Some Silly Power Rangers Clip

I was recently looking back at bits of Power Rangers ephemera, particularly that of Power Rangers Zeo, a season that had its good points and bad points. (Of course, then it would be followed by Power Rangers Turbo, and the sudden transition was both jarring and almost made Zeo look good by comparison; certainly, there were plenty of things one found oneself asking. The problem is that Zeo had a strong beginning and a weak ending, and Turbo had a pretty strong ending that segued into one of the best seasons of all time, but a rather pathetic beginning.)

This clip from the last episode exhibits Zeo's best and worst: Interesting ideas pushed upon them by the lack of usable material from the later part of its corresponding sentai series.

Yes, that's the best and the worst.



The best parts are the concept-the Rangers turn giant and fight the giant villains personally, including giant mooks-and the fact that Zedd and Rita are just chilling and enjoying the whole thing. The presence of Zedd and Rita throwing the occasional monkey wrench into the Machine Empire's works was always one of the best parts of Zeo, and the episode itself ends with the old villains giving the Machine Empire a "present" that leaves them a pile of junk on the moon, declaring that they're "back."

Then we get Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie and the first part of the Turbo series, and their only appearance is a cameo of less than two minutes when newer villain Divatox is calling them in the middle of the night. While the call itself is great, it left the audience going "But wait-Zedd and Rita, Zedd and Rita! ZEDD AND RITA!!"

The worst parts: The terrible fight choreography, although that was often a problem for US footage, and the missed opportunity-as observed by a YouTube commenter-for Zedd and Rita to be the ones to use growth magic on the Rangers.

Also, the Gold Ranger's excuse for not calling the Zords? Pathetic. The Rangers could get the Zords in time even if a giant monster was seconds away from stepping on them.

I still have fond memories of this season despite its flaws; it is, after all, the same season that brought us the Mechaterpillar, a monster that a villain created from an electronic fishing lure because he heard its minor character owner call it his "secret weapon."

The best part of that was that it was easily one of the strongest monsters to appear in the season, and it was made from a fishing lure. (By, I might add, the technically technologically inclined villain faction, not the magical villain faction.)

-Signing off.