The opening of this episode is a big deal for two reasons. The first is that it shows the highest stakes yet in this multi-parter, as the teens try to morph to go after Goldar, but their attempt sets off a barrage of explosions and electrical shorts in the Command Center, leaving them unmorphed.
The other is that, for the very first time, we see what it is the kids are actually doing to morph. Thrust the morphers forward, flip them upside down, and thrust them forward again.
Kimberly shrieks in response, and the teens are rightfully freaked by their morphers’ failures. Alpha realizes that there’s been an “inter-dimensional power surge caused by the beam that’s trying to locate Zordon,” which feels forced, but hey, I’ll take my stakes where I can get them.
Uninhibited by the Power Rangers, Goldar continues smashing buildings left and right. There’s a weird moment on Rita’s base where Finster huffily asks if she’s planning to use the Green Ranger to finish off the Rangers instead of one of his monsters, and when she nods, Squatt shouts with glee, “Finster’s in trouble!”
Because they had no idea what to do with Tommy at this point, he’s still just training away in his alternate dimension.
Stuck in the Command Center with no way to morph, the teens are at a loss. Billy suddenly has an idea and rushes toward the central console, tearing apart wires and determinedly rewiring them. Alpha panics, but Zack holds him back, urging him to let Billy concentrate.
We get a brief montage of Billy working, showing for once that this isn’t a quick fix. With the final reconnected wire, the lights in the Command Center turn back on. Billy announces with elation that they should be able to morph now.
The teens do so and immediately start fighting Putties that should be super low-priority right now, given how much damage Goldar is causing. That damn boulder from last episode appears, and as expected, turns into Scorpina.
Her dubbing isn’t quite as tight as her first outing, but I’ll forgive her some missteps because she’s still a thousand times better than Rita. Her appearance, combined with Goldar’s arrival, backs the Rangers into a corner, and Billy cries that they need a new tactic.
At the Command Center, Zordon manages to get through to Alpha just enough to tell him that he’s in Sector Q-9. This apparently means something to Alpha, who excitedly begins flipping switches.
Bulk and Skull make their first appearance of the episode at the Juice Bar, where the whole building is feeling the effects of Goldar’s attack in the form of an earthquake. Ernie is leading an evacuation, but Bulk refuses to let Skull leave until he’s finished his ice cream.
Then a beam lands on the bar in front of them. Bulk takes a look at it, finishes his ice cream in one gulp, and hauls ass out of the building with Skull by his side.
They flee the scene by way of the Youth Center Bus, which is not something that I knew existed.
As Alpha tries to lock on to Zordon’s coordinates, Tommy appears in the Command Center once more, still morphed. Zordon tries to warn Alpha, but his voice is still too strained, and Tommy manages to dismantle Alpha again (by pulling exactly one cord from his back. Who built this shoddy technology?)
This now makes two separate times Alpha has been incapacitated in this arc. I get that Tommy’s able to get into the Command Center because of his Power Coin, but they should really invest in some better security to at least keep him at bay.
On the battlefield, the Rangers are getting knocked around by Goldar while Rita taunts them from above. I say “above” not because she’s on her moon base, but because she’s on that flying bicycle again.
We cut to Bulk and Skull, who, as it turns out, have actually stolen the Youth Center Bus and are driving it themselves. Goldar picks up the bus and starts to play with it while Jason screams about there being civilians on board (because there haven’t been civilians in any of the buildings he’s destroyed so far?)
Goldar cackles and says he knows that not only are there civilians aboard, but that they’re “friends” of the Rangers’ named Bulk and Skull. It makes sense that he knows them given all the time Rita and her minions spend spying on their lives, but the bullies should absolutely be able to hear him name-drop them given their close proximity.
I was GOING to make a joke about this being a message about wearing your seatbelt, but then I remembered that buses don’t have seatbelts. So then I was going to make a joke about that, only for Bulk and Skull to make that joke for me.
Rita orders Goldar to take the bus to the beach…because??? I have no idea why. Meanwhile, Tommy and Zordon exchange some incredibly generic “Evil will never win” / “Yes it will!” banter that goes on way too long before Tommy finally gets bored and screws with Zordon’s controls, scrambling the signal once more.
The Rangers arrive on the beach to find Putties in the process of pushing the bus off a cliff, even though Goldar could have just chucked it right into the ocean.
Bulk once again reads my mind and tries to get out of the bus now that it’s on the ground, but finds that the exit is being blocked by Putties.
The Rangers just kind of stand there and yell about how they need to do something instead of actually doing something.
Because apparently he’s the voice of reason now, Bulk clamps a hand over Skull’s screaming mouth and tells him to stop moving to avoid tipping the bus over the edge.
The whole scene is far too drawn out (that’s a bit of a theme this episode), but there’s a funny (and surprisingly adult, for this show) moment where Bulk shouts that he wants his mommy and Skull says that he wants Bulk’s mommy, too.
The Rangers finally decide to step in, but they’re blocked by Goldar’s sword. At the Command Center, Alpha’s backup system kicks in and he traps Tommy in a force field.
The Rangers finally call their Zords (never thought I’d be saying that), and Rita grins menacingly. If this whole Bulk and Skull situation was actually just a play to get them to form the Megazord (which she’s planning on disabling), I’ll admit — it was a good plan.
Delightfully, the episode skims through the Zord footage, skipping the individual stuff and showing only them running and forming the main Megazord.
Rita orders the Putties to drop the bus, and holy shit why is that cliff so big?
The Megazord catches the bus and places it safely back on the ground. Unable to believe their luck, Skull pinches Bulk; when Bulk gets angry, Skull stems his ire by shouting, “We’re alive!”
The Megazord goes ape on Goldar, the Rangers clearly furious at him for endangering Bulk and Skull. Unfortunately, Rita’s eclipse takes effect, and Billy realizes that their solar power (which it has never been established the Megazord runs on, but whatever) is draining.
Rita makes Scorpina grow to assist Goldar, and unlike most of her monsters, Scorpina has an alternate form when she’s giant.
With its energy draining and two enemies to grapple with, the Megazord quickly begins to flounder. Goldar knocks it on its back, and Trini gets the idea to use the Power Sword to, as Jason puts it, “charge up the power cell.”
The Power Sword apparently does just that, as the Megazord is rejuvenated and able to take on Scorpina and Goldar at once.
At the Command Center, Tommy taunts Alpha for being unable to find Zordon, and Alpha turns on him, wisely deciding to find out who’s under the helmet. But before he can unmask Tommy, Goldar teleports him to the battlefield and Rita makes him grow.
Now faced with three enemies, the Megazord again struggles while Rita does her best not to quote The A-Team, saying:
“I love when the plan is working just like I knew it was going to!”
Scorpina wraps her tail around the Megazord and gives a serious shock to its system. Immediately afterward, Tommy and Goldar combine their powers for a gigantic energy blast.
These two attacks combined open a crevice in the Earth and absolutely wreck the Megazord.
The Rangers are flung from the Megazord for the second time in this arc, but this time they de-morph in the process. Given the number of shocks to the Morphing Grid so far, it’s not surprising.
The Megazord collapses into the crevice the energy blast opened, sinking into the lava with an explosion.
The teens scream in horror as they watch their Zords incinerate in the flames.
We then witness the fiery death of each individual Zord.
The Rangers deliver a bunch of cheesy lines about the Zords always being there when they needed them, but they’re unnecessary to get across the emotional damage across. I joke a lot about the Zord footage being endless, but it was still an integral part of the show, and seeing them so thoroughly destroyed is…well, not devastating, but certainly impactful.
The teens teleport back to the Command Center over the commercial break, and once there, declare that the Power Rangers are finished. Jason tells them not to give up, but Kimberly makes some solid points:
“Why shouldn’t we? Zordon’s gone, the Megazord’s been destroyed. We’re outmatched.”
Alpha asks Billy what the chances of being able to get Zordon back online are; Billy shrugs and gives the odds as less than 10%. Jason uses this as a rallying cry, telling the others that if there’s even the tiniest chance, they have to take it.
Zack argues that the Green Ranger was Rita’s trump card, and that by putting him in play, she won. Surprisingly, if there’s anyone whose character has benefitted most from this arc, it’s Zack.
Thus far, Zack has been my least favorite character — if just because he hasn’t had much of a character (and yes, I know saying that is rich given that my favorite character is Trini) other than occasional jokes, dancing, and womanizing. He’s served mainly as Jason’s best friend, but that doesn’t tell us anything about him or why he was chosen as a Ranger (other than the fact that he already knows how to fight).
But this arc? This arc, Zack has taken the reins as the team’s second-in-command, leading the charge and making the calls when Jason was missing. He’s acted (however briefly) as a big brother toward Kimberly when her love life fell into crisis. He’s been strong, hot-headed, panicked, and decisive, all in one short arc. His rashness and tendency toward overemotional responses have made it clear why he’s not the leader, but his ability to take charge when the team is without one have proven why he’s the next in line.
It’s not that I didn’t like Zack before this arc. It’s just that I found him kind of boring and stereotypical, even for a show that basks in stereotypes. But through this arc, he’s become a more complete package — a character with depth, with strengths and weaknesses. He’s still not my favorite, but I have a much greater appreciation for him now that I’ve seen these episodes.
Alpha argues that he doesn’t accept that, and neither would Zordon. Trini replies harshly, “But Zordon isn’t here!”
The central console interrupts the argument with a series of beeps, and the teens all turn to find out what’s going on. Alpha explains that when the Green Ranger was trapped in the Command Center’s force field, the computer began scanning him to determine his identity.
Billy programs the console to show the Green Ranger’s true identity on the Viewing Globe, and all of the teens stare in disbelief as Tommy’s face materializes.
Power Rangers In Order 
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