Power Rangers Review: "Green With Evil (Part I: Out of Control)"

In the time that passed ever since Jason, Zack, Billy, Trini, and Kimberly became Power Rangers, the duo had learned adapt to their new responsibilities. This included Billy creating the well-known and well-recognized communicators, which had been used to communicate and teleport to the Command Center and other places during a mission. In addition, the Rangers received their power weapons as well: Zack had the Power Axe, Kimberly had the Power Bow, Billy had the Power Lance, Trini had the Power Daggers, and Jason had the Power Sword. The quintet faced challenges when it came to battling Rita Repulsa's monsters, but they defeated them and solved them quickly.

However, they would later be faced with a big dilemma: facing off against one of their own.

I remember the promo for this very well, the five-part miniseries centered on the Green Ranger. Fox Kids promoted this a lot in the last days leading to the arc's beginning, and it was just absolutely epic. I had been mulling over how to write this--either part by part in separate stories, or all in one story, and I decided on the former. So here it is, Part I:

There he is, folks! Within the first minute of Part I, we were introduced to Tommy Oliver, who was Jason's opponent in a karate contest. He caught the eye of a lot of viewers, including the other Rangers, especially Kimberly. However, someone else was drawn to Tommy: Rita Repulsa. She saw Tommy as the perfect person to receive the evil Green Ranger powers. The contest commenced, and it ended in a draw, with Jason and Tommy shaking hands. Later on, we see Bulk and Skull harass Kimberly, and it's followed by Tommy showing his martial arts prowess to ward off the duo.

Rita is even more impressed, but she decides to put Tommy to the test by sending the Putties after him. Sure enough, Tommy fights off the Putties easily (becoming the first civilian to fight against the Putty Patrol), and that clinches it: Tommy passes the test, and Rita uses her power to take Tommy to her palace. Once Tommy awakens, he is completely under Rita's control, and at that moment, Rita gives Tommy his mission. He is to enter the Command Center (with his Power Coin allowing him to do so) and take out Zordon, before fighting against the Rangers, with Rita revealing the five Rangers' identities to her new cohort.

Meanwhile, we see this exchange between Alpha and Zordon, which I still love:

Alpha: "But Zordon, I might miss out..."

Zordon: "Would you please take this time to recharge while I place myself in a meditative state?"

Alpha relents. Seriously, I love that kinship between those two.

So Tommy receives the coin, and for the first time, morphs into the evil Green Ranger. "To the fall of Zordon, and the destruction of the Power Rangers," is Green Ranger's villainous proclamation. Green Ranger enters the Command Center, and after prowling around, places a virus (in the form of a disc) into Alpha, though Zordon catches Green Ranger. He asks how he's in the Command Center, adding that only one with a Power Coin can enter.

"I have the Coin, and the power, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!" Green Ranger exclaims.

Zordon's response is a very telling one: "So Rita has found someone to give it to."

Tommy voices that he is Rita's Green Ranger and adds that Rita is his queen, only for Zordon to inform Tommy (by name, Zordon knows all) that Rita has him under a spell, and that he can save him. In response, Tommy does what he's sent there to do, level the Command Center, taking Zordon out of commission. Tommy later gives the greatest evil laugh in Power Rangers history over his handiwork, and leaves the Command Center. Rita is very pleased, and she later sends Goldar to destroy the city.

All the while, Jason, Zack, and Billy are washing the Radbug (the vehicle that served as the Rangers' alternate use for heading to the Command Center). Kimberly and Trini arrive, and the former's bummed that Tommy no-showed their planned meeting at the Youth Center. At that moment, the communicators go off, and the Rangers hear Alpha--garbled--attempting to call for help. They couldn't teleport, so they had to use the Radbug to head to the Command Center. Once there, they see the place totalled, and Alpha with a virus, though Billy takes it out. Alpha can't tell the Rangers who the culprit is, because his circuits are fried. The Rangers later spot Goldar in the Viewing Globe, and after asking Alpha if he was OK (Alpha says he is; he's self-operational), the quintet morph into action.

The Rangers fight the Putties before calling the Zords and fighting Goldar inside Megazord. Goldar disappears during the battle, and then it's followed by this:

One of the greatest moments in Power Rangers history: Green Ranger enters Megazord and attacks the Rangers. I swear, every time I see this, I think the same thing: "Megazord has a back door?!" So anyway, the Rangers are ejected, and it's followed by the five Rangers fighting against the Green Ranger for the very first time. After fighting all of them, Jason dares Green Ranger to fight him one on one, but that ends with Green Ranger fighting off Red Ranger, and then firing a blast at the five Rangers.

The heroic Rangers teleport back to the Command Center, and they are panicked. Alpha could not get Zordon back, and they needed answers regarding the Green Ranger. Even worse, Alpha suffered a setback, and ended up shut down. For the first time since they became Rangers, they really have their backs to the wall. Jason told the other Rangers to prepare themselves, because this time, they don't have Zordon to help them. Part I ends with the Rangers seeing Green Ranger in the Viewing Globe, and he vows to take down all of the Rangers.

"Out of Control," Part I of the "Green With Evil" miniseries, aired on Fox on Tuesday, October 5, 1993. The episode marked the official debut of Jason David Frank as Tommy Oliver, the young man who would become the Green Ranger. This episode started it all for him. Looking back, I can't help but compare this to seeing the greats in sports begin their careers. I remember when Sidney Crosby was drafted, and I watched the 2013 Draft that saw Nathan MacKinnon as the #1 pick. I wasn't born yet when Michael Jordan was drafted, but I was eight years old when I saw the beginning of Tommy Oliver's legendary career as a Ranger begin.

I was in awe of the concept of the Power Rangers actually fighting another Ranger. Part I of this miniseries was absolutely epic; I absolutely loved how the karate competition served as foreshadowing to the fight later in the episode, as well as the other battles in the rest of the miniseries, but those are other stories for other times. I know this much, this was an amazing opening to a thrilling miniseries that would forever set the tone for the Power Rangers franchise.

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