Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers: Episode 1: Alien Rangers of Aquitar, Part I

Previously in the Power Rangers saga, Master Vile cooked up a master plan that would inflict the most damage possible to the Power Rangers and to Earth. He stopped the rotation of the planet and turned it backwards. It reduced everyone’s physical ages so that they were children again. They kept their memories, but they lost their physical attributes. For the Power Rangers, that meant losing their powers. Earth was left in the hands of the moon monsters and the episode ended.

Now we’re into the Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers era. Since the Power Rangers lost their powers and nobody on Earth was old enough to fill the teenagers with attitude requirement, Zordon and Alpha will have to look elsewhere. The title of the episode explains exactly where the new protectors will come from. Let me introduce you to the Alien Rangers in…

Episode 1: Alien Rangers of Aquitar, Part I

Everyone in Angel Grove had been de-aged by a few years. There were still adults around. Everyone was running frantically from the carnival. They had become younger and they lost their memories. Nobody knew where they were, except for the Power Rangers. For whatever reason, their Power Coins allowed them to keep their memories. This wasn’t the first time they were seeing the moon monsters, but it was the first time for everyone else.

Master Vile called the monsters back to the moon base. Rito Revolto didn’t go. He had another plan. He was going to chase down the Power Rangers and steal their Power Coins. It was going to be as easy as stealing candy from a baby. Only, it wasn’t. The kids might not have had their powers any longer, but they knew enough about Rito and the Tenga Warriors he brought to outsmart them and escape.

The problem was that the police caught the kids and took most of them to the police station to wait for their parents. Tommy and Kat weren’t taken and had to find a way to free their friends. Once freed, the kids went to the Command Centre to find a way to fight off the moon monsters. The plan turned into calling the Alien Rangers of Aquitar. While this was happening, Rito and Goldar set a device outside the Command Centre that was set to implode the building.

Going back to the Power Coin battle, it was a fun change from the usual Power Rangers fighting. It turned into a Home Alone style comedy as the kids set up booby traps. They threw garbage cans, hit the monsters with construction materials, swung gates at them, and tossed them into the air with DIY teeter-totter type levers. They even had the help of Bulk and Skull in their booby traps. Rito was the perfect moon monster to have for the fight since he was the most comedic of them. It was slapstick humour at its finest.

 

Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers kicked off with a solid first episode that bridged the end of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers with the introduction of the Alien Rangers of Aquitar. It started where the last episode ended, with everyone having been de-aged a few years. It got to a point where the Command Centre was about to be destroyed and the Alien Rangers had been called. This was an episode all about moving the story forward to bring a new era upon the Power Rangers franchise.

The one thing that didn’t change was the opening credits sequence. It was still the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers opening sequence, highlighting that Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers was a mini-series that finished off the third season of Mighty Mophin Power Rangers. Keeping the opening credits from what came before also helped to prevent spoiling of the Alien Rangers’ look. When they were revealed toward the end of the episode, it was a surprise.

Another surprise was the number of call backs in the episode. Power Rangers isn’t afraid to reference events that happened earlier in the series. The most direct of those references came in relation to the Alien Rangers of Aquitar. Zordon said it would be dangerous for the Alien Rangers to be on Earth. Tommy said they would go to Aquitar if that planet was in danger. They had proven so much in going to Edenoi. It was a reference to the beginning of season 3 when the Masked Rider was introduced. The other reference came when Bulk and Skull made fun of Billy and “his friends.” Because their memories had been reversed a few years, Bulk and Skull didn’t remember anyone else. As Aisha said, they hadn’t moved to Angel Grove yet. That might have been specific to her, Rocky, and Adam, but it was also true of Tommy and Kat. Billy was the only Power Ranger still around from the pilot episode. Everyone else on the team had come later. So Bulk and Skull only knew Billy because Billy was the only current Power Ranger who was in Angel Grove when they were kids.

Speaking of kids, I quickly want to touch on the police station escape. That part of Alien Rangers of Aquitar, Part I delved most into the fact that the characters were children. It used one of those children’s tropes that people always joke about but never actually see. In order to pose as an adult, Kat got onto Tommy’s shoulders and they put on a trench coat. They were two kids in a trench coat. This was an interesting episode.

That about covers everything for Alien Rangers of Aquitar, Part I. It was an interesting, different kind of episode for Power Rangers. As the first episode of Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers, it set things up for a massive change. It introduced a whole new team of Power Rangers. The Command Centre was put in danger. The Power Rangers couldn’t find a way to get back to their natural teenage state. The next episode should progress the story more, helping lead into Power Rangers Zeo. I’ll see you soon for Alien Rangers of Aquitar, Part II.