Katherine Hillard

Katherine "Kat" Hillard is a fictional character in the Power Rangers franchise. She was played by Australian-American actress Catherine Sutherland in adult form, and by Julia Jordan in child form. Kat is the second Pink Ranger and Pink Ninja Ranger of the third season in the series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the Pink Zeo Ranger in Power Rangers Zeo, and the first Pink Turbo Ranger in Power Rangers Turbo.

Kat was the second Power Ranger portrayed by an actress not born in North America following Trini Kwan portrayed by Vietnamese-born actress Thuy Trang; she was actually born in Australia. This would be repeated again in Power Rangers Mystic Force with the addition of Xander Bly, the Green Mystic Ranger.

Kat shares her nickname with another Ranger, Katherine Manx of Power Rangers S.P.D..

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
A former aspiring champion diver (an ambition she abandoned after a diving accident), Kat came to Angel Grove, with her family after her father was transferred, from Surrey Hills, Australia as a junior in high school. Rita Repulsa had made her an evil spy and gave her dark powers as well as the ability to turn into a cat. In a flashback, it is seen that Rita ensnared Kat by using a Tenga disguised as a handsome teenage boy, who then captured Kat and brought her to Rita, who then placed her under her spell.

She was found by Kimberly and Aisha Campbell as a cat and was adopted by them. She spies on the Rangers to gain information on their lives. She was also given the power to turn into the Katastrophe monster, but Katastrophe was destroyed by Ninjor and the Ninja Mega-Falconzord. Despite this defeat, Kat retained her evil powers and remained under Rita's influence.

Kat stole Kimberly's Ninja Coin, which weakened Kimberly due to the coin's connection to Kimberly's life force. Using the coin, she was able to enter Tommy Oliver's Falconzord and capture it, rendering the other Ninjazords useless. Because the coin was in the hands of evil, Kimberly's powers (and even her own life force) were drained.

When Kimberly fell at the Youth Center due to her weakened state, Kat was there, presumably trailing her, and called the hospital to come and pick her up. She felt responsible and guilty, perhaps because she was trying to resist Rita's spell. This ultimately helped break the spell that Rita had over her. Seeking to redeem herself for her past misdeeds under the spell, she turns herself over to Rita and Zedd shortly after this, thinking the villains would free Ninjor. Kat manages to trick Rito into falling asleep, and after retrieving the Ninja Coin, is teleported to safety by Alpha 5.

Kat had returned Kimberly's Ninja Coin and became her replacement as Kimberly left for the Pan Global Games. No elaborate means of transferring the Pink Ranger power was used, such as the earlier Sword of Light, which had been used in the middle of season two to transfer the powers of the original Red, Black and Yellow Rangers onto their replacements. Kimberly simply hands her coin to Katherine, and the energy flows from Kimberly to Kat as she takes the coin. Kat becomes the second Pink Power Ranger and second Pink Ninja Ranger. She also controls the Crane Ninjazord, and copilots the White Shogunzord with Tommy. Kat had the ability to pick up Rita's thoughts as a side effect of the spell she was put under, but these abilities soon faded.

During the show Kat and Tommy became a couple after Kimberly sent him a break-up letter. Kat wanted to make Tommy feel better so she invited him on a ski trip with her and tried to hook him up with another girl, but instead he only ended-up falling for herself and she for him.

Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers
After time was reversed, Kat and the other rangers were turned into children, and the Ninja Power Coins were destroyed, Kat's Zeo Quest took her to Australia, presumably the future, where she was tested for goodness of heart by Agatha, whom young Kat initially mistakes for her older self. Katherine obtained her crystal by helping out an old lady in distress (Agatha in disguise) and being rewarded with the Pink Zeo sub-crystal.

Power Rangers Zeo
Kat became Zeo Ranger I, and piloted the Zeozord I and Super Zeozord I. Kat was very friendly in welcoming new Ranger Tanya Sloan to the team; she helped Tanya register for school and invited the newcomer to live with her family throughout Zeo. Katherine was shown as proficient in several areas throughout Zeo, including babysitting a friend's child along with Tommy, training the Angel Grove Police Force's dog Smokey and surfing. Her main hobby, however, revealed to be ballet dancing, as she took part in recitals and taught dance classes.

After Kimberly broke up with Tommy, he developed a romantic interest in Kat. She tried to help Tommy through the break-up by inviting him on a skiing trip. There, he met a champion snowboarder named Heather Thompson. They were attracted to each other, but every time it looked as though they might get together, Tommy was called away to battle Mondo's latest monster. Eventually, after Tommy had to leave Heather midway through a romantic dinner, she gave him up as a bad job. The two shared several shy moments and grew closer during this period, and eventually began dating toward the end of the season. In an episode showing a future storyline, Tommy and Kat were married and their teenage grandson had become a Power Ranger. However, the canon of these events are debated because their grandson was a ranger under Zordon's command and Zordon died in the Power Rangers in Space episode, Countdown to Destruction.

Tommy was later captured by Prince Gasket of the Machine Empire, and brainwashed into attempting to destroy his friends, believing them to be the threat to the world. The Rangers were successful in restoring Tommy's memories after demorphing to show him the faces of his true friends; this was Kat's idea, and she was the first one to demorph in front of Tommy, eventually embracing him in a hug as he attempted to strike her.

Prince Gasket's wife, Archerina, also exhibited great dislike for Katherine, that led to a rivalry between the two. At one point, Gasket and Archerina arranged for the other Rangers to be captured in a secluded room of a mansion during a mock murder mystery so that Archerina could challenge her rival. Kat accepted to free the others, but was outnumbered until Auric the Conqueror offered his assistance.

Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie
After the Rangers learn the threat of Divatox, an evil space pirate bent on destroying the Earth by unleashing a great evil, Katherine and Tommy take part in a mission to find a friendly alien being, Lerigot, who crashed in the jungles of Africa. When a snake approaches Katherine, she falls off a cliff and attempts to morph into the Pink Zeo Ranger; however, she hits the water before the morph completes, canceling it, and also injures her leg on a rock while being carried away by the rapid waters before Tommy saves her. When Kat and Tommy find Lerigot, he uses his healing powers to restore Katherine's leg. Along with the other Rangers, Kat gains her Turbo powers in order to reach the island from which Divatox plans to unearth Maligore, becoming the Pink Turbo Ranger and controlling the Wind Chaser Turbozord.

Power Rangers Turbo
After graduating at the top of her class, Kat became a student teacher at Angel Grove High in the Blue Turbo Ranger Justin Stewart's class, and discovered that he is a child genius.

In Turbo, she becomes stronger and more capable than she was initially shown to be in the previous two series. After being insulted over her weight at a dance recital, Kat develops something of an eating disorder, and Numbor uses her poor self-esteem (and his own number-altering powers) to make her light as a feather. When Kat realizes that her inner strength is more important, the spell is broken, and she defeats Numbor on her own by giving him several hard beatings, proving that she had truly grown and strengthened in her role as a Ranger. She even initiated the Turbo Megazord Spinout that destroyed him.

As she tried out in an audition to be accepted into the Royal Dance Academy in London, one of the best dance schools in the world, she met Lt. Stone's stuck-up niece Jenny, who was also a dancer, and auditioned for the spot. The two danced gracefully, but in the end it was Kat who was accepted. Her victory was due to the judges not liking Jenny's attitude, and Kat advised Jenny to control her emotions and adjust her attitude. Kat was congratulated by the other Rangers, but could not help but feel a little guilty, as Tanya had passed an opportunity at a singing career to continue with her Ranger duties. Tanya said that singing was something that she could pick up any time, whereas Kat's acceptance into the Dance Academy was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Katherine later passed her powers on to Cassie Chan. Kat had selected Cassie to become the new Pink Ranger, due to her sense of loyalty and trustworthiness which had led her to come to her defense.

Though her tenure as a Power Ranger wasn't as long as that of Kimberly, she has been through the most number of Ranger Forms (Pink Power Ranger, Pink Ninja Ranger, Pink Zeo Ranger and Pink Turbo Ranger) of any other female Ranger in Power Rangers' history.

Character development
Kat had quite a different personality from that of her predecessor Kimberly Hart. Kat was generally an introverted, calm young woman whereas Kimberly was far more upbeat, jubilant and outgoing. Kat was rather soft spoken, and rarely openly displayed her emotions as Kimberly had. However, she has a background in ballet. Though she would later prove herself to be a capable member of the team, her ability to fight just as well as the other, more experienced members of the Power Rangers, was never explained, and she was rarely seen fighting unmorphed until Power Rangers Turbo. Kat worked extremely well with animals; with Aisha's help, she taught her aunt's chimp, Kelly, sign language and trained a dog, Smokey, to help the Junior Police Force. She also proved to be musically talented by helping Aisha write the winning entry in Angel Grove High School's competition to write a school theme song.