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Erik Frank Was Originally Going To Be The Gold Zeo Ranger: EXCLUSIVE

Jason David Frank’s brother, Erik Frank, was originally meant to be the Gold Zeo Ranger. The Power Rangers actor recalls how it all went down.
Erik Frank

Why It Didn’t Work Out On Power Rangers For Erik Frank

Coming from behind the scenes to in front of the camera can be quite a change. Especially if you’re not used to the process and the paces the Power Rangers set was putting their actors through. It seems this may have been the case for Erik. Here’s what the actor recalls:

Unfortunately, the fifth episode of however many episodes he was in, my brother was kind of like, “Eh, I don’t want to work with a company like that.” It had nothing to do with his acting or character. Saban is a very hardcore company to work for, as you can hear from all the other actors. And when you’re not used to it and you want changes, that’s not going to happen – especially as a new character. You can’t use any kind of power trip on Saban, because you will disappear and get replaced. And I think he just got to the point where it was very hard for him. It wasn’t necessarily hard; they were just talking about giving him more episodes, and he wanted to make sure this is a job he could handle.


Because my brother was tough; he had charisma. It would be so funny when he hit a mark, he’d just turned into, “Tommy, is that you?” And then we’d be like, “Cut! What’s wrong with you, man?” He’d say, “This is a lot harder.” I said, “No, you’re a big, tough guy.” He said, “Let’s do it again.” So time and time again, he had this actor’s voice that he was discovering that wasn’t natural on a set with 100 people.

Remember, he used a grip, so he was on that side watching the whole time. Now he’s on this side, watching the grip, so I think it kind of tripped him up a bit. He was great, though. He loved it, and he was supposed to the prime for it, but then something happened. There was a dubbing, I think, when he was in the surf episode. I have to listen carefully – I’m sure you guys can listen more carefully because I haven’t gone back – but there’s a line that they said that wasn’t his voice. And he didn’t understand that, like, “How come they’re looping my voice when I could have easily looped it.” That’s where the problems came out. They used to do that, just loop your voice lines; I think it was coming out of the water. There’s one line that I think Scott Page did. And Eric was kind of like, “What is that all about?” “Hey, dude, welcome to Power Rangers. If you’re unavailable, and they need something, they’ll get it done.” That’s kind of where it turned into a “I’m not sure I want to work with these guys” type of thing.

Erik Frank

Erik Frank sadly passed away April 16th, 2001. His brother, Jason David Frank, carries his legacy on as well as some of his memories. We hope that Power Rangers fans around the world could learn a little bit more about Erik and the legacy he left on the show.

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Joe Deckelmeier

Joe Deckelmeier

Joe Deckelmeier is an editor and co-founder of The Illuminerdi, as well as a journalist for Screen Rant. He loves films, wrestling, and all manner of storytelling.