Command Center Commentaries: Power Rangers Zeo Part 3

The show was picking up some serious steam as the episodes progress, but there's still something missing in that team dynamic. We've arrived at the moment that would change that: The Gold Ranger Saga. When the time came to introduce the 6th Ranger for the season, a story was attached to it where the Rangers were completely unaware of his identity. Throughout the episodes where the Gold Ranger would appear, a bunch of red herrings would be dropped hinting that anyone could be the Gold Ranger. That includes people like Billy, to Tommy's brother David, and even Skull. But who really is the Gold Ranger? Well, we don't find out in episodes 21-30, but we can at least keep an eye out for any clues or important moments that occur during the Gold Ranger's introduction.


Episode 21- Brother, Can You Spare an Arrowhead?: Everything you imagine would happen does. Tommy saves his brother and gets the arrowhead back. This episode also gives us a combination of the Zeo Megazord and the Red Battle Zord. It looks pretty sweet. Not overly bad way to end this story arc with Tommy and his brother, it's just a little predictable.

Episode 22- Trust in Me: This episode teased the idea that the Rangers weren't prepared for. What happens if one of Mondo's robots didn't want to be evil? I mean, it shouldn't be a complete foreign concept to them. I mean, they have Alpha after all. Anyways, it doesn't really matter because they trust the robot and he ends up lying to them. But it does raise some interesting points for questions and discussion.

Episode 23- It Came from Angel Grove: Nothing overly important to the main story, but if you like old monster movies, this episode is a treat. Adam stays up late to watch a monster movie and has a nightmare where all his friends resemble classic movie monsters. It's a great episode to watch around Halloween, and as a fan of horror movies, I have to recommend it.

Episode 24- Bulk Fiction: This episode is important because of the development we get with Bulk, Skull, and Lt. Stone. After falling for the police chief's daughter, Bulk makes a spectacle of himself to impress her, which gets Lt. Stone fired. Loyal to Stone, despite how much he intimidates them, Bulk and Skull quit on the spot. By the episode's end, we learn what they'll all be doing next. Stone opens up his own detective agency and hires Bulk and Skull on to help him. Well that'll be interesting. Bulk and Skull as detectives. The possibilities for comedy are endless.

Episode 26- Game of Honor: This episode has an Adam and Tanya focus, with the return of her dick ex-boyfriend Shawn. If you wanted some follow up on the Adam and Tanya relationship that fell to the wayside by the show's writers, this episode is your best chance. Tanya supports Adam by helping him train for a fight in a tournament against Shawn. She even calls him "sweetie" at one point. Why didn't they keep at the relationship? It was cute. I didn't mind seeing it play out. I mean, what other storyline could have possibly been more important in this season?

Episode 27- The Power of Gold: This is what we've all been waiting for! The arrival of the mysterious Gold Ranger! He debuts with an amazing costume, an impressive amount of fighting skills and powers, not to mention an awesome theme song! It takes a while to build up to him showing up in this episode, but it's all worth it when we finally see the Gold Ranger for the first time. Our first red herring for his identity is Billy, which would make tons of sense, since Billy is already used to being a Power Ranger and he disappeared to go do something shortly before the Gold Ranger showed up. Very smart move on the writers' part for them to give us teases like that. Really pulls you into the story immediately because you want to figure out if you can solve the Gold Ranger's identity.

Episode 28- A Small Problem: AH! Ok, whose bright idea was it to feature a giant tarantula in the episode's plot? Alright, I'm going to go super quick with this one. The tease for the Gold Ranger's identity in this episode is Skull of all people. And the Gold Ranger shows up to help the other Rangers form the Zeo Ultrazord. It's not very appealing , but it's huge and full of power, so it gets the job done. Good, now will you go away? BE GONE GIANT TARANTULA!!!

Episode 29- A Season to Remember: Dear God, another Christmas episode. Bring on the schmaltz! The goal of this holiday episode was to highlight the significance and importance of Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. Yeah, it's preachy, but what do you expect from a Power Rangers holiday special? The Rangers are planning a holiday celebration with a classmate named Raymond, who appeared a few times throughout the season but wasn't really important in the grand scheme. In honesty, I'm surprised Raymond wasn't a teased identity for the Gold Ranger. In fact, the Gold Ranger isn't mentioned in this episode, probably was filmed or broadcast earlier in the calendar year. Even more, the Rangers don't morph in the episode. They just get mad at each other over the different holidays and make up by the end thanks to a song. There's also a pretty funny side story of Bulk and Skull trying to solve a case of missing fruitcakes. And the main narrative is told through an elderly Tommy telling his grandson the story of this episode, where we find out he's married to Kat and their eldest grandson is a Power Ranger. Quite a prediction for their future.

Episode 30- Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise: This episode is pure filler, with the only important plot point being the tease that Tommy's brother David could be the Gold Ranger. Lackluster way to end this string of episodes, but what can you do?

Character Spotlight: Tommy Oliver, played by Jason David Frank

Tommy's extension of character in Power Rangers Zeo is small, but effective. We take a journey with Tommy as he explores his roots. We find out he's Native American (and I know, he's the Red Ranger. Won't Power Rangers ever stop being accidentally racist?) and has a brother that Tommy immediately begins to bond with. During this time, Tommy also uses his knowledge of Native American culture to help him in battle, by telepathically controlling the Red Battle Zord. That's about it with Tommy, apart from that stupid letter from Kimberly. He's a good leader and the same character we've known and loved for 3 years. Why fix something that isn't broken? Just have Tommy keep doing what he's doing, while sprinkling in a few interesting things here and there.

Character Spotlight: Billy, played by David Yost

When the time came for the Rangers to decide who wouldn't get a Zeo Crystal, Billy openly volunteered to step away from being a Power Ranger. He felt his skills were better utilized within the Power Chamber, working as their tech guy for the remainder of his tenure on the show. Despite not being a Ranger, he's still treated as an equal member of the team. And during this string of episodes, it was heavily speculated that he was the guy behind the Gold Ranger's helmet. Heck, the episode the Gold Ranger debuted, Billy laments over the fact that there used to be six Rangers. It would have been a really cool thing had Billy been the Gold Ranger, but that wasn't what the showrunners had in mind. At least, that's not what we got. By now, most fans have heard about David Yost's falling out with the show over how he was treated behind the scenes. There were some plans for Billy that were going to extend beyond Zeo, but we I'm not sure of the full extent. Anyways, I liked what they were able to do with Billy before David Yost left the show permanently, showcasing that a former Ranger is still useful after their powers are gone.

So who is the Gold Ranger? We're going to find out in Part 4...


Power Rangers Zeo and images are copyrighted by Saban Entertainment