Worlds Apart

Power Rangers: Time Force, Episode 12

Original Airdate: 4-21-2001

Last Time: Trip felt bad about himself, and I felt bad about him too.

In the clock tower, Jen is dressing down the Rangers for sucking in their last monster fight. In an odd bit of continuity, it's actually the fight from last episode. Wes, Katie, and Lucas eat some popcorn furtively. Er...seeing as Jen's fiance and their friend got killed fighting a mutant, you'd think that this would be something that the Rangers would want to pay attention to. Trip shows up to announce the team's new job: Garbage collecting!

And lo, the garbage collecting is done. Mr. Collins drives by and shows his uncanny ability to identify Wes at a distance when he sees his son picking up trash. Mr. Collins is not pleased by this turn of events, especially since Wes was the one who cut himself off. He tells Wes how disappointed he is....and in fairness, he's probably right. Four years at Choate, four more at Williams, and this is what he has to show for it?

Elsewhere, Nadira tries to rob another bank but gets surrounded by what appears to be the private army of a Bond villain. They have navy blue jumpsuits and the leader wears a red beret. They open fire on the villains. Credits!

The leader of the mercenaries identifies the team as the Silver Guardians, who have been hired to protect the bank. The Rangers are showed up and are confused at the presence of Silverwater. The Silver Guardians kill all of the Cyclobots and drive Nadira off. One of the Silver Guardians breaks ranks and talks with Wes. It's Eric, the bitterest character in Power Rangers history. He makes fun of Wes for being a rich asshole without a real job and then leaves. Oh, Eric, you're going to make this season a delight. Wes reveals that he went to prep school with Eric.

Later, the Rangers are skittish about the presence of people protecting the town who haven't come from the future on to prevent the genetically impure from gaining power. Circuit shows the Rangers a press conference where it's revealed that Mr. Collins created the Silver Guardians to make loads of cash off of people's fears of monster attacks. Wes is upset that a diehard capitalist is trying to make money and has a little rant about his father and about how money is bad or something, unless it's used to buy official Power Rangers merchandise. Lucas awkwardly segues the conversation into a discussion about Eric.

Wes remembers how Eric used to be driven and then he quit prep school because he didn't want to hang out with rich assholes like Wes all day. The Rangers then discuss the Silver Guardians some more because....why not.

Later, Mr. Collins has set up a large rally for his Silver Guardians, and there's a large eagle symbol on the wall behind the speaker. Mr. Collins informs his army that "nothing can stop you!" Are we sure that Mr. Collins isn't a supervillain? After the speech, Eric introduces himself to Mr. Collins and offers to help find Wes. This leads to Eric having a flashback about hanging out with Wes and not getting invited to an exclusive rich-kid party.

Elsewhere, Frax remembers that he really ought to get a move on in his plans to assert robo-supremacy...which he accomplishes by releasing a mutant on the city. The Silver Guardians get called on to fight the monster, and I suppose it is a change of pace for the heroes to have cannon fodder on their side.

The Rangers show up first and fight off some Cyclobots. The Silver Guardians show up to cite the mutant for trespassing. You know, it just occurred to me that the Silver Guardian's activities have got to be super-illegal. The Silver Guardians kill about a hundred Cyclobots, and Mr. Collins shows up to observe the fight. Unfortunately, he shows up just time to see his soldiers get thoroughly blasted by the monster, who also trashes Wes. This breaks part of Wes' helmet, and Eric is immediately able to recognize Wes, as does Mr. Collins. The plutocrat reacts with a line that could never, ever have been well acted:

Mr. Collin: Wes, what's the meaning of this? You're a Time Force Ranger!

Anyway, Wes takes that opportunity to discuss how mercenary armies are wrong and such, but his helmet is only half-broken, and his mouth is still covered, which kind of makes everything he says sound muffled. And it's doubly unfortunate, because this is Wes' big speech on making your own destiny and not hiring bands of murderous men in order to profiteer off of the suffering of others. Mr. Collins tries to explain that Wes' plan is even dumber, as does Eric.

Wes helps the other Rangers kill the monster, and I don't suppose that could be it for today? Yes...it can, no megazord fight! Take that, stock footage!

Later, Frax is still going on about controlling the X-Vault and Ransik berates him for a bit. They leave and Frax does his best Richard III impression, which isn't very good. At the park, Mr. Collins tries to talk to his son again, and explains that Wes should join the Silver Guardians if he wants to protect the city, rather than hanging around people with unfortunate ideas about genetic purity. Wes accuses his dad of "not getting it," for roughly the seventeenth time this episode. Mr. Collins walks away, defeated by Wes' overwhelming self-righteousness. Show Over!

Next Time: Eric steals some Ranger powers because that's just how he rolls.