Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers: Episode 8: Sowing the Seas of Evil

Previously in Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers, Adam ventured to get his Zeo Subcrystal. He found it behind a waterfall in some vaguely Chinese seeming place. Meanwhile, Billy was in the middle of building a machine that would harness the power of the Zeo Crystal and turn the world back to its rightful time. He needed an extra part, though, and once he got it, he was trapped by a spider monster. No worries. The Alien Rangers saved him.

It was time for things to move onto the next adventure for a Zeo Subcrystal. Who would be next to find theirs? That was unclear since they didn’t set that up in the episode before. It was a surprise. But someone would surely find their Zeo Subcrystal since there were only three episodes left and there were three children left to find them. One per episode seemed to be the right pace. To find out who, we would need to watch…

Episode 8: Sowing the Seas of Evil

Tommy met up with True of Heart, an Indigenous man who would lead him to a Zeo Subcrystal. True of Heart showed Tommy some rock etchings that predicted his arrival. The only way to find the Zeo Subcrystal, however, would be for Tommy to look deep inside himself. He had to be like the man who was guiding him. He had to be true of heart. They climbed a mountain to find three wrapped objects. One of them contained the Zeo Subcrystal. Only through being true of heart could Tommy pick the right one. He did it and went back to the Command Centre.

Kat, meanwhile, was sent to Australia. She ran into a girl named Agatha who looked a lot like her older self. Agatha offered Kat a ride, which she was happy to accept. The two of them ran into an old woman who also looked like an older Kat. Agatha said that they should go on, but Kat couldn’t leave the old woman alone and put aside the quest to help her. Luckily, the old woman had a gift for Kat. It was the Zeo Subcrystal. Kat passed the test and completed her quest. She also went back to the Command Centre.

Billy spent the whole time helping the Alien Rangers prevent the biggest catastrophe yet. Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa planned to bring Hydro Hog from Aquitar to Earth. They had to manipulate the power at the Command Centre to block the transportation of the Aquitian villain. Billy also tried to come up with a device that would modulate the weather so that the Alien Rangers could rehydrate, but the Tenga Warriors destroyed it before it could be used.

That was the only fight in the episode. The Tenga Warriors arrived in Angel Grove and began to attack Billy and the Blue Alien Ranger. A bunch of them distracted the Blue Alien Ranger. A couple of the others distracted Billy. The final few attacked the hydration device, destroying it. At that point, Billy made the dumb decision to dive under it as it fell down. It was as if David Yost was trying to get Billy killed off so he could leave the show. The Blue Alien Ranger ran over to save him, allowing the Tenga Warriors to escape.

Things were getting heated as Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers approached its finale. Four of the children returned with their Zeo Subcrystals. The Alien Rangers and Billy have tried every which way to keep them hydrated on Earth, to no avail. The Moon Monsters have been trying to destroy the Command Centre. And they tried to bring the worst monster ever to Earth. If things got any worse, the Earth would be in terrible shape as things transitioned into Zeo.

The pacing of the back half of Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers was a little strange. There were five episodes in which the children would be questing for their Zeo Subcrystals. The first episode gave time to Rocky getting his Zeo Subcrystal from a volcano in Mexico. The second of the five episodes highlighted Adam’s journey to get his Zeo Subcrystal from behind a waterfall. In this third of five episodes, Tommy and Kat both went through their journeys, leaving Aisha to get two episodes. Two children got their own episodes, two children had to share an episode, and the final child got two episodes. This weird pacing was only a problem because of expectations. Those first two episodes had set the stage for each of the children to get an episode, only to have the next episode change that idea. It's not a huge issue; it’s just a strange pace.

Everything was stranger in Sowing the Seas of Evil. The Indigenous man who helped Tommy find himself and his Zeo Subcrystal disappeared after Tommy got the Zeo Subcrystal. Kat was interacting with alternate versions of herself. The Zeo Subcrystals were supposed to be sent to different points in the space-time continuum. There was nothing said about the Zeo Subcrystals being in alternate realities. Perhaps the Zeo Subcrystals were manipulating the world around the children. Maybe the man helping Tommy was a manifestation of the power that the Zeo Subcrystal had. Perhaps the other versions of Kat were projections from the Zeo Subcrystal testing her. But coming off two pretty straight-forward, set in reality journeys, the two featured in Sowing the Seas of Evil felt like they were abiding by a different set of rules than those which were initially in place.

Only two episodes remained in Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers and there was still much to happen for the transition to Power Rangers Zeo. Aisha needed to get her Zeo Subcrystal. Everyone had to be returned to their rightful ages. New powers had to be found, through the Zeo Crystal. Plus, there was sure to be another monster thrown at Angel Grove. That was a lot for a double episode. We would see how that went soon in Hogday Afternoon, Part I.