Season 7, Episode 12: Orion Rising

"Orion Rising"
Episode 12
Air Date: May 1st, 1999

Well, we learned something new from Maya this episode: she's an inconsiderate b!tch!!! I'm just noticing out of all the rangers, Maya feels the least defined.  She's like Andros from last season as she's from a distant planet but this time instead of a space colony from a different galaxy, she's from this primitive jungle planet.  She seems to know a lot about the Quasar Sabers but the writers haven't done much with that since the premiere.  Eventually Maya gets some great individual character episodes like the others will but so far, out of the 5 rangers so far, we know the least about her, making her the most overlooked ranger.  I mean she just comes in and eats Damon's cake without even asking??? She see grew up on a different planet with different customs and culture but you'd think they would at least know common custody!? O_o Kendrix had every right to be upset and Maya could have understood where she was coming from given you know, she's the guest in the grand scheme of things.

Also, did the writers really have to bring back the whole "I though you forgot my birthday" plot??? -_-  I think this is the third time it's been used and instead of just telling their fellow ranger "happy birthday" and keep it moving to surprising them, they just act like jerks while planning their surprise party! Ehhhhh!!! Onto the plot as finally we get somewhere with the whole Lights of Orion arc! Scorpius' latest monster, Destruxo, leads a squad of Sting Wingers onto Terr Venture to create a forcefield within the city while he searches for the lights.  He apparently finds the location of the lights and digs his spear into the ground. Kendrix and Maya morph to try and stop him but hes too powerful for them to defeat on their own. As the other rangers arrive, they realize they are outside the force field and must find a way inside by going underground.  As Kendrix and Maya retreat, Maya is still mad at Kendrix and tells her she will stop Destruxo by herself. As Kendrix tries to figure out how to break the forcefield, we get this cute scene of her running into child look-a-likes of her and Maya grasping for air but holding onto each other for support. A little too on the nose writers!!! I mean I said it's adorable but exact look-a-likes of the girls??? You could have easily done that with two kids that didn't look like them and the message would have been stronger!

Anyway, it turns out the force field even reaches underground as Leo, Kai and Damon are forced to figure out another way inside. Meanwhile, Maya figures out she finally screwed when she realizes the cake for a birthday as Kendrix saves her from some Sting Wingers.  They reconcile and find their way to the device creating the force field just as the Magna Defender arrives outside of it to form the Defender Torozord.  I love it how he just insults the rangers before doing so as well.  As he tries to break open the force field, Leo, Kai and Damon morph and call on their individual Galactabeasts.  This probably my favorite part of the episode as we have all the rangers busy trying to save day with the guys battling the Magna Defender with their Galactabeasts while Kendrix and Maya try to destroy the forcefield but have to deal with Destruxo again.  Ultimately, they defeat Destruxo and destroy the device while the Magna Defender suddenly cringes in pain and ejects himself from his zord.  As the guys try to check on him, he tells them to leave him be as he retreats. Hmmmmm...as all 5 rangers reunite and try to destroy Destruxo, the Lights of Orion FINALLY show themselves!!! They then escape as the rangers and Destruxo try to get them; leaving the colony for unknown reasons.  As the episode concludes, the rangers finally surprise Damon but lament the loss of the lights as Maya swears they will come back on day.....or conveniently, next episode!!! ;) Overall, this was a great episode from the arc with some nice action and teamwork from the rangers even though they were split apart for most of it.

Final Morph: B+