‘ISLAND OF ILLUSION’ (MMPR)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
This is a two-part ‘Power Rangers’ story featuring our six heroes in a dangerous situation, where they must face their deepest fears. I enjoyed this two-parter, as it first focuses on Zack’s self-doubt before it then focuses on the other Rangers until they overcome their fears in defeating evil Rita Repulsa. 🙂
In ‘Part I’, Zack is practising for his upcoming dance contest at the Angel Grove Youth Center. Bulk and Skull are also entering the contest, and they start seeding self-doubt in Zack. Soon, Rita Repulsa calls for two monsters to fight for her. The two are the mutant-like Mutitus and the spirit-like Lokar.
The Rangers soon get to fight the two monsters by using their Zords. They use the Dino Megazord and the Dragonzord to fight against Mutitus and Lokar. But pretty soon, the Rangers get sent to the Island of Illusion where they confront their worst fears, and they soon fade away via their self-doubt.
Beforehand, the Rangers were fighting Goldar and Scorpina until Mutitus and Lokar arrived. I’m guessing that Scorpina is going to be around Rita’s gang for quite some time. 😀 Tommy also has two kids from his karate class to look after, before Rita sent an unearthly storm that scared everyone off.
On the island itself, the Rangers have lost their communicators and their Power Coins. This prevents them from contacting Zordon and finding a way to escape. They also face foes they fought in previous ‘Power Rangers’ episodes, including Pudgy Pig, Eye Guy, Snizzard, Pineoctopus and Shellshock.
But these monsters turn out to be illusions. The island is playing tricks on the six teens. ‘Part I’ ends on a cliffhanger where Zack sees a snake and it terrifies him before he begins to fade away. I’m sure kids were worried-sick when they saw the episode’s end and wondered what would happen to Zack.
In ‘Part II’, the Rangers receive help from a little man on the Island of Illusion. This is Kevin Thompson as Quagmire. Quagmire tends to speak in verse a lot when the teens meet him. He first thought the Rangers were friends of Rita’s before they tell him they’re not, and he soon helps them.
Quagmire gives the Rangers words of encouragement to help them overcome their fears. And that’s about it. I mean, yes, the Rangers have the strength of will to overcome their fears by the help of Quagmire’s words, but it does seem easy when Quagmire appeared as the Rangers wanted him to. 😐
Also, the Rangers keep facing fears based on previous episodes dedicated to them. First of all, Zack overcomes his fears by remembering his fight with Knasty Knight in ‘Happy Birthday Zack’. Kimberly overcomes her fears by remembering her fight against the evil Terror Toad in ‘Power Ranger Punks’.
Tommy overcomes his fears by remembering his fight with some Putties in ‘Life’s A Masquerade’. Trini overcomes her fears by remembering her beating her fear of heights in ‘High Five’. Billy overcomes his fears when remembering fighting against evil Madame Woe in ‘Peace, Love and Woe’.
And Jason overcomes his fears by remembering his battle with King Sphinx in ‘A Pressing Engagement’. This enables the Rangers to get their communicators and Power Coins back before they escape the Island of Illusion, angering Rita, and fight against Mutitus and Lokar in their Zords. 🙂
The final Megazord fight has all the Power Rangers combine their Zords to become the Mega-Dragonzord, which makes its first appearance in the ‘Power Rangers’ TV series. They soon call forth Titanus to form the Ultrazord before they finally defeat both evil Mutitus and evil Lokar in the story.
The story ends with Bulk and Skull as well as Zack in the dance contest. Naturally, Zack wins whilst Bulk and Skull get a low score. It also turns out that Quagmire is the disc jockey for the dance contest. What a twist! Oh, I forgot to mention Bulk and Skull were nice people in Kimberly’s illusions.
How was that a bad thought for Kimberly and why did it cause her to fade away when she did? I mean, I get she doesn’t like Bulk and Skull with their bumbling antics and their bullying ways, but don’t be that cruel to them, Kimberley. You must give those two a chance for room of improvement.
‘Island of Illusion’ is an enjoyable two-part story that doesn’t add a new chapter or stage of development in the ‘Power Rangers’ series. I can see why this became a two-parter, as there’s a lot going on and it enables the Rangers time to develop as characters with overcoming their worst fears.
It’s also interesting that Quagmire happened to be there on the island as well as being the disc jockey at the dance contest. Was he a real person or just part of the illusions on the Island of Illusion? Is Quagmire a friend of Zordon and Alpha, and how come he knew a lot about Rita Repulsa?
‘Island of Illusion’ (MMPR) rating – 7/10
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