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Ranger Ranker! #15 – Power Rangers Mystic Force

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Ranger Ranker

The One With the Capes!

Welcome back to Ranger Ranker! We’re back from the future and are now firmly set in the present.

Let’s Talk About Magic

Magic has always been a part of Power Rangers – Zordon was a wizard, Rita was an evil space witch, there were always spells and potions being thrown around – but it was always kind of a technological show too. There was a robot and a command center with all the blinking lights and panels and sparks that shoot out of everything.1Those sparks could not have been safe, but I guess if it’s good enough for Star Trek, why complain? In Mighty Morphin’, it was all kind of blended together – the Rangers used technology and magic fairly equally, not making much of a distinction between the two. Later iterations would have a mystical, spiritual bent to them as well – powerful crystals, swords of destiny, animal guardians, even to some extent the sentient giant cars were treated as magical. Even in the more explicitly technological seasons, like Lightspeed and Time Force, there were still demons and ghosts and spells just sort of hanging around. But magic was never the main point of the season. Magic was there, but that was just it. It was a presence but not particularly acknowledged. It wasn’t the main point of the Rangers. Until now.

In Mystic Force, the Rangers are explicitly Sorcerers. They cast spells, ride brooms,2Well, they start out as brooms before turning into cool magic airbikes. and even ponder an orbbehold a viewing globe. They even have wands, although in order to blend into modern society, they’re transformed into magical cell phones.3In true 2006 fashion, they’re flip phones. Staying true to past installments, there’s never really a Magic vs. Technology conflict. The first lead villain, Morticon, is aesthetically technological, but he’s as much a part of the Magical World as the rest of the backstory characters. And the conflicts between the Magical World and Mundane World are more based in Fear of The Unknown than in any kind of anti-technological theme. Even the cell phone wands are kind of a blend of technology and magic rather than any kind of diminishment of either.

In this world, Magic is just a thing that exists. As Udonna states in the first episode, to use magic, all you need to do is believe in magic. And why not believe in it? Magic is Real! When Nick disbelieves at first, it’s in the face of the evidence of magic all around him. His four companions have just used magic in front of him and he still doesn’t believe. He eventually comes around, of course, but the world of Power Rangers is one that has always had magic,4and aliens and wizards and robots and monsters and freaking Power Rangers so it does seem kind of arbitrary in context.

Anyway, all of this to say, I find the integration of an explicitly, primarily magical season an interesting and refreshing change in a show that usually culminates in a giant robot punching something. It’s a thematic change-up, but not one that feels too out of place or too uncharacteristic of the show. Magic is just another way for teenagers with attitude to have special powers. It’s 2006, after all, practically the height of kids wanting to be wizards, thanks to a particular popular fantasy series that had yet to jump the shark of its horrible creator’s despicable views. There was even potentially almost a magical academy in the show, if Hurricane Katrina hadn’t kept writer Greg Aronowitz in Louisiana, away from the show’s production and unable to follow through on his initial ideas for the season. So let’s start believing in magic and get on with the show as we get into the next season of Power Rangers:

Power Rangers Mystic force follows five teenagers5Well, probably not actually teenagers – Nick is implied to be around 20 due to backstory stuff and the others are probably around the same age who become wizards and also Power Rangers. There’s magic, both dark and light, there’s action, there’s even an alien at one6very short point just so that there’s a little connection to last season’s S.P.D. Let’s get going!

Adaptation

Unfortunately for Power Rangers, the relationship between the production team and Disney was starting to sour. S.P.D. had used up a massive amount of budget with its finale and there was pressure on the team to use less original footage and more imported Sentai footage, as well as reduce spending overall, trying to fit in more “bottle episodes” and cheaper episodes in general.. Plus, the episode count got reduced from 38 down to 32, leading to various cuts, including the lack of a big crossover team-up episode for the season. Still, the production team managed to do a lot of interesting fantasy worldbuilding and put together a tight, shortened story in the episodes that they did have.

Plot

“A short time ago,7Around 20 years or so – it would be easy to make the mistake of thinking the backstory of the season was much longer ago, considering how quickly the intro monologue glides past explaining the timeframe. there was a dimension full of wonderful magic,” goes the opening lines of the first episode. War breaks out, as it always does with these peaceful magical realms, and victory is gained at a great cost – the bravest of the wizards sacrifices himself heroically to drive back the forces of evil from the human realm and the gate is sealed… Until the present, when an earthquake cracks the gate, allowing the evil Morticon and his forces of darkness to seep through and attack the human world.

Meanwhile, the good sorceress, Udonna, senses the breach in the gate and recruits five teenagers with attitude to become the Mystic Force, a team of Power Rangers who defend Good Magic and protect the human realm from magical threats. Unbeknownst to any of them, Udonna’s selection is at least partially meant to be, as Nick turns out to be the Chosen One – referred to in prophecy as The Light – destined to become the most powerful wizard that ever existed. Orphaned as a child, Nick is actually the long-lost son of Udonna and the powerful warrior, Leanbow, who sacrificed himself in the opening backstory to seal the forces of evil.

In the course of the season, Morticon manages to open the gateway between the Underworld and the human world, but is defeated by the Rangers. He is replaced by the scheming Imperius, who is actually a member of the order of good wizards who opposed Morticon, but betrayed them in the name of power. The Rangers are joined by one of Imperius’s former allies, the good wizard Daggeron, who fights alongside them as the Solaris Knight, eventually defeating Imperius in a one-on-one duel. Imperius is succeeded by the Ten Terrors, whose sole purpose is to release The Master, who has been behind every evil force in the series all along and who Leanbow sacrificed himself to seal all those820 years ago. One by one, the Ten Terrors are defeated, but not before releasing The Master, who the Rangers must face down in one final battle for the fate of all magic.

+728 pts

Music

I’m going to be honest: I don’t like the theme song of this season. Maybe I just hate change. Maybe I’m not the target audience for it. Maybe it’s just too much of a genre shift for me. I just do not like it. Call me a rap hater if you must. Or just a hater in general, that’s probably accurate too. Apart from that, much of the civilian side of the season is set at the RockPorium, a record shop in Briarwood where all of the rangers work, so there’s a lot of musical theming if not actual music. The Pink Ranger, Vida, spends a lot of her time “working” at the shop DJing the soundtrack though, so that’s kind of fun. 

-104 pts

Fights

Did I mention that this season the Ranger suits have CAPES? Capes! So there’s lots of cape swishing and swooping in the fights and I just find that ever so charming. Plus, the Rangers have elemental magic, so there are a lot of cool magical effects in the fights, from lightning blasts to tornadoes to magical vines and all sorts of other cool visuals. The Zord fights are fun too, with the Megazord getting wings for aerial fights and even turning into a dragon sometimes. However, with the reduced amount of original footage, there are also a lot fewer unmorphed fights this season, and the ones that there are aren’t as exciting as the past couple seasons have been, which is a bit disappointing. They do get cool civilian uniforms that also have capes though, so I guess Power Rangers: Mystic Force is ultimately a land of contrasts.

+973 pts

Miscellany

Thematically speaking, this season really hits its mark. The magical aesthetic really works for me, and the world that they’ve built in Briarwood and the surrounding Mysterious Woods is a fun one. I do wish that we could have seen more of the civilian world though – we don’t really leave the RockPorium very often or get to see a lot of the Rangers’ lives outside of their jobs there. As much as I enjoy Toby, I’d love for the Rangers to have more than one civilian relationship in their lives, even if it were just a random guest appearing more than once in a while. Ultimately, this is likely a result of the shortened season and having to split time between the magical plots and civilian plots with the magical plots winning out on the balance, especially once Daggeron shows up and we start getting deeper into the backstory.

Cumulative Score: 3080 pts!

The Good Guys

We again have a very standard team of five Rangers this season, made up of the usual Teenagers9who aren’t actually teenaged with Attitude. In an interesting thematic twist, they are joined by a bunch of Sixth Rangers who are all older, members of the previous generation of heroes who fought against the forces of evil in the Backstory War. They are variously depowered or otherwise unavailable at the start of the season,10or shortly thereafter, in Udonna’s case but all serve as both mentors and teammates to the younger Rangers, training them and guiding them while still fighting alongside them. It’s an interesting relationship, similar to Tommy in Dino Thunder, with the more experienced Rangers often needing to find some reason why they shouldn’t just be overshadowing the ostensible main characters.

The Rangers

Nick Russell (Firass Dirani)  

High STR. Low CHA. Flame-powered.

Nick is the Specialest Boy. He’s The Light, the child of destiny who can destroy evil, plus he’s a cool motorcycling bad boy wanderer. This season kind of becomes The Nick Show after a certain point, what with him getting the battlizer and the bulk of the plot-relevant development applied to him. He’s even got a special brain connection to one of the main villains that lets him get called out for a duel on a regular basis. Praise our special, special boy.

Chip Thorn (Nic Sampson)  

High INT. Low WIS. Likes lightning.

Chip is a big ol fantasy nerd, which makes him surprisingly useful in this exact specific circumstance. He’s so excited to become a sorcerer and eventually train to become a knight, it’s really quite heartwarming. Plus he’s got all the fantasy knowledge that conveniently comes in handy, like when he knows exactly how to deal with a vampire down to the minute details right when a vampirizing monster comes to town. Any other season, he’d be useless comedy relief, but in this season, he’s the go-to guy for knowing how to handle the mystic nonsense of the week.

Madison Rocca (Melanie Vallejo)  

High WIS. Low CON. Works with water.

Madison and Vida, the Pink Ranger, are sisters, and as it always is with sisters in fiction, they have opposing personalities. Madison is the calm, collected, unexciting one. As she herself puts it, she’s “the sister with the common sense.” As a result, she tends to get overlooked and underestimated. She fades into the background a bit, which isn’t helped by Nick taking up the entirety of the foreground so much of the time. However, she is the emotional, caring heart of the team, keeping them together and keeping them on the right track when things get difficult. Even if she’s not the one at the forefront running straight into battle, she serves her purpose well and has a hidden strength that shines through.

Xander Bly (Richard Brancatisano)  

High CHA. Low INT. Plant-based.

Xander would almost always rather talk it out than fight, relying on his charm and good looks to get him by. This works practically none of the time. He is the type to think much more of himself than he is worth, and to be perfectly honest, is in the wrong genre to be able to talk himself out of a jam. You’re not going to get out of a fight with the queen of the vampires with a winsome smile, no matter how charming it really is. Also, he gets the Mystic Muscles power-up, which makes him into a big muscley boy. I don’t have anything to say about that, I just think that’s neat.

Vida Rocca (Angie Diaz)  

High DEX. Low STR. In the wind.

Vida is the cool sister. The fiery, impulsive, stubborn one. The one who jumps first and thinks never. Ironically, she’s not a fan of the color pink, though she does seem to embrace it over the course of the season.11I’ll leave it as an exercise for the reader to determine whether that’s character development or the writers forgetting about it. Vida is fiercely loyal and quick to defend those she cares about. She’s also extremely caring and trusting, willing to give even the villainous Matoombo a chance to redeem himself when it seemed that he didn’t wish harm on anyone.

Udonna (Peta Rutter)  

The wise mentor. The white sorceress. Missing her snow staff.

Udonna is the season’s mentor, so she starts off the season losing her Snow Staff, which is what lets her become the White Mystic Ranger. She still has magic, though weaker, and guides the team of young sorcerers as they become true Rangers. She later loses her magic entirely when she uses dark magic to travel to the Underworld to save the Rangers, but gains it back when she recovers her Snow Staff and her Ranger powers. She is husband to Leanbow, the hero of the great war, and she is eventually revealed to be Nick’s mother.

Daggeron (John Tui)  

The dashing knight. Possibly a train conductor? Was a frog.

Daggeron is a knight who fought in the great backstory war, but was betrayed by one of his allies and trapped in a cave as a frog for the past twenty years. He is rescued and restored by a kiss from a fair maiden, like you do, and takes up the modern day fight as the Solaris Knight. For some reason he’s train themed – his morpher is a ticket punch and he morphs by punching a ticket card that can also summon the Solar Streak, a magical train that travels between dimensions. He’s charming and cool and everyone loves him, even Xander eventually, though he’s initially put off by someone else taking up his niche of being the charming and cool one in the group.

Leanbow (Chris Graham)  

The loving father. The bravest warrior. Possessed by the Master.

Leanbow was the greatest of the last generation of the Mystic Force. He leapt through the gate to the underworld to stop The Master, but as he did so, The Master dragged him down with him and used his dark magic to corrupt Leanbow, turning him into Koragg. Only after Koragg absorbed a virus that began to break down that spell was Leanbow freed from The Master’s grasp. It is later revealed that Leanbow is actually Nick’s father, and along with Udonna, make up the specialest family of the season, though he remains trapped in the underworld for most of his time on the show. Leanbow is noble and wise and perfect and can do no wrong, so after a lot of trials and tribulations to rescue him from the underworld, the family is reunited.

The Team

I. Love. The. Capes. I could just watch those swooshing cape flourishes forever. The customized insignias on the back is a nice touch, too. For some reason I like it when the insignia is on the cape and not as chest insignias, what can I say? I like how the black bars of the suits form an “M” motif across the fronts. And the helmet visors representing each Rangers’s mystic creature works really well. There’s just so much to like about these suits. If I had a complaint, it would be that they come off as a little dark – I wish there were a little more white in there to offset the black bars, especially in the male suits where the bars go all the way down their legs. As for the sixth Rangers, Udonna’s suit is also great, but Daggeron’s Solaris Knight suit feels like it’s from an entirely different show. There’s just no thematic continuity at all with it. And then Leanbow is a recolored Koragg, which makes sense, I guess, and it’s a fine design, but it’s nothing special. The wolf-head pauldrons are a little much, methinks.

The team dynamic this season is nice. They have good chemistry and cameraderie and there are a lot of nice individual relationships between all the Rangers, from Vida and Madison’s sisterly bond to Chip and Vida’s chaotic lifelong friendship to Xander and Nick’s bonding over being outsiders. Then we get to the Big Important relationship of the season, the big happy magical family of Nick (previously named Bowen), Udonna, and Leanbow. This never really worked for me – the revelation that they were once a family never really had the time or space to develop or grow with the characters. Once they learn it, they’re immediately over it and calling each other “Mom” and “Son” and so on with no real change in their dynamic. I just kind of expected Nick to have a little more meaningful angst over it that he never really gets to. And I know that Power Rangers isn’t really the show to go to for angst, I realize that’s not the tone, but it just felt like there was missing space in the familial relationship. Maybe with a longer season they would have had time to deal with that, but with Disney being Disney, they didn’t get that and the loss really is felt.

Ranger Ranker:

  1. Vida – She’s so cool and fun! +3102 pts
  2. Chip – He’s a fun character who happens to be in just the right genre. If only they actually gave him anything to do. +2987 pts
  3. Madison – Sensible! Collected! Basically always right about everything! +2530 pts
  4. Daggeron – He’s more Cool Dad than the actual Cool Dad of the season. +2011 pts
  5. Nick – Welcome to The Nick Show, enjoy Nick or else. +1238 pts
  6. Xander – Oh, Xander, Xander, Xander. Will you ever stop trying to charm the pants off of every bad guy in front of you, no matter how many times you fail? No, and we accept that. Mostly. +1140 pts
  7. Udonna – A better mentor than a Ranger, and that’s okay. +302 pts
  8. Leanbow – Who even is this guy and why does everyone love him so much? +100 pts

There’s a lot of good here, but I really wish that we got to see more of the team outside of the record store. I get that the season is shortened, but it really feels like we don’t get to see much of what the Rangers are all interested in. Between Rootcore and the RockPorium, they almost never are seen doing anything else, or even being anywhere else. I love all the main Rangers and even Udonna and Leanbow are fine for as much as they get. There’s really no weak link in this cast, even considering that Leanbow is basically out of the picture for most of the season because his absence actually matters.

“Magical Source! Mystic Force!”

They don’t hold the cell phones up to their heads! That’s a good thing, by the way. It helps that the cell phone morphers are actually magic wands with flippy crystals, but I appreciate that they don’t go for the same moves that they’ve already done before in Wild Force. Holding their wand phone to the sky, a magic circle appears, summoning the spirit of the Ranger’s associated mystical creature. It swoops down to merge with them and they fly through another spell circle, forming the suit. Then with a magic sparkle, the helmet forms on their heads. In the shortened version of the sequence, only the helmet part is shown, which is fine I guess. Overally, a solid morph sequence – much simplified from the previous few seasons, but it looks good and isn’t too repetitive from past morphs.

Overall Team Score: 4165 pts!

Gear

Mystic Morpher

Magical flip phones! They’re actually fantasy-looking magic wands, but Udonna turns them into phones so that they blend in in the Rangers’ civilian personas. That said, they do function as cell phones too, so that’s pretty handy as we get into the cell-phone-having years of the mid-2000s. The Rangers receive “spell codes” over time, which are three-number sequences that they can key into the phones to activate magic powers, which isn’t really a new device, but it does come with a booming magical voice speaking nonsense magic words that correspond to the numbers typed, so that’s kind of fun.

+505 pts

Fireheart

Fireheart is a dragon that eats mainly vegetables,13because the implication of him being a carnivorous dragon would be too much for a kids’ show but he counts as equipment because he forms Nick’s Special Red Ranger Battlizer power. Because the Red Ranger is always special. The Battlizer form this time isn’t all that special, but it does have these two dragon-themed batons that he throws like boomerangs, which is kind of fun I guess.

+25 pts

Boxing Gloves

One of the Rangers’ spell codes gives a Ranger magical boxing gloves to punch their enemies, but only the male Rangers get to use it, which is a major load of crap.

+800 pts

Zords

Mystic Titans

The Zords this season are interesting in that instead of calling on Zords that already existed, the Rangers become their Zords via Magic. They’re also mostly humanoid in form with animal/mythological creature theming, much like the Shogunzords of MMPR Season 3 were. This means that they can fight on their own sometimes and not just be animals or tanks running around. Also, the Mystic Sprite can turn into a ball for some reason? Which the other Zords can throw/kick around as an attack? I don’t know, it’s honestly pretty weird. One other weirdness is the size disparity of the Zords. The Mystic Minotaur is huuuuuge, while the Mystic Sprite is relatively tiny. When the Megazord forms, the Rangers appear in an extradimensional combined cockpit that looks like a chessboard because… something, something, thinking strategically. Sure, why not.

I like the humanoid forms of the Zords. It gives everyone something to do before forming the Megazord, even if that thing is “turn into a ball and get thrown at the enemy.” And the mythical creature inspiration for the Zords gives them all a different powerset and silhouette, which was a problem with the otherwise homogeneous aforementioned Shogunzords. Plus, the four non-Red Zords can combine into a flying Dragon that the red Mystic Phoenix can ride on. And in Megazord form, it’s got wings! A flying Megazord right from the start, how novel! And it’s also got a little Megazord hat! Anyway, the mythological origins of the various Zords are pretty mixed, coming from a lot of different mythologies, which feels a little disjointed, but works fine if you don’t think too hard about it.

Coolness of Mythological Creature

  1. Garuda – Garuda is a giant bird from Hindu mythology. I think birds are pretty cool. End of analysis. +580 pts
  2. Minotaur – Is the mythological Greek minotaur a tragic figure and a metaphor for shame and the unknown? Sure, but also it’s really big and that’s kind of neat. +396 pts
  3. Phoenix – Fun fact: Some have suggested that flamingos are the origin of the Greek myth of the Phoenix because they like to hang out near volcanic lakes. The Zord in question resembles a Phoenix not at all, but that’s cool, right? +351 pts
  4. Mermaid – The problem with the Mermaid is that it kind of is only functional near water. The Mystic Mermaid Zord has legs most of the time but they can turn into a tail, but that’s kind of a cop-out, in my opinion. +109 pts
  5. Sprite – Why it gotta be so small though? +56 pts

Titan Megazord

Primary Weapon: Titan Saber

Finishing Move: Mystic Spell Seal – The Megazord uses its sword to draw a spell circle, then slashes through it to destroy the enemy.

Total (group) score: +758 pts

Catastros

Catastros is a horse. Like, an actual horse, the animal, horse. Like the Rangers though, he turns into a giant transforming robot. Most of the time, Catastros is under the sway of evil, serving the villain Koragg, but he’s just a horse, so he doesn’t have any, like, actual evil whims. Nick is able to temporarily sway him to the side of good by being very special, so he’s able to combine with Catastros to form the Centaurus Phoenix Megazord. 

Coolness of Horse

A horse is a horse. Of course.

Centaurus Phoenix Megazord

The Centaurus Phoenix Megazord is very strong for only being made up of two Zords. That’s what you get with Red Ranger Specialness.

Score: +253 pts

Solar Streak

The Solar Streak is Daggeron’s train that can travel through dimensions. It is summoned by punching a magic train ticket with Daggeron’s magical ticket punchy morpher thingy, which summons a magical train station for the Solar Streak to arrive in. It doesn’t combine with any other Zords, it just turns into its own Sixth Ranger Megazord, the uncreatively named Solar Streak Megazord.

Coolness of Train

Trains are great! Remember when we had a whole season where all the Zords were carried around in trains? Good times.

Solar Streak Megazord

I think this Megazord is technically coal powered? Not very environmentally friendly, Daggeron. Although, its Furnace Blast attack does suck enemies into its furnace chamber, so maybe it’s monster-fueled, which is… concerning, yet intriguing.

Score: +587 pts

Brightstar

Brightstar is a freaking unicorn that can travel between dimensions! She only shows up once and Nick gets to form a Megazord with her similar to with Catastros. Because he’s special.

Coolness of Unicorn

We had a Unicorn Zord before in MMPR Season 2, but it wasn’t nearly this cool.

Phoenix Unizord

It’s basically just a colorshifted version of the Centaurus Phoenix Megazord. And it only shows up the once.

Score: +777 pts

Mystic Legends

When the Rangers get their Legend Warrior powers from the Tribunal of Magic, one of the spell codes that they can dial on their rotary magic staffs turns them into the extremely CGI Legend Zords – Nick turns into the Mystic Firebird and the other four Rangers have to share the Mystic Lion Zord, which also forms most of the Megazord all on its own.14The Firebird forms the flaming wings of the Megazord, but also doesn’t enable it to fly. Purely decorative wings. There’s also a transformation sequence that involves the Firebird making rings of fire and the Lion jumping through them, circus-style.

Unlike the more humanoid Titans, the Mystic Legends are purely animal in form and function, so they don’t get as much to do, which is a shame. I always enjoy when the Zords get to be effective outside of Megazord form. I think the Manticore Megazord itself is pretty fun, with the nonstandard spear weapon instead of the traditional sword. Plus, the spear spins15Like a drill and spinning always makes everything cooler. It’s a science fact.

Coolness of Mythological(?) Creature

  1. Firebird – Is a Firebird meaningfully different from a Phoenix? I say no, but some would say… Yes? A world of contrasts. +528 pts
  2. Lion – Regardless, a lion is not a mythological creature and so the Firebird is automatically cooler. +4 pts

Manticore Megazord

Primary Weapon: Legend Striker

Finishing Move: Legend Striker Spin Attack – The Legend Striker spins16Like a drill while the Megazord’s wings ignite and wrap the weapon in flames. Then the Megazord stabs with the Striker and rings of flame fire at the enemy. 

Total (group) score: +xxx pts

Mentors/Allies

Udonna

When Udonna loses her Snow Staff, she loses access to her morphing powers and is relegated to be the mentor for the Rangers. She still has all her normal magical powers though, at least until she loses them when she uses dark magic to save the Rangers when they were trapped in the Underworld. She’s a good mentor overall, serving as their and our introduction to the Magical World. She does go off on a magicless road trip to find herself17and her lost husband I guess after the various shocking revelations about Nick and Leanbow, leaving Daggeron behind to take up mentoring duties though.

+259 pts

Clare

Clare is Udonna’s apprentice and also her niece. She starts out the series fairly incompetent, but her magic improves over the course of things. It’s also revealed that she’s the heir to the powerful hereditary magic of The Gatekeeper through her dead mom, but she burns through that power in a multipart episode and can’t access it any more.

+782 pts

Jenji

Jenji is a cat and also a genie, due to getting trapped in a lamp during backstory misadventures with Daggeron. He and Daggeron share a close bond, with Jenji’s lamp serving as one of Daggeron’s primary weapons and Jenji himself serving as one of his finishing attacks. Jenji has powerful wish magic, but is bound by genie rules, meaning that when he is captured by the villains, they are able to use him to wish away all of the Good Magic in the world. It gets better though.

+1001 pts

Snow Prince

The Snow Prince is the mentor to the original Mystic Warriors, the heroes of Leanbow’s time and the backstory war. He’s a powerful magic user and a wise teacher and he even has his own snowy dimension that he lives in and just shows up on Earth for fun sometimes.

+32 pts

Mystic Mother

The Empress of all Good Magic, she has a palace in yet another dimension, which is attacked by The Master in the final few episodes. She survives via magical nonsense, but only barely. Also, she used to be Rita before she was purified by Zordon’s Z-Wave at the end of In Space. So that’s a fun little tidbit that they toss out there in a throwaway line.

+1285 pts

Random Citizens Lightning Round!

Toby

Toby is the owner of The RockPorium, the record store where the Rangers are all employees. He’s weirdly ok with his employees just running off any time a Ranger crisis comes up.

+100 pts

Leelee Pimvare

At first she seems like just a spoiled princess, but it turns out that her last name anagrams to “Vampire” so yeah, she’s also a vampire princess.

+200 pts

Phineas

Phineas is a Troblin, son of a troll and a goblin, which means that nobody likes him. He ends up working at the record store too, posing as Xander’s weird uncle.

+30 pts

Dr. Tristian

When Phineas has a toothache, Xander takes him to Dr. Tristian, a dentist who anesthetizes the wrong person and is impressed by just how many teeth Phineas has. He might not be a very good dentist.

+168 pts

The Baddies

The baddies of this season are denizens of The Underworld, one of many different dimensions traveled to this season. The Underworld has been sealed away for about 20 years,18Since the end of the backstory war but when the seal between the worlds weakens, they are freed to attack the human world. There is a revolving door of Big Bads this season as they fall and are replaced, which is both a weakness in that there isn’t as much time to get to know them before they’re defeated, but also in some ways a strength, in that there are just so many villains that it’s got a sense of dynamism and forward momentum to it.

The Big Bad: Morticon – Metal Menace

Morticon is the original general of the forces of The Underworld, having lead them in the backstory war of twenty years ago. He’s part-machine, with some kind of steam engine in his head. He’s a very straightforward villain, with little creativity or ingenuity in his schemes, happy to just attack his enemies head on with his hopefully overwhelming force. When the gate to the human world is fully opened, he’s happy to charge straight through and attack the Rangers himself, a strategy that ultimately gets him killeddestroyed for his trouble.

Score: +3002 pts

The Bigger Bad: Imperious – Deceptive Defector

In the power vacuum left by Morticon’s defeat, Imperious is released from his imprisonment in an evil sealed cave by Necrolai. It is revealed that he used to be a warrior on the side of good named Calindor, who grew dissatisfied with having to be honorable and good and boring and betrayed his allies, ambushing Daggeron at the climax of the backstory war and sealing him away in a cave. Upon his release, Calindor becomes Imperious and takes control of the forces of evil. He’s a much more scheming, duplicitous leader, with little regard or respect for anyone but himself. He doesn’t even seem to be willing to serve The Master, the overarching villain of the season who is sealed away and who Imperious is theoretically supposed to be working to release. Imperious is ultimately defeated in a one-on-one duel with Daggeron, despite trying to cheat his way to victory.

Score: +2489 pts

The Bigger Bads: The Ten Terrors – Lawful, Evil

With Imperious gone, Necrolai is at a loss until she discovers the Book of Prophecy, which leads her to the secret chamber of The Ten Terrors, ten giant monsters who are united in their service to The Master and are bound by The Rules of Darkness. They believe19to varying degrees that by following the Rules of Darkness, they can ensure the return and rise of The Master. Theoretically, they are all equals, though Sculpin often serves as de facto leader. One by one, they are chosen by the Stone of Judgment to face the Rangers, often choosing to set down rules of engagement to play a game with the Rangers instead of a straightforward fight. They are bound by the rules of the game via the Rules of Darkness, and if they fail by the rules of the game, they are considered defeated and will be destroyed.

The lawful nature of the Ten Terrors is an interesting choice, and sets them apart from other villains we’ve seen in the past. There’s also ten of them, which is a dang lot of villains to remember,20It helps that they keep dying one by one but they all have individual personalities and get interesting and varied stories around them. It’s fun that not all of them have the same level of devotion to the rules and are variously either steadfastly beholden to them or are willing to betray the spirit, if not the letter of the rules, to achieve victory.

Score: +10010 pts

The Biggest Bad: The Master – Master of Evil Magic

Over the course of the entire series, the presence of The Master looms over every evil scheme. Sealed away in a portal in the floor of The Underworld, every villain is, to lesser or greater extent, working to release The Master and unleash his evil upon the world. So when he finally is released, it feels like a real moment. And he lives up to his build-up, destroying the Mystic Mother’s palace of good magic and seemingly killing two of the Rangers’ strongest allies.21They get better He then devours all of the good magic of the world and sends the Rangers to a dark future where his victory has already been achieved. The Rangers manage to return to the present, but lose their magic and powers in the process. It is only by relying on the magic of their friends and family in the community that they are able to regain their powers, and when The Master tries to devour their restored magic, it ends up being too much for him22Like a balloon and then something bad happens and he is destroyed in the process.

Score: +666 pts

Henches

Necrolai

Necrolai is the queen of the vampires and mother to Leelee. She devotedly serves The Master, and works loyally with whoever leads the forces of evil, but isn’t treated well by any of them except for Itassis, the most rule-abiding of the Ten Terrors. When Itassis defects from the Terrors at the end of the series, disenchanted with their flouting of the rules and their disloyalty to each other, Necrolai joins her, giving up her powers and becoming human to live in the human world with her daughter.

+999 pts

Koragg

After all these years,2320 years he’s free! Unknown to anyone, even himself, Koragg is a corrupted form of the hero Leanbow, cursed by The Master’s dark magic at the end of the backstory war. All that remains of Leanbow is his sense of honor, which Koragg steadfastly adheres to. Koragg routinely will abandon an unfair fight in the name of honor, and occasionally defends the Rangers when his allies are doing something particularly dishonorable. In the end, Koragg absorbs a dark virus meant for the Rangers, which weakens his curse and lets Leanbow’s identity seep back through.

+1039 pts

Fodder

Hidiacs

There’s nothing particularly interesting about the Hidiacs. Their design is pretty generic, and they don’t ever do anything particularly interesting. I do kind of like their little scarves, I guess.

+0 pts

Styxoids

Styxoids are basically the same as Hidiacs, though they are slightly more powerful, I guess. Interestingly for villain fodder, they do speak English at times, so that’s neat.

+1 pts

Monsters

There’s not a strong theme to the monsters this season apart from “generic fantasy.” Nor is there a particular origin to them other than that they’re just hanging around The Underworld. By the end of the series, there aren’t even a lot of basic monsters because the Ten Terrors basically handle everything by themselves, not summoning monsters at all. Regardless, we persevere in our ranking duties and choose four monsters that are good (according to me).

Monsters That Are Good (According to Me)

Taxi Cab monster

This monster doesn’t even get a name! It’s not even the first evil taxi that captures its passengers! Which is too bad because I love a good evil taxi.

Flytrap

Flytrap disguises himself as a DJ and then turns his audience into vampires that will all turn to dust at daybreak. Which seems like a waste of good vampires if you ask me, but it’s pretty darn effective plan, so who am I to judge?

Jester

Jester gets a magic Magic Marker that he can use to draw on peoples faces… PERMANENTLY. Oh, and also to make a giant spell circle, but that plan never really comes to fruition, so I’m more focused on the drawing on peoples’ faces thing.

Fightoe

Get it? He’s a dog and he fights? Like Fido? Fightoe? Anyway, he has a magic bubble wand and I think that’s pretty fun. 

THE FINAL SCORE

We now begin the completely transparent scoring system, where I give a value (in Pts) to each of the major elements, and I also get to decide what those are. And also how much they have accrued in Bonus Points(pts) up to now.

Sudden Dramatic Points Right At The End: 

All in all a pretty solid season. No great heights, but no low lows either. And it’s got capes! Visually and aesthetically this season is a delight, and the magic powers give some excitement to the show in a way we don’t usually see. 

+100 pts

After totaling all the scores for each section and normalizing the results according to the secret formulae that definitely exist and are not a screen to get me out of having to think about scores ever at all:

Power Rangers Mystic Force: 17,512 Power Points

Let’s see the rankings!

Power Rangers Seasons, Ranked

  1. Power Rangers in Space2425,000 PPs
  2. Power Rangers Dino Thunder2524,952 PPs
  3. Power Rangers Time Force2624,859 PPs
  4. Power Rangers Zeo2719,096 PPs
  5. Power Rangers S.P.D.: 2817,999 PPs
  6. Power Rangers Mystic Force – 17,512 PPs!
  7. Power Rangers Ninja Storm2917,207 PPs
  8. Power Rangers Lost Galaxy3014,212 PPs
  9. Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers Season 33113,097 PPs
  10. Mighty Morphin’ Alien Rangers3213,001 PPs
  11. Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers Season 23312,198 PPs
  12. Power Rangers Turbo3410,519 PPs
  13. Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers Season 13510,518 PPs
  14. Power Rangers Wild Force3610,377 PPs!
  15. Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue3710,248 PPs

Power Rangers: Mystic Force falls squarely in the high middle of the pack. It’s strong, getting by mainly on its unique aesthetic and theming compared to other seasons. But it is indeed a lot of fun, once you get past the shortened length and production issues. As far as modern Power Rangers goes, the new Ignition toyline is coming out, for all you fans whe still can’t get over Mighty Morphin’ after all this time, and the new Disney+ reboot is set to begin filming early next year, so we’ve finally got some things to look forward to. Anyway, I’ll keep making my way through the Power Rangers back catalog, with the 15th year of Power Rangers coming up next time, so come back for The One Where the Disney Rangers (And Adam) Come Back

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