The development of Mutual Understanding "Mutual Understanding" (MU) is the broad name given to the feature of a Ranger Morph which allows the Ranger to control the functions of his / her morphed form, and (where relevant) their Zord. MU also works in reverse as a very powerful training tool, effectively instructing the Ranger as to how all the various functions work. The ability of a Ranger to very quickly come to terms with their powers and know how to use them without having to take ages to pre train is perhaps one of the most important advantages of the form, and why it has become the favoured personal defence / attack system throughout the galaxy. For most forms there is little need to have Ranger wannabees in training for years beforehand (although it helps). Ranger powers work "right out of the box". The younger the subject, the more effective MU can work to enhance and alter their motor function. Back before either XLPFE or Teleports were developed a number of schemes were already in advanced use which enabled fast telemetry links to exist between a biological being and a technological slave (and vice versa). Originally these developed from Computer Gaming and were used extensively in the art of Virtual Reality work. Around the same time "artificial intelligence" was gaining popularity and many new complete (robotic) species had already been approved, created and were forming communities. Study of the Thought dimension, and relationships between mind, matter and time were well underway. It was a new technology just begging for a real world application. What the Ranger development teams did was to take this technology and bring it into the real world endowing Rangers with strong psychodynamic links between the area of their brain responsible for motor function and the systems which directly controlled the XLPFE suit and the T1 system. The effectiveness of including such systems in a Ranger set up exceeded the wildest dreams of all. XLPFE + T1 + MU = Indomitable fighting machine. Early experiments in Mutual Understanding coupled with Type 3 Teleportation were hilariously dangerous. Accidental swapping of psyco entities between Rangers was common for a time, a nasty side effect that left people literally living in their colleagues' bodies until the mess could be reversed. From memory Zordon's team Blue Ranger was known for fiddling with this stuff as well and swapped a few minds around on more than one occasion. It wasn't long before the true potential of such developments were realised - the construction and use of the first Zords. By doing this the Ranger development teams removed the "virtual" from the reality. Today the line between Ranger and Zord is as blurred as ever. In some of the latest New Generation Ranger incarnations they are virtually the same thing. There are a whole range of additions the New Generation Ranger can implement which literally sit on top of their morphed form which can turn them into any manner of vehicles or fighting machines, the additions literally working like "pieces of Zord". Add to this the idea of using Six Dim sizing technology (more on that later) and our Morphed ranger, complete with appendixed devices - can be increased up to 24.5 times their normal size, turning their own giant morphed bodies in to a Zord anyway. "Engorged" (as its often called) Rangers bring with it a host of new problems, the most noteable being his / her sheer terrestrial mass. A human Ranger increased 16 times size weighs close to 1700 tonnes. This puts enormous strain on the XLPFE system to move it around. The Ranger's morphed body is also usually still manufactured (on the exterior at least) primarily using softer "liquid" type materials similar to human flesh and these can be extremely hard to control when increased to such sizes. It can be painful just supporting their own flesh weight let alone controlling the intertia formed by letting it all wobble about at such high speed. The mass of the engorged Ranger can also create problems for whatever's supporting him or her. Unless there is a sufficient anti - gravity component being constantly applied by the XLPFE suit most Rangers upon transforming to such size literally collapse into the ground beneath them, which is rarely rated to support such a pinpoint active load. You can imagine what happens if one is dropped from a height. Large craters the size normally left by meteors are not uncommon. The amount of energy being poured into these designs is however frightening and often in the Terawatt range. The amount of safety interlocks and protocols needed to allow such morphs to take place make the entire morph less stable which means they are generally only suitable for fighting enemies which are not very technically advanced and cannot understand what is happening to the Ranger trying to defeat them. As for Billy, Zordon's Blue ranger well.. he also davelled quite a bit trying to create simple primary fields using nothing more than his home world technology - and succeeded in turning a VW into a flying tin can for a time. The "perfect sphere" additions to the frame however gave the game away as to how he was doing it… Putting the Power into Power Ranger Ever since the first classic designs were mooted providing a suitable method of powering our Ranger has been a challenge for engineers, makers and mentors alike. The basic XLPFE form requires very little power to establish and can easily be maintained by very conventional (even electrical chemical battery operated) means. However all the "little extras" that go with creating a Power Ranger take much more. While the theory states that an XLPFE suit is energy neutral, the practical outworking is far from the theoretical. The power required to maintain an XLPFE suit diminishes in relation to the inverse square of the number of adjacent crossed fields linking the fabric together - the ideal being an infinite number of crossings means the suit should require no power whatsoever to maintain. In practice an "infinite" number is of course impossible so there will always be a residual need to put energy into the system to maintain it and also provide a path for energy to be removed if for one reason or another (such as enemy weapons fire at the Ranger) there is too much energy present at any one point to be absorbed by the fields. Because of the practical "approaching infinite" nature of the classic XLPFE suit, additional energy is required every time the suit (or it's dependent occupant) either directs force (i.e. attacks and hits a solid object with the suit) or reflects it (i.e. something is thrown at the Ranger, or the Ranger themselves is thrown at a solid object). These power levels are substantial and for a typical classic Ranger in combat, peaks of around two to three megawatts are required to prevent the XLPFE fields from disruption and thus the Ranger from being fatally harmed inside. Another power drain on Rangers is the use of teleportation - particularly Types 1 and 3 which need very high peak power levels to literally create matter from pure energy and vice versa. It was obvious from a very early stage that powering our Ranger was going to be a technical challenge and that the technology available in the early days to solve this was very limited. As with most situations where power is required there are enormous efficiencies to be gained where a "power supply network" can be used instead of relying merely on individual independent power supplies for each Ranger. The nature of Ranger powering needs are extremely "peaky", i.e. Rangers in combat (and for that matter Zords, but that's another story) require very large power levels but (fortunately for us) only for very short periods of time - usually less than 1 second. So when averaged out over a long time the energy levels being used are actually quite low (and can be provided by conventional means) but the peak instantaneous power levels needed are very, very high. The typical energy consumed by a single Classic Ranger from morph to demorph for say a 5 minute combat workout is around 180kWh. This means if the Ranger was to consume this power continuously you could probably source the energy from say, a typically sized large electricity supply you might find in a factory or warehouse. In our Classic Rangers' case however this energy fluctuates between a basic 1kW to maintain the inert, non moving Ranger form - to over 3MW at times extreme distress. At the time of development methods of storing and distributing this kind of energy on the Ranger form itself were simply impossible so other methods had to be found. The solution was in the implementation of a "power grid" not entirely unlike the ones that feed our suburbs. First these grids were powered by a central machine usually located at the teams "command centre". They used a combination of neutrino flow transmission and radiation capable of reliably delivering peaks of up to 5 ~ 10MW through a wireless network controlled by a central coordinate computer system (usually the same one that controlled the teleporting). More often than not these grids were powered by nothing more than the terrestrial suburban electricity grid local to wherever the Command Centre was located on planets that had such luxuries. The theory was that it is extremely unlikely that more than one (or at the most two) Rangers would need peaks exceeding this amount at any one time - and it worked brilliantly -for a while. That is until the enemy worked out what was going on, what was powering their Ranger foes and how easy it was to defeat it. Some even worked out ways to draw on the same power grid to power their own evil creations making them stronger resulting in the ironic situation where a Ranger team were fighting an enemy that was itself drawing power from the Rangers' own power grid. The stronger the Rangers fought the stronger their foes became as a result of the increased power availability in the grid. Fortunately by this time the whole "Power Ranger" universe of teams and mentors located on different planets throughout the galaxy were finally getting their act together and talking to each other rather than previously"competing" with each other to be the most advanced and effective team. It was soon realised that without cooperation on a galactic scale individual Ranger teams were doomed to fail against their ever increasing enemies some of which were already talking to (and usually double crossing) each other anyway. And so it was that the "Order of the Meledon" came to exist. The explanation of just what the mysterious "Meledon" is and who made (and still makes) it up is perhaps the stuff of another study. However one almost immediate result that came from it's inception was the creation of what became known as the "Morphing Grid". Initially this was nothing more than the connection together of the various (until then totally independent) Ranger teams' grids to form an "intergalactic" network of Ranger Power Cells or RPCs. In the event that one cell failed the other cells on the network would fulfil the power shortfall of the failed one on the theory that it was extremely unlikely that all Ranger teams everywhere would all be required to enter combat all at the same time. Eventually the Morphing Grid grew to become an extremely sophisticated network of RPCs which covered (and still covers) most habitable (and many non habitable) planets in the galaxy, and has been used as a major power source not just for Rangers - but also for Zords. The technology that made this possible was six dim mechanics - paving the way to enable huge energy amounts to be instantly carried over large spacial distances between cells through "trunk" or "wormhole" links that cannot readily be intercepted by the enemy. Administration of the Morphing Grid became a complex affair and before long it seemed very much a "dimension" of its own, with no one interest controlling it. Similar to Earth's communications "Internet". It was (and still is) used for both good and evil, the only rule being that whatever energy is taken out must also be put back shortly afterwards. The "Morphing Grid" today works like a huge energy battery designed to provide short but very large power bursts. It is not useful for providing long and continuous power sources. Mentors, makers, Ranger teams and the Meledon committees do whatever they can to safeguard their RPCs from interception and use by their enemies but it still happens regularly. The theft of energy from one RPC in order to combat a team in a totally different location is still also common. It is for these reasons that the Morphing Grid - however capable - is still today seen as an inferior method of powering a Ranger team and should not be used as a sole source of power. "Ninja" forms are a different matter. Early Ninja Forms were developed primarily by cultures who otherwise had limited access to "conventional" technology but were (for the time) very advanced in power systems design. Use of core matter / energy conversion storage (a function of Type 2 Teleportation) was very common in these cultures for everything from terrestrial power networks to medical applications - and the power available from them was readily of the capacity which could be used to run a team of Power rangers in combat. Core M/E - best described as "the power of thought" is derived from functions in the Rangers' mind capable of producing large but short bursts of energy through the conversion of matter in a type 2 Teleport. More often than not the matter source was crystalline or otherwise specially manufactured for the task and would form a central "core of energy" store available to all Rangers. Almost certainly just about every Ninja Ranger team refers to this item as the "ancient artifact" upon which their mythical existence is based. There are usually a host of other traditions and mythical procedures that go with it's use. These "Ninja" cultures were also advanced in dimensional mechanics for their time and had no trouble linking these technologies. They were pioneers in development of Ranger powering systems that stood independently of any outside influence - although their zord designs often relied on the Morphing Grid to operate properly in most cases. The "New Generation" Power Rangers are a result of a marrying of these two (quite different) disciplines to encompass and integrate the best advantages of both forms. This was initially difficult because "classic" Rangers did not have the thought capacity to do what the Ninjas could do. However these obstacles have gradually been overcome - not the least by requiring that Ranger teams be more suitably trained in Ninja style meditation before they become Rangers. Other conventional miniaturisation technology has also come to the aid in developing New Generation Rangers not the least being Energisers. This technology borrowed from the Robot world huge power generation and storage into tiny packages. In the past the maximum output was always limited to a few hundred kilowatts or so, putting them in the "too small" basket for Ranger engineers. But recently the capacity of these little dynamos has leaped exponentially up to the 10MW range - enough to be able to put one in a Ranger Morpher and power virtually all their functions from it independently. They are extremely complex micro miniature machines, literally a matter powerhouse in your hand and perfect for Ranger powering as well as robotics, for which they were initially designed. They're mass produced on many planets, easy and cheap to get and readily available. Working with Dimensions Its no secret that the most misunderstood aspect of Ranger Technology is that of dimensions. Its more to do with science and maths but a basic knowledge of the definitions is required to understand just how Power Rangers (and their opponents) do most of the things they do. So it's time for a quick primer. The Four Dimension "Space Time" Universe. Sometimes called the Physical universe, defined only in four dimensions - three associated with space (Length, Breadth, height) and one with time. Earth scientists have been trying to use this model for years to explain the things that happen around them. It works fine for physical entities but the maths generally misses variables when trying to explain other phenomenon. Usually these scientists simply ignore these anomalies, insist they don't exist, spend their lives proving they don't exist or worse. It's strange that they seem to ignore the most obvious exception - Energy. Only when we look into the way energy and matter interact do we find that there are in fact two additional dimensions in the real universe… The Six Dimension Universe, or "Six Dim Mechanics". The "Real Universe" is made up of six measurable dimensions. These are the (already known) four plus two others being "Thought" and "Movement of Atomic Structure" respectively. Thought is rarely considered as a dimension within itself until one attempts to measure it. Some cultures call this dimension "intelligence" and the nearest thing Earth scientists have to measuring it is the old IQ test - a bit like trying to measure the size of an atom with a desk ruler. Thought is indeed a dimension within itself in the real universe. Any intelligent being is capable of - and regularly does - move about in this dimension. In fact it is essential in order for "intelligence" to exist and is a fundamental necessity in life. For most of us the real working of this dimension makes itself known by the presence of things like dreams, de-ja-vu (a movement in time and thought not affected by space) or for some (particularly Ninja) cultures teleportation (a movement in space and thought not affected by time). All this is rarely understood or even thought of as a "technology" until scientists within a particular culture succeed in creating artificial life - usually robotic. These "living machines" are created to mirror the processes of synaptic biological life but using mechanical means. They are "born", "grow up" (although they may not physically grow they all must start somewhere and learn) and eventually "die" when their artificial mind "binds up". Just to explain an example of "bind up". A robot is created and started. It learns like a child and goes through adolescence, which can happen from 2 to 12 years after starting. The entire process of learning, life and memory intelligence involves continuous writing, rewriting and referencing of memory to other memories. Living intelligence does not use addressing the way computers do. Addressing is done using familiarisation. Around age 20 the process of preserving memory overtakes the process of creating it. Over the years errors are introduced into the process and these errors are rewritten and rewritten again and again. The more errors are introduced the more difficult it is to recall memory because more pointers are in the wrong place and in turn these pointers point to other errors. By age 70 or 80 more than 50% of the memory contains errors, omissions and mispointed references. The mind tries it's best to compensate for these errors by creating entirely new memories and paths and this generally works a bit like wrapping the whole mess in a ball of string, an initially effective but ultimately vain attempt to re link every existing memory to a new one and thus to each other. By age 110 or so the mind of the robot is well and truly binding up and will exhibit characteristics similar to that of dement ure in humans. By age 120 the entire mind simply ceases to operate - and the robot is effectively "dead" just like it's human counterpart. The mechanical body might have been impeccably maintained and be just as capable as it was when first created - but it simply can't operate any more and just stops. No artificial intelligence has ever "lived" for longer than 120 years so the 120 year barrier is considered a practical barrier. It's a big let down for those who think robots will "live forever". One distinct advantage of being an artificial intelligence however is that it's possible to very easily freeze the mind. Lots of Ranger Mentors have "extended" their life in this way. So when you hear of robots or people who have lived thousands of years.. it's not technically correct. In actual fact it works like a light bulb which is usually "off" but occasionally "switched on". A bulb with a quoted 120 year life span might have been in the socket for 1000 years.. but it's only been switched on for a fraction of that time. Anyway getting back to the dimension of Thought. Once artificial intelligence was "perfected" (and for that matter legalised) it was possible to study the dimension of thought close up by observing exactly what was happening in the mind of the subject. A mathematical model was established and a new variable emerged - "j". And the sixth dimension? "Movement of Atomic Structure" or "s" is really a dimension related to Thought but it's measure is different. Defining our real universe in six dimensions gave scientists and technologists a complete mathematical model and paved the way for the Classic Power Ranger. Most of the technology in use cannot be understood without reference to "six dim mechanics". Universes created using more than six dimensions or "Multi Dim Mechanics". One aspect of gaining a true understanding of all six dimensions in our universe is that it enables some marvellous tricks to be pulled. By modulation of several of the existing dimensions with others it is possible to create mathematical definitions of additional dimensions which cannot affect the originals. It has a lot to do with wave theory and is pretty high powered maths. If a dimension is modulated about a common point and care is taken to ensure that the average of this modulation is equal to zero with time as modulated exactly out of phase, then in every sense the original dimension is not affected however a new "dimension" is created. These added dimensions can themselves be modulated to create others (called nested dimensions). The closest "earth technology" thing to compare it with is radio broadcasting where a single carrier is modulated by a baseband signal such as our voice. The carrier (equivalent to our "real" dimension) is actually irrelevant to the transmission, carries no useful information and can even be deleted altogether (called SSB or "Suppressed Side Band"). The base band signal (equivalent to our "invented" or "phantom" dimension) can even be again modulated itself, creating nested "sub carriers". Basically what we're saying here is that "anything is possible" if we can mathematically define that it does. By creating and then using these additional "phantom" dimensions it is possible to literally create new universes, or at least illusions of them. Multi Dim mechanics are the science of the illusionist. Some would call them magicians. Power Rangers usually call them villains, and in most cases more than 80% of what Rangers meet in combat has some sort of multi dim mechanical and illusionary component. Multi Dim illusions look and work great but they are easy to defeat. This is why Ranger teams always avoid using multi dim mechanics in their own technology and why the good guys invariably always win. However they must be very capable of interworking with them and lots of combat actually takes place almost totally in "phantom" dimensions created by the enemy and are eventually destroyed when that enemy is defeated. The most common Multi Dim Mechanics modulate Thought and Atomic Structure over Time, thus they are usually operable regardless of space as we know it. Thousands of names abound.. "Hyper Space", "Ether Space", "Dark Dimensions", "Wormhole space".. the list is endless but it all means essentially the same thing - a set of dimensions that have been artificially created and can be used to create phenomenon that would otherwise be impossible, but can only be seen and experienced in the real universe when based on a rigidly defined set of rules. It's a bit like having to stand and look in a particular place, at a certain time of the day in the year, in order to see the perfect sunset. Sizing One of the most bizarre and yet most important tools a Ranger has at their disposal is Sizing. The ability to change the physical size of matter (including themselves) is a crucial function in modern ranger teams. There are three ways in which the physical size of an object can be altered; Molecular spacing Type 1 teleportation techniques are used to increase or decrease the space between matter particles. This method quickly fell out of favour due to the tendency for (particularly enlarged) matter to drift further apart, eventually risking life. This happens primarily due to the disturbance and depletion of the basic gravity forces that hold matter together in the first place. Molecular duplication With this system type 1 teleportation is used to clone molecules and interspace them in between existing matter. While this solves the problem of gravity depletion, it creates others in that it physically alters the make up of whatever is being enlarged. This can sometimes be dangerous especially when it comes time to restore the item or person to normal size again - it is difficult to tell which molecules are clones and which ones are the originals, and repeated use of the process can be dangerous to weapons and harm living matter. Never the less it is still extensively used for functions involving inanimate matter such as weapons, zords and of course Zordon's unique and famous wardrobe function which allows his Ranger team to store their clothes prior to morphing. Molecular Morph Similar to Molecular duplication except instead of simply duplicating molecules, complex systems analyse the make up of each molecule and create hybrids of adjacent molecules, inserting them to create an identical but larger composition than the original. This is the system largely used today and the only system really suitable for enlarging living beings safely. The absolute maximum duplication size possible using this technology is 24.5 times original size. You will often hear the technology referred to simply as "245" for this reason, and a common Ranger call to increase size is simply "Go 245". Sizing in Power Rangers is generally used to alter the physical makeup of the Ranger's body to an ideal size while the morph takes place. Generally this means a Ranger's size and shape when unmorphed is somewhat irrelevant to their morphed form. Watching young children morph into a Ranger form is an amusing (and unbelievably common) sight. As mentioned previously, extra precautions must be taken with giant humans. They must remain fully morphed at all costs, as an unmorphed human increased to anything more than 3 times normal size simply cannot support it's own weight. If a "giant" Ranger was to experience a demorph while enlarged they would collapse on themselves immediately, the flesh and organs would literally fall to the ground speared by the skeleton rather like a collapsing skyscraper, and not a pretty sight. END OF PART 2