Season 17, Episode 18: Belly of the Beast

 

"Belly of the Beast"

Episode 18

Air Date: August 1st, 2009

Unlike last episode, "Belly of the Beast" is certainly busy!!! There is plausible plot movement that once again brings so much urgency to Dillon's arc with his sister as well as the continued danger of Corinth itself.  Last episode left off with Dr. K and Summer discovering the Doomsday weapon that Venjix is building within his primary Grinder factory as this episode begins with her briefing all 7 rangers as well as Colonel Truman and Colonel Hicks.  I really enjoyed this scene with the group bouncing off plans to proceed with destroying the Doomsday weapon....of course with Ziggy chiming to bring so usual light to the situation.  Of course, Scott and the Colonel devise as plan with the help of Ziggy's chiming to go on the offensive and stage a rescue mission of all the prisoners within the factory before Gem and Gemma eagerly blow it up as well as the Doomsday weapon.  I also enjoy how Dr. K mentions how Venjix can just build a new one after destroying weapon; meaning they need something to match the very indestructible power of said weapon.  Hmmmmm....:)  Anyway, as usual as well, Venjix is always two steps ahead of Corinth's resistance as it turns out his first Sawbot that I prematurely thought was pointless, actually was used to study all of the rangers' moves, including their zords, so that his Sawbot Generation 16 could finish the job.  Not to mention, they already know of Corinth's forces outside of his primary factory as he plans to send the Sawbot to defeat them as well as prepare a full on assault on Corinth with his drones.  Needless to say, the rangers as well as the last human city on Earth is screwed as usual!!!

Outside the factory, the rangers and the Colonel Truman with his soldiers create a perimeter to figure out their next move.  Of course, Dr. K is worried about leaving the city defenseless without the rangers in exchange of saving the prisoners as well as potentially Dillon's sister but soon must deal with the Sawbot and a pack of Grinders.  As the rangers struggle with the Sawbot, Dr. K orders Gem and Gemma to place a detonator on it while the rangers deal with the Grinders.  They succeed in gleefully blowing up both it and the Grinders but only have a limited time before it returns....not to mention, security over the factory will be even higher as Dr. K lets everyone know that Venjix will know they are there and trying to infiltrate the factory.  As Colonel Truman and his soldiers stand by, the 7 rangers attack the front of the factory before Scott sends each pair of rangers on individual missions with Ziggy and Flynn freeing all the prisoners.  As usual, Gem and Gemma are too childish and eager to listen but have their own assignment given to them by Dr. K.  Meanwhile, Scott, Summer and Dill head in to plant all the bomb but fun into the Sawbot again with more Grinders.  While fighting, Dillon aids Summer when the Sawbot has her cornered while Scott goes on to plant all the bombs within the factory.  During the fight, both Dillon and Summer are forced to demorph, but once all the prisoners are set free by Blue and Green, Summer gives Dillon the detonator remote to decide what to do before taking on the Sawbot again.  Dillon relents despite knowing if his sister made it out and pushes the button.  As everyone escapes from the factory, Dillon tries to see if his sister is there, but none of the prisoners seem to be her...leading him to run back inside to find her while Summer chases after him.  Dude are you nuts!!! O_O

Anyway, while Scott tries to get Gem and Gemma to cover Summer and Dillon, the two are unfortunately busy with the unstoppable Sawbot apparently. Jesus! O_O They fight it off and morph (gotta admit, there is A LOT of shaky camera during the fight scenes I'm just noticing! I was wondering why I was feeling a bit dizzy watching these episodes recently. :P); managing to destroy it but Venjix just orders the download and it grows of course.  Venjix then leads a full on attack on Corinth with his drones, the Sawbot and the Doomsday weapon which managed to escape before the factory explosion.  While Colonel Truman and his soldiers head back to protect the city, the Doomsday weapon has blasted through the shields, allowing the Sawbot to enter.  Luckily, Dr. K's mission for Gem and Gemma was to hack into the weapon's mainframe and reprogram it into.....a Whale plane that the rangers can now use against Venjix.  I mean what do you expect here, come on!!! O_o The Whale Jumbo Jet immediately destroys all the drones arriving in the city as well as is used in a new zord configuration with Gem and Gemma's zords to form the Mach Megazord.  A flying whale megazord with propeller shields and another bow/arrow finisher.....sigh....this show is brilliantly over the top sometimes!!! :) Oh, back at the ruins of the factory, Dillon and Summer get all melodramtic and sexual tension ensues....before literally getting washed with cold water as the Whale jet dowses the fire....I am just......LMAO!!! Gem and Gemma enter; but Dillon is pissed that he didn't find anything in his sister's cell until Summer discovers a key that matches his and clearly belongs to his sister.  Action packed, intense, over the top gimmicky new zords with the fate of humanity in peril??? Love it! lol

Final Morph: A+