Power Rangers Review: "Green With Evil (Part II: Jason's Battle)"

When we last left our heroes, they were in a very, very tight spot. The Power Rangers had a new foe in the form of one of their own: the evil Green Ranger. Rita Repulsa decided that it was time to mold someone into becoming her Green Ranger, and that someone ended up being the new kid at Angel Grove High School, Tommy Oliver. As the Green Ranger, Tommy made quite the diabolical impression--destroying the Command Center, thus putting Zordon out of commission, and crashing Megazord and beating the Rangers.

And now, on to Part II.

The Rangers were still surveying the damage to the Command Center, while also wondering what to do regarding the Green Ranger. One problem did end up getting solved, Billy managed to fix Alpha and get him back to being fully operational. While Jason is glad to hear that news, he does remind the rest of the Rangers that they still had to try to get Zordon back, and see what they can do about the Green Ranger.

Speaking of the Green Ranger, Tommy is placed back where Rita took him, and she orders Tommy to remain on Earth until further notice, and also to keep his identity as the Green Ranger a secret. While Tommy glances hypnotically at the Power Coin, Bulk and Skull appear looking for payback against Tommy. Bulk demands an apology from Tommy, who response by flashing green eyes and firing his evil power at the dimwitted duo.

Bulk and Skull aren't the only ones looking to get a piece of the Green Ranger:

We see Jason giving the punching bag quite the beating, while Zack holds the bag. It's clear that the Green Ranger is rent free in Jason's head, and Jason pretty much admits this. Jason's absolutely bewildered by this, because while the Green Ranger's costume is like theirs, Zordon never mentioned a Green Ranger. After Jason quiets Zack, because some civilians were walking by, we get this hilarious exchange:

Zack: "You think he's the one who trashed the Command Center?"

Jason: "It's too much of a coincidence. I mean, he shows up, and Zordon's suddenly missing."

Zack's brilliant deduction: "Maybe he's working for Rita." Yeah, no shit, Zack. In other breaking news, the sky is blue.

Speaking of blue, Billy's inspecting the damage to the panels at the Command Center, and it's bad. The wires are totally burned, and it would take a lot of time to properly fix the damage and their communicators. Meanwhile, back at the school, Kimberly approaches Tommy and asked him why he didn't meet her as planned. "Something came up," is all he says, but that's not enough. Kimberly worries that she may have did something to upset him, but all that does is lead to Tommy snapping at Kimberly, who is stunned by Tommy's attitude.

At the palace, Rita gushes over her Green Ranger, and prior to this, she had a special gift planned for her new cohort. For this, I have to go into Rod Roddy mode here:

Those who fall under Rita Repulsa's spell will receive the Sword of Darkness! This magical weapon was acquired by Rita after her knight defeated Zordon's soldiers, and is guaranteed to keep the holder under Rita's spell permanently, as long as no one destroys the sword. Only Zordon knows the secret, but he's out of commission.

That's the Sword of Darkness. Not sold in stores. Only seen in evil palaces, Republican National Conventions, and the Edmonton Oilers clubhouse--because how else could they have reached the Cup Final this year?

And now, back to the review!

So it's decided that Tommy must earn the right to own the Sword of Darkness, and afterwards, we see Tommy at a nearby beach meeting up with Rita and her minions. Tommy asks if it's time to crush the Power Rangers, but Goldar informs him that he would be put to a test. Only using his skill and no weapons, Tommy has to fight the Putties to earn the Sword of Darkness. To the surprise of absolutely no one, Tommy takes down the Putties one by one, including an epic moment where we see Tommy deliver what looked like a Hurricanrama on one of those clayheads. So with that, Tommy receives the swords, and as he cackles, he vows to destroy the Rangers--starting with Jason.

As Zack and Kimberly are still dealing with their malfunctioning communicators, Jason approaches Tommy and tells him that he would have to postpone their session. Tommy understands, but it's followed by Tommy using his Power Coin to send Jason to a dark dimension. "One down, four to go," says Tommy, while Jason finds himself face to face with Goldar...with no way out. Zack and Kimberly head to the Command Center via the Radbug, and once there, the pair, Billy, and Trini, see Green Ranger in the Viewing Globe. Zack wants to fight Green Ranger, but he and the others agree that they need to contact Jason.

Unfortunately, Jason is in the dimension dealing with Goldar, and it's not good. He can't teleport, and Goldar has his morpher, so it's an uphill battle for the Red Ranger. As for the others, they can't wait for Jason any longer, so the remaining four Rangers morph and fight against the Green Ranger, but with the Sword of Darkness in his possession, it goes as well for the four Rangers as one would expect. As Green Ranger searches for the quartet of Rangers, the Zords end up being called. Despite Jason not being there to command the Tyrannosaurus, the remaining Rangers do form Megazord, who looks down at Green Ranger and gives a bit of a "You want some, come get some" vibe. Green Ranger obliges, and fires a blast at Megazord, who diverts it back to him with the use of the rarely seen Mammoth Shield (which is the head of the Mastodon Dinozord).

Rita's not happy with this, as she sees this as a loss, but it's not, as Goldar still has Jason held captive. As for the other four Rangers, they are back at the Command Center, and they need Zordon, as Green Ranger is more powerful now. We do get a glimpse of Zordon, but it lasts barely longer than a split second, and the Rangers are heartbroken. All the while, Goldar appears to be on the verge of finishing off Jason. Oh man, oh man.

"Jason's Battle," Part II of the "Green With Evil" miniseries, aired on Fox on Wednesday, October 6, 1993. This was an amazing follow-up to Part I, which set the tone for this arc, and similar to Part I, we see some more history. For one, Green Ranger's attack towards Megazord was a first, as Green Ranger wasn't grown via Rita's magic wand (yet--that comes later). Secondly, we are introduced to the dark dimension, and we will see it quite a bit during the MMPR seasons (including a pair of two-parters that will be mentioned on Vocal later on). But yeah, as we see, Tommy is now deeper into the proverbial rabbit hole, now that he's in possession of the Sword of Darkness. Rita's stranglehold on Tommy pretty much doubled (if not tripled) once the Sword was presented, and it led to the Rangers being shorthanded.

There's more to come, folks!

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