Power Rangers Turbo Overview

Power Rangers Turbo: Season 5
Episode Count: 45
Air Date: April 19th, 1997-November 24th, 1997

Sooooooo...where exactly do I begin with this one!?! "Power Rangers Turbo" may be the hardest season for me to review because on one hand, I absolutely positively HATE half of it!!!...and yet, I positively, absolutely loved it!!! It's definitely the weakest season so far because of that.  The way this saga in the Zordon Era started, I'm sorry, was not good. "Turbo: A Power Ranges Movie", at the end of the day, is a rushed and embarrassing mess!!! A series of awful, WTF introductions: a new villain that's underwhelming compared to last ones, a new character that we know little to nothing about and most importantly, new powers that come out of no where...literally!!!  I can go on about the laughable Lerigot, the horrible effects, the weak acting, etc.  But the most important thing, the ranger action, the most reliable aspect of the franchise is undermined by the plain infuriating writing that begins here!!! What happened to the Zeo powers, weapons and zords??? We will never know and it will NEVER be explain even over 20 years later as the rangers, Alpha and Zordon seemingly abandon for new powers that origins aren't even revealed until the show's season finale!?? WOW!!! The Turbo powers, like I always have said, were a MAJOR downgrade from the majesty and epic grander of the Zeo powers.  A set of powers that took a chunk of the 3rd season of MMPR and the Alien Ranger mini-series to build up not only the exciting mythology around them but the eventual arrival of the Zeo Crystal.  A power source that was made to continuously grow in power is suddenly NOT powerful enough to cross the Nemesis Triangle and defeat a bunch of Space Pirates!! Errggggghhh, those are my thoughts about movie because if I go more in depth about it, this overview will be more of a rant than an actual analysis of the season. So moving on to the actual show....

"Shift Into Turbo, Parts 1-3"....they all SUCKED!!! -_-  Continuing the trend of abrupt exits, hack writing and anger ridden changes, the show's premiere is also a major catalyst of why the show....well, it's first half at least, is a series of mistakes, missteps and mediocrity. The rangers finally graduate!!! But Tommy isn't there and would rather race around in his car at a race track???! What???!! -_- Divatox returns!!! :)  But is played by a new actress who isn't as good!!! -_-  At least we have Zordon and Alpha!!! :)......Who suddenly leave and are replaced by two new characters who make the show nearly insufferable for the majority of episodes they are in!!! Ernie??? Replaced by Lt. Stone at the Juice Bar!!! Seriously, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!!! O_O  If that wasn't bad enough, literally nothing happens for the first half of the show besides the premiere and "The Millennium Message", which introduces a new ally in the Blue Senturion and cleverly foreshadows the end of the Zordon Era.  I would talk about character development for the first Turbo team....but there is none! Nothing, nada, zip, zelch!!! The 4 veteran rangers from the first 4 seasons of the show are wasted with only Katherine get some!!! "Weight and See" wasn't the greatest episode, but at least the writers were attempting to explore her flaws as a character by making her uncharacteristically insecure and self critical about her weight just because some ballet snub told her she was too heavy!  "Cars Attacks", an unforeseen excellent episode, properly shows Kat in a more positive light that suits her character.  Tommy....Tommy into racing cars now!!! Because....CAAARRRSSS!!! Seriously, the whole cars motif/theme is SOOOOO random and bizarre, that yes, I hated it watching the movie and show's first half again.  After a season with this mystically, endlessly powerful Zeo Crystal......we get....we get.....*breathes in*....*exhales*.....CAAARRRSSSS!!?? O_o

Tanya: "But they're just ordinary cars?"

Zordon: No Tanya, they are extraordinary cars!!! Equipped with Turbo technology...."

Oh give me a break, they're freakin' cars, Zordon!!! -_-  Turbo technology??? Where the hell did they come from??? And if the rangers help create, then how the hell do they not know they were making freakin' CAARRRRSSSS!!! *Head wall*

Okay, I'm back.  Adam and Tanya....what waste!!! Especially when Tanya was one of my favorite aspects of Zeo. Here, she's a radio DJ......moving on!!! Adam becomes apart of a stunt show and coaches the Angel Grove soccer team....where we are introduced to two new characters, Carlos and Ashley.  Initially, Carlos is a ball hogging jerk who is eager to win until Ashley tells him how uncool it is.  It made "A Drive To Win" very enjoyable for me seeing these soon-to-be new rangers already developing before even putting on their suits.  Then came the mid-season cast switch over two-parter, "Passing the Torch, Part 1 and 2" where the 4 veteran rangers head out on their final mission and two more ranger successors are introduced in Cassie and T.J.. The stakes were raised, the action was plentiful despite the departing, long term rangers looking like buffoons to make their replacements look good.  The whole thing comes out of no where too, especially with the whole hour glass time limit.  Umm weren't the rangers going on camping trip??? When did this final mission none-sense come from??? Either way, the power transfer ceremony to the new generation was great though as Zordon and Alpha 5 briefly return.  From there, the season and show, slowly but surely improves....immensely!!!  I know behind the scenes this was due to the writers not knowing how to handle adapting Carranger, a Sentai series that was poking fun at the numerous aspects of the franchise.  That's why the Carranger footage was rarely used in the first half and when it was, it made. NO. SENSE!!! Yes, this is Power Rangers and the show is usually ridiculous but some of the Carranger footage was downright absurd and over the top slapstick...which did not translate well at all for American audiences.  Half the writers wanted a dark, serious show for Turbo, half wanted to embrace the comedic irony of the show.  Whatever happened, Doug Sloan, long term writer for the show and his side were out by the mid-point of the season as Judd Lynn and Jonathan Tzacher were promoted to head writers.  No one could say that was a bad move as this gave the show a fresh start with a mostly new cast, greatly improved writing, MUCH better handling of said Sentai footage and arguably some of the finest episodes of the show.

I want to get into the rest of the characters of the season, starting with T.J., who becomes the new Red Turbo Ranger.  Like I said, I LOVE T.J.!!! Such a confidently heroic character right from the start.  Running into danger at a moments notice to help Kat when he notices a sign of trouble, following a dangerous trail to Tommy and ultimately saving his life; which led Tommy to chose him as the new leader of the Power Rangers. "The Curve Ball" was a great episode for him, showing his determined side to figure out how to hit a curve ball as well as his selfless side when he saves Heath just because of who he is, not because of what he wants! T.J. just quickly became not only one of my favorite Red Rangers but one of my favorite rangers ever this season. Cassie, yes, she was very hesitant about helping Katherine but it's because of her quick close bond with T.J. that forces us to see the best in her.  She's a great fighter, a compassionate person toward T.J. and asking Katherine if she is ok, not wanting to leave her side in "Passing the Torch, Part 2".  She ultimately helps save Tommy because of not only T.J. but because of the good heart she tends to hide.  "The Song of Confusion" saw her chasing after musical fame at the expense of Vicky but realizing that her friendship with her was much more important.  Ashley is a sweet girl and was the first of the new rangers to make a good impression; bringing out the best in Carlos in "A Drive to Win" when she sees how cocky he is.  You can say it's because of her he went down the path of ultimately getting chosen by Adam to become the new Green ranger. As far as character development, "The Turn of the Wretched Wrench" say wanting to go above and beyond the stereotypes that her father told her she is by wanting to take auto shop.  Thanks to the relentless support from her friends, she fully embraces it; becoming a skilled mechanic and saving the day on her own.  I mean she even continues to use this skill in "The Rival Rangers" when her and Cassie are at odds going after the new cute boy in school.  Of course, Ashlet can be mean and petty sometimes apparently but what teenage girl isn't when it comes to a boy! So yes, I like Ashley. I can see why Tanya chose her to be the new Yellow Ranger....even if they never exchanged one word to each other directly before the aforementioned power transfer ceremony. Lastly, of the new rangers, Carlos was at first, the least likely to become a ranger: Cocky, self obsessed and eager to win on his own.  But when Ashley tells him what he did was not cool, he realize he mad a mistake and begins to humble himself; leading him on the track to becoming the new Green Ranger.  Carlos probably has the finest solo episodes in both "The Accident" and "Carlos and the Count" respectively.  The former is an excellent look into his guilt and fears about hurting a fellow soccer teammate while the latter is a satirical look into the vampire mythology as Carlos slowly becomes one.  Aka the writers did a fine job of defining these new character so well and I look forward to getting to know them even better in In Space!

And nope, I'm not gonna forget Justin!!! lol ;)  What started out as a sorry and pathetic move by Haim Saban to gain more viewers for the show turned into possibly one of the best rangers of the franchise! Yes, I'm not kidding!!! I'm not gonna lie, I hated Justin in the Turbo movie.  He was shoved down our throats out of no where and it was just extremely jarring! O_o  Here is this little kid who introduce a few minutes into the movie, we know nothing about it, where he came from and why the rangers are so close to him.....and then he suddenly becomes a Power Ranger out of pure luck and convenience to the script which was one of many terrible aspects of the Turbo film.  Why did Rocky send Justin out to replace him??? But more importantly, why would Zordon make Justin the new Blue Ranger??? Sending a mere child into harms way like this made Zordon look SSOOOO stupid and once again, it's never explained, just excepted. What made Justin so special that he would become the first and thankfully only kid ranger??? Well, in the show, the writers try to explain it as him being a child prodigy but it comes literally out of no where.  Add his overbearing excitement at being a ranger and those horrid episodes centered around him "Bicycle Built For the Blues" and "The Whole Lie" that it's no wonder Justin is infamous in the fandom!!! But Justin himself was never the problem, it was the writing for the character as in the second half, Justin felt so much better not only as a character but as a member of the second Turbo team.  I'm sorry but Justin never fit in with the 4 veteran rangers; always feeling like a burden to them and seriously out of place next to Tommy, Kat, Tanya and Adam.  But when it came to the new team, Justin fit in almost perfectly for some reason.  This new team felt more like the Turbo Ranges than the Zeo cast -Rocky +Justin!!!  The chemistry between Carlos and Justin in particular was always striking to me as they became almost like brothers.  I could never see Justin and one of the original Turbos being that close for some reason.  But Justin was ultimately developed into the smartest member of the team; always figuring out Divatox was behind things and helping Alpha 6 when Cassie was kidnapped in "The Fall of the Phantom". Justin was just a great character and when he finally got a solid episode devoted to him in "Little Strong Man", it was worth the wait.  It was said to see him go by the end of the season, but his tenure on the show was a nice character evolution that ultimately showed why he deserved to be a ranger even if his initial introduction in the movie was horrendous! O_O

I'm NNNOOTT gonna talk about Alpha 6 and Dimitria. Yes, they improve immensely during the second half, but Alpha 6 is better next season and is pretty useless here. Dimitria was no better than Zordon, even after she stopped asking questions and we'll never see her again, so nothing to talk about there. Too bad we never got to find out who her long lost sister was even if it was clear it was Divatox.  Speaking of Divatox, I'm so split here. She is no doubt the worst villain of the series and that's 1) Mostly because of the writing!!! In the movie, she was comedic and slightly intimidating but once again we have a problem with scope here.  What the hell happened to Rita and Zedd??? Ever season since the beginning had built much stronger villains for the rangers to fight almost culminating in the Machine Empire for Zeo. A vast nation of robots ruled by the royal house of gadgetry is being replaced by....a bunch of Space pirates??? Ummmm, huh??? O_O The show didn't help when for the first half, Divatox is 2) Replaced by Carol Hoyt and becomes obsessed with detonators. Luckily, Hilary Shepard Turner returns for the much improved second half as her performances ARE Divatox for me.  Over the top and priceless delivery as opposed to Carol Hoyt's pretty standard evil villain Queen performance aka Rita-lite as some have said. Elgar....NEXT!!! Rygog was alright as well as Porto but Elgar was always shoved down our throats worse than Justin.  He was the worst evil general and almost made Bulk and Skull look like geniuses!!! Now, General Havoc was a badass and should have stuck around as the main villain.  His mini-arc on the show with the elusive Phantom Ranger was the best part of the season (outside the gripping, epic finale).  A calm and calculating enemy, Havoc came to closer to defeating the rangers in a handle full of episodes than the villains all season. Sure, Divatox gloriously won at the end, but one devastating victory does not make up for a season of tremendous poor villainy.  The mini-arc with her own fleet of zords, not withstanding.  LOVED the Phantom Ranger and wish we got more from him as when he was on screen, the show greatly improved and the mystery behind him was never solved but he was a badass ally for what he did for the rangers.  As for our typical comic relief duo, Bulk and Skull are chimps for half a season and struggle to keep jobs in the second half.  It's really bizarre season for them as they writers feel like they honestly didn't know what to do with them this season besides the penultimate episode, "Parts and Parcel".  A rare and much appreciated look into developing the two characters beyond the meandering non-sense they've been up to all season.

Lastly, I want to get into the zords. The Turbo Zords sucked and this is coming from someone who owned the toys as a kid.  It was just a bunch of transformer wannbe cars put together.  The Rescue Zords on the other hand were much more impressive; having their own individual humanoid modes and able to form the Rescue Megazord.  Robo Racer was cool too....I guess I should talk about the Blue Senturion??? He was severely underused and underwritten; appearing out of no where after a hand full of episodes to help the rangers.  His message to Dimitria from the future was the only relevance he had to the plot all season.....and "the evil pizzas were no match for simple stop light!" That's it! O_O  A glorified weapon in the form of a potential interesting ally for the rangers wasted! Ok, I think I covered everything....??? Hmmmmm....

Pros:

• A much improved second half with some of the finest episodes of the show
• T.J. and Justin! :)
• The General Havoc/Phantom four episode arc
• Well done character development for the new cast
• "Chase Into Space, Parts 1 and 2".  

Cons:

• A atrocious first half with some of the worst episodes of the show
• Horrible villains
• Some of the worst writing for the show
• The terrible mishandling of the original Turbo cast
• Bizarre and bad use of the Carranger footage in the first 20 episodes or so.

Best Episodes:

1. "Chase Into Space, Part 1 and 2"-One of the most impressive and depressing conclusions to a Power Rangers season.  Epic action, phenomenal twists and a devastating last stand for the Turbo Ranges against overwhelming odds!!! Why could the entire season be like this???!! O__O

2. "The Fall of the Phantom"-The pick of General Havoc's run of the show was him cleverly tricking both Cassie and the Phantom Ranger into a trap and the awesome debut of the Rescue Megazord!!!

3. "The Accident"-Carlos's guilt at his dilemma at hand was so well written and really developed him more than it should.

4. "The Darkest Day"-General Havoc's introduction and the capture of the Turbo Megazord!!! What's not to love!?!

5. "Clash of the Megazords"-The fight between both megazords may have been brief but this was an excellent race against time for the rangers to save the Phantom Ranger and it was awesome!!! :)

Worst Episodes:

1. "Shift Into Turbo. Parts 1-3"-Probably the worst start to ANY season. So many continuously bad changes to the show and Tommy is just racing around on a race track for most of it! EHHHH!!! -_-

2. "The Whole Lie"-Justin cant stop lying!!! Truly Divatox is a mastermind of evil for making that happen!!! -_-

3. "Glyph Hanger"- More terrible writing and convoluted plot developments.......NEXT!!!

4. "Bicycle Built for the Blues"-Man, these early Justin episodes SUCKED!!! No wonder he got such a bad rap from the fandom. O_O

5. "Built For Speed"-It's Happy Days meets Power Rangers!!! What??? And yet another detonator! For the love of God!!! *Pulls hair out*

"Power Rangers Turbo starts off with a failure feature film that wastes no time in making catastrophic changes to what we've known and loved for 4 years.  The show itself starts off with the worst run of episodes in the franchise's history that thankfully improves greatly with the cast switch over mid-season.  The new head show runners and writers breath new life into the show with impressive mini-arcs, stunning character development and a run of superb episodes; leading all the way to devastating ending where the rangers take off into space! Hardly the worst season that almost ended the franchise but the most mediocre series of the show so far."

Season Verdict: C-