Happy birthday, David Yost! The actor best remembered for portraying “Billy” in Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers turns 45 today! They often say never meet your heroes, but fortunately for me I have, many times, and roughly 97% of the time they tend to be awesome. (3% was CM Punk awkwardly nodding his head while I told him being in straight-edge in high school was like, super cool for me. Oof.)
The first time, I had the pleasure of meeting him at a private Q&A session in New York City at No Pink Spandex Live back in 2011. Kindly, he has remembered me at subsequent meetings, even though he probably doesn’t remember my name. I’m OK being “that guy” to my heroes, though.
I’ve held this smile for three years straight. Photo credit: Jason Gibson
David Yost, as you may recall, played adorkable long before Zooey Deschanel even said that word on her lips. He was whiz-kid Billy Cranston, the lance-wielding genius of the Power Rangers. Billy had probably the most interesting role of the Power Rangers, in both function and in the character dynamics. As the archetypical brainiac, Billy was predictably awkward, nerdy, and supremely intelligent about damn near everything, never mind he was primarily a biology and chemistry-centric science guy and probably wouldn’t know much about computers or mechanical engineering. But this was the ’90s, so of course he fucking did. He would describe the biology of a goddamn iguana so they can find a weakness in the monster and then, like, repair Alpha 5 who is an advanced sentient robot from a distant planet. As this archetype exaggerated tenfold, it was just plain cute whenever he had a crush on a girl or stood up physically to one of Rita’s monsters. Billy’s genius was a convenient way to explain a new weapon the Power Rangers can use against Rita and Lord Zedd’s monsters. Almost every episode in the latter half of season one and first half of season two involved a device from Billy. You would be surprised to learn that hardly any of these weapons were made into toys.
Equally surprising, as the show progressed Billy shed his awkward nerdiness into something else entirely. David Yost was always physically fit, but he had to hide it in horizontal-stroped shirts and overalls. Throughout season two and three, Billy ditched his glasses and sported athletic tank tops that showed off his biceps, much like his karate-kicking bros. While on the surface he became almost indistinguishable from Tommy, Adam, and Rocky, by that point kids were familiar with the characters and didn’t need their clothing to communicate to them who was who. Hell, as far as we were concerned, Billy was our best friend. We knew him and loved him.
Yes, Emmy Award-winning Bryan Cranston was the inspiration for the name, and yes, there were major backstage conflicts between the producers and David over his sexuality. But you already know the story to that, as Yost himself has already told you many times.
Since Power Rangers, David Yost has become a producer of reality television, from Temptation Island to The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. He has also worked as a manager of licensing, selling shows to Showtime, Starz, Encore, and even Cartoon Network. If there’s a show you really dig on those channels, thank him.
His philanthropy is also remarkable. In 2002, David Yost performed in Fallen Guardian Angels, a play about six actors dealing with HIV, with proceeds benefitting the The Children’s Hospitals AIDS Center. At Power MorphiCon 2012, David Yost sold autographs and photo-ops by donation, with proceeds going to The Trevor Project, a non-profit organization focused on suicide prevention amongst LGBT youth. I’m so happy he can be open about who he is and use his notoriety as a Power Ranger to help. Like Austin St. John working as a paramedic and firefighter in Washington DC and soldiers in Kuwait, the dude is a real-life superhero.
We’re not here to re-open wounds that have already been stitched. We’re here to celebrate! In honor of David Yosts’ birthday, here are five awesome and classic Power Rangers episodes centered on the teenage genius of Angel Grove. Binge them on Netflix, Hulu, or the kick-ass DVDs from Shout! Factory.
“Switching Places” – Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers (Season 1)
A science experiment goes awry and Billy and Kimberly — the beauty queen of Angel Grove High — switch bodies. Unable to figure out how to switch back, they end up at each other’s throats. Easily one of the most fun episodes of the early series, you can see David Yost and Amy Jo Johnson have a ball (uh, no pun intended) playing each other’s characters. Possibly even more fun? Bulk and Skull (played by legit Shakespearean actors Paul Schrier and Jason Narvy) also switch, and they totally nail the nuances of each other.
The episode reminds me of a similar mishap on Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place, where the gang switch bodies; Sharon (Traylor Howard) switches with Berg (Ryan Reynolds), which leads to a hilarious scene where Ryan Reynolds almost kisses Sharon’s husband Johnny (Nathan Fillion). Bummer that type of comedy couldn’t in a million years belong in Power Rangers.
“Dark Warrior” – Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers (Season 1)
Fed up with Bulk and Skull’s bullying for the umpteenth time, Trini asks her Uncle Howard — an old man, but also a brilliant scientist and martial artist — to teach Billy and give him confidence. While the titular Dark Warrior has no personal stake with Billy, it’s a nice episode to see Billy take but an inch step closer to a proper superhero.
“Peace, Love, & Woe” – Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers (Season 1)
Angel Grove High is preparing for the school dance and everyone has a date except Billy, until he meets the super cute, incredibly brainy Marge (who looks like Kristin Davis from Sex & the City, see if you agree). When Rita sends down Madame Woe, Woe mistakes Marge for a Power Ranger and takes her prisoner. The other Power Rangers come to the rescue, but it comes down to Billy alone to save the day.
One of the most fondly-remembered monsters in Power Rangers lore, Madame Woe is downright creepy as shit. Evoking a kabuki Lady Macbeth from Throne of Blood, her appearance and voice is the most unique of Power Rangers monsters, even twenty years later.
“Something Fishy” – Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers (Season 1)
Billy declines to join Jason, Trini, and Zack on a scuba-diving trip because he “dislikes fish.” When Kimberly asks him why, he reveals he in fact has a debilitating fear of them, which stems from a childhood trauma. (It’s an incredibly innocent one, of course.) Naturally, Rita Repulsa sends down the Goo Fish Monster and Billy is left a nervous wreck. A not-so-subtle metaphor of overcoming your fears, it is yet another step forward for Billy the superhero.
“Grumble Bee” – Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers (Season 1)
Billy, proud of his academic excellence, gets a B on a test and loses his mojo. Even his superheroics suffer. With the help of Trini, Billy tries to get back on his A-game and rescue the other Power Rangers.
“Blue Ranger Gone Bad” – Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers (Season 2)
The first season of Power Rangers ended with the supremely anti-climactic An Oyster Stew, which was a normal episode like any other. Power Rangers isn’t known for storytelling like Game of Thrones, especially since production relied heavily on the Japanese series; they were charting completely new territory in the realm of TV production after all. Thus, the producers kept pretty light on their over-arching storylines until season three, which is to say they hardly had any. Season two ends with “Blue Ranger Gone Bad,” also an episode that could have aired almost any time since Karan Ashley, Jonny Yong Bosch, and Steve Cardenas joined the cast.
While in art class, Billy catches the eye of a girl named Violet (Angel Grove girls must LOVE nerds) who creates a clay sculpture in Billy’s likeness, which is not at all indicative of a serial killer. Rita casts a spell to make the statue an evil clone of Billy and they trap the real Billy in Goldar’s dark dimension. David Yost has had to play an evil Billy before in “Power Ranger Punks,” but that was an exaggerated caricature. In “Blue Ranger Gone Bad,” he’s far more subtle and subdued, and totally a dick. It’s a great exhibition of Yosts’ acting, able to take Billy and alter his minor nuances into something far more sinister.
Not enough? Check out the awesome two-part episode where we said goodbye to the badass we call Billy Cranston.
“Rangers of Two Worlds” – Power Rangers Zeo
In this pretty awesome two-part episode of the seriously awesome Power Rangers Zeo, Billy has aged into an old man. During what you may consider the 10-part finale of Mighty Morphin’ (not entirely correct, but not wrong either), Rita and Zedd casted a spell that transformed everyone in Angel Grove back into children. Billy, using a regenerator device, managed to restore himself to his proper age before the others embarked on the search for the Zeo Crystals, which would later give them the Zeo Ranger powers. In “Rangers of Two Worlds,” the side effects begin to take hold and Billy has suddenly aged into an older gentleman. Meanwhile, Rita transforms Catherine’s purse into a nearly indestructible monster — much to the dismay of the new faction of villains, the Machine Empire. The Rangers seek help from the Alien Rangers, and in incredible (but sadly brief) fashion, the two groups of Rangers team-up for a kick-ass climactic battle. Try not to tear up too much when you see the goodbye tribute the show gives him in the ending credits.
While David Yost had left the show already by this point, this was his character’s send-off. Power Rangers has a spotty track record when it comes to honorably sending off its heroes; Austin St. John, Thuy Trang, and Walter Jones got a pretty bad F-U departure, which was so bad fans have phrased it “Going to Switzerland” or “Going to a Peace Conference” when referencing characters who get unceremoniously kicked out. Meanwhile, Amy Jo Johnson had a multi-part episode that saw her chasing her dreams. Karan Ashley was somewhere in between, she didn’t say goodbye as herself (her younger self did, remember, Rita and Zedd’s spell) but we did get a nice last look at her normal self, happy to stay behind and help an African village. Billy is also somewhere in between, as his true last episode was earlier in the season, but “Rangers of Two Worlds” wraps up his story (as well as furthering the Rita and Zedd vs. the Machine Empire subplot) while also giving us an awesome visual of the Zeo and Alien Rangers fighting together. It’s times like this when I remember just how fucking incredible Power Rangers Zeo was.
Happy birthday, David Yost! Triceratops! Keep up with David on Facebook and Twitter!