POWER RANGERS: the top 10 best Rangers of all time

So I live in England. And as is customary in England, every decent franchise from America and/or New Zealand comes to our general awareness a year late. The same naturally goes for my doseage of Power Rangers. If it were not for the spandex wearing; high kicking; no nonsense team of mixed ethnicity heroes of the 1990’s, my life may have turned out quite differently. I owe my continual success in martial arts to the Power Rangers. With the news that creators Saban had bought back the rights of the franchise, I was euphoric. This marks a new era in Power Rangers history.

Now, with “Power Rangers Samurai” due to hit British screens in a few months time, here is my round up of the undisputed 10 best Power Rangers of all time.

10: Sky Tate (SPD, played by Chris Violette). The last truly talented martial artist to appear in Power Rangers to date, blue SPD ranger Sky Tate’s competitive and egotistical nature sparked a continual rivalry with red ranger and team leader Jack Landors, which made for compelling viewing. Sky’s father Wes Collins was the red Timeforce ranger, and he naturally wished to take up the mantle of the red ranger in order to live up to his father’s name. Throughout the series, however, he learns that heroes come in all colours and that teamwork is the best way to deal with most problems in life. He did eventually realise his dream and become the red SPD ranger when Landors needed to take some time off. Violette only learned karate for the show, and his natural ability for it complemented his superior acting chops. It was him that made SPD the last truly great series of Power Rangers, and he also made Doggy Krueger excuseable.

9: Zack Taylor (Mighty Morphin’ season 1; played by Walter Emmanuel Jones). Some would argue that Zack deserves a higher position on the list. I would argue against that. Zack’s unusual fighting style, consisting of a mixture of kung fu and cheesy 1990’s hip hop dancing, was unrealistic and corny at best. Sure, it was impressive for a kid to look at and there was a lot of tricking involved with the unmorphed fights, but all it really did was serve to solidify Zack as the african american stereotype of the team, and ironically Zack donned the black ranger mantle. It was Zack’s jovial personality and zest for life that we best remember him and was the reason for his popularity, but Jones’ contract and pay influenced exit from the series served to make his character simply fade away. Oh well, there were better rangers anyway.

8: Rocky DeSantos (MM and Zeo; played by Steve Cardenas). Stepping into the spandex of the best red ranger of all time is never an easy thing to do, and with the focus on Tommy Oliver as the new leader of the team, the character of Rocky DeSantos was frequently denied the opportunity to have centre stage in many episodes, so we never truly knew much about him. “Underrated” is the order of the day for Rocky. While he may not have initially had many stand alone moments of greatness in “Mighty Morphin;” he would often team up with Adam and Ayesha for group fights, and be present for all group interactions. Cardenas already held a 3rd degree black belt in Taekwondo at the time of his audition, and he seemed cool with the initial idea of Rocky being a 2D character who could kick some serious ass all the same. He also helped to overhaul the fight choreography in order to make it look more badass. Thankfully by the time Zeo came along, the producers had cottoned on to Cardenas’ potential, and Rocky was given much more of a central role in ZEO, as the amazing blue Zeo ranger 🙂

7: Andros (In Space, played by Christopher Khayman Lee). By the time “In Space” came onto my screen in 1998, I had earned my yellow belt in Tang Soo Do, and was still an avid fan of the show (even though I thought Turbo was shit). I was initially unsure of what to make of “In Space” after watching the first episode, due to its much darker and more brooding tone. But I persisted, and it quickly became one of my favourite series of all time. Andros was a typically lonely and isolated character, who’s troubled past overshadowed the events of the entire series. Losing his friend and his sister under violent circumstances made emotions such as trust incredibly hard for him to be able to grasp, and episodes would often focus on the other rangers teaching him how to be a better team player and to learn how to accept help when it is needed. Khayman Lee’s fighting style leant itself perfectly to the series’ darker tone, focusing on the use of brutal kickboxing techniques. It helped to create a grittier; more violent style of choreography that the fans like me adored. It hasn’t been better realised since.

6: Eric Meyers (Timeforce; portrayed by Daniel Southworth). Leader of the Silver Guardians, a rebel faction set up by Wes Collins’ father, Myers is the uber cool “Quantum” ranger, available to assist the Time Force rangers in their times of need for extra whoop-ass. There is no other reason why Eric made it this high up on the list other than the fact that he can really, and I mean REALLY, fight. You automatically knew when Eric turned up in an episode that somebody was gonna get their ass kicked all over the screen. Southworth had already worked in Hong Kong with the greats of action and martial arts cinema such as Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung prior to his audition, and was head choreographer for the episodes he appeared in. As an added bonus, Eric Myers’ character was a compelling and interesting one. He was a no nonsense leader with plenty of common sense and an iron strong belief in justice, and his fighting style mixed all the best elements from the previous series into one frantic assault on enemy forces. One of the most fearsome rangers of all time.

5: TJ Johnson (Turbo and In Space; played by Selwyn Ward). As the Zeo and Turbo rangers prepared to graduate from college, Theodore J Jarvis Johnson – or TJ, as he preferred to be called – was appointed the status of red Turbo Ranger by Tommy Oliver, after he had proved his leadership abilities by helping to fight off Divatox’s minion army while the rangers helped to save some child hostages. We all know very well that “Turbo” was definately nobody’s favourite series, and the loss of favourite rangers Tommy Oliver and Adam Park were a fatal blow to the franchise’s fan base, but TJ made the series watchable. Ward was the first ever african american red ranger and team leader – an epic win for racial equality amoung more mature fans. But his true moments of glory came from “In Space,” as the blue space ranger. Ward was an excellent boxer and grappler, much like his co star and tag team partner Roger Velasco (who played black space ranger Carlos Vallerte), and this also leant itself better to the harder hitting choreography standards of “In Space.”

4: Kimberly Hart (Mighty Morphin’ seasons 1; 2 and 3; played by Amy Jo Johnson). The original and still the best, Kimberly stole the hearts of every young male fan, and their father’s too. A typical valley girl who’s friends meant everything to her, she was the ranger who was most likely to fire off a sarcastic comment or witty one liner in a given situation. Indeed, she became famous for her epic put-downs on series clowns Bulk and Skull (the science fair scenario was my favourite, it still gets me laughing every time). Amy Jo Johnson’s expertise as a gymnast was also injected into her character, and Kimberly’s gymnastic fighting style was perfect for the cheesy fight choreography of the original series. When the show’s choreography style experienced an overhaul, Johnson quickly learned more martial arts techniques in order to keep up with the pace of play. No other female ranger of any colour has gartered as much adoration from fans as Kimberly did, and I seriously doubt they ever will :’)

3: Adam Park (Mighty Morphin’ seasons 2+3; Zeo and Turbo; played by Johnny Yong Bosch). The second ever black ranger, Adam Park recieved the Mastodon power coin from Zack Taylor, when Zack was assigned to attend a peace conference in Switzerland. Adam shared Zack’s trait of being very unlucky in love, but unlike Zack – who was an amazing dancer and generally very sociable, Adam was shy; sensitive and spiritual. The dramatic change of personality did not sit well with the fans of Zack’s “hip hop kido” antics; but eventually we all learned to be sympathetic with Adam due to his naturally coy demeanour. However, we were also completely blown away by his insane fighting style. Johnny Yong Bosch was well versed in Shaolin kung fu at the time of his audition, and relied heavily on the use of flashy kicks; twists; trips and flips to overcome his enemies. As the series’ progressed, Adam’s confidence grew and his combat skills were refined even further. Johnny Yong Bosch’s fanbase also increased, and he capitalised on the new found fame with his voice over work and music career. Adam has returned for various special episodes and has reminded us, through his awe-inspiring fight scenes and well rehersed dialogue, of his worthy place in Power Rangers history.

2: Jason Lee Scott (Mighty Morphin’ seasons 1+2 and Zeo; played by Austin st. John). EPIC UPSET. Jason very nearly pipped Tommy to the top spot, but his tenure on the show was too brief to allow that. Having said that, there was a reason why he is the greatest red ranger of all time. While Austin st. John’s acting skills were questionable at the best of times – much like a mixture of Arnie and Chuck Norris – he remains the only cast member ever to have multiple black belts in different martial arts. This was implemented into the character of Jason Lee Scott. A natural leader, Jason teaches Karate at the Angel Grove gym, and is credited with teaching Billy Cranston martial arts. He is also a weights trainer and a certified scuba diving instructor. Jason’s leadership qualities remain unmatched, and he is the only person ever to have defeated Tommy Oliver in combat. The latter point raises the question as to weather Jason is a better fighter than Tommy. If you were a fan of the show and didn’t like Jason, you were an unworthy fan. Even when Tommy became the team leader, he still relied heavily on Jason’s skills to complete certain tasks. Jason made a truly epic return to Power Rangers in “Zeo” (after St John settled his contract and pay dispute with Saban) as the gold Zeo ranger. “A Golden Homecoming” it was indeed.

1: Tommy Oliver (Mighty Morphin’ seasons 1,2,3; Zeo; Turbo and Dino Thunder; played by Jason David Frank). Well what can you say? It was impossible for anybody to reach the top spot other than Tommy. In short, his Karate skills were vicious and brutal; his evil era very nearly destroyed the Power Rangers forever; his costumes had the best attatchments and armour; he had the best weapons (anybody remember the dagger that played a tune, and the talking sword Saba?); he had the best zords – the dragon zord looked like a Godzilla clone; he bagged Kimberly and then bagged her Australian successor Kat Southard; his mullet got bigger and more badass with every season and the green ranger’s storyline is still the most dramatic and stern storyline ever written. Jason David Frank sold every aspect of his character, from his emotionally driven dialogue to his epic battles and resultant undying friendship with Jason. He is the Orson Welles of the helmet and spandex, and has made more returns than a failing British soap opera. He is the undisputed best Power Ranger of all time. Frank is now an MMA fighter, and I wish him every success in the world with everything he does. I owe my successes to you, Mr Frank.

“May the Power protect you all.” – Tommy Oliver, “Forever Red.”