Team hierarchy rarely means jack squat in Power Rangers. The Red Ranger is always the leader (okay there’s a few mild exceptions but whatever) and everyone else is generally on the same level. There’s a few instances where one Ranger tends to become the de-facto leader when the actual head honcho isn’t around, such as Billy and Kim in the later seasons of Mighty Morphin. In most cases that just means that they’re the ones who get to yell the morphing call so it’s really not all that serious.

When you’re dealing with Rangers that also happen to be a police squad, though, the chain of command becomes a major focal point of the series. Never has this concept been more significant – and personal – than in the mind of Sky Tate.

NAME: Schuyler “Sky” Tate
RANGER DESIGNATION: S.P.D. Blue Ranger/S.P.D. Red Ranger, Power Rangers S.P.D.; S.P.D. Deka Ranger, Power Rangers: Soul of the Dragon
BASE OF OPERATION: Newtech City
FIRST APPEARANCE: “Beginnings Part I” – Power Rangers S.P.D.
LAST APPEARANCE: Power Rangers: Soul of the Dragon
PERSONAL WEAPONS/GEAR: Delta Max Striker; S.P.D. Battlizer; Force Fields
ZORDS: Delta Runner 2; SWAT Flyer 2; Delta Runner 1; SWAT Flyer 1
PORTRAYED BY: Chris Violette

PROFILE

Many years ago, Sky’s father was an SPD Red Ranger that was killed in battle by the villain Mirloc. Keeping his dad’s battle-worn-and-totally-not-Time-Force-Red helmet as a keepsake, he dedicated his life to becoming the next all-star Red Ranger under Space Patrol Delta. He was top in his class in combat and did everything by the book, which made him a good little officer. This also gave him a head bigger than Zordon’s, a trait that would hinder his chances of becoming anything beyond second-in-command.

Regardless, he became a part of SPD’s B-Squad, serving alongside cadets Syd Drew and Bridge Carson. His stick-in-the-mud demeanor proved to be an excellent foil to his teammates, who seemed like nice, cool people. The B-Squad soon became the primary Ranger team when the A-Squad went MIA on a mission. Commander Cruger noted Sky’s obvious arrogance (and a little bit of sexism since he didn’t think Syd should be the leader because girl) and named him the team’s SPD Blue Ranger, which upset him greatly.

To twist the dagger a little more, he awarded Jack Landors, a criminal whom the B-Squad had attempted to arrest, the role of Red Ranger. Oh boy, did hijinks ensue. Early on, Sky would challenge Jack’s orders every chance he got. He once had a hard time complying when Jack ordered him to guard some stolen diamonds, which obviously isn’t the most dignified of police duties. Sky did warm up to him when Jack informed him that he left him on lookout because he felt he was the strongest fighter and would do a good job.

During his initial SPD Cadet-ship, Sky had an alien friend named Dru, and the two were pretty evenly matched. Sky reconnected with him during a distress signal that wound up being Dru crashing his spaceship. Tensions rose when he began a long game of one-upsmanship with Jack and overall started acting sketchy. Sky, being petty, figured this was just because Jack had it out for him. But surprise — Jack was right. Dru was a monster disguised as the guy that plays the silver dude from Operation Overdrive, tasked with infiltrating SPD and taking out Cruger on behalf of Broodwing. Trusting Dru was one of Sky’s only – and biggest – mistakes during his tenure as a Ranger, and one that he would not soon forget.

Sky got bamboozled while bringing a monster named Wootox into custody. The monster switched bodies with him, leaving Sky trapped in a jail cell while Wootox went around sabotaging SPD headquarters. He also gave Sky a bad hair day. The Rangers catch on to him just in time to stop him from taking control of the Delta Base Megazord and destroying the city.

Kat developed an SPD Battlizer power-up for the Red Ranger, leaving Sky yet again blue (teehee) with envy. He let Jack know that he’d grown to respect him, but still lemented about not living up to his father’s legacy. He was later tasked with interrogating a monster named Mirloc. The criminal manipulated Sky into telling him about his father’s death, using his power to travel through reflective surfaces to escape capture.

Weapons tech guinea pig Boom mentioned to Sky that Mirloc was the one who killed Sky’s father, ignorant of the fact that he didn’t know about that. Sky became upset, knowing that his feelings let a criminal run free yet again, and requested that he be demoted. Jack convinced him that he should continue fighting just like his father. During the final showdown with Mirloc, Jack handed his morpher over to Sky, giving him the Red Ranger powers and letting him take out Mirloc on his own. He also got to test out the Thong Battlizer, which is cool.

A rogue meteor headed for Earth threatened to destroy Newtech City. Being the team’s most experienced pilot, Sky volunteered to destroy it with the SWAT Megazord. Jack managed to stow himself away in the Megazord, turning the mission into a group project. They transformed the dang robot into a giant gun and blasted the meteor, but all they did was blow a hole in it. Jack ordered Sky to go back to Earth while he destroyed it from the inside. Sky thought him to be dead, but Landors made it back just in time to destroy a big ol’ monster. But for that brief moment, Sky mourned him, having grown to respect his team leader.

After the fall of Emperor Grumm and the evil A-Squad Rangers, Jack turned in his morpher to dedicate himself to giving back to the community. This left an empty Red Ranger suit that none other than Sky was to take over. Shortly after, Doggie Cruger would be promoted to Supreme Commander of Space Patrol Delta, and Sky would take over his position as Commander of SPD’s Earth base.

One of the people to join Commander Tate’s B-Squad was none other than JJ Oliver, son of the ever-so-famous Tommy Oliver. When JJ was doing undercover work, Tommy became concerned that he was missing and met with Sky to gather information. Sky, being as stubborn and handsome as ever, didn’t even blow JJ’s cover to his overprotective father. Also, he apparently has a new morpher and becomes the SPD “Deka Ranger.” We’ve never actually seen him in action, though. Just promo pics on Twitter and stuff. Maybe someday.

 

SUGGESTED VIEWING

Reflections Part I/II is, in my opinion, one of the best multi-parters in the entire series. It’s also incredibly unique in that we get to see one Ranger straight up use another Ranger’s morpher. I name another time that happened off the top of my head. I’d also like to throw the Soul of the Dragon graphic novel into the mix. I know I said I wouldn’t be taking the comics into account, but as far as I can tell this one is actually intended to be in continuity with the show. Plus you get to see Sky with a cool scar on his face for a few pages. If nothing else, it makes for a great piece of fanservice.

 

RANKING

Blue Rangers like Sky Tate are few and far between. I can’t name very many non-Red, non-Sixth Rangers that get the type of character arc our Blue SPD boy gets. He may be a by-the-books Boy Scout, but his transformation from an arrogant, stubborn dick to a slightly less stubborn and mildly reasonable dick stands out in the massive crowd that is Power Rangers.

I think Sky’s story is much more compelling and less petty than that of Eric, who took a smidge too long to realize he needed to trust people and make friends. That being said, I recognize greatness for what it is. Both Dustin and Sky are one-of-a-kind so it’s a lot like comparing apples to potato chips. (Dustin would be potato chips, of course. Can’t get enough of him.)

Basically what I’m trying to say is that I’m at the point on this list where rankings are becoming more and more difficult to decide. If I have to take as close to an objective look at the two side-by-side as I can, then I’d have to say that Sky is more interesting, but Dustin just embodies what it is to be a Power Ranger in that he’s one of the last people you’d expect to be one, yet he fits his role so perfectly. “Anyone can wear the mask,” they say in that really pretty Spider-Man movie. That’s why Sky Tate shall dethrone Eric as the new number two on the Children of Zordon. His reign was much shorter than I anticipated.

Curious where your favorite Rangers stand on the list? Check it out. Make sure you follow Children of Zordon on Twitter so that you don’t miss out on these sweet, sweet write-ups. You could also follow no context power rangers, which often contains screencaps of episodes that I watch during the making of this quality content.

Hey, remember when you all voted for Ziggy to be the 10th entry? Well, the next entry is number 10. So it’s Ziggy next week. Maybe it’ll be on Monday. Maybe I’ll be late again. Then I’m probably gonna take a short break from this. Choose your own adventure. Bye.