The Robot Ranger

Power Rangers Turbo, Episode 30

Original Airdate: 10-03-1997

Last Time: The Phantom Ranger arc ended and I was very grateful.

At the juice bar, Bulk and Skull have new jobs as tennis ball boys. They want to be tennis instructors. Lt. Stone does not. In a stunning twist, Ashley gets covered in smoothie. All present do not laugh at her misfortune, for she is neither Bulk and Skull nor Lt. Stone, and therefore apparently has social value. She grabs a towel and wipes off the smoothie, making sure to get it out of the circuits in her arm. Justin is confused that Ashley has circuits in her arm to begin with. Justin's conclusion, "She's not real." First of all, at the very least the Blue Senturion is a robot, so you'd think he'd be a bit more understanding. Second, Justin will not do well when the robots crush mankind. Credits!

Ashley has closed up her arm and Bulk and Skull take her to the tennis court. She asks Justin if he wants to go. He almost pisses himself and declines. T.J. shows up and starts acting robotically, so, normally, then. Justin corrals T.J. into helping him with his nascent Blade Running. At the tennis court, Bulk and Skull struggle to not screw up. Despite heroic efforts, the fail. Justin's trying to explain that Ashley's a robot, possibly from the Tyrell corporation. T.J. seems unconcerned. We learn Bulk is not good at tennis. Ashley hits a ball inhumanly fast, so fast that it smashes into the fence and is smoking. Ashley is not very good at pretending to be human. Skull accidently sets the machine to shoot at balls at super-speed, but Ashley is able to suspiciously keep up. T.J. is still unconvinced. Bulk and Skull are confused at what's happening.

Divatox decides to send down a monster called Flashhead, just because. His power is to turn people into plates of film with his flashes. The monster heads down to the tennis court. Justin theorizes that if it's not the real Ashley, that it can't morph. T.J. refuses to follow Justin's plan, just as well as they all immediately morph anyway. Justin is convinced and goes in to help. The fight goes about as well as you'd expect, and Elgar manages to defeat his own Piranhatrons with the ball machine. Flashhead flees and the Rangers pursue. They fight again and Flashhead manages to get the Rangers wrapped in film, trapping them. It's worth noting that the editing here is bad even by Power Rangers standards, as the Rangers go from a sunny day in a wooded area to the Japanese footage of a cloudy day in the plains. Anyway, the Rangers escape and blast Flashhead. Divatox calls for Torpedoes quite a bit earlier than usual.

Flashhead grows and the Rangers match him with the Rescue Megazord, which is priced to move. Artillery Power is called for and delivered and the monster is defeated. Divatox is displeased, and decides there's enough time to call for another monster. Back at the juice bar, Justin apologizes for thinking that Ashley was a robot. Carlos calls Justin over for math help. The rest of the Rangers think Justin knows too much.

Later in school, Justin notices T.J. recharging his batteries...right in the middle of the hallway. Apparently they don't want people to know they're robots, but not enough to take even the slightest precaution. Justin has figured out that T.J. is a robot, and didn't need to administer the Voight-Kampff test. He also gets surrounded by RobotAshley and RobotCassie. He loudly screams that they're all robots. No other students seem to particularly care. Justin escapes as the titular robot Rangers pursue him at walking speed, as is robot tradition.

In space, Porto has the new monster ready, the Voltmeister. He's got a whip. He's sent off to fight the Rangers. On Earth, Justin is running from the robots. He runs into Carlos and manages to hurt him. The fact that Carlos feels pain convinces Justin that he's not a robot. Justin explains the situation, Carlos is disbelieving. T.J. calls them on the communicator, but they get interrupted by the monster alert. Yeah, apparently there's a monster alert, sure. They morph and join the other Rangers in fighting the Voltmeister. The monster manages to knock them down a hill and demorphs them. Justin gets up and walks over to Carlos....and notices that Carlos' face has fallen off. Not only is he a robot, but not a particularly well-built one, either! Carlos puts his face back on as Justin realizes that not even Deckard could get out of this one. T.J. solemnly orders them all teleported to the Power Chamber.

At the Power Chamber, Justin attempts to warn Alpha 6 that the other Rangers are robots. Alpha 6 points out the she is also a robot. Another team of Rangers runs in. Justin is very confused. Dimitria explains that it's all part of an experiment conducted by Zordon and Alpha 5 to see if replicants of the Rangers were viable. Justin sees another Justin in the doorway. I'm pretty sure the manufacturing of another Justin is a war crime, Zordon. The Justin in the doorway explains that they needed a robot who didn't know he was a robot, i.e. the Justin we've been following all episode. Justin reactivates RobotJustin's memory chips. Wait, isn't creating a sentient being and then convincing him that he's Justin just about the most evil thing you can do?

Divatox has a schedule to keep and so has already giant-sized Voltmeister. The real Rangers call the Rescuezords. Artillery Power and another monster no longer is among us. Divatox can't believe she lost two monsters in one day. The Robot Rangers get sent off to their lives of unending war, when they are destroyed, it isn't called death, it's called retirement. The two Justins talk, and that's....that's much, much more Justin that any person can handle. The Robot Rangers leave and we never have to see them again, thank God. Show Over!

Next Time: Wishes! The Blue Senturion is evil again! Less Justins!