Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 3, Episode 21: Changing of the Zords, Part III
Previously in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the Power
Rangers were put into a tough position.
They fought a monster, which was a distraction so that Lord Zedd could
kidnap a dying Kimberly. Then they were
given the choice of either teaming up with Lord Zedd or watching Kimberly
die. The choice was up in the air at the
end of the episode.
This episode should clear that up and the Power Rangers
should figure out a way to save Kimberly.
Kat could become good, but there are still a couple episodes before she
becomes a Power Ranger, so that could play out a little longer. What happens will be revealed by watching…
Season 3, Episode 21: Changing of the Zords, Part III
Tommy agreed to Lord Zedd’s proposal and now the Power
Rangers had to work for the moon villain.
Once Zedd left the Command Centre, however, Tommy told everyone else his
real plan. Billy had a device that could
open up a portal to another dimension.
Tommy was going to use it to get to Kimberly and break her free.
Lord Zedd noticed that the agreement had been false when he
saw the teenagers in the park using the device.
He sent a monster down to Earth to cause destruction and mayhem. The Power Rangers had to try and stop the
monster. When Lord Zedd sent the new
Shogun Zords into the battlefield, the Power Rangers had no choice but to jump
in them and do Lord Zedd’s bidding.
Billy worked the whole time to try and hotwire the Zords so that the
Power Rangers could take control.
Tommy managed to get Kimberly out of the other dimension and
back to the Command Centre. Then Billy
took control of the Zords. Everything
ended up as well as it could have been.
The Power Rangers now had their Shogun Zords, minus Kimberly. There was no pink Zord, so she would share
with Tommy. With all the happiness, it
was a bittersweet moment. Kimberly’s powers were still being drained. She would slowly lose her powers unless they
got the Power Coin back.
Bulk, Skull, and Lt. Stone spent most of the episode
sleeping while the big standoff took place behind them. It was going to be tough to prove to Lt.
Stone that monsters existed when they were all asleep. Luckily, Lt. Stone was awakened by a runaway
kite, and thought it as a monster. Bulk
and Skull went along with the monster story in order to keep their jobs and ran
off with their superior officer.
The fight was alright.
Once the Power Rangers got control of their Zords, they were able to
turn them into a new Megazord that easily took down the monster. The monster could shoot lasers from its body,
but that was no match for the new Megazord’s slash. The monster went down without too much of a
struggle.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was not afraid to use
multi-episode story arcs to change things up within the show. Sometimes, as was the case with Changing
of the Zords, some of the elements felt familiar. That doesn’t mean the story was all that
bad. This was still a fairly strong Mighty
Morphin Power Rangers tale, and the handling of Kimberly’s departure is
going well. But it’s hard to watch this episode
without noticing that some of the story reused elements of Tommy’s past.
The first, and most obvious, was that Katherine came into
the series as a villain, under the control of Rita Repulsa. Tommy was introduced the same way with the Green
with Evil episodes back in the first season. The major difference is that Tommy was still
a teen or a Power Ranger, albeit evil, the entire time. Katherine could turn into a cat. In the previous multi-episode story, A
Ranger Catastrophe, she was able to turn into a cat monster. There were two abilities that Tommy never
had.
The other story beat that felt a little repetitive in this
episode was that Kimberly’s powers were slowly draining away without her Power
Coin. The first season ended with an
extended story thread where Tommy was slowly losing his powers. This time, it was more pronounced. It was still the same story, though. A Power Ranger’s powers were dissipating, and
the other Power Rangers could only sit by and watch it happen. Unless they got the Power Coin back.
One other thing should be pointed out, and that’s the Bulk
and Skull storyline. It wasn’t a
repetitive storyline. It just left me
with some questions. Lt. Stone seemed to
be a higher up within the Angel Grove Police Force. He oversaw the Youth Patrol. Yet he didn’t believe that monsters came to
Angel Grove on a regular basis. Back in
season 1, everyone knew the Power Rangers.
The Power Rangers made public appearances. In season 2, Bulk and Skull wanted to unmask
the Power Rangers because it would make them famous. The Power Rangers were famous because they fought
monsters and saved the day. Half the
city got destroyed on a regular basis by giant monsters. Why wouldn’t Lt. Stone believe that there were
monsters when there was so much evidence that there were? It’s weird.
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