Season 26, Episode 2: Evox's Revenge

"Evox's Revenge"

Episode 2

Air Date: March 9th, 2019

Welp! It's episode 2 and things are really underway with the threat of not only Evox but the evil Avatars of Blaze and Roxy ready to return at any moment. "Evox's Revenge" continues the world building of the show as both sides are introduced to new allies as well as weapons in their own cause for the fights to come. On the villains side of things, we meet up with Roxy and Blaze who have been transported to the Cyber dimension.......like inside of a computer??? Parallel dimension to our own??? O_o Well, we don't exactly find out but we are introduced to a new villain, Scrozzle, who is apparently the ruler of the dimension along with his minions aka the foot soldiers of the season called Tronix (Hmmmm, love the name! Tron would definitely fit in with the sci-fi/technology wonder of the season.  Apparently, Scrozzle is in hiding from a guy named Vargoyle who means bad news but even more bad news arrives when Evox arrives to immediately put Scrozzle and the Tronix in their place.  Evox is adamant about entering the real world but there isn't enough Morph X that Blaze and Roxy have with them to bring him there.  Since Evox is so powerful he will need enough Morph X from one of the Morph X towers in the city. Yeah, their being used to harness the clean, limitless energy from the morphing grid to apparently stop pollution.  Oh boy, where's Animus, I would love to hear his opinion on humans and their pollution of the Earth now! :P Anyway, Scrozzle prepares Blaze to go with him to the real world to get more Morph X for Evox and introduces the evil duo to the keys and morphers they can use to go into their more monstrous forms as well as teleport between worlds.  And I gotta say, I really enjoy the morphers and keys both sides use.

They are very reminiscent of the old school wrist morphers from earlier in the show and the keys are like the ones from Turbo but having far more capabilities in power and isn't just for morphing. Neat! Also I love the striking visuals of the show so far as Blaze and Roxy's avatars flicker like digital projections or something...which they technically are! Nice detail! Back on the heroes side we get the use debriefing of a new team of rangers like SPD Headquarters/Academy or the Lightspeed Aquabase as in this team of rangers has a full staff of people commanded by...Commander Shaw to assist the team in battle as well as Nate, the maker of their morphers and various weapons introducing them to the Beast Bots.  Yeah, I can definitely tell why Hasbro chose this Sentai to adapt even tho it meant going backwards.  The Beast Bots are essentially transformers: humanoid robots based on the animals each ranger's power derive from because of the morphing grid mixing with animal DNA.  AKA Devon gets the Cheetah robot, Ravi the Gorilla Robot and Zoey the little Jackrabbit robot.  But they aren't assistants in the battle but help when using their zords, which the rangers are also introduced too.  The zords are awesome honestly, vehicle based zords again but able to transform into their own individual animal forms like the rangers' animal motifs.  More transformers similarities.....YAY! :P

Anyway, the main plot of the episode has to do with Ravi and Zoey wanting to be the new leader of the team considering Ravi has the most experience since he was chosen to be a ranger while Zoey did get training before being reduced to the laundry girl.  Funny how no one mentions the Red Ranger is usually the leader but instead use it as an entertaining opportunity to explore the trio dynamic with Ravi and Zoey constantly competing throughout, even during their first fight with the foot soldiers.  I love how Devon immediately steps and is the voice of reason of the group with keeping the two focused as well as talking to the two immediately about their infighting is messing things up and working as a team is the only way to defeat Evox.  Its a nice story development and the two ending up choosing Devon as their leader without Commander Shaw's input was a very smart choice in developing the three rangers as a team by choosing a leader based on natural ability and not just experience.  WOW! Bravo! :)  But then there's also the development with the rangers' individual weaknesses thanks to Evox managing to corrupt some of the animal DNA that fused with the rangers' powers.  Basically, Devon is freezes up everytime he sees a dog, Zoey loses power quickly and Ravi overheats...turning him into an out of control maniac on the field.  Ummmmm yes, Cheetahs are feline but last time I checked they are far from cats and not all cats are afraid of dogs! -_-  Zoey apparently needs to eat carrots to sustain her energy??? Ummmm, cause I guess Jackrabbits only run on carrots???  And my god, Gorillas naturally overheat and turned deranged because of it. Ummmmm, apparently this was done cause of the Sentai but I wish they had worked around it! It's typical PR silliness and it seems it will be a running issue with their powers oh dear. :(

We are also shown how monsters with be produced by the villains this season with Scrozzle using the mix of Evox virus and Morph X to make inanimate objects come to life and take on humanoid form.  Basically like the Org spirits possessing object in Wild Force.  Also, the villain have large robots called Gigadrones they can send to Coral Harbor for larger scale attacks like here when Scrozzle sends one after an Morph X tower to get enough Morph X to free Evox.  We get a nice introductions to the zords in action including a racer zord for the Red Ranger that turns into an impressive looking humanoid form that manages to defeat the monster with Zoey and Ravi's assistance of course. Also, I love the morphing sequence, at least the presentation here with the rangers calling "Activate Beast Power!" before being surrounded by a twister of morphing energy with their animal faces popping out briefly and their helmets' visors coming out of their morpher at the end.  Speaking of helmets, I thoroughly enjoy the Beast Morpher suits.  They are a drastic departure from the usual spandex we see from the show but has a unique superhero costume meets  superspy vibes.  Also, the way their summon their weapons during battle is seriously epic visually and how the music enhances the sequence of the escalation of battle due to summoning something like their Beast X Sabers or Beast X Blasters.  Cool! :) Oh and the brother/sister duo actually managed to help in battle and not just look like idiots this episode.  Already far better than Victor and his pathetic shadow! :P All and all, a superb second dose of Beast powered action and advanced robotic battles with some nice development for the team as well as individual characters and developing more of the rangers' arsenal as well as the villains. :) Also, the acting continues for the most part to be really top notch all around outside a few minor moments. *Thumbs way up!*

Final Morph: A