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By the way, a nice touch here is that they still use the old intro for the first episode of the new season, since the new villains haven't been introduced yet.
So we start off at some motocross for charity, and are you really surprised that our heroes are here and taking part? I am surprised Douchelan is here, but I guess they couldn't find any other dumbass authority figure to take his place. Bulk and Skull are here too, dressed like rejects from Mad Max, of course. And yes, they're more worried about winning while the others are focused on the charity, as expected.
Now, it does sound like I'm complaining here, but this is actually pretty smart what they're doing here. They're starting off by lulling us into a false sense of security by making us think this is just another episode. The intro's the same, there's a random subplot, and it'll probably end with another monster showing up and causing trouble, as usual.
We move to the moon where Rita starts to form another plan to take on the Rangers. Suddenly, lightning starts to strike her palace. On the moon? Lightning? *sigh* Magic. Goldar instantly knows what's going on and mentions that the true Emperor of Evil, Lord Zedd, has returned. Rita looks like she just pissed herself. Instantly, the fans wonder what's going on. Goldar's explanation seems to build up Zedd as someone more powerful than Rita, which instantly grabs people's attention.
Back on Earth, the motocross begins and...we get bad songs to go with it. Yet another attempt at making something look cool for the kids, but it fits with the "false sense of security" I mentioned. Back on the moon, the storm gets worse and Lord Zedd arrives in Rita's palace. Rita gets another headache. Goldar's response?
Goldar: Deal with it!
Keep this in mind, it'll make sense in a minute.
Apparently, the storm is so powerful that the Rangers can hear it on Earth, as they pull off of the track and wonder what's going on. Only the arrival of the most awesome Power Rangers villain ever!
Back on the moon, things have already changed considerably. There's a new, much larger palace on the moon, Zedd has his own theme music, which is much more intimidating than that weird rock that Rita had, and Zedd's Z symbol is everywhere. Squat and Baboo go into hiding before lightning strikes a pedestal in the middle of the room, summoning a throne with the Z on it. Goldar welcomes Lord Zedd to the palace as the throne turns and we get our first full look at Zedd. And goddamn, he is awesome. Picture a skinless body with only muscle, except the bones are on the outside and are metallic, cooling tubes serving as the veins, and a very awesome mask serving as the face. It's actually pretty hard to describe, but seriously, he's just awesome. He even has a snake that transforms into his staff (which has a big Z on the end of it, of course)
Goldar starts sucking up to Zedd, promising to serve him and him only. Zedd rewards him for his loyalty by restoring his wings. I wondered what happened to those. Rita walks in and tries to get on Zedd's good side. It doesn't exactly work. Zedd berates Rita for constantly failing to defeat the Rangers, especially considering they're just children. He does have a point, and Goldar agrees. Zedd starts to get pissed, glowing red when he does so. Why this is important, I don't know.
Alpha and Zordon catch wind of what's happened and contact the Rangers, who teleport to the Command Center. Once there, Zordon fills them in and explains that Zedd is essentially Rita's boss, and is much more powerful than her. So much so that they might not be able to defeat him, even with their Zords. This is working perfectly. Zedd continues to be built up as the next big thing and the reason why things need to be switched up and fast.
Back on the moon, Zedd learns more about the group as Goldar suggests they attack with some Putties. But they can't use any old Putties for this, they have to use ZEDD'S Putties. We are then introduced to the Z-Putties, which are basically the normal Putties, except they're wearing white outfits with a large Z on their chest. Remember that, it's very important later.
On Earth, Bulk and Skull crash into a tree, and decide to head for the finish on foot, as the storm above their heads gets worse and worse. On the moon, Rita continues to beg Zedd for another chance, offering to make a monster for him, but Zedd refuses due to her constant failure. He then tells the Z-Putties to bring out Rita's "traveling vehicle". Which just so happens to be the dumpster from the first episode! Although it's considerably smaller. Zedd officially banishes Rita from his palace, destroying her staff and shrinking her down to fit into the dumpster. And, of course, Rita gives her best Wicked Witch impression with "I'm shrinking! I'm shrinking! Oh, what a planet, what a planet!" Goldar puts her in the dumpster and Zedd and the Z-Putties hurl her out into space. Rita, however, vows that she will return.
Back on Earth, Bulk and Skull come across the Rangers' vehicles and decide to use them to get to the finish. Or they would, except the Z-Putties arrive. The Rangers see what's happening from the Command Center, noticing that they're not normal Putties. They morph and head to the battle.
Once there, Bulk and Skull hide behind some bushes while the Rangers fight the Z-Putties. They continue to ooh and ahh like spectators while the Rangers get their asses kicked by the Z-Putties. To make matters worse, after hinting at it for almost 20 episodes, we finally see signs of Tommy's powers dwindling. Things soon take a turn for the better once Jason destroys one of them, discovering that the Z-Putties' weak spot is the Z on their chests. See, this is what I don't get. The Z-Putties by themselves are stronger than the normal Putties and were beating the Rangers, in morph no less, for a while here. But because Zedd just had to put his symbol on them, they can be destroyed, and quite easily, actually. Where's the logic behind that? Anyway, this is enough for the Rangers to turn things around and defeat the Z-Putties. They check on Bulk and Skull, who are starstruck, and teleport away. Bulk and Skull decide what they're going to do for this season: uncover the Power Rangers' true identities.
At the Command Center, the Rangers report to Zordon what's happened and wonder what's about to happen next. Zedd answers them by using his magic to transform a piranha on Earth into Pirantishead, our monster-of-the-week. Wait, there are piranha in Angel Grove?! No wonder Billy's scared of fish! The Rangers head back out into battle, minus Tommy who needs to recharge. They meet up with Pirantishead who starts causing havoc. For some reason, the Rangers move right to summoning the DinoZords. This quickly proves to be a bad move, as Pirantishead actually freezes the DinoZords, minus the T-Rex, in place. This is where Part 1 ends.
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This is how you start a season. The status quo has been shaken up, with a new villain kicking out an old one, problems among the group, the comedic duo actually having their own constant subplot established, the goons are supposedly stronger, and the fact that a monster-of-the-week can just stop the Zords in their tracks is a real shocker. Things will continue to change in the next part.
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Our villain for this season, Lord Zedd, the baddest mofo in Power Rangers history.
The supposedly stronger goons, the Z-Putties.
Just the fact that Pirantishead could stop the Zords in their tracks indicates that he's not like the other monsters-of-the-week.
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