Power Rangers Flashback: Dino Thunder Finale

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.

Episodes 37-38: “Thunder Struck”

Originally aired: October 16-23, 2004

Dino Thunder hasn’t been terribly good at sticking the landing when it comes to story conclusions, so saying “Thunder Struck” is the best conclusion to a story arc this season would be kind of an empty compliment. There are problems with this finale that hold it back from being an all-time great pair of episodes, but it’s satisfying nonetheless and does pretty much everything a Power Rangers finale should do. Even if, ultimately, it’s a little anti-climactic.

Most of the problems – with the exception of one glaring one – fall in the second half, while part one is an absolute thrill along the same lines as “Thunder Storm.” There’s almost exclusively American footage, and it’s a fast-paced, action-packed romp. What makes part one so effective, narratively, is that we see the Rangers go on the offensive. Normally the plot is prompted by the villains executing a plan and the Rangers reacting, which is especially true in finales, where we’ll typically see the villain enacting a final epic plan that forces the Rangers into battle. This time we have a final epic plan from Mesagog — ransoming Anton for the Dino Gems and using them to power his Transfiguration Beam — but it doesn’t get in motion before Trent intervenes. The Rangers immediately forge their own counterplan and storm the castle, taking their fight to Mesagog for the first time, and it is awesome. 

Without their Dino Gems, the Rangers fight out-of-costume with their civilian powers only, and it’s as well-choreographed and utilized as the extensive fight in “Thunder Storm.” It’s admittedly rather lame that the final weapon of the season is literally a tractor trailer with a laser attached to it, but the episode makes up for it by having freakin’ Hayley at the wheel, and then with Conner’s stellar fight on top of it. The latter is one of the best action sequences of the season, on par with any typical action movie production-wise. At the same time, we have Trent facing off with Mesagog and then heroically rescuing his father as the base implodes around them. The Rangers have a daring scheme, and it pays off in one of the most exciting, action-packed episodes of the show, and by far the superior half of this two-parter.

The glaring problem in both parts, though, is Elsa. From a purely mechanical standpoint, her humanization is a useful tool; it creates a familiar damsel-in-distress element that ups the stakes and moves along the plot, without removing any of our main heroes from the story to make them the damsel. And it gives Miriama Smith something more to work with other than sneer and scream. But human Elsa is an enigma, as we never had any indication that she was anything but a humanoid monster until now. (In fact, I distinctly remember the original Jetix ads calling Elsa a “deadly android,” though obviously those aren’t meant to be canon.) Even worse, the Rangers instantly trust her somehow, despite Elsa having a notable track record for being in disguise.

The whole thing seems to designed so there would be a human captive in the final episode, which is understandable, but poorly executed. Had Elsa’s roots as a human been explored earlier in the season, maybe even as a parallel to the Anton/Mesagog dichotomy, this could have felt earned. But suddenly reverting Elsa to a human form is a no-win situation for the finale; if it spent too much time getting the Rangers to trust her, it’d be a less-interesting retread of the Trent trust story, and if it delved into her origins now, it would take the time away from an already hefty pair of episodes. The alternative is what get instead, Elsa having a pretty vague “I was a human until Mesagog made me evil for some reason” backstory while the Rangers inexplicably treat her like a dear friend immediately. Tommy even leaves her alone in his lair, for goodness sake!

In fact, part two may have been helped if human Elsa turned out to be a traitor and sent Zeltrax to the Dino Lab, or something. Because that’s ultimately the biggest problem with the concluding chapter: there are almost no twists, just exactly what’s expected. The Rangers fight Zeltrax, they win, Mesagog comes back in a final form, they win, their powers are lost in the battle. Where part one excelled at flipping the formula, part two reverts to the typical “Rangers react to a nefarious plan” structure exclusively. It curiously sticks heavily to the source footage, which means we get some awkward stuff — the bizarre look of the ZelZord, Trent having to stick on the ground off-camera to fight the mooks while his teammates do all the work, etc.

The ZelZord battle isn’t terrible, just — like everything with Zeltrax — rather average. Using every single Dino Zord to fire a big blast is a cool moment, but again, it’s all very standard Power Rangers fare. The “tragedy of Smitty” is thrown out, but there isn’t any emotional connection given how badly that storyline was botched from day one. It’s not really cathartic when he’s defeated, and though I do like the odd team-up of Tommy and Kira being strong enough to take him out, it speaks to how weak Zeltrax was a villain. The best part about this is that the Rangers pretty much decide to destroy him without even attempting to turn him human again, which is a ballsy move, but appropriate for Zeltrax.

The episode tries to make Mesagog the surprise final boss, but Zeltrax is such a non-threat that Mesagog’s return seems like a breath of fresh air rather than rising exhaustion for the Rangers. There are a couple of cool bits in this battle, like Mesagog firing point blank at Tommy, pushing a car at Kira, or using his tongue as an attack, but for the most part it’s a fairly basic fight. There’s nothing wrong with sticking to formula, but it definitely hurts “Thunder Struck” when the closest thing the episode has to a twist is that Mesagog’s ultra powerful form can duplicate itself. That twist does work at making the Rangers’ final move seem like a last ditch effort in an impossible situation, but the entire Mesagog sequence is still very rushed. As such, the final battle isn’t quite as triumphant as it should be, though the Rangers forming their energy into a giant dinosaur head that literally eats and explodes Mesagog is a creative and worthwhile moment.

In the midst of the craziness is the lead-up to the very finale-like ending: senior prom. That gives some sense of trajectory for the main Rangers while reinforcing their characters one last time; Conner has a whole list of options for girls to go with, Ethan doesn’t feel like going since he won’t have a date, and Kira doesn’t care if she has one. Ultimately, the three subvert the archetypes they began as at the beginning of the season: Conner forgoes his sexist list in favor of a girl he actually had feelings for — Krista from “Passion of the Conner,” in an unexpected bit of continuity. Ethan breaks the “geeks don’t get a girl” rule after meeting a girl who’s also a geek (also breaking a stupid TV trope that says geek girls are a rarity.) Kira does go with the musician archetype in playing at the prom, but we’ve also seen her face plenty of obstacles with her artistic integrity, so that moment is earned. What she does subvert is her role as the only female on the team — she doesn’t end up with a guy like a lot of female heroes do, her true love in this story is music. (Yes, she had a flirtation and special connection with Trent earlier in the season, but that’s barely touched on in the finale, and it’s clear that her ending isn’t meant to hinge on that.)

That, ultimately, is what Dino Thunder is all about: looking below the surface, defying stereotypes and expectations, and learning to accept yourself and what you love. Trent is no longer the rebellious, introverted artist with daddy issues, he’s confident, successful, and has a strong support system. Anton Mercer isn’t an arrogant, structured businessman with too-high ambition, he’s the supportive dad paying for his son to go to art school. Devin, who has steadily been building more self-confidence to stand up for things, gets the courage to ask Cassidy out to prom. Cassidy, who has steadily broken down her facade for the sake of integrity, embraces the Rangers as friends and deliberately chooses to not reveal their identities. Elsa gets to actually be a principal that isn’t evil. The legendary Tommy Oliver, the man who could just never stop being a Power Ranger, finally decides to actually retire to the quiet life on his own terms, for real this time. (I mean, until Super Megaforce.)

Dino Thunder ended up using the high school setting as a wonderful thematic throughline, using the place where teens have the toughest time breaking away from stereotypes and cliques and actually learning to love themselves, and turning that into the centerpiece of the season. There’s also a theme of forgiveness — Conner and Cassidy are forgiven for their early antagonism as they grew as more loving and accepting people; Trent, Anton, and Elsa are forgiven for their runs as villains after proving themselves as allies; conversely, Zeltrax didn’t forgive Tommy and abandon the vendetta, and died for it.

It’s these strong themes that hold the season together, even in the face of the spotty plotting and anti-climaxes Dino Thunder is filled with. Each character plays a hefty role in carrying those themes, and as such, this is easily one of the most character-driven seasons of the franchise. It would have been nice if there was a better plot to supplement it in the last run, but that this season is still so fondly remembered as perhaps the best of the Disney era speaks to that strong characterization. This started out as a season with “Let’s bring back Tommy and dinosaurs,” but it excelled because of pretty much everything else.

Odds & Ends

• Anton is on a Gyroscope ride, which could be a callback to the early season one Mighty Morphin episode “I, Eye Guy,” which had a captive kid stuck in the same thing. It’s funny that a carnival ride is basically considered a torture device in the Power Rangers universe.
• Really like that Conner is so excited to help Devin find a date. As sexist as that list pretty much definitely is, it’s adorable how excited he is about it. However, did Conner give Devin advice to wear two button-up shirts? Because that’s…what Devin is wearing, for some reason.
• Of course the way to open the giant Invisiportal is with a giant red button.
• Ethan actually considers saying, “Its not like they’re going to fall out of the sky and land in front of us” as a good plan. And guess what? It works. Great callback to the first episode.
• “Guys, you know what time it is.” I love these subtle Mighty Morphin references.
• Is this the first instance a character uses the phrase “Ranger Up”? It gets used a lot in the next few seasons, and it’s really obnoxious.
• The ZelZord lands in the city and immediately…blows up a mountain. Okie dokie.
• Tommy has some experience with sacrificing Zords, since he did it unintentionally to the Thunderzords in season 3 (aka, he refused to stop fighting with them until they blew up and shorted out their powers.) His predecessor, TJ, sacrificed the Zords in Turbo, too, though more in line with how Conner did it. Learning from the best, I guess.
• Love that Ethan is noticeably the most excited by Cassidy’s big friendship revelation at the end. Great characterization.
• After all season teased Elsa having a crush on Tommy, she’s basically paired up with Anton at the end of this. It makes way more sense, at least.
• This is probably the only Power Rangers season to end with a musical number coupled with flashbacks to the characters having fun and being friends. It’s a perfect ending for this season.
• That’s it for the Dino Thunder flashback, which ended up taking a much longer time than expected thanks to the late between-season start. I’m going to take a break from full-season Power Rangers flashbacks since Dino Charge is starting next month, but I may periodically throw out some standalone reviews of legendary/interesting episodes in lieu of a whole season, at least for the moment. But if you have any suggestions for what season or episodes you’d like to see reviewed next — notoriously good, bad, or even random and forgotten — please sound off in the comments!