Recap: Power Rangers Dino Charge, Episode 7 – "She fell in the hole!"

Recap: Power Rangers Dino Charge, Episode 7 – Let Sleeping Zords Lie

Dino Charge 7

The Rangers are out on a dig hoping to find the other five of 10 Energems. While the guys are actually digging, Shelby is trying to figure out a better way to find the missing Energems. She proposes a way to more accurately pinpoint the locations to dig at.

“Shelby drink like camel.”

It’s a hot day, but Shelby’s finished all their drinks. So the guys are not as willing to help her test her theory. She decides to go on her own.

Sledge pressures Fury to find the Energems or else. Poisandra and Curio laugh and think they could find the Energems faster. They force Wrench to help them destroy the Rangers.

Shelby gets back to the command cave. She tells Kendall that she has an idea to find the Energems.

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“Oh, really? I think you underestimate how difficult it is to find an Energem.”
“And I think you underestimate me.”

Shelby says the whole time she’s been here, she’s been waiting tables and mopping floors and “being a pretty good Pink Ranger, if I do say so myself.” But she also has a lot of ideas that no one wants to listen to.

Fine. Kendall decides to listen. Shelby explains that they should combine the known facts of the five remaining dinosaurs like climate, known breeding grounds and food sources (stuff she knows) with a global scan of the energy signatures of each of those dinosaurs’ Energems (something Kendall would know how to do).

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Hmm. Kendall says they would need DNA samples and the processing power necessary would mean they could only scan for one Energem at a time.

A little in shock maybe, Shelby refocuses and says maybe they should start with the Ankylosaurus which combined with the Aqua Energem.

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They extract a sample of the Ankylosaurus fossil and combine it with the energy signatures from their five Dino Chargers to create their first Ankylo Charger. They then create a machine to search for energy signatures that match the new Charger. Theoretically, it will also be able to power the Ankylo Zord.

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The guys return from the dig and the ladies show them the Ankylo Charger and their new E-Tracer. They try it out and it works! It has even locked on to something. It might not be an Energem, but it could be a zord. They head out.

Meanwhile, Wrench has intercepted the satellite signal being used by the E-Tracer.

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When the Rangers head to the location, they find they are already too late as Stingrage and some Vivix have already been digging.

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The Rangers try to fight off Stingrage and the Vivix, but only get thrown around. Stingrage shoots something into Koda’s back and leaves.

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Suddenly, Koda starts attacking the others. They see it’s some kind of stinger and they hold him down to pull it out and get him back to normal.

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Just as suddenly, the Ankylo Zord pops out and tries to smash them into little bits before heading back into the gound.

The Rangers head back to the command cave. Riley says since the Ankylo Zord is awake, the Energem must have bonded with someone. Keeper says that is correct, but he, the possible Aqua Ranger, may not know they exist or has chosen not to join them. What is important is getting the Ankylo Zord under control.

Koda realizes that maybe the Ankylo Zord was also stung. So now they must destroy it. Shelby volunteers to do it since it was her E-Tracer that screwed up and gave away the location to Sledge.

But Kendall says no, the device worked brilliantly. It was she who screwed up by not encrypting the E-Tracer’s code. She promises to find a solution.

Shelby follows her out of the command cave as Kendall gets into her truck.

Up on the ship, Sledge questions Poisandra about interfering with their Energem search. But she tells him about them getting one of the Rangers’ zords under their control. Sledge likes that, but they still need to find an Energem.

Kendall arrives at the Ankylo Zord’s hole and is surprised when she finds Shelby in the trunk. She tells Shelby that she rarely makes mistakes, but when she does, she corrects them. No excuses.

But Shelby says they created this problem together, so they should solve it together. Kendall doesn’t want to be responsible for sending Shelby into the hole.

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Suddenly, Stingrage and Poisandra arrive. They shoot at Shelby and Kendall. But pushing Kendall out of the way of the attack, Shelby gets thrown into the pit. She quickly morphs before hitting the ground.

Shelby gets up and the Ankylo Zord approaches her. And not in a welcoming mood.

“Vivix! Attack the near-sighted scientist!”

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Kendall grabs a shovel and fights off the Vivix as they chase after her. The others arrive to help and she tells them about Shelby. Riley asks if Kendall can do an underground scan. She says she can do it from the base.

The Rangers try fighting Poisandra and Stingrage, but they are overpowered. Poisandra tells Stingrage to sting them all so they can kill each other. But Ankylo Zord emerges from the ground. And with Shelby!

Shelby shoots at Stingrage, Poisandra and Curio.

Shelby tells the others she’s gotten the stinger out of Ankylo Zord. They are relieved Shelby is fine, but now it’s time to finish this. The guys fight off Vivix while Shelby takes care of Stingrage.

Sledge initiates the Magnabeam and Stingrage embiggens.

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The Rangers summon the zords. Koda suggests they smash Stingrage. Shelby says Ankylo Zord can help with that. He owes her a favor.

Shelby initiates Tri-Ankylo Formation of the Megazord and they finish Stingrage off for good with a Hammer Punch.

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On the ship, Fury is about to beat Poisandra into telling him how they found the zord, but she is saved when Sledge calls for her.

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The Rangers are at the Dino Cafe and they compliment Shelby for her invention. Chase wants to visit his Mum in New Zealand when they’ve found all the Energems. Koda says his grandfather invented a very complicated machine too… the wheel.

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Kendall comes into the Cafe. Shelby wants to fist bump after they “crushed it,” but Kendall leaves her hanging. Anyway, she’s got a present for Shelby. A fossil from her favorite dinosaur.

Shelby opens the present, but she doesn’t recognize the bone. Koda says it’s poop. Kendall says it’s a very rare specimen. “Dino dung?! Ewe!!!” Shelby drops it on the floor and it breaks.

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“Now lots of rare specimen.”

Shelby wipes her hands on Koda.

Episode Thoughts

Yes!!! This might just be the best and my favorite episode of the season so far. Everything clicked and was on point.

The best part was definitely seeing Shelby and Kendall’s interactions and relationship develop from that coldness we got in the earlier episodes. I still think they could’ve introduced Kendall’s uppity, standoff-ish personality a little better, especially her harsh reaction towards Shelby. But this episode was a good payoff since it had Shelby speaking up and putting Kendall in her place while Kendall also showed that she is not closed-minded and her being a perfectionist and very meticulous is her personality.

Character development people! Imagine that!

Shelby is definitely awesome though. Maybe my favorite character this season. She’s definitely fun and likeable, but her spunky nature is awesome to root for. After four years of submissive Rangers who merely do what they’re told and never speak up for themselves (except Mia throwing shade in the Samurai finale), it’s great to have someone like Shelby who can kick ass and stand up for herself too.

And while the focus was on Shelby and Kendall this episode, the guys also got good material throughout the episode too. We saw all of them (including Keeper) actually talking things out and WORKING to solve problems. They actually needed to think and figure it out. How refreshing!

I’m amused by the “Only one Energem scan at a time” line. See how one maybe throwaway line can explain so much so that things aren’t completely random or unbelievable.

But Fury about to hit Poisandra was kinda dark. Especially since they had Poisandra cowering like a battered wife in that scene. Hmm…

How different was Dino Charge from Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger?
Corresponding episode: Brave 6 – Stop! Singing Canderrilla

Completely different episode. Which is great. The amount of original writing as well as almost completely original NZ footage this season is amazing. With them being able to and more readily willing to put in that extra effort into crafting a wholly original story and filming brand new original PR footage really opens up a whole range of possibilities.

That in turn has translated into some legitimately interesting and enjoyable stories and characters. Samurai and Megaforce both looked great in HD, but now Dino Charge looks great and has great writing and acting as well.

The story here was completely Dino Charge and not Kyoryuger. No singing or spirits or flirting. They actually wrote a completely new story. And this might also have been the best blending of original and Sentai footage this season too.

Overall, an excellent episode. Definitely my favorite of the season.


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5 thoughts on “Recap: Power Rangers Dino Charge, Episode 7 – "She fell in the hole!"

  1. This is my second best episode after “Return of the Caveman”, awesome story and lots of original footage. This episode was so great it felt so quick and I wanted it not to end.

  2. It’s been a while we’ve seen 2 female rangers focus episode that has written pretty well.
    While I think Kendall is inferior to Yayoi in terms of character, it was nice that Kendall got focus for once; it’s about time she need some sort of character development.
    Hopefully, she we gets more character development, by the time she finds her Energem becomes Purple Ranger.

    “Shelby drinks like camel” joke was hilarious! lol
    Good one Koda.
    That’s what I call comedy! (Take that Sanjo!)

    It was nice that rangers are searching for Energem, which is a great way to set up for finding future Energems and Ranger; which helps develop the overall story.
    It was handled far better than Kyoruyger IMO, where most of them just comes out of fly where it felt rushed and not much build-up.

    The interaction between Shelby and Kendall was nice.
    Way better than Amy and Yayoi interaction IMO.
    See that Sanjo? That’s how you make female character interaction!

    Nice invention Kendall.
    e-Tracer… very interesting name.
    It’s been a while we’ve seen invention that creative.

    I really like the non-morphed fight scene.
    Kendall did nice job as well… with shovel! lol
    When was the last time we’ve seen unmorphed fight with regular shovel in PR?
    It was very creative and well-choreographed.
    Still better than every fight scenes of Kyoryuger! (Shame on you, Sakamoto!)

    It’s interesting that Aqua Ranger was referred as “he”, implying him a “male”; I’m curious how they will handle “Spirit” (or whatever they will call) Ranger aspect. I’m also curious how they will handle female / non “Spirit” Ranger Aqua as well; if they are going to use that character.
    While I didn’t mind that Aqua wasn’t introduced in this episode (better than “comes out of nowhere” introduction like Ramirez/Cyan in Kyoryuger), it would have been nice to show silhouette of what he looks like.
    I like how Keeper mentioned how Aqua Ranger might not know rangers exist or chosen not to join for some reason. It creates tension and suspense; something that was practically absent in Kyoryuger.

    I’m curious how they will introduce this character, since we haven’t hear anything regarding casting of this character, which implies that he will show much later this season or next season (Dino Supercharge).
    Hopefully, it would execute much better than Kyoryuger and have more importance and appearance in the series (not just a background stump like Ramirez/Cyan).

    Didn’t mind that Canderilla singing was cut.
    As much as I love her character, I REALLY hated her song.

    The joke at the end was nice.
    Shelby and dino dung… hilarious. lol
    The overall humor in this season so far, have been flawless and consistent.

    This episode was excellent!
    It’s probably one of the best female rangers/characters focused episodes I’ve seen in the franchise.
    I also like that this episode didn’t rely too much on sentai footage, where most of them were original.
    The editing was also top notch, especially a scene with non-morphed rangers and Ankylo Zord.
    Probably one of the best episodes of this season.

    Take care.

    1. Definitely great female focus episode. We rarely see many GOOD female Ranger focus episodes.

      Funny how you mention Koichi. Isn’t Kyoryuger his first where he’s in charge? It should be amazingly action packed. But from what I remember of the episodes I’ve managed to watched so far, it’s really more focused on the comedy than on any memorable action scenes. Which is surprising considering it’s Koicho Sakamato.

  3. Very good episode! Agree with everything you said. But that waitress at the end of the episode: could she possibly be the Aqua Ranger?? Could be foreshadowing, but you never know. Guess we’ll find out at some point.

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