Being a genius is hard (I assume). The outside world can sometimes pressure one into being the best at everything and always being right. An entire identity can be formed out of simply being “the brainy” one and make it difficult to relate to others. After all, if you spend all of your time simply knowing things and not really forming social hobbies, it can become isolating and you may end up making yourself known as a know-it-all that nobody wants to invite to parties.

Rose Ortiz was a genius thrust into a situation where she had to work with a team and develop friendships, and I think she turned out okay in the end.

NAME: Rose Ortiz
RANGER DESIGNATION: Pink Operation Overdrive Ranger, Power Rangers Operation Overdrive
BASE OF OPERATION: San Angeles
FIRST APPEARANCE: “Kick Into Overdrive Part I” – Power Rangers Operation Overdrive
LAST APPEARANCE: “Crown and Punishment” – Power Rangers Operation Overdrive
PERSONAL WEAPONS/GEAR: Drive Geyser; Invisibility; Possessed by a Pirate (it was one episode but it still counts ok)
ZORDS: Sub Driver; Shovel Driver
PORTRAYED BY: Rhoda Montemayor

PROFILE

Rose grew up rather unconventionally. At the age of four, she mastered Morse code. When she turned eight, she started college. She attended Harvard and spent some time building robots in London. It was here that she was recruited by Andrew Hartford, an archaeologist and treasure hunter, to join his group of Power Rangers and assist him in seeking the crown jewels of the Corona Aurora and stopping the evil twins Moltor and Flurious. Conveniently, she knew all about this from her Historical Legends class at Harvard, so she didn’t just shrug it off like some weirdo was trying to kidnap her.

Though reluctant at first, she joined the team as the Pink Ranger and was given the genetic power of invisibility. Her geeky side showed very little in her happy-go-lucky personality beyond being a walking history and engineering textbook. Rose also knew good work when she saw it, shown from the start when she advocated for Mack to be the Red Ranger instead of his father. She was also highly involved in designing some of the Rangers’ arsenal, such as the Red Ranger’s Battlizer.

On one of the Rangers’ early adventures, they scoured St. Lucia for the Eye of the Sea, a jewel required for Neptune’s sword and the Corona Aurora. This is where Rose got to flex her knowledge of Brownbeard over Mack’s, who only knew the pirate from his adventure novels. While it didn’t lead them to a dead end like she thought it would, it did take them to Brownbeard’s cave. His ghost confronted them and agreed to help them find the Eye. Only issue being that Rose wasn’t on board with this, knowing full well that a pirate couldn’t be taken at his word.

Brownbeard creeped on her and tried to convince her to help out. To change her negative attitude and sway her into having some fun, Brownbeard possessed Rose and turned her into Rosie the Bold, her own version of a mischievous pirate, or pirate-sona as we enthusiasts call it. Her newfound… er… powers allowed her to kick some monster ass unmorphed.

(there were far too many good screencaps so I’m just sharing the best ones here)

The Rangers used the map to track down a treasure chest with the Eye of the Sea. Once Rose had it in her hand, Blackbeard separated from her and took it for himself. At least he would have if the evil Miratrix hadn’t shown up to snatch it. Disgusted with her pirate outfit and disgusted with Blackbeard’s selfishness, Rose stormed off with the other Rangers in defeat.

In a move somewhat tangential to heroics, Brownbeard confronted Miratrix and her pirate ship monster to retrieve the Eye after feeling guilty. Rose went to settle the score but ended up helping the old ghost pirate fight the villains. The monster grew giant as usual, but Rose used the new Shovel Driver Zord, and later the Megazord, to fight it off.

During the commotion, Brownbeard took the jewel, disappointing Rose yet again. She was surprised to see him back at Hartford’s mansion and he gave it back to the Rangers. Except it was kinda the wrong jewel and didn’t fit in Neptune’s sword. Rose exchanged it with him for his lucky pearl, which ended up being the actual jewel that they needed. She admitted to him that she actually had fun being a pirate, which was a change of pace from being raised so strictly as a child.

The Rangers had their powers stripped away by Thrax, the evil son of Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd. Yes, it’s true: they had sex, and it was probably gross. A new team of cherry-picked Rangers of the past would cover for them in their absence. This left the old Rangers feeling useless, and Rose decided to leave Operation Overdrive with the others (sans Mack because he kinda lived there).

Rose got a job as a professor in the meantime. Mack popped into one of her classes, on his own mission to get this sword thing that could help restore their powers. Combined with that and Alpha 6, the Overdrive Rangers were back. Rose teamed up with Tori the Blue Wind Ranger for much of the final fight against Thrax.

An alien named Tyzonn had joined the team as the Mercury Ranger. He was… different. He just… wouldn’t stop staring at Rose. He was either in love with her or just fascinated. It irked her one day, so she joined the others for a picnic. And Tyzonn followed. Welp.

They stumbled upon Norg, a little yeti man that served an unknown purpose to Flurious. Following him into the woods, they hit a force field that only Tyzonn could pass through. He tried to help his team pass through it but only Rose was able to make it. Of course.

Tyzonn and Rose encountered Norg and fought off an evil Fearcat on the hunt for the Centurion Torch. Tyzonn admitted he was fascinated with how Rose never talked about herself, just the things she knows about like science and stuff. She thought there was nothing special about her but Ty reassured her that she was born special, which is very nice and also kind of creepy but as long as he stops staring at her and asking probing questions it’s all good.

Anyway, the Fearcat showed back up and incapacitated Tyzonn. This really really pissed Rose off and she took him on one on one. She seemed to be outmatched, but was able to surprise him with a sneak attack from her blaster and exact vengeance. When the Fearcats brought their Zord in for the fight, Rose took the reins on the Megazord to wreck them hard. And then Norg did a weird yeti ritual to revive Tyzonn and Rose answered his burning question of what she ate for breakfast everyday in college. Just normal stuff.

After the defeat of Moltor and Flurious, the team had a little “You know, I learned something today,” pow-wow before leaving the mansion. Rose resolved to go back to teaching, having learned that knowledge is something to be proud of, and that made her special.

 

RANKING

The Overdrive Rangers get a lot of crap, and I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the biggest fan. However, most of them aren’t god-awful. Rose joins a small group of Pink Rangers that also happens to be the tech wiz. She also happens to have a bit of depth which earns her some brownie points. It helps that Pirate in Pink is probably the best focus episode in all of Overdrive, and possibly one of the most fun overall episodes in the show’s 26 years. Rhoda puts her all into being as over-the-top as possible and you can tell she’s having a regular blasty-blast. So much so that I’m not even gonna think about the fact that she gave up being a Ranger with the rest of her team that one time and I’ll place her as the new number 8 on the Children of Zordon.

Make sure you follow me on Twitter (and also no context power rangers, of course) and check back every Monday eventually 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 put your dirty finger on that link.

Join us next time when we enact Plan Xander and visit the Green Ranger of Mystic Force.

 

I’m also gonna stop here for a second and acknowledge the passing of Robert Axelrod, obviously most well-known as the voices of Finster and later Lord Zedd in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. We may be all about the Rangers here, but they’d be next to nothing without great villains like this guy. The world just got a little less funny — and sometimes horrifying so long as concerned parents don’t get involved.

Thanks, Robert.