Power Rangers Review: "Return of an Old Friend"

Since television became a thing so many decades ago, so many shows have had that moment. You know the one I'm talking about: "Where were you when this happened?" That moment. Where were you when someone shot J.R. Ewing? Where were you when the 4077 left Korea? Where were you when Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer all ended up facing the proverbial music in 1998? A small group of many landmark moments all over television.

MMPR would give us their first of many "Where were you?" moments with this two-part episode, and here is the review:

Part I

The event began with a big day at the Youth Center: Parents' Day. Other than teaching us that even Bulk and Skull come from someone, it was quite a joyous and amazing day all around, unless you're Kimberly. Our legendary Pink Ranger was feeling quite down, because her parents are divorced, but she has Trini to cheer her up. Seriously, I always did love their friendship. The sweet moment is later interrupted by, you guessed it, Putties, and after Jason and Zack are informed by Zordon, we see Red and Black join the fray, though Billy has yet to arrive.

The Putties are a smoke screen (aren't they always?), as Rita enacts her true game plan: abducting all of the parents and holding them prisoner in her dark dimension, while also releasing her latest creature: the Dramole monster. After the parents are taken, we see Billy arrive, and Rita spots this, so she has Dramole unleash his hypnotic gas to put Billy under Rita's control.

So the Blue Ranger was under Rita's control, and she gave her order to Billy: bring her the Dragon Dagger. We see Billy sent to the Command Center, where he shuts down Alpha and snaps at Zordon, which included Billy revealing his mission. Just like that, the dagger appears in Billy's hands, and off he goes. I'm dead serious, I liked this moment then and I still do. It's one of my favorite "Rangers Gone Bad" moments, and I am compiling a list, and this will be on it.

Anyway, the remaining four Rangers are stunned to see that the Youth Center's empty, and they teleport to the Command Center, where Zordon informed them about Billy's actions under Rita's control, as well as Dramole being on the loose and their parents being imprisoned. The four of them morph and teleport to the dimension, where they see Billy on the verge of handing the Dragon Dagger to Goldar. The Putties are sent to fight the Rangers, but while the fight happens, Goldar takes the dagger, and Billy's free from the control, but is horrified over what had transpired. Jason tells Billy that he's not to blame, and then Goldar gives the Rangers the following ultimatum: either surrender their Power Coins, or lose their parents forever.

After that, Billy--now free from Rita's spell--morphs and joins the rest of the Rangers in fighting Dragonzord (now under Goldar's control) inside Megazord, but after the fight commenced, the Rangers abandoned ship, as they had to answer Goldar's ultimatum. Even Zordon couldn't help the Rangers, as he told them that only they could make this decision. So the Rangers decided that they had to give up their coins, and they did so in the following order: Jason, Kimberly, Zack, Trini, and finally Billy. Jason told Goldar that now that he has what he wants, he should return their parents. Of course, Goldar double crosses them and says that he plans to destroy the world, and now nothing in his way.

The Rangers return to the Command Center, where they see their parents in the dark dimension. Zack's angry that they trusted Goldar, but Billy stated that they were placed between a rock and a hard place. Zordon commends them for the decision, but Kimberly laments that Goldar had all of their Power Coins.

"Not all of them," said Jason. "We still have one."

As we see the Green Power Coin in Jason's hand, we see Dramole burrowing, and someone making their way to the Youth Center. The dramatic sounds of military-style drums play as the walking continues. Finally, the walking stops. The camera zooms up, and...

HE'S BACK, BABY!!!!

I was a few weeks away from turning nine when this aired, but I will NEVER forget that final moment in Part I, when the camera zooms up, and there he is: Tommy Oliver. I knew I wasn't the only one who was beaming over this at that time. Everyone watching awaited Part II with bated breath!

Part II

"That coin may help you defeat Rita," Zordon says to kick off Part II, while Jason has the coin in his hand still. Kimberly asks how it could be possible due to Tommy not having his powers, and then they look at the viewing globe again at their parents suffering. They had to try. Zordon orders Alpha to contact Tommy, who surveys the situation and wonders what the hell is going on, before we see that green flash of teleportation.

Now, I loved this and still do. Tommy's appearance shocked the villains. Rita couldn't believe it, and Goldar said that there was no way that they could get Green Ranger back. With that, Rita sent Goldar to continue to wreak havoc with Dragonzord; meanwhile, Tommy was in the Command Center, and was happy to see his friends, but that happiness became bewilderment when Jason returned the Green Power Coin to its rightful owner.

Tommy was briefed on everything that occurred, and he said that he was willing to do anything he could, but it was difficult without his powers. Zordon stated that the only option was to power up Tommy with a good amount of his own energy, though the Rangers protested this, as it could put Zordon in danger, as well as the fact that Tommy's temporary powers could run out during a fight. Nevertheless, Tommy persisted.

We see the process begin. The Rangers are in awe. Alpha worries. Billy tells Zordon that if he uses too much energy, he'll cease to exist. Zordon says that it's their only chance, and even told Alpha that he worries too much. The process continues, until...

I repeat: HE'S BACK, BABY!!!!

Green Ranger is teleported to the scene where the Power Coins and the Dragon Dagger are held, and he faces Goldar. Tommy expects a one-on-one battle, but Goldar--much like the Houston Astros--doesn't believe in fighting fair. The Putties are sent, and Tommy fights them before going after Goldar. The other Rangers watch as Tommy struggles in the battle. They worry, but Zordon insists on giving Tommy more of his power. While the other Rangers are unsure, Jason's confident that Tommy can pull it off, and tells Alpha to juice him up. What follows is one of my favorite moments: Tommy's down, but at that moment, that big, gold shield glows up, and as the line from Major League II goes, "the boy's pumped up."

After fighting Goldar and the Putties some more, Tommy goes for the Power Coins. The force field shocks him, but Tommy manages to regain the Dragon Dagger, and with that, full control of the Dragonzord. Rita is furious! "I should fire all of you! I couldn't have any worse help than I do already!" she shrieks before sending both Goldar and Scorpina to fight against the Dragonzord, all while "Go Green Ranger Go" plays!

The Rangers' worry over Tommy increases, and Zordon, while losing connection, tells Alpha to bring Tommy back. Meanwhile, Tommy feels his powers running out, but he has to go after the Power Coins. With one last, desperate rush, Tommy gets the box containing the coins, while the force field shoots through him. He's teleported to the Command Center in time, but upon arrival, he collapses and de-morphs. Tommy didn't look good, but dammit, he got the job done!

Tommy was at rest, and was breathing normally, all the while, Zack was lamenting over losing Zordon. Jason thought up the idea of the Rangers using their Power Coins to revive Zordon, and they do just that. So Zordon's back in full, so that's one problem solved. They still had to free their parents, and deal with Dramole. The Rangers would get the chance to do the latter on the spot. Zordon warns the Rangers about the monster's gas, with Billy using his own experience as a cautionary tale. The quintet morphs and battles Dramole, but it quickly goes south, as all but Kimberly fall prey to Dramole's gas, and the four hypnotized Rangers go after their Pink ally.

As Alpha panics over the situation, Tommy suddenly rises from the comforter, with green electric charge all around him. Zordon later deduces that the charge is a result of a power overload due to being struck by the force field. Tommy wakes up and is back to normal, and Zordon asks Tommy how he feels. Tommy's upset because his friends are in danger and he could be doing something about it. At that moment, Alpha gives Tommy's power coin back to him, as if to say:

"Welcome back, Green Ranger. Now go get 'em."

Tommy morphs, and his aura results in Zack, Trini, Billy, and Jason being freed from their hypnotic state. Dramole later grows, and the Zords come into play. Megazord is formed, and Dragonzord comes in. When that's not enough, the Rangers call in the big guns, in the form of Titanus. Ultrazord is formed, and afterwards, Dramole is blown to bits.

At the Command Center, Zordon informed the Rangers that their parents are free from the dimension, are safe and sound, and remember nothing from their experience. The Rangers celebrate that piece of good news, along with the added bonus that Tommy is back as a Ranger. Zordon informed Tommy that his powers are currently at an unstable level and could run out at any time, but despite all of this, Tommy is happy to be back with the Rangers. The episode ends with Parents' Day continuing on, Kimberly introduces Tommy to her parents, and of course, Bulk and Skull start a food fight.

"Return of an Old Friend" aired on Fox on February 28 (Part I) and March 1 (Part II), 1994, and served as the 49th and 50th episodes of the overall series. Let me tell you a story. For years, I've said my reasons why Tommy Oliver is my all time favorite Ranger. I've said that Green Ranger was his best Ranger form. What I have yet to do is say why I love the Green Ranger. Well, here it is. It's the same reason why I idolize Jughead Jones: because Green Ranger stood out. Look at the five Rangers. Different colors, but the same look. Now look at Green Ranger. He had that big, gold shield that I thought was absolutely cool. He was different from all of the other Rangers. I loved Green Ranger's cool shield, just like I loved Jughead Jones' crown-shaped beanie.

I can't watch Part II without crying, and the reason is all too obvious. When Jason David Frank passed, this Power Rangers uber-fan was absolutely hurting. One thing I always admired about Tommy was that he was an all-in guy. We saw that in spades after his return as the Green Ranger. This would began a recurring angle for Tommy, one that would see him fight with the Rangers with a tank that wasn't all the way full, and could run out at any time. Even so, Tommy was one to get involved, consequences be damned! Of course, for the remainder of Season One, it was not a problem. Once Lord Zedd became the Big Bad in Season Two, however, it would become a huge problem, but those are other stories for another time.

Tommy's return was by popular demand; the fans and viewers loved Green Ranger and wanted to see him back after several episodes without him. In addition, his return also gave us more screen time for Green Ranger. Previously, Green Ranger would only come into play when the Zords were fighting. Following this two-parter, Green Ranger would be more involved in the fights and featured more. Oh, and one more thing, the two-parter marked the debut of Tommy's own theme song, "Go Green Ranger Go"--another attribute to his immense popularity.

So to answer my own question: "Where was I when the Green Ranger returned to the team?" Simple: I was at home watching with great excitement.

Thanks for reading my review; feel free to leave a comment below! If you like it, click the heart and click subscribe if you want more, and feel free to leave a tip or pledge (if you want)!