Episode 218 - The Millenium Message

After the last group of recaps we did where neither of us wanted to write either of them, this time we get the I argued to get two of them. Look, I have theories about the Millenium Message.

Which means that this recap will be heavy on theories, and also on spoilers for RPM, SPD, the next half of Turbo and the PRiS finale. (Yes, we know, we try not to say too much about later series, but I wanted to talk about this stuff.)

So, we start off at the Juice Bar where Tanya and Tommy are working out, and Adam comes in wearing a magician's costume complete with cape and top hat, grumbling about this week's stunt show. I approve so hard. Then suddenly there's an earthquake. This being Angel Grove, it turns out the earthquake is actually being caused by an approaching ship. The Rangers assume that it's because the ship is there to talk to them, and... this being Angel Grove, sure. But how do they know the guy just isn't lost???? Anyway, his ship explodes, and he's found by Divatox.

Turns out this guy is the Blue Senturian, some sort of Intergalactic Robot Police Officer. Divatox manages to convince him that she's Dimitria (and we know that in universe they're twins, but REALLY?) and he plays a message, showing how the United Alliance of Evil is about to conquer Earth in the year 2000 and only one force stands in their way. We don't see who it is, but TIME FOR THEORIES.

SPOILERS

1-The team of Rangers they're actually seeing is the Turbo 2 team. That's what suddenly makes the Rangers all leave once TJ and Cassie get there - and why Divatox seems to seriously want to destroy them.
2-Obviously, PRiS happened in 1998 while the Millenium Message says the future he's from has the final battle in 2000. Well, this is because when it came down to it, none of the 5 current Rangers would have been able to kill Zordon, so the battle stretched on, which is why Earth is going to be overrun. By handing over their powers, they saved the universe.
3-The Blue Senturian works for SPD.
4-The future Blue Senturian came from? Also eventually becomes RPM. I mean, that would explain why there's no other Ranger teams around - everyone was lost fighting against the United Alliance of Evil.

So, to sum up. Had the Turbo 1 team NOT handed over their powers, the events of the Turbo finale STILL would have happened, Tommy would have been unable to kill Zordon, and then the world would have basically been conquered. Of course, since the Rangers are always victorious even if it takes a while, the Turbo 2 team would have eventually persevered. But the destruction of basically the world is what makes Alphabet Soup realize that they need their own Ranger teams, and why Dr K had a piece of the venjix robot from the Machine Empire that she accidentally turned into the venjix VIRUS.

Back to the recap. Blue Senturian gets reprogrammed after showing the message, and there's a detonator in him. He goes and fights Tommy, but then runs away after the other Rangers show up. Adam knows what the Blue Senturians are because Zordon told him, but he also suggests that GEE, MAYBE HE WAS REPROGRAMMED. Not like Divatox hasn't done THAT before.

Divatox also sends down a monter, and the fight is really stupid, and Kat manages to twist her ankle again and scream for Tommy. *SIGH*

Then the Rangers reprogram the Senturian (getting a glimpse of the message in the process), but don't remove the detonator and it runs off to go try and arrest Divatox, and there's an explosion and the Rangers think that it's been destroyed. Divatox shows up to taunt them, because she's awesome like that.

Except then the Blue Senturian shows back up with a Zord and it destroys the monster, and Alpha teleports down to try and cut the wire belonging to the detonator. He cuts the wrong one. Then Justin cuts the wrong one. Then they figure out they have to cut the purple one.

Back at the Power Chamber, they can see more of the message, but the important part has been damaged in the fight. Personally, I choose to believe that Alpha or Justin just cut the wrong wire.

Fish: 5! Although it's pretty good for thinking ridiculous thoughts

Covered in: Lt. Stone gets covered in bananas during the earthquake

Meta - Our Thoughts on Tommy

We thought that it might be a good idea to discuss our issues with Tommy before we marathon Green With Evil tomorrow. Look, the thing is, we actually really want to like Tommy. We think that in theory, he is a really interesting character. In fact, we like Green With Evil and we're mostly looking forward to watching it!

But Tommy has some serious flaws that really bother us. It isn't so much his actual flaws - those are the things about him that are interesting. It's the way the show wants to portray him. So we thought we'd give you a numbered list.

1-We hate how Tommy drains the sheer awesome out of his girlfriends. Kimberly is awesome. As it stands now, she is the only ranger to have defeated a monster by herself, and she's done it twice. But once Tommy shows up, we know we're in for lots of screaming of his name as Kimberly (and later Kat) will not be able to handle herself anymore and will need to be rescued all the time. We're also really not looking forward to her fainting at the sight of his glorious majesty or whatever in White Light.

2-Every single episode is about him. Everyone has their favorite character. TSB's is Adam. QueenRiley's is Billy. We like seeing episodes about them. But we also enjoy episodes about the others. It is an ensemble show. It's not "The Amazing Adventures of Tommy Oliver with Occasional Guest Appearances by the Other Rangers." So it is really annoying when you're watching an episode that from the summary looks like it should be about Adam, and it turns out to be secretly about Tommy. Or when Tommy is always the one to solve the problem, even though you know that others on the team should be able to figure it out.

3-It is Tommy's flaws that make him interesting, but the show pretends he is perfect. To be fair, it takes a little while before we get to the guiding white light heart of the team nonsense. But look at Tommy. He was placed under a spell and did a lot of awful things. Now, we aren't saying that he should be the angstiest ever (especially because when he is angsty, he drives us even crazier) but the show could have set up a way better redemption arc than it did. In fact, most of what TSB does like about Tommy could be termed "Fanwank" for how his drive to be perfect really comes out of his need to atone for what he did, and also this is why he's addicted to the power. Unfortunately, that is mostly fanwank. In the show, Tommy is basically portrayed as being the perfect Ranger, and he is almost always right. It is annoying.

4-Lastly, we're pretty sure Tommy faked his doctorate. We could totally buy Billy having a doctorate by age 24, but Tommy? Who didn't even go to college immediately so he could go race cars or whatever? Hell no. Plus, the one flaw he does have is a lousy memory. No way in hell did he earn it.

We really do want to like Tommy, and in her younger days TSB even thought he was cute, but basically he drives us crazy. We know that lots of people in fandom love him and judge him to be the greatest Ranger ever, but we disagree. You should all write us fanfic to convince us otherwise. Or argue with us in the comments. Whichever works.