Go, Go Megaforce! Uncanny Fox here, this time with another double feature as I take a look at not one, but two Power Rangers: Super Megaforce crossovers, namely “Samurai Surprise,” featuring the return of Samurai Ranger Jayden Shiba, and “Spirit Of The Tiger,” which has a guest appearance by Red Jungle Fury Ranger Casey Rhodes. No relation to the American Dream. Or the American Nightmare. Or… Goldust didn’t really have a nickname, did he?

Ah, Megaforce. The Season That Could Have Been. Power Rangers had reached its 20th season during the Johnathan Tzachor Neo-Saban run, and the show’s producers wanted to go all out with the milestone occasion. And as luck would have it, Sentai had recently carried out its own anniversary celebration: the pirate-themed Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, which featured returning appearances by former cast members and a gimmick in which the Rangers would take on the forms of those that came before. Not to mention a big battle with every single Ranger that came before.Seemed like the perfect source footage and inspiration for Saban’s own blowout, right?

There was just two little problems with that. The first one was that, due to a combination of Disney re-running the first season in 2010 and Nickelodeon’s policy of only allowing 20 episodes per season, Power Rangers was a good few years behind Sentai, with one less-than-beloved season between their last adaptation and Gokaiger. And the second: due to a then-in-effect contract with Toei (that is clearly no longer in effect), Saban wasn’t allowed to skip that season to get to the legend-morphing pirates. So, Tzachor and company came with a simple solution: just combine the two Sentai seasons, with the first half being based on the angel-themed Tensou Sentai Goseiger, and the second would be Gokaiger, in an approach not unlike the one used by the Zordon Era.

Naturally, there would be complications with this, namely in trying to cram 80+ episodes worth of source footage into two 20-episode-apiece chunks (something the Zordon Era never had to deal with), merging the very-different characters from the two shows, and Tzachor’s continued insistence on adhering to the source material and lack of interest in developing the Rangers outside of the standard evil-fighting. Writer James W. Bates had to fight an uphill battle on the show, with several of his ideas for the characters blocked outright. Red Ranger Troy had an entire backstory about being the Chosen One. Black/Green (He was both colors. I’ll explain later) Ranger Jake was going to want to reveal himself to the world. The kids’ teacher was going to be Billy, returning to mentor the current Blue Ranger (to be fair, that one probably wouldn’t have happened even if Tzachor okayed it). A villain from the first season, the manipulative Vrak, would be a recurring threat in the second, rather than only returning for a two-parter near the end. The kids were going to start a blog to keep track of monster sightings/attacks. Heck, there was even going to be an episode where the Pink Ranger, Emma, was going to organize an environmental protest over a Power Plant leaking wasted into a river.

All of these ideas were vetoed by Tzachor, and replaced with… not much. Other issues would persist, like the same bland acting and simplistic writing that plagued Samurai, as well as several episodes amounting to being little more than drawn-out fight scenes due to having to combine multiple episodes of footage. These problems would carry over into the second half as well, and eventually Bates quit after several episodes were written without his knowledge. And he was Story Editor. You start to see the problem here…

The plot itself had potential: an evil clan of aliens named the Warstar invade Earth, prompting Zordon’s protégé Goesi (a factoid that gets mentioned a grand total of once), who is now the guardian of Earth (where were you during all the other post-Zordon seasons then?), to – and stop me if you’ve heard this one before – recruit a team of teenagers with attitude to carry out the legacy of those that came before and combat this new threat as Power Rangers. Later on, it would be revealed that the Warstar were merely a scouting unit for a much larger force called the Armada, and the Rangers are forced to take on new forms that can utilize the power of past Rangers, as well as meeting those heroes…

In at least two episodes, which I’m covering here today. There were other “tribute” episodes that dealt with concepts from past seasons, but those didn’t actually feature anyone returning, so I’m not counting those as crossovers. And I’m a bit hesitant to use the term “Team-Up” to describe these episodes, since the returning Rangers don’t get involved in the fight themselves, only serving as cameos or mentor roles. But I’m still going to count them anyway, so let’s get on with them, starting with Jayden’s return in “Samurai Surprise.”

The episode begins with an opening narration/montage describing how the Armada has arrived on Earth and has invaded, attacking “with a ferocity never before seen on this planet” (*cough*”Countdown to Destruction”*cough*), and how the Megforce Rangers now have to use their new Super Mega Modes and Legendary Ranger powers to stop them.

We then cut to the Armada Mothership in space, where Prince Vekar (the Big Bad of the season, well most of it anyway) throws a fit about his armies recent failures, going on about how his father, the Emperor, won’t stand for it, and asking “how many more times will these Rangers beat us?” I’d say 15… His robot bodyguard Argus tries to answer that, but Vekar snaps that he was just being rhetorical. Levira, the scientist of the group, assures the prince that they have more tricks up their sleeves, leading Vekar to tell her to “start tricking so I can get my treat!” I’m not sure Trick-or-Treating works that way…

Yeah, the thing with Vekar is that he’s this spoiled brat in charge of a big army. In the first episode of Super Megaforce, he was portrayed as this super serious, super competent leader, but after that the Gokaiger footage kicks in and he’s reduced to a whiny blowhard. Now don’t get me wrong, he’s actually one of the more entertaining parts of the season aside from the Sentai footage, but people expected something more frightening for their big anniversary season.

Down in the city of Harwood County (not sure how that works, but at least they actually named the city this time), Jake and Noah are making a quick grocery run when the former spots a familiar-looking Harley parked in front of the store. Jake checks it out (and I notice how the Harley Davidson logo has been covered with tape), until its owner arrives… and sure enough it’s Jii. He hops on and drives off as Noah realizes who he is (he has a database on past Ranger teams), showing Jake a clip of Jii in action. And we still don’t get a confirmation if “Jii” is a first or last name. Jake tries to run after him for an autograph or something, but he’s already long gone.

The theme song hits, and it’s still the remix of “Go, Go Power Rangers” from Samurai, only with some of the music altered, the Samurai-specific lyrics changed to “Rangers Forever/Megaforce, All Together!” and a new opening bit of “Po-wer Ran-gers, Me-ga-Force!” It still has the annoying Roll Call thing going on, only it’s worse because it’s playing over the actual lyrics! Still, I’m a shameless sucker for the song, and the intro sequence is really cool. I especially like the part where Vekar shows up all cocky and arrogant at the end of the instrumental in the middle, like a reminder of what the Rangers are up against. Oh, and the title card, where all the different Ranger helmets pop up before the logo appears. So awesome…

Once that’s done, we go back to space, where a strange ship docks with the Mothership. Vekar thinks they’re under attack and freaks out, and a blue demon creature steps inside and starts knifing X-Borgs left and right. Argus attacks him, until he recognizes the new arrival as Matacore, an elite guard of the Armada. Wait, if he was on the same side as them, then why did he attack the X-Borgs?

Matacore explains that Vekar’s father sent him to help in his mission of conquering Earth, since that’s taking longer than it should have despite the numbers at the prince’s disposal. Vekar grumbles that he “has to do everything himself” and orders his minions to prepare an attack squad to go to Earth in five minutes, with the prince himself leading the charge. When Matacore asks if they are attacking Earth, Vekar sarcastically says “no, for Mars! Of course, for Earth!” Damaras, the prince’s advisor and top commander, warns that this might be a bad idea, and that he should stay on the ship, but Vekar won’t hear of it. He wants to show his father that he’s worthy of ruling, since he seems to think the Prince’s brother Vrak is the more competent one. I mean, he’s not wrong…

The Armada ships move into position, blasting at the city and sending the civilians running for the hills. Vekar, Argus, Matacore, and their X-Borg sqaud beam down, and the Prince announces that he’s giving the people of Earth two options: surrender, or be destroyed.

What he gets back is a wooden cry of “Never!”, and the Rangers soon arrive to confront him. They troll the prince by telling him that they expected someone “different, more impressive,” before whipping out their Gosei Morphers (which just look like Gosei’s face. Ego much?) and morphing with the cry of “Go, Go Megaforce!” We see an abbreviated version of their standard morph sequence, where their suits form in a flash of light, then their helmets appear after an energy version of their Zord animals bite their heads.

Troy pulls out his blaster and fires at Vekar, prompting the prince to cower behind Argus as the robot blocks the shots. The Rangers then charge into battle, and we see an original footage scene of the basic Megaforce Rangers fighting the X-Borgs. Which is really brief, as Troy soon calls for his team to “take it to the next level” and bring out the Super Mega Morphers.

They turn their Ranger Keys and morph to their definitely-not-pirate-like Super Mega Modes without a sequence, then do a roll call before resuming the fight with Sentai footage. And yes, Jake changes from Black to Green, in what I’m guessing is a representation of how those two colors are interchangeable on most Ranger teams. The closest we ever get to an explanation for this is a joke in the first episode of the Super season. One funny bit that happens at the end of the role call: as soon as the Rangers are done saying “Super Megaforce Insert Color Here” repeatedly, Vekar cries out “Super Mega hurry up and destroy them already!” Oh Vekar, you are a hard one to hate.

More fighting ensues, with Noah tossing Gia his definitely-not-a-pirate-sword so she can duel-wield and Jake doing the same with Emma. Eventually, they form back up to take on the prince and his minions, with Matacore taking point. Troy calls for his team to go Legendary, and they morph to Mighty Morphin for the first time… only to get swatted aside after a brief skirmish with the monster. I know that’s more the fault of the Gokaiger footage than anything, and that in Japan Zyuranger is just another season, but c’mon!

In any case, Matacore soon stands triumphant over the Rangers, who switch things over to Lost Galaxy. This seems to work out better, and Noah runs off to confront the Prince while the others keep Matacore busy. The Blue Ranger attacks Vekar, but Argus moves in defense of his Prince. Noah whips out his Cosmic Claw and goes mano-a-mano with the machine, flipping out of the way of Argus’s blows until one hits, knocking him back and demorphing him to Super Mega.

Meawhile, Matacore continues fighting the Rangers, brushing aside Jake’s Trans Blaster shot and Troy’s Mega Flame attacks and returning them in kind. Soon, the Rangers are demorphed back to Not-Pirate Mode and forced to regroup. Emma asks what their plan is, and Troy simply replies “keep fighting.” *taps shot glass* Not a good plan…

Okay, I’m going to take a minute to vent about Troy if that’s okay with everyone. I guess I’ll just come right out and say it: Troy Burrows is the worst Red Ranger in the history of Power Rangers. I mean no disrespect to Andrew Gray (the actor who played him – and to his credit, he’s just as disappointed with how his character turned out as anyone else), but his acting here is bland and wooden, with Troy lacking any personality aside from a generic macho teenager guy, a sort of dollar store version of Jason if you will – only without the things that made Jason cool. He has no character arc to speak of aside from having a few strange dreams about the Legend War (which suddenly stop in the second season and are never brought up again until the last episode when it actually happens), and we end the season not knowing anything about him that we didn’t learn in his introduction. And he’s not even that good of a leader, as most of his strategies amount to little more than endless cries of “Never Surrender!” “Never Back Down!” “You Can’t See Me!” and so on. I mean, Nick and Mack were whiny douchebags, but at least they had personalities. Jayden and Brody were as vanilla as they come, but at least they had backstories and character arcs. Troy is just… nothing.

Elsewhere, Noah keeps at his duel with Argus, telling the robot that he’s strong, but he’s forgetting one thing: good always wins over evil. So, our heroes’ strategies so far are “Keep fighting” and “Good always wins.” Yeah… Anywho, Argus knocks Noah back and unleashes his Solar Slash attack, sending the Blue Ranger flying back and demorphing him back to non-Not-Pirate Megaforce Mode.

Vekar gloats for a bit, then tells Argus to move in for the kill. After the commercial break, Argus advances towards the downed Blue Ranger, but Noah manages to fire off a shot with his blaster, causing the evil robot to drop his sword a good distance away. A few more blasts hit Vekar, who panics about how he’s been hit. Troy hurries over to Noah and helps him to his feet, while Vekar acts like he’s dying until Argus and Matacore take him back to the mothership. Up above, Damaras and Lavira grumble that they were so close, and that Vekar going down was a mistake.

The ships retreat back into space, while the Rangers bemoan the fact that the Prince got away. Back on the Mothership, Vekar whines some more about his arm going numb, and Lavira checks him out. Damaras asks about their mission, and the upset Prince orders Matacore to go back to Earth to take revenge for “scaring his precious self.” Even though he’s not even remotely hurt. Lord Zedd had the flesh literally burned from his body, and you don’t hear him complaining.

Down at Ernie’s Brain Freeze (the Rangers’ hang-out spot, run by a different Ernie than the Mighty Morphin days), Troy, Jake and Noah kick themselves for their recent loss(?), with Noah pointing out how they can only stay in Legendary Ranger Mode for a limited time before their energy drains, and Troy looking like he’s about ready for a nap. Jake points out that the monster will be back, and wonders what the team will do when he is.

Someone sits down beside them, and tells them to “get into their opponent’s head, use their instinct to sense their next move, and feel their attack coming.” The guys look over to see that their guest is none other than Jayden, who orders up a plain Frozen Yogurt before turning to them and dropping this gem of a line: “What? You never seen a Ranger order a fro-yo before?”

We get a creepy zoom-in on Jayden’s face, followed by a flashback to some of his highlights as the Red Samurai Ranger, such as his taming of the Beetle Disk, and using it in his Cannon weapon. The Megaforce Rangers introduce themselves, and Jayden tells them that he and some unspecified “others” (I’m guessing the other Legendary Rangers – either that or Hexagon really did happen after all) have been watching them. He offers them his family’s Shiba Fire Disk to help with Matacore, even showing a flashback to when Jii gave it to him in the last battle against Xandred. And how he used it to duel-wield Fire Smashers on the demonic wine-o. (They don’t have a word someone getting drunk to high heaven on sake, at least that I’m aware off.)

Jake turns to thank Jayden for his gift, but the Samurai is gone, just as Emma and Gia show up. Jake asks the girls if they saw Jayden leave, but their morphers go off, signifying that Matacore is back. They hurry out of the shop, just as Ernie finally arrives with Jayden’s plain Fro-Yo, which he won’t get to… eat? I’ll admit, I’m not sure how Frozen Yogurt works. It’s like ice cream, right?

And sure enough, Matacore and his X-Borg goons are at the construction site, scaring bystanders and wreaking havoc like only rubber-suited Toku monsters can. The Rangers arrive, and Matacore tells them that he’s here to save Prince Vekar’s honor by destroying them. Jake fires back by telling him that they barely hit the prince, that as soon as their weapons came out, he ran off like a coward.

Matacore tells them that he will save Vekar’s reputation all the same, and sics his X-Borgs on them. The Rangers battle the drones unmorphed (a rarity for this season), with Jake doing some parkour moves, Gia unloading some elbow shots and punches, Noah kicking a few of them into next week, Emma leap-frogging her way through a few of them, and Troy telling his team that “they’re falling like bowling pins.”

Eventually, Troy calls for his teammates to morph, and they do so, continuing the fight for a bit in their basic Ranger forms. Matacore eventually jumps into the fray and takes Jake one-on-one, with the Black Ranger taunting him about how Vekar can’t fight his own battles. The monster doesn’t like that, and knocks Jake’s Snake Axe out of his hands. Noah sees his friend in trouble and moves to help him, taking out the X-Borgs in the way with his Shark Bowgun.

Soon Jake gets overpowered, and the other Rangers rush to his side. After the commercial break, the guys attack Matacore, but the elite warrior proves too much for them in their base form. They break out the Super Mega Mode, and we see their morph sequence, where X-shaped energy things form their suits and helmets in space.

As they resume their fight with Matacore, Vekar orders more X-Borgs down to the planet to assist his monster. Back on the surface, Matacore retains the upper hand as said X-Borgs descend from space in droves, literally dropping from girders on chains. They battle the Rangers, who break out the Legendary Ranger Modes, starting with Troy, who uses…. RyuRanger from Dairanger? For those who don’t know, Gosei Sentai Dairanger was used as the basis for Mighty Morphin Season 2… except for the main Ranger suits. At least until Super Megaforce rolled around, where they were inexplicably used as a set of “new powers never before seen on this planet.” And this wouldn’t be the last Sentai only team used in this fashion either, but I think I’ll save my thoughts on this for a much bigger instance of it happening next week.

Anywho, Troy tells everyone to remember Jayden’s advice, and use their instincts to sense the enemy’s next move. They proceed to… not really do that, just keep fighting on with Legend Morphs. Troy switches over to Operation Overdrive Red for some lance attacks, then uses Ninja Storm Red’s Hawk Blaster and Ninja Sword to take down some more Borgs. Elsewhere, Gia morphs into Hikari Sentai Maskman’s Yellow Ranger, which she calls “Blitz Mode” (that later instance I mentioned before would change that name to “Lightning”), then changes over to Yellow Space Ranger for a few shots with her Star Slinger, followed by Dino Thunder Yellow when she “senses a new attack coming.” Jake morphs to Zeo Green (bafflingly enough, he uses a pre-Zyuranger Ranger in the source footage, but this scene is cut – even though the other ones weren’t), while Emma opts for the Pink Ranger from Choushinsei Flashman. This one doesn’t even get named; Emma just breaks the fourth wall with “Bet you didn’t see that coming!” After a flying energy kick, she switches over to Time Force Pink (the only time any of the Time Force team is used, keep that in mind when you see all these teams that were never adapted) for a Time Strike Attack. I do like the way she says “Time’s up, boys!”

Matacore soon grows bored of the battle and tells his goons to “finish the Rangers or he will,” only to be interrupted by Troy sky-running at him. Like, as in literally running on air. Say what you will about this season, but the fight scenes are certainly interesting. After a brief sword duel, the other Rangers rejoin him (interestingly enough, Noah is back to his basic form again. Jeez dude, you just can’t catch a break today, can you?), and demorph back to Super Mega (or in Noah’s case, remorph) after Troy tells them to save some energy for Matacore.

They run after the X-Borgs, with Troy and Noah going back-to-back on a group of them as their leader wonders aloud why his forces are losing to “five pathetic Rangers.” Jake answers that they fight for good (really specifying there). Soon, all that’s left is Matacore, who Troy vows to take down for Jayden. In that spirit, the Rangers Legend Morph to Samurai, complete with a Sentai-derived group morph that’s close enough to the American one.

The Rangers then charge at Matacore, dueling him with their Spin Swords until Troy uses the “Double Disk” that Jayden gave them (wait, I thought it was called “Shiba Fire?”) to super-charge his Fire Smasher’s attack. Noah then uses it to duel-wield a pair of Spin Swords (this Disk is really inconsistent with what it does) and go all DBZ on the evil monster in an aerial skirmish.

Once that’s done, the Rangers revert to Super Mega, and Matacore bemoans that he’s been beaten. The Rangers combine their personal Ranger Keys with their Super Mega Not-Pirate Sabers for a Final Strike attack, slashing at Matacore simultaneously with energized strikes until he explodes.

But it’s not over yet, as Vekar declares this to be “the worst day of his life” (oh trust me pal, it’s going to get a lot worse) and Lavira whips out her Maximizer Beam (a pair of purple lasers that shoot out of the two horse-like things on the sides of the Mothership) to grow Matacore. Undeterred, Troy calls upon his Sky Ship Zord, a not-pirate-no-siree boat that carries the other Zords inside it. They jump inside, form the Legendary Megazord, and summon the Red Lion Zord (which they befriended in a Wild Force tribute episode that I didn’t cover here due to not having any Wild Rangers in it) to combine into Wild Force mode (the Legendary Megazord more-or-less riding the Lion). They try their Mega Roar attack on Matacore, who just brushes it off and retaliates with a few blasts of his own.

The Rangers swerve out of control due to the damage they are suffering. Meanwhile, Jayden and Jii watch on the ground atop their motorbikes, as the latter notes that their new friends need a bit more of their help. Back in the Megazord, the Rangers’ Samurai Keys begin to float, and Gosei tells the team that their Samurai friends “have unlocked the powers of the Samurai Megazord…” somehow. Pricks probably paid for a lootbox or something.

They use the Samurai Keys in the consoles of their Megazord, which splits the Lion Zord into armor for the main Megazord, as well as a double-bladed lance and a helmet not unlike the one the Samurai Megazord wore. Once the Legendary Samurai Megazord is formed, Matacore ups the playing field with a pack of giant-sized Bruisers (special solders in the X-Borg ranks), but they prove little match against the Rangers’ new Samurai powers. After the Megazord takes them all down with a “Swordfish Slash” (which doesn’t involve a swordfish at all), it turns its attention to Matacore, downing him with a duel-lance attack before delivering the Final Strike with a Megazord-sized Fire Smasher. I mean, holy crap! Once he’s dead, Troy says his post-fight catchphrase of “Rangers, that’s a Super-Mega win!”, which is mercifully cut down from its usual “Super Mega Rangers, that’s a Super-Mega win!”

Down on the ground, Jayden and Jii muss over the “amazing battle” they just witnessed, and Jayden says that with the Mega Rangers defending the Earth “we’re in very good hands.” He’s just being nice. Jii asks about the Fro-Yo at Ernie’s, but Jayden didn’t get to try it. He does admit that it has to be better than Mia’s cooking. The two ride off into the sunset, while the episode ends with the Rangers busting Jake’s balls about being jealous when he hears Gia say that she thinks Jayden is cute. Troy even makes a cringey pun about him being “Green with envy.” Just… go back to being a robot, due.

So, now that we’ve finished talking about the story, on to Pros and Cons:

Pros:

Jayden’s cameo at Brain Freeze was nice, if a bit random.

The fight scenes are fun.

I’ll admit, Vekar’s antics here gave me a chuckle.

Cons:

The plot is pretty basic, with none of the Rangers having a real focus here.

The inexplicable use of the Pre-Zyu Ranger forms, especially when one of them was cut in the same scene the others were used.

Can the writers just decide what Jayden’s family disk does already?

This was pretty much a standard episode of Super Megaforce. Not horrible, and a perfectly serviceable source of fun on a rainy day, but with several little things holding it back. Honestly, it feels more like a filler episode than the significant event you’d think it would be given the return of a past Ranger. That being said, it’s one of the more solid episodes of the season, which isn’t much considering it also gave us a body-switching episode in which neither participant gains any insight into the other person’s life. Which is the very point of a body switching episode…

But that’s not the only episode we’re covering today, as Casey also made a return. So, here comes the Power Rangers as we sink our claws into the Jungle Fury tribute episode, “Spirit Of The Tiger.” Where the rookie kid from a few seasons ago is now the teacher, and Troy finally gains a personality… as a stubborn douchebag.

The episode begins with the opening narration, then a cold open of the Rangers at the zoo. They watch as a giraffe gets close enough for Emma to take a picture, then hear some kids running off toward another exhibit, causing them to hurry over to see what the big deal is. Over at the tiger pen, a custodian is raking what I’m assuming is the tiger’s leavings (or he thinks it’ll prevent a fire, I dunno), as the big cat stands harmlessly beside him. The Rangers watch in amazement, before going off to see more of the animals.

They check out the flamingos, elephants, monkeys (with Jake throwing in a cheap shot about Troy being related… now, now, you know that monkeys feel emotions), zebras and rhinos as Noah gives some facts about how their horns are actually made of hair clumped together. He keeps going as the group stops for lunch, telling everyone that tigers are the only cats that love water, and Gia adds that they can swim up to six miles.

As they go back and forth about how great white sharks can smell blood a mile away and that cheetahs can reach speeds of 70 miles per hour for a brief three seconds (and I checked when I first watched this episode, this is all true. So, you’ve got that going for you, Megaforce), Emma spots the caretaker from before, putting on a jacket with a very-familiar tiger claw logo on it, and snaps a picture. She passes her camera to Gia as she takes the other girl’s drink (she was done with it), and Gia sees the logo, thinking nothing of it except that it’s cool…

Up in the Armada Mothership, Argus introduces Vekar to his newest commander: a kung-fu themed monster named Pacha Chamak. As the prince struggles to pronounce his name (getting as far as “Pa Cha Backpack”), Daramas explains that Pacha Chamak is a notorious warrior who has never lost a fight before. Argus hypes him further, saying that the monster’s hand-to-hand combat skills can defeat any enemy, including the Rangers. Vekar points out that many of his minions have tried to defeat them already and failed, but Pacha assures him that the Rangers won’t know what hit them…

After the intro, we cut over to Harwood High, where Jake is asking Emma where Gia is (he has a season-long crush on her), but she’s already left for Ernie’s. Emma asks if he wants to go with her there to meet up with Gia, and he says yes.

We cut to the park, where the custodian teaching kids kung-fu in the park, and I’ll just tell you, it’s Casey (And here’s a side note: Casey’s actor, Jason Smith, actually wrote a few episodes of Super Megaforce, including “Samurai Surprise.” Yet ironically enough, not this one). He tells the kids that their hands are their best weapons, and that he’s teaching them the “Tiger Style.” Jake and Emma soon walk past them, with her teasing him about his crush on Gia and him asking her what Gia’s into, given how she’s her best friend. He asks her how Gia feels about him, but she’s distracted by the sight of that same jacket and logo, as Casey is standing right in front of her.

She runs up to him and asks if he works at the zoo, and he says yes. Jake points out how cool it was for Casey to go into the cage like that, before Emma asks if he teaches kung fu, which he does. He says that he specializes in fighting without weapons, saying that he learned from watching the animals using their claws and speed to defend themselves. The Rangers introduce themselves, but then their morphers ring, signaling a monster attack. They say their goodbyes to Casey and run off, unaware that he knows exactly what they’re doing.

Over in town, Pacha is blowing up buildings with his punches when the Rangers arrive, already in their default Ranger mode. They waste no time going Super Mega, going all the way with the long version of their morphing sequence where they go one at a time. Once they’re finished with that, they whip out their most-definitely-not-pirate-shaped Super Mega Blasters and unload a round of smoky lasers (in the Sentai, the guns fired real bullets, and all this show does to censor that is to replace the sounds) into Pacha’s X-Borg cronies before charging in with their swords.

After some more X-Borgs go down, the Rangers turn their attention to Pacha, with Jake and Emma taking him on for a bit before the monster jumps atop a nearby building for a second wind. The Rangers regroup and take potshots at Pacha, but the monster soon unveils his special power: a magnetic field that blocks their lasers and draws their guns to him. The Rangers struggle in vain to hold onto their weapons, but eventually they give way, and their blasters go soaring out of their hands and into Pacha’s clutches.

He taunts the now-unarmed Rangers, who forget that they’re already well-trained in martial arts, and unleashes a pair of giant fists from his shoulders to pummel them from afar. Emma and Jake go down, prompting the remaining Rangers to Legend Morph into Wild Force Rangers Red, Blue and Yellow. Gia and Noah try flying at Pacha in an attempt to get their weapons back, and Troy climbs to take him one-on-one, going as far as knocking him back down to street level.

It seems the Rangers have gained the upper hand, and Pacha retreats, promising he’ll be back to finish them later. So, I guess he just lost, then? I mean, I know he’s still alive, but the fact remains that he was forced to retreat. Technically, it’s still an L. Jake and Emma bemoan that they were kicked to the sidelines, and the Rangers are left to soak in what just happened.

Back aboard the Mothership, Vekar chews out Pacha for running away (humorously calling him “Knick-Knack Patty-Whack” in the process), but Lavira steps forward with a way to enhance the monster’s combat powers for the rematch. A way that we don’t really get to see or have explained. Seriously, the next time he shows up, he doesn’t have any special gear or cyborg upgrades or anything, and we don’t see him getting injected or beamed with something. He’s just inexplicably stronger. In Samurai, people would repeat obvious exposition over and over again; in Megaforce we just get vague explanations and not even that most of the time.

Over in the park, Troy comes down on the team hard for letting Pacha get away. Gia tries to tell him that they had no way of knowing about his magnetic powers (not to mention that, aside from not killing the monster, they pretty much won), but Troy rants about how a “Ranger must never let go of his weapons.” I don’t remember that being one of Zordon’s rules, and such a thing never comes up again after this episode. And there’s a scene in a coming review that makes this tangent especially rich…

For some reason Jake agrees with this, and after the others leave, he and Emma wonder if they should try to fight Pacha without their weapons. Then it hits both of them at the same time: they decide to go to Casey to learn his fighting techniques.

They find him at the zoo, still taking care of the tiger. They call out to him as he’s raking, and ask if they can become his students. When he asks them why, they just say that they think it’s cool, and they want to expand their knowledge of martial arts. He agrees to teach them on one condition: that they bring him a bucket of gardening supplies lying next to them. Through the fence. Into the pen. With the tiger.

Still, without many other options, they head for the gate and slowly open it, crawling carefully along until they reach Casey. Having passed the test, Casey agrees to help them, telling them to meet him at the park at dawn the next day. And as they turn to leave, he tells them that the tigers were fed hours ago. They weren’t in any real danger. Unless of course they tried to pet it, or throw garland around it, or something stupid like that.

The next morning, Casey is mediating in the middle of the park when Jake and Emma come to train. Naturally, he senses them arrive without even looking in their direction, and ask if they are ready. Soon enough, they go to work practicing some moves, and Casey determines their respective spirit animals: Jake is “fierce and strong,” like the snake, and Emma is “brave and resilient,” like the phoenix. Interestingly enough, these are the animals their Zords were modelled after in their first season… as well as the animals of a few of Jungle Fury’s villains, namely the snake monster Naga and the Phantom Beast General form of leading baddie Camille. It still beats the deal Adam got back in Season 3…

Casey goes on to explain that he is a master in the Pai Zhua, the ancient school of Kung-Fu warriors that served as the good guys in Jungle Fury, and he tells them that they trust and control their instincts, just like animals do. That they can use it to defend themselves or attack, and they know never to use it in anger, only for survival. And most importantly, that bare hands can be as mighty as any weapon.

Meanwhile, Gia walks in on Noah as he’s accessing his Ranger Database (Rangerwiki?) in the school’s computer lab (uh, you do know you have a Command Center for that kind of stuff? So somebody who’s not supposed to know about all this doesn’t walk right in and see it?). Or rather, falling asleep while accessing his Ranger Database. Apparently, he’s been there all night, looking up some equipment to help in their next fight with Pacha.

Troy busts in and asks what they’re doing, since class is about to start. Noah tries to explain his plan for fighting the monster with a different weapon, but Troy just shuts him down, saying that they “just won’t let go next time.” Wow, not listening to your teammates while they’re just trying to help, some leader you are. The Red Ranger of the Anniversary, people. The guy who gets to wear the suits of Jason, Tommy, TJ, and Wes. And I know what you’re probably thinking, that maybe he’ll learn a lesson about this at the end, but… you’ll see.

Once Troy leaves, Gia tells Noah not to worry and that they need to get going, but once Noah moves to shut down, she sees the Pai Zhua logo onscreen and recognizes it from the jacket. Noah explains what it is, and as he does so we flash over to Jake and Emma training in the park. He says about how the Pai Zhua believed that with training, one can release their animal spirit “and become a fearsome warrior.”

And all the while, Jake and Emma spar, having taken to their new fighting styles that they never use again after this episode. As they do so, they begin to manifest their animal spirits. After about one day of training. And people give Rey crap. At least she had a mind-link with a seasoned Force user to justify her sudden boost in power…

But them learning fast is a good thing in this case, since Pacha is back in the city for another round, demonstrating his new powers by blowing up another building with his mind. Over at the Command Center (we finally get to see it this episode, and it’s… strangely dark and gloomy) Tensou (the robotic assistant this season) and Gosei remember that they actually have jobs and alert the Rangers.

Troy, Noah and Gia answer the call and hurry to the sight of the attack, where Pacha does his magnetic trick again. This time, the Rangers hold on to their weapons, going as far as to get stuck to Pacha along with them. It seems to work, and the monster lets go… only for the Rangers to fight him hand-to-hand anyway. So, all that drama about him taking their weapons before was – you guessed it – completely pointless.

Pacha soon turns the tide by testing the vaguely-defined power Lavira gave him, unleashing a Dark Kamehameha that sends the Rangers flying back. Back at the Command Center, Gosei asks where Jake and Emma are, and Tensou tries to reach them.

Back at the park, Jake and Emma’s morphers go off, and Casey asks if they are going to answer them. Yes, just like Jayden, he knows about the Rangers, and explains how he’s one himself, complete with a flashback from one of his battles. Only this one is zoomed and cropped to fit in the high-def aspect ratio. He says that he couldn’t reveal himself to them until he knew they were ready, and tells them to go save the world.

They arrive at the battlefield just as the others are smoldering on the ground, and decide to put Casey’s lessons to use against Pacha. They run past his laser blast and attempt a couple of non-Snake, non-Phoenix punches… only to have them blocked by the monster’s shoulder hands. Pacha proceeds to pummel them back, gloating that without their weapons, they’re nothing.

With the chips down and the monster gaining the upper hand, Emma and Casey tell the others about how Casey taught them to use their animal spirits, and Jake gives Pacha a Patrick Stewart Speech about how it’s not the Rangers’ weapons that make them strong, but the spirit inside them. The team then rises up and use their Jungle Fury Keys, with Jake changing into the Wolf Ranger and Emma into a female version of the Rhino Ranger. That tends to happen whenever they’re morphing into a team with only one girl in it.

The Rangers run at Pacha and engage him Jungle Fury-style. Eventually, Jake and Emma force him back, leading the monster to resort to his giant tentacle fists. The Rangers use their animal instincts to evade the blows, then Jake and Emma roll over for some close strikes. As they block Pacha’s blows, we see flashbacks to Casey’s lessons, and him telling them what their animal spirits are. Except they technically aren’t using those animals, but rather the Wolf and the Rhino. Still, they’re still kinda following Casey’s advice, which is more than I can say for “Samurai Surprise.”

Once Jake and Emma have Pacha in a lock-up, the other Rangers run over and use their Claw Boosters to charge their teammates fists and unleash a blast that sends the monster flying back. Jake and Emma jump up for an aerial strike, then demorph to Super Mega so they and the other Rangers can finish Pacha off with their Super Mega Blasters’ Final Strike. Which is just them shooting him with a bunch of charged shots. I do like that “Go Rangers! Go Rangers! Go Rangers, Me-Ga-Force!” music that plays in the background during this, though.

But the show’s not over yet, as Lavira fires up her Maximizer, growing Pacha to giant-size. Troy calls down the Sky Ship, and with it, the other Zords. They soon combine into the Legendary Megazord, and unleash their Super Mega Cannon (literally a not-pirate cannon sticking out of the Megazord’s chest). But Pacha swats aside the cannonballs, forcing the Megazord to engage him in hand-to-hand.

Troy tells the Rangers to channel their animal spirits (so, only Jake and Emma’s then? The rest of you didn’t discover yours) as the Megazord pummels Pacha. Jake notices that their Jungle Fury Keys start glowing, and Emma guesses that Casey’s spirit is helping them. The Rangers use the keys with their Megazord, which unleashes the Jungle Fury Ranger’s animal spirits in one final attack that destroys Pacha for good. As the monster explodes, Troy gives out the full version of his post-victory catchphrase, which is repetitive to say the least.

After the fight, the Rangers head back to the zoo to find Casey, with Troy going on about how they are now part of a legacy of Power Rangers. But once they find the caretaker, he’s somebody else, and Casey is nowhere to be found. Even weirder, according to the guy they did find, the zoo has never hired anybody with the name Casey.

Jake and Emma are confused by this, and Troy starts going on about how they all did great in the fight regardless: Noah and Gia didn’t let go of their weapons (for all that amounted to), Jake and Emma showed everyone how powerful they can be without them (you guys are martial artists, you should have known that already) and Troy learned that he needs to listen to his team more (uh, no you didn’t! At no point in this episode did you learn that! Plus, that’s the sort of thing a Red Ranger should learn at the beginning of his run, not at the midway point). As this is going on, Jake and Emma see Casey off in the distance practicing, but before they can tell the others, he uses some teleportation technique to disappear. And the episode ends on that creepy note…

So, now that we’ve finished talking about the story, on to Pros and Cons:

Pros:

The fact the Jungle Fury finally got a crossover of sorts with another season, since they didn’t team up with the Overdrive Rangers or the RPM crew. Sadly, considering it’s actually one of my favorites of the Disney Era.

Cons:

The totally nonsensical “Rangers never let go of their weapons” thing.

Troy in general is just insufferable here.

Just like “Samurai Surprise,” this is one of the better episodes of Super Megaforce. Seeing Casey again was a nice treat, and having him pass on what he learned in his own season to the current team is something I wish Megaforce had more of. On the other hand, it also demonstrated how bad the Red Ranger of this season really is, especially in comparison to a far better one. Seriously, Troy just sucks.

And unfortunately, this is about the time where Super Megaforce peaked. After the introduction of the Silver Ranger, the season would drone on with filler episodes and botched tributes, being carried primarily by the Gokaiger footage. Which I’ll admit is awesome, I think I might check out the season once Shout! Factory gets to it. But next week is the big one, the thing that even fans who hated Megaforce were looking forward to. The thing that was hyped up since, well, Gokaiger did it. The Legendary Battle, featuring the return of every single Ranger in existence. There’s no way that Megaforce could screw this one up! Right… right? ‘Till then, I’ve been The Uncanny Fox. Live long, stay gold, and try to take a guess at what my animal spirit would be.