Season 14, Episode 3: Code Busters

"Code Busters"
Episode 3
Air Episode: February 17th, 2006

Well, this was certainly a more pleasant episode, mostly because it's just plain hilarious seeing Vida and Chip get so caught up in the excitement and power of being superheroes that they need to learn an important lesson about what true heroism is about.  With her snow staff in the hands of Koragg, Udonna is busy training the rangers on their new abilities including riding on their Mystic Racers aka those brooms from before that can now turn into flying vehicles cause..MAGIC!!! o_O  As Udonna tells them of them getting stronger and unlocking more power in the future, Chip (no surprise there!) and Vida get all excited about unlocking more spell codes from the Xenotome so they can kick more a$$. Even as Udonna dismisses that the rangers can't just unlock spell codes through force but through heroic deeds, Vida gets the idea for her and Chip to become Heroes for Hire in town so they can earn enough heroic deeds to get more spell codes.  I actually like this plot point and development for these two, as it gives more insight into both characters and their initial motivations for being rangers.  We know Chip is a huge comic book/supernatural/superhero fan, so him wanting more power makes sense but we see Vida is just in love with the idea of more power, which she and Chip will learn but be earned through true heroism instead the hilarious sequence of them doing menial tasks for various people in the town who hire them.

Meawhile, the villains are plotting in the underworld as the arrival of the Mystic Rangers will stop them from their plans in serving "The Master" and reclaiming the surface world.  Morticon comes up with a plan by unleashing a new monster named Mucor as well as waiting for the arrival of the Hydro Worm, a ginormous worm creature that is borrowing through the woods and apparently create the crater size hole to the underworld.  Yikes!!! We see at the beginning of the episode that Claire was almost attacked by it while looking for ingredients for a potion but was saved by a mysterious creature that luckily pushed her out of the way in time.  More on him later.  Anyway, while Vida and Chip are off performing their good deeds, Necroli confronts the other three rangers and introduces herself; tagging on "Mistress of the Underworld" to her name.  Well, excuse me, vampire bat lady!!! O_O Lol The three rangers morph and fight her but it's clear Necroli is in a league of her own as the rangers are easily beaten by her. Damn!!! Necroli soon grabs all three and flies off with them while Morticon orders Koragg to perform a spell to make Mucor grow on the surface world.  As Necroli flies toward the giant Mucor, she just throws the rangers into it's mouth as it eats them.  Good lawd, these villains are ruthless!!! Ha! :)  Meanwhile at Root Core, Chip and Vida check the Xenotome for new spell codes but get upset when they are none.  When Udonna asks what they are doing, they tells her about helping people around town to unlock more spell codes just large crystal ball shows the rangers in danger after being eaten by Mucor.  While Udonna is worried that last  rangers standing aren't powerful enough yet and are out numbered, Vida and Chip courageous decide to go after their teammates despite the near impossible odds against them.  Udonna quickly tells them true heroes are made during dangerous situations before they morph and head out on their Mystic Riders.

Luckily as the rangers arrive, Vida gets an idea to use her magic to summon...fairy dust that makes him sneeze out the rangers while Chip continues to attack him after.  Realizing what Udonna's wisdom meant, their morphs soon unlock a new spell code for them to use.  With the new spell code, the rangers call forth the Mystic Titans aka transform into their individual zords which are based off mythical creatures.  Cool!!!!  The Mystic Titans are awesome!!! :)  Not just because of the designs and theme but because it's cool seeing the rangers turning into their zords for a change.  I think the only time that happened was during Lost Galaxy??? Anyway, the rangers use their Mystic Titans to team up against Mucor and seemingly destroy by using Vida's Titan as a ball and passing her around until Nick's Titan uses her a finishing move.  Only on Power Rangers!!! O_O While Udonna and 4 of the rangers talk about the threat of the Hydro Worm, Nick is in the woods investigating his whereabouts when he hilariously runs into the creature that saved Claire earlier.  Too bad their first meeting is abruptly ended by the arrival of the Hyrdo Worm going after Nick.  Nick quickly runs to a large quarry area (of course!) and morphs to fight it but gets easily knocked down.  Soon Xander and the other rangers arrive to save him as yet another spell code is unlocked.  They summon the Mystic Titans again and 4 of them combine to form the Mystic Dragon....AWE-SOME!!! o_o  The Mystic Phoenix jumps on to the dragon as the rangers face off against the hideous and oversized Hydra-esqe monster.  The rangers combine their powers and use the dragon's fire breath attack to destroy it once and for all.  As Nick once again runs into the mysterious creature, he finally introduces himself as Phineas, a half troll/half goblin who's an outcast in the magical community...poor mixed creature! :(  While Nick finally thanks him for saving Claire, Phineas warns Nick of a much greater danger than the threat they are facing now as Necroli, Koragg and Morticon welcome the arrival of the Master who giant hellish eye appears from a huge hole in the underworld.  UHHH OHHH! o_O  All and All, "Code Busters" was actually a great episode with a nice lesson on being a hero for two of our new recruits as well as shows the villains being extremely urgent and proactive in destroying the rangers quickly even if they did fail.  Not bad at all! :)


Final Morph: A-