[Androzani84]

Time Force: Force from the Future, Part 1

(I know it’s the opposite case for long time viewers, but as someone who grew up on the Disney era, that tile reminds me of the Omega Ranger’s introduction)

Anyway, on with what some of you are here for…

We open in the year 3000, with some narration. Only here, the narrator talks about how a peacekeeping group known as Time Force has eradicated all crime from the world (which actually seems impossible).



Well, all except Ransik, played by the Road Warrior himself, Vernon Wells (how Saban and/or Koichi Sakamoto got a guy of his Caliber to do Power Rangers, is a mystery I may never know the answer to). Ransik has a thing that will allow him to conquer the world by travelling back to before Time Force existed and conquering it then.



But before he can use it, he gets accosted by Time Force’s Red Ranger, Alex, who engages him in battle in order to arrest him.



In the midst of the battle, Ransik reveals the ability to generate and pull bone swords out of his legs (I imagine he must have some kind of fast acting healing factor to be able to walk after that without any inconvenience)



As the fight goes on, Alex’s girlfriend Jen arrives, unaware of whats going on.



But her worry turns out to be for nothing, as Alex emerges from the building with Ransik and his device in custody. He then hands the latter over to his superior, Captain Logan, with the two of them discussing how bad it would have been if Ransik had used it.



At least a few hours later (it’s not made clear how much time has passed, but one would assume they’d put some time in to arrange things), Ransik goes before the courts, sending a meaningful look to a pink haired witness (who the opening credits identify as Nadira).





In the stands, Time Force officers Katie and Lucas provide a Greek chorus to the proceedings, with the former hoping Ransik gets put away, while the latter cynically notes that they might let him off (which is probably the most realistic thing about this future so far).



Meanwhile, their fellow officer Trip tries to get his robot owl Circuit (who is the same prop as Tock, but their characterisations are different. Tock is the wise old owl archetype, while Circuit is more of an Alpha 6-esque little brother) a good view of the proceedings.



Elsewhere, just before the recess ends, Alex decides that now he and Jen are out of a job with Ransik and his Mutants (great name for a rock band) behind bars, that he’s upgrading her from girlfriend to fiancee.



The judges appear via hologram to announce that Ransik has been found guilty and will be sentenced to life in cryogenic suspension (given that cryogenic means he?ll be frozen, and thus won’t age or die unless there’s a malfunction in the equipment, how the hell is this an enforceable punishment? At least Dolnero would?ve been let go after a millennium).



Every named character except Alex is charged with safely transporting Ransik back to jail… but Nadira, who turns out to be Ransik’s daughter, tricks them with the old “unconscious woman lying in the road” gambit and springs Ransik.



And to add insult to injury, Ransik’s robotic minion Frax (the counterpart to Gien) reveals he stole back the time core Ransik was experimenting on earlier, essentially making this whole arrest all for nothing.



As Captain Logan fires the quartet for screwing up, and Lucas decides to blame Trip because he’s an alien with psychic powers (racist, much?), Ransik and his crew travel to the prison.

Ransik: It’s my first time here as a visitor.



Inside, the guards are in the process of throwing criminals into the machine to cryogenically freeze and shrink them, including this random monster suit.



The next would be victim is Gluto (who uses Dolnero’s suit, but not much else), who is being imprisoned for apparent shoplifting (he insists he was framed, yet they found all the stolen goods in his car).



But he gets saved when Nadira enters and straight up murders the guards (as in, she shoots them with a laser gun and they drop down on the floor. They may not say it, but those guys are dead), causing a grateful Gluto to swear loyalty to her.



Meanwhile, Trip’s psychic powers kick in to show that Ransik’s crew are retrofitting the prison into a TARDIS (it even has the console in the centre), while Nadira kills the rest of the guards.



Wanting to redeem her failure, Jen pulls over a passing motorist (Reuben Langdon, making him the sole actor to be in Power Rangers and Metal Heroes), and angrily demands he hand over his car.



Katie chides Jen for her lack of tact… before proceeding to literally throw the guy out of his car and steal it (so our protagonists so far are a rabid cop, a racist cop and a carjacker. Yay?). Meanwhile, Alex engages Ransik in a rematch at the prison? and somehow loses.

Alex: You may defeat me, but you?ll never escape the Time Force.

Ransik: Where I’m going, there is no Time Force.

Jen’s team arrives just in time for Ransik to kill Alex by slashing him down the back (and people say Sentai is the darker franchise?).



As Ransik makes his escape into the past with the prison, a dying Alex passes his Morpher on to Jen, telling her that there are 4 others stored within the time ship, making her promise to stop Ransik with his last breath.



The 4 then proceed to steal said time ship (with Jen deciding to have Lucas and Circuit drive it), and against Captain Logan’s orders, fly off to the past, as the episode ends.



Final thoughts: Now I’m not here to say whether the Sentai or the Rangers episodes are better, but the whole point of this review is comparing and contrasting the two.

Most notably, there’s a lot more brisk pacing to Timeranger. Whereas the Time Force team have just set off for the past, by the same point, the Timerangers have transformed and had their first battle (Nadira slashing Lucas and Trip doesn’t count). There’s also some differences in characterisation, which can be chalked up to cultural differences. Most notably, the Timerangers are three rookies and an undercover cop, all of whom are operating by the book as much as they can. Meanwhile, the Time Force team are your standard mavericks going against orders to take down the bad guy out of pride.

Though in terms of the episode on its own, it’s a lot like the Timeranger one. Namely in that everyone appears (except for our Red Ranger for the season, even if his actor does appear as Alex) and we only get a mild glimpse at their personalities. As it’s the first part of a two parter, I’m reserving judgement on the whole thing until I get to the end of the second part.