Season 12, Episode 37: Thunder Struck, Part 1

"Thunder Struck, Part 1"
Episode 37
Air Date: November 13th, 2004

Well, we have reach ed the end of the season and it;s time for the final fight between our team of five dino powered heroes and the ultimate overload of all things prehistoric in Mesagog.  "Thunder Struck" gets a bad rap for not exactly being the best season ender to such a strong entry in the franchise but I find that hard to believe as Part 1 was actually VERY action packed and spectacular considering this was just one half of the final battle.  The episode moves as a pretty rapid pace and is all the better for it as Mesagog puts his final plan into motion on transforming the Earth into a second dinosaur era with a very powerful ray gun.  Unfortunately, he doesn't have enough power to use it yet but decides to take the power from Elsa to start giving it power anyway.  Jesus, I feel kinda bad for Elsa....and DAMN, Trent, you're right there, I mean you could try to help her despite her being all evil and stuff! O_o  Meanwhile, Connor and Ethan are at Hayley's Cyberspace talking about the Senior Prom but Ethan ain't about that life and would rather go see some fictional greatest sci-fi movie of all time or something.  Connor, of course, is and even has a notebook on to separate the girls who father's will pay for the limo vs the ones who won't...awwwww, how romantic?? :P Kira arrives and also expresses the strong need to NOT go to the prom just as Devine arrives as well to ask Connor on some last minute advice to woe some girl. Of course it's Cassidy but unfortunately, their boss at the news station says they need to find the identity of the Power Rangers by the end of the week or their fired...which means no prom for either of them....sigh....poor Dev! :(

Anyway, Mesagog succeeds in draining all of Elsa's powers and seemingly destroys her just as Trent confronts Mesagog about his father's whereabouts if he's alive.  Yeah, Trent overheard Elsa and Mesagog talking about Mercer and him being separate and offers Mesagog a trade for the all five dino gems in exchange for his father.  Pretty dangerous deal to make, especially considering if Mesagog doesn't own up to his end of the deal, the world will be seriously screwed, but Mesagog relents and tells him to bring him the gems anyway.  Meanwhile, back at the Dino Lab, Tommy and Hayley also find out that Mercer and Mesagog have been split apart as well as Zeltrax is back and has captured a random woman who appears in the city out of no where.  Also, Hayley has come up with a plan to use a massive truck with a laser she created to finally take down Mesagog's castle but they would need an invisi-portal long and wide enough to pass through.  Back in the city, Ethan bumps into a coool young chick waiting in line at a comic convention and they hit it off until Tommy calls the rangers to confront Zeltrax.  Unforntunately, Devin is nearby and overhears the call and follows Ethan to where the five rangers meet in civilian mode to begin their fight with Zeltrax near a warehouse.  Of course, during the fight, the five morph and are completely oblivious to Devin filming them with his camera and finally getting the identity of the Power Rangers.  Also, Tommy heads into the warehouse to save the woman and discovers she is Elsa brought back to normal while Connor uses his battlizer to destroy Zeltrax for good....but it's only a trick to make them THINK he was destroyed so he can follow them to finally infiltrate their homebase.  I'm guessing this is how Zeltrax survived dying those other times??? O_o

Anyway, after they arrive at the Dino Lab, the five rangers and Hayley come up with a plan to enter Mesagog's dimension when Trent brings up the very dangerous deal he made with him in exchange for his father.  Trent believes he can open a portal for the team to enter his dimension while he stalls to look for his father.  While mostly everyone is against the plan, Kira realizes they don't have much of a choice to final stop Mesagog from defeating them and succeeding in his final plan; leading Hayley to prepare for their mission.  Elsa soon awakes and tells the rangers she remembers everything while Trent gathers all 5 dino gems and makes his way to Mesagog's castle for the trade.  Of course as trent demands for his father's release first, Mesagog attacks him with his psionic powers and simply takes the gems from him.  Seeeee!!! O_O Anyway, as the other rangers and Hayley prepare to go through the portal, they realize it isn't opening and they are about to crash into the wall of the quarry.  Luckily, while Mesagog is off "muahaha"ing about starting up his ray gun, Trent wakes up and manages to open an invisi-portal in time for them to barely make it through but safely anyway.  As Mesagog realizes what Trent has done, an army of Tryannodrones teleport in front of the truck to stop them.  As the four rangers battle off against Mesagog's army, Hayley heads toward the castle ready to blast the ray gun and destroy the castle for good.  I have to say, this is one truly amazing action sequence for a kid's show, with awesome fight choreography, phenomenal stunt work (especially Connor's solo fight on top of the truck against the Tyrannodrones being really sick! :) and decent effects all pulled off together for this episode.  Forntunately, Hayley manages to fire back at Mesagog's castle and begins to destroy the castle as Mesagog is knocked out by it beginning to crumble.  While Kira worries about Trent's safety as they have no choice but to leave him behind, Trent manages to retrieve the gems and find his father as everything falls around him and the Tryannodrones try to stop him from escaping.  When the rangers and Hayley return, Kira is shocked and distraught that Trent didn't make it out but with a hilarious callback to the premiere from Ethan,. they fall out of an invisi-portal right in front of them.  While Anton tries to apologize for all of this, Tommy quickly reminds them that Zeltrax is still out there....which leads to Zeltrax braking into the Dino Lab and destroying it before capturing Elsa once again to conclude Part 1.  Honestly,  superb and exciting so far!!! :) Part 2, here we go!

Final Morph: A-