Power Rangers Time Force
"Quantum Secrets"
Original Air Date:06/16/01		Based on [minus all Mega Battle stuff]: Timeranger #37 - Nerawareta Chikara (Aiming For Power)
*Season 9, byte 20 *Official Fox Kids Show Number PR-1120 *20th episode of PRTF *398th total Power Rangers episode
Writers: Judd Lynn & Jackie Marchand		Director: Makoto Yokoyama
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) Daniel Southworth _AS_ Eric (Quantum Ranger) Vernon Wells _AS_ Ransik Kate Sheldon _AS_ Nadira Edward Laurence Albert _AS_ Mr. Collins		Additional Cast: Jason Faunt _AS_ Mystery Man (uncredited) Ken Merckx _AS_ Dr. Michael Zaskin Darcy O'Donnell _AS_ Alice Don Dowe _AS_ Thug Brianne Siddall _AS_ Circuit (voice) Eddie Frierson _AS_ Frax (voice) Sean Cw Johnson _AS_ Conwing (voice) [Note: Played Carter on... I forget.]

SUMMARY:

Inside the mirrored-glass building which doubles as both the Bio-Lab home office and Silver Guardians HQ, we get to see one of the actual laboratories. It's really a darkened sound studio of sorts, with the Quantum Morpher attached to a special bar atop a table, with wires all around it. Eric, wearing his stand Silver Guardian Commander uniform (with red beret), faces the Morpher, and stands in front of a microphone. A brunette female technician in a white coat with earphones & glasses (resembling a shorter-haired Miss Fairweather thanks to the low lighting, though I truly doubt she'd appear without being credited) adjusts a digital camera to film the test sequence. Another techie secures a small transmitted dish nearby. At the control station (which has several ROM drives, ala the machine from "The Last Ranger"), Doctor Michael Zaskin (from "Bodyguard In Blue"), also in a white labcoat, closes one of the disk drives. He slips on his earphones, looks to Eric and motions him to begin. The music is odd, and at first when you see this see, it almost looks like Eric's about to cut a record to the tune of an automatic Casio keyboard drumbeat. Instead, Eric grips the mic, and screams into it as loud as he can, "QUANTUM POWER!" His words echo throughout the room, causing the Quantum Morpher to create (in a flash of bright red & white) the silver & black Quantum Ranger wrist-gauntlet around the metal bar it's attached to. The bar (which is attached on another transmitter dish) enhances the effect of the Morphing, sending a series of continuous green energy circles surging towards the transmitter dish that the male technician is holding. Eric's "Quantum Power!" repeats, over and over, helping the trio of scientists to hold the Morphing in a loop. White-bluish electricity crackles from out of the arm-end of the Quantum Ranger gauntlet, but fails to find a person to transform. The green energy wave grows more rapidly, pulsing quicker and quicker into a near river of green light between the transmitter dishes. As the light grows, so does the amount of times Eric's activation command is repeated. It grows louder, until it's just a high pitched laser-sound, causing all three Bio-Lab employees to grasp their earphones in grimacing pain. Eric isn't bothered, simply watching the strange lightshow. Zaskin yanks off his earphones and grunts, witnessing on the control station's viewscreen the green energy rings dying off, and the Quantum Ranger gauntlet dematerializing in a flash of bright red & white. This leaves the Quantum Morpher sitting on the metal bar, its internal secrets remaining a mystery. The techies adjust devices in the background, as Zaskin & Eric walk over to the central table together, with Eric folding his arms. Dr. Zaskin remarks, "TUGH! There IS more data in your Morpher, Eric. I just can't ACCESS it." He uses a small soldering tool on the metal bar, it sparks yellow, and the Quantum Morpher is freed for release. Eric asks, "Why not?", and Zaskin explains, "It's TOO advanced. It's like the technology is YEARS before its time." The scientist puts down the soldering tool, and removes a similar one from his coat pocket, and begins to carefully adjust the speaker section on the Quantum Morpher in his hands. Eric, oblivious to the greater facts behind its origin, wonders, "Well, HOW can that be? It came from an archeological dig." Zaskin doesn't get a chance to answer, before the emergency alarm blares throughout the lab. Eric swipes the Morpher from the Doctor's clutches, lowers his headset's own microphone, and tells him, "Gotta go." Zaskin watches Eric leave suddenly, gazing at him with a desperate look, as if addicted to unlocking the secrets of the Quantum Powers.

A single Silver Guardian SUV pulls out, with a spinning purple light atop its driver's side roof. Easiest way to tell Sentai footage from American? The license plate has numbers and the image is flipped, whereas the American SUV has a CGD eagle symbol on each plate. Meanwhile, at one of the various shopping centers in the city of Silver Hills, Nadira leads a band of Cyclobots out of a store. One Cyclobot has a silk scarf around its neck, while another has a sort of stylish bandanna around its steel noggin. They assist the white-leathered bratty mutant in carrying her bags of clothes, though she's got a bad, plus an orange skirt and matching (you guessed it) leopard print blouse dangling from her wrists. The sign on the window says there's a big grand opening sale going on at the store, which probably something like "J.C. Montgomery's". Is Nadira finally getting use out of those billions of dollars she's stolen over the past 20 episodes? Apparently not, as she squeals loudly, and remarks, "I so ADORE these latest fashions! And such reasonable prices, too... FREE! Yaaaah! Hahahaha!" (irony there, someone from the future calling today's fashions the "latest") Her illegal shopping spree strut is cut short, when the lone SG SUV (with its spinning light now on the passenger's side, due to us not reversing the footage anymore) pulls up. It's quickly joined by a second vehicled filled with Silver Guardians, who quickly storm out and converge around Nadira & the Cyclobots' path. She sharply ceases squealing joyfully, and stares agape as the SGs set up their rocket launchers, which are, along with their Blasters, aimed directly at her. The Quantum Ranger, fully Morphed, steps in front of one section of the squad, and folds his arms, asking bemusedly, "Nadira! What're you up to NOW?" Nadira sarcastically yawns, while stating , "What a BORE. Cyclobots... GET 'EM!" The small army of robodrones march towards the Silver Guardians. Speaking of silver, ever notice how when we switch to Sentai footage, the silver-suited Cyclobots vanish? It's true! Anyway, Eric whips out his Quantum Defender, and fires it at the Cyclobots, taking two down perfectly. The rest of the Guardians unload all of their laser-based weaponry at the robodrones, leaving the Cyclos as nothing more than smoking scrap in but a moment. Immediately after that, the Time Force Power Rangers show up on the scene. Red Ranger calls out, "Nadira! Hold it right THERE!" Nadira gasps, visibly afraid, but quickly plays it off by sighing boredly. Quantum Ranger aims his Defender at her, and begins to step forward, asking, "Are you FINALLY ready to turn yourself in?" She scoffs, "In your DREAMS!", then bids in a sultry tone, "Gotta go." Nadira waves shortly, before spinning her white cape around, and teleporting away in a flash of pink energy with bright blue exhaust (seems she lost her orange outfit in the battle, aww). The TF Rangers grunt defeatedly at the sight of her escape.

Quantum Ranger reholsters his Quantum Defender, and while the Silver Guardians pack up their weapons, he walks over the Time Force team with open arms, remarking snidely, "Hello, Rangers! Stop by to see how well I do my job?" Yellow Ranger steps up and corrects him, motioning, "HEY! Don't you mean do OUR job?" Eric shrugs her off, replying in a holier-than-thou tone, "Whatever! All i'm trying to say is, you really don't need to... drop by." Katie takes offense, exclaiming, "Drop BY?!" She's ready to rip Eric's helmet off, when Wes holds up his arm and blocks her from moving, calmly urging, "Easy, Katie. He's just trying to get a rise out of us. Just let it go. C'mon." He slips his arm around her firmly and friendily, nudging her off into the opposite direction of the impending confrontation with their uneasy ally. Pink Ranger oddly walks away with her head held quite low, as if disappointed to not see Katie take on Eric. Quantum Ranger rubs his helmeted chin in contemplation, before commenting self-assured, "If I were you, i'd let the whole Ranger thing go. Soon, all the Quantum Powers will be unlocked. The Silver Guardians will take over, and... you'll be obsolete." The five Rangers stop in their tracks, with Pink Ranger turning slightly and asking stunned, "WHAT did he say?!" Red Ranger desperately tries to end the argument, telling her, "Jen! Forget it. C'mon." The TFs resume their long walk home, Wes keeping his arm around Katie (like he'd be strong enough to stop her if she tried to bust out!) Quantum Ranger snorts amusedly while watching them with his arms crossed, before dropping them and departing.

[Opening Credits]

At the Clock Tower, with the sun beating down upon its perpetually 3:50 dial face, our heroes are discussing today's events in the main room. Lucas leans against the stack of yellow Time Force storage cases, as he tells his teammates hopefully, "I think we should tell Eric that we're from the year 3000. Then, maybe he'll understand what we're up against, and work with us." He's not longer up against anything himself, as he walks over towards Trip at the picnic table, where Katie, Wes, and even Circuit are sitting (while Jen stares into the yellow glass of the clock face). Trip concurs from personal experience in the previous episode, "Lucas is RIGHT! H-he's NOT such a bad guy." Wes worriedly draws upon his own experiences, standing up and stressing, "I don't KNOW. If my father finds out that his Quantum Technology is from the future? He'll exploit it for EVERY DIME." Katie sees it his way, noting, "That's a GOOD point." She turns and asks the undecided member, "What do YOU think, Jen? Should we tell him? ... Jen?" Their leader is lost in thought, but finally realizes that all eyes are on her, and snaps out of it. Jen just stares at them, silently. She then looks away, with her torn stance on the subject expressed only by her visible struggle for words. Elsewhere, at the Prison Ship, the Reanimator slides open, bellowing smoke from within. An off-white, circuitry-skinned mutant with yellow-detailed birdie face, a funky hair... err, head-style, and four tentacles dangling from across the backs of his shoulders, steps out. He introduces himself in a gravely voice and bowing, "Conwing, at your service!" He stands before Ransik & Frax, with Gluto well off to the side. The horizontal barred doors pull back automatically, as Nadira enters the mist-filled room. Frax waves off some of the smoke with his hand, while informing Ransik, "Conwing can do what NO other mutant CAN!" Ransik asks, "And WHAT is that?", just as his daughter walks over to his side, with her long pink hair hanging down. Conwing admits, "I can control the Quantasaurus Rex!" Nadira shows all of her teeth as she grimaces disgustingly, and scoffs, "Uuuuh! Shows what YOU know, birdbrain!" She ickily throws her hands up at him, while heading over to her leopard-print couch, and daintily spinning before sitting ladylike. Gluto gets visibly excited as she approaches, yet the poor guy doesn't get to say anything. Nadira adds snootily, "The Q-Rex ONLY responds to the Quantum RANGer's voice. DOI!" Conwing lifts up an orange mouth piece, and replies, "You're ABsolutely right!" He slips it over his gaping mouth, and begins to speak in Nadira's voice, saying, "Shows what YOU know, BIRDbrain! I can imitate ANYone's voice. Double Doi! Hehehahaha!" He struts over to her couch, mimicking her movements just as easily as he does her voice, before sitting down and twirling his shoulder tentacle between his fingers just as she's twirling her hair! Nadira's quite offended by this, though Gluto is seen jiggling in an unheard giggle-fit. Frax also loves the imitation of his worst enemy, remarking lightheartedly, "He's BRILLIANT! HA! Hehehehe." Ransik even smiles, chuckling wickedly at his daughter's expense.

Ever wonder where Eric lives? Wonder no longer! He lives in a small house in the suburbs of Silver Hills. I don't want to say it's dumpy, it's just very small, maybe one or two bedrooms, and likely rented. Eric's off-duty for a change, and is instead of his SG uniform, is wearing a casual long-sleeved white shirt, with black pants. The neighbor's laundry waves gently on the clothesline in the breeze, or at least I hope they belong to his neighbor, cause otherwise he's got some ugly flowery bedsheets! Eric walks out into the backyard, preparing a meal for two small birds inside of a beige cage that hangs out of reach of vicious felines. They chirp softly, as he approaches, slips the seed into the bottom of the cage, and says flatly, "Allllright, guys. Time for lunch. C'mon." His rugged angst image be damned, Eric puckers his lips and smooches a chirping sound of his own to encourage them to eat. A small blonde girl (wearing a pink sweater and shirt with blue je... why am I telling you this?) smiles innocently, and slips between the wide brass bars of Eric's fence. She's never named onscreen, only in the End Credits, as Alice. Alice runs across the yard, and jumps suddenly into place at Eric's side. He's busy with the birds (what kind they are is anybody's guess), and taken nearly by surprise, looking at the girl confusedly. Alice smiles warmly, and asks in a chipper mood, "Hi! Can I talk to your birds?" Eric stares at her for a moment, and soon nods affirmatively, "Sure." He secures the cage, as Alice hops onto an overturned large wooden spool. She gazes into the cage, seeing the birds flapping around their wire-barred home crazily, and bids, "Hi, little birdies!" Alice around the cage and asks Eric, "Are they best friends?" He thinks about it for a second, and figures kindly, "Yeah! I guess so." Alice enthusiastically stresses, "That's NICE! Everyone should have friends!" This strikes a deep emotionally scarred cord inside of Eric, prompting him to grin softly (and manage to restrain from snapping, "Yeah, right kid, don't make me feed you to those birds.") As Eric is enjoying his first positive moment in a while, a group of three men appear in his yard. The main one, a robust middle-aged blonde man wearing an off-white suit, slaps his hand against Eric's shoulder and chuckles slightly, "We'd like for you to come for a ride with us." Eric looks at the man, and wonders, "And who are you?" The Thug smirks and ominously promises, "Don't worry. You'll find out." Alice watches concerned as the other two men, both wearing black business suits and mirrored-sunglasses, step to various sides of her and Eric. One stands behind her, and holds up a Cyclo-Saber, aiming it towards her back. Only Eric sees this, causing him to reluctantly remain still as the other man in black grabs his arm firmly. He puts up hardly no struggle, and follows the Thug and his two assistants as they head off. Alice is left alone with the birds, and appears quite frightened by this whole experience, helplessly witnessing the nice man being kidnapped.

[commercials]

Soon, Eric has been taken, by way of an expensive black Sedan, to a secluded spot up in the mountains, on a bridge overlooking a raging river. The two men in black have pulled him out of the car, which is haphazardly parked in the middle of the road, and are holding him tightly between their grasp. The well-manicured Thug has gotten the Quantum Morpher off of Eric at some point, and now admires it in his hand. Eric struggles to no avail, and asks the Thug, "Hey, what's the DEAL, anyway?! What'd you WANT with me?" Thuggie finally turns around, and says, "It's not YOU I want!" He then does the Batusi, draping his left hand with two fingers outward over his eyes, as they glow yellow-green. The Thug laughs evilly, and morphs into Conwing in a flash of repeated light before Eric's startled eyes. The Thug's laughter fades into the mutant's, as he adds, "It's your Megazord!" The two men in black holding Eric briefly lessen their grip on him, seeing how he's stunned speechless from seeing Conwing. Both men literally explode out of their skin, revealing themselves to be Cyclobots in human disguise. Why the big charade? The mutant probably was just trying to be original in his kidnapping method. The twin Cyclos get rougher, bending Eric over so quickly that he groans aloud. Conwing steps forward, and gloats, "Hehehehe! That's RIGHT!", before holding the Morpher to Eric's face and demanding, "NOW, call the Quantasaurus!" Eric turns his head, refusing silently. Conwing allows the Cyclobots to push Eric aside, knocking him up against the metal road-shoulder railing, which halts his drop into the waters below. The Cyclobots flip his weary form over, causing him to grunt, and as he's backed against the rail, Conwing approaches. He holds out the Quantum Morpher, offering again, "DO IT!" Eric stares quietly at him. Conwing mocks, "Oooh! How BRAVE!", before remarking, "Maybe, I should go to your house, and pay your little friend... a VISIT! It's up to YOU, Eric." That's enough for him, Eric shrugs off the Cyclo-Sabers angrily, and stands up, facing the mutant. Slowly, he lifts his right hand, and prepares to press a button on the Quantum Morpher held before him, when Conwing slaps his hand away, finger-waggingly boasting, "DON'T mess with me. I KNOW it's voice-activated. SO, speak VERY clearly." He holds it outward, allowing Eric to only lean down a tad, and command weakly, "Q-Rex... Arise."

Out in the forest, the soil is overturned as the Quantasaurus Rex digs its way out of its underground cave dwelling. The savage Zord roars fiercely, while allowing for the cloud of dirt around it to settle. Momentarily, the Q-Rex begins to race towards the location of the Quantum Morpher's signal. Its second growl becomes heard by Conwing, who eagerly turns away from Eric, over to the hills nearby, commenting, "All RIGHT! Here, boy!" Eric looks upward as well, slowly stepping forward, only to have the two Cyclobots snatch his arms into a rough hold yet again. He struggles, and witnesses the Quantasaurus Rex towering over the top of mountain to the side. Conwing orders into the Quantum Morpher, "Q-Rex! Attack the city!" The mighty beast simply growls loudly, and lifts his upper head and arms into the air rebelliously. Eric smirks and snickers, "He ONLY obeys MY voice." Conwing, covering for the fact he forget the whole reason why he was chosen for this task, scoffs, "Oh... I KNEW that! Soooo...." He pulls out his orange mouthpiece, and snaps it over his jaw. Conwing now has Eric's voice, stating maliciously, "THAT'S why I brought THIS! Huhuhahaha!" Eric gasps without a sound, nearly frozen in terrified disbelief at the sight... err, sound of his own voice coming out of that monster. Conwing commands with feeling into the Quantum Morpher, "Q-Rex! Megazord Mode!" The Quantasaurus Rex's eyes flash brightly, as fires burst around him, This leads to his body shifting around into the erectly standing Quantasaurus Rex Megazord. It poses between the tall hills on the horizon, shifting its arms, anxiously awaiting combat. Conwing turns to the shocked Eric, informing him (in the mutant's own voice, despite having the mouthpiece on), "OUR technology, from the year 3000, SURE makes YOUR weapons look SILLY, doesn't it?" Eric glances down from his Megazord, towards the mutant, gasping confused, "The year 3000...?"

As he's running this revelation through his brain, the Cyclobots shove him against the railing again. He recovers from this a lot quicker, getting into a battle stance immediately to fend the two off. Conwing straps the Quantum Morpher to his fat mutated wrist (yet most adults can't even get the toy version's Velcro strap to fit on their big toe, go fig), and boasts, "Thanks for the voice lesson, loser! NOW I don't need you anymore! Heheheh." The mutant pulls out a grey & white Blaster (matching his body coloring somewhat, though if that's apart of his body, I DON'T want to know where he pulled it out from!), and aims it at Eric. The once proud and self-confident Silver Guardian trembles as Conwing takes aim with his weapon. The Cyclobots are at each side, holding their Cyclo-Sabers outward, blocking all exits, save one. Eric leans back, groaning fearfully until he notices the steep drop towards the water rapids. His expression instantly changes from desperation to determined rage. Conwing holds his Blaster steadily, and bids, "So long, sucker!" Suddenly, Wes' voice rings out, "Eric!" Conwing lowers his weapon and turns his attention to the five Time Force Rangers, racing onto the scene on foot (why do they have vehicles if they just walk everywhere?), having likely been alerted offscreen to the mutant menace. Eric sees this opportunity and seizes it, turning around and stepping onto the shoulder railing. He leaps over the side of the bridge (with an odd "whoosh" sound effect usually reserved for Morphed jumping), and several stories to watery grave... err, freedom. Conwing doesn't let him get away too easily, firing his Blaster at Eric and quipping, "Oh, NO you DON'T!" The river waters change color, as Sentai footage takes over, apparently showing Eric getting shot in the left arm by the mutant's blast. He groans in agony as he splashes into the raging river, leaving a trail of sparks and smoke behind. The Rangers grind to a stop, with Red Ranger screaming, "ER-IC, NOOO!" Pink Ranger takes charge, by jumping off the bridge and telling her team, "Don't worry! I got it!" She dives perfectly into the water, seeking out Eric, who appears to not have surfaced yet.

Conwing, having lost his prey, takes it out on the Time Force team, warning the Rangers, "You're gonna REGRET this!" The TFs get into battle-ready positions. Conwing fails to fight physical, instead reactivating the mouthpiece (which has been on his face this whole time), and calling into the Quantum Morpher in Eric's voice, "Q-Rex! Come forth!" Our heroes are confuzzled, Wes remarking, "What?! Huh?!", as they all look up towards the Quantasaurus Megazord. It remains where it is, but does lean forward a bit (notice the flock of unusually large birds passing over his head! oops!) Green Ranger realizes, "He's using some sort of voice simulator that makes him sound like Eric!" Conwing with Eric's vocal patterns demands, "Q-Rex, destroy the Rangers!" (notice he doesn't say this into his Morpher, and actually appears to be laughing instead of summoning the beast!) The Quantasaurus Rex Megazord stomps its way across the outskirts of town, heading to the bridge. The TFs stir uncomfortably at this sight. Blue Ranger quickly shouts into his Chrono-Morpher, "Circuit! We need help!" At the Clock Tower, the robotic owl sits on his perch, wings a-flapping, as he summons, "Shadow Winger, online!" (seems he now has command full access to the once mysteriously-controlled Zord) In the year 3000, the Time Gate starts up, while the standard female computer voice announces, "Launch in 3... 2... 1..." Trans-Warp Megazord bops the Shadow Winger's booty into the timestream, where it passes through its own green tunnel. It's next shown in the present, half-cloaked as it zooms through the night sky, and transforms into Time Shadow Megazord form beneath the crescent moon's light. Daylight returns, as the four Time Force Rangers track Conwing down to a spot in the mountains far away from the bridge. He's joined by several more Cyclobots, which allows him to chuckle freely. Our heroes pose. Yellow Ranger points out, "You're gonna lose, so why don't you JUST surrender NOW!?" Conwing scoffs, "Yeah, right. ATTACK!" The Cyclobots march forth. Red Ranger grips his two Chrono-Sabers, and leaps into action, the scene trailing before he lands with a couple of double slashing blows to the bots. Green Ranger blocks a Cyclo-Saber swipe, and returns it with a punch, which is repeated in a different angle. Yellow Ranger lifts a Cyclobot over her shoulders, and tosses his sorry behind into a large mud-puddle! Above them, the Time Shadow faces the Quantasaurus Rex Megazord. TS locks its bladed-arms against Q-Rex's shoulders for a second, until he's able to swat them off and return the gesture with a sparking punch to the chest. Time Shadow stumbles backwards, its body smoking but remaining undaunted in its preprogrammed task. Conwing presses one of the far-right buttons on the Quantum Morpher, and shouts into the speaker in Eric's voice, "Fire missiles!" The Q-Rex does just that, unleashing each of the several red rockets from its right fist. The Time Shadow is bombarded by the blasts, and engulfed in black-smoke and scorching flames.

Somewhere down the river, Eric lies on his back in the dirt, having been drug onshore between scenes. Jen approaches his unconscious body, having demorphed for whatever reason, and tends to his wounds. His clothes also seem quite dry in most scenes, leaving me to believe that the Chrono-Blaster has a "blow-dry" mode. Jen crouches down beside Eric, and dabs his forehead with a rag (where'd she get THAT?!). He seems to be smiling in his sleep, which inspires her to smile herself. When her rag-dabbing reaches a gash on his right cheek, the searing pain awakens him sharply. He does a slight double-take, and when he notices Jen is nursing him as best she can, he brushes her arm aside rudely, before sitting up and barking, "I DON'T need your help!" Eric immediately grunts deeply, and uses his right hand to inspect the blast-wound on his left arm, which now has a partially bloody bandage wrapped around it. Jen argues with better judgment, "Obviously, you DO! You would've DROWNED in the river if I hadn't pulled you out." Eric gets back on his feet, and bitterly replies, "Well if you think i'm gonna thank you, you're WRONG." Jen also rises, wondering with frustration, "WHAT'S your problem!? We're NOT your enemies." Eric stops, his hair drips and a scrap near his lip becomes pronounced, as he turns and states with bruised honesty, "You're not my friends, either." Jen shakes the rag in her hand, and notes, "That's YOUR choice, NOT ours." Eric resumes walking, with Jen following and telling him truthfully, "Maybe if you'd lose THAT attitude you'd get to know us a little better!" He ignores her, and rests against a rock. She gives up, saying defeatedly, "But I DOUBT that'll happen," before throwing the rag at him and storming off. Eric sighs, rubs his bandaged arm, and admits aloud, "I know MORE about you than you think!" Her boots may be made for walking, but that's just what they stop doing when he starts opening up to her. Eric continues, "I know that... you and your friends aren't even FROM here." Jen nervously turns to him, and asks cautiously, "W... What're you talking about?" Eric slowly looks back at her, and with an enlightened tone, he says, "So, it's TRUE. You ARE from the future." Jen stares at him, swallowing hard as she's faced with admitting to the unwilling ally the Time Force team's fragile, and yet plainly obvious, secret.

[commercials]

And a river... runs through it. "It" being the transition between acts. Jen spills the beans completely, confirming apologetically, "I'm SORRY. Maybe, we SHOULD have told you we were from the year 3000." She approaches him, bending down and exclaiming, "If you only KNEW what's at stake... The WHOLE world, everything that we..." Eric silences her sharply, "Save it. I don't wanna know about your problems. I got my own. Like gettin' my Morpher back." He stands up and heads off, pulling down his shirtsleeve as he staggers away. Jen follows right along, nagging into his ear, "You only care about YOURSELF, don't you?!" He pauses, and turns around, facing her as she lifts her eyebrows as if vindicated. Eric tells her directly, "YOU don't know anything about me." Jen angrily breathes deeply, and walks around him, only to stop suddenly (how many times can two people do this?! Is it a game? Walk away and then stop, turn around, and let the other person walk away, stop, and turn around!?). She pleads, "Do me ONE favor," and walks closer to him, asking, "DON'T tell anyone that we're from the future. ESPECIALLY Mister Collins." Eric looks up into her eyes, as she stresses, "It could ruin EVERYthing that we're working for." Eric replies as honestly as he can, saying, "I'm not making any promises." She seems upset by this, viewing this indifference in a negative light. She runs off down the shore to rejoin her teammates elsewhere, leaving Eric brooding alone by a tall old tree. At the battlefield, Conwing holds his Blaster against his head and commands into the Quantum Morpher with Eric's voice, "Q-Rex, DESTROY the Time Shadow!" The Quantasaurus Rex Megazord does as ordered, bashing its gatling fist harshly into the Time Shadow's chest, causing an explosive burst. This repeats from several angles, the final one showing the Time Shadow toppling over onto its side. Conwing uses his normal voice to gloat, "Excellent!" The four Time Force Rangers stand behind him, surrounded by smoke (yet not a single Cyclobot anymore). Katie darts towards the mutant, yelling, "That's ENOUGH!" Conwing snickers, and fires his weapon at the four Rangers, taking them down sparking with a blue laserbeam. They writhe on the ground in pain. He then points to his Quantum Morphered wrist, and boasts, "NO one can defeat me with THIS! Hehehe!"

Instantly, a pink bolt of energy hits Conwing, causing a short explosion around him. The smoke clears, as he sees the Pink TF Ranger in the distance, clutching her V-5 weapon and asking matter-of-factly, "Oh, YEAH?!" Conwing confirms, "Yeah!", and fires his Blaster at her. She's struck, and V-5 is tossed into the air, far out of her grasp. He stands there chuckling victoriously, until Eric shouts from afar, "Conwing!" (how'd he know the mutant's name?!) All eyes turn to Eric, who races across the field as fast as he can, heading towards the discarded V-5. Conwing is surprised to see him, remarking, "YOU again? You must like to learn things the HARD way!" He proclaims into the Quantum Morpher in Eric's own voice, "Q-Rex, DESTROY him!" The Quantasaurus Megazord turns about face amid the smoke coming from the heavily damaged Time Shadow offscreen. He slowly stomps towards the intended target, as the TF Rangers all regroup, and Wes notes, "He's going after Eric!" We see Eric running from the giant Q-Rex, marching along just behind him. Eric is barely as big as one of the Megazord's toes, and despite his furious rushing, Q-Rex's large steps cover more ground. Katie screams, "Eric, RUN!" That's just what he does, managing somehow to keep far enough ahead of the huge beast, until the final step, when he leaps into the air, narrowly avoiding getting squished. Conwing feels uneasy, commenting, "Huh?! He's getting away!" Eric dives across the grass, scoops V-5 up in his arms, rolls along the ground, and gets into a firing position. Eric takes aim, Conwing grunts worriedly, and the Rangers watch from the side of the line of fire. V-5 shoots off a pink charge of power, striking the mutant in the chest with pink smoke, causing him to cry out. Not only that, but the Quantum Morpher is flung from his wrist, into the air. Eric casually holds his right hand out, and catches it perfectly in his palm. He drops V-5, and then places the Morpher against his left wrist. It gleams intensely with a golden light, and rematerializes the black strap around his wrist. Reinvigorated, Eric looks up just as the Quantasaurus lowers its gatling-fist for the kill. He quickly shouts into the Morpher, "Q-REX! STOP!" The Megazord shuts down almost on a dime, with its fist less than a few feet above Eric's proudly-standing head. Red Ranger speaks for the team when he exclaims, "Alright!" Eric vengefully looks over at Conwing, and announces with a vigilant tone, "It's PAYBACK time." He motions his arms into an attack stance, with a look on his face that reflects the pure fury of his battered body. Conwing doesn't fret, simply rebutting, "And YOU'RE the one who's going to pay! Hehe!" The mutant rips the gold & black patch off of its arm, exposing its purple & blue molecular structure beneath. No chain reaction footage follows, just Conwing instantly growing to a size much larger than the toy tree at his feet.

The Time Force Rangers, and Eric, stir at the sight of the giant mutant. He chuckles deeply, and stomps his foot down between the Rangers & Eric. They shield their eyes from the dust kicked up, or the stench of his feet. Eric lunges out of the way as Conwing attempts to kick him. He falls onto the ground safely, quickly looking back up to keep an eye on the huge mutant. Conwing gets a laugh from this, eventually firing his Blaster at the Quantasaurus Rex Megazord, which is frozen in its crouching position that Eric shut it down in. The blast hits Q-Rex in the chest, causing an intense flash! The Megazord arises as a reflex, only to topple backwards from both the lack of commands, and from the intensity of the blast. It falls onto its back in a heap, smoking filling the air. You can see the Time Shadow Megazord in the distance on that last shot, seemingly unable to get itself up, though still moving (I should note this episode marks the first American Footage appearances of both Megazords)! Eric watches this in horror. Conwing aims his Blaster at the five TF Rangers, causing an explosion both behind them, and a second blast for another explosion in front of them. They're tossed around in flames like Cajun salad. Conwing snickers, chuckles, and/or just plain laughs. Our heroes groan, moan, and/or grunt, failing to recover well. Eric, clutching his left arm, is the only one of them standing firmly on his feet. Conwing walks away, causing the ground to quake, while remarking, "Heh! And NOW for the city!" Pink Ranger calls out, urging, "Eric! We've GOT to work together!" Eric looks at her, and screams defiantly, "I WORK ALONE!" He commands into his Morpher, "Quantum Power!" His Morphing sequence plays out fully, and once completed, the Quantum Ranger races towards the city, stating confidently, "I'll handle this MYSELF." The Rangers, still surrounded by a few small fires, stagger to their knees in pain. Jen protests, "Eric, no!", but is unable to stop him.

The Quantum Ranger runs all the way from the outskirts of town, into the middle of the city. He rushes past large pieces of burning debris in the middle of the street, and once he's within range of the giant mutant, he cries out, "CONWING!" The mutant marches around town, telling him, "You're TOO late!" This doesn't stop Eric, who dashes down the center line, determined to take on Conwing as personally as possible. Before he can get all too far, a pile of golden nuts & bolts is tossed onto the cement by persons unknown. They spring forth in a golden light, transforming into a large army of Cyclobots! Conwing chuckles, and turns his attention to trashing some buildings on the horizon. The robodrones march around, and surround Quantum Ranger completely. Once he's boxed in, the Cyclobots begin to strike. Eric blocks all of their Cyclo-Saber slashing, kicks, and punches, but as more and more Cyclobots begin to get in on the action, he finds solo work to be quite grueling. While one Cyclobot keeps his arms busy blocking something, another will kick him in the chest. This happens twice, and it spells the end for Quantum Ranger's current-ep bot-kicking streak. Meanwhile, concurrently in the year 3000, a very hazy reception of this battle plays out on a Holoscreen, inside the darkened control room of the Mystery Man. The dark haired man with sunglasses watches Quantum Ranger getting gang attacked by the Cyclobots, their Sabers striking sparkily against his body now. His computer's female voice (which is oddly not the same one as previous eps, but the Trans-Warp launching voice) informs him of the Quantum Powers' status, "Energy loss: critical." Mystery Man types at the control panel keyboard with his black-gloved fingers, punching in a series of keystrokes.

In the present, Quantum Ranger takes a serious blow to the chest, causing him to clutch it once it stops bursting with sparks. He groans, and slowly crawls back onto his feet, wearily trying to fend off the swarming Cyclobots by holding his arm out. Suddenly, Eric becomes aware of something going on inside of his helmet. He wonders, "What's this?! I'm receiving some sort of transmission!" Eric runs his fingers across the brow of his visor, causing a stream of green digital data to zip across the glass, exposing Eric's eyes to us. Words suddenly flash across the crimson-tinted visor, saying in green font, "MEGA BATTLE," with yellow digital gobbledygook below it. The same female computer voice informs Eric, "Energy loss: critical." He says puzzled, "Mega Battle?", but follows the apparent instructions. Quantum Ranger stands up, presses a button on his Quantum Morpher twice, and proclaims into it, "Mega Battle, Activate!" Off in the mountains, the Quantasaurus Rex Megazord is woken up out of its defeated nap. It sits up upon cue, and the golden tri-arrowed symbol on its chest, you know, which matching the one on Quantum Ranger's belt buckle? Well, the blue gem in the center of it begins to shine, and without warning, fires off a ball of fire! This condensed orb of flame streaks into the city, and drops down exactly upon the Quantum Ranger, who aims his right arm into the air, and accepts the power. The fire engulfs his body, causing a blinding explosion to tear through the Cyclobots in a circle around him. When the smoke clears, the Cyclos shake off the blast, and watch confused as a series of sparkling lights die out. This leads to Quantum Ranger's new Mega Battle Armor shimmering, from the jagged crimson arrow pointed down the golden chest-plate, to the twin gold & black gauntlets, to the clear-domed helmet attachment, to the large twin black & red rollerbladed boots on his feet! The shimmering of power continues, as a 360 shot shows his clear-purple bladed-wings strapped to the back of his golden chest-plate. This is followed by one last bright gleam of energy, this time a deep violet hue, signifying the Mega Battle Armor's completion. The Cyclobots express no emotion, since they're robots, and all. Eric presses a button on his Quantum Morpher, and proclaims, "Battle Ready!" He pulls his arms back, causing the bladed-wings to glow purple, and appear in his hands (now in solid-colors Blade mode). The clear-domed helmet attachment retracts in a loud whir of light, as do his massive boots, turning into much smaller, easier to maneuver rollerblades.

Quantum Ranger whips his wing-blades around in his arms, and prepares to see just what the Mega Battle will allow him to do. He skates across the cement, luckily finding no debris in his way. The first Cyclobot to cross his path gets slashed in the chest. Several more Cyclos try and fail to Saber-swipe him, as he rolls along, and maneuvers around, slicing at any robodrone that gets in his way. He concludes his blade-running with a block of a Cyclo-Saber and a cutting down of another as he skids to a stop. No more skating, Quantum Ranger walks around, chop chop, spark spark! When he encounters resistance, causing him to use both blades at once to hold a Cyclo-Saber down, he counteracts by spinning on his side and slicing into every Cyclobot around him like an out of control propeller. Eric takes his Mega Battle Armor into skating mode again, and charges towards an oncoming vehicle! Talk about a roll model! Seems three Cyclobots have carjacked an abandoned compact vehicle, and are barreling his way. Quantum Ranger glides at them, launches into the air, and rips through the two Cyclobots hanging outside of the windows, knocking them off. Eric lands perfectly, on the other side, continuing to skate. He makes a sharp turn, and holds his blades as Blaster weapons, aiming them at the Cyclobots in the distance. Quantum Ranger unleashes two massive bursts of pure purple energy at the robodrones, knocking them off their feet when faced with the explosions. Speaking of explosions, Conwing claws into the side of a building, sending a rain of smoke and debris below. Speaking of below, Eric's house has magically been superimposed uncomfortably close to said buildings. So much for the suburbs! Alice hurries across his yard, and gets into sight of the maniacally cackling creature, causing him to remark, "Ahh, what have we here?!" Burning boards spill all over Eric's backyard, nearly setting the sheets on the clothesline on fire. Alice shields her face and presses onward from her own home, reaching Eric's birdcage as fast she can. The little girl vows, "I'LL save you!", as she swipes the cage without permission, but with just cause. Conwing gets a little payback of his own, by firing his giant Blaster at the tiny kid. Alice holds the birdcage in hand, and flinches while looking up at the mutant. The blast barely misses her, causing an explosion to shatter across the yard. Alice ducks down, crying out in fear. Conwing boasts, "Hehehah! Why save the birds when you can't even save yourself?!" She recovers from the blast, and looks up again to see Conwing's huge hand slowly lowering down to scoop her up. Alice screams, and Conwing wiggles his fingers, laughing as he milks her fear for all its worth by just holding the pose for a moment.

The Quantum Ranger spots the mutant's current doings (though can't see Alice over the buildings), and stresses, "I don't THINK so!" He yells into his Quantum Morpher, "Mega Battle, Aerial Mode!" Eric skates swiftly down the cement street, crouching down before launching his entire body into the air. In midair, his rollerblades boots morph back to their original, extra-big & long mode. His clear glass-domed helmet add-on also returns in a flash, restoring the Mega Battle to its near-original state. Quantum Ranger soars through the air with his purple-blades held outward to each side. He's propelled by the boots, I guess, though there's no rocket exhaust or anything. Conwing is taken aware by the Quantum Ranger, who swoops underneath his left arm, and cuts into him on the way by. The mutant bursts painfully, turning away from Alice completely, and also failing to put much attention to the normal sized Ranger flying past him. Alice looks up and views her savior thankfully (though not privy to his identity), gasping, "QUANTUM Ranger!" Eric returns to the same spot he took off from (the whole battle has been taking place on a road next to a large parking garage, btw), and gently hovers high above the ground, thanks to his Mega Battle Armor. He shifts his blades around, and proclaims, "You haven't seen ANYTHING, Conwing. Hyah!" The giant mutant stands at the far end of the road, with Quantum Ranger zipping through the air towards him. Conwing unloads his Blaster with full force, shooting blue laserbeam after blue laserbeam Eric's way. The Mega Battle Aerial Mode allows for him to glide smoothly beneath all of the humongoid blasts, causing them to explode harmlessly against the buildings in the background. Quantum Ranger stares unwavering through the trial by firepower, and once he comes up close enough to the mutant, he summons, "Mega Battle Sword!" Eric holds both of the purple blades in his arms together, creating a beam of crimson light emitting from the blaster-ends of each one. They merge into a solid structure of energy, which grows until it's twice Quantum Ranger's height! Conwing never ceases blasting, despite never hitting Eric. Quantum Ranger, now surrounded by a multilayered red digital data tunnel, with the standard green glowing energy clockface directly behind him, cuts the Mega Battle Sword through the air and denotes, "Time's UP, Conwing!" The pulsing scarlet sword is sliced horizontally through the air a couple of times from different sides. Conwing's Blaster is chopped through like a hot knife through butter, the top chopped off and leaving a blazing trail in its wake. Quantum Ranger flies over the huge mutant's shoulder, just as a burst occurs way down in Conwing's stomach. This leads to his entire body being engulfed in a huge wall of flames, which explode in front of him, while a puff of smoke and sparkles spews at his back. Quantum Ranger deactivates his Mega Battle Sword, and as he soars offscreen, Conwing is shown shrinking, leaving the sky filled with flames (in other words, no implosion)!

Conwing's tiny Chrono-Frozen body falls onto the debris-covered cement, breaking off part of one of his tentacles as it slams down. The five Time Force Power Rangers finally show up, searching for the shrunk mutant. Jen spots it, "Over there!", and leads them to the defeated action figure-sized creature. She tells him (IF he can hear her), "You're under arrest, Conwing." The sound of Quantum Ranger lowering down from the sky gets the Rangers' attention, as it sounds like a jet engine somewhat. Eric hovers slowly to the ground in front of them, with his blades reattached to his back as wings. Once back on solid footing, he crosses his arms, presses his Morpher, and calls, "Power Down!" His body is enveloped in the white-blue digital data walls from his morphing sequence, as well as the golden rings of power, which flood over him, causing the Mega Battle Armor to warp away. Quantum Ranger simply stands facing the team silently. Pink Ranger steps forward, and tells him gratefully, "THANKS, Eric." She holds a TF Badge over Conwing's Chrono-Frozen form, and materializes a capsule around his little body. As Jen picks up the recaptured mutant, Red Ranger states urgently to his estranged ally, "Eric! We REALLY need to start working TOGETHER." Quantum Ranger stands silently still. Wes asks, "Well... would you at LEAST think about it?" Eric breathes in, and turns, slowly walking in the opposite direction of the Time Force Rangers, as smoke from the aftermath of the fight pours past him. Green Ranger somehow overheard the name of the new weapon, and notes, "The Mega Battle gives Eric more power than EVER!" Blue Ranger agrees, "Yeah. He's GOTTA start working WITH us!" Pink Ranger holds the capsule, and continues watching Quantum depart, before shaking her head and claiming negatively, "I wouldn't count on it."

[commercials]

Once again at the Bio-Lab building, this time inside of Mister Collins' office! The main cheese gets up from his desk, and graciously walks over to Doctor Zaskin, proudly shaking his hand and commending, "Nice work, Dr. Zaskin. The Mega Battle Mode's tremendous!" Zaskin admits, "Uhh. Don't thank me. I had NOTHING to do with it!" Collins' greedy smile instantly fades, as he asks, "What, you... You didn't activate the Mega Battle?" Dr. Zaskin confirms, "And I DON'T know WHO did it." Mr. Collins looks over at the Commander of the Silver Guardians, asking, "Eric, do you have any new information?" Eric, back in his red-bereted uniform, still has the bloody wounds on his face from his fall into the river. He visibly swallows his pride, and lies through his teeth, protecting the Time Force Team's ultimate secret by telling his boss, "No, SIR! Nothing!" Collins appears disappointed, looking at Eric intrigued as the young man glances down at the floor uneasily. The boss seems to fall for it, simply shrugging, "Hmm," and turning back to Dr. Zaskin. Eric lifts his left arm, and stares at the Quantum Morpher on his wrist, admiring it in the low-lighting of the dark office. His eyes seem to twinkle when he lifts his head up, as he probably realizes that keeping his mouth shut about what he knows concerning the Quantum Powers will provide him yet more of an advantage for power in the future. Or because he figures keeping the TFs' secret safe lets him belong among them in some way. Whichever the case, he doesn't elaborate. Later that day, Eric combs through the debris littering his yard, seeking signs of his birdcage. He frustratedly searches, and sighs defeatedly as he fails to find his birds. Eric's wearing a black short-sleeved shirt, which shows off the bandage on his right bicep quite well, and jeans. He sits down on the wooden spool, and stares off into space, until Alice reappears and cheerfully says, "HERE they are!" She's holding the cage, with both birds chirping safely intact. Eric bucks up, walking over to Alice and taking the cage, remarking in a child-friendly voice, "Oooh! I was WONDERING where they went!" He crouches down beside her, prompting Alice to fold her arms, hold her head up high and prissily state, "I SAVED them!" Eric gratefully replies with a smile, "Well, you're very brave! Thank you." Alice returns the smile, "You're welcome!" He places the birdcage back upon the black wire stand, and seeing how happy the birds make the strange, unnamed-on-screen girl, he forces himself to offer, "You know... You can come visit them whenever you like." Alice jumps up and exclaims, "COOL!" She then starts scraping her fingers against the cage, inspiring one of the birds to bite her fingers, which leads to a lawsuit from her family, and Eric loses his Morpher in the legal proceedings... Uhh, ignore all of the stuff past the word "cage." Anyway, Eric bends down and says (you can see he says it, it's Closed Captioned, but it's not heard), "Here, let me help you up." He puts his hands around her waist and lifts her onto the wooden spool. Eric notes to his apparent new friend, "They're pretty cute, huh?" Alice proclaims, "They're ADORable! How long have they lived with you?" Eric says, "Not very long." Alice giggles, and tells him, "I'd like a pet." While all of this is being said, they're being spied on from just past the front gate. Wes, wearing his good old leather jacket, sits on his good old blue & white motorcycle (not seen since he left home, IIRC) and watches them. He smiles at the sight of Eric gaining an underaged pal, and reassured that his former acquaintance is doing well, Wes puts on his helmet, revs up his cycle, and rides off. Alice continues tapping the birdcage, as Eric stares at her & the birds, smiling happily, and not just because his facial wounds are healing nicely! If I were Nora Melancon, i'd probably call Eric a "hunka-hunka-burning-love-cute-slab-of-meat-man" right now, but i'm not, so i'll just leave it at that...

[In Memory of Minoru Uchiyama; Scenes from "The Last Race"; End Credits]