POWER RANGERS ZEO Is Better Than I Remembered
I finally finished Power Rangers Zeo! I remember watching this when it first came out, and I enjoyed it, but I enjoyed most shows when I was a kid. So, I’ve been rewatching it as the next stop after Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and I gotta say, I don’t think I realized how good Zeo is. Holy cow!
When I watch Power Rangers, I have a very short checklist of necessary things, and Zeo gets most if not all of the criteria for a great season. The Rangers are all very unique. They have different symbols. They have unique weapons. Those are probably the biggest items on my checklist and Zeo gets them. Something that Zeo surpassed my expectations on though is the Zeo Megazord. I forgot that there were different helmets! Each helmet changed the main pilot of the Zeo Megazord and gives it a different power. For instance, the Zeo III helmet gave the Megazord telekinesis! This is absolutely amazing, and I don’t remember any other Megazord with this kind of versatility post-combination.
So, what else was good about Zeo? Pretty much everything. They went back to using more Sentai footage, but they made it work so well. They also had great stories and while they had episodic episodes, they did so much better at having all those episodes work together. There were longer plays like the return of Sam Trueheart. We also got to meet Tommy’s brother David (played by Jason David Frank’s brother Erik Frank). The season was 50 episodes long, but they did such a good balancing act. They did things like bring in the Gold Ranger as a mystery character, and they dangled that around for several episodes, making you believe it’s Billy or David or even Skull. They also changed up the main bad guy. King Mondo is defeated and so his estranged son Prince Gasket comes to try to usurp power. Well, that’s after Louie Kaboom shows up after Rita and Zedd try to use him to take over the Machine Empire. It was a fantastic way to keep things fresh.
The Gold Ranger is one of my favorite Rangers ever, and I love that Austin St. John gets to come back as Jason. Jason’s my favorite character, and it’s great to see him return from a Jason fan perspective. It’s also fun to see Jason not be the leader. He gets to be a bit more chill and enjoy life more.
Another aside. I completely forgot that the show made Tommy and Katherine a canonical married couple. I remember that they were into each other, but I forgot about the holiday episode (so awesome that it featured so many cultures by the way) and how they’re married in it and their son is a Power Ranger! What!? Wow, I feel dumb.
Also, I forgot that this was the season with the episode “Another Song and Dance” where Tommy and Tony sing the enitre time. It’s hilarious, and for some reason I thought it happened in Turbo. So happy to see it in Zeo.
There is just too much good in this season. For that reason, I have to say that Zeo is the best Power Rangers season in my rewatch so far.
Current Power Rangers Ranking:
Power Rangers Zeo
Power Rangers Beast Morphers Season 1
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 3
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 2
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 1
Power Rangers S.P.D.