Friday Five – Power Rangers Villains

 
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: Power Rangers Villains!
 
I generally like my Big Bads to have some real motivation, and an ongoing story for why they feel the need to antagonize the Rangers, besides just having a Gargamel Complex and being one note characters. They need to be more than the guy (or gal) who plays the villain week in and week out because thats what the plot required so their characterization and motivation changes from week to week. I like consistency and character growth, which you should be able to see in most of my picks.
 

1. Royal House of Gadgetry of The Machine Empire (PRZ) – For some reason I really enjoyed the petty bickering and family squabbles of a bunch of dumb ineffective machines.

 

2. Divatox (PRT) – Ok, Power Rangers Turbo is pretty much the worst series in the pantheon of all of rangerdom. It’s all that stupid Blue ranger, Justin Stewart’s fault. “Oh yeah, lets make a 12 year old a Power Ranger. Because it worked so well on Star Trek: The Next Generation. I’m sure no one will hate him!. And for some reason, when he morphs he’s adult sized.” The only thing the show had going for it was Divatox, its over the top, campy villain. I really liked her because I was a fan of Hilary Shepard Turner’s guest spots on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. She was actually played by two different actresses because Turner had a baby between the movie and production of the series, so she’s only in the later half. Carol Hoyt played the character so well, and the makeup and costume department were so good you can’t even tell there’s a difference.

 

3. Astronema (PRIS) – One of the best villains on the show, she did not mess around. She is one of the few to send in more than one monster at a time, and the only one to ever attack a Megazord while it was transforming. In fact, she did manage to beat Zordon, which is kind of a big deal. Her backstory was complex and engaging, being the Red Space Ranger’s sister who was abducted as a child and raised to be evil. She eventually grew to resist her upbring and reject evil, and was eventually the second Pink Galaxy Ranger.

 

4. Mesogog (PRDT) – Another complex villain, who had a whole Jeckyll/Hyde thing going on with his other personality, Anton Mercer, who just happened to be the father of the White Dino Ranger.

 

5. Scorpina (MMPR) – What? I was a twelve year old boy when she was on the show, I couldn’t turn down a hot asian warrior babe. Looking back though, I can appreciate that her American voice was provided by Wendee Lee, who also did Faye Valentine on Cowboy Bebop.

 
With special runner up to Squat, for being the final piece that won the Wrigley’s luggage stacking contest in the classic Adventures of Pete and Pete episode “King of Road”
 

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