Power Rangers Zeo: Episode 4: Target Rangers

 

Power Rangers Zeo came out of the gates with a solid two-part premiere before going right into a Tanya episode. That allowed audiences to get to know Tanya, the newest Power Ranger, in a way they hadn’t been able to before. She had only been in a two-part miniseries finale and a two-part series premiere, so there wasn’t a lot of time for her to be properly introduced.

Now that she was a part of the team and the Power Rangers were given new powers and new Zords, the setup was pretty much done. There were a few things that would be introduced throughout the season, but most of the groundwork for the battle between the Zeo Rangers and The Machine Empire had been laid out. That made it hard to know what was going to happen in… 

 

Episode 4: Target Rangers

Rocky worked on a computer project with a girl that he liked. They were programming a video game in the school library. Rocky kept trying to get the girl to go to the dance with him. She kept brushing him off, saying she was busy that night. Rocky couldn’t figure out why she didn’t like him back. When they saved their project, she wrote down the password and gave it to Rocky for safekeeping.

There was a problem, however. While Rocky was walking home with Adam, talking about the woes of his potential relationship, they were ambushed by Cogs. The Cogs didn’t want to defeat Adam and Rocky. They were simply distracting them so they could steal the password. Once they got the password, they hacked into the computer at the school and activated their newest monster.

To fight the monster, the Zeo Rangers would need to use some new upgrades. They had guns, which helped for a bit as they shot the monster. The real upgrade came in the helmets that Billy and Alpha had created for the Zeo Megazord. Each helmet had a different power. The Zeo Megazord could change which helmet it wore depending on the power that it needed to use. It was something new that no Megazord before had been able to do.

The fight itself was fun. King Mondo and his general came down to Earth and manually upsized the monster. The Zeo Rangers immediately got their Zords together, formed the Zeo Megazord, and started battling it out. They were overpowered quickly. The monster tied them up in chains and threw them at the sun. Their only way out was by using their new helmets. One helmet controlled gravity, which helped them get out of the sun’s gravitational pull. One of them had extra strength, which allowed them to break the chains. One was rocket power, which shot them back to Earth. Each helmet had a nifty power like that, which let them get back to Earth to kill the monster.

To finish things off, Rocky went back to the library and told the girl that he lost the password. She was disappointed, but he had gotten it back and their project was saved. Then he asked why she didn’t like him back. She said she did, but she really was busy the night of the dance. Maybe they could go on a date some other time. It was a happy ending for Rocky. 

 

Power Rangers Zeo worked really hard in the first handful of episodes to have some nice character moments. Both the third and fourth episodes were character episodes that helped the audience connect to the people they were watching. They also added stuff to the show. The third episode brought in the Zords. The fourth episode brought in the helmets. It was a nice break from the heavily serialized nature of the third season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and the miniseries Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers. They found a sweet spot where they could do some character building while moving the story forward,

The library was featured for the second episode in a row. It was a new location for Power Rangers Zeo, one that hadn’t been featured in any previous Power Rangers episodes. It felt like a new central location for the show. After the soft reboot following the conclusion of the Mighty Morphin era, that was bound to happen. The show was changing. Things were changing in it. One of the changes would be the central location. Instead of spending their time in the hallways at school, the characters spent more time in the library, doing their schoolwork. If only the Angel Grove Youth Centre got the same amount of screen time. Ernie was absent through the first few episodes, even though he was in the opening credits.

Target Rangers featured the first face-to-face meeting of the Zeo Rangers and King Mondo. He came down to Earth to see his monster defeat the Zeo Rangers. He was there when his general made the monster grow. He was there when the Zeo Rangers returned in their Zeo Megazord, thwarting his assumed victory over Earth. The Zeo Rangers were able to talk directly to him and not back down against his threats. It was nice to have him watching the battle from the sidelines rather than his base in outer space. It gave more weight to his presence.

Bulk and Skull only showed up for a short amount of time in Target Rangers. Lt. Stone tasked them with watching a junkyard since there had been some break-ins recently. It was the same junkyard where the Cogs were building the newest monster for The Machine Empire. They were there to get scared when the monster appeared, and that was it. It was a strange thing to have happen. There was no real storyline there, which seemed odd considering their pairing with Rito and Goldar in the previous three episodes. They shouldn’t have even feared the monster since they were now living with two. It just felt like something done to get Bulk and Skull in the episode, and nothing more.

Power Rangers Zeo was off to a strong start. It featured two episodes that pushed the story forward in a major way. Then it featured two episodes highlighting two of the least fleshed out characters in the show. The writers were doing things the right way, and it didn’t look like they’d be stopping any time soon. That would only be known for sure by watching the next episode, For Cryin’ Out Loud. Come back soon for that post.