Power Rangers Zeo
"Instrument Of Destruction"
Original Air Date:5/7/96		Featuring Footage From: Ohranger #16- - Wanpaku!! Miraikko (Mischievous!! The Future Child)
*Regular Season 3 Continues (4th Season By Series) *Official Network Show Number PR-355 *12th episode of PRZ *167th total Power Rangers episode
Writer: Buzz Alden & charlotte		Director: Vickie Bronaugh
Starring Cast: Catherine Sutherland _AS_ Kat (Zeo Ranger 1, Pink) Nakia Burrise _AS_ Tanya (Zeo Ranger 2, Yellow) Steve Cardenas _AS_ Rocky (Zeo Ranger 3, Blue) Johnny Yong Bosch _AS_ Adam (Zeo Ranger 4, Green) Jason David Frank _AS_ Tommy (Zeo Ranger 5, Red) Paul Schrier _AS_ Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier Jason Narvy _AS_ Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch Richard Genelle _AS_ Ernie		Additional Cast: Bob Manahan _AS_ Zordon (voice) Donene Kistler _AS_ Alpha 5 Richard Wood _AS_ Alpha 5 (voice) David Stenstrom _AS_ King Mondo (voice) Alex Borstein _AS_ Queen Machina (voice) Barbara Goodson _AS_ Prince Sprocket (voice) Oliver Page _AS_ Klank (voice) Barbara Goodson _AS_ Orbus (voice) ? _AS_ Fortissimodo (voice)

CAPSULE SUMMARY:

A rather quiet afternoon in Angel Grove High is interrupted by the sound of a piano being played rather well. Adam is alone in a classroom, when he hears the sound of three Cogs prancing through the courtyard outside. He darts down the empty hallway and follows the their path, discovering they're heading to the Music Room. Up on the Machine Skybase, Prince Sprocket mentions that the birthday of his mother, Queen Machina, is today (even though as we see in this episode, at least 2 days pass before we see her!). King Mondo has not forgotten, and since Machina loves classical musical so much, he plans to capture that grand piano player to be her own personal musician. Seems Sprocket has already sent the Cogs to do this job. Back on Earth, Adam makes it to the Music Room just in time for the piano solo to end. The Phantom Pianist, dressed in a long black cloak concealing his identity, exits the room through the opposite side. The Cogs are too late to capture him, and faced with the presence of a Power Ranger, they teleport back home, leaving Adam at a loss for words.

The next day, Adam tells of this strange phenomenon to Tommy & Kat. They have no clue on why the Cogs are so suddenly interested in music. Ms. Rodriguez, a female teacher (whom later takes over for Mr. Kaplan as Principal for a time), approaches Adam and brings up his class schedule, noting the fact he's taken Creative Writing twice already. She thinks he needs more of a challenge and should strive to be a more well-rounded student. He's given the replacement class of Classical Music, to which Bulk & Skull (neither wearing their Police Patrol uniforms, an odd rarity) make light off. Bulk comments "You and a bunch of losers playing boring old music together. Sounds like loads of fun, eh, Skull?". Skull seems a bit elsewhere, taking a moment to react to Bulk's remark before scoffing "Yeah, what a bunch of dweebs! Classical music? Ha! I say, double I say it again, Haha!". As per expected, Ms. Rodriguez pops up and has made similar alterations to Skull's class schedule. Soon in the Music Room, Skull enters and takes over the drum set from another student. Adam sits at the piano bench. The teacher, Mr. Hamm, keeps mixing up his sentence structure comedically. He also announces there'll be a music recital tonight at the Youth Center for the advanced students, extra credit will be given for attendance. Skull scoffs at this. Adam plays chopsticks on the piano, and Skull is actually impressed.

On the Skybase, Mondo is disappointed with the Cog's failure. He sends the three back to Earth, and they lurk outside the Music Room once more. Adam has piano practice and can't go to Ernie's with Kat & Tommy. They wander the halls for a moment, when the sound of a piano being played perfectly echoes through the school. It's coming from the Music Room, though before the three Ranger Teens can enter to find out who's playing, the trio of Cogs pop up. Our heroes quickly Morph into Zeo and race after the Cogs, ending up on the old AGH set (the main stairwell, of course). A lengthy battle ensues, and most notably, Green Ranger dances rather close with a Cog to the music. The mysterious piano player escapes from the scene yet again, and even Adam surfing atop a downed Cog across a water-slicked floor can't catch him on time. The Cogs beaten severely, our three heroes split up, with Adam heading to practice as scheduled. Once there, his self-taught lesson begins, and ends rather suddenly, as the piano seems off-key. Checking inside it, Adam discovers a slip of paper reading "Piano Lessons, 4:30 Thursday, Symphony Hall". That's today, so Adam grabs his backpack and rushes off to investigate.

Up in space, King Mondo laments about sending the worthless Cogs, and decides to turn the school's piano into the Fortissimodo monster! The brown wooden piano becomes a large black & silver robotic piano monster. Minutes later, the Phantom Pianist, still garbed in a long black cloak & hood, heads to the Symphony Hall. He's grabbed by a gang of Cogs, and faced by Fortissimodo, who explains the piano player's fate of becoming musician to the Royal Court. Adam races onto the scene, shouting "Green Zeo Ranger 3!" loudly, and despite there not being anyone around, Adam's sudden Morph within possible view of the Phantom Pianist leads many fans to believe that Adam's identity is now known to the person. It's never picked up on in the show, so it appears the cloak blocked the Pianist's vision. Green Ranger fights the Cogs and frees the Piano Player, but is left with fighting Fortissimodo alone. In the Power Chamber, his four teammates are called in, quickly briefed on the situation by Zordon & Alpha and together they Morph Into Zeo. The ever-useless Zeo Jet Cycles are called in to use for some odd (footage related) reason, and are discarded as fast as they appeared. The Zeo Rangers regroup, and join in on the battle against the Cogs & Fortissimodo.

Klank & Orbus are hiding around the corner, waiting for the signal to give Fortissimodo some assistance. On the Skybase, King Mondo & Prince Sprocket, still empty-handed when it comes to a gift for Queen Machina, hastily give Klank the order to make the monster grow upon hearing of the Queen's return. Orbus is hurled at Fortissimodo (who seems to have been defeated offscreen) and gives the instrument of destruction an added boost. The giant Fortissimodo tries to capture the Phantom Pianist again, but Green Ranger gets in the way. The monster spews fire breath at Adam, which he dodges, but ends up facing some more Cogs. The Rangers spar with the Cogs for a bit, and Adam gives the word for the Zeozords to get on the scene. Red Ranger hops in his Zord, and when Adam gets caught in the grip of Fortissimodo, Tommy launches the Defender Wheel. It unloads from the Phoenix with Red Ranger inside it, and locking on target, the wheel charges up into a ball of red energy, smashing into Fortissimodo and freeing Adam. Green Ranger lands on the ground, only to have more Cogs attack him. Tommy helps kick them off, and keeps them busy while his teammates take care of Fortissimodo in their Zeozords. We get to see Adam, Kat, and Tanya get good use out of their individual Zords for a change, blasting and attacking the monster (though Rocky remains strangely quiet). Red Ranger boards his and all five blast at the monster at once, before forming the Zeo Megazord. It does rather well against the creature for a moment, but Fortissimodo's monstrous melody (an energy wave attack created by playing his piano keys) wreaks havoc on our heroes. They soon work past it and slash at him with the Zeo Megazord Saber. Fortissimodo hits one last bad note, and explodes (his large metal top-hat flies off and lands atop a nearby building).

On the Skybase, King Mondo is upset by another loss. Prince Sprocket asks what he's going to do to get back at the Rangers, and he claims he still has a few surprises up his sleeves. Queen Machina hears the word "surprise" and mentions loving surprises, but since he has no piano playing human as a gift (why didn't he just give her Fortissimodo, anyway?), he writes off it as "Who said anything about 'surprise'? I said 'supplies', yes, that's exactly what I said!".

Back at the Music Room, the Phantom Pianist is back at it again, churning out a wonderfully powerful tune at the whim of his fingertips (hey, the school Piano is back! Ironic, isn't it? The Pianist is getting the upperhand on what was once Fortissimodo!). Adam sneaks in and the moment the pianist's solo ends, he yanks off the black hood! The Phantom Pianist is revealed to be none other than Eugene Skullovitch, the least likely of all people. He first denies being the piano playing wonder, but eventually groans "yeah, I guess so". Adam wonders how the longtime bully & punk managed to get so good at piano playing. Skull tells him that his mom started him on lessons when he was 3 and he's been taking them at the Symphony Hall ever since. He's kept it a secret from everyone, Bulk included, for fear of people making fun of him for liking classical music. Adam tells him he should be proud of his talent, but Skull doesn't want people to laugh at him. Adam assures him no one will laugh, but instead they'll respect him. He also tells Skull that if Bulk is really his friend, he'll be proud of what he can do, no matter what it is.

Later that day, at the Youth Center, the music recital is in full attendance. A violinist finishes up her turn on stage, and meets the applause of many. Mr. Hamm is proud to introduce a last minute addition to the program of classical music. He's as shocked as everyone in the audience when he reveals the next person up is Skull. Adam starts up the clapping to encourage Skull, but most are eager to see what trouble he's going to cause on stage. People snicker as Skull walks over to the grand piano, dressed like Mozart and carrying a candle. But once he sits down and gets to playing, all in the room are agape at Skull's intensely impressive musical skills. Kat thinks its amazing, Rocky didn't know Skull could play like that, and Tommy notes Skull is the best one at the recital, and all the people in the audience love it. Bulk soon walks in with popcorn, mentioning aloud to Adam, "classical music? P.U.! Who's the dork playing anyway?", before being shushed. Bulk sits and after spilling his popcorn all over Adam, his eyes bulge out upon seeing the person creating such a magnificent sound. Bulk begins to eat his words, and the popcorn, as he watches his best friend enthrall the audience with his well-crafted gift. The song comes to a close, and Skull belts out a Mozart-like laugh from 'Amadeus', mixed with his usual trademark one. He gets a standing ovation from everyone in the room, prompting him to take a bow. Skull gives an Elvisy "Thank ya very much", before Bulk starts to walk his way. He tries to calm his pal down by telling him he can explain everything, but Bulk simply tells him "That was the most beautiful thing i've ever heard!" Skull is surprised, as Bulk once said only dweebs play music. Bulk takes back what he said and apologizes, since he's the best he's ever heard. The applauding continues, Adam smiles, and Bulk & Skull give a thumbs up to the audience. Skull's piano skills are never mentioned again, except briefly in "Game Of Honor".