1.39 Doomsday Part 1

Episode 39, Season 1

Doomsday Part 1

Writer: Stewart St. John

Director: Terence H. Winkless

Episode Summary:

Kimberly reads in the local paper that the Mayor wants to honor Angel Grove’s heroes via Power Rangers Day and hopes they turn up at the park for the festival.  Wink wink nod nod our teens say they think the heroes can make it.  All the while Bulk and Skull reveal a tinge of jealousy in Angel Grove’s respect for the Power Rangers and want to steal their thunder just a bit by creating alter-egos the Incredible Bulkster and Super Skull.

Zack gets turned down yet again by Angela for a date because he’s not a Power Ranger – pfft, gold digger.  Kimberly wonders why Tommy isn’t at the festival – it’s suggested perhaps he feels left out – but seriously, what kind of best friend/boyfriend/etc doesn’t show up for his girlfriend’s holiday?  Rita decides to steal the Rangers thunder, but is far more successful thank Bulk and Skull – she makes the whole crowd disappear and resurrects her ages old Zord – CYCLOPSIS!  Through the help of Lokar the giant head they defeat the Power Rangers Megazord and send our teens crying to Zordon.

In the Command Center we learn the citizens of Angel Grove are trapped in Rita’s dimensional vortex, and once someone gets stuck in Rita’s vortex – they don’t come out.  Unless, you know, you defeat Lokar/Cyclopsis/etc.   Jason realizes they’re the only hope those people have.  Too bad they don’t have a history of saving people on record or those people might have reason to be afraid.

Facts:

-First on-screen – Kim

-First line – Kim - “And because of their contribution . . . “

-Focus – All

-Last Line – Zordon - “They will all be trapped in Rita’s vortex forever.”

-Angel Grove is progressive and has a female mayor – Mayor Kerrington

-Cyclopsis hasn’t been seen in 10,000 years

-Bulk and Skull create super hero alter-egos

Observations:

There’s very little Ranger combat in this episode as most of it’s done in the Zords – which makes sense, this is supposed to be the Rangers biggest and deadliest battle.  The stakes are high.  All in all, the episode does a good job getting the excitement level pretty high pretty early on.  Which, again, makes sense since this and Doomsday Pt 2 are essentially the mid-season finale.

It hit me how cool it was that Mayor Kerrington is a woman – this is 1993 and that’s pretty damn progressive for a kids show.  I like the message it sends – women can be more than teachers (sorry Mrs Applebee) – they really can do anything they put their minds to.  Saved by the Bell eat your heart out.

We also see a continuation of the Zack/Angela storyline which is sweet.  I can’t tell if she’s just busting his chops or if she really doesn’t like him and he’s just not getting the hint.  Either way, way to keep your chin up, bro.

Lastly, continuity error much?  Megazord battles in the dark when we learned in the Green with Evil story line that it runs on solar energy.  Maybe Zordon made some adjustments to their power source when we weren’t looking?  Also - maybe try some editing to make it look not so obvious that Rita's Palace says "Bandora's Palace" from the Zyuranger footage without telling us that she beat up someone named Bandora first.