Riding the Edge

Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue, Episode 4

Original Airdate: 3-4-2000

Last Time: Carter had a crisis of self-confidence. Fortunately, he was able to work through his problems thanks to a honest exchange of ideas with Captain Mitchell. It was exactly as exciting as it sounds.

At some park, a woman is walking one of those little dogs. The woman stops for second and her dog runs into traffic. Kelsey rollerblades over and almost gets hit by a truck in the process. The dog's owner thanks Kelsey for putting herself and other motorists in danger for the sake of her pet, and Kelsey skates off, satisfies by her good deed. Okay, that may be the least interesting cold open I've seen to date. Credits!

At the ziggurat o' doom, Diabolico really wants to kill the Rangers and Mariner Bay. The villain bicker and Diabolico comes up with some sort of tornado monster, named Whirlin.

Down in the aquabase, Dana is watching a news report about the Mariner Bay municipal space program, which is getting ready to launch its own shuttle. Yeah, apparently the city has its own shuttle, which...sure, why not? And the pilot of that shuttle happens to be the dog owner from before. Kelsey is excited to see her on TV, and, for the sake of comity, I will refrain from making any "Kelsey is a lesbian" jokes. Anyway, the shuttle launches using the same footage from Power Rangers in Space.

The Rangers, however, are interrupted by Captain Mitchell, who wants them to deal with a sudden tornado that has developed in Mariner Bay. In space, the shuttle is hanging out. Back on Earth, the Rangers are taking people to tornado shelters. Diabolico shows up via flaming message in the sky to announce that he's going to destroy Mariner Bay and restore Queen Bansheera's palace, and then sends in Whirlin in the form of a tornado.

In space, the shuttle continues to float, and I think the problem is that the shuttle has to land relatively soon, and running into a tornado would likely cause problems. Of course, a tornado is a very localized disturbance, so the shuttle can just land somewhere else. Anyway, the Rangers are able to stop Whirlin's tornado by shooting at him. The demon retaliates by bringing out some Batlings.

Meanwhile, the shuttle pilot that Kelsey....likes, has started descending to Mariner Bay despite the tornado problem. You'd think she'd wait a couple of orbits or land somewhere else....but no, she's going for it now. The Rangers drive Whirlin off, but the monster heads right for the shuttle. Carter calls for the Rescue Bird, and folds it into a weapon that he uses to destroy the tornado threatening the shuttle.

The damage, however, has been done, and Captain Mitchell calls on the team to rescue the broken shuttle. Kelsey is especially concerned with the fate of that shuttle pilot, and that gives her a "crazy idea." Comity is hard. They call out the Rail Rescues and I have to see the entire launching sequence, which takes over a minute. Anyway, Kelsey's plan involves Joel latching onto the shuttle and Dana clearing the freeway by having all of the cars driving on it board her zord's rear compartment. Sometimes the scale of the zords seems a bit off, because you wouldn't think that one zord has enough room to hold all of the cars of a busy roadway.

The next step in the plan involves landing the shuttle onto the back of Kelsey's moving zord, a plan the shuttle pilot agrees to once she realizes that it's Kelsey who thought of it. Anyway, the plan somehow works and the shuttle is stopped right before the highway ends. I don't know if that sequence made any sense whatsoever. So, we're done here, then? No, we are not, because Jinxer makes him grow to giant-sized. Thanks a load, Jinxer.

The Rescue Megazord forms, and...wait, are those cars from the highway still in Dana's zord? Seems like they'd be crushed when the megazord formed. Regardless, the Rangers kill Whirlin and that should be the end of that.

The shuttle pilot and Kelsey embrace and....before I break my promise, Show Over!

Next Time: Dana learns to unquestioningly follow orders!