For the first few years of its run, the pink warriors of Power Rangers tended toward the more traditional “girly-girl” side of the spectrum. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, of course. The precedent for the graceful, feminine type was set by Kimberly and Katherine, and given Kimberly’s popularity, it was hard to imagine somebody breaking that mold anytime soon.

But then Cassie Chan showed up.

NAME: Cassie Chan
RANGER DESIGNATION: Pink Turbo Ranger (II), Power Rangers Turbo; Pink Space Ranger, Power Rangers in Space
BASE OF OPERATION: Angel Grove, Astro Megaship
FIRST APPEARANCE: “Passing the Torch Part I” – Power Rangers Turbo
LAST APPEARANCE: “Legendary Battle” – Power Rangers Super Megaforce
WEAPONS/GEAR: Turbo Wind Fire; Pink Turbo Cart; Satellite Stunner; Pink Galaxy Glider
ZORDS: Wind Chaser Turbozord; Wind Rescue Rescuezord; Astro Megaship/Astro Megazord; Mega V5
PORTRAYED BY: Patricia Ja Lee

PROFILE

Cassie was an aspiring singer aboard a bus headed to Stone Canyon to establish a music career. (Little known fact: Stone Canyon is to female rock singers as Seattle is to male grunge bands.) On the ride, she met T.J. Johnson, a nice young man who she eventually joined in rescuing the Pink and Red Turbo Rangers. But they didn’t know they were Rangers, they were just plain ol’ Kat and Tommy.

When it came time for the Power Rangers to pursue their lives outside of saving the world, Katherine chose Cassie to follow in her footsteps as the Pink Turbo Ranger. Cassie was full of spunk and sass and initially wasn’t all that interested in being a Ranger. By her own admission, she was more into the idea of being Tina Turner. She still owned the role, though, and enjoyed the sense of adventure that it came with.

Perhaps it was her adventurous side that led her to develop a crush on the Phantom Ranger. She was the first of the Rangers to see him and speak with him, and she was rather obsessed with figuring out his identity. She never found out, and neither did we. Shrug emoji.

Divatox and General Havoc used this obsession against Cassie when they kidnapped her to lure the Phantom Ranger to their lair. They threatened the Rangers: they could either bring them the Phantom and his Power Ruby, or Cassie would be turned to stone. They arrived to save their pink comrade but were unable to stop Rygog as he turned their comrade to stone.

Phantom arrived to revive her with his Power Ruby, but there was another trick: the stone Cassie was actually General Havoc, who disappeared with the Phantom. Luckily, he was able to fend them off long enough to toss Cassie her communicator. Afterward, for some reason, Havoc ran around in his giant Metallosaurus carrying a cage that contained the Phantom. Cassie freed him but he disappeared once again, weakened and lacking his Power Ruby. Cassie was pretty broken up about the whole thing.

Holding auditions for a potential rock band, Cassie and her friend Vicki encountered a grungy-looking group calling themselves Crash and the Creeps. They performed a rather catchy tune called “Confusion” that won her over. She took on the role of the band’s new frontwoman with Vicki writing their songs. Except they never wanted to use her songs. Vicki didn’t like that.

Crash and his creeps turned out to be a group of evil monsters whose goal was to broadcast their Confusion song on live TV and brainwash Angel Grove. The Rangers stopped them just in time by zapping away their weapons. Cassie apologized to Vicki and learned to be more loyal to her friends or something.

Cassie and Ashley fought over a boy once. To be fair, it’s one of the only times I can think of where the Rangers came at odds with each other without the influence of a spell. Since it was over a cute boy named Bobby, it’s totally understandable. Girls only care about cute boys and that’s it.

When Divatox orchestrated the destruction of the Power Chamber, the Rangers all lost their powers. They chased her into space, where they boarded the Astro Megaship and became acquainted with a Red Ranger named Andros. Eventually gaining his trust, Cassie became his new team’s Pink Space Ranger and convinced Andros to head to Earth and gather supplies.

The Rangers would stay on Earth for much of the time, like when Cassie got blackmailed into going on a date with a tall quiet boy named Lenny. His friend George stole her diary that contained a picture of her as the Pink Ranger. Really, it was in everybody’s best interest for her to get it back by any means necessary. Also, this is Power Rangers making an Of Mice and Men reference, so take that for what you will.

George joined them on their date like a major creep. Cassie and Lenny were able to ditch him, which led her to learn that Lenny isn’t such a dumb guy after all. They actually had a pretty fun time together and wound up grabbing dinner on the rooftop of a really tall building. That was, until a giant elephant monster started wrecking the place and a piece of debris fell on Lenny’s head. Luckily, the other Rangers showed up in their shiny new tank toy to rescue them. After destroying the monster, Cassie retrieved her diary and agreed to go on another date with Lenny. The only catch was that Ashley had to go with her on a double date with George. What a silly situation, right?

Bulk and Skull joined Professor Phenomenous on a monster hunt when they encountered Waspicable, a playful alien who didn’t really want to hurt anybody. He was being forced into evil acts by Sting King until Cassie arrived on the scene to stop him. Waspicable had her cornered but couldn’t quite finish the job because he had a conscience. When the other Rangers arrived, she stopped them from attacking him.

Cassie was helping out at a little girl’s birthday party when Waspicable, under Ecliptor’s watch, began to attack. He committed the ultimate crime of sending the girl’s balloons into the sky. Quantrons showed up and Cassie tried to fight them off, but got held back as Waspicable was ordered to finish the job. He “missed” his shot, though, damaging one of the Quantrons instead and taking a bullet blast for Cassie. Upset that they could hurt and manipulate such a kind creature, Cassie and the others took down Sting King and helped Waspicable take off for good. Before leaving Earth, he even recovered the birthday girl’s balloons. It was pretty cute.

One time Carlos got bit by a bug monster and then turned into a bug monster so then he bit Cassie and then Cassie turned into a bug monster and then they turned back. Also one time Carlos accidentally hit Cassie during a battle and felt really bad about it. I think Carlos secretly always had it out for her. Maybe he wanted to be the Pink Ranger and was mad at her for getting the opportunity twice.

Ashley made a big ol’ mess in the Megaship’s dining room and pissed Cassie off. Cleaning was her duty, and Ashley was making that incredibly difficult. Later on, Psycho Pink and Yellow attacked and captured the Yellow Ranger. This left Cassie regretting her last words to her, vowing to get her back. Lucky for Ashley, the Psycho ladies had a little interpersonal conflict of their own trying to impress mommy Astronema. This threw them off their game just long enough for her to escape. Cassie and the others came to her aid to defend her. The girls teamed up to destroy Psycho Pink once and for all.

Yep, she definitely never came back after that. No sir.

During a trip to the Angel Grove Mall, Cassie was warned to stay quiet, as the Psychos were on the hunt, disguised as humans and listening for the Ranger’s voices. She was nearly in the clear despite her allergies kicking in. Forced to shout when she noticed a stroller about to fall down some stairs, the Psycho Rangers found her but were lured away by the Silver Ranger.

Andros destroyed Zordon’s energy tube in their final fight against Dark Specter, releasing a wave that purified all of the evil in the universe (at least at the time because this show ain’t stoppin). This also de-powered the Rangers. Cassie joined her Turbo alumni in saying farewell to Andros, Zhane, and Karone.

But then the Psychos revived and the five core Space Rangers got their powers back somehow. They joined the Lost Galaxy Rangers in defeating them once again. Well, except for Pink. Yeah she came back. I lied earlier. Sorry.

More powerful than ever, Psycho Pink hunted down the powerful Savage Sword and attempted to use it to destroy the her pink enemies. She took down Cassie and destroyed her morpher to become even more powerful and drain Cassie’s energy. That move would prove costly, as it caused a massive swirling energy tornado that threatened to wreck everything, including Terra Venture.

To save her friend, Kendrix entered the vortex and destroyed the Savage Sword at the cost of her own life. As the Space Rangers prepared to leave the space colony, Cassie expressed her survivor’s guilt to the others, desiring to stay and help. Andros made it clear to her that Kendrix would want her to carry on.

Oh, and Cassie was one of the Rangers that helped out during the Legendary Battle. She got two whole lines, which was more than most of the others.

SUGGESTED VIEWING

Cassie’s best episodes are probably during in Space, but that doesn’t mean her Turbo ones are bad. A Wasp with a Heart is one of the most memorable episodes of her second season. Cassie’s Best Friend is absurd and does very little for her character, but holy crap it’s fun. Her dog gets turned into a human man who can somehow speak and just watch it please.

And if you haven’t seen Lost Galaxy’s The Power of Pink yet, well, you probably aren’t a very big Power Rangers fan.

RANKING

I love me some Cassie. When she shines, she shines, but unfortunately she doesn’t get many opportunities to do so. Even in what seems to be her focus episodes she tends to fall to the wayside or get kidnapped or captured. It’s odd seeing a girl with so much attitude become a target for the damsel in distress trope.

Despite that, she still makes a great Pink Ranger and stands out to me among many that came before – and after – her. She’s more likeable than Scott and her character feels much more consistent, even across two wildly different seasons. She’s really really close to Kim, but in the end I don’t think her personality was explored to its full potential. This leaves Cassie Chan as the new number four on the Children of Zordon.

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Next week, we’re digging our claws into the Noble Tiger, Alyssa Enrilé. That sounds violent. I promise I won’t kill her.