Season 11, Episode 35: A Gem of a Day

"A Gem of a Day"
Episode 35
Air Date: October 18th, 2003

Now that we're quickly heading toward the season finale, the plot is beginning to move at a more rapid pace since most of the show has been pretty episodic really.  I guess one thing I'm disappointed about is that the episode seemed like it would focus significantly on Hunter and his unresolved issues with losing his parents but it turned out to be more of a plot movement episode that is setting up the seeds for the final battle between Lothor and the rangers.  But like I said, it would have been nice to have gotten one last character episode from one of the rangers and it's a shame Hunter didn't get more development since I feel he is the least defined ranger of the team but still a nice character regardless. Anyway, turns out Hunter kept a couple pieces of shards of the Gem of Souls when Cam happens upon him.  Cam was busy looking for a strange reading of radiation in the area as they both discover the remains of one of Zurgane's swords. Meanwhile, Lothor is up in space; busy yelling at Vexacus for destroying Zurgane.  Of course, Vexacus talks his way out of it calmly; making Zurgane look bad based on his track record with the rangers and Lothor realizes he's right (Even though Zurgane has been the most proactive villain in trying to kill the rangers but whatever) and decides to give him a chance to destroy the rangers themselves. He unleashes his own weapon/monster against the rangers named Condotrone to defeat them.  But Lothor soon gives Motordrone orders to follow Vexacus and keep his eye on him as he still doesn't trust him.  Wow!  Lothor is being smart for once! Also, Marah and Kapri are no where to be found....hmmmm.....

Anyway, back at Ninja Ops, the rangers soon talk about Zurgane and realize Vexacus killed him.  When questioning why one of Lothor's own generals would betray the other, Sensei tells them there appears to be a power struggle among Lothor's forces which Dustin thinks is good since they'll wipe themselves out instead of the rangers having to continue to fight them.  But Sensei believes this is a more opportune time to go on the offensive against Lothor instead of waiting for him to attack all the time by finding a way onto his spaceship and fearing the captured Ninja Academy students.  Which makes sense given the over abundance of ninjas on their side will tip the balance tremendously in their fight and almost guarantee their victory, so nice one Sensei...instead of vague and unnecessary ninja philosophy you've been spouting all season! -_- But unfortunately, Cam would need a power source powerful enough to break through Lothor's defenses that protect his ship when Hunter realizes that the shards of the Gem may be powerful enough to help. But when Hunter gets a hold of the shards, Vexacus arrives with Condrone to retrieve the shards for himself and defeat the rangers; leading to a battle between Hunter and Condrone.  When the other rangers see Hunter in trouble, the other 5 morph and join him.  Soon Motordrone appears to spoil Vexacus' plans with a squad of Kelzacks and the rangers get to work on fighting them.  After getting defeated by Motordrone and seriously damaging Hunter's Glider Cycle, Shane uses his battlizer to finish off the Kelzacks while both Vexacus and Motordrone retreat.  After revealing he had shards of the Gem of Souls, Cam uses it to go on a solo mission to Lothor's ship to rescue all the students.  We're introduce to the Dragonforce Vehicle which came uses to go up into space while Motordrone and Vexacus bicker about being trusted and taking orders.  As Cam gets closer, Lothor orders Vexacus to come and fire all weapons at his nephew.  Jeeze, I know family coming over can be frustrating sometimes but this is just ridiculously cruel.  While Cam gets hit and the rangers worry about his saftey, he manages to use the gem to open a hole into Lothor's ship while Lothor orders Vexacus to send Condrone down to distract the other rangers while he deals with his nephew.  Uhhh ohhh! O_o

As the rangers morph and summon their zords to battle Condrone, Cam sneaks onto his uncle's ship and manages to find the captured student...BUT quickly gets ambush by a small army of Kelzacks led by Lothor.  While Cam does his best to fight off the swarm of Kelzacks, even his Super Samurai mode isn't enough to take down Lothor who easily outfights him.  Damn! O_o Meanwhile, both Storm and Thunder Megazords are being badly beaten by Condrone; forcing Sensei to call Cam to return to Earth to help them.  Cam manages to fight he way back onto his ship but promises to return to free all the captured students. Nice foreshadowing! :) As Cam arrives with his Samurai Star Megazord, soon all three megazords combine to form the Hurricane Megazord to destroy Condrone once and for all.  Meanwhile back on Lothor's ship, Vexacus stops Motordrone from outing him to Lothor about betraying him and the two begin to fight.  It's a shame to see Motordrone go out that way but considering we're almost at the end of the series, it's time for the main villains to start getting killed off one by one of course. As the episode ends, Hunter and Cam vow to free the students again even if Cam failed but at least he managed to come back and save his friend.  Overall, "A Gem of a Day" is a promising but ultimately just passable episode that plants more plot movement for the two part finale while setting up the final battle for the rangers against Lothor.

Final Morph: C+