SUMMARY:
[Today on MMPR (Replaced by a segment of the Zeo Serial Preview during the Spring 96 reairings); Opening credits]
In the outskirts of Angel Grove, likely not far (or even possibly exactly at) where the Orb Of Doom was placed, Billy leads his deaged teammates along a trail. The five Aquitian Rangers accompany them, each of the kids carry a backpack with essential items inside. They eventually reach what appears to be a random hole in the dirt. Billy explains, "Well, guys. This is the spot. Zordon calculated this longitude and latitude as the beginning point for your quests." Aisha makes light of them going out of their way to embark on this search, remarking, "Talk about traveling on a budget!" Tommy asks, "But how do we know where to look for our Zeo Crystals?" Adam mentions, "And since Zordon put the crystals through the Time Hole, we don't know WHAT year we're being sent to!" Delphine tells them, "Look for a connection to your heritage. The spirits of your ancestors will show you the way." Rocky's confused, stating, "Our heritage? I don't understand." Aurico ominously replies, "All things are be revealed in proper time." Tommy notes, "Time is one thing we don't have. We'd better get going." Billy speaks into his handheld Viewing Disc, and let's their mentor know, "Zordon, they're ready." Zordon, in the Command Center as always, calls out to them through the disc, "Rangers, you will need ALL of your resourcefulness and strength for your journeys. From this point, each of you will be propelled towards a different destiny and will be entirely on your own. Embrace your inner strength, and your sense of what is right, and you SHALL succeed. Good luck, and may the power protect you!" As he talks, the hole before the Ranger kids suddenly fills in with a dark blue & black swirling thundercloud vortex. Violent lightning strikes form within the pocket of energy, and cause winds to pick up around all of the humans & aliens standing around it. Rocky winces at the sight, Kat is in awe, Tommy flinches and seems to get a headache, Aisha licks her lips and looks fearful, and Adam shows no expression whatsoever. Billy just stands there, holding the disc, and letting the breeze blow his hair around. Rocky is the first to take the timestream plunge, leaping into the vortex, as Cestro reminds him, "Act wisely, Rocky." He hits the swirl of clouds, and vanishes amid them with a flash of electricity. Kat goes next, as Aurico states, "Your strength lies within, Katherine." Tommy jumps in following her, as Delphine wishes him, "May the power protect you, Tommy." Aisha's a bit nervous, but takes a leap of faith into the time rift, while Tideus stresses, "Look to your heritage, Aisha." Adam's last to go, breathing deeply before jumping into the vortex, with Corcus bidding, "Let your spirit guide you, Adam."
With all five of his teammates having departed for the timestream, Billy crouches down and stares into the vortex, somberly stating, "Good luck, guys." (I suspect they're hoping that when the Earth's reversal is fixed, most of the public's knowledge of what occurred is erased. Thus, no need to make an airtight alibi for each of the kids' lengthy absences from home or school!) The vortex dissipates, leaving only the normal hole in the ground behind. Just then, Cestro collapses where he stands, prompting the other Aquitians to rush to his side. Billy calls out his name concertedly, to which the Blue Alien Ranger struggles to reply, "I'm... all right." Delphine realizes, "His hydration level is dangerously low. We MUST find a pure source of water for him soon!" Meanwhile on the Malicious Moon Palace, Rita stands at the balcony, watching this via her Repulsascope. She mockingly remarks, "Boo-hoo! The poor little fishboy is getting as dry as a kipper! Hahaha!" Rita ceases looking through her scope, and walks over to speak to her husband as he remains on his throne, saying, "With those power brats out of the way, we have the opportunity to permanently dry up ALL the Alien Rangers. Let's send a monster down to keep them from finding a pure water source!" Lord Zedd gets up from his chair, and agrees, "Excellent. But this job calls for a professional, not one of Finster's mishaps! I have called in my old friend, Witchblade! Hahaha!" Rita, not as jealous of old monstrous female friends of his now as she was with Dischordia, simply points out, "But what about those bothersome Battle Borgs?" Zedd instantly comes up with a plan, "I'll place a shield completely around the Earth, to keep them from getting in the way." Rita works out the scheme's intent aloud, "When those Aliens call... they won't be able to get through!" She smiles and remarks, "I KNEW that brain of yours wasn't just for show! Ha, ha!"
[commercials]
Somewhere, somewhen, the first into the vortex is the first out of it. Rocky drops out of the bluish stormcloud vortex, and lands harshly in a field of tall grass. The vortex fades, and he's left to wonder, "Whoa! Where am I?!" He recovers from his rather short fall, and takes a look around at the mountainous region. Rocky walks over to a dirt road, just as a young Mexican boy and his trust goat roam nearby. He calls out, "Hello? Hey, wait a minute!" The boy, dressed in rather dirty, non-designer clothing, responds, "Hola! Como estas?" Rocky regrets to inform him, "I'm sorry, I don't speak Spanish." The boy stuns him by replying, "I speak a little English," without much of an accent at all. The time traveler introduces himself, "I'm Rocky. You live around here?" The boy, later named Pablo (not Young Juan Valdez. He's got a goat, not a donkey!), confirms, "Si! I live in the village up the road!" He eyes Rocky's strange garb (red checked overshirt, red undershirt, and bluejeans), and asks, "You're not from around here, are you?" Rocky tells him, "No, but... I think I may have some relatives from here. Listen, this seems crazy, but i'm looking for a special rock. A crystal!" Pablo gets tightlipped, stating, "I don't know anything about the crystal! I must leave now!" Rocky halts him, "Are you sure? It's VERY important." Pablo hesitates, "Well...," and Rocky's magic words of, "Please!", gets him singing like a canary. He reveals, "I only know of one crystal. The Crystal Of The Volcano. The legend says, that there is a crystal in the volcano above our village. Its magic is very powerful! No one has ever been brave enough to climb the volcano and claim it." Rocky begs, "Will you show me the way?" (to San Jose?!) Pablo refuses, "I don't think I can. The volcano is a very dangerous place." Rocky stresses, "But I HAVE to get the crystal. It's hard to explain, but I need it to help some friends of mine." Pablo thinks twice, and figures, "If it's THAT important, I will show you the way." Rocky smiles, and follows along as his new pal leads his billy goat down the road, urging it, "Vamanous!"
Speaking of Billy goats, in the present day (time reversed), at the Command Center, Billy pats the Blue Aquitian on the back, and comforts him by saying, "Hey, try not to worry, Cestro." Cestro doesn't answer, as he struggles to maintain consciousness while leaning against a console, breathing heavily and drying out at a rapid rate. Sheesh, he JUST went home at the end of the last episode! What occurred between this one and last that taxed him out so much? Anyway, Billy talks to his mentor, "Zordon, we need to find a pure water source for Cestro." Zordon informs him, "Due to the Earth's time reversal, our databanks cannot access that information." Alpha 5 adds, "Ohh, in THIS time period, who would know where to find a pure water source?!" (both these remarks jibe with the reversal's effects, so far. So many things on the planet have regressed in age, while so many other things have stayed the same. Which means only someone, or something, under the mental strain of the reversal would be aware of details concerning this makeshift past/present melded timeline. The CC computers are all linked to the Morphin Grid, and thus can't figure out what parts of the real present are around, or what parts of the past may have taken their place. It's confusing, but works storywise.) Billy is inspired, pondering, "Wait a minute. Maybe it's not WHO, but WHAT." Alpha asks, "What do you mean, Billy?" He responds, "The Angel Grove Aquarium. There's many species of marine life there." Billy turns to the Aquitians, all waiting around to make themselves useful as Cestro continues to shrivel up, and asks, "Delphine, do you think you can communicate with them?" The female Aquitian believes, "It is VERY likely. We are fluent in MOST aquatic languages." Cestro seems to perk up, as Billy pats him on the back, and remarks to the Alien Rangers happily, "Come on, i'll take you there."
Elsewhere in the city, at the Elementary School (though it's the usual High School room set), Bulk & Skull are in their usual hangout of Detention. Presiding over today's two-man jury of delinquents, is some lady we've never seen before. The bumbling duo are doing bookwork, both wearing t-shirts, and buttons on their hats and vests, adorned with such things as the "I (heart) Aliens" and specially shot pictures of the Aquitians (the one most prominently shown is a head pic of Aurico). Skull leans over to his pal and whispers, "Hey, Bulkie. Do you think the Alien Rangers could beat Darth Vader?" Bulk snaps a reply, "You dimwit! Darth Vader is just pretend. The Alien Rangers are REAL!" Skull plays it off, "Oh, right, I forgot!", and continues chewing his gum. The teacher looks up from her writing, the two having already shut up, so she looks away again. Skull wracks his brain, before whispering another pop culture reference question, "Uhh, how 'bout a Klingon?" (I'd love to see the Aquitians get in a headbutt battle with the Klingons, wouldn't you?) Before Bulk can scold him for his general numbskullness, the teacher cuts them off, "Boys, I hope you're talking about what your topic is going to be for the science project." Skull denies it, "No, ma'am. We're just talking about the Alien Rangers." She sighs, "Again, we all admire the Alien Rangers, but I suggest you start concentrating LESS on them, and more on your assignment." Bulk saves the day, by remarking, "What Skull means, is that we were thinking about doing our science project on... fish!" Skull's surprised, echoing that last word in confusion, to which Bulk turns and tells him, "Fish!", telling the teacher, "We're going to the aquarium after school to do some research." She smiles, proud of the usually slacker children, "Well that's more like it!" Bulk breathes a sigh of relief, looking over at Skull, who leans in and whispers, "How about Dracula?" The teacher looks at them, like they didn't learn their lesson about talking during detention. Skull stares off into space, and Bulk shakes his head at her, trying to act like he's as against Skull's stupidity as she is.
Meanwhile, beneath the Command Center, inside the catacomb of full metal tunnels lining the mountain it rests on, Rito Revolto & Goldar try to remain sane. They no longer have the map, having burnt a good portion of it to a crisp last episode, so they're just wandering around blindly. Goldar groans, and Rito scratches his helmet and whines, "Ohhh. Alright. Where are we, and what're we doing here?" Asked for a reminder, just to make conversation and to keep the kiddies in on the story, Goldar replies, "Amazing! We're to place this destruction mechanism (which he has in his hand) at the base of the Command Center!" (basically a rehash of their task in 'Alien Rangers of Aquitar, Part 1 & 2', except with the adjusted method. Instead of sticking it at the front door, they're basically going to place it close underneath, in the cellar door!) Rito points out their unidentifiable location, asking, "Which is... WHERE?!" Goldar grunts, "Ummm, I'm not sure!" The skeletal soldier slams his bonesword against the foggy floor and throws his arms in the air, complaining, "Oh great, we're lost! NOW what do we do?!" The golden warrior notes, "Uhh, well, as the leader, I say, THAT way!" Goldar points to his right, down one of three corridors within their sight. Rito scoffs, "You gotta be kiddin' me. Anybody, with... (motions fingers to helmet) HALF a brain... knows that we go THAT way!" He points the opposite direction. Goldar agrees, "Uh-huh. Well, I guess that leaves YOU out!" It takes a minute for that put-down to register in Rito's feeble mind, "What... you... Oh, let's split up!" Goldar agrees again, "Suits me fine!" The two henchmonsters attempt to go their own ways, bumping chests against one another as they do so. They angrily circle one another to prevent this from happening again, Goldar telling his reluctant partner, "Outta my way, you bag 'a bones!" Rito remarks, "You think you're so smart, huh? Well, you won't be so smart, when I find the Command Center! That's right!" They go their separate directions, destined to meet again.
Elsewhere, outside of the Marine Aquarium (a small sign under the larger one, reading "Of Angel Grove"), Billy leads the five Aquitians up across the sidewalk. Cestro leans against Aurico, who helps him make the journey into the building. Billy informs the heavily dehydrated Alien Ranger, "We're almost there, Cestro," as they enter the Aquarium. Inside, a female teacher points out a large fishtank to the small children in her field trip class, "So, that's the kelp forest, you guys. Shall we go on to the next exhibit?" They move along, just narrowly missing a brush with stardom, as Billy & the Aquitians approach the tank they just departed. Delphine remarks to the human Ranger, "Fascinating. The diversity of marine life on your planet is very interesting!" Billy mentions, "Cestro, see if you can communicate with them.", gesturing over to the large pane of glass separating them from the group of fishies floating around within. The Blue Alien Ranger does so, telepathically emitting a purple beam from the white gem between the golden mask-like shape surrounding his eyes on his bulbous head. The purple gill-like structures on the side of his noggin glow brightly, as the beam of mental language is casted into the tank. Cestro motions his hand, back and forth, as the transmission flows freely among the sealife. He ceases talking to them, and notes, "Extraordinarily intelligent creatures." Billy asks, "Were they able to tell you anything about a water source?" Cestro reveals, "They tell me there is an extremely pure source of water, that runs through the forest outside Angel Grove." Corcus, leaning in over his teammate's shoulder, clarifies the source as,
"A stream!" Billy notes, "Well, the forest is on the outside of town, right by the quarry." Delphine says, "Excellent. I suggest you go there at once, and rehydrate, Cestro!", prompting her teammate to nod.
Before he can, Bulk & Skull wander in, laughing jollily. When they notice their heroes, the Alien Rangers, they're stunned, but drawn in for a closer encounter. Bulk gasps, "I can't believe this! We're your biggest fans!" Skull adds, "Yeah, we almost got expelled because of you guys!" The Aquitians tilt their heads, curiously watching the bumbling duo. Tideus innocently replies to them, "We are glad to help, strange child." Skull asks, "Did you guys ever meet Captain Kirk?" Bulk scoffs at his pal, "What a stupid question!", then asks his own, "Hey! Can we have a ride in your UFO?" The Aquitians can only look at each other, confused. Billy, not afraid to let his association with these Rangers be known to the public, tells the boys, "Uhh, guys, the Alien Rangers are a little busy right now." Bulk, recognizing his former elementary school classmate only from the previous episode's encounter, points out to Skull, "It's the OLD guy from the water park!" Billy's expression at being called old is priceless. Skull rebelliously asks, "Why should we listen to YOU, mister?!" Billy just shakes his head. Cestro, looking quite groggy, bids a sudden goodbye, stating, "I must go. I shall return once I have rehydrated." He looks into the camera, crosses his hand over to the left side of his chest, and shouts, "It's Morphin' Time!" Using the first single-screen Morph we've seen since ARoA2, Cestro Morphs into the Blue Aquitar Ranger. Bulk & Skull stare, mouths agape, at this impressive sight. Bulk remarks, "Cool!", and Skull adds, "WAY cool!" Bulk then turns his head, and begins looking around the area, trying to find a glimpse of the now missing Aquitian. Little does his feeble mind understand, that the Blue Alien Ranger has teleported off to the quarry (the same area as in ARoA2, among other episodes during this saga alone! For water-based creatures, they sure spend a lot of time in the desert!) Anyway, the Blue Aquitian Ranger lands in the dirt with a successful backflip. He quickly glances at his surroundings, and talks to himself, "Ah, this must be the quarry. The stream must lie where the vegetation turns green! It must be this way."
Cestro searches about, and finds a few bushes, which mark the edge of the forest. He notes, "It was very fortunate for us that we are able to communicate with the Earth marine creatures." While wandering away from the wooded area, and crossing over towards a dusty open field, the Blue Alien Ranger remarks, "Hmm, how peculiar. I get the strangest feeling that I am not alone." His psychic abilities ring true, as the metal clawed arm of Witchblade pokes out from behind the bushes. She cackles evilly, as Cestro stops suddenly, and calls out, "Billy? Delphine? Is that you?" The claw arm (apparently the only piece of her suit we have) is shown zipping at him instantly, as Witchblade snickers sinisterly behind it offscreen. The Blue Aquitians notices it too late, turning around and screaming, "What? Oh no!" Cestro does manage to whip out the sword sheathed on his back, and uses it to dodge any stabbing damage from the metal claw (no, not da craw, da CRAW!). It's still not enough to block the momentum of the blow, as he's hurtled into the air, landing over the side of a gravely hill. It looks like the same one Aurico got knocked down in ARoA2, actually. Cestro falls down it, rather painfully, the never-ending steepness of grey pebbles battering against his morphed body all the way to the bottom. He grunts the entire way down, and upon rolling to a level surface, he stands up and readies his sword. Unfortunately, the weakness from his dehydration, coupled with the bruising tumble, have left him quite incapable of keeping his poised demeanor. The Blue Aquitar Ranger drops to his knees, and struggles to maintain consciousness. Witchblade finally makes her visible debut, a rather deformed looking female monster is she. Don't confuse her with Top Cow's comic babe-fest "Witchblade" (though, a toy of this monster was announced and canceled, possibly because of the similar names). Anyway, she kinda looks witchy, with the witch-like blue malformed hat stretching across most of her head. She has one red button-like eye on her face, which appears to be partially robotic. She's just plain freaky looking. Witchblade lands before the weary Aquitian, and aims her huge metal claw arm at him, as she asks (in a twisted voice, which is purposely reminiscent of the Wicked Witch from Wizard Of Oz), "What's the matter, Alien Ranger? Feeling a little PARCHED?!"
Suddenly, while it was nicely bright out a minute ago, sunset falls on the quarry. While it is indeed the late afternoon, other shots after this debunk it being a natural occurrence. I like to think this is come kind of spell by Witchblade (she must love sunsets, hence she must be a reference to the Wicked Witch of the WILD West! Har). Whatever the case, the air gets tinted orange, and the winds begin to whip up around the desolate quarry. The Blue Ranger is back on his feet, sword at the ready, facing Witchblade in a duel at dusk. They're quite nicely spaced out now, might I add. Witchblade remarks, "Now, let's cut to the chase, shall we? Hehahaha! How about an old-fashioned duel in the sun?!" Cestro, who has not only his long-sword out, but a smaller one (likely his Blaster in blade mode), stands ready to battle for just a drop of pure water. As the giant red sun beats down on his back, the Blue Aquitar Ranger gasps to himself, "I... must... rehydrate," before shouting, "Out of my way, foul creature!" Witchblade as her claw-arm extended outward, and the two combatants begin to circle one another, while she states, "Skip the dramatics! Before it's too late, I have a little suggestion for you!" He asks, "What's that?", and she tells him, "Surrender!", to which he replies, "NEVER!" The sun keeps shining brightly as it lowers onto the distant horizon. The evil creature grows impatient, boasting, "Then prepare to meet your doom, my PRETTY!" She charges at Cestro with her claw arm drawn, prompting the Blue Alien Ranger to do the same with his double-swords. They meet halfway, both shouting loud battle cries. With the huge yellowy-orange globe as a backdrop, the two meet up in battle, Cestro doing a backflip into the air to avoid her slicing at him with her arm. Witchblade is a bit dizzy by this move, watching stunned as the Aquitian stands gloating, "You missed!" She raises her mangled metal blade appendage, and squawks, "It won't happen again! Ahahaha!"
[commercials]
Meanwhen, somewhile in time, Rocky's Zeo Quest continues. Pablo leads him to foot of the volcano, and points up to the steaming hole in the top, explaining, "The crystal is supposed to be located under the summit, under an old charred tree stump." Rocky pats the boy on the arm and thanks him, "Thank you for bringing me here." Pablo slips off a huge coil of rope he had hanging on his shoulder (darn those International Rope Cartels! Always using child labor to peddle their strings!), and hands it to his new friend. The local boy returns to wuss-mode, bidding, "I must go now. My father does not want me to be too close to the volcano. He fears it may erupt soon. Good luck!" Rocky takes the rope, and ventures up the side of the rather small volcano. Pablo waves, and he waves back, the boy taking his goat and departing in the opposite direction. Back in the time-reversed present, in the tunnels beneath the Command Center, Goldar has somehow summoned a box of theater popcorn! He holds it in his left hand, along with the implosion device, and growls to himself (and us), "While that loser Rito runs around in circles getting lost, i'll leave a trail for.... myself!" He evilly chuckles as he casually sprinkles a few handfuls of popcorn here, a few handfuls there. Good thing he got the large, though for only $1 extra he could have gotten the jumbo, or the Grande Jumbo Super Huge one, but only if he bought a drink with it. After a drink that size, he'd be leaving yet another trail of yellow to follow, I tell ya that! Over at the Angel Grove Marine Aquarium, Bulk & Skull are busy keeping the other four Aquitians & Billy occupied. Skull demands, "Take us to your leader!", and Bulk adds, "Yeah! Beam us up!" Corcus exhales sharply, his lip fluttering as he stares at the ceiling bored. Aurico tilts his head and looks annoyed to Tideus, who also exhales and makes his cheek big. Delphine completes the ensemble impression of whales, as she puckers her lips and makes both her cheeks big while exhaling.
Billy takes the boring incentive, and utilizes it to slip behind the Aquitians, pull out the Viewing Disc, and talk to the homebase. He whispers, "Zordon, this is Billy, I read you," despite how the Disc didn't make a sound signifying the Eltarian calling him in the first place. Anyway, Zordon informs him, "Billy, Cestro was attacked at the quarry before he was able to complete hydration. He needs help, immediately." Billy confirms, "Right!", and shuts the Disc off (course, he hasn't actually looked into it since the last episode, so I think they quietly ignored the whole "hologram" side to it). He rushes over and provides relief by telling Bulk & Skull, "Uhh, guys? The Alien Ranger have to leave now." Both of the bumbling boys are bummed out, Bulk whining, "Awwww!" Billy adds, notioning to Delphine, "Their... friend, needs their help." She responds, "Let us hurry," as the team looks to the camera and she shouts, "It's Morphin' Time!" The one-at-a-time Morphing goes in the White, Black, Yellow, Red order, each calling upon their color Aquitar Ranger power. The Rangers seem to vanish from the Aquarium, as the next shot involves Bulk staring into space, as Skull begs, "Beam us up!" Back at the quarry, or rather, at a stream in the nearby woods, the Blue Alien Ranger has been able to escape battle with the monster, and is back on the track to get much needed hydration. Cestro hurries as fast as he can, as he runs along the top of the water (a pretty cool looking shot), stating, "I must find pure water!" Seems the water he's running across isn't the pure pond he was told about, and races along it, searching for the proper location of the unspoiled H2O. Witchblade has followed along, at least up to the forest. She watches his sprint for the refreshing taste of Sprite, and offers, "How 'bout a little FIRE, Ranger?!" She aims her normal-looking left hand his way, and causes a few explosive eruptions to burst in the stream around him. The Blue Aquitar Ranger stumbles from his Jesus/ Remo Williams impression, and falls directly into the water, submerging completely, rather quickly. While it's not mentioned, I suspect he just happened to drop into the pure water location he was searching for, since he no longer complains of being dehydrated after this. His teammates make the scene, each one posing somewhere outside of the forest. The Red Alien Ranger proclaims, "Cestro, the power of water is with you!" The White Alien Ranger adds, "Your fellow Rangers have come to your aid!" The Yellow Alien Ranger mentions, "The power of all, working for one!", and the Black Alien Ranger finishes that statement, "The power of one, works for all!"
On the Moon Palace, Rita Repulsa is displeased, as usual. She approaches her husband on the balcony, and complains, "Well, that Witchblade is about as sharp as a bowling ball! She's supposed to keep him OUT of the water, not knock 'em IN!" Lord Zedd groans and offers, "What SHE needs is a little boost! Haha!" He aims his Z-Staff over the side, Rita chuckles maniacally, and crosses her Magic Wand over it, and firing their combined magical energies together, the cruel couple exclaim, "Make our monster GROW!" The bolt of magic lightning rains down from a thundercloud, blasting into Witchblade (who is now back in the middle of the quarry, rather than the woods). She grows giantly, and quips, "Well, well, well! My pretties! Haha!" Down in the desert area near the quarry, the Aquitian Rangers gaze up at her new huge form. Delphine says, "It appears that Lord Zedd is up to his old tricks again. It is time to call in reinforcements." The team unanimously agrees, "Right!", and together in a line, they aim their arms to the bright blue skies above, and summon, "Battle Borgs of Aquitar, deploy NOW!" They're aiming their Coins into the air, as usual, though not doing the standard movements which lead into the Battle Borgs appearing. That doesn't have anything to do with the fact that the streak of golden light shot from their hands turns up not a single trace of any of their Borgs! Delphine gasps, "They're not responding!", and Cestro remarks, "I do not understand!" They try doing the same thing again, getting nowhere in deploying their fighting machines. Witchblade laughs from the upper-sidelines, "Oh? Is something wrong with your tin men?! Ehehe!" The Alien Rangers are surprised by this movement, the Blue Aquitar Ranger realizing aloud, "Lord Zedd must be blocking our transmission!" The White Aquitar Ranger concurs, "So it seems. We MUST call the Shogunzords, immediately!" They're in agreeance, each one motioning their bodies in a row, extending their color-energy sparkling hands to the ground, while proclaiming, "Power of water! Power of light! Powers unite! We need... Shogunzord power, NOW!"
The five mighty metallic ancient Zords storm in at once. Not having any Borgs to telepathically control, the Aquitians are free to hop in the pilot seats. For some reason, we got rid of the cockpit sets for all the Zords by this time, so we never actually see them in the seats. But what we do see, is each Alien Ranger, shouting, "[color] Shogunzord, power up!", as they float backwards into the thunderous sky. Their Shogunzords rise up behind them, almost seemingly being formed out of nowhere. They then merge with the golden chest Ninja symbol-shapes, entering through that most unusual of methods. Also noticeable are the elemental references during each power up. Red has a fiery background, Blue a tidal wave, Black has what appears to be the ground exploding and rocks flying everywhere, Yellow seems to have boiling water or lava, and White gets an aurora borealis effect. Anywho, the five Shogunzords don't take long before coming together and forming the massive Shogun Megazord, through the standard "shift around and lock into place" method they haven't used in a while. The Megazord makes an explosive entrance, kicking up quite a bit of dust at the quarry below. Witchblade, using that "showdown at sundown" effect once more, cackles maniacally as she charges towards the Megazord with her claw-arm snapping. Speaking of arms, the golden fish symbol on the Shogun Megazord's right one charges up, and forms the flaming saber-trout. With a quick (no large building power-up) fell swoop, the Shogun Megazord slices into Witchblade. She screams bloody murder, having not even put up much of a defense. Guess she should stick to witchcraft. The Shogun raises its hand, and then nods. Witchblade, staggering before it, squeals, "Oh no! I'm falling! Falling! What a world!" Upon toppling over, she explodes massively, leaving not even a stinky spirit behind. The Shogun Megazord whips its Saber around, and poses triumphantly in front of the burning remains of the monster, and in front of the huge red sun behind it.
On the Moon Palace, Lord Zedd warns his wife, "Rita?!", "Yesss?", "I know what you're thinking, so DON'T even SAY it!" Rita replies with a wicked grin, "Ohh? Don't say what? That ALL your friends are a bunch of losers that couldn't beat a drum if that had to?! Huh?" Zedd changes the subject, remarking, "Speaking of losers, I wonder if Goldar and that deadbeat brother of yours have found the entrance to the Command Center yet!" His wife angrily growls, and gives him a deadly look. Meanwhile, in the tunnels below the Command Center, Goldar continues his hunt for the entrance. He looks around and snarls, "That light! Drat! A dead end! Dohhhhh. GREAT! Now i'll have to turn back now!" That he does, waving his hand downward like he let one, fanning away the mist covering the floor. His box of popcorn isn't quite emptied, but he had wound up leaving quite a long trail of the yellow Redenbacher droppings. Goldar grumbles as he bends over and retraces his steps via the popcorn, mentioning to himself, "Doh, that fool Rito's probably lost by now! Uhh, hehe! Ah, but I'll just follow this back to where I started!" His backtracking comes to an abrupt halt, when the trail of popcorn leads directly into a huge collected pile in the middle of the hall! Rito is shown as the source of the hoarding, scooping the popcorn into a single heap, and casually eating pieces of it! Goldar screams, "AHH! What are you doing!? You... bonehead!?" Rito coughs up some of the popcorn at the sound of his partner's yelling, but still a few pieces remain lodged in his teeth. He innocently asks, "Hey, Goldy! What do you think you're doing here?!" The golden warrior tells him, "Dooh, you... ATE my trail!" The skeletal soldier looks around and realizes this is true, stating, "Wha? Ohh, sorry. I didn't know! I mean... I was hungry!" Goldar is furious, offering, "You were hungry?! How would you like a knuckle sandwich?!" Rito nonchalantly refuses it, "Thank you, but no. I'm full now, I couldn't eat another bite!" Goldar lifts his hand to his bluish monkey face in disgust, and cries, "Ohhhh! Why me?!"
Back in time, Rocky successfully climbs the small volcano. He ties one end of the rope around the old charred tree stump, and lowers himself into the large, smokey opening. Once inside the scorching hot cavern, he nearly falls into the boiling lava below. The place is definitely on the verge of eruption, the ground quaking and the whole place rocking Rocky like the Casbah. He lands on a ledge not far into the volcano, and braces himself against the rope. Suddenly, he glances up and notices the greenish glowing crystal sticking out of the murky grey cliff wall. Rocky gasps, "Wow!", and starts to reach up for it. As he nears his fingers to the protruding Zeo Shard, the volcano grows even more unstable, the lava bursting around, and the ledge becoming unsettled. He grasps the rope, and never ceases reaching for his crystal, even as the power within it starts crackling like electricity. Finally, he yanks the crystal free from the slot, and sits back against the wall, as below him, the fires grow even more volatile. The crystal seems to react to him, sending off a quick gleaming glow of blue down his arm as he first holds it. Suddenly, with the Zeo Subcrystal removed from the volcano, the seismic activity dies down, the lava eruption subsides, and Rocky safely clutches the item, smiling as he looks upward.
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The exterior of the volcano shows the smoke, which was once pouring out of the top, now retracting, as if vacuum sucked right back in. Rocky carries the coil of rope with him, as he staggers down the side of it, his body sparsely covered in soot and dirt. Awaiting him, not far below, are Pablo and his fellow Mexican villagers! They cheer, lift hats, and swing their arms in the air around through their various colored ponchos. Not a single one of them shouts "Arriba!", "Ay-yi-yi!" or fire pistols into the sky, as you'd expect from the standard television stereotypes. Rocky smiles at the sight of them, and soon Pablo rushes up to greet his triumphant return. Pablo exclaims, "Rocky, you did it! The crystal was making the volcano unstable. You saved the village!" The villagers cheer louder, including some chicas, and Pablo's dad, who holds on to his son's goat on a rope. Where's Cantinflas when you need him? Rocky's surprised by their gratitude, stating, "Me? No way!" Pablo confirms, "Si! You were incredibly brave!" Rocky's humbled, handing the boy back his rope, and saying, "Thanks. But you were brave, too. You showed me the way! Hey, I never asked you your name." Pablo reveals, "It's Pablo. Pablo DeSantos." Rocky gasps, "No, way! My grandfather's name was... (pause, smile) Pablo, too." (This marks the first, and only, onscreen last-naming of Rocky. Official sources state that he is indeed "Rocky DeSantos") The Mexican boy confuses similar first names with similar last names, and remarks, "Hey, maybe we're related!" Rocky figures, realizing that this boy is likely his grandpa, "Yeah. Maybe." They shake hands, Rocky saying, "Muchas Gracias." Pablo's pleasantly surprised by his pal's grasp of such a common Spanish word, noting, "Hey, you're learning!" The boy's father calls out, "Pablo! Vamanous de aqui!" (which means "Pablo! Get back to Aquitar!" or something) Pablo says goodbye to his future grandson, "I gotta go now. Adios, Rocky!" Rocky waves back, "Adios, Pablo." After the local boy is far enough away, Rocky pulls out the Zeo Subcrystal from his satchel. He clutches it between both his hands, and holds it outward. Suddenly, it glows brightly, as it summons the thunderous vortex portal cloud above him. The crystal fires off a white energy triangle into the air, matching the symbol encrusted atop it. Rocky instantly zips into the timestream storm, and the triangle shape fires off, leaving no trace of him behind. The villagers witness this, all agape at the sight, one yelping, "Donde va?" Pablo had his back turned as he walked down the hill, and upon looking around, he asks his dad, "Hey! Where'd he go?!" His father can only shrug his shoulders, at a loss for words at why his son is speaking in English after the English speaking boy has departed.
Finally, in the time reversed present day, at the Command Center, Zordon informs the Aquitian Rangers, "Alpha has de-energized the shield that was blocking your Battle Borgs. You will now be able to summon them the next time they are needed." The five Alien Rangers nod, with their leader Delphine stating, "Thank you, Zordon. These foes have proven to be QUITE formidable." Without warning, the portal cloud appears overhead, and Rocky drops in on the console room perfectly. The triangle energy shape fades in with him, returning to the top of the crystal from whence it was fired from. Billy & Delphine rush to his side, with the female exclaiming, "Welcome home!" (then letting out one of her dolphin-like purrs) Alpha is also excited, saying, "Rocky! You're back!" Rocky proclaims, "Hey, everyone. I did it! I got my Zeo Crystal!" Billy lets out what can only be described as a joyous throat-clearing grunt. Zordon states, "Congratulations, Rocky. The first odyssey for the Zeo Crystals has been completed." Billy pats his young pal on the back and commends him, "Good job. man!" Rocky, whose long hair has come out of its tied position during his venture into the volcano, smiles and remarks, "Delphine, now I know what you were talking about!" The White Aquitian places her hand (fingers held in a sort of "webbed" position) to his shoulder and notes, "A journey into your heritage will ALWAYS bring a rich reward." Rocky glances at the Subcrystal in his hands, and mentions somberly, "I just hope the others are doing okay."
[To be continued...; end credits]
_BLOOPERS:_
While walking along the road, Pablo struggles to keep control of his rebelliously bleating goat! It just won't follow his orders, as he yanks on the rope, while the animal just "Baaa!"s at him and goes in the other direction. Soon enough, one of the crew walks around the camera to go help keep Vincent Van Goat in line.; A quick clapboard slate shows the date as being 10/11/95, or somewhen around then; Once again, Rocky & Pablo walk down the road. The goat escapes, and barrels past the camera, causing the front lens piece to be knocked open! The unfiltered light shines brightly through; At the Aquarium, Bulk gasps, "Cool!", and Skull goes, "Way cool!" Bulk's incredibly distant expression while looking around causes someone on the set to burst into laughter. Skull does as well, but Bulk remains with the straight face.; One final blooper is quite goofy indeed, as the camera focuses on Billy, as he fiddles around with his right earlobe in the aquarium. He's got quite an itch, the excessive rubbing and bending of his ear is accompanied by comedic sound effects. Billy notices the camera is on, looks at it, smiles, releases his ear (with a pop!) and waves his waxy hand at us!
