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Preface
PREVIOUSLY ON POWER RANGERS…
Bulk and Skull find the Dumpster that contains Rita Repulsa, trying to sleep, crashed into the Earth and take it to Skull’s dad’s workshop and attempt to use multiple tools to open it. She has woken up, but they can’t hear it.
You know that’s what happened. They didn’t show it, but you know it happened.
The Cover
Meh.
I do enjoy though the nostalgic retro style of it. (Huh. Déjà vu)
The Story
Flashback Land returns as we see Tommy back during the Green with Evil arc having dinner with Rita. Rita’s worried that maybe she made a mistake in getting a mind control slave rather than her champion of evil, but Tommy tells her that he is eternally grateful to her for freeing him of all of the doubt and insecurity he was always feeling. They make a toast to that promise…which was quickly broken after a couple of days.
In the present, Tommy arrives on the planet and follows an alien, resembling a white tiger, to an ancient temple holding the White Power Coin. The only thing that stands in Tommy’s way, however, is this universe’s Saba, who says that Tommy needs to defeat him in order to retrieve the coin.
While Tommy has trouble trying to fight the floating stick, Zack and Trini in the Command Center pull out their Power Blasters and prepare to blast the Blue Emissary. Before a fight happens, Billy calls the group and tells them to meet him at his lab. Jason promises Zack and Trini that he’ll explain everything to them once the situation’s all cleared up.
Back to Tommy, Lord Zedd suddenly shows up and easily defeats Saba. Tommy tries to stand in Zedd’s way, but Zedd announces that he isn’t here to take the White Light for himself. He’s here to give the White Light to Tommy, to offer Tommy a second chance at being a Ranger again and join him on the dark side again.
So, your big incentive for Tommy is a Black and Gold Saba? What are you, Bandai?
Ending Thoughts
For the most part, “Necessary Evil” has been more of a focus on Jason’s characters, his challenges as a leader and a friend. This is the first issue where we stray away from that and focus on someone else, Tommy Oliver. And, for this issue, there are varying degrees of success. The idea of Tommy wanting to become a Ranger because he feels like he has a right to be one is one that’s been alluded to for a while, but its one that I’m glad is being explored here. Tommy was willing to leave everything all of his friends before this issue because he felt that his entire identity was tied to being a Ranger. Offering Tommy a chance at being a Ranger again while at the same time, abandoning his friends, is an interesting struggle for him to take.
Though, it’s not perfect. Some of the early Tommy scenes feel a little drawn out, repeating some points we’ve already seen before. In addition to that, Tommy’s prolonged struggle overshadows both scenes with our Rangers on Earth. Aside from Zack and Trini agreeing to keep quiet, there’s not much to show for anyone else character-wise. There’s nothing to comment on other than it happened.
Now, I would like to add that the art is solid as always. This issue contains a lot of action sequences, A LOT. It’s all hand-to-hand combat which is fine for the most part, but the Zedd vs. Saba fight is straight-up amazing. We saw Zedd’s first fight back in MMPR #45 and while that showed the amount of power he possessed, it’s a little more satisfying here seeing him brush off Saba’s tigers, slashing right through them.
Go Go Power Rangers #26 is the classic “Tommy Time” we’ve gotten to know over the years. If you’re a huge fan of Tommy Oliver, then you’ll definitely enjoy every moment that he’s in the scene. But, if you’re like me and just enjoy Tommy getting shot with lasers by a blade, then GGPR #26 is an issue you can accept with slow pacing, but a satisfying ending.
Random Thoughts from the Morphin’ Grid
- So, according to the date from Flashback Land here, Green with Evil apparently happened seven months after the Day of the Dumpster. However, if you remember the date from Go Go Power Rangers #22’s flashback, which was around the start of Green with Evil Part 5, it says it was nine months after the Day of the Dumpster. Which means… that the Green with Evil arc was two months long? Because if so, it removes his previous accomplishment of defeating the Rangers so easily and pushing them against their limit in a short amount of time.
- I honestly love Rita’s little conflict in the flashback. It shows that she doesn’t want her minions to simply follow her, but to have real loyalty to her and her cause. It’s the same thing she expects from Goldar and everyone else on the moon.
- Wait a second…Did Zordon and Alpha allow him to go back to the cabin so he could get his clothes? Because I’m pretty sure he was in a swimsuit the last time…
- Could I ask why Tommy was assumedly climbing up the temple? It looked like there were stairs at the bottom.
- There are some people questioning how Tommy knows about Saba being destroyed by Drakkon in this new timeline. But, I don’t see a need to. We saw in GGPR #21 that the date with Tommy and Kim was changed because Drakkon didn’t show up… We don’t know at this point what happened to the Drakkon that was imprisoned when he left, but everything from MMPR #25 before Tommy getting shanked should still be the same.
- Ok, so I’m not even going to question why Saba knows about Shattered Grid because he kinda has his own connection to the Morphin’ Grid. But, I have to wonder why Tommy doesn’t question why Drakkon looks so vividly different in the vision than how he originally saw him.
- By the way, I have to say, the transition to the Command Center scene to the battle with Nimrod? Yeah, there’s absolutely none. It goes straight to it. It’s one of those things that if you still haven’t seen White Light yet, you’re going to be confused as to how we get there. And, I’m sorry, but that should not happen.
- Zedd is a test. He has to be. Because this whole thing was supposed to be a secret. And if you watch the show, you would absolutely know he’s at the Moon Palace bringing Nimrod to life. (Also, if this somehow isn’t a test and Zedd’s reasoning for keeping Tommy alive is somehow true, I will say that that’s dumb. Because in this universe, Zordon had to be told about the White Light to do this, so how could Zedd predict this? What, is Zedd always playing 4D chess?)
