What's our mission again?: PRiS 5 - 8
Never Stop Searching (Steve Roth/Blair Treu): Last time on Power Rangers in Space: The Turbo Rangers joined forces with Andros, who came with new powers and an awesome spaceship so they can find Zordon before Dark Specter drains his powers. The Princess of Evil, Astronema, is actually living up to her title and is more effective than her predecessors. And the Ninja Turtles guest starred for an episode that will never be mentioned again.
As everyone else is getting ready for bed, Andros is scanning various galaxies for lifeforms-ostensibly to find Zordon, but when no one's around, he pulls out a locket from underneath his uniform and opens it to reveal a tiny data disk. On this disk is a video of his childhood, where it turns out that even then, he wore red all the time. Carlos, who was working on Andros's Galaxy Glider, is heading to bed when he happens to see Andros watching the video, becoming more and more upset. And it's no wonder. When he was very young, he and his sister, Karone, were playing in the park. He ran off to chase their runaway toy, and while he was gone, a monster kidnapped Karone. The monster mostly appears in silhouette, so Andros can't identify him, but he's been searching for years and will never stop until he finds her-and we have our character arc, people. Carlos finally heads off for a restless night, and Andros is about to call it a night too when a scan of the Delta Sector reveals a life sign in the Karova System-specifically, KO-35. Andros ends up revealing why he's never gone home: the colony was abandoned years ago. But he reasons that Karone wouldn't know that, so if she escaped, of course she'd go home.
There's also filler involving the three stooges on Earth searching for alien eggs, only to find a watermelon. It really breaks up the flow, but I include it because we have to check in on these guys from time to time. For some reason, Bulk's nightmare/daydream of being attacked by an alien pod made the preview and the recap for next episode, but yeah. It's fake. And even the Prof. and Skull are embarrassed by him.
Comic relief aside, the Megaship arrives in KO-35's orbit, and we see that like with Aquitar before it, it's played by Neptune. Andros finally got a little sleep on the way there, but D.E.C.A. wakes him up to let him know they've arrived. He promises to be back before the others wake, then heads down, speeding past Carlos's window, where the Black Ranger is still lying awake, troubled by what he saw in the home movie. Andros lands in a city in the southern hemisphere, and probably because of exhaustion, he botches his landing. And despite knowing that the colony was deserted, he's disturbed by how empty and quiet everything is, and he realizes that Karone must be too. But on the Dark Fortress, Astronema sleeps and Ecliptor...is alive. Somehow. Given that he's supposed to be a robot or something, I guess Dark Specter just had him rebuilt. Also, for some reason, he's kind of creeping on Astronema outside her bedroom, saying, "Sweet dreams," in a threatening tone-but I'm going to give the writers a break this time and just assume they hadn't worked out the nature of their relationship yet. He activates the monitor and sees Andros alone on KO-35. Also, he claims to have destroyed the planet-which is kinda sorta true? I mean, the planet itself is fine, but we'll see what happened to force the colonists to abandon it, and the idea that Ecliptor played a part in it is actually really good. Again, it gives the sense that there's a lot of bad blood between him and Andros, which is important for later.
D.E.C.A. gives a wake-up call to everybody, but of course, Carlos never slept, and he's groggy enough to hit his head on the bunk bed. The others are in the work bay (misidentified by me as the cargo bay last review, oops), but he notices that Andros isn't there-nor is his Glider, for that matter. Suspicious, he asks D.E.C.A., who spills all. Realizing why Andros is back home, he explains what he saw, somehow figuring out that KO-35 was deserted after an attack years ago. Worried, he decides to follow. The others offer to come, but he asks them to give Andros some privacy-which is a really nice gesture, even if Andros is the last person who should be given leeway to keep secrets. God, I think Zordon and Gosei are more forthcoming than he is.
Andros manages to find Ecliptor, who can now change phases of matter like Alex Mack. They never really explain what it was that D.E.C.A. detected-only that he was behind it somehow, so that's a nice hint that he's got a vested interest in preventing Andros from finding his sister. In-between their battle banter, Andros is getting his ass kicked, so it's a good thing that Carlos...okay, there's no other way to describe it: he breaks in via the Mirror World from Kamen Rider Ryuki. Damn it, does this mean that Kanzaki is the reason the Power Rangers continuity makes no sense? Andros doesn't have time to recover before Ecliptor's cyber shadow attacks, so Carlos shields him, explaining that they're teammates and so of course he had to come. With Carlos badly wounded, Andros has no choice but to retreat, carrying him back to the Megaship on his Glider. The team monitors him closely until he falls asleep. Andros blames himself for Carlos's injuries, and no amount of reasoning can convince him otherwise. Even when Cassie tries to explain that because they're a team, what affects one of them affects everybody, TJ admits that it's not that Andros doesn't understand-it's just that he can't accept it. Andros beats himself up so badly over it that he's having flashbacks-and while I'm not prepared to diagnose him with PTSD (though I think you might be able to make a case for it), I will say that you can tell he takes these things very personally; there's a lot of guilt weighing on him, and he's someone who can't forgive himself. He warns D.E.C.A. not to tell anyone where he's going and heads back to KO-35 for round two. As a nice touch, Ecliptor taunts him by asking if he's become too weak that he can't fight without someone else's help anymore, and it seems to sting a bit, provoking Andros to remark that he'll show Ecliptor who's the weak one. Unfortunately, Ecliptor is giant-sized again, which means that, yeah, it's probably Andros. Also, it's kind of hard to use the Megazord without everyone aboard knowing what you're doing, so that option's off the table. But Andros does decide to be a smartass and taunt Ecliptor for basically being too weak to pick on someone his own size. When Ashley can't find him on the ship, TJ realizes he was dumb enough to go back. D.E.C.A.'s silence confirms it, and they head down to save his ass. But just as they've rescued him, Carlos staggers in-that is some insomnia you've got there! He insists again that he's part of the team and Andros needs help, so injuries be damned, he's fighting. So they shoot Ecliptor with their Astro Blasters, then get some orbital bombardment support from the Megaship. And this...makes him run away or something-the rest of the stock footage was already used up for "Save Our Ship," okay? But Andros is left depressed that he got his hopes up for nothing.
Sometime later, Andros is in the gym when a fully recovered Carlos visits. Andros apologizes for getting him hurt, but Carlos says he understands, explaining that he knows about his past. He offers the team's help in finding Karone, if Andros will let them. Andros agrees, finally accepting that he's part of this team now, and they...yeah, they shake hands. This show has more handshakes than Kamen Rider Fourze. But now, Andros has help on what's probably the most important subplot of the season...
Satellite Search (Judd Lynn/Blair Treu): Velocifighters shoot down a NASADA...well, they call it a "satellite" the whole time, but more accurately, it's a probe. Whatever. It plummets toward a Jupiter-looking planet called Kalderon. Astronema tells Elgar not to assume it's destroyed; go down there and make sure of it. Meanwhile, the Rangers get an encrypted transmission from Commander Norquist at NASADA asking for their help with the satellite. The data on its memory disks is invaluable to the space program, representing eight years of exploration and research. And because the Rangers have the shuttle and Megaship, they're the only ones who can retrieve the satellite for them. Carlos and Ashley realize that if Astronema attacked it, it must have seen something she didn't want anyone seeing-possibly Zordon's whereabouts. We're treated to a rare space battle when Astronema discovers them setting a course for Kalderon, and the Megaship and some Velocifighters engage in combat. According to the original scripts SirSTACK has, Judd Lynn planned for it to be really epic, with a lot of dodging and rolling by the Megaship. I'm guessing logistics had to cut down on a lot of the maneuverability of the Megaship, but it still makes Andros look like a damn good captain, since the Velocifighters come off as infinitely more agile, and they still manage to outmaneuver and outsmart them.
But once they land on Kalderon, they find their troubles are only beginning: The planet is extremely hot, enough to knock out a lot of their equipment (including communications), and they're standing right by a volcano ready to erupt. They fight off some Quantrons and Elgar, who runs at the roar of a local monster, Clawhammer (the original script also says that it was supposed to speak, but they cut all of its lines and to better effect, I think). Astronema refuses to listen to any of his excuses and threatens to feed him to Clawhammer if he fails. When the Rangers manage to find the satellite and retrieve the disks (one of which is damaged), she finds them and proceeds to fight them. She's already doing an awesome job against them, but it turns out that messing with her locket is a sore point. Also take note that the script was specific that Andros could not be the one to rip the necklace from her or even see what happened. By now, you probably should have figured out the entire subplot ridiculously early, but we still have twenty episodes to go before the reveal. I mean, it's not as obvious as Dillon and Tenaya, but come on! We only learned about Karone last episode! Anyway, so, she kicks everyone's asses singlehandedly and retrieves the disks, but she makes the fatal mistake of entrusting them to the idiot. The Rangers are chained to the ground so Clawhammer can eat them, and Andros uses telekinesis to slip the disks away from Elgar before they all teleport out. Clawhammer turns out to be a giant monster, so Alpha decides it's his turn to be a total badass and forms the Megazord and controls it remotely from the bridge. But, well, remotely controlling everything on a Megazord is tough, so it's not long before he ends up in trouble. So Andros telekinetically grabs an Astro Blaster and shoots everyone free. They recover the disks and take control over the Megazord and...repeatedly kick Clawhammer in the crotch. And then as if that wasn't bad enough, they headbutt it. Then they swing it around by its antennae with enough force to rip them out of his head. God, remind me never to piss off the Space Rangers; throwing Clawhammer into the lava to destroy it was actually merciful after that kind of beating.
With Elgar's failure, Astronema sends him to "play" with her unseen pet, Skrudly-a torture that actually disturbs the hell out of her Quantrons. The Rangers transmit the surviving data to NASADA, but unfortunately, they didn't find anything that could help them with their quest-presumably, any information would have been on the damaged disk. For once in his life, Andros tries to look on the bright side, pointing out that it really could have been nothing, but Cassie counters that it could have been everything. TJ breaks up the drama by offering a snowboard vacation on the simudeck, but once the Rangers leave, Alpha picks up the disk and wonders if they were close to finding Zordon...
A Ranger Among Thieves (Judd Lynn/Worth Keeter): We start with another simulation against the manta ray monster, and it's here that I realize how utterly unhelpful the simudeck is. The monsters die easily and aren't even the type they fight-they have to fight Quantrons in reality, not Craterites (give it a few episodes). But the whole thing is more of a workout before their math midterm. For some reason, Andros goes with them to school, and I can't for the life of me justify why, especially if the whole school is in the middle of exams. I mean, he doesn't understand Earth culture and the technology he's used to is far more advanced than what's on Earth, so he's not going to make it through any social studies classes or even science; math and English are his best bets, and even then, probably just math. After the class bell makes him flip out and ready himself for an attack, they tell him to relax, skip school, and explore Angel Grove. So once again, WHY did you bring him to AGHS? He has no idea how to behave around normal teenagers. Hell, I can spare you this shit: Just have it that everyone's so worked up about school that they forget that they're leaving Andros all alone on the Megaship for the day, so they encourage him to explore or he takes it upon himself to explore. Problem solved-well, one of many.
He heads to the Surf Spot, where Adelle is telling the police that her delivery van is stolen. A very obviously sketchy guy named Chuck is listening in and then slips past the police as they leave and steals money from a woman's purse-our bad guy, ladies and gents. He then joins his friends, Suzy and David, at the pool table and tells them that the police don't know it was them. Suzy notices Andros trying to eat a banana with the skin on and tells him to peel it. And I already alluded to it before, but this drives me nuts. Yes, Andros is an alien. But he's not stupid, and this whole episode is written for someone who didn't sneak into the secret gathering of every villain in the franchise to date, sit down at their banquet table, refuse to drink to their god, fight off the biggest badasses of the bad guys, win, escape, and then be so damn suspicious of the other Rangers that it took him until the end of the episode to realize that they weren't trying to kill him. Not to mention that any secret he has pretty much has to be spied on in order to find out anything about him. Andros is not a trusting character by nature, and he has good reason not to be-his sister was kidnapped, and there's a good number of people who want him dead because he's a Power Ranger and an incredibly bold one at that. This is not a guy who's going to fall for any of this. What's worse is I don't think I can blame the Sentai for it-from what I can see on RangerWiki, this episode draws fight footage from an episode with an entirely different plot!
Anyway, in exchange for the banana advice, Andros gives Suzy advice about pool-incredibly obvious advice that Chuck isn't interested in-so when he makes the shot himself, Suzy and David basically fall in love with him. Chuck not so much. But when they try to break into a car, Andros spots them and believes their story about locking themselves out, so he quietly uses telekinesis to get it open. This makes Chuck decide to let him drive around with them. They take his alien-ness well, but they're a little shaken up when he jumps out of the car to take out a purse-snatcher, simply because he doesn't like thieves. And to be honest, I kind of like this. Kind of. See, it's a great moment where he just stops everything, runs over, and grapples with the thief until the police arrive. The old woman who owned the purse hugs him, and out-of-breath, he gives her back the purse and refuses any reward. That strikes me as Andros-willing to do the right thing without reward. But his justification that he doesn't like thieves falls flat, particularly when I know he's going to steal some keycards from one of the villains later. Or that he plans to try to steal the Psycho Rangers' data cards in Lost Galaxy. If it were any of the Reds before him, fine. But Andros is different from them in that he's more willing to break the rules in order to save people or to further his personal goals. He's more of a Yasuko Kobayashi character that way. Yes, he's ultimately good, but he's not as purely good as the heroes he's surrounded by-which fits the theme of the series because we have some truly nuanced villains as well (I'm talking about Ecliptor). There are several different ways Andros could have summed up his behavior: He could have said that he didn't like injustice, and that would work-hating to see the weak being abused or taken advantage of. He could have said it was just wrong, and that would have been enough for kids to understand and to leave the thieves uncomfortable. Or he simply could have said nothing at all and left his new friends feeling even more uncomfortable-that would have been even more powerful. But the talk about hating thieves just falls flat because it's Andros.
They drive around for a bit, but when he sees an electrical surge and knows it's somehow Astronema-related, he makes an excuse to leave. David and Suzy wonder if they should help him out, but Chuck seems to hate him even more after the purse-snatcher incident and decides to leave him. There's a short battle made entirely of original footage against a monster called Voltagehog, which is draining electricity in order to grow stronger. When Voltagehog escapes, Andros asks Alpha to scan for him while he returns to the thieves. He finds them scrapping Adelle's van, and it takes him longer than it really should to put two and two together. To their credit, David and Suzy really did like him and feel guilty about betraying his trust. But Andros isn't taking this shit anymore and runs off, presumably to call the cops. Voltagehog reappears while he's gone and attacks the thieves, but Andros reappears with a Rider Kick and protects them, fighting to buy them time to run. David and Suzy still consider him their friend, so they return to help him escape, and he manages to slip away from them and morph. While Voltagehog absorbs more energy, Ecliptor appears, now in his second form. He proceeds to humiliate Andros during the fight, even breaking the Spiral Saber before stomping his face into the mud. The others finally arrive and put D.E.C.A.'s new weapon we never heard about before, the Quadroblaster, to good use. Note that for some reason, they didn't cut the very slight bit of Megaranger footage that calls it the Multiattack Rifle. And you know that Power Rangers and Super Sentai staple where all the Rangers stand together and hold onto each other's body before shooting it? PRiS offers a justification-they're steadying Carlos's aim so he doesn't hit Andros by mistake, since he's right in the line of fire. Ecliptor shatters and disappears, and I'm starting to wonder which villain really has nine lives, and between the Quadroblaster and Andros's Astro Blaster, they take down Voltagehog before the Astro Megazord throws its sword at his shoulder to destroy him.
Chuck is eventually arrested mid-carjacking, and Andros tries to tell Adelle what happened. But Suzy and David are already apologizing to her and return her keys. Impressed by their courage for confessing, she forgives them and offers them a delivery job.
Astronema checks in on the three stooges, where she learns Prof. Phenomenus has created a highly volatile substance...
When Push Comes to Shove (Judd Lynn/Worth Keeter): Before we start, I want to discuss something fast, the Power Rangers Super Megaforce episode "Blue Saber Saga" written by Jason Smith. The original episode in its source material, Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger featured Gokai Blue, Joe, being shaken by a Zangyack Action Commander's swordsmanship and training like mad on his own to overcome him. On the surface, the Power Rangers version was the same, with Blue Ranger Noah putting himself through the exact same training regimen. What was different was the characters and the motivation. Joe was cool and collected, and this was a major shakeup for him; he was a former soldier in the Zangyack Empire and took a lot of pride in his swordsmanship-failing this battle was an insult to his lost teacher, Cid Bamick, who was a major part of his character arc as the show went on. Training alone is totally expected for Joe, especially among the Gokaigers, who were the least touchy-feely Sentai ever; when Gokai Pink, Ahim, was surprised by everyone's lack of concern and went to check on him, she had to learn that they all respected one another's space-the Gokaigers were very much individuals first, a crew second. Noah, on the other hand, was a nerd who spent all of Megaforce trying to improve himself. He's far more at home researching in the computer lab than fighting a ton of swords in a bamboo forest. He was frustrated with himself because he thought he was holding the team back, and he'd already had an episode dealing with that in the first season. Pink Ranger Emma only went to find him at Black/Green Ranger Jake's request, since he was occupied at the time and couldn't find and console his best friend. Joe had to learn that asking his team for help wasn't a sign of weakness, even if they all respected his space. Noah learned that no matter what he feared, he wasn't holding anyone back-they would all help him if he asked, and teamwork itself was what made them strong, not just the sum of their individual work.
I bring this up because in all honesty, I think it may be the most perfect Sentai adaptation to date. Take the original story but make it fit your characters. Make sure that the choices made are in-character for what has already been written. Noah can't be written as cool and distant; he's frustrated and afraid he's slowing everyone down again. Keep in mind that the Megaforce Power Rangers are much more touchy-feely than the Gokaigers and that Noah has a best friend who would normally be the first one to go to him; make a good reason why it's Emma instead. Hell, they even fused it with the Mystic Force tribute, where it hadn't been a tribute in Gokaiger, and the Magiranger tribute was an entirely separate and earlier episode, and it pretty much worked. I say this because there is a right way to take the story of your source material and to adapt it to fit your entirely different show.
Unfortunately, "When Push Comes to Shove" is not it. Besides family stuff and illness, the biggest reason why it's taken me so long to review this episode is because I hate it. I utterly despise every last plot thread in it. The deplorable implications that it's teaching children, the insanely stupid setup, the dumbass plan, the fact that you even THINK that using plutonium in-story is a good idea even pre-Fukushima... This does not help my ongoing critique of Judd Lynn as a writer (which I will discuss better at another time) or reassure me at all that he knows what he's doing episode-by-episode.
Cassie is at the Surf Spot before school, adding a picture of herself and Ashley to her diary. When she realizes she's running late for class, she rushes off and accidentally leaves her diary behind. At school, while talking with Ashley, she realizes her mistake. Ashley tries to tell her it's no big deal, but Cassie reveals she may have put a picture of herself as the Pink Ranger in there. Which she didn't. What, is this a cover because she wrote that she was in love with Ashley, put the picture in as proof, and is desperately trying to remain in the closet? It's not like Power Rangers knows how to write straight girl relationships anyway. And honestly, even if there was a picture of Pink Ranger...why? WHY would she put a photo of herself as a Ranger in anything, let alone a diary? Why would she TAKE a photo of herself as a Ranger? It's one thing if we're talking about a rookie Ranger who's just so excited to be a superhero that they didn't use good judgment, but Cassie's been a Power Ranger for at least half a year as Pink Turbo Ranger and eight episodes now as Pink Space. She knows better, and she's certainly not an idiot. What the everliving fuck? As she and Ashley prepare to go to the Surf Spot to search, they bump into two boys, the motormouth George and the painfully introverted Lenny, who reveal they've taken her diary and will only give it back if she goes out with Lenny. That's right, boys: If you like someone but you're too shy to ask them out, blackmail them into doing what you want. If she doesn't, they're going to read it. Ashley advises her to just go along with the extortion.
In only slightly less rage-inducing subplots, the Prof. reveals just what that volatile chemical was at a local press conference: an extremely powerful plutonium fuel. Insert headdesk here. Goddamnit, Judd Lynn, I know that there's absolutely no way you could have known about Fukushima Daiichi in 1998, but for the love of god, DO YOU KNOW WHAT PLUTONIUM IS?! It's RADIOACTIVE! EXTREMELY! It's not something you should just write as a secondary monster-of-the-week-real people have died from this kind of thing! I hate saying this, but seriously, Judd Lynn: Fuck you. And honest to god, if this was the same damn thing in Megaranger, then fuck that episode's writer too-this is not how you write nuclear disasters!
Prof. plans to use the Pu as rocket fuel to send Bulk and Skull into space, and to prevent the canister from shattering and nuking Angel Grove and the surrounding area, he's keeping it in his lab at the top of a skyscraper. In Giant Monster Fight Central Station. Where tall buildings are the FIRST thing to go. And to really make everyone feel safe, he almost knocks the thing over and kills everyone, if not for Bulk catching it in time. Ladies and gentlemen: the REAL hero of Power Rangers. Also, Astronema is standing RIGHT in the middle of the crowd of reporters, and no one notices the young woman with crazy hair wearing black leather. She plans on knocking over the building to nuke the city. Sweetie, let me simplify your plan: Walk up to Bulk, take the Pu, teleport out and leave behind the Pu to drop. Poof: Everybody dies. Goddamnit, when I hate the episode and I can still be a better evil overlord, this is inexcusable writing.
Cassie goes on her date and manages to ditch George, convincing Lenny to give her back her diary afterward. She gets him to begin to speak for himself, since he has terrible self-confidence. That's right, girls. If a guy blackmails you into dating him, he's really just a nice guy and should be given a chance. Fuck you, Judd Lynn, once again. This is an awful moral to teach children. They decide to go up to the Nuclear Building for dinner, but an elephant monster starts knocking it down because Astronema's plan is needlessly complicated. Cassie can't morph because Lenny refuses to leave her side and once again, I don't fucking care. Look, I think Zordon will forgive you if you blow your secret identity to save someone's life. The other Rangers try to fight, but Ecliptor spills the beans on the Pu, prompting Ashley to run a scan, where she spots Cassie and Lenny...who decided not to escape the collapsing building and instead took refuge inside a room. The Pu room. With an overheating reactor. And a locked door all of a sudden because drama. Adding to it is the false drama of Cassie not making the obvious choice and morphing because secret identities are more important than human lives, apparently. So while Carlos and TJ fight, Andros and Ashley take the newly introduced Mega Tank, which was designed to handle rough terrain...because I don't know why they can't just use their Galaxy Gliders on planets with rough terrain but whatever. Andros gives no fucks about driving safely and just runs over everything while driving upstairs to get to the lab in time for Cassie not to have to morph after all.
Screencap of Dillon from RPM. Subtitle: You're trying to make me care.
Andros then proceeds to extract the Pu core and inject a neutralizing agent because...wait. Hold the phone. The Rangers have the technology to neutralize one of the most dangerous substances on the planet Earth? SHARE THE TECH, GUYS! So now, the only danger is that they're in a collapsing building with a super-sized elephant monster trying to knock it down. Much better. They get out safely, with Lenny passing out or something so Cassie can morph, and they kick the monster's ass with the Astro Megazord.
The next day, Lenny and George meet up with the others at the Surf Spot. Lenny gives back the diary, where there's still no pic of Cassie as Pink Ranger, and he promises he didn't read it. She does lecture him on how it was wrong, but honestly? He still gets rewarded with not only this date, but a second. Deplorable behavior works, kids. And not only does she agree to go out with him, but she makes Ashley go out with George because seriously, fuck this episode.
I know I should be trying to be impartial, but there is so much wrong that I can't. Seriously, children pick up lessons from everything they watch, whether you intend to teach a lesson or not. This is the lesson you teach: Blackmailing a girl into dating you is okay if you're sorry about it, and if he is sorry about it, girls, give him a chance. Then add in the insultingly stupid Pu plot and just gloss over how utterly dangerous it is in real life just because you need a little extra drama in your episode-you ARE allowed to create your own made-up element without resorting to this. Even RPM pissed me off to some degree with the way the environment healed itself suddenly after the first episode revealed that there was radiation in the atmosphere-not to mention all the times the Rangers just walked around outside in that toxic atmosphere with absolutely no ill effects. But this? This? This is ridiculous.
My point about "Blue Saber Saga" still stands: You can adapt an episode of Super Sentai into an episode of Power Rangers by changing things, and that's okay. You honestly should change things, since your characters are not the same as the Sentai characters. Or because there are cultural differences between Japan and America and what might not have unfortunate implications in Japan may come off as downright insulting to an American audience. Think about the fact that you're writing for children, ages 6-11, who are going to grow up with this impacting their development in some way. They are getting thousands of lessons from everything they watch, read, and hear, and it's going to affect the way they treat the people around them. I'm not saying the Rangers have to be perfect role models; what I am saying is that there needs to be a very distinct line between acceptable behavior and unacceptable behavior, and unacceptable behavior needs to have consequences, which is the exact same argument I made back in Lost Galaxy's Turn Up the Volume. You can't write a series about superheroes fighting supervillains and ensuring that good always wins and then go and show casual, everyday badness can get by without consequences-not without addressing it and why it's wrong. Forgiving car thieves who were courageous enough to change their ways is one thing. Rewarding someone for blackmailing you is another, especially when Lenny hadn't done anything to make it right the first date. As the writer, it's your responsibility to teach kids that every action has a consequence, and Judd Lynn, this is on your hands.
As everyone else is getting ready for bed, Andros is scanning various galaxies for lifeforms-ostensibly to find Zordon, but when no one's around, he pulls out a locket from underneath his uniform and opens it to reveal a tiny data disk. On this disk is a video of his childhood, where it turns out that even then, he wore red all the time. Carlos, who was working on Andros's Galaxy Glider, is heading to bed when he happens to see Andros watching the video, becoming more and more upset. And it's no wonder. When he was very young, he and his sister, Karone, were playing in the park. He ran off to chase their runaway toy, and while he was gone, a monster kidnapped Karone. The monster mostly appears in silhouette, so Andros can't identify him, but he's been searching for years and will never stop until he finds her-and we have our character arc, people. Carlos finally heads off for a restless night, and Andros is about to call it a night too when a scan of the Delta Sector reveals a life sign in the Karova System-specifically, KO-35. Andros ends up revealing why he's never gone home: the colony was abandoned years ago. But he reasons that Karone wouldn't know that, so if she escaped, of course she'd go home.
There's also filler involving the three stooges on Earth searching for alien eggs, only to find a watermelon. It really breaks up the flow, but I include it because we have to check in on these guys from time to time. For some reason, Bulk's nightmare/daydream of being attacked by an alien pod made the preview and the recap for next episode, but yeah. It's fake. And even the Prof. and Skull are embarrassed by him.
Comic relief aside, the Megaship arrives in KO-35's orbit, and we see that like with Aquitar before it, it's played by Neptune. Andros finally got a little sleep on the way there, but D.E.C.A. wakes him up to let him know they've arrived. He promises to be back before the others wake, then heads down, speeding past Carlos's window, where the Black Ranger is still lying awake, troubled by what he saw in the home movie. Andros lands in a city in the southern hemisphere, and probably because of exhaustion, he botches his landing. And despite knowing that the colony was deserted, he's disturbed by how empty and quiet everything is, and he realizes that Karone must be too. But on the Dark Fortress, Astronema sleeps and Ecliptor...is alive. Somehow. Given that he's supposed to be a robot or something, I guess Dark Specter just had him rebuilt. Also, for some reason, he's kind of creeping on Astronema outside her bedroom, saying, "Sweet dreams," in a threatening tone-but I'm going to give the writers a break this time and just assume they hadn't worked out the nature of their relationship yet. He activates the monitor and sees Andros alone on KO-35. Also, he claims to have destroyed the planet-which is kinda sorta true? I mean, the planet itself is fine, but we'll see what happened to force the colonists to abandon it, and the idea that Ecliptor played a part in it is actually really good. Again, it gives the sense that there's a lot of bad blood between him and Andros, which is important for later.
D.E.C.A. gives a wake-up call to everybody, but of course, Carlos never slept, and he's groggy enough to hit his head on the bunk bed. The others are in the work bay (misidentified by me as the cargo bay last review, oops), but he notices that Andros isn't there-nor is his Glider, for that matter. Suspicious, he asks D.E.C.A., who spills all. Realizing why Andros is back home, he explains what he saw, somehow figuring out that KO-35 was deserted after an attack years ago. Worried, he decides to follow. The others offer to come, but he asks them to give Andros some privacy-which is a really nice gesture, even if Andros is the last person who should be given leeway to keep secrets. God, I think Zordon and Gosei are more forthcoming than he is.
Andros manages to find Ecliptor, who can now change phases of matter like Alex Mack. They never really explain what it was that D.E.C.A. detected-only that he was behind it somehow, so that's a nice hint that he's got a vested interest in preventing Andros from finding his sister. In-between their battle banter, Andros is getting his ass kicked, so it's a good thing that Carlos...okay, there's no other way to describe it: he breaks in via the Mirror World from Kamen Rider Ryuki. Damn it, does this mean that Kanzaki is the reason the Power Rangers continuity makes no sense? Andros doesn't have time to recover before Ecliptor's cyber shadow attacks, so Carlos shields him, explaining that they're teammates and so of course he had to come. With Carlos badly wounded, Andros has no choice but to retreat, carrying him back to the Megaship on his Glider. The team monitors him closely until he falls asleep. Andros blames himself for Carlos's injuries, and no amount of reasoning can convince him otherwise. Even when Cassie tries to explain that because they're a team, what affects one of them affects everybody, TJ admits that it's not that Andros doesn't understand-it's just that he can't accept it. Andros beats himself up so badly over it that he's having flashbacks-and while I'm not prepared to diagnose him with PTSD (though I think you might be able to make a case for it), I will say that you can tell he takes these things very personally; there's a lot of guilt weighing on him, and he's someone who can't forgive himself. He warns D.E.C.A. not to tell anyone where he's going and heads back to KO-35 for round two. As a nice touch, Ecliptor taunts him by asking if he's become too weak that he can't fight without someone else's help anymore, and it seems to sting a bit, provoking Andros to remark that he'll show Ecliptor who's the weak one. Unfortunately, Ecliptor is giant-sized again, which means that, yeah, it's probably Andros. Also, it's kind of hard to use the Megazord without everyone aboard knowing what you're doing, so that option's off the table. But Andros does decide to be a smartass and taunt Ecliptor for basically being too weak to pick on someone his own size. When Ashley can't find him on the ship, TJ realizes he was dumb enough to go back. D.E.C.A.'s silence confirms it, and they head down to save his ass. But just as they've rescued him, Carlos staggers in-that is some insomnia you've got there! He insists again that he's part of the team and Andros needs help, so injuries be damned, he's fighting. So they shoot Ecliptor with their Astro Blasters, then get some orbital bombardment support from the Megaship. And this...makes him run away or something-the rest of the stock footage was already used up for "Save Our Ship," okay? But Andros is left depressed that he got his hopes up for nothing.
Sometime later, Andros is in the gym when a fully recovered Carlos visits. Andros apologizes for getting him hurt, but Carlos says he understands, explaining that he knows about his past. He offers the team's help in finding Karone, if Andros will let them. Andros agrees, finally accepting that he's part of this team now, and they...yeah, they shake hands. This show has more handshakes than Kamen Rider Fourze. But now, Andros has help on what's probably the most important subplot of the season...
Satellite Search (Judd Lynn/Blair Treu): Velocifighters shoot down a NASADA...well, they call it a "satellite" the whole time, but more accurately, it's a probe. Whatever. It plummets toward a Jupiter-looking planet called Kalderon. Astronema tells Elgar not to assume it's destroyed; go down there and make sure of it. Meanwhile, the Rangers get an encrypted transmission from Commander Norquist at NASADA asking for their help with the satellite. The data on its memory disks is invaluable to the space program, representing eight years of exploration and research. And because the Rangers have the shuttle and Megaship, they're the only ones who can retrieve the satellite for them. Carlos and Ashley realize that if Astronema attacked it, it must have seen something she didn't want anyone seeing-possibly Zordon's whereabouts. We're treated to a rare space battle when Astronema discovers them setting a course for Kalderon, and the Megaship and some Velocifighters engage in combat. According to the original scripts SirSTACK has, Judd Lynn planned for it to be really epic, with a lot of dodging and rolling by the Megaship. I'm guessing logistics had to cut down on a lot of the maneuverability of the Megaship, but it still makes Andros look like a damn good captain, since the Velocifighters come off as infinitely more agile, and they still manage to outmaneuver and outsmart them.
But once they land on Kalderon, they find their troubles are only beginning: The planet is extremely hot, enough to knock out a lot of their equipment (including communications), and they're standing right by a volcano ready to erupt. They fight off some Quantrons and Elgar, who runs at the roar of a local monster, Clawhammer (the original script also says that it was supposed to speak, but they cut all of its lines and to better effect, I think). Astronema refuses to listen to any of his excuses and threatens to feed him to Clawhammer if he fails. When the Rangers manage to find the satellite and retrieve the disks (one of which is damaged), she finds them and proceeds to fight them. She's already doing an awesome job against them, but it turns out that messing with her locket is a sore point. Also take note that the script was specific that Andros could not be the one to rip the necklace from her or even see what happened. By now, you probably should have figured out the entire subplot ridiculously early, but we still have twenty episodes to go before the reveal. I mean, it's not as obvious as Dillon and Tenaya, but come on! We only learned about Karone last episode! Anyway, so, she kicks everyone's asses singlehandedly and retrieves the disks, but she makes the fatal mistake of entrusting them to the idiot. The Rangers are chained to the ground so Clawhammer can eat them, and Andros uses telekinesis to slip the disks away from Elgar before they all teleport out. Clawhammer turns out to be a giant monster, so Alpha decides it's his turn to be a total badass and forms the Megazord and controls it remotely from the bridge. But, well, remotely controlling everything on a Megazord is tough, so it's not long before he ends up in trouble. So Andros telekinetically grabs an Astro Blaster and shoots everyone free. They recover the disks and take control over the Megazord and...repeatedly kick Clawhammer in the crotch. And then as if that wasn't bad enough, they headbutt it. Then they swing it around by its antennae with enough force to rip them out of his head. God, remind me never to piss off the Space Rangers; throwing Clawhammer into the lava to destroy it was actually merciful after that kind of beating.
With Elgar's failure, Astronema sends him to "play" with her unseen pet, Skrudly-a torture that actually disturbs the hell out of her Quantrons. The Rangers transmit the surviving data to NASADA, but unfortunately, they didn't find anything that could help them with their quest-presumably, any information would have been on the damaged disk. For once in his life, Andros tries to look on the bright side, pointing out that it really could have been nothing, but Cassie counters that it could have been everything. TJ breaks up the drama by offering a snowboard vacation on the simudeck, but once the Rangers leave, Alpha picks up the disk and wonders if they were close to finding Zordon...
A Ranger Among Thieves (Judd Lynn/Worth Keeter): We start with another simulation against the manta ray monster, and it's here that I realize how utterly unhelpful the simudeck is. The monsters die easily and aren't even the type they fight-they have to fight Quantrons in reality, not Craterites (give it a few episodes). But the whole thing is more of a workout before their math midterm. For some reason, Andros goes with them to school, and I can't for the life of me justify why, especially if the whole school is in the middle of exams. I mean, he doesn't understand Earth culture and the technology he's used to is far more advanced than what's on Earth, so he's not going to make it through any social studies classes or even science; math and English are his best bets, and even then, probably just math. After the class bell makes him flip out and ready himself for an attack, they tell him to relax, skip school, and explore Angel Grove. So once again, WHY did you bring him to AGHS? He has no idea how to behave around normal teenagers. Hell, I can spare you this shit: Just have it that everyone's so worked up about school that they forget that they're leaving Andros all alone on the Megaship for the day, so they encourage him to explore or he takes it upon himself to explore. Problem solved-well, one of many.
He heads to the Surf Spot, where Adelle is telling the police that her delivery van is stolen. A very obviously sketchy guy named Chuck is listening in and then slips past the police as they leave and steals money from a woman's purse-our bad guy, ladies and gents. He then joins his friends, Suzy and David, at the pool table and tells them that the police don't know it was them. Suzy notices Andros trying to eat a banana with the skin on and tells him to peel it. And I already alluded to it before, but this drives me nuts. Yes, Andros is an alien. But he's not stupid, and this whole episode is written for someone who didn't sneak into the secret gathering of every villain in the franchise to date, sit down at their banquet table, refuse to drink to their god, fight off the biggest badasses of the bad guys, win, escape, and then be so damn suspicious of the other Rangers that it took him until the end of the episode to realize that they weren't trying to kill him. Not to mention that any secret he has pretty much has to be spied on in order to find out anything about him. Andros is not a trusting character by nature, and he has good reason not to be-his sister was kidnapped, and there's a good number of people who want him dead because he's a Power Ranger and an incredibly bold one at that. This is not a guy who's going to fall for any of this. What's worse is I don't think I can blame the Sentai for it-from what I can see on RangerWiki, this episode draws fight footage from an episode with an entirely different plot!
Anyway, in exchange for the banana advice, Andros gives Suzy advice about pool-incredibly obvious advice that Chuck isn't interested in-so when he makes the shot himself, Suzy and David basically fall in love with him. Chuck not so much. But when they try to break into a car, Andros spots them and believes their story about locking themselves out, so he quietly uses telekinesis to get it open. This makes Chuck decide to let him drive around with them. They take his alien-ness well, but they're a little shaken up when he jumps out of the car to take out a purse-snatcher, simply because he doesn't like thieves. And to be honest, I kind of like this. Kind of. See, it's a great moment where he just stops everything, runs over, and grapples with the thief until the police arrive. The old woman who owned the purse hugs him, and out-of-breath, he gives her back the purse and refuses any reward. That strikes me as Andros-willing to do the right thing without reward. But his justification that he doesn't like thieves falls flat, particularly when I know he's going to steal some keycards from one of the villains later. Or that he plans to try to steal the Psycho Rangers' data cards in Lost Galaxy. If it were any of the Reds before him, fine. But Andros is different from them in that he's more willing to break the rules in order to save people or to further his personal goals. He's more of a Yasuko Kobayashi character that way. Yes, he's ultimately good, but he's not as purely good as the heroes he's surrounded by-which fits the theme of the series because we have some truly nuanced villains as well (I'm talking about Ecliptor). There are several different ways Andros could have summed up his behavior: He could have said that he didn't like injustice, and that would work-hating to see the weak being abused or taken advantage of. He could have said it was just wrong, and that would have been enough for kids to understand and to leave the thieves uncomfortable. Or he simply could have said nothing at all and left his new friends feeling even more uncomfortable-that would have been even more powerful. But the talk about hating thieves just falls flat because it's Andros.
They drive around for a bit, but when he sees an electrical surge and knows it's somehow Astronema-related, he makes an excuse to leave. David and Suzy wonder if they should help him out, but Chuck seems to hate him even more after the purse-snatcher incident and decides to leave him. There's a short battle made entirely of original footage against a monster called Voltagehog, which is draining electricity in order to grow stronger. When Voltagehog escapes, Andros asks Alpha to scan for him while he returns to the thieves. He finds them scrapping Adelle's van, and it takes him longer than it really should to put two and two together. To their credit, David and Suzy really did like him and feel guilty about betraying his trust. But Andros isn't taking this shit anymore and runs off, presumably to call the cops. Voltagehog reappears while he's gone and attacks the thieves, but Andros reappears with a Rider Kick and protects them, fighting to buy them time to run. David and Suzy still consider him their friend, so they return to help him escape, and he manages to slip away from them and morph. While Voltagehog absorbs more energy, Ecliptor appears, now in his second form. He proceeds to humiliate Andros during the fight, even breaking the Spiral Saber before stomping his face into the mud. The others finally arrive and put D.E.C.A.'s new weapon we never heard about before, the Quadroblaster, to good use. Note that for some reason, they didn't cut the very slight bit of Megaranger footage that calls it the Multiattack Rifle. And you know that Power Rangers and Super Sentai staple where all the Rangers stand together and hold onto each other's body before shooting it? PRiS offers a justification-they're steadying Carlos's aim so he doesn't hit Andros by mistake, since he's right in the line of fire. Ecliptor shatters and disappears, and I'm starting to wonder which villain really has nine lives, and between the Quadroblaster and Andros's Astro Blaster, they take down Voltagehog before the Astro Megazord throws its sword at his shoulder to destroy him.
Chuck is eventually arrested mid-carjacking, and Andros tries to tell Adelle what happened. But Suzy and David are already apologizing to her and return her keys. Impressed by their courage for confessing, she forgives them and offers them a delivery job.
Astronema checks in on the three stooges, where she learns Prof. Phenomenus has created a highly volatile substance...
When Push Comes to Shove (Judd Lynn/Worth Keeter): Before we start, I want to discuss something fast, the Power Rangers Super Megaforce episode "Blue Saber Saga" written by Jason Smith. The original episode in its source material, Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger featured Gokai Blue, Joe, being shaken by a Zangyack Action Commander's swordsmanship and training like mad on his own to overcome him. On the surface, the Power Rangers version was the same, with Blue Ranger Noah putting himself through the exact same training regimen. What was different was the characters and the motivation. Joe was cool and collected, and this was a major shakeup for him; he was a former soldier in the Zangyack Empire and took a lot of pride in his swordsmanship-failing this battle was an insult to his lost teacher, Cid Bamick, who was a major part of his character arc as the show went on. Training alone is totally expected for Joe, especially among the Gokaigers, who were the least touchy-feely Sentai ever; when Gokai Pink, Ahim, was surprised by everyone's lack of concern and went to check on him, she had to learn that they all respected one another's space-the Gokaigers were very much individuals first, a crew second. Noah, on the other hand, was a nerd who spent all of Megaforce trying to improve himself. He's far more at home researching in the computer lab than fighting a ton of swords in a bamboo forest. He was frustrated with himself because he thought he was holding the team back, and he'd already had an episode dealing with that in the first season. Pink Ranger Emma only went to find him at Black/Green Ranger Jake's request, since he was occupied at the time and couldn't find and console his best friend. Joe had to learn that asking his team for help wasn't a sign of weakness, even if they all respected his space. Noah learned that no matter what he feared, he wasn't holding anyone back-they would all help him if he asked, and teamwork itself was what made them strong, not just the sum of their individual work.
I bring this up because in all honesty, I think it may be the most perfect Sentai adaptation to date. Take the original story but make it fit your characters. Make sure that the choices made are in-character for what has already been written. Noah can't be written as cool and distant; he's frustrated and afraid he's slowing everyone down again. Keep in mind that the Megaforce Power Rangers are much more touchy-feely than the Gokaigers and that Noah has a best friend who would normally be the first one to go to him; make a good reason why it's Emma instead. Hell, they even fused it with the Mystic Force tribute, where it hadn't been a tribute in Gokaiger, and the Magiranger tribute was an entirely separate and earlier episode, and it pretty much worked. I say this because there is a right way to take the story of your source material and to adapt it to fit your entirely different show.
Unfortunately, "When Push Comes to Shove" is not it. Besides family stuff and illness, the biggest reason why it's taken me so long to review this episode is because I hate it. I utterly despise every last plot thread in it. The deplorable implications that it's teaching children, the insanely stupid setup, the dumbass plan, the fact that you even THINK that using plutonium in-story is a good idea even pre-Fukushima... This does not help my ongoing critique of Judd Lynn as a writer (which I will discuss better at another time) or reassure me at all that he knows what he's doing episode-by-episode.
Cassie is at the Surf Spot before school, adding a picture of herself and Ashley to her diary. When she realizes she's running late for class, she rushes off and accidentally leaves her diary behind. At school, while talking with Ashley, she realizes her mistake. Ashley tries to tell her it's no big deal, but Cassie reveals she may have put a picture of herself as the Pink Ranger in there. Which she didn't. What, is this a cover because she wrote that she was in love with Ashley, put the picture in as proof, and is desperately trying to remain in the closet? It's not like Power Rangers knows how to write straight girl relationships anyway. And honestly, even if there was a picture of Pink Ranger...why? WHY would she put a photo of herself as a Ranger in anything, let alone a diary? Why would she TAKE a photo of herself as a Ranger? It's one thing if we're talking about a rookie Ranger who's just so excited to be a superhero that they didn't use good judgment, but Cassie's been a Power Ranger for at least half a year as Pink Turbo Ranger and eight episodes now as Pink Space. She knows better, and she's certainly not an idiot. What the everliving fuck? As she and Ashley prepare to go to the Surf Spot to search, they bump into two boys, the motormouth George and the painfully introverted Lenny, who reveal they've taken her diary and will only give it back if she goes out with Lenny. That's right, boys: If you like someone but you're too shy to ask them out, blackmail them into doing what you want. If she doesn't, they're going to read it. Ashley advises her to just go along with the extortion.
In only slightly less rage-inducing subplots, the Prof. reveals just what that volatile chemical was at a local press conference: an extremely powerful plutonium fuel. Insert headdesk here. Goddamnit, Judd Lynn, I know that there's absolutely no way you could have known about Fukushima Daiichi in 1998, but for the love of god, DO YOU KNOW WHAT PLUTONIUM IS?! It's RADIOACTIVE! EXTREMELY! It's not something you should just write as a secondary monster-of-the-week-real people have died from this kind of thing! I hate saying this, but seriously, Judd Lynn: Fuck you. And honest to god, if this was the same damn thing in Megaranger, then fuck that episode's writer too-this is not how you write nuclear disasters!
Prof. plans to use the Pu as rocket fuel to send Bulk and Skull into space, and to prevent the canister from shattering and nuking Angel Grove and the surrounding area, he's keeping it in his lab at the top of a skyscraper. In Giant Monster Fight Central Station. Where tall buildings are the FIRST thing to go. And to really make everyone feel safe, he almost knocks the thing over and kills everyone, if not for Bulk catching it in time. Ladies and gentlemen: the REAL hero of Power Rangers. Also, Astronema is standing RIGHT in the middle of the crowd of reporters, and no one notices the young woman with crazy hair wearing black leather. She plans on knocking over the building to nuke the city. Sweetie, let me simplify your plan: Walk up to Bulk, take the Pu, teleport out and leave behind the Pu to drop. Poof: Everybody dies. Goddamnit, when I hate the episode and I can still be a better evil overlord, this is inexcusable writing.
Cassie goes on her date and manages to ditch George, convincing Lenny to give her back her diary afterward. She gets him to begin to speak for himself, since he has terrible self-confidence. That's right, girls. If a guy blackmails you into dating him, he's really just a nice guy and should be given a chance. Fuck you, Judd Lynn, once again. This is an awful moral to teach children. They decide to go up to the Nuclear Building for dinner, but an elephant monster starts knocking it down because Astronema's plan is needlessly complicated. Cassie can't morph because Lenny refuses to leave her side and once again, I don't fucking care. Look, I think Zordon will forgive you if you blow your secret identity to save someone's life. The other Rangers try to fight, but Ecliptor spills the beans on the Pu, prompting Ashley to run a scan, where she spots Cassie and Lenny...who decided not to escape the collapsing building and instead took refuge inside a room. The Pu room. With an overheating reactor. And a locked door all of a sudden because drama. Adding to it is the false drama of Cassie not making the obvious choice and morphing because secret identities are more important than human lives, apparently. So while Carlos and TJ fight, Andros and Ashley take the newly introduced Mega Tank, which was designed to handle rough terrain...because I don't know why they can't just use their Galaxy Gliders on planets with rough terrain but whatever. Andros gives no fucks about driving safely and just runs over everything while driving upstairs to get to the lab in time for Cassie not to have to morph after all.
Screencap of Dillon from RPM. Subtitle: You're trying to make me care.
Andros then proceeds to extract the Pu core and inject a neutralizing agent because...wait. Hold the phone. The Rangers have the technology to neutralize one of the most dangerous substances on the planet Earth? SHARE THE TECH, GUYS! So now, the only danger is that they're in a collapsing building with a super-sized elephant monster trying to knock it down. Much better. They get out safely, with Lenny passing out or something so Cassie can morph, and they kick the monster's ass with the Astro Megazord.
The next day, Lenny and George meet up with the others at the Surf Spot. Lenny gives back the diary, where there's still no pic of Cassie as Pink Ranger, and he promises he didn't read it. She does lecture him on how it was wrong, but honestly? He still gets rewarded with not only this date, but a second. Deplorable behavior works, kids. And not only does she agree to go out with him, but she makes Ashley go out with George because seriously, fuck this episode.
I know I should be trying to be impartial, but there is so much wrong that I can't. Seriously, children pick up lessons from everything they watch, whether you intend to teach a lesson or not. This is the lesson you teach: Blackmailing a girl into dating you is okay if you're sorry about it, and if he is sorry about it, girls, give him a chance. Then add in the insultingly stupid Pu plot and just gloss over how utterly dangerous it is in real life just because you need a little extra drama in your episode-you ARE allowed to create your own made-up element without resorting to this. Even RPM pissed me off to some degree with the way the environment healed itself suddenly after the first episode revealed that there was radiation in the atmosphere-not to mention all the times the Rangers just walked around outside in that toxic atmosphere with absolutely no ill effects. But this? This? This is ridiculous.
My point about "Blue Saber Saga" still stands: You can adapt an episode of Super Sentai into an episode of Power Rangers by changing things, and that's okay. You honestly should change things, since your characters are not the same as the Sentai characters. Or because there are cultural differences between Japan and America and what might not have unfortunate implications in Japan may come off as downright insulting to an American audience. Think about the fact that you're writing for children, ages 6-11, who are going to grow up with this impacting their development in some way. They are getting thousands of lessons from everything they watch, read, and hear, and it's going to affect the way they treat the people around them. I'm not saying the Rangers have to be perfect role models; what I am saying is that there needs to be a very distinct line between acceptable behavior and unacceptable behavior, and unacceptable behavior needs to have consequences, which is the exact same argument I made back in Lost Galaxy's Turn Up the Volume. You can't write a series about superheroes fighting supervillains and ensuring that good always wins and then go and show casual, everyday badness can get by without consequences-not without addressing it and why it's wrong. Forgiving car thieves who were courageous enough to change their ways is one thing. Rewarding someone for blackmailing you is another, especially when Lenny hadn't done anything to make it right the first date. As the writer, it's your responsibility to teach kids that every action has a consequence, and Judd Lynn, this is on your hands.