Power Rangers Time Force


Power Rangers Time Force
"Future Unknown"
Original Air Date:04/07/01		Based on: Timeranger #20 - Aratanaru Kizuna (The Bond Renewal)
Season 9, byte 10 Official Fox Kids Show Number PR-1111 10th episode of PRTF 389th total Power Rangers episode
Writers: Judd Lynn & Jackie Marchand		Director: Judd Lynn
Starring Cast: Jason Faunt _AS_ Wes (Red Ranger) Michael Copon _AS_ Lucas (Blue Ranger) Kevin Kleinberg _AS_ Trip (Green Ranger) Deborah Estelle Philips _AS_ Katie (Yellow Ranger) Erin Cahill _AS_ Jen (Pink Ranger) Vernon Wells _AS_ Ransik Kate Sheldon _AS_ Nadira		Additional Cast: Jason Faunt _AS_ Mystery Man [Uncredited!] Rebecca Forstadt _AS_ Computer Voice [Note: Also voiced Minmei on Robotech!] Brianne Siddall _AS_ Circuit (voice) Eddie Frierson _AS_ Frax (voice) Richard Epcar _AS_ Vexicon (voice)

SUMMARY:

The former Time Force Prison turned time-faring ship remains tilted over in the forest surrounding Silver Hills. Inside the main detention hall, a hologram viewscreen (the same brand as the one the Rangers use) replays the last few seconds of Tronicon's artificial life from the previous episode. The Time Shadow Megazord rips into it with its double-blade, causing the giant bot to go boom. Ransik then slams his fist down on the holoscreen controls angrily, causing it to shut off. He turns to Frax, shouting, "You sent a ROBOT to destroy the Rangers?!" Frax backs away from his master in fear, his treacherous schemes now found out. The golden robot tries reasoning nervously, "Please... I-I was only trying to capture the CITY for you!" Gluto stands nearby, quite silent as usual, while Nadira sits over on her couch in the corner with a Cyclobot by her side as usual. The pro-mutant dictator Ransik, notes Frax's sole mistake, "Fool! Only a mutant has the power to destroy the Rangers!" Frax stammers, still attempting to explain his actions, but doesn't get a word in edgewise before Ransik powers up his left hand (the leather-strapped metal-covered arm) into a yellow charge and fires a blue-green beam of pure energy at him! The blast strikes Frax, causing him to topple backwards onto the floor right next to the bottom of the center control console (the one with the Time Warping device on top). Smoke rises from him, while his robotic body crackles with green & blue zaps of electricity. Ransik leaves him there, merely yelling once more, "ALL of you robots are USELESS!" He walks off, prompting his daughter Nadira to get up and follow. She stops only to stand before Frax, put her hands on her hips, and stick her tongue out at him with a loud immature mocking grunt. Nadira then continues following her mutant daddy, while Gluto waddles along behind her, quickly trying to keep up.

Frax's electric crackling causes a stray green current to ride along against the underside of the near-TARDIS style console. It bursts when it hits a small square compartment, causing the robot's attention to turn to it when his body ceases sparking. Frax gasps at what he sees, "What?! Can it be!?" The compartment is covered with the words "X Vault" at the top, and a red colored block at the bottom. In the middle of that, is a yellow & black striped circle, with a mutant skull in the middle, and an X made out of crossbones. The green pulse of energy crosses from a red dot on one side of the compartment, over to a green dot on the second side. Both dots light up, causing the red block on the cover to change into a spinning wave of green lines, as the skull & crossbones symbol opens up, and reveals a second skull & crossbones symbol beneath with a glowing dark blue background replacing the yellow & black stripes. Frax gasps again, "The X VAULT!", as he reaches his hand up to the compartment (now the original colors). He touches the circle, causing the entire cover to slide out of the way, revealing a small arrow-shaped silver key inside. Frax takes the key out, and laughs deeply, "HA HAH!", snapping open his facial features in sheer diabolical delight. He holds the key in front of his gaping maw and glowing eyes, nodding his head and gleefully noting, "It really DOES exist! Hehahaha!" Soon, Frax wanders into the dark and dusty unseen areas of the Prison Ship. He wanders throw rows of cases and cobweb covered tanks, singsongingly saying to himself, "X Vault, X Vault... where could it be? It's GOT to be around here SOME-where!" Lucky for him, his squinty yellow eyes and shoulder-orb provide ample lighting. Finally, he spots what he was looking for, pointing out, "Ahh! THERE it is! YES!" Frax walks over to a black singed vault door, and while admiring the key, he remarks, "ALL the rumors were TRUE! The most vicious were all locked up in the legendary X Vault!" He inserts the key into one of two slots, turns it, and then removes it, causing a red & green dot (similar to those on the console underside) to blink and beep. At the flash of green, the door then slides wide open, allowing Frax to enter. What he sees inside causes his facial features to snap apart again joyously. Roughly nine Chrono-Frozen cryo-tubes lie within, on a misty cold-storage shelf, each tube has a skull & crossbones circle symbol on it like the compartment did. Frax reaches in and takes one, boasting, "HaHA! JUST the mutant I was HOPING to find..."

[Opening Credits]

At the Clock Tower in the near-outskirts of Silver Hills, Katie sits on the windowsill overlooking the city. She's writing in what appears to be her dairy, and soon finishes scribbling whatever on the pages within. Katie then reaches into the back of the book, and pulls out a snapshot of her family. She sighs, "Oh, I miss you guys SO much." The picture has Katie, in a yellow dress, standing tall behind her family with her mighty arms held high. Her family all wear fancy futuristic robes; her brother, her mother, and her father. Behind them is a backdrop of your typical buildings from the year 3000. Makes you wonder why this isn't some sort of holographic picture-disc or something, huh? Katie's trip down memory lane while gazing into the picture of her family gets cut short by Trip. The green-haired alien teen walks over and chipperly says, "Hey, Katie! Herrrre ya go!", as he hands her a glass of lemonade. At least, I hope that's lemonade. Katie smiles and takes it, bidding, "Thanks!", to her close pal. As she sips the drink, Trip spots the picture, and pulls it slowly out of her hand. He empathetically remarks, "Oh. You REALLY miss your family, huh?" Katie admits honestly, "Sometimes, the ONLY thing that keeps me going is knowing SOME day i'll see them again." She takes the picture, looks at it for a moment, and then leans her head back and sighs deeply, "I NEVER thought we'd be here so long!" Trip promises with an optimistic smile, "DON'T worry! We're gonna make it home!" Katie, barely holding on to the picture amid the gusts of wind blowing in from the window, looks at her fam again, smiles and realizes, "You're right. You're ABSOLUTELY right!" (last episode's scenes from next time had a quick shot of this scene cut out, where Trip tells her from a different angle, "Hey, don't worry! We have the Time Shadow Megazord!" Katie stares out at the city and notes, "And we still don't know who SENT it!")

Just around the corner from them, in the main room of the Clock Tower, Circuit sits in front of the holoscreen on the table. He's watching what has the be the clearest transmission ever displayed on the holographic viewing screen ever, footage of the Raimei Destroyer/ Explorer rolling in the city from the previous episode plays smoothly. The robotic owl regrets, "It's a SHAME the Raimei tank was destroyed! It could've been a BIG help to us in this time period!" Wes & Lucas sit to the side, as Jen walks around the table, presses the off button on the holoscreen, and asks, "Circuit, run a check on weapons systems of 2001." Circuit flaps his wing and happily obeys, "You GOT it!" Jen finishes her walk by turning and pointing out to Wes, "Even though your dad's tank failed, the city might have OTHER resources that can help us fight Ransik." (notice she said city, and not world. Even though they could attain help from other Rangers, they seem to think it best that they limit their involvement in this time to a single city). Circuit comes up with a surprising revelation, "This is strange! According to my databanks, Raimei never existed!" Lucas walks over to the Robo-owl, with Trip & a diary-clutching Katie following, and asks him confusedly, "Never existed?! How is that?!" Circuit explains misinformedly, "Until Ransik showed up, there was no need for Raimei to be invented!" (this is misleading, as Circuit is unaware that Raimei took 20 years to develop. It's just that in the original timeline, Raimei was never totally completed, and/or never unveiled to the public) Jen looks stunned, as Circuit continues, "But after he arrived, the city had to defend itself and the course of history was changed!" Trip gives an expression of disgust as he notes, "Then... ALL our futures could be ALTERED!" Katie panics, asking, "You mean, our families... our friends... EVERYTHING might be different?" Circuit confirms, "Yes, that's VERY possible!" Jen speechlessly looks at her teammates. Lucas & Trip do the same to each other, then to Katie, who walks away from them suddenly. Wes stands up, and cheerfully states, "Hey, can we look on the bright side here? And who knows? Maybe the future will change, and be even BETTER!" He puts his hands on Trip & Lucas' shoulders, though his words are of no comfort. Jen merely looks at the floor, running scenarios through her mind (likely one of Alex never dying). Katie, still squeezing her diary to her bosom, sits down and somberly replies, "I don't want it to be 'better'. I want it JUST the way it was when we left." She's so distracted with the ramifications of this possible paradox, that she fails to notice the picture of her family drops off her book and lands on the floor. Wes lightheartedly walks over and pats her on the back, asking, "Oh ho, come on! What's the matter? You don't like it here?" Katie admits, "It's FINE here", before standing up and facing Wes, telling him, "But it's YOUR home. Not mine." She seems ready to cry at any moment, as she walks off. Wes is left without his trademark smile by her sad demeanor. He glances down at the floor and spots her lost picture. He picks it up, and looks at it, realizing then that Katie worries about the family she left behind in the future.

At the Prison Ship (we really need a better name for it), Frax passes by the sign "Maximum Security TF-36", with the X Vault tube attached to his claw-hand. He giggles evilly as he heads for the horizontal barred door, which slides open upon motion detection. Frax ceases his school-bot laughter for a moment, and calls out, "Hello!? Anyone here?!" Seems all mutants and Cyclobots are off doing who-knows what who-knows where. Frax enters the main detention hall, and soon places the tiny creature contents of the X Vault tube into the Reanimator. He gloats, "It won't be long now, MUTANT!" The door slides shut, and Frax has to man the controls himself for a change. He hits the "engage" button, and snickers, "YE-ES!" Lights start flashing, smoke starts pouring, and Frax chuckles psychotically as the Reanimator does it job. The door to the reanimation chamber soon slides open, and the X Vault mutant steps forward amid the mist. He's mantis-shaped headed creature, with the left half of his body painted white (with green, red, and blue striped shoulder sections), and the right half of his body painted red (with green, yellow, and purple shoulder sections). His name is Vexicon, and he carries a big-ass staff which acts as both a saber and as a laser rifle. Vexicon growls at Frax, and demands to know, "Where's Ransik?!" Frax angrily orders, "FORGET about him! I released you from the X Vault!" He walks over and slaps the staff's barrel-end away from him, as stresses facts to the mutant, "If it weren't for ME, you would be frozen for LIFE!" Frax looses up, and returns his voice to a calm manner, gently guiding Vexicon into the room and saying, "There. Easy now. Here is what you are going to do!"

Soon in the middle of the city, civilians are wandering around, while some sit and drink coffee. Suddenly, a pile of neon-colored egg-shaped bombs roll onto the scene. The citizens stop and stare at the strange beeping Easter eggs, confused at what they see. One of the egg bombs rolls around and sits itself right-side up, as a man looks down at it. It suddenly explodes, sending the man flying into the air. The surrounding people begin to flee in a panic, as the eggs roll their way. A second explosion occurs, knocking three men down and sending a green pulse wave through the air. The people of Silver Hills run for their lives through the burning debris, as Vexicon slowly marches towards them with his staff leaning over his shoulder. The cocky mutant boasts, "That's right! Run away! You puny humans are NO match for ME! Ahahahaah!" Vexicon pitches another egg-bomb into a crowd, and remarks, "I almost forgot how much FUN freedom could BE! Yahaha!" Frax stands up on a higher level in the background, staring at the chaos he's caused. He rubs his clawed-fingers, and proclaims, "The city will soon be MINE! Hehe." At the Clock Tower, a transmission of the growling Vexicon's egg-drop rampage appears on the holoscreen. Circuit informs the others by yelling, "Mutant attack!" Wes & Lucas come running down the stairs from the upper floor, with Wes urging the others, "Let's go!" Jen walks away from the balcony area, while Trip rushes behind her. He slows down and stops when he notices that Katie is still sitting silently against a stack of boxes. Trip calls out concertedly, "Katie?" Her expression is that of inner turmoil, and pure anger at the possibility that her family might not exist anymore. She reluctantly puts aside her personal feelings, as well as puts aside her diary, and runs over to join Trip in journeying down the stairwell. Trip smiles, and Katie grabs his arm to hurry him along, as if everything is fine.

[commercials]

In front of a tall skyscraper that somehow has managed to avoid being blown to bits by now, Vexicon prepares to switch his attacks from egging to something more physical. The mutant chuckles maliciously, as he aims his staff at what looks to be a hotel not far in the distance. Vexicon fires the blaster portion of his staff at the building, blowing two huge holes into the side. As he does this, a news chopper floats overhead. Vexicon spots them, and quickly fires his staff at them, asking, "Wadda YOU lookin' at?!" The shots from the staff strike the helicopter, causing the Asian reporter inside to scream, and the cameraman to apparently fall to his doom. Vexicon complains, "Darn paparazzi!", as he watches the burning helicopter slam into the side of a building and explode totally, leaving no survivors! The mutant holds his staff over his shoulder again, and walks across the empty courtyard, whining, "This is TOO easy! I need a challenge!" He gets his wish, as he turns his attention to the sound of the Time Jet zooming through the sky above him. The five Time Force Power Rangers ride along the wing, and once in position, Pink Ranger orders, "Let's GO!" The whole team leaps off the Time Jet, using the "freefall beside the building" footage seen twice before (yawn big, everyone!). They land perfectly in a row, with their backs to the mutant, who merely laughs cruelly at the sight of them. Each Ranger spins around and poses, shouting out their colors in this order: Pink! Red! Blue! Yellow! Green! All five then whip out their TF Badges at once, and in unison proclaim, "TIME FORCE!", as their badges gleam. Vexicon asks annoyedly, "Wadda ya want?!" Red Ranger answers, "You're under arrest, Vexicon!" Wes turns his bade upside down for no reason, then pulls his arm closer to his helmet to hold the badge near his face. He suggests, "Why don't you make it EASY on yourself and surrender peacefully!" Vexi likes his freedom, replying, "And be locked up again? NO WAY!" Yellow Ranger covers herself from a lawsuit by saying, "DON'T say we didn't warn you!" She pulls out her Chrono-Saber, and races towards the mutant. Katie doesn't get far before Vexicon fires his staff-blaster at her, causing her chest to spark.

Blue & Green Rangers leap at Vexicon with their Chrono-Sabers, only to have the mutant lift his staff, block their blades, and then kick them back into the air. Trip & Lucas land harshly on the cement some feet away. Vexicon turns his attention over to the Pink Ranger, who rolls onto the scene with her two Sabers attached in double-blade mode. She fires off a power charge from one end, shooting a bolt of pink energy at the mutant. Vexi swipes his staff at the bolt, causing it to deflect right back at Jen, with resulting sparks. She falls over, body smoking. Red Ranger rushes to her side, placing his hand on her shoulder and screaming, "JEN!" Wes is set off by this action, as he shouts, "That does it!", and jumps into the air. He aims his Chrono-Saber outward, as his form becomes blurred and trailing. He lands in front of Vexicon, with intent of striking the mutant, only to have Vexi grab the blade harmlessly to his side. The mutant drops his staff onto Wes' shoulder, pinning him in his grasp. Red Ranger can't maneuver out of the tight bind, allowing the laughing mutant to pull out a secret weapon. The round orb in the middle of his chest gives way to the barrel of a small rifle! It pops out of the hole and fires at point blank range into the Red Ranger, unloading a few rapid rounds into his morphed body. He's then released from the entanglement of Sabers, and falls onto the ground in a smoking heap. The other four Rangers regroup around Wes to protect him from more harm, with Pink Ranger asking, "Wes, are you okay?!" Wes doesn't say a thing, simply grabbing his chest in agony from the attack. Vexicon boasts, "Haha! You call THIS a challenge!?" Jen changes gears by commanding, "Time to take it up a notch! V-Weapons!" All five Rangers (including a quickly healed Wes) stand up and pull out their V cannons in a jiffy. They aim them at Vexicon, and all shout, "Fire", as they unload the multicolored bombardment of laserbeams. Vexicon swings his staff-saber around, cutting down each and every one of the Ranger-colored blasts with skillful ease. Our heroes lower their V-Weapons, and Red Ranger gasps at the sight of their laser ammo being chopped into nothing, "I don't believe it!" Vexicon casually leans his staff over his shoulder again, and gloats, "You CAN'T stop me with those toys of yours!" Blue Ranger looks at his failed V-2, and notes, "I don't BELIEVE it! Our weapons didn't even scratch him!" Wes is determined, "We CAN'T give up! There HAS to be a way!" Vexicon takes advantage of their yapping to quickly toss an egg-bomb at them, quipping, "Think FAST!" The five Rangers are taken by surprise, the bomb striking them without warning and causing an explosion so sharp that it floors each of them, causing their V-Weapons to vanish. Vexicon waves good-bye, "So long, SUCKERS! Ha ha!", and departs. Wes shouts, "He's getting away!", and is barely able to crawl back onto his feet to give chase.

Vexicon strolls through the parking lot, minding his own business and taking his blessed time. He walks past a small white compact car, with an open window. The mutant (who, in the American shots, has the rifle barrel still sticking out of the hole in his chest!) bends down, tosses an egg-bomb into the passenger's seat, and quips, "I hope you're insured!" He continues walking and laughing deeply, as the car explodes massively a few feet behind him. The explosion causes a car alarm to go off in one of the vehicles surrounding the fiery bombed-car. The Time Force Rangers leap into the air, making their entrance with a set of "Hiyah"s. Green Ranger pretends he's a strange visitor from another planet (which he is) as he flies through the air like Superman, and lands with the other four Rangers in piling on Vexicon. The five are unable to hang onto the vicious mutant, who gives a heavy shrug and sends every one of them hurling off of his body. Blue Ranger rolls to a stop, and becomes the next target, as Vexicon shoots off a new attack: his flaming fire breath! Lucas is only the first to get struck by the burst of flames, with each of his teammates getting hit by the fire breath, one by one. Vexi laughs even more, as he tosses another neon-colored egg-bomb at our heroes. It explodes just behind them, launching all five into the air to do uncontrollable flips. By the time they land on the concrete, Vexicon's already gotten bored with them, and left the scene. Red Ranger, nearly covered in smoke, gets the strength to slam his fist against the ground, before lifting himself up to continue this futile mutant dance.

Just around the corner, Vexicon has found a group of humans to terrorize. He aims his staff-blaster at them, and proclaims, "Time for a new game! I'll give ya three seconds to get away!" Everyone manages to race for safety, except one short-dark haired man, who is in such a state of panic that he trips over the edge of the water fountain. Another man crouches by his side to attempt to help him up, but both of their eyes turn to the mutant, who points the barrel of his staff at the two, and remarks, "3, 2, 1! Time's up!" The tip of his blaster-staff glows green, and prepares to fire. Red Ranger rushes up and gets between the mutant & the humans, screaming, "NO!" The staff's green energy blast ends up striking Wes in the spleen, causing a burst of sparking & smoke to overtake him. Red Ranger groans loudly, and drops to one knee as he clutches his side. The other four Ranger finally show up, with Katie shouting, "Wes!", and Trip bending down beside him to ask, "Are you okay?" Red Ranger nods with a tinge of pain in his voice as he replies, "Uh-huh." Pink Ranger checks on the men Wes saved, asking, "How 'bout you two?" The guys nod and groan in assurance, and Jen orders them, "Good! Get to safety!" The two shuffle off as fast as they can. Vexicon greets our heroes, "Hahahahaha! So you've come back for MORE, huh, Rangers?!" He pulls out another striped egg-bomb, and tosses it at them, bidding, "Catch!" They fail to, causing the egg to land on the ground at their feet. It rolls away from them, but ends up exploding close enough anyway to cause them to shield their helmeted eyes with their hands from the heat. To make things worse, a second explosion rips up suddenly behind them, followed by a third just a bit closer to them! Our heroes let out wails of infliction as they're blasted by the fireballs, the whole team collapsing onto the ground the moment the explosions die off. Vexicon boasts, "Silly Rangers! You have no IDEA who you're dealing with!" The mutant leaves again, having successfully brought a basketful of pain to many frowning faces. He makes his exit by leaping off the side of the area, and landing in a courtyard below.

Back above, Blue & Green Rangers lie near each other on the floor, writhing in pain. The constant attacks finally take their toil on their morphed bodies, causing both Trip & Lucas to demorph at the same time. The demorphing is as usual, with a loud noise highlighting the sight of a flash of green digital data and their bodies soaked in a bath of light being shone from the Chrono-Morphers on their wrists for but an instant. Trip grimaces painfully, hardly able to recover from the fight. Lucas seems pained, rubbing his stomach slightly, but is able to sit up in no time at all. The other three Rangers have also demorphed, likely when they did. Jen quickly stands up, her face painted with random brushes of black soot from the explosions. She encourages the team, "Come on! He couldn't have gotten far!" Each of our heroes gets on their feet at the sound of her voice, and start rushing off in the direction Vexicon went. Each of them, that is, except for Katie. She lags behind, a look of having different thoughts clearly on her face as she hesitates following. Katie calls out, "I'm not going." The four Time Force Officers pause in their tracks, and turn around to face their fearful teammate. Trip is closest, in both physical location and in friendship status, to her, and is first to ask confusedly, "What do you MEAN?!" Katie defeatedly asks, "What's the point?" Jen, ever the leader, reminds her with a nearly offended tone, "The POINT?! The point IS we're here to capture Ransik!" Lucas stresses, "I mean, c'mon! We're the ONLY ones who can save the future!" Katie shouts in disbelief, "FUTURE?!" Suddenly, a bell-tower in the background (not the Clock Tower, but rather a more modern one in the middle of the city) chimes loudly, as the clock strikes 3 pm. The bells finish tolling, and Katie states a little more calmly, "We don't even know if we HAVE a future anymore." She turns away from the bell-tower, and back towards her team, as she proclaims, her voice cracking, "Don't you SEE?! We're out here risking our LIVES. And for WHAT?!" Her four fellow Rangers have no answers to this, each one somberly realizing she has a point. Katie walks over to Jen, and demands directly in her face, "Okay. I'll fight. But first, you PROMISE me that i'm gonna see my family again." Jen simply looks away, as she can't make that promise. Katie steps over to Lucas, grabs him by the collar of his jacket, and begs, "PROMISE me that i'll make it HOME!" He appears like he wants to say something, but is unable to find the words for it, also looking away from her. Katie lets Lucas go, and turns to her green haired confidant, asking with a desperate calmness, "Trip. Promise me... the future will still be there." For all of his psychic abilities, Trip can only reply with a slight shake of his head, admitting, "I... I can't." Katie stares at him for a moment, before looking away herself, on the verge of busting out in tears.

Elsewhere in the city, an entire building explodes into nothing but flying chunks of burning debris. Vexicon paces back and forth with his staff over his shoulder (which I will no longer mention, since he does it so darn often), rubbing his chin and wondering, "Hmm. Let's see. Who's next?" The sound of a woman shrieking catches his ear, prompting him to remark, "Ahh! You'll DO!" Vexicon kicks a pile of his egg-bombs over in the direction of several Asian civilians. They cry and shout as they run for their lives, the egg-bombs ticking loudly. Vexicon points his fingers intimidatingly at them, and notes, "This is TOO easy!" Back over where our heroes still are, their quiet musings on the future past get interrupted by the sound of the egg-bombs exploding in the distance. They turn their attention that, as well as the conversation topic previous established. Lucas appears determined, as he informs Katie, "I have NO idea what the future holds. But I know people are in trouble NOW." He darts towards a clearing, and shouts, "Time for... Time Force!", as he presses his Chrono-Morpher, and causes the first ever PRTF running morph! The blue tunnel of digital data suddenly takes the place of the surrounding area, as his body shines brightly with a full spectrum of different colors. The tunnel vanishes as quickly as it appeared, and the Blue Time Force Ranger is all that remains, never missing a step that he began while unmorphed. The others watch this closely in the background. Jen steps forward next, rubbing her engagement ring on her finger as she states, "I PROMISED Alex that I was gonna capture Ransik." She looks down at the ring, and swears, "I'm NOT gonna break that promise." Jen darts into the clearing, and does the same style running morph as Lucas, though her tunnel is of pink digital data, and she emerges as the Pink Ranger. At the battlefield, Blue Ranger reunites with Vexicon by jumping into the air with his Chrono-Saber held outward in double-blade mode. He drops down and locks his Saber with Vexi's staff, and as they're locked, Lucas vows, "We ARE going to bring you to justice! No matter WHAT it takes!" Vexicon growls, and breaks off their lock, quickly slashing at Blue Ranger's chest with his staff, taking him down. The mutant goes in for the kill, dropping his staff-saber down at the downed Lucas, only to have Pink Ranger's Chrono-Saber block the attack. Jen quickly kicks Vexicon away, and helps her fellow Ranger to his feet. Vexicon growls some more, as Pink Ranger stands with Blue, and commands, "C'mon, Lucas! Let's do this together!" Both Rangers wield their Sabers intensively, shout Hiyahs, and race into action.

Meanwhile, Katie stares emotionless towards the direction of the battle, with Trip & Wes by her side. Trip speaks up from the heart (and head-gem), as he says, "Something tells me that... this is the right thing to do." He gets no reply from Katie, and quickly begins to rush into the clearing. Trip stops suddenly, and slightly turns his head, hesitating in wait for a sign from his pal. It never comes, so Trip returns to what he was doing, copying the others as he shouts the activation command, causes the green digital data tunnel to appear, and for his body to emerge as the Green Ranger while still running. Katie begins to show signs of emotion, gasping for breath and looking around in a state of desperation. She returns to staring into space, while pondering the meaninglessness of her timelost life.

[commercials]

Katie opens up again, by speaking aloud to Wes, who's standing behind her, looking at the picture of her family that he swiped from the Clock Tower. She admits somberly, "I feel like I have NOTHING to fight for." Wes, the former king of motivation-less city, smiles and asks her in an optimistic tone, "Are you CRAZY?" She turns and looks at him finally, as he walks closer, hands her the picture, and notes, "It looks to me... like you have EVERYTHING to fight for." Katie expresses a bit of shock at the sight of seeing her family photo again in such an unlikely place. Wes smiles warmly, and races off into the clearing, while shouting, "Time for... Time Force!" The red tunnel of digital data swarms over him, and he morphs into Red Ranger while running rapidly. Katie gazes into the picture of her family in happier times, the frozen moment of her life on nothing more than a glossy piece of paper. I notice the mother is quite light-skinned compared to the brother & father. I assume that IS that mother and not another sister or something. Which makes this the first onscreen Ranger family on PR in quite a while to feature a two-parent household. Katie focuses deeply on her smiling loved ones, likely thinking back on the great times they had together that no altering of history can ever replace. At the battlefield, Vexicon slashes his staff-saber into both Blue & Pink Rangers without mercy or falter. Green Ranger appears and begins to engage him in combat with his Saber as well, but the mutant proves too fast, and uses his staff to toss Trip into the air. Vexicon turns around in time to witness Red Ranger rushing at him with his double-bladed Chrono-Saber in hand, spinning it around, causing it to trail, as it becomes charged with red energy.

Back at the courtyard, Katie lifts her head from staring at the picture, and exclaims aloud with her voice crackling, "He's RIGHT! I've got more reason to fight than ANYONE!" She looks up, spreads her arms, and screams to the top of her lungs, "SO WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?!" The camera switches to a birds-eye angle in mid-sentence, causing her voice to echo and reverb against surrounding buildings, as she spins around and drops to her camouflage panted knees. Katie looks to the sky, appearing to beg for an answer, but nobody answers her pleads. Her expression changes from desperation to realization, when she suddenly sighs and remarks, "I'm afraid i'll never get to go home." Katie looks at the picture again, and becomes determined to live, proclaiming, "I CAN'T give up!" She rises back onto her feet, and looks towards the direction of the battle again. Katie blocks all negative thoughts about her family being erased, buries those images deep, and states assuredly, "The ONLY chance I have... is to FIGHT!" She rushes off, but fails to get her own running morph, the poor gal. At the battlefield, all four Power Rangers are knocked into the air as their chests burst with sparks from an offscreen attack by Vexicon. Our heroes fall together, allowing Vexicon to pull out a new weapon. It seems to be an orange ring, with three silver spikes on its edges. Before the mutant can use this to do evil deeds, he gets his triumphant laughter cut short by the Yellow Ranger's flying elbow blow! Vexicon is knocked down by this surprise elbowing to the gut. Green Ranger exclaims, "All RIGHT, Katie!" Blue & Red help Trip up, as Yellow Ranger promises to the team, "I'll NEVER let you guys down again." Wes slaps her five, noting, "THAT'S our Katie!" Yellow Ranger commands, "Let's DO it!"

The Rangers get no chance to do anything, as Vexicon aims the blaster-end of his staff at the five, firing a blast. They're blinded by sparks, and easy targets for the mutant to fire off his chest-rifle for a second time. Katie gets struck by this attack directly, and pained profusely. Vexicon walks slowly towards them, gloating, "You're just prolonging the inevitable!" Our heroes back up and sorta huddle together (though Katie's the only one not groaning and clutching her chest dramatically), as Yellow Ranger encourages, "DON'T give up, guys. It's up to US. We can STILL bring 'em in!" Green Ranger points out, "Katie, he's just WAY too strong for us!" Katie replies, "He's NOT... if we stick together!" Vexicon walks up, aims his staff-blaster at them, and boasts, "DON'T kid yourselves! It's OVER!" He fires at them, causing the team to scatter behind the smoke. All but Yellow end up rolling over in front of a lamp post. Lucas asks, "You ready, guys?", and Jen confirms, "Yeah! Let's DO it!" Wes leads the charge, calling out, "V-Weapons! Lock on!" The four Rangers aim their V cannons at the mutant, who waves his finger at them, and remarks unimpressed, "THOSE things AGAIN?! Don't you ever LEARN!?" Red Ranger keeps talking, saying, "Yeah, we learned YOU'RE going down!". He keeps the mutant's attention long enough for Katie to sneak around the surrounding foliage, and aim her V-4 cannon at Vexicon from a blindspot. The mutant, unafraid of their weak weaponry, puts his hands up and urges, "Alright, then! Bring it ONNNN!" The four Rangers point their V-Weapons at the mutant, who anxiously slaps his chest, screaming, "LEMME HAVE IIIIT!" Katie shouts, "Now!", and Wes orders, "FIRE!" All five Rangers shoot their respective colored energy beams off from their V-Weapons. The beams circle around Vexicon, as the entire background changes to a TRON-like blue & yellow horizon grid. Vexicon holds his staff-blade up to defense himself against the energy pulses, only to have all five of them begin spinning around his body, and forming together as one. They manage to take him by surprise, and strike directly into his chest explosively.

As Vexicon squeals and bursts before them, Yellow Ranger regroups with her teammates, and states happily, "Alright! Now THAT'S what I call teamwork! YEAH!" Blue Ranger steps over to her, and admits, "All I can say is... it's good to have you back with us." Katie lowers V-4 and looks at him, though he's facing away from her as she relies, "Thanks, Lucas." Pink Ranger, "Now let's put him back in deep freeze. VORTEX Blaster!" The five V-Weapons come together into the cannon so large that it takes four of them to lift it! The Vortex Blaster is aimed at the dazed Vexicon, and charged up. The mutant staggers to his feet and growls, as the green VB targeting sight scans him, and soon reads "Lock On"! Red Ranger orders, "Fire!" The Vortex Blaster shoots off a massive concussive bolt of condensed energy, letting loose a loud electronic chiming sound as it fires. The swirling blue & white ball of light rips into Vexicon, causing his body to explode once again. As he's steaming with sizzling smoke, the mutant reaches down and yanks off the black & gold patch attached to the left side of his stomach. His purple striped skin is exposed, as is his mutant DNA, causing the usual chain reaction, and making the growling Vexicon & his staff grow gigantically before our heroes' eyes. Red Ranger presses his Chrono-Morpher and shouts into it, "Circuit! We could use a little help about now!" At the Clock Tower, Circuit sits atop his perch, wings flapping, and replying, "Hold on, Wes. Help is on the way!" Indeed, as suddenly we see the exit end of the time vortex appearing over the domed stadium! The five Time Flyers, having been repaired between episodes, zoom out of the hole and into the sky. Katie exclaims joyously, "All RIGHT, the Time Flyers!" Wes urges, "Yeah! Let's go!" Our heroes rush off to the side, and are soon inside the cockpits of their Flyers. The Time Flyers soon begin to snap apart, transforming around into their predominantly red colored configuration. Momentarily, the Time Force Megazord in Mode Red pulls out its Saber from its chest vortex, and poses before a large glowing badge. The giant Vexicon swings his staff-saber around and growls, prompting the Megazord to do the same with its Saber, but not make a sound.

In the year 3000, inside a secret control room, the Mystery Man from the previous episode sits at the console. The dark slicked-back haired man presses a few buttons with his gloved hands, and looks at the various displays through his silver-rimmed sunglasses. The small control compartment opens up, and he flips the switches. A female computer voice then announces, "Shadow Winger-- prepared for departure!" Mystery Man presses more buttons, as the window-screen above his head shows the Shadow Winger being loaded onto the Time Force launchpad! Captain Logan must have allowed access to the Time Gate for the Time Shadow, possibly. Anyway, the white-leather suited Mystery Man presses a few more buttons, and causes the Trans-Warp Megazord to swing its arm around and send the Shadow Winger speeding towards the Time Gate. The shadowy craft slams into the vortex, like the Time Flyers usually do. Though once we see the Shadow Winger inside of the time tunnel, the entire coloring to the vortex resembles the green & white Jump Tube-looking portal that the Time Shadow used to make its entrance the last time! Why the change when using the same technology? Only Zordon knows for sure. The opposite end of the portal begins to emerge the only way it knows how, by causing a pseudo-eclipse to occur over the sun in the present day! With the sole source of solar light blotted out, the Mode Red & Vexicon look up to witness the black spot turning into the green time portal. Shadow Winger zooms out of the vortex, and onto the scene. Inside the TF Megazord control room, Red Ranger, having totally forgotten Shadow Winger's entrance from the previous episode, looks up and gasps, "Whoa! What's THAT?!" Pink Ranger, also suffering from partial amnesia induced by staring into an eclipse, replies, "I'm not really sure, but... I THINK it's the Time Shadow!" Vexicon growls and shifts his staff around, as the Shadow Winger dives across the skyline, and fires its twin cannons at the mutant. He's struck by the sudden attack, his body bursting as he growls even angrier. The Shadow Winger then begins to transform in midair, folding its wings back, flipping parts over, ejecting a head from the top of its wingspan, and removing the two blue-blades from the sides of its newly formed legs. The robotic humanoid Time Shadow Megazord hovers across the darkened city, and lands atop its usual spot with the first-quarter moon behind it.

Vexicon, whose body is still smoking from the Winger's attack, aims its staff-blaster up at the Time Shadow Megazord, and fires. Two explosions rip atop buildings surrounding the tall one that Time Shadow is atop, allowing the Megazord ample room to spread its arms and float into the air gently. Vexicon watches stunned as the Time Shadow swoops down and slashes at the mutant with its arm-blades. Proving his salt as an X Vault prisoner, Vexicon blocks the blades with its staff, and while keeping Shadow's arms busy, he pops the rifle barrel out of his chest-hole! Time Shadow looks at it surprisingly, and is unable to defend itself as Vexicon fires it directly into the Megazord's chest. Several rounds are shot into Time Shadow, causing it to spark intensely, before toppling over onto the street! The Time Force Megazord in Mode Red cuts to the chase, by forming its green clockface attack with its Saber. Vexicon charges at Mode Red, violently whipping hiss staff around. In the control room, Red Ranger slices the Saber-remote in the air, calling on, "Full power!" Mode Red does the same with its Saber, surging it with power and slashing it at Vexicon. Unfortunately, the mutant knew enough to counterattack, by blocking the blow with his staff. While Mode Red is dazed by this failed maneuver, Vexicon starts ripping into it with his staff-sword. The Megazord stupidly tries blocking the staff-beating with its Megazord Saber, instead of the big-ass shield it has on its left arm. This causes the brittle metal Saber to snap in half under the swift swipe of Vexicon's staff! The broken shard of the Saber drops onto the ground, causing the Saber-remote in the Megazord control room to dissipate explosive in Wes' clutches. He cries, "Oh NO!", and Blue Ranger gasps, "The Saber!" Vexicon pokes Mode Red with the end of his staff, causing it to stumble backwards. Realizing the blunt end of the Saber is useless in the 'countdown' finishing move, Yellow Ranger notes, "Wes, we need more power!" Red Ranger concurs, "You're right. Let's change formation! Mode BLUE!"

No transformation sequence necessary, the Time Force Megazord instantly appears in its predominantly blue colored configuration. Mode Blue flies through the air, with its fists held out. It punches Vexicon perfectly in the face, then dives down with its feet aimed for that same spot. The Megazord bounces off his face, and next plummets through the darkened sky, firing the Time Jet in Blaster mode at the mutant. Vexicon growls and sparks, yet remains standing as the TF Megazord in Mode Blue lands on the ground and poses with its Blaster successfully. Katie grunts in frustration, "Ohh! He just WON'T go down!" Jen admits, "Our weapons just aren't STRONG enough!" Wes wonders, "NOW what do we do!?" Circuit suddenly contacts them over their Chrono-Morphers, informing, "Rangers, i've received new data! You have the power to defeat this mutant RIGHT at your fingertips!" Katie replies into her Morpher, "We DO?! But HOW?!" The robotic owl (now sitting on the table in the CT) explains, "You can combine the Time Force and the Time Shadow Megazords to form the Shadow Force Megazord!" Red Ranger grips his fist and exclaims, "Alright! Shadow Force Megazord, online!" The Time Shadow Megazord finally stands up, and responds to this activation command. It immediately begins to run rapidly between a row of buildings, and once it gets enough speed, it jumps into the air, and transforms back to Shadow Winger mode in a flash of light. Back in the year 3000, at the TF Launchpad, all surrounding hovercars are cleared out of the way, as Trans-Warp gets into position. A strange, long blue bladed, yellow handled saber is loaded off of Trans-Warp's shoulder (where did THAT come from? T-W's spinal column?). It floats onto the runway, and Trans-Warp swings its arm around, knocking the Saber directly into the active Time Gate. The Saber enters the year 2001 in the most unlikeliest of places, as it zooms out of the circle atop the Shadow Winger! Time Force Megazord in Mode Blue leaps into the air, as the Shadow Winger begins to transform again. Its wings are titled upsided, while the leg sections drop down to allow Mode Blue to come up, twirling quickly, and land atop the legs. The ends of the legs section flip up and attach to Mode Blue's feet, as the center part of the wingspan breaks down and covers over Mode Blue's chest (it has a small TF badge on the front of it as well). Mode Blue grabs the Saber, which is floating nearby, and when it snatches the handle, part of the blue blade shifts backwards while the rest glows brightly. A yellow rimmed, two-horned visor them materializes over Mode Blue's face, completing the transformation. Shadow Force Megazord in Mode Blue stands triumphantly initiated, holding its lightsabre-like Saber in hand, as the Time Force Badge shiningly appears mightily behind it.

Vexicon growls some more, and aims his staff-sword at the newly formed Shadow Force Megazord. It stands amid the darkness of the damaged city, waiting for the moment to strike. The camera shows the details of the new configuration on both the outside, and the inside. The Megazord control room now has several new technologically adorned consoles surrounding the control Sabers! Our heroes gaze at the new add-ons in awe, with Jen gasping, "Amazing!" Trip even think so, stating, "WOW! This is incredible!" Vexicon charges towards the Megazord again with his staff at the ready. In the control room, Red Ranger grips the handle of the Saber-console, and summons, "Shadow Force Megazord Saber!" This causes the control Saber to change into a beam of blue energy, which Wes whips out of the console, and spins around his body until it morphs into a man-sized remote version of the SF Saber! Shadow Force Megazord then leaps into the air, and hovers in place, as it creates a green energy clockface (similar to the one TF Mode Red can make, but distanced away from the Megazord) a few feet in front of it. Shadow Force then pulls the trigger on its tube-bladed Saber, and blasts each of the 12 numbers on the clockface, starting with 1. The giant numbers then land atop the buildings in the area surrounding Vexicon. The mutant stops in his tracks and looks upward, as each of the green numbers land in a perfect circle around him. When all 12 have fallen, they shoot off green lines at the mutant, cemented the moment the green circle edge of the clockface drops down around them. Vexicon is frozen in place by this action, unable to move a muscle. In the control room, Wes aims the Shadow Force Saber downwards like a rifle, and commands, "TIME TARGET!" A green clockface appears before him as well, as he fires the Saber instantly. Outside, the Megazord mimics his actions, and charges up its Blaster-like Saber. The ribbed green circles that had been surrounding the clockface a few moments ago now swirl together and converge upon the tip of the Saber. They form into a large fireball, which the Shadow Force Megazord instantly shoots at Vexicon! The sphere of power drops on the helplessly paused mutant, who ceases being frozen as he's overcome by a massive burst of flames. The explosions suddenly freeze again, as does his screaming, as the whole area becomes tinged green. Yellow Ranger motions her arm in the control room, and states, "Your time is UP!" Vexicon's screaming resumes, as the green energy surrounding him causes his exploding to instantly revert to an imploding! The giant mutant shrinks amid a sea of green energy, which dissipates harmlessly the moment he's defeat. Vexicon drops to the ground in tiny Chrono-Frozen mode once again. I must wonder how our heroes are gonna detain him safely, since he was so tough that he was in that special hidden block, after all.

The Shadow Force Megazord in Mode Blue lands perfectly on both its large feet, and poses triumphantly. As it does this, the eclipse ends, and daylight floods the city once again. In the control room, the Rangers cheer for themselves and for the magnificent Shadow Force Megazord. A loud booming sound interrupts their victory celebration, when without warning, all five of the Time Force Officers are jettisoned from the control room! A brief American shot of the Shadow Force's chest highlights this scene, as each one of our heroes are shot out of the Megazord's head, and forcibly demorph on the way down. They roll safely onto the lawn below, none injured by the unexpected (and yet, quite predictable) dumping. The five quickly get back on their feet and watch as the two Megazords break apart offscreen. The five Time Flyers head for the time vortex awaiting them in the sky. The Time Shadow, having lost its eclipse portal for some reason, hitches a ride with them. Shadow Winger flies very uncomfortably close to the Time Flyers (expect a collision soon!) as it enters the portal behind them. The vortex closes, and we can only hope Shadow Winger is able to get back safely without the use of its usual green Jump Tube-like portal. Our heroes gaze into the sky quietly, as that portal is their own real gateway to their home. Trip asks, "Do you think we'll EVER make it back?" Katie thinks about it for a second, and puts her pessimistic thought aside, to reply affirmatively, "Of COURSE we will... as long as we DON'T give up." She turns around and faces her teammates, smiling as she reminds them, "The future's in OUR hands." Katie puts her hand on Trip's shoulder, as he looks at his fellow Rangers. Lucas, Wes, and Jen all nod & smile, agreeing with her new "Fight For The Future" outlook completely. Katie puts her arm around Trip, and the two smile at each other while leaning together and pressing their foreheads against one another.

[commercials]

At the Prison Ship, Ransik exits his quarters, while holding a containment tube. He walks up to Frax, shows the X Vault symbol encrusted tube to him, and demands, "Where did you get THIS?!" Frax stammers, trying to avoid punishment for going behind his master's back yet again, nervously admitting, "THAT?! Um, well... I-i.. you see, Ransik... I-i meant to tell you, umm..." Ransik merely chuckles, and remarks pleasantly, "He ALMOST destroyed the Rangers. Hahaheheha!" The mutant mastermind pats the golden robot on the back, and commends, "GOOD job, Frax!" Frax, his choice of using a mutant instead of his own kind having proven a positive one, replies graciously, "THANK you, sir!" Nadira stands off to the side, fixing her makeup in a mirror which a Cyclobot is holding up for her. She hears of Frax's success, glares at him, and rolls her eyes, whining, "I THINK i'm gonna be SICK!" Ransik leads Frax into another corridor, amusingly remarking, "Keep this up, and I might even SPARE you from the scrap heap! Hahaha!" Frax kisses up, telling him, "Thank you, sir! It is my PLEASURE to serve you!" In the background, Nadira pitches a fit in front of the stone-cold Cyclobot. Frax sneaks off from Ransik's company, and heads to the murky underbelly of the Prison Ship. He wanders through the dark and dusty room, commenting to himself, "Spare ME from the scrap heap!? That's what HE thinks!" Frax manually has to open the vertical bar doors of the dark room, as he heads for his own private Idaho penitentiary. The robot approaches the X Vault door, and holds the key he found out, while gloating, "Little does he know that I have an ACE up my sleeve! Heh hehehe heh!" Frax inserts the key into the slot, the two lights blink, and the door next slides open. He enters the small cold storage room, and pops open his facial compartments in delight at the sight of the 8 or so tubes held within. Frax remarks, "ALL the X Vault mutants are at my command!" He holds the key up, and notes, "THIS could be the key to my future!" Frax then begins laughing diabolically, and diabolically similar to Scooby Doo.

At the Clock Tower, it's dinner time! Circuit drops off of the upper level, and hovers in a circle like a buzzard over the center table. Trip is the only one sitting there at the time, as he pours a glass of juice. The other four TFs suddenly converge on the table, nearly at once. Circuit continues his spinning landing, and nearly slams into Wes as he lands. Wes cautions the eager Robo-bird, "Who-ho! Easy, Circuit!", before handing Trip a plate. He hands a second plate to Lucas, who's wrapped up with looking at his reflection in the bottom of a spoon to primp his hair. He quickly ceases, and pours himself a drink. Jen brings in a few plates of food, and when she brings in the grapes or whatever, Trip tries to snatch one up before she even places it on the table. She smacks his hand away and orders, "NOT yet!" The ever-hungry alien teen begs, "WHEN?! I'm STARVING!" Trip gets no answer, though you'd think he'd try to use his psychic powers to figure out when. Lucas pours a few glasses of greywater, or whatever that is they're drinking. Katie taps her glass as she walks over to the head of the tap, and says calmly, "Hey, you guys. I have something I want to say." Jen sits down next to Wes, and all attention turns to Katie, even Circuit's big-eyes focus on her. Katie tells them with a smile, "I KNOW someday we'll make it back. But, for now, i'm glad to say that.... THIS is my home, and, you guys ARE my family." She seems to grind her teeth while admitting that last part, though appears happy to open up her feelings around them at last. The four seated TFs raise their glasses, and Trip "Awww"es at her touching speech. The five then tap their glasses together in a toast. Wes & Katie catch each others eyes, and stare at one another. He smiles, and she sighs, holding her glass near her face, before smiling as well, seemingly thanking him for the relative reminder earlier.

[Scenes from "Uniquely Trip"; End Credits]