In Space #20 – Survival of the Silver

Nobody freak out.

I’m freaking out.

We open on Not Tatooine, where some Not Jawas attack the Rangers while they’re…digging for samples?

The Rangers flee and head back to the Astro Megaship, which has never looked more like the Millennium Falcon than it does right now.

The Rangers morph, but there are way too many Not Jawas for them to handle at once. They hurry into the Astro Megaship and prepare for liftoff.

The Not Jawas manage to do some damage to the Astro Megaship, but it’s still able to take off. Andros stays on the bridge while the others hurry to the engine room to examine the damage, which is…extensive.

They manage to fix the issue, but in all the commotion, the hidden door we saw Andros walk through at the end of last episode has banged open. Cassie heads inside, curious, and Carlos follows her. Together, they find…

Carlos calls the others inside, and Cassie wipes the frost off the top to reveal…

Ashley asks who he is, and on cue, Andros appears behind them.

“His name is Zhane. He’s the Silver Ranger. He’s my best friend. We were a team — invincible. Until the day Dark Specter attacked our home planet, KO-35.”

We head into a flashback, where we get a glimpse of the chaos of KO-35’s invasion. Andros is knocked down by a monster, but Zhane pushes him away just as an explosion occurs.

Desperate, Andros carries Zhane’s body back to the Astro Megaship and puts him in cryo-sleep…where he still remains today.

Andros: Over time, this instrument will heal him. I hope.

Carlos: Over how much time?

Andros: He’s been here for two years so far. Who knows? He may never wake up. But for now, this machine keeps him alive.

Ashley asks why Andros never told them, but he’s unable to answer, and they all head back to the bridge for a damage update from DECA.

Cassie heads to the cargo bay to grab the sample from Not Tatooine, only to discover a hatched egg on the ground and a monster in hiding.

Cassie loses her morpher in the fight and quickly finds herself locked in the room with the monster. Undeterred, she takes him on unmorphed, snatches her morpher back, and opens the bay doors to launch the monster into space.

After the monster is taken care of, she rushes to the bridge to report everything to her teammates. Ashley announces that the ship is stuck in Not Tatooine’s gravitational pull, and TJ reports that it’s worse than that — the monster Cassie threw out of the ship has managed to latch onto the side of the ship and is tearing panels out left and right.

The Rangers manage a mostly-safe landing back on Not Tatooine, but they’re going to need to make some repairs. They deal with the monster and the Not Jawas first, but some of the Not Jawas manage to get onto the Astro Megaship.

DECA and Alpha close the doors to the bridge and the engine room to limit the damage, but DECA reports a malfunction in Zhane’s healing chamber.

Zhane flatlines and Andros can sense it…somehow. He drops his weapon, collapsing mid-fight in agony over his best friend’s presumed death.

Andros brings himself back to his feet in a rage, taking out all of his grief on the Not Jawas. Unbeknownst to him, Zhane’s heartbeat picks back up, and we see his fingers twitching.

The lid pops open and, shortly afterward, we see the Not Jawas that managed to get inside the ship hurled back outside. Andros can’t believe his eyes as the Silver Ranger steps out into the light.

Zhane makes quick work of the monster, likely wanting some action after being out of commission for so long.

The monster grows somehow despite not being one of Astronema’s monsters, and Zhane heads to the ship’s bridge while the other Rangers form the Astro Delta Megazord. Adorably, he introduces himself to Alpha, who has seen more than enough sixth Rangers to know what’s going on here.

After the battle is won, the Rangers find Zhane bragging to Alpha about some past battle. Laughing, Andros interrupts and says he was the one in the story, not Zhane. Zhane turns, and we get our first glimpse of him unmorphed.

Andros still can’t believe his friend is back and wraps him in a hug. He fills Zhane in on what’s happened since he’s been in hyper-sleep, starting by introducing his friends. Zhane is immediately taken with Ashley, admitting he’s never seen a female Power Ranger before.

Andros between them, clearly not wanting to encourage this flirtation. Zhane asks about KO-35, and the episode ends as Andros promises to fill him in about everything.