[Androzani84]

Once again, I?m really late. I think I?ll do two reviews his weekend, and then we?ll be back on track. For now, here?s the first review of the week.

Timeranger Case File 18: A Shadowy Premonition, 24/06/2000

We open at Londarz Prison at night. Gien is looking over plans for a robot, which he dismisses when Lila takes an interest.



As soon as the others go to sleep, Gien selects a prisoner for his task and defrosts him.



Sandra (who I?m calling as such to spare my spellchecker) insists he doesn?t care about money, just killing people. Luckily, Gien has the perfect job for him. The next morning, Tomorrow Research prepare for a barbecue by buying really classy meat.



But before they can set off, Ayase is hired by a scientist with a broken arm to drive him to work. As he departs, Tatsuya gets worried about Ayase?s Osiris Syndrome, but the latter shrugs it off.



After he drives the scientist to his job, Sandra and the Zenits arrive to hold the place up.



They then put the place on lockdown, trapping Ayase in the building with them. He takes this chance to investigate via the air vents and pass on information to his teammates.



In the main room, Sandra reveals that he?s here to acquire a new element the scientists have discovered.



To spare their personnel a bloody end, they agree to give the scary alien what he wants: a single kilogram of the element. Meanwhile, Ayase passes on the name ?Lambda-2000? to the others, who pass it onto Tock, who explains it.







Thus, the heroes formulate a plan to have Ayase undo the lockdown so they can go inside and free the prisoners (with it being revealed that Tatsuya knows the lab?s layout because his dad owns it). But Tatsuya worries about Ayase succumbing to his disease. But he keeps this from the others, because apparently, it?s Ayase?s burden to bear, or something.



But he?s able to pull through enough to open the door to the garage, allowing the Timerangers to enter.



Meanwhile, the scientists use a doohickey to fuse some kind of powder into a a Lambda-2000 crystal, which they need to place in a metal container. (That is literally about as much explanation as the episode gives)



Sandra then prepares to kill his now useless hostages, before Tatsuya and Domon appear to save them. Yuri then orders the latter to join her and Sion in chasing Sandra outside, where he reveals he?s being payed 10 million to get the Lambda-2000. Meanwhile, Tatsuya heads to the security room, finding a figure in Ayase?s jacket slumped over lifeless on the floor.



But it?s just a Zenit. Ayase took off the jacket when equipping his Chrono Suit and used it to blind the robot. The pair join the others in pursuing Sandra, who manages to throw away the crystal to a nearby bush, before triggering a rebound before they can get close to defeating him. The Timerangers form into TimeRobo Beta, but Sandra not only disarms the robot, but manages to inflict massive damage to both them and the city using his grenades.



But with the Time Flier returning at Ayase?s command to fire a shot on its own, the heroes take the chance to reform into Alpha and power through to victory, even with TimeRobo obviously crackling with static as the battle ends.





But they can?t call this a perfect victory, since Gien still got away with the Lambda kilogram.



The Timerangers then proceed to their barbecue, and while the rest have fun, Tatsuya tries getting Ayase to do something about his heart condition, to which the latter continues to brush it off (I remember this biting him later on) and chides Tatsuya for treating him like he?s fragile and delicate.



And after the usual ?date this takes place? accompanies the heroes enjoying their barbecue while Tatsuya frets over having no idea how to handle Ayase?s problems, we get a total of 4 stingers. First of which, has Tock realising the true value of Lambda-2000.



Next is Gien actually building the robot he was drawing up earlier.



Then, the scientists from the lab are grateful the Londarz didn?t discover their real project, a giant death tank labelled ?Raimei? (Japanese for ?thunder?) in the Latin alphabet.



And finally, back in the year 3000, a new robot lies in wait.



Next time: Gien unleashes his killer robot Nova on the city, with the Timeranger?s seeing visions of themselves, and Tock noticing changes in history, in Case File 19: Moonlit Knight.

Final thoughts: It?s a bit of a weird one, in that while it feels like a plot of the week episode, we?ve got some plot development and world building. The issue is that it?s jammed into 4 scenes at the end that would make the MCU blush at how much they?re setting things up. But the plot as it is is a fairly unique and tense one, that fits in with Timeranger?s general approach to plots of the week.