Sunday, July 14, 2013

35-21: Lavender Ranger's Top 100 Power Rangers Episodes

This episodes were accumulated by a mixture of two questionnaires I did, polls on the blog and ranking of best seasons. For example, the top 5 seasons were voted by you guys to be MMPR, In Space, RPM, Time Force and Zeo. Then with that base, they were ranked up and down and mixed up.


35. From Out of Nowhere (In Space)
These two episodes were great in that it establishes the world of “In Space” with Dark Specter, Astronema, Andros and the Astro Megaship. Not only that, we see all the past villains together in one place. We went from something so terrestrial as cars the previous season to space ships and foreign planets, a space saga. What was awesome was to see Andros slowly turn around in accepting the Rangers.

34. Fowl Play in the Sky (MMPR)
This episode is important to me and it almost fell out of the countdown. Some people might think that 'oh, this episode doesn't belong here or how does it outrank this other episode?' but I don't think of it that way. It just belongs in the best episodes because it is so good. It might be underrated and have very little fighting in it, but Kimberly proves she is more than a just a 'valley girl' and can be brave when in a pinch. Alpha even helps in realistic airplane piloting instructions.

33. In or Out (RPM)
Scott joins Gem and Gema in a more offensive assault while Truman traps everyone inside the city while a bot sucks all the air out of the city. This episode makes fun of the trope of defending the city without getting old... for a second maybe.

32. Not So Simple (RPM)
Flynn wants to help but fails but doesn't give up. Gema writes in her dairy and discovers there is more to the eye to Flynn. Flynn and Gema work together on a zord and it turns out to be successful. While there is some romantic link with Flynn and Gema, Gem puts a wall against it pretty quickly and it is not mentioned again.

31. A Date with Danger (In Space)
Zhane and Astronema are paired off with hilarious results. Zhane saves Astronema from a monster who goes awry (and we never see again) and later Astronema disguises as a human to flirt with Zhane briefly. Later he gets an invite to a date. He gets new clothes and presents but Ecliptor sends a monster that makes him late and Astronema mad.

30. When is a Ranger not a Ranger? (MMPR)
Bulk and Skull shine as true heroes when the Rangers' memories are wiped and they discover their true identities finally. First Billy, Tommy and Kim lose their memories and replay some things they said in “Day of the Dumpster” with delightful whimsy. But of course, Bulk and Skull loose their memories in the end.

29. Shell Shocked (In Space)
The Ninja Turtles meet the Power Rangers. Nough Said! Okay, maybe I got to explain. Some Ninja Turtles fans still don't know about this. Basically, Saban got the rights for a short-lived series called Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, complete with a female Ninja Turtle (the only occurrence of Venus De Milo). Basically since the suit actors and voice actors were from Canada, the PriS crew had to get other suit and voice actors. D.E.C.A. Gets turtle-fied and Andros, being the resident de-truster distrusts the turtles and understandably as Astronema puts them under an evil spell.


 28. Doomsday Part 1 & 2 (MMPR) 
Originally set up as a finale, it sure felt final. December and January was a long wait for new episodes. Angel Grove makes Power Rangers Day, Rita comes down to Earth and steals the whole city. When fighting Goldar's zord, Titanus goes down and the zords too. The Rangers do save the day in the end, but what is cool is that Zordon asks them if they want to continue and Billy mentions other threats like criminals and such which opened some doors in my head but wouldn't fully be delved in until seasons later. Plus we even got a cameo from Tommy, seeing he still in town even though we don't see him around anymore.
 
27. Alien Rangers of Aquitar Part 1 & 2 (MMPR)
Starting out the 10 episode Alien Ranger saga bridging Mighty Morphin Power Rangers with Power Rangers Zeo, the Rangers are now kids again and the Alien Rangers are introduced. The Aquitians look like something out of Star Trek and have water-y voices, we learn more out of the blue one Cestro and Billy becomes his normal age again.

26. Road to Cornith Part 1 & 2 (RPM)
These two episodes establish the tone of RPM. Two potential Rangers even end up in jail! Venjix has taken over the world, it has become a giant desert and all of humanity are under a dome city. We actually get more character development out of Dillon and Ziggy than the main three but that is forgivable.

25. Different Shade of Pink Parts 1, 2 & 3(MMPR)
Katherine is introduced early on and fans knew that she would replace Kim. Kim gets an offer to do gymnastics and heads off to Florida in a more proper farewell than Jason, Zack and Trini did. Heck, even better than Aisha or Billy's. Also the third season has shadows of the evil Green Ranger saga with Kat being under an evil spell by Rita and Kim losing her powers.

 
24. Always A Chance (In Space)
Johnny Yong Bosch returns to help Carlos out in a very good episode dealing with character. Carlos accidentally hurts Cassie and thinks of quitting which is a powerful and emotional episode.

23. Fighting Spirit (PRDT)
Originally I had “Gung Ho!” in the countdown but since it got really low votes, I decided to add this episode. I saw Jason David Frank at the Florida Supercon recently and he said it was one of his favorite episodes because he had to be sleeping in a coma. The episode introduces the infamous silver-stripe helmet Green Ranger as well.

22. Ninja Quest Parts 1, 2 & 3 (MMPR)
This was in the top 20 for a while but ultimately got out of it. Basically retelling the movie, this saga introduces Rito Revolto (who delightfully refers Zedd as 'Ed') and Ninjor. I actually liked the Ranger's journey to find the temple more true to character than the movie version. Also noticeably their clothes got sexier.

 
21. Return of the Green Ranger Part 1 & 2 (MMPR) 
The Green Ranger seemed to be all forgotten but we all got what we wanted: a showdown between the White and Green Ranger. The other Rangers were thrown into the past. This two-parter was obviously shot in Australia and we finally got to see extended footage of the Dragonzord from Zyuranger and also new footage of American actors reacting to it to boot.  My favorite scene was Tommy's hair being cut off and the clone being made from it. Also the first time I saw the Rat monsters that the Wizard of Deception creates in the past, I thought they were lame but to my surprise they were originally in the movie! Instead of the Oozemen, the Power Rangers fought the Rat monsters who Haim Saban thought were great. Maybe there were rat monsters from some old Israeli show he liked as a kid but that is just a theory, who knows.
Related: http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2013/07/100-80-lavender-rangers-top-100-power.html | http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2013/07/questionaire-pick-your-top-episodes.html | http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2013/07/poll-results-cards-and-100-top-episodes.html

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