SERIES: Power Rangers Cosmic Fury
EPISODE: S30:E4 – “Team Work”
STARRING: Hunter Deno, Russell Curry, Kai Moya, Tessa Rao, Chance Perez, Jordan Fite
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Maiya Thompson, Cameron Dixon
DIRECTOR: Charlie Haskell
PREMIERE DATE: September 29, 2023
SYNOPSIS: The Rangers travel to the planet Levvina to find Zayto.

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By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Somebody pointed out online the way Hunter Deno pops her hips every time Amelia morphs into the Cosmic Fury Red Ranger. She does it for the first time in this episode. It’s cute.

Ollie gets a new, upgraded, evil Blue Ranger suit. Looks a little busy. But still cool.

Amelia and Ollie face one another on the battlefield here. You just know that if this were a standard season, or perhaps even a 12-episode season instead of 10, they’d have had time to give them a proper one-on-one fight. We’d have gotten to see Amelia’s reticence to fight the man she loves, despite her need to be a hero and oppose him.

After Aiyon pulls Zayto out of the tree that apparently has been sustaining his life since we last saw him, the forest tells Zayto to “Enjoy the time you have left.” So Zayto’s obviously on borrowed time. I actually appreciate that. Zaytoi gave his life to save the Earth back in Dino Fury. The fact that he can’t come back permanently, means that his death still has meaning from a story perspective. It’s not like most superhero deaths you see in the world of comic books, where he inevitably just comes back for good.

Zayto morphs into the Zenith Ranger for the first time in this episode. He’s the first sort of champagne-colored Ranger in the show’s history. Interestingly enough, he was reportedly originally going to be the White Ranger. But Hasbro was wary of putting a black man in a white costume.

As silly, petty, and cynical as that seems, who’s to say they weren’t right? That’s not to say they’d have gotten a huge backlash. But who’s to say some smart ass on Twitter wouldn’t have started something? When you look at it from a corporate standpoint, I suppose it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Then again…Zoe Robins, a black woman, played the White Ranger in Ninja Steel, and nobody seemed to bat an eye. So maybe it is much ado about nothing.

We see that Lord Zedd has set up a base on the planet Eltar. This the first time we’ve seen Eltar on the show. It’s famously Zordon’s home planet, and has been referenced numerous times dating back to Turbo, and even Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie.

For what it’s worth, we’ve also seen it in the BOOM! Studios comic books. If you buy that those comics books are canon (and I’m not sure that I do), then Eltar also happens to be Zedd’s home planet. You’d think they’d have had Zedd mention that. But maybe it’s an Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader type thing, where he doesn’t like to acknowledge his past.

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