A Word from the Editor - Now a lot happened in this episode, and it was one of my favourites, so this review is going to be pretty long.
We join the rangers in the Youth Centre. Jason and Adam are sparring, and Tommy, Kat and Tanya are watching, quite impressed. Rocky walks in and asks Tommy if he’d like to do some sparring. Tommy tells Rocky no - he’s up with Jason next. As Tommy and Jason start to spar, Rocky feels decidedly left out. Bulk and Skull come in, and seeing Jason and Tommy, they tell Rocky that it looks like he’s being replaced. Rocky walks away, hurt about what Skull said to him about being replaced.
Cut to Moon Base. Mondo is watching footage of some of his old monsters being destroyed. He complains to Machina that, now with the Gold Ranger and the Super Zeo Zords, he doesn’t know what to do. He soon decides, however, that if he wants something done right, he has to do it himself.
Meanwhile, Rocky wanders up to the bar and talks to Billy. Billy then announces that he has to train with Jason, and leaves rather suddenly. Poor Rocky feels even more depressed when Bulk and Skull arrive and tease him some more about Jason and him. Then, Det. Stone brings in their new client - the executor of the Burbling Baby Food foundation, who is looking for the original burbling baby (Mr Burble’s long lost nephew. But I have to ask, Burble?). After hearing some clues, Bulk and Skull decide that the baby has grown up to be Jason. We then cross back to the moon - Rito and Goldar teleport onto the moon and are greeted with an empty landscape. Soon, a weird RV pulls up. Rita Repulsa, of all people, gets out, telling them to get back on board.
We cross back to Earth. Mondo, Machina and the walking toaster boy (sorry, my pet name for Sprocket) are in the desert. The reason - Mondo has come to retrieve the Damocles Sword, a weapon he used a long time ago. We learn from Machina that something went wrong, so Mondo hid the sword underground so he wouldn’t be tempted to use it. But Mondo isn’t worried, and soon, out of the ground rises a sparkling golden sword.
Back in the Youth Centre, Bulk and Skull try to get Jason’s fingerprints after he finishes with Billy - unfortunately, they cause Jason’s communicator to fall into their bag. Zordon then calls the Rangers, telling them about Mondo’s appearance in the desert. He has put up a force field to stop them from teleporting there though. Rocky tells the others that he saw Bulk and Skull stop Jason. Tommy decides that they can’t wait. Once morphed, they take the Zeo Jet Cycles and head out to face Mondo.
Once there, they hop off the bikes and battle through a whole heap of cogs. Tommy tells Rocky to keep the cogs busy as he looks for Mondo. Tommy finds Mondo, and while watching, tells Zordon about the sword. Mondo and company then spy Tommy, and teleport away, taking the cogs with them. Once Tommy has told the Rangers about the sword, they teleport back to the Power Chamber. Tommy congratulates Rocky on keeping the cogs busy, but then walks away. Rocky’s really got the frowning thing down pat by now.
Billy informs them about Damocles Sword, and Kat tells them that they need Jason. Alpha tells them that he couldn’t contact Jason, so Billy teleports the communicator directly into the Power Chamber away from Bulk and Skull, who witness the communicator disappearing into thin air. How do they forget this time? By eating some burbling baby food (?). Still unsure about Jason’s whereabouts, Tommy suggests that they split up to look for him, which they do, much to Rocky’s chagrin.
Rocky ends up looking through the desert, upset that he has to search the countryside for the guy who is replacing him. While there, he spies King Mondo practicing with the sword. As he watches, Mondo uses the sword to grow to zord height. Rocky is about to call for back-up when he realises that this is his chance to prove himself. He morphs, calls for his Super Zeo Zord, then tries to battle Mondo all on his own. It’s a great little zord battle, but sadly, Rocky’s zord gets the living daylights beaten out of it and he has to retreat. He then teleports to the Power Chamber, where Alpha informs him that an enraged King Mondo has now turned his attack on Angel Grove. Rocky blames himself.
The others teleport in, Jason in tow. Rocky tells them what happened, and Jason asks why Rocky took on Mondo by himself. They all realise that Mondo will be a very powerful opponent, and Zordon tells them that they will have to combine the Super Zeo Zords to form the Super Zeo Megazord. Billy then tells them that it won’t work - the Megazord still needs one more part for it to work at it’s maximum efficiency, which it will have to be at for it to defeat Mondo. Billy tells them that he dismantled the old zords (zeo? ninja?) and sent them to the Junk Yard - the power booster that they need must have been sent as well by accident. Jason says that he will get that, so they all morph and split up.
Jason goes to the Junk Yard - battling through a whole heap of cogs, he comes to the power booster and teleports it to Billy, who reconfigures it. Meanwhile, the five Super Zeo Zords are shot out of the Zeo Launcher, and while in midair, they split up and combine, landing and forming the Super Zeo Megazord as they do so. Billy teleports the booster directly to the Megazord, and the rangers go into Angel Grove and take on Mondo. They have a fantastic final fight, then, just as Mondo is boosting his own ego, the Rangers call on the Power Sabres and use them to destroy the sword. At that precise moment, Jason beats the crud out of about twenty cogs at once, finishing them all off. Then, with Mondo almost defeated, the Rangers form the Super Zeo Megazord Sabre by joining the two miniature sabres. This forms a massive yellow energy blade, which they use to slice right through Mondo. And in a darn satisfying explosion, Mondo is completely and utterly nuked.
Back in the Youth Centre, Bulk and Skull find out that the executor’s calculations were off - the baby was actually Ernie. All seven rangers are then sitting around, having a chat, and Rocky apologises to Jason, realising that he knows Jason isn’t really there to replace him, and that to save the world, they have to work together. Billy then says that, working together, they did something he never thought was possible - destroyed their major enemy. Kat finishes things by saying, "no more bad guys." But as the rangers celebrate, they are being watched through a telescope, and Rita Repulsa turns around and says to Zedd, with Mondo gone, the world is now theirs.
I will say right now that I loved this episode. It was a fun, exciting Zeo episode with a great plot and some fantastic fight scenes. After watching it, it immediately leapt straight into my top five favourite episodes ever, and even watching after the rest of Zeo, Turbo and In Space, 'Mondo's Last Stand' remains right up there in the top 5. In fact, I adore this ep to the degree that I watch it at least once a week. Now, allow me to go through the reasons exactly why I loved it.
Firstly, there was the plot. It was coherent, easy to follow, original and better yet, it made sense. Mondo is sick of sending down the obligatory monster of the day, so he decides to do it himself. But what made this episode so fantastic were the subplots. Having Bulk and Skull chasing the original burbling baby wasn't that important, in hindsight, but it served the necessary purpose. And of course, poor Rocky felt like he was being pushed out of the group by Jason's arrival.
Now, some people have been too hard on Rocky for acting the way he did, but can you blame him? He had the guy who he himself replaced come back, rejoin the group and take Rocky's role. Of course he'd be a little paranoid. Not to mention, everyone is ignoring him, people are walking away from him, and the fact that, keeping the cogs busy got him a belting from two as they double-teamed him. But hey, they made up at the end.
Stephen Cardenas gave us a perfect performance as Rocky this ep. From being the most characterless person in the third season to this wonderful episode, the Rocky that we all know and love has definitely developed. And like I said, he gave a top performance. His whole depressed mood in the Youth Centre, and the way he made faces at the mention of Jason's name really told us how the poor guy felt. And when he smiled and shook Jason's hand at the end, darn tootin', this is the reason I watch this show.
That brings me to the second reason why I loved this ep - Jason. Nuff said :-). Seriously though, as I always seem to be saying, it really adds continuity to the series having Jason interacting with Rocky and Adam, two characters who, even though they supposedly replaced Jason and Zac, arrived well and truly after Austin St John had left the series. Plus, although he didn't really appear in the episode much, Jason got a great fight scene right at the end all to himself, and like I said, seeing him and Rocky talking at the end in the Youth Centre was just great.
The next reason that springs to mind is the first ever appearance of the Super Zeo Megazord. I'm serious, is this Megazord the coolest yet or what? Because it's made up of warrior-type zords, it's one of the largest and most powerful Megazords too date, the Rescue and Shogun Megazords being the only ones to ever match it. Added benefits - the Super Zeo Megazord is very strong, has a great finishing weapon and can be formed in seconds, much unlike most Megazords. In fact, I loved the Super Zeo Megazord so much that I went out and bought a deluxe one!
Also, there was Mondo. I just love a great supervillain who chews out the scenery, and didn't Mondo have the whole megalomaniac deal down pat? And boy, wasn't it fun watching him bite the dust? Twice. Yes, believe it or not, in one of the biggest explosions ever, Mondo gets nuked twice. When the energy blade first goes into him and the swords make the noise, he blows up, and the Megazord swings the swords down. Then, we switch angles, and the sabres are now held unmoving at the Megazord's side - there is another explosion where Mondo was, and he blows up again. Rippin'.
Combining the last two, we have the next reason that his ep rocked - the zord battles. The first one was good enough - even though Rocky got his butt handed to him by Mondo, it was a great fight. But the second one - this is the climactic showdown amid destruction to end all climactic showdowns amid destruction. Don't worry, I have no idea what I just said then either. But it made sense to me. Not to mention, the way they intersperced both the final fights. Cogs all die, Mondo gets blown up repeatedly. Works well for me.
Lastly, the episode ended on a really well note. The rangers are celebrating their apparent total victory over evil, when suddenly, Rita and Zedd are back in the thick of things. If you just watched this episode, you would immediately assume that Rita and Zedd moved straight in, and the rangers were about to begin yet another battle on another front. Top stuff.
Wondering where the 'Sword of Damocles' came from? Well, as it turns out, Saban actually dipped into ancient history for this one, and the following is a brief explanation of the Damocles Sword -
Damocles was an attendent in the court of the Greek king Dionysius. Damocles talked so incessantly that the tyrannical king decided to teach Damocles a lesson. Dionysius held a grand banquet, and invited Damocles to sit at the place of honor. Just as Damocles was beginning to enjoy himself, he was horrified to discover a sword hanging over his head, suspended by a single hair.
From this, Damocles learned from Dionysius the perilous nature of his life. And in modern language, "the sword of Damocles" has come to mean a dreaded tragedy that may strike at any moment. It had a double meaning in 'Mondo's Last Stand', as the sword not only gave King Mondo extraordinary power, but it also foretold his subsequent destruction.
To find out more, click here -
www.research. ibm.com/0.1um/laux/html_files/damocles.html
It's very tempting to just give it to someone for their appraisal of Jason, like Tanya’s, "Wow, Jason’s really good." (when I first saw this, I screamed at the TV - "Well DUH!") But for sheer significance and magnitude, I’m giving it to Rita for her final line - "Zeddy, I don’t have a head-ache anymore! Ha ha, yay!" Think about it - whenever something prevented her from completing that whole 'take over the world' deal, she got a head-ache, which was most of seasons one, two and three. But now, no Mondo, no head-ache, no more world.