of the film's Power Rangers iteration. The decision to cast Hader as Alpha 5 was mostly well received by journalists. Jacob Stolworthy from The Independent considered the casting to be "odd". Joshua Rivera from GQ Magazine expressed his concerns about the film's creation direction, and wondered if Hader would adopt Alpha 5's "classic high-pitched fretting", Alpha 6's "weirdly nasal Long Island stylings", or if he would approach the role as the "latest Stefon joint". Andy Webster, in a review of the 2017 film for The New York Times, commented that "Hader's dialed-down take" of the character "reflects the movie's tempered refinement of the original". Alpha's Magical Christmas Alpha 5 is the main character of Alpha's Magical Christmas, a direct-to-video musical Christmas special produced during Season 2 of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The Rangers are away at the North Pole assisting Santa Claus in preparation for the Christmas holidays, while Alpha remains with Zordon for Christmas at the Command Center. Despite Zordon's presence, Alpha feels miserable from his loneliness. Zordon cheers Alpha up by presenting a Christmas tree to him, then follows that up by teleporting a group of children to the Command Center to sing Christmas carols with Alpha. Together they sing such carols as "Good King Wenceslas", "Deck the Halls", "Here We Come A-Caroling", "Jingle Bells" and "Silent Night". After the children leave via the "magical portal", Tommy, Kimberly and Billy teleport to the Command Center in their ranger suits, and the cast perform "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" to end the special. Comics Alpha 5 appears as a recurring character in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comic series, published by Boom! Studios. It is a modern alternate retelling of the TV series of the same name, and has no connections to any past media or the 2017 reboot film. Promotion and merchandise Like many Power Rangers series characters, various merchandise has been made of Alpha 5 since the inception of the franchise. Notes References Television characters introduced in 1993 Fictional artificial intelligences Fictional humanoid robots Fictional technopaths Power Rangers characters Television sidekicks