SUMMARY:
[Recap of "Operation
Lightspeed"]
In the thunderous dimensional pocket where the Mariner Bay demon headquarters, the Skull
Palace, is located, we find the crew of ancient baddies standing around, plotting evil.
Diabolico says that they must find the Power Rangers' base and destroy it along with them.
Loki mentions he's already found it, but it's underwater and we all know what water does
to demons from that incredibly hot place! Vypra dubs, err, speaks that the queen won't be
pleased, and almost on cue, the baby dragon Impus coos "Mama" at the sound of
its mommy Bansheera's name. Diabolico tells Jinxer, a wimpy French-like demon standing in
the background, to come forward as he needs a monster. Jinxer grovels like a good
henchmonster and offers to give him whatever he wants, Diabolico wants a monster evil
enough to wipe the entire city off the face of the Earth! Jinxer states to his evilness
that he'll do so at once, and obviously he does.
Meanwhile in the Lightspeed Aquabase located in the scenic Mariner Bay bay, Joel Rawlings
struts around the hallways, tipping his cowboy hat to every female Lightspeed employee he
passes. While checking out the butts of two such women, he fails to look where he's going
and backs right into a table cart being pushed down the hall by Ms. Fairweather. He knocks
it over by accident, also causing Fairweather to drop her glasses on the ground, and
himself to lose his hat. Joel picks up his hat and begins to apologize when he takes a
look into Ms. Fairweather's big blue eyes. Romantic music plays, Joel & Fairweather
exchange huge grins and is that love in the air, or is it just dead fish?
[opening credits. Same as last
time.]
Ms. Fairweather recovers her glasses
and remarks "oh dear" when spotting her carted items laying on the floor. Joel
gets up and helps her to her feet, apologizing again and assisting her in placing all the
strange items back on the cart. Joel then takes her hand in between both of his and gives
a lovesick introduction, Ms. Fairweather yanks her hand out of his and tells him who she
is, noting he's in quite a hurry. Joel stutters about a top secret meeting with Captain
Mitchell, trying to pump everything up, including his ego, by noting it's probably another
one of those life-or-death missions. Ms. Fairweather says it sounds very dangerous, Joel
just slyly remarks that danger comes with the job, while posing in his favorite heroically
western manner. Fairweather smiles, as Joel shows her his Rescue Morpher and reveals that
he's the Green Ranger. The Morpher suddenly beeps, Dana is heard chewing Joel out for
being late again for the meeting! He quickly and frantically presses a few buttons and
tells her he's on his way, causing Fairweather to find this quite amusing. Joel makes his
exit, saying to Ms. Fairweather that maybe they'll see each other again, and she just
states that she has a feeling they're destined to meet again. Joel slides off as cool as
he can, leaving Ms. Fairweather with an odd look on her face about this whole experience.
Elsewhere on the base, Captain Mitchell leads the Lightspeed Ranger teens through a door,
while angrily remarking they'll proceed without Joel. Mitchell tells them the room they're
now in is the Weapons Lab, where everything they'll use to
defeat the demons is designed, built and tested right there. Several Lightspeed Lab
technicians are seen working on computers, carrying odd devices around and putting out a
fire with a Rescue Blaster extinguisher mode. There's also a pool, with some divers
swimming around inside it, though what use that'll have against creatures who hate water,
we'll just have to see in time. The Cap then introduces the four Rangers to the genius
behind everything, from their Rescue Morphers to their newest weapons, Ms. Fairweather (I
get the strange feeling she grew up in Angel Grove, and spent quite a lot of time
scavenging spare Zord parts)! She thanks him and then welcomes our heroes to Lightspeed,
walking in front of each of them as she says that Diabolico will stop at nothing to
destroy the city and it's her job to make sure that they stay one step ahead of him and
his monsters. Ms. Fairweather has another lab tech named Vincent cue up the video monitor,
and immediately the screen comes on with pictures of the Rail
Rescues! They've been developed for this purpose, Kelsey seems baffled by the use of
trains, but Fairweather assures them they are much more than simple trains.
Meanwhile, off on the streets of
Mariner Bay, Joel has somehow left the Aquabase and gone off to buy a bouquet of roses
(what, Lightspeed doesn't own a giftshop?!). He figures they ought to do the trick of
impressing Ms. Fairweather. Suddenly, a ball of molten fire streaks through the sky,
crashing into the center of the city and setting off the alarms in the Aquabase! Captain
Mitchell is handed a headset and asks his crew what's going on, as Lightspeed employees
are seen scrambling about at the sound of the bell. He's told a molten rock has just hit
the city and is onscreen now, Fairweather, Mitchell and the four Rangers take a look at
the view screen, where they see a large volcanic pile in the middle of the street. Carter
remarks it as being an asteroid, and Fairweather notices that it's transforming! The pile
of molten rocks suddenly explode, and from within steps a giant monster, named Magmavore
(though its never said by anyone onscreen, he's not only a toy but also on the end
credits). The volcanic creature looks like the bastard son of Ecliptor and Maligore, but
don't tell him that! Captain Mitchell tells his team that it's time to put the Rail
Rescues to work, Carter quickly stands at attention, but Chad says that he doesn't think
he's ready, Kelsey tells him not to worry as none of them are. Ms. Fairweather mentions
they are programmed to assist them automatically, so they'll be fine in piloting them.
The Ranger team rushes out into the
hall, ready to go to war, just as Joel passes behind them, carrying the flowers. Capt.
Mitchell spots him and asks where he's been, Joel tries to hide the roses and claims he
was on a mission so secret that even he didn't know about it. The man in charge of
Lightspeed glances at the roses and asks if it was at the flower shop, but instead of
scolding him harshly for the abandoning of post he says there's no time and to get going.
Out in the city, Magmavore spews off lava balls from his chest, that strike several
buildings, sending them exploding in a blaze and sending the people in the streets running
for their lives. Back in the Aquabase, Joel races into the room with his teammates,
telling them to wait for him! He quickly put his jacket on and has the bouquet stuffed
inside it. Carter states that they're ready, the platform they're standing on is lowered,
and as it descends, the five teens shout Lightspeed Rescue and Morph (though only Red
Ranger's is shown)!
The Lightspeed Power Rangers stand poised on the platform, as Captain Mitchell enters the
central command area, and is handed his headset again. In the Train
Bay, the Rangers rush in and climb inside the front car, Rail Rescue 1, sitting in
their proper seats and amazed by the high-tech surroundings. Carter tells the Captain that
all systems are on-line, Cap (with Ms. Fairweather standing to his side) orders the Train
Bay to be surfaced, and a Lightspeed employee at the satellite telemetry console presses
some buttons and makes it so. One of the Lightspeed Aquabase domes opens its top and out
pops the Train Bay (with numbers "55" on the side), rising to the surface of the
Mariner Bay. Once the Bay has completely dried off, we see it vaguely resembles
Artillitron (though the plagiarism case of "Phantom Q. Ranger vs. The Lightspeed
Corp." was rumored to have settled out of court for an undisclosed sum) and that the
five Rangers are standing atop it outside! Just a little footage mistake, they're all
still safely inside the cockpit (though it looks like the Aquabase isn't as far out in the
bay as we've previously seen). The traintrack bridge also rises, connecting to the Train
Bay as people on the nearby shore watch in awe. The five separate hatches on the Train Bay
open up, and Carter states that the Rail Rescues are on-track! Indeed they are, and with
the steam-releasing shift of a control stick, the five Rail Rescues roll out and begin to
latch on to one another, creating the complete SuperTrain
(though none of them call it that, oddly). The Supertrain rides the tracks until it
reaches the limit, causing a local bridge to swing around and connect with it. The train
speeds down the bridge, passing toy cars that adorn the sides of the bridge. Carter calls
this incredible, Chad notes what power it has, and Joel calls it awesome. Speaking of
which, in the city, the makeshift volcano erupts, spewing molten hot lava into the air,
and people still continue to run away from it. Some poorly made building explodes and
crumbles near it.
[commercials]
The volcano is just a-spewin' and
a-spewin', making a river of lava pour down the street, past the Japanese citizens. The
Supertrain races down the tracks, surpassing the speed of a monorail on a nearby track.
Kelsey spots the monster, Dana notices he's firing, which Magmavore is, burping out
several lava balls and blowing up more buildings. Fires have broken out all over the
place, especially surrounding the Supertrain tracks. They finally arrive at the location
of the carnage, the Supertrain screeches to a halt at Red Ranger's command. Captain
Mitchell orders each Ranger to their own Rail Rescue, they obey and exit Carter's spacious cockpit. Compartments open on each of the five
Rail Rescues, revealing Lightspeed Rescuezords inside! Our heroes utilize the controls of
the Zords by use of the Rescue Blaster handles (though how they knew to use those things
as keys, we aren't told). Red Ranger drives Pyro Rescue 1 out onto the streets, as does
Blue Ranger for Hydro Rescue 2. Green Ranger lifts Aero Rescue 3 off into the skies,
remarking that he can't wait to try some stunts in that puppy! Back at base, Ms.
Fairweather giggles at his statement, and Captain Mitchell cautions Joel to stay focused.
Yellow Ranger rolls Haz Rescue 4 out, and Pink Ranger takes Med Rescue 5 out for a spin.
Pyro Rescue drives down
the street, when suddenly Carter hears the pleas of a woman and her two children, stuck
inside a burning building! His helmet scan reveals the signal source and thermograph of
the people, Captain Mitchell shouts that they're trapped in that elevator, so the Rangers
get to their first real rescue work! Hydro Rescue fires its water cannons while racing to
the rescue (better hope he doesn't run out before he actually needs it!), and Aero Rescue
swoops through the air towards the scene. Inside the elevator, the Asian woman tells her
kids not to worry as it'll be okay and they'll get out of there. The Lightspeed
Rescuezords approach the area, which is surrounded by lava and blocked off from access, as
Chad notes. Carter says they've got to cool the lava into rock, asking Joel if he thinks
he can get in there. Joel asks if he's kidding, since with this thing he can go anywhere!
Back at base, Ms. Fairweather informs Captain Mitchell that it's too dangerous, Joel's
aircraft doesn't have enough power alone. The Captain commands Green Ranger to hold on,
telling them they've got to work together! Joel boasts that he's sure he's got enough
power to do this alone, but Fairweather gives Mitchell a negative answer, to which he
relays to Joel, who asks "sez who?!". Captain Mitchell sternly remarks that the
so sez the expert who designed his Zord and is standing right next to him! He tells them
they've got to combine their Rescue Vehicles, Joel complains that he could do it alone,
but if it'll make them happy he'll do it their way.
Aero Rescue hovers over Hydro
Rescue, which separates its back section, as Green Ranger lowers the magnetic hooks from
within his Zord. They latch onto the sides of the Hydro Rescue, and when Aero Rescue
ascends, it lifts Hydro upwards, positioning it into a vertical mode! Chad thanks Joel for
the lift, and the lift continues, Aero raising Hydro straight up into the intensely heated
air. Med Rescue & Haz Rescue make the scene, Dana tells Kelsey to follow her, as both
Lightspeed Rescuezords shift into the leg-mode positions! Aero Rescue then lowers Hydro
Rescue into the Med & Haz, they lock on to form the pelvis & torso of the
Lightspeed Megazord! Joel tells them to take it from there, detaching the magnetic hooks
and taking off. Hydro Rescue raises its water cannons and Chad activates their extinguish
mode. The Med & Haz Legs walk slowly across the scorching lava bed, as the Hydro pubic
area sprays water all over the burning streets! That must be some ice cold water, as it
cools down the molten area to the point that it all becomes harmless rock, creating a safe
path to the building. Pink & Yellow Rangers are suddenly over in the Pyro Rescue
cockpit with Red Ranger, who tells them to hold on as they're moving in for the rescue.
The Pyro Rescuezord drives up close the building, stabilizers lower to the ground, and
Lightspeed Ladder Arms are raised as Pink, Yellow & Red exit the cockpit (Carter takes
his Rescue Blaster handle with him). The ladder arms sprout off with the three Rangers
inside the right hand, Carter calls for a ladder punch, which the left arm does with a
might fist. The building it busted open, and our heroes are lifted into the floor where
the elevator is located. Pink, Yellow & Red Rangers find some obstacles in their way,
namely blazing fire! Carter notes they don't have much time and should split up, which
they all do. In the elevator, the woman and her two kids are having trouble breathing!
[commercials]
As the lady coughs from the smoke in
the elevator, Pink Ranger leaps through fire, Red Ranger zips up a rope in the stairway
shaft, and Yellow Ranger climbs across a rope over the fiery debris. Kelsey reaches the
elevator shaft, and finds the elevator car not far below her, but she'll have to hurry as
the flames are rising from below. Yellow Ranger slips down the cables and lands on top of
the elevator, kicking the roof hatch in and finding the three people unconscious. She hops
down and tries to wake them up, as the building starts to topple over from the destructive
stress! This causes the cables holding the elevator up to begin snapping, rocking it and
sending Kelsey into a frantic to get her and the helpless people out. The doors won't
budge, so she calls for assistance. Red & Pink Rangers reach the outside door, but
can't pry them open. The building is just about ready to go down, explosions rock the
towering inferno like crazy, knocking out heroes over, but their first objective is to get
everyone else out before themselves. Flames quickly reach the elevator door area, Dana
notes they don't have enough time, Carter says they'll just have to make time, calling on
the Aquabase for help. Ms. Fairweather tells Captain Mitchell that it's operational, and
the Cap informs "Rescue Red" that they have a new weapon on-line for him to call
on. Carter's helmet screen displays the schematics, and allows him to call on the Rescue
Bird! It takes off from the top of the Train Bay, and reaches the building... at the speed
of light!
The Rescue
Bird comes apart midair, the spiral saber-like front piece comes to Carter's disposal,
and he attaches it to his Rescue Blaster handle to create the Rescue Drill! Powering it
up, he cuts open the elevator doors with ease, and quickly rushes in to help Yellow Ranger
carry the two children out of the smokey room as the lady walks along with them. Outside,
Magmavore returns from wherever he was (nap time?), rising up from the volcanic ground and
turning his attention to the building our heroes have been spending so much time with.
Joel calls for Carter to get a move on it as the monster's back, Pink, Yellow & Red
Ranger help the three people onto the Lightspeed Ladder hand and are lowered down to the
ground. Carter tells Dana to get them somewhere safe (that goes for Kelsey too, I
suppose), as he rushes back to Pyro Rescue 1. Once inside, he reinserts his Blaster
handle, retracts the ladder arms, and sends the vehicle into full reverse. Just then,
Magmavore smashes the building above him, sending tons of fiery debris raining on top of
him! This pins the Zord down, preventing Red Ranger from escaping the scene, as Magmavore
slowly stalks his next prey.
Back at base, Ms. Fairweather mentions to Captain Mitchell that Aero Rescue 3 can help, he
relays the word to Joel to get on it. Joel has some other ideas that he begins to discuss
with the Captain, when Fairweather grabs his headset microphone and screams for Green
Ranger to just obey the order! Joel tells her to chill out, and he lowers the magnetic
hooks onto Pyro Rescue, surprising Carter a bit as he's lifted to safety. Magmavore swipes
his arms in the air trying to knock Pyro Rescue out of Aero's clutches, but he's far too
slow for the Aero Rescue's boosters. Captain Mitchell then command Carter to prep for
Megazord mode, Red Ranger sees a quick diagram of this (with the names "Red Ladder 1,
Blue Thrower 2, Green Hover 3, Yellow Armor 4, and Pink Aider 5" appearing on his
helmet screen quickly before "Megazord Mode!" covers them. What, Fairweather
forget to delete the prototype names?) and does so at once. Red Ranger tells his fellow
Rangers that here they go, Megazord mode -- Lightspeed! They reply with a saluting shout
of "Lightspeed"!
Pyro Rescue 1 shifts around as fires blast behind it, and is then lowered by Aero Rescue
onto the Hydro/Haz/Med combination still staggering below. It begins to lock into place
atop it, when Magmavore shoots off a few more lava balls in their direction, blowing up a
building and sending the debris flying in Joel's face. He loses control of his Zord and
interrupts the connection, asking what was up with that, and shouting to the monster to
not mess with fire unless he wants to get burned. Green Ranger grips his control stick and
fires off a few laser rounds at Magmavore, keeping him busy as Joel lowers Pyro into
position, it locks together via the Lightspeed emblem spinning around and screwing into
place. Aero Rescue 3 then descends along its magnetic hooks, locking into Pyro Rescue, and
shifting around to form the head of the now completed, Lightspeed
Megazord! The Rangers are ready to take the monster down, and the Megazord begins to
walk over to him. It moves rather slowly down the demolished streets, but stands tall
against the lava balls thrown at it by Magmavore. Carter notes he's hitting them hard, but
not hard enough, promising that he's going down, as Ms. Fairweather & Captain Mitchell
nervously listen to the battle and watch it on the viewing screens.
The Lightspeed Megazord approaches
Magmavore in the blazing skyline of Mariner Bay, explosions continue ringing out around
our heroes, but still they press on. Red Ranger calls on Power Thrust to come on-line, the
Ladder Arms
lift up and aim straight, pumping back and forth into Magmavore! The Ladder punching
strikes the molten monster hard, throwing the seemingly simple intelligence creature for a
loop. Blue Ranger remarks that he came there through the air, how about they send him out
that way? Red Ranger thinks Chad has a good idea, and has the extended ladder arms grab
Magmavore by his waist and lift him up. The Lightspeed Megazord then swings around
swiftly, and chucks Magmavore off right back into the volcano he spawned in the middle of
the city. He impacts into the lava, and causes the whole thing to erupt, taking him with
it as we see he didn't have much of a high melting point after all! Back at the base, Ms.
Fairweather shouts a triumphant "yeah!", to which Capt. Mitchell looks at her
strangely. She calms herself down and states a happy "yes", and Mitchell barely
even cracks a smile (she likely is astonished the Zords worked, what with her stealing all
her ideas from the previous Power Rangers and all! But I digress...). The Lightspeed
Megazord stands before the smoke spewing from where Magmavore was last seen, Joel exclaims
about that being what he calls an air-show, Chad agrees and compliments Carter on the
great work. Carter can't take the credit (even though he did get most of the lines. And
speaking of lines, are Dana & Kelsey partially mute or something?!), saying that all
of them did great teamwork together. The Lightspeed Megazord poses successfully next to a
mirrored-window building, as the smoke continues pouring through the air.
[commercials]
Later at the Lightspeed Aquabase,
the five Ranger teens (well, young adults, mind you) walk through the halls together.
Carter tells Joel that the only way they're going to defeat those demons is if they work
as a team. He knows the Red Ranger is right, and promises to concentrate and cease goofing
around, handing the bouquet of roses he's still in possession of to Chad (who seems
flattered). Carter pats Joel's shoulder and says that that's the spirit, Kelsey does the
same and Dana agrees absolutely. Carter starts to talk about how between the five of them
there aren't going to be any problems they can't handle together, and he's so glad Joel
finally understood that. Not really, as Joel tunes Carter out upon spotting Ms.
Fairweather down the hallway! He begins to walk towards her, but quickly turns around and
grabs the roses out of Chad's hands. Joel rushes over to Ms. Fairweather, hiding the
flowers behind his back and asking to talk to her for a second.
They head off into one of the sections of the Weapons Bay, one of the control rooms to be
exact. Joel looks around and asks if she's even allowed to be in here, she tells him yes
as she works here. He gives a goofy and half-embarassed "really? good for you!",
before handing her the bouquet, along with an autographed picture of himself as the Sky
Cowboy! She takes them and comments about how exiting it is for her to have her own pinup,
placing the picture up on a lap with a piece of tape. Fairweather then asks the top secret
mission went, he says fine, until some expert tried to tell him how to fly, a dilletron
designer who tried to tell him how much power his Zord has. Ms. Fairweather crushes one of
the roses in her hand as she listens to him remark about how he doesn't need help from a
computer geek. She then turns around and smiles, stating that it's fine, the next time the
"sky cowboy" wants to overload his engines and explode, this dilletron computer
geek will just let him! Ms. Fairweather throws the flowers at him and storms off in a
huff. Joel's clueless, until he suddenly hears his four teammates outside the room, having
watched the whole thing through the glass windows adorning the area. They each mockingly
imitate the sound and style of a plane crashing to the ground after being shot down, while
laughing at him! Joel walks over and stutters out "she designed..", Carter
finishes his statement with "everything", Dana chuckling about from their
Morphers to their Zords. Joel bows his head, and hugs Chad, the rest of the team pats his
back, comforting him on his making an Aero ass of his himself. His autographed picture
still hangs in the next room, although lopsided. Mission complete!
[scenes from "Trial By
Fire"; end credits]
