In the Skull Cavern, Queen Bansheera is making her usual threats to Diabolico - do not fail me or else, before teleporting away. Enraged, Diabolico goes to kill Impus, but Jinxer, Vypra and Loki enter, preventing him from doing so. Diabolico then summons Thunderon and Falkar, and sends them to destroy the Rangers once and for all. Meanwhile, in the Aquabase, Ms Fairweather is telling Captain Mitchell about the newly-designed Max Solarzord, which can only be operated by the Titanium Ranger. As Ryan listens to their conversation, Captain Mitchell says that he hopes they can survive without the zord.
The Rangers are in the galley when the alarm sounds. They head into the Western Industrial Sector to confront Falkar and Thunderon, morphing and luring the two monsters into an abandoned warehouse (where else?) to do battle. The Rangers fight the monsters but get thrown to the ground. Dana and Kelsey come up with a plan, and the girls lure Falkar away to a neighboring building. When the monster enters the building, Dana and Kelsey leap out of hiding, collapsing the building in on the monster with their weapons before heading back to help the guys fight Thunderon. The Rangers summon their V-Lancers, but a blast from Thunderon throws them all to the ground, where they remain. Watching the battle from the Aquabase, Ryan desperately wishes to get into action.
The Rangers are revealed to be pretending, and when the monster gets close, they blast him back with the V-Lancers, before destroying him in a tremendous explosion. However, Diabolico arrives on the scene, and throws a card, causing Thunderon to grow. The Rangers bring out the Super Train Megazord, and battle the monster. Down below, Falkar emerges from the rubble, and although telling Diabolico that he’d rather not fight the Rangers, Diabolico sticks him with a card, forcing him to grow. Against both monsters, the Super Train Megazord does badly, and is knocked to the ground. Watching from afar, Ms Fairweather and Captain Mitchell try to come up with something fast. Behind them, Ryan briefly remembers Diabolico giving him the cobra tattoo, but realising what he needs to do, he dashes off.
Beside the Rail Rescue Bay, the Max Solarzord Bay rises to the surface, and the Max Solarzord races out along the tracks, piloted by Ryan. Mitchell tells Ryan that he needs to return now, but Ryan counters him, telling him the team needs his help. Ms Fairweather takes command, telling Ryan to take the zord into space and let the solar power charge the zord’s power cells, which he does, all the while the cobra tattoo crawls painfully up his back. Returning to the battlefield, the zord transforms into its warrior form, and after an impressive midair display of kicks and spins, the Solarzord destroys Falkar. Thunderon charges at the Solarzord, but the zord turns to the monster and destroys him as well. The Rangers congratulate Ryan, but the Titanium Ranger has passed out from the pain of the cobra, and does not hear them.
Back in the Aquabase, Ryan is resting in a hospital bed being tended to by Ms Fairweather and Dana, worried that Captain Mitchell will be angry at him. However, the Captain comes in and tells Ryan he is not angry, but rather, very proud of him. However, when Ms Fairweather rolls Ryan onto his side to check his breathing, Mitchell sees the cobra, now only a few inches below Ryan’s neck. Back on the battlefield, Diabolico is holding three crystals, and says that the Rangers think they defeated his monsters, but they’ll be back, more powerful than ever.
Damn, I love good episodes. "Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue" has been constantly getting better, and 'Strength of the Sun' was no exception. Continuing the focus on Ryan, this episode had some of the best fight scenes we’ve seen yet, and not to mention, introduced one of the outrightly coolest zords we’ve ever seen in a long while - the Max Solarzord. The Solarzord was absolutely awesome in taking down both Falkar then Thunderon, and who here wasn’t cheering when it performed all those incredible midair flips, spins and kicks? The scene where it raced through the city, flying right by the bullet train before taking off, was also totally cool.
Honestly, I have nothing but praise for this episode. From the opening scene where Diabolico was adoring the "vulnerable" baby Impus, to where Dana and Kelsey collapsed that abandoned building onto Falkar, to the zord battle, it was all a roller-coaster ride of Ranger-goodness. My only complaint, and it’s a small one, is about the zord battle itself - the Super Train Megazord is battling Thunderon, but we focus on Diabolico and Falkar talking on the ground below? And after all that, it looks like the monsters will be back again next week.
Also, an interesting point to note is just how badly these villains are all treating each other. Diabolico comes centimentres from destroying baby Impus, Bansheera threatens to remove Diabolico’s star power, and Diabolico violently throws the growth-card into Falkar’s back, forcing him to grow and fight the Rangers. Geez, no wonder the Rangers keep defeating them - team work, demons. Have you learnt nothing from your opponents? Sheesh.
No contest here folks. The best line from ‘Strength of the Sun’ comes to us from Ryan, while he was lying in the hospital bed talking to Ms Fairweather and Dana - "Ms Fairweather, the Max Solarzord is totally awesome." Ya think?!?