A/N: This is the second episode in my Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Ranger Series. As with the first episode, neither the show nor Power Rangers belong to me. Power Rangers belongs to Saban and Disney, and T5RYCB and Brian Kenny belong to ESPN. This episode explains why you can't blame Rita for using the Green Power Coin so early in her attempts to conquer Earth. Enjoy, and pass some popcorn to your neighbor if you care to!
T5RYCB Ranger Series: Episode 2-Evidence against Rita and Best of Rest
(Show comes on the air and music starts playing)
"Excellent! Time to call on…Green Ranger!" shouts Rita Repulsa during the Eclipsing Megazord fight
"Coming up on the Top 5 Reasons you Can't Blame…" drones Brian Kenny's voice.
"Rita at that point was grasping for any kind of straw that she could find against us," says Jason Scott. "She couldn't handle us the first few weeks we faced her forces, and then she literally went for broke."
"A master plan, huh?" says Angel Grove High principal Mr. Caplan. "If, by master plan, you mean a desperate attempt to destroy the best team Angel Grove has ever seen, then yes."
"When she lost that battle," says Kimberly Hart, "she pretty much sealed her doom right there. She threw everything she had at us, and she still didn't win."
(Montage of Ranger moments starts playing, as does the show's theme, and the logo appears, followed by Brian Kenny himself)
"Hello again everyone, I'm Brian Kenny, and welcome to the second edition of the Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame-Ranger Series…a series that takes a fresh look at Power Ranger topics and controversies which have been largely popular since the show started in 1993. Our mission is not to vilify the subjects of these controversies, simply to take a look at the positive side of what they did. You will hear evidence and testimony from any and all characters. All you need is an open mind. In this show we will take a look at a decision made by United Alliance of Evil member Rita Repulsa that is largely questioned in Angel Grove City, and even amongst the Power Rangers themselves…that decision being the usage of the Green Ranger Power Coin just a few scant weeks into her attempts to conquer Earth. We're going to count down the Top 5 Reasons you can't blame Rita for using the Green Power Coin at that point. But first, let's take a look at the charges against Master Vile's daughter."
(Images of Rita Repulsa and her hench-mutants appear)
"My mistress Rita," says Scorpina, "was not patient at all. She took after Master Vile quite a bit. She tended to grab an idea and run with it. But even this decision…was very reckless, risky and still questionable in my mind."
"Just a few scant weeks after Rita started her attempts to conquer Earth, she found herself in a losing battle. The Power Rangers had turned back every attack against them, surviving such powerful creations as King Sphinx, Madame Woe, and even turning back Rita's top henchman Goldar on a couple of occasions."
"Every battle, those Rangers seemed to get better," said Squatt, "and Rita was losing it by the time we got three or four weeks into the conquest."
"Rita was so frustrated with her attempts to conquer Earth, that one fateful week, she decided to take a major risk…by summoning the mighty powers of the Green Dragon Power Coin."
"To this day, I don't know why she took such a big risk," said Zack Taylor. "She did it only a few scant weeks into her attempts to conquer Earth, so she couldn't have done too much research into what these powers could do."
"She had other great weapons of mass destruction, such as Goldar's Zord Cyclopsis, which she could have used before she activated the Green Coin," said Trini Kwan. "She could probably have simply called Scorpina and had an advantage against us."
"I knew the risks involved," said Rita. "If I activated the Green Dragon coin, and lost, then whoever had the Power at that point could ally herself…or in this case, himself…with Zordon. And look at where that power holder is now."
"That power holder is the Power Ranger typically designated as the Greatest Ranger ever, and was the lean, fast, disciplined teenager Thomas Oliver, a new transplant to Angel Grove. One day after watching him tie a karate match against the Power Rangers top field general, Jason Scott, Rita immediately selected him to be the holder of the Green Ranger powers, and put Tommy on a tight leash."
"She gave me specific orders for everything she wanted me to do," said Tommy. "Even someone who hadn't been a Power Ranger or had an IQ of 20 could see she was going for everything in this battle."
"I was ordered strictly to go to the Command Center, disable Zordon and Alpha, and get out right after she took me in. I also couldn't reveal myself to the other Rangers. She told me that this was her master plan and that I was not to mess it up," continued Tommy.
"After a week-long battle in which the Power Rangers were on the brink of defeat several times, Rita did indeed lose the battle, and thus lost Tommy to Zordon's side for good."
"That was probably her most calculated plan yet," said Jason Scott. "Tommy told me later that when he went under Rita's spell he was the one that warped me to Rita's Dark Dimension to face Goldar…using his Power Coin when my back was turned. She used one of Zordon's rules and kept us from knowing about Tommy."
"That was the only time she ever used a magic spell to short out the Megazord's power," said Billy Cranston. "I think that pretty much says it all."
"To this day, I still don't know why she did it," said Goldar. "Possibly hindsight is 20/20, as humans might say, but everyone saw how well Scorpina and I handled the Megazord…and both of us could easily take on all five Rangers at once."
"Tommy was and is a great warrior…probably just as good as I am if not more," said Scorpina, "but I think Rita could have gone about her plans another way."
(Tape finishes playing as evidence against Rita ends)
"Now you have seen the evidence and heard all the criticisms against the evil space witch for recklessly using the Green Power Coin so early in her conquest attempts. But before we count down the top 5 reasons you can't blame her, here are some reasons that didn't make the cut. We call them the Best of the Rest."
"Divide and Conquer," said Brian Kenny.
"That was the entire basis of my plan…split them apart one-by-one and see how they functioned outside their team environment," said Rita. "I'd seen what they could do as one team, and I wanted to see what would happen if the Green Ranger split them up."
"And Tommy did just that. Beginning with Zordon, and subsequently the Command Center, Tommy began severing the Ranger links one by one, and came within a hair's breadth of destroying leader Jason Scott for good."
"When Rita had me under her control, Rita emphasized divide and conquer. When I sent Jason to the Dark Dimension, I said 'one down, four more to go.' That was Rita's master plan…split the Rangers up and sever their links, and see how they functioned."
"In hindsight, what I should have done after the Megazord eclipse was go after them one-by-one again," said Rita. "I let them stay as a team, and it helped cost me the battle."
"Another Best of the Rest: Cupcake City. While the Rangers had to adjust to their newfound powers, Rita's early attacks were not significantly dangerous for the Power Rangers."
"As far as I know, she did not give us one monster in the first few weeks we fought her that Zordon didn't know how to adjust to," said Kimberly. "Tommy struck so hard and fast that we didn't have time to adjust. We just had to fight on the fly."
"Everything went right for us in the first two weeks," said Jason. "Rita's monsters were average, but they were little more than space dust once Zordon knew how to beat them. It was almost like it was too easy for us. Even Trini said almost to Rita's army at large after defeating Pudgy Pig, 'You'll have to do better than that if you want to beat us.'"
(Music plays as tape ends)
"Coming up next, we'll begin our countdown, and we'll explain why a simple eclipse was nearly enough to destroy the Rangers for good."
"We're losing power fast…we're down to 50 percent!" yells Jason from the Megazord cockpit.
(Music plays as segment ends)
TBC…