Jason Scott

Jason Lee Scott is a fictional major character and the main protagonist in the first season of the Power Rangers franchise, played by actor Austin St. John. Jason is known as the original Red Ranger from the first entry of the franchise, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, as well as the leader of the first team of Power Rangers. He later becomes the Gold Ranger in Power Rangers Zeo.

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

Jason is a martial artist from the fictional town of Angel Grove, California. At 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 battles against Rita's monsters, establishing a rivalry with Rita's number one henchman Goldar.

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 comes in, 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, but 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 Tommy kills him. 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.

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 close to it by Goldar. However, he eventually escapes and Jason is left to retrieve the candle. Jason does well in his fight with Goldar but gets recalled into the battle with Rita's Cyclops monster to save Angel Grove.

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 (including 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.

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. To compete with their new enemy's more powerful monsters, the Dinozords are upgraded into the mythical Thunderzords; Jason's Dinozord becomes the Red Dragon Thunderzord, which can transform into a humanoid form. As with the Tyrannosaurus, the Red Dragon can defeat a monster on its own, separate from the Megazord formation.

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 comeback relieves Jason's guilt towards him and accepting him as his successor as the team's leader and becoming the new second-in-command. 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 beat the Nimrod.

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.

Jason returns in Power Rangers Zeo, taking over the powers of the Gold Zeo Ranger from Trey of Triforia when Trey went injured in a fight with Varox bounty hunters and required someone else to hold his powers until he could heal. 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. Jason also 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 previously replaced. After risking his life to prove himself to be worthy despite Jason's popularity, Rocky eventually accepts Jason as a friend. Rocky also adopts the same jovial relationship with Jason that he has with everyone else. When Tommy gets kidnapped by Prince Gasket, Jason steps up as the 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. He also dates a local waitress, Emily.

Jason returns the Gold Ranger powers to Trey in the final episode of Zeo when he finds out that he cannot handle it much longer, as they are draining away - along with his 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 he transfers it back to Trey. Retired from superheroics once more, Jason then happily focuses on his relationship with Emily.

Jason and Kimberly both return in Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie. The film throughout suggests they may be romantically linked, having gotten together sometime after Jason's turn as the Gold Ranger. They are first seen scuba diving together, but are then kidnapped by the villainess Divatox and are briefly brainwashed to fight against the Turbo Power Rangers. It appears that the evil influence enhanced his own emotional 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 appearance in the film being replacing the injured Rocky in a martial arts tournament and ultimately winning the match, alongside Tommy and Adam.

Jason returns 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 retained his Red Ranger powers.

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. However, Austin St. John did not return and Jason only appears morphed, as do the other Mighty Morphin rangers besides Tommy.

When Jason's old foe Goldar is reanimated by Evox/Venjix as Goldar Maximus and dispatched to the dimension of the Dino Charge Power Rangers to gather energems, Jason is summoned by Grid Battleforce Red Ranger Devon to help him save the Dino Charge Rangers as well as members of Devon's own team. It is revealed that Jason's Tyrannosaurus Power Coin has laid dormant within a meteorite for an undisclosed amount of time. Devon hands the coin back to Jason. Jason eventually summons the rest of his Mighty Morphin team and the Dino Thunder Power Rangers to assist him against the army led by Goldar Maximus.

## Zords

Tyrannosaurus Dinozord -- Red Dragon Thunderzord -- Pyramidas and Warrior Wheel

## See Also

Season 1 -- Season 2 -- Power Rangers Zeo -- Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie -- Power Rangers Wild Force -- Power Rangers Beast Morphers