Katherine Hillard

Katherine Hillard (played by Catherine Sutherland) is the Pink Power Ranger in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers Zeo, and Power Rangers Turbo.

Character History
Katherine—nicknamed "Kat" when she was introduced—had several roles in the legacy of the Power Rangers. She replaced Kimberly as the Pink Mighty Morphin Power Ranger. As time went on, she would assume the identities of both the Pink Zeo Ranger and the Pink Turbo Ranger, before passing her torch to Cassie Chan.

MMPR Season 3
Much like Tommy, Kat had the misfortune of being selected by Rita Repulsa to do her evil bidding. She also had to endure being a cat, which Aisha and Kimberly had named P.C. (short for "Park Cat", because they thought she was a stray wanderer when they found her in Angel Grove Park) At one time, she had transformed into a cat monster, but that form was eliminated by Ninjor and the Ninja Megafalconzord in the end and was never seen or heard of again afterwards (and it was not even known whether the Rangers knew that Kat was that monster).

As time went on, Katherine would transform back and forth between her "P.C." form and her human form at different times, and was very effective on bringing destruction upon the Rangers. Using her charming personality, Kat lured Tommy out of Ernie's Juice Bar to take a look at her car. Once Tommy had looked at her car, Kat offered to repay him by letting Tommy drive the car. An offer Tommy couldn't refuse. This was all simply a lure to kidnap Tommy, but the Rangers eventually rescued him from Zedd's Dark Dimension.

While Kat was in her human form, she managed to charm the other Rangers, who thought they had made a new friend instead of a new villain. During this time, Kat stole Kimberly's power coin, which enabled her to sneak into the Falconzord's cockpit without being detected, knock Tommy out, and steal the Ninjazord, whose technology would enable Zedd to activate his own Zords—the Shogunzords. Without her Power Coin, Kimberly began to weaken, and while in this weakened state, she tried to protect Kat from a Tenga attack, never suspecting it was a ploy to capture her. Secretly watching Kimberly battle the Tengas, Kat began to feel some sympathy for the Pink Ranger. While Kimberly was captured and being drained of her power, Kat went to see her, and once again, felt pangs of regret and wished that things could be different.

Although still under Rita's evil spell, the real Kat tried to break free. It wasn't in her nature to be evil. At one point, while Rita was telling Kat what an evil girl she was, Kat did break the spell. She started to protest to Rita that she wasn't evil, she was good, but Rita simply turned her back to evil. But this time the spell would not last long and Kat (after remembering the time she tried to qualify for the PanGlobal Games, but knocked herself out during the diving meet) broke free for good when she realized that Kimberly was too weak and exhausted to focus on practicing her gymastics, because she had absorbed power from the Morphing Grid to become the Pink Ranger and gone through two grueling battles with Zedd's army.

Wanting deeply to repair the damage she had done, Kat tried to help the Rangers as best as she could. When the Rangers got a threatening note from Rita and Zedd demanding them to return Kat in exchange for Ninjor, Kat had decided that the Rangers had no choice. Ultimately, the Rangers' plan to protect Kat failed, and she was captured and taken back to Zedd's palace.

While trapped in the palace dungeon, Kat charmed information regarding Kimberly's Power Coin out of Rito Revolto, and when he fell asleep, she stole the key to her cell and retrieved the coin. She was confronted by Rita until Alpha locked on to the Coin's energy signature and teleported the Coin—and Kat—to the Command Center.

During this time, Kimberly had just gone through a traumatic experience, and after she was discharged from the hospital, she chose not to continue her PanGlobal Games training, until Kat told her about her own traumatic experience at the Australia PanGlobal Games High Diving Meet. Since she had hit her head on the board during her demo, she had lost the qualification tryouts, and lived in fear of the high diving board. And to convince Kimberly that fear shouldn't rule her life, Kat conquered her fear of the high diving board and executed a perfect swan dive. In the end, Kimberly had decided to leave the team to follow her dream and passed her Power Coin on to Kat, who became the new Pink Ninja Ranger.

The other Rangers quickly made Kat feel at home. Being the "new girl" made Kat hesitant at first, but the fact that she still had a psychic connection to Rita for awhile was a help—especially when Rita, once again, went after Tommy by placing a small monster—the Ravenator—inside his stomach. She and the other Rangers were able to force the Ravenator out of Tommy by offering its host the largest sundae ever made, but urging Tommy to resist the monster's infused increased hunger pangs. In the end, the Ravenator regurgitated itself from Tommy's stomach and was ultimately destroyed by the Shogun Megazord when it grew.

One of Kat's favorite projects is helping the homeless. She was very good at organizing volunteers in getting these projects done.

Along with her friend Aisha, Kat had a love for animals. She really enjoyed taking care of a chimp named Kelly. Kat combined this care of Kelly with trying to learn sign language. During "Power Rangers Zeo"'s era, Kat also trained a dog named Smokey, for the fire department, and, along with Tommy, put together a desert terrarium.

During her time as a Ranger, Kat would battle various villains. In the beginning it was Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd. But that was for a short time. Soon a new villain—Master Vile—arrived in search of the Zeo Crystal, which was hidden in the Caves of Deception under Lord Zedd's Lunar Palace. Kat had a plan on how to claim the Zeo Crystal without anyone in Zedd's Palace finding out, and distracted Rita and Zedd with the supposed offer of returning to the evil side, but to make certain she would remain loyal to her offer, Zedd and Rita imprisoned her in a chamber that, when it reached full power, would revert Kat to evil permanently. Fortunately, Tommy had found the Zeo Crystal in the Caves of Deception, and used its power to release Kat from Zedd's prison chamber.

After the Rangers defeated Dischordia, Master Vile used the Orb of Doom to turn all the Rangers into children, but the pint-sized heroes had help in the form of the Alien Rangers of Aquitar. Kat was given the news that she needed to go on a quest to find her part of the Zeo Crystal (which was broken up into five pieces and hurled into a time vortex). The vortex put her in the Australian Outback, where she met two spirits who looked a lot like her as an adult. The first spirit, named Agatha, volunteered to take her to the location of the Crystal she sought, until the second unnamed spirit, resembling an elderly version of the adult Kat, told them that she needed help finding her way home. After warring with conflicting issues within herself, Kat decided to help the elderly woman get back home, and she gave her a present as a token of her gratitude. Kat was surprised to discover that it was her Zeo Crystal, and the elderly woman told Kat that she had sacrificed her quest to help one who needed her, and so she was rewarded for her kindness and selflessness.

Power Rangers Zeo
After the Zeo Crystal was restored, Kat received her new powers and became the Pink Ranger, Zeo Ranger 1. But there was another change up ahead. Aisha had decided to stay in Africa and Tanya came in to fill the new position of the Yellow Zeo Ranger. Tanya and Kat would become very close friends as they went through the Zeo and Turbo eras together. During the Zeo era, Kat would also meet Jason, the first Red Ranger from the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" arc of the legacy, who assumed the Gold Ranger powers for a while when the Rangers learned that Trey of Triforia was about to lose them forever.

Kat always managed to have fun as well. She really enjoyed being an extra in a sci-fi movie. She also liked snowboarding. Kat still had a competitive nature to her and went into a surfing competition with enthusiasm. She had a deep love of ballet and even managed to get the guys into the act during one production. And, of course, she loved hanging out at Ernie's Outdoor Cafe and Beach Club. Kat even helped Ernie set up for a multicultural holiday banquet.

When she discovered that Tommy was depressed over losing Kimberly (because he'd discovered she'd fallen in love with someone else (also due to a fact Tommy and Kimberly kissed in the second part of The Green Candle)), she invited a noted snowboarding champion named Heather (who she and Tommy had met during a short ski vacation) to Angel Grove in an attempt to cheer him up. But circumstances as a Power Ranger kept hindering his time with Heather, and he ended up losing her. In the end, Kat comforted Tommy and, over time, she helped him accept that Kimberly is gone and offered to have a dance with him.

During the Zeo episode "A Season to Remember," an elderly Kat is seen. She is married to Tommy, and the couple appear to have two grandchildren, one who is implied to be a Power Ranger. The canon of these events, however, has been debated.

Power Rangers Turbo
Kat's life as a Ranger was always full of changes, and more changes were on the horizon, as the wizard Lerigot was being hunted by the space pirate Divatox and sent a distress signal to Zordon, who quickly dispatched the Rangers. Kat and Tommy went searching for Lerigot. During this search, Kat had hurt her leg. When they found Lerigot, he healed her, and she quickly became very protective of him. While back at the Command Center, they learned of a new villainess named Divatox, and they would need even stronger powers to combat this new fiend.Kat, Adam, Tanya, and Tommy harnessed the new Turbo Rangers and Kat assumed the powers of the Pink Turbo Ranger. With Rocky unable to join them, due to an injury to his back during a karate practice—and much to the surprise of Kat and the others—Justin was selected to be the new Blue Turbo Ranger.Thus, another era had started with more changes ahead. Zordon, their mentor for such a long time, was offered the chance to return to his home planet of Eltar, and arranged for Dimitria to come to Earth to mentor his Chosen Ones.

Despite all the sudden changes around her, Kat kept up her love for dance and went to auditions whenever she could. During one audition for the performance of "The Nutcracker", another participant made Kat feel like she was too big. These hurtful remarks made Kat doubt herself and she went on a crash diet. Of course, Divatox took advantage of this and created a monster named Numbor, who made Kat weightless. Fortunately, it was a situation that did not last long when she began to believe in herself. Best of all, Kat won the lead role of Clara in the ballet recital. As her time as a Ranger drew to a close, she would fight a few more battles with Divatox and a huge one that placed Tommy in great danger, but TJ and Cassie would come to help Kat fend off the Piranhatrons and rescue Tommy.

Afterwards, Kat had done more than her fair share of fighting evil, and it was time to move on. In her final appearance, she chose Cassie to replace her as the new Pink Turbo Ranger, and she left for London to begin her long-awaited career and life as a ballerina.

Trivia

 * In Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, Katherine morphs into Zeo Ranger I Pink for a split second as she plummets of a cliff and waterfall. This is the only Zeo costume seen in this movie.
 * Katherine had the shortest term as a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger, only lasting 8 episodes from A Different Shade of Pink, Part III to Rangers in Reverse when she and the other Rangers are turned into children. She makes up for this however by lasting a total of 96 episodes, making her the second longest Pink Ranger right after Kimberly Ann Hart. Katherine lasted 41 episodes less than Kimberly.
 * Catherine Sutherland filmed a cameo as Kat Hillard in the Power Rangers Wild Force episode "Forever Red", according to the episode's writer Amit Bhaumik. She would have appeared as Tommy's wife and she was to pick him up at the NASADA Space Station after he says goodbye to the other Red Rangers. The scene was cut out to keep the episode's final 22-minute length. Sutherland also voiced the Machine Empire general Teezla in "Forever Red", but, despite a few grunts during her character's fight scene, her dialogue was cut out from the episode.
 * Katherine is the only Ranger to appear in season 3, but not in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Movie. However, her actress Catherine Sutherland did audition for the movie.
 * She is the only Pink Ranger to have this color three times.
 * Cassie nearly tied with her, and became the Pink Lost Galaxy Ranger, but Karone was chosen instead.
 * Catherine Sutherland was supposed to reprise her role as Kat in Power Rangers Dino Thunder, but didn't appear due to budget problems.