Well, I accidently taped over the first few minutes, but I remember it pretty well. We start off right where A Friend in Need part 2 left us - Kim is battling Repellator, not terrifically successfully, when the monster sneezes, causing a minor earthquake as it does. Kim realises that the monster has caught her flu-bug, and the monster runs away. Zordon contacts Kim to make sure that she is okay, then tells Alpha to try the rangers on Edenoi once more.
It works - while battling the Plague Patrol, Tommy’s communicator beeps and when he answers, Zordon tells him about Repellator’s attack. When the others all regroup, Tommy tells them about the trouble back home, and they all decide to finish of the Plague Patrol. Meanwhile, Repellator returns to the lunar palace only to have Rita and Zedd screech at him and order Finster to make the monster feel better. Back on Edenoi, the big long fight scene is still going, but the rangers finally rap things up and send the Plague Patrol running.
We cross back to Earth. In the park, we see Bulk and Skull dressed up in purple and silver spandex with helmets and diamonds on their chests, obviously posing as Power Rangers. A car drives up and out get two young women, and as they talk, we realise that Bulk and Skull (the two clowns back at the Juice Bar. Well c’mon, who else?) told the girls that the Power Rangers would be here.
Back in Finster’s lab, he is giving Repellator a check-up and tells him that he has caught a nasty Earth virus. He goes to give the monster a shot, but Repellator freaks out and insists that Finster give him a tablet, from a bottle named Finster’s Tummy Tabs. Meanwhile, the girls have stumbled upon the ranger-impersonating Bulk and Skull, but of course they are very skeptical, and after a while they leave. However, as Bulk and Skull chase after them, Repellator appears. The girls hide in their car, but the monster chases Bulk and Skull around. Back on Edenoi, we get one shot of the Masked Rider pulling a sword called an ‘Electro-Sabre’ out of his belt and nuking the cogworts with it. The Plague Patrol then run away.
Rita and Zedd decide that, with no Power Rangers in sight, now would be a good time to make things interesting. And with a great baseball pitch, Zedd launches a grow-bomb at the monster - the monster instantly grows. In the Command Centre, Zordon warns Kim to be careful, and she sneezes once and teleports into Angel Grove Park. On Edenoi, Dex is congratulating the Power Rangers for fighting so bravely, and the rangers say goodbye before teleporting away. Dregon spies the rangers' teleportation streak heading towards Earth, and says that Earth will be his next target.
The rangers reach Earth and land on Angel Grove Beach, much to the chagrin of Zedd and Rita who are watching the battle. Kimberly soon joins them, and they each call on their Thunder Zords. The Thunder Megazord and White Tiger then both fight the monster, and they have a really cool zord battle. After a while, the Thunder Megazord energises its Power Sabre and effectively nukes Repellator but good. Zedd, of course, gets upset in the meanwhile.
In the Youth Centre, Bulk and Skull stumble inside, and Bulk promises that he will never come up with another plan involving the Power Rangers. The rangers themselves, sans Kim, are in the Command Centre, where Zordon is congratulating them for destroying Repellator and Alpha is pleased to learn that King Lexian is safe and sound. Adam asks Zordon whether he thinks that Dex and Lexian can save the Edenites, and Zordon tells them that he believes that they can.
In the Spider Base, Dregon enters the bridge and tells his henchmen that he will attack Earth and annihilate those who aided Masked Rider. Down on Edenoi, Dex and Lexian are in a cave or some similar dark place with a picture of the planets on the wall, and Lexian tells Dex that Dex must leave the planet to follow his destiny. Dex questions his grandfather, and Lexian tells him that he must follow Dregon to Earth and defeat him there. Dex doesn’t want to leave, but realises that he has no choice. The show ends with Dex and Lexian hugging (aww) and Dex telling his grandfather that he will always love him (bigger aww).
Well, this episode heralded that the ‘A Friend in Need’ trilogy is over, ladies and gentlemen. Thankfully. No, just kidding. Actually, I quite enjoyed the last three shows, and the final installment was better than I had anticipated it would be. In a nutshell, it was typical Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers fare, fun, exciting and with some great fights thrown in. Not to mention, it threw at us a small dose of the 'what happens now?' factor usually reserved for season finales.
This episode contained what I think is the best part of the Power Rangers - the rangers doing what they do best, kicking butt in the name of, well, kicking butt. When facing off with Repellator, and to a lesser extent while still on Edenoi, they were fighting and having a great time doing it. Also, the villains were up to par - I really loved Zedd’s reaction once the rangers returned to Angel Grove.
Now, I have one complaint. Well actually, I have a couple, but just hear me out. The one thing I didn’t like about his episode was, oddly enough, the fight scene where our heroes and the Plague Patrol fight. To put it bluntly, the fight scene went on too long and got pointless. It would have been better had they built up the fight to some kind of big finish, instead of crossing back and forth between the rangers all fighting and demonstrating their talents at snappy one-liners (which, I feel obliged to say, wasn’t much).
Any other problems I had with this episode really had nothing to do with the Power Rangers - more to the perils of crossovers, and in particularly, Masked Rider. But there was something I noticed - towards the beginning of the episode, when we see Dregon and his henchmen on the bridge, we see the woman standing on Dregon’s right, Double Face on his left and that little guy in the background. Then, when we change angles, everyone has moved. Double Face is now on Dregon’s right, the woman and that Cyclopter (sp?) fellow are standing in the middle and the little guy is on the far left.
Now, the best thing about ‘A Friend in Need part 3’ was, bet you can guess, the climactic zord battle. I mean, it rocked! And in hindsight, it was especially good, given that this was the last true Thunder Zord battle (I don’t count that tragic scene where Rito blew up the Thunder Zords - that scene was nothing more than a plot device). I loved it how the camera swung around a lot, and the low angle, looking up at the zords as they fought, really added to the 'climactic showdown' feeling.
And the final scene was, I admit, quite touching. Dex and Lexian both really shone during that bit. Also, that scene is notable for it’s sheer significance alone - having Dex leaving for Earth really sets up Masked Rider. And I think I must mention that Dex and Count Dregon would never, ever be refered to or even mentioned ever again, except once (when Zordon is wondering whether or not to call the Aquitian Rangers, and Rocky tells him that, the galaxy at large owes the rangers for helping Dex defeat Dregon). But hey, that’s life.
Well, maybe not the best line, but I think the scariest line of this episode goes to Dex for what he said while watching the rangers teleport away from Edenoi - "Till next time, Power Rangers." Oh no, this is the sign of another crossover in the near future. NNOOO!!!