[Androzani84]

Alright, back at a more normal time for?

Timeranger Case File 14: Dead Heat 14/05/2000

And this one adds another new writer to the menagerie, in the form of our old friend Toshiki Inoue. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your opinion of him), he only writes one other episode for this series, due to also doing Kamen Rider Kuuga at the same time. I considered adding pictures to this with the reasoning that ?It?s Inoue, everything he does is an event?, but I felt that would be taken too seriously. So anyway, let?s get started.

We start with the Timerangers driving a rental car, with Domon, Sion and Yuri cramped into the back (and Domon attempts to push his way into the front, so you know who?s writing this). But because of this incident, Ayase goes over the speed limit and gets his license suspended (and he just got it too).

Meanwhile, Dolnero is sick because he hasn?t made any money in a while (yes, really), whiel Lila selects a new Londars prisoner to be her getaway driver for robberies. And proving this isn?t a trivial use of the guy?s talents, he manages to outspeed the police in the ensuing car chase, causing a traffic pileup in the process. After the excitement?s over, we get some trippy visuals before we meet our new monster: Mad Race Baron, who offers to show off his real techniques.

The next morning, Yuri learns about the robberies from the newspaper, which Tock can?t match an M.O to. But Ayase gets suspicious when they mention the thief must be an incredible driver. And so, as Lila and Baron speed down the road, the Timerangers appear to stop them. And as indicated by last week?s trailer,Maron and Ayase are old acquaintances, with Baron claiming he?s helping Lila because of his weakness for strong women. He then declares ?we must have a race?, before laughing when he learns that Ayase got his license suspended, and leaves after claiming the latter had him arrested out of jealousy for his talent (yeah, he?s an Inoue character alright), while literally driving circles around the non Ayase heroes.

Back at Tomorrow Research, Ayase reveals that he and Baron both aspired to be racers, but Baron caused an accident that injured another driver by going too fast, and Ayase reported him as a witness (as for why he was freeze-compressed? The victim was the son of a wealthy and powerful individual). But Baron holds a grudge against him for testifying. Meanwhile, Lila gives some of her spoils to Baron, and Dolnero has recovered as a result of the jewels. But Baron then transforms into a human form so he can enjoy the 20th Century, with Lila joining him.

The two go out on the town, where Baron promptly ditches Lila to do his own thing, namely buying and eating a bowl of cherries with salt on top (apparently, that?s the stock diet on his home planet of Kanal). Ayase soon finds him, Havong been watching the place (okay, but how did he know he?d head for that cafe in particular). Baron admits that he?s helping the Londars because of his grudge against Ayase dominating his mind while he was frozen, making him join up with them to have one last race to break their 3-3 tie. Ayase accepts the challenge, on the condition that Baron quits the Londars if he loses. But they get delayed, due to Ayase needing to attend a lecture over his suspended license (and partially answering my question from 7 episodes ago, Tatsuya gave him the forename ?Shinnosuke?).

At the license center, Ayase?s mind is wandering as the officer gives the lecture about safe driving, getting himself a free practical lesson on traffic safety. After a sped up montage of Ayase going through the motions, Lila and Baron commit their next robbery, forcing Ayase to take the car out and pursue Baron, while the officer is left flailing for his life. Catching up to Baron, Ayase for ally challenges Baron to a race. During the race, Ayase tries appealing to Baron?s better nature, but he refuses to listen. Ayase then knocks Baron off the road jsut before they hit some kids playing in the street, which Baron takes as Ayase willing over him.

But Lila doesn?t allow resignations, and activates a device in the jewels that turns Baron into a mindless, armoured berserker. As the others deal with the Zenits, Ayase fights with Baron, imploring the latter to remember him. When this doesn?t work, it turns into a sword duel between the two, which Ayase narrowly comes out on top of. But Lila then breaks Baron?s compression seal, triggering a rebound.

In the following giant battle, TimeRoboAlpha destroys Baron?s mind controlling armour, at which point he admits he was jealous of Ayase?s talent the whole time and begs to be freeze-compressed so he can start over. Ayase performs the Press Blizzard himself, imploring Baron to turn his life around when they return to the 30th Century, with a fantasy sequence/flash forward (it?s not clear which) showing Baron winning a race.

Next time: Honami once more gets caught in the crosshairs of the Timerangers and Londars in Case File 15: Find the Sniper.

Final thoughts: Inoue?s scripts are best analysed through the guest characters and how they act in turn with the regulars. In this case, Baron is a well executed concept of someone who got an unnecessarily harsh sentence for something he refuses to take responsibility for. And we get another side of Ayase as he has to deal with his own roll in his rival?s arrest. The ending is slightly more uplifting than most of Inoue?s scripts, but I find it ambiguous enough to fit into his usual mould for bittersweet tales.