“It’s Morphin Time!” YEM fam, let’s wish a very happy birthday (on October 20th) to arguably the two most popular fictional characters in the history of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers franchise – Tommy Oliver & Jason Lee Scott! No matter which of the two characters you more identify with, both played a huge role in the popularity of the show for millions of fans worldwide.
Tommy Oliver (played by Jason David Frank) was first known as the Green Ranger and is the character to appear the most throughout the entire Power Rangers franchise. Though Tommy wasn’t part of the original five Rangers when the show first debuted in 1993, the Green Ranger quickly became a fan favorite. Tommy Oliver first appeared in the “Green With Evil” storyline arc under the influence of the sinister Rita Repulsa’s magic. When the spell was finally broken, he eventually joined the Rangers, making them stronger than ever. Tommy also began dating another fan favorite, Kimberly the Pink Ranger, who like Tommy, was a crush of many young adult fans of the show at the time.
Tommy has appeared in five different Power Rangers versions: as the Green Ranger, the White Ranger, Zeo Ranger V–Red, the Red Turbo Ranger, and the Dino Thunder Black Ranger – and was part of four different Ranger teams. In addition, Tommy is a lifelong practitioner of the martial arts, eventually becoming a 6th-degree black belt. In total, Tommy Oliver has worked with more than 60 Power Rangers directly. Not bad for a character that was initially intended to only be around for one season!
So how is Tommy’s exact birthdate known if it wasn’t mentioned in the show?
During the first season of the series, a toy was released that featured Tommy (with his Dragon Zord) and an information card. On that card, and the packaging for the toy, Tommy’s birthday was revealed to be October 20.
That October 20 birthday didn’t just belong to one team leader for the Power Rangers though. Tommy shared it with the Power Ranger leader that came before him.
Jason Lee Scott (played by Austin St. John) played the original Red Ranger and was the leader of the first-ever team. He also returned numerous times over multiple variations of the show to assist the Power Rangers to overcome the current generation’s bad guys. Though Jason and Tommy were sometimes rivals, they have a lot in common (such as their martial arts backgrounds), and of course their birthdays. They ultimately both wanted what was best for the team though and shared the weight of the guilt for every bad call.
After playing the Red Ranger, Jason later became the Gold Ranger in Power Rangers Zeo. From there, Jason later made special appearances in Power Rangers Wild Force, Super Megaforce, and Beast Morphers. It’s been said Jason’s defeated more enemies by himself than any other Ranger ever and is the only one to beat Tommy in a fight. Much like Tommy, Jason has won numerous Power Ranger polls as the most popular Ranger of all time. To put that accomplishment into perspective, as of now, there have been 26 seasons of the show and over 100 different actors and actresses have been Power Rangers!
