Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue
"Rising From Ashes"
Original Air Date: 04/15/00		Based on: GoGo Five #12 - Keeshi No Shin Renraku Gattai (Do-or-die Spirit Of The New Gestalt)
*7th Regular Season (10th of the 8th Season by Series) *Official Fox Kids Show Number PR-1010 *10th episode of PRLR *348th total Power Rangers episode
Writer: Judd Lynn		Director: Koichi Sakamoto
Starring Cast: Michael Chaturantabut _AS_ Chad Lee (Blue Ranger) Sean Cw Johnson _AS_ Carter Grayson (Red Ranger) Alison MacInnis _AS_ Dana Mitchell (Pink Ranger) Keith Robinson _AS_ Joel Rawlings (Green Ranger) Sasha Williams _AS_ Kelsey Winslow (Yellow Ranger) Monica Louwerens _AS_ Ms. Fairweather Ron Rogge _AS_ Captain William Mitchell Jennifer L. Yen _AS_ Vypra		Additional Cast: Steven Ho _AS_ Scientist #1 [Stevie] Juliet Tablak _AS_ Scientist #2 [Julie] Mark Shaffer _AS_ Tech Neil Kaplan _AS_ Diabolico (voice) David Lodge _AS_ Loki (voice) Diane Salinger _AS_ Queen Bansheera (voice) Brianne Siddall _AS_ Impus (voice) Dave Mallow _AS_ Trifire (voice) David Lodge _AS_ Magmavore (voice)

SUMMARY:

[Recap of "Operation Lightspeed" & "Wheels Of Destruction"; A bit of Bansheera's intro from "Go Volcanic", with new Vypra scene.]

Inside the Lightspeed Aquabase Weapons Lab, the resident team of unnamed technicians and scientists is hard at work under the guidance of Ms. Fairweather. The only two faces you'll need to know is the unnamed Asian guy (who we'll call Stevie) and the unnamed young lady (who we'll call Julie, and by the way, played Amber, Marcy's niece on Married With Children some years back), who seem to be pretty active in the goings-on. Fairweather is typing away at her computer keyboard with a group of technicians behind her taking notes. Fairweather's work is revealed to be culmination of a secret project involving the Rangers' Rail Rescues. Each Rail Rescue appears in a graphic on her screen, and each apparently gets an upgrade run through, as evident by the fluctuating gauge marked "envelope density". Stevie finished up his secondary terminal work with Julie and rushes up to Fairweather with a red diskette. She places it into her computer drive and it helps to finish off the upgrading, making the Rail Rescue modification complete. Stevie calls it perfect, and the entire staff of Lightspeed Techs cheer with applaud and high-fives.

Meanwhile in the Skull Cavern, Queen Bansheera's ghostly facial image remains hovering above the demons inside the main room. She states that her power is nearing full strength and soon she will return to her rightful place in her Palace. Diabolico tells his Queen that they're awaiting her return, and asks what her plan is. She informs him that she'll have Magmavore rise from the ashes, prompting the monster, inside Mt. Jasmine, to laugh and stand up while taking his lava bath. Elsewhere, Joel enters the Weapons Lab and wanders around, Stevie says hi to him, and Joel pats his stomach on the way by. Joel walks up to the open door to Ms. Fairweather's lab room, and spots her sitting alone and staring off into space, lost in thought. He watches for a moment and then enters, scaring Ms. F back to Earth by popping his cowboy hat wearing head in. She's a bit startled, but when he points out that it looks like she's done here for today, she stands up and let's him know that they're heading out to check on the strange seismic activity in the volcano. They stroll over to the Rescue Rover, which is being stocked with items Fairweather & friends will need up on Mt. Jasmine. Joel tells her that seriously that she should take a break some time and just do nothing, to which she notes he means do "nothing with him". He tries to correct her, saying she should just take a break period. Ms. F ignores him and begins to talk shop with Stevie & Julie, telling them to get the equipment into the Rover, as well as the DX-35. Joel's feelings are hurt yet again, whispering for her to never mind as he walks away with his hat off and his head hung low. Fairweather watches him leave, his heartbreak seemingly becoming apparent to her.

[opening credits.]

Mount Jasmine gets oddly unnamed in this episode, as do the events of the previous show get a bit ignored. You'd think Dana would be more worried about the volcano, considering she risked her life to check up on it! Fairweather, Stevie & Julie depart the parked Rescue Rover and head up to the slowly awakening volcano, with hardhats on and carrying heavy equipment. Meanwhile in Skull Cavern, Loki informs Diabolico that some nosy scientists are snooping in the volcano, Diabolico chuckles and tells his dull friend not to worry as Queen Bansheera has a little surprise in store for them. The Queen does just that, speaking to Magmavore and telling him it's time for his glorious return, though he seems to have sat back down into his lava bath after standing up a few minutes ago. Back at Mt. Jasmine, Stevie & Julie explore the same cave that Trifire was in last episode, with Ms. Fairweather reporting in to Captain Mitchell via a video screen phone. She tells him that subterranean readings confirm the volcano is heating up, but there's something else, Mitchell asks what is it. Magmavore continues laughing and begins to arise again, his movement causes the cave to shake and rocks to begin crumbling around the Lightspeed trio. When it stops, Fairweather tells the Captain that something is coming up from under the ground, something alive! Mitchell orders her to report what's happening, just as the cave starts to collapse around them, cutting off the signal to the Aquabase. Mitchell witnesses Fairweather running off screaming before that, and failing to reestablish contact with her, he orders everyone to go to Alert Status! The alarms sound, and the five Power Rangers race out of their Aqua Apartments, to do what they're supposed to, namely rescue.

As Stevie, Julie & Ms. Fairweather rush out of the cave as quickly as they can while avoiding the falling rocks, the Rail Rescues have combined into the SuperTrain and are on their way down the tracks. It passes by a much smaller subway train, just for show of scale. The ground is rumbling on Mt. Jasmine, and just as Fairweather & friends make it to the opening of the cave, Stevie injures his leg on a boulder. Fairweather sends the girl ahead and runs back to get the guy, but right when she and Stevie are about to make it out, it rains large stones on their heads. No head injuries (good thing they had Lightspeed Hardhats!), but Ms. Fairweather is now trapped inside the cave behind a huge pile up of rocks, with Stevie & Julie outside, trying desperately to dig their way in to save their boss/ coworker. Not far off, the Lightspeed Megazord has been formed offscreen, and is inspecting the area of Mt. Jasmine. Rocks are rolling and the ground is quaking, and no sign of Fairweather & friends are apparent. Though what is apparent is the smoke rising from the volcano, and from within that smoke, comes the large body of Magmavore! He's now red hot, literally, and carries with him a large stone club. Joel cries out "Magmavore again", remembering their last battle in "Lightspeed Teamwork" but forgetting that the Rangers didn't ever learn his name! Maybe they sell his action figure at the Lightspeed Giftshop or something. Carter guesses he didn't learn his lesson the last time and whips out the Lightspeed Megazord Saber, but charging into battle with it proves futile, as Magmavore stomps forth, swings his club, and shatters the Saber in two! Captain Mitchell watches and gasps that such a thing is impossible. Magmavore takes advantage of the stunning move by swatting his club into the Megazord and knocking it to the ground instantly.

[commercials]

The swatting is replayed, with a jolting reaction shot by Red Ranger. In Skull Cavern, Loki enthusiastically cheers on Magmavore, telling him to finish them off! Queen Bansheera gives a no to that, and tells her monster to first resurrect Trifire. Vypra decides to speak, watching up at the Queen and commenting to herself that her powers are growing. Magmavore grumbles off over to what appear to be the smoking remains of Trifire, left there after "Go Volcanic", and for some reason neither cleaned up nor noticed before. He then fires some beams from his eyes, erupting power and life back into the fiery three-dog nightmare! He even has a sharp object with which to spin around and poke the Rangers' eyes out with. Carter spots this as the Lightspeed Megazord recovers to its feet, and mentions that Trifire is back too (despite, again, having not learned his name onscreen. Maybe he read one of Trify's dog tags?). The return of Trifire appears on the flame-puddle screen in the Skull Cavern, but the demons turn from the events towards Queen Bansheera, Diabolico asking her what is wrong. She says that her powers are wading and she must leave them until she is reenergized, Diabolico promises his highness that they were carry on her work. Queen Bansheera tells him to see that they do, or else she'll replace him with Impus! Her image fades away, leaving sparkles behind which shower onto the demons below, as Impus coos out for Mama once more. On a side note, Jinxer appears, but doesn't speak. Methinks he's mad because Magmavore stole his job or reviving monsters for the day.

Trifire walks over by Magmavore's side, and tells the Rangers that they haven't got a chance against the two of them. The demonic duo lunge forth at the weakening Lightspeed Megazord, clubbing and poking. Back at the Aquabase, Captain Mitchell continues trying to communicate with Ms. Fairweather to no avail, telling her the Rangers are in trouble. She can't answer, since she's knocked out cold inside the volcano cave! Outside, the Lightspeed Megazord is sparking, and Carter is fed up, calling on Lightspeed Ladder Arms. They reach out and touch the monsters, but the two revived creatures simply grab a hand each, and start to dance around the mountaintop with the weary Megazord! This is finished off by the monsters lifting up the Megazord by its arms and slamming it into the ground, rocking each of the Rangers inside. The Megazord seems to suddenly recover, only to get struck by a double blast for fire-based energy bolts from Trifire & Magmavore. If that weren't bad enough, the ground beneath the Megazord's feet starts to crack, and the entire Lightspeed Megazord tumbles into a large hole! At the Aquabase, Mitchell asks a tech (who's manning the power gauge level monitor) what happened as the levels drop off rapidly. The tech informs him that the Megazord has lost all power, prompting the Captain to order the Rangers to evacuate it! Chad thinks he's got to be kidding, but Mitchell tells them that something has happened to Ms. Fairweather and her team (Joel listens fearfully upon hearing her name), and they've got to find her if they're going to save the Megazord. Joel shouts that they're there, ready to help his lady love (though what were they alerted to take their Megazord to look for? Why'd Mitchell wait until now to mention Fairweather was in trouble? They could have stepped on her out there!).

Diabolico, from within Skull Cavern and speaking out through the flame-puddle, commends Magmavore & Trifire on an excellent job of defeating the Rangers. He tells them to return to their resting places and let the volcano destroy Mariner Bay once & for all! Trifire, the only one of the two with speech capabilities, says that this order is understood, and the demonic duo then stand still as their bodies lower into Mt. Jasmine. Elsewhere, the five Rangers, demorphed, race down the hill towards the Rescue Rover. Joel leads the pack in discovering that nobody is around, just as the injured Stevie & Julie show up. The Rangers rush to their side, simply to help the two sit down and tell them what happened. Stevie says the cave collapsed and Ms. Fairweather is inside, Joel, without hesitation, says they've got to go find her. Suddenly, a gang of Batlings appear, so the rescue will have to wait while our heroes do a tiny bit of Unmorphed fighting. Notable things: Kelsey protects Julie, Joel loses his hat while fighting, Dana gets some assistance by the wounded Stevie, and Chad is... well, Chad. Nuff said. Joel picks up his hat and tells his friends to handle this while he goes to the cave, Carter shouting for him to get going. After he departs, the other four Morph into Lightspeed simultaneously. Momentarily at the cave, Fairweather is groaning while sprawled out on the ground. A spot on the amass of rocks that blocks the cave heats up with laser energy, and is soon blasted through by Joel! He twirls his Rescue Blaster back into his jacket pocket (I know, doesn't make much sense, but that's what happens) and heads in to help Ms. F, who is awakened by the light of the makeshift entrance. She's happy to see him, though without her glasses she has to get right up into his face to really see him. He jokes about this being no time for autographs as it's time to get out of there. They pause and give each other a silent look, but no time for locking lips, they get a move on it!

Red Ranger bashes a Batling with his Rescue Baton, thus ending yet another Batling battle. His teammates have gotten Stevie & Julie into the Rover, Carter tells them they did a great job and now they're to go join up with Joel. Joel yells that it's too late, as he shows up with Fairweather's arm around him. The Rangers escort the them to the Rescue Rover, Ms. F takes the wheel and tells our heroes to get back to the Megazord as reserve power should be back online by now. Carter asks what she's going to do, she says she has a plan but they've got to buy her some time for now. Joel agrees to do it, Fairweather smiles at him and quickly gets the Rover moving on out of there as fast she can. Carter tells Joel he did good work, and the five race off to their Megazords in the opposite direction the Rescue Rover is driving.

[commercials]

The Lightspeed Power Rangers race down a hill in single file, in a manner oddly enough that reminds me of the end of any Benny Hill episode. Vypra's spots them from Skull Cavern, and mentions that they're trying to get back to their Megazord. She's outacted by the first American suit appearance of Loki (it's about bloody time!), who calls this great, as it gives them another chance to demolish them! The Rangers reach the edge of the mountain where the Megazord still lies in a crevice, when some more Batlings halt their progress with a short offscreen battle. Diabolico remarks that victory is theirs, and obviously he doesn't mean the Victory Robo, as the Rangers are next seen sliding down their insta-ropes into the Lightspeed Megazord! Red Ranger locks in his Rescue Grip, and the lights come on, proving systems are back online and it's time for them to get out of the hole. With a mighty leap, the Lightspeed Megazord returns to the mountaintop, only to be greeted by the equal return of Magmavore & Trifire. Magmavore fires some chest-balls-of-fire at them, which cause Kelsey & Joel to go "ahh!". Elsewhere, Fairweather's driver's license comes into question when she barely misses hitting a group of pedestrians with the Rescue Rover! Sure, the Rover's lights & sirens are going off, but is there some rule that all who drive the Lightspeed Humvee HAVE to swerve the thing in the middle of the road dramatically every time? Back at the battle, Carter stresses the need to maintain the Megazord's stance of being upright, as he guides it towards Magmavore to throw a set of swift punches.

The Rescue Rover races through the tube leading to the Aquabase and enters via the Transport Bay. Immediately, Fairweather leaps out of the Rover and darts for her lab, telling Stevie & Julie to get the Super Train program online! Ms. F rips off her coat and puts on her usual lab one (as well as a spare pair of glasses), and goes to work on her computer terminal. Stevie installs a disc into his and Julie loads up the program as requested. Captain Mitchell drops by and asks what's happening. Fairweather tells him she's booting up the SuperTrain Megazord, her screen shows the Megazord cockpit becoming active with the set of chair consoles shifting into place as per their position in the final product. This finishes up, and once all Rescue Cars are online, Mitchell orders the Rescue Bay to surface. He really means the Train Bay, as it pops up from the waters of Mariner Bay and hooks up with the tracks like always. Back at Mt. Jasmine, Trifire & Magmavore stand on opposite sides of the Lightspeed Megazord, unloading their damaging energy blasts into their target in-between them, followed by a tag team club/ blade bashing. The Rail Rescues link up offscreen and race down the tracks in SuperTrain mode. The Lightspeed Megazord sparks up a storm, frying the Rangers inside it. When the Supertrain comes to a halt in the city, Ms. Fairweather orders his team to break down the Megazord. Carter claims they can't retreat now, Mitchell gets on the line and tells him they aren't retreating and to make like Nike and just do it! Carter plays parrot by immediately going "let's do it", before activating Full Footage Reversal Mode! The Lightspeed Megazord reverts back into the Lightspeed Rescuezords, and each back up into their Rail Rescues.

The Power Rangers hop into the main Train cockpit, locking on their Grips into the slots. Fairweather tells Carter to go full power, and that he does, by initiating the engines at full power. He also initiates the stereo, as the PRLR Theme Song Instrumental begins playing as the Supertrain jets down the tracks. In a clearing somewhere in the middle of the city of Mariner Bay, the train tracks suddenly rise up into the air, creating what appears to be a giant roller coaster platform that's only half finished! Carter activates Superthrusters as the Train reaches the rising tracks, providing a much needed speed boost, taking the Supertrain up to flight speed in no time. Joel can only muster out a "yeah, baby!" as his teammates hold on tight while their combined Rail Rescues defy gravity. Once the tracks end above the city, the Supertrain keeps driving right off into the sky, propelled by its Superthrusters, and somewhere out there, a Doctor is proclaiming "Marty, It runs on steam!". It continues zooming through the air, when the monitor screen informs Carter that the Super Train systems are OK and ready, he initiates the transform by pulling down a Lightspeed latch. Fairweather watches on her computer screen with Mitchell over her shoulder, she remarks that so far it's so good. The Rail Rescues break apart from each other up in the sky, just a few thousand feet below a large Jetliner grandly soaring overhead. If you were in the plane, you might be able to take a peek out the window and watch as several large train cars maneuver themselves in position high above the ground (or else you might notice there's something on the wing, if you're Shatner or Lithgow). Upon Fairweather's prompting, the Supertrain begins assembly, Rail 1 & 2 in front pop off their fronts to reveal the fists of the new Megazord, with the detached paneling locking back on to the backs of each Rail car. Using his control stick, Carter engages 4 & 5, which form the legs and feet, as 3 forms the centerpiece to it all. All five lock on together, with the head lifting up and raising its gold horn-like headpiece and its eyes light up.

Kelsey calls this cool, with Joel agreeing that yeah, it is! The SuperTrain Megazord swoops down to Earth, fully formed and ready for action, coming in for a landing on the large strip of traintracks placed below. It rides atop them standing up, as Ms. Fairweather informs the Rangers that this is their new SuperTrain Megazord! Our heroes cheer, and the Megazord scraps its feet along the tracks with sparking results. Carter calls this awesome and Dana says it's so high-tech! Red Ranger notes the monsters won't expecting this, as he guides the SuperTrain Megazord down the tracks and towards the mountainous area surrounding the volcano. He's right, as Trifire shouts a "what?!" and Magmavore grunts upon witnessing the arrival of a Megazord that stands towering above the both of them! For size of scale, the SuperTrain appears to be about twice the height of the monsters, so big it casts a shadow over them! Trifire is getting bored and wants to get this over with, and Carter is happy to end his boredom by activating the Gatling Blasters! Engines charge up to full power and missiles are put online, revealed to be stored inside one of SuperTrain Megazord's broad shoulders. Carter presses the button to fire them, and suddenly, the entire cockpit is bombarded with electricity, frying out heroes! In the Aquabase, Stevie gets a jolt too as his terminal explodes, he yells to Fairweather that there's a power overload, she orders him to maintain. The Megazord fires off a good long round of energy blasts from its right shoulder, and a big set of Lightspeed symbol headed missiles from the other! The SuperTrain arsenal hits perfectly on target, striking Trifire and blasting him so hard, he explodes completely, leaving behind only his blade.

Red Ranger contacts the base about the power surge, Fairweather tells him it was an overload and they can't chance using the Gatling Blaster again. Magmavore readies his club, not ready to die, neither are the Rangers as Kelsey says they've got to keep fighting. Carter says they will, asking Ms. F if she's got any ideas how. She's racking her brain for an answering and coming up short, when Captain Mitchell puts his hand on her shoulder and shows his support with a head nod. She's inspired, telling Carter to switch the weapons to Turbine. Red Ranger shifts into Turbine... Supercharged! The two shoulder pieces containing the cache of explosives detach and hook back onto the fists. The right arm aims the Turbine at Magmavore and charges it up to deal with the monster's charging at them. The powering up of the Turbine causes yet another shocking display inside for the Rangers, who get baked thoroughly by their own energy. Stevie & Julie also deal with sparks in the face as another overload erupts, Fairweather has them increase power, which Julie does with the flip of a switch. This helps decrease the Power Rangers' powerful agony enough to allow Carter to get the weapons fully charged and fired. The Turbine speeds up and is engulfed in fire as it punches through the air, firing off its Gatling Blaster section at Magmavore. He's hit, and this is followed by the left arm's punch-unloading of the Lightspeed missiles. Magmavore takes the blasts, drops his club, and falls over, exploding into a ball of fire before hitting the ground. Several chunks of his fiery body streak off into the forest, raining debris off in a similar fashion to how he was born. The SuperTrain lowers its smoking fists, Carter proclaims they did it, Mitchell laughs and smiles with Ms. Fairweather. The Megazord stands triumphantly over the burning forest. No time to stomp out the fires of victory, Mt. Jasmine has finally erupted! Fairweather tells our heroes that the Megazord has freeze missiles they're going to need to use to stop the volcano. Carter wins the worst pun of the year award by saying "freeze missiles? sounds cool!". The right arm of the SuperTrain lifts up, opens up, locks on, and fires several icy projectiles towards Mt. Jasmine. They do the trick, completely covering the volcano in a large sheet of ice (only problem is, now they're going to have to go out there regularly to refreeze it)! Ms. Fairweather removes her glasses, Stevie & Julie hug, and the Lightspeed technicians get to cheering. Julie hugs Fairweather, and then they both hug Stevie. Captain Mitchell smiles, but secretly wants a hug too. The SuperTrain Megazord lowers its arms once more. Now to get that huge thing all the way back to the base, yikes!

[commercials]

In the Aqua Apartment (guy's quarters), Joel lays out on the couch, taking one last look at Ms. Fairweather's picture before placing it face down on the table. He lies back, putting his hat over his face and wallowing in a self-pity nap. He doesn't snooze too long, as a knock on the door awakens him. It's Ms. Fairweather, who enters and wipes her feet on the fish rug. She's come to say thanks for saving her, and he quickly jumps up from his resting place to view her sitting up. Fairweather has freshened up a bit (her face cleaned of the marks from the cave in, finally), and proceeds to remove her glasses. She tells Joel that sometimes she's afraid she gets so wrapped up in her work she forgets what it's all for, but he reminded her perfectly. Joel walks over and smiles to her. She says that tonight she thought she'd relax and invite him to dinner. Joel repeats the dinner thing in disbelief, she smiles and tells him to meet her at 8 in the Galley. Ms. Fairweather then heads off down the hall, and once gone, Joel poses triumphantly in his own way, giving a successful "oh yeah!" to himself before lifting up her picture, dusting it off and placing it right next to the chest board. Later that night, Joel is all dressed up in black (though his vest is actually a dark green) in an outfit I think he removed from the corpse of Doc Holiday. He literally slides casually down the hall with a bouquet of red roses in hand. He breathes deeply and presses the button to the Galley, the door opens slowly, the music plays romantically, and he locks eyes with Ms. Fairweather... who's sitting with the other four Rangers. None are dressed up (Joel seems to be the only one who owns more than one outfit!), and upon spotting Joel all fancy, Kelsey lets out the first loud giggle. This dominoes through the group, all four getting a heartily laugh from their teammate's misfortune. Fairweather apologizes to him, asking if he thought it would be just him and her. He embarrassingly stutters "uhh.... of course not" and staggers away with his roses hung low. The Rangers bust a gut at his expense, but soon everyone at the table hops up to guide him back to eat with them. Fairweather takes the roses, and Joel eyes the food with about as much passion as he did for Ms. Fairweather!

[scenes from "Deep In The Shadows"; end credits]