Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. Then there’s people like T.J., who seem to check all three boxes and nobody gets upset, cuz c’mon, have you met T.J.? That guy rules. Let’s talk about how much T.J. rules.

NAME: Theodore Jay “T.J.” Jarvis Johnson
RANGER DESIGNATION: Red Turbo Ranger (II), Power Rangers Turbo; Blue 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: “Dimensions in Danger” – Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel
PERSONAL WEAPONS/GEAR: Turbo Lightning Sword; Lightning Cruiser; Astro Axe; Blue Galaxy Glider
ZORDS: Red Lightning Turbozord; Lighting Fire Tamer Rescuezord; Astro Megazord/Megaship; Mega V-3
PORTRAYED BY: Selwyn Ward

PROFILE

T.J. Johnson made the move to Angel Grove with a pocket-full of pro baseball dreams. A friend of his dad’s told him that the high school baseball team there was pretty dang epic, so that’s as good a reason as any to relocate. On the bus, T.J. became acquainted with a spunky Fellow Teen named Cassie. They got themselves into some trouble when, at a bus station rest stop, Tommy and Kat were mid-tustle with some Piranhatrons. The young whippersnappers came to the aid of the helpless Rangers and kicked some minion butt.

However, T.J. and Cassie weren’t enough to stop Tommy from getting kidnapped. After some hesitation, the two followed the monster’s tracks and rescued Tommy from Divatox’s evil Pit of Despair and Suffering or some such. When it quickly became time for Tommy to bequeath his responsibility to someone else, he chose T.J., making him the new Red Turbo Ranger.

His strong sense of justice and integrity made T.J. quick to adjust to his new leadership role. He was a pretty big fan of the Power Rangers and all that they’d done for the world, which probably made the decision to join pretty easy. He was also one of a few Rangers to truly befriend Bulk and Skull, and even assisted them with the odd jobs that they found themselves doing every other episode.

One of T.J.’s first non-Ranger friends that he made in Angel Grove was a sentient, extraterrestrial flying sports car by the name of Lightning Cruiser. Though they were hesitant to trust each other at first, T.J. got on the vehicle’s good side and they joined forces to rescue Justin and his pal Storm Blaster from the clutches of Elgar.

While T.J. understood the value of teamwork, he also knew when to take matters into his own hands and lead by example. My dude fought a monster one-on-one on top of the Rescue Megazord to stop him from hijacking it. There was also a really bizarre episode where a little boy named Erutan declared himself the Spirit of the Woods and commended T.J. for picking up trash during one of his jogs. Then the trash monster captured the Rangers in trash can prisons and Erutan did some stuff with lightning and — well, you get it. It’s Turbo. You’ve seen the pizza episode, right?

T.J. was somehow able to balance his Ranger duties and his baseball aspirations fairly well. But when he became frustrated by a new shithead kid named Heath on the opposing team who threw a mean curve ball, it became his obsession to figure out how to hit it. Lucky for him, both of his interests intersected: Divatox summoned a baseball-themed monster named Strikeout to put his batting skills to the test and toss him some exploding balls. When he and the Rangers struck out, though, it became even more important for him to figure out the technique. It’s always best to learn under the intense pressure of imminent death.

After saving Heath from nearly careening his dumbass self and his bike off a cliff, T.J. learned the secret to mastering the curve ball. This new skill aided the Red Ranger in whacking Strikeout’s pitch to the moon and dominating the sport of baseball for at least a day.

Divatox had found the ultimate Zord-destroying machine in Goldgoyle in a last-ditch effort to destroy the Rangers. With the Rescue Megazord all but destroyed, T.J. made the bold order to get in close to Goldgoyle and evacuate before self-destructing. When that plan didn’t work and the Turbo Megazord was also down for the count, T.J. came up with a new plan: fly Lightning Cruiser with the Turbo R.A.M. Cannon and toss it directly into Goldgoyle’s mouth, detonating on impact.

With most of their arsenal blown to smithereens, the Rangers were more defenseless than ever. Elgar and Rygog took this opportunity to plot the destruction of the Power Chamber. Try as they might, T.J. and the Rangers couldn’t stop Divatox’s army and before they knew it, their command center was done for and their Turbo powers were lost. With few options left and Zordon captured by some aliens, T.J., Alpha 6, and the non-Blue Rangers hitched a ride on a NASADA space shuttle to chase after Divatox and put a stop to the United Alliance of Evil.

The shuttle docked with the mysterious Astro Megaship where the Rangers met Andros, the Red Space Ranger. Though he initially resisted their help, Andros enlisted the former Turbo Rangers in the fight against Astronema, the future Queen of Evil, whatever that means. T.J. acquired the powers of the Blue Space Ranger and became second-in-command of the new Space Ranger team. A demotion to be sure, but then again, T.J. was a little out of his element outside of Earth, so maybe Andros would be better suited to take command in the long run.

In spite of all that, T.J. was still the one Andros relied on to communicate with the team. His camaraderie with the other Rangers was already well-established and Andros had a hard time adjusting to working with others. When Carlos was stung by a Barillian bug and started turning into a gross alien freak, T.J. was the one who accompanied Andros on KO-35 looking for an antidote. He would also assume the role of peer mediator when Ashley and Cassie got into a fight over their duties on the ship.

During their first battle with Darkliptor — the DNA Digivolution of Darkonda and Ecliptor — T.J. threw himself in front of Andros and took a hit straight to the dome. Now unconscious and the other Rangers frozen solid, Andros took him back to the Megaship and found that he had lost most of his memories. It took a basketball and another encounter with Darkliptor to fully bring T.J. back to reality. Using a move they practiced during their basketball game earlier, T.J. and Andros delivered the final blow to Darkliptor and saved their friends from the clutches of Astronema.

The Rangers’ plans to save Zordon were put on hold when Astronema’s Psycho Rangers reared their ugly heads. As the Psychos adapted to their corresponding Space Ranger and proved difficult to outwit, T.J. came up with a plan to confuse them by pairing themselves up with their wrong colored counterpart. However, they were outsmarted yet again and T.J. was injured in battle. Two head injuries in one season. I see now why he stopped talking about baseball.

Defeating the Psychos became an obsession during his recovery, looking over old tapes like an athlete who peaked in college and couldn’t get over how he could have gone pro. While analyzing their previous fight looking for a weakness, a worried Cassie showed and urged him to chill a bit. Then the TV screen fucked up and turned black & white. With no colors, the Rangers all sort of looked the same, and T.J. was feeling inspired. A bit of magic blue spray paint on some action figures later and his plan became clear: what if there were five Blue Rangers?

Never mind how they made it happen — all 5 Rangers got a makeover and were ready to confuse the shit out of Psycho Blue. And then he was even MORE confused when Psycho Silver (!!!!) made his grand entrance. Though he originally pretended to be on the side of evil, Psycho Silver revealed himself to just be Rangers’ friend Zhane doing some pretty impressive cosplay. Together, the (true) Blue and Silver Rangers made Psycho Blue explode so hard his mama could feel it.

After successfully stopping Dark Specter and Astronema from destroying Earth and stuff, T.J. and the other Rangers lost their powers and returned home to Earth. He became a reliable ally to other teams of Rangers in their own fights against evil, assisting the Galaxy Rangers on Terra Venture when the Psychos made their devious return.

Around 2002, T.J. and many other former Red Rangers were summoned by Tommy to fight some Beetleborgs on the moon or something. After the battle when the Alpha Chad Reds were all having a pissing contest about their Ranger careers, T.J. made it clear to everybody that he was once baked into a giant pizza by one of Divatox’s monsters. I guess he wears that as a badge of honor.

Over a decade later, T.J. and his BFF Cassie helped lead the charge during the Legendary Battle. He was also one of several Rangers captured by Lord Draven to create an army of evil robot Rangers, using his Astro Morpher as a basis. T.J. and the other captives were rescued by Tommy, and he helped out the Ninja Steel Rangers to stop Draven and his robot army and uhhhh “Mega Arrows” before they could Shatter the Grid. His only real lines of dialogue implied that he knew who Lord Draven was, even though he had never been mentioned anywhere ever before this. Also I don’t think he even got a single frame of fight footage. Disrespectful, honestly.

RANKING

T.J. fucking rules. With the list in its current state, anything less than 5th place would be a disservice, so let’s start from there.

He’s just the type of guy you want on your side. The dude you pick first in gym class to be on your dodgeball team. Never afraid to take the initiative to get shit done, yet always willing to hear from those around him and adjust accordingly. An overthinker to a fault, but not ashamed to acknowledge when he’s wrong. T.J. was born to be a Power Ranger. He was born to be the leader of the Power Rangers.

With all that in mind, it stings a little bit once he gets pushed out of the red spotlight in favor of Andros and his story. There’s still moments of him applying his leadership skills as second-in-command of the Space Rangers, but it’s just not the same, man. When I think T.J., my mind goes to Red Turbo before Blue Space. Every time.

We never get to see him pursue — or even so much as mention — his baseball dreams post-Turbo, and we’ll forever be left wondering what T.J.’s Ranger retirement looks like. I like to think he chose a life outside of the pro athlete sphere. He probably stayed humble and maybe picked up a coaching gig at a middle school.

But what’s important here is the stuff we actually saw and not my weird fanfiction. He may not have the bad boy edge of an Eric, but his earnestness and A+ leadership skills are gonna squeeze T.J. into the number three spot on the Children of Zordon. What can I say? I like my boy scout Rangers just a tiny bit more.

Follow me on Twitter. I’m not even gonna link to it this time. There’s a sidebar where you can find that. Odds are, you came here from Twitter anyway, right? Plugging the socials is just so tiresome. However, I’d encourage you to check out The List and, if it so pleases you, tweet at me about how wrong I am. I might even respond!

Check back next time when we hop ahead to more recent times with a gander at Zoey Reeves from Beast Morphers. Thanks for reading. Much like T.J., you fucking rule.