List of Power Rangers Dino Thunder characters

Power Rangers Dino Thunder is the 2004 season of Power Rangers that tells the story of the fight between the Dino Rangers and the evil Mesogog who wishes to bring the Earth back to the age of the dinosaurs.[1]

Dino Rangers

The Dino Rangers transform by drawing power from their respective Dino Gems, which enable them to transform into Power Rangers. They use their abilities to battle the villain Mesogog. When they say, "Super Dino Mode", the Power Rangers tap into the power of the dinosaurs, gaining spikes on their suits and, in the case of Kira, wings. Each Dino Gem has a special power; red is speed; blue is armor; yellow is hyper screeching; black and white are similar, being invisibility and camouflage.

Conner McKnight

Conner McKnight is a main character in the television series Power Rangers Dino Thunder. He was played by James Napier.

Conner finds the Red Dino Gem when he, Kira Ford, and Ethan James are in detention after he had been caught for truancy on the school's soccer field by Principal Randall. Dr. Oliver tells them that if they find anything prehistoric, he will cancel detention for the rest of the week. He picks up the Red Dino Gem, while Kira and Ethan pick up the Yellow and Blue ones. The Red Dino Gem bonds with his DNA, giving him the ability of super-speed. After that, Kira is kidnapped by Mesogog, which forces Conner and Ethan to tell Tommy that they had taken the Dino Gems. Kira escapes from Mesogog's lab and meets up with Conner, Ethan, and Tommy. Later, the Dinozords are wreaking havoc on the city. Tommy then gives the Red Dino Morpher to Conner, while he gives the yellow and blue morphers to Kira and Ethan. He becomes the Red Dino Ranger and tames the Tyrannozord. As the Red Ranger, he controls the Tyrannozord, as well as wielding the Tyranno Staff and Thundermax Saber during combat.

Conner's main interest is playing soccer, playing at Reefside High School and on a local club team, and he aspires to be a famous soccer star. He is revealed to be a womanizer, and is constantly labelled a "dumb jock" by his fellow Ranger, Ethan James, with whom he shared a mild rivalry earlier on in the season. At first, he appears to fit the stereotype as he comes off as arrogant and self-centered, but he is actually a very well-meaning and honest person who always does the right thing in the end, despite his faults. Around the time his relationship with Ethan become friendlier, Trent Fernandez gains the White Ranger powers. Conner quickly develops an intense rivalry with Trent. At first, the two are on opposing sides and engage in raging fights with each other. Even after Trent joins the team, Conner is still very distrusting and uncomfortable around him, until Trent saves his life during a battle with a monster.

Conner occasionally doubts himself as a Ranger and thinks about quitting on two occasions. Tommy Oliver, the Black Dino Ranger, is the only one who appears to see Conner's potential and tries to groom him into a leadership role throughout the series. Conner and Tommy share the leadership role, and Tommy, despite being the mentor and most skilled, sometimes holds back to allow Conner to take the spotlight. Conner also assumes the leadership role whenever Tommy is not in battle.

Conner would join forces with other Rangers on at least three occasions, two of them with the S.P.D. B-Squad, encounters in which he fought alongside Jack Landors. While still a Ranger dealing with the threat of Zeltrax, he and his teammates were joined by the Rangers of the future in order to battle their time-traveling nemesis Emperor Gruumm. Later Conner, Ethan, and Kira would be pulled into the future by S.P.D. foe Broodwing, who sought to employ their powers in defeating his Ranger enemies, but Conner and his teammates joined forces with them. His memories of both these encounters were later erased; subsequently he would regain his powers again and take part in the finale of Power Rangers Super Megaforce, though without removing his helmet.

In the Power Rangers continuity, Conner has an identical twin brother called Eric (also played by Napier) who was once a student at the Wind Ninja Academy (as seen in the finale of Power Rangers Ninja Storm), but later "flunked out".

Ethan James

Ethan James is a main character in the American television program Power Rangers Dino Thunder, portrayed by Kevin Duhaney. He is the Blue Dino Ranger.

Ethan is a skilled hacker and computer expert at Reefside High School, whose pranks get him in trouble with Principal Randall. While serving detention with Conner McKnight and Kira Ford under the new science teacher, Dr. Thomas Oliver, Ethan finds a Dino Gem and gains superhuman powers, including superhuman strength and the ability to make his skin impenetrable. Eventually, he also learns how to morph into the Blue Dino Ranger. He controls the Tricerazord (and for a short time the Stegazord), and uses the Tricera Shield. He also pilots the Mezodon Megazord in its final battle. He is the third Dino Ranger to unlock his Super Dino Mode. He unlocks it during a battle with the White Drago Ranger. Trent has defeated Kira and is on the verge of killing her, when Ethan and Conner go into Super Dino Mode and defeat him.

When the Dino Rangers joined forces with the time-traveling B-Squad, Ethan joined forces with fellow blue Ranger Sky Tate and green Ranger Bridge Carson. He would later team up with them again after being pulled into the future by Broodwing alongside Kira and Conner; on both occasions his memory was later erased to avoid contaminating the timeline. He would later join the veteran Ranger army in their final battle with the Warstar Armada.

Ethan is the group techy, often found online or playing video games, but he is also very smart and sarcastic, and isn't afraid to stand up for himself when pushed.

Kira Ford

Kira Ford, played by Emma Lahana, is the main female protagonist and the Yellow Dino Ranger. She is a student and musician at Reefside High School where her musical activity in the first episode got her in trouble with Principal Randall.

Kira is determined to prove herself as an individual, and hides her femininity and insecurity behind a facade of toughness. She dresses in her own, carefully cultivated neo punk style. She is a talented singer and guitarist, playing the guitar as the front person to her own band. Kira uses her biting wit to hide her real emotions, except in her music, which reveals her passion and sensitivity. She is caring and intelligent, but does not always apply herself to her schoolwork, except in creative writing, at which she excels. A romance between Kira Ford and fellow Dino Ranger Trent Mercer was hinted at during the series, but never fully realized.

Of all the Dino Rangers, Kira had the most encounters with other teams of Rangers. Like her teammates she twice fought alongside Space Patrol Delta, teaming up with fellow yellow Ranger Z and pink Ranger Syd. Her memories of these encounters was subsequently erased, but she would later team up with S.P.D. Ranger Bridge Carson again when they were selected-along with Black Ranger Adam Park, Blue Ninja Ranger Tori Hansen, and Green Mystic Ranger Xander Bly-by the Sentinel Knight to help the Operation Overdrive Rangers. She later rejoined her entire team-though with Dr. Oliver foregoing his Black Ranger powers-in battling the Armada alongside the Megaforce Rangers.

As the Yellow Dino Ranger, she controls the Pterazord, as well as wielding the Ptera Grips and Thundermax Saber in combat. She gained the power of Ptera Scream from her Dino Gem. It enables her to scream louder and higher than a normal human.

Dr. Thomas "Tommy" Oliver

Main article: Tommy Oliver

Tommy Oliver (played by Jason David Frank) is the mentor of the Ranger team and also the Black Dino Ranger where he controls the Brachiozord. He works as a science teacher at Reefside High School in Reefside, California.[2]

He was a former Power Ranger from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers through Power Rangers Turbo, serving as Green Ranger, White Ranger, White Ninja Ranger, Zeo Ranger V, and the first Red Turbo Ranger. His Dino Gem grants him the power of invisibility.

Trent Fernandez-Mercer

Trent Fernandez (commonly referred to as Trent Mercer) is the White Dino Ranger. He was played by Jeffrey Parazzo.

Trent was adopted by Dr. Anton Mercer when his biological parents were killed in an archaeological cave-in. Although he considers Dr. Mercer his father, he kept his original surname. He works at Hayley's Cyberspace as a waiter and draws in his spare time, though he keeps this secret because his father does not approve of his artistic endeavours. A romance was hinted at between Trent and fellow Dino Ranger, Kira Ford, but was never fully explored.

Trent becomes suspicious of his father's bizarre comings and goings, and while attempting to investigate, he is taken through an invisi-portal into Mesogog's lab. He finds a Dino Gem that was intended to be bonded with Mesogog. However, Trent becomes bonded to it instead. He finds himself uncontrollably morphing into the White Dino Ranger in which form he controls the Dragozord and the Stegazord, rides the White Thunder ATV, uses the Drago Sword, and possesses camouflage as his Gem Power.

He is soon corrupted by the evil power of the Dino Gem, and works solo for a while, trying to destroy both the Dino Rangers and Mesogog's forces. He even makes a deal with Zeltrax to help Zeltrax destroy Tommy Oliver, in return for which Zeltrax will help him destroy Mesogog. This plan fails, and Zeltrax tells Mesogog of the deal. Mesogog, his father's alter-ego, gives him an ultimatum: he will be destroyed if he does not join him. He serves Mesogog for a time afterwards, frequently clashing with Zeltrax over who is second-in-command, until Zeltrax ruins Mesogog's lab and frames Trent for it. Believing that Trent has betrayed him, Mesogog drains the White Ranger's powers, turning back into Dr. Mercer and destroying the evil in the Dino Gem in the process, though the White Ranger power remains active. As per his father's request, he joins the other Dino Rangers, and earns their trust after he saves Tommy from Zeltrax, though he does lose some of their confidence when they learn that he has concealed his father's connection to Zeltrax.

Trent would join his teammates in battling alongside Space Patrol Delta, teaming up with the Omega Ranger to battle the united forces of Zeltra and Emperor Gruumm. He also joined the Ranger army in Super Megaforce to battle the Armada.

Allies

Hayley Ziktor

Hayley Ziktor (Ismay Johnston) is the manager of Cyberspace Cafe and a technical advisor to the Rangers. She is very intelligent, is an MIT graduate and is always well informed about her customers. According to various casting sheets, Hayley's last name is "Ziktor". She went to college with Tommy.

Cassidy Cornell

Cassidy Agnes Cornell (Katrina Devine) is the news reporter of Reefside. She is also assisted by Devin.

She seeks to reveal the identities of the Power Rangers. She started her quest to reveal their identities after they first appeared in Reefside.

She and Devin finally discovered the Rangers identities in the finale by taping a video tape of the Rangers morphing and fighting in their last battle with Mesogog. When she and Devin were done with the tape, she decided not to show the tape to the people because "she couldn't ruin their lives just to make hers better" and gave the tape to the Rangers instead.

Devin Del Valle

Devin Del Valle (Tom Hern) is Cassidy's sidekick and personal assistant, first doing simple tasks for her and then becoming her camera man when her journalism career began.

When a large tree near their high school called the Tree of Life was threatened with removal, Devin chained himself to it in protest. While he was there, Zeltrax returned (after a previous defeat) to use its sap to power himself up. Zeltrax told Devin to tell the Power Rangers that he had returned. He ran to tell Cassidy, and while doing so unintentionally informed the Rangers, who were sitting unmorphed nearby.

For much of the season, Devin has a crush on Cassidy, making him willing to take much of her mistreatment. It also inspired him to attempt to sacrifice himself on her behalf. He was a part of Cassidy's attempt to reveal the Rangers identities. He accidentally filmed Trent unwillingly transforming into the (then evil) White Ranger, but then loaned the camera to his sister who taped her childbirth over the footage. At the end of the season, he is able to film the Rangers morphing, and takes the tape to Cassidy. But first, he uses the opportunity of having her undivided attention to finally confess his feelings. She apparently returns them, as they attend the Senior Prom together.

Anton Mercer

Dr. Anton Mercer (Latham Gaines) is Trent's adoptive father, billionaire and famous scientist. He was also the alter ego of Mesogog, due to an experiment that involved dinosaur DNA and resulted in a Jekyll and Hyde relationship.

After he reverted to himself temporary, he helped Trent break free from the evil White Ranger persona and Trent promises him that he'll keep the secret of his alter ego a secret.

In time, Mercer was freed from Mesogog via a potion made by Elsa and was imprisoned until the Rangers freed him. With Mesogog destroyed, Mercer was grateful to the Rangers and at the end, he and Elsa (who was reverted to a normal human being after her powers were sacrificed by Mesogog to power his trans-mutation cannon) went to the Reefside High School prom.

Edward Cormier

Edward Cormier (Stephen Hall) is the chief of the Reefside News. He is impatient and is the short-tempered boss of Cassidy when she got the job as news reporter. After "Fighting Spirit", he is never seen or mentioned again.

Antagonists

The Dino Rangers' antagonists are servants of the dinosaur-like Mesogog, who intended to restore the Earth to the primal glory of the age of dinosaurs. Information about them can be found below.

Mesogog

Mesogog (portrayed by Latham Gaines) is the main antagonist of the series. He is also Dr. Anton Mercer, Trent Fernandez's adoptive father.[3]

Dr. Anton Mercer was on the verge of a scientific breakthrough during an experiment involving dinosaur DNA, when he was accidentally transformed into a dinosaur-like creature called Mesogog, an evil mastermind with plans to revert Earth back to the age of dinosaurs and turn the human race into reptilian creatures like himself.

Mesogog and Dr. Mercer have distinct personalities, but share the same body in a Jekyll and Hyde relationship. Each is aware of the other's existence, but also dislikes the situation. In his Mesogog form, he is equipped with cybernetic technology and psionic powers that he uses to torture his enemies or his allies when he is angry at their failures.

Dr. Anton Mercer has an adopted son, Trent Fernandez, who became the White Dino Ranger when he accidentally discovered Mesogog's lab while investigating his father's mysterious comings and goings.

In his world domination attempts, Mesogog was assisted by two servants Elsa (a normal human that was empowered by Mesogog) and Zeltrax (a cyborg whom Mesogog created from the ruined body of Tommy Oliver's former associate Terrence "Smitty" Smith). Mesogog also controls an army of cybernetic dinosaurs called Tyrannodrones which were originally created by Tommy and Anton.

He teamed up with a previous villain, Lothor in Thunder Storm, when he had the Wind Ninja Rangers on his side and they gave the Dino team a serious thrashing. Mesogog was soon disgusted by his failure and they fought to determine who will remain to oppose the Dino Thunder Rangers. Mesogog won and sealed Lothor away in a jar with his psionic powers.

Eventually, Mesogog freed himself of his humanity by using a potion created by Elsa to separate out Dr. Anton Mercer. As a result, his insanity and determination increased. He also rid himself of Elsa when needing an energy supply to power his cannon. It took a bit of deception from the Rangers (using the Dino Gems as bait) to destroy the cannon and Mesogog's base. He would later reappear after the Zords were destroyed, absorbing enough energy from the Dino Gems to survive the explosion and 'evolve' into a self-replicating dinosaur-like monster known as the Mesomonster. As the Mesomonster, Mesogog was nearly invincible. He is finally destroyed by the Dino Rangers with a giant Tyrannosaurus of energy created from the Dino Gems. In doing so, the Rangers lose their powers for good (though Kira would later regain her powers during the events of "Once a Ranger").

Dr. Mercer survived the whole ordeal and was thankful to the Rangers at the series' end.

Mesogog appears in the Robot Chicken episode "Kramer Vs. Showgirls" voiced by Seth Green. In a "Where Are They Now" segment revolving around characters from the 90's, Mesogog works as a manager of a Wendy's.

Elsa

Elsa is a servant of Mesogog and originally believed in her dream to see the world reverted to a primordial state under the control of the dinosaurs. She was originally an ordinary woman until Mesogog empowered her into a villainous appearance.

She loves to insult and torment friend and foe alike, including her ally Zeltrax, and seemed to be romantically interested in Tommy Oliver.

For most of the series, she pretended to be Principal Randall, the head of Reefside High School where the Dino Thunder Power Rangers go to school.

In the episode, "House of Cards", after Elsa confiscated a card of the powerful Ruby Dragon monster from the card-game "Dragon Wars" from Ethan James (Blue Ranger), Tommy entered her office on Ethan's behalf in an attempt to speak to her about getting it back, and in the process inadvertently exposed her as the evil Elsa, and to the entire class while she was fighting him outside of the high school. Before retreating, Elsa has the Rangers tell the school board that Principal Randall has resigned.

Over time, she grew to distrust Mesogog and plotted to expose him when he was the most vulnerable. She feared that he would eventually tire of her and her failures and destroy her. She even created a potion that separated Mesogog from Dr. Anton Mercer.

Mesogog decided to sacrifice the evil powers which he had granted to Elsa in order to help power his trans-mutation cannon. With that, she was reverted to a normal human form with no memory of who she was as Elsa by the life-force extractor. The loss of her powers also meant she was good again. At the end of the series, she attended the high school prom and danced with Dr. Mercer.

Elsa was played by Miriama Smith.

Zeltrax

Terrence "Smitty" Smith was a former associate of Tommy Oliver. After Tommy's applications were accepted by Anton Mercer, Terrence was approached by the head of a rival company. While working on a breakthrough, Terrence was caught in a sudden lab explosion and his body was found by Mesogog who recreated him as a cyborg.

As Zeltrax, he is bent only on getting revenge on Tommy, much like Tommy's relationship with Goldar several years before. During his attempts to accomplish this, he inadvertently created a clone "son" named Goldenrod. Goldenrod proved a powerful adversary to the Rangers, but was destroyed by Tommy, increasing Zeltrax's hatred of the Black Ranger.

After a second near fatal experience because of his master's plans, Zeltrax turned against Mesogog, fleeing his side and gaining a super powered form through the special underground spring that flowed beneath the Tree of Life. Using the Triptoids, Zeltrax built his giant Zelzord, which was destroyed by the self-destruction of the Rangers' zords. In the finale Zeltrax met his end fighting Tommy and Kira, who destroyed him despite his attempt to destroy the Rangers.

In Power Rangers S.P.D., Zeltrax reluctantly joined forces with Emperor Gruumm, who had travelled back in time through a temporal wormhole, to a point in 2004 before the events of Dino Thunder's season finale. Together they fought the Dino Thunder Power Rangers and the S.P.D. B-Squad Rangers. Despite Gruumm's aid, Zeltrax was defeated by a double-team from Tommy and Anubis Cruger, the SPD Shadow Ranger.

Zeltrax was voiced by James Gaylyn while the actor for Smitty was uncredited.

White Dino Ranger (clone)

After the evil encoding of the White Dino Gem was removed by Mesogog's life-force extractor and the destruction of the mutation Copyotter, Zeltrax salvaged Copyotter's ability to create duplicates of others and used the energy in conjunction and the Geno-Randomizer to create the clone. The clone since then was included into Mesogog's ranks and has received the ability to go into Super Dino Mode like Trent.

Later on, there was a glitch in the Morphing grid, the morphing grid could not handle a duplicate of the same powers, so either Trent or the clone has to be destroyed. The clone took matters to his hands and challenges Trent for their last duel, when he met up with Trent, he instantly goes into his Super Dino Mode and they fought. Trent finally destroyed the clone forever.

White Ranger Clone is voiced by Adam Gardiner.

Lothor's Generals

These two monsters first appeared on a Japanese TV show based on the Dino Rangers as seen in "Lost and Found in Translation" (In real life, Power Rangers Dino Thunder is based on the Japanese show Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger; the episode watched in the Power Rangers episode was a dubbed episode of Abaranger).

In the show they seemed to provide comic relief as they were shown being tortured by the main villainess, the paint brush-wielding general then created Ka-Ching by painting him to life.

These two monsters made a real-life appearance in "Thunder Storm" when Lothor returned from the Abyss of Evil and brought along these two monsters that he befriended while in the Abyss of Evil. In their real-life appearance they did not speak, but were shown to wield great, destructive powers:

They joined Lothor in destroying the Ninja School (the harp carrier even shot a large hole in the side of the temple with a laser) and captured the ninja student and they joined the Storm Rangers and Kelzaks in fighting the Dino Rangers. They were last seen in Elsa and Zurgane's small army of monsters and personally fought against Shane and Connor, putting up a tough fight before being destroyed by their Battilizers.

Tyrannodrones

The Tyrannodrones are Mesogog's Sting Wingers-resembled dinosaur-like reptilian humanoid foot soldiers. They were originally created by Tommy and Anton through a mixture of Dinosaur DNA and technology to be used for good. The Tyrannodrones became evil thanks to Mesogog reprogramming them to serve him. They are grey-black with spiked armor. They can talk, but the viewer would hear incoherent grunts and snarls.

Triptoids

The Triptoids are black and white foot soldiers that originally came from a video game. They were recruited by Zeltrax to serve as Mesogog's alternative foot soldiers that also worked for Zeltrax.

Mutations

The monsters in this series are referred to by this name. They are adapted from the monsters that are featured in Bakuryū Sentai Abaranger. Each Mutation is created in the Geno-Randomizer by combining the DNA of an animal, the DNA of a plant, and the molecular structure of an inanimate object. When defeated, Mesogog uses the Hydro-Regenerator to make the Mutation grow.

References

  1. ↑ "Power Rangers Dino Thunder – Day of the Dino". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  2. ↑ Sisario, Ben (February 29, 2004). "FOR YOUNG VIEWERS; Those Mighty Power Rangers Just Keep on Morphing". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
  3. ↑ "Power Rangers Dino Thunder – Triassic Triumph". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, January 17, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.