Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 2, Episode 18: White Light, Part 2

The previous episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was the first part of the White Light storyline.  A lot of things happened.  The Command Centre was shut down, giving Lord Zedd the perfect opportunity to attack.  He wanted to create an evil Green Ranger again.  The space dumpster holding Rita crashed into Angel Grove Park, where Bulk and Skull found it.  They tried to open it.  The Power Rangers fought putties and a giant fist statue monster.  Finally, Billy went for help and found Alpha 5 and Zordon working on a new Power Ranger.

Now it’s time for part 2.  We will get a full introduction to the White Ranger, and we’ll find out who is under the mask.  They will defeat Lord Zedd’s monsters.  We’re also nearing the end of Jason, Zack, and Trini.  Although we won’t get any real farewells, there might be strange editing or odd sounding voicework.  It’s going to be an interesting conclusion as a new Power Ranger joins the team.

Season 2, Episode 18: White Light, Part 2

Billy headed back to the rest of the group to tell them what he saw.  Zordon beckoned them to the Command Centre, where he revealed that they were working on a stronger Power Ranger to help defeat Lord Zedd.  The White Ranger appeared out of the sky and took off his helmet.  Tommy is the White Ranger.

Tommy went into the battlefield to take down the monster.  He called upon his White Tigerzord.  It transformed into a White Megatigerzord or something close to that name and teamed up with Jason’s Dragon Thunderzord to take down the monster.  That was the main fight.

While that fight was occurring, most of the Power Rangers fought putties at a construction site.  There were good stunts in there, including a putty that fell from one level of scaffolding to the next, before falling again.  It was something you don’t normally see, since most of the stunts are kicks and punches.  The Power Rangers won the fight and Zorded up to fight alongside the White Ranger.

Bulk and Skull had to finish their space dumpster storyline as well.  They went through all of the tools in the warehouse.  Right before giving up, they came up with the idea to use a giant can opener.  They thought it didn’t work, but then a tiny Rita came out of the dumpster.  They were so scared that they fainted.  Kimberly and Trini put Rita back in the dumpster and got rid of it before waking Bulk and Skull.

The second part of White Light was fight heavy.  That doesn’t mean that there weren’t series changing moments.  Let’s talk first about Rita Repulsa.  She made her return in part one.  This is setting up her eventual permanent return.  It hasn’t changed the series yet, but it’s going to be coming.  The more obvious thing about White Light is the White Ranger introduction.  Tommy is back on the team.  There’s also another little detail I’ll bring up soon.  The White Tigerzord made its first appearance.  The White Megatigerzord (If that’s not the name, I’ll figure it out) made its first appearance.  Those are three big things.

The other big thing, that little detail, was a strange moment.  Tommy isn’t only back on the team.  He is the new leader.  Jason had been the leader since the show began.  The power has now shifted from the Red Ranger to the White Ranger.  This was done without ceremony.  There was hardly celebration.  Zordon asked how they liked the news of their new leader, and Jason said it was great.  There’s reasoning behind this decision.  Three of the main actors were off the show when the episode was completed.  Austin St. John was one of them.  Rather than have the new Red Ranger be the leader when there were three Power Rangers that had been there much longer, they gave the leader role to Tommy.  Tommy had always been the second leader as the Green Ranger anyway.  It was only natural for him to earn that role when Jason left.  Or in this case, before Jason left because they knew he was going to leave.

With all of that discussed, it’s about time to wrap up this post.  White Light brought some major changes to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.  Things will get interesting as we go on.  There will be the increasing disappearance of new footage from Thuy Trang, Walter Jones, and Austin St. John.  The next stretch of episodes will be leading up to three new Power Rangers joining the team.  It is going to be a fun ride and I hope you’ll see it through with me.