 | This article is about a/an ranger/ally in Power Rangers S.P.D. |
- "S.P.D. Kat Ranger!"
- ―S.P.D. Kat Ranger's roll call[src]
Dr. Katherine "Kat" Manx is an ally character from Power Rangers S.P.D.. She is an alien with cat-like features in charge of all research and design for Ranger technology at S.P.D.'s Earth Base. She was also temporarily the S.P.D. Kat Ranger. Aside from intelligence, Kat has shown to have a good deal of fighting potential and is able at holding her own in a fight. Despite her youthful appearance and looks, she is 147 human years old. This may be an inverse of how Earth cats age 7 years for every human one, which would put her physiologically at about 21 years old.
Biography
Kat is the Power Rangers' technical support. She has designed most of the Rangers' weapons and is Commander Cruger's trusted assistant and friend. Her home planet was also attacked by the Troobian Empire, so she joined in S.P.D.'s fight against evil. Kat has also been shown to have great fighting skills. During her battle with Mooney and Krybots, Kat was able to morph once and become the Kat Ranger. However, this was only temporary and the Kat Ranger powers were never seen again.
Ranger Development
Back in 2001, Kat worked with some of the parents of the B-Squad Power Rangers in developing the Morphing Technology used today in the S.P.D. Morphers. However, these experiments had side effects that, while they did not affect Kat (likely due to her different physical biology), they did affect the B-Squad parents, thus their children-who would become the B-Squad Power Rangers-got their civilian powers.
Morphing into the Kat Ranger
Later on in the season, Kat is recruited to S.P.D. Central command under request by Supreme Commander Birdie. She returns to Earth with a temporary morpher and becomes the S.P.D. Kat Ranger to stop an old friend with a grudge. Although her time as a Ranger is limited (her morpher has only enough power for one hour, according to Birdie; whether she used it all up or simply used some of it is unknown), she realizes the Rangers need her skills on Earth.
Final Battle
In the final episode, she and Boom are captured by Broodwing who turns the Delta Command Crawler base into its Megazord configuration. Thanks to R.I.C., the two escape and shut down the Megazord, allowing B-Squad to defeat and capture Broodwing. During the final battle against the invading Troobian forces, Kat, Boom and Omega Ranger led the S.P.D. Cadets in the battle to protect Delta Base. Together they held off the forces long enough for reinforcements led by Commander Birdie and Sergeant Silverback to arrive as well as the Nova Ranger, allowing them to defeat the enemy. During the fight against Omni as the Magnificence, Kat analyzes the enemy and finds its weak spot and gives the information to Cruger and the Rangers who use it to destroy Omni, even though she knows it may cost Cruger his life. Kat is relieved to see that Cruger and his wife survived and watches the final fight between Gruumm and Cruger that results in Grumm's capture. Afterwards, Kat remained at S.P.D. Earth Station.
Super Megaforce
Kat was not shown to have fought in the final battle between the Legendary Rangers and the Armada.
Video game appearances
Power Rangers Legacy Wars
Kat Ranger in Legacy Wars
Kat Ranger is among the Rangers who feature in Power Rangers Legacy Wars.
Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid
Kat’s 3D render in Battle For The Grid.
Kat Ranger is a playable character at-launch for Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid
Kat Ranger
Ranger costume
Arsenal
- Kat Morpher (formerly)
- Cat Stunners (formerly)
This form is exclusive to S.P.D. Episode 29.
Personality
Kat Manx is an intellectual, headstrong, and resourceful lady, with a calm and intuitive persona. She is naturally authoritative and willing to take the lead when necessary, and has a professional mentor-like relationship with the Rangers and with Boom. Despite her analytical attitude, she displays strong empathy; for example she listens to and advises B-Squad and is mostly understanding of their difficulties (for example, when she acknowledges she's surprised B-Squad talk at all, due to the tight quarters) only losing her temper a handful of times. She also often counsels Commander Cruger. In terms of the Rangers, this could be argued to be a somewhat parental role from time to time, and she is certainly greatly cared for by B-Squad. That said, she is clearly able to establish firm professional boundaries - often opting to take a professional attitude with Cruger when in front of other staff members. She also does not divulge much about her own feelings and personal life. For the most part, she is able to put her own feelings aside to benefit SPD. She is intuitive and discerning, and uses this judgement to know when it may be appropriate or necessary to cross the line; e.g when she confides in B-Squad that Cruger told them "you're the best he's ever had" in Insomnia , pushing Cruger to be Shadow Ranger in Shadow Part 1, and knowing Bridge is lying in Dismissed when he says that Grumm did not say anything further. She is occasionally playful, and occasionally lets out strong emotions: her anger at Cruger and break down in the final battle being two big examples - as well as being known to crack a big smile out of relief or pride. She seems to consider this as a weakness though, which may explain her hatred of goodbyes. Kat is shy in the face of praise, and not exempt from making mistakes - on one occasion she trusted Piggy to provide safe hardware out of desperation.
Notes
- Whether her Ranger name is spelled Cat Ranger or Kat Ranger is never actually stated.
- Kat is the first Ranger to wear orange in reality. In the same season however, Boom imagined himself as an S.P.D. Orange Ranger.
- Though her Ranger color was never overtly mentioned in-series, there are hints that she may have been intended to be an Orange Ranger. She eventually was much later categorized as a White Ranger by being included in the comic covers and through classification in Power Rangers Legacy Wars.
- It should be noted however, that Legacy Wars has also treated Kat as an orange ranger at certain points and Drakkon refers to Kat as an orange ranger in Battle for the Grid, furthering the ambiguity.
- In Greg Aronowitz' four part SPD Blog he repeatedly acknowledges the apparent love triangle between Kat, Commander Cruger , and Isinia Cruger , and the poor reception Isinia's return got as a result
- In Part 4 of the same blog, he confessed to introducing Dr Felix as a love interest for Kat, to make up for the blow of losing Commander Cruger
- Kat shares her name with Katherine Hillard, who served as Pink Ranger toward the end of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, throughout Zeo and was the first Pink Ranger in Turbo.
- Oddly enough, Katherine Hillard was transformed into a cat, and later a cat monster, while she was under Rita's control, in order to spy on the Mighty Morphin' Rangers.
- Her Japanese counterpart in Dekaranger is patterned after a swan rather than a cat. The helmet was designed to accommodate Shiratori's unique head features.
- Her last name refers to the Manx cat, a tailless breed of domestic cat.
- In the "The Power Rangers Want You" features on the S.P.D. DVDs, it was stated her home world had been conquered by the Troobian Empire.
- She is the oldest confirmed female Power Ranger, at the age of 147 (human) years old.
- The toy-exclusive zord Blast Runner is often associated with her due to it possessing a similar color scheme and has the Kat Ranger's chest symbol on the backwall of the cockpit, although neither she nor her Sentai counterpart had ever piloted it in the show. In Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger, a White Ranger pilots it instead.
- Unlike the B-Squad Rangers, Sam and Anubis Cruger, who were voiced by their respective Sentai counterpart in the Japanese dub of Power Rangers S.P.D., Kat was instead voiced by Rie Tanaka, who is well known as the voice of Virgo Zodiarts
in Kamen Rider Fourze and Kujou Hikari (Shiny Luminous) in Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart, two prominent Toei-based works.
- Kat's respective Sentai counterpart in actress Mako Ishino had voiced the Narrator of the Japanese dub.
- Her only appearance as a Ranger is in Episode 29: Katastrophe
- Kat is playable in Power Rangers Legacy Wars.
in Appearances
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See Also
- Swan Shiratori - Super Sentai counterpart in Dekaranger. See comparison page.
References
| Other Rangers |
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| Identities Kat • RJ • Phillip • Albert • Kendall Secondary Rangers Power Sets |
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