Power Rangers Zeo: Episode 10: Graduation Blues

When we last left off with Power Rangers Zeo, the teens were involved in the production of a couple movies. One of them was a real, Hollywood movie that was filming in Angel Grove. The other was a movie produced by The Machine Empire that would trap the Zeo Rangers and end in tragedy. Until the Zeo Rangers changed the ending, that was. Everything ended happily with Rocky and Skull getting some major roles in the Hollywood production.

Now we will be moving on to a more important moment in the lives of the teenagers. At least, the title of the episode suggests that. It seems like their time at Angel Grove High might be coming to an end with this episode and the next stage of their lives will begin. That could be the wrong reading of the episode’s title, and it wouldn’t be the first wrong reading of a title, but it certainly seems that way. The only way to know for sure is to check out…

Episode 10: Graduation Blues

Billy was called to the principal’s office at Angel Grove High School. There was news for him. Like any student would be, he was apprehensive to hear what the news was. It could be good. And it wasn’t. It was excellent. Billy was a year ahead of the curriculum. He had completed an extra year’s worth of credits and should have already graduated. The principal handed him a diploma and forced him to graduate right then, on the spot.

A graduation party was thrown for Billy at the Angel Grove Youth Center. The party was cut short, however, when Cestro, the Blue Alien Ranger, arrived. He needed Billy’s help. A bunch of monsters had shown up on Aquitar. They threatened to contaminate all the water. Cestro tried to build a device to stop them but couldn’t get past a certain point in the building process. He needed Billy’s help. Billy got the device working and decided to go to Aquitar with Cestro to help save the planet. The Alien Rangers had protected Earth. It was Billy’s turn to reciprocate.

Bulk and Skull were the people who found Cestro and brought him to Billy. They had been watching the park when Cestro’s ship landed. While they were away from the ship, they left Goldar and Rito Revolto to protect it. The monsters got into some trouble when Lt. Stone found them and vowed to capture or get rid of them. When Bulk and Skull returned, Lt. Stone recruited them to help find the monsters.

The rest of the team was busy fighting off Cogs and one of the monsters from Aquitar. It had followed Cestro to Earth and now wanted to contaminate Earth’s water. There was a fight by the lake where the Cogs were protecting the monster as it ran toward the water. The Zeo Rangers got their butts kicked until Tommy broke through and confronted the monster. It teleported away. They found it at Angel Grove’s water treatment plant and had to fight it again, along with the Cogs. It wasn’t a hugely memorable fight. I don’t even think the Zords were involved. It was basically just a distraction so that Billy and Cestro could leave before anyone got a chance to say goodbye.

Power Rangers Zeo pulled on the heartstrings a little bit with Graduation Blues. It was a farewell to Billy without the Zeo Rangers getting a chance to give a proper farewell. He graduated from high school and headed out on a new adventure. This wouldn’t be the end of Billy, though. He would come back to Power Rangers Zeo later, only to leave again, that time permanently. This was the fakeout departure before the real one. And it worked pretty well.

The strangest thing about the episode was Billy’s graduation. He was simply brought to the office, handed a diploma, and told he was done with high school. He didn’t have any choice in the matter. He was being forced out of Angel Grove High School without any proper sort of graduation ceremony. You would think that he’d be allowed to finish out the year and graduate with his friends. But nope. Diploma slapped in hand. Told that he no longer had to attend classes. The end. What a weird way to graduate.

It was nice to see continuity come into play with the threat to Aquitar. The Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers saga was over, but it was still affecting Power Rangers Zeo, ten episodes in. Cestro had come to Earth for help when Aquitar was under attack, much like Earth had called upon the Aquitians when Lord Zedd turned back time. It wasn’t only the past coming back to repeat in the present, however. There were hints to what would happen in the future through what happened in Graduation Blues. When Billy left for good, later in Power Rangers Zeo, he left to go live on Aquitar. This episode hinted at that by having him travel to Aquitar. It was foreshadowing of what would come. It might have been intentional. It might not have. Either way, it was there.

The final thing to bring up with Graduation Blues was the stuff that Billy was taking to Aquitar with him. It was a water planet, which would seemingly make it tough for Billy to breathe. There was no need to worry. He had goggles, flippers, and a snorkel. That would certainly help him out. The other notable thing he grabbed was a chemistry textbook. He dropped it on his way into the spaceship. When everyone else arrived just a few seconds too late to say goodbye, Rocky found the book in the sand where the spaceship had been. It was their last piece of Billy, the thing they could say goodbye to in lieu of him being there. Let the tears flow.

Graduation Blues was an action-packed episode of Power Rangers Zeo that packed an emotional punch. It tied in the lore that the show had built over three seasons and change, even having a reference to Billy’s old glasses in there. There was change coming to the show in a big way, with one of the main characters leaving Earth for a place he had never been. That could only mean some big things for the next episode, A Few Bad Seeds. I’ll see you soon for that post