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Preface
Tommy Oliver has been a lot of things. Teenager with attitude. Martial artist. Teacher. Doctor.
Green Ranger. White, Red, Black.
And now, father and husband.
The Cover
It’s Old Man Tommy. You can sit there, you can make your jokes, but literally, everyone in the world saw this and was like “That’s Old Man Tommy.” I’m pretty sure even the jacket’s the same, just a little bigger.
The Story
SYNOPSIS: It’s the distant future and Tommy is OLD. Like, really old. (Wait, let me do the math real fast. Let’s see, he was about 15-16 during MMPR. Then, another 32 years to the year 2025… Oh my god, he’s at least 50. Dang!) He has retired from being a teacher. He’s retired from being a Ranger after an incident 8 years ago. His wife, Kat, is heading to Trifioria for a couple of weeks for something work-related. And, now Tommy’s wondering, what’s the next adventure for his life.
And lo and behold, there is a brand new adventure for Tommy, waiting to be taken. Tommy’s son, Jason Jr., has joined S.P.D. (Space Patrol Delta), an interplanetary police force training the newest generation of Power Rangers. However, Anara, one of SPD’s cadets, tells Tommy that JJ has apparently quit SPD and has been missing for some time. Now, Tommy, along with a broken Master Morpher, sets out on a journey to find some answers about his son and maybe himself along the way.
GO GREEN RANGER GO! WHITE RANGER, TIGER POWER!
So, how is the final chapter of the most famous Power Ranger of all time?
It’s fine. Decent, but nothing really to write home about. So, let’s discuss this.
First off, you aren’t get any meaningful backstory here. Where did Tommy’s Master Morpher come from? Dunno. How exactly did the Master Morpher break? Not exactly sure how. What exactly does Kat teach that lands her a trip to Triforia? Who knows, right? Stories set in the future tend to skim over these kinds of events, too, but it just seems odd that something that deserves a backstory doesn’t even bother to mention it. In fact, besides two surprise characters, there aren’t a lot of characters linked to Tommy’s life. Again, it just seems odd that there are so many people Tommy’s gotten to know in his life that we’ve still never seen him interact with again.
ZEO FIVE POWER KICK!
The whole premise for the story is filled with cliches. From the grizzled old veteran to the missing family member to the young newbie partner. Even the story ending with our hero practically traveling out into the sunset. Though, it does manage to do some stuff differently with the SPD setting and Amara’s friendship with Tommy.
Ultimately, this comic is less about the actual story and more about Tommy focusing on some of the issues he’s had as a Ranger throughout the years. Wondering what kind of impact he’s had on the world and on his son. It doesn’t feel as strong as it should be though, mainly with JJ because we don’t know exactly what kind of parent Tommy was to him when he was younger. The quick conversation between them in the beginning only gives us a vague sense of what their relationship is. Though, that moment of Tommy passing down his legacy to JJ was beautifully executed (except for one small thing I mention down below.*)
BRACHIO POWER!
Now, for the technical aspects. In addition to being Tommy’s final story, this also was the final Power Rangers story (as of now) written by Kyle Higgins, the writer behind the main MMPR series. And, he did an excellent job with the premise. Like in Shattered Grid, you can see all the references to the expanded universe as a whole like some Zeo and Lightspeed references. There’s also some surprising connections to SPD’s finale and its characters. There is a level of detail to this that I know a lot of Power Ranger fans will love.
For its art style, it does a lot right. It goes for realism and you can see it in a lot of the characters’ designs, especially in Tommy’s. Whenever you look at him, you always get the sense that he is OLD, he is DONE, that it’s time for him to move on. At the same time, it also manages all of its futuristic sci-fi elements pretty well with a lot of creative monster designs especially Amara. Its action sequences are downright beautiful with seamless transitions and excellent panel layout.
Ending Thoughts
Tommy Oliver is a Ranger that we have seen grow throughout the 25 years of the franchise. From one of the most dangerous forces for evil to trusted Ranger and leader to mentor for a new generation of Rangers, to retired father/husband. All off his Ranger life, he has always been fighting himself, literally and figuratively, considering himself his own worst enemy. He’s been constantly trying everything he can to rectify for that first moment he had that Power Coin, to make the world a better place.
This story, with Tommy’s every morph counting down until the end, like a certain green candle all those years ago, has him finally thinking that the future is filled with people with the same desire to change the world. This story may be the end of the Green Ranger, but it’s a new beginning for Tommy Oliver.
Random Thoughts from the Morphin’ Grid
- Did the style of this review a bit differently than the regular issues. Mainly because this is essentially a movie and it would take a lot longer to recap everything that happens in this larger story and try to analyze it. Besides, unlike regular issues for a series (which are essentially just episodes), it’s all one self-contained story arc so it wouldn’t be that necessary to recap it all out. And besides, it’s long enough as it is already.
- Is it bad I saw that principal at Tommy’s school and thought he was secretly the bad guy? All because of his stupid mustache? Dude, that wasn’t in style in 2005. Why would it ever be back in 2025?
- My best guess is that Kat is a drama teacher since I think that’s there’s not much else I remember about her. She was into ballet, into taking care of animals. It could be any one of these, but which one gets her a chance to go to Triforia?
- We don’t know the year for this, but at the very least, It’s past the year 2028 since apparently, Tommy worked at another school besides Reefside for 10 years and we saw in “Dimensions in Danger” he still lived in Reefside.
- Knowing what I know about the ending, I still don’t fully understand how that “gang” scene where JJ was attacked works.
- I know that you can’t tell people if someone’s undercover, because that kinda defeats the purpose of it, but the man you are telling this to has Ranger powers and seems very willing to use them. Kinda seems a little stupid not to trust the man who can clearly tell you’re hiding something.
- I think the true moral of the story is if you’re bribing someone, you can’t be cheap. It’s gotta be at least triple digits.
- So… it seems that Anara is related to a character from SPD. If it is him, I gotta say 1) Wait, what happened to him? I need an explanation! 2) …Dude got some game.
- Best out of context line: “Black will make you stronger.”
- …Really? The Negaz?
- Of course, Turbo got freakin’ demolished.
- Okay, Tommy said that he had the Zeo Coin for 20 years. Since 2028 is the minimum for when this story takes place, Tommy had to have gotten it sometime between Jungle Fury and Super Ninja Steel. Not a lot to go on, but…
- As for that one MMPR character’s ending… it’s weird. I didn’t know what to feel when I read it. It’s an ending that I thought he had already gotten before, and honestly, there’s not much else about it. It just happened. It felt forced and natural at the same time.
- Okay, I have no idea how the heck SPD came to the rescue at the end. It’s implied that the place for this final battle needs magic to get into it, but then JJ pulled out a science thingy that went to Tommy’s phone(?) and how did he know that would work?
- God, I’d pay to figure out who’s the Shadow, Red, and Blue Rangers are at the end there.
- That Dragon Shield in the last panel…? Yep. Looks totally stupid.
- (*) Okay, so here’s the reason why that particular moment isn’t as strong as it should’ve been. *SPECIFIC SPOILERS* So, Anara said that the Master Morpher is damaged and could potentially kill Tommy by him just simply using it. It’s kinda similar to Adam using his damaged morpher in “Always a Chance”. However, 1) Aside from the fights he got into, Tommy never had the same kind of effect Adam had. Just one little demorph without consent. How’s that for consistency? 2) Tommy giving it to JJ in the end actually could’ve killed him. Wouldn’t that have been a great “Father of the Year” moment?