Episode 116- Ninja Quest Part 1

So I don't have the dvds of this season, and the copies I'm watching have the German title screens. Today we're watching Das Ninja- Abenteuer.

We start out at a volleyball game that involves far too much clothing. The Ranger, I mean, the Angel Grove team is trailing behind the Stone Canyon team. Ernie promises the winners free lunch at his new outdoor cafe. Adam scores the tying point.

At Rita and Zedd's palace, Zedd has blindfolded his wife and is leading her to a large present. She takes the blindfold off and he removes the cover to reveal a new telescope, which she calls a Repulsascope, in which to watch the Rangers on Earth! What an awesome anniversary present! Meanwhile, something crashes nearby. We discover it's a skeleton guy and he buries some eggs.

Back on Earth, Billy saw the flash and is distracted during the volleyball game. He misses the shot and it hits Bulk in the head instead. The Rangers gather around to discuss what happened... mid-game. The only thing I really noticed about this scene is that the Rangers, while all wearing red shirts, have colour coded their shorts to their colours, except Kim who is wearing white pants.

Back at the evil palace, the crashed skeleton flies into Zedd's throne room. He's about to kick out the intruder when Rita stops him. This skeleton is none other than her brother, Rito Revolto! We kind of love Rito. He's... unique. The eggs are a wedding present for Rita and Zedd but he won't tell them what they are until they hatch. They come up with a plan to attack Angel Grove and send Rito down in front of an army of monsters to trick the Power Rangers.

Billy scores the winning point and Ernie is so happy he offers free lunch to EVERYBODY. Oh Ernie, how do you ever make any money? So at the outdoor cafe, everyone is enjoying free sandwiches. Bulk stuffs some in his vest and we are about to get all mad when he overhears some girls talking about loving men in uniforms (though they are specifically talking about the Power Rangers), and Bulk comes up with a brilliant idea. Skull spills milkshake/smoothie/thick drink of some sort all over Bulk while trying to get everyone's attention. Bulk announces that he and Skull are going to join the Junior Police Patrol and all mouths drop wide open in utter shock. Even Skull is surprised. We, however, just love the idea. It's the start of some solid and consistent character growth for these two and we're looking forward to it.

Zedd sends down the monsters, Rito and four of Finster's previous monsters, and they all hide. Except Rito who is the decoy. He sits down in the middle of the park and waits. Zordon is actually paying attention for a change and sends the Rangers in to find out what Zedd has left in the park. They answer their communicators in the middle of the crowded outdoor cafe. Really guys? Not so much with the SECRET part of secret identities there.

So they go to the park and confront Rito, who immediate grows in a new monster-growing sequence. Rita and Zedd cross staffs and chant a spell, which makes the monsters grow. It's pretty awesome. So he's all big and the Rangers summon their zords. 12 minutes in and we get zords. This NEVER goes well when it's this early.

They fight for a minute but then the other four monsters come out of hiding and grow. The Rangers are overwhelmed and quickly losing power. Alpha takes the Power Accelerator from the fish and begin boosting the power, but it's not enough and the Power Accelerator is quickly overloading. Zordon warns that if it shorts out, the Rangers will lose their powers. We don't know how that works, but it's quickly forgotten in what I feel is one of the most emotional and well done scenes of this entire series.

The power overloads. The Rangers quickly abandon the Zords. They force demorph and just as they are trying to figure out what's going on, there are some massive explosions. The Zords are blowing up, from the inside out. They literally fall to pieces right in front of our eyes. Kim screams and tries to run for them, but Adam and Billy hold her back. It's devastating, watching the Zords just fall apart like that, and it still hurts my heart to this day, no matter how many times I've watched it happen.

To Be Continued (or in my copy, Fortsetzung Folgt)


Fish: 3, mostly for the Power Accelerator bit.

Billy speak: none, alas

Covered in food: Bulk gets covered in smoothie