The team takes on Rito, and teams up with Ninjor to take out the Vampirus monster.
Last time on Power Rangers: The team got a new source of power and Zords.
Overcoming Obstacles
As Rito is attacking, the Rangers call for the Ninjazords. It’s a nice change of pace to not see the Zord transformation sequence. The call for the new Zords goes “[Color Animal] Ninjazord, Power Up!”
“Ah, they’re back!” goes Rito. “New Zords, eh? Still won’t stop me.”
Alpha is thrilled back in the Command Center, while Zordon emphasizes the importance of teamwork over shiny new Zords in achieving victories.
The Wolf Ninjazord does what is basically a proto Spin Fury. I’m starting to suspect that Billy will help RJ realize his animal spirit in a handful of years. That’d be an interesting combination.
When he gets knocked down, Rito grumbles, “This is tougher than I thought.”
The Red Ape Ninjazord has a warrior mode and fights Rito.
Glowing red intermittently, Lord Zedd is highly upset. Goldar is bitter. Rita has faith in her brother and also reminds her husband about the Vampirus egg. She watches via telescope as the monster starts to hatch- ooze is seen and cackling is heard.
Stone gives a speech about “the hangman’s obstacle course” before the cadets. Bulk and Skull grow uneasy, leading the lieutenant to chuckle evilly. This causes Bulk to cling fearfully to a startled Skull.
Rito gets out his flamethrower to use on the Zords. A rock song plays as five of the Zords combine. This causes the villain to snark, “One target instead of five? I can deal with that.”
However, it turns out that the Rangers are more powerful in this mode. Once the Falcon is added, it’s officially the Ninja Mega Falconzord. Rito leaps into the air to try attacking, but there’s a double punch. Rito nearly explodes before retreating.
Zedd rants at the others, particularly the returned Rito. Goldar is upset at Rito as well.
The police cadets are doing the tire part of the course. A song about police standards and the duo plays over the ensuing montage. It almost feels like a proto Phineas and Ferb song, as it’s clearly tailored to this montage unlike the other songs, which tend to be about the Rangers’ general awesomeness. Stone gets rather aggravated with the duo’s ineptness. More footage of the wall bit (well, some from the actual episode) is used to play alongside the credits.
Rita is pleased to see that the Vampirus is grown, although she finds it ugly. The villains plan to destroy the Rangers’ powers by destroying their source. Zedd shouts orders to the Vampirus, who somehow hears him despite Zedd being in the moon fortress and the monster at the temple’s entrance.
Back in civilian garb, the Rangers are helping Alpha tidy up the Command Center. The alarm suddenly blares and so they use the viewing globe to check the usual attack points but apparently the trouble isn’t on Earth.
The song starts up again as the training montage for Bulk and Skull resumes. They try to hide in a tunnel as it ends. When he finds them, Stone warns them that he can be their “best friend” or “worst nightmare” and the decision is up to them.
Teamwork Saves the Day
Vampirus calls out for Ninjor, who shows up to attack. Lord Zedd and Rita cross staffs to make the monster supersize, but Ninjor does the same.
The Command Center’s exterior is seen as within, Billy is fiddling with controls as the others watch on worriedly. Kim’s pleased that he’s fixed things. Zordon has figured out that Zedd is attacking the temple, the viewing globe showing the Vampirus. Alpha recognizes the monster while Zordon stresses the danger to the Rangers.
“It’s Morphing Time!” goes Tommy and they each call out the new catchphrase of “[Color] Ranger Power!”
When Vampirus scoffs at them upon their arrival, they call for the Ninjazords. This means seeing the Rangers call out the phrase and then seeing their individual Zord. It’s clearly filler. Ninjor is having an easy time of it against the monster. I think they get teleported elsewhere.
Ninjor briefly ends up on the ground, but ‘upgrades’ upon getting back up as he’s now angry. The six Zords merge together to join the fray, the battle not lasting long after that. Going back to normal, Ninjor states his certainty that good will always win.
Rito tries to reassure “Eddie”, frustrating Zedd. Yeah, I’ve forgotten to mention before that Rito has a habit of misspeaking Zedd’s name as ‘Ed’. It looks be a budding running gag for this season.
Alpha and the teens are pleased back at the Command Center. The viewing globe is used to contact Ninjor; Kim and Tommy call for him so he’ll turn around to ‘face’ them. I wonder if Ninjor can see them as well as hear them. In any case, Ninjor wants to protect “the Temple of Power” alongside the Rangers and is willing to help them out in future battles. I think that means he’ll be a reoccurring character, which should be… interesting. Tommy and Aisha are pleased to have him as a friend.
I half-suspect there’s then a mini time skip, as the next scene is of the rookies’ graduation ceremony. The team and Ernie are in the front row to support Bulk and Skull. The Doylist reason is obvious, but I can only presume that in a Watsonian one, they want to support any sign of maturity in the duo.
The rookies all arrive in uniform, Kimberly calling out kudos to their pleasure. They are now Junior Patrollers; when they turn around, Bulk knocks everybody but himself and Skull. Stone sticks their badge pins into their palms as a result, wanting them to be on ticket patrol for the rest of their lives. More cadets run by prior to the ceremony’s end.
Conclusion
Although the theme song has remained the same, the opening credits have all-new footage now. That’s refreshing and it looks like it means I can use screen-caps for the summary post if they largely stay the same from now on (obviously, they’ll be altered when the Pink switch occurs).
The episode had its ‘big’ battle early on with Rito, as the Vampirus monster turned out to be less powerful than it was built up as. That, or the Ninjazords are just that powerful. Either way, though, the final battle was underwhelming. Rito continues to be an odd but amusing mix of genre blindness and genre savvy, though it looks like none of the other villains like him.
Bulk and Skull are now Junior Patrollers, which should make their subplots less Ranger-centric. It’ll definitely be interesting to see if they gain any maturity as a result.
This episode was primarily about the action, not the characterization, as it was the climax of this mini-arc. The team has regained the ability to morph and now has the Ninjazords as well as a new ally in Ninjor. Suddenly I’m wondering what Ninjor and Zordon make of each other, since evidently they’ve never interacted before. Does Zordon see Ninjor as a living legend while Ninjor sees Zordon as a young upstart? How old is Ninjor, anyway? When and why did he make the Power Coins- and why did he hide them with a map? The villains seem to be somewhat aware of him- did they ever battle against him, then?
For that matter, is Ninjor connected to the Pai Zhua or the Wind Academies? Also, where exactly is the Temple of Power- in another dimension, on another planet? It was basically stated to not be on Earth, but that doesn’t give away much in terms of location.
I think this quartet of episodes left me with more questions than answers. Honestly, that’s not an uncommon occurrence with this franchise. And I don’t really mind that much, since it’s fun to me to poke at the franchise’s plot and world-building holes in an attempt to fill them in.
Next time on Power Rangers: Kimberly’s nightmare inspires the villains’ latest scheme.
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