History of the Power Rangers: Zeo

Man, when that promo (which was later used as the no-spoiler opening to the first episode) hit, I was excited. What was going to happen? New Rangers? New threat? New costumes (finally)? New Zords were a given, but while I was already enjoying the show, I was really looking forward to this “Zeo” thing. I thought it was going to be a second Rangers series, like the various Law & Orders and CSIs on TV.

Instead, it was the new direction for the current series, and frankly, I was hooked. It was a new tone, new situations, and as Linkara is about to show us, a new story theme. Unleash the power!

About the opening scene there: add that to the list of things that computers don’t actually do. Unless the hacker is a real bastard and likes to torture you, you’ll never see that virus coming until it’s too late. It was pretty dramatic, though, wasn’t it?

• Personally, I thought the series was slowing down by this point. The Rangers would get new Zords, but kept the same costumes and powers. They’d get something cool now and then, but since the series as a whole was pretty much stagnant at this time, the Alien Rangers made me hope that something to re-energize the series. Luckily, this happened.
• The Machine Empire: I was rather impressed with the clockwork designs of the Empire. It was certainly different, and makes them stand out among mechanical Ranger foes. They also had an army behind them, including attack vehicles that they would occasionally use (and would be destroyed by the Zords), and they seemed like a bigger threat than Zedd. While Zedd still remains my favorite Ranger foe, the Machine Empire as a whole impressed me a lot more, maybe even more than Astronema’s forces during the finale.
• Clank and Orbis, however, were the best part of the show, even more than Bulk and Skull sometimes.
• What I really like about the Empire, though, is the backstory that runs through it. They were (pardon the expression) more fleshed out than Rita or Zedd were. An evil family, father, mother, and child, plus their associates. There was a history to the royal family that would play out during the series, making them interesting but still fun to watch. I’ll be curious to see where Cin and Joshua discuss them when they get to this season.
• The New Command Chamber: Externally, it’s still the Command Center of the previous seasons, which disappointed me a bit. The new Chamber, however, was cooler but a bit more cramped than the old place. I think it actually took a step down in Turbo when the old suits were gone. I liked having the suits there, to honor the past and to show how far the Rangers had come. (Sadly, no love for the Green Ranger costume. Spoiler syndrome (ask a Batman fan) or because of Tommy’s clone in the Colonial New England time period-that-makes-no-sense-for-a-west-coast-city?)
• That’s what I liked most about this series, actually; advancement! The Rangers didn’t take on all those activities that I mentioned in the first “East Vs. West” posting (under “Saban Vs. Sentai” in my sidebar) but did have personal lives. I think this was when Tanya became a radio DJ, for example. It really felt like the series had finally grown.
• Something confuses me about Zedd and Rita’s travel plans. If Zedd had conquered other planets and galaxies before, why not travel to one of those instead of having to stay at Rita’s dad’s place. Sure it gave the idea of how far they fell (galactic conquest to living with daddy) but it still leaves a hole in the reasoning. If Serpentera can reach Master Vile’s, why not one of Zedd’s conquered worlds? He’s hopped back to them before in the series.
• Goldar and Rito as servants for Bulk and Skull. Some of the funniest moments in the show, and occasionally some of the hardest to get through. I wonder…if Bulk and Skull had treated them better, would they have turned good when their memories returned?
• The Zeo Zords: Never was a fan. I do like how the Zeo MegaZord can have different abilities based on the helmet and which Ranger was in the pilot’s seat (although the cockpit is rather cramped compared to most other Zords before and after), but it’s the individual Zords where things fall flat, mostly the Pink and Yellow Rangers Zords. In the original Choriki Sentai Ohranger or (Super Power Task Force Overtech Hardware Rangers), the mechs were based off an old technology from ancient humans (Japanese science fiction has a lot of these advanced groups, making me wonder if the people of Atlantis were Japanese), the same that created the enemy robots, which explains why they also have a clockwork internal mechanism. But I hated that the two towers weren’t really independent Zords, and had to be pulled by the two ground-based animal Zords. I was so happy to see the Super Zeo Zords.
• I know I missed Billy when he was gone. He was my favorite Ranger, and probably still is. Having him graduate left him more time to hang around the Power Chamber and act as part of the mentor group (Zordon and Alpha), but I thought he should have gotten the Gold Ranger powers. I wonder if that was connected with David Yost leaving the series?
• Lewis discusses the Tommy/Kat relationship, which I also found a bit forced (although Kat’s attraction to Tommy may have helped her break Rita’s control last season, so it wasn’t that bit of a stretch), but I was happy to find out that I’m not the only one to see who the real couple should have been.

I couldn’t find any clips besides this one that demonstrates how these two were appearing to be attracted to each other (although I did find a lot of fan videos to the cause), but once the Dear John letter came from Kimberly, and Kat saw Tommy was “available” (I did like the guest appearance of VR Troopers star and future soap opera villain Sarah Brown as the ski instructor Tommy almost dates until his Ranger life interferes), that plot was dropped, and I would love to know why? Did they feel kids TV wasn’t ready for an interracial romance, which Spotlight readers know is a pet peeve of mine with Hollywood? (I know I never bought that Tommy was of Native American decent, unless it’s as far in the past as mine.) Sadly, Lewis didn’t bring this up either, and any time I brought it up during my time in Ranger fandom, I don’t recall my theory ever acknowledged. YouTube has now vindicated me!

• Speaking of Tommy’s “Native American roots”, while Lewis glossed over the arc that drove this home and introduced Tommy’s brother, David, there is an aspect that bugs me about it. We didn’t see the Zeo Crystal coming back, much being the focal point for the new direction for the series. However, this arc introduced a rock that held back a great evil along with Tommy and David being the legendary protectors of the rock or some junk. Mondo tries to gain the power once, and then it is never brought up again. You don’t even see Tommy or David carrying the arrowhead or bringing it up. It seems David was only introduced to be a red herring for the Gold Ranger. Why not bring this into play in the future, like they did with the Zeo Crystal? We know Divatox has bad taste in husbands as it is.
• The Gold Ranger saga: While the Gold Ranger idea was pretty cool, the execution suffers, mostly for the reasons Lewis already gets into. My question, though, is how the heck the Triforan physiology works? Can they all split like that, and are they all made of the same three types? Is Triforia the origin point of the Triforces from The Legend of Zelda? Between that and the useless red herrings (you’d think at least one them would be right), what started out cool kind of petered out.
• But at least it brought Jason back, right? I still say Billy should have been the Gold Ranger, but at least Jason was another fan favorite, and he finally gets a girlfriend. (Unlike the claim by “The Truth About Power Rangers”, Jason never dated until this point. BILLY was the ladies man in the group. Angel Grove is a strange place.) Interestingly, Jason now wears black, the alternate color of the Gold Ranger’s costume. I guess gold isn’t a typical enough color for clothing. 🙂 I also find it interesting that another VR Troopers actor, Brad Hawkins, was originally going to be Trey. That’s two Troopers in the same season.
• Sadly, no love for the third Trooper, Michael Bacon, who IMDB can’t find as having done anything besides this show and something called Tao of Karate. Tao was the also name of JB and Ryan’s boss on the show, which amuses me.
• The less said about Louie Kaboom the better. I blame the Sentai footage.
• On the other hand, Gasket and Archarina (who I’m betting was a favorite among “robophiles”, if you catch my drift) were my favorite of the Machine Empire characters. What a backstory, and I can’t wait for Cid and Joshua to get to Zeo mostly because of them. You have a “Romeo and Juliet” style romance, Sprocket ends up getting some development trying to compete with his brother, and Gasket was a very effective leader. He actually kidnaps and brainwashes Tommy in one of Zeo‘s better arcs. I almost hated to see Mondo come back just because these two were far more interesting than he or Machina.
• Speaking of which, “King For a Day” was my favorite of the Zeo episodes, as much for Gasket and Tommy’s stories as watching Bulk and Skull kick Cog tailplate. I wish I could find footage of that battle without linking to an episode.
• Lewis glossed over Auric the Conqueror, but I just want to mention that his introduction episode was rather important for Tonya, as we get to find her long lost parents, thus closing a potential gap in the whole “Tanya comes from the past” part of her story. I thought it was worth mentioning.
• Apparently I was wrong about something I wrote in the first “East Vs. West” post. There actually was a team-up with the Alien Rangers. Funny how I forgot that, since it was Billy’s final episode (sadly, not David Yost’s) and sent him off to live with a cute Aquatar girl. (I forgot about Billy’s former fear of fish before that article.)

All-in-all, I loved the shift to Zeo, but Lewis is about to shift into Turbo, which he posted in two parts. I’ll post each separately, since the cast change almost made it two separate series and to take less time on these articles. I have a lot of catching up to do, but luckily he has to watch series that he never saw post Space, so that gives me a little time.

Take all the time you need, Linkara. 😀