Friday, 30 October 2020

Life Imitates Art

I vaguely remember that the Power Rangers were a kids craze on TV, having pushed the Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles into the back ground.

The Power Rangers
The Power Rangers Were After My Time ....... Thank God!

This was in the early mid 1990s, and I was well past the age where it would have impacted me in anyway,

However anyone with kids at the time, would have been buying the toys and media franchise goods for several years until the next craze .... so they entered my consciousness, as work colleagues scrambled about buying items for birthdays and Christmas,

But like all these shows, the living was good for the actors while they are young enough for the show but then, well the good times end  .... mostly the actors, now past their youthful prime, disappear in to nonentity again, with few getting another successful role.

But its often difficult for them to take, especially if the show powers on to success after they are dropped. In the case of Power Rangers, as of 2019 there have been 27 consecutive television seasons and three theatrical films released in 1995, 1997 and 2017.

Ricardo Medina Jr As 'Deker'
Ricardo Medina Jr As 'Deker'.

So it proved for Ricardo Medina Jr, an actor (stage name, Rick Medina), who had been a Power Ranger in two incarnations of the TV show. He had played two roles in the series: He portrayed Cole Evans/Red Lion Wild Force Ranger in "Power Rangers Wild Force" in 2002, and Deker in "Power Rangers Samurai" in 2011-2012. However, his career credits were a little bit scant outside of the Power Ranger show .... minor appearances in TV shows ER and CSI Miami.

He's now aged 41, but back in 2015 when he was 36, he was arrested and accused of killing his room mate Joshua Sutter with a sword at their shared Palmdale, California, home. They had allegedly got into an argument, which quickly got heated. Mr Medina went into his bedroom with his girlfriend, but Mr Sutter followed them, and then forced his way into the room.

Then, Medina allegedly grabbed a sword he kept next to the bedroom door (like you do if you were once a Power Ranger Samurai), and stabbed Sutter in the abdomen (in self defence he claimed), who then collapsed and died. Medina did call 911 and waited for the police to arrive, when he was taken into custody. Bail was set $1 million but he was later released on February 3rd, 2015.

Ricardo Medina Jr As A Prisoner
Ricardo Medina Jr As A Prisoner

But on January 14, 2016, he was arrested again on murder charges in connection with Sutter's death and faced a possible sentence of life imprisonment, with a chance of parole after 26 years. On March 16, 2017, in a deal, Medina pled guilty to one felony count of voluntary manslaughter. On March 30, 2017, Medina was sentenced to the maximum 6 years in prison and will b eligible for parole around now.

It will be interesting to see if he gets a celebrity career boost by this case of life imitating art.

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