Zeo Crystal - Identity of The Gold Ranger

Identity of The Gold Ranger

Throughout a good part of Power Rangers Zeo, a constant teaser was the identity of the Gold Ranger. After many episodes of speculation, it was revealed the Gold Ranger was in fact a new character never seen before, Trey of Triforia, basically turning all other hints into red herrings. Former Red Ranger Jason Lee Scott obtains the powers of the Gold Ranger after Trey loses the ability to transform. Actor Brad Hawkins, who played one of the main characters on similar show VR Troopers, voiced the Gold Ranger early on. Saban had allegedly planned to use him after the end of VR Troopers in another role. However, for unknown reasons (believed to be scheduling conflicts), he was not used as the identity of the Gold Ranger, with Ted, Tim and Tom DiFillippo instead portraying the three parts of Trey. Additional candidates for the Gold Ranger's identity included:

• Billy Cranston was a constant candidate for the identity of the Gold Ranger. When the original identity of the Ranger was still unknown, Billy would consistently disappear, leading fans to believe he was leaving to transform into the Gold Ranger. This proved to be false, however, and it is theorized that Billy was actually busy designing the Turbo powers for the following season. When it came time for someone to take the Gold Ranger's powers, Billy is the obvious choice. However, due to absorbing a high amount of 'negative ions' from the season finale of the previous season, he was unable to take the Gold Ranger powers. It is rumored that the real reason that Billy was not made the Gold Ranger was that it was unsure if his actor, David Yost, was going to stay on the show until the end, because of problems backstage with Yost and the cast and crew.
• David Trueheart Tommy's brother on the show, introduced during the episode "Challenges" who was not only trained in martial arts, but already knew the identities of the other Power Rangers. And in the episode "Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise", after he and Tommy save Kat from toxic Cog oil, he disappears right before the Gold Ranger joins the Rangers in battle and returns later commenting he had "something to take care of". There was some rumor that he was the original Gold Ranger, however, there was even wider speculation that he was the candidate Tommy was trying to bring to the Command Center to accept the Gold Ranger's powers. This was further fuelled by the fact that while disguised, Jason looked a lot like like David, leading fans to believe he was purposely introduced to be a red herring.
• Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch, in the episode A Small Problem, Skull mysteriously disappears from Bulk's side when the two are near the Power Rangers, with the Gold Ranger shortly thereafter appearing to save Tommy and Kat. Then shortly after once the threat is neutralized, the Gold Ranger appears before Bulk, who had blurry vision at the time. But after Bulk rubs his eyes a few times, the Gold Ranger disappears and he sees Skull running toward him who claimed to have gone for a walk. This was the only case where Skull, a long-time comic relief character, was a suspect.