Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 2, Episode 40: Rangers Back in Time, Part II

In the first part of this two part Mighty Morphin Power Rangers story, Lord Zedd reversed the time on Earth and turned the Power Rangers into their childhood selves.  They didn’t remember anything about their time as Power Rangers, though they were still friends for some reason.  That detail was a little bit strange because four of them didn’t even live in Angel Grove at that time.  A monster was sent to Earth that trapped the childhood rangers in a photograph.  And that’s where we left off.

This episode is going to wrap up this story.  The Power Rangers will be returned to their teenage forms and save the day.  The question is how the day will be saved.  What will get the Power Rangers out of the photograph?  How will time go back to normal?  Will Angel Grove be the same Angel Grove that we are used to?  Only this episode will tell.

Season 2, Episode 40: Rangers Back in Time, Part II

Zordon and Alpha had a plan to save the Power Rangers from the trap they had found themselves in.  Alpha created some sort of beam that released the children from their picture trap.  The same beam turned them back into their teenage selves, allowing them to use their Power Ranger powers to battle the threats sent to Earth by Lord Zedd.

Bulk and Skull spent the first little bit of the episode running away from Alpha with the picture.  They were trying to keep their friends safe, not knowing that Alpha was there to help.  Mr. Kaplan caught them running around the school and put them into detention.  In the classroom, Alpha caught them and put them to sleep with the same ray that saved the Power Rangers.

The Power Rangers went to battle with a few different monsters.  First, they Zorded up to take down the camera monster that had put them into the picture.  Then they had to go after the Rock of Time to set the space time continuum back to normal.  Lord Zedd sent Goldar and a few monsters to stop them from getting to the rock.  When they defeated the monsters, they used their Power Cannon to destroy the rock and set the world right.

Speaking of the fights, there were three main fights happening in the episode.  The first involved Tommy going up against Goldar and some putties.  Lord Zedd grew his monster, so everyone else moved onto the second fight.  Rocky got his Zord first and went to fight.  The camera monster created a clone of Rocky’s Zord and when the other Power Rangers got their Zords (except for Tommy), they formed the Megazord and fought both the camera monster and the Red Dragon Thunderzord clone.  They won the fight with a single slash of the sword, taking down both monsters at once.  All the while, Tommy remained with Goldar, fighting him on the ground.  Goldar fled when the monsters were defeated.  The third fight came when the Power Rangers went to stop the Rock of Time.  Lord Zedd’s team of Goldar and three other monsters were a formidable obstacle.  The Power Rangers spent the first half of the fight getting their butts kicked, but pulled out their Power Weapons and turned the tide.  It was one of the most entertaining fights in terms of choreography, giving each of the rangers their chance to shine.  The storytelling helped to elevate it above many of the other fights that the show has featured, as well.  Good stuff all around, this episode.

Not a lot of changes happened in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers during the two part Rangers Back in Time story.  The only major addition to the show was that time travel was introduced.  A show involving the space time continuum would definitely bring up the concept of time travel at some point.  The idea of the Power Rangers becoming children would be revisited during the Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers saga, with the same child actors playing their characters.  But that’s a discussion for a later date.

The one strange thing that should be noted about Rangers Back in Time is the resolution.  For a show with such an abnormal conceit, the way that time returned to normal still stuck out like a sore thumb.  Time was turned back by the rotation of the Earth being reversed.  Why, then, did time go back to normal as soon as the Rock of Time was broken?  The Earth should have had to rotate the normal way rapidly to have time return to normal.  This still doesn’t explain the Power Rangers’ aging.  Alpha returned them to their teenage selves while they were still in the past.  When they broke the Rock of Time, they should have aged forward the years that everyone else did, making them that much older than Bulk and Skull.  That didn’t happen.  They stayed their normal age.  It made no sense.

It was nice that Rangers Back in Time was a story that played out over two episodes.  The only thing that would have helped it out would be if the story wasn’t so self-contained.  It was like a standalone story that played through two episodes.  The next episode will definitely be a game changing episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and I’m excited to get to it.  There will be a wedding.  Come back soon and I’ll tell you about it.