Satellite Search

Power Rangers in Space, Episode 6

Original Airdate: 3-13-1998

Last Time: Andros learned a lesson about teamwork. Meanwhile, I waited for the Bulls to sign someone in free agency.

In space, Elgar shoots down a satellite. It heads towards a planet that looks exactly like Jupiter, but, which will learn later, is not Jupiter. Elgar calls into Astronema to tell her the good news. She responds by demanding that he make sure because, "the satellite knows too much." On the Megaship, the commander of NASADA calls into to get the Rangers help. Seeing as they took a space shuttle and got a launch facility blown up, to say nothing of the NASADA engineers who were in that shuttle, the Rangers kind of owe him. Credits!

Back from the credits, the commander explains that a NASADA probe, the one that Elgar shot down, crashed on a planet called Kalderon. Wait, NASADA has the resources and technology to fly interstellar probes now? I'm kind of confused, because I'd always assumed that the world of the Power Rangers was basically like our world, but NASADA seems a bit ahead of the game. Anyway, he asks the Rangers to retrieve the information because NASADA has no spacecraft to make the trip...because, you know, the Rangers to NASADA's shuttle. Carlos, tapping into his inner clairvoyant, intuits that Astronema shot down the satellite because it saw something she didn't want exposed. They set a course for Kalderon.

It turns out that Kalderon is kind of an odd place, because it has clear skies, yet a volcano is also seen exploding...also, some suspiciously Earth-like shrubs. Elgar is laying back and letting the Quantrons find the satellite. Astronema calls into to threaten Elgar a bit and inform him that the Rangers are coming. She also sends some fighters after the Megaship. This leads to a scene where the age-old question, "What if the Rangers and Star Trek were, like, the same thing," is answered. It's not a pleasant answer...rather depressing and underwhelming, in actuality. Eventually the Rangers are able to blow the fighters and make it to Kalderon, planet of love.

In the scrublands surrounding Los Angeles, I mean, the totally alien planet Kalderon, the Rangers find out that their equipment doesn't work because of the heat. Alpha calls in to warn them about the volcano. An earthquake happens to drive the point home. Elgar and the Quantrons show up and there is a perfunctory first act fight scene. After a good beating, Elgar retreats, and a loud growl is heard. Elgar bumps into Astronema, and she threatens to feed him to Klawhammer, the monster of the week. The Rangers keep searching, and Ashley finds an animal skeleton and a piece of the satellite. Progress! The team soon finds the rest of the satellite and are able to retrieve the information that is apparently stored of four CD-ROMs. Astronema immediately shows up with some Quantrons and demands the discs. The Rangers morph and fight some more Quantrons. The Quantrons get beaten up, but the important thing here is that Astronema momentarily loses her locket, as is oddly possessive of it. Oh, won't you try and guess what twist is only about twenty episodes away? Astronema blasts the Rangers with her staff and manages to capture everyone except Andros....and then she blasts him too and takes the discs.

Then, Astronema taps into her inner Bond villain, and orders them chained up and left for Klawhammer to eat. Andros is able to telekinetically take the discs from Elgar before the villains leave, though. And Astronema teleports out, confident that nothing could possibly save the Rangers now. Klawhammer comes out, and he's a giant lobster-man, which is about what you'd expect from a guy named Klawhammer. On the Megaship, Alpha and DECA decide to do a visual search for the Rangers. They find the Rangers about to eaten by Klawhammer, but there's nothing they can do...or can they? Alpha and DECA manage to form the Astro Megazord by themselves, making the Rangers just one more example of blue-collar jobs lost to automation. The Astro Megazord shows up to fight Klawhammer, and Andros is very confused. The machines, however, prove to be shitty megazord pilots, and end up dangling on the edge of the caldera of the volcano. Andros uses his telekinesis some more to summon his blaster and break the chains. Andros grabs the discs, and the Rangers finally get to the Astro Megazord. The Rangers successfully fight back the only way they know how, dirtily, they kick Klawhammer in the crotch, grab his antennae and head-butt him. They eventually just toss him into the volcano. The Rangers aren't fucking around today.

Up on the Dark Fortress, Astronema and Elgar realize that they lost the discs. She sends Elgar to play with something called "Scrudley," something so awful that it chills the surronding Quantrons to their mechanical bones. On the Megaship, the Rangers have managed to save NASADA's scientific data, but found nothing else. The Rangers are bummed until T.J. suggests that they head to simudeck. Show Over! So, nothing happened and nothing was learned....awesome.

Next Time: The Rangers decide to go back to high school!