Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 1, Episode 40: Doomsday, Part II

Change is something I always hope to see in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.  I want some sort of change that can move the story forward while causing it to not be the same show that it was before.  Whether that be a stronger villain, new heroes, new powers, or the loss of a friend, I like the stakes to be higher and the consequences to be more meaningful.  That’s why I always look forward to the stories that last more than one episode.

You may remember from my last Mighty Morphin Power Rangers post that I was in the middle of one of these stories with the two-part Doomsday arc.  Everything had been set to lead to one of the largest shake-ups in the show’s history.  Rita brought her castle to Earth and was more powerful than ever.  Titanus had been destroyed.  The population of Angel Grove was transported to another dimension.  Everything had been laid out for a great conclusion.  Did the show meet this potential?

This post’s episode is the second part of the Doomsday storyline and concludes the battle between Rita and the Power Rangers over the fate of Angel Grove and the citizens, for the time being.  Of course, there are still two more seasons and some of the first season in which Rita and the Power Rangers fight.  But for the sake of Doomsday, this is the end of it.  So, let the episode recap begin.

Season 1, Episode 40: Doomsday, Part II

The previous episode left off with Goldar powering Cyclopsis and wreaking havoc upon Angel Grove.  The Power Rangers had defeated Cyclopsis, but Lokar rebuilt it and brought it back with added strength.  It then took down Titanus and defeated the Megazord.  The Power Rangers fled to the Command Center.

As we return, the Power Rangers discover that Cyclopsis is still attacking the city and they want to go out and stop it.  Zordon informs them that their Zords are too weak but they don’t care.  They have to try.  They go out to the battlefield and get their butts kicked.  The Zords disappear and the Power Rangers are left in the park, defenseless.  They also discover that they can no longer communicate with Zordon or Alpha.

Billy observes that Rita Repulsa has blocked transmissions from their communicators and takes everyone to his garage so he can reprogram them.  We get to see that flying car contraption again, though it does not get used.  Goldar shows up at Billy’s garage to torment the Power Rangers, but Billy gets the communicators fixed and teleports everyone to the Command Center.

Zordon informs them that their Zords have been recharging.  He also says that Alpha has tapped into Rita’s vast bank of knowledge because she’s on Earth and has found a way to defeat Cyclopsis.  The Zords just need to continuously change form and confuse the machine.  Oh, and Titanus is fine and back in good shape.  So, yeah, Titanus apparently wasn’t destroyed when Rita destroyed it.

The Power Rangers go back to the battlefield, defeat Cyclopsis, and Rita flees back to the moon.  It’s as simple as that.  Then the Power Rangers go to the park where all of the citizens of Angel Grove have returned to celebrate them.  Upon arriving at the park, four kids are arguing over which Ranger is the best.  One says red.  One says blue.  One says black.  And the other says both pink and yellow.  This argument is stopped when Tommy (yeah!) shows up and says they are all great.  Then Tommy high fives all of the Power Rangers and watches as they freeze frame jump on the stage.

There’s still one more thing in the episode though.  Back at the Command Center, Zordon gives the Power Rangers a choice.  They can choose to go back to their normal lives as teenagers, or they can continue to fight the evil of Rita Repulsa as the Power Rangers.  Of course they stay powerful.  But in a really weird turn of events, Jason, Trini, and Zack say that they will be Power Rangers forever.  It’s weird because I know they leave for a teen world peace conference in the second season.  Whatever.  The Power Rangers once again jump and the episode ends in a second freeze frame.

So the second episode in the Doomsday storyline basically took back everything that happened in the first episode.  Rita went back to the moon.  Titanus was fine.  All of the people were returned to Angel Grove.  Really, the only thing that the arc brought to the series was a little hint at a possible return of Tommy (which we all know is coming because the next multiple-episode story is The Return of an Old Friend).  Other than that little hint, everything is exactly as it was before the storyline began.

What really gets me about the story is this: if Lokar could bring back Cyclopsis at the end of the first episode, what was to stop him from bringing it back at the end of the second? The Power Rangers did not defeat Lokar.  They only destroyed Cyclopsis.  But Rita fled Earth anyway.  It didn’t make sense since Lokar was still around to tear things up.  Rita could have stayed put and been fine.  Oh well.

That concludes the Doomsday installment of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.  The series moved on twenty years ago and I will be moving on now.  There are still twenty episodes left in the season.  Where will they take me?  Where will they take us?  I don’t know.  I haven’t seen these episodes in about eighteen years, so I don’t remember all that much.  That’s what makes this ride fun.  The unexpected stuff.  Even if the individual episodes seem to all have the same story, there are unexpected twists and it’s fun.  I hope to see you next time when I write about Rita’s Seed of Evil.