Season 8, Episode 38: Rise of the Super Demons

"Rise of the Super Demons"
Episode 38
Air Date: November 16th, 2000

Ok, so has Ms. Fairweather and her crew gone batsh!t crazy??!! O_o  The idea alone for a new megazord like the Lifeforce Megazord is just outrageously dangerous!!! ...And yet, we see the rangers testing it out and nearly dying because of it!  It's Captain Mitchell who has the sense to TRY to stop testing of such a stupid project until the rangers defend it:

Dana: But dad, Olympius is still out there."

Joel: "Yeah, let's continue putting our well being at risk to power up this new megazord!"

Ehhhhhhh!!! Anyway, besides that, "Rise of the Super Demons" is a pretty great penultimate episode of the season.  Following the cold opening, we immediately get another showdown between Olympius and Diabolico when Diabolico is trying to find a way to get his revenge on the Queen as he laments Loki's death.  The fight is once again, very impressive considering how bulky and non-maneuverable those demon suits look but it really fluid; full of awesome choreography and effects that ends in a huge explosion in the words.  Unfortunately, our boy Diabolico loses the battle and is captured by Olympius to use as a bargaining chip to get back into his mother's good graces.  Got love Queen Bansheera's whole "act" as she is shocked and happy that her son is alive.  As Diabolico tells her he will never work for her again, Queen Bansheera puts him under her control.

Soon, time portals.....I mean....portals of destruction unleash lightning that spikes down upon the city; causing so much damage.  As the rangers arrive to evacuate an unsafe area.  Olympius soon arrives to great the rangers.  As the rangers express how much they didn't miss him, Olympius quickly introduces them to the brainwashed Diabolico.  As the rangers try to talk some sense into, they realize it's no use as he slowly approaches and morph.  The fight here between the rangers and the two demons, once again, leads to some fine action, well choreographed fighting and expensive looking stunt work.  As Diabolico is about to destroy Carter, he reminds him of what Queen Bansheera did to him again by making him remember Loki and it finally brings him out of the Queen's control.  Soon Olympius and Diabolico begin trading blows again, but Olympius gets the upper hand again as well as destroys Diabolico. WOW! O_O  Before his death, Diabolico tells Carter how much he hates the Queen more than the rangers and tells Carter he is going to need the Golden Key to defeat her. Meanwhile, Carter, Chad and Joel summon their battlizers as all 5 rangers combine those weapons to destroy Olympius is a very huge and satisfying explosion! :)

But it's not it for the two powerful demons as Queen Bansheera uses her powers to resurrect them and make them grow.  As Carter tries to get Diabolico to snap out of it again, he realizes it won't work this time as he attacks.  The rangers call on their Super Train Megazord and Omega Megazord to battle them but quickly realize the combined strength of both their megazords is WAAAAYYY to much for them! DAMMMNN! o_O The rangers then summon the Lightspeed Solarzord for help as we get a HUGE BRAWL between the 3 megazords and both demons.  But it's still too much for the zords to take as Dana and Kelsey quickly head back to the base to acquire the newly built Lifeforce Megazord....sigh....anyway, Olympius and Diabolico manage to knock Chad and Joel out of the megazords as the Super Train and Omega Megazords take on too much damage and fall apart.  Carter is next in the Lightspeed Solarzord but survives.  He runs up to Olympius and Diabolico to blast them with his blasters but gets knocked away from Diabolico. Luckily, the girls arrive with the Lifeforce Megazord...which looks like a cooler version of the Lightspeed Solarzord actually.  Anyway, like I said the rangers use their life energy to power up the zord enough to destroy them and it works but STILL, that has got to be one of the dumbest concepts for a megazord yet! -_-

Anyway, the golden key Diabolico has flies back into the tomb the demons were trapped in and becomes a hieroglyphic....for now.  Queen Bansheera demands Jinxer make her a new monster but he is apparently out of cards!  But apparently, managed to get a Batlings card onto the Lifeforce Megazord as the rangers will be bringing them into the base...to the Queen's maniacal glee! :)  Overall, a great lead into the two part finale.  I just wish the Lifeforce Megazord wasn't a thing, just seems dumb to put the rangers' life in literally danger to power up a zord, kinda counterproductive really! O_o  Anyway, time to rap this season up...FINALLY!!! :)

Final Morph: B+