Just a note of caution - this is the last season three episode that I can review, because the silly channel that screens Power Rangers are taking it off and putting on 'Voltron' instead.
We start the conclusion to 'Stop the Hate Master' immediately from where part one left us - in the Command Centre, Alpha is scanning Aisha to figure out why she was immune to Hate Master’s spell. He figures out that her necklace, the one that her grandmother gave her, is emitting some kind of energy wave that shields Aisha from hate altogether. But as Zordon is talking, he all of a sudden disappears, the lights go off and the Command Centre shuts down. Cut to the Youth Centre, and Billy is adjusting some device that he tells Tommy shuts off the Command Centre’s power supply. The teens all then separate, but not before some great dialogue between Billy and Kim ("Hello little nerd boy, is this another invention?" "Go find a mall to inflict yourself upon.")
Meanwhile, back with Aisha and Alpha, they now realise that it must have been Billy who cut the power. But with no power, neither of them can teleport out of the building. Then, we cross back to the Youth Centre - Bulk and Skull are posing as waiters to try and catch the graffiti bandit, and in first class Bulk and Skull fashion, they completely mess it up, spilling coffee and pasta all over some poor woman. Up in the lunar palace, Zedd is quite happy that the rangers are now practically no more, and Rita comes in and says that, with the rangers out of the way, they can go on their honeymoon (now there’s a mental picture I so did not need). Zedd agrees (probably against his will) and sends Hate Master to poison the whole planet.
Bulk and Skull, fired from their previous jobs as waiters (wow, they were hired and fired in one minute and twenty-three seconds - a new record!) stumble across Hate Master in the park, and he turns them against one another. Back in the Command Centre, Aisha figures out who to teleport herself out of there, by hooking up Alpha to the main computer and using his power. Over in the Youth Centre, both Adam and Tommy charge in, wanting a workout. Then, as Billy, Rocky and Kim watch, the two the decide to find out who is stronger with an impromptu kick-boxing match. Alpha by now has hooked up to the central computer, and when they have enough power, Aisha gives her necklace to Alpha to find a way to stop the hate spell and teleports out to the park.
But Zedd is watching, and he sends the tengas to collect the dirt that she touches and give it to Hate Master. Aisha runs into the tengas, and she morphs into her ninja ranger suit and they we have a groovy fight scene. The tengas collect the dirt, and then as Aisha demorphs, having beaten the tengas soundly, she is teleported to the beach where the tengas give Hate Master the dirt - he makes some hate particles, and Aisha is bombarded with little red dots, just like the other rangers. She struggles to free herself from the spell, and then she remembers what her grandmother told her about love conquering all. The little red dots disappear - she’s completely beaten the spell, and Hate Master freaks out and runs off.
Meanwhile, Rita gets upset. In fact, she spends a lot of this episode getting upset. Heck, she spends a lot of most episodes getting upset.
Aisha makes it into the Youth Centre, and just in time because Tommy and Adam were about to begin beating the tar out of each other. She then talks them out of the hate spell, and it works. They’re all soon free. Billy then gives the device to Aisha, and she turns the Command Centre back on. Zordon comes back, congratulates Alpha, and then tells the robot to work with the necklace and to try and break the spell. Aisha is still talking to the other rangers, and it’s a real warm, fuzzy scene. Then, Alpha creates a positive energy beam, and everyone in the Youth Centre, and presumably, everyone on the planet who was affected, is now freed from the spell. Meanwhile, Rita and Zedd make Hate Monster grow, and the Rangers morph and then head out to kick some major bad guy butt.
They call on the ninja zords and all leap in, forming the obligatory, "Red Ape, powered up!" "Yellow Bear, powered up!" call (although I’m not complaining - it really increases the battle atmosphere). Without forming the Megazord, in one of the best zord battles yet, they all beat the living tar out of Hate Monster.
Firstly, all of these little frogs leap out of Adam’s zord, and they jump on Hate Master and self-destruct. The Frog then shoots a jet of fire towards the monster, cooking him but good. Tommy then calls Titanus (yay!) and the big carrier zord heads out. Hate Master tries some weird eye attack, but the Big T just shrugs it off and fires. Then, the Ape leaps into the air and performs its double sword attack. After that, the Falcon swoops down - bringing its wings forward, it fires a barrage of wingtip missiles. The Wolf and Bear then blast Hate Master with eye lasers. All the while, the monster just stands around and gets blown up. Finally, laser blasts from the Crane knock the monster down and finally nuke him.
Back in the Youth Centre, Aisha comes in and tells the teens that apparently, Veronica had been rejecting a lot of other girls based solely on their parents’ income, and all the other girls had asked Veronica to resign and Aisha to become a part of the club. Aisha tells the others that she’ll only do it if Kim can also be a part of the group, and of course Kim says yes. Then, Bulk and Skull come in with evidence of who the graffiti bandit is - Bulk rips open the envelope, and reveals that Skull is the graffiti bandit - apparently, Skull is sleepwalking again. But Ernie is not impressed, and he sends them out to clean up the mess. The episode closes with the rangers all forgiving each other for all the things they said under the spell. Aww.
Man, what a great episode this one was. Yep, the conclusion to the 'Stop the Hate Master' two-parter had it all - it was exciting, fast-paced, morally ramming home its point and with a villain that just chewed out the scenery (and in this case, the other rangers). In fact, I’d even go so far as to say that this one is my favourite out of the third season so far. And it’s got nothing to do with that fact that Titanus featured again in this one. Okay, so it’s got a lot to do with Titanus battling alongside the ninja zords, but hey, everyone needs a vice.
And weren’t they pumping out the morality in this episode or what? Not that I mind. After all, I kinda find the show’s overwhelming sense of goodness part of its charm. Plus, despite the cheesiness, I think that it’s a good message to send out to the little kiddies watching. I did feel happy when Aisha sorted things out, rescued the rangers from the hate spell and then became a part of the Angel Girl’s Club. Not to mention, she got in a really fun fight scene with the tengas. And I loved the way she out-emotioned the Hate Monster.
And I just have to say it - that zord battle rocked. And that was essentially the major plot development in this ep - the final climactic zord battle. But the weird thing about this zord battle was that there were no Megazords or Ultrazords in sight, and yet it still rocked! Seeing each of the zords attack the monster of the day on their own is just as good, in my book, as seeing a Megazord take on the bad guy alone. But the best thing about this zord battle was the token, "Rangers, log on!" sequence, something that I’ve been missing since the first season. Like I said in the previous review, we’re really seeing a lot of the zords lately.
Also, I know I’ve said this before, but the music during the zord battle was just plain cool. With the song playing in the background and the electric guitar in there, I tell you what, it really makes the fight scene kick. In particular, in this episode just shut your eyes and listen when the Ape zord leaps into the air and performs its double sword attack. Legendary stuff.
As to our favourite teenagers from Angel Grove, they were nasty in part one but weren’t they nasty here? It was good to see the actors experimenting with being nasty just like part one, and they performed well. But the major focus of this episode was not the rangers under the hate spell, but Aisha trying to get around this and save the day. Aisha really shone in this episode, and I admit, while I’m still a little dirty because she replaced Trini and cancelled out any chance Billy and Trini had of getting together, I’m starting to like the girl.
And finally, the best thing about this episode was that it was a two-parter. I mean, if you take the ads out of each episode, we have a grand total of twenty minutes. They would’ve never been able to have this great storyline in just twenty minutes, and I’m glad that Saban decided on a two-parter for this story arc just because it gave us the time to focus on the different but still very enjoyable parts of the story. And while I’m still worried about that necklace being the quick-fix plot device, I’d say that I thoroughly enjoyed this episode, and it made my week just that little bit brighter.
Now, as I already stated, although Kim got some great lines, I have to split this award two ways. Alpha’s line, while talking to Aisha in the Command Centre, "Ooh, he really charges my circuits," had me rolling on the floor until the next ad break, and one of the Hate Master’s lines, when he was attacking Aisha, was pretty good - "Would you give in already? Doin’ this is no snap, it really isn’t easy talking all the time in rap."