Episode Title: Doomsday Part 1
Original Airdate: Nov 29, 1993
You know, after saving Angel Grove from giant monster attacks almost 40 times, it’s high time those good-for-nothing citizens showed the Power Rangers a little appreciation. Well, that’s just what they set out to do in this week’s episode. Of course, Rita can’t pass up this opportunity to cause some trouble. Here comes the first in a two-part adventure, Doomsday part 1.
It seems that the city of Angel Grove has declared this to be Power Rangers Day. A big celebration is going to be held in the park and everyone hopes the heroes themselves will show up in person. Meanwhile, upon hearing this news, Rita decides she’s going to break up the party by unleashing a special zord of her own for Goldar to pilot, known as Cyclopsis.
At the big celebration, the rangers are waiting for the perfect time to morph and show up as their superhero selves. Bulk and Skull even show up, but they try to hog the spotlight by coming as superheroes…Bulkster and Super Skull. Just as they start to put on their act, though, Rita zaps the crowd and sends everyone except the rangers into an alternate dimension. Then, Rita transports her entire palace down to Angel Grove. It sits on top of its own skyscraper. Then she summons Cyclopsis and the rangers morph to do battle with the giant one-eyed zord.
The whole gamut of robots are called in to try and defeat Cyclopsis. The Mega Zord, the Dragon Zord, and Titanis all show up at some point. Together they manage to blow Cyclopsis into a bunch of pieces. Rita’s not done yet, though. First, she uses her magic wand to open up a crack in the earth which swallows up Titanis. Then, she summons everyone’s favorite giant floating blue head, Lokar. With his power, she is able to reform Cyclopsis. But, since the rangers need to recharge their zords, we’ll have to wait until the next episode to defeat Lokar.
This episode kind of confused me. Ever since Tommy left, I’ve been a bit unsure of how it all works when it comes to controlling the different zords in their various forms. I mean, Jason now has the flute/dagger thing that controls the Dragon Zord. So, how is he now able to be both the primary pilot of the Mega Zord and control the Dragon Zord at the same time? Then when the Dragon Zord joins some of the others to create something different, the T-Rex Zord (which Jason pilots) is on its own. Yet, Jason is still in the cockpit with the others. Who is driving the T-Rex!?!
Speaking of Tommy, this episode actually makes reference to him. As Kimberly, Trini, and Billy arrive at the park, Kim looks around and wonders where Tommy is. Of course she’s the one wondering where he is; she’s probably wanting to do some tongue wrestling with him again. Trini then says how something like this would be hard for Tommy, since he’s not part of the team anymore. We never see him, but at least this episode acknowledges that he’s still around somewhere…sulking probably.
The action is solid in this one, but it is a bit weird to have a very bland monster. Cyclopsis is just a zord. He doesn’t talk, taunt, or jump around with excitement as he brings down property values in Angel Grove. So, he’s just not as colorful as other creatures. Yet, the promise that the next episode will feature Lokar is exciting, since that bizarre blue head is one of the freakiest things to appear on this show yet. We’ll have to see what kind of havoc Lokar’s evil breath will unleash next time as we look at Doomsday part 2.
Channel: Superhero 