SUMMARY:
[Recap of "Grandma Matchmaker"]
TJ, Carlos & Cassie are on an unnamed jungle-plant ridden planet searching for Zordon. Cassie finds a footprint of a Piranahtron, which leads them to believe Old Bluehead may be being held closely. TJ receives a distress signal on his AMScanner and the three go off to check it out. Nearby, Ecliptor is hiding out behind some bushes, sending out the fake distress call, trying to lure the Rangers into an ambush with his Quantron army. Suddenly, a weird figure with a bag Warp-Teleports onto the scene. Darkonda's his name, bounty hunting's his game. Ecliptor knows this ghastly menace well and when last they met he told Darky never to come around him again. Darkonda was just in the neighborhood and wanted to see Astronema's newest lackey. They lock swords, Clipty furiously telling him to stay away from Astronema. The Ranger teens are approaching, so the bitter feud must be put off till after the ambush. Darky calls Ecliptor's plan predictable, but the green grid warrior ignores him and goes through with it, sending the Quantrons after the three unmorphed rangers to do battle!
[opening credits]
As the Ranger threesome fight off the Quantrons, Darkonda pulls out a hive out of his bag and tosses it into the air, chopping it in half with his Extenda-Sword. A Barillian bug flies out toward the commotion, stinging Carlos on the arm! TJ & Cassie help him up and they teleport out of there to help their friend in pain. Ecliptor is angry at Darkonda for ruining his plan, but he turns around to find Darkonda missing. Clipty rounds up his troops and heads back to the Dark Fortress. Later on the Astro Megaship, Carlos is being examined in the infirmary for his sting, which has spread into an infection over half his body. Andros asks Carlos if it feels cold, which it does. He has his suspicions as to what the bite is from, but calls TJ off secretly to discuss it out in the hall. Back on the Dark Fortress, Ecliptor takes his anger out on some Quantrons, tossing them around while walking into the bridge area. Astronema (now sporting a grayish black braided wig), finds out about his failure, knowing the reason why he didn't succeed must be what's rattling his nerves. The thorn in is side comes walking into the ship, Darkonda is there, introducing himself to Astronema, boasting that they met once long ago. She doesn't appear to remember him, and Ecliptor has nothing good to say about the traitorous back stabber. Darky takes a warp-teleportation leave of the Fortress, but not before revealing that he has taken out one Ranger already. Ecliptor tells her what happened, and she thinks the Barillian bug idea as 'brilliant.' Clipty finds her approval of his arch rival not a good thing.
[commercials]
TJ & Andros return to search the jungle planet for the remains of the Barillian bug. Instead, they're introduced to Darkonda, whom has what they seek in his hand! He gives chase, running rapidly and telewarping all over the place. The two Rangers 'rocket' while racing after the crafty villain, and calling forth their Galaxy Gliders. They hang ten after the speedster monster, dodging trees and other obstacles. Darkonda takes a head-start breather and releases another Barillian Bug from a hive! It swarms on Blue Ranger, trying to bite him. This distraction almost causes him to slam into a branch, but he jumps up on his board just in time to miss. Red Ranger lands and Blue circles back around so Andros can use his Astro Blaster to take the bug down. He succeeds, and soon Andros & Teej inspect the dead Barillian. Andros reveals that huge swarms of them once attacked his home world, stinging people and turning them into monsters. Scientists were able to develop an antidote, and it's possible some may still be on the abandoned planet. They call up Cassie & Ashley and tell them to restrain Carlos, for he is turning into a humanoid version of the bug and will destroy them! Meanwhile, Carlos goes from shirtless and vainly, to slimy and evil within seconds! The girls come to lock him up, but he's bugged out already! Andros & TJ teleport back to the Megaship just in time to miss 'Carillain,' who takes off into the ventilator system of the ship, oozing all the way. The Megaship hits hyper rush en route to KO-35, leaving Elgar stumped as to where the Rangers went. Darkonda knows and tells all to Astronema & Ecliptor. The princess of darkness uses this information to plot an attack on her enemies. Back on the Megaship, the Rangers teens set their Astro Blasters to lowest setting and plan to find their gooey teammate. Andros discovers some Carlo-snot in one of the decks. A tense & nervous Ashley is on the bridge, where she threatens DECA by accident. Cassie & TJ head for the engine room, when they spot him on Megadeck 6. The others regroup with them in cornering Carillain in the engine room. They can't open fire on him for fear of hitting the engines, so the evil bug boy jumps around, throws stuff and finally stings Cassie on her neck before getting away!
[commercials]
Cassie is strapped down in the infirmary, as Andros & TJ prepare to go down to KO-35 and get that antidote. Ashley is told to guard the bridge, even if it means she has to shoot her Barillian stung friends. On their way out, Andros & Teej are attacked by Carillain! They avoid him by leaping into their Jump Tubes and onto their Galaxy Gliders heading for KO-35. Ashley walks around the eerily quiet Megaship bridge. She hears the growling, moaning and other weird sounds Carillain and Cassillian are making. Andros & TJ, Morphed, land on KO-35 near an abandoned hospital where the antidote may still be. They find and blast open a medical locker, and discover an antidote device still there. Darkonda appears and attacks, this time Blue Ranger heads with the special Anti-Barillian gun back to the Astro Megaship as Red Ranger goes one on one with the dangerous new foe. They begin battling, Darkonda uses his warp teleport powers to tear through Andros, attacking him quicker than he can react. He whips out his Extenda-Sword to finish Red off, but our Ranger Leader jumps out into the streets (quite a long way) with Darkonda in tow. There he pulls out his Battlizer, proving it's not just for Delta Megazord operating. He presses '02', and jumps into the air with an energized fist, knocking Darkonda around some. Andros backs this chop up by pressing '01' on the Battlizer, tossing the ugly mook several yards. Darkonda's angry and smoking from damage, but still not done yet. Back on the Megaship, Ashley finds out that Cassillian has broken her bonds and both her & Carillian are about to break into the bridge! Ash stands her ground, with a whimpering Alpha 6 behind her and her Astro Blaster ready to fire. The two buggers close in for the kill, leaving Ashley no choice but to aim at her former friends. TJ instead does the firing, striking the monsters with the antidote gun. Carlos & Cassie revert back to normal (Carlos has gained his Megaship Uniform jacket & shirt!), but have no time to rest as they are rushed down planetside to assist Andros who is still at it with Darkonda. The entire team is reunited on KO-35, ready to stand against Darkonda. Darky has his own plans, first he smashes the last vial of antidote, then he releases another Barillian bug! This one, quickly grows into subhumanoid form and with a boost of power from Darkonda, grows gigantic sized! The Astro Megazord is called for transformed, ready to settle the score for Pink & Black Rangers. Barillian is all bite and no bark (or something to that effect) in this fight, as some pretty impressive maneuvering by Andros keeps the Megazord one step ahead of every attack the giant bug makes (beginning the battle with a 'come and get me' hand gesture). Elbow strikes, followed by punches sets up the insectoid, for the charged up Megasaber to swats the Barillian into a fiery conclusion.
[commercials]
Once again on the Dark Fortress, Ecliptor urges with his princess to get rid of Darkonda, using this failure as proof of his lack of worth. Darkonda gets optimistic, telling Astronema he proved that Red Ranger is the only true Space Ranger. Separate the others from him and they'll fall apart. Astronema is intrigued by his plan, puts her arm around the rugged creature and walks off with him, leaving Ecliptor very angry for reasons that will become clearer in later episodes. Down on KO-35, atop a building, Andros stands looking out over a park area, thinking back on his childhood. He still grieves over losing his sister, Karone. We flashback to the "kidnapping of Karone" real briefly. Ashley butts into his moment of silence and asks what's wrong. He tells her that the park nearby is where he last saw his Sis and he feels he's very close to finding her. Ash hopes he's right, lures him back to the Megaship, so he puts back on his gold locket containing "KO-35's Funniest Kidnappings, Vol. 1" and walks off with her.
[scenes from "TJ's Identity Crisis", end credits]
_BLOOPERS:_
Andros & TJ hear a strange noise that sounds like the director; Red Ranger finds his missing bottle of aspirin in the Medical Locker; Ashley doesn't take shooting her friends seriously; TJ gets antidote trigger happy; Carlos gets lifted by Teej & Cassie into laughter.
