Recap: Power Rangers Dino Fury, Episode 3 – “You look like you’re about to crack open a pinata.”

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Recap: Power Rangers Dino Fury, Episode 3 – Lost Signal

Amelia finds Zayto sitting alone outside the command chamber as he looks at a pendant his mother gave him the day he became a knight. He thinks about how when he left, his planet was in ruins with only a few survivors. Now millions of years later, he wishes he had a way to find out how his planet is doing today.

They might be in luck. Solon has received a message from deep space and in the general vicinity of Rafkon. When she goes to play it, the modulator gets overloaded and is now fried. Unfortunately, it’s a component that came from Rafkon and is unlikely to be found on Earth.

Amelia has an idea how to decipher the message. She tells them about psychic Madame Indigo who might be able to help. Ollie thinks that’s ridiculous and believes science is the way to go. His mom knows someone at the observatory who can help.

Zayto thinks they should try both.

The three Rangers first head to the psychic where boss Jane is supposedly being given psychic powers herself. J-Borg records her as Jane narrates how she will be able to help the Power Rangers with it.

Madame Indigo asks Zayto for a meaningful object from which she can source his energy. He shows her his pendant from home and she immediately senses someone distant who is eager to contact him.

Ollie senses something else and tests Madame Indigo out by pretending he and Amelia are couple. He asks what he and his “honey muffin” have in store for their future.
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Madame Indigo says she sees Ollie and Amelia have been together for a long time and will be happy for many more years to come. A disappointed Amelia gets up to leave first.

Outside, Zayto expresses how happy he is for them.
“Hey guys! I had no idea you two were in love!”

But Ollie and Amelia explain to Zayto that they actually aren’t and he realizes that Madame Indigo isn’t the all-knowing medium they originally thought. They hope to have better luck at the observatory.

Meanwhile, J-Borg gets stuck in cement while a still blindfolded Jane gets caught in a school bus. But even more pressing, a Sporix hatches into Vypeera. J-Borg calls it in to the hotline and Solon alerts the Rangers.

The Rangers quickly teleport to the location. But Vypeera uses the eyes on her chest to freeze Zayto, allowing her to slash at him.

Ollie and Amelia morph, but struggle to fight Vypeera while trying to cover their eyes. Mucus arrives, picks up J-Borg’s camcorder and whisks Vypeera away.

Ollie and Amelia hurry over to Zayto who says he is fine. With the hotline working well, they are sure to be alerted when the Sporix pops up again. In the meantime, they can go to the observatory.

The astronomer tells the Rangers that they did detect a strong energy burst, but have concluded that it was nothing. The Rangers thank him anyway.

Thinking that the signal wasn’t a message after all, Zayto asks Ollie and Amelia for some time to himself.

Amelia gets a call from Stan at Buzzblast and she and Ollie hurry over. Buzzblast’s livestream feed has been hijacked by Mucus who is broadcasting Vypeera’s chest eyes all over Pine Ridge and freezing everyone.

At the command chamber, Solon is also watching the strange feed, not realizing what it is. Zayto freezes once again, but Solon is able to turn it off and unfreeze him.

When Zayto is unable to contact Ollie and Amelia, his frustrations build up. First not being able to hear the message from space, now not being able to fight Vypeera alone.

Solon notices Zayto’s pendant and realizes it is the same crystal in the modulator. She thinks she’ll be able to decipher the message with it. That gives Zayto renewed hope. He remembers his mother telling him to never give up.

Zayto sees the Sonic Dino Key and may have a plan. He teleports to the Buzzblast rooftop, blindfolded. He activates the Key and uses it to power up his hearing. That allows him to hear Vypeera as she attacks.

Mucus quickly leaves as Zayto is able to destroy the computer sending out the video.

Ollie and Amelia arrive. But Vypeera embiggens. Zayto morphs and hops into his zord. He tries to hold off Vypeera until Solon is able to boot up the Tricera and Ankylo zords for the first time.

Ollie and Amelia figure out how their zords can bust up some road concrete to form a large block to cover up Vypeera’s chest. Zayto directs Ollie and Amelia to toss over their Keys allowing the three zords to combine into a Megazord.

With a Mega Slash, the Rangers destroy Vypeera for good.

Before Void Knight can collect the Sporix blob, the Rangers swipe it themselves and lock it away.

Back in the command chamber, Zayto tells Ollie and Amelia how he realized he should never gave up even if he considered it.

Solon is able to fix the Galactic Comm System. They play the message, but it is in some foreign language none of them can understand. They’ll have to figure it out later as languages can change over millions of years.

With the comm system fixed, Zayto decides to send a message out into the galaxy hopeful it can reach Rafkon.
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Episode Quotes

This was the most fun episode of the three so far. It was a good Zayto focus as we got to meet his mother and have a look at how he is feeling having just awakened millions of years later. Not necessarily the fish out of water story that would also be fun. But more of a personal character moment as he thinks about his peoples.

It was also the typical “Ranger doubts himself” episode that we usually get at the start of a season. And it was done well. Zayto was already feeling down, then he gets his hopes dashed and now there’s a seemingly unbeatable monster of the week. So it made sense for him to feel frustrated. Solon giving him that renewed sense of hope was a great moment for her as well. And Zayto remembering to never give up and the way it was conveyed in the episode was very good.

Three episodes in and at least for now, the season has avoided what has been one of the biggest problems of the last ten years. Dino Fury is not treating their audience like they’re idiots. They’re not condescending to the 2-6 year olds. That’s already a huge accomplishment.

My rose-tinted spectacles-wearing 30-year-old self doesn’t feel like my brain has turned into Kureon’s slime after watching the episode!

The story’s plot was pretty simple. And realistic. While still being enjoyable. The scenes with Jane and J-Borg, though walking a pretty fine line, were actually alright. That was the most the episode got to the cartoon slapstick the show has become accustomed to. But they were quick and painless and not that absurd.

So without that distraction, the rest of the episode was able to actually settle and focus on the characters instead. Zayto misses his home and his family. They get a message from outer space. They try two options to decipher the message. And they make quick work of the monster of the week. All while being fun and enjoyable. And most importantly, not frustrating or annoying.

It definitely helps the Rangers (and Solon) are very likeable so far.

I am actually enjoying the cute back and forth between Ollie and Amelia. I wasn’t really expecting any romance this season. But it definitely can make sense with the way they are such opposites. Opposites attract, after all. *giggle* So hey, if they develop feelings for each other, I hope they can do it in a refreshing way. After years of shying away from romance during the Disney Era, Saban Brands definitely leaned into the romance. (Which is interesting to think about considering their focus on the two-year-old audience.) So it might feel a little overused now.

But anyway, there’s definitely potential for a fun, cute story with Ollie and Amelia. And Kai Moya and Hunter Deno have a great chemistry already, especially during the back and forths. If they go there, then okay. If not, then that’s good too. Guys and girls can be close platonic friends people! lol

The zord debuts were meh. And the morphing sequence is really too long. Speed it up a little and make it more explosive.

But other than those nitpicks, this was probably my favorite episode of the three so far. Simple, straightforward plot. Solid action. Actual character moments. Not dumbed down. Easy recipe for a good episode.