Up to eleven: “To the Tenth Power”
Jun. 10th, 2010 04:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akinoameDeviot meets with an alien dealer to recover some very familiar datacards. When the dealer tries to doublecross him, he destroys him and takes the datacards back to Trakeena. Putting them through a digitizer, he brings back the single deadliest force the Power Rangers have ever known: the Psycho Rangers. And on that distant world, a cloaked man finds the burning clothes of the dealer and the empty case and realizes just what danger the Power Rangers are in for.
Trakeena uses electroshock therapy to keep the Psychos in line, ordering them to capture the Galaxy Rangers. One by one, they’re taken before Leo is the only one left. While working out, he hears a child crying and stops to help, but the child turns out to be Psycho Red in disguise. Psycho Red brutally defeats Red Galaxy Ranger and easily would have captured or destroyed him, if not for the timely intervention of the cloaked man. He enters with a kick that throws Psycho Red off, then fires an Astro Blaster at him, distracting him long enough to grab Leo and run. Once they’re safe, Leo thanks his rescuer, who removes his hood and reveals his identity—Andros, former Red Space Ranger. He warns Leo about the threat Psycho Red poses before they head back to the Megaship, where Mike is just as surprised and honored to meet Andros and Alpha is thrilled to see his old friend again. They learn that the Psychos are holding the Rangers prisoner in the Industrial Dome, but Andros warns them it’s a trap. He heads to a sealed vault and retrieves his old morpher before working out a plan with Leo and Mike.
The Galaxy Rangers are trapped behind a forcefield, and Trakeena gloats about how impressive the Psycho Rangers have turned out to be. But then comes just what Rangers do best—an explosion—revealing Leo…and Andros, to everyone’s shock and Psycho Red’s fury. Trakeena thinks this will be a historic victory, as the Red Rangers lead all of the villains out. While Leo and Andros fight, Mike sneaks in and frees the others, and they hurry to join the battle. The Psycho Rangers are confident that they can defeat seven Rangers, but then a voice asks, “How about eleven?” proving this episode is a horrible misnomer. The remaining four Space Rangers stand above them and morph, joining their successors in an epic battle against the Psycho Rangers, Deviot, and Villamax. Between the Lights of Orion, the Spiral Saber Booster Mode, and the Quadro Blaster, the Psycho Rangers are defeated, and Trakeena vows revenge.
The Space Rangers and Galaxy Rangers head back to the Megaship, and though the Space Rangers can’t stay long, they’d be happy to stick around long enough to see Terra Venture. But while the Rangers celebrate, Psycho Pink has just barely survived the explosion, and Deviot has plans so she won’t disappoint him again…
As I said before, the title is a terrible misnomer. While the Magna Defender may not technically be a Power Ranger, both the Galaxy and Space Rangers certainly consider him as one. Furthermore, you absolutely cannot count out the Psycho Rangers, who provide the hero force with a major threat.
From the very start, the Psycho Rangers are treated as a legitimate threat. They had the Space Rangers on the ropes for many episodes, comprising their own arc of the season. And now, they’ve been upgraded. Deviot announces that he’s programmed them for greater strength, and we can also assume that they’ve been programmed or at least briefed (like the Chameliac Warrior) on all of the skills and powers of the Galaxy Rangers, based on Andros’s explanation of Psycho Red to Leo as “He’s everything you are, except he’s exactly the opposite and twice as powerful.” We know that the Psycho Rangers downloaded all of the fighting knowledge of the Space Rangers back in their first appearance, which might be a subtle implication that this is how Psycho Red is “twice” as powerful as Leo—because he’s both Leo and Andros. Without Dark Specter around for them to drain, they’d only have the Space Rangers as a baseline and thus would need the Galaxy Ranger-based upgrades Deviot provided them with.
But at the same, it’s actually chilling to see how easily Trakeena manages to keep them in line. The Psycho Rangers had always tried to rebel against Astronema, though she’d encouraged it because the more they fought, the more they drained Dark Specter’s powers. Trakeena, however, won’t stand for that bullshit. Deviot is a master puppetmaster and loves to inflict pain (his torture of Leo in “An Evil Game”). When Psycho Blue sticks to the usual Psycho Ranger obsession and wants to go after the Blue Ranger, Deviot picks up a D-3 from Digimon and activates the electrocollars, easily cowing even the hotheaded Psycho Red into submission. When Trakeena gloats in front of the captured Rangers, the Psychos remain absolutely silent. They are terrified of her, which makes her all the more dangerous.
We also see once and for all just what the Psycho Rangers actually are. Each Psycho Ranger can take on multiple forms—you have the default Ranger form, a monster form, and a human form (or multiple human forms, as Psycho Red appeared as a young man in “Silence is Golden” and ayoung Paul Millander child in this episode). After the Psychos are destroyed, we see their remains in the fire: robotic arms and legs. And Psycho Pink has damaged circuitry sticking out of the tears in her armor. I’d assumed for all these years that the Psycho Rangers’ true forms were their monster forms, but it appears their true form was a robotic Power Ranger that could assume the form of a monster as needed.
But the Psycho Rangers aren’t the only ones who have taken a level in badass in the past year, and we see just how much another year of experience has benefitted the Space Rangers. Andros knows Psycho Red inside and out, having spent so much time fighting him before, and now he’s got the experience to know how to defeat him. I loved seeing how they framed the entrances of the Rangers and the way they took up their morphers again. Andros first appears wearing the cloak from “From Out of Nowhere,” and when he reveals his identity to Leo, you hear the heroic motif of Power Rangers in Space playing in the background as Leo explains that he’d been there in “Countdown to Destruction.” This little moment has a lot of meaning—this is Leo’s hero, one of the legendary Power Rangers who saved the whole universe from Astronema. You know that it means the Corbetts—or at the very least Leo—were there in the crowd, defying her and chanting, “I’m a Power Ranger.” And here it comes full circle; Leo really is a Ranger now, and he gets to meet and fight alongside the man who saved the world and probably inspired him to get here. When Andros takes up the morpher again, it’s treated like the big deal it is; he enters the Power Vault (which has really impressive security on the ship that makes sense given this was supposed to be a museum—temperature controls need to be adjusted before you even unlock it, otherwise you’ll die) and slips off his morpher, remarking that he’d never thought he’d have to use it again. But instead of feeling like he’s reluctant to do this, he says it in a way that makes you think he’s gotten so used to peace he never thought he’d have to fight again—believable when “Countdown to Destruction” supposedly wiped out all evil in the universe. Once he’s sure it’s in working order, he wastes no time in coming up with a battle plan, acting like a much more effective leader now out of retirement than he ever was before. And when he arrives alongside Leo to rescue the Galaxy Rangers, you see the shock on everyone’s faces, along with what looks like a bit of relief from Damon, who would have known Andros at least in passing because he was the Megaship’s mechanic.
The other Space Rangers definitely prove they’re legends too. They retrieve their morphers in secret, surprising Alpha when he finds them in the Vault. And when they arrive, it’s set up exactly like in “Countdown to Destruction.” The villain makes a boast, and then TJ interrupts. You then see the Rangers standing de-morphed atop a building (or at least the balcony), and they morph to the heroic motif of PRiS, though played in the style of the Lost Galaxy music. My one critique is that they used the morphing sequence from “From Out of Nowhere,” where the Rangers calmly open their eyes before you see the morphing screens. It’s very jarring for Carlos when he’s got a haircut in 1999 and you see him with long hair in 1998—the same type of problem his predecessor, Adam, had in “Always a Chance.” Sadly, the PRiS morphing sequences are pretty boring in comparison to everything you see from LG through RPM progressively getting more intricate and detailed. The usual PRiS sequence was a pop-up of each color Ranger—morphed—with a view of their weapons and everything.
And the battle is absolutely beautiful. It’s wonderfully handled. You have the Galaxy Rangers with their very distinct, animalistic fighting styles and the Space Rangers with their more traditional style of martial arts and gymnastics, and it actually meshes well. The Psycho Rangers can’t keep up and are mobbed on both sides by a Space or Galaxy Ranger. Even Mike does an impressive job fighting Deviot and Villamax, defeating them easily, when I have to admit he really hasn’t been quite this badass since his first morph into the Magna Defender.
It’s an interesting sense of kinship among both groups of Rangers. The Space Rangers are revered by the Galaxy Rangers, but the Galaxy Rangers are deeply respected by the Space Rangers. Space trusts Galaxy to be able to handle themselves, though they will help out against a threat as powerful as the Psycho Rangers. However, you have this really deep friendship within the Galaxy Rangers, which has been developing steadily across the season. For example, Leo and Mike are ready to charge into the Industrial Dome to rescue their friends, not once considering the danger until Andros insists on a plan. This is a huge contrast to a similar situation in “Destined for Greatness,” when Mike insisted on holding back when Leo wanted to charge after the captured Rangers. Now, it’s become more and more apparent that they’re sticking to the idea of “never leave a man behind,” and even Mike is part of the unit. In contrast, the Space Rangers really weren’t ever as cohesive a team. Andros was always trying to isolate himself from others, after Karone’s kidnapping and Zhane’s near-death. The others had formerly been a team together in Turbo, and while you had interaction levels like Andros and Ashley’s relationship, there was always that divide. Andros would do something on his own without telling anybody, and TJ would lead the team. It’s the same thing here—Andros left on his own to retrieve the datacards, and after some time, the others followed (implied by TJ’s interruption to have been led by him). It’s nothing specifically touched on, but it is an interesting difference to note between the two teams.
This episode goes by very fast, though the very quick captures of the Galaxy Rangers work in-story with Leo and Mike being shocked to realize just what’s happened so fast. Still, I have to admit that it’s a shame we don’t see as much time for the other characters as we do with Andros and we will with Cassie, and it really would have been nice to have another part to this episode. Still, with the time constraints, I understand why it had to be this way. For the first of the real epic crossovers of Power Rangers, it was one hell of one.
“To the Tenth Power” was written by Judd Lynn. Christopher Khayman Lee, Selwyn Ward, Roger Velasco, Tracy Lynn Cruz, and Patricia Ja Lee reprised their roles as Andros, TJ, Carlos, Ashley, and Cassie. Patrick David, Wally Wingert, Michael Maize, Kamera Walton, and Victoria Davis reprised their roles of Psychos Red, Blue, Black, Yellow, and Pink. Ryan James played child Psycho Red (who was creepy and deserves mention).
Trakeena uses electroshock therapy to keep the Psychos in line, ordering them to capture the Galaxy Rangers. One by one, they’re taken before Leo is the only one left. While working out, he hears a child crying and stops to help, but the child turns out to be Psycho Red in disguise. Psycho Red brutally defeats Red Galaxy Ranger and easily would have captured or destroyed him, if not for the timely intervention of the cloaked man. He enters with a kick that throws Psycho Red off, then fires an Astro Blaster at him, distracting him long enough to grab Leo and run. Once they’re safe, Leo thanks his rescuer, who removes his hood and reveals his identity—Andros, former Red Space Ranger. He warns Leo about the threat Psycho Red poses before they head back to the Megaship, where Mike is just as surprised and honored to meet Andros and Alpha is thrilled to see his old friend again. They learn that the Psychos are holding the Rangers prisoner in the Industrial Dome, but Andros warns them it’s a trap. He heads to a sealed vault and retrieves his old morpher before working out a plan with Leo and Mike.
The Galaxy Rangers are trapped behind a forcefield, and Trakeena gloats about how impressive the Psycho Rangers have turned out to be. But then comes just what Rangers do best—an explosion—revealing Leo…and Andros, to everyone’s shock and Psycho Red’s fury. Trakeena thinks this will be a historic victory, as the Red Rangers lead all of the villains out. While Leo and Andros fight, Mike sneaks in and frees the others, and they hurry to join the battle. The Psycho Rangers are confident that they can defeat seven Rangers, but then a voice asks, “How about eleven?” proving this episode is a horrible misnomer. The remaining four Space Rangers stand above them and morph, joining their successors in an epic battle against the Psycho Rangers, Deviot, and Villamax. Between the Lights of Orion, the Spiral Saber Booster Mode, and the Quadro Blaster, the Psycho Rangers are defeated, and Trakeena vows revenge.
The Space Rangers and Galaxy Rangers head back to the Megaship, and though the Space Rangers can’t stay long, they’d be happy to stick around long enough to see Terra Venture. But while the Rangers celebrate, Psycho Pink has just barely survived the explosion, and Deviot has plans so she won’t disappoint him again…
As I said before, the title is a terrible misnomer. While the Magna Defender may not technically be a Power Ranger, both the Galaxy and Space Rangers certainly consider him as one. Furthermore, you absolutely cannot count out the Psycho Rangers, who provide the hero force with a major threat.
From the very start, the Psycho Rangers are treated as a legitimate threat. They had the Space Rangers on the ropes for many episodes, comprising their own arc of the season. And now, they’ve been upgraded. Deviot announces that he’s programmed them for greater strength, and we can also assume that they’ve been programmed or at least briefed (like the Chameliac Warrior) on all of the skills and powers of the Galaxy Rangers, based on Andros’s explanation of Psycho Red to Leo as “He’s everything you are, except he’s exactly the opposite and twice as powerful.” We know that the Psycho Rangers downloaded all of the fighting knowledge of the Space Rangers back in their first appearance, which might be a subtle implication that this is how Psycho Red is “twice” as powerful as Leo—because he’s both Leo and Andros. Without Dark Specter around for them to drain, they’d only have the Space Rangers as a baseline and thus would need the Galaxy Ranger-based upgrades Deviot provided them with.
But at the same, it’s actually chilling to see how easily Trakeena manages to keep them in line. The Psycho Rangers had always tried to rebel against Astronema, though she’d encouraged it because the more they fought, the more they drained Dark Specter’s powers. Trakeena, however, won’t stand for that bullshit. Deviot is a master puppetmaster and loves to inflict pain (his torture of Leo in “An Evil Game”). When Psycho Blue sticks to the usual Psycho Ranger obsession and wants to go after the Blue Ranger, Deviot picks up a D-3 from Digimon and activates the electrocollars, easily cowing even the hotheaded Psycho Red into submission. When Trakeena gloats in front of the captured Rangers, the Psychos remain absolutely silent. They are terrified of her, which makes her all the more dangerous.
We also see once and for all just what the Psycho Rangers actually are. Each Psycho Ranger can take on multiple forms—you have the default Ranger form, a monster form, and a human form (or multiple human forms, as Psycho Red appeared as a young man in “Silence is Golden” and a
But the Psycho Rangers aren’t the only ones who have taken a level in badass in the past year, and we see just how much another year of experience has benefitted the Space Rangers. Andros knows Psycho Red inside and out, having spent so much time fighting him before, and now he’s got the experience to know how to defeat him. I loved seeing how they framed the entrances of the Rangers and the way they took up their morphers again. Andros first appears wearing the cloak from “From Out of Nowhere,” and when he reveals his identity to Leo, you hear the heroic motif of Power Rangers in Space playing in the background as Leo explains that he’d been there in “Countdown to Destruction.” This little moment has a lot of meaning—this is Leo’s hero, one of the legendary Power Rangers who saved the whole universe from Astronema. You know that it means the Corbetts—or at the very least Leo—were there in the crowd, defying her and chanting, “I’m a Power Ranger.” And here it comes full circle; Leo really is a Ranger now, and he gets to meet and fight alongside the man who saved the world and probably inspired him to get here. When Andros takes up the morpher again, it’s treated like the big deal it is; he enters the Power Vault (which has really impressive security on the ship that makes sense given this was supposed to be a museum—temperature controls need to be adjusted before you even unlock it, otherwise you’ll die) and slips off his morpher, remarking that he’d never thought he’d have to use it again. But instead of feeling like he’s reluctant to do this, he says it in a way that makes you think he’s gotten so used to peace he never thought he’d have to fight again—believable when “Countdown to Destruction” supposedly wiped out all evil in the universe. Once he’s sure it’s in working order, he wastes no time in coming up with a battle plan, acting like a much more effective leader now out of retirement than he ever was before. And when he arrives alongside Leo to rescue the Galaxy Rangers, you see the shock on everyone’s faces, along with what looks like a bit of relief from Damon, who would have known Andros at least in passing because he was the Megaship’s mechanic.
The other Space Rangers definitely prove they’re legends too. They retrieve their morphers in secret, surprising Alpha when he finds them in the Vault. And when they arrive, it’s set up exactly like in “Countdown to Destruction.” The villain makes a boast, and then TJ interrupts. You then see the Rangers standing de-morphed atop a building (or at least the balcony), and they morph to the heroic motif of PRiS, though played in the style of the Lost Galaxy music. My one critique is that they used the morphing sequence from “From Out of Nowhere,” where the Rangers calmly open their eyes before you see the morphing screens. It’s very jarring for Carlos when he’s got a haircut in 1999 and you see him with long hair in 1998—the same type of problem his predecessor, Adam, had in “Always a Chance.” Sadly, the PRiS morphing sequences are pretty boring in comparison to everything you see from LG through RPM progressively getting more intricate and detailed. The usual PRiS sequence was a pop-up of each color Ranger—morphed—with a view of their weapons and everything.
And the battle is absolutely beautiful. It’s wonderfully handled. You have the Galaxy Rangers with their very distinct, animalistic fighting styles and the Space Rangers with their more traditional style of martial arts and gymnastics, and it actually meshes well. The Psycho Rangers can’t keep up and are mobbed on both sides by a Space or Galaxy Ranger. Even Mike does an impressive job fighting Deviot and Villamax, defeating them easily, when I have to admit he really hasn’t been quite this badass since his first morph into the Magna Defender.
It’s an interesting sense of kinship among both groups of Rangers. The Space Rangers are revered by the Galaxy Rangers, but the Galaxy Rangers are deeply respected by the Space Rangers. Space trusts Galaxy to be able to handle themselves, though they will help out against a threat as powerful as the Psycho Rangers. However, you have this really deep friendship within the Galaxy Rangers, which has been developing steadily across the season. For example, Leo and Mike are ready to charge into the Industrial Dome to rescue their friends, not once considering the danger until Andros insists on a plan. This is a huge contrast to a similar situation in “Destined for Greatness,” when Mike insisted on holding back when Leo wanted to charge after the captured Rangers. Now, it’s become more and more apparent that they’re sticking to the idea of “never leave a man behind,” and even Mike is part of the unit. In contrast, the Space Rangers really weren’t ever as cohesive a team. Andros was always trying to isolate himself from others, after Karone’s kidnapping and Zhane’s near-death. The others had formerly been a team together in Turbo, and while you had interaction levels like Andros and Ashley’s relationship, there was always that divide. Andros would do something on his own without telling anybody, and TJ would lead the team. It’s the same thing here—Andros left on his own to retrieve the datacards, and after some time, the others followed (implied by TJ’s interruption to have been led by him). It’s nothing specifically touched on, but it is an interesting difference to note between the two teams.
This episode goes by very fast, though the very quick captures of the Galaxy Rangers work in-story with Leo and Mike being shocked to realize just what’s happened so fast. Still, I have to admit that it’s a shame we don’t see as much time for the other characters as we do with Andros and we will with Cassie, and it really would have been nice to have another part to this episode. Still, with the time constraints, I understand why it had to be this way. For the first of the real epic crossovers of Power Rangers, it was one hell of one.
“To the Tenth Power” was written by Judd Lynn. Christopher Khayman Lee, Selwyn Ward, Roger Velasco, Tracy Lynn Cruz, and Patricia Ja Lee reprised their roles as Andros, TJ, Carlos, Ashley, and Cassie. Patrick David, Wally Wingert, Michael Maize, Kamera Walton, and Victoria Davis reprised their roles of Psychos Red, Blue, Black, Yellow, and Pink. Ryan James played child Psycho Red (who was creepy and deserves mention).
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Date: 2019-01-16 06:23 pm (UTC)