Trial By Fire

Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue, Episode 3

Original Airdate: 2-26-2000

Last Time: Joel made me want to travel back in time and kick Judd Lynn in the balls. Come to think of it, Judd Lynn's still alive....

On the aquabase, everyone's talking about why they chose the dumbass careers that they've just abandoned. Carter reflects on why he became a fireman. It turns out that he was in a fire as a kid, and was saved by a mysterious firefighter. Captain Mitchell summons them all for some training.

At the training area, Carter leads the team in a salute of Captain Mitchell, because these Rangers do enjoy pretending that they're part of some military, despite the fact that exactly zero of them actually have that sort of background. Captain Mitchell sends them out on a time run of an obstacle course. Credits!

Chad and Joel finish the course and Captain Mitchell is pleased with their time, as he is with Dana and Kelsey. Carter finishes even faster, but has made a tragic mistake in the process. Captain Mitchell explains that Carter got the lowest score, but is rather circumspect in explaining why. Also, the captain wearing a beret for this scene which looks funny, even considerin that this is a man who usually goes around ina double-breasted officer's jacket that he pairs with a turtleneck. Carter broods.

At the Ziggurat o' Evil, the demons are discussing how to get rid of the Rangers. Vypra suggests some sort of earthquake gambit, and from the second her first line exits her mouth, it is all too clear that something has gone terribly, terribly wrong in the casting process. Captain Mitchell feels the earthquake and sends the Rangers out to figure out what's going on.

Some Batlings are hammering some earthquake-inducing spikes into the ground and Vypra is there supervising them. The Rangers bust in and are immediately taken aback by Vypra's terrifying ability to read her lines in the worst way possible. The Rangers fight the Batlings and Carter confronts Vypra. Their fight spills over to a parking lot, and some civilian are endangered. Carter, in a flash of realization, remembers that he has a gun and Vypra does not and holds the villainess at gunpoint. She ignites some nearby gas and escapes. Carter sees some people trapped by the collapsing parking garage, but Captain Mitchell orders him to put out the fire first. Carter, not having the sort of instinctive disobedience of Red Rangers past, do so, but a kid gets injured after the roof starts collapsing.

Later, Carter bursts into Captain Mitchell's office and starts yelling about how Captain Mitchell was wrong. Captain Mitchell could care less and stands by his original position. Carter then goes to the hospital to see the little kid who got hurt. Carter decides to tell the comatose child the story of how he was saved by a mysterious firefighter who happens to sound exactly like Captain Mitchell. But Carter doesn't realize that, and wishes he could be as awesome as that fireman. He continues his broodtour by heading to the obstacle course, where he realizes that he failed because he had shot a tank representing explosives in his run. Finally, Carter heads to the parking garage and realizes that Captain Mitchell told him to put out the fire first because there was a ton of gasoline lying around. Captain Mitchell then shows up to say something about making tough decisions. The earthquakes start up again and Carter chooses the worst possible time to question his own competence. Captain Mitchell, not wanting to die in a tremor because his Red Ranger was too busy brooding, sends Carter out regardless.

Elsewhere, Carter shows up just in time to save the rest of the Rangers from another earthquake. He can do nothing to rescue them from Vypra's bad acting, though. The Rangers destroy the spikes. On the ziggurat o' malice, the demon-maker named Jinxer decides to create a monster to fill out the episode. The monster quickly goes giant-sized, and the Rangers call on the Rescue Megazord. The megazord pulls out its saber and blows up the monster.

Later, Carter returns to the little boy's hospital room, but the boy is gone. He's not dead, of course, he just moved to the room next door. Or maybe Carter forgot exactly which room he was in. Carter brings the boy a gift, and the boy decides he wants to be just like Carter when he grows up. So....bland and forgettable, then? Captain Mitchell also shows up as his decades-long plan to produce the most generic protagonist has now clearly succeeded. Show Over!

Next Time: Filler! Filler? Filler.