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akinoamePreviously on PRiS: The bounty hunter Darkonda signs on to work for Astronema, pissing off Ecliptor, who did some kind of shady work with him in the past. Andros realizes that Darkonda kidnapped Karone, and Darkonda ransoms the information in exchange for a set of Zordon's keycards that he won off a gambler. But Ecliptor poisoned Darkonda's strength potion, giving him a serious case of 'roid rage as he goes berserk and causes significant damage to the Astro Delta Megazord.
The Rangers' Mega Voyage (written and directed by Judd Lynn): Editing is shoddy as the Astro Delta tries to get up, showing flashes of just the Astro Megazord, and some occasional shots of Andros missing from the cockpit. Also, it seems like Darkonda ended up pulling the thing up himself with his chains as he fires on it. But Alpha partially manages to decode the keycards, revealing that there's a top secret weapon on one of Jupiter's moons. Unfortunately, it doesn't say which one, which is a pain when as of 2014, there are 67 moons. From the looks of the footage, it was originally on our moon in Megaranger, but given that in Power Rangers, Rita has her palace on the moon...yeah. Not the best place to park your top secret weapon. So maybe this rocky, large moon is Ganymede? Who knows?
The Rangers have just enough power to force a separation and head into the Delta Megaship with the keycards, confusing the hell out of Astronema when she sees them apparently fleeing. Not being an idiot, she sends Darkonda's squid monster after them, before turning to the ex-soldier Andros won the cards off of. When he doesn't talk, she uses her powers to bind him and make him tell her what happened on Onyx, though he claims that Darkonda won the cards and Andros stole them—semantics. Astronema, however, recognizes exactly what the cards are for and orders for her battle gear, ready to tear after the Rangers herself.
The Rangers manage to ditch the squid and reach the Jovian moons. Nicely, they do take into account that there are multiple moons, and thus, start scanning them. But a computerized voice sounds over the PA system, informing them that the navigation systems are now under remote control. They land on the correct moon, in an underground hangar leading to another hangar, with an abandoned vehicle hanging around. At the other end is a large control panel and a door, but before they can reach it, Astronema and her forces teleport in and surround them. Since Andros has no plans to just give her the keycards, she orders everyone to attack. And again, great original footage battle, with the Rangers taking on Quantrons and Ecliptor. Andros manages to hold off Ecliptor and fight his way past the Quantrons to hack his way into the door controls. The Rangers abandon the battle to rush through, but Astronema nails Cassie with a boomerang, forcing her to fall and drop the cards. But she recovers and leaps through just as the door closes on the Quantrons.
Dark tunnels lead them to a secret hangar, where Ashley nearly falls—this seems to be a running thing this episode. Andros saves her from a long drop, and Cassie discovers a console with more cards—which I honestly think were prototypes for Megaforce. The AI speaks again, introducing the Mega Vehicles—four spacecraft and a humanoid zord, which Ashley realizes must have been hidden by Zordon in case of emergency. They drop down into the Mega Vehicles and insert their cards to launch them into space. Andros finds the controls to Mega V-1 a little sensitive, so while he tries to get the hang of it, he goofs off and jumps across the other vehicles so he can hitch a ride on Mega V-3, much to TJ's annoyance. But Astronema redirects the squid to attack Andros, forcing him to the surface. He gets the rockets online and hovers as he shoots missiles at the squid...and misses. Miserably. And then botches his landing and stumbles back into a mountain, where the monster easily attacks him. So Carlos, Ashley, and Cassie save his butt and open fire on the monster, buying time for TJ to fly in and give Andros a ride. Since TJ's flying is much more stable, Andros is able to focus on weapons and finishes off the monster. As they head back to Earth, Cassie finds a docking lever, which Andros pulls, initiating Megazord transformation. The Mega Vehicles break apart and form one of my personal favorites, the Mega Voyager.
The Astro Megazord has taken heavy damage and lost all energy, collapsing. Darkonda prepares to deliver the final blow, but the Mega Voyager arrives and takes him on with a vengeance...perhaps a little too much vengeance, since Andros is a little shit and has the Mega Voyager jump on Darkonda while he's down. They don't give him a chance to counterattack, destroying him with the Mega V-3 Missile Mode. Alpha is grateful to see them, and they help the Astro to its feet.
But damages to the Megaship are devastating, particularly in the engine room and bridge. Engine circuits are burnt and need days to be reconfigured, the scanning circuits are dead, and D.E.C.A. is glitching badly. Ecliptor picks up the low energy readings, and Astronema revels in how pyrrhic the Rangers' victory was. Ecliptor's just glad that Darkonda's dead, and Elgar pokes a hole in his bubble by doubting that Darkonda could be killed so easily and going on about how awesome he is. Despite Ecliptor being pissed off, Astronema has to admit that Elgar's right (a terrifying thing I hope I never have to say again): Darkonda all but defeated the Rangers, so now is the perfect time to strike...
True Blue to the Rescue (written and directed by Judd Lynn): On a desert planet, the sentient cars, Lightning Cruiser and Storm Blaster, are being whipped and forced to carry heavy cargo by Pirhanatrons. Again, the fact that I'm not a good Power Rangers historian fails me—I'm not entirely sure where or how these two came about, but they're living cars. It's a thing in Turbo, apparently. Just go with it. When Lightning Cruiser gets stuck, the Pirhanatrons realize it's just not strong enough to pull the cargo, so they unchain it and expose its weapons. It shoots them out of the way and pulls itself free, firing another blast right at them that breaks Storm Blaster's chains. At first, the Pirhanatrons don't notice their other prisoner is free, too intent on recapturing Lightning Cruiser so it doesn't escape and shoot them again, but even when they catch on, Storm Blaster manages to build up enough speed to get off-planet.
Astronema gets a call from Divatox about the incident, and since she wants help, Diva-derp (I told you I'd use it someday ) is all sweetness and sunshine with her—at least until Astronema declares "finders keepers," and she starts mocking her. Also, Divatox seems to bring out Astronema's own immaturity...or Judd Lynn wrote this ahead of time and didn't take her development as a serious villain into account. Whatever. Either way, we get the very weird visual of Velocifighters chasing a jeep—in space—so, naturally, it catches the Rangers' attention too. Andros is just about as confused as I was writing that sentence, but TJ decides to save their old friend. Storm Blaster lands on Earth, and the Rangers protect it from the Quantrons. When Astronema comes in with a bazooka-toting monster in tow, TJ orders Storm Blaster to escape, and Carlos and Ashley take the blast that would have prevented it from getting away. But even though Storm Blaster is free, all of the Rangers are captured.
At home, former Blue Turbo Ranger, Justin Stewart (role reprised by Blake Foster) is stargazing when he sees a shooting star, so he wishes for his friends to be okay. Justin gets a lot of flack from fans because he's a kid who becomes a Power Ranger, and he's super-smart, and basically, he gets the same hatred that Wesley from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Now, while I didn't see much of Turbo, I did see the movie that introduced him. And having seen that, I can't help but feel sympathetic toward the kid. When we first meet him, he's living in a children's home, having been left there by his father, who was frequently away from home after Justin's mother died—it's implied the guy just couldn't cope, both with work and with his son. To make matters worse, the children's home was in dire financial straits, so if it closed, he had nowhere else to go. A charity martial arts tournament went south when Blue Zeo Ranger Rocky got a career-ending back injury, and Justin inadvertently found out Rocky and his friends were the Power Rangers. Because the Rangers needed a Blue Ranger to complete the team, Rocky gave Justin his blessing to take his place, which is probably the first thing to go right in the kid's life, since the Rangers pretty much take the place of his parents. The first team eventually graduates and moves on with their lives (at least until Tommy and Adam need to cash in their Frequent Ranger Miles), but the second team continues to provide him with the family he needs. His dad finally took him back in and tried to do right by him, and Justin had to sacrifice his career as a Ranger in order to try to build a relationship with him, thus giving us PRiS. We see some of Justin's memories of his glory days—not as a Ranger, but as a kid having the time of his life with his friends. In the end, he's still just a kid, one who misses and worries about the best friends he's ever had.
But you know how I said that Justin's dad has a history of letting him down? It comes up here again, when Mr. Stewart has to cancel their weekend plans in order to catch up at work. So without the context, yeah, it sounds like Justin's whining. But his dad left him in an orphanage. He was practically raised by two teams of Rangers, one of whom left him and the other left the planet. He stayed, forcing the second team to leave him, so he could try to fix his relationship with his father. He's got to have abandonment issues on par with Andros, and he's fucking twelve. And he just resigns himself to his dad letting him down again.
Soon after his dad leaves the room, a light flashes out the window, and Justin looks out to see Storm Blaster. He climbs down to greet his old partner, who urges him to come with it. He hesitates momentarily, thinking of his dad, but he decides to go on one last adventure anyway. They head to the Abandoned Warehouse District, where Ecliptor and the monster are holding the Rangers, threatening them to have D.E.C.A. lower the shields on the still-weak Megaship. Quantrons corner Justin, but he proves he's still got it and kicks some ass before escaping back to Storm Blaster. Storm Blaster decides to just ram the place, presenting Justin with a fully-charged morpher and key. Just as the Rangers are about to be killed, Blue Turbo Ranger and Storm Blaster charge in. Justin fights off the Quantrons and frees the Space Rangers, though initially not seeing Blue. The six Rangers join forces, and when TJ sees Justin in trouble, he evens the odds. Justin's startled to see a new Blue, but he's delighted when he hears it's TJ. The two Blues gang up on the monster, fighting perfectly in sync, the way old friends should. Storm Blaster joins in and holds off the monster's attack, and Justin and TJ add their blasters to the mix to overpower the monster. Spiral Saber Booster Mode and the Quadroblaster take it out, and Justin decides to take a backseat when it becomes giant, leaving it to the Space Rangers to summon Mega V-1. When the zord isn't enough, they use the Mega Voyager to finish it off.
The Rangers regroup, and Justin explains everything that's happened to him. TJ worries about Lightning Cruiser, his old partner, so they follow Justin and Storm Blaster on the Gliders. When they reach the planet, the Rangers and Storm Blaster defeat the Pirhanatrons and free Lightning Cruiser—and I really like this. Overall, it's been a great tribute/crossover episode, but it also gives the sense that this is a universal war. Here, the Rangers are fighting on another front, and they have a solid victory. It's really needed in a series like this, where they're not as stuck on-world like in Super Megaforce. The former Turbos grab Justin in hugs, and he admits that he's never stopped thinking about them. When Andros is being his usual awkward self, Ashley grabs him and introduces him, and Justin is impressed with the new Red and glad to meet him. Storm Blaster takes him home, but before he leaves, Justin promises to be there if his friends need him again.
The sun rises, and Mr. Stewart prepares to go to the office. But seeing his neighbors pack up for a father-son fishing trip reminds him of the relationship he and Justin have been trying to build. Justin sneaks back into his room just as his dad goes back inside, and he pretends to wake up when his dad enters the room, asking if he wants to go fishing. He's excited, but cautious, asking if his dad's sure he wants to be behind at work. But his father is determined to stick to his promise and not let his son down again.
Invasion of the Body Switcher (Jackie Marchand/Judd Lynn): I'm of two minds on this one. On the one hand, it has some good character development, particularly with Ashley and Astronema, and I do love the acting that goes into body-switch episodes, but this requires a ridiculous amount of suspension of disbelief on how stupid the Rangers have to be. Let's just get into it, shall we?
It's Ashley's birthday, and judging by the candles, she's seventeen now. She won't spill about her wish, but Cassie guesses that it's Andros-related, since he's sitting in the corner of woe all by himself and not doing anything but staring moodily into space. He's become a parody of himself. She takes him a slice of cake, and he admits that the whole idea of celebrating birthdays is weird for him, since it's not part of Karovan culture. Even so, he surprises her with a gorgeous necklace, with a rare yellow gem from KO-35 on the pendant. How did he get this? I'm gonna guess his winnings from that card game with Darkonda. Andros and Ashley hug, and when Cassie looks over at them, Ashley winks at her.
Meanwhile, on the Dark Fortress, Astronema decides that the best way to destroy the Rangers is from within, by infiltrating the Megaship. To do this, she recruits the Body Switcher, who creates a glamour to transform her into an exact copy of Ashley. And let me tell you—Tracy Lynn Cruz is loving every second of this. She's not overly hammy, but she very obviously loves being the bad girl this time.
As they walk after the party, Ashley admits to Cassie her frustrations with her relationship with Andros. She keeps getting mixed signals from him—sometimes, he seems interested in her, but he's also a complete failure at interpersonal relationships, or in her words, "shy." Cassie points out that Andros probably hasn't had much practice at romance, since he's lived alone on the Megaship for years. Behind her, Quantrons quietly carry Ashley off, and when she turns around to check on her, the glamoured Astronema pulls the switch. The real Ashley tries to escape to warn her, but Astronema stealthily summons Quantrons to distract her. It's a fun battle, since the Quantrons are clearly afraid of hurting their boss, and Astronema isn't putting forth any effort and glaring at Cassie the entire time. But then one of the Quantrons slips up and lands a hit, enraging her so much that she sends it flying with one hit. She then discreetly signals them to run off, and she suggests to Cassie that they head back to the ship.
Once she's aboard, Astronema searches for the engine room, but when D.E.C.A. tells her where to find it, she zaps the camera, frying it. Unfortunately, she runs into Cassie in the work bay, where she's doing maintenance on the Astro Blasters. Trying to maintain her cover, Astronema agrees to help, but she fails to find the correct tool. Still, Cassie isn't too bothered, allowing Astronema to get behind her and blast her with the Wrath Staff. Next, she heads to the gym, where Carlos is doing repetitions with an electronic barbell. On the pretense of helping, she adds more weight to the barbell, eventually crushing him and giving her a chance to pull her staff on him. But as she leaves, either from attacking Carlos or hiding him or Cassie, Alpha surprises her outside the door. She starts to yell at him, but he somehow suspects nothing and gives her a birthday present. Cautiously, Astronema opens it and finds a music box, and as Alpha skips away in oblivious happiness, she reflects that no one's ever been genuinely nice to her like that before (well, with the exception of Ecliptor, who's practically her father). Perplexed, she decides that it's just Alpha being stupid, and she throws the gift away.
Andros notices a surveillance problem on the Megaship (because of D.E.C.A.'s camera, possibly more of them, being destroyed) and confesses his worry to TJ—which I like to see, because it sets them on equal ground as co-leaders of the team. Worse, when he tries to contact Carlos and Cassie, they don't answer. TJ decides to investigate and discovers the destroyed camera. But instead of doing the smart thing and calling Andros to warn him of a potential security risk (especially considering what happened with the Ninja Turtles, unless they're doing like most of the fandom and pretending that episode didn't happen), he continues to investigate on his own, eventually spotting Astronema-as-Ashley in a storage room, where she's just stowed an unconscious Carlos. He spots Carlos's feet and finds him coming to, but not in time to warn TJ that Astronema is about to attack him from behind.
Meanwhile, in...some swamp, or something—I honestly don't know why they used this set instead of quickly setting up something that at least looked like the Dark Fortress's interior—Ashley is tied up and held prisoner by the Body Switcher, who tortures her in the worst possible way by forcing her to watch his act—singing and dancing while switching forms. You really ARE a monster. In the distance, she hears Elgar looking for everyone, since he apparently forgot the whole plan about Astronema being undercover on the Megaship. Realizing that the Body Switcher is likewise not very smart, Ashley convinces him to glamour her as Astronema, which fools Elgar into cutting her free and giving her a chance to make a break for it. And honestly, it's kind of a trip seeing Melody Perkins as Astronema acting nice. This is full-blown Lost Galaxy nice, and it's cute. While she runs, the Body Switcher explains what happened, and Elgar realizes what a blunder he's made.
Having finally captured and stowed three of the four remaining Rangers, Astronema heads to the bridge, where Andros is frustrated and worried because now even TJ has gone silent. She tries to attack him from behind, but Andros turns around too suddenly, ready to tear off and find the others. Realizing she needs another tactic, Astronema creates false video footage on one of the monitors, making it appear as though another Sting King is rampaging on Earth, despite D.E.C.A. arguing her sensors haven't picked up a thing. Astronema convinces Andros they don't have time to look for the others if there's a problem on Earth, and they head down via jump tube. There's a hilarious moment where Astronema as the Yellow Ranger epically botches her landing and faceplants on the ground behind Andros, who is staring everywhere in confusion...which is honestly, his default emotion all episode. While he tries to figure out why there's no giant monster stomping downtown, Astronema tries to pick him off with the Astro Blaster, but it's glamoured Ashley to the rescue, calling attention to herself. She tries to explain the situation to Andros, but Astronema insists it's some kind of trick and attacks, with Andros just going along with whoever's wearing a primary color.
Finally realizing that Andros is never going to figure this out on his own, Ashley grasps her copy of Astronema's necklace (and seriously, it would have been amazing if she opened it here and now) and quizzes Astronema on what gift Andros got her for her birthday. When Astronema fails to answer, Ashley very smugly names the present—and yeah, it's great every time Melody Perkins is this smug. Astronema decides what the hell, she's got a blaster anyway, might as well take the chance, and shoots at them; but they evade and Andros returns fire, hitting her in the shoulder. Somehow, the injury causes the glamour to break and makes the Astro Morpher fall off her wrist—yep, she's perfect for Lost Galaxy and its bizarre inability to keep hold of anything important. Ashley gets behind Andros for cover, but when he sees the morpher, he dives for it, allowing Astronema to confuse things by grappling with Ashley. Andros, I know you're worried that Astronema might take the morpher, but when dealing with evil twins, your priority should be keeping track of who's who, so this fucking thing won't happen! So once again, he's confused, and so too are the Body Switcher and Ecliptor, and the other Rangers, who Alpha rescued from another closet where Astronema strung them up like upside-down piñatas. At last, Andros hits on the idea of holding out the morpher and prompting Ashley to make the morphing pose, which she does with lightning speed. Astronema fails to follow along, and sulks that she "wouldn't want to be a Power Ranger anyway," which is so fucking hilarious down the line (final image courtesy of Rangercrew). She calls in the Body Switcher and teleports away, but Elgar tries to apprehend her on the Dark Fortress, until Ecliptor tells her to knock it off and she fires the Satellasers. I kinda feel bad for her here—like she really needs a nice hot bath and some cocoa and a good book about the bad guys winning. The Rangers take to battle in the Mega Voyager, and as an interesting choice, they use the Astro Megazord Saber with some iaido to start and hack-and-slash at the Body Switcher for a while before using the Mega V-3 Missile.
The Rangers return to the Megaship to check their supplies to be sure Astronema didn't tamper with anything, but Ashley is hesitant to remove her helmet, unsure if the glamour ended with the monster's destruction. It's a nice moment, with everyone tense and bracing themselves either way, only for the sigh of relief when Ashley's back to normal. My only complaint regarding this specific issue is that I wish they'd had Melody Perkins voice morphed-Ashley up until this point, so that it'd be even more tense with her afraid to speak too. But back in her normal appearance, Ashley checks for her Chekhov's necklace and tries to thank Andros again for it, but he's vanished.
Concerned about the infiltration and the attack on his friends, Andros secretly makes his way to a hidden room within the engine room. Inside is some life-support equipment: a cryogenic chamber and a heart monitor, which gives off a slow, steady beep...
Survival of the Silver (Judd Lynn/Worth Keeter): On the desert planet of Kaedix, the Rangers are gathering rock samples because...I guess they mixed up their mission with that of the starship Enterprise. Carlos gets the feeling they're being watched, but nobody sees anything because the Jawa-like natives of the planet are able to glamour themselves as trees. They finally ambush the Rangers as they make their way back to the Megaship, forcing them to fight the rest of the way. But the Jawas attack the ship's hull, causing damage to the external circuits. The Megaship can barely fly, and Andros takes the manual controls while the others head to the engine room to take care of the overheating accelerators, unaware that one of the samples in the adjoining cargo bay is hatching.
They manage to get the thrusters back online, but an electrical malfunction opens the door to the secret room revealed in the previous episode. Cassie and Carlos investigate, and when Cassie spots a body in a cryogenic chamber, Carlos immediately calls for TJ and Ashley. The whole thing is Judd Lynn at his finest, with his excellence at suspense and tension. Carlos wipes condensation off the heart monitor and discovers the patient inside is still alive, so Cassie gathers her courage and wipes the frost off the chamber, revealing a face masked by a gold-and-silver helmet. Ashley asks who this mysterious Ranger is, and Andros appears at the door, revealing that this is Zhane, the Silver Ranger, and his best friend.
In Andros's extremely depressing backstory, he and Zhane were partners as Space Rangers, heavily implied to be the only members of their team. They thought they were invincible, but everything changed when the UAE attacked. This is the battle that forced the colonists to abandon KO-35, and the little we see of it is horrible, and wonderfully prophetic of things to come. The city is burning, the air choked with smoke, and civilians flee as KO-35's Planetary Defense rolls in on tanks and battle Pirhanatrons with everything they've got, including hand-to-hand. It's a losing battle, with ships blasting at skyscrapers and toppling them, and the Karovans vastly outnumbered. Andros and Zhane fight their way through mobs of mooks and monsters to save civilians and soldiers alike, desperately trying to keep up with the relentless assault. When one monster cuts down two soldiers, Andros decides to take it on himself, leaving Zhane to fight off anyone who tries to corner the evacuating people. But Andros is no match for the monster and is thrown to the ground. Zhane sees the monster ready to deliver the final blow, and he runs in and takes it instead. Dying, he grabs the monster and uses the runoff explosion of Power in a suicide attack to destroy it. Andros watches helplessly, blown back by the huge, fiery explosion of Zhane's power and the monster's death. He screams in anguish as he sees Zhane's body barely sticking out of the rubble, and when he digs him out and carries him away, the soldiers on scene stand at attention and clear a path for their fallen hero.
Plagued with guilt and desperate to revive him, Andros brought Zhane to the healing chamber on the Megaship, where he's now in a comatose state, with the chamber repairing his injuries. Over time, he'll recover enough to wake up, but it's been two years now, and Andros is losing hope. The machine is the only thing keeping Zhane alive, and so long as his heart is still beating, Andros isn't giving up. Ashley asks why he didn't tell them, but he doesn't answer, saved by D.E.C.A. asking if she should give them the damage report now. They head to the bridge, but Cassie returns to the cargo bay to check on the sample. Unfortunately, she discovers that it's hatched into a hostile monster, who tears the morpher off her arm and locks her in the cargo bay. Her only hope is to fight it off the best she can, then grab her morpher and hold on tight to something immobile while opening the outer hatch, depressurizing the room and sucking the monster out into space. But the depressurization had decayed their orbit, and the monster has grabbed hold of the hull, further damaging the exterior systems, forcing them to crash land on the planet below. They need to make repairs outside, but the monster and the natives have joined forces to fight them. A few of the Jawas make it aboard the ship, but D.E.C.A. seals the doors. However, this doesn't deter them—those on the outside are still attacking the ship's exterior, causing malfunctions in the healing chamber, causing the temperature to rise and threatening Zhane's fragile condition. It isn't long before he flatlines, and...somehow or another—it isn't explained at all—Andros manages to sense his friend's death. He collapses, devastated, before making a reckless charge at the attackers, screaming in fury and grief.
The intruders try to break into the bridge, with Alpha helpless to stop them. But somehow, all on his own, Zhane revives. The healing chamber opens, and though shaky, he gets up and leaves, finding the intruders and scaring them off before pitching them off the ship one by one—to the surprise and confusion of the Rangers. In the second best reveal of the episode, the Silver Ranger exits the hatch, still a little surprised to see himself alive and confused about where he is and what's going on. But the moment he sees a monster between him and Andros, he decides it's time to kick some ass. For the first time in two years, Zhane takes to battle, showing no decline in his fighting skills over the time in cold sleep. He's quick and powerful, taking down the monster in record time with his weapon, the Super Silverizer, a sword whose blade can retract into a blaster. The monster grows giant, forcing the Rangers to retreat inside the ship, but even in the scramble to lift off, Andros and Zhane stop to...do a friendship handshake. REALLY? After all the time spent teaching Andros to shake? Zhane's surprised to see the Megaship has a Megazord formation, and during the battle, he quickly strikes up a friendship with Alpha. The Delta Megazord bails the Astro out when the monster traps it, and the two Megazords combine to finish it off.
After the battle, the Rangers demorph and make their way to the bridge, eager to meet their new teammate. With his back turned to him—because Lynn loves his suspense—Zhane has his helmet off and is recounting a harrowing tale of a battle against a giant monster in the pre-Megazord days. But Andros remembers the story differently and calls out Zhane on changing the details—namely that the whole thing happened to Andros instead. Zhane turns to reveal that he's a smiling, handsome young man with short blond hair, with barely visible silver highlights. Andros is just as happy to see him, and they hug, him explaining just how long Zhane's been on ice. Zhane's shocked, but Andros promises to explain everything later, since they've got introductions to make. The team introduces themselves, though Ashley seems smitten, almost forgetting to introduce herself...but then again, so does Carlos. And I swear Zhane was just romancing Alpha with that story and giving Andros bedroom eyes. The man is a shameless flirt. Flustered, Ashley forgets herself and puts out her hand, and Andros explains the custom of handshakes. Zhane, however, insists he knows it's a greeting (considering what he and Andros just did), but he's surprised to meet a female Ranger—it seems that the last generation of Space Rangers were male only. Zhane seems to have something for Ashley too, and he kisses her hand, with her clearly not minding the affection. Still, he has his priorities, and he asks Andros what happened to him, since there's a big two-year gap between the battle and now. Andros smiles and takes him off for the explanation, and a long-awaited chance for the friends to catch up.
The Rangers' Mega Voyage (written and directed by Judd Lynn): Editing is shoddy as the Astro Delta tries to get up, showing flashes of just the Astro Megazord, and some occasional shots of Andros missing from the cockpit. Also, it seems like Darkonda ended up pulling the thing up himself with his chains as he fires on it. But Alpha partially manages to decode the keycards, revealing that there's a top secret weapon on one of Jupiter's moons. Unfortunately, it doesn't say which one, which is a pain when as of 2014, there are 67 moons. From the looks of the footage, it was originally on our moon in Megaranger, but given that in Power Rangers, Rita has her palace on the moon...yeah. Not the best place to park your top secret weapon. So maybe this rocky, large moon is Ganymede? Who knows?
The Rangers have just enough power to force a separation and head into the Delta Megaship with the keycards, confusing the hell out of Astronema when she sees them apparently fleeing. Not being an idiot, she sends Darkonda's squid monster after them, before turning to the ex-soldier Andros won the cards off of. When he doesn't talk, she uses her powers to bind him and make him tell her what happened on Onyx, though he claims that Darkonda won the cards and Andros stole them—semantics. Astronema, however, recognizes exactly what the cards are for and orders for her battle gear, ready to tear after the Rangers herself.
The Rangers manage to ditch the squid and reach the Jovian moons. Nicely, they do take into account that there are multiple moons, and thus, start scanning them. But a computerized voice sounds over the PA system, informing them that the navigation systems are now under remote control. They land on the correct moon, in an underground hangar leading to another hangar, with an abandoned vehicle hanging around. At the other end is a large control panel and a door, but before they can reach it, Astronema and her forces teleport in and surround them. Since Andros has no plans to just give her the keycards, she orders everyone to attack. And again, great original footage battle, with the Rangers taking on Quantrons and Ecliptor. Andros manages to hold off Ecliptor and fight his way past the Quantrons to hack his way into the door controls. The Rangers abandon the battle to rush through, but Astronema nails Cassie with a boomerang, forcing her to fall and drop the cards. But she recovers and leaps through just as the door closes on the Quantrons.
Dark tunnels lead them to a secret hangar, where Ashley nearly falls—this seems to be a running thing this episode. Andros saves her from a long drop, and Cassie discovers a console with more cards—which I honestly think were prototypes for Megaforce. The AI speaks again, introducing the Mega Vehicles—four spacecraft and a humanoid zord, which Ashley realizes must have been hidden by Zordon in case of emergency. They drop down into the Mega Vehicles and insert their cards to launch them into space. Andros finds the controls to Mega V-1 a little sensitive, so while he tries to get the hang of it, he goofs off and jumps across the other vehicles so he can hitch a ride on Mega V-3, much to TJ's annoyance. But Astronema redirects the squid to attack Andros, forcing him to the surface. He gets the rockets online and hovers as he shoots missiles at the squid...and misses. Miserably. And then botches his landing and stumbles back into a mountain, where the monster easily attacks him. So Carlos, Ashley, and Cassie save his butt and open fire on the monster, buying time for TJ to fly in and give Andros a ride. Since TJ's flying is much more stable, Andros is able to focus on weapons and finishes off the monster. As they head back to Earth, Cassie finds a docking lever, which Andros pulls, initiating Megazord transformation. The Mega Vehicles break apart and form one of my personal favorites, the Mega Voyager.
The Astro Megazord has taken heavy damage and lost all energy, collapsing. Darkonda prepares to deliver the final blow, but the Mega Voyager arrives and takes him on with a vengeance...perhaps a little too much vengeance, since Andros is a little shit and has the Mega Voyager jump on Darkonda while he's down. They don't give him a chance to counterattack, destroying him with the Mega V-3 Missile Mode. Alpha is grateful to see them, and they help the Astro to its feet.
But damages to the Megaship are devastating, particularly in the engine room and bridge. Engine circuits are burnt and need days to be reconfigured, the scanning circuits are dead, and D.E.C.A. is glitching badly. Ecliptor picks up the low energy readings, and Astronema revels in how pyrrhic the Rangers' victory was. Ecliptor's just glad that Darkonda's dead, and Elgar pokes a hole in his bubble by doubting that Darkonda could be killed so easily and going on about how awesome he is. Despite Ecliptor being pissed off, Astronema has to admit that Elgar's right (a terrifying thing I hope I never have to say again): Darkonda all but defeated the Rangers, so now is the perfect time to strike...
True Blue to the Rescue (written and directed by Judd Lynn): On a desert planet, the sentient cars, Lightning Cruiser and Storm Blaster, are being whipped and forced to carry heavy cargo by Pirhanatrons. Again, the fact that I'm not a good Power Rangers historian fails me—I'm not entirely sure where or how these two came about, but they're living cars. It's a thing in Turbo, apparently. Just go with it. When Lightning Cruiser gets stuck, the Pirhanatrons realize it's just not strong enough to pull the cargo, so they unchain it and expose its weapons. It shoots them out of the way and pulls itself free, firing another blast right at them that breaks Storm Blaster's chains. At first, the Pirhanatrons don't notice their other prisoner is free, too intent on recapturing Lightning Cruiser so it doesn't escape and shoot them again, but even when they catch on, Storm Blaster manages to build up enough speed to get off-planet.
Astronema gets a call from Divatox about the incident, and since she wants help, Diva-derp (I told you I'd use it someday ) is all sweetness and sunshine with her—at least until Astronema declares "finders keepers," and she starts mocking her. Also, Divatox seems to bring out Astronema's own immaturity...or Judd Lynn wrote this ahead of time and didn't take her development as a serious villain into account. Whatever. Either way, we get the very weird visual of Velocifighters chasing a jeep—in space—so, naturally, it catches the Rangers' attention too. Andros is just about as confused as I was writing that sentence, but TJ decides to save their old friend. Storm Blaster lands on Earth, and the Rangers protect it from the Quantrons. When Astronema comes in with a bazooka-toting monster in tow, TJ orders Storm Blaster to escape, and Carlos and Ashley take the blast that would have prevented it from getting away. But even though Storm Blaster is free, all of the Rangers are captured.
At home, former Blue Turbo Ranger, Justin Stewart (role reprised by Blake Foster) is stargazing when he sees a shooting star, so he wishes for his friends to be okay. Justin gets a lot of flack from fans because he's a kid who becomes a Power Ranger, and he's super-smart, and basically, he gets the same hatred that Wesley from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Now, while I didn't see much of Turbo, I did see the movie that introduced him. And having seen that, I can't help but feel sympathetic toward the kid. When we first meet him, he's living in a children's home, having been left there by his father, who was frequently away from home after Justin's mother died—it's implied the guy just couldn't cope, both with work and with his son. To make matters worse, the children's home was in dire financial straits, so if it closed, he had nowhere else to go. A charity martial arts tournament went south when Blue Zeo Ranger Rocky got a career-ending back injury, and Justin inadvertently found out Rocky and his friends were the Power Rangers. Because the Rangers needed a Blue Ranger to complete the team, Rocky gave Justin his blessing to take his place, which is probably the first thing to go right in the kid's life, since the Rangers pretty much take the place of his parents. The first team eventually graduates and moves on with their lives (at least until Tommy and Adam need to cash in their Frequent Ranger Miles), but the second team continues to provide him with the family he needs. His dad finally took him back in and tried to do right by him, and Justin had to sacrifice his career as a Ranger in order to try to build a relationship with him, thus giving us PRiS. We see some of Justin's memories of his glory days—not as a Ranger, but as a kid having the time of his life with his friends. In the end, he's still just a kid, one who misses and worries about the best friends he's ever had.
But you know how I said that Justin's dad has a history of letting him down? It comes up here again, when Mr. Stewart has to cancel their weekend plans in order to catch up at work. So without the context, yeah, it sounds like Justin's whining. But his dad left him in an orphanage. He was practically raised by two teams of Rangers, one of whom left him and the other left the planet. He stayed, forcing the second team to leave him, so he could try to fix his relationship with his father. He's got to have abandonment issues on par with Andros, and he's fucking twelve. And he just resigns himself to his dad letting him down again.
Soon after his dad leaves the room, a light flashes out the window, and Justin looks out to see Storm Blaster. He climbs down to greet his old partner, who urges him to come with it. He hesitates momentarily, thinking of his dad, but he decides to go on one last adventure anyway. They head to the Abandoned Warehouse District, where Ecliptor and the monster are holding the Rangers, threatening them to have D.E.C.A. lower the shields on the still-weak Megaship. Quantrons corner Justin, but he proves he's still got it and kicks some ass before escaping back to Storm Blaster. Storm Blaster decides to just ram the place, presenting Justin with a fully-charged morpher and key. Just as the Rangers are about to be killed, Blue Turbo Ranger and Storm Blaster charge in. Justin fights off the Quantrons and frees the Space Rangers, though initially not seeing Blue. The six Rangers join forces, and when TJ sees Justin in trouble, he evens the odds. Justin's startled to see a new Blue, but he's delighted when he hears it's TJ. The two Blues gang up on the monster, fighting perfectly in sync, the way old friends should. Storm Blaster joins in and holds off the monster's attack, and Justin and TJ add their blasters to the mix to overpower the monster. Spiral Saber Booster Mode and the Quadroblaster take it out, and Justin decides to take a backseat when it becomes giant, leaving it to the Space Rangers to summon Mega V-1. When the zord isn't enough, they use the Mega Voyager to finish it off.
The Rangers regroup, and Justin explains everything that's happened to him. TJ worries about Lightning Cruiser, his old partner, so they follow Justin and Storm Blaster on the Gliders. When they reach the planet, the Rangers and Storm Blaster defeat the Pirhanatrons and free Lightning Cruiser—and I really like this. Overall, it's been a great tribute/crossover episode, but it also gives the sense that this is a universal war. Here, the Rangers are fighting on another front, and they have a solid victory. It's really needed in a series like this, where they're not as stuck on-world like in Super Megaforce. The former Turbos grab Justin in hugs, and he admits that he's never stopped thinking about them. When Andros is being his usual awkward self, Ashley grabs him and introduces him, and Justin is impressed with the new Red and glad to meet him. Storm Blaster takes him home, but before he leaves, Justin promises to be there if his friends need him again.
The sun rises, and Mr. Stewart prepares to go to the office. But seeing his neighbors pack up for a father-son fishing trip reminds him of the relationship he and Justin have been trying to build. Justin sneaks back into his room just as his dad goes back inside, and he pretends to wake up when his dad enters the room, asking if he wants to go fishing. He's excited, but cautious, asking if his dad's sure he wants to be behind at work. But his father is determined to stick to his promise and not let his son down again.
Invasion of the Body Switcher (Jackie Marchand/Judd Lynn): I'm of two minds on this one. On the one hand, it has some good character development, particularly with Ashley and Astronema, and I do love the acting that goes into body-switch episodes, but this requires a ridiculous amount of suspension of disbelief on how stupid the Rangers have to be. Let's just get into it, shall we?
It's Ashley's birthday, and judging by the candles, she's seventeen now. She won't spill about her wish, but Cassie guesses that it's Andros-related, since he's sitting in the corner of woe all by himself and not doing anything but staring moodily into space. He's become a parody of himself. She takes him a slice of cake, and he admits that the whole idea of celebrating birthdays is weird for him, since it's not part of Karovan culture. Even so, he surprises her with a gorgeous necklace, with a rare yellow gem from KO-35 on the pendant. How did he get this? I'm gonna guess his winnings from that card game with Darkonda. Andros and Ashley hug, and when Cassie looks over at them, Ashley winks at her.
Meanwhile, on the Dark Fortress, Astronema decides that the best way to destroy the Rangers is from within, by infiltrating the Megaship. To do this, she recruits the Body Switcher, who creates a glamour to transform her into an exact copy of Ashley. And let me tell you—Tracy Lynn Cruz is loving every second of this. She's not overly hammy, but she very obviously loves being the bad girl this time.
As they walk after the party, Ashley admits to Cassie her frustrations with her relationship with Andros. She keeps getting mixed signals from him—sometimes, he seems interested in her, but he's also a complete failure at interpersonal relationships, or in her words, "shy." Cassie points out that Andros probably hasn't had much practice at romance, since he's lived alone on the Megaship for years. Behind her, Quantrons quietly carry Ashley off, and when she turns around to check on her, the glamoured Astronema pulls the switch. The real Ashley tries to escape to warn her, but Astronema stealthily summons Quantrons to distract her. It's a fun battle, since the Quantrons are clearly afraid of hurting their boss, and Astronema isn't putting forth any effort and glaring at Cassie the entire time. But then one of the Quantrons slips up and lands a hit, enraging her so much that she sends it flying with one hit. She then discreetly signals them to run off, and she suggests to Cassie that they head back to the ship.
Once she's aboard, Astronema searches for the engine room, but when D.E.C.A. tells her where to find it, she zaps the camera, frying it. Unfortunately, she runs into Cassie in the work bay, where she's doing maintenance on the Astro Blasters. Trying to maintain her cover, Astronema agrees to help, but she fails to find the correct tool. Still, Cassie isn't too bothered, allowing Astronema to get behind her and blast her with the Wrath Staff. Next, she heads to the gym, where Carlos is doing repetitions with an electronic barbell. On the pretense of helping, she adds more weight to the barbell, eventually crushing him and giving her a chance to pull her staff on him. But as she leaves, either from attacking Carlos or hiding him or Cassie, Alpha surprises her outside the door. She starts to yell at him, but he somehow suspects nothing and gives her a birthday present. Cautiously, Astronema opens it and finds a music box, and as Alpha skips away in oblivious happiness, she reflects that no one's ever been genuinely nice to her like that before (well, with the exception of Ecliptor, who's practically her father). Perplexed, she decides that it's just Alpha being stupid, and she throws the gift away.
Andros notices a surveillance problem on the Megaship (because of D.E.C.A.'s camera, possibly more of them, being destroyed) and confesses his worry to TJ—which I like to see, because it sets them on equal ground as co-leaders of the team. Worse, when he tries to contact Carlos and Cassie, they don't answer. TJ decides to investigate and discovers the destroyed camera. But instead of doing the smart thing and calling Andros to warn him of a potential security risk (especially considering what happened with the Ninja Turtles, unless they're doing like most of the fandom and pretending that episode didn't happen), he continues to investigate on his own, eventually spotting Astronema-as-Ashley in a storage room, where she's just stowed an unconscious Carlos. He spots Carlos's feet and finds him coming to, but not in time to warn TJ that Astronema is about to attack him from behind.
Meanwhile, in...some swamp, or something—I honestly don't know why they used this set instead of quickly setting up something that at least looked like the Dark Fortress's interior—Ashley is tied up and held prisoner by the Body Switcher, who tortures her in the worst possible way by forcing her to watch his act—singing and dancing while switching forms. You really ARE a monster. In the distance, she hears Elgar looking for everyone, since he apparently forgot the whole plan about Astronema being undercover on the Megaship. Realizing that the Body Switcher is likewise not very smart, Ashley convinces him to glamour her as Astronema, which fools Elgar into cutting her free and giving her a chance to make a break for it. And honestly, it's kind of a trip seeing Melody Perkins as Astronema acting nice. This is full-blown Lost Galaxy nice, and it's cute. While she runs, the Body Switcher explains what happened, and Elgar realizes what a blunder he's made.
Having finally captured and stowed three of the four remaining Rangers, Astronema heads to the bridge, where Andros is frustrated and worried because now even TJ has gone silent. She tries to attack him from behind, but Andros turns around too suddenly, ready to tear off and find the others. Realizing she needs another tactic, Astronema creates false video footage on one of the monitors, making it appear as though another Sting King is rampaging on Earth, despite D.E.C.A. arguing her sensors haven't picked up a thing. Astronema convinces Andros they don't have time to look for the others if there's a problem on Earth, and they head down via jump tube. There's a hilarious moment where Astronema as the Yellow Ranger epically botches her landing and faceplants on the ground behind Andros, who is staring everywhere in confusion...which is honestly, his default emotion all episode. While he tries to figure out why there's no giant monster stomping downtown, Astronema tries to pick him off with the Astro Blaster, but it's glamoured Ashley to the rescue, calling attention to herself. She tries to explain the situation to Andros, but Astronema insists it's some kind of trick and attacks, with Andros just going along with whoever's wearing a primary color.
Finally realizing that Andros is never going to figure this out on his own, Ashley grasps her copy of Astronema's necklace (and seriously, it would have been amazing if she opened it here and now) and quizzes Astronema on what gift Andros got her for her birthday. When Astronema fails to answer, Ashley very smugly names the present—and yeah, it's great every time Melody Perkins is this smug. Astronema decides what the hell, she's got a blaster anyway, might as well take the chance, and shoots at them; but they evade and Andros returns fire, hitting her in the shoulder. Somehow, the injury causes the glamour to break and makes the Astro Morpher fall off her wrist—yep, she's perfect for Lost Galaxy and its bizarre inability to keep hold of anything important. Ashley gets behind Andros for cover, but when he sees the morpher, he dives for it, allowing Astronema to confuse things by grappling with Ashley. Andros, I know you're worried that Astronema might take the morpher, but when dealing with evil twins, your priority should be keeping track of who's who, so this fucking thing won't happen! So once again, he's confused, and so too are the Body Switcher and Ecliptor, and the other Rangers, who Alpha rescued from another closet where Astronema strung them up like upside-down piñatas. At last, Andros hits on the idea of holding out the morpher and prompting Ashley to make the morphing pose, which she does with lightning speed. Astronema fails to follow along, and sulks that she "wouldn't want to be a Power Ranger anyway," which is so fucking hilarious down the line (final image courtesy of Rangercrew). She calls in the Body Switcher and teleports away, but Elgar tries to apprehend her on the Dark Fortress, until Ecliptor tells her to knock it off and she fires the Satellasers. I kinda feel bad for her here—like she really needs a nice hot bath and some cocoa and a good book about the bad guys winning. The Rangers take to battle in the Mega Voyager, and as an interesting choice, they use the Astro Megazord Saber with some iaido to start and hack-and-slash at the Body Switcher for a while before using the Mega V-3 Missile.
The Rangers return to the Megaship to check their supplies to be sure Astronema didn't tamper with anything, but Ashley is hesitant to remove her helmet, unsure if the glamour ended with the monster's destruction. It's a nice moment, with everyone tense and bracing themselves either way, only for the sigh of relief when Ashley's back to normal. My only complaint regarding this specific issue is that I wish they'd had Melody Perkins voice morphed-Ashley up until this point, so that it'd be even more tense with her afraid to speak too. But back in her normal appearance, Ashley checks for her Chekhov's necklace and tries to thank Andros again for it, but he's vanished.
Concerned about the infiltration and the attack on his friends, Andros secretly makes his way to a hidden room within the engine room. Inside is some life-support equipment: a cryogenic chamber and a heart monitor, which gives off a slow, steady beep...
Survival of the Silver (Judd Lynn/Worth Keeter): On the desert planet of Kaedix, the Rangers are gathering rock samples because...I guess they mixed up their mission with that of the starship Enterprise. Carlos gets the feeling they're being watched, but nobody sees anything because the Jawa-like natives of the planet are able to glamour themselves as trees. They finally ambush the Rangers as they make their way back to the Megaship, forcing them to fight the rest of the way. But the Jawas attack the ship's hull, causing damage to the external circuits. The Megaship can barely fly, and Andros takes the manual controls while the others head to the engine room to take care of the overheating accelerators, unaware that one of the samples in the adjoining cargo bay is hatching.
They manage to get the thrusters back online, but an electrical malfunction opens the door to the secret room revealed in the previous episode. Cassie and Carlos investigate, and when Cassie spots a body in a cryogenic chamber, Carlos immediately calls for TJ and Ashley. The whole thing is Judd Lynn at his finest, with his excellence at suspense and tension. Carlos wipes condensation off the heart monitor and discovers the patient inside is still alive, so Cassie gathers her courage and wipes the frost off the chamber, revealing a face masked by a gold-and-silver helmet. Ashley asks who this mysterious Ranger is, and Andros appears at the door, revealing that this is Zhane, the Silver Ranger, and his best friend.
In Andros's extremely depressing backstory, he and Zhane were partners as Space Rangers, heavily implied to be the only members of their team. They thought they were invincible, but everything changed when the UAE attacked. This is the battle that forced the colonists to abandon KO-35, and the little we see of it is horrible, and wonderfully prophetic of things to come. The city is burning, the air choked with smoke, and civilians flee as KO-35's Planetary Defense rolls in on tanks and battle Pirhanatrons with everything they've got, including hand-to-hand. It's a losing battle, with ships blasting at skyscrapers and toppling them, and the Karovans vastly outnumbered. Andros and Zhane fight their way through mobs of mooks and monsters to save civilians and soldiers alike, desperately trying to keep up with the relentless assault. When one monster cuts down two soldiers, Andros decides to take it on himself, leaving Zhane to fight off anyone who tries to corner the evacuating people. But Andros is no match for the monster and is thrown to the ground. Zhane sees the monster ready to deliver the final blow, and he runs in and takes it instead. Dying, he grabs the monster and uses the runoff explosion of Power in a suicide attack to destroy it. Andros watches helplessly, blown back by the huge, fiery explosion of Zhane's power and the monster's death. He screams in anguish as he sees Zhane's body barely sticking out of the rubble, and when he digs him out and carries him away, the soldiers on scene stand at attention and clear a path for their fallen hero.
Plagued with guilt and desperate to revive him, Andros brought Zhane to the healing chamber on the Megaship, where he's now in a comatose state, with the chamber repairing his injuries. Over time, he'll recover enough to wake up, but it's been two years now, and Andros is losing hope. The machine is the only thing keeping Zhane alive, and so long as his heart is still beating, Andros isn't giving up. Ashley asks why he didn't tell them, but he doesn't answer, saved by D.E.C.A. asking if she should give them the damage report now. They head to the bridge, but Cassie returns to the cargo bay to check on the sample. Unfortunately, she discovers that it's hatched into a hostile monster, who tears the morpher off her arm and locks her in the cargo bay. Her only hope is to fight it off the best she can, then grab her morpher and hold on tight to something immobile while opening the outer hatch, depressurizing the room and sucking the monster out into space. But the depressurization had decayed their orbit, and the monster has grabbed hold of the hull, further damaging the exterior systems, forcing them to crash land on the planet below. They need to make repairs outside, but the monster and the natives have joined forces to fight them. A few of the Jawas make it aboard the ship, but D.E.C.A. seals the doors. However, this doesn't deter them—those on the outside are still attacking the ship's exterior, causing malfunctions in the healing chamber, causing the temperature to rise and threatening Zhane's fragile condition. It isn't long before he flatlines, and...somehow or another—it isn't explained at all—Andros manages to sense his friend's death. He collapses, devastated, before making a reckless charge at the attackers, screaming in fury and grief.
The intruders try to break into the bridge, with Alpha helpless to stop them. But somehow, all on his own, Zhane revives. The healing chamber opens, and though shaky, he gets up and leaves, finding the intruders and scaring them off before pitching them off the ship one by one—to the surprise and confusion of the Rangers. In the second best reveal of the episode, the Silver Ranger exits the hatch, still a little surprised to see himself alive and confused about where he is and what's going on. But the moment he sees a monster between him and Andros, he decides it's time to kick some ass. For the first time in two years, Zhane takes to battle, showing no decline in his fighting skills over the time in cold sleep. He's quick and powerful, taking down the monster in record time with his weapon, the Super Silverizer, a sword whose blade can retract into a blaster. The monster grows giant, forcing the Rangers to retreat inside the ship, but even in the scramble to lift off, Andros and Zhane stop to...do a friendship handshake. REALLY? After all the time spent teaching Andros to shake? Zhane's surprised to see the Megaship has a Megazord formation, and during the battle, he quickly strikes up a friendship with Alpha. The Delta Megazord bails the Astro out when the monster traps it, and the two Megazords combine to finish it off.
After the battle, the Rangers demorph and make their way to the bridge, eager to meet their new teammate. With his back turned to him—because Lynn loves his suspense—Zhane has his helmet off and is recounting a harrowing tale of a battle against a giant monster in the pre-Megazord days. But Andros remembers the story differently and calls out Zhane on changing the details—namely that the whole thing happened to Andros instead. Zhane turns to reveal that he's a smiling, handsome young man with short blond hair, with barely visible silver highlights. Andros is just as happy to see him, and they hug, him explaining just how long Zhane's been on ice. Zhane's shocked, but Andros promises to explain everything later, since they've got introductions to make. The team introduces themselves, though Ashley seems smitten, almost forgetting to introduce herself...but then again, so does Carlos. And I swear Zhane was just romancing Alpha with that story and giving Andros bedroom eyes. The man is a shameless flirt. Flustered, Ashley forgets herself and puts out her hand, and Andros explains the custom of handshakes. Zhane, however, insists he knows it's a greeting (considering what he and Andros just did), but he's surprised to meet a female Ranger—it seems that the last generation of Space Rangers were male only. Zhane seems to have something for Ashley too, and he kisses her hand, with her clearly not minding the affection. Still, he has his priorities, and he asks Andros what happened to him, since there's a big two-year gap between the battle and now. Andros smiles and takes him off for the explanation, and a long-awaited chance for the friends to catch up.