The series takes place in the fictional town of Angel Grove, California. On an exploratory mission, two unwitting astronauts discover an extraterrestrial container (referred to as a dumpster as a result of its stench) and breach the unit, inadvertently releasing the evil alien witch Rita Repulsa from 10,000 years of confinement. Upon her release, she and her army of evil space aliens set their sights on conquering the nearest planet: Earth. When the wise sage Zordon becomes aware of the release of the evil witch he was responsible for capturing so long ago, he orders his robotic assistant Alpha 5 to select five "teenagers with attitude" to defend the Earth from Rita's attacks. The five teens chosen are Jason Lee Scott, Kimberly Hart, Zack Taylor, Trini Kwan, and Billy Cranston. Zordon gives them the ability to morph into a formidable fighting force known as the Power Rangers, providing them with an arsenal of weapons at their disposal, as well as colossal assault machines called Zords, which can combine into the mighty Megazord.