Friday Five – Favorite Power Rangers

Welcome to the Friday Five! Each week I help you get to know me a bit better with the help of a top five list. This week’s category: Favorite Power Rangers!

This month marks the twentieth anniversary of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers debut. So every Friday this month, the Friday Five is going to be Power Rangers related in some way, shape, or form. For my first entry on the theme, I’m going to pick my team of favorite rangers.

I was never in the demographic for Power Rangers, but that didn’t stop me from watching it anyway. I was frequently late for my 7th grade classes because class started at 8:30, and Power Rangers was on at 7:30, and I then had to walk two miles to school. Back in 2005 I sat down and watched every episode in a row from MMPR all the way through the then current SPD, which is over 550+ episodes. I haven’t really caught up since then, but with all this 20th anniversary stuff, I just may have to. Since I have a wide range of series seen, I went for some of the more esoteric rangers from outside of just MMPR. Plus it’s pretty much assumed that Tommy is the greatest Ranger of all time . .OF ALL TIME!!!! (in order of awesomeness: Green, Black, White, Red), with Jason pulling up in a far second. I also avoided just turning this into a “All the hot girls who have been Power Rangers” list, which is a lot. Like, for instance, did you know Areola from Not Another Teen Movie was formerly the Yellow Lost Galaxy Ranger? Well, now you do.

1. Kimberly Ann Hart (Amy Jo Johnson) – Pink Mighty Morphin Ranger – Who’s the best Pink Ranger? If you answered anything other than Kim, you are wrong, and I will fight you. I’ve discussed my love for AJJ before, and it’s led to a lifetime fetish for the color pink. Amy Jo is surprisingly still acting and getting serious parts (albeit it’s in Canada), so you can check her out in reruns of Flashpoint on Ion, or I’m pretty sure Felicity is available on NetFlix. She also just did a successful indiegogo for a short film. I may have spent $3000 on a Captain Kirk chair, and almost spent $2800 to tour the set of Community, but $5000 (not including airfare to L.A.) to meet my childhood crush for dinner was a little much, even for me.

 

2. Billy Cranston (David Yost) – Blue Mighty Morphin Ranger – It’s a real shame he was forced from the show for being gay (the 90’s were a far different time). He was the character I most identified with as a kid, being as I wasn’t female, black, or into sports. While I never built a flying car, I was a science nerd who got beat up alot, so I suppose he was a good role model. It was nice of them to write him off by having him finally get the girl, even if she was a weird alien from Aquatar. His personal life kinda went off the rails after he left the show, with him recently attending one of those “turn you not gay” christian camps and having a nervous breakdown. Somewhere I still have a VHS tape of him competing on Circus of The Stars

 

3. Kira Ford (Emma Lahana) – Yellow Dino Thunder Ranger – I liked her because she kicked total ass, and she was also a really good singer.

 

4. Cameron Watanabe (Jason Chan) – Green Samurai Ninja Storm Ranger – He was like a more kick ass version of Billy. He went from being the team tech nerd, to the strongest member of the team, with all the kick ass accoutrements that come with being a Green Ranger, like a upgraded battle mode and a shield.

 

5. Cole Evans (Ricardo Medina Jr.) – Red Wild Force Ranger – While it starts really slow, and Cole starts off very annoying, Wild Force really grew on me, and is one of my favorite incarnations, if only for the crazy amount of zords and zord combinations they presented. Cole makes this last pick for the sheer reason that in “Forever Red” he manages to win against Serpentera using just a space skateboard.

JohnScott is the proud owner of a life size replica Captain Kirk Chair. He is a hoarder of Comic Books, Transformers, and Star Trek action figures. He attended Space Camp as an adult. He has taken vacations to the closing of the Star Trek Experience and the final night Shuttle launch. He has been known to yell at his television when the kids can't put together the damn statue in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey. When not writing for InsufficientScotty, he is a Software Engineer for a major healthcare communications company. You can Email or follow on Twitter @NotEnoughScotty or Facebook