Mighty Morphin #1.21 – Green with Evil: Part 5

This is it, guys. The finale of the show’s first-ever multi-part story arc. How’s it all going to end?

Let’s find out.

Kimberly can’t believe that Tommy’s the Green Ranger, and Jason’s in a similar state of disbelief. He asks Alpha if he’s sure about this, and the robot replies that “the computer matched his inter-spacial bio-vibrations with the Green Ranger’s.” Zack then snaps the excellent point: “The computer’s also been under repair.”

Billy’s on the side of Alpha and the computer, naturally, pointing out that Alpha fixed all of the earlier malfunctions. It’s Trini who casts the deciding vote, declaring, “Then Tommy is the Green Ranger.”

Zack asks how Tommy could have done this to them. To be fair, they’ve only known him like a day. But Alpha makes the point that Tommy was likely put under the control of one of Rita’s spells, giving them all renewed purpose to fight: the desire to save Tommy.

On the moon, Rita and her minions celebrate the destruction of the Megazord with wine, or as Baboo calls it, “cranberry and oyster juice.” This scene is really only noteworthy for the fact that Scorpina’s dubbing continues to get worse and worse after her stellar first showing.

Alpha, meanwhile, is still guilt-tripping the teens, shouting about how Rita will rule the world and enslave all of mankind if they don’t fight her. Zack assures him that he’s made his point, and Trini says that they’ll take her on.

Jason lays out the plan, determining that they need to find both Tommy and a way to break Rita’s spell. He proposes splitting up to accomplish both tasks. Kimberly’s worried that Tommy will be at Rita’s moon base, but Billy points out that even if he is, he’ll have to come back eventually. Jason tells Alpha to keep working on finding Zordon while they search.

Ernie, Bulk, and Skull are watching coverage of Goldar’s earlier attack at the Juice Bar, which has miraculously been cleaned and repaired since the events of the last episode.

Kimberly rushes in looking for Tommy, but is distracted by the television. Bulk and Skull try to take credit for helping the Power Rangers scare off Goldar, and when Kimberly scoffs, Skull insists that they’re the ones who should be on TV. This apparently gives Bulk an idea.

Don’t worry too much about this plot point. It won’t come back up.

Her mission remembered, Kimberly asks Ernie if he’s seen Tommy. Luckily, he happens to be working out in the Juice Bar, so Ernie points him out.

Kimberly approaches him nervously, saying only, “Tommy, I know” when she’s close enough.

She then whispers (loudly enough for anyone within fifteen feet to hear), “I know you’re the Green Ranger!”

Tommy slams the weight machine back and hisses that she and the other Rangers will “soon be destroyed,” specifically addressing her as the Pink Ranger. She begs Tommy to let them help him, but he snaps back that Rita is his empress and that she will soon rule the world.

With another green eye flare, he storms away.

On the moon, Rita’s minions are discussing a long-lost Dragon Zord. Smash cut to Rita hitting the ocean with lightning and resurrecting the most obvious Godzilla reference I’ve ever seen.

The Dragon Zord smashes the completely-empty harbor to bits, even snacking down on a metal pole for good measure.

Tommy leaps atop his Zord…and wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow, I get why people complain so much about the inconsistencies with his shield. For reference, most of the Green Ranger shots I’ve taken so far have been American footage. Toei (the makers of Sentai) shipped the costume to Saban (the makers of Power Rangers), but the shield was lost in transit, meaning the Americans had to hastily make their own.

What the Americans came up with was some sort of paper/cloth replica of a hard plastic original. It’s looked silly whenever I’ve seen it so far, but in the same way most of the show looks silly. But now seeing how it’s supposed to look up-close, I see what all the fuss is about.

At the Command Center, Alpha is finally able to get a bead on Zordon and starts scanning the dimension he’s most recently been lost to. Thank god, because this plot line has been going since episode two of this arc and almost no progress has been made.

At the same time, Kimberly is updating the others on her interaction with Tommy. Jason grows more convinced that Rita has him under a spell, which Zack proposes is why the Putties didn’t attack him. Except…whether he’s their commander by choice or by spell, they wouldn’t attack him, regardless.

Trini races in, out of breath, to tell them she heard about a monster attack over the radio. Jason asks, “Rita’s not gonna give up, is she?” (which is a weird question, because…duh), and the teens morph.

Once the Rangers arrive on the scene, Tommy uses a dagger we’ve never seen before as a flute. The song he plays (which kind of sounds like a royal march) puts the Dragon Zord under his control.

The Dragon Zord’s fingers turn into missiles, which blast the Rangers, launching them off the rooftop. They scramble to their feet and Jason urges Tommy to stop, but he presses on, commanding the Dragon Zord to strike at them with its tail.

Alpha is finally able to connect Zordon back to the Command Center, and not a moment too soon.

Zordon tells Alpha to summon the Rangers’ Zords, but Alpha breaks the news that the Zords are lost. Zordon ignores this, and we cut back to the Rangers realizing their morphers are glowing.

The earth shakes as the crevice that the Megazord fell into last episode reopens, and the Rangers are teleported directly into it as their Zords rise back from the flames.

How? Why?

Who cares? It’s awesome.

Rather than form the Megazord straight away, Jason first runs at him with the Tyrannosaurus Zord, taking him on mano-a-mano. The battle is surprisingly good, with each Zord getting in a number of hits.

Jason gets the Dragon Zord on its back and calls for the Rangers to form the Megazord, which must work with the same time rules as Magical Girl transformations, because otherwise the Dragon Zord would have had plenty of time to stand back up.

The Megazord picks up the Dragon Zord Bane-style and chucks it to the ground, chasing it down and smacking it with the Power Sword when it scrambles back to its feet.

Jason tells the others, “Increase power! We’ve gotta save Tommy!” Admittedly, increasing their power output doesn’t sound like the best way to save someone, but technically Tommy isn’t actually in the Dragon Zord — just controlling it from afar.

Then the Megazord swings the Dragon Zord around like he’s competing in the hammer throw.

The Dragon Zord breaks a mountain in half on impact, and Jason shouts, “Give it up, Tommy!” A voice that is definitively not Tommy’s replies, “No way!” and Jason says he’s “sorry it has to be like this, but Zordon says I’ve got to destroy your sword to save you,” which Zordon definitively did not say.

Jason heads down to face him in-person, and Tommy joins him, assumedly because the Dragon Zord is down for the count after that walloping.

The fight is great — easily the best morphed battle we’ve had to date — with neither holding anything back, drawing on all of their weapons. Tommy uses his dagger flute to form an energy shield that bounces Jason’s Blade Blaster shots back at him, and Jason summons some sort of energy to his sword and throws it straight at Tommy, knocking the weapons out of his hands.

In a final shot that is definitely American footage — based on how much bulkier the Red Ranger’s body suddenly is — Jason blasts the Sword of Darkness to dust.

Tommy de-morphs, and the rest of the Rangers follow suit. Zack announces that Rita’s spell is broken, even though it pre-dates Tommy getting the sword (but they did explain that the sword would make it permanent, so it might have only been temporary before).

Jason rushes over to Tommy to check if he’s okay. Tommy is obviously horrified by what he’s done, but Jason assures him that everything he did, he did under Rita’s spell. Extending his hand, he offers Tommy the chance to join them and use his power for good.

With a grin, Tommy accepts.

At the Command Center, Zordon tells Alpha that they’re watching “history in the making.” He has no idea. He then spews some BS about a prophecy coming true now that the sixth Ranger has joined, and Alpha gets to cry “Woohoo!”

Knowing how to make an awesome scene better, Jason declares it’s morphing time for no good goshdarn reason, and I love it.

They pose and shout about six working together as one to defeat the forces of evil, and it’s both incredibly corny and lovably sincere.

Zordon helpfully informs the team that when the Dragon Zord combines with the Mastadon, Triceratops, and Saber-Toothed Tiger, they’ll have a new “fighting machine at [their] disposal.” Tommy re-energizes the Dragon Zord with his flute and the Zords come together, forming the “Dragon Zord in Fighting Mode,” as Zordon calls it.

Did I JUST realize that Zordon has “Zord” in his name? Yes. Moving on.

Rita is rightfully furious about the situation, having lost both the battle and her best weapon in one fell swoop. Goldar assures her that he’ll avenge her loss, blah blah blah.

Back at the Command Center, the six Rangers gather together for the first time to welcome Zordon back.

He tells them how proud he is of them, and when Trini points out that they couldn’t have done it without Alpha, he heaps praise on him, too, making this face in the process.

Zordon asks Tommy to step forward, and gives him the same spiel he gave the others back in episode one, instructing him not to use his power for personal gain, not to escalate a fight, and not to reveal his identity to anyone (pretty sure he and Kimberly already blew that in the Juice Bar earlier, but whatevs).

Billy then pulls out a communicator he must have whipped up real fast, given he only found out Tommy’s identity like three hours ago, and spent about two-and-a-half of them thinking he was evil.

Jason tells him he’s one of them, now, and welcomes him aboard with a handshake up top, because that’s how we did things in the 90s.

The teens all bring their hands together and jump into the air — again, just like episode one.

So. That was “Green with Evil.” Did it live up to the hype?

Ab-so-lutely.

Yes, the show is still cheesy and ridiculous. But these five episodes took Power Rangers in a completely new direction. It was an attempt — a successful attempt — at serious, high-stakes storytelling with actual consequences and character development. It might have hit home a bit more if the Zords had actually stayed lost (or at least were lost for a longer amount of time), but the loss we got, however brief, was still felt.

Tommy introduces a new dynamic to the team, giving the characters an additional person to bounce off of and bringing with him the show’s first real romance. His character will become by far the longest-lasting and most beloved in the show’s history, and I have no doubt that his popularity was boosted by what a fantastic introduction he got.

This is the point where some would say, “If you’re going to watch any episodes of Power Rangers, make them these.” But I disagree. I think you need to see the show at its regular levels of insanity first for it to really hit home how good and different this arc was. There are also bits (like Zack’s character development) that are only notable if you’ve seen the episodes that came before.

I didn’t grow up with Mighty Morphin. As I’ve said before, my definitive series in childhood was In Space. But damn if this arc didn’t make it clear why so many people have such love for the show’s first season.