Forever Red

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Forever Red
Part of Preventing the ascension of the Machine Empire as a dominant evil presence

Rangers of Forever Red
Date October 12, 2002
Location Sea of Tranquility, Earth's Moon
Result Power Ranger victory
Combatants
10 Red Power Rangers Machine Empire
Commanders
Tommy Oliver/Zeo Ranger V General Venjix
Strength
10 Red Power Rangers and accompanying weapons/tools 5 Machine Empire generals, Cog shock troops
Casualties
None All numbers destroyed

Forever Red is an episode of the television series Power Rangers: Wild Force, commemorating the first ten years of Power Rangers. While airing a year short of the actual tenth anniversary of the show, Wild Force is the tenth series in the Power Rangers franchise.

Forever Red unites all but one of the previous Red Rangers from the series. The only hold-out was Steve Cardenas, who had retired from acting. Danny Slavin, who originally had left due to a falling out with Saban, was convinced to appear as a personal favor. Unfortunately, principal photography had completed by the time he was able to do so. To solve his problem, digital insertion was used to put him in the episode. Aquitian Ranger Aurico appears, but only in morphed form, as his non-morphed actor was unable to appear.

This episode is often compared to the Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai special, which used a similar tactic in combining many unrelated characters and costumes,. Both were filmed in the same year, although Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai would go all the way back to the first sentai ever created, Himitsu Sentai Goranger.

The ten Red Rangers featured, in order of appearance in Power Rangers continuity were:

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

Six years after the destruction of the Machine Empire, the surviving members of the empire have grouped together and are seeking to destroy Earth. Tezzla, Gerrok, Steelon, and Automon (and many Cogs) are all that is left of the empire, as well as General Venjix, their leader. They have recently learned that Earth's moon is the resting place of Serpentera, Lord Zedd's own personal war Zord, capable of destroying a planet. The location of Serpentera had remained a mystery for many years. Venjix discovered it and began using Cog soldiers to dig it up, refitting it with a Neo-Plutonium reactor to handle the power issues that plagued Lord Zedd when he piloted it.

General Venjix
General Venjix

Andros, the Red Space Ranger, discovered Venjix's plan after following him for several years. He quickly reported his findings to Tommy Oliver, the red Zeo Ranger. When Tommy learned of Venjix's plan, he asked Andros to gather all of the current Red Rangers and meet him at the NASADA space port on Earth. Although it was not explained how each Ranger would be contacted, many fans assume Carter used government connections to track down Cole and the Silver Guardians. T.J. was easily available as he also served as Andros' second-in-command, while Aurico and Leo were likely contacted by Andros himself. Tommy contacted his former teammate and the original Red Ranger, Jason. However, Jason didn't give Tommy a definitive answer as to whether or not he would show.

Cole, the current Red Ranger, was contacted by Carter as the Wild Force team were gathered at a park. The two proceeded to NASADA's spaceport, where they meet up with Andros, T.J., Wes and Eric. There, Tommy explains that he would be leading a team of Red Rangers. Jason pulls up to the group on a motorcycle, surprising Tommy. Jason explained that he didn't think the mission would feel right without the original Red Ranger. He then proceeded to rib Cole, "the new guy" of the group. Tommy, Jason, Wes, Eric, T.J., Carter, Andros and Cole board the Astro Megaship Mark II, created specifically for this mission, and proceed to the moon. A new Alpha robot, Alpha 7, with Alpha 5's voice and demeanor as well as Alpha 6's body and "lightning bolt" chest, is on board as well. While enroute, Andros informs Tommy that he contacted Aurico and Leo while Tommy further explained their mission to the other Rangers.

Venjix and his other generals prepare to board Serpentera, but they are then interrupted by the Rangers. Venjix sends Cogs to distract the eight Rangers while he and the others flee to Serpentera. The Rangers battle the Cogs unmorphed and easily defeat them. Eventually, Cole escapes the barrage of Cogs and chases the generals. Venjix fires at him, but Cole is rescued by Leo and Aurico on Leo's Jet Jammer. Then all the Rangers gather, morph with their respective morphing calls (except for Aurico, who does not demorph), and battle the Generals. The Rangers destroy four of the five generals, but Venjix manages to escape, climbing aboard Serpentera and taking off. The Rangers fear they have failed, but Cole calls upon his Wild Force Rider to battle Venjix. Cole uses the rider to fly into Serpentera and destroy it from the inside. Both Venjix and Serpentera are destroyed.

Afterwards, the Rangers part ways, and Cole remarks how Tommy appeared to be the "greatest Ranger," with the others good-naturedly refuting the claim.

[edit] Cut Scenes

Rumors have floated around about cut scenes of this episode since before the episodes aired. Recently, a member of the fan forum Ranger Board posted pages from the script. These pages confirmed the following :

- The scene where Cole was picked up from Carter was meant to be extended. This scene would have also featured 2 children arguing over which ranger is the best, then preceeded to the scene we saw. 2 lines were cut from this section of the scene. One where Taylor is all ready to go on the mission, and another where Max gets ready to take off.

[edit] Discontinuity

In all, Forever Red is considered one of the greatest Power Rangers episodes, however, many parts of the episode have become controversial in fan discussion. The following are the most notable issues:

  • How Bulk and Skull were able to reunite is unclear, as Lost Galaxy showed that Bulk was on Mirinoi while Skull remained on Earth. It must be kept in mind, though that the Galaxy Rangers return to Earth for the Lightspeed/Galaxy team-up, so the possibility of commercial intergalactic travel should not be ruled out, as later seen in Power Rangers S.P.D.
  • The Ranger powers of Jason and T.J. were both previously destroyed, and there is no mention of new or restored powers. Popular fanon explanations include the powers being recreated as prototypes by Tommy and Haley for the Dino Thunder powers, Jason somehow keeping his powers after passing the title of Red Ranger to Rocky, and Lightning Cruiser restoring T.J.'s powers (as Storm Blaster did for Justin in his In Space cameo). Some fans also speculate that Zordon's energy wave at the end of "Countdown to Destruction" may have somehow repowered or repaired Jason's coin, and Rocky may have returned the original Power Coin to Jason when he became a Zeo Ranger. Also it may be possible that the Ninja Power Coins were destroyed and the original power coins were not.
  • Serpentera is much smaller in this episode than in previous appearances, as previously, his head was larger than the Thunder Megazord, whereas in "Forever Red" Cole's Wild Force rider was about this size. Furthermore, it seems doubtful that something capable of easily defeating a Megazord would be so easily defeated by a normal-sized weapon.

[edit] Scorpion Rain

A long-time hoax in the Power Rangers fandom claimed that a short serial, aired only once, and in Australia, explained the missing story between Power Rangers: Zeo and Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie. Amit Bhaumik, who wrote this episode, was instrumental in creating and perpetrating that hoax, long before he became a writer for Power Rangers. Forever Red makes a few pointed references to Scorpion Rain, including Tommy's line "Awww man, that is one ugly Zord," which is said to be taken verbatim, but the fact that there has never been a definitive transcript or movie of Scorpion Rain (because it was fictional) makes this questionable.

This has an issue of debate in the Power Rangers fandom, as Scorpion Rain is regarded as a cruel trick by most of the fans not involved. Bhaumik said jokingly in an online forum that he wrote Forever Red as if Scorpion Rain were in continuity. Because of Bhaumik's story editor title on the show at the time, some have surmised that the pointed references to Scorpion Rain in Forever Red retroactively make the hoax valid in the series continuity. The reaction to this is mixed, as some thus accepted Scorpion Rain as fanon, and others attempt to tie Forever Red into continuity in their own ways. Tommy does prove that the Power Rangers Universe is a cohesive whole in Dino Thunder, thus proving that the series are all connected, so fitting "Forever Red" into continuity is difficult, and there are a variety of theories among fans as to how to do so.

A few external links with information about Scorpion Rain:

[edit] Power Rangers references

In addition to the Red Rangers guest-starring in the episode, Forever Red, written by long-time fan and then-story editor Amit Bhaumik, makes many references to previous Power Rangers series, including:

  • Alpha 7, a new Alpha robot that had the voice of Alpha 5 (provided by Richard Steven Horvitz) and the body of Alpha 6
  • Astro Megaship Mark II, a new version of the main command center from Power Rangers in Space. Similarly, a new version of the Lightning Cruiser (the alien sports car belonging to the Red Turbo Ranger) was introduced.
  • The return of the foot soldiers of the Machine Empire, the Cogs.
  • The return of Bulk and Skull, the comedic pair from early Power Rangers, and two of the most popular non-Ranger characters in the series.
  • The return of the Machine Empire, the main enemies in Power Rangers: Zeo, with former Power Rangers Ranger actors Walter Emmanuel Jones, Archie Kao, and Catherine Sutherland providing some of the voices; Sutherland's character, however, did not speak. (The other two Machine Empire generals were voiced by David Walsh and Scott Page-Pagter.)
  • The return of Serpentera, the powerful Zord operated by Lord Zedd in early Power Rangers.
  • Jason mentions Kimberly ("Are you kidding me? I was the one doing all the work while he (Tommy) was in the juice bar kissing on Kimberly!").
  • Cole says "Morphenomenal!", a phrase which was originally coined by Kimberly in the early days of Power Rangers.
  • T.J. mentions getting baked into a giant pizza (Trouble by the Slice in Power Rangers Turbo).
  • Eric makes reference to his zord and Tommy's Dragonzord, saying, "My Q-Rex would've eaten his Dragonzord for lunch!"
  • Wes referenced the 1991 Power Rangers fan club with the quote "I've changed time! So why does he (Tommy) have a fan club and I don't?"
  • The armored costumes for the Machine Empire generals are the costumes from Big Bad Beetleborgs.
  • Bulk and Skull play a game of chess in which the pawns resemble the Psycho Rangers, matching the chess board the Space Rangers used to plan their attack against the Psychos in the Psycho Ranger arc in Power Rangers in Space.
Power Rangers
Television series:
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - Alien Rangers - Zeo - Turbo - Space - Lost Galaxy - Lightspeed Rescue - Time Force
Wild Force - Ninja Storm - Dino Thunder - S.P.D. - Mystic Force - Operation Overdrive
Movies
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie - Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie
Select episodes
Day of the Dumpster - Green with Evil - The Wedding - Ninja Quest - Hogday Afternoon
Chase Into Space - Countdown to Destruction - Forever Red - Legacy of Power
Back in Black - Lost and Found in Translation - Fighting Spirit - Mystic Fate
Characters
Rangers - Zords - Villains - Enemy grunts - Monsters - Other Characters
Related series from Saban
VR Troopers - Masked Rider - Big Bad Beetleborgs - The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog
Other related series
Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad - Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills
See also
Fox Kids - ABC Kids - ABC Family - Toon Disney - Jetix - Saban - Disney - Super Sentai
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