Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 3, Episode 3: A Friend in Need, Part III

When we last left off with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, five of the six Power Rangers were on a distant planet called Edenoi.  They were making sure the planet was safe from the clutches of Count Dregon.  Lord Zedd took that time to attack Earth, and Kimberly was the only Power Ranger still there to protect their home.  It was a backdoor pilot for Masked Rider.  Saban was hoping to get fans of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to start watching their new series.

In this final episode of the three episode story, we’re bound to see the Power Rangers leave Edenoi and go back to Earth.  They must save their home from Lord Zedd’s newest monster.  But will they make sure Edenoi is safe first?  Surely, they will.  Edenoi will still be in some danger, since there’s a series to come after the Power Rangers are done.  The Power Rangers don’t leave without finishing a job first, though, so they’ll have to keep Count Dregon at bay for now.  We’ll see if all of that comes true in…

Season 3, Episode 3: A Friend in Need, Part III

Kimberly’s battle against Repellator continued with Kimberly struggling with sickness.  She continued to sneeze while Repellator beat her up.  Eventually, though, Repellator also started to sneeze.  The monster fled for fear of being sick.

Repellator returned to the Moon Base where Finster gave it a pill.  It was sent back to conquer Earth, now mostly healed of the sickness it had.  The monster would meet its match in the Power Rangers, who would team up to defeat it.

How did the Power Rangers get back to Earth?  While they were fighting off Count Dregon’s minions, Alpha got communications back up between Earth and Edenoi.  After defeating their opponents, the Power Rangers teleported back to Earth to stop Lord Zedd.

Count Dregon ordered his men to track the Power Rangers.  He decided that Earth would be the next place to conquer.  Dex asked Lexion what he should do.  Lexion sent Dex to Earth to protect it from the attacks of Count Dregon.

The whole time this fighting between good and evil was happening, Bulk and Skull were trying to win themselves some dates.  They pretended to be two of the Power Rangers to lure the girls to the park.  The girls didn’t believe them, and were proven right when the monster showed up.  Everyone fled.

The fights throughout the episode were interesting.  It was a great send-off to the old outfits and old powers.  The Kimberly fight brought something new with the sneezing, though it was a continuation from the week before.  Having the monster get sick from it was a nice twist.  The fight against Dregon’s forces, also a continuation from the week before, was a fun change from the usual putty fights by having different villains to go up against.  Then there was the Megazord fight which saw original footage to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers being used instead of the usual sentai footage.  It was a nice change in the fighting dynamics that brought a fresh feel to what was going on.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers closed out its second era of powers with the first three episodes of season 3.  Though it was meant as a backdoor pilot for The Masked Rider, the conclusion ended up being a nice send-off to the powers we had grown to know throughout season 2.  It was the final full story showing for the Thunder Powers.  Everything would change in the four episodes that followed.  We’re not there quite yet.  Let’s talk about a couple minor changes that happened in these three episodes before moving onto what’s next.

The biggest difference in the meat of the episodes was that one-liners became a larger part of the action.  When I saw Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, it seemed out of place to have the one-liners.  They may have been in the show before, but it seemed like most of the talking during the fights was motivational or antagonistic.  Things like “I’m going to take you down!” were the norm.  One-liners are now slowly working their way into the show.  The things that the Power Rangers say during their fights are more comedic in tone.  In this episode, Tommy asked someone if they liked to travel before kicking them and saying “Have a nice trip.”  It was a noticeable difference that might give a different feel to the action.

Giving a different feel to the episode as a whole were the end credits.  The first two seasons simply had the end credits roll while the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers theme played over it.  That changed with the first episode of season three.  The credits still rolled.  They took up half the screen, though.  The other half of the screen was a video.  In the case of the first two episodes, it was Tommy showing children how to perform martial arts.  In this episode, it was the Bulk and Skull as Power Rangers scene playing again.  The bonus to doing this during the end credits is that it keeps people’s attention to the show.  They might notice the names of the people working on it.

The credits of the first three season three episodes weren’t completely accurate, however.  There was a new name listed in the end credits who wasn’t in the three episodes.  That name was Rito Revolto, who hasn’t yet been introduced to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.  He will soon be coming to the show, so the credits weren’t that far off.  They simply jumped the gun by a few episodes.

With that, we come to the end of another Mighty Morphin Power Rangers post.  We are three episodes into the third season, and we got to know a new character who would get his own show.  The next four episodes after this will set up the rest of the season, changing the powers of the characters and introducing another villain.  We are at the Ninja Quest saga.  How will the Power Rangers deal with their power problems?  What are their power problems?  The only way to find out is to continue onto the next episode.  I’ll see you soon with another post about another Mighty Morphin Power Rangers adventure.