A cross between our TV Flashback series and Power Rangers coverage, we’ll be looking back week-to-week at past Power Rangers seasons, beginning to end, to coincide with breaks during and between the current seasons. With Dino Charge currently on hiatus, our Flashback coverage will resume through the summer.
Episode 14: “Truth and Consequences”
Originally aired: May 8, 2004
I remembered the White Ranger arc of Dino Thunder feeling very long when I initially watched it, even though it’s no longer than the previous season’s evil Ranger arc. Not in a bad way, mind you; Trent’s story in no way drags, but much like those pesky Zords coming in and out of the White Ranger’s possession, Trent’s standing constantly flip flops. That makes it harder to track, which we see in this batch of episodes, but it certainly doesn’t take away from the originality in this story.
It’s clear now that part of the reason it feels so long is because it takes a while to get to the true meat of the story, the second act of Trent’s journey, if you will. As such, “Truth and Consequences” is exactly what was we needed in this White Ranger arc. The “White Thunder” three-parter was fun and delivered on the action, but beyond the chaotic evil element, there really wasn’t much to offer in terms of newness. We’ve seen an evil Ranger own the current team, and we’ve seen the Rangers unsure of a new warrior’s identity.
The necessary missing piece was the victim’s perspective, and this is where the story gets fresh. Once Trent spontaneously remembers his actions as the White Ranger (or when his body was hijacked by the evil within the gem, depending on how you look at it), this story becomes something Power Rangers has yet to do. Trent is a good kid caught in a horrible situation, with a malignant force gradually stripping him of his agency. No overarching spell to be broken, no villainous misdirection or misinformation, but an evil that’s strapped itself to someone at the wrong place at the wrong time and giving him an impossible choice, all why both the good guys and the bad guys are out for his blood. Jeffrey Parazzo is very good in the episode, transitioning from the awkward loner in his early appearance to the tragic hero with a huge burden on his shoulder swimmingly.
There’s a good bit of drama strewn about regarding the secret of the White Ranger, from Cassidy and Devin’s tape to Trent’s continually failed attempts to tell Kira his secret. It’s very well handled, actually, and what could have felt like stalling is actually quite a tense experience. Trent doesn’t really make bad decisions per se, at least not at first — he recognizes that distancing himself from people will protect them, which is a noble and mature idea to follow. And, while it takes him a while to finally do it, that he very nearly tells Kira the truth without much prodding (only stopped by the danger Cassidy poses at publicly revealing his secret) shows that he isn’t being selfish. His scene where he does finally tell Kira is a very good, even cathartic one, and Emma Lahana has a solid performance for Kira’s completely justified reaction to the news. But Trent is doing this because it’s the right thing to do, forging the beginning of a tragic hero path.
Well, until the end, that is. This an episode filled with hopes being dashed and almost solutions, but ends on a rather dour note. Trent is kidnapped by Mesagog, his secret is out to the bad guys, and what he saw as his last granular of hope — that at least his nemeses didn’t know he was the White Ranger — is dashed. But it’s clear when comparing Trent’s earlier scene revealing his identity to Kira and the final scene: Trent is different at the end of the episode. His excuse is that it’s hopeless, but his decision comes after another bout as the White Ranger, which he can now remember. The gem is taking over even more — he doesn’t tell Kira he was kidnapped by Mesagog, which she would totally understand, and the only way that makes any sense is if the gem is influencing that decision. That does make sense, that it would be protecting itself from separation from the host. The big change in Trent this week is that he stops being aware of when the gem is influencing him. The clear cut “White Ranger is bad, Trent is good” distinction is fading, much like Trent’s drawing when he throws away that last human part of him in the beautiful, symbolic final shot of the episode.
Odds & Ends
- We get Super Dino Mode for Kira and Ethan here, though it’s without substantial fanfare. These power-ups are still some of the weaker ones in the scope of the Power Rangers franchise, but the subtle changes in each Ranger’s form is appreciated. Ethan’s spikes are more prominent on his shoulders as opposed to the ones on Conner’s limbs, and Kira gets some pretty cool wings under her arms.
- Cassidy makes very clear why that classic TV trope of making a big announcement before making sure the thing you’re announcing is present is the worst idea you could ever have. We’ll see in episodes after this that she’s more insightful than she lets on, even journalistically so, but her big flaw is that she’s itching for the fame that comes with breaking stories rather than the truths behind breaking stories. Hence, spreading the word about White Ranger is more important to her than actually ever watching the video herself.
- The punchline of Devin’s sister needing the camera “in a hurry” — which we just kind of assume would be a kid sister needing it for something stupid — is that it’s apparently an older sister who needs to give birth. It’s a really clever, even kind of subtle somewhat background joke that Power Rangers doesn’t do very often.
- It’s dumb that Ismay Johnston isn’t in the opening credits. Hayley is really great.
- Hey, Dino Charge also has an Ankylozord!
- Mesagog specifically refers to Anton Mercer in third person, and while it still makes sense given what we realize a couple episodes down from here, I appreciate the show using it as a misdirect for their relationship. Even though it’s still very obvious who’s who.
- “A paleontologist turned into a fossil. White Ranger’s got a great sense of humor.”
- “It’s not like the White Ranger’s gonna walk right in here.” *Trent enters.* – I dig how much the show likes this type of joke. We heard it with Kira falling out of the Invisportal in the first episode, and we’ll hear it again before the show is over.
Episode 15: “Leader of the Whack”
Originally aired: May 15, 2004
Personality switch episodes are always super fun in any TV show, and there’s a sense that they’re written more for the cast to have fun more than anything else. A good personality switch episode will expose something about the characters through the contrast, rather than just playing everything for laughs.
I’m not sure “Leader of the Whack” tells us more about any of these characters than we already know. But it does have more interesting things to say with the concept than, say, the classic “Power Ranger Punks,” which was pretty much just an excuse to get this. The approach to everyone’s new personalities is simple: according to Hayley, “It frees your inner self,” latching onto a recessive personality trait and exposing it. What’s interesting, and a little bit heady, is that these personalities still play to how the characters viewed themselves pre-meteor. It’s a lot like how some have grown to view the infamous emo Peter Parker dancing in Spider-Man 3; there’s an argument that the reason the arrogant black-suited Peter somehow turned into a douchey jazz dancing weirdo is because Peter, the out-of-touch dweeb that he is deep down, honestly thinks that’s what’s cool. The most apt comparison is to Devin, who becomes a suave, confident ladies’ man…and does so with a Saturday Night Fever-era John Travolta impression, because that’s exactly what someone as eccentric as Devin idolizes as the epitome of cool. So there you have it, folks, Power Rangers Dino Thunder did Spider-Man 3 before Spider-Man 3 even came out, and did it way better.
Joking aside, it’s evident in all the characters, and it’s pretty brilliant. Conner’s view of an intellectual type is someone who constantly uses unnecessarily big words (nothing he says is actually smart, it’s just multisyllabic) while wearing glasses he doesn’t need and dressing like a professor, not to mention acting extra passive and soft. Ethan thinks being more physical means being a total musclehead, extra aggressive and literally not doing anything else outside of working out. Cassidy explores being less controlling, and turns into a total pushover nerd that dresses like an unattractive private schoolgirl with a big crush on Devin. Kira is the standout in terms of comedy — as the feminist counterculture type, she views girlishness as akin to dressing like a 50s housewife and obsessing over shopping and her appearance. Everyone is on point this week, but Lahana nails it with tons of little body movements throughout. The three doing their morph call with distinct facial and physical expressions, which is screencapped above, is pretty representative of how solid this stuff is. Kira’s limp wrist call is so funny that she stands in the middle during their second morph, just so we get a better view of it.
It also ties in nicely with Trent’s story, as he flees to the woods after having given up his civilian life for good…well, supposedly, at least. It’s interesting how much perspective plays a role, because having seen Trent’s struggles in the previous episode, Conner and Ethan look rather harsh in their writing off of Trent. Yet, it totally makes sense; Trent rejected their help by his own accord, and even though Kira saw him at his most vulnerable, he still refused to give her a real reason for giving up. The meteor gives Trent a temporary out in bringing out the goodness the gem is suppressing, letting him help out the Rangers — or at least, not actively trying to destroy them — which in turn gives the Rangers hope that he’ll recover. That important kernel keeps this episode from being just a simple one-off comedy, in addition to the meteor fragment cleverly freeing Dr. O from the amber (it frees your inner self, of course!), after conveniently destroying it so it can’t be used on Trent again. This episode really covers its bases well, and leads right into the next one.
Odds & Ends
- Shout out to the costuming and make-up (Cassidy’s pimples look amazing!) for some great choices.
- Love that the monster gets affected by the meteor too, even if it basically just makes him a regular monster.
- Zeltrax’s dumbfounded reaction to Rojobot’s name being Rojobot is hilarious.
- The upside to Trent pretty much giving into his dinogem is that he’s no longer sweaty and tired all the time, it seems. Parazzo is probably happy about that.
- “Every evil anti-hero lives in a secluded cave or somewhere outside of the city.” – So, Cassidy is totally right here, a brief but important showcase of how insightful she is and how great of a journalist she could be if she got her head out of her butt. Except for the fact that she says “evil anti-hero,” which is both redundant and an oxymoron.
- Nice touch that the first woman we see 70s disco Devin eyeing is one with a classically styled afro.
- “If I don’t soak my cuticles in an aloe bath, my nails will never grow out!”
- “I just know I’m gonna have the worst helmet hair after this.” – Maybe unintentional, but this seems like a sly reference to Kimberly’s “helmet messes up my hair” bit from the first episode of Mighty Morphin, which was reiterated in the first episode of Megaforce. And I love it.
- “Why doesn’t anyone make superhero costumes for the petite?” – Well, technically they probably do, but…look, let’s just say everything meteored-Kira utters in this episode is really funny, okay?
Episode 16: “Burning at Both Ends”
Originally aired: May 22, 2004
This trifecta of episodes ends pretty much where it began: the White Ranger is out there doing his own thing, both sides hate him, and there are secrets abound. As much as “Truth and Consequences” appeared to put everyone in the know, “Burning at Both Ends” drops even more: Mesagog is White Ranger’s dad, and the former doesn’t know the latter knows. It’s fewer secrets in quantity, but it’s way bigger and higher stakes than before, given how the Mercer/Fernandez family drama has been built.
That said, “Burning at Both Ends” is still kind of a huge mess. It’s got very good stuff in it, though, so even though it’s the weakest of this week’s pod of episodes, it’s hardly a disappointment. The main problem is that it crams some silly story beats in at rapid fire speed, and while that pace has worked in Dino Thunder‘s favor at times, it isn’t as effective here. For one, after the last two episodes of Trent struggling to stay sane even under the gem’s influence, it seems the gem has fully taken him over off-screen. Much as I appreciate that the show didn’t take a lightswitch approach to Trent’s evil, it feels a little rushed to have him return with full-on evil laughs and scowls, considering this episode hinges on everyone understanding that Trent and the White Ranger are now one and the same.
The worst offender of the rushed narrative, though, is the entire bait-and-switch; we’re made to think Trent has become fully evil, then that he’s good again, only for him to immediately reveal to us that he’s evil, then reveals that he’s evil to the Rangers almost immediately after as part of a plan to…put one Ranger on a runaway ATV that he could theoretically just jump off of and blow up? It’s a really silly plan, not to mention seems tailored only to introduced the black and white ATVs and increase the explosion-y vehicle battles the Disney-era loved so much. It’s shoved away quickly make room for the second little mini-plot that comes out of nowhere, which is that the Dino Zords were under threat of being blown up by a starfish device. So the Rangers decide to pull their own bait-and-switch by getting the monster to free the Zords, only for the White Ranger to have another bait-and-switch by showing the starfish device was only turning the Zords evil. Then the White Ranger destroys the monster (complete with the triumphant Dino Thunder theme playing!) and takes off with his new Zords. Also, Mesagog is Anton Mercer and the two are separate personalities, which Trent now knows thanks to his new camouflage power. Whew. Okay, now breathe.
Buried within this mondo heap of a plot is the idea that Trent is playing every side, which in turn causes the sides he’s playing to play him right back. That’s a brilliant idea for a story — after all, the White Ranger is chaotic evil at its finest, so of course he’s going to cause the chaos. And sure, that’s bound to create some confusion in the characters and a convoluted plot. But something this convoluted would definitely benefit from slowing down, because it’s hard to make a twist or bait-and-switch land if you didn’t know how you were being baited in the first place.
The episode is also weighed down by explaining Tommy’s new state, as his “dinogem and morpher remolecularized” when he came out of the amber and has caused him to be stuck in the suit. This was done so Jason David Frank could get his agreed upon time off from the show without removing the Tommy attraction, but honestly, it ends up benefiting the narrative right now. I discussed before why Tommy’s role as Dr. Oliver the veteran Ranger works in this show, even for those of us who aren’t really Tommy fans. That’s very much a factor here, as he provides the voice of reason at points — mentioning that he was in Trent’s shoes once and explains why his friends can’t give up on him — and that changes the Rangers’ (understandable) Trent-hating attitude. But Tommy’s reduced presence here allows the focus to remain squarely on the current team and their Trent problems. Those are a highlight of the season thus far, even at their most incoherent.
Odds & Ends
- I really dig the title of this episode and its significance.
- Trent’s camouflage power totally makes sense for him. But it also makes Tommy’s invisibility power seem even dumber and more useless than it already was.
- Normally these Rangers are genre-savvy, but Ethan seems to forget that when he asks to try out the new ATV…that’s clearly black and gold. …Or is it blue and white? #ATVgate
- The ATV battle is really, really lame, but shows early and clear signs of what fans dubbed “Kalishplosions,” notably before the producer it was named after, Bruce Kalish, was acting as more than a writer. The man who has since been deemed more responsible for the increase of pyrotechnics was definitely on staff at the time, though.
- The shots used from the Sentai footage of the Rangers riding against the sunset to rescue the Zords (pictured above) are gorgeous.
- Also…wassup, Raptor Riders? We all probably forgot about you.
- Principal Randall’s reaction to Dr. Oliver’s absence excuse: “He better not be faking it!”
- “I don’t make deals with posers.”
“Take that back!” – If you want to offend Conner, call the dude a poser. It gets him HEATED. - “Don’t think I won’t destroy you, Trent.”
“Whatever you say, old man.” – Harsh on both fronts, guys.
