Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 3, Episode 33: Rangers in Reverse

Over three seasons of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, lots of stuff happened. Five teenagers with attitude were given the powers needed to stop monsters from destroying Earth. They were joined by a sixth, who left and came back a couple times. Three of them left and were replaced, then another gave her powers to a new teenager. They fought against Rita Repulsa, Lord Zedd, and Rito Revolto. Recently, Master Vile joined the bad guys. And through it all, the Power Rangers have always saved Angel Grove and the Earth, even in their major motion picture debut.

Now we have come to the final episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Technically, Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers was still part of the third season, but it was a new team of Rangers and the episodes were classified under a different name, so this episode is the end. What will be in store for the Power Rangers? Master Vile will try to get them again. The how will be determined in…

Season 3, Episode 33: Rangers in Reverse

Katherine’s birthday was coming up. Rocky knew because he helped her enroll at Angel Grove High School. He got everyone else together to plan a party. That celebration would happen at a carnival that was in town. Well, on the edge of town might be a better description. It was on the edge of the desert on the outskirts of Angel Grove.

While everyone was at the carnival, including Bulk and Skull, Master Vile was getting ready to execute his most dastardly plan yet. He had an orb. He sent Rito Revolto down to Earth with the orb. Once the orb was put in the right place, it would stop the rotation of the Earth. The rotation could then be reversed, which would turn back the growth of any human being. It would turn the Power Rangers into children, meaning they couldn’t use their powers because they weren’t teenagers with attitude.

A fight obviously happened when Rito got to Earth with Goldar and a whole bunch of Tenga Warriors. Some of the Tengas ran for the carnival, so the Power Rangers split up to fight them. Adam, Aisha, and Billy went after the carnival Tengas. Tommy, Rocky, and Kat fought with Goldar, Rito, and their bunch. They were vastly outnumbered and overpowered. Adam, Aisha, and Billy got free of the Tengas long enough to power up to their metallic armor, which helped them win their part of the battle. They were able to speed move and kick some butt. Tommy, Rocky, and Kat weren’t so lucky. They got tangled up with the Tenga Warriors, which allowed Rito to place the orb. Master Vile won. He reversed the turn of the Earth.

All the bad guys came to Earth to gloat about their victory. They grew themselves to giant-sized while the Power Rangers were stuck as kids. The Power Rangers tried to power up, but they couldn’t. Without being teenagers, it was like they had never grown up and received the powers. And that’s where the episode ended.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers went out on a high note with Rangers in Reverse. Sure, the Power Rangers have been turned into kids before. Lord Zedd even mentioned that he had tried this plan and failed in the past. This time, however, it worked. Master Vile turned back time on Earth. All it did was reverse the aging process, leaving people with their memories. That was enough. The Power Rangers could remember their quest to defeat the evil moon monsters, but they were physically too young to use their powers. They were powerless. That was how Mighty Morphin Power Rangers ended.

It was a ballsy move for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to end the Mighty Morphin era in this way. The Power Rangers had no powers. They would have to find a way to regain their powers, grow back to their natural age, and stop the moon monsters. They would need someone to protect Earth while they were, for all intents and purposes, incapacitated. The only way they could protect Earth would be to bring someone in from the outside. That someone would be the Alien Rangers of Aquitar, but that’s a discussion for the next episode.

What I will discuss here is that the show went out on a great couple of fights. The fight between Billy, Adam, Aisha, and the Tenga Warriors had one of the more interesting settings of the series. They were fighting among the cars in the parking lot of the carnival. The backdrop was desert and hills. There were inflatable tubes all around them. It was visually dynamic, and when they went to their metallic armor, the fighting got more interesting, too. There were Tengas jumping out of cars and being thrown on inflatable tubes. The Power Rangers were doing speed jumps around the monsters. It was a whole bunch of fun. The other half of the fight saw Rocky take the lead to try and stop Rito Revolto, while Tommy fought with Goldar. They were overpowered by the sheer number of Tenga Warriors and ended up losing the fight. The fact that they lost was huge. The stakes were huge. And it was all fun to see happen. It was one of the best fights of the season, and one of the best fights of the series.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers transitioned into Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers with one of the best episodes. There wasn’t even a big monster fight in it. That’s how good the rest of the episode was. After a disappointing penultimate episode, it was nice to see them vastly improve as the era came to a close. Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers finished off the Mighty Morphin era with a ten-episode run before Zeo, and that’s where I’ll pick up next time as I watch Alien Rangers of Aquitar, Part I. I hope you’ll join me. See you soon!