Get the Rockzords a Backstage Pass : They won’t sing. They won’t dance either. But if you think their $3-million production looks and sounds like a Rolling Stones concert, you’d be right.

The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and Rod Stewart may be lively rock ‘n’ roll dinosaurs, but can any of them actually summon the powers of a charging triceratops, a swooping pterodactyl or a thundering Tyrannosaurus rex ?

Not likely.

But those are the powers drawn upon each weekday afternoon by an even livelier group of pop heroes--the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

The multihued teen titans have regularly called upon Dinozords, Thunderzords and even Megazords to vanquish their malevolent nemeses, Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd.

Now, in a move of Ultrazordian proportions, they are following in the footsteps of the Stones, Floyd and Rod. They’re taking their show on the road--rock ‘n’ roll style.

The $3-million production will feature rock-worthy, state-of-the-art lights, lasers, scenery and pyrotechnics and a monster sound system. Giant video screens will make the stage action clear to everyone in the arena. The 90-minute show will also incorporate top-flight stage illusions, creature effects, giant inflatables and robotics.

The live tour may be a family entertainment event, but the team that has come together to put the Rangers on stage carries heavy rock credentials.

Promoter Marcel Avram has overseen Stones, Floyd and Stewart tours, as well as Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous” tour. Producers Arnold Stiefel and Randy Phillips manage the careers of Stewart, Morrissey and Toni Braxton. The show is being staged by the design team of Rikki Farr and Ian Knight, who boast collective rock credits running from Jimi Hendrix to Lollapalooza.

Composer Ron Wasserman, of the “Go Go Power Rangers” theme song fame, has co-produced the last two solo albums from Jon Anderson of Yes. And even director Anita Mann, whose family entertainment credits stretch from “The New Zoo Revue” to “Snoopy’s World of Magic,” got her start as a dancer on the “Shindig” and “Hullabaloo” TV shows.

Promoter Danny O’Donovan, who learned his business working early Motown tours, recently joined with Avram to form Global Events Inc. The Power Rangers have offered their company its first chance to step into the realm of family entertainment, and O’Donovan says it has been a surprisingly easy transition.

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‘The line between rock ‘n’ roll and family entertainment starts to get erased on a show like this,” O’Donovan says. “The Rolling Stones just spent a lot of money on their last tour to put on a rock ‘n’ roll show that appealed to fans of all ages, and I think we’re doing a little bit of that in reverse. We’re putting on a family show that attempts to entertain the parents. We don’t want any moms and dads squirming and yawning and bored to tears.”

That’s an experience that producer Stiefel can relate to.

“I took my nephew to see Barney, and I thought I was going to go crazy. My brain was going soft,” he recalls. “With the Power Rangers, I think we’re shooting for a cross between the ‘Back to the Future’ ride at Universal Studios and a great rock ‘n’ roll concert.

“Would Rod be satisfied with this show if he were a Power Ranger? That was our main criterion for giving the production its rock ‘n’ roll energy. We’re used to sending out Rod Stewart and Morrissey on tour, and we wanted to give the Power Rangers the same kind of production quality that those stars would be happy with.”

And, he adds, “We had to deliver something sensational. Why else would people pay for something that’s free on TV every day at 4:30?”

“The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Live” tour is close to selling out its preview performances at the San Diego Sports Arena from Tuesday through next Sunday, and it opens its West Coast world premiere engagement Dec. 13 at the Universal Amphitheatre. Ticket demand has extended that run to 20 shows over 10 days, and the buzz among pint-sized Morphin fans looks to make the show a sellout across the country as the West Coast and East Coast touring units cover 65 cities in the next six months.

“This is big-time entertainment,” says Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief of Pollstar magazine, which tracks the national concert business. “I think promoters across the country want to get dates for the Power Rangers just as much as they want Rod Stewart dates. Anybody that has kids realizes just how big an attraction this is.”

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Now in their second season on the Fox Children’s Network, the wholesome, high-kicking Rangers continue to put their estimable Morphin talents to good use, saving their home burg of Angel Grove from the forces of darkness in tidy, half-hour installments.

The Power Rangers have long been popular figures in Japan, but their phenomenal American TV success began when Saban Entertainment developed the current series, launching it on Fox in the summer of 1993. The low-tech show presented an unlikely mix of “Star Wars” space mythology, “Godzilla”-flick monsters and upbeat teen camaraderie right out of “Archie” comics. But the upstanding Rangers were a smash with kids, spawning a 100,000-member fan club in its first two months. Morphin-crazed youngsters have also made Ranger-related items one of the toy industry’s hottest sellers.

The Ranger tour is no last hurrah--a third season of TV shows is about to be filmed and a feature film is due out next summer.

“The first few times I watched the show, I thought it was terrible,” says tour co-designer Farr. “The worst sort of second-rate children’s entertainment. But, as I kept watching, I saw that there really were some positive messages in there, and there was also a lot of really kitschy humor. Suddenly, working on a Power Rangers tour looked like a lot of fun to me.”

That would seemingly be a sizable stretch from the fun that Farr was used to. As a promoter he has worked with Hendrix, the Doors, Led Zeppelin, the Who and the Beatles, among many others. He was a creative force behind the Isle of Wight rock festivals, and in the last few years has worked with Guns N’ Roses, Tom Petty, Nine Inch Nails and the Lollapalooza shows.

Farr managed to bring his rambunctious, rock ‘n’ roll edge to the Rangers tour even before he officially signed on, when he was asked to present a production plan to Saban executives.

“They’d been seeing all these polished, high-tech presentations,” he explains. “I went into the boardroom in my shorts and sweat shirt, plopped down Ian Knight’s model of the stage, and started prancing around and acting out all the monsters and the fight scenes.

“I was growling and roaring, and these guys in suits didn’t know whether to laugh. But Hiam Saban said, ‘It is perfect. You’ve got the job.’ I told him it was going to cost some money, and he said, ‘You’ve got $3 million to mount the show and a $10-million budget to take it on the road.’ I said, ‘Well guys, that’ll do.’ ”

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Peter Dang, president of Children’s Entertainment at Saban, says the decision to turn the Power Rangers into a no-expenses-spared rock ‘n’ roll extravaganza was made in February, when a live Power Rangers appearance at Universal Studios on behalf of the anti-drug organization DARE attracted an estimated crowd of 35,000 and tied up traffic on the Hollywood Freeway for hours.

“As a rule we had tried to refrain from the characters making live appearances, just because we’re keepers of the image and it’s harder than you’d think to find people who look really good in spandex suits,” he says with a laugh.

“But the DARE appearance told us we should take a look at the possibilities. We decided if we were going to give the kids a show, we were really going to give them something to remember. There haven’t been too many family shows where it cost $3 million to mount the sucker.”

The money may have bought a rock ‘n’ roll concert-quality production, but Dang is quick to point out that all that rock power hasn’t altered the basic charms of the vigilant Rangers: “This isn’t a rock ‘n’ roll musical. The Power Rangers will not sing. The Power Rangers will not dance. We’re presenting a complete Power Rangers story where rock ‘n’ roll music and energy set the pace for the show.”

While the tour has the Power Rangers leaping into the world of rock ‘n’ roll production values, the group’s evil-bashing on TV has always been accompanied by a rock ‘n’ roll score.

“I never wanted to create little kid’s music for the show,” says composer Wasserman. “There’s too much of that out there, and the little kids I know listen to adult stuff. I figured why not give kids that sound in a show of their own--rock ‘n’ roll for preteens. I’m used to hearing my music through TV speakers. It’s going to be nice to hear it loud.”

Like Dang, Frank Roach of MCA Concerts is a member of the Rangers’ team with a non-rock background--he spent the last 15 years working with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. But he believes that all-ages entertainment and rock ‘n’ roll are going to increasingly resemble each other:

“I think the boundaries are changing. Fifteen years ago, the circus was for families with children and rock ‘n’ roll shows were for 15- to 30-year-olds. But, within the last few years, the people buying tickets to the Stones or Pink Floyd or the Eagles are the same people taking their kids to see the Ninja Turtles or even taking the whole family to the Stones show.”

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One element of the rock world that hasn’t been translated into the Power Rangers show is attitude. While rock ‘n’ roll talents and technology have pumped up the energy level for the Rangers, the innocence and excitement of a children-oriented tour seem to have pumped up the Rangers’ support crew.

“Some people in rock ‘n’ roll think they’re inventing a cure for cancer,” Farr says. “I don’t ever take it that seriously. I just want fun, and the Power Rangers show is a tremendous amount of fun.

“When you put on a rock concert and you’re putting all that production together, the thing is very ego-driven and self-motivated. Now we’re just thinking about how we can keep the kids excited.”

If the excitement spreads, and the Power Rangers make a spectacular splash in the nation’s arenas by borrowing from rock ‘n’ roll, is it possible that someday soon bona fide rock ‘n’ roll artists may look to nick a trick or two from the Rangers?

“I can’t tell you who,” Farr says, “but I’ve already been asked by a major artist--a household name--if I can incorporate into his next show some of the kind of magic and illusions that we’re presenting with the Power Rangers.

“Look, the horizons are bigger now in every field of entertainment. Rock ‘n’ rollers can’t just get away with tight pants and fancy hairdos. And when they come to me in the future and ask what kind of a show I can do for them, I’m going to start saying, ‘I’ve got some experience with the Power Rangers--shall we have a look at their act?’ ”

What about the further possibilities of Morphin-rock cross-pollination? Might we someday see an arena spectacular in which Lord Zedd, weary of battling the unflagging Power Rangers, turns his nefarious attentions instead to somebody like, say, Trent Reznor?

“Well,” Farr says with a chuckle, “Nine Inch Nails is a client of mine, and I’m afraid poor Lord Zedd wouldn’t stand a chance against Trent. But I do happen to think he’d stand a pretty fair chance against Pink Floyd’s pig.”

* “The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Live,” Universal Amphitheatre, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City. Dec. 13-15, 7:15 p.m.; Dec. 16, 4:15 and 7:15 p.m.; Dec. 17-22, 12:15, 4:15 and 7:15 p.m. $13.50-$30. (818) 980-9421.