[Androzani84]

Okay, I?ve got just enough time to get this review in before I take a trip away tomorrow. So here?s?

Time Force Episode 14: Clash for Control, Part 1

We start shortly after the last episode, with the villains fretting over this new Quantum Ranger guy.



But as Ransik points out, they might not have the Quantum Ranger powers, but they can still get the Q-Rex, which is 150 million years in the past (okay, but given the Morpher survived that long underground, then surely it?s associated Zord should also have survived. Unless whats about to happen creates a time loop). For that reason, they release Commandocon, since he?s capable of travelling through time.



Meanwhile, the Rangers meet with Eric as he?s done training, and he?s unusually happy to see them.



Despite their pleas, he makes clear that he?s keeping the Quantum Ranger powers, and has full intent to take the Q-Rex as well. As if on cue, a beam is fired into the sky, opening a vortex.



It?s Commandocon, preparing to head back in time for his mission. Eric prepares to give chase and we get to see his morphing sequence after the insta-change from last time.



He then summons this jet thing, which he got from? somewhere (Gotta sell those toys, I guess).



Before the TF-Eagle travels to the past, Wes jumps onboard for the ride.





The pair crash in the past, when dinosaurs ruled the Earth (and random fact, this is Dan Southworth?s favourite episode, since they were riffing on Land of the Lost, a show I am only vaguely familiar with).



After Wes disturbs some baby Tyrannosauri, their mother appears to chase the two Rangers (and the props used to play it are pretty good, except for the fact the fully body version clearly isn?t using its legs).





As Wes is knocked off a cliff, Eric actually cries out in concern (our first real hint he?s not a truly bad guy, methinks).



Eric then hides from the T-Rex inside a cave where it?s too small to reach into.



And conveniently, it comes with cave drawings showing that the Q-Rex is buried in a nearby volcano (Wait, who drew these? Human ancestors hadn?t evolved yet).



Meanwhile, Wes wakes up from having fallen off a cliff (dude must be made of steel. He wasn?t morphed or anything) and sees that the volcano is about to erupt.



Back in the present, the others are unable to find the two Reds within a radius of 40,000 millennia (4 million years). Meanwhile, Wes falls into a pit? which turns out to be a T-Rex footprint.



He then sights the Q-Rex making its way to a cave (so, he got to the volcano in record time then), and kicks Commandocon down when the latter shows up to claim it.



Wes morphs to battle Commandocon, and gets overwhelmed by Commandocon, who proceeds into the cave, wherein he brainwashes the Zord into obedience by firing a blue chip from his staff. Outside, Wes is unable to give chase because Eric shows up to stop him (#priorities).



As the two waste time fighting, Commandocon raises the Q-Rex from the Earth and orders it to travel to the present.



The two Rangers stop fighting when they see the portal begin to close now that both Commandocon and the Q-Rex have travelled back to the present.



The two subsequently make for the TF-Eagle before the portal closes. But get menaced by (stock footage of) a volcanic eruption (and the sound effects they apply really do little to enhance the mood, compared to other places where I?ve seen this stock footage).



Wes ends up falling into the CGI cracks in the ground.



Fortunately, this causes Eric to have a change of heart and save him. Unfortunately, Commandocon arrives back in the present to unleash his new toy.



As he sends it on a rampage, the two Reds return, with Eric dumping Wes (in the literal sense, not the way some people are probably thinking).



Eric finds that he?s unable to command the Q-Rex with his voice ID.



The episode ends with the Rangers powerless and Ransik?s group teleporting in to assert dominance. To be continued in part 2.

Final thoughts: I don?t really do these for first parts of multi parters, but what we got here was nice. An out of genre trip to Jurassic Park, some really high quality dinosaur miniatures (I can see why they had to move to New Zealand given the stated reason was inflating budget costs) and a bit of hidden depths to Eric get introduced.