SUMMARY:
[Recap of "Mission To Secret City," "Ghosts In The Machine" & "The Impenetrable Web"]
Night in the city, as Andros & Ashley are walking out of some kind of building on a date. The Fox Kids summary said they had just went to see a movie, but we're clueless here as to where they just were. Might be a mall, anyway, Ashley asks Andros how she looks, he says she looks like famous intergalactic holographic video star Stella Quazanella! She takes it as a compliment and the two walk hand in hand down the sidewalk. The roar of an engine lurks behind a mysterious headlight in the shadows nearby. The lovebirds break into a game of hopscotch, which Andros has never played before. After one quick round, they return the chalked sidewalk to the kids, and hobble off happy. Soon, as they're walking to go eat Sushi, Ashley becomes aware of the stalker following them. Thinking the sound nothing, the couple continues on, when suddenly a black Humvee comes speeding up behind them, racing up the sidewalk, giving them little time to jump out of the way! It turns into an alley, to which Ashley & Andros follow to see what the deal is. The cluttered backstreet seems deserted, but our Ranger friends press on, walking slowly in search of the culprit. Ash spots a single flame in the center of the street, and when she & her boyfriend investigate it, the evil vehicle barrels down the alley after them once more! It rip through boxes and other garbage in the area, chasing Yellow & Red Rangers, giving them a run for their lives! Split second timing, they jump onto a fence, just missing being turned into street pizza. The truck seems to have driven away, so Ashley & Andros come down, and witness it's tracks of fire it left behind. No license plate spinning nearby, so it's obviously wasn't Doc Brown trying to get back to the future!
[opening credits]
On the Astro Megaship, a still shaken Ashley & Andros settle their stomachs with some Synthefood while telling their tale to TJ & Cassie. Determining it wasn't just a crazy driver, but someone out for them, Teej & Cass decide to go warn Carlos that there's a Psycho Humvee out there trying to play 'Christine' on the Rangers! It's daylight on Earth (where did Andros & Ashley go all night... umm nevermind), as Carlos plays a solid game of Soccer with some buddies. He kicks the ball out of bounds, and runs off alone to go after it. It rolls into the empty street, but guess what's heading his way? Our buddy, the Humvee from hell, Tankenstein! Carlos is taken unaware of the lightning fast vehicle, and it drives straight at Carlos. Just before it smashes into him, a portal beams out from it, sucking Black Ranger away, but leaving his ball! Carlos is teleported to the middle of a secluded desert alone. The desolate landscape paints only a bleak picture of what has happened to him, and awaits the others. Instincts first, he tries contacting the Astro Megaship, but gets no response from his communicator. The sun shining down painfully hard, Carlos knows he's going to be there for a while. Meanwhile, Cassie & TJ question one of Carlos' teammates about his whereabouts. The Adam-esque fellow tells them he ran off and never came back, so they search the scene where he disappeared. They find his championship soccer ball in the grass, but no Carlos. Suddenly, an engine revs up, they turn around to see Tankenstein with them in it's sights! They leap out of the road before it can hit them, then Rocket into Rangers and stand in the street ready to face the darkened motorized monster! Astro Blasting does no damage on the terrible truck, so Blue Ranger is left trying to run faster than his little Ranger legs can take him! Luckily, Pink swoops in with her Galaxy Glider, grabbing her teammate. The Glider fails to make liftoff, and with Tankenstein on their tail, they jump from the board, only to see it crushed under the monstrous wheels of the Humvee! It makes a sharp turn, and races at our two heroes, caught like a deers in headlights, both are scooped up by the portal beamed from it.
[commercials]
The now unmorphed Cassie & TJ land on their stomachs in the desert of despair (or an alien Arizona, you get the idea). Carlos spots them and rushes over, the same thing having happened to him. All three know not where they are or how to get back, but hope their friends find them soon before that tank does! On the Megaship, Alpha loses Cass & Teej's signals, which alerts Andros & Ashley to go down and try to find where they went. On the Dark Fortress, Tankenstein revisits it's maker, Astronema, whom warns it that if it doesn't capture the last two Rangers she'll dismantle it herself! The sentient machine (where's Storm Blaster or Lightning Cruiser when you need them?) fears the princess of evil, and drives off, ready to capture some Rangers. On Earth, Andros & Ashley cruise around in her yellow VW car (as seen in PRT's "Turn of the Wretched Wrench"), AMScanning for their missing Ranger pals. Suddenly, they get rear ended by the Humvee, which they recognize from the earlier attack! Tankenstein spares no mercy in slamming into Ash's car, adding some lasers to the commotion. Ashley loses control of her car, both her & Andros bail out, and Morph. Standing in the street, the two Rangers wait for it to speed up close enough to jump over Tankenstein and land into the back of it. No hitchhikers allowed, Yellow Ranger is thrown from the tank, so Red Ranger climbs onto the hood and Astro Blasts at it's window! This stops Tankenstein in it's tracks, sending Andros flipping off. Once back on both his two feet, he quickly presses 03 on his Battlizer, forming Red Battlized Armor around him! Battlized Andros lifts into the air, above the insanely speeding Humvee, finally firing Battlizer Missiles down upon the evil tank, brining it to a grinding halt. Thinking the tank tanked, Andros powers down from Battlized mode, and he & Ashley await patiently to see if that was enough to take the truck out. Of course not, it revs up once more, and runs them down.
Ash & Andros demorph while teleported to the desert, getting reunited with their missing Ranger friends. Still oblivious to their location, Carlos spots Tankenstein across the horizon. All five teens Morph into Power Rangers, and pull our their Astro Blasters, going to give trashing the tank one more shot! No good, it barrels through them, and circles around for more road rage! Carlos & TJ jump into the back and try using their Megaweapons, but get thrown. Cassie's Satellite Stunner proves to be inefficient even while surfing the hood of the Humvee. She's laser fired off and tossed back with the rest of the weary heroes. Just as it seems they've run out of gas, a blast from out of nowhere deters Tankenstein from flattening our heroes. On the horizon, there appears a streak of silver. The Galactic Rover, piloted by Zhane, is there to play a powered up version of bumper cars with Tankenstein, and kick taillights! Silver Ranger drives toward the evil Humvee, with his Silverizer blade sticking out the side, slicing some injuries into the villainous vehicle. Tankenstein flees from Zhane, but our Silver hero chases after him firing G-Rover blasters like crazy. He knocks the tank off course, and while it's recovering, Zhane shows it his own version of shifting into Turbo by ripping through Tankenstein with a Galactic Rover charge, exploding the motorized terror into scrap! The Rangers cheer, as the wreckage of Tankenstein smolders under the hot desert sun.
[commercials]
Our heroes rush over to Zhane, and TANK him for the help (get it? Tank? hehe sorry). Astronema won't let her monster end up in the junkyard so soon, and has Ecliptor fire Satellasers down at what's left of Tankenstein. Suddenly, the mangled debris forms together from the ashes, and rises to create Tankenstein's giant battle mode (which in Megaranger was actually the Dark Fortress)! Mega Voyager is called for & transformed, ready to do battle, which moves from to mysterious desert to the big city! Tankenstein is surging with evil, and ready to smash some Rangers. It bashes against the Mega Voyager severely, taking more blows than it gives. Mega V3 Missile is fired, tearing off Tank's right arm! No sooner than he loses it, does the arm grow back, and starts knocking over the Mega Voyager! Evil is as evil does, and Tankenstein calls forth a sword, which he uses to fire a concentrated energy blast, incinerating the Mega Voyager's left arm (offscreen, but it's missing in the following shots)! Tankenstein really trashes the Mega V's, finally spouting off tentacles which latch around the Megazord, and fry the Megacrap out of it. Power dropping, defenses down, and thrusters maxed out, the Mega Voyager gets tosses around like a rag doll. Carlos gets emergency power back online, and the Megazord confronts the Tank monster, knocking the sword out of it's hand and taking it for the Rangers' use! The sword gets impaled into Tanky's face, and then seems to just dissipate back into it. Both Tankenstein & Mega Voyager lock in a deathgrip, sparks flying and power draining. Mega Voyager lifts off, taking Tankenstein with it. Without warning, Tankenstein's circuits malfunction, as both it & the Mega Voyager explode in the atmosphere above the city! The Space Shuttle Challenger-like smoke trail streams into the skies, could the Rangers have survived?
[commercials]
The bruised and beaten Rangers emerge from the ruins of the Mega Voyager. It's head sits broken and smoking near them, pieces of the irrepairably damaged Mega V's lying all over. They're unmorphed and looking about like they did in "Chase Into Space," clothes covered in ashes & soot. Zhane pulls up on his Galactic Rover and sees how his friends are. They're all fine, but their real worry is all they have left now is the Astro Megaship (they forget the Mega Winger, and possibly the Astro Megazord). Andros fears his brainwashed sister will use this Zord-crippling to her advantage soon. On the Dark Fortress, Astronema smiles evilly, the Mega Voyage for the Rangers is over. They're almost out of firepower, and at their mercy. Elgar mentions how pleased Dark Specter will be, but is threatened by Astronema & Ecliptor not to tell the Grand Monarch of Evil anything about this victory. The future Queen of Darkness will stand triumphant herself, as the final confrontation is finally at hand!
[scenes from "Countdown To Destruction, Part 1" (with lost footage!); end credits]
