SUMMARY:
[Today on MMPR (Replaced by a segment of the Zeo Serial Preview during the Spring 96 reairings); Opening credits]
It's just another day at the Angel Grove Juice Bar. Rocky lifts a small crate of bananas off the front floor, and Billy one full of melons, handing them over the countertop to Tommy & Ernie. The owner of the establishment says, "That's a nice spot there, guys. Thanks!" Billy responds, "No problem, Ernie! We're always glad to help out." (In other words, he gives them extra smoothies under the table! Shh!) Adam & Aisha walk in, the area pretty much devoid of customers today. They say hey to their friends, with Adam stating, "Hey! We got your message. What's up?" Aisha asks, "Where's Katherine? Isn't she supposed to be here?" Tommy notes, "Actually, it's about Katherine." Billy jumps in with, "Yeah, tomorrow's her birthday!" Aisha's shocked, remarking, "You're kidding!", and Adam asks, "How come she didn't say anything?" Rocky mentions, "Well, I don't think she wants to make it a big deal. The only reason I know is cause I helped her register for school!" Aisha chuckles, saying, "Well, whether she likes it, or NOT, no one gets away without at LEAST one surprise party!" Rocky nods & grins, and Billy snickers, "That's right. That's what we thought, too." Adam wonders, "So, what should we do?" Tommy replies, "Well, we think we have the perfect place to take her." The teens then huddle in closer, quite uncomfortably close to the cash register, as Tommy whispers, "So, I was thinking...", and the scene cuts. Meanwhile, on the Malicious Moon Palace (or Malice Palace as it could be called but isn't), Rita Repulsa exclaims, "My father is FINALLY ready to release the plan of the millennium: The ultimate force of evil! Haha!" Lord Zedd, standing in front of his throne with Goldar his side, questions, "Then where IS the old coot? I haven't seen him for days!" Rita remarks, "That's because he's been BUSY!" Goldar asks, "Busy doing WHAT?!", with Zedd seconding, "Yes, what?! I didn't think ANYTHING could be important to him, except driving ME out of my mind!" Rita, with Finster stand idly by behind her, walks up closer to her husband, and promises, "You'll find out soon enough! Don't you worry! Hehah." She taps her finger adorably at the point on Zedd's metal facemask where his nose would be, causing a "poink"ing sound effect.
Elsewhere on the moon, in an underground cave (possibly somewhere along the lines of the Caves Of Deception), Master Vile stands around soaking in the mist. It should be noted that his Space Skull is never shown again after last episode, so it's probably in the shop from when he grew through it two eps back. Anyway, he stands above a bubbling mist, waving his scepter in hand and proclaiming an incantation, "Forces darker than the farthest reaches of the universe, hear my call! I command you! Respond!" He raises his arms, causing a small river of blue energy to come out of his right sleeve, and golden trickles of energy to come out of his left (matching the energy snake colors on each side of his body, of course). The moon begins to quake, a loud rumbling the only response given in sound. The ground before Vile starts to crack open, revealing an eerie crimson glow. Vile continues reciting, "Powers of the deepest evil, come forth! I command it!" More blue & gold discharges, and the crack in the ground grows larger, the ground rocking again, fires raging down below. Master Vile adds, "I summon you! Light of the malevolent masters appear before me, and DO my bidding!" The cave he's in becomes unstable, debris crumbling all around him, as he merely laughs diabolically and remains standing amid violent flashing of light. The rumbling of the lunar foundation vibrates across the surface, even to the Palace, which, under a stormy sky, is shaken uncontrollably. Inside the throne room, the henchmonsters stumble around. Squatt & Baboo stick close, while Goldar & Rito slam into each other. Rito screams, "Oops! Pop's at it again!" Goldar shoves him off and staggers in the opposite direction. Rita struggles to keep her balance, using her magic wand to help stay standing. Finster shuffles his feet and runs away, as Rita yells, "Finster, come back here! You know it's only my father!" Rita ends up falling on her back at Lord Zedd's feet, at the base of the throne. Finster escapes towards his workshop, crying, "That is exactly why I am leaving, my queen!" Beneath the surface, caverns crumble, as Master Vile laughs maniacally at what he hath wrought. In the Palace, Goldar & Rito stumble around some more due to the nonstop quaking. Rita crawls up from where she fell, while Zedd leans against his throne, asking annoyedly, "Tell me, my dear. Are any more of your relatives planning on visiting us?!" Not far away, Vile chuckles wickedly at the realization of his master plan, "The end of the Power Rangers, is only a matter of TIME!"
[commercials]
At the Command Center, Alpha 5 presses a few buttons on the computer console, and whines, "Ay-yi-yi-yi! This is all very, very wrong!" Looking up at the empty plasma tube, he complains, "Oh, Zordon. Why did you choose NOW to deactivate yourself?! I CAN'T do this all alone! I NEED you! This was NO time to take a vacation!" Alpha's panicking button pressing and arm waving ceases, once Zordon's voice calls out. The big head of the Eltarian sage slowly rises from the bottom of his Plasma Tube, lifting up from the floor. Zordon says, "Calm yourself, Alpha. I am here." Alpha tweaks a few knobs, sighing & explaining, "Thank goodness! My instruments have been completely decalibrated by the moon's gravitational pull!" Zordon, his head now drifting back into the center space, mentions, "I am aware of the situation, Alpha. I had been monitoring it from my... private chamber." (this was a subtle hint towards the future Power Chamber, of course) Big Z adds, "Have you been able to pinpoint the cause of the disturbance?" Alpha states, "No, Zordon. And I have a terrible feeling in the pit of my electrodes that something AWFUL is about to happen!" Zordon understands, "I share your concern, Alpha. I can only hope that for the sake of THIS world, and for the Power Rangers, that we are BOTH wrong." As we soon see, they've never been more correct. Elsewhere, in Angel Grove, a large carnival is in town. I like to nickname this episode, "No Kidding Around", for obvious reasons and references, btw. Anyway, Katherine, with a pink blindfold (or snotrag) over her eyes, asks her five teammates, "Guys, where are you taking me?! I don't understand!" The loud music and sound of kids screaming as the tilt-a-whirl ride derails off the tracks and explodes in a screeching wreck are no clue to her. Billy informs her, "Well, we wanted to make sure your first birthday in America was a special one." Tommy agrees, "Yeah, let's go. You're gonna love this." He & Billy lead her blindly through the parking lot, with the other three following behind. Sounds like Kat has her Eyes Wide Shut, doesn't it?
Nearby in said parking lot, Angel Grove's most unwanted, the two Junior Police Patrol peons, Bulk & Skull, are doing their jobs. Skull has a measuring tape, and Bulk has a notebook to write tickets in. They're on parking duty, and taking the task seriously. Skull's measurements are elaborated by Bulk, who scribbles on the pad and says, "You're right, Skull. Two inches too close to the line! That could cause a nasty traffic hazard for somebody trying to get by here!" Skull winds up his tape measure, and remarks, "Write 'em up!", and Bulk replies, "Writin' 'em up!" The owner of the car approaches, and Bulk hands the man his ticket, stating, "Hey, here ya go, buddy!" Skull adds, "Yeah! And next time, be careful where you park this heap! We'd hate to have to have it towed!" Bulk chuckles heartily, and Skull gives his trademark laugh, until the car owner removes his safari hat and sunglasses. It's Lt. Stone, off-duty! He mentions, "I don't think that would be such a good idea. Do you, boys?" They're speechless, Bulk & Skull stammering as they realizes the boneheaded move they made in enforcing the law on a California police officer! That's just criminal! Around the corner, the blindfolded Kat is brought the carnival entrance. Rocky exclaims, "You are gonna LOVE it!" Tommy heads over with the tickets, and hands them to Aisha. He then helps Billy take the blindfold off Kat, with Billy asking, "Alright, you ready?" She quickly turns around and with a wide smile, witnesses the huge carnival before her. Her fellow Ranger teens shout, "Ta-da!", and "Surprise!" Kat cries, "Oh WOW! This is wonderful!", she turns somber as she shakes her head and says, "You guys..." Adam asks, "What's the matter, Kat?" She responds gently, "Just that I feel really lucky to have friends like you." Rocky nods, and returns, "Well, we feel pretty lucky, too." Aisha offers, "Come on, guys. Let's go have some fun!" The guys cheer, "Yeah!", and the six join the crowd in entering the carnival. You think they should tell Kat that they didn't buy her the WHOLE place? Nah. In the parking lot, Lt. Stone scolds the bumbling duo, saying, "I took the day off to get AWAY from you two! It seems like everytime I turn around, THERE you are, making my life a living... Nevermind." Jerome hands Bulk the ticket, causing him to stammer unintelligibly for that last word his boss never finished. Skull actually turns and looks away when Stone hands Bulk back that ticket illegally, like any good cop. Lt. Stone hops into the seat of his car, puts back on his safari hat and glasses, and starts up the engine. Bulk & Skull step out of the way of the vehicle, wave & smile at their boss, but end up bending down to catch his eye right in the line of the tail pipe. Seems the car IS a junk heap, as it unloads a thick cloud of black soot upon being started up. Jerome drives off, leaving Bulk & Skull standing there, their faces covered in a thick black dirt, and their hair sticking up from the bursting backlash of noxious air. Bulk grunts, "Hey, Skull. How long we been workin'?" Skull removes his hat off his Don King-hair head and groans, "Bout ten minutes." Bulk says, "That's long enough. Time for a break." Skull replies, "I'm with you, buddy", and the two start to waddle off, removing their sunglasses, which shows the small area of their faces which aren't soot soaked.
Meanwhile, on the Evil Moon Palace, in the throne room, Master Vile has returned with a new toy. He orders the complete set of Evil Space Aliens around, "Stand back! ALL of you! The power that exits inside this sphere could destroy a PLANET, and ALL of its inhabitants!" Rita smiles despicably at her father's new scheme, but Lord Zedd scoffs, whispering to her, "Oh, yes. A lot of good THAT'll do us." She touches his chest and playfully shoves him, saying, "Nah!" Vile continues, "This container holds the most powerful natural crystal in the galaxy! And the beginning of the end for the Power Rangers!" (boy, he's got a thing about crystals, doesn't he?) This prompts Rito & Baboo to clap their hands in applause, and Rita to smile. Vile lifts the small metal container (with star shaped holes all along its hull) in his hand, and proclaims, "Feast your eyes upon the Orb Of Doom!" The Orb is revealed, a small round crystal ball, which fires off a swirling, streaming burst of purple energy once exposed, and a second red one following that. Both have demonic faces on them, as they fire out into the crowd of awed monsters, causing bright flashing of lightning to herald the Orb's unveiling. Rito Revolto is wowed, stating, "Hey, that's pretty cool, Pop. Looks like a crystal ball! Can you tell my fortune with it!?" Master Vile responds, "In a manner of speaking, YES! The Orb Of Doom, when placed properly on the Earth, will cause the planet to FREEZE on its axis!" Rita is astonished by this plan, and Lord Zedd gets huffy, noting, "So the Earth stops spinning. Big deal! What then?!" Vile explains, "Not only will the Earth cease to rotate, the process of TIME will be reversed!" Rita gets it, asking amazed, "You mean...?", and her daddy remarks, "Exactly, my dear! The Power Rangers will become the Power-LESS Rangers, as they are once again reduced to children! They will be unable to defend themselves against our awesome forces!" Rita snickers sinisterly, excited about this idea, as is Baboo & Squatt, who cheer and applaud behind them. Lord Zedd, on the other hand, walks over and points out cockily, "Heh. I hate to be the one to break the news to you, Dad. But we tried this once before, and it didn't work then, either!" Zedd grabs one of Vile's large tiger-striped ears and yells that last part into it, whole referencing "Rangers Back In Time, Part 1 & 2." Goldar, who was involved in that scheme, quips, "Been there, done that! What're ya, new?!" Master Vile is offended, "How DARE you compare your meager scheme to my ultimate battle plan?!" He calls out to his son, "Rito, here boy, come!" Rito hurries over, making tongue wagging dog sounds on the way, and obeys, "Yeah, Pop. I'm here. LAY it on me!" Vile holds out the container with the Orb in his hand, explaining, "Carefully place the Orb Of Doom at the designated coordinates just north of Angel Grove. Then return to the moon!" Rito looks at the Orb, gives a thumbs up, and replies, "You got it, Pop! Hahaha!"
[commercials]
Back at the carnival, the six Ranger teens are atop the Super Slide. Gliding down a vast, open ramp, riding atop potato sacks, our heroes cheer loudly and slide to the bottom. Tommy loses his balance towards the end, and spins around on his back. Once they reach the end of the ride, Kat stands up and happily exclaims, "Oh, MAN! That was so cool!" Tommy asks, "Yeah! You guys want to go on the Roller Plane?" Kat eagerly agrees, but Rocky rubs his stomach and notes, "Umm, I don't know if that's such a good idea. I'm still stuffed from that Chili Dog!" The other teens laugh at his heartburn. Their muy diversion is diverted by the sound of their Communicators. Following the traditional beeping, they search around for a secluded place to answer the call. Once there, Tommy presses his Communicator, saying, "This is Tommy. We read you, Zordon!" Zordon reports, "Power Rangers, prepare for teleportation to the Command Center immediately!" Tommy replies, "Right!", and the six hit the proper buttons, and streak into the sky with their Ranger color static charges. Upon landing inside the Command Center, they're greeted by a distressed Alpha, who states, "Oh, thank goodness your're here! Ay-yi-yi! It's just terrible!" The teens become worried, and Tommy wonders, "What is it, Zordon?" The Eltarian interdimensional timewarp sage informs them, "I'm afraid we have a rather serious situation on our hands. Master Vile has summoned the darkest force in the universe, and is preparing to unleash it on our planet." Aisha comments, "I don't get it! What force?" Zordon explains, "The Orb Of Doom. It is a treacherous crystal. When placed at the proper longitude and latitude, it has the ability to stop the Earth's rotation and reverse time. If Master Vile is successful, the world as we know it, could cease to exist." Our heroes are agape at this news, faces full of fear, especially the birthday girl, Kat, who bites her lip. Billy mentions, "Well, if we KNOW the exact location, Zordon, we can intercept Master Vile before he plants it." Zordon warns, "It could be risky, but it is our ONLY hope. Alpha is computing those coordinates for you now." Suddenly, the alarms go off. Tommy asks, "What's going on?", and Alpha ay-yi-yi's, "Rito has materialized in the North end of Angel Grove! AND he's brought the Orb Of Doom!" Adam remarks, "We'd better get going." Zordon reminds them, "Remember, Rangers. Once the Orb is secured, it CANNOT be removed. Billy, your coordinates are printing out now. Good luck, and may the power protect you." Billy removes a printout sheet from the console, and reads it, before gasping, "Guys, we'd better hurry." Tommy says, "Let's not take any chances, guys. It's MORPHIN' Time!"
The six teens Morph using their, "[color] Ranger Power!", Morpher shots. This would be the last time they would with the Ninja Coins, though we didn't know it at the time. The Power Rangers have teleported to the spot in the outskirts of Angel Grove where Rito Revolto is found wandering. White Ranger spots the crystal sphere in his skeletal hand, and calls out, "We'll take that Orb, Rito!" The boney buffoon turns around and grunts, "Huh? Hey! Who invited you?!" Tommy boasts, "You CAN'T win! Give it up!" Rito waves his bone-sword at them, and remarks, "You know, you guys are gettin' on my nerves." White Ranger replies, "GOOD! Give us the Orb and we'll leave!" Red Ranger adds, "WHAT-ever your game is, you're gonna lose." Rito responds, "Really? Then maybe you should play a little 'Pin The Tail On The Tenga'!" He waves his sword outward, causing an avalanche of purple & black feathers, signifying the teleportation of the Tenga Warriors! They squawk loudly, prompting Tommy to exclaim, "Whoa! Here come the featherheads!" Yellow Ranger groans, "Great. Just what we needed!" Speak of the devil, a few featherheads more pop up behind Aisha's sweet behind, which she notices and informs the others, "I hate to tell you this, guys. But we're surrounded!" The gang of Tengas behind our heroes serve a purpose, their flock leader cawing, "Let's head for the carnival!" Blue Ranger says, "Oh no! We've got to stop them!", and Black Ranger agrees, "We've got to protect all of those people!" Aisha concurs, stating, "Right! Let's split up!" She, Billy & Adam race off after the carnival bound Tengas, leaving the other three behind, with Rocky bidding, "Be careful, guys!", as they race off. Rito, referencing the fact they've been ignoring him to have discussions amongst themselves, asks the Red, White & Pink Rangers, "Are you guys through? I ain't got all day, you know!" Instantly, a wall of fire ignites out of nowhere, signifying the teleportation of Goldar! He walks over to Rito and shouts, "Hold everything! I saw all the fun you were having, and I thought i'd join in!" Rito nods, "Cool!", and the henchmonsters stand with their birddrones in front of the remaining Rangers.
White Ranger orders, "Alright! Enough fooling around. Hand over the Orb!" Pink Ranger mentions, "We're not going to let you do this!" Rito clutches the Orb in his hand, and snickers, "Oh! Big words from somebody in pink tights! I'm going to put this where it belongs, (mockingly) and you can't stop me!" Red Ranger boasts, "Wanna bet? Just watch!", he and his two teammates then charge into battle with the Tengas. Rocky punches his way through them, slipping past Goldar, and reaching his gloved hand out for the exposed crystal sphere. Rito urges, "Come and get IT!" Red Ranger lunges for it, only to have Rito butt him in the gut with his bone-sword and chuckle, "Psyche!" The two spar briefly, Rito's hand full with holding the Orb, and the other one with his sword. Rocky ducks out of the way of slashes thrown, eventually locking on with it with his forearms in defensive position. Rito presses down harder, causing Red Ranger to struggle beneath the might of his weapon, as he gloats, "Not bad, Red. But you zigged, when you should'a zagged!" Rocky reaches around and latches onto the sword, breaking out of the hold and reaching out for the crystal sphere again, crying, "Give me the Orb! You're not going to get away with this!" Holding the Ranger back out of arm's length from the item of power, Rito wonders Seinfeldian, "What is it with you hero types?! Always the same line!" He then heaves Rocky off, sending him stumbling back into a line of Tengas, which proceed to kick him in the stomach. Two then grab his arms and hold him back for a moment, before he hurls them off and knocks them into a pile on the ground. White & Pink Rangers tackle other Tengas in the background, and Goldar walks around looking for someone to fight with, as Rocky remarks, "Take that, beak breath!"
Elsewhere, down in a parking lot overlooking the carnival, a few Tengas continue on their way. The other three Rangers spot them, Adam shouting, "Look! There they are!", and Aisha commanding, "Get 'em!" The trio of heroes leap into the air, and land directly in front of the invading birdbrains (with discarded cotton candy on the ground). They extend out their arms intimidatingly, until Black Ranger notes, "It's time to go to work!", and Yellow Ranger agrees, "Alright, let's do it!" The three rush in and engage the Tengas in battle, as "Tenga Bye-Bye" continues to play in the background, turning from instrumental to lyrical. Blue, Black, and Yellow Rangers take on an outnumbering amount of Tenga Warriors (even though they were merely five a little while ago, there's about 10 there now between scenes!), fighting them amid a sea of parked vehicles. Our heroes do pretty well at dodging most attacks, and occasionally pushing a birdbrain over, but the Tengas always get the last laugh. Adam gets kicked severely, and Aisha gets slammed against the pavement. She puts it best, "This isn't going so good!" Billy winds up shoved against a range rover, prompting him to yell, "There's too many of them! We need extra protection!" Yellow Ranger concurs, but winds up grabbed by a flock of birddrones at once. Blue & Black Rangers, though, knock off their feathery hanger-on's, and proceed to command, "Let's do it!" They motion their arms up in the air and then down, causing a dazzling light to flash. Billy, standing lone behind the reflective pool of power, summons, "Metallic Armor, Power Up!" Adam does the same, his pool of gleaming energies behind him has a more of a black tint to it. The two Rangers emerge from the metaphysical powering ups in their enhanced, glittery costumes. They flex their muscles, exerting an added boost of energy which comes with the Metallic Armor. Nearby, Yellow Ranger finally frees herself, and then leaps into the air, extending her chest outward towards the sun, causing a blinding light. She also does her Metallic Armor Power Up alone, her pool of reflective energies has a golden shine. Aisha lands atop a tall packing truck. The Tengas swarm around it, causing her to state in general, "Check this out", before leaping off the roof of the truck, and doing a jump kick into a Tenga. Not just any jump kick, but a Metallic Armored one, where her glittery enhanced suit trails its golden-yellow coloring as she falls, streaking through the sky. All that to knock down a single Tenga!
Speaking of a single Tenga, one leaps into the air and tries to land on Blue Ranger. The Metallic Armored Billy does a rather kick with his leg poised perfectly up in the air, causing the birddrone to flip uncontrollably down to the ground. Elsewhere in the parking lot, Black Metallic Armored Ranger faces three Tengas at once. He utilizes the full power of the MA, which acts an awful lot like the quietly abandoned Ninja Ranger Powers (is it possible Zordon funneled the Ninja modes through their Ninja Coins, into the Morphed suits, to create a sort of hybrid in these armors?). Adam glides across the ground at the speed of light, his body color trailing, as he zips across the lot to bash one Tenga up close. The other two try sneaking up behind up and attacking with his back turned, only to have him flash back to where he started from, causing one of them to trip and fumble to the pavement, while he snatches the last one's wing. Black Ranger asks, "You guys just don't get it, do ya?", before flipping the Tenga into the air, one-handedly. Meanwhile, somewhere up in the mountain range, White Ranger easily takes on Goldar, AND several Tengas at once. What a guy! Red Ranger gets back in the action with Rito Revolto, the two sparring up close a little more lively. Rito actually manages to beat Rocky down with just his bone-sword and one hand busy holding the Orb Of Doom. Red Ranger lies on the ground, beaten to a pulp. Rito remarks, "Oh well. You win some, and you lose some!", as he walks off to finish his task. Tommy finally fights off the Tengas and Goldar, calling out, "No! Stop!", and chasing after Rito. Another Tenga comes his way, sacking the White Ranger and holding him back long enough for two of his fellow birdbrains to join in. Tommy cries, "Let me go!", but they refuse. Pink Ranger is also getting deprived of oxygen by three Tengas, her arm waving outward as she yells, "Don't!", to Rito. The skeletal warrior casually walks by, talking to himself, "Let's see, four paces south. Which was is south?!" He rubs his skull with the Orb, whining, "Dohh! Oh well, I'll try this way!" Just after he presses on, Rocky recovers and jumps to the spot where Rito had been standing. Why he, or any of these three Rangers don't call on Metallic Armor is beyond me. Predictably, a trio of Tengas grab hold of Red Ranger.
Rito Revolto steps widely, counting the number until he reaches a patchy grass & dirt spot matching pace number four. He figures, "This must be it.", but groans, "Ohh! It could be ANYWHERE!" Rito looks around, tosses his bone-sword to the ground, and starts to bump his fist against the Orb Of Doom. He comments, "Paper, Rock, Scissors...", eventually making the two fingered gesture of scissors against the crystal sphere. Rito snaps out of his fit, wondering, "WHAT am I doing?! There's really only one way to find out. Here goes!" He slams the Orb Of Doom against the ground before him. A bright beam of violet energy is release from the Orb, streaming upwards towards the sky. Rito stands next to it, looking around and awing, "Oooh! I LOVE this!" The energy released cuts off after a second, creating violent stormclouds in the skies above. Red, White & Pink Rangers cease fighting with the Tengas, as they and the birddrones turn their attention to the unnatural thunder and lightning raging around them. Rito looks up at the full moon peering through the blue sky with slight bolts of lightning around it, and wonders, "You mean that's it?" His answer comes in the form of an Earthquake, rocking the area unstably. Goldar and the Tengas flee from the scene in fright, leaving the three Rangers attempting to keep their balance. The shaking stops, and Rocky looks up, saying, "Oh, MAN! We gotta do something to stop this!" Tommy realizes, "Aw, man. It's too late." Rito remarks, tapping his sword against his left wrist, "You know what they say. Timing, is everything. SEE YA!" He runs off, leaving the White Ranger to exclaim, "Rito! Come back! I'm not giving up!" Tommy rushes towards the Orb Of Doom, with his hand out. The crystal sphere fires off a pink bolt of energy, wrapping around Tommy and hurling him away from it before he could even get close enough to breath on it. Kat cries, "No! Tommy! Tommy! Are you alright?" She and Rocky help their leader up from where he landed, and he replies, "Yeah, I think so. But what do we do know?" Rocky notes, "One thing's for sure. We can't get near it!" Tommy agrees, "Yeah, let's just hope the others had better luck. Let's get back to the carnival." Kat says, "Yeah, let's hurry", and the three retreat. I'm left wondering why they didn't try Metallic Armor to approach the Orb Of Doom.
At the carnival parking lot, it appears Aisha, Adam & Billy DID have more luck. The Metallic Armored Yellow & Black Rangers take down the last of the Tengas into a pile, and backflip triumphantly. The glittery Yellow asks them, "How'd you like THAT ride?" Blue Ranger beats the stuffing out of the last Tenga, ordering, "Now get out of here, and stay..." Billy is cut off by a sudden tremor, proving this scene must be taking place simultaneously to the last one. Aisha cries, "What's happening?!", Adam replies, "I dunno!", and the two Metallic Armored Rangers struggle to maintain balance. The Earthquaking halts as suddenly as it started, causing the panicky cawing Tengas to silence. Black Ranger says, "We'd better find out what's going on. Let's go!" He & Yellow Ranger rush over to where Blue is, brainy Billy noting, "Something's not right." Adam wonders, "What do you think that shaking's all about?" Billy thinks, "The others must have been unsuccessful. Rito must have planted the Orb Of Doom." The Tengas they were pouncing on recover, and instantly feather-aport back to the moon. The trio of Rangers are unable to prevent them from getting away without answers. Aisha states, "Quick, let's get back to the carnival!", even though, honestly? At a time like this, the Rangers SHOULD be heading to the Command Center!
Meanwhile, on the Evil Moon Palace, Master Vile stands atop the balcony, addressing the gang of Evil Space Aliens again. He commends, "Excellent, Rito! I KNEW if I found the proper task, you could do something right!" Rito nods and waves, humbly saying, "Aww, dad. Thanks!" Baboo claps his flamboyant hands majorly to this. Goldar notes, "We're note sure he didn't mess it up, yet!" Rito groans, pointing at him, saying, "Heyyy!" Squatt & Baboo giggle, and Master Vile whips up some blue & gold energy on his scepter, firing at the golden warrior as he yells, "You will be SILENCED, Goldar!" The beam of energy strikes the gold monkey in the mouth, creating a small Hannibal Lecter muzzle gag over his lips! Rito and the henchmonsters get a hearty chuckle out of this, even Rita & Lord Zedd also bursting into laughter over Goldar's muffled screaming. Master Vile proclaims, "If you're quite through, the HOUR is upon us! Hahaha!" He turns towards Earth, and raises his arms and scepter into the air. His body surges with red electricity, as he incants, "Ultimate power, I command you! Arise and conquer with venomous sinew!" Lord Zedd grumbles in recognition of how similar this is to his own reversing of time, "This sounds like the rerun of a VERY bad movie! I can't take much MORE of this!" Rita basically just shrugs his sulking off. Down on Earth, the Orb Of Doom lights up again, firing another bluish beam into the sky. White bolts of lightning appear out of nowhere, as no dark clouds are evident within view. The beaming stops, but the thunderclaps continue. The citizens attending the quite popular carnival pause in their tracks, looking to the sky at the odd weather phenomenon occurring above. The six Ranger teens have demorphed, and are blending in with the crowd. Bulk & Skull follow behind, as everyone takes a gander at a set of pure white clouds, rumbling & cracking with thunder and lightning.
Aisha remarks to her teammates, "We can't just let this happen. We gotta do something!" Kat says, "Maybe we should call the Command Center." Notice, Bulk & Skull are standing less than two feet away from her when she says this. Skull even turns his head and listens closer when she mentions the CC! Luckily, he's apparently too stupid to suspect anything. Anyway, Tommy makes the lame excuse for not even contacting Zordon & Alpha, "No, we can't leave everyone here." Everybody seems thoroughly entertained by the lightshow in the sky, but Bulk & Skull grow bored. Bulk mentions to his pal, "Well i've seen enough. How bout you?", and Skull replies, "Yeah, let's get something to eat. I'm hungry." Bulk remarks, "I'm with you, partner!", and the two make their way out of the crowd. It's only the end of the world again, and they feel fine! On the moon, Master Vile continues his magical spellcasting, "Give me the strength, the power, and the might. And people of Earth, goodnight!" The Orb Of Doom gleams with another surge of power, this time dropping a small bit of energy against the gravel around it, causing a massive fireball explosion. It actually appears that the Orb imploded in on itself, for this last act of terrorism against the flow of Earthen time. The fires turn into a thick puff of smoke, which rises into the air. Suddenly (reusing footage from RBiT1), the planet Earth ceases rotating counterclockwise, and slowly grinds to a halt. Citizens riding the Happy Go Pukey in Angel Grove are wowed by the events occurring in the sky. The spinning chairs suddenly freeze in place, as if shut down by forces unseen. The Centripetal Force Pods also stop movement in midswing, all the people inside of them reluctant prisoners. The Ferris Wheel shuts down, leaving the occupants baffled. The Earth finally stands still, with the whole globe appearing from an outer space view, gleaming with bluish white energies. The atmosphere obviously tainted with the effects of the orb's spell, and the planet actually resembling the Orb Of Doom somewhat! Master Vile concludes his spellbinding ceremony, proclaiming, "Ultimate power, exert your force! Divert the Earth's natural course!" The squall of energies dissipate from the planet, like yanking a string off a yo-yo. The world begins to slowly rotate again, though this time in a clockwise direction, opposite of how it was going before.
At the Angel Grove Carnival, Bulk & Skull stop at an Ice Cream Stand. They discuss with the vendor what they want. Suddenly, the time reversal spell takes precedence. Every person in the area, all teenagers or adults, have their physical forms washed away in a splash of orange energy. This leaves each and every one of them as children! The ice cream vendor, everybody. What's oddest, is that their clothes all shrunk to fit their younger (ages circa 7 to 10) bodies. Bulk & Skull, now back in their kid forms as we saw in RBiT, have tiny Junior Police Patrol uniforms on! All effected by this wave of youth switch their attention to their changed bodies, concurrent with their changes of minds. Everyone BELIEVES they're younger, as well. Some people are standing around watching some buff guy about to lift a hammer to test his strength. He drops it just as he and the people in the vicinity are de-aged, and of course, he barely gets it up anywhere in his de-buffed younger form. I'm theorizing that everyone at the carnival was forcibly reversed to the ages of 7-10, due to the location being within such close range to the Orb Of Doom at the time of activation. This is supported by the fact that even adults are shrunk to this age. One guy is tossing a baseball to knock over some milk jugs at a booth. The wave of youthilation washes over them, and both he, the vendor, and his Doberman are deuced to children! The dog went from full grown, to a puppy! The thrower, of course, drops the baseball, not having the muscles to toss it properly as a kid. Not far away, Lt. Jerome Stone pulls his car to a stop-sign at the corner of Astoria St. He then peeks out to the side mirror, and starts checking how he looks with his safari hat and sunglasses, adjusting them. The wave washes over him, and his face & body melt away in an orange haze, leaving him as a kid. In a very young voice, Jerome cries, "Hey!", finding himself too small to see over the wheel of his car. Lt. Stone is neither seen nor mentioned until Zeo, so it makes you wonder how long he was regressed to childhood, and what he did during that time.
Back at the carnival, the crowd of people staring at the sky continue to gasp and talk amongst themselves. This includes the Ranger teens. The Orb's spell activates itself on them, and the first we see reverted in age are Tommy, Rocky & Aisha. One moment, they're standing there as teenagers, and the next, their images are wiped away in a wash of orange light. They're back to being kids (same ones that played them in RBiT, of course), all wearing smaller versions of the same clothes they had on before the spell. Though their haircuts are all slightly different in some ways. Billy, Adam & Katherine are next to be reduced to children. Same clothes, same kids (Kat's younger self previously appeared in a flashback segment), different hair. Our young heroes look at themselves, stunned. Everyone else around them are also turned into kids, crying "Gosh!" and other G-rated obscenities. Young Tommy notes, "Zordon was right, you guys!" Young Kat (speaking in a very fake accent) wonders, "What do we do now?" They have no answers, instead inspecting their time regressed bodies for all their worth.
[commercials]
The crowd of children at the carnival race to the exits in a loud panic. It's a World Without Grown-Ups! Ahhh! The Ranger te... er, kids, remain calm. That is, until Tommy points to the sky, "Oh no, you guys. LOOK!" Up on the top of a nearby hill, not too far in the distance, is Lord Zedd, Rita Repulsa, Goldar & Rito Revolto! Their evil laughter echoes all the way across the city, chilling our young heroes to the bone. If the altered forms weren't enough, this sure gives plenty of the carnival goers a cause to flee. Up on the hilltop, Goldar groans in delight about being wrong about Rito & Vile, "He actually DID it!" Rita lifts her magic wand into the air and exclaims, "Ya-ha!", with a wicked smile. Rito swings his bone-sword in the air above his head, cheering, "Yeah, Pops!" Zedd jokes, "Haha! Now they really ARE Power Brats!" Faced with this desperate situation (and retaining their memories, see the next episode as to how), the six Ranger kids are all that stands in the way between Angel Grove and the four Evil Space Aliens of the apocalypse! Rocky asks, "Billy, can we still Morph?" The brainy boy says, "There's only one way to find out!" Tommy agrees, "You're right!", and reaches around his back, calling out, "It's Morphin' Time!", into the camera. Beat. Nothing happens! Rocky cries, "Oh no! We can't Morph!" It appears that their connections to the Ninja Coins are dependent on them being a certain age and at a certain level of physical and emotional maturity. Tommy wonders, "What are we going to do?", and the kids have no answers.
Up on the hill, Lord Zedd comments to his fellow monsters, "I can't believe the Old Coot did it! You know what this means, don't you? I'll never hear the END of it! He'll just go on, and on..." Rita calms her husband, saying, "Don't fret, Zeddy! Why not think of this as a LEARNING experience! Now, let's get into the act before we miss all the FUN! Ha, ha!" Zedd agrees, "Yes, I guess you're right, my dear. It IS time we had some fun, isn't it?!" Goldar, Rito, and Rita laugh diabolically at this notion. Lord Zedd remarks, "Without those Power Rangers in our way, this world is OURS for the taking!" He charges up his Z-Staff with a surge of energy, and Rita charges up her Magic Wand. They lift them overhead, and combine their powers, Zedd proclaiming, "Forces of evil, make us GROW! Haha!" The usual season 3 thundercloud lightning blast drops down on all four of them, causing the evil overlords to grow into giant form! They tower over the mountain range, roaring mighty with victorious and vicious glee. The supersized (for the first times ever) Lord Zedd & Rita Repulsa begin to stomp slowly towards the city, as Zedd mentions, "Come, my queen. Let us greet our new subjects! Haha!" Goldar follows not far behind, waving his sword and likely happy to be big again for the first time since "Changing Of The Zords." Rito's around as well, first time he's been big since "A Ranger Catastrophe". Much evil laughter is displayed. Meanwhile, at the Command Center, Alpha 5 presses buttons on the consoles in a frantic pace. He cries, "Oh! We're losing power and I can't find the Rangers!" Zordon states, "Master Vile has succeeded where others have failed." Alpha turns to the staticy Viewing Globe and exclaims, "Oh, Zordon! I can't bear to watch. This can't be the end of the Power Rangers!" Zordon regrets, "I'm afraid something terrible has happened. In their present state, it's as if our journey together never began. We can do NOTHING to help them." Alpha understands, "You're right! They're all children!" (though he ISN'T right about not being able to help, but his confusion is understandable. This whole time plot is mindboggling!)
Back in the outskirts of town, the huge Rita Repulsa & Lord Zedd approach the carnival. Zedd yells, "Hello, kiddies! Ready to play a little game?!" Goldar's giant head grows closer to the carnival, and judging by the screaming coming from the fleeing kids, they're not ready for his game of squish the humans. The carnival is completely cleared out, except for the six Ranger youths, who remain in a tight bundle together. Kat remarks, "I can't BELIEVE this is happening!" Billy laments, "It appears as if we've FINALLY been defeated." Tommy whines, "You guys! We can't give up!" Aisha admits to him innocently, "Tommy, i'm scared." Tommy, as effected by his hormonal digression as the rest, pouts, "I'm REALLY scared." Little Billy has tears running down his face, as does Katherine, as the Ranger kids stand there, wondering what their next move will be. Aside from get destroyed along with the world, that is. Kat puts her hands to her face and sobs, some birthday surprise THIS turned out to be! Instead of growing older, she grew younger! And this was the first PR midseason cliffhanger, with not a single mention of a new episode for another 2 solid months. Talk about depressing!
[end credits]
_END CREDITS SCENE:_
Goldar grows with a growl; Rito grow with a howl; Rita & Zedd grow with a grunt and bow!; Kids at the carnival run for their lives; The four giant Evil Space Aliens laugh maniacally at the children. Lord Zedd comments, "I don't think they want to play with us! I guess maybe they think we're a little too BIG for them! Funny, they seem to be the perfect size for US! Haha!" Zedd starts stomping towards the city, his foot being foreshortened against a model of the mountains. He orders his henchmonster, "Walk this way!" Goldar obeys, joking, "Okay, but I feel a little stupid! Hehe", as he walks with wide steps, waving his arms in the air like his master is doing.
