1. Fictional character history
    Mighty Morphin Power Rangers  Power Rangers Zeo  Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie  Power Rangers Wild Force  Power Rangers Super Megaforce 

2. Other versions
    2017 film  Comics  Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Pink 

3. See also

4. References

5. Further reading

Jason Lee Scott is a fictional major character in the Power Rangers franchise, played by actor Austin St. John. Jason is best remembered as the original Red Ranger from the first entry of the franchise, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, as well as the leader of the original team of Power Rangers.^[1][2] He later becomes the second Gold Ranger in Power Rangers Zeo.

According to a contest held by ABC Family in 2004, Jason was voted as the #1 Red Ranger of all time. Out of all Red Rangers, he has defeated more enemies by himself than any other Ranger, and is the only Ranger to beat Tommy Oliver in a fight. A subsequent contest on Toon Disney in 2007 also voted him as the most popular Red Ranger. As stated at the first Power Morphicon, Jason still holds this title.

Fictional character history

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

Jason is a martial artist from the fictional town of Angel Grove, California. In the beginning of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, he and his closest friends Zack Taylor, Billy Cranston, Trini Kwan and Kimberly Hart are selected by Zordon and Alpha 5 as the five "teenagers with attitude" to become the original Power Rangers and defend Earth from the forces of the evil Rita Repulsa. When Zordon first confronts the teens to give them their powers, Jason is the only one who initially believes him. Jason becomes the Red Power Ranger, and is given the Dinozord Power Coin of the Tyrannosaurus, obtains the Tyrannosaurus Dinozord (a colossal assault vehicle), and is made the team leader. He leads the Rangers into many successful battles against Rita's monsters, establishing a rivalry with Rita's number one henchman Goldar.^[3][4]

At first glance, Jason appears to be the stereotypical jock type, primarily interested in sports—particularly martial arts. Beneath the surface, however, he is big-hearted,kind, outgoing, friendly, and always willing to help someone out when it is needed—such as when he takes Billy under his wing and teaches him martial arts to boost his confidence and teach him self-defense. Aside from martial arts, Jason is an accomplished athlete, weight trainer and certified scuba diving instructor.

When Tommy Oliver is introduced, he becomes competitive rivals with Jason, matching him in a martial arts competition. Rita then manipulates Tommy, turning him into the evil Green Ranger, and sends him into battle. He later captures Jason, steals his Power Morpher and imprisons him in Rita's Dark Dimension where he would have to fight Goldar to retrieve his Morpher. The Green Ranger eventually arrives at the scene with orders to destroy Jason, however Billy, Trini, and Alpha manage to repair the damage Tommy did to the Command Center, in time to find Jason and retrieve him seconds before he is killed by Tommy. Later, Jason squares off with Tommy on Earth and ultimately defeats him in combat when he hurls his energized Power Sword at the Green Ranger, disarming him, and then uses his Blade Blaster to destroy the Sword of Darkness that Rita had given to Tommy, due to the sword's ability to maintain her evil spell on him. Jason then convinces Tommy to join the team and use his powers against Rita.^[5]

Later, Rita crafts a Green Candle out of special wax that had been enchanted with Tommy's touch when he was evil. Once lit, the candle continues to burn until it is gone, and when it is, so too would Tommy's powers. Because Tommy's proximity to the candle accelerates the candle's melting process, Tommy is captured and placed in its proximity by Goldar. However, he eventually escapes and Jason is left to retrieve the candle. Jason does well in his fight with Goldar, but is recalled into the battle with Rita's Cyclops monster in order to save Tommy's life.^[6]

Following the failure of destroying the Green Candle, Tommy entrusts Jason with his Power Coin to prevent it from falling into Rita's hands again, allowing him access to the Green Ranger's powers. This includes the Dragon Shield and the Dragon Dagger, which also allows him to call the Dragonzord to aid the Rangers, even while Jason controls the Megazord, making him twice as powerful.

One of Jason's most cunning moments is the gambit he plays against Goldar, who kidnaps the parents of Angel Grove High's students, then ransoms them for the Ranger's five Power Coins. Jason would later reveal that though he gave up his Tyrannosaurus Power Coin to Goldar, he kept the Dragon Power Coin. With it, Tommy eventually regains his Green Ranger powers, retrieves the other Ranger's Power Coins and helps the team save their captive parents.^[7]

When Lord Zedd arrives and overruns Rita, he sends his new brand of Putty Patrollers to Earth. The Putties possess superior strength to Rita's Putties, but it is Jason who discovers their weak spot. In order to compete with their new enemy's more powerful monsters, the Dinozords are upgraded into the mythical Thunderzords; Jason's being the Red Dragon Thunderzord, which can transform into a humanoid form. As with the Tyrannosaurus, the Red Dragon is capable of defeating a monster on its own, separate from the Megazord formation.^[8]

Eventually, Tommy loses his Green Ranger powers again, and Jason suffers from immense guilt because of it. Choosing to capitalize on Jason's vulnerability, Zedd creates candles for Zack, Billy, Trini and Kimberly that would remove their links to the Morphing Grid, just as Rita did to Tommy. Jason, with the help of Zordon's confidence in him, manages to save his friends and prevent them from losing their powers. Following the victory, Jason wins a martial arts trophy and dedicates it to Tommy, who soon after returns as the White Ranger and is named the new leader of the team by Zordon. Tommy's return relieves Jason's guilt towards him, and accepting him as his successor as the team's leader. Tommy still heavily relied on Jason due to his experience, as shown where he asks for Jason's help because he is struggling to defeat Nimrod the Scarlett Sentinel, Jason then comes to Tommy's aid and together with the other Rangers they defeat the Nimrod.^[9][10]

Some time later, Jason, Trini and Zack are chosen to act as ambassadors at a Peace Conference in Switzerland (after the actors playing the characters left the show over contract disputes, the characters simply being shown in their Ranger uniforms, using old footage, or with doubles who were never directly facing the cameras, until the transfer could be incorporated into the plot of the show), and are forced to leave the team. Zordon chooses Rocky DeSantos to replace Jason as the Red Ranger.^[11]

Power Rangers Zeo

Jason returns in Power Rangers Zeo, temporarily taking over the powers of the Gold Zeo Ranger from Trey of Triforia when Trey is injured in a fight with Varox bounty hunters. Upon his return to the team, he is also made second-in-command. His return is greatly welcomed by his old friends Tommy and Billy and he quickly makes new friends out of the newer Rangers Adam Park, Katherine Hillard and Tanya Sloan. However, Rocky soon becomes disturbed by his teammates' love for Jason, as he feels he is being replaced by the Ranger he had replaced. After risking his life to prove himself to be worthy despite Jason's popularity, Rocky eventually accepts Jason as a friend and adopts the same jovial relationship with Jason that Rocky has with everyone else. When Tommy is kidnapped by Prince Gasket, Jason would step up as leader of the team once again until they were able to save Tommy and bring him back. Jason is also chosen by Tanya to become the guardian of Auric the Conqueror for a time. During Zeo, Tommy shows a deep dependence on Jason's advice when it comes to leadership decisions.^[12][13][14] He also dates a local waitress, Emily (Lesley Pedersen).

Jason returns the Gold Ranger powers to Trey in the final episode of Zeo when it is discovered that he cannot handle the powers much longer, as they are draining away - along with his own life force - due to the Gold Ranger powers not being intended for human physiology. However, there are no apparent long-term effects, and Jason appears perfectly healthy after the powers are transferred back to Trey.^[15] Retired from superheroics once more, Jason then happily focuses on his relationship with Emily.

Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie

Jason and Kimberly both return in A Power Rangers Movie.^[16] They are first seen scuba diving together, but are then kidnapped by the villainess Divatox and are briefly brainwashed to fight against the Turbo Rangers. It appears that the evil influence enhanced his own negative aspects, as at one point he taunts Tommy with "Now I'm the one with the muscles and the power!". After being restored to normal by Lerigot, he once again fades into the background, with Jason's final appearance in the film being replacing the injured Rocky in a martial arts tournament and ultimately winning the match, alongside Tommy and Adam.^[17]

Power Rangers Wild Force

Jason's final live-action appearance is in Power Rangers Wild Force, in the special episode "Forever Red," which celebrated the tenth anniversary of Power Rangers. In this special, he utilizes his original Red Ranger powers and joins nine other Red Rangers (which includes Tommy, but not Rocky, as Jason is the Mighty Morphin Red Ranger of the episode) to defeat the remnants of the Machine Empire, a force of villains that Jason had previously battled as the Gold Ranger. After the events of "Forever Red," Jason returns to living a normal life, though he presumably still retains his Red Ranger powers.^[18]

Power Rangers Super Megaforce

Jason and the other Mighty Morphin Power Rangers return as part of the army of Legendary Rangers led by Tommy that helped the Mega Rangers defeat the Armada once and for all, fighting in a huge battle against hundreds of XBorgs and dozens of Bruisers.

Other versions

2017 film

Jason appears in the 2017 reboot film, played by Australian actor Dacre Montgomery. A former high school football star, Jason ruins his potential future career when he pulls a prank by bringing a bull into the school's changing room, leaving him sentenced to weekend detentions until the end of the year. He also gains a knee injury for his right leg when he flips his truck during an escape attempt on that fateful night. After he protects Billy Cranston from a bully during the detention, Billy helps Jason shut down his house arrest ankle monitor in return for driving Billy out to the old mines where Billy used to go with his father, resulting in them discovering the Power Coins at the same time as Kimberly, Trini and Zack are in the area. When they experience sudden bursts of strength and speed, (along with having Jason's knee heal overnight), the five return to the place where they found the coins and discover Zordon and Alpha 5 in the spaceship buried underground. Although skeptical at the story presented by Zordon, Jason soon accepts his role as leader and works to rally the team, even daring to confront Rita Repulsa when they have yet to master their powers. This attack on Rita results in Billy's death, but the sight of the team coming together prompts Zordon to selflessly sacrifice a chance to return to life and instead resurrect Billy, allowing the new Rangers to battle Rita after Zordon's team failed. He even wields a sword that once belonged to Zordon, and saves his dad's life without revealing his identity.

Comics

The character also appears in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comic from Boom Studios.

Jason also has a parallel universe doppelgänger, who not only has the Red Ranger powers but also the White Ranger's. This Jason was an archenemy of Lord Drakkon, who is an evil parallel universe doppelgänger of Tommy Oliver. Lord Drakkon ultimately killed his world's Jason and takes his enemy's White Ranger powers and Red Ranger helmet as trophies, and eliminates their world's Power Rangers.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Pink

Kimberly is the main character in this comic book mini series published by Boom! Studios. The series is a modern remake but also serves as a continuation from Kimberly's exit in the third season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.^[19] Kimberly needs to rescue a French town under siege from Goldar and she seeks help from Zordon. He temporarily makes Kimberly the pink Power Ranger again by using the Sword of Light to activate the latent pink energy within her. Kimberly asks Zordon if she can be taken to Jason, Zack and Trini but is told Jason has a mission of his own which explains his absence from this series.^[20] Instead, the role of the red ranger is filled by a civilian she met called Britt who becomes the first female red Mighty Morphin Power Ranger.^[21]

See also

References

Further reading

The Official Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Guidebook {{ISBN|1-57082-235-2}}, {{ISBN|978-1-57082-235-3}}

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