Billy Cranston
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 Billy Cranston |
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| First Appearance: | Day of the Dumpster (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) |
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| Last Appearance: | Rangers of Two Worlds, Part 2 (Power Rangers: Zeo) |
| Number of episode appearances: | 199 |
| Status: | Retired |
| Affiliation: | Alien Rangers of Aquitar |
| Homeworld: | Earth |
| Weapon(s)/Gear: |
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| Zord(s): | |
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| Powers: |
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| Portrayed by: | David Yost |
William "Billy" Cranston is a genius in the Power Rangers universe. He was the original Blue Ranger in the series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. After it, he continued to serve as an advisor to the Power Rangers team until his departure from the series during Power Rangers: Zeo. By the end of the Mighty Morphin season, he was the oldest Ranger on the team followed by Tommy Oliver and Adam Park. It should be noted that "Cranston", whilst generally accepted by the fanbase as Billy's last name, was not officially stated in the show's canon. He was played by David Yost.
Billy starts his career as a Power Ranger as the token geek of the team, unbelievably smart and socially challenged. He speaks lingo few people can understand and doesn't have any hobbies that don't include computers and science. He starts up a karate class, but quits because he can't do it.
He is very insecure about himself and it shows through clearly, making him an easy target for people like Bulk and Skull, who torment him often in the beginning. The other Rangers defend him loyally, but eventually Billy takes up karate again and begins to stand up for himself some.
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[edit] Character History
[edit] In Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Billy was originally the 'brainy' and 'nerdy' member of the team, coming up with ideas and gadgets to help the other Rangers (including designing a portal device that could allow them to break into Rita & Zedd's Dark Dimension) and speaking in a frequently incomprehensible manner; that of technobabble. Initially, he was portrayed as clumsy and unathletic, in stark contrast to the other members of the team. Over time, this changed. Billy's character was fully-developed by the third season, at which point he no longer wore glasses and appeared to be a stronger and more accomplished fighter, due in large part to his teammate Jason Lee Scott taking Billy under his wing and teaching him martial arts.
[edit] In Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers
During the Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers miniseries, Billy's role changed. He no longer fought as a Power Ranger, but rather acted solely in an advisory and supporting role. In fact, Billy was the only Ranger in this period to be portrayed by his own actor - the others had been replaced temporarily by child actors after Master Vile had used the Orb of Doom to revert time by approximately ten years. Billy countered this reverse-aging by restoring himself with a special device that utilized the Power Coins. The device was destroyed by Goldar and Rito Revolto along with the Power Coins before it could be used on the others. Billy acted in this period as a liaison between the Aquitian Rangers and Earth. It was the cure for Billy's reverse-aging that eventually served as the plot device by which he was removed from the show. When Power Rangers: Zeo began, Billy officially retired from active Ranger service, allowing Tanya to take his place while he continued his support role by creating & maintaining most of the weaponry, gadgets and Zords the Zeo Rangers would use.
[edit] In Power Rangers: Zeo
The writers left the choice open as to whether or not Billy would become a Zeo Ranger, with him musing at the start of Zeo that he could always assume the Zeo power in an emergency. Before the Gold Ranger's identity was revealed as Trey of Triforia, the writers left several red herrings to make the viewers think that it was Billy. When Trey of Triforia returned to Triforia on sabbatical to try to unify his three selves, Billy was to assume the mantle of Gold Ranger but the 'negative proton energy' his body had absorbed in the Command Center's explosion prevented this (although some fan-fiction says Billy lied in order to avoid responsiblity). (Jason Lee Scott would instead receive the Gold powers.)
He did not receive any Ranger powers again, and was written out of the series near the end of Power Rangers: Zeo, supposedly because David Yost had asked for more money and/or had a falling out with the production crew (Austin St. John, Thuy Trang and Walter Emmanuel Jones had been written out of the series for similar reasons in the second season). Some credence is given to this theory by the many annoyed looks he had during the Zeo bloopers played during post-show credits. Billy was last seen in one of the final Zeo episodes suffering from accelerated aging. He had travelled to Aquitar for a cure from their Eternal Falls (analogous to the Fountain of Youth), and opted to remain there with a female Aquitian he had fallen in love with, Cestria.
Yost had only a small role in Billy's final episode; his last appearance on the monitor being stock footage and his character being voiced by someone else.
[edit] Trivia
- According to the MMPR Interactive CD-ROM, Billy's birthday is April 1st, making him an Aries.
- Of Zordon's original five, Billy was the longest serving Ranger before assuming the role of Power Chamber technocrat, and the only one of them to not share his Ranger powers.
- Billy's consecutive streak of appearances on the show came to an end in the Power Rangers: Zeo season episode "Rangers of Two Worlds" (2 part episode).
- According to the episode "A Bad Reflection On You", Billy is left-handed.
- In the episode "Power Ranger Punks", it is revealed that Billy wears blue plaid boxer shorts.
- Billy had created the communicators, which were introduced in the episode "High Five".
- In the episode "Peace, Love, and Woe", it was revealed that Billy had graduated from the Accelerated Baby Genius program.
- Billy's costume for the masquerade party in the episode "Life's a Masquerade" was Sherlock Holmes.
- Billy was the director for the class play of Rumpelstiltskin in the episode "Wheel of Misfortune".
- Billy was bitten by a fish at a young age, resulting in lifelong case of icthyophobia, or fear of fish, which was revealed in the episode "Something Fishy".
- In the episode "Grumble Bee", Billy was accepted into the Young Scientists of America club.
- In the episode "Bloom of Doom", Billy was in charge of Angel Grove High's science club.
- In the episode "Orchestral Maneuvers in the Park", Billy said that he'd always been fascinated with by the intricate rhythm patterns of jazz music.
- Billy graduated from Angel Grove High earlier than the rest of the Power Rangers members. This was because Billy, being the natural over-academic-achiever somehow took more classes than necessary in order to graduate ahead of time.
[edit] Famous Billy quotations
- "You ooze... You lose."
- "Triceratops!"
- "Blue Ranger Power!"
- "Talk about a splitting headache!"
- "Affirmative!"
- "I'm nominal!"
- "All systems: go!"
- "Negative."
- "According to my calculations..."
| Preceded by: William |
Blue Ranger 1993 - 1996 |
Succeeded by: Cestro |
| Power Rangers Characters by Era and Generation | ||
|---|---|---|
| General: | List of characters | Minor characters | |
| Ranger colors: | Red Ranger | Yellow Ranger | Blue Ranger | Black/Green Ranger | Pink/White Ranger | Other Rangers and Ranger-like Allies | |
| Zordon | I | Jason Lee Scott | Trini Kwan | Zack Taylor | Kimberly Hart | Billy Cranston | Tommy Oliver |
| II | Rocky DeSantos | Adam Park | Aisha Campbell | |
| III-IV | Katherine Hillard | Ninjor | Aquitian Rangers | Tanya Sloan | Trey of Triforia | |
| V-VI | Justin Stewart | Blue Senturion | Carlos Vallertes | Ashley Hammond | Cassie Chan | T.J. Johnson | Phantom Ranger | Andros | Zhane | |
| Post-Zordon/ Independent |
VII-X | Lost Galaxy Power Rangers | Magna Defender | Lightspeed Rescue Power Rangers | Time Force Power Rangers | Quantum Ranger | Wild Force Power Rangers |
| Disney/ New Zealand |
XI- present |
Ninja Storm Power Rangers | Dino Thunder Power Rangers | S.P.D. Power Rangers | Mystic Force Power Rangers | Clare |
