Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 2, Episode 44: The Return of the Green Ranger, Part I

When we last left off with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Lord Zedd married Rita Repulsa.  It was a big party on the moon base as monsters and putties both showed up to dance and celebrate with the newlywed couple.  At the same time, the Power Rangers fought their way out of a theater and defeated a bunch of monsters.  They saved Alpha from a corrupt disk that had turned him to the side of evil.  It was a lot of stuff happening all at once that led to one of the biggest changes since The Power Transfer.

Now we’re going to be moving onto another big moment in the show.  The Green Ranger will be making his first appearance since early in the second season.  Tommy lost those powers a long time ago and there has been no reason for the Green Ranger to come back.  It wouldn’t make sense.  Or would it?  We’ll find out why it makes sense by diving into the first part of the story with…

Season 2, Episode 44: The Return of the Green Ranger, Part I

It was a long weekend and the Power Rangers were given the assignment of figuring out what time they would like to visit if they could go back in time.  Billy said he’d like to go back to work with Albert Einstein, as Einstein’s assistant.  The real insight came from Adam, though, who wanted to go back to the renaissance because it was romantic.  Bulk and Skull didn’t want to be a part of the conversation, so they left.

The evil plan was to make a clone of Tommy.  Rita Repulsa sent the Wizard of Deception to Earth to do the job.  He possessed Bulk and Skull and sent them off to get some of Tommy’s hair, which they failed to do.  He then sent a team of putties.  They knocked Tommy out and cut off some of his hair.  The Wizard of Deception then put a spell on the hair to create Tom Oliver, an evil clone with the powers of the Green Ranger.

The other part of the Wizard of Deception’s plan was to trick the rest of the Power Rangers into a trap.  He needed to get the White Ranger alone so that the evil clone could defeat him.  This meant luring the rest of the Power Rangers to the edge of town and sending them back in time to colonial Angel Grove.  Once there, the people of Angel Grove began hunting Rocky, Billy, Adam, Aisha, and Kimberly because they thought the teens were witches.

The only real fight was the putty fight in which Tommy’s hair was taken.  It was simple compared to the more elaborate fight sequences that have been happening lately.  It was likely due to the time constraints put upon the actors and their commitment to the movie.  There was also some Australian location shooting that made the scene stand out.  Though the choreography was pretty simple, the look of the location was different than usual.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is into the more story heavy side of things now with multiple episode arcs galore.  The Return of the Green Ranger is looking to be another solid story.  It hit the ground running with the Power Rangers in a time that they have never been before.  Tommy has been the most powerful Power Ranger and having an evil clone of him will be a threat that he has never met.  Unlike the Green With Evil arc from season 1, there isn’t a team to stop Tom from spreading his evil.  There’s just Tommy.  It’s a one on one match between Tommy and Tom Oliver.

Of course, this story hasn’t come without its strange details.  The one standout in the first part of The Return of the Green Ranger was that the Power Rangers ended up in colonial Angel Grove.  The city is located on the west coast of the USA.  It’s a California city.  There were no colonial times in California.  Not in the same way that were depicted on the show, that is.  California was settled in the 1700s by Spanish explorers.  The people in 1700s Angel Grove were clearly British.  The witch hunt thing was also odd.  For North America, witch hunts are commonly associated with Salem.  Angel Grove is as far from Salem as you can get, which makes the whole idea of the Angel Grove witch hunt weird.  Why not just send them to Salem?

There are two more episodes that follow this one.  The Return of the Green Ranger isn’t nearly done.  There are sure to be some big moments during the next two episodes which should make for a great middle and conclusion to a story that had a strong opening.  I hope you’ll join me when I return with parts 2 and 3.  See you soon.