[Androzani84]

And after a few weeks away, we?re back with the Time Force reviews, starting with?

Time Force Episode 9: The Time Shadow

We open as BioLab, where Mr. Collins shows off to the press his company's latest weapon, the Raimei Destroyer (that seems like the opposite of what a company named ?Bio? Lab should be doing, unless this thing was grown in a vat), which he plans to use to ensure public safety in the city. (Because nothing says safety like a giant sized death tank)



He then leads them into the main research facility, where he has a machine pooping out sand or dust or something. (What purpose this serves is a riddle for the ages)



As if on cue, a Mutant (adapted from Sandora) bursts into the facility to take it over, demanding they hand over the dust the machine was creating, Zerium powder. (Dude staged a whole robbery just for a kettle full of dust? Seems like the sort of thing that could?ve easily been an inside job with far less hassle, considering what happens later in this episode).





And since there are no plucky teens in red capes listening to music on their phones out at this time, it?s up to the Power Rangers to save the day, with stock footage dictating Wes and Lucas split up from the others to save the hostages (who our Mutant is keeping hostage despite having got what he wants). Meanwhile, Jen, Trip and Katie chase the Mutant as he meets up with Frax, who collects the kettle of dust and tells Izout to destroy the Rangers (banking correctly on mutants being stupid, which given the extent of Ransik and Nadira?s planned villainy so far is an accurate assumption).



Wes and Lucas get the hostages freed, with the former wanting to speak to his dad as the latter escorts people out of the building, but stopping out of hesitation. (What this means, I cannot say, since the episode doesn?t call back to it. Maybe a future one?)



The two rejoin their friends and defeat Izout, but he exposes his DNA, leading to the Megazord battle? which ends abruptly (even considering the stock footage) with him trashing the Megazord and knocking the Rangers to the ground.



And then the Time Jet flies in from nowhere to anti-climactic ally finish things with one shot (and despite being seemingly totally trashed a second ago, the Zords are suddenly intact enough to fly back to the future).



Back in the future, Captain Logan commands his men to ensure the Time Flyers are fixed, unaware(?) they?re being watched by a mysterious shadowy figure.



The figure activates his own robot project, the titular Time Shadow. And instead of cool ninja hiyas, this footage is accompanied by cartoon swoosh effects. And they cut out a lot of the action, presumably for time constraints.



Meanwhile, Mr. Collins and his scientist wonder why the Mutants stole the dust, since it?s just waste excreted from making a colossal death tank (which makes one wonder how Frax even found out about it. It?s even more implausible than how the Adamantium is sourced in X-Men Origins: Wolverine), and decide to finish the death tank. Meanwhile, Frax watches as Ransik and Nadira are given spa treatment from the Cyclobots (and Ransik gives one that slightl messes up a massage the Spartan treatment).



With Ransik?s ranting ongoing, Frax commences work on his revenge project: A robot (adapted from Nova) that requires the dust be blasted with a laser as part of the construction.



The lasers fuse the dust into a spiked crystal (adapted from Lambda-2000), that Frax uses to brag about how robots are smarter than ?you? (probably Ransik, given the context) think.



Back at the Clocktower, Circuit does the research and discovers the Zerium Powder can be fused into a raw Trizerium Crystal (I don?t know if that?s spelled correctly and I don?t care. It?s basically the writers trying to make Z3 sound like an atomic number in the footage they?re repurposing). But Jen is worried, since Trisillicate Crystals shouldn?t be discovered until 2100.



Frax then uses an easy bake oven to charge the crystal (a necessary step mandated by the stock footage, it even makes an oven ding), before inserting it into his robot Tronicron (Given it looks like a bulky Cyclobot, I kind of wish they?d acknowledged that in the name), which he plans to have succeed where so many Mutants have failed by destroying the city (Why he?s keeping this secret from Ransik? It?s not said, but I?m guessing that discrimination towards robots on the latter?s part plays a role). Frax thus unleashes Tronicron by? exposing his mutant DNA? (I?m guessing they didn?t think their explanation for the growth method through)



The Rangers rush to the scene as Tronicron fires at edited out targets and try calling for the Time Flyers? only to get the bad news from Captain Logan that the Megazord is still down.



Circuit informs the Rangers remotely that they can?t send the Megazord, as Mr. Collins brings the Raimei online to deal with Tronicron. Circuit then shows up to tell the Rangers that the Megazord is down (I?m guessing someone forgot to double check the script), and that Tronicron isn?t a mutant, but a robot that can?t be frozen.



It?s then that the Raimei appears, and the Rangers somehow don?t recognise it (I guess none of them watch/read the news).



The combined firepower of the Raimei and the Rangers? Vortex Blasters actually does some damage, before Frax brags that Trizbaena Crystals make Tronicron indestructible, before the robot chooses to fight back, totalling the tank and leaving the Rangers to save the pilots.





Seeing the destruction, the mysterious shadowy figure sends the Time Shadow back in time, causing an eclipse.





Time Shadow manages to match Tronicron, while sending its dats to Circuit so he can name it as the Time Shadow Megazord.



It then overpowers the enemy robot with enough force that Frax crashes through the skylight he was standing on.



The Rangers face down Frax, who insists that he has a chance since he?s not Foghting the Time Shadow, before summoning the Cyclobots to fight the Rangers and give them an decent action scene for this episode.



Up in the sky, Time Shadow finishes off Tronicron by combining its blades to cut through the robot.



Frax departs before the Rangers can detain him. Later, Jen and Trio thank Logan for sending the Time Shadow, but he reveals that Time Force didn?t send it, and he doesn?t know who did.



And the answer to this question ends the episode by watching his creation returning to him.



Next time, the Rangers battle Vexicon, a ?worst of the worst? criminal from the X Vault.

Final thoughts: Well as the first episode back after a hiatus in this thread, that was alright. Good sense of tension, some setup for future events and after setup last episode, we get Frax moving past being Ransik?s yes-man into being a threat on his own. Though there is the drawback of the episode lacking a real central focus, given its mashing two episodes worth of footage together, and the abrupt introduction of the mystery man seems like the writers thought they could ignore the mystery benefactor plot from Timeranger prior to this and had to hurriedly insert it back in when it proved to be more relevant than it seemed (and from what I recall, it?ll seem even more so in later episodes).