Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

Billy was one of the five "teenagers with attitude" selected by Zordon to become the original Power Rangers, along with Jason Lee Scott, Zack Taylor, Trini Kwan and Kimberly Hart. Billy became the Blue Power Ranger and was given both the Triceratops Power Coin and the Triceratops Dinozord.^[3]

Billy began the series as the stereotypical "nerd." The other Rangers, especially Trini, defended him loyally, but Billy later evolved to become a stronger individual. He was one of the top members of Angel Grove High's science club and often helped its younger members with their experiments. One such example was with Willy, a young boy he helped to create a virtual reality simulator for a Science Fair. In the episode "High Five," Billy created not only the wrist communicators the Power Rangers used, but also the interface that allowed the devices a remote access to the Command Center's teleportation unit.

It was revealed that, due to an experience in his youth when he was bitten by a fish during an experiment involving whirlpools, Billy developed icthyophobia: fear of fish. This fear would affect him well into his teens, and Rita would use a spell to exacerbate this fear. When he is the last Ranger left able to contend with the Goo Fish monster, Billy overcomes the spell and then, after helping to free his friends and defeat the monster, completely overcomes the fear itself on a fishing trip with Ernie, the owner of the Youth Center.

Each of Billy's teammates have a unique skill to offer the team and, in Billy's case, it was his vast intelligence. He sought out to improve himself physically, and the audience would see him transition over time from the suspenders-wearing "brain" to a confident, hyper-intelligent athlete with appreciable fighting skills, thanks in great part to Trini's Uncle Howard. Jason and later Tommy helped graduate Billy to the red belt level in karate.

Billy as the Blue Power Ranger.

Billy's intelligence would help the Rangers save the world on many occasions. When the Command Center was damaged, Zordon lost and Alpha incapacitated, it was his invention, a car called the RADBUG, that allowed the Rangers to travel to the Command Center. He performed a wide array of tasks, ranging from creating the method for which the Rangers would use initially to infiltrate Rita's Dark Dimension, to disarming the lock-out mechanism for Alpha's activated self-destruct, and many other achievements. Though Billy did manage to attract girls earlier in his "nerd-like" persona, it was after he began his journey toward self-improvement that he would garner more attention from romantic interests, even more so than the other members of the team.

Billy is accepted into the Young Scientists of America program. In Season 2, he befriends Zack's cousin Curtis when he becomes the newest student at Angel Grove High. Curtis' musical interests, particularly in playing the trumpet, sparks Billy's interest into the rhythmic patterns of jazz music.

Later in Season 2, a time-traveling Kimberly would recruit Billy's ancestor, also named William Cranston, in the 1880s to become the first Blue Ranger when she assembled and took command of the Wild West Ranger team in a battle against Goldar and several other time traveling foes. Also in Season 2, Billy commands the Unicorn Thunderzord.

In season 3, Billy gained new powers from Ninjor, who gave him the Wolf Power Coin, and became the Blue Ninja Ranger.

Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers

The Rangers are de-aged by a time reversal spell performed by Rita Repulsa's father, Master Vile. Billy devised a plan to restore the Rangers' ages using a machine that ran off the power coins. Billy restored himself, but Rita and Goldar stole the machine, and Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa destroyed all six Ninja Power Coins. With his Wolf Ninja Coin destroyed and his Triceratops Power Coin damaged beyond use, Billy's role changed. He no longer fought as a Power Ranger, but rather acted solely in an advisory and supporting role. Indeed, Billy was the only Ranger in this period still to be acted out by his regular actor – the others had been replaced temporarily by child actors after Master Vile had used the Orb of Doom to revert time by approximately ten years. Billy acted in this period as a liaison between the Aquitian Rangers and Earth. It was the cure for Billy's reverse-aging that eventually served as the plot device by which he was removed from the show.

Power Rangers Zeo

When Power Rangers Zeo began, Billy officially retired from active Ranger service as the six-man team now only had the five segments of the Zeo Crystal as a power source for each member of the team. Based on his recent experience basically working as a technical advisor for the active Rangers, Billy allowed new member Tanya to take his place while he continued his supporting role by creating and maintaining most of the weaponry, gadgets and Zords the Zeo Rangers would use.

The writers left the choice open as to whether or not Billy would become a Zeo Ranger, with him musing at the start of Zeo that he could always assume the Zeo power in an emergency. He graduated earlier than the rest of the team in "Graduation Blues," and then left Earth for a brief period to address problems on the planet Aquitar. In "Mr. Billy's Wild Ride," he returns to Earth, although he is attacked by the machine empire along the way and nearly captured.^[4]

Before the Gold Ranger's identity was revealed as Trey of Triforia, the writers left several red herrings to mislead the viewers into believing that the Gold Ranger was Billy, since he was never around when the Gold Ranger was active. When Trey of Triforia was injured and unable to continue acting as the Gold Ranger, Billy was selected to assume the Gold Ranger's powers while Trey returned to Triforia on sabbatical to try to unify his three selves. However, the negative proton energy that his body had absorbed in the Command Center's explosion prevented Billy from taking the powers. Instead Jason Lee Scott, the former Red Ranger, received the powers.

By the time of Jason's return it's shown that Billy has worked his way up to a black belt in karate.

Billy was last seen in the two-part crossover episode, suffering from accelerated aging, a side effect from the regenerator he used to restore his proper age. To counter this, he traveled to Aquitar for a cure from their Eternal Falls (analogous to the Fountain of Youth), which would restore his real age; after that he opted to remain there with Cestria, a female Aquitian with whom he had fallen in love.

Power Rangers Super Megaforce

During the final episode of Power Rangers Super Megaforce - Legendary Battle - Billy participates in the eponymous battle as the Blue Mighty Morphin Power Ranger alongside other past and present Power Rangers. Yost does not reprise the role for this morphed appearance.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers

Billy makes another morphed appearance as the Blue Mighty Morphin Power Ranger for a second season episode of Power Rangers Beast Morphers - Grid Connection. The episode saw Austin St. John reprise the role of Jason Lee Scott, the Red Mighty Morphin Power Ranger. Jason summons the other four core Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and the original three Dino Thunder rangers to join him and the Dino Charge rangers in battling a resurrected Goldar Maximus. Again, Yost did not return; Billy has no dialogue and remains morphed throughout the appearance.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always

For Hasbro PulseCon 2022, David Yost announced he would reprise the role of Billy to mark the 30th anniversary of the Power Rangers franchise.^[5] Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once and Always was released on Netflix on April 19, 2023.^[6]

In the special, set 30 years after Zordon recruited the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Billy is now the founder and CEO of Cranston Technologies, which operates a secret Power Rangers command center under its headquarters. While attempting to re-establish contact with Zordon, Billy accidentally restores the evil spirit of Rita Repulsa, which takes over the body of Alpha 8 and becomes Robo-Rita. In the ensuing battle, Rita fires an energy blast at Billy which is intercepted by Trini, killing the Yellow Ranger in the process.

When Trini's daughter Minh blames him for her mother's death, Billy works to correct his mistakes until, a year later, Rita reappears and captures Tommy, Jason, and Kimberly. She plans to drain their energy to power a time machine that will allow her to contact her past self and alter the timeline in her favor.

Billy leads the remaining Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers - a team consisting of himself, Zack, Kat and Rocky - to thwart Rita's plan. Meanwhile, Minh steals Trini's morpher to join the fight but finds herself unable to use it and gets captured. Billy attempts to rescue her and Minh sacrifices herself to prevent him suffering the same fate as Trini. This action bonds her to the Sabre-Toothed Tiger Power Coin, which saves her and allows her to morph into the Yellow Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger. Billy instructs her on piloting the Megazord to defeat Rita's minions and the pair reconcile. It is then revealed that Billy and Cestria are still together and he decides, once he's dealt with some business matters on Earth, to resume his intergalactic travels.

Power Rangers Cosmic Fury

Billy is a mentor to and member of the Cosmic Fury team, using his Mighty Morphin powers and piloting a zord.^[7]

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995)

Yost reprises the role of Billy for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, released in 1995, which sees the Power Rangers losing their powers after an encounter with the new villain Ivan Ooze (Paul Freeman). The Rangers go on a quest to restore their powers and save Zordon's life in the process. The events of the movie are non-canon to the television series, where a similar scenario plays out (minus Ivan Ooze) in the Ninja Quest saga near the start of the third season.

Power Rangers (2017)

William "Billy" Cranston appears in the 2017 reboot, played by actor RJ Cyler. In this version, he is autistic unlike in the TV series.^[8]

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Pink

Kimberly is the main character in this comic book mini series published by Boom! Studios. The series is a modern remake but also serves as a continuation from Kimberly's exit in the third season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.^[9]

Power Rangers (Boom! Studios)

The Boom! Studios comics feature Billy as a major character back in the original era, the series starting shortly after the battle with the Green Ranger.

Power/Rangers (2015 short film)

In Power/Rangers Billy Cranston (played by Yves Bright), is trillionaire who buys Lockheed Martin and was found dead of an apparent suicide.