[Androzani84]

Time for our second review of the week with…

Time Force 3: Something to Fight For

We open at the prison the mutant gang teleported back in time, which is now inexplicably on its side in the woods, despite being shown to land in the city upright in the previous episode (the Watsonian reason being that they switched to depicting the exterior through stock footage from Timeranger).



As Nadira counts up the cash she managed to steal, Ransik sits in his office or bedroom or whatever, as what appears to be liquid Mercury oozes out of his skin. (Eurgh)



Fortunately, he packed a medicine for whatever he’s suffering from (judging by how many vials he has on hand, and he drinks it rather than injecting it it?s more likely to be a medicine than a straight up antidote or vaccine).



The next day, at the beach, the 4 Rangers scrounge the remains of the time ship for anything useful, and Trip finds something under a piece of rubble that Katie lifts one handed thanks to the magic of… I want to say, a crane?



Inside is Time Force’s counterpart to the Time Flier, the Time Jet (how Trip knew it would be there, I can’t say, since Alex never mentioned it).



Nearby, Jen and Lucas manage to fix up a communicator to speak with Captain Logan. He seems to have forgotten he fired these guys and entrusts them with capturing Ransik’s gang. And instead of being trapped there by themselves because of rules, the reason Time Force can’t send help is because the ship the Rangers stole and blew up was their only Time Machine (then why are you called Time Force?! Time Fraud sounds more like it).



Meanwhile, Wes is being driven through the city to a meeting, and for some reason, his tie isn’t tied.



But when he sees Nadira robbing a bank, Wes tells the chauffeur Phillips that he’s cutting out of the meeting and moves in to try and stop them. An attempt that gets derailed both because of his lack of powers or fighting prowess, and the fact Gluto took hostages along with the money.



Wes is quickly overwhelmed and cornered by Nadira in a fight. The only reason he doesn?t die is that the other Rangers appear to save him by shooting one of Nadira’s nails off (Vanity! Her one weakness).



In the aftermath, Jen calls Wes out for his reckless heroics, telling him he’d be a horrible Ranger because he’s a silver spoon trust fund brat who’s never struggled in his life (Apparently, wanting to genuinely save lives counts for nothing with this bitch). Meanwhile, Nadira whines to Ransik about her broken nail, which makes Frax decide they should defrost a mutant to destroy the Rangers, choosing the Jerata (the use of a definitive article makes it seem like that’s a species or stage name).



Back at his house, Wes gets introduced to his father?s business associates (and the latter seems remarkably blas? about Wes skipping out on a meeting, despite what Phillips implied earlier) as the heir to the latter’s company, Biosynth.



He then gets a chance to opt out of an awkward conversation with some old farts when he sees Trip hiding in the bushes.



Trip explains that Jen’s seeming hatred for Wes stems from the fact he looks like her dead fiance Alex. And we get a cut to Jen back at the beach with a prominent focus shot of her ring.



Wes ducks out of the house to join the others at the beach, gently speaking to Jen to persuade her to grant him one last chance as a Ranger. Meanwhile, Ransik unleashes Jerata (portrayed entirely by stock footage of Jecker) to destroy the Rangers… which he does by flying to the docks and attacking a load of randomly gathered, suspiciously Asian cops. (I’ve noticed the series struggles when they have to work with the Sentai elements, but I’ll go into more detail in the Final Thoughts)



Sensing this, Circuit warns the Rangers, and Jen gives Wes the Red Morpher again.



After Morphing, the group enlarge the Time Jet to seamlessly blend with the footage - I mean, get there quick enough to prevent loss of life.



They arrive, and we get the TimeRed vs Jecker battle footage getting used, even down to Wes hitting the seal on Jerata?s shoulder.





Here, the growth is explained as a result of mutant DNA being exposed to air (which is pretty nonsensical and makes me wonder if the writers even know what DNA is). And whereas Captain Ryuya had to wait through a whole impassioned plea from Tock to grant permission to use the 3D Formation System, Captain Logan immediately sends the Rangers the Time Fliers (so the Time Flier becomes the Time Jet and the TimeJets become Time Fliers. Because that’s not gonna get confusing)..



, which thanks to data uploaded to their visors, can combine into the Time Force Megazord Mode Blue, which is helpfully labelled as a Time Robo with a big b to indicate it’s Mode Blue.



(I am of course, making this crap up as it’s a relic of the Timeranger footage)

After an aerial battle with Jerata, the Megazord splits apart and reforms into the Time Force Megazord Mode Red, which is able to finish off the mutant and shrink him back down to the size of a doll.



After the battle, the episode ends with Jen allowing Wes to keep the Morpher this time, accepting him as part of the team.



Final thoughts: A much stronger offering than the first two episodes, that gives the characters on the heroes’ side more to them, after they came off as slightly one note in the pilot (right now, the villains are still a bit one-note). I’ve noticed this show does better when it’s working with its own elements, rather than the ones from the Sentai, with this episode in particular getting weaker once we got to the battle with Jerata.