Power Rangers: Wild Force, Episode 34
Original Airdate: 10-5-2002
Last Time: Animus took away all of the zords....then changed his mind ten minutes later and pretended that it was all a test.
Okay, guys, this one is going to be a doozy, if only because trying to work in ten Red Rangers in twenty-two minutes, while also setting up why they and only they can stop a new threat is basically impossible. If there ever were a Power Rangers story that needed two parts, it's this one. Then again, the primary purpose of Power Rangers is to sell toys, and those toys get cycled out of the toy stores in a matter of months, so I can understand, from a purely economical standpoint, why they'd want to limit this to one part. Think about it this way, there are an infinite number of alternate realities, and that means that there are countless universes where this was a two-parter. Hell, there are countless universes where it's a three-parter. Actually, come to think of it, since there are an innumerable number of universes where any event has happened, that means that there are billions of universes were Forever Red was the only television program ever made. Wait, where was I going with this?
On the Moon, some Beetleborg rejects are ordering some Cogs (the mooks from Zeo) to excavate something that Lord Zedd left behind when he fled the Solar System. A guy in a cloak who happens to be Andros, watches and realizes that this might be a problem. Andros tries to run but get spotted by two of the villains, who choose to chase him....on horseback....on the moon....On the plus side, having lunar-based robots utilize light calvalry is something that's never been done before. Andros calls for his Galaxy Glider and gets out of there.
Somewhere on Earth, Bulk and Skull have returned! They're now working as bartenders at some sort of resort. Wait a minute, for the entire Lost Galaxy season, it was pounded into the audience's head that no one could get back to Earth from Terra Venture, and Bulk was on Terra Venture the whole time. It was stupid at the time, but the writers held fast to it. Now I'm not a continuity nerd or anything, but this episode is basically continuity masturbation, so you'd think you wouldn't want to fuck something like that up.
Anyway, the phone rings, and Bulk accidentally knocks Skull into a nearby swimming pool. Ah, those were the days. But, the episode then elects to depress me in a profound way, as it turns out that Bulk and Skull now work for Tommy at his resort. That's.....kind of soul-crushing, I mean, they deserve better than to work for someone like Tommy. Also, wasn't Tommy a race car driver last time we saw him?
Carter then shows up in Turtle Cove to retrieve Cole for a secret mission. Carter takes Cole to a secret NASADA base, where the space agency has only now recovered from losing all of those shuttles in the In Space season. Cole meets up with Eric and Wes, and Carter introduces them to....I'm not exactly sure who, as it's clear that Cole knows them, and Carter knows them, and Eric and Wes probably don't need to be told who they are. It's some rather poorly written exposition, although I understand why they did it. Then again, maybe Carter accurately pegged Cole as someone who needed extra assistance in keeping up with all of the Red Rangers. He also introduces T.J.....oh, fuck, everyone's going to die. Andros also shows up and explains that the leader of the Rangers for this mission will be....Tommy. Bummer. Couldn't have been Jason, eh?
Tommy explains that the remnants of the Machine Empire have come together on the Moon in order to invade Earth. Andros then shows off a new Astro Megaship to take them to the Moon. It's a volunteer mission, but, well, the other Rangers are just happy to be there. Andros asks where the hell Jason is, and a motorcycle pulls up in the distance. It's Jason, and he gives the team a look-over. The assembled Red Rangers move off to...wait, aren't we one short? Where's Leo, my second-least favorite Red Ranger? (Note: Apparently the guy who played Leo was still pissed about the....pacing issues in the teamup episide with Lost Galaxy and only showed up for a few reshoots. Not the world's biggest loss.)
On the moon, the head Machine guy shows off his new superweapon and vows revenge. On Mirinoi, Leo decides he probably should head out. On the Megaship, Tommy finally tells the team exactly what they'll be doing once they reach the moon with the help of some version of Alpha. Tommy explains that he and the other Zeo Rangers, who couldn't be here today, but send their regards, destroyed most of the Machine Empire, but that turned out to not quite be enough, as they've regrouped under General Venjix and are excavating Serpenterra. What's Serpenterra, you ask? Well, it was Lord Zedd's awesome gigantic zord that dwarfed any megazord ever built. Oh, it always ran out of power before it could do anything, but presumably this time will be different. Cole immediately leaps to the bold conclusion that the assembled strike force of Rangers should stop the evil robots from destroying the Earth. You know, watching Cole's actor going up against all of the other Red Rangers, who weren't exactly played by legends of the screen, makes me realize just how shitty the acting this season has been. On the plus side, the guy playing T.J. seems a lot better than the last time I saw him.
Anyway, the evil Beetleborgs are about to turn on Serpenterra when the Rangers manage to sneak up right behind him undetected. That's some piss-poor security, there, Venjix. It's time for the unmorphed melee. T.J. is still forgettable! Tommy still has his trademark battlecry! Jason is getting too old for this shit! Eric is still competent! Andros is still playing by a guy who doesn't do his own stunts! Carter still just shoots people in lieu of punching them! Eric should stop wearing that red beret! No one watched this episode to see Cole fight!
The generals decide to just go ahead and board Serpenterra while the Rangers are fighting the Cogs, and Cole tries to stop them. He fails, of course, but gets saved by Leo and Aurico (the Red Aquitar Ranger from the end of season 3, when they ran out of Sentai footage with the original suits but still had about ten episodes to go until Zeo). The Rangers reassemble and Leo unmorphs....and Aurico doesn't because they couldn't get the original actor.
The general pursue the Rangers and realize that they've inadvertently stumbled into the Red Ranger reunion. "It's Morphin' Time!" "It's Morphin' Time!" "Shift Into Turbo" "Let's Rocket" "Go Galactic" "Lightspeed Rescue" "Time For Time Force" "Quantum Power" "Wild Access" And Aurico is already morphed and Rocky....wasn't invited.
The Rangers work in pairs to defeat the Robot Generals, who have got to be gobsmacked by all of the Red Rangers in history showing up. Cole and Jason team up and Cole tries to be endearing by saying "Morphonomenal" his attempt fails. Wes and Tommy fight against the green robot, which ends when Tommy kicks the robot in the chest so hard that it explodes.
Meanwhile, Aurico and Eric team up in the "Do whatever the hell you have to, but we must have ten Red Rangers" fight. Leo and T.J. fight another general in a fight I will know as "the fight of the damned." Finally, that leaves Andros and Carter to eschew close combat altogether and just shoot their enemy until it dies.
Everyone's dead except for the guy Cole and Jason were fighting because Cole's final attack just wasn't good enough. Serpenterra takes off and Carter announces that there's no time to chase it in the Astro Megaship. Time for an epic megazord battle? Yeah, you wish. No, instead Cole calls on the new motorcycle that was awkwardly introduced at the end of last week's episode. He then starts driving it in space, which appears to have the same properties as an asphalt road in terms of manuevering the motorcycle, and then blows up the mightiest zord of them all by flying right into its mouth and firing some lasers. Man, you could not have scripted a more disappointing ending if you tried.
The Rangers then shoot the breeze about there old adventures and whose the best Ranger. Eric declares that the Q-Rex can kick the Dragonzord's ass. Wes claims that he changed the course of history...although it was never made clear that it was for the better. Andros claims to have saved two worlds. And T.J., in his very last T.J. moment, remembers the time he got his team cooked into a pizza. I will miss him most of all. Show Over!
Next Time: Hey, remember how when Master Org was killed, he didn't really die? Well, he's decided that to finally get back in the game by use of a ridiculously circuitous plot to defeat the Rangers.
Showing posts with label Time Force. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Time Force. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Reinforcements From the Future, Part II
Power Rangers: Wild Force, Episode 25
Original Airdate: 8-3-2002
Last Time: Some half-mutant, half-Org creatures showed up and the Wild Force Rangers and half of the Time Force Rangers teamed up to stop it and it finally dawned on me just how much worse this season is than last season....and I didn't even like last season that much.
On the Animarium, the two teams of Rangers are rather depressed about losing. Wes also wants to know why Jen didn't tell him that she was in the past, but she's rather evasive. You know, Wes, she once heartlessly dumped a guy that looks identical to you, isn't that enough of a warning bell? Shayla interrupts them to explain that some sort of mechanical owl appeared in the Time Force Rangers' viewing screen and it confused her. Circuit calls and explains that the rest of the team is coming back in time to help out. The time ship lands and Lucas, Katie and Trip come out...also Nadira and Ransik. Jen is understandably concerned that the guy who kicked the shit out the Rangers at the end of last season is once again in the past, but Ransik promises that he's only there to help. Cole trusts him, and it's a shame that he isn't wrong, because I would have liked to see Ransik massacring both teams.
Anyway, Ransik decides that he probably should explain how the hell the Mut-Orgs came to be, as he's the one who created them. You see, back when Ransik was just a hideously scarred mutant wandering the world that hated and feared him, he found some sort of Org temple and released some Orgs so that they could team up and kill all the humans. The Orgs took some of Ransik's DNA and became Mut-Orgs and Ransik gained the ability to pull swords out of his body. But, hey that was a long time ago, and Ransik really wants to help kill the Mut-Orgs. Jen, having realized that she never really liked Alex that much anyway, and thus Ransik's murder of him being no big deal, takes the manacles off Ransik so he can fight. He immediately snaps her neck like a twig. Okay, that might not have happened, but it would have been pretty awesome if it did.
Later, Wes and Jen have another conversation about their relationship. It's as thrilling as it was last season. Eric shows Taylor his Quantum Defender and continuing flirting, which, given that they're two of the angriest Rangers in the franchise, consists mainly of insulting each other.
But Master Org has decided to move the plot forward and dispatches the Mut-Orgs to blow up a power plant. The Rangers, plus Ransik and Nadira head there to stop them, and Ransik explains that only he can stop the Mut-Orgs. This crossover, in addition to probably being the best one in the franchise's history, is also interesting because you can see the clear contrast between a guy like Ransik, who's played by a guy who can act, and is hamming it up intentionally, and a guy like Cole, who is played by a guy who just cannot act at all.
The Rangers split up and Trip goes with Lucas, Danny and Max to override the controls so the power plant won't explode. Everyone fights some Putrids, which may be the least successful mooks in Power Rangers history, as even the lowly Piranhatrons did things right occaisionally. Ransik, Nadria, Wes and Cole run into the Mut-Orgs, and Nadira gets knocked out the fight almost immediately. Ransik elects to defeat the Mut-Orgs with the suitably insane plan of blowing himself up to kill them. Ransik being Ransik, it doesn't quite work, but he does manage to destroy their mutant powers, at the cost of badly injuring himself. Trip then deactivates the reactor and Taylor blows up the bomb or something with Eric's gun. Okay, so we're done here?
Merrick, finally having remembered that he was supposed to show up and help, arrives and cuts off the Mut-Orgs escape, and it's time for crossover morphing and introductions! With that out of the way, it's time for the grand melee portion of the crossover, which is accompanied by some oddly out-of-place techno music. As is traditional, the Rangers all work with their same-color counterparts. Plus, since this is all American-made, it's time for the Battilizers, which still look just terrible. The Mut-Orgs get killed and there will be no megazord team-up.
Ransik recovers, and, for some reason, his face has been healed. Who the hell knows why. Huh....still a couple of minutes short, eh? Okay, so the Rangers from both teams decide to have a picnic, which for some reason includes a techno remix on that awful song Shayla was singing a couple of days ago. I imagine that the writers asked the producers if they could have a megazord fight, but no one really wanted to pay for it, so they just did this instead. Max tries to hit on Nadira until Ransik shows up and scares the shit out of him. Lucas then proves more successful. Eric and Taylor snipe at each other, which is how they show that they like each other. Oh, and Katie beats Danny at arm-wrestling because not one episode can go by without something to remind us how much Danny sucks. Cole and Wes hold a race.
Now, you're probably thinking to yourself, "That's an odd way to end a crossover." But you see, the writers were actually making a homage to the works of antiquity. As you know, the Iliad ends not with Achilles' triumph over Hector, but instead with a lengthy description of the funeral games that Achilles held for Patroclus, which included various Greek heroes competing in contests of skill and strength. So, in a way, this picnic sequence is actually an extended allusion.
No, you're not buying it? Well, I tried. Show Over!
Next Time: You know these last two episodes weren't so bad, and I'm feeling cautiously optimistic about the rest of the season. I mean, it's not like the writers would be dumb enough to follow these episodes with a story where Cole and Master Org trade idiotic monologues for the better part of twenty minutes....right?
Original Airdate: 8-3-2002
Last Time: Some half-mutant, half-Org creatures showed up and the Wild Force Rangers and half of the Time Force Rangers teamed up to stop it and it finally dawned on me just how much worse this season is than last season....and I didn't even like last season that much.
On the Animarium, the two teams of Rangers are rather depressed about losing. Wes also wants to know why Jen didn't tell him that she was in the past, but she's rather evasive. You know, Wes, she once heartlessly dumped a guy that looks identical to you, isn't that enough of a warning bell? Shayla interrupts them to explain that some sort of mechanical owl appeared in the Time Force Rangers' viewing screen and it confused her. Circuit calls and explains that the rest of the team is coming back in time to help out. The time ship lands and Lucas, Katie and Trip come out...also Nadira and Ransik. Jen is understandably concerned that the guy who kicked the shit out the Rangers at the end of last season is once again in the past, but Ransik promises that he's only there to help. Cole trusts him, and it's a shame that he isn't wrong, because I would have liked to see Ransik massacring both teams.
Anyway, Ransik decides that he probably should explain how the hell the Mut-Orgs came to be, as he's the one who created them. You see, back when Ransik was just a hideously scarred mutant wandering the world that hated and feared him, he found some sort of Org temple and released some Orgs so that they could team up and kill all the humans. The Orgs took some of Ransik's DNA and became Mut-Orgs and Ransik gained the ability to pull swords out of his body. But, hey that was a long time ago, and Ransik really wants to help kill the Mut-Orgs. Jen, having realized that she never really liked Alex that much anyway, and thus Ransik's murder of him being no big deal, takes the manacles off Ransik so he can fight. He immediately snaps her neck like a twig. Okay, that might not have happened, but it would have been pretty awesome if it did.
Later, Wes and Jen have another conversation about their relationship. It's as thrilling as it was last season. Eric shows Taylor his Quantum Defender and continuing flirting, which, given that they're two of the angriest Rangers in the franchise, consists mainly of insulting each other.
But Master Org has decided to move the plot forward and dispatches the Mut-Orgs to blow up a power plant. The Rangers, plus Ransik and Nadira head there to stop them, and Ransik explains that only he can stop the Mut-Orgs. This crossover, in addition to probably being the best one in the franchise's history, is also interesting because you can see the clear contrast between a guy like Ransik, who's played by a guy who can act, and is hamming it up intentionally, and a guy like Cole, who is played by a guy who just cannot act at all.
The Rangers split up and Trip goes with Lucas, Danny and Max to override the controls so the power plant won't explode. Everyone fights some Putrids, which may be the least successful mooks in Power Rangers history, as even the lowly Piranhatrons did things right occaisionally. Ransik, Nadria, Wes and Cole run into the Mut-Orgs, and Nadira gets knocked out the fight almost immediately. Ransik elects to defeat the Mut-Orgs with the suitably insane plan of blowing himself up to kill them. Ransik being Ransik, it doesn't quite work, but he does manage to destroy their mutant powers, at the cost of badly injuring himself. Trip then deactivates the reactor and Taylor blows up the bomb or something with Eric's gun. Okay, so we're done here?
Merrick, finally having remembered that he was supposed to show up and help, arrives and cuts off the Mut-Orgs escape, and it's time for crossover morphing and introductions! With that out of the way, it's time for the grand melee portion of the crossover, which is accompanied by some oddly out-of-place techno music. As is traditional, the Rangers all work with their same-color counterparts. Plus, since this is all American-made, it's time for the Battilizers, which still look just terrible. The Mut-Orgs get killed and there will be no megazord team-up.
Ransik recovers, and, for some reason, his face has been healed. Who the hell knows why. Huh....still a couple of minutes short, eh? Okay, so the Rangers from both teams decide to have a picnic, which for some reason includes a techno remix on that awful song Shayla was singing a couple of days ago. I imagine that the writers asked the producers if they could have a megazord fight, but no one really wanted to pay for it, so they just did this instead. Max tries to hit on Nadira until Ransik shows up and scares the shit out of him. Lucas then proves more successful. Eric and Taylor snipe at each other, which is how they show that they like each other. Oh, and Katie beats Danny at arm-wrestling because not one episode can go by without something to remind us how much Danny sucks. Cole and Wes hold a race.
Now, you're probably thinking to yourself, "That's an odd way to end a crossover." But you see, the writers were actually making a homage to the works of antiquity. As you know, the Iliad ends not with Achilles' triumph over Hector, but instead with a lengthy description of the funeral games that Achilles held for Patroclus, which included various Greek heroes competing in contests of skill and strength. So, in a way, this picnic sequence is actually an extended allusion.
No, you're not buying it? Well, I tried. Show Over!
Next Time: You know these last two episodes weren't so bad, and I'm feeling cautiously optimistic about the rest of the season. I mean, it's not like the writers would be dumb enough to follow these episodes with a story where Cole and Master Org trade idiotic monologues for the better part of twenty minutes....right?
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Reinforcements From the Future, Part I
Power Rangers: Wild Force, Episode 24
Original Airdate: 7-27-2002
Last Time: The Rangers got a new zord....again.
Taylor has a new car and speeds along the streets until she gets pulled over. The officer who stops her? It's Eric! Wait, the Silver Guardians are now making traffic stops? So, they've taken over the jobs of the police entirely, then? Man, didn't anyone learn anything about the dangers of privatizing police functions from Robocop 2? Anyway, as you might guess, Eric has no mercy and writes her up. Back in the car, he and Wes banter for a bit before driving off.
But hey, the crossover's going to need some monsters, right? Three rather unremarkable monsters appears from an energy portal of some sort and Jindrax and Toxica try to recruit them. The new monsters turn out not to speak English, and this leads to Jindrax and Toxica getting beaten up and thrown into some cardboard boxes.
Anyway, the monsters attack the city....although I'm not clear on which city it's supposed to be, and the Silver Guardians move in. Fittingly, the Silver Guardians get manhandled in the very last appearance. Wes and Eric morph, but it doesn't do them much good. Eric and Wes are confused, as they thought that they'd gotten rid of all the mutants....and then Cole shows up. Damn it, I was pretending that Time Force was still running and that this whole season was just a bad dream, but no, Cole has to come along and bring me back into cruel reality. The other Wild Force Rangers show up, and this leads the monster to retreat.
Eric is suspicious of the new Rangers, and Taylor recognizes him as the one who gave her that ticket. Eric wants nothing to do with the Wild Force Rangers, and the two teams argue about whether or not the monsters are mutants or Orgs. Wes and Eric decide to leave, and Taylor fumes about Eric's dismissive attitude.
On the Animarium, Shayla continues to have no idea what's going on and asks if the other Rangers were nice. Taylor is still angry about Eric.
Meanwhile, Wes and Eric have elected to do something useful and call the future to find out about what they're facing. They get ahold of Trip who admits that, yes, three mutants did escape into the past. Also, Jen is in the past, but no one's been able to get in contact with her. Wes wonders if he's gotten a second chance with his mildly psychotic ex-girlfriend.
Later, the monster converse about creating more Orgs and destroying the future, and a mysterious woman in a cloak, let's just ruin the surprise and call her Jen, eavesdrops on them.
The next day, Eric and Wes ask Taylor for help. Taylor is still pissy about Eric, but agrees to take them to the Animarium. Eric is unimpressed with Taylor's Eagle Zord, as he has a fucking T-Rex on call. Shayla shows up and Wes asks her some questions about the monsters. Shayla admits that they're Orgs, but has no other information. Trip calls from the future and explains that the monsters are, in fact, half-mutant, half-org, or Mut-Orgs, and then helpfully supplies the Rangers with someone who knows more. So, Trip is roughly one thousand times better at being a mentor than Shayla then.
And who is the man who can help the Rangers with their troubles? Well first they stop by a local school to recruit Nadira to help them. Yeah, apparently Nadira is now a school teacher. You'd think what with all of the felonies they wouldn't let her....but, well, the future is a very different place. Lucas explains that they need her help.
Meanwhile, Max and Danny are feeling self-conscious about how much they suck. So they shout 'never give up' a bunch of times as Eric and Taylor look on with scorn. Eric remembers when he used to hate the other Rangers on his team....then again, they were roughly ten million times less annoying than Danny and Max.
Elsewhere, Wes explains to Cole that there are other Ranger teams.....and they're all much, much better than the Wild Force Rangers. But hey, we'll get definitive proof of that later in the season.
1000 years later, Nadira goes to visit Ransik. Katie, Trip and Lucas show up to tempt fate.
Back in the past, the monsters attack again, and the Rangers on scene assemble to stop them. Eric makes it clear that he doesn't give a shit about what type of monsters they are anyway. The Mut-Orgs wipe the floor with the Rangers for a while, and Wes is about to get killed when Jen shows up. She has crazy-looking hair and is wearing all leather. So...she's finally lost that last bit of sanity, then? Wes is rightly confused and the Rangers retreat.
Meanwhile, Master Org and the Mut-Orgs meet up with each other, and the Mut-Orgs swear fealty to Master Org. To Be Continued!
Next Time: A climactic showdown between three monsters and twelve Rangers!
Original Airdate: 7-27-2002
Last Time: The Rangers got a new zord....again.
Taylor has a new car and speeds along the streets until she gets pulled over. The officer who stops her? It's Eric! Wait, the Silver Guardians are now making traffic stops? So, they've taken over the jobs of the police entirely, then? Man, didn't anyone learn anything about the dangers of privatizing police functions from Robocop 2? Anyway, as you might guess, Eric has no mercy and writes her up. Back in the car, he and Wes banter for a bit before driving off.
But hey, the crossover's going to need some monsters, right? Three rather unremarkable monsters appears from an energy portal of some sort and Jindrax and Toxica try to recruit them. The new monsters turn out not to speak English, and this leads to Jindrax and Toxica getting beaten up and thrown into some cardboard boxes.
Anyway, the monsters attack the city....although I'm not clear on which city it's supposed to be, and the Silver Guardians move in. Fittingly, the Silver Guardians get manhandled in the very last appearance. Wes and Eric morph, but it doesn't do them much good. Eric and Wes are confused, as they thought that they'd gotten rid of all the mutants....and then Cole shows up. Damn it, I was pretending that Time Force was still running and that this whole season was just a bad dream, but no, Cole has to come along and bring me back into cruel reality. The other Wild Force Rangers show up, and this leads the monster to retreat.
Eric is suspicious of the new Rangers, and Taylor recognizes him as the one who gave her that ticket. Eric wants nothing to do with the Wild Force Rangers, and the two teams argue about whether or not the monsters are mutants or Orgs. Wes and Eric decide to leave, and Taylor fumes about Eric's dismissive attitude.
On the Animarium, Shayla continues to have no idea what's going on and asks if the other Rangers were nice. Taylor is still angry about Eric.
Meanwhile, Wes and Eric have elected to do something useful and call the future to find out about what they're facing. They get ahold of Trip who admits that, yes, three mutants did escape into the past. Also, Jen is in the past, but no one's been able to get in contact with her. Wes wonders if he's gotten a second chance with his mildly psychotic ex-girlfriend.
Later, the monster converse about creating more Orgs and destroying the future, and a mysterious woman in a cloak, let's just ruin the surprise and call her Jen, eavesdrops on them.
The next day, Eric and Wes ask Taylor for help. Taylor is still pissy about Eric, but agrees to take them to the Animarium. Eric is unimpressed with Taylor's Eagle Zord, as he has a fucking T-Rex on call. Shayla shows up and Wes asks her some questions about the monsters. Shayla admits that they're Orgs, but has no other information. Trip calls from the future and explains that the monsters are, in fact, half-mutant, half-org, or Mut-Orgs, and then helpfully supplies the Rangers with someone who knows more. So, Trip is roughly one thousand times better at being a mentor than Shayla then.
And who is the man who can help the Rangers with their troubles? Well first they stop by a local school to recruit Nadira to help them. Yeah, apparently Nadira is now a school teacher. You'd think what with all of the felonies they wouldn't let her....but, well, the future is a very different place. Lucas explains that they need her help.
Meanwhile, Max and Danny are feeling self-conscious about how much they suck. So they shout 'never give up' a bunch of times as Eric and Taylor look on with scorn. Eric remembers when he used to hate the other Rangers on his team....then again, they were roughly ten million times less annoying than Danny and Max.
Elsewhere, Wes explains to Cole that there are other Ranger teams.....and they're all much, much better than the Wild Force Rangers. But hey, we'll get definitive proof of that later in the season.
1000 years later, Nadira goes to visit Ransik. Katie, Trip and Lucas show up to tempt fate.
Back in the past, the monsters attack again, and the Rangers on scene assemble to stop them. Eric makes it clear that he doesn't give a shit about what type of monsters they are anyway. The Mut-Orgs wipe the floor with the Rangers for a while, and Wes is about to get killed when Jen shows up. She has crazy-looking hair and is wearing all leather. So...she's finally lost that last bit of sanity, then? Wes is rightly confused and the Rangers retreat.
Meanwhile, Master Org and the Mut-Orgs meet up with each other, and the Mut-Orgs swear fealty to Master Org. To Be Continued!
Next Time: A climactic showdown between three monsters and twelve Rangers!
Friday, August 6, 2010
End of Time, Part III
Power Rangers: Time Force, Episode 40
Original Airdate: 11-17-2001
Last Time: The clock tower got blown up real good, and so did Eric. In the future, the Rangers decided that they should help Wes instead of leaving him to die and having their memories of him erased. It was very considerate of them.
Ransik is delighted at his rather total victory over the Rangers. In the future, the Rangers race back to save Wes. Last Credits!
Wes is still fighting some Cyclobots as the other Rangers arrive in the past to help him out. The Cyclobots once more are trashed and everyone resolves to defeat Ransik for good this time. They also somehow manage to temporarily knockout Doomtron.
Elsewhere, Nadira doesn't want to fight anymore, but well, Ransik didn't come this far just to be a quitter. Oh, and the supporting frog monster that no one cared about freezes himself because he knows that this fight against the Rangers can't end well.
In a nearby forest, Frax gets Doomtron working again, while the Rangers come up with a plan to defeat Doomtron that involves firing a gun at the Q-Rex. The other Rangers run interference as Wes somehow fixes the Q-Rex, which promptly disintegrates Doomtron.
Ransik finds Frax, who is very, very, very dead. Nadira is sad that Frax's gone, but Ransik, who Frax tried to kill via slow poison, reminds her that he is sworn to destroy a world that hates and fears him. Nadira wants to "stop the hatred." Well, fuck, it certainly isn't going to be her!
Nadira then finds a baby. This season cannot end soon enough.
Well, it's time for the final showdown between Ransik and the Rangers, and Ransik rather convincingly manhandles the Rangers. You know, had he done this at the beginning of the season, I wouldn't have had to deal with all of those Lucas episodes. Nearby, Nadira is looking for the baby's mother. I don't care, and I'm already pre-emptively pissed that this plot is going interrupt the last fight of the year. Ransik demorphs each Ranger in turn, until only Wes is left. Wes decides to use his Battilizer, but Ransik manages to blow it up in about five seconds, ending the fight. Ransik is still standing however. Jen drags herself off of the ground and challenges Ransik to fight her and then runs into a nearby warehouse.
Ransik pursues and accidentally injures Nadira in the process. Meh, no biggie. But apparently this saps Ransik of his will to fight, as Nadira ask how he "could hate something so beautiful" and gestures to the baby she's been lugging around. Ransik decides to surrender and...wait, wait, wait, you can't end a Power Rangers season with a surrender! There has to be a fight to the finish! Oh, wait, Nadira has something to say, "See, Daddy, mutants can love too." Shut up, Nadira. Shut your stupid season-ruining face! Oh, wait, Nadira has a few more choice comments about how mutants and humans can live in harmony. Jen pulls out some giant manacles and arrests Ransik.
Later, Wes, Mr. Collins and the assembled Silver Guardians are all saying goodbye to the other Rangers. They're all going back to the future. And when I say 'all,' I mean all. That's right, Jen is going back to the future forever! Bet she wishes she hadn't broken off her engagement with Alex now! Apparently Jen can't stay because....I don't, the same reason that Ransik couldn't keep fighting. Jen tells Wes that she loves him, which I'm sure will keep Wes warm at night when Jen is several hundred years from being born.
Mr. Collins comforts Wes, who has just been broken up with the most extravagant manner possible. He offers to make Wes co-head of the Silver Guardians with Eric. Apparently now the Silver Guardians will protect the entire city for free....whether they like it or not. On the plus side, the Rangers saved Silver Hills from Ransik. On the minus side, they've managed to leave it the hands of a private mercenary army. Well, I guess that's a bit better. Show Over! Season Over!
Next Time: After this season's crappy finale, how could things get worse? It turns out that there's a very specific answer to that question....
Original Airdate: 11-17-2001
Last Time: The clock tower got blown up real good, and so did Eric. In the future, the Rangers decided that they should help Wes instead of leaving him to die and having their memories of him erased. It was very considerate of them.
Ransik is delighted at his rather total victory over the Rangers. In the future, the Rangers race back to save Wes. Last Credits!
Wes is still fighting some Cyclobots as the other Rangers arrive in the past to help him out. The Cyclobots once more are trashed and everyone resolves to defeat Ransik for good this time. They also somehow manage to temporarily knockout Doomtron.
Elsewhere, Nadira doesn't want to fight anymore, but well, Ransik didn't come this far just to be a quitter. Oh, and the supporting frog monster that no one cared about freezes himself because he knows that this fight against the Rangers can't end well.
In a nearby forest, Frax gets Doomtron working again, while the Rangers come up with a plan to defeat Doomtron that involves firing a gun at the Q-Rex. The other Rangers run interference as Wes somehow fixes the Q-Rex, which promptly disintegrates Doomtron.
Ransik finds Frax, who is very, very, very dead. Nadira is sad that Frax's gone, but Ransik, who Frax tried to kill via slow poison, reminds her that he is sworn to destroy a world that hates and fears him. Nadira wants to "stop the hatred." Well, fuck, it certainly isn't going to be her!
Nadira then finds a baby. This season cannot end soon enough.
Well, it's time for the final showdown between Ransik and the Rangers, and Ransik rather convincingly manhandles the Rangers. You know, had he done this at the beginning of the season, I wouldn't have had to deal with all of those Lucas episodes. Nearby, Nadira is looking for the baby's mother. I don't care, and I'm already pre-emptively pissed that this plot is going interrupt the last fight of the year. Ransik demorphs each Ranger in turn, until only Wes is left. Wes decides to use his Battilizer, but Ransik manages to blow it up in about five seconds, ending the fight. Ransik is still standing however. Jen drags herself off of the ground and challenges Ransik to fight her and then runs into a nearby warehouse.
Ransik pursues and accidentally injures Nadira in the process. Meh, no biggie. But apparently this saps Ransik of his will to fight, as Nadira ask how he "could hate something so beautiful" and gestures to the baby she's been lugging around. Ransik decides to surrender and...wait, wait, wait, you can't end a Power Rangers season with a surrender! There has to be a fight to the finish! Oh, wait, Nadira has something to say, "See, Daddy, mutants can love too." Shut up, Nadira. Shut your stupid season-ruining face! Oh, wait, Nadira has a few more choice comments about how mutants and humans can live in harmony. Jen pulls out some giant manacles and arrests Ransik.
Later, Wes, Mr. Collins and the assembled Silver Guardians are all saying goodbye to the other Rangers. They're all going back to the future. And when I say 'all,' I mean all. That's right, Jen is going back to the future forever! Bet she wishes she hadn't broken off her engagement with Alex now! Apparently Jen can't stay because....I don't, the same reason that Ransik couldn't keep fighting. Jen tells Wes that she loves him, which I'm sure will keep Wes warm at night when Jen is several hundred years from being born.
Mr. Collins comforts Wes, who has just been broken up with the most extravagant manner possible. He offers to make Wes co-head of the Silver Guardians with Eric. Apparently now the Silver Guardians will protect the entire city for free....whether they like it or not. On the plus side, the Rangers saved Silver Hills from Ransik. On the minus side, they've managed to leave it the hands of a private mercenary army. Well, I guess that's a bit better. Show Over! Season Over!
Next Time: After this season's crappy finale, how could things get worse? It turns out that there's a very specific answer to that question....
End of Time, Part II
Power Rangers: Time Force, Episode 39
Original Airdate: 11-10-2001
Last Time: Ransik turned Frax into a mindless killing machine, a big change from his previous status as a mindful killing machine. Nadira helped a woman give birth and thus lost the courage and conviction to continue her father's revolutionary campaign. Finally, Wes learned that everyone was going to die, so he sent the other Rangers to the future to protect them.
In the timeship, the Rangers are about to be forcibly returned to the future, and Wes explains that they're from the future, so they can't be allowed to die in the past. Jen wants to tell Wes that she loves him, but the timeship blasts off before she can get it out. Credits!
Meanwhile, Eric is still fighting Doomtron with the Q-Rex. Ransik is delighted at the progress of his plan, but Nadira has been corrupted by human emotion. Doomtron beats the Q-Rex, and Eric is badly injured. Some Cyclobots come by and mess him up even more before Wes saves him.
Wes and Eric get to safety and Wes explains the other Rangers are gone. Eric decides to take this opportunity to explain why he is the way he is. Apparently his own rags-to-sociopathic paramilitary commander has instilled in him a belief in rugged individualism. I bet Eric reads a lot of Ayn Rand.
A thousand years later, the rest of the Rangers are recovering in a future hospital. You can tell it's the future because they're room has what appears to be a fog machine on the floor. Alex shows up and welcomes them back.
Back in the past, Mr. Collins is looking for Wes and some scientist calls in to explain that it was the fight of the Q-Rex and Doomtrain causing the time holes. I think that was covered last episode, but fine. Mr. Collins decides to start helping the wounded because...I don't know, he's a changed man or some bullshit.
In the 31st century, Alex explains that Wes is dead....and technically has been for a thousand years. Everyone's pretty bummed, but Alex has the solution: mandatory memory wipes! Speaking of the long dead, Wes and Eric make it back to the clock tower, but inadvertently lead a Cyclobot there as well. Whoops. Ransik quickly assembles a strikeforce and decides to storm the clock tower. Inside, Eric and Wes discuss the meaning of friendship....for about three seconds before some Cyclobots mercifully burst through some windows. Wes and Eric are overwhelmed and Wes sets one of the remaining weapons on overload and essentially self-destruct their home base. They escape and Nadira argues that Ransik has gotten his revenge, but, unsurprisingly, blowing a clock tower isn't exactly what Ransik had in mind for when he came back to the past, so he orders the two Rangers pursued.
The next day, Mr. Collins is walking through the ruined streets of Silver Hills screaming for Wes, and this leads to Wes and Eric showing up, and Mr. Collins saying how proud he is of Wes...again. Their reunion is cut short when Eric gets nearly killed by a stray Cyclobot blast and has to cede his Quantum powers over to Wes.
In the future, the Rangers are kind of depressed about getting their memories of the past erased. Meanwhile, Wes takes a stand against an army of Cyclobots. The other Rangers think about Wes in the future, despite the fact that he's been dead, relatively speaking, for a thousand years and they're about to get their memories of him erased. Well, I'm sure he appreciates the effort. Anyway, the Rangers decides to back out of the mind wipe at the last minute and demand to be allowed to go back to the past to have one last shot to royally fuck history up. Alex prefers that his fiance not be pointlessly killed, and this, for some reason, leads Jen to break off their engagement. Alex, basically being a way better guy than Jen really merits, agrees to let them go and even supplies them with the Time Force Megazord.
Meanwhile, the Cyclobots are being good sports and only sending one robot at a time at Wes. Nice of them to show sportsmanship even in times of war. The Rangers run towards the Time Force Megazord because they still haven't quite gotten the idea of time travel makes such exertion rather silly. To Be Continued!
Next Time: The season ends in an anti-climax that must be seen to be believed!
Original Airdate: 11-10-2001
Last Time: Ransik turned Frax into a mindless killing machine, a big change from his previous status as a mindful killing machine. Nadira helped a woman give birth and thus lost the courage and conviction to continue her father's revolutionary campaign. Finally, Wes learned that everyone was going to die, so he sent the other Rangers to the future to protect them.
In the timeship, the Rangers are about to be forcibly returned to the future, and Wes explains that they're from the future, so they can't be allowed to die in the past. Jen wants to tell Wes that she loves him, but the timeship blasts off before she can get it out. Credits!
Meanwhile, Eric is still fighting Doomtron with the Q-Rex. Ransik is delighted at the progress of his plan, but Nadira has been corrupted by human emotion. Doomtron beats the Q-Rex, and Eric is badly injured. Some Cyclobots come by and mess him up even more before Wes saves him.
Wes and Eric get to safety and Wes explains the other Rangers are gone. Eric decides to take this opportunity to explain why he is the way he is. Apparently his own rags-to-sociopathic paramilitary commander has instilled in him a belief in rugged individualism. I bet Eric reads a lot of Ayn Rand.
A thousand years later, the rest of the Rangers are recovering in a future hospital. You can tell it's the future because they're room has what appears to be a fog machine on the floor. Alex shows up and welcomes them back.
Back in the past, Mr. Collins is looking for Wes and some scientist calls in to explain that it was the fight of the Q-Rex and Doomtrain causing the time holes. I think that was covered last episode, but fine. Mr. Collins decides to start helping the wounded because...I don't know, he's a changed man or some bullshit.
In the 31st century, Alex explains that Wes is dead....and technically has been for a thousand years. Everyone's pretty bummed, but Alex has the solution: mandatory memory wipes! Speaking of the long dead, Wes and Eric make it back to the clock tower, but inadvertently lead a Cyclobot there as well. Whoops. Ransik quickly assembles a strikeforce and decides to storm the clock tower. Inside, Eric and Wes discuss the meaning of friendship....for about three seconds before some Cyclobots mercifully burst through some windows. Wes and Eric are overwhelmed and Wes sets one of the remaining weapons on overload and essentially self-destruct their home base. They escape and Nadira argues that Ransik has gotten his revenge, but, unsurprisingly, blowing a clock tower isn't exactly what Ransik had in mind for when he came back to the past, so he orders the two Rangers pursued.
The next day, Mr. Collins is walking through the ruined streets of Silver Hills screaming for Wes, and this leads to Wes and Eric showing up, and Mr. Collins saying how proud he is of Wes...again. Their reunion is cut short when Eric gets nearly killed by a stray Cyclobot blast and has to cede his Quantum powers over to Wes.
In the future, the Rangers are kind of depressed about getting their memories of the past erased. Meanwhile, Wes takes a stand against an army of Cyclobots. The other Rangers think about Wes in the future, despite the fact that he's been dead, relatively speaking, for a thousand years and they're about to get their memories of him erased. Well, I'm sure he appreciates the effort. Anyway, the Rangers decides to back out of the mind wipe at the last minute and demand to be allowed to go back to the past to have one last shot to royally fuck history up. Alex prefers that his fiance not be pointlessly killed, and this, for some reason, leads Jen to break off their engagement. Alex, basically being a way better guy than Jen really merits, agrees to let them go and even supplies them with the Time Force Megazord.
Meanwhile, the Cyclobots are being good sports and only sending one robot at a time at Wes. Nice of them to show sportsmanship even in times of war. The Rangers run towards the Time Force Megazord because they still haven't quite gotten the idea of time travel makes such exertion rather silly. To Be Continued!
Next Time: The season ends in an anti-climax that must be seen to be believed!
End of Time, Part I
Power Rangers: Time Force, Episode 38
Original Airdate: 11-3-2001
Last Time: The Rangers captured the last of Ransik's mutants and wondered where they were going in life....turns out nowhere, because Alex called in to tell them that they're all about to die.
In the clock tower, the Rangers continue their conversation, and Alex reveals that, in fact, they can survive the climatic battle by fleeing to the future....except Wes, who's not from the future and therefore cannot be saved.
At Ransik's Goodtimery, Ransik orders his army of Cyclobots to capture Frax at all costs. Credits!
That night, Wes has a nightmare about everyone dying in some sort of time vortex, and wakes up to hear the other Rangers deciding to remain in the past.
Later, Nadira is leading some Cyclobots and decides to take a half-day and go shopping. In her latest robbery, she gets confronted by Trip, and the fight induces labor in a pregnant woman. Trip calls off the fight and asks Nadira to help him deliver the baby. Er....I'm not obstetrician, but I'm reasonably sure that unless it's the fastest labor in human history, there's time to take her to a hospital. Anyway, Nadira agrees to help.
Frax, conversely, is more focused on killing humanity, and has finished his latest and last robot, Doomtron. Well, I guess you don't fuck with a robot named Doomtron. Back at the clothing store, Nadira helps deliver the baby and her heart grows three sizes that day, which would be great except it's going to lead to the lamest finale in Power Rangers history...so....meh.
Anyway, Nadira's new love for humanity has caused her to question her dad's mission to destroy mankind. Fortunately, Ransik get called off as he's finally captures Frax and Doomtron, and realizes that he still has one last thing he can use Frax for.
But before something exciting happens, Nadira has to watch children at the park because watching a woman give birth has made her no longer evil.
A thousand years later, yet somehow at the same time, Alex realizes that his chucklehead subordinates have refused to come back to the future, but well, the Rangers love the past so much that they're willing to die for it....although given that Alex implicitly is arguing that the course of history won't really change if the Rangers die or escape, I don't really get their compulsive need to go out in a blaze of glory.
Okay, time for the fight? No! It's time for Nadira to ask Frax why humans and mutants can't get along. How about, "Because the mutants are lead by a psychopath and the humans are diehard eugenicists." Frax decides to give a monologue about the neverending cycle of hate. But, Nadira doesn't hate all humans, can she end the cycle of hatred? I don't know or care and think it would be a odd digression to end the season on, but the producers disagree. Anyway, Frax urges Nadira to break the cycle of hate and I don't know bring peace to all mankind...and mutantkind...not robots, though. Frax gets carted off for a free lobotomy from Ransik.
Nadira meets him later and realizes that Ransik removed the robot's free will. In fairness, the robot has tried to kill Frax several times.
Back at the clock tower, the Rangers are preparing to load the mutants back onto the time ship, and Wes goes off to see Mr. Collins. Wes tells his father some ominous statements about the future.
In the timeship, the Rangers are loading the last of the mutants for transport to the future. Wes discovers an auto-pilot feature on the timeship, and well, no points for guessing what he's going to do with it.
Meanwhile, Ransik is ready for his final push to conquer Silver Hills and activates Doomtron, now piloted by a "re-educated" Frax. Doomtron attacks the city and Wes pulls out the auto-pilot manual so that he can put his plan into action. It's quite a thick tome.
Eric arrives at the scene of the rampage first and summons the Q-Rex. Unfortunately, the Rangers can't summon the Megazord due to some temporal distortions, which the Q-Rex is causing by virtue of its unique power source. Wes tries to get Eric to shut down the Q-Rex, but well, the Q-Rex is all they've got, so Eric refuses. Another time hole opens are starting sucking up the city.
Wes then decides that he's got to put his plan into action and lures the team onto the timeship and then sends it into the future. To Be Continued!
Next Time: Er...well....more the same, really.
Original Airdate: 11-3-2001
Last Time: The Rangers captured the last of Ransik's mutants and wondered where they were going in life....turns out nowhere, because Alex called in to tell them that they're all about to die.
In the clock tower, the Rangers continue their conversation, and Alex reveals that, in fact, they can survive the climatic battle by fleeing to the future....except Wes, who's not from the future and therefore cannot be saved.
At Ransik's Goodtimery, Ransik orders his army of Cyclobots to capture Frax at all costs. Credits!
That night, Wes has a nightmare about everyone dying in some sort of time vortex, and wakes up to hear the other Rangers deciding to remain in the past.
Later, Nadira is leading some Cyclobots and decides to take a half-day and go shopping. In her latest robbery, she gets confronted by Trip, and the fight induces labor in a pregnant woman. Trip calls off the fight and asks Nadira to help him deliver the baby. Er....I'm not obstetrician, but I'm reasonably sure that unless it's the fastest labor in human history, there's time to take her to a hospital. Anyway, Nadira agrees to help.
Frax, conversely, is more focused on killing humanity, and has finished his latest and last robot, Doomtron. Well, I guess you don't fuck with a robot named Doomtron. Back at the clothing store, Nadira helps deliver the baby and her heart grows three sizes that day, which would be great except it's going to lead to the lamest finale in Power Rangers history...so....meh.
Anyway, Nadira's new love for humanity has caused her to question her dad's mission to destroy mankind. Fortunately, Ransik get called off as he's finally captures Frax and Doomtron, and realizes that he still has one last thing he can use Frax for.
But before something exciting happens, Nadira has to watch children at the park because watching a woman give birth has made her no longer evil.
A thousand years later, yet somehow at the same time, Alex realizes that his chucklehead subordinates have refused to come back to the future, but well, the Rangers love the past so much that they're willing to die for it....although given that Alex implicitly is arguing that the course of history won't really change if the Rangers die or escape, I don't really get their compulsive need to go out in a blaze of glory.
Okay, time for the fight? No! It's time for Nadira to ask Frax why humans and mutants can't get along. How about, "Because the mutants are lead by a psychopath and the humans are diehard eugenicists." Frax decides to give a monologue about the neverending cycle of hate. But, Nadira doesn't hate all humans, can she end the cycle of hatred? I don't know or care and think it would be a odd digression to end the season on, but the producers disagree. Anyway, Frax urges Nadira to break the cycle of hate and I don't know bring peace to all mankind...and mutantkind...not robots, though. Frax gets carted off for a free lobotomy from Ransik.
Nadira meets him later and realizes that Ransik removed the robot's free will. In fairness, the robot has tried to kill Frax several times.
Back at the clock tower, the Rangers are preparing to load the mutants back onto the time ship, and Wes goes off to see Mr. Collins. Wes tells his father some ominous statements about the future.
In the timeship, the Rangers are loading the last of the mutants for transport to the future. Wes discovers an auto-pilot feature on the timeship, and well, no points for guessing what he's going to do with it.
Meanwhile, Ransik is ready for his final push to conquer Silver Hills and activates Doomtron, now piloted by a "re-educated" Frax. Doomtron attacks the city and Wes pulls out the auto-pilot manual so that he can put his plan into action. It's quite a thick tome.
Eric arrives at the scene of the rampage first and summons the Q-Rex. Unfortunately, the Rangers can't summon the Megazord due to some temporal distortions, which the Q-Rex is causing by virtue of its unique power source. Wes tries to get Eric to shut down the Q-Rex, but well, the Q-Rex is all they've got, so Eric refuses. Another time hole opens are starting sucking up the city.
Wes then decides that he's got to put his plan into action and lures the team onto the timeship and then sends it into the future. To Be Continued!
Next Time: Er...well....more the same, really.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
A Calm Before the Storm
Power Rangers: Time Force, Episode 37
Original Airdate: 10-27-2001
Last Time: Ransik was down to his last few monsters, so he sent one to blow a space center for reasons that will never be made clear. Meanwhile, Circuit had a crisis of confidence too boring to relate to you now!
In Ransik's Hideaway, Ransik confronts the reality that he's completely out of mutants to use against the Rangers. In the clock tower, the Rangers have also figured this out and celebrate the coming end to their mission. Jen is depressed because she hasn't yet gotten around to breaking up with Alex. Credits!
On the roof of the clock tower, Jen and Wes have another mind-numbing relationship moment. Christ...This goes on for some time, and, holy fuck, it's time for a flashback to the time that Wes became the Red Ranger. And then the time that Jen took away the morpher...then when she gave him the morpher back. But wait, there are other Jen and Wes moment to remember...and then we're done. Thank God.
Meanwhile the other three Rangers also decide to remember their past adventures. They recall the time that Ransik escaped from them in the first episode. Boy, they sure were incompetent then, eh? Totally different from now! Then they remember going back to the past. Man, leave it to the Power Rangers to craft a clip show one episode before the series finale.
Anyway, they remember moving into the clock tower. You know, this is kind of like living in college dorm at the end of the year. Everyone's moving out, and remembering the stupid shit that they did while they lived there. Except no one's blasted out their mind after drinking twenty Natty Lights.
But wait! What's this? It's Mr. Collins, and a scientist has reported to him a new scientific breakthrough involving those same crystals that Frax has been building into the robots that the Rangers keep destroying.
Eric overhears this, and stops by the clock tower to explain the situation. The Rangers are rather concerned that Mr. Collins is about to once more smash history as they know it to bits, and Eric suggests that Wes explain the situation to Mr. Collins.
Frax powers up the robot, but first, it's time for Wes to reminisce about his evolving relationship with his father. Wes disagrees with his father's methods! Wes cuts himself off! Mr. Collins is deeply disappointed in his son! Mr. Collins discovers that Wes is the Red Ranger! Mr. Collins gets blasted for Ransik in abortive attempt to indirectly protect Wes! Mr. Collins accepts Wes' life choices! And we're caught up! Wes goes to his father's office and explains that the other Rangers are from the future, and asks Mr. Collins to stop inventing things centuries ahead of time. Mr. Collins ponders this as Wes goes off to fight Frax's new robot.
Ransik gets wind of the giant robot and is less-than-pleased by the news that Frax is back. Elsewhere, Frax fights the Rangers and Eric fights his robot. Eric does his part and destroys the robot twice in the span of thirty seconds. The other Rangers, however, get wrecked by Frax, who escapes after making some ominous threats. Ransik, from a nearby rooftop, decides that the hunt for Frax is back on.
Later, Eric brings the unfinished crystals to Wes, and reveals that Mr. Collins has decided against created temporal paradoxes for fun and profit. Coward! Upstairs, Alex calls from the future and reveals that he has good news and bad news. The good news? The Rangers are definitely going to save the future and get medals. The bad news? The medals will be given posthumuously. Show Over!
Next Time: The end of Time Force! Spoiler Alert: The Rangers don't all die!
Original Airdate: 10-27-2001
Last Time: Ransik was down to his last few monsters, so he sent one to blow a space center for reasons that will never be made clear. Meanwhile, Circuit had a crisis of confidence too boring to relate to you now!
In Ransik's Hideaway, Ransik confronts the reality that he's completely out of mutants to use against the Rangers. In the clock tower, the Rangers have also figured this out and celebrate the coming end to their mission. Jen is depressed because she hasn't yet gotten around to breaking up with Alex. Credits!
On the roof of the clock tower, Jen and Wes have another mind-numbing relationship moment. Christ...This goes on for some time, and, holy fuck, it's time for a flashback to the time that Wes became the Red Ranger. And then the time that Jen took away the morpher...then when she gave him the morpher back. But wait, there are other Jen and Wes moment to remember...and then we're done. Thank God.
Meanwhile the other three Rangers also decide to remember their past adventures. They recall the time that Ransik escaped from them in the first episode. Boy, they sure were incompetent then, eh? Totally different from now! Then they remember going back to the past. Man, leave it to the Power Rangers to craft a clip show one episode before the series finale.
Anyway, they remember moving into the clock tower. You know, this is kind of like living in college dorm at the end of the year. Everyone's moving out, and remembering the stupid shit that they did while they lived there. Except no one's blasted out their mind after drinking twenty Natty Lights.
But wait! What's this? It's Mr. Collins, and a scientist has reported to him a new scientific breakthrough involving those same crystals that Frax has been building into the robots that the Rangers keep destroying.
Eric overhears this, and stops by the clock tower to explain the situation. The Rangers are rather concerned that Mr. Collins is about to once more smash history as they know it to bits, and Eric suggests that Wes explain the situation to Mr. Collins.
Frax powers up the robot, but first, it's time for Wes to reminisce about his evolving relationship with his father. Wes disagrees with his father's methods! Wes cuts himself off! Mr. Collins is deeply disappointed in his son! Mr. Collins discovers that Wes is the Red Ranger! Mr. Collins gets blasted for Ransik in abortive attempt to indirectly protect Wes! Mr. Collins accepts Wes' life choices! And we're caught up! Wes goes to his father's office and explains that the other Rangers are from the future, and asks Mr. Collins to stop inventing things centuries ahead of time. Mr. Collins ponders this as Wes goes off to fight Frax's new robot.
Ransik gets wind of the giant robot and is less-than-pleased by the news that Frax is back. Elsewhere, Frax fights the Rangers and Eric fights his robot. Eric does his part and destroys the robot twice in the span of thirty seconds. The other Rangers, however, get wrecked by Frax, who escapes after making some ominous threats. Ransik, from a nearby rooftop, decides that the hunt for Frax is back on.
Later, Eric brings the unfinished crystals to Wes, and reveals that Mr. Collins has decided against created temporal paradoxes for fun and profit. Coward! Upstairs, Alex calls from the future and reveals that he has good news and bad news. The good news? The Rangers are definitely going to save the future and get medals. The bad news? The medals will be given posthumuously. Show Over!
Next Time: The end of Time Force! Spoiler Alert: The Rangers don't all die!
Circuit Unsure
Power Rangers: Time Force, Episode 36
Original Airdate: 10-20-2001
Last Time: A series of crazy coincidences led to Lucas briefly dating Nadira in a episode that appeared to have been written by a bunch of hack sitcom writers from 1985.
Circuit explains how the dinosaurs died. Who the hell knows why? Circuit apparently knows the future, but isn't allowed to share it due to his programming....except then he decides to, but only this one time. Apparently Circuit wasn't programmed very well. Circuit looks into the future and sees a series of ominous portals opening over Silver Hills. Bummer. Credits!
Circuit tries to warn the Rangers, but Alex, in the future, erases the data from Circuit's memory so that he can't fuck over the future for fun. Of course, the Rangers don't know this, so they just think that Circuit is a glitchy piece of crap. In the future, Alex apologizes to Circuit, because he's basically a much better guy than any of the current Rangers.
At Ransik's House of Liquidation, Ransik is running desperately low on mutants, but has enough left for one last raid. Elsewhere, Frax is building another giant robot. Yeah, I'm sure that this one'll totally do so much better than the last half-dozen the Rangers blew up.
Back at the clock tower, the Rangers are being as condescending as possible to Circuit because of the robot's earlier failure. Circuit decides to run away.
Later, Frax is still working on his robot and telling us how this new robot is absolutely going to utterly destroy the Rangers. Oh, Frax....
Meanwhile, the Rangers realize that they've hurt Circuit's feelings and go looking for him. The robot has fled to the beach where Trip finds him. Circuit is worried that having a faulty robot will end up killing the Rangers, and the theory is about to be put to the test as Ransik has sent his monster to blow up the space base because....well, he's still going to do it, I guess.
Trip uses his mighty, if basically useless, mind powers to find out that the space center is about to explode. Trip and Circuit are the only one who can save the day for reasons that aren't quite clear. Something about accidentally setting off a premature detonation, I think. They make it to the main computer, but Circuit is having a crisis of confidence.
Eric and the Silver Guardians show up and surrond the building. Meanwhile. the countdown suddenly goes from thirty minutes to three, and even the monster is kind of surprised by that one. The monster gets confronted by Eric, and the counter is down to fifteen seconds. The countdown finishes....but apparently the self-destruct won't go off unless all of the doors are closed. That is not a good self-destruct mechanism. Katie manages to hold up one of the doors and Trip has more time...practically infinite time if they think to block the door with something solid....which, of course they won't.
Outside, Eric and the monster have elected to settle the dispute with a pistol duel. And Circuit is still suffering from poor self-esteem. Alex finally calls in to explain the he was the one that erased Circuit's memory for his abuse of future knowledge and tells him to do something before everyone dies. Elsewhere, the duel happens and Eric sends the monster to his maker. Shortly thereafter, Circuit disarms the self-destruct just as Katie's strength gives out.
The monster, wanting to go double-or-nothing on the duel, starts a megazord battle that he can't hope to win. He does manage to shoot Circuit and disable the robot's ability to call the Time Force Megazord, though. Not that it matters, as the monster still gets killed.
Elsewhere, Frax tests his new robot's ability to function by remote link-up, and it works.
Back at the clock tower, the Rangers make sure Circuit is working properly, and he is. Meanwhile, Alex sees the grim vision from the beginning of the episode begin to come to pass.
Next Time: Ransik regrets not having stolen a bigger prison!
Original Airdate: 10-20-2001
Last Time: A series of crazy coincidences led to Lucas briefly dating Nadira in a episode that appeared to have been written by a bunch of hack sitcom writers from 1985.
Circuit explains how the dinosaurs died. Who the hell knows why? Circuit apparently knows the future, but isn't allowed to share it due to his programming....except then he decides to, but only this one time. Apparently Circuit wasn't programmed very well. Circuit looks into the future and sees a series of ominous portals opening over Silver Hills. Bummer. Credits!
Circuit tries to warn the Rangers, but Alex, in the future, erases the data from Circuit's memory so that he can't fuck over the future for fun. Of course, the Rangers don't know this, so they just think that Circuit is a glitchy piece of crap. In the future, Alex apologizes to Circuit, because he's basically a much better guy than any of the current Rangers.
At Ransik's House of Liquidation, Ransik is running desperately low on mutants, but has enough left for one last raid. Elsewhere, Frax is building another giant robot. Yeah, I'm sure that this one'll totally do so much better than the last half-dozen the Rangers blew up.
Back at the clock tower, the Rangers are being as condescending as possible to Circuit because of the robot's earlier failure. Circuit decides to run away.
Later, Frax is still working on his robot and telling us how this new robot is absolutely going to utterly destroy the Rangers. Oh, Frax....
Meanwhile, the Rangers realize that they've hurt Circuit's feelings and go looking for him. The robot has fled to the beach where Trip finds him. Circuit is worried that having a faulty robot will end up killing the Rangers, and the theory is about to be put to the test as Ransik has sent his monster to blow up the space base because....well, he's still going to do it, I guess.
Trip uses his mighty, if basically useless, mind powers to find out that the space center is about to explode. Trip and Circuit are the only one who can save the day for reasons that aren't quite clear. Something about accidentally setting off a premature detonation, I think. They make it to the main computer, but Circuit is having a crisis of confidence.
Eric and the Silver Guardians show up and surrond the building. Meanwhile. the countdown suddenly goes from thirty minutes to three, and even the monster is kind of surprised by that one. The monster gets confronted by Eric, and the counter is down to fifteen seconds. The countdown finishes....but apparently the self-destruct won't go off unless all of the doors are closed. That is not a good self-destruct mechanism. Katie manages to hold up one of the doors and Trip has more time...practically infinite time if they think to block the door with something solid....which, of course they won't.
Outside, Eric and the monster have elected to settle the dispute with a pistol duel. And Circuit is still suffering from poor self-esteem. Alex finally calls in to explain the he was the one that erased Circuit's memory for his abuse of future knowledge and tells him to do something before everyone dies. Elsewhere, the duel happens and Eric sends the monster to his maker. Shortly thereafter, Circuit disarms the self-destruct just as Katie's strength gives out.
The monster, wanting to go double-or-nothing on the duel, starts a megazord battle that he can't hope to win. He does manage to shoot Circuit and disable the robot's ability to call the Time Force Megazord, though. Not that it matters, as the monster still gets killed.
Elsewhere, Frax tests his new robot's ability to function by remote link-up, and it works.
Back at the clock tower, the Rangers make sure Circuit is working properly, and he is. Meanwhile, Alex sees the grim vision from the beginning of the episode begin to come to pass.
Next Time: Ransik regrets not having stolen a bigger prison!
Nadira's Dream Date
Power Rangers: Time Force, Episode 35
Original Airdate: 10-13-2001
Last Time: The Rangers got sent to yet another alternate dimension where they had to fight monsters to escape, but it was way different than the movie dimension, and completely distinct from the magical dimension where they had to fight evil versions of themselves.
In Ransik's House of Sitcomedy, Nadira is depressed that she doesn't have a boyfriend. Wait, all-stop! No, no, no, that's....no. Also, Ransik sends a new monster named Chameliacon to kill the Rangers and show his daughter a good time.
At the clock tower, Lucas is....in the scene, and really, that's enough. But waut, Lucas manages to become even more loathsome as he has been working on some poetry. Lucas claims that his poetry isn't about a girl, but instead about a....car. Named Lance.....who showed him a world that he'd never imagined. Okay, I might have made that last bit up. A monster attacks and the Rangers rush off to fight it. Credits!
In the town center, Chameliacon's attacking the city, but Nadira, after 35 episode, is as bored with the whole setup as I am. They fight the villains off, but Lucas drops his notebook of poetry. Nadira finds it and immediately assumes that it's about her. Er...listen writers, I know it's the end of the season and twenty minutes isn't a lot to work with....well, ten minutes really, due to immovable chunks of Sentai footage, but I'm going to have to ask you to go back and work out a plot that isn't completely moronic, okay?
Back at Ransik's Crib, Nadira explains that she met a boy, and Ransik is overprotective, especially when he learns that it's awful, awful Lucas. But, well, Ransik may be a terrorist, but he's also a softie, so he allows his daughter to date a man that he's tried to kill about four dozen times.
Ransik tracks down Lucas and explains the situation to a rather surprised and confused Lucas, who is browbeaten into submission by Ransik, who effectively forces Lucas to date his daughter. Lucas, being a coward at heart, shows up and finds Nadira wearing some sort of hideous antebellum era gown. Ransik shows up to monitor the date and ensure compliance. Er....I don't mean to nitpick, but since the Rangers knew where Nadira was going to be, shouldn't they try to...I don't know, arrest her? Or do something other than kowtowing to Ransik's orders? Anyway, the date goes rather well, and Nadira relates details of her date to Ransik.
At the clock tower, Lucas tries to explain his predicament, but is cut off by another monster attack. They fight a bit more, until Chameliacon starts attacking the Blue Ranger, and then Ransik shows up and makes it clear that no one's allowed to hurt Lucas. This kind of kills the momentum of the battle, and it basically dissipates.
Lucas explains the situations to the other Rangers, and man, you know what could make this episode even more unbearable? Another idiotic sitcom style-plot! That's right, the Rangers decide that they need to make Nadira break up with Lucas, because this will make Ransik, their sworn enemy, less likely to murder Lucas or something.
And so the sabotaged date begins with Lucas dressed poorly and acting rude to Nadira. He then asks her to do his laundry. Nadira breaks up with him and the other Rangers celebrate. This causes Nadira to go crying to Ransik who orders Lucas taken out with extreme prejudice. So....the Rangers plan worked? Or failed horribly? I don't know, what exactly were they trying to accomplish, anyway?
Chameliacon attacks and is destroyed in a fight that leaves no lasting impression. I think the monster may have had some sort of super-long ton. Oh, and Eric shows up out of nowhere to summon the Q-Rex.
Later, Nadira is still looking for love, and is still carrying around a parasol for some reason. She gets some flowers from a secret admirer, but they turn out to be from that frog monster who's kind of a recurring character, but has had about twenty lines total throughout the whole season. It does not go well. Show Over!
Next Time: The writers continue to punish the children of 2001 with a Circuit-centric episode.
Original Airdate: 10-13-2001
Last Time: The Rangers got sent to yet another alternate dimension where they had to fight monsters to escape, but it was way different than the movie dimension, and completely distinct from the magical dimension where they had to fight evil versions of themselves.
In Ransik's House of Sitcomedy, Nadira is depressed that she doesn't have a boyfriend. Wait, all-stop! No, no, no, that's....no. Also, Ransik sends a new monster named Chameliacon to kill the Rangers and show his daughter a good time.
At the clock tower, Lucas is....in the scene, and really, that's enough. But waut, Lucas manages to become even more loathsome as he has been working on some poetry. Lucas claims that his poetry isn't about a girl, but instead about a....car. Named Lance.....who showed him a world that he'd never imagined. Okay, I might have made that last bit up. A monster attacks and the Rangers rush off to fight it. Credits!
In the town center, Chameliacon's attacking the city, but Nadira, after 35 episode, is as bored with the whole setup as I am. They fight the villains off, but Lucas drops his notebook of poetry. Nadira finds it and immediately assumes that it's about her. Er...listen writers, I know it's the end of the season and twenty minutes isn't a lot to work with....well, ten minutes really, due to immovable chunks of Sentai footage, but I'm going to have to ask you to go back and work out a plot that isn't completely moronic, okay?
Back at Ransik's Crib, Nadira explains that she met a boy, and Ransik is overprotective, especially when he learns that it's awful, awful Lucas. But, well, Ransik may be a terrorist, but he's also a softie, so he allows his daughter to date a man that he's tried to kill about four dozen times.
Ransik tracks down Lucas and explains the situation to a rather surprised and confused Lucas, who is browbeaten into submission by Ransik, who effectively forces Lucas to date his daughter. Lucas, being a coward at heart, shows up and finds Nadira wearing some sort of hideous antebellum era gown. Ransik shows up to monitor the date and ensure compliance. Er....I don't mean to nitpick, but since the Rangers knew where Nadira was going to be, shouldn't they try to...I don't know, arrest her? Or do something other than kowtowing to Ransik's orders? Anyway, the date goes rather well, and Nadira relates details of her date to Ransik.
At the clock tower, Lucas tries to explain his predicament, but is cut off by another monster attack. They fight a bit more, until Chameliacon starts attacking the Blue Ranger, and then Ransik shows up and makes it clear that no one's allowed to hurt Lucas. This kind of kills the momentum of the battle, and it basically dissipates.
Lucas explains the situations to the other Rangers, and man, you know what could make this episode even more unbearable? Another idiotic sitcom style-plot! That's right, the Rangers decide that they need to make Nadira break up with Lucas, because this will make Ransik, their sworn enemy, less likely to murder Lucas or something.
And so the sabotaged date begins with Lucas dressed poorly and acting rude to Nadira. He then asks her to do his laundry. Nadira breaks up with him and the other Rangers celebrate. This causes Nadira to go crying to Ransik who orders Lucas taken out with extreme prejudice. So....the Rangers plan worked? Or failed horribly? I don't know, what exactly were they trying to accomplish, anyway?
Chameliacon attacks and is destroyed in a fight that leaves no lasting impression. I think the monster may have had some sort of super-long ton. Oh, and Eric shows up out of nowhere to summon the Q-Rex.
Later, Nadira is still looking for love, and is still carrying around a parasol for some reason. She gets some flowers from a secret admirer, but they turn out to be from that frog monster who's kind of a recurring character, but has had about twenty lines total throughout the whole season. It does not go well. Show Over!
Next Time: The writers continue to punish the children of 2001 with a Circuit-centric episode.
Reflection of Evil
Power Rangers: Time Force, Episode 34
Original Airdate: 10-6-2001
Last Time: The Lightspeed Rangers briefly came out of retirement!
Wes and Trip are playing chess while Lucas admires himself in the mirror. Katie takes the mirror away and Lucas accidentally breaks it. Hey, you want to hear something heartbreaking? There's only one character spotlight episode left this season and it's Lucas'. But that's not till next episode.
In town, Nadira is shopping for some clothes, and it quickly become apparent that the actress playing Nadira weighs about 80 pounds. Some monster named Miracon shows up, and Nadira starts devising a plan to use his mirror-based powers against the Rangers. Credits!
Nadira's plan is about as good as you'd expect: It involves Miracon using a giant mirror to reflect the sun into drivers' eyes and shoot lasers into crowds. I guess it's a magic mirror. The Rangers move into confront Miracon, and chase him into a room with a bunch of mirrors that Lucas uses to look at himself some more. They eventually get pulled into a mirror dimension. Fuck, that's a lot of dimensions that the Rangers have been pulled into this season. Anyway, Ransik and Nadira show up and are pleased. Ransik explains that the Rangers will have to kill a buttload of mutants to escape. Boss Rush Time!
Monster # 1: Someone called Redeye who the Rangers may or may not have beaten this season. She gets killed again. Next up, some dude with a sword that I'm reasonably certain I've seen before, but doesn't really make much of an impression this time around. Okay, third up, a new monster named Angelcon who brings in some Cyclobots. I guess they decided to blow their remaining Sentai footage on this episode, as the end is coming rather soon. Anyway, Angelcon is sent back to God.
Anyway, Eric wanders into the mirror room....for some reason, and enters one of the mirrors to help Wes beat Miracon. It doesn't go well until Eric and Wes work together to kill him. Megazord time? Megazord time!
And today we're in for a treat, because the producers have elected to use the special extra-long version of the transformation sequence, where the zords fly over the Cretacious, ancient Egypt and Medieval Japan before arriving in the present day. Miracon promptly turns the Time Shadow evil. Eric summons the Q-Rex to even up the teams a bit, and turns the Time Shadow good again by hitting it really hard. I guess the moral of today's story is that one way to make people less evil is by hurting them badly.
The Rangers kill Miracon. Er... there's still some time left. Okay, so Ransik remembers that he never really took care of Frax, and decides to hunt the robot down, and wields a gnarly looking spiked baseball bat.
Later, Wes and Lucas play some chess, but Wes has fallen asleep in the middle of the game. Lucas accidentally breaks another mirror and gets seven years more bad luck. Oh, and then Wes beats him at chess, which has got to be totally humiliating, because, well, it's Wes. Show Over!
Next Time: An entire episode focused on Nadira and Lucas! This season cannot end soon enough....
Original Airdate: 10-6-2001
Last Time: The Lightspeed Rangers briefly came out of retirement!
Wes and Trip are playing chess while Lucas admires himself in the mirror. Katie takes the mirror away and Lucas accidentally breaks it. Hey, you want to hear something heartbreaking? There's only one character spotlight episode left this season and it's Lucas'. But that's not till next episode.
In town, Nadira is shopping for some clothes, and it quickly become apparent that the actress playing Nadira weighs about 80 pounds. Some monster named Miracon shows up, and Nadira starts devising a plan to use his mirror-based powers against the Rangers. Credits!
Nadira's plan is about as good as you'd expect: It involves Miracon using a giant mirror to reflect the sun into drivers' eyes and shoot lasers into crowds. I guess it's a magic mirror. The Rangers move into confront Miracon, and chase him into a room with a bunch of mirrors that Lucas uses to look at himself some more. They eventually get pulled into a mirror dimension. Fuck, that's a lot of dimensions that the Rangers have been pulled into this season. Anyway, Ransik and Nadira show up and are pleased. Ransik explains that the Rangers will have to kill a buttload of mutants to escape. Boss Rush Time!
Monster # 1: Someone called Redeye who the Rangers may or may not have beaten this season. She gets killed again. Next up, some dude with a sword that I'm reasonably certain I've seen before, but doesn't really make much of an impression this time around. Okay, third up, a new monster named Angelcon who brings in some Cyclobots. I guess they decided to blow their remaining Sentai footage on this episode, as the end is coming rather soon. Anyway, Angelcon is sent back to God.
Anyway, Eric wanders into the mirror room....for some reason, and enters one of the mirrors to help Wes beat Miracon. It doesn't go well until Eric and Wes work together to kill him. Megazord time? Megazord time!
And today we're in for a treat, because the producers have elected to use the special extra-long version of the transformation sequence, where the zords fly over the Cretacious, ancient Egypt and Medieval Japan before arriving in the present day. Miracon promptly turns the Time Shadow evil. Eric summons the Q-Rex to even up the teams a bit, and turns the Time Shadow good again by hitting it really hard. I guess the moral of today's story is that one way to make people less evil is by hurting them badly.
The Rangers kill Miracon. Er... there's still some time left. Okay, so Ransik remembers that he never really took care of Frax, and decides to hunt the robot down, and wields a gnarly looking spiked baseball bat.
Later, Wes and Lucas play some chess, but Wes has fallen asleep in the middle of the game. Lucas accidentally breaks another mirror and gets seven years more bad luck. Oh, and then Wes beats him at chess, which has got to be totally humiliating, because, well, it's Wes. Show Over!
Next Time: An entire episode focused on Nadira and Lucas! This season cannot end soon enough....
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Time For Lightspeed
Power Rangers: Time Force, Episode 33
Original Airdate: 9-29-2001
Last Time: The Rangers fought a knight. Oh, you might be thinking, "One of Ransik's mutants was a knight?" But you'd be wrong, it was a completely unrelated villain who just kind of wandered into the show and ended up accidentally giving Wes his Battilizer. It was a....different sort of episode.
There's a thunderstorm brewing at a cemetery and a hand crawls out of the grave....but it's a woman's hand and the only female villain last season was.....was....NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Okay, okay, I can do this. I made it through Lightspeed Rescue, I can deal with it for one more episode.....Vypra rises from her grave, though I recall her being vaporized last season, but fine, and summons some new one-time only mooks. She then breaks into a museum where she gets foiled by when she can't figure out how to break a mystical crystal out of a glass case. Eric confronts her as she tries to leave the museum....and fuck, that's about the biggest mismatch in Power Rangers history. But, you know, we have to pretend that Vypra is a credible threat that requires ten Rangers to stop so she manages to get away. The Time Force Rangers show up and both they and Eric are confused by this new villain with severely limited acting ability. Credits!
Nadira gets woken up in the middle of the night and Ransik reassures that there's no such thing as ghosts. Yeah, but there's such a thing a terrible characters who no one ever wanted to see again. Vypra shows up and...holy fuck, has her acting somehow gotten worse? I mean, the actress playing Nadira is basically just hamming it up as much as possible, but she's so much fucking better than Vypra that it's a joke. Anyway, Vypra needs their help to steal something called the Solar Amulet which will free some sort of super-demon. Ransik is rather unimpressed by the plan, but well, Vypra promises that this new demon can destroy the Rangers.
The Rangers have also figured out what's going on and arrive at the museum at the same time as Ransik and his goons. The Rangers get caught up fighting Vypra's new goons as Ransik effortlessly retrieves the Solar Amulet. In the aftermath, the ol' Lightspeed Hummer drives up and Carter volunteers his help.
At the clock tower, Carter re-explains Vypra's plan. Fortunately, Carter can call on the rest of the Lightspeed Rangers for some cameos. First up, Dana is now a doctor, and yet still appears to exclusively wear miniskirts. Next, Joel and Ms. Fairweather are about to go on their honeymoon. Wait....really? But imagine the sort of hellbeasts that such a union would produce. Okay, Kelsey is....rollerblading. I guess gainful employment wasn't for her. Last up, Chad is a lifeguard. Wasn't he a dolphin trainer before? So isn't this a step down? You know, I don't think I really want to know how he was busted down from training dolphins to lifeguards....that story could be....unpleasant.
Elsewhere, Vypra is getting more screentime. I'd rather catch up with Captain Mitchell. Fuck, I'd even rather see what Ryan's up to. She starts summoning the super-demon as Carter and Wes track her down to a subway. Thus tussle for a bit, and Carter appears to be roughly a foot taller than Wes. Anyway, the Rangers get away and then....oh, no....not that....anything but that.....
....Okay, fine, Vypra pulls out the Vypari to go chase Wes and Carter down. Carter is forced to give up the amulet as Nadira has somehow captured the other Time Force Rangers. I bet you would have like to see how that happened, but well, this isn't a two-parter. The super-demon is summoned and he looks rather non-descript. The other Lightspeed Rangers show up, as it's time for the climatic fight. Eric then shows up with Ryan because he....I don't know, let's just go with the Rangers called Eric, who called Ryan, and then they had a lunch together, kibbitzed about the problems of being a Sixth Ranger and the decided to show up for the big fight scene. Except they showed up early and had to wait for everyone else to get there.
Time for the fight scene....wait, there's only five minutes left? Are you fucking kidding me? You know, this compressed crossover kind of makes me miss the Lightspeed team, even if they were kind of bland. Anyway, everyone who has a Battilizer uses them, and their clunky firepower kills the stunningly disappointing super-demon.
Later, the Time Force Rangers show off the clock tower and Joel is unimpressed, because the Lightspeed Rangers used to have an aquabase. Anyway, the Time Force Rangers give the Lightspeed Rangers some of those white jumpsuits that they've occasionally worn, and the Lightspeed Rangers give the Time Force Rangers their neat jackets. Wow, the Time Force Rangers sure won that trade. They then decide to dress in each other's Ranger outfits because....I don't know, this probably was a two-parter in some point, but Saban probably insisted that they needed to have an episode about an evil knight, so this story got way too compressed. Well, either way, Show Over!
Next Time: More Throwbacks!
Original Airdate: 9-29-2001
Last Time: The Rangers fought a knight. Oh, you might be thinking, "One of Ransik's mutants was a knight?" But you'd be wrong, it was a completely unrelated villain who just kind of wandered into the show and ended up accidentally giving Wes his Battilizer. It was a....different sort of episode.
There's a thunderstorm brewing at a cemetery and a hand crawls out of the grave....but it's a woman's hand and the only female villain last season was.....was....NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Okay, okay, I can do this. I made it through Lightspeed Rescue, I can deal with it for one more episode.....Vypra rises from her grave, though I recall her being vaporized last season, but fine, and summons some new one-time only mooks. She then breaks into a museum where she gets foiled by when she can't figure out how to break a mystical crystal out of a glass case. Eric confronts her as she tries to leave the museum....and fuck, that's about the biggest mismatch in Power Rangers history. But, you know, we have to pretend that Vypra is a credible threat that requires ten Rangers to stop so she manages to get away. The Time Force Rangers show up and both they and Eric are confused by this new villain with severely limited acting ability. Credits!
Nadira gets woken up in the middle of the night and Ransik reassures that there's no such thing as ghosts. Yeah, but there's such a thing a terrible characters who no one ever wanted to see again. Vypra shows up and...holy fuck, has her acting somehow gotten worse? I mean, the actress playing Nadira is basically just hamming it up as much as possible, but she's so much fucking better than Vypra that it's a joke. Anyway, Vypra needs their help to steal something called the Solar Amulet which will free some sort of super-demon. Ransik is rather unimpressed by the plan, but well, Vypra promises that this new demon can destroy the Rangers.
The Rangers have also figured out what's going on and arrive at the museum at the same time as Ransik and his goons. The Rangers get caught up fighting Vypra's new goons as Ransik effortlessly retrieves the Solar Amulet. In the aftermath, the ol' Lightspeed Hummer drives up and Carter volunteers his help.
At the clock tower, Carter re-explains Vypra's plan. Fortunately, Carter can call on the rest of the Lightspeed Rangers for some cameos. First up, Dana is now a doctor, and yet still appears to exclusively wear miniskirts. Next, Joel and Ms. Fairweather are about to go on their honeymoon. Wait....really? But imagine the sort of hellbeasts that such a union would produce. Okay, Kelsey is....rollerblading. I guess gainful employment wasn't for her. Last up, Chad is a lifeguard. Wasn't he a dolphin trainer before? So isn't this a step down? You know, I don't think I really want to know how he was busted down from training dolphins to lifeguards....that story could be....unpleasant.
Elsewhere, Vypra is getting more screentime. I'd rather catch up with Captain Mitchell. Fuck, I'd even rather see what Ryan's up to. She starts summoning the super-demon as Carter and Wes track her down to a subway. Thus tussle for a bit, and Carter appears to be roughly a foot taller than Wes. Anyway, the Rangers get away and then....oh, no....not that....anything but that.....
....Okay, fine, Vypra pulls out the Vypari to go chase Wes and Carter down. Carter is forced to give up the amulet as Nadira has somehow captured the other Time Force Rangers. I bet you would have like to see how that happened, but well, this isn't a two-parter. The super-demon is summoned and he looks rather non-descript. The other Lightspeed Rangers show up, as it's time for the climatic fight. Eric then shows up with Ryan because he....I don't know, let's just go with the Rangers called Eric, who called Ryan, and then they had a lunch together, kibbitzed about the problems of being a Sixth Ranger and the decided to show up for the big fight scene. Except they showed up early and had to wait for everyone else to get there.
Time for the fight scene....wait, there's only five minutes left? Are you fucking kidding me? You know, this compressed crossover kind of makes me miss the Lightspeed team, even if they were kind of bland. Anyway, everyone who has a Battilizer uses them, and their clunky firepower kills the stunningly disappointing super-demon.
Later, the Time Force Rangers show off the clock tower and Joel is unimpressed, because the Lightspeed Rangers used to have an aquabase. Anyway, the Time Force Rangers give the Lightspeed Rangers some of those white jumpsuits that they've occasionally worn, and the Lightspeed Rangers give the Time Force Rangers their neat jackets. Wow, the Time Force Rangers sure won that trade. They then decide to dress in each other's Ranger outfits because....I don't know, this probably was a two-parter in some point, but Saban probably insisted that they needed to have an episode about an evil knight, so this story got way too compressed. Well, either way, Show Over!
Next Time: More Throwbacks!
Beware the Knight
Power Rangers: Time Force, Episode 32
Original Airdate: 9-22-2001
Last Time: Wes and Jen slowly and painfully groped their way to romance. It hurt.
In Medieval times, an evil black knight steals a box from a white knight, who tells him that he'll never be able to open the box because te black knight is too evil. Um...did I accidentally start watching a different show?
Some centuries later, the Rangers are coming home from an odd job and Trip gets tricked into picking up some pizza. On his way back, Trip runs into the black knight. I bet he didn't see that one coming! Credits!
Trip manages to escape the knight, but the pizzas get slightly trampled. He makes it back to the clock tower and explains that he was just attacked by some sort of evil cavalryman. None of the Rangers believe him because an evil knight showing up out of nowhere bearing the Red Ranger's Battlizer would be a truly, truly ridiculous plot, even by the standards of this show.
In his evil cave, the evil knight still has the box, but can't open it. He realizes that he needs someone pure of heart to open it, and leaves his dragon to guard it while he hunts himself someone suitable. Yeah, the knight has a dragon. What are you going to do about?
Elsewhere, the Rangers are still making fun of Trip when they see the knight rampaging through town. The Rangers return to the clock tower and can't find any information on the knight.
The knight returns to break up a tender moment between two teenagers, as the guy had just promised to protect the girl, and the knight figured that such a promise could indicate a pure heart. Of course, the guy bails on the prospect of being hacked to death with a sword. The Rangers catch up with the knight and fight him for a bit. He beats up Wes for a bit and then flees. Wes, realizing that a flying motorcycle is faster than a horse, gives chase, but loses him in the forest.
The next day, the Rangers search the area but can't find the knight. Wes figures that he'll appear when the sun goes down based on.....a hunch, I guess, and volunteers to wait alone. And so the Rangers wait.....and then the knight finally shows up, and Wes watches him leave his cave. He sends the other Rangers to deal with the knight while Wes decides to invade the villain's privacy.
In the cave, Wes finds the box...and the dragon. In the city, the Rangers fight the knight some more. Now, you might be asking, "Who the fuck is this guy, anyway, and why does he want what's in the box?" Well...that's a shame, because it will never, ever be explained.
Anyway, Wes kills the dragon and thus receives what's in the box: something called the Battle Warrior powers. That means that it's up to Wes to save the day. He activates his new Battilizer and...well, other than the fact that it looks awful stacked on top of the normal Red Ranger suit, and that it makes absolutely no sense for a guy with technological powers from the future to suddenly get a mystical power-up from the Middle Ages, it's not completely terrible. He kills the knight right quick, and since the Japanese weren't quite brain-damaged enough to do something like this in their version of the show, there's no megazord battle.
The episode isn't quite done yet, though, as Wes puts a sword in the ground and seals the cave. Yeah, the audience really needed that sort of closure. Later, Wes exaggerates his story for comic effect and gets caught in a lie. I guess "pure heart" is really more of a guideline than a hard and fast rule. Trip brings in some more damaged pizza and explains that he dropped it. You know, because he brought in the pizza with a seemingly implausible story at the top of the episode. In fairness, if you actually watched the episode, it still kind of sucks. Show Over!
Next Time: A blast from the past...and by "blast," I mean "shotgun blast" and by "from the past," I mean, "to my skull."
Original Airdate: 9-22-2001
Last Time: Wes and Jen slowly and painfully groped their way to romance. It hurt.
In Medieval times, an evil black knight steals a box from a white knight, who tells him that he'll never be able to open the box because te black knight is too evil. Um...did I accidentally start watching a different show?
Some centuries later, the Rangers are coming home from an odd job and Trip gets tricked into picking up some pizza. On his way back, Trip runs into the black knight. I bet he didn't see that one coming! Credits!
Trip manages to escape the knight, but the pizzas get slightly trampled. He makes it back to the clock tower and explains that he was just attacked by some sort of evil cavalryman. None of the Rangers believe him because an evil knight showing up out of nowhere bearing the Red Ranger's Battlizer would be a truly, truly ridiculous plot, even by the standards of this show.
In his evil cave, the evil knight still has the box, but can't open it. He realizes that he needs someone pure of heart to open it, and leaves his dragon to guard it while he hunts himself someone suitable. Yeah, the knight has a dragon. What are you going to do about?
Elsewhere, the Rangers are still making fun of Trip when they see the knight rampaging through town. The Rangers return to the clock tower and can't find any information on the knight.
The knight returns to break up a tender moment between two teenagers, as the guy had just promised to protect the girl, and the knight figured that such a promise could indicate a pure heart. Of course, the guy bails on the prospect of being hacked to death with a sword. The Rangers catch up with the knight and fight him for a bit. He beats up Wes for a bit and then flees. Wes, realizing that a flying motorcycle is faster than a horse, gives chase, but loses him in the forest.
The next day, the Rangers search the area but can't find the knight. Wes figures that he'll appear when the sun goes down based on.....a hunch, I guess, and volunteers to wait alone. And so the Rangers wait.....and then the knight finally shows up, and Wes watches him leave his cave. He sends the other Rangers to deal with the knight while Wes decides to invade the villain's privacy.
In the cave, Wes finds the box...and the dragon. In the city, the Rangers fight the knight some more. Now, you might be asking, "Who the fuck is this guy, anyway, and why does he want what's in the box?" Well...that's a shame, because it will never, ever be explained.
Anyway, Wes kills the dragon and thus receives what's in the box: something called the Battle Warrior powers. That means that it's up to Wes to save the day. He activates his new Battilizer and...well, other than the fact that it looks awful stacked on top of the normal Red Ranger suit, and that it makes absolutely no sense for a guy with technological powers from the future to suddenly get a mystical power-up from the Middle Ages, it's not completely terrible. He kills the knight right quick, and since the Japanese weren't quite brain-damaged enough to do something like this in their version of the show, there's no megazord battle.
The episode isn't quite done yet, though, as Wes puts a sword in the ground and seals the cave. Yeah, the audience really needed that sort of closure. Later, Wes exaggerates his story for comic effect and gets caught in a lie. I guess "pure heart" is really more of a guideline than a hard and fast rule. Trip brings in some more damaged pizza and explains that he dropped it. You know, because he brought in the pizza with a seemingly implausible story at the top of the episode. In fairness, if you actually watched the episode, it still kind of sucks. Show Over!
Next Time: A blast from the past...and by "blast," I mean "shotgun blast" and by "from the past," I mean, "to my skull."
Undercover Rangers
Power Rangers: Time Force, Episode 31
Original Airdate: 9-15-2001
Last Time: The Rangers mutinied against Alex for rather petty reasons, and demanded that he put Wes back on the team. Alex, being basically the nicest guy out of all of them, agreed and restored Mr. Collins to health to boot!
At a park, Katie and Trip spy some sort of gym promotional event...in the park. A gay nerd complains that the speaker is naught but a conman, but is swayed when the leader of the demonstration gives him some sort of super-strength potion. Eric drives by and wonders how the hell people are so fucking stupid.
Elsewhere, Jen watches a wedding procession and realizes that she's still engaged to Alex, since he's alive again and all. She wonders about the ethics of dumping Alex for his identical past counterpart, Wes. Man, Jen is kind of awful. Credits!
In the clock tower, Wes is worried about being more like Alex, what with him already being engaged to Jen. Wes remembers that Alex seemed more concerned with preventing the total collapse of the future than with boning Jen, and figures that he's still got a shot. Okay, Wes is awful too. And that means it's time for another awkward Jen and Wes conversation. Man, I bet Alex wishes that Ransik had just finished him off, rather than letting him live to see this.
Trip and Katie report in about the rather suspicious gym dealie, and the Rangers decide to send in two people to investigate. Lucas suggests Jen and Wes. Holy fuck, Lucas! Wasn't the mutiny against Alex enough?
At the gym, the leader is observing the progress of his clients and making sure that everyone drinks as much of the super-strength chemical as possible. Wes and Jen show up wearing truly awful disguises, and more awkward moments between the pair ensue. A reasonably hot receptionist flirts with Wes and Jen sneaks into the recesses of the gym and sees a guy disappear into a back room where they're turning people into Cyclobots. Really, Frax? Turning people into Cyclobots? The most hapless creations in the existence who routinely get mowed down by the dozens? That's your plan? Anyway, one of his goons captures Jen.
Jen gets brought before Frax who laughs evilly and prepares to turn Jen into another robot. Elsewhere, Wes looks for Jen and manages to rescue her in the nick of time. I then have to suffer from some more quasi-romantic tension between Wes and Jen, which continues as they fight some Cyclobots. Eric shows up to save them, but the monster of the week tosses them around for a bit until the rest of the Rangers show up. They still get their asses kicked and Circuit calls Alex for help. Alex decides to send Wes a new weapon to save the team. It's called the Stratocycle and it's some manner of flying motorcycle. Wes dusts the monster, and that means it's time for round two. It's a rather rote battle, although I do have to admit that the Time Shadowzord Mode Blue attack is the niftiest-looking finisher of this season.
Later, there is another punishing Jen/Wes scene that is soul-crushing in its banality. Gay nerd comes into save us by going to an odd job shop to look for a personal trainer. Okay....that's probably not the best place to hire someone like that. Lucas tries to pair Jen and Wes up again, and I truly, truly hate him. Show Over!
Next Time: Wes gets another new toy!
Original Airdate: 9-15-2001
Last Time: The Rangers mutinied against Alex for rather petty reasons, and demanded that he put Wes back on the team. Alex, being basically the nicest guy out of all of them, agreed and restored Mr. Collins to health to boot!
At a park, Katie and Trip spy some sort of gym promotional event...in the park. A gay nerd complains that the speaker is naught but a conman, but is swayed when the leader of the demonstration gives him some sort of super-strength potion. Eric drives by and wonders how the hell people are so fucking stupid.
Elsewhere, Jen watches a wedding procession and realizes that she's still engaged to Alex, since he's alive again and all. She wonders about the ethics of dumping Alex for his identical past counterpart, Wes. Man, Jen is kind of awful. Credits!
In the clock tower, Wes is worried about being more like Alex, what with him already being engaged to Jen. Wes remembers that Alex seemed more concerned with preventing the total collapse of the future than with boning Jen, and figures that he's still got a shot. Okay, Wes is awful too. And that means it's time for another awkward Jen and Wes conversation. Man, I bet Alex wishes that Ransik had just finished him off, rather than letting him live to see this.
Trip and Katie report in about the rather suspicious gym dealie, and the Rangers decide to send in two people to investigate. Lucas suggests Jen and Wes. Holy fuck, Lucas! Wasn't the mutiny against Alex enough?
At the gym, the leader is observing the progress of his clients and making sure that everyone drinks as much of the super-strength chemical as possible. Wes and Jen show up wearing truly awful disguises, and more awkward moments between the pair ensue. A reasonably hot receptionist flirts with Wes and Jen sneaks into the recesses of the gym and sees a guy disappear into a back room where they're turning people into Cyclobots. Really, Frax? Turning people into Cyclobots? The most hapless creations in the existence who routinely get mowed down by the dozens? That's your plan? Anyway, one of his goons captures Jen.
Jen gets brought before Frax who laughs evilly and prepares to turn Jen into another robot. Elsewhere, Wes looks for Jen and manages to rescue her in the nick of time. I then have to suffer from some more quasi-romantic tension between Wes and Jen, which continues as they fight some Cyclobots. Eric shows up to save them, but the monster of the week tosses them around for a bit until the rest of the Rangers show up. They still get their asses kicked and Circuit calls Alex for help. Alex decides to send Wes a new weapon to save the team. It's called the Stratocycle and it's some manner of flying motorcycle. Wes dusts the monster, and that means it's time for round two. It's a rather rote battle, although I do have to admit that the Time Shadowzord Mode Blue attack is the niftiest-looking finisher of this season.
Later, there is another punishing Jen/Wes scene that is soul-crushing in its banality. Gay nerd comes into save us by going to an odd job shop to look for a personal trainer. Okay....that's probably not the best place to hire someone like that. Lucas tries to pair Jen and Wes up again, and I truly, truly hate him. Show Over!
Next Time: Wes gets another new toy!
Destiny Defeated
Power Rangers: Time Force, Episode 30
Original Airdate: 9-8-2001
Last Time: Alex took control of team and tried to get them to take saving the future seriously....it did not go over well with the team.
At the clock tower, Alex is upset that the team is basically useless. Meanwhile, Frax is installing a device on Dragontron that will allow it to drain the megazords' power. Wes, meanwhile, attends his comatose father and realizes that according to Alex's prediction, Mr. Collins will surely die this day. Credits!
Eric, reacting to the events of the past couple of episodes, has realized that he can't live in a city where Wes is in charge of the biggest company and has decided to skip town. He says goodbye to the little girl from a few episodes ago and gets in a taxi for parts unknown.
But enough emotion, it's time for the rematch with Dragontron. All right, should be a good fight....and they're cutting back to the hospital where Dr. Zaskin shows up to explain that Mr. Collins was proud of Wes and tried to destroy the serum once he realized what Ransik wanted with it. That's great. Can we get back to the zord fight?
Yes, yes we can, and Frax's siphon drains the power from the megazords. Alex decides that they have to destroy the siphon first and expects his paramilitary teammates to accept the chain of command. Eh...not so much. Wes drives by the fight in a limo and decides to get out and help because, I don't know. It's probably a good time, because the Rangers are full-on revolting against Alex, which gets them all badly hurt.
Wes shows up at the clock tower and looks at those pictures before he gets called in by an injured Circuit. This briefly causes Wes to breakdown due to all of the events of the past few episodes, but he gets out of it rather quickly and decides to charge off and help the other Rangers.
At that very fight, Alex is being a real dictator by demanding that the Rangers get up instead of lying on the ground, waiting to be shot. The Rangers finally lose it and accuse Alex of being an asshole for taking Wes' morpher.....you know, the one that used to be Alex's until he was almost killed trying to stop Ransik. Frax takes advantage of the mutiny by almost killing the Rangers, but Wes stops him, and then takes out the power siphon, despite him never actually being told what it was or how to stop it.
Anyway, Alex realizes that there's really not much he can do except give Wes the morpher. They Rangers get back in the megazord and start fighting. Alex, being basically a much better guy than the rest of the Rangers, decides to save Mr. Collins with future technology despite the fact that it will most likely screw up the future even more.
Meanwhile, Eric is still driving out of town when he sees Dragontron and the Time Force Megazord fighting and suddenly remembers that he was totally supposed to help kill that thing. He summons the Q-Rex, and Wes suddenly has a crazy idea that involves the megazord riding the Q-Rex like a horse. The Rangers give Wes their unconditional support because apparently they actually trust Wes instead of Alex...you know, their old teammate. Somehow, the manuever works and kills Dragontron.
Wes rushes to the hospital to find that Mr. Collins has made a full recovery. Mr. Collins explains that he saw Wes right before he was suddenly made well and Wes realizes that Alex saved his father's life. They talk for a bit, and it's kind of boring.
Later, Alex makes a bit of small talk about destiny and goes back to the future, presumably to cancel his wedding reservations and ponder how he can get revenge on Wes without accidentally preventing himself from ever being born. Show Over!
Next Time: Frax has another terrible, terrible plan, and Ransik continues his sabbatical.
Original Airdate: 9-8-2001
Last Time: Alex took control of team and tried to get them to take saving the future seriously....it did not go over well with the team.
At the clock tower, Alex is upset that the team is basically useless. Meanwhile, Frax is installing a device on Dragontron that will allow it to drain the megazords' power. Wes, meanwhile, attends his comatose father and realizes that according to Alex's prediction, Mr. Collins will surely die this day. Credits!
Eric, reacting to the events of the past couple of episodes, has realized that he can't live in a city where Wes is in charge of the biggest company and has decided to skip town. He says goodbye to the little girl from a few episodes ago and gets in a taxi for parts unknown.
But enough emotion, it's time for the rematch with Dragontron. All right, should be a good fight....and they're cutting back to the hospital where Dr. Zaskin shows up to explain that Mr. Collins was proud of Wes and tried to destroy the serum once he realized what Ransik wanted with it. That's great. Can we get back to the zord fight?
Yes, yes we can, and Frax's siphon drains the power from the megazords. Alex decides that they have to destroy the siphon first and expects his paramilitary teammates to accept the chain of command. Eh...not so much. Wes drives by the fight in a limo and decides to get out and help because, I don't know. It's probably a good time, because the Rangers are full-on revolting against Alex, which gets them all badly hurt.
Wes shows up at the clock tower and looks at those pictures before he gets called in by an injured Circuit. This briefly causes Wes to breakdown due to all of the events of the past few episodes, but he gets out of it rather quickly and decides to charge off and help the other Rangers.
At that very fight, Alex is being a real dictator by demanding that the Rangers get up instead of lying on the ground, waiting to be shot. The Rangers finally lose it and accuse Alex of being an asshole for taking Wes' morpher.....you know, the one that used to be Alex's until he was almost killed trying to stop Ransik. Frax takes advantage of the mutiny by almost killing the Rangers, but Wes stops him, and then takes out the power siphon, despite him never actually being told what it was or how to stop it.
Anyway, Alex realizes that there's really not much he can do except give Wes the morpher. They Rangers get back in the megazord and start fighting. Alex, being basically a much better guy than the rest of the Rangers, decides to save Mr. Collins with future technology despite the fact that it will most likely screw up the future even more.
Meanwhile, Eric is still driving out of town when he sees Dragontron and the Time Force Megazord fighting and suddenly remembers that he was totally supposed to help kill that thing. He summons the Q-Rex, and Wes suddenly has a crazy idea that involves the megazord riding the Q-Rex like a horse. The Rangers give Wes their unconditional support because apparently they actually trust Wes instead of Alex...you know, their old teammate. Somehow, the manuever works and kills Dragontron.
Wes rushes to the hospital to find that Mr. Collins has made a full recovery. Mr. Collins explains that he saw Wes right before he was suddenly made well and Wes realizes that Alex saved his father's life. They talk for a bit, and it's kind of boring.
Later, Alex makes a bit of small talk about destiny and goes back to the future, presumably to cancel his wedding reservations and ponder how he can get revenge on Wes without accidentally preventing himself from ever being born. Show Over!
Next Time: Frax has another terrible, terrible plan, and Ransik continues his sabbatical.
Fight Against Fate
Power Rangers: Time Force, Episode 29
Original Airdate: 8-25-2001
Last Time: Jen was worried about fucking up the future with her....imperfect leadership, and Alex came back from the future, as well as the dead, to explain that she didn't have to worry about such things....because her and the other chuckleheads had already broken the future good. Meanwhile, Ransik scored some more serum and almost killed Mr. Collins in the process. Now who will be relentlessly mercenary?
Alex explains that he didn't really die in the first episode, but that there's no time for a real explanation, as he takes the team to his timeship.
At the hospital, Mr. Collins is about to go under the knife, and Eric looks about as pensive as a man in a red beret can. Let's face it, red berets are the jauntiest headgear a soldier can wear. Credits!
Back in the new timeship, Alex starts dressing the team down for their chronic suckitude. Trip asks how exactly the future was changed, and Alex evades the question because...well, I don't the writers really thought this plot through. Alex then explains that Frax is building a giant robot, and that he doesn't trust the team to defeat it, so he's taking back the position of Red Ranger. Everyone objects, but Alex explains that it's Wes' destiny to take over his father's company. Wes, in perhaps my favorite moment of Wes being Wes, tries to convince the man who came from the future with the express purpose of not allowing the future to be changed in any way, that he intends to chart his own fate. Alex shuts Wes up by telling him that Mr. Collins is about to die. Wes doesn't believe him, but Eric calls in to tell Wes that his father's in hospital, which somehow convinces Wes to hand in his morpher.
At the hospital, some ruthless business are already worried about who's going to take over the business, because they're heartless capitalists and all that. Wes shows up and sees that his father's not looking too good, and one of the corporate raiders tries to convince Wes to take over the family business.
Back at the clock tower, Alex starts to realize exactly how crappy his team really is when he sees their ramshackle base of operations. Anyway, we're supposed to hate Alex, so he orders the team into their uniforms. He also finds a polaroid of Wes kissing Jen and is rather unhappy at the prospect of his fiance banging his identical forefather. Jen asks why Alex is being so cold, and Alex explains that the future is kind of unravelling and that's a pretty big deal. Alex, using his future knowledge, then accurately predicts the coming of Frax's robot, and gets the megazord ready in advance.
The giant robot, named Dragontron, surfaces and Alex explains that there's only one weak spot on the robot, and if they fuck it up, they're all very, very dead.
Meanwhile, Wes has agreed to take over his father's company and gets introduced at a board meeting that Eric is attending. Unsurprisingly, Eric is rather irritated that Senor Fuckup managed to take control of the company despite having zero business experience or acumen.
Back at the fight, Alex's ambush almost works, but then goes horribly, horribly awry. Eric, still at the board meeting, is informed of the situation, but Wes is forced to stay. The Q-Rex enters the fray, but doesn't really help much. In the heat of the battle, Jen accidentally calls Alex "Wes," which doesn't seem to bother him overmuch, as he's a professional.
Conversely, in Wes' imagination, without him, the Rangers are all getting killed and bemoaning the fact that Wes would certainly have saved them had he been there. In reality, the Rangers are able to drive Dragontron off, albeit intact.
Later, Alex dresses down the team for generally sucking, and team starts grumbling behind his back. Katie wonders why he's so mad at the team. Well, Katie, you see, the purpose of your team was to ensure that the future didn't get destroyed....and the future is getting destroyed. That might have something to do with it.
Wes goes to the hosptial to see his dad, who's still in a coma. To Be Continued!
Next Time: The Status Quo gets restored....hard.
Original Airdate: 8-25-2001
Last Time: Jen was worried about fucking up the future with her....imperfect leadership, and Alex came back from the future, as well as the dead, to explain that she didn't have to worry about such things....because her and the other chuckleheads had already broken the future good. Meanwhile, Ransik scored some more serum and almost killed Mr. Collins in the process. Now who will be relentlessly mercenary?
Alex explains that he didn't really die in the first episode, but that there's no time for a real explanation, as he takes the team to his timeship.
At the hospital, Mr. Collins is about to go under the knife, and Eric looks about as pensive as a man in a red beret can. Let's face it, red berets are the jauntiest headgear a soldier can wear. Credits!
Back in the new timeship, Alex starts dressing the team down for their chronic suckitude. Trip asks how exactly the future was changed, and Alex evades the question because...well, I don't the writers really thought this plot through. Alex then explains that Frax is building a giant robot, and that he doesn't trust the team to defeat it, so he's taking back the position of Red Ranger. Everyone objects, but Alex explains that it's Wes' destiny to take over his father's company. Wes, in perhaps my favorite moment of Wes being Wes, tries to convince the man who came from the future with the express purpose of not allowing the future to be changed in any way, that he intends to chart his own fate. Alex shuts Wes up by telling him that Mr. Collins is about to die. Wes doesn't believe him, but Eric calls in to tell Wes that his father's in hospital, which somehow convinces Wes to hand in his morpher.
At the hospital, some ruthless business are already worried about who's going to take over the business, because they're heartless capitalists and all that. Wes shows up and sees that his father's not looking too good, and one of the corporate raiders tries to convince Wes to take over the family business.
Back at the clock tower, Alex starts to realize exactly how crappy his team really is when he sees their ramshackle base of operations. Anyway, we're supposed to hate Alex, so he orders the team into their uniforms. He also finds a polaroid of Wes kissing Jen and is rather unhappy at the prospect of his fiance banging his identical forefather. Jen asks why Alex is being so cold, and Alex explains that the future is kind of unravelling and that's a pretty big deal. Alex, using his future knowledge, then accurately predicts the coming of Frax's robot, and gets the megazord ready in advance.
The giant robot, named Dragontron, surfaces and Alex explains that there's only one weak spot on the robot, and if they fuck it up, they're all very, very dead.
Meanwhile, Wes has agreed to take over his father's company and gets introduced at a board meeting that Eric is attending. Unsurprisingly, Eric is rather irritated that Senor Fuckup managed to take control of the company despite having zero business experience or acumen.
Back at the fight, Alex's ambush almost works, but then goes horribly, horribly awry. Eric, still at the board meeting, is informed of the situation, but Wes is forced to stay. The Q-Rex enters the fray, but doesn't really help much. In the heat of the battle, Jen accidentally calls Alex "Wes," which doesn't seem to bother him overmuch, as he's a professional.
Conversely, in Wes' imagination, without him, the Rangers are all getting killed and bemoaning the fact that Wes would certainly have saved them had he been there. In reality, the Rangers are able to drive Dragontron off, albeit intact.
Later, Alex dresses down the team for generally sucking, and team starts grumbling behind his back. Katie wonders why he's so mad at the team. Well, Katie, you see, the purpose of your team was to ensure that the future didn't get destroyed....and the future is getting destroyed. That might have something to do with it.
Wes goes to the hosptial to see his dad, who's still in a coma. To Be Continued!
Next Time: The Status Quo gets restored....hard.
Dawn of Destiny
Power Rangers: Time Force, Episode 28
Original Airdate: 8-18-2001
Last Time: Frax came up with a truly terrible plan to get rid of Ransik via his illness that was so poorly conceived that it led to the mass production of the cure to the disease.
Frax is still running away from Ransik who intends to annihilate him for the events of last episode. Unfortunately, the Cyclobots won't rat out their fellow robot, and so the search is fruitless.
But enough plot, it time for the Rangers take strike stupid poses in front of a camera. Actually, I'm not sure if this scene isn't some sort of product placement deal with Polaroid. Jen breaks up the levity to discuss her worry that the Rangers are hopelessly fucking up the future. Case in point, the serum from last episode has now been invented a couple of hundred years too early. Wes vows to get it back, because, well, the Rangers don't really care about the people of the present except insofar as they are necessary to achieve the Ranger's preferred future. Credits!
In Mr. Collins' office, some businessmen explain that thanks to the serum, Mr. Collins is even more incredibly wealthy than before. Plus, he even defers to Eric when it comes to matters concerning the expansion of the Silver Guardians. Looks like everyone wins! But Wes, being Wes, believes that the only way to get Jen is to do whatever she says, and sneaks into a lab to steal the serum. Eric, being much better than Wes, stops him about five seconds into the heist.
Wes tries to explain that he has to steal the serum for everyone's sake and...well, I guess it would help the people of the future maintain their current timeline, but I don't see how it's doing any good for the people of the present. Mr. Collins shows up and is unconvinced by his son's evasive attempts to get him to turn over the serum.
Back in Ransik's Den of Doom, Ransik is completely out of serum, but quickly finds out that Mr. Collins still has some serum left over from last episode. Meanwhile, Wes whines to Jen that his father wants to use the serum to make money, as opposed to withholding from mankind in order to protect a future that he doesn't know about and that isn't particularly impressive in any case. The cad!
In some warehouse, Frax has decided to build a giant evil robot, a process monitored by Alex a thousand years in the future.
Ransik launches an attack on the lab with the serum so that he doesn't die an agonizing death. Mr. Collins gets caught up in the crossfire, and the Silver Guardians face off against some Cyclobots in a thrilling contest of cannon fodder. Both Ransik and Mr. Collins end up in the lab, and Mr. Collins blocks Ransik's path and vows to destroy the remaining serum so that he can kill Ransik and protect his son. They have a rather uncompelling conversation about Wes and forging your own path or something that Ransik mercifully ends by blasting Mr. Collins in the chest.
Ransik escapes, but runs into Eric, who Ransik also badly injures. Christ, Ransik, why can't you ever cripple characters I don't like? Eric is able to recover quickly enough to see Mr. Collins get taken to the hospital.
Elsewhere, a new monster is laying waste to the city and the Rangers fight off some Cyclobots in a fight that is filler even by the standards of this show. The exciting time-killing action continues with a megazord fight only notable for Alex finally realizing that he's going to have to do something little more constructive than launching the Time Shadow every episode to prevent his future from ceasing to be, and he heads off to have a frank exchange of ideas with the Rangers.
Meanwhile, Mr. Collins get wheeled into surgery. Will he make it? Well, first we have to see the conclusion of the Rangers' fight against the wholly undistinctive monster. Spoiler: They kill him. And then Frax continues to build his evil robot.
The Rangers celebrate another downed monster, and Jen is still worried about breaking the future. Alex shows up out of nowhere to explain that the Rangers have already fucked up the timeline, but that he's going to fix everything. Step one: Kick Wes' ass for getting too close to Alex's fiance. Show Over!
Next Time: More of the same, really.
Original Airdate: 8-18-2001
Last Time: Frax came up with a truly terrible plan to get rid of Ransik via his illness that was so poorly conceived that it led to the mass production of the cure to the disease.
Frax is still running away from Ransik who intends to annihilate him for the events of last episode. Unfortunately, the Cyclobots won't rat out their fellow robot, and so the search is fruitless.
But enough plot, it time for the Rangers take strike stupid poses in front of a camera. Actually, I'm not sure if this scene isn't some sort of product placement deal with Polaroid. Jen breaks up the levity to discuss her worry that the Rangers are hopelessly fucking up the future. Case in point, the serum from last episode has now been invented a couple of hundred years too early. Wes vows to get it back, because, well, the Rangers don't really care about the people of the present except insofar as they are necessary to achieve the Ranger's preferred future. Credits!
In Mr. Collins' office, some businessmen explain that thanks to the serum, Mr. Collins is even more incredibly wealthy than before. Plus, he even defers to Eric when it comes to matters concerning the expansion of the Silver Guardians. Looks like everyone wins! But Wes, being Wes, believes that the only way to get Jen is to do whatever she says, and sneaks into a lab to steal the serum. Eric, being much better than Wes, stops him about five seconds into the heist.
Wes tries to explain that he has to steal the serum for everyone's sake and...well, I guess it would help the people of the future maintain their current timeline, but I don't see how it's doing any good for the people of the present. Mr. Collins shows up and is unconvinced by his son's evasive attempts to get him to turn over the serum.
Back in Ransik's Den of Doom, Ransik is completely out of serum, but quickly finds out that Mr. Collins still has some serum left over from last episode. Meanwhile, Wes whines to Jen that his father wants to use the serum to make money, as opposed to withholding from mankind in order to protect a future that he doesn't know about and that isn't particularly impressive in any case. The cad!
In some warehouse, Frax has decided to build a giant evil robot, a process monitored by Alex a thousand years in the future.
Ransik launches an attack on the lab with the serum so that he doesn't die an agonizing death. Mr. Collins gets caught up in the crossfire, and the Silver Guardians face off against some Cyclobots in a thrilling contest of cannon fodder. Both Ransik and Mr. Collins end up in the lab, and Mr. Collins blocks Ransik's path and vows to destroy the remaining serum so that he can kill Ransik and protect his son. They have a rather uncompelling conversation about Wes and forging your own path or something that Ransik mercifully ends by blasting Mr. Collins in the chest.
Ransik escapes, but runs into Eric, who Ransik also badly injures. Christ, Ransik, why can't you ever cripple characters I don't like? Eric is able to recover quickly enough to see Mr. Collins get taken to the hospital.
Elsewhere, a new monster is laying waste to the city and the Rangers fight off some Cyclobots in a fight that is filler even by the standards of this show. The exciting time-killing action continues with a megazord fight only notable for Alex finally realizing that he's going to have to do something little more constructive than launching the Time Shadow every episode to prevent his future from ceasing to be, and he heads off to have a frank exchange of ideas with the Rangers.
Meanwhile, Mr. Collins get wheeled into surgery. Will he make it? Well, first we have to see the conclusion of the Rangers' fight against the wholly undistinctive monster. Spoiler: They kill him. And then Frax continues to build his evil robot.
The Rangers celebrate another downed monster, and Jen is still worried about breaking the future. Alex shows up out of nowhere to explain that the Rangers have already fucked up the timeline, but that he's going to fix everything. Step one: Kick Wes' ass for getting too close to Alex's fiance. Show Over!
Next Time: More of the same, really.
Frax's Fury
Power Rangers: Time Force, Episode 27
Original Airdate: 8-11-2001
Last Time: We learned that mutants should not be allowed to join Time Force!
In the bowels of Ransik's Lair, Frax is planning the robot revolution. Ransik, who will be first against the wall, calls for Frax to give him some serum for his illness. Frax realizes that if lets Ransik die, it would greatly further his plan, but it amounts to nothing as Nadira pops in to give Ransik his medicine. Frax may be the least threatening evil robot I have ever seen. Credits!
Frax continues his ineffectual plotting, and once more claims that only he has access the the dreaded X-Vault, which has proven to be a bit of dud so far. Anyway, he releases a mutant, which starts attacking people with some sort of poison sting. Eric arrives and notices that the sting creates an ominous flesh-bubbling effect in the infected people.
Back at his base, Ransik is kind of confused that a monster was released without his consent. Ransik realizes that the monster, Venomark, and explains that the illness that has frequently prevented him from killing the Rangers was the result of a run-in with the monster in the past.
Ransik then explains that he was saved by a doctor who was passing by. The doctor took him back to his lab and gave him some serum. They them get into an argument about the merits of enslaving robots, which abruptly ends when Ransik knocks the doctor to the ground, steals as much serum as he can and the burns down the lab.
Having concluded his story, Ransik then resolves to murder Venomark at his soonest convenience. Back in the city, the Rangers find the monster and start fighting it, a struggle that goes comically wrong as the everyone except for Wes gets bitten in the span of ten seconds. Well, that was efficient. Ransik shows up and beats the fuck out of Venomark before his illness once more gets the better of him and the monster gets away. Ransik serums up and Wes realizes that there's a cure to Venomark's poison.
Elsewhere, Venomark complains the Frax that Ransik is out for his blood and Frax promises to look into it. Back at the clock tower, the Rangers except Wes are suffering from their poisoned wounds. Wes then finds out on the TV that people are hurting throughout the city. Circuit then tells him that there is no cure, and Wes once again remembers Ransik's serum. So, now Wes has to infiltrate Ransik's base and procure some serum in an action-packed sequence, right? Nah, he just finds the vial of serum that Ransik used earlier in the episode that has a bit of the fluid still in it.
Okay, but now Wes has to find some interesting way to produce new serum, right? Well, no, he just gives it to Mr. Collins who has the infrastructure in place to mass-produce the cure. Mr. Collins, of course, sees the opportunity for profit and agrees. Okay, but it will take some time for the serum to be ready, and a monster could attack in the meantime, right? Well, once again, no, the cure gets manufactured basically instantly and everyone's cured. That was fast.
Venomark attacks again, but, well, his time as a credible threat has passed. There is a funny moment where Lucas jumps in front of a small case of the cure in order to protect, but that's only funny because earlier in the scene there were truckloads of the serum being brought in. Anyway, Eric uses his regrettable Battilizer to defeat Venomark, and then he gets taken down again by the megazords.
Later, everyone's pretty happy with the resolution of the episode, except for Ransik, who's had his supply of serum destroyed by Frax, who chooses this moment to reveal that he's been plotting against Ransik for a while now. Frax also explains that he was the human doctor who saved Ransik from Venomark years previously. Apparently, the doctor had been mortally wounded by Ransik's attack, but still had enough life left to build himself an entire robot body out of scratch and then put his mind in said robot body. Ransik is confused by this story, because it basically makes no sense. Frax then destroys the very last vial of serum...but probably should have made his move before truckloads of the stuff had been mass-produced by Mr. Collins. Again, Frax isn't very good at scheming. Show Over!
Next Time: Frax's plan manages to look even worse!
Original Airdate: 8-11-2001
Last Time: We learned that mutants should not be allowed to join Time Force!
In the bowels of Ransik's Lair, Frax is planning the robot revolution. Ransik, who will be first against the wall, calls for Frax to give him some serum for his illness. Frax realizes that if lets Ransik die, it would greatly further his plan, but it amounts to nothing as Nadira pops in to give Ransik his medicine. Frax may be the least threatening evil robot I have ever seen. Credits!
Frax continues his ineffectual plotting, and once more claims that only he has access the the dreaded X-Vault, which has proven to be a bit of dud so far. Anyway, he releases a mutant, which starts attacking people with some sort of poison sting. Eric arrives and notices that the sting creates an ominous flesh-bubbling effect in the infected people.
Back at his base, Ransik is kind of confused that a monster was released without his consent. Ransik realizes that the monster, Venomark, and explains that the illness that has frequently prevented him from killing the Rangers was the result of a run-in with the monster in the past.
Ransik then explains that he was saved by a doctor who was passing by. The doctor took him back to his lab and gave him some serum. They them get into an argument about the merits of enslaving robots, which abruptly ends when Ransik knocks the doctor to the ground, steals as much serum as he can and the burns down the lab.
Having concluded his story, Ransik then resolves to murder Venomark at his soonest convenience. Back in the city, the Rangers find the monster and start fighting it, a struggle that goes comically wrong as the everyone except for Wes gets bitten in the span of ten seconds. Well, that was efficient. Ransik shows up and beats the fuck out of Venomark before his illness once more gets the better of him and the monster gets away. Ransik serums up and Wes realizes that there's a cure to Venomark's poison.
Elsewhere, Venomark complains the Frax that Ransik is out for his blood and Frax promises to look into it. Back at the clock tower, the Rangers except Wes are suffering from their poisoned wounds. Wes then finds out on the TV that people are hurting throughout the city. Circuit then tells him that there is no cure, and Wes once again remembers Ransik's serum. So, now Wes has to infiltrate Ransik's base and procure some serum in an action-packed sequence, right? Nah, he just finds the vial of serum that Ransik used earlier in the episode that has a bit of the fluid still in it.
Okay, but now Wes has to find some interesting way to produce new serum, right? Well, no, he just gives it to Mr. Collins who has the infrastructure in place to mass-produce the cure. Mr. Collins, of course, sees the opportunity for profit and agrees. Okay, but it will take some time for the serum to be ready, and a monster could attack in the meantime, right? Well, once again, no, the cure gets manufactured basically instantly and everyone's cured. That was fast.
Venomark attacks again, but, well, his time as a credible threat has passed. There is a funny moment where Lucas jumps in front of a small case of the cure in order to protect, but that's only funny because earlier in the scene there were truckloads of the serum being brought in. Anyway, Eric uses his regrettable Battilizer to defeat Venomark, and then he gets taken down again by the megazords.
Later, everyone's pretty happy with the resolution of the episode, except for Ransik, who's had his supply of serum destroyed by Frax, who chooses this moment to reveal that he's been plotting against Ransik for a while now. Frax also explains that he was the human doctor who saved Ransik from Venomark years previously. Apparently, the doctor had been mortally wounded by Ransik's attack, but still had enough life left to build himself an entire robot body out of scratch and then put his mind in said robot body. Ransik is confused by this story, because it basically makes no sense. Frax then destroys the very last vial of serum...but probably should have made his move before truckloads of the stuff had been mass-produced by Mr. Collins. Again, Frax isn't very good at scheming. Show Over!
Next Time: Frax's plan manages to look even worse!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Time Force Traitor
Power Rangers: Time Force, Episode 26
Original Airdate: 8-4-2001
Last Time: The Rangers played dress up!
The Rangers are doing some moving and Katie shows off her super-strength. Meanwhile Jen gets stalked. Back at the clock tower, Jen and Wes makes some cookies, which apparently don't exist in the future. Jen accidentally breaks the eggs so as to give her stalker a chance to stalk her some more. And does he ever! Credits!
Jen gets captured in the present by her stalker, who turns out to be her old partner from her past in the future. The other Rangers decide that they should try and find Jen, but she stagger back to the clock tower relatively unharmed. She reports in to the future that her old partner, Steelix, has been released. It's exposition time! Steelix was Jen's first partner in Time Force before he was convicted of selling technology to the mutants thanks to Jen. Anyway, he's back and he's already stolen Jen's morpher.
In the future, Jen's superior goes to talk his boss to tell him about Steelix. His boss turns out to be Alex. Back in the present, Jen decides that the only logical solution is to confront Steelix directly, but she is quickly gainsaid by Wes, who comes up with a different plan that involves using Jen as bait. It falls apart as Steelix is way smarter than Wes and only sends a message for Jen to meet him alone.
Jen agrees to do this, and quickly loses the other Rangers so that she can confront him. Steelix and Jen fight, and I get distracted by her skirt. In my defense, it's short and she has great legs. She gets her morpher back, but Steelix sprays her with some mist that makes her evil. Wes fights evil Jen while the other Rangers fight Steelix. Wes gets Jen in a bear hug and somehow makes her good again. Well...that didn't last long.
Steelix gets confronted by the reassembled Rangers and Eric shows up, because, well, why not? They kill Steelix, which leads to this exchange:
Jen: Let's go, Steelix!
Steelix: Did you say 'grow?'
Bad writers! Bad! Don't do that again! Anyway, the megazord fight goes exactly how you'd expect. Later, the Rangers reflect on the nature of betrayal and Jen bakes Wes some cookies. Of course, as established earlier, there are no cookies in the future, so the cookies are awful.
In the future, Alex makes some vague comments about "the future shifting" and "needing to get more involved." I.....could not care less. Show Over!
Next Time: The mutant-robot alliance breaks down!
Original Airdate: 8-4-2001
Last Time: The Rangers played dress up!
The Rangers are doing some moving and Katie shows off her super-strength. Meanwhile Jen gets stalked. Back at the clock tower, Jen and Wes makes some cookies, which apparently don't exist in the future. Jen accidentally breaks the eggs so as to give her stalker a chance to stalk her some more. And does he ever! Credits!
Jen gets captured in the present by her stalker, who turns out to be her old partner from her past in the future. The other Rangers decide that they should try and find Jen, but she stagger back to the clock tower relatively unharmed. She reports in to the future that her old partner, Steelix, has been released. It's exposition time! Steelix was Jen's first partner in Time Force before he was convicted of selling technology to the mutants thanks to Jen. Anyway, he's back and he's already stolen Jen's morpher.
In the future, Jen's superior goes to talk his boss to tell him about Steelix. His boss turns out to be Alex. Back in the present, Jen decides that the only logical solution is to confront Steelix directly, but she is quickly gainsaid by Wes, who comes up with a different plan that involves using Jen as bait. It falls apart as Steelix is way smarter than Wes and only sends a message for Jen to meet him alone.
Jen agrees to do this, and quickly loses the other Rangers so that she can confront him. Steelix and Jen fight, and I get distracted by her skirt. In my defense, it's short and she has great legs. She gets her morpher back, but Steelix sprays her with some mist that makes her evil. Wes fights evil Jen while the other Rangers fight Steelix. Wes gets Jen in a bear hug and somehow makes her good again. Well...that didn't last long.
Steelix gets confronted by the reassembled Rangers and Eric shows up, because, well, why not? They kill Steelix, which leads to this exchange:
Jen: Let's go, Steelix!
Steelix: Did you say 'grow?'
Bad writers! Bad! Don't do that again! Anyway, the megazord fight goes exactly how you'd expect. Later, the Rangers reflect on the nature of betrayal and Jen bakes Wes some cookies. Of course, as established earlier, there are no cookies in the future, so the cookies are awful.
In the future, Alex makes some vague comments about "the future shifting" and "needing to get more involved." I.....could not care less. Show Over!
Next Time: The mutant-robot alliance breaks down!
Movie Madness, Part II
Power Rangers: Time Force, Episode 25
Original Airdate: 7-28-2001
Last Time: A monster named Cinecon trapped the Rangers in movie parodies, and the writers thought that that was so clever that they stretched it to two episodes.
Back in the Western, Trip steals a horse and saves Wes. This leads to Nadira quitting the troubled production. Trip tells Wes that the clapboard is the key to getting out the movie dimension, and they start to formulate a plan to steal it. Credits!
In the jungle movie, Eric is still about to be cooked and eaten. Luckily for him, he's able to get a trained chimp to break him out of his cage. The other movie satires also continue apace. In Western-land, Trip and Wes manage to trick Cinecon in a deception too stupid to put into words and frees the Rangers, also managing to knock Eric, who had been swinging on a vine, into a stone wall.
Ransik shows up to put a damper on their celebration and to shout his lines as loudly as possible to prove that he's acting as hard as he can. Naturally this involves running the Rangers down in some Mad Max-looking vehicles. The chase begins, but takes a quick break as Ransik loses track of the Rangers almost immediately, and the team takes a pit stop at the craft services table. Jen steals a passing by golf cart and the chase resumes....until the golf cart runs out of gas. The Rangers split up and fight some more Cyclobots.
The Rangers escape only be caught up in a flashflood, which somehow leads them into a wardrobe where every single member of the team takes the opportunity to disguise themself as a member of the opposite sex. In fairness to the writers, once they realized that they didn't have two episodes worth of material, it was too late to go back and cancel this two-parted. Also, Katie is most convincing as a member of the opposite sex, mainly due to a judiciously applied fake soul-patch. Ransik tracks the Rangers down to the wardrobe room and accidentally puts on an intricate frilly dress. I don't know how the hell that happened. Can we just call it an episode here? Nine more minutes? Are you fucking kidding me?
Ransik enters a room where a five-member rock band is playing loudly, but can't make the logical inference and wanders off before the band reveals themselves to be the Rangers in another disguise. You know, just having the characters dress up in funny outfits isn't really enough for an entire episode. Anyway, they make it outside where Cinecon teleports in their motorcycles and resumes the chase scene from earlier. Yeah, the last few scenes, completely and utterly pointless in every way.
Anyway, instead of continuing the pursuit, the Rangers blast away at the cars following them, eventually leading to Wes hunting Ransik down, and getting him to run into another car in a homage to the end of Waterworld. Neat, but if you're referencing Waterworld, that means that your movie parody episode is completely out of ideas.
Cinecon's declares it's time for the megazord fight and the Rangers realize that they're still in the movie dimension. The monster then brings in the Q-Rex and the megazord that sends the Time Force Megazord into the scene for no particularly good reason. They fight for a bit before Cinecon realizes that he's missing the last page of his script, which somehow allows the Rangers to kill him for reasons that I leave to English majors among us to speculate on.
Later, the Rangers watch a Frankie Chang movie, and they reminisce on scenes from earlier in the episode. Show Over! Thank you God, Show Over!
Next Time: Jen turns evil....more evil!
Original Airdate: 7-28-2001
Last Time: A monster named Cinecon trapped the Rangers in movie parodies, and the writers thought that that was so clever that they stretched it to two episodes.
Back in the Western, Trip steals a horse and saves Wes. This leads to Nadira quitting the troubled production. Trip tells Wes that the clapboard is the key to getting out the movie dimension, and they start to formulate a plan to steal it. Credits!
In the jungle movie, Eric is still about to be cooked and eaten. Luckily for him, he's able to get a trained chimp to break him out of his cage. The other movie satires also continue apace. In Western-land, Trip and Wes manage to trick Cinecon in a deception too stupid to put into words and frees the Rangers, also managing to knock Eric, who had been swinging on a vine, into a stone wall.
Ransik shows up to put a damper on their celebration and to shout his lines as loudly as possible to prove that he's acting as hard as he can. Naturally this involves running the Rangers down in some Mad Max-looking vehicles. The chase begins, but takes a quick break as Ransik loses track of the Rangers almost immediately, and the team takes a pit stop at the craft services table. Jen steals a passing by golf cart and the chase resumes....until the golf cart runs out of gas. The Rangers split up and fight some more Cyclobots.
The Rangers escape only be caught up in a flashflood, which somehow leads them into a wardrobe where every single member of the team takes the opportunity to disguise themself as a member of the opposite sex. In fairness to the writers, once they realized that they didn't have two episodes worth of material, it was too late to go back and cancel this two-parted. Also, Katie is most convincing as a member of the opposite sex, mainly due to a judiciously applied fake soul-patch. Ransik tracks the Rangers down to the wardrobe room and accidentally puts on an intricate frilly dress. I don't know how the hell that happened. Can we just call it an episode here? Nine more minutes? Are you fucking kidding me?
Ransik enters a room where a five-member rock band is playing loudly, but can't make the logical inference and wanders off before the band reveals themselves to be the Rangers in another disguise. You know, just having the characters dress up in funny outfits isn't really enough for an entire episode. Anyway, they make it outside where Cinecon teleports in their motorcycles and resumes the chase scene from earlier. Yeah, the last few scenes, completely and utterly pointless in every way.
Anyway, instead of continuing the pursuit, the Rangers blast away at the cars following them, eventually leading to Wes hunting Ransik down, and getting him to run into another car in a homage to the end of Waterworld. Neat, but if you're referencing Waterworld, that means that your movie parody episode is completely out of ideas.
Cinecon's declares it's time for the megazord fight and the Rangers realize that they're still in the movie dimension. The monster then brings in the Q-Rex and the megazord that sends the Time Force Megazord into the scene for no particularly good reason. They fight for a bit before Cinecon realizes that he's missing the last page of his script, which somehow allows the Rangers to kill him for reasons that I leave to English majors among us to speculate on.
Later, the Rangers watch a Frankie Chang movie, and they reminisce on scenes from earlier in the episode. Show Over! Thank you God, Show Over!
Next Time: Jen turns evil....more evil!
Movie Madness, Part I
Power Rangers: Time Force, Episode 24
Original Airdate: 7-21-2001
Last Time: An enterprising photographer learned an important lesson on journalistic ethics: if your subject doesn't want compromising information leaked to the press, then it's your duty to bury it deep. Fuck you, Woodward and Bernstein!
Trip and Wes are watching a Western while Jen works, which leads her to shut off the TV. Katie shows up to tell the Rangers that they're shooting a movie down the street. Jen, being the buzzkill that she is, denies the team permission to go look until Lucas mentions that Jen's favorite action star "Frankie Chang" will be there. Oh, man, it's 90 seconds into a two-parter and I'll already don't want to do this. Credits!
The Rangers wander onto the set and see a stereotypical Asian man pull a weak Jackie Chan impersonation. It's world-famous copyright evading actor Frankie Chang! The Rangers discuss their favorite genres of movie and...wait a minute....a two-part episode, a film theme...oh, no.
Anyway, one of the stuntmen gets hurt and Wes volunteers to take his place. Wes gets dressed up in a leather jacket and puts on a wig and looks like the ultimate douche. The long hair makes me realize that as much as I didn't like Leo or Wes....next season will force me to....re-evaluate certain fundamental conceptions of douchery.
They shoot Wes' scene and it's a scene were Frankie Chang heroically tries to impale an unarmed man with his sword. They fight for a good, long while before Frankie lands a hit on Wes who realizes that the sword, and, by extension, the fight, are very real. This gets confirmed when the director tries to kill Wes with some dynamite. The Rangers are confused until the director reveals the name of the movie, "The End of the Rangers." Oh, I guess they'll need another take then.
Actually, the movie was a record-breakingly long scam to kill the Rangers that didn't quite pan out. Jen has a nice little moment when she realizes that she didn't actually meet the real Frankie Chang. The director, in reality a monster called Cinecon, then transports Lucas to a Samurai movie, Katie to a musical, and Jen to a Kung Fu movie. In fairness, the producers do at least make them parodies look reasonably good.
Elsewhere, Circuit catches up with Eric, whose sabbactical is apparently over. Cinecon shows up with a casting table and camera and the makes Eric fight some Cyclobots. He then sends Eric into a Tarzan pastiche, where he is attacked by some savages.
Back at Ransik's House of Contractually Mandated Appearances, Nadira wants to be famous, more specifically, she wants to be in Cinecon's movies....which aren't actually real movies that are going to be distributed so I have no idea how that would make her famous. Ransik seems equally confused but goes along with it.
Ransik meets with Cinecon and asks him to put her in a scene, and makes it clear that the monster's going to do it lest he be murdered right then and there. Back in the movie, Wes and Trip are in a Western scene. They go to the local salloon and Wes orders some sasparillas....damn it, Wes, I know it's a kid show, but come on, you deserve to be pummelled by the locals for that alone. Cinecon gets Nadira out of her trailer and puts her in the scene. She's a terrible actress, but I'm not clear enough on the reality of these movies to know it that means anything. She puts a bounty on Trip and Wes' heads, and that starts the only fight scene in Western history where no one goes for their guns. Trip escapes from the salloon and contacts Circuit, who tells him that he's in another dimension.
Meanwhile, Lucas saves a girl from some ninjas and Katie falls in love with some guy in her musical. In the other parodies, Eric is about to be cooked by some cannibals and Jen fights off some monks. Finally, Wes gets surrounded by Cyclobots and we're supposed to believe they represent some sort of threat, despite Wes killing about a thousand of them so far this season. To Be Continued!
Next Time: The Cyclobots fall to 0-1001 against the Rangers.
Original Airdate: 7-21-2001
Last Time: An enterprising photographer learned an important lesson on journalistic ethics: if your subject doesn't want compromising information leaked to the press, then it's your duty to bury it deep. Fuck you, Woodward and Bernstein!
Trip and Wes are watching a Western while Jen works, which leads her to shut off the TV. Katie shows up to tell the Rangers that they're shooting a movie down the street. Jen, being the buzzkill that she is, denies the team permission to go look until Lucas mentions that Jen's favorite action star "Frankie Chang" will be there. Oh, man, it's 90 seconds into a two-parter and I'll already don't want to do this. Credits!
The Rangers wander onto the set and see a stereotypical Asian man pull a weak Jackie Chan impersonation. It's world-famous copyright evading actor Frankie Chang! The Rangers discuss their favorite genres of movie and...wait a minute....a two-part episode, a film theme...oh, no.
Anyway, one of the stuntmen gets hurt and Wes volunteers to take his place. Wes gets dressed up in a leather jacket and puts on a wig and looks like the ultimate douche. The long hair makes me realize that as much as I didn't like Leo or Wes....next season will force me to....re-evaluate certain fundamental conceptions of douchery.
They shoot Wes' scene and it's a scene were Frankie Chang heroically tries to impale an unarmed man with his sword. They fight for a good, long while before Frankie lands a hit on Wes who realizes that the sword, and, by extension, the fight, are very real. This gets confirmed when the director tries to kill Wes with some dynamite. The Rangers are confused until the director reveals the name of the movie, "The End of the Rangers." Oh, I guess they'll need another take then.
Actually, the movie was a record-breakingly long scam to kill the Rangers that didn't quite pan out. Jen has a nice little moment when she realizes that she didn't actually meet the real Frankie Chang. The director, in reality a monster called Cinecon, then transports Lucas to a Samurai movie, Katie to a musical, and Jen to a Kung Fu movie. In fairness, the producers do at least make them parodies look reasonably good.
Elsewhere, Circuit catches up with Eric, whose sabbactical is apparently over. Cinecon shows up with a casting table and camera and the makes Eric fight some Cyclobots. He then sends Eric into a Tarzan pastiche, where he is attacked by some savages.
Back at Ransik's House of Contractually Mandated Appearances, Nadira wants to be famous, more specifically, she wants to be in Cinecon's movies....which aren't actually real movies that are going to be distributed so I have no idea how that would make her famous. Ransik seems equally confused but goes along with it.
Ransik meets with Cinecon and asks him to put her in a scene, and makes it clear that the monster's going to do it lest he be murdered right then and there. Back in the movie, Wes and Trip are in a Western scene. They go to the local salloon and Wes orders some sasparillas....damn it, Wes, I know it's a kid show, but come on, you deserve to be pummelled by the locals for that alone. Cinecon gets Nadira out of her trailer and puts her in the scene. She's a terrible actress, but I'm not clear enough on the reality of these movies to know it that means anything. She puts a bounty on Trip and Wes' heads, and that starts the only fight scene in Western history where no one goes for their guns. Trip escapes from the salloon and contacts Circuit, who tells him that he's in another dimension.
Meanwhile, Lucas saves a girl from some ninjas and Katie falls in love with some guy in her musical. In the other parodies, Eric is about to be cooked by some cannibals and Jen fights off some monks. Finally, Wes gets surrounded by Cyclobots and we're supposed to believe they represent some sort of threat, despite Wes killing about a thousand of them so far this season. To Be Continued!
Next Time: The Cyclobots fall to 0-1001 against the Rangers.
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