Episode 132- Changing of the Zords Part 3

About all this episode taught me is that Aisha makes an awesome Jazzercise instructor, and never ever EVER trust Tommy around machines that drain/sustain your life. Seriously.

So we start off with Zedd in the Command Center and my little heart goes all aflutter at just how purely AWESOME this is. Tommy agrees to pilot the zords and then Zedd leaves while cackling maniacally. Totally wasted opportunity there, Zedd. He had the chance, he could have really taken out the Command Center. If he'd done so, this episode would have been over right then and there. Zedd and evil would have won.

In the dark dimension, Kat is observing Kimberly spin on the table as her life force is drained away. Kat is sorry it has to be that way. Her eyes flash red and then she gets a distraught look on her face (and for all the poor acting on the show, Katherine Sutherland really sold this on facial expression alone) and says she means it. She really doesn't want it to be that way. Kat is starting to break the spell.

Back in the Command Center, Billy is trying to track down Kim while Alpha tries to build a device that will sever Kim's life force from the power coin. He finally locates her in the dark dimension but is unsure how to get in there. The front door is apparently "locked". Tommy has a brilliant selection and, drawing from his last sparring match before Jason left town, suggests they go in the back door. Heeee, I'm a twelve year old boy inside. In all seriousness, it's actually a really good plan. They sneak in the back and sneak Kim out with Zedd being, hopefully, none the wiser.

Billy sets up his portal machine in the park. We have to wonder WHY this needs to be done in the park, out in the open, where anybody can see them. But whatever. We get sunlight shining in Billy's hair making him look all pretty, so I'll take it. Tommy goes through the portal, well aware of his time limit, and finds Kim.

Meanwhile, during a hootenanny on the moon that's chock full of hoot with just a little bit of nanny, Zedd notices a disturbance in the force the intruder, and sends Tengas down to take care of the other rangers while he goes to deal with Tommy. The rangers immediately go to Ninja Power and I lament the loss of the unmorphed fighting sequences. Aisha is awesome because she immediately rounds up a good six or seven of them and starts dancing. They follow her every move and instruction and she manages to lead a great Jazzercise class with the Tengas. She tells them to fall down, and they DO. Adam grows really big and appears to squish two of them, but really he just picks them up and flings them away. The others just fight but two Tengas manage to escape notice. They come upon Billy's device and one asks if the other knows what it is. The other says no, and then suggests they destroy it. And they do.

Meanwhile, Zedd goes down to the dark dimension where he's holding Kim and fights Tommy. I don't like Tommy, this much has been made clear, but the Zedd/Tommy battles are pretty epic and I admit, begrudgingly, that I'd totally watch a half hour of Tommy and Zedd fighting. Mostly because of Zedd. But still. Anyway, Tommy breaks Zedd's staff, which promptly turns into a snake. Tommy says the snake is just like Zedd "cold and slimy". He's wrong of course. Snakes are neither cold (cold blooded, yes, but they still need to be warm to live) nor slimy (reptiles are not slimy, amphibians are... snakes are most definitely not amphibians).

Back on Earth, the Tengas run away and Billy fixes the portal device in all of about five seconds, with not a hint of duct tape in sight. Rita, seeing her prize slipping away, orders Finster to make a monster. In the meantime, she summons the zords. They appear in the park with much ground shaking, and Rocky mentions that earthquakes don't happen in Angel Grove. Except for all the times that they do, Rocky. Anyway, Adam is sad they'll have to use the zords for evil and they all just kind of work under the assumption that Tommy failed already. Rita's new monster finished, she sends it down to Earth. It FLASHES the rangers. Like, literally. It opens it's jacket to reveal it's naked body covered in eyes and flashes them. I love this monster already! They of course have to morph and fight.

Back in the dark dimension, Tommy has driven Lord Zedd away. He tries to figure out how to turn off the device, but decides to just start messing with buttons and knobs instead. HE MESSES WITH BUTTONS AND KNOBS. On the device that is DRAINING KIM'S LIFE AWAY. That's... probably the dumbest thing Tommy has EVER done. Luckily he manages to shut the darn thing down instead of the more probable event of draining her life completely. He picks her up and takes her through the portal, just in time, as it closes behind him. She's still unconscious and he gets Zordon to beam her to the Command Center so he can go help the others fight the awesome Flashing Monster.

They climb in the zords and Billy manages to break them away from Zedd's power source, tying them into their own power source... which is never explained what it is, where it came from, how it works, and how Billy was able to do so in less than a minute. Anyway, the zords are now under ranger control. They come together and fight the Flashing Monster, now so big he could flash all of downtown Angel Grove in one go. First they just shoot confetti at the monster, but then they pull out the sword and, I must say, it's pretty cool because it's on fire. They, of course, finish the monster and save the day.

Back at the Command Center, Kim has mostly recovered. Alpha has managed to sever her life force from the power coin and she's feeling better. She can still be the pink ranger, if she draws power from the others, though it's only a temporary solution. Rita and Zedd still have her coin and the falcon zord (which somehow renders the other zords completely inoperable? Whatever).

On the moon, Zedd is distraught that he lost. Rita comforts him by telling him all the things they still have and how awesome they are. Then she handles his snake for a bit.

Back on Earth, Kim and Tommy are walking along the lake at sunset, with the water sparkling behind them. Kim tells Tommy she's scared. Tommy tells her he will always be her friend and then kisses her on the cheek (and TSB is sure they then have sex on the beach). Roll credits.


All in all, 4 fish. Because... well... it just didn't make sense.