Power Rangers: Once & Always Leans Into Nostalgia With A Classic Pink Ranger
"Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always" is the anniversary special "Power Rangers" fans have been dreaming about for years. While we've had many special episodes throughout the decades, including massive crossover battles involving most Red Rangers (of the time), or different Rangers teams fighting together, this is the first time the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers team has come back, and for a special that is specifically about them. That is, the franchise's first iteration, before it started adapting a different "Super Sentai" show with an entirely different cast, team, and theme song every season.
"Once & Always" pays homage to fallen Rangers, with a lovely and rather emotional tribute to Jason David Frank and Thuy Trang. Trang's character Trini, in particular, is central to the story of the special, with the death of Trini forever impacting the team, and inspiring her daughter Minh to pick up the mantle of the Yellow Ranger. Likewise, the special handles nostalgia and Easter eggs in a cool way; not stopping the camera and holding for applause, but making the world feel more lived-in and throwing little nods as to how the world of "Power Rangers" changed in the decades since the original show (like namedropping a small-time talk show host). More so, the special connects the rather convoluted timeline of the "Power Rangers" franchise, even referencing the S.P.D. force.
Of course, the special was heavily publicized for seeing the return of the original Blue and Black Ranger. One notable absence, however, was Amy Jo Johnson's Kimberly, the very first Pink Ranger. Instead, we saw someone else don the Pink Ranger outfit. If you were confused by this change, fret not — because we're going to explain just who is Katherine Hillard.
A mighty morphin legacy
Catherine Sutherland's Kat was introduced in the two-part episode "A Ranger Catastrophe" from the third season of "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" as a foreign exchange student from Australia. She suffered from the misfortune of also being an unknowing minion for Rita Repulsa (much like Tommy Oliver, which is probably what they bonded over in the first place), brainwashed to infiltrate and annihilate the Rangers.
Instead, Kat was introduced during a storyline that was all about Kimberly leaving the Rangers and passing down the mantle to Kat. It was a rather cool story that made the passing of the torch more significant and better fleshed out than the previous times we'd seen changes in the cast. Kat would also continue in the role of the Pink Ranger for the duration of "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," even becoming part of the Zeo Rangers and the Turbo Rangers in the first two rebrands of the show. Again, this was before the entire cast changed and we started getting a new team with every season of the series.
Kat is one of the longest-serving Power Rangers and her importance in the story carried over long after. During "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," Kat and Tommy became a couple, and years later the two got married and had a child, J.J., who is mentioned in "Once & Always."
"Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always" is streaming on Netflix.