Hollywood Demons Explores Dark Side of the Power Rangers in New Clip (Exclusive)

Investigation Discovery’s Hollywood Demons documentary series will shift the spotlight to the Power Rangers franchise in its next episode, which will debut on Max on April 7th, and we’ve got an exclusive first-look clip of the episode right here. The documentary will explore a host of dark and tragic moments over the franchise’s history, and one of the first issues up to bat is the contracts that took advantage of those new to Hollywood and the business, setting them up for extreme working conditions for very little pay. You can watch the full clip in the video above.

The clip begins with Audri Dubois, who fans will remember as the original Yellow Ranger in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers pilot. Dubois reveals how she got the original contract, which was sent later in the day and required return first thing in the morning, leaving little time for anyone to take a look at those contracts and spot any issues.

“So we were told that we were to sign a contract, it was like 6 o’clock, 7 o’clock at night, and we were told that we needed to return by the next morning by 7 AM,” Dubois said. “If we were one minute past 7 AM, you were not going to be up for this at all, you will be cut out.”

Being that this was before email or our more connected online world, it was harder to get in touch with an agent or a lawyer at that time of night to take a look, and the fact that they wanted first thing in the morning meant you couldn’t have someone look any contracts over the next day either. All of this was seemingly done to avoid that sort of analysis, and it seemingly worked, as most just signed and hoped they could work any issues out later.

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Power Rangers was a non-union show, which meant that pay and work conditions didn’t have to be in line with the standards of the industry. Comparisons are brought up other Union shows at the time, and while a lead actor on an episode of a union show could make 50,000 per episode, we see numbers on the Power Rangers contracts that show Ranger actors making $750 per half-hour episode and $1125 per one-hour episode.

“I was naive enough to think ‘okay if I sign this contract then we could talk numbers later, so I signed the contract,” Debois said. These contracts are referred to at the clip’s end as making it “okay to work you to death, and they did.” You can find the official descrioption for the episode below.

“Every ‘90s kid remembers Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the ultimate live-action, superhero show. Beneath the bright spandex and high-flying karate kicks lies a grim reality of tragedy and scandals. Viewers will watch never-before-seen footage of a fan-turned-gunman who had one horrifying mission: to assassinate the show’s most legendary star. And just a few years later, the same actor meets a grim fate.”

Hollywood Demons Dark Side of the Power Rangers will premiere on Max Monday, April 7th at 9 PM EST.

What did you think of the clip? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things Power Rangers with me on Bluesky @knightofoa.