Season 12, Episode 5: Back In Black

"Back In Black"
Episode 5
Air Date: March 6th, 2004

It's amazing how smooth this series is going so far!  The characters; new and old are being given some great dialogue and development, the villains are combatant and not to mention brutal fighters with someone like Mesagog, the king of creepy appearances leading them and the story is flowing from episode to episode exceptionally well. :)  Continuing where the last episode left off, Hayley has finally found an invisi-portal that the rangers can access to make their way to Mesagog's castle and free Tommy.  The problem is they would have to go at a very extreme amount of speed to make it through, which three hilarious pause at. lol  Luckily, Hayley has developed new weapons that the rangers can use aka the Raptor Cycles.  I mean they just got the Raptor Riders two episodes ago but ok, let's just give the usually cycles this season cause TOYS, TOYS, TOYS! o_O  As the rangers morph and head their way toward Hayley's coordinates, Mesagog reveals that yet another dino gem is inside of the stone and only Tommy can release it.  But when he grows tired of Tommy's smart a$$ sarcasm, he threatens the lives of the new rangers instead to force him to do it.  Wow, Mesagog ain't playin' no games! O_O While ordering Elsa to capture them as well, Zeltrax sees on their monitor in the lab that the rangers are already heading their way.

As the rangers make it to the location of the portal, they watch it appear and prepare to go through it....only for Elsa and Zeltrax to appear with an army of Tyrannodrones as well as the monster of the week, Pollinator...tho I don't know why, he looks more like some mutated squad than some ugly overgrown field of flowers monstrosity but whatever, these Sentai monsters be weird yo for a minute! :P Anyway, we get a phenomenal action sequence as the rangers showcase how powerful their new cycles are as well as their growing fighting prowess as the take on Mesagog's forces.  Gotta love the moment Connor jump kicks the hell out of Zeltrax mid-air! AWESOME! :) As time runs out on the portal, the rangers make run...or should I say ride for it as Elsa tries to stop them but misses to gives a highlight of the soon to be problematic issues with explosions during this era of the show. -_- Anyway, as they make it to Mesagog's castle, for some reason....the rangers demorph looking for Tommy while Mesagog will handle them himself.....soooo...huhh??  Why??? O_o  Eventually yet another battle commences, so why don't you stay morph as to put up a better offensive since you know....you're in the main villain's evil lair. Sure they manage to get away but they quickly have to morph again to fight their way out just for what exactly? Could have just mentioned them being in civilian mode would make them more undetected but whatever...moving on! Tommy is getting owned by Mesagog but manages to tell them to escape through another invis-portal that pops up.  Tommy soon fights his way to the gem encased in stone and follows the rangers through another portal to make it back to Reefside.  Once they make it there, Mesagog's forces arrive to destroy them and seemingly destroy Tommy in the process...but it's only because his Dino gem has just chosen him as he becomes visible again do to his specific power set.  Awesome! As Else chastises Tommy being "a little too old for this", this veteran badass uses his own Dino Morpher to combine it with the dino gem and morph into the Black Dino Thunder Ranger!

Yeah, the whole "starting with three rangers" angle is once again so short lived after a handful of episodes but come on, it's freakin' Tommy as a Power Ranger again!!! :)  Not to mention, the Black Ranger suit definitely looks more majestic and stand outs more than the original three rangers' suits so great job there Sentai! As the team of 4 rangers now fight, Tommy goes head to head with Zeltrac while Connor faces off against Elsa and other two rangers battle Pollinator (Seriously, he's a freakin' squid monster! -_-)  Connor manages to force Elsa into a retreat while Tommy dusts off his rusty ranger experience by using his new powers to defeat Zeltrax before leaving him a message to send Mesagog that he's back...in BLACK! :P Naw, I'm kidding, but as cheesy as that line would have been, I would have love to have heard it tho! lol Anyway, Mesagog ain't happy and uses the Hydro Re-generator to make Pollinator grow after the three rangers destroyed him with their Z-Rex Blaster.  Now with the black Dino gem free, Hayley was able to send Tommy's new Brachiozord, which is massive and performs like a carrierzord which the other three zords come out of.  Neat! But unfortunately, the Thundersaurus Megazord is no match for Pollinator as the rangers call Hayley for more reinforcements. Luckily, Hayley discovered the Cephalazord as well which has it's own boxing gloves...cause Power Rangers! O_O With the new Cephalazord, the rangers can combine it with the Thundersaurus Megazord as a new arm and use its finishing move to destroy Pollinator once and for all.  As the episode wraps, we get some more great dialogue and interaction between Tommy, Hayley and the three teens, especially when Tommy mentions he needs more black clothing in his closet now. Just....comedy gold! :) "Back In Black" is 5 for 5 when it comes to a run of excellent episodes for the show in quite sometime.  Dino Thunder, so far, has a genuine confidence and wonderful tone to it that is making the last season seem like a work in progress.  I honestly can't wait to see what's to come...even tho I already know what's coming. lol :P

Final Morph: A