Season 7, Episode 43: Journey's End, Part 1

"Journey's End, Part 1"
Episode 43
Air Date: December 16th, 1999

Well, it's finale time, so it's time for the writers to go batsh!t crazy as all hell breaks loose for the rangers and Terra Venture! One thing I do absolutely love about Part 1 is that there is this overwhelming sense of hope and accomplishment.  I forget how amazing the premiere was in setting up Terra Venture's voyage throughout the cosmos and I actually got emotional during Commander Stanton's speech to Terra Venture after he had discovered a planet that will finally be the new world that they inhabit!  It was such a well done piece of writing and I'm not surprised that it was Commander Stanton who delivered it.  He been an amazing supporting character this season and possibly one of the most underrated unofficial mentors of the Power Rangers! :)

Meanwhile, Trakeena deals with Deviot who comes aboard the Scorpion Stinger, naturally lying and trying to make it seem he was a prisoner of Captain Mutiny! This guy! lol Of course, Trakeena and Villamax aren't idiots as she immediately orders him to destroy Deviot for his treachery.  As Villamax beats the crap out of him, he makes his way to the cocoon; blasting the chains off of it so he can finally enter it.  But he's intercepted by Villamax who continues to beat the crap out of him as Trakeena and Kegler arrive to watch his defeat.  But as Villamax is about to finish him off, Deviot pushes him aside, grabs Trakeena and jumps into the cocoon with her.  As Villamax and Kegler watch from outside, Trakeena and Deviot begin morphing into each other! Yikes!!! Even worse, is when she finally exits the cocoon, she reveals she and Deviot have merged as she has acquired many of his features including some disturbing looking eyes!!! ......I think I just pooed a little! O_O

As the rangers look up into space as the city doom's skyline is filled with planet that the colony is about to land on, the rangers take a moment to talk about the wonders of this new, untouched world.  We also get a moment of Maya wishing Kendrix was there to see it which is nice that the writers remembered to bring up.  As the planet's sun rises over the new world, it's light shines over the colony engulfing it as well as the rangers' hopeful faces. Such a beautiful image really! :)  Kai rushes over to his shift to help land the colony as Commander Stanton leads the crew...but suddenly, Terra Venture begins to quake as everyone in the colony stops to wonder what it could be.  Suddenly, that hopeful, beautiful sky is filled with the horror of the Scorpion Stinger as Trakeena begins a direct attack on the colony.  As the attack continues, the Scorpion Stinger fires at the last remaining engine; leaving Terra Venture complete immobile. Leo comes up with a plan to steal some nearby explosives from some GSA soldiers as he and Damon make their way to one of colony's tunnels. Damon plays decoy...again...to get the attention of the Scorpion Stinger so it can chase him to their trap.  As Damon gets closer to Leo, Leo plants the explosive onto the Scorpion Stinger and causes an explosion that leaves the Scorpion Stinger damaged...for the moment!

Meanwhile, Terra Venture is on a collision course to the moon as it breaks apart and crashes onto the moon's surface in a pretty devastating sequence!!! O_O  Thank actor Tom Whyte for selling the intensity of that scene so well!!! My goodness!!! As the people of Terra Venture recover, Commander Stanton orders a damage report while the rangers help people stuck in the ruble.  Soon Damon and the rest of the colony's inhabitants realize that the city dome is cracking; meaning that they won't survive for long....which is funny considering from what we've seen from this show, people can breath in space so WTF!!?? o_O Anyway, members of the GSA board meet with Commander Stanton as they don't have much time and must abandon Terra Venture to make it to the new world.  Trakeena has lost her damn mind and begins rolling out her army of Sting Winger with bombs attached to them!!! WOW!!! I'll talk more about that next episode but Villamax is of course not pleased by this and orders Trakeena to stop.  But Trakeena is literally mad with power as she makes a quick speech to her army before they fly off in swarms toward the detached city dome.  As the GSA soldiers help people board spaceships to leave the destroyed colony, Trakeena rides on top of the Scorpion Stinger and her army flies toward Terra Venture; laughing in maniacal glee to conclude the episode!!! Wow, just a brilliant first part and a wonderful set up for the rest of the finale! On to Part 2! :)

Final Morph: A+