. And then Fallout 76, which is like the MMO, which I mean, both are really fun. New Vegas is an absolute blast because the story is just amazing. Yeah, there's a lot. There's a lot to unpack.
I haven't even played Resident Evil 4. I haven't played Kenna. I haven't played. I haven't played all of Spider -Man 2. I'm like a quarter of the way through Spider -Man 2. I haven't been able to play anything that I want because of just this and work and everything else in my life. So to add on some fallout on top of that, there's just no possible way. It's an old head man. I can shout out to a shout out to G feel for sending me that's paperweight sitting on top of my entertainment system.
All right, everybody, that'll do it for episode one to fifty five. We'll let you know what we're doing next week. But until then, Aaron, go and take us out of here. All right. Thanks for that. Subscribe to our podcast, Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, Audible, I Heart Radio, wherever you listen to your your favorite podcast. That's where we are. Again, here is that shout out that I was talking about when we were referring to the whole Patreon thing. You know, we get shut.
We give shout outs every single time. So thank you to our patrons, Alex, Alice, Aaron, bottom from short bucks, Cassidy, Chris from model boom pod, Christie, David, Elliot, George, Greg from first issue club, Haley, ham six, Jake from spec tales, Jake S Jason, Jeremy, Kenny, Kyle, Lucy, Mac, Miles, Mike, Robert, Sean, Travis and Brandon leaves from common book couples counseling. Follow us on social media, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, blue sky threads.
And we're back at oblivion bar pod on Twitter as well. We're back. Yeah, we're back. thank you Omnibus for sponsoring the show. Use the link in our show notes to upgrade how you read comic books digitally. Official merch of the show can be found at our website, www .oblivionbarpodcast .com. Thank you Kevin Ziegler for all of our Oblivion Bar art. He's at the Ziggs on Instagram. Thank you Dream Kid for all of our musical themes. Thank you, TJ Skyvac for our grid theme.
Thank you Fantasy Shop for sponsoring the show. And last but not least, do not forget to tip your bartenders 20 % or more, or you're going to get shoved into a time capsule with Rita Repulsa and Ivan Ooze and Lord Zed. And then it's just a weird time. That's my biggest regret of this interview is not talking about Ivanu is one time should have brought him up one time, Aaron. I don't know why I couldn't. I had it in my brain.
I just as soon as she started laughing, I forgot everything that I was going to say. That's fair. When your dream crush is having a good time, everything else goes out the window. Yeah. When you're giving your little dream woman like a guttural laugh in front of you, this all right here goes blank and I'm pointing at my head right now.
So. Yeah, the fact that it again, everybody, if you enjoy that conversation, the fact that it turned out even kind of OK with all the obstacles, that's that's kudos to us and Amy for making it work. So once again, thank you everybody for listening to the Oblivion Bar podcast. We will see you next week for episode 156.