Tommy Oliver

Tommy Oliver is a Power Ranger veteran, considered to be one of the greatest – if not the greatest – Power Ranger in history and a hero from the Power Rangers television series.

Early Life
Not much is known about Tommy’s childhood, other than that the Oliver family adopted him when he was young. His brother, David, who he wouldn’t meet until he was teenager was adopted by Sam Trueheart. At some point, Tommy gained an interest in martial arts and soon became highly skilled at it.

Green with Evil
In Tommy’s freshman year of high school, his family moved to Angel Grove and he was enrolled in Angel Grove High School. He took part in a martial arts tournament, where he fought Jason and it ended in a tie, earning him Jason’s respect. Tommy later drove off Bulk & Skull when they were bothering Kimberly, which attracted the attention of Rita Repulsa. She realized that he was perfect to have the powers of the secret Power Coin in her possession, the Dragon Coin, and become her evil Green Ranger. Rita placed Tommy under a spell and sent him to the Command Center, which he trashed and then put Zordon out of commission. He then took on the Power Rangers and easily defeated them all. Tommy was then given the Sword of Darkness by Rita, which strengthened the spell to keep him under her control and had him send Jason to the Dark Dimension. There, the Red Ranger was forced to face off against Goldar and then Tommy when he arrived to take over. However Jason managed to just barely escape thanks to the other rangers teleporting him out. Tommy attempted to once again sabotage the Command Center while the rangers were busying defending Angel Grove from Goldar. However Alpha trapped him in a stasis lock, but Rita freed him and grew him to giant size so that he could help Goldar and Scorpina battle the weakened Megazord. It separated and the Dinozords descended below the earth while the rangers fled back to the Command Center. However Alpha revealed that the stasis lock had allowed him to find out the Green Ranger’s identity, Tommy Oliver. They realized that Tommy was under a spell and Kimberly confronted him in the Youth Center, but he informed her that soon she and all the other rangers would be destroyed. After Rita gave Tommy the Dragon Dagger, he used it to summon the Dragonzord to assault Angel Grove. But Zordon and the Megazord were brought back and the rangers succeeded in defeating the Dragonzord. Jason faced off against the Green Rangers and his Sword of Darkness was destroyed, freeing Tommy from Rita’s control. Realizing everything he done, Tommy felt terrible, but Jason told him that it was only because of the spell and he accepted the offer to join the rangers. The Green Ranger was brought back to the Command Center, where he accepted the ranger rules Zordon had set and was given a communicator by Billy.

Fighting alongside the Rangers
Though Tommy originally remained a loner at first, he became closer to the other rangers and came to appreciate their personalities. He developed a crush on Kimberly and eventually the two began dating. But Tommy and Jason took longer to become closer due to the two viewing each others as rivals, Tommy often trying to show each Jason up. Zordon knew of the problem and sent them on a mission to retrieve special blasters that the rangers needed to take down the Super Putties that were guarded by Titanus. They learned to work together and formed a close friendship, teaching each other martial arts. Tommy also picked up leadership skills from Jason, which helped him later in his career as a Power Ranger.

The Green Candle
But Rita found a way to bring down the Green Ranger. She created a candle made from a magic wax that had previously encased Tommy and as the candle melted, Tommy’s powers would fade and when it burned out completely, the Green Ranger powers would be hers again. Goldar was sent to kidnap Tommy and bring him to the Dark Dimension, since his presence would burn the candle faster. But he took Goldar’s sword during their fight and got back to Earth. Rita sent a shape-shifting Cyclops after the rangers and Tommy decided to fight it alone, while the rangers tried to get the candle. Jason managed to get into the Dark Dimension, but failed to retrieve the candle thanks to Goldar. He and the other rangers retreated to help Tommy fight the monster, but the candle burned out. However Zordon told Tommy to pass his powers to another with a strong link to the Morphing Grid before all was lost so as to keep them out of Rita’s clutches. He gave them to Jason, giving him use of his Dragon Dagger and Dragon Shield. Tommy said goodbye to his former comrades and they told him that he would always be a ranger in spirit.

Return of an Old Friend
On Parent’s Day at the Youth Center, Rita kidnapped all of the parents and trapped them in the Dark Dimension. Billy was brainwashed into giving Goldar the Dragon Dagger and he used it to unleash the Dragonzord upon Angel Grove. The Rangers were forced to hand over their Power Coins to get them back, but they were double-crossed. Now powerless, Jason revealed that he still had the Dragon Coin and they teleported Tommy to the Command Center. He agreed to help them and was given an energy boost by Zordon, allowing him to become the Green Ranger once more. Tommy was teleported to where the Power Coins where kept, protected by a strange energy field, and took on Goldar and the Putties. He succeeded in getting back the Dragon Dagger to stop the Dragonzord and the Power Coins before being teleported back. As it turned out, the energy field around the coins had given Tommy’s powers a great energy boost, allowing him to continue to fight as the Green Ranger, though it was still temporary. He received regular recharges from Zordon to maintain them as long as possible and became more dependent on the rangers.

Green No More
After Lord Zedd arrived, he became intent on destroying Tommy before all the other rangers. In his heart, he knew that each day could be his last as the Green Ranger, but chose to continue to fight alongside the rangers until his powers left him permanently. At one point, Tommy was confronted by a strange image of himself that warned him about Zedd’s plans. Zedd’s monster, Turbanshell, drained what remained of his powers that Zedd planed to use to create his own team of Dark Rangers and he was forced to battle Goldar, who mocked him about how he was nothing without the power of the Green Ranger. Tommy refused to let Goldar taunt him and launched a surprise attack on his enemy. He found an object that his image told him about – his communicator – which he used to teleport to the other rangers. Tommy destroyed the crystal that held what remained of his powers and morphed one last time to take on Turbanshell. Crushed and disappointed, Tommy went to his uncle’s lakeside cabin to try and figure things out.

White Light
Tommy spent a week at his uncle’s cabin before sending a letter to the other rangers saying that he was coming back. But one day, he was teleported to the Command Center by Zordon and Alpha, who told him about their plan to create a new ranger from the White Light of Good. This ranger would be impossible for the darkness to control and Tommy was the perfect candidate thanks to his courage and determination during his days as the Green Ranger. The other rangers were teleported to the Command Center where Tommy appeared as the White Ranger. He piloted the Tigerzord and wielded the talking sword, Saba. Tommy at first overestimated his powers and lost control of the Tigerzord at one point, but got back to his feet and was more careful with his stronger powers.

Gaining New Teammates
One day while Tommy was rollerblading through the park with Kimberly and Billy when they met Adam Park, Aisha Campbell, and Rocky DeSantos. The six worked together to save their teacher’s baby when his stroller was about to go down a steep hill. They befriended each other and Tommy, Kimberly, and Billy were surprised when the three won a ninja tournament. Zedd was interested by Adam, Aisha, and Rocky and planned to make them into his dark warriors by setting a snake on them that could make them evil. Tommy, Kimberly, and Billy went to save them and while Billy took on the snake, Tommy and Kimberly freed their friends. But the snake wrapped around the Blue Ranger’s throat and the White Ranger had to remove his helmet to allow him to breath, saving Billy, but also revealing his identity to Adam, Aisha, and Rocky. Tommy and Kimberly revealed their identities to the three and brought them to Zordon, who made them swear they would keep it a secret. The trio became friends with the rest of the rangers, even helping them on a number of occasions. Later Zack, Trini, and Jason were chosen as representatives to go to a peace conference in Switzerland by the Teen World Summit. Since this would keep them away from their duties as Power Rangers, replacements had to be found and they were none other than Adam, Aisha, and Rocky. Tommy lead the rangers to a distant planet so as to retrieve the Sword of Light, which was needed in order to transfer the powers of the Black Ranger, Yellow Ranger, and Red Ranger to Adam, Aisha, and Rocky respectively. They managed to get it before Zedd destroyed the planet with Serpentera and the power transfer was completed. Though Tommy was sad to see his old friends leave, he was happy to fight with his new comrades.

Return Of The Green Ranger
But their problems increased when Rita Repulsa returned and married Lord Zedd, but they managed to succeed over all of their traps and monsters. Rita called upon the Wizard of Deception who she had create an evil clone of Tommy that was given the Green Ranger Powers. The evil Tommy and the Wizard then sent back all the Rangers except Tommy to colonial times. Tommy confronted his evil clone in a fierce battle, but he and Zordon eventually found out what had happened to the other Rangers. The White Ranger took the Wizard’s wand and used it to retrieve his comrades, then destroyed him. This also freed his clone of the spell that had made him evil (since being a clone of Tommy, he had goodness in his core) and he immediately felt terrible about everything he had done. Tommy told him that it wasn’t his fault and the two went back to colonial times to take care of some rat monsters that the Wizard of Deception had created there. But after they were finished, the Tommy clone realized that there couldn’t be two Tommys in one time. Tommy left him there with his powers intact and named him “Tom Oliver” (although it is never stated, by doing this, Tommy may have created his own ancestry).

Ninja Quest
A new threat for Tommy and the rangers came in the form of Rita’s brother, Rito Revolto, who destroyed their Thunderzords and damaged their Power Coins beyond use. Thus they headed to the Desert of Despair to find Ninjor, who gave them new Power Coins with the Ninja Ranger powers and Tommy became the White Ninja Ranger with the power of the Falcon.

A Different Shade of Pink
In another attempt to bring down the rangers, Rita cast a spell on a new Australian student, Katherine Hillard, who was ordered to become friends with the Rangers and help Rita with her schemes. One day at the beach, Tommy found Kimberly feeling weakened and brought her back to the command Center, where it was discovered that she had lost her Ninja Power Coin. The White Ranger felt great concern for Kimberly, having been in a similar position before. Lord Zedd managed to trap the Pink Ranger in the dark Dimension, but Tommy used a teleportation device Billy had created to bring her back. However Kimberly later got hurt during gymnastics practice and Tommy went to the hospital immediately. Kat managed to break free of Rita’s spell and told the Pink Ranger what happened, which Tommy and the other Rangers heard. They were forgiving, given Tommy’s own history as the evil Green Ranger and they held no grudge against her. Things would only get harder for the White Ranger, since Kimberly’s gymnastics coach wanted her to come to Florida. Tommy did not want her to leave, but he didn’t want to stop her from pursuing her dreams. They vowed to stay in contact with each other and before leaving, Kimberly gave her powers to Katherine.

The Zeo Crystal
After Rita and Rito’s father, Master Vile, came to the Moon seeking the all powerful Zeo Crystal, Tommy and Katherine infiltrated Zedd’s palace to steal it so that Vile couldn’t get it. While Katherine distracted Zedd and Rita, Tommy went into the Caves of Deception below the palace and after overcoming a few illusions, he managed to reach the crystal. However it had a shield around that harmed anyone who had evil in their hearts and it initially harmed Tommy because of the evils of his past. But then it saw all the good he had done and he was allowed to take the Zeo Crystal. Tommy and Kat escaped with the crystal, then shattered it and scattered the five pieces throughout time so that Vile could never get his hands on it.

A Zeo Beginning
But their problems with Master Vile were not over. He used the Orb of Doom to turn back time, turning the rangers into small children. Billy created a device that used their Power Coins as a power source to transform them back into teenagers. He tested it on himself and it worked, but Goldar took this opportunity to steal the coins and Zedd and Rita completely destroyed them. In order to set things back to normal, the rangers went back in time to retrieve the fragments of the Zeo Crystal. Tommy went back to a Native American village, where he helped a wise man named True of Heart. He made his way up a mountain with a bird guiding him to the crystal fragment, but found three wrapped crystals. Only one was the one that Tommy sought and the other two would keep him stuck as he was. With help from True of Heart, he looked inside his heart and found the correct crystal. Tommy was also given a half of an arrowhead that he was told would have an important role in his life. All the rangers returned with the crystal fragments, except for Aisha, who decided to stay in the past and sent a girl named Tanya back with her crystal to take her place. The rangers became teenagers again, but Goldar and Rito activated a bomb that they had placed under the Command Center. The rangers escaped in time, but the Command Center was blown to bits. As they dug through the wreckage. Tommy came across the Zeo crystal, now whole once again and they were then pulled into the Power Chamber, a secret base that Zordon and Alpha had created in case the Command Center was ever destroyed. But as this was happening, King Mondo and his Machine Empire arrived and drove out Zedd and Rita, then began making plans to take over Earth. Tommy and the others harnessed the power of the Zeo Crystal to become the even stronger Zeo Rangers with Tommy as Zeo Ranger 5 – Red and the leader of the team.

There’s No Business Like Snow Business
However Tommy received a letter from Kimberly in Florida, telling him that she wanted to call off their relationship and that there was someone else. Deeply depressed by this, the other Rangers took Tommy on a snowboarding trip to try and take his mind off things, but it was ruined by King Mondo constantly sending his monsters to cause havoc.

Found and Lost
Some time afterwards, Tommy began having recurring dreams about True of Heart and one day he met a man named Sam, who looked exactly like him. The Red Ranger offered to drop him off at home and saw a man who looked remarkably like him, but when he attempted to chase after him, the man disappeared. Sam told Tommy that his full name was Sam Trueheart and that the identity of the man he saw would be revealed when he completed his quest. Upon doing so, Tommy found out that the man was David Trueheart, his brother and that he had the other half of the arrowhead. When they were put together, the bearer would be able to control the power of the spirits trapped in a hidden stone. Tommy was ecstatic to meet his brother and introduced David to his friends, but after he beat him in a karate match, David was embarrassed and ran off. The Red Ranger ran after him, but King Mondo captured him, wanting the arrowhead so as to control the spirits of the stone. Tommy handed over his half, but the machine king double-crossed him and he transformed into Zeo Ranger 5, locating his brother and bringing him to safety. David insisted on going back for Tommy since Mondo had threatened him, and despite the Red Ranger’s attempts to convince David that he was alright, he refused to leave without Tommy. Though reluctant, the Red Ranger took off his helmet, revealing his identity to a shocked David. Tommy managed to get the arrowhead back and the two brothers decided to keep each of the halves.

The Power of Gold
During the Zeo Ranger’s battle with one of King Mondo’s monsters, Wolfbane, a Gold Zeo Ranger appeared and helped them. His identity remained a mystery for some time, however Tommy at one point thought that it was Billy. The Gold Ranger was later revealed as Trey from the planet of Triforia, but due to his molecular makeup, he was split into three different beings. He could not join together until he got back to his home planet and could not morph until he did so. The rangers needed to pick someone to take on the Gold Ranger Powers and at first, they tried to give them to Billy. However he had unintentionally absorbed the negative proton energy during the destruction of the Command Center and could not handle the energy. Luckily Jason had returned to Angel Grove recently so Tommy asked him to become the new Gold Ranger. He agreed to do so and they hurried back to the Command Center where the three Treys gave Jason the powers of the Gold Ranger. Before leaving, Trey gave the rangers the Super Zeo Gems that allowed them to take control of the Super Zeozords, with Tommy taking control of Super Zeozord V.

King For a Day
After Prince Gasket took control of the Machine Empire, Tommy was abducted by him and brainwashed. He was told that he was King of the Machine Empire and that the Power Rangers were evil and needed to be destroyed. At first, Tommy was reluctant to put up with him, but when he viewed images of the Rangers destruction, he knew that they had to be gotten rid of. Jason and Kat found out what had happened to Tommy and teleported to the arena where he was. At first they fought the Red Ranger, but they realized that they needed to show him who his friends were to free him from Gasket’s control. They demorphed in front of him and upon seeing their faces, Tommy got his memories back and remembered that the Rangers were good.

Shift into Turbo
After Billy had left for Aquitar and Jason gave his Gold Ranger powers back to Trey, the Zeo Rangers soon dismantled. But when the space pirate, Divatox, kidnapped Jason and Kimberly as part of her plan to unleash the demon, Maligore. Tommy and the others needed a power capable of allowing them to pursue Divatox and took on the Turbo powers, becoming the Turbo Power Rangers. Tommy stepped up as the Red Turbo Ranger and gained a new ally when Rocky injured his back. Stepping into the boots of Blue Turbo Ranger was Justin Stewart and Tommy and the others jumped into action. They went to the cave where Divatox was holding Jason and Kimberly and succeeded in freeing them, before taking on Maligore in their new Turbo Megazord and destroying him. Because of his new powers, Tommy began spending a great deal of time at a racetrack, not attending his graduation ceremony as a result, picking up his diploma earlier. The Red Ranger began spending less time with his teammates, but whenever they needed him, he was there. After Zordon and Alpha 5 chose to leave and return to Eltar, Dimitria and Alpha 6 arrived as their replacements. This wasn’t a problem for Divatox, who was determined to destroy the Turbo Rangers and tried everything that she could, but each time the rangers emerged victorious.

Passing the Torch
One day, Divatox’s mother, Mama D, appeared before her and told her that the best way to get rid of the rangers was to take out the leader. The space pirate sent her Piranhatrons to attack Tommy and Kat, who were on their way to a camp out with Adam, Tanya, and Justin. They succeeded in kidnapping the Red Ranger and brought him to Divatox’s lair where she planned to drop him into the Vortex of Eternal Doom and Sorrow. However Tommy was saved by Cassie Chan and Theodore “T.J.” Johnson, who pushed him to safety just before he fell into the Vortex. Impressed by T.J.’s bravery, Tommy picked him as his successor as the Red Turbo Ranger when he, Kat, Adam, and Tanya left to go to college.

College Life

After his tenure as a ranger, Tommy went to MIT, where he took a doctorate in paleontology, inspired by his days with the dinosaur powered Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. However during his fossil research, Tommy found remnants of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, the Dino Gems. When he discovered the powers within the gems, he hid them so that they would never fall into the wrong hands. Tommy also met Hayley Ziktor in college, who helped him in creating the Dino Morphers so that the Dino Gems power could be harnessed to create Power Rangers. Tommy began work with Terrence Smith and Anton Mercer on a project that led to the creation of the Tyrannodrones, Biozords, and Raptor Riders. But an accident led to the destruction of the island they had been working on, as well as the disappearance of Mercer and Smith.

Forever Red
After college, Tommy started a restaurant named Bulkmeier’s in Stone Canyon with the former bullies, Bulk & Skull. He owned most of it and as such, was considered the “boss”. However Tommy wasn’t done with his life protecting the Earth and worked with the Red Space Ranger, Andros, tracking General Venjix and the remnants of the Machine Empire. After finding out that they planned to revive Serpentera, Tommy decided to team up with all of the Red Rangers, calling in Jason, the Red Mighty Morphin’ Ranger, Aurico, the Red Alien Ranger, T.J., the Red Turbo Ranger, Leo Corbett, the Red Galaxy Ranger, Carter Grayson, the Red Lightspeed Ranger, Wesley Collins, the Red Time Force Ranger, Eric Myers, the Quantum Ranger, and Cole Evans, the Red Wild Force Ranger. They went to the Moon, where they battled Venjix and the other generals of the Machine Empire with Tommy becoming the Red Zeo Ranger once again. Together, the Red Rangers succeeded in destroying the generals and Serpentera and they went their separate ways.

Back in Black
After resuming his paleontology research, Tommy lost all his work in the island explosion. He also found the world threatened by a new enemy, Mesogog. Soon afterwards, Tommy became a teacher at Reefside High School in California. A trio of detention students, Connor McKnight, Ethan James, and Kira Ford, found the Dino Gems and morphers. Tommy recruited them as the new Dino Thunder Power Rangers, but remained somewhat mysterious and obnoxious, as Connor put it, during that time. One day, he was captured by Mesogog and the three discovered a video biography of all of the Power Rangers teams throughout the years, which also told them about Tommy’s career as a ranger. However his capture had placed him in the position to steal the Black Dino Gem from Mesogog with which he became the Black Dino Ranger, joining the other rangers in their fight against evil.

White Thunder
When the White Dino Ranger appeared, Tommy soon found out his identity was Trent Mercer, however after this, the White Ranger encased him in amber. But after he was freed, he couldn’t demorph since his Dino Gem and morpher had been re-molecularized. Despite all this, Tommy couldn’t help but feel sympathy for Trent even when the other Dino Rangers wouldn’t and reminded them of how he had been in the same situation, when he began his Power Ranger career as the evil Green Ranger and out of all the evil rangers, he had come closest to destroy the Power Rangers.

Triassic Triumph
After the Evil White Ranger Clone and White Terrorsaurus attacked the Rangers, Tommy decided to get them an upgrade. He brought Trent to the location of the Shield of Triumph since only the power of his Dino Gem could free the shield from its resting place. Tommy had a suspicion that Connor was the one destined to wield the Shield of Triumph’s power, which was proven right when the Red Ranger showed up to stop it from being lost forever. Tommy later had the other rangers contribute their energies to the shield, allowing Connor to become the Triassic Ranger.

Fighting Spirit
Tommy managed to retrieve a strange slime that he hoped would allow him to demorph and after Hayley analyzed it, they used it on him. But while he succeeded in demorphing, Tommy was rendered invisible. Another experiment returned him to normal, but it sent him into a coma and shattered the Black Dino Gem. While in the coma, Tommy faced off against his past ranger personas, the Red Zeo Ranger, the White Tiger Ranger, and the Green Dragon Ranger. He proved that he would never give up a fight for his life, the rangers offered him the pieces of the Black Dino Gem. When Tommy awakened, the restored gem was in his hand and he went to the rescue the Dino Rangers from the new White Terrorsaurus, now able to use Super Dino Mode.

Thunder Struck
When Tommy and the other rangers found out that Trent had been hiding the fact that his adoptive father, Anton Mercer, was actually Mesogog, Tommy considered asking him to hand his morpher over. Though the Black Dino Ranger eventually understood Trent’s loyalty to his father, he left the decision up to the other rangers and they chose to let Trent stay on the team after he saved Connor’s life. In their final battle with Zeltrax, Tommy told the rangers that they could only win by sacrificing their Zords. After the battle, the Black Dino Ranger finally succeeded in destroying Zeltrax with help from Kira. However they had to face off against Mesogog, (who had succeeded in separating himself from Mercer) finally destroying him by unleashing the power of their Dino Gems, losing their ability to morph. After Anton asked Tommy what he was going to do while they were at the prom, he said that he would continue his life as a high school teacher, finally leaving his life as a Power Ranger.

Abilities
Tommy is an extremely skilled martial artist and has used a variety of different ranger powers over the years. All of these powers increased his fighting skills and abilities, but each offered him different weapons and Zords and sometimes other powers. The first was that of the Green Dragon Ranger, which gave Tommy use of the Dragon Dagger, Dragon Shield, and a Blade Blaster and command of the Dragonzord. As the White Tiger Ranger, he wielded Saba and piloted the Tigerzord and as the White Ninja Ranger, Tommy could enter a ninja form, where he could use various ninja powers, such as disappearing then reappearing and using super speed. He could also utilize the Metallic Armor to better protect himself and the White Shark Cycle and piloted the Falconzord and the White Shogunzord. After Tommy became the Red Zeo Ranger, his powers continually grew more powerful due to them being derived from the Zeo Crystal. His arsenal included a Zeo Laser Blade and a Zeo Laser Pistol, which acted as his sidearms, the Zeo Power Sword, Zeo Jet Cycle V, and the Defender Wheel. Tommy’s Zords as the Red Zeo Ranger consisted of Zeozord V, the Red Battlezord, and Super Zeozord V. When he became the Red Turbo Ranger, Tommy had the Auto Blaster and Turbo Sword as sidearms, the Turbo Lightning Sword, a Turbo Navigator, and a Turbo Cart, a small vehicle reminiscent of a go-cart in his arsenal and his zord was the Red Lightning Turbozord. As the Black Dino Ranger, Tommy used the Brachio Staff, a Black Raptor Rider, and a Dino ATV and could enter Super Dino Mode, which increased his strength. He had command of the Dino Thunder carrierzord, the Brachiozord, also giving him command of the Cephalazord, Dimetrozord, Stegozord, Parasaurzord, and the Ankylozord.

Trivia

 * Though Tommy didn’t appear in the Operation Overdrive team-up, he was referenced by his former teammates, Adam Park and Kira Ford.


 * Many of Tommy’s habits and mannerisms throughout Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers were added to accommodate those of his counterparts in the Super Sentai.


 * Jason was originally considered to be the Black Dino Ranger, but Tommy’s popularity lead him to be chosen instead.


 * Tommy goes through the most color changes of any other Power Ranger, going from green to white to red to black. He is also the longest serving ranger and the longest stint as a team leader.


 * In a possible future, Tommy was married to Katherine and had a son, who was implied to be a Power Ranger himself.