Main |
This article is about a character and mentor in Power Rangers RPM. |
|
Doctor K is a genius scientist who is the creator of the Ranger Operators' tech and arsenal, and the mentor to the RPM Rangers. She was also the creator of the Venjix Virus, which was unintentionally spread worldwide, conquering Earth.
History[]
Past[]
From a young age, Doctor K showed signs of advanced intelligence and at the age of five, was whisked away by the staff members of a morally corrupt, top-secret military think tank code-named "Alphabet Soup". It is unknown whether she was kidnapped by the agents who found her, if her family willingly gave her up, or if she was legally obtained by the organization some other way. Once she arrived, the people there addressed her by the letter "K" and she was confined to a white-walled room in order to work on new government technology. She was raised on the belief that she was ill and allergic to sunlight and thus was never let outside, despite her wish to do so. She was coerced into working constantly on various difficult tasks while in the facility and as the years passed, she eventually found that she could no longer remember her real name.
Doctor K was the leader of a research team at Alphabet Soup developing exoskeleton robotic suits to amplify human strength and speed. They were attempting to harness the human body’s natural electrical output to prolong the suit’s battery life when they had a breakthrough: the discovery of a universal bio-electric field, an unseen energy grid that connects the life force of all living things. Manipulating this field allowed unimagined advances in technology, including the RPM Ranger Suits and Powers.
When Doctor K was about 14, she was presented with a pair of twins, who were also occupants of Alphabet Soup, named Gem and Gemma. They were chosen to help with the Ranger project for the purpose of being test pilots for the suits and equipment. Doctor K initially did not like the twins. For her 14th birthday, Gem and Gemma gave Doctor K the first birthday present she ever received, a pencil, despite knowing her apparent dislike of them. Overtime, she finally accepted the two as her friends.
Later on while Doctor K was working on the Ranger Series, a butterfly somehow managed to make it into her workstation. When Doctor K went to follow the butterfly, she found a way out of the facility and subsequently also discovered that she was not allergic at all to the sunlight, realizing that those in charge of Alphabet Soup had been lying to her, Gem, and Gemma the entire time. This led to Doctor K's greatest mistake; in hopes of blinding Alphabet Soup's security servers long enough for her, Gem, and Gemma to escape, Doctor K uploaded a self-aware, self-generating computer virus "Venjix", for which she had written the base code, to the facility's database. Before Doctor K could install the firewall to assure the virus would not escape beyond the walls of Alphabet Soup, the security personnel burst in and captured her, Gem, and Gemma, thus allowing the Venjix Virus to spread. TV STORY-Doctor K (episode)
A year later, the virus had infected over 37% of the world's computers and was still going. Two years later, Venjix had completely taken over the world's technology and waged war upon humanity. Doctor K sent out a distress call all over the world, urging the survivors to go to the domed city of Corinth. She was about to leave Alphabet Soup with the Ranger Series Technology, only to once again be cornered by the facility staff, who were determined to not let her leave. However, Gem and Gemma came to her rescue. They gave her an opening to get away, but stayed behind themselves in an attempt to retrieve the classified Gold and Silver series Ranger tech. Doctor K was devastated when she saw the wall cave in behind the two, believing them to be dead. She has been shown to still keep the ribbons that wrapped the gift Gem and Gemma gave her as a keepsake. TV STORY-Ghosts
RPM[]
By the events of Power Rangers RPM, Doctor K has established a connection with the "Bio-Field" and given Ranger powers to three individuals. Scott Truman (the son of Corinth's military commander Colonel Mason Truman), Flynn McAllistair (a mechanic with a heart of gold) and Summer Landsdown (a formerly spoiled rich girl who became selfless after the death of her butler Andrews). At the beginning of the series, she only communicated with people through the computer. All that was seen was a white screen with the letter K on it with a speech graph underneath. Her voice was also distorted which led to some confusion about her gender, as initially she was referred to as male.
Aside from the occasional slip-up, Doctor K refused to call the Rangers by anything other than their Ranger color, much to their growing concern and annoyance. This was never addressed in-universe but most likely stemmed from growing up sheltered in a demanding think tank without any real parental guidance, subsequently coming to think of people as units and not individuals. She often outright stated if she doesn't like someone or doesn't approve of something about them, most notably with Ziggy Grover and the genetically-engineered twins Gem and Gemma. When the latter two were first introduced to her, Doctor K immediately showed dislike towards them, telling them to stop speaking to her in conjoined sentences.
Doctor K is musically inclined, able to skillfully play both the piano and the violin, and even uses specifically the violin in conjunction with some of the equipment within the Ranger base. Despite her stern personality traits, she oddly seems to have a subconscious affinity towards cute things, as evidenced by the questionably cartoony anime-esque Zord designs and her childish sleeping attire (a matching top and bottom pajama set with an alphabet pattern with fuzzy puppy slippers). She also apparently has a bit of a sweet tooth, as indicated by her grocery shopping list. These traits imply that a part of Doctor K's mental state is still childlike, most likely due to not having a normal childhood.
Doctor K works alongside Colonel Truman, so it is believed that the RPM team is sanctioned by the defense forces of Corinth City. Everyday, Doctor K has to live with the fact that she created the virus that has almost completely destroyed all of mankind, a fact that she kept under wraps from the other Rangers until she was forced into a situation where revealing it was the only option to save Dillon from being taken over. TV STORY-Brother's Keeper
Due to her underdeveloped emotional state, Doctor K's relationship with all the Rangers is somewhat awkward even though as time passes, she begins to really care about them. Doctor K finally begins to open up more to the others when Gem and Gemma re-enter her life, encouraging her to increase her bond with her team. Her relationship with Ziggy however is most distinctly complicated and strained, as from early on, Doctor K displayed a very apparent lack of acknowledgement or respect towards him. She didn't hug Ziggy as she did the other rangers after her attempt at showing her appreciation towards them and tends to get easily exasperated by his personality.
It is eventually revealed that Doctor K in fact doesn't hate Ziggy, and seems to actually truly appreciate him when it is discovered that her computer password is his name and also when she, to Ziggy's surprise, allows him to take her outside for her birthday. Their relationship finally begins to turn around after they get trapped in a cave together and Ziggy brings it upon himself to make Doctor K smile during their dire situation, which he ultimately succeeds at. Doctor K's initial façade of indifference towards Ziggy is implied to have stemmed partly out of frustration and envy that he is able to do just fine despite being "stupid".
After Venjix was apparently destroyed, Doctor K and Ziggy planned to open a school, where Doctor K will teach children bio-field physics and Ziggy will teach them the arts of shadow puppetry and cooking. She then locks up the RPM morphers for good, unaware that Venjix now resides in the Red Morpher. TV STORY-Danger and Destiny
Beast Morphers[]
11 years after Venjix's defeat, Doctor K remains an active scientist though she has since mellowed out and become more friendly over the years. Apparently, K has gone off the grid as Devon Daniels mentions "she's only been heard from a couple of times over the last decade." Her part in the defeat of Venjix was later put in the Ranger Archives in Grid Battleforce, for which the picture of her used was one she disliked.
During his research into the Ranger archives, Devon learns that in another dimension, Doctor K was able to stop the virus' process of changing Ranger Operator Series Black into a cyborg. He contacts K for help in separating Evox and Mayor Adam Daniels. She replies that sadly, none of her technology can help him. However, K reveals that a few years ago, a Ranger called Zenowing was trapped in a body of the evil Doomwing, but he became free thanks to the split devices created by the Dino Charge Rangers. TV STORY-The Evox Snare
Upon learning that Venjix has returned under his reborn alias, Evox, in the dimension where the Grid Battleforce Rangers live, Doctor K provides her assistance to Nate Silva, helping him make up for his mistakes as she did, including unleashing Evox/Venjix. During her time in the prime dimension, K sympathized with Nate’s despair, but also told him that he needed to stop feeling sorry for himself if he wanted to save the world. K then helped Nate develop an Evox Antivirus Arrow for their Beast-X King Ultra Bow. Later on, she provided some insight on Nate's situation, advising him to rely on his friends, so that the young Ranger could forgive himself for his actions. K then returned to her world to prevent Venjix's infiltration. TV STORY-Source Code
Personality[]
Because of her sheltered and miserable childhood, Doctor K is a blunt and straight-to-the-point, socially inept, youthful scientist with a genius intellect. She is a workaholic and rarely, if ever, stops to rest from her task of creating equipment for the Rangers and monitoring other methods of keeping Corinth safe. Though she has a massive sweet tooth. Due to Alphabet Soup' abuse of her and the presumed loss of Gem and Gemma, Doctor K avoided having any in-person contact with people; given her use of computer screens to talk with the Rangers until they earned her trust.
Thanks to the decade of peace since Venjix disappeared, Doctor K was able to mellow out and become kinder. She also became less willing to give up when first options were no longer available, having suggested the Split Emitters to free Adam Daniels from Evox after explaining how she helped Dillon wouldn't work. She was also willing to visit Nate Silva after he learned he had helped resurrect Venjix to encourage him.
Relationships[]
Allies[]
Rangers[]
- RPM Rangers
- Scott Truman/Ranger Operator Series Red
- Flynn McAllistair/Ranger Operator Series Blue
- Summer Landsdown/Ranger Operator Series Yellow
- Ziggy Grover/Ranger Operator Series Green - Acquaintance, later Boyfriend
- Dillon/Ranger Operator Series Black
- Gem/Ranger Operator Series Gold - Close Friend
- Gemma/Ranger Operator Series Silver - Close Friend
- Samurai Rangers
- Grid Battleforce Rangers
Family[]
to be added
Others[]
Enemies[]
Villain Groups[]
Venjix Computer Network[]
- Venjix Virus - Creation
- General Shifter
- General Crunch
- Tenaya 7/15 - Former Enemy & Ally
- Kilobyte
- Grinders
Others[]
to be added
Behind the Scenes[]
Portrayal[]
- Doctor K is portrayed by Olivia Tennet.
Notes[]
- While normally relatively impassive even in an emotional state, Doctor K shows uncharacteristic rage when someone calls the Ranger suits "spandex", her most notable reaction is towards a young boy. However, this does not apply to Gem and Gemma as they were her first true friends after Alphabet Soup kidnapped her.
- Doctor K constantly referred to Ziggy by his ranger color until Venjix is defeated, suggesting she has found respect for him since the beginning.
- The violin piece K plays during her brainstorming is Caprice No. 24 in A Minor by Niccolò Paganini.
- The Rangers usually tried to dismiss Doctor K as a true mentor, always stating that she was younger than them. Olivia Tennet, who plays Doctor K, was 17 years old when production began on the series and 18 by the time the series aired.
- Doctor K is the first good character in the Power Rangers franchise to be directly responsible for a villains' rise to power.
- Whether due to the limited resources (due to the post-apocalyptic world) or being a materialist (who only believes in what can be seen), Doctor K constantly doubts the Ranger gear whenever Venjix makes an upgrade to his Attack Bots.
- Doctor K has been shown to be secretive and antagonistic about her birthday. TV STORY-If Venjix Won COMIC STORY- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 2018 Annual
- Doctor K hates the photo of herself in Volume 5 Chapter 176 of Ranger History Class book TV STORY-Source Code
- Doctor K appeared in Amit Bhaumik's unsubmitted pitch for a Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters adaptation called Power Rangers Cyber Corps.
- Nate from Grid Battleforce has learned about Dr. K in his Ranger History class. She can be learned from in "volume 5, chapter 176". Dr. K hates her photograph they put in there.
Appearances[]
- Power Rangers RPM
- Episode 1: The Road to Corinth (voice only)
- Episode 2: Fade to Black (voice only)
- Episode 3: Rain (voice only)
- Episode 4: Go for the Green (voice only)
- Episode 5: Handshake
- Episode 6: Ranger Green
- Episode 7: Ranger Red
- Episode 8: Ranger Yellow Part I
- Episode 9: Ranger Yellow Part II
- Episode 10: Ranger Blue
- Episode 11: Doctor K (Focus Episode)
- Episode 12: Blitz
- Episode 13: Brother's Keeper
- Episode 14: Embodied
- Episode 15: Ghosts
- Episode 16: In or Out
- Episode 17: Prisoners
- Episode 18: Belly of the Beast
- Episode 19: Three's a Crowd
- Episode 20: Heroes Among Us
- Episode 21: Not So Simple
- Episode 22: The Dome Dolls
- Episode 23: And… Action!
- Episode 24: Ancient History
- Episode 25: Key to the Past
- Episode 26: Beyond a Doubt
- Episode 27: Control-Alt-Delete
- Episode 28: Run Ziggy Run
- Episode 29: If Venjix Won
- Episode 30: End Game
- Episode 31: Danger and Destiny Part I
- Episode 32/Finale: Danger and Destiny Part II
- Power Rangers HyperForce
- Episode 7: It's Boom Time (mentioned only)
- Power Rangers Beast Morphers
- Season 2
- Episode 9: The Evox Snare
- Episode 19: Source Code
- Season 2
Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid[]
Doctor K appears in the board game Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid as a playable character in the "Ranger Allies Pack #3" expansion.
Power Rangers Deck-Building Game[]
Doctor K appears in the Power Rangers Deck-Building Game as a playable character in the "Shattered Grid" expansion.
See Also[]
- BOMPER - Super Sentai counterpart in Go-Onger. See comparison page.
References[]
Footnotes[]