It has been Twenty-seven years since Power Rangers first came on TV! The official anniversary is on August 28th, as we discussed last year. This topic was referenced many times as I was also engaged in informing everyone about the Youtube video blocks. For more on this see the article; Warning Trouble On the Youtube Front! Now let us get into the excitement. This chapter is about Tommy Oliver and Kimberly Hart! I am dividing this story in half; so look for part 2 next week. This chapter will officially focus on their time together in seasons 1 and 2. Real quick It is also important to go over this concept. Kimberly is gorgeous, and Tommy is very handsome. Which did help promote the show by constantly showing off this pairing; All the boys wanted to take Tommy's place and date Kimberly themselves. I am sure young girls watching the show equally wanted to trade places with Kimberly. Despite the fact that the people who created this show also tore this pair apart in Zeo; They do in fact owe a humungous chunk of their popularity to this pair! However those corporate people make many decisions that fans don't often agree with. It is also important to remember that Jason David Frank A.K.A. Tommy was considering other roles and in 1993 not everyone knew this show was going to stay a hit. There were 13 episodes after Green With Evil that didn't feature Tommy at all. However Kimberly never betrayed him. In "A Bad Reflection on You" an evil Kimberly clone flirted with Skull but that was the closest we ever got to that. Tommy was constantly targeted by Rita Repulsa, who was very bitter about losing her evil Green Ranger. Thus she determined if she couldn't have him, she didn't want Kimberly to either. However Tommy constantly worked to impress Kimberly over the course of his intital introduction as a hero. With help from Alpha 5, Tommy repaired the model for Kimberly's Flower Parade float in "The Spit Flower." He constantly went out of his way to check on her and see that she was having a good day and kept her well informed about his Martial Arts achievements. Even with things going pretty well between them, he was super nervous about asking her to the School Dance by "The Green Candle." However things got really complicated as Rita launched Cycloptor in that story who had the Power to turn into Megazords and copy their attacks and stole Tommy's Powers. Jason stepped in to fight Goldar for the Candle but had to make a hard choice and leave to save Tommy from Cycloptor. However the Rangers won and Jason got the Dragon Coin since Tommy couldn't use it anymore. Then Tommy and Kimberly finally shared their first kiss and he asked her to the dance and she did say "Yes!" In Return of an Old Friend" Zordon restores Tommy's powers with an energy transfer and he helps to retrieve the other Power Coins that Goldar took from them in a false pretense. The Rangers' parents were being held captive by Rita and thus caused the conflict. Kimberly was so happy to have her parents back, that she took the opportunity to introduce them to her new boyfriend! The final date they had in Season one was a double date with Zack and Angela as talked about in our previous chapter.
After the Thunder Zords were introduced in Seasn 2 the balance of power was flipped. Tommy was actually the weakest Ranger since his powers had already been exhausted so much since their restoration. Lord Zedd schemed to take advantage of this and put Tommy in many new struggles. Kimberly is usually right there to either fight by his side or sometimes even save his butt at the last second, don't forget she can be very tough when she wants to be. "The Song of Guitardo" was a very heartwarming episode which included Kimberly and Zack making a special song for Tommy to help him through these hard times. Zordon recognizes the courage in Tommy's heart and selects him to be the new White Ranger. White Light had a super epic embrace scene with our favorite Power Pair. They then had a wonderful date in "Two For One." However Lord Zedd did cause some trouble unleashing Pursehead and Lipsyncher. The fights in this episode are fun to watch. fast forwarding to after Zedd and Rita's Wedding; there was one more crucial episode; "Best Man For the Job" With Class Elections on the rise Tommy, Kimberly and Bulk all compete for class president. Billy and Aisha manage their friend's campaigns. Rita uses an evil spell to make them compete even fiercer and try to outdo each other. Kimberly ruins Tommy's posters with jokes, while Tommy steals voters with fancy Martial Arts demonstrations and put his own posters over Kim's. Rita sets up a trap and steals Saba. Rita uses Saba to control the Tiger Zord. There is ugly arguing between the power Pair over how to steal Saba back. Zordon once again has the solution. Giving Tommy and Kimberly special Roses to break the spell and Billy creates a magnet Device to save Saba. Tommy comes out of the spell with a clearer head and drops out of the Election. He encourages everyone to vote for Kimberly, saying he believes her ideas are very valuable. Bulk only got one vote! Poor guy. Kimberly wins and Tommy and her share another hug. Tommy and Kimberly faced many challenges in these seasons and had a very bumpy ride but they were always there for each other when it counted most. However they had no idea of what was coming next or just where new troubles would arise! Thanks for coming and happy early show anniversary everyone!
Very clear writing describing lots of twists and turns for Tommy and Kimberly. But you seem to have a lot of pictures of other people besides the two of them, which I would think would be the feature. But the Don't sticker on the poster is a perfect picture for this post. I'd like to read more about your feelings about these events, rather than just description of the events.