Adam Park
 | |
| Series |
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers Power Rangers Zeo Power Rangers Turbo Power Rangers In Space Power Rangers Operation Overdrive |
|---|---|
| Title(s) |
Black Power Ranger Black Ninja Ranger Green Zeo Ranger Green Turbo Ranger |
| Color(s) |
Black (MMPR S2-3) Green (Zeo/Turbo) |
| First appearance | The Ninja Encounter, Part 1 (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) |
| Last appearance | Once a Ranger (Power Rangers Operation Overdrive) |
| Status | Powers were restored by the Sentinel Knight |
| Homeworld | Earth |
| Zords |
Lion Thunderzord Frog Ninjazord Black Shogunzord Zeozord IV Super Zeozord IV Desert Thunder Turbozord |
| Portrayed by |
Johnny Yong Bosch (teenager and adult) Matthew Sakimoto (child) |
Adam Park is a fictional major character from the universe of the American television series franchise Power Rangers, played by Johnny Yong Bosch. He is a main character in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV series, as well as three of its successive incarnations Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers, Power Rangers Zeo, and Power Rangers Turbo. He also appeared in the Power Rangers in Space episode "Always a Chance", as well as the Power Rangers Operation Overdrive two-parter "Once a Ranger".
Adam is not only Zack Taylor's replacement dating back to Mighty Morphin, but he is also the third longest-running ranger in franchise history just behind former Ranger teammates Tommy Oliver and Billy Cranston and is also the first Green Ranger to be part of the core team. Adam is shy, sensitive, and spiritual. His training of martial arts has made him a disciplined and efficient fighter specializing in Shaolin kung fu.
Fictional character history
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Adam first met the Power Ranger teens during an attempt to save his teacher's baby alongside his friends Rocky DeSantos and Aisha Campbell. The three of them lived in the fictional city of Stone Canyon, California and were visiting Angel Grove for the Final Round of the Team Ninja competition. To the Ranger teens surprise, the Stone Canyon trio was not there as spectators, but to compete in the final round of the tournament (they won). Adam (along with Aisha and Rocky) eventually moved to Angel Grove permanently and enrolled in Angel Grove High School.
Adam's new friendship with Kimberly Hart, Billy Cranston and Tommy Oliver would lead to his, Aisha's and Rocky's constant entanglement in Lord Zedd's schemes. In one encounter, the three Stone Canyon teens are kidnapped by Goldar and chained together inside a cave. A snake whose bite will render them evil permanently is set loose on them by Goldar. Their attempt to escape almost succeeds, but ultimately fails; it is the Power Rangers Kimberly, Billy and Tommy who rescue them. Billy manages to wrestle the snake away so that the teens can be freed, however, despite Kim's destruction of the snake, the injuries it caused to Billy's neck while Morphed force Billy to remove his helmet to prevent suffocation. Though able to breathe again, Billy's identity as a Power Ranger, along with Kim and Tommy's, are revealed to Adam and his friends. The three teens would be taken to the Command Center where the identities of the other Rangers Jason Lee Scott, Trini Kwan and Zack Taylor would be revealed to them and they would take an oath not to reveal the identities of the rangers.
Adam was selected to take Zack's place as the Black Power Ranger when he, along with Jason and Trini, left to attend a World Peace Conference as ambassadors in Switzerland. Adam was given the powers of both the Mastodon Power Coin and the Lion Thunderzord. During this time, he was targeted by Scorpina, who disguised herself as a girl named Sabrina in order to manipulate the shy teen into alienating his friends before facing an ambush alone, perpetrated by the Scorpion Warrior. Even though Aisha didn't trust Sabrina, she attempted to get along with her for Adam's sake. This led to her being able to interfere when Scorpina lured Adam on a hike to a remote part of the park. Though the encounter left Adam's confidence in himself weakened, he would soon recover when he gained the attention of a girl whom he had been trying to court and begin a relationship with. (Episode 89 - "Goldar's Vice-Versa")
Later, Adam's confidence is tested again. A student in one of his martial arts classes is picked on and Adam is reminded of his childhood when he notes the similarity between his student and himself when he was younger. After some private practice with the student, Goldar chooses the time to use the Mirror of Regret to force Adam to watch the memories of when others picked on him. Adam's resolve wavers, but he remembers that he isn't as weak anymore and forces Goldar to retreat.
At the beginning of the third season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Adam gained new ninja powers of the Frog, becoming the Black Ninja Ranger. He also gained the ability to pilot the Frog Ninjazord and later the Black Shogunzord. He was also later granted the power of the Metallic Armor. When Master Vile (Rita Repulsa's father) came to Earth to retrieve the Zeo Crystal, the Rangers managed to retrieve it first. To ensure that Master Vile couldn't get it again, the Rangers split the Zeo Crystal into five sub-crystals and sent them to different points in history.
Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers
Vile then turned back time using the Orb of Doom, turning the Rangers back into children. The Rangers soon recruited the Aquitian Rangers to fight in their stead. Billy had then created a device which would restore them to their old selves. He used the Ninja Coins as a power source, testing it on himself. This worked, but it allowed Goldar to capture the coins and Zedd and Rita destroyed them.
Adam had to recover the Green Zeo Sub-Crystal. He was transported to the past Korea, near where his grandmother was born. He met Kai-Ogi (portrayed by an unbilled Gerald Okamura), a local sage, and found the sub crystal behind a waterfall.
Power Rangers Zeo
When Adam's fragment of the Zeo Crystal was reunited with the four other fragments, he reverted to his normal age, and soon became Zeo Ranger IV Green in Power Rangers Zeo. He gained the Zeozord IV (which resembled Taurus the bull). After Trey of Triforia had revealed his identity as the Gold Zeo Ranger, he gave the Rangers the Super Zeo Gems and Super Zeo zords. Adam received the Green Super Zeo Crystal and Super Zeozord IV. Through the season, Adam grew long hair.
Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie
When the evil Space Pirate Divatox threatens to raise a powerful monster named Maligore to marry her, Adam, along with the other rangers, accept new Turbo powers and becomes the Green Turbo Ranger, and gains the Desert Thunder Turbozord. This replaces his still fully intact zeo powers.
Power Rangers Turbo
In this series we see that, after graduating from Angel Grove High School, he has become an acclaimed stuntman, but his character received even more focus than before. In addition to coaching the school's soccer team, he shortly served as the Green Turbo Ranger (along with the rest of the last remnants of the first cast of Power Rangers as their respective colors) until the episode "Passing the Torch" in which he chose Carlos Vallerte to take his place as the Green Turbo Ranger, and he left the show.
Power Rangers in Space
Adam would return for an episode in the following series Power Rangers in Space (specifically the episode "Always a Chance"). When Carlos, now the Black Space Ranger, was suffering from a crisis of confidence after a mistake he made in a fight resulted in his teammate Cassie Chan being injured, Adam helped Carlos reclaim his confidence as he helped him train harder and taught him to rely on his instincts instead of his vision when fighting. He was shown to still have his original Power Morpher from when he was the Black Power Ranger. However it and the Mastodon Power Coin in it were damaged. Alpha 6 warned Adam that he must never use the Mastodon powers, as the damaged morpher could kill him.[1] Despite this warning, he used the cracked morpher to become the Black Power Ranger once again and help Carlos in his battle against LizWizard when Carlos was attacked without his own morpher. Adam actually fought well against the monster at the start, but again however due to an unstable connection to the Morphing Grid, the Black Ranger powers quickly began to fail and left Adam incredibly weak (very nearly killing him). He survived and decided not to risk morphing again.
Power Rangers Operation Overdrive
He appears alongside Kira Ford, Xander Bly, Tori Hanson, and Bridge Carson in Once a Ranger, a special team-up episode commemorating the fifteenth anniversary of the Power Ranger franchise. With the Operation Overdrive Power Rangers powers disabled by the villain Thrax, the Sentinel Knight summons four former Rangers and one from the future so they can defend the Corona Aurora jewels (restoring Ranger powers to those who previously lost or damaged them), with Adam as their leader because he is the most senior of the team, and he has more encounters or connections with Thrax's parents. He and Kira reference to Tommy about him having the title of doctor as they both served on the same team as Tommy. He is the only member of the team to be from the Saban-Era.
In the first part, after when he and the other Retro Rangers met the Overdrive Rangers and thanked the Sentinel Knight, Adam mentioned that he knew someone who can restore the Overdrive team's powers after their link to the Morphing Grid were severed by Thrax. This 'someone' turned out to be the Alpha 6 (who is also another character from the Saban-Era). Currently, Adam owns a Martial Arts dojo in Angel Grove and retains Alpha by his side at the dojo, possibly as an assistant. It is implied that his restored powers, as well as the rest of the Retro Rangers (excluding Bridge) chosen by the Sentinel Knight, still remain intact.
Adam twice uses Operation Overdrive weaponry in battle. In a fight against Flurious, Adam arrives on the HoverTek Cycle. In the final battle, Adam takes on Thrax solo and uses the Defender Vest for protection (which was overpowered by the villain). He also used the Flash Point Megazord against Vulturus. He also preferred to use his Power Axe, as this might be due to the absence of a Blade Blaster on his person (though a holster still remains on his belt).
Instead of the original MMPR morphing sequence, Adam received a new sequence akin to the Disney-era Ranger morphing sequences (similar to the Power Rangers Dino Thunder morphing sequence), as well as a new theme tune, possibly because the rights to the original music were unavailable, possibly as well as the original morphing footage, since he was the only Saban-era Ranger (the other four are using the theme tunes of their respective series). Adam also has the more detailed preparation for the morphing sequence and no longer shouts "Mastodon!" (even though he did after his battle against Thrax in Once a Ranger) or "Black Ranger Power!" mid-morph.
References
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