Season 4, Episode 27: The Power of Gold

"The Power of Gold"
Episode 27
Air Date: September 17th, 1996

You know an episode is good when it feels like it moved so fast but didn't feel rushed. It's one of those episodes that leaves you wanting more because of the great mystery the writers establish with it. I have to say this is King Mondo's smartest plan yet, though Rita and Zedd did something like it last season. They divide the rangers up into two teams as they track two separate distress signals which both lead to a trap. But before the rangers can be alerted to it, they are attacked by two armies of Cogs. It's about time Mondo just thought about overwhelming the rangers with his vast army of robotic soldiers. One army of Cogs is led by Mondo's latest creation, Wolfbane. As the fight draws to an end and the rangers are about to lose completely, the fights are interrupted by a powerful new energy surge by an enormous pyramid landing from space. It seems this huge pyramid has enough power to interfere with Mondo's transmission of his forces and he orders Klank to order them to retreat. As all his forces retreat, Mondo tries to figure out what the cause of the power surge was and intends on destroying it.

At the Power Chamber, Billy has discovered that the strange pyramid is sharing the same energy source as the rangers' Zeo Crystal. This leads to a moment of Billy lamenting the fact that their use to be 6 rangers considering Mondo's forces are getting stronger and they might not be enough rangers to do battle with them. As the rangers split up to teams to track down the pyramid by using devices that will track the energy source, King Mondo finds out about the shared energy source might mean another rangers might be on the arrival and sends down a platoon of Cogs to stop the rangers from tracking it. The Cogs as well as Wolfbane attack Katherine, Rocky and Tanya again; leading them to morph again and fight. While Tommy and Adam are tracking the energy source, Billy mysteriously disappears as Rocky contacts them to help. Both of them morph and help out the other rangers but the Cogs and especially Wolfbane are too much for them.

Suddenly, out of no where, a black blur knocks over Mondo's forces in a flash before revealing himself to be the Gold Ranger. As the rangers are shocked and amazed by his arrival, the Gold Ranger easily handles the Cogs while the rangers struggle to take on Wolfbane. As the Gold Ranger defeats the Cogs with his Gold Power Staff and Quick time "Gold Rush" attack, he goes after Wolfbane and manages to best him in battle before Klank throws Orbis on to him to make him grow. With Wolfbane about to crush them, the Zeo Rangers tell the Gold ranger to stand by while they handle him with the Zeo Megazord and Red Battlezord but Wolfbane is still too strong and manages to withstand even the finisher of the Red Battlezord. With the rangers knocked out of their zords, the Gold Ranger confidently summons his own zord, Pyramidas. He enters the zord and goes for the finishing move which summons a lightning storm that destroys Wolfbane for good.

As the rangers wonder who the Gold Ranger is at the Power Chamber, Zordon tells them they must find out who he is as he is working alone and could be a threat. (A rogue Power Ranger....Awesomeness overload!!!)  Billy soon arrives after disappearing and the rangers tell them about the Gold Ranger, to which Billy is strangely optimistic about. Overall, "The Power of Gold" is one of the best episodes of the season with a great introduction to the Gold Ranger. I liked how the episode start right in the middle of the action and the Gold Ranger as well as Pyramidas look so amazing in their designs. One of the most memorable sixth ranger entrances which is only beaten by one other intro. But we'll get there!

Final Morph: A-