Season 9, Episode 2: Force From The Future, Part 2

"Force From The Future, Part 2"
Episode 2
Air Date: February 10th, 2001

What's so wonderful about this premiere is it is SOOOOO well structured.  Part 1 focused on setting up the new world or in this case, new time we were in, the villains and the mission at hand for these literally futuristic rangers.  Part 2 continues their journey by going to the past and having to figure out how to capture Ransik and his band of mutants in a world they are not familiar with.  As Ransik and his crew arrive in 2001 and begin wrecking havoc, Jen and the rest of Time Force Rangers also arrive nearby on the shores of Silver Hills as the Time Ship is literally about to explode as Circuit wakes Trip up.  He immediately goes around to the others to wake them up as they barely make it out of the ship before it explodes.  Wondering where they are, Circuit uses his data banks to tell them where they are as Jen hands each officer their respective morpher.  The Chrono Morphers are for the lack of better term, AWESOME!!! Love both the name and the design itself!  The chrono morphers immediately lock onto each ranger's DNA as they begin searching for Ransik.  Got to say, Jen and the others really stick out like a sore them in modern times, especially with the sunglasses that can materialize out of no where and scan the area for mutants.  As they look around though, Jen literally bumps into a guy on a motorcycle, that she does a double take to but continues to scan the area afterwards.

Meanwhile, Nadria is acting like a customer at a jewelry store when she suddenly summons the foot soldiers of the season, the Cyclobots.  I LOVE the Cyclobots as they are a HUGE improvement over last season's most pathetic looking foot soldiers in the Batlings.  These things actually are very well designed and look threatening.  What's not so threatening? The way they move by putting their arms in the air as they skip.  Weird!!! O_o  Anyway, as Nadria and Glutto escape, the rangers detect nearby mutants and go after them.  As the rangers confront them, they try to morph but can't for some reason.  Nadria orders the Cyclobots to attack as they easily beat them up with out their powers.  As Nadria and Jen face off, Nadria gets the best of her and orders the Cyclobots to finish her off before she vanishes.  As the Cyclobots prepare to fire, the mysterious guy on the motorcycle comes to save her just in time and reveals....that he looks exactly like Alex.  Jen's reaction....it's like the casting director realized how bad the acting was last season in casting Erin Cahill....what a great performance she's been giving so far in the premiere, especially here! :)  As the other rangers go over to a overwhelmed Jen, they also are shocked by how much Wes looks like Alex.  I like how Katie plays with his face, lol.  Anyway, after thanking him, Wes takes off and the rangers chat in a nearby warehouse about their "morphing" problem.  Turns out they need someone with Alex's DNA to unlock the other morphers and they immediately bring up Wes as he looks so much like Alex.  Jen, of course, thinks it's a bad idea and no kidding, since she just...you know....saw her fiance die and all and now you want her to immediately confront the guy who looks just like him? O_o  I get lives are at stake but I feel really bad for Jen already here.  Amazing writing so far!

Anyway, as we go to Wes' home, we see he's your typical spoiled rich kid, bothering the cooks by touching the food, avoiding his butler as he has to go to a board meeting with his dad.  Soon, we see Jen is waiting for him outside the kitchen (I'm guessing Circuit tracked him down? O_o) as Wes' father comes in.  I love Edward Albert!  Just in one scene showing how stuck and so lost in his world of wealth not to see anything else besides it.  Wes immediately goes with Jen and uses her as an excuse to miss the board meeting.  Outside, Jen tries to explain to Wes why she needs his help but after explaining the premise of the show, he of course, doesn't believe her as she remarks about him being nothing like Alex.  Awwwwww!!! Gotta feel bad for Jen! :(  Anyway, after Trip alerts Jen to Ransik attacking the city, she runs over to rejoin the team before they confront him.  I love how Ransik just gloats and attacks them like nothing.  He evens rubs it in Jen's face about killing Alex before he throws her like a rag doll.  Brilliant villain alert! :)  But luckily, Wes comes out of no where to catch her as he asks if it's too late to help.  As Jen gives Wes Alex's morpher, he uses it to unlock the other 4 chrono morphers.  The 5 of them morph and the Time Force morph sequence is definitely underrated in term of morph sequences.  I like how the DNA is released from the morpher to go inside each individual ranger to make their suit. NEAT! :)

As the Time Force Rangers, they are easily able to....oh god...dodge the Cyclopbots' blasts like it's the freakin' Matrix...well...except for Wes, but Jen reminds him his suit protects him.  The first morphed fight is awesome honestly, seamlessly going from Sentai action footage to American fight choreography.  I like the introduction of their weapons like the Chrono Sabers and V (insert number here).  Also, we see that weird blurry fight direction of the Timeranger footage which surprisingly doesn't bother me anymore! Hmmm. Anyway, as Ransik teleports away, Jen is pissed and wants to go after him but...Glutto comes out of no where to stop her in some ridiculous Sentai fight scene that just...anyway! After Frax attacks her,  Jen uses her Chrono Sabers to do a "Time Strike" that causes a massive (and downright epic) explosion behind the rangers as they pose in their suits.  Sigh...typical Power Rangers! lol As Ransik's forces retreat, an over excited Wes won't shut up about how awesome the fight was as they all demorph.  Lucas is all serious....but I think it's just Micheal Copon's method acting....  Jen immediately takes away Wes' morpher as they no longer need his help, even if Trip and Katie think he should stay.  Wes just walks off as Lucas says he's a good fighter, but Jen thinks they'll be fine without him.  WOW!!! These two episodes have got to be the BEST season premieres I've seen for a season thus far, beating "From Out of Nowhere, Part 1 and 2" as well as even "Quasar Quest".  The acting is strong so far, the villains are very entertaining and threatening, the plot of the season is so well done so far and the individual character bits are superb.  Man, Time Force is gonna be such a smooth watch for me! :)

Final Morph: A+