Season 12, Episode 1: Day of The Dino, Part 1

"Day of the Dino, Part 1"
Episode 1
Air Date: February 7th, 2004

Finally, on to the next Power Rangers incarnation of this Disney era and it starts off waaayyyy more action packed than last season.  Some guy, who's face is cloaked in shadow is being chase out of an exploding building by a horrifying creature in the shadows ordering in his minions to find him!  Once outside of the building, we see that this mysterious guy running from these creatures...is Mark McGrath!!! :P Naw, it's Tommy! Wow! Spotting a hairstyle that I now realize was a "choice" to say the least! O_O Heading toward the woods, he is intercepted by the foot soldiers of the season...and my God, it's as if someone saw the Sting Wingers from Lost Galaxy and said "How can we make this design dumber???" o_O I mean they are so dark and indistinguishable! If they were gonna do original foot soldiers again, at least make them stand out and look interesting. Even the Batlings have had more personality at this point and they were just men in leotards with wings! Sheesh! -_-  Anyway, Tommy does his thing like a BOSS but the explosion is bigger than we thought as the whole island is about to explode.  Tommy soon makes it to the cliff of the island and realizes the only thing he can do is jump into the sea after the island complete explodes and it nothing fiery pit that burns and eventually begins to sink as he watches.

We then flashforward "Some years later" at Reefside High, where Tommy is heading in for his first day as the school's new science teacher.  Apparently, Tommy's been studying dinosaurs since we last saw him and is paleontologist...at least that's what we learn from Principal Randell, the clearly vicious and shrill principal of the school because what high school doesn't have one right??? *Ba Dum Tiss* Anyway, we are soon introduced to our soon to be new rangers, Ethan James, a computer geek and Kira Ford, one those alternative rocker chicks from the early 2000s who rebels my her art...singing and playing her guitar....you tell em girl??? As Tommy introduces himself, we also introduced to...sigh....Cassidy and Devin.....ehhhh!! Cassidy is the head archer and reporter for the school's news station and my God, I can already tell I'm gonna hate these two.  Doesn't help that Cassidy is already being recast by Katrina Devine...who also played one of half of those annoying nieces last season so....yeah...that's all I have to say on them right now.  The 3rd future ranger and leader of the team is noticeably missing from class and that's Conner McKnight.  A clearly hard headed and arrogant jock who can't even notice when the very mean principal is behind him as he happily insults the female gender. Nice one Con! O_o After nearly killing a student with a lethal, superhuman kick with no questions asked by Conner, Randell also sends Kira to detention as well for her rebellious singing and guitar as well as insults her for thinking she could ever think she could get into college.  Jesus, these jokes are savage but I can't help but laugh my ass off at the same time. Soon Ethan joins the two after setting off the school sprinklers with his laptop...cause computer geek! O_o and sentences all three of them to a week's detention.  If that wasn't bad enough, Randell forces poor Tommy to look after the troublesome trio while he heads to the museum.  When the museum is closed, he sends them out to look for anything prehistoric in exchange for relieving them of detention all week.  While the three explore and banter, Tommy soon notices the museum is closed because of Anton Mercer Industries...saying "that's impossible"....dun, dun, dun.  While our future heroes continue to banter, we get to learn more about them like Conner being an insufferable jerk who can't stop emasculating Ethan for being a computer geek while Ethan just insults him for being a dumb jock as Kira can't stand either of them. Ha! I like these characters already and how they bounce off each other...before unexpectedly dropping into a sick hole....oops??? O_o

Don't worry guys, Tommy will save you...after he gets finished being attack by a giant T-Rex that is. Jesus, talk about deja vu Tommy right??? After randomly flip kicking the thing with no effect cause Tommy don't play dat sh!t, he hurries to his car and barely drives off while it charges after him.  Meanwhile, the three teens are trapped underground and while Conner tries to get help, he just falls back done to Ethan's well timed quip! Ha! Love these guys! :) As they make their way to a dinosaur skeleton, Conner moves the mouth to reveal a secret lair where the three discover three glowing artifacts in the center.  They seem almost drawn to them as they each take one and quickly make their way out of there before whomever runs the place catches them.  Meanwhile, a castle on an island randomly rises from the sea as that horrifying creature tells his minions "He feels the presence of the gems" again and to go after them.  Uhh Ohh, finding their way out, the three soon run into the foot soldiers that Tommy fought and smartly decide to run.  But Kira seems to have gone to the "Slasher Movie School of Falling A Lot While Running".  Jesus gurl! O_O Luckily, the second time, she unleashes some random superpower as she sonic screams some of them away with her voice.  Seems these gems have given each of them an individual power outside their morphed form as Ethan can now summon dino like skin that protects him from physical attacks and make him super strong. Neat! :) Conner can now superspeed and fight off his enemies as they slow down to the point where they are no match for him.  So the speed of a T-Rex, the skin/strength of a Triceratops ans the powerful cry of a Pterodactyl??? Awesome power set! :) Let's see how Tommy's....yeah o_o....luckily, he forces the T-Rex to slam into a bridge and goes over to discover it was just a robot....well at least it's not controlled by Lord Zedd this time Tommy! lol As Tommy and the teens regroup, they decide to keep what just happened to them a secret from each other while Tommy brings them back to school.

While Connor tries to get Ethan and Kira to make a packed about not telling anoyone about what just happened to them, Kira decides she wants nothing to do with it and gives Connor, then Ethan her gem.  Sigh...Cassidy and Devin are nearby talking Tommy's private records being a big mystery since she called Angel Grove High and they would give her any information on him.  Devin points out that the reason they're called "private" records and I already like him more than Cassidy's dumb blonde routine.  Meanwhile, Kira suddenly gets upducted by the creepy looking foot soldiers to Conner and Ethan's shock while they try to save her.  It's too late and the two decide to head to Tommy's place for some help.  They just enter his house and find a secret entrance....to the lair they found their gems in as Tommy catches them.  The episode ends with Kira passed out on some lab bed while the horrifying looking creature is now more visible...YIKES!!! To be continued.... So far, I'm so into the show already and this was a really strong set up for the next half of the premiere. Awesome! :)

Final Morph: A-