***As big a Power Rangers fan as I am, I must admit: I’m a little behind on modern PR. Here’s where I attempt to fix that, as I check out episodes of Power Rangers Beast Morphers!***

SERIES: Power Rangers Beast Morphers
EPISODE: S27:E21 – “Source Code”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Andrew Laing (Voice)
GUEST-STARRING: Olivia Tennet
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Chip Lynn
DIRECTOR: Simon Bennett
PREMIERE DATE: June 26, 2020 (UK), December 5, 2020 (US) 
SYNOPSIS: Evox infiltrates Grid Battleforce, and a terrible secret is revealed.

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By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

“Source Code” contains what, up to that point at least, may very well be the biggest surprise in the show’s history: That Evox and Venjix from Power Rangers RPM are, in fact, the same entity. This twist was apparently planned from the get-go. In hindsight, the return of Doctor K obviously serves as evidence of that. What’s more, Randall Ewing, the voice of Evox, is a pseudonym for Andrew Laing, the actor who voiced Venjix in RPM.

For viewers unfamiliar with RPM, this is just another layer to the Venjix character. But for lifetime Power Rangers geeks like yours truly, it’s not just a continuity nod, it’s a full-on incorporation of a piece of the show’s history, the likes of which had never been seen on the show before. It solidifies Venjix/Evox as one of the most formidable villains in Power Rangers history.

Indeed, at the end of RPM, we saw that the Venjix virus had survived by hiding in the red Cell Shift Morpher. So the stage had been set for a Venjix return. But based on the nature of the show, we had no reason to suspect he’d ever actually return. Except for possibly in an RPM/Samurai team-up, but that wasn’t the direction they ultimately took things. It’s hard for me to find anything negative to hurl at this twist…

Actually, there is one minor thing. Once we get the reveal, Evox’s voice changes to the one Laing used for Venjix in RPM. Personally, I prefer the Evox voice. I’d have used the Venjix one for the big reveal, but then reverted back to Evox. That’s the one nitpick I have.

We flash back to see that a young Nate accidentally created Evox by attempting to incorporate snake DNA into a the red Cell Shift Morpher (shown above). Incidentally, also seen in the flashback are (checks Ranger Wiki to make sure…) a Rev Morpher and from RPM, a Sky Morpher from RPM, a pair of Mystic Morphers from Mystic Force, a pair of Overdrive Trackers from Operation Overdrive, and a Gosei Morpher from Megaforce. Great little Easter eggs for PR geeks.

We’ll chalk it up to youthful naïveté that our young prodigy was doing something as overtly evil-sounding as experimenting with snake DNA. Using what appears to be, of all things, a big jelly jar filled with the stuff in liquid form, complete with a picture of a venomous snake on it.

It’s, of course, great to see more of Doctor K. She and Nate obviously have a lot in common in terms of unleashing the Venjix virus on their respective worlds. The show takes full advantage of that, and it’s tremendous to see.

Before she returns home, Doctor K mentions the possibility that there are traces of the Venjix virus in her dimension. There’s a potential story there, somewhere…

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.