Wild Access! *Pounds ground and poses* Uncanny Fox! Alright, time to continue my look at the Power Rangers crossover episodes, and today I’ve got a doozey: the 2-part Time Force/Wild Force Team-Up, “Reinforcements From The Future,” widely considered by many to be one of the best in the series.

Wild Force was the first season to be produced after Disney bought Saban Entertainment and the Fox Family Channel (now known as Freeform) during the airing of Time Force. As such, many consider it to be a transitional season between the Original Saban Era and Disney Era, especially since it still retained the production crew of the former bar Judd Lynn (who left at the end of the last season due to creative differences with Johnathan Tzachor). And as Linkara mentioned in his History of Power Rangers review, it still had an Old Saban feel to it.

Like Time Force before it, Wild Force’s plot adhered closely to that of its Sentai source material, Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger, but still knew when to deviate when the situation called for it. Long ago, there was a jungle paradise called the Animarium (Ani-MARE-ium, not Ani-MAR-ia, Megaforce), where people lived in harmony with animal Zords. At least until an ancient race of toxic demons called the Orgs attacked, forcing the Animarium up into sky and scattering the Zords. In modern times, the Orgs return due to pollution weakening the Earth, and a team of young heroes are chosen by the remaining Zords to defend the world as Power Rangers. One of whom is a man named Cole (the Red Ranger), who was raised by a jungle tribe after his parents disappeared, and is now looking for the answer to what happened to them while also getting used to modern civilization.

Many fans dislike Wild Force due to its copying of the Sentai, awkward acting and environmental message that can get pretty heavy-handed at times, but I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for it. The Zords are cool – I love how they can be interchanged with the Megazord to gain new powers and weapons, and some of the plotlines – namely Cole’s quest to find the truth about his parents and Merrick’s whole “Wolf Mask” ordeal – are some of the most compelling in the series.

But I guess I’d better get this out of the way: Cole is played by Ricardo Medina, Jr., who would go on to compete in the VH1 reality show Kept, before returning to Power Rangers as the villainous Deker in Samurai. And then he was arrested in 2015 for the fatal stabbing of his roommate, Joshua Sutter, with a sword during an argument gone wrong. At first Medina was released on bail, and the death was claimed to be in self-defense, but two years later he would plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter (meaning he did mean to kill the roommate in that moment), and was sentenced to 6 years in prison, which at the time of this writing he’s now serving.

This makes the seasons he’s in a tad… difficult to watch (the last time he was on TV, he was… trying to kill one of the main characters with a sword. Ouch…) for some fans, and I certainly don’t condone his actions if the killing wasn’t purely self-defense. However, I won’t hold that against Cole the character or the season in general. It was a terrible tragedy to be sure, but I try not to let it taint my fond memories of the show. I mean, I still think WWE did the right thing by deciding to not bring up Chris Benoit, and he would have been one of my top favorite wrestlers if not for… that. I really don’t know the correct answer for this type of question…

But let’s lighten the mood with the review itself. Here’s “Reinforcements From The Future,” a crossover praised for not only being a fun reunion for the previous seasons, but bringing more closure to it.

We begin with the intro song right away (we wouldn’t get cold opens again until the Neo-Saban Era), and it’s one of my favorites, an awesome rock beat that really gets you pumped for the show in similar vein to “Go Go Power Rangers.” It’s got such an optimistic feel to it, like you just know the Rangers are going to kick butt and save the day. There’s one funny thing with the chorus, though: it kind of sounds like it’s saying “we’ll prevent what’s right forever” instead of “protect.” Is that just me?

The episode proper kicks off with Taylor (the Yellow Ranger and a former Air Force pilot. Hmm, blonde pilot lady that crash lands on a strange world, gains incredible powers and becomes a super hero. Didn’t a movie like that just come out this week?) zipping down the highway in her new car, which naturally is yellow. I hope that thing is eco-friendly; you’re supposed to be the environmental Rangers, after all.

She’s on the phone with Alyssa (the White Ranger, which is filling in for Pink this season), and therefore too distracted to notice that she’s breaking the speed limit. A cop car chases her down, and the unseen-but-rather-familiar-sounding officer gives her a ticket.

And who should this officer be than Eric, who later tells Wes about how “he could just tell she was trouble.” To which Wes (now rocking a stylish red Barret that signifies his leadership of the Silver Guardians – he joined with them at the end of the season, after his dad promised they would be non-profit from now on) snarks that she’s “just Eric’s type.” Eric just rolls his eyes at this and they drive off. Still, it’s nice to see these two working together after being at each other’s throats for the majority of Time Force.

Later that night, three mysterious Orgs teleport under a bridge Terminator-style, before floating unconvincingly to the ground. They then silently attack a car, just to demonstrate their awesome power. These guys were actually made from old monster suits (originally, the production crew was going to use the monster suits from the Gaoranger movie, but those were lost in a fire), and named after long time Power Rangers fans: the long necked one is Rofang (Joe Rovang), the one with the axes is Takach (Jason Takach) and the one that’s basically Deviot’s monster form with wings is Kired (Derik Smith). A cool piece of trivia, but I don’t think they ever use their names onscreen.

Jindrax and Toxica, the two Duke Org generals, sense the new arrivals via Toxica’s glowing horn and hurry over where they are in hopes of recruiting them in their bid to overthrow Master Org (they had a falling out with him after he brainwashed them into remaining loyal to him). But the newcomers speak in a weird alien language (actually English played backwards) and attack them, throwing the Duke Orgs off a ledge and going off to do who-knows-what as they follow a strange tracking device Rofang has. Toxica angrily points out that she and Jindrax have one horn (some kind of Org hierarchy thing that doesn’t really get fleshed out in the show), meaning that the new Orgs are supposed to obey them, but Jindrax says that they have “way too many horns,” and asks what the rule on that is.

Here’s a little side note about these two: they were originally planned to be Cole’s parents, brainwashed to serve Master Org, as a condition to the Fox network for showing their deaths onscreen. But once the show switched channels to ABC in the middle of the season, the writers “forgot” to put that in, and the new channel heads never bothered to look over the previous episodes. As such, Cole’s parents remained dead, one of the few instances were an onscreen death was permanent.

The next morning, the Silver Guardians get a disturbance call from Cranston Plaza (a shout-out to Billy’s last name) and high-tail it over there in their SUVs. Sure enough, it’s the new Orgs wreaking havoc, and the Guardians soon have them surrounded. Wes and Eric give the monsters one chance to back down, but naturally they don’t take it, and Kired takes to the air to rain down laser blasts from his mouth.

After a few explosions, the Guardians open fire on Takach, who just shrugs off their blasts as he advances on them. He and Rofang swat away Wes and Eric like flies, and despite the heroes putting up a valiant effort, they’re just no match for the baddies.

But Wes and Eric have one more card up their sleeves: they morph. Yup, they actually got to keep their morphers at the end of their season, and they’re ready to bust out the spandex (sorry, Dr. K). Strangely enough, their morph screens are in a switched position from where they’re standing. I guess Red always morphs on the left side.

Unfortunately, the Orgs are still too powerful for the two Red Rangers (yes, Quantum counts as a Red, as we’ll see next week), and after a slow-motion shootout between them and Wes, they have the heroes on the ropes.

After a commercial break, Eric tells Wes that he thought all the mutants were sent back to the future at the end of Time Force, but apparently these three got away. But before the monsters can finish them off, the Wild Force Rangers arrive to even the odds. And surprisingly enough, Wes and Eric don’t seem surprised that there’s a different set of Rangers out there. It seems the fight is looking up, but the Orgs conjure up their tracking device and leave before too long.

Wes and Eric de-morph and greet the other Rangers, with Taylor recognizing the latter as the cop who gave her a ticket. She chews him out for not saying “Thank You” as the other Rangers power down and try to make peace. Eric cockily tells them to “leave fighting the mutants to the big boys,” (because you guys just had that all under control, didn’t you?) leading Max (the Blue Ranger) to correct them by saying that the monsters they just battled are called Orgs.

This causes Wes to think for a moment (hmmm), then say that he and Eric have to go. He shakes hands with Cole and thanks the Wild Force team for their help before he and Eric (funnily enough, Wes has to pull him away from Taylor) round up the Guardians to do Guardian business. The Wild Force Rangers head off as well, as Taylor’s still sore about Eric’s remark.

Back on the Animarium, the Rangers mull over how the Orgs were stronger than the ones they’ve fought all season, that there’s something different about them. All the while Princess Shayla (the ruler of the Animarium and one of my least favorite mentors, she’s just so fluttery and annoying. Plus, she’s the one responsible for this) asks about the other Rangers they met, wondering if they were “nice.” To which Taylor snapped that they weren’t, leading Max to tease about how she likes the Quantum Ranger (wait, how did they find out Eric’s Ranger name? I mean, “Quantum’s” not a color) She doesn’t like that…

Over at Silver Guardian HQ, Wes and Eric set up a communication device to contact the future (basically just two antennae that project a holo-screen between them), in order to tell Time Force about the mutants that are currently on the loose. They call up Trip, who after some brief re-introductions and a moment of reluctance, tells them that Time Force has been tracking three fugitives in the year 3001, who have somehow traveled back to 2002. Not only that, but Jen has gone missing after being assigned a special mission to catch them. Wes is shaken by this news (he and Jen fell in love during the last season), and Eric gives him a comforting pat on the shoulder. And somewhere in the year 2025, Ravi asks Smash to hold his Sprite Zero.

Later that night, the Orgs gather on a rooftop, where they are being watched by a mysterious stranger, who runs their crazy moon language through a translator. Or playing it backwards, whatever works. Turns out they’re looking for someone who will help them create more Orgs to rule the future with. Take a wild (heh) guess who…

But they hear the stranger moving, and take off looking for them. One Org attacks the cardboard boxes the stranger was hiding behind (continuing this show’s war on storage containers), but whoever it is nowhere to be found, as they are now watching the monsters from a ledge above.

The next morning, Wes and Eric approach Taylor at her… work, I guess, to tell her that they need her and the other Rangers’ help. At first she busts them about how cocky Eric was before, then agrees to take them to the Animarium.

They arrive at the floating island, only to be startled by the Eagle Zord flying overhead. Eric’s not impressed, and quips that she should see his Q-Rex. And I’ve got to back him up on that one; dino beats bird. After some more high-fives from Cole and Eric’s “did that really just happen” reaction to Shayla teleporting out of her pond, the Princess tells them that while the monsters they fought before are Orgs, they’re not like any Orgs she’s seen before.

Wes then gets a call from Trip, who’s made a shocking discovery: the monsters aren’t just mutants or Orgs, but both, and Time Force has classified these hybrids as “Mut-Orgs.” The good news is that he knows someone who can help, but the Rangers aren’t going to like it…

In the year 3001, Nadria is in the middle of her new job as a teacher (having turned over a new leaf at the end of Time Force and developed a fondness for children) when Lucas and Katie pull up into the parking lot. It seems like they’re all friends now, as Nadria squees with joy and hugs Katie upon seeing them. And apparently Lucas helped make arrangements for her to teach at the school. But today isn’t just a happy reunion, Lucas and Katie need her help…

Back in the present, Danny (Black Ranger) is worried about how they can possibly beat their new enemies, but Max assures him that they’ll be fine before repeating their catchphrase of “Never Give Up” and psyching up for the fight ahead. It’s a nice little moment of our heroes being relatable dorks that helps carry them as never quitting more effectively than all the “Never Surrender” speeches in Megaforce.

Watching this, Eric remarks to Taylor that she’s got “some interesting friends,” leading her to exposit that they “drive her crazy sometimes.” Eric replies that he used to feel the same way about his friends, back in his own season, before walking off. Guess these two have more in common that they care to admit.

While driving off in search of the Mut-Orgs, Wes explains to Cole that there are other teams of Rangers out there, fighting for the same goal. It’s a nice little reference to past seasons that brings the universe together, and plays into some things that happen in later crossover episodes concerning Wes. And some of the things the writers of this episode were planning for the future that never really came to pass, which I’ll get into more next week…

Back in the future, the Time Force Rangers fly over to a prison island (no, not the one Shadow was frozen under, a different prison island), where they are paying a visit to the most infamous prisoner contained there: Ransik. Nadira goes in first for a happy reunion with her father, and we’re reminded that she was always the one person he loved, even at his most evil.

He then sees the Rangers behind her and thinks they’re there to kill him, but no, they need his help to stop the Mut-Orgs.

On the Animarium, Shayla’s evil-detecting pond goes off, signifying that the Mut-Orgs are rampaging through town again. Alyssa calls up the other Rangers and tells them it’s go time. Soon, they’re all at the mountainside, running toward the camera like this is the end of a Schumacher Batman movie until they find the Mut-Orgs. Wes proclaims that the monsters aren’t getting away this time, and Eric mutters that it doesn’t matter if they’re mutants or Orgs, they’re going down just the same.

The Rangers charge at the Mut-Orgs and instamorph, and a full-blown fight soon gets underway. The heroes split off into pairs (of course), the girls taking on Kired, Danny and Max fighting Takach, and the Reds engaging in an impressive laser battle with Rofang. But the Mut-Orgs gain the upper hand early on, with Takach kicking a freaking boulder at Danny and Max (leaving a large hole in the side of the cliff), Kired doing a flying spinaroonie-thing against the girls, and Rofang side-blasting Cole and Eric. Wes tries shooting at him, but his blast gets deflected back at his hand, causing him to drop his sword. Sakamoto at his finest.

Another one knocks him to the ground and forces him to demorph, and soon Rofang moves in for the kill as the other Rangers can only watch helplessly. But a laser blast hits the monster before he can make Wes a ghost, coming from somewhere up on the hill.

It’s the cloaked figure from before, who turns out to be Jen… all decked out in a skin-tight black leather outfit and carrying a large gun. She proceeds to jump from the hill and engage the Mut-Orgs in an awesome slow-motion, Matrix-esqe laser fight, ending with her firing off her gun and causing a massive explosion that puts the Battlizers of last week’s episode to shame.

With the Mut-Orgs subdued for now, Jen hurries to Wes’s side and helps him to his feet, telling him that she’ll explain what she’s doing here once they’re not in front of three ticked-off super-monsters. They and the other Rangers issue a full-retreat as the Mut-Orgs unleash a mini-Terra Destroyer that nearly blows them to smithereens.

But the Rangers get away, leaving the Mut-Orgs to seethe for a bit before heading to their real destination, the Orgs’ underground lair, where Master Org senses their immense power. Another side note: Master Org is one of the few original elements of the season, as Gaoranger had this weird stone tiki thing as its big bad for a while. And his costume is taken from the main villain of Gosei Sentai Dairanger, the source footage for Season 2 of Mighty Morphin. As well as the “Squadron Rangers” from Super Megaforce, one of the “New Powers” that randomly popped up for no real reason or rhyme…

The Mut-Orgs bow before him and tell him (in forward-playing English) that they serve his will as their “true master” (ironically, this Master Org is a fake, as established in previous episodes, but obviously these guys don’t know that), and Part 1 ends with Master Org laughing in sinister glee over his newest minions.

Part 2 picks up with a Previously On segment (complete with narration), before heading back to the Animarium, where Shayla is fiddling around with Wes and Eric’s com-device as the Rangers walk in and bemoan their recent defeat. Wes asks Jen how long she’s been in the present, to which she answers a week. A week without calling or writing, as Wes is quick to point out.

But before Jen can explain why she didn’t ask for back-up, Shayla tells them that “some kind of owl” has been trying to call them since they left. Said owl is Circuit, who tells the Rangers that Time Force’s captain is sending him and the other Time Force Rangers back in time to help.

Over in 3001, stock footage of Timeranger plays as the wackiest form of time travel I’ve ever seen happens: a Megazord called Transwarp (guess Hasbro was secretly handling some of the names even back then) clobber-punches the timeship the Rangers are traveling in across a runway and into a time portal. I love it.

The ship flies across the very-green Space-Time Continuum, emerging on a beach in 2002 as the other Rangers arrive to great their teammates. The landing goes better than the last time someone tried this (the ship crashed, then exploded), and the Time Force crew runs out for a happy reunion with Wes, Jen and Eric.

But Jen’s smile soon fades once she sees who her friends brought back with them: Ransik, aka her old nemesis, aka the dude who killed her fiancé right in front of her (sure, he came back later on, but by then he became a self-righteous douchebag who didn’t listen to his team, and I’m guessing that wouldn’t have happened had he not died in the first place). Trip assures her that he’s changed and here to help them, but that’s little comfort.

Ransik walks up to her and reminds her of their “long and twisted history” (and humorously enough, he calls her “Time Ranger” – a reference to the source Sentai, I’m guessing), telling her that he’s done many horrible things in the past and now wants to make up for this one. While he’s saying this, Cole senses the good in his heart (he can do that, it’s some kind of ancient tribal thing) and tells Jen that he’s telling the truth. Reluctantly, Jen agrees to hear what Ransik has to say about the Mut-Orgs, as he has information about how to stop them.

Later that night at the Animarium (wait, it took them all day to get back there? Don’t they just teleport?), Ransik tells the Rangers that he was the one who gave the Mut-Orgs their power, telling the story of how he first met them back before he began his criminal organization. He was living in the mountains to hide from the humans who shunned him when he came across an ancient temple holding three Org statues, as demonstrated via flashback.

They tell him to set them free in order to punish the humans who imprisoned them, and, sharing the Orgs’ hatred for humanity, Ransik agrees. He blasts them free from their stone imprisonment (no Stars of Kikan needed here) as their spirits fly into his mouth and copy his DNA, becoming the mutant-Org hybrids they are now. And in exchange, they give Ransik the power to pull swords out of his body… and presumably the ability to fight both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mel Gibson during the course of his career.

And now Ransik is looking to make up for this terrible mistake by helping the Rangers bring the Mut-Orgs down, if they will trust him. The Rangers all look to Jen, who walks up to Ransik and tells him that no matter how much they may want to, they can’t change the past… but they can work for a better future. Words to live by. She takes off the handcuffs Ransik’s had on since he left jail and agrees to let him help. The two former enemies shake hands, finally making peace for all that happened before.

Later on, Wes keeps watch as everyone rests up for the big day tomorrow, as well as talks to Jen about how he knew he’d see her again, and she comments that she took a page from his playbook and “changed her destiny.” And they still don’t kiss. I mean, c’mon guys! You haven’t seen each other in a year!

They’re not the only ones feeling the love tonight, as Taylor checks on Eric as he’s cleaning his blaster, the ever-trusty Quantum Defender. She asks if she can see it, and he brags that it’s not your standard issue Silver Guardian weapon. She starts fiddling with it, leading Eric to warn that it’s not a toy (heh), and she fires back that she was in the Air Force and can probably teach him a thing or two. Okay, I’ll admit, I ship it. They fit together in a Han and Leia “slap-slap-kiss” kind of way, and there’s the added benefit of her not being from the future. Or being cloned into an evil hologram person trying to kill him. Or being in an organization that forbids Rangers dating other Rangers. Geez, one episode in and that dude’s already in a ringer…

The next day, Master Org and the Mut-Orgs arrive at an old power plant, which they plan to hijack to pollute the planet and create more of their kind. The Animarium’s Viewing Pond goes off again, and Shayla and Ransik deduce that the Mut-Orgs went back in time to rewrite history in their favor. Having realized this, the Rangers set out to stop them before it’s too late.

After the commercial break, they all run to the plant, which is pumping out CO2 in overtime. Cole orders the team to split up to look for the Mut-Orgs, and Ransik tells him to get him close to them, and he can take care of the rest. He’s the only one who can negate their power, having been the one who gave it to them in the first place.

So they break off into teams, with Ransik and Nadira going with the Reds, Jen and Alyssa heading for the back entrance, Danny, Max, Trip and Lucas hacking the reactor from the computer room, and Eric, Taylor and Katie finding a squad of Putrids (the grunts of the season) working the equipment within the plant. Max calls Taylor for a status update, and tells her that he’ll let her know when the reactor’s shut down. Unfortunately, some Putrids break into the room at that moment, forcing the Rangers to defend themselves as Trip keeps at his task.

Elsewhere, Eric, Taylor and Katie fend off more Putrids by being awesome, while Jen and Alyssa charge into the plant guns blazing, by being awesome. Seriously, Jen is dual-wielding those Chrono Blasters! They tear through the guarding grunts like something out of a John Woo shootout flick, and I think I may be in love…

Back outside, Wes, Cole and company find themselves jumped by the Mut-Orgs, one of which strikes Nadira. Ransik charges in to defend his daughter, while Wes and Cole deal with the other two. Ransik takes a nasty blow to the back, and the Reds are soon flipped onto the ground.

They’re forced to regroup, and the Mut-Orgs ready their ultimate Freiza-eqse attack. The Rangers start to retreat, but Ransik declares that he still has to atone for creating these monsters in the first place. He charges at them with a screaming fury, as Wes and Cole can only watch helplessly and hold Nadira back. He yells at Nadira to get out of there as he grabs the Mut-Orgs and absorbs the full brunt of their attack.

After a massive explosion, Ransik falls to the ground, having seemingly sacrificed himself to save his daughter, as the Mut-Orgs announce that their mutant power is gone and they must retreat. She and the Reds run to Ransik’s side, and he tells them that he’s neutralized the Mut-Orgs’ mutant side, leaving them merely as the same ol’ Orgs the Rangers have been killing all year at this point. Reluctantly, Wes and Cole run off to defeat them once and for all, leaving Nadira to stay by her weakened father’s side.

Back in the Computer Room, Trip finishes his hacking as his teammates finish off the Putrids. Once the reactor shuts down, Max calls Taylor and tells her that it’s all up to her and the others now.

She signals to Eric, who tosses her his Quantum Defender. She grabs it, spins to the ground, takes aim at the reactor and fires off a few shots, causing it to explode and the plant to shut down. Uh, was anybody still using that plant? Besides the Orgs, I mean. Still, Taylor is awesome here. Heck, everyone is awesome in this episode.

Outside, the non-Mut-Orgs try to make a run for it, but are soon cut off by Merrick, the Lunar Wolf Ranger. Nice of you to finally show up after most of the heavy-lifting is done, but it’s a cool scene nonetheless. And with him are the rest of the Rangers, ready to finish this fight once and for all. They morph, starting with the Wild Force team and their Sentai-lifted sequence of their Growl Phones transforming into animals, then Ranger-shaped figures, then Rangers, then their helmets forming via their Wild Zords flowing overtop them. The Time Force Rangers follow suit, then the Sixths.

Once everyone is morphed, they all pose and roll call, with the Wild Force team having better call outs than the Time Force. I mean, they actually have nicknames for themselves, while the Time Force guys just say “Time Force (Color)!” Finally, they share a big Team-Up pose, complete with, you guessed it, the background exploding. It’s actually kind of weird: at first it just shoots up colored smoke, then explodes, then cuts back to smoke, all as the Rangers themselves stand stoically, then pose, then abruptly cut back to standing.

The Just-Orgs call for their Putrid forces, and the Rangers charge into battle against the toxic hordes. As per tradition, the Rangers spilt off by color, with the Blues and Black/Greens ganging up on Takach – a fight that contains the bigger Rangers giving their smaller teammates a boost onto the railings above for a swinging strike that takes his axes, Jen and Alyssa taking down Kired with a boosted jumping flip-kick, the Yellows fighting the Putrids, the Reds battling Rofang with their swords – at least until Cole brings his Lion Blaster into the fold, and the Sixths finishing off the rest of the Putrids with their blaster weapons. Again, Sakamoto at his finest.

Eventually the Plain-Orgs are forced to re-group, as the Red’s bust out the Battlizers (or Mega-Battle, in Eric’s case) and Wes declares that the monsters’ time is up. They, and the other Rangers, pool together their laser weapons (or daggers, in Wild Force’s case) for one final blast that destroys the Mere-Orgs in a massive explosion. See, now that’s how you destroy the monsters at the end of a Team-Up!

The battle now won, the Rangers hurry back to Ransik and Nadira. It seems she’s crying over her dad’s dead body, but she’s happy. Ransik’s alive, and taking away the Mut-Orgs’ invincibility removed his own mutation and healed his disfigured face. A mark of his true redemption after all he’s been through, going from a violent enemy seeking vengeance to finally making peace with himself and the world. He salutes the Rangers, who run up to give him and Nadria a warm embrace.

They all head back to the Animarium for a victory picnic (which Circuit is all too excited about even though he can’t eat… or can he? I mean, Alpha didn’t even have a freaking mouth), and a techno remix of that corny nature song Shayla and Merrick sing to the Deer Zord every morning (which surprisingly works in this instance) starts playing as everyone parties. Max dances and tries to woo Nadira with flowers until Ransik scares him off, Lucas scores with her instead, Eric flirts with Taylor over her book, Danny and Katie arm-wrestle (naturally, Katie wins. Super strength and all), and Wes and Cole have a foot race. The episode ends on this note, with a happy celebration between two teams that have won a hard-earned victory.

The Next Time segment plays, where Cole discovers the truth about his parents and Master Org. 17-year-old spoiler warning: the Master was their former college who killed them after he fell in love with Cole’s mother, but she married Cole’s dad instead.

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

Pros:

The continuation of plotlines from Time Force, and how well they’re woven into the story at hand.

Top notch fight sequences throughout.

The feel-good party scene at the end is pretty sweet. It’s the type of thing I would like to see more Team-Ups end with, and it feels like the end of a movie.

Cons:

Seriously, was anyone still using that power plant? I would have liked a line saying that it was shut down for polluting too much or something.

The editing in the Team-Up pose is a bit awkward.

“Reinforcements From The Future” is without a doubt one of the best Team-Ups in Power Rangers history, even beating out most of the anniversary episodes. It not only features a great crossover between the two seasons (even more impressive when you consider that Sentai didn’t have a Team-Up movie between these two teams. This whole concept was made wholecloth), but expands on Time Force’s storyline in ways that feel natural (heh), and gives closure to that season’s main conflict. Ransik’s arc ends on a good note, and it ties nicely with Wild Force’s themes of redemption and forgiveness. And in some more great chemistry with Wes and Jen, as well as a new ship of Eric and Taylor, and a ton of top-notch fight sequences courtesy of Koichi Sakamoto (I cannot sing this guy’s praises enough, his work is among the best in the franchise), and you’ve got a crossover that’s a must-watch if you’re a fan of either season.

This wasn’t the only Team-Up Wild Force had. Due to it being the 10th season in the series, there was a special crossover spanning the entire franchise, featuring the return of (almost) every Red Ranger up to that point in a battle against the Big Bad Beetleborgs… I mean, a resurgent Machine Empire. That’s right, next week we’re taking a look at the famous anniversary episode, “Forever Red.” ‘Till then, I’ve been The Uncanny Fox. Live long, stay gold, and remember: Don’t pollute with fossil fuels, use renewable, eco-friendly Morph-X instead.