Season 6, Episode 42: Countdown to Destruction, Part 1

"Countdown to Destruction, Part 1"
Episode 42
Air Date: November 20th, 1998

Here we go guys!!! The epic two part finale that almost ended the franchise nearly 20 years ago began here.  Gotta love Dark Specter declaring a full on assault on the entire universe; followed by Astronema's incredible speech as she commands her army to take over universe at Dark Specter's command.  This is really one of the most ambitious episodes of the franchise as all the villains from the past 6 years come together to make the Millennium Message happen.  We see Machine Empire launch a full attack on the Phantom Ranger's planet as he and the Blue Senturion are overwhelmed by their forces.  Rita and Zedd are ordered to attack Triforia as the Gold Ranger is overwhelmed by monsters, Putties, etc. Then you have Divatox attacking Aquitar as we see the Alien Rangers struggle to keep her army at bay! JESUS!!! O_O Meanwhile, Zordon is brought to the Dark Fortress to witness the destruction of the universe or as she puts "A front row seat to the end of your era and the beginning of mine!" WOW!!! O_O

Meanwhile, the KO-35 rebels are being attacked the Machine Empire while they are also destroying the remnants of KO-35 itself.  Jesus, Astronema is just so cruel!!! O_O Zhane is with the rebels as they are overrun by the United Alliance of Evil when Zhane heads off to get help from the other rangers.  As he journeys to the Megaship, a group of Velocifighters head after him and almost destroy him before the Megaship appears behind them to shot them down. As Zhane recovers and destroys the last Velocifighter, he heads to the Megaship to inform the rangers of the attack on the rebels when Andros reveals it's not just the rebels being attack; it's every corner of the universe. As the rangers scramble to find out what to do, Carlos receives a transmission of an army of a thousand Velocifighters heading to Earth.  I LOVE the visual of this, especially the shot of the velocifighters arriving in Angel Grove. It kind of reminded me of Independence Day!!! Cool!! :) As a massive assault of Angel Grove as well as the rest of the world begins, there is panic and chaos all around as an endless number of buildings are destroyed.

As the rangers finally approach Earth, we get a cool Star Wars-eqse space battle between the Megaship and a swarm of Velocifighters.  But when they realize there are too many, they head down to Earth to begin saving it while Zhane continues to blast as many Velocifighters as they can! Once down on Earth, the rangers do the best they can to stop the enormous army of Quantrons and Piranathron but there are literally too many to take on.  Soon Andros calls on his battlizer to take out as many enemies as he can but Ecliptor just shots him down.  Darkonda is also there and combines forces with Ecliptor to force Andros and Ashley to demorph.  As Zhane struggles in the Megaship, he calls on the Mega Winger to fight the rest of the Velocifighters on Earth but the overwhelming swarm of them knocks the megazord into a building; severely damaging it.  As the other 3 rangers struggle against so many foot soldiers, they are forced to demorped as well.  As the rangers escape and regroup, Astronema readies a super weapon that can destroy a planet. How convenient...especially when Darkonda plans to use it to destroy Dark Specter himself. As he steals the weapon and a Velocifighter, Dark Specter contacts Astronema. Darkonda locks on to Dark Specter and destroys him.  I love how Melody Perkins plays this season, she's both shocked, horrified and clearly unfazed by Dark Specter's end, since you know, she wanted this all along! Anyway, as Darkonda aims for the Dark Fortress next, Dark Specter comes out of no where to eat Darkonda as he explodes!!! EPIC AND BADASS!!! I especially love how parts of him fall to Earth to sell the devastation of the moment.

But now with the Grand Monarch of Evil gone, Astronema is now official in charge of his forces aka the Queen of Evil! I love how all the past villains, monsters and foot soldiers bow to her; especially when Divatox's forces do as well. HA!!! As Astronema is crowned Queen, Zordon tries to get through to her and almost does as he cybernetic implants glitch for a moment but she recovers as she orders Ecliptor to head for Earth as the Dark Fortress looms over Angel Grove. What an incredible first half to this epic conclusion of the season as well as past 6 years! :)

Final Morph: A+