The Rookie Red trope gets its name from Power Rangers, and for obvious reasons. It’s not uncommon for the Red Ranger to be the unestablished one in the group, or inexperienced, or downright lacking any skills that one would attribute to a superhero, but wind up becoming the most prominent and powerful member of the team. Rangers dipped its feet in the water with Andros the Red Space Ranger, though he was very experienced as a Ranger, just not with that particular group.

When the show started “fresh” (sort of) by ending the colloquially-known Zordon Era with Lost Galaxy, they luckily had the budget to dive right into something new. In this sense, one could consider Leo Corbett – a dude who wasn’t even supposed to go to space, let alone become a superhero – the first true Rookie in Red.

NAME: Leo Corbett
RANGER DESIGNATION: Red Galaxy Ranger, Power Rangers Lost Galaxy
BASE OF OPERATION: Terra Venture
FIRST APPEARANCE: “Quasar Quest Part 1” – Power Rangers Lost Galaxy
LAST APPEARANCE: “Legendary Battle” – Power Rangers Super Megaforce
PERSONAL WEAPONS/GEAR: Red Transdagger; Red Quasar Launcher; Red Jet Jammer; Red Astro/Capsular Cycle; Red Armored Ranger
ZORDS: Lion Galactabeast
PORTRAYED BY: Danny Slavin

PROFILE

During the “Countdown to Destruction” when Dark Specter, Astronema, and Ecliptor led their assault on Earth, the citizens of Angel Grove watched as four ordinary teenagers – and one less-than-ordinary alien guy from KO-35 – morphed into the Space Power Rangers. Among those bystanders was Leo Corbett. The experience changed him, and from then on he caught the Luke Skywalker bug, wanting nothing more than to explore the outer reaches of the galaxy.

A rebellious go-getter, Leo took action, attempting to board the space colony Terra Venture on its maiden voyage. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the proper passport and got rejected. After wandering into a nearby alley, presumably to wallow in his own embarrassment, he encountered three mean dudes harassing an old lady for her passport. He managed to trick them into thinking that they had stolen it before revealing that he had it behind his back, and Leo returned it to the woman. The woman inspired him with some kind words and Leo snuck onto a shuttle to Terra Venture, narrowly escaping security upon arrival.

Leo tossed on some Starship Troopers armor to blend in. He blended in too well apparently, as he wound up on a training mission on the moon. Here, he ran into his brother Mike, joined by Kai Chen (who he ends up butting heads with) and Kendrix Morgan. Mike begged him to leave, but Leo wouldn’t have any of that. Suddenly a portal opens and out pops three monsters in pursuit of a jungle girl. The four soldiers forced the Stingwingers back through the portal. The girl, Maya, explained that her village on the planet Mirinoi was under attack, so Leo and the others followed her back through.

The soldiers fought off Furio and his minions as they tried to steal the legendary Quasar Sabers, five swords in stones Excalibur-style. In an act of desperation, Mike pulled one of the Sabers from the stone. Leo watched as Kai, Kendrix, Maya, and Damon (a spaceship mechanic from the Astro Megaship — he was just kinda along for the ride) retrieved the rest of the Quasar Sabers. According to legend, these five were basically Thor or something, as they were the only ones worthy to pull the swords out.

In a fit of rage, Furio unleashed a grayscale Instagram filter upon the people of Mirinoi, effectively turning them into stone. A chasm ripped the ground apart and Mike fell into it, ut not before Leo could grab him. Mike begged him to take care of the Quasar Saber and fell to his apparent death. The five remaining good guys held the Quasar Sabers to the sky and transformed, with Leo becoming the Red Galaxy Ranger. Together, the heroes fight off the monsters and escape on the Astro Megaship. From then on, Leo would dedicate himself to becoming the Red Ranger his brother would be proud of.

The thing about the ol’ Astro Megaship, though, was that it was meant to be a museum and not actually operational. This didn’t stop Leo and Maya from taking it to save the mythical Galactabeasts from their cages. Leo’s instincts proved worthwhile and he was united with his Red Lion Galactabeast, the Zord that he would later use in battle. But before he would do so, he attempted to take on a giant Elvis monster by jumping really high. It didn’t work. But you gotta admire the absolute madlad.

Kai’s by-the-books wet blanket attitude would often clash with Leo’s loose, carefree candor. Never was this more apparent than when Leo was chosen as a new recruit with “great leadership potential” on the Terra Venture bridge crew. Kai tried training him to be more focused, but his jealousy caused him to be rather mean to the boy. This may have been a little justified when Leo forgot to lock the weapons room and a monster broke in and stole them all. Whoops.

He immediately owned up to his mistake but got captured by the monster along with the Quasar Sabers. Lucky for Leo, his own Saber saved him from capture and the Rangers were able to retrieve the weapons using the old switcheroo trick. Leo decided that being a part of the GSA crew wasn’t for him, but he earned Kai’s respect.

In a stunning twist, Mike happened to still be alive, captured by Trakeena and Furio. He gave Leo the key to the Lights of Orion, one of the most powerful sources of energy in the universe that for some reason happened to reside on a man-made space colony. In another stunning twist, Mike wasn’t Mike at all, but a monster in disguise. He took the Lights of Orion for Trakeena and disappointed Leo. He would have none of this nonsense, but in yet another twist of the stunning variety, the box for the Lights was empty. Overall, the adventure was rather fruitless for everybody.

A bunch of stuff happens that doesn’t really matter except the Rangers meeting the Magna Defender and Leo believing him to be his brother. But he wasn’t. Sort of. You’ll see. They eventually got the Lights of Orion and gained their power-up and they had to use the power of friendship to unleash it.

The Magna Defender revealed to Leo that he fell into the same crevice as Mike did, and that he used Mike’s life force to save himself and get revenge for the death of his son Zika. He challenged Leo to destroy him in order to save his brother, but Leo refused, believing that the Defender still had goodness in him. This wound up being true when he sacrificed himself to save the Rangers and free Mike.

Leo managed to destroy Scorpius, which kind of pissed Trakeena off considering she was his daughter and all that. She captured the Red Ranger as an act of revenge. He went willingly in order to save his friends, and was able to escape the villain’s ship to the planet below. The monsters go on a wild goose chase to find him. Trakeena is the first to catch up and, in an epic gaming moment™, Leo rips the remains of his shirt off and morphs to duel her.

She had him on the ropes until she got distracted by a couple of her underlings that happened to be plotting her assassination. The remaining Rangers came to rescue their leader and destroy one of Trakeena’s monsters.

After the death of Kendrix, the Rangers found a new Pink in the form of Karone, the former villain Astronema on a presumed redemption arc. She got along well with Leo’s playful personality as she lacked a real childhood and had never really had “fun” before. Their fun was interrupted when a magnet monster attacked them and wrecked Leo’s morpher, depowering him.

Desperate for a way to get his powers back, Karone remembered an ancient warrior she once fought who wielded two keys that turned him invincible. She froze the warrior so that he could never use the keys again. Leo and Karone took the chance and travelled to that same location to retrieve the keys and re-energize the Red Ranger. After a brief tussle with an Astronema hologram and a little bit of crying, the warrior unfroze and gave him the power to transform into the Red Armored Power Ranger. He used this bulky, cumbersome armor to destroy the magnet monster and save his friends.

After entering and escaping the Lost Galaxy because the writers suddenly remembered what the name of the show was, Terra Venture headed toward a planet that looked habitable for humans. Trakeena wasn’t gonna let that happen, so she attacked the colony. Leo and Damon jacked some bombs from the GSA and blew up part of her ship, but Terra Venture wound up crashing into a moon in the process.

Trakeena took this as an opening to enter the station with some suicide bombing Stingwingers and wreck up the place. During the evacuation, Leo helped pilot the Astro Megaship into Trakeena’s Scorpion Stinger and made the decision to self-destruct and bail — but not before saved Alpha 6. Trakeena took this opportunity to shoot him down and his Jet Jammer crashed on the nearby moon along with her.

The new and improved Gross Alien Trakeena led Leo back to Terra Venture for a final showdown. She sent the colony straight on a collision course with the new world. The other Rangers joined Leo to help out, but she easily overwhelmed them with her new powers. After trying every last move they had, Leo summoned his Battlizer and fired at her point blank, destroying Trakeena and causing a massive explosion that he narrowly survived.

The Galactabeasts helped them slow the colony’s impact and save the new world. This new planet wound up being Mirinoi, Maya’s home planet that turned to stone. Leo and the other Rangers returned their Quasar Sabers to the stone and revived the frozen people.

When Trakeena returned for some revenge, Leo and the other Galaxy Rangers teamed up with the Lightspeed Rescue team to defeat her once again. He got less screen time than a little girl. He later joined up with the other past Red Rangers to destroy the remnants of the Machine Empire on the moon. He showed up a little late, to say the least, but he teamed up with TJ which was fun.

Years later, as the alien Armada conducted an assault on Earth, Leo was among the legacy Power Rangers that showed up to the Legendary Battle with his helmet off to talk to the MegaRangers. Before that, he could be seen helping out civilians in Harwood County. By that I mean he saved a dog named Bigsley from some rubble for a little kid named Danny. He informed them that they have “nice names,” which is a really weird fucking thing to say. I assume it was a reference to Leo’s actor being named Danny? Did Saban think this was the fanservice everybody had been clamoring for? Nobody ever talks about how awful that scene is, but whatever man.

SUGGESTED VIEWING

Rookie in Red showcases Leo’s rebellious ways pretty well. I also really like A Red Romance because it’s so damn silly. Leo dates a girl with an overprotective brother and hijinks ensue.

I’m a big fan of the 3-part finale, Journey’s End, too. Probably one of the best Power Rangers finales, and some really great Leo stuff.

I also recall an episode where he rides a horse. I don’t remember the name of it. It sounds cool though, right?

RANKING

Going into this, I didn’t remember a whole lot about Leo. I was never a huge Lost Galaxy fan so I was prepared to talk a lot of shit on this guy. Leo was the first of his kind and there’s no denying that. However, the whole rebellious schtick was done just a little bit better with Scott Truman. Leo seems relatively vanilla in hindsight.

There’s also no denying that Leo is kind of a crazy badass. Like I just mentioned, the finale is filled with great Leo moments. He places stolen bombs on the Scorpion Stinger to get it away from the colony. He sacrifices the Astro Megaship to bring Trakeena down. When he crashes on the moon, he confronts her head-on and blows her the fuck up. Scott may be more rebellious, but Leo is a rebel with a cause. Eh takes risks and doesn’t afraid of anything.

I think the “cause” part is much more valuable for a Ranger, so I will put him above Scott. My soft spot for Cassie won’t let me put Leo above her, so we’re gonna make Leo the new number 7 in the Children of Zordon.

I’m excited to be back, gang. Make sure you follow me on Twitter (and also no context power rangers, of course) and check back every Monday (mostly) for new entries on the list. I might do some other stuff in-between, and @childrnofzordon is probably the first place you’ll hear about it. As usual, I don’t make promises. If you wanna see where other Rangers stand on the list, make sure you take a gander at that link.

Speaking of which, congrats to @Wiiknight678 on winning the Lightning Collection Shadow Ranger figure giveaway! Everybody go high-five him.

Unfortunately, Leo isn’t the only Red Ranger I’m gonna talk about today. I’d be remiss not to express my sadness over the recent passing of Pua Magavisa, who portrayed Shane on Power Rangers Ninja Storm. I’m not very good at these sorts of things because I don’t like making it about myself, so here’s a funny GIF I think we can all enjoy. Thank you, Pua.

Come back next week cuz I’m gonna talk about Dom Hargan from Jungle Fury and his gigantic morpher. Seeya then.