Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 1, Episode 39: Doomsday, Part I
Ever since the Green With Evil storyline in Mighty Morphin
Power Rangers, I have repeatedly stated how much I like the multiple episode
stories. They have more stakes to
them. They tend to propel the plot of
the show forward in a way that the standalone episodes rarely do. And they are better written all around. The show excels when it comes to the multiple
episode arcs.
It fills me with delight to have reached another one of
these stories, the two part Doomsday storyline.
It provides everything that I have come to love with Mighty Morphin
Power Rangers and it puts the Power Rangers in a place that they have yet to
be. It ends on a cliff-hanger that
leaves the viewers wanting more and having to wait for the next episode. So, without further ado, I present you with
my summary of the first of two Doomsday episodes.
Season 1, Episode 39: Doomsday, Part I
The episode begins with the gang walking through the school
reading a newspaper. There is an article
about the mayor celebrating the Power Rangers by giving them their own
day. A party is going to be thrown in
Angel Grove Park for the Power Rangers.
The whole city is going to be there.
The gang decides that they will go there for a little while, mingle with
the people, then morph to surprise everyone.
Rita hears about the party being planned for the Power
Rangers. She realizes that everyone in
Angel Grove is going to be together. She
can use this celebration to send them all to another dimension and attack Earth
while Angel Grove is empty. Why is Angel
Grove so important to Rita? I don’t
know. She could attack a place that
doesn’t have the Power Rangers but she never does. Her plan involves Goldar controlling a Zord
called Cyclopsis.
But first there is the party. The gang shows up to a party decorated with
what looks like wacky waving inflatable arm-flailing tube men that aren’t
wacky, waving, or arm-flailing. They
mingle a little bit while Bulk and Skull try to steal the thunder of the Power
Rangers by dressing up as super heroes.
They even mention the fact that Tommy didn’t show up. So there’s a little bit of mythology thrown
into the episode. There is more to come.
All of the people in Angel Grove are then teleported to
another dimension by Rita. Jason, Trini,
Zack, Billy, and Kimberly are left behind, the lone remaining citizens of Angel
Grove. Goldar comes down to Angel Grove
in Cyclopsis and they must fight him off.
Cyclopsis is too powerful for the Megazord and the Dragonzord, so they
call upon Titanus to create the Ultrazord.
They defeat Cyclopsis, but Rita manages to destroy Titanus. She then brings in Lokar (remember him?) to
resurrect Cyclopsis.
That all seemed like a bunch of rambling of me doing basic
commentary of a fight. There’s not much
more left to the episode though. With
Cyclopsis back, the Power Rangers return to the command center. They are told to wait out while Alpha looks
for some information on how to defeat Lokar.
They are the only people who can save Angel Grove, but we have to wait
until the next episode to find out how.
As I said at the beginning of this post, the stakes in the
multiple episode stories are always higher.
The entire population (minus the Power Rangers and Tommy) have been
teleported to another dimension. Titanus
has been destroyed. Rita is coming to
Earth. Oh, I forgot to mention
that. The reason that Rita is getting
rid of the people in Angel Grove is to bring her castle to Earth. With her castle on Earth, she will have much
greater power and will be able to easily defeat the Power Rangers. If you wanted high stakes that weren’t
character driven like in The Green Candle, this is it. The Doomsday story really brings up the
stakes.
Depending on how the second part concludes the arc, there
could be some major changes as well.
Hints towards new story directions are scattered throughout what is happening
during Doomsday. The gang not being
teleported with the others could lead people to questioning why they can never
be found when the Power Rangers are doing their thing. The destruction of Titanus could mean that
the Power Rangers need to find a new way to overpower Rita. Even the mention of Tommy hints at a possible
return of the character in future episodes.
It’s going to take the remainder of the two-parter to find
out whether any of this stuff comes to fruition. I hope that it does because I personally like
when story elements get shaken up and things move forward. It keeps the episodic format of Mighty
Morphin Power Rangers from growing stale.
It’s nice to have some consequences to what happens throughout the
series. What does the next episode have
in store for our heroes? You’ll have to
wait to find out. I’ll see you next time
for Doomsday Part II.
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