Ranger of the Month: Kimberly Hart (Megapost)

Last week marked the 25th Anniversary of the Power Rangers series. :-) In honor of that I'm creating a new segment on this blog called Ranger of Month. Each month we will look at a female ranger from the series. :-) To kick things off... This month's tribute is dedicated to the Original Pink Mighty Morphin Pterodactyl Power Ranger Kimberly Hart. ^_^ 

We get to see Kimberly's feet almost immediately in the series since she is barefoot practicing a gymnastics routine in her first scene in the series. ^_^

The name of this Debut episode is Day of the Dumpster. ^_^

I apologize for the quality of some of these images. Kimberly's gymnastic routines required her feet to move really quickly so they often got motion blurred when the camera tried to capture them. ^_^;

Part of Kimberly's Balance Beam routine this episode went on to be used in the series opening credits showing off her character. ^_^

This next set is from episode 4 A Pressing Engagement. We were really lucky in the early episodes because Kimberly was seen performing Gymnastic routines a lot helping viewers to associate the character with her athletic ability. ^_^ This episode allowed us to not only see her practice her skills on the balance beam but  we also got to see her slip on some ballet flats onto her feet once she finished.

This was a floor routine from episode 13 "Peace Love and Woe" where Kimberly had to dodge the school bully Bulk who accidentally interrupted her routine with a skateboard.

This next set is from Episode 32 "A Star is Born" which had the Power Ranger team relaxing on the beach for a lengthy segment of the episode

It should be noted that the Yellow Ranger Trini has better scenes in this but we'll get to cover those in a future tribute.

This is a quick routine she did in Power Ranger's episode 54 "Trick or Treat"

Ok this next set is from the Power Rangers episode 97 "Forever Friends" where Kimberly competes in a Gymnastics competition. 

I think that this episode probably gave the second best episode in terms of Power Rangers foot scenes with over 500 frames of Kimberly's bare feet available. It was a painstaking choice deciding which ones to use. 

Kimberly's last Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Storyline was a 3 part episode called "A Different Shade of Pink" Episodes 135-137.  As the original Pink Ranger's swan song... It gave us the best views of Kimberly's feet as she trained for and competed in a National Gymnastics competition. :-)

Kimberly was one of the last original Rangers to leave the series. She got a special highlight in her last episode with the ending sequence dedicated to her. Only her and Billy (the original Blue Ranger) had that honor. ^_^ 

Some Pictures of Amy Jo Johnson (Kimberly's Actress)

Some of these images such as the one above are from a Gymnastics movie Amy Jo did called "the Perfect Body".

Power Rangers Comic Images

The recent comic book storyline "Shattered grid" introduced a version of Kimberly from an. She was given a very cool ranger costume and possessed sort of a punk type of appearance out of her uniform complete with earrings and short hair.  ^_^

I definitely recommend reading the "Shattered Grid" Storyline if you get a chance. It is really an exciting arc. The Boom Comics Power Rangers series in general is really good. ^_^ 

This was an alternate cover for one of the Power Rangers Issue (Go Go Power Rangers Issue #5) allowing us to make our own models of the Pink Ranger and select her clothing. :-)

(A lot of different Images in this one. Caps from the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Series (Episodes identified above), Webfinds and Instagram images of Amy Jo Johnson, and a comic book images of the Pink Ranger. I had a lot of help with this tribute. Special Thank yous to Juancho (who  made this tribute possible), JTurner and Lionel for recommending material for the character and actress)

Bonus Fanart

https://www.deviantart.com/scottblairart/art/Pink-Ranger-Kimberly-Barefoot-600847346

https://www.deviantart.com/azure-arts/art/Kimberly-s-Soles-423152139

A student at Angel Grove High School, Kimberly was recruited by the Sage Zordon to protect the Earth from the Alien Witch Rita Repulsa and her evil forces. To help her, she was given the pink Power coin which allows her to transform into the Pink Pterodactyl Power Ranger. As a Ranger Kimberly has a variety of powers including enhanced strength, speed and durability. Her costume is able to ward off sword attacks, weapons blasts and explosions to a certain extent. She also possesses a Ranger communicator which allows her to keep in contact with Zordon and the other Rangers and teleport to the locations she is needed. In addition to that she can summon a Ranger Weapon for an additional power boost. Her weapon is a Bow and Arrow which she can use for Ranged attacks.

Like the other Rangers, Kimberly pilots a Ranger Zord (Basically a large vehicle which the rangers use to combat larger threats). Her Zord is the Pterodactyl Zord which resembles a mechanical version of  the flying dinosaur it is named for. It is equipped with a range of weaponry which she uses to attack enemies from above. Her Zord also has the power to combine with the other Ranger Zords to form the Megazord, a giant Mecha Robot that the Rangers use to take on Giant Monsters. Over times Kimberly's powers increase as the Rangers need to adapt to combat more dangerous threats to the plants. Kimberly's Zord adapts accordingly becoming the Firebird Thunderzord in season two. She later pilots the Pink Crane Ninja Zord in season 3. 

There isn't any other female ranger that I would have considered starting this tribute series off with. Kimberly was one of my first heroine crushes and she is probably the most well known female ranger having been in more episodes and movies than any of the other Power Rangers women. This character was one of my favorites to see on screen in the series. She was beautiful, graceful and brave and she had a witty sense of humor. I also liked the Romantic Relationship that she had with the Green Ranger Tommy Oliver. 

As a ranger team member... Kimberly is really strong with her bow giving her a powerful ranged attack that would allow her to take out her enemies from a distance. Her Zords are responsible for providing her team with Aerial attacks. Her Firebird Zord is shown to be particularly powerful as when combined with the other Ranger Zords, it is used for their ultimate attack being fired through enemy monsters and destroying them completely. 

I have to give Amy Jo Johnson a lot of credit for portraying this character so well. She really made Kimberly charming and likable and her skills at Gymnastic and Music added a lot of extra depth to the character. We also got to see the character grow a lot in the series developing from a superficial valley girl who tends to be concerned with her looks and popularity to a mature, caring and selfless hero. Season 3 has a lot of examples. One set of episodes that highlights how far she has come is the two part episode "Wild West Rangers" where she accidentally gets stuck in the past and winds up having to single handedly organize and lead a team of Rangers to preserve history. In her final story arc she is stretched to  her limits as her dream of becoming a national gymnast comes into conflict with her role as a Ranger. Though it leaves her exhausted, she manages to persevere saving the world a final time, winning her gymnastics competition and through kindness, determination and friendship ensuring a legacy of heroic Pink Rangers to follow in her footsteps. :-)

That's all for now everyone. As always though... more to come!!

Go Go Power Rangers!!

-KSC