Captain William "Bill" Mitchell is the head of the Lightspeed Aquabase, mentor of the Lightspeed Rescue Power Rangers and the father of Dana Mitchell and Ryan Mitchell.
Biography
Captain Mitchell was responsible for selecting the Lightspeed team, each Ranger was chosen for their special skills and abilities in a specific area. Throughout the season, Mitchell uses his wisdom to provide the Rangers crucial information regarding their enemies or missions. A firm believer in following the rules, Mitchell often comes off as aloof or unfeeling toward the Rangers. His tendency to withhold information from them, typically in an attempt to allow them to realize a mistake made on their part or security reasons, he's been accused for making bad judgement calls.
When he gives the order for Carter to put out a fire instead of saving civilians in peril, the order results in the injury of a young boy. Believing he could've prevented the injury, Carter argues Mitchell made a bad call until he realizes why Mitchell had ordered the fire be put out first: a tank of flammable liquid had been present. Had Carter not done as ordered, everyone (including himself) would've perished in an explosion. On another occasion, his daughter, Dana, thought he did not value her like the other Rangers when she was sent to escort an old friend of his to the docks to fish. Once it's revealed that his friend was actually in possession of the nuclear device the other Rangers were believed to be protecting, Dana realizes that her father trusted her more than previously she believed.
Years before the events of the season, Captain Mitchell lost his son, Ryan, to the demon, Diabolico after a car crash. Hanging from the root of a tree on the face of a cliff, Mitchell was put in situation in which he could only save Dana. Diabolico promised to save his son, but in return, he asked for ownership over Ryan. Mitchell agreed to the terms and was told he would not see his son again until his 20th birthday. Over the years, Diabolico managed to make Ryan believe that his father abandoned him to the demons in favor of his daughter. After a torrid series of battles against a now 20-year-old Ryan as the Titanium Ranger, Mitchell successfully convinced Ryan to leave Diabolico's side and join him on the Lightspeed team.
At the end of Lightspeed Rescue, The Lightspeed Aquabase is attacked and overrun by a horde or Batlings. Mitchell, overwhelmed by the destruction of the base, is unable to carry on as a leader. Angela Fairweather takes his place and orders an evacuation of the base. While the evacuation of the crew is successful, they end up trapped in Rescue Ops for a time. Eventually, Mitchell, Fairweather and the other Rangers eventually escape the underwater base in a spare submarine and flood the hangar, effectively destroying the base and the hijacked Lifeforce Megazord.
After the Rangers successfully defeated Queen Bansheera and the entire demon empire, the Rangers handed their morphers back to Mitchell, who is left flabbergasted when the five respond to a firetruck siren and go on without their morphers immediately afterward. Mitchell's whereabouts after The Fate of Lightspeed are unknown, but its assumed that Mitchell decided to settle down with his son and daughter so they could be a family again.
Trivia
- Mitchell is the first known Power Rangers Mentor to be a parent of a Ranger. Later, Sensei Kanoi Watanabe, father of Cameron Watanabe in Ninja Storm and Andrew Hartford, father of Mack Hartford in Operation Overdrive follow in his footsteps.
- It should also be noted that Captain Mitchell is the first human mentor of the Power Rangers franchise.
- Ron Roggé did not reprise his role during the Lightspeed Rescue and Time Force teamup, but instead played the voice of Quargonon in the episode instead.