When I was a kid, there were two shows that were argued over endlessly on the playground, and those two shows were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (MMPR).
Now, while we all had our favorite Ninja Turtle (most of my friends gravitated toward Michelangelo), Power Rangers – at least initially – was a different story. While we may have had our favorite color (Mine was the Black Ranger…for pretty obvious reasons), we didn’t necessarily have a favorite Ranger (though my wife definitely picked Trini, RIP, Thuy Trang). Things changed when we got Tommy Oliver, aka the Green/White Ranger, played by the late actor Jason David Frank, who quickly became a fan favorite.
Well, a major reason why people loved Tommy so much was because of the Green/White Power Ranger saga, which was peak television. Here’s why.
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Tommy Being Both The Green And The White Ranger Was Mind-blowing Back Then
Here’s the thing about a formula – it’s great until it gets repetitive, and that’s how I remember MMPR back in the ‘90s. Pretty much every episode consisted of Rita Repulsa sending down a monster to Angel Grove, to which Jason, Billy, Trini, Kimberly, and Zack would first fight off the Putty Patrol out of costume, and then morph into costume to fight the main bad guy, only for it to grow to monstrous size so that the Rangers would have to get into their Megazord to defeat it. Wash, rinse, repeat.
This was cool for a while, but then it grew stale. This was why when the Green Ranger finally came along, it was like a breath of fresh air. Here was a Ranger who could actually take down all five of the Rangers by himself. Not only that, but the Green Ranger had a flute sword (a flute sword!) and his own mech called the Dragonzord.
Tommy, who was the Green Ranger, quickly became the coolest character on the show, and by a wide margin.
The Story Arc Of Going From Villain To Hero Was Unparalleled Storytelling For Us As Kids
The Green Ranger probably wouldn’t have been so cool if he’d started as a hero. But he didn’t, because this is the story of an enemy turned ally, which always makes for good storytelling (just see Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender).
Tommy Oliver didn’t want to be evil. But mainstay baddie Rita Repulsa gave him an evil sword, and it turned him evil. However, after an intense battle between himself and the Red Ranger, the sword was broken, and Rita’s curse was lifted. After that, Tommy fought alongside the others as the Green Ranger. But then Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa used green magic to take away his abilities.
Enter Zordon and Alpha 5, who used pure WHITE LIGHT so that the bad guys couldn’t use their magical shenanigans anymore to deprive Tommy of his powers. Seriously, it sounds silly on paper, but for kids back in the day, this was our Hamlet!
Jason David Frank Will Live On Forever Because Of This Role
Quite recently, one of JDF’s last on-screen appearances debuted, called Legend of the White Dragon, and it was pretty much a Rated-R spiritual successor to the Power Rangers. No matter what, JDF’s legacy will always circle back to the Green/White Ranger saga.
In fact, when Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always came out, one of the things that kind of bugged me was that JDF never makes an appearance, and this is because the Power Rangers just don’t feel the same without Tommy.
Sure, I know there have been other Power Ranger teams (I personally like Ninja Storm and S.P.D.), but I still consider the Green/White Ranger saga to be the absolute peak when it comes to storytelling, and Jason David Frank will always remain immortalized because of his role in it. We still miss you, JDF.
