When they are at their strongest, Power Rangers Finales gives the season a strong conclusion that ties up all the loose ends that the season has brought up in previous episodes and give us an epic finale battle between good and evil. The weakest season finales give us a lackluster finale battle and keeps large plot points unfinished.
In Part Two of a Three Part Article, I shall be going through the Disney Era finales from Ninja Storm To RPM.
(Part One – Saban Era Finales)
Disney Era
Storm Before The Calm
Season: Power Rangers Ninja Storm
In regular Ninja Storm fashion, this finale starts off with the Ninja Rangers competing in an extreme sports competition. Meanwhile, with our villains, Lothor decides to steal one of Queen Bansheera’s tricks and reveal his ultimate plan of opening the Abyss Of Evil which when full will release the entirety of his fallen army so that he may take over the world. By sheer coincidence, the Abyss of Evil just so happens to be at the extreme sports tournament the Ninja Rangers so happen to be at. To ensure the Abyss Of Evil reaches its limits, Marah & Kapri give a treacherous Vexacus a Scroll Of Empowerment to distract the Wind & Thunder Rangers while Lothor and the duo break into Ninja-Ops to kidnap Cam and his Samurai Amulet. With all of the pieces finally in place, Lothor decides enough is enough and takes on the Ninja Rangers himself and uses the Samurai Amulet to steal the Ninja Rangers powers. However, this does not stop the Wind Rangers from giving up and with the powers of trio combined, Lothor is banished to the depth of the Abyss Of Evil and the series ends with the three Wind Rangers becoming teachers at the Wind Ninja Academy.
While this finale is enjoyable in some places, a lot of it has me questioning a lot of things. For one, Lothor’s plan has no foreshadowing whatsoever. The extreme sports competition parts while fits the rest of the motif of Ninja Storm kinda bogs down the threat of Lothor’s final plan.
“This Is The Most Fun I’ve Had All Season“
Rating: 3/5
Thunder Struck
Season: Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Like many High School related television shows, one of the main storylines of Dino Thunder’s finale consists of Senior Prom related antics. Devin wants to ask Cassidy, Conner has a number of women he wants to ask but ultimately picks Tree Girl aka Krista, and Ethan asks some random chick introduced in this episode. Kira & Trent are the only characters not to have dates which cut deep into the early story arc that had them both as a couple. Meanwhile, at the villain headquarters, Mesogog unleashes his prehistoric laser which will turn the entire human population into dinosaur-human hybrids. He needs the Dino Gems to power it up but just in case that isn’t enough, he siphons the energies he gave to Elsa and she reverts into a normal human being. Fortunately for Mesogog, Trent was in Mesogog’s Lab when he was spewing out exposition. After Trent reveals himself, Mesogog makes a deal with Trent that if he delivers the Dino Gems to him, he will give Trent his father back. To prevent Mesogog’s plan from succeeding and to save Anton Mercer, the other Dino Rangers use an invisiportal to travel to Mesogog’s Island Fortress to blow Mesogog and his beam up which they do. While this is all happening Zeltrax breaks into the Dino Cave and kidnaps a purified Elsa which he plans to use as a shield for when he releases his Zelzord on Reefside. His plans are thwarted however when Tommy & Kira destroy him and the other Dino Rangers blow up their Dinozords to destroys the Zelzord. However, they aren’t out of the clear yet as it is revealed that Mesogog survived the destruction of his fortress and has absorbed enough Dino Gem energy to mutate into a more powerful form. To destroy Mesogog for good, the Dino Rangers use every ounce of their Dino Gem energy to destroy Mesogog for good. After their victory, the series closes at the prom.
While I do like this finale, it has a lot of problems. For one, “WHO IS ELSA?” Was she always a human? Was she a cyborg who was transformed into a human by the beam. If she was a human at first what was her life prior to becoming Mesogog’s servant? I also feel like this finale tries to throw too many things at us. It tries to make its owns story while trying to bog the second part down with footage from Abaranger’s finale. Speaking of Abaranger’s finale, using the footage of Kira & Tommy easily taking down Zeltrax was kind of a disrespect to the character.
Rating: 3/5
Endings
Season: Power Rangers SPD
Picking off from the last episode, A-Squad is revealed to be evil and working with Emperor Gruumm. To prove that they are the best of the best, they challenge the B-Squad to a battle with consists of a Kalishplosion-filled fight which really bogs down the epicness of what could’ve been a really exciting and intense fight. While the B-Squad are busy getting blown up, Broodwing use this to his advantage and burrows his way into the Delta Base so that he can use the Delta Command Megazord to destroy Newtech City. Fortunately for SPD, A-Squad is taken down and Broodwing is too. However, their victory is short-lived when Piggy springs a trap on them and they are taken to their Commander as prisoners of Gruumm’s. In Part 2, Gruumm finally finishes Omni’s body which Omni uses to attack the planet. However, he is thwarted when B-Squad escapes thanks to Piggy and is destroyed when Doggie keeps a door open on the Terror Spacecraft which the B-Squad blasts in to destroy Omni’s body for good. While SPD is enjoying their victory, Gruumm appears out of the rubble of Omni and challenges Doggie to one final duel…which he loses in less than a minute. The episode concludes with everybody enjoying their happy ending. Sky becomes Red, Doggie is reunited with his wife, Sam goes Back To The Future, and Jack throws all of his character development out the window to be with some chick he met three episodes ago.
While this finale does have some good stuff in it, it just has me asking a lot of questions. Why did the A-Squad vs B-Squad fight have to be all explody? Did we really need Doggie’s thought to be dead wife to come back? Why couldn’t we get a little some character development for Mora before she was confined? Why did Jack leave SPD and throw away all his character development to give away clothes with some chick he met three episodes ago?
Rating: 3/5
Mystic Fate
Season: Power Rangers Mystic Force
For those who know me, I don’t like Mystic Force that much and this finale is no exception. This episode starts with Nick (of course) training with Leanbow to prepare for their final battle against Octomus. Meanwhile, in the Underworld, Itassis is chosen by Octomus to destroy the surface world. Before Itassis leave Necrolai (for some reason) is concerned for her daughter Leelee who is on the surface world and begs for her to be spared. During Itassis’ fight on the surface world, Itassis comes to the conclusion that she is just a puppet of Octomus and decides to defect from his army. However, Sculpin & Blacklance here of his treachery and Itassis is killed by them. Meanwhile, in the magical forest, Octomus possesses Nick and use his body to become Koragg to have a fight with Leanbow which ultimately trashes Rootcore. After this intense fight, an injured Snow Prince teleports into Rootcore who informs the important characters in the series (who aren’t the rangers by the way) that Octomus has attacked the Mystic Mother who is revealed to be none other than Rita Repulsa after she became purified by Zordon’s Energy Wave. After this news, Leanbow & Daggeron travel to her castle to see what is up. When they get there they are killed by Octomus. Meanwhile, in Briarwood, Udonna gets kidnapped for the tenth time and the Mystic Rangers are getting their butts kicked. After Maddie finally does something and give Nick a pep talk, Nick takes the spotlight and seriously injures Octomus. However, this flux of power by Nick strips the Mystic Rangers of all their power. Thankfully the important characters of the show come to their aid and destroys Octomus for a short time. However, all is not good for the side of good as they remembered that Leanbow & Daggeron are both still dead. Thankfully, we have a villain to redeem so Necrolai uses her newly mentioned reviving powers to resurrect Leanbow & Daggeron and fortunately just in time as Octomus has just grown giant. However, the Mystic Rangers forgot they used up all their power but thankfully for them, the people of Briarwood and the Forest remembered that plot point that hasn’t been mentioned since the first episode about them fearing each other and finally conclude that there is nothing to fear about each other. So they scream “WE BELIEVE IN MAGIC” and give their magic to the Mystic Force Rangers to force feed to Octomus so that he blows up. The Mystic Rangers beat the forces of the Underworld and the episode concludes with everybody having a happy ending. Phineas & Leelee are dating (for some reason), Toby & Necrolai…I mean Nikki is dating (again for some reason), Xander has finally been promoted to store manager even though he shows no qualification to become store manager unless you count sitting on your ass a qualification, Vida dyes her hair pink and starts a relationship with her revived friend Matoombo (just kidding), and Madison (remembering she had a crush on Nick in the first episode) gets Nick’s baby blanket while Nick and his parents ride off into the sunset on motorcycles. Oh and Claire becomes a full sorceress.
If It Wasn’t Obvious In My Synopsis, I Really Don’t Like This Finale That Much.
Rating: 1/5
Crown And Punishment
Season: Power Rangers Operation Overdrive
Like most people in the Power Rangers Fandom, Operation Overdrive is a season that I consider to be the worst season in the shows history and this finale like Mystic Force’s is no exception. So this one part (thank god) finale starts off by revealing that the final jewel of the Corona Aurora was located in the Hartford Mansion all along as it was in a box that a mummy that Hartford had in his house was holding. However, it is not in his possession for long as Flurious (just walking through the front door of the mansion) destroys the mummy and attacks the Overdrive Rangers with an army of Chillers. During the fight, Flurious grabs a hold of Mackbot and threatens to kill Mackbot if Hartford doesn’t give him the jewels. Hartford ends up giving into Flurious and gives him the jewels which he uses in conjunction with the Corona Aurora to freeze the Earth and transform into the Boukenger’s main villains final form. He and the Overdrive Rangers have a final battle in a rock quarry (of course) and Mackbot uses all his powers to destroy Flurious for good. However, Mackbot was severely damaged in the fight against Flurious and shutdowns for good. Luckily Sentinel Knight is here to say screw it to Mackbot’s sacrifice and uses the Corona Aurora to turn him into a real boy. The episode concludes with all the Overdrive Rangers being in the same place they were at the beginning of the season except for Tyzonn who has his girlfriend back thanks to Norg.
Like All Of Overdrive, This Finale Was A Major Letdown.
Rating: 1/5
Now The Final Fury
Season: Power Rangers Jungle Fury
After two underwhelming season finales, Jungle Fury finally gave us a somewhat competent finale. The episode starts off with Jarrod lamenting over what he did as Dai Shi. Meanwhile, in Ocean Bluff, Scorch is attacking the city with an army of Rinshi. After an intense fight, the JF Trio destroy him with an epic punch to the gut. However, their victory doesn’t last long as Dai Shi comes in to open a portal to the Spirit World to release a large portion of his fallen army. Which includes the Five Finger Of Poison, The Overlords, And The Phantom Beasts. After this, we are treated to some awesome scenes with Jungle Fury Rangers, the Spirit Rangers, and all the Pai Zhuq Masters kicking some major butt. After the Pai Zhuq Master transforms into their Sentai Counterparts forms for a second, Dai Shi steals their powers to become a giant dragon monster. Thankfully Jarrod finally comes to his senses and severely weakens Dai Shi so that the JF Trio can fire finishing blast to destroy him for good. The episode concludes with Theo & Lily starting a random romance, Fran & Dom starting a better-developed romance, Casey becoming a master, Jarrod & Camille starting a romance and becoming Pai Zhuq student, and RJ just being RJ. Oh, and Flit becoming human cause Kelson needed a paycheck.
While This Finale Doesn’t Give Us That Much In Character Development On The Main Trio’s Part, This Finale Does Deliver By Serving Up Some Epic Fight Scenes.
Rating: 3/5
Danger And Destiny
Season: Power Rangers RPM
Like many Judd Lynn finales before it, Danger And Destiny deliver us an awesome and emotional finale. The episode starts off with the activation of the hybrids in Corinth and Venjix taking control of Corinth’s Control Tower. After this, we are treated to a battle against an Attack Bot minus Dillon & Ziggy who go to do their own thing. Ziggy goes to Dr.K’s side to keep her safe from an oncoming Venjix while Dillon (who is fighting his virus activation) goes to the lab after Dr.K & Ziggy are captured by Venjix to test a cure Dr.K was working on which inevitably works. Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Venjix deletes the RPM Rangers Zords thanks to him analyzing Dr.K data. He also deletes Gem & Gemma before retreating to recharge his power. Meanwhile, in the Control Tower, Kilobyte is tired of all the attention Tenaya 15 is getting from Venjix so he deletes her weapon and challenges her to one final fight. Thankfully Dillon and the RPM Trio are there to help destroy Kilobyte and cure Tenaya of her brainwashing. After some persuasion from Dr.K, Tenaya agrees to infiltrate the Control Tower to download a virus into Venjix to weaken him and deplete his army. While this is going on, the RPM Trio takes on Venjix in a one-on-three fight until Gem & Gemma returns to life from their deletion to blast the Control Tower down to crush Venjix. The episode concludes with everyone having a happy ending which has Scott, Gem, & Gemma joining a new Eagle Squad, Flynn developing new computers for Corinth, Dr.K & Ziggy opening a school and staring up a romance, and Dillon, Summer, & Tenaya driving around the world to help rebuild or something. However, not all ends up good as the last shot shows a familiar glowing red eye coming from Scott’s Morpher…which has great payoff in a future season.
While RPM’s finale is one of the best finales in the show history, I do wish that some things were explored a bit more. For one, I wish we saw more of the corrupted hybrids doing stuff. Also, I wish we got to see Dillon get corrupted for a little while longer and maybe fight the other RPM Rangers.
Rating: 4/5
This Concludes My Review Of The Disney Era Finales. Join Me Next Time When I Review The Neo Saban Era Finales.