09-03: Something to Fight For

This is the main page for episode 09-03; credits, a synopsis, and a full episode transcription are below. Transcript by cmar.

Production Credits
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS - Haim Saban, Shuki Levy
WRITERS - Judd Lynn, Jackie Marchand
DIRECTOR - Koichi Sakamoto

Episode-Specific Cast Credits
Jetara (voice) - Derek Stephen Prince

In the prison ship, Ransik is attacked by a mysterious illness. After Jen again is angered by his casual attitude, Wes is depressed, until Trip tells him about Alex. Determined to help, Wes confronts Jen, and is again allowed to use the red morpher in battle.

• Night in a forest, presumably outside Silver Hills. We see Ransik’s stolen prison ship, now tilted at about a 45 degree angle. Window lights are visible, showing someone is awake inside. In the next shot we see Nadira, wide awake and gloating over a pile of cash and jewelry, with Frax entering the room in the background. The room does not appear to be tilted. In what seems to be another part of the ship, Ransik sits at a desk with his silver half-mask off but his gloved hand covering that side of his face. He puts a hand down on the desktop and we see that the skin of his arm, a mass of twisted flesh to begin with, is bubbling horribly, as is the side of his head. He moans and then screams in pain.

• Outside, Nadira hears and looks up. Ransik cries out again and knocks a container of what looks like green crystals off the desk. Nadira approaches the barred entrance to his room hesitantly at first, and then runs to lean against it.

Nadira: Daddy, are you okay? (gestures impatiently at Frax and Gluto, who are hovering behind her.)

• Ransik, still groaning, opens a triangular case and reaches for the six tubes of blue liquid inside. Nadira’s voice calls ‘Daddy?’ a couple more times as he fumbles the stopper out one-handed and drinks it, gasping all the time. As he lowers the tube, he seems to relax, and a moment later picks up his face mask.

• Nadira is looking very concerned outside. When the door opens, she, Frax, and Gluto all step back to let Ransik exit.

Nadira: Daddy, I… I…

Ransik: Everything’s fine, my sweetness. (chuckles) Now let’s get to work.

• Nadira still seems worried and very unhappy. Frax stands behind her silently.

Gluto: Great idea, boss. I’m dying for some action.

• It’s sunrise over the beach where we see the scattered wreckage of the TF timeship. Trip is struggling to move a hunk of what looks like metal plating. Katie, who is walking by with a large piece of what looks like the ship’s hull on her shoulder, drops it with a crash and goes to help him, pulling him away and lifting the obstruction effortlessly over her head with one hand. Trip gives a little laugh and quickly grabs the object underneath: a yellow carrying case. He opens it to reveal a toy-sized aircraft in the well-padded interior. Lucas, poking through other debris a short distance away, shakes his head, walks away, and speaks to Jen.

Lucas: I want to catch Ransik as badly as you do, but we’re going to need help.

• Jen is sitting on another yellow box or crate, looking dejected. Suddenly, there is a crackle, and an image begins to form between the twin antennae of the TF communicator lying on the sand near her.

Jen: (to Trip and Katie) Hey! Over here!

• An image of Captain Logan forms as the team gathers around.

Logan: This is Captain Logan, do you read me?

Jen: We read you, Captain.

Logan: Where have you landed?

Jen: We followed Ransik to the year 2001.

Katie: Sir, he’s got a whole prison full of monsters. We need backup!

Logan: That’s impossible. With the timeship destroyed, we can’t send any human help. Our weapons are at your disposal, but the rest is up to you. You’re our only hope.

Jen: (nodding) Yes sir. We won’t let you down.

• A limousine drives down an otherwise deserted street. Inside Philips is driving, and Wes, in the back seat, is dressed in a suit and struggling with the tie.

Wes: Philips, I hate these things!

Philips: You can’t attend an executive meeting without a necktie.

Wes: Yeah, well maybe I shouldn’t even… (sits forward alertly, looking out the car window) Philips, stop! Stop stop!

• The car screeches to a halt. We see what Wes has spotted: inside a nearby building with a glass front Nadira is lounging in a chair while cyclobots terrorize a man standing next to her and bring her a large bag full of something.

Wes: (getting out of the car) Gotta go! Sorry, Philips, tell them… something came up.

Philips: But sir, I - I - I - I - I… Come back here, sir, come back here!

• Inside the building (a sign in the back identifies it as the Silver Hills Bank) Nadira has a handful of cash.

Nadira: All right, you bolt brains, let’s blow this joint. She leads the way toward the door, only to gasp as she sees Wes leaning against the doorframe.

Wes: You’re going to make me kick your butt again, aren’t you?

Nadira: You? Kicked my butt? Let me jog your memory! Let’s rock! (the cyclobots beside her toss away the armfuls of loot they were carrying)

Wes: (grinning) All right! The more the merrier!

Nadira: I’m glad you feel that way!

• Wes’s confident smile fades as a horde of cyclobots, plus Gluto, enter from the back of the bank.

Gluto: Well, looky who decided to crash our party. Destroy him!

• Wes makes a valiant attempt to fight off the dozen or so cyclobots, using a metal stand and then flipping onto a table, only to be knocked off. He winds up lying on the floor surrounded by the cyclobots’ saber-blasters.

Wes: Okay, no more.

Nadira: Get him!

Wes: Huh?

• The cyclobots shove Wes through the doors of the bank, and he falls to the pavement outside where they again surround him. Nadira walks up, smirking.

Nadira: Game over.

• Nadira extends her foot-long, deadly-looking fingernails. Wes looks frightened as she waves them in his face and then raised her arm. At that moment we hear a ‘hyah’ and see a pink form somersaulting from the roof of the bank, to fly over Nadira and throw a chronosaber at her. The saber hits Nadira’s fingernails and breaks one off. It lands on the pavement where it shrinks back to normal size.

Nadira: Ohhh!!! My nail!

Jen: (to Wes, as the other Rangers run up from behind him) Come on, let’s go!

Nadira: I just painted it, too!

Jen: Move it!

Nadira: They’re going to pay for this!

Gluto: Come on, Nadira!

Nadira: Broke my nail!

Gluto: It’s no big deal. Hey, you’ve got nine more, right?

Nadira: (gives him a dirty look before hitting him in the gut and knocking him down) Don’t talk to me in that tone of voice.

Gluto: But… Na… Owwwww….

• The Rangers and Wes have gotten to safety, where Jen, now demorphed, shoves Wes up against a wall.

Wes: Hey, ease up! What’d you do that for, anyway? I had Nadira right where I wanted her!

Jen: I told you to stay out of our way.

Wes: But you need my help!

Jen: I told you, this is none of your business!

Wes: (laughing) What’s your problem? (teasingly touches her nose with his finger) I’m fighting on your side!

Jen: (slaps his hand away) You’re not fighting at all! You’re playing!

Lucas: This isn’t a game for us.

Jen: You’ve never had to fight for anything in your life.

Wes: (now looking uncomfortable) Of course I have.

Jen: What? Name one thing you’ve sacrificed everything for. Something that helped everyone but you. Something you couldn’t buy. (holds up a hand to stop Trip who started to say something) That’s what I thought. Let’s go. (as Trip again seems to be about to talk to Wes) Trip, come on!

• Throughout this speech Wes has turned his back, looking very unhappy and almost ashamed. Now, silently, he watches them leave.

• In the prison ship, Nadira is still upset about her nail as she arrives back from her bank robbery.

Nadira: Those Rangers are going to spoil our whole plan, Daddy! (with a moan, shows the broken nail to Ransik)

Ransik: (tsks and kisses her finger) Ah, don’t fret, my dear. (laughs) We’re going to destroy the Rangers without even getting our hands dirty.

• Ransik leads the way to one of the storage compartments along the wall where we previously saw a Time Force prison guard stash a shrunken and frozen mutant criminal. He opens it, and we see a metal imprisonment cylinder.

Nadira: Ah, the mutant criminals. Perfect.

• The Collins mansion. Inside, Wes is descending a curved and quite elaborately railed staircase, with Collins Senior holding out an arm to introduce him to at least three people. Despite his use of the word ‘gentlemen’, two of them are women. Wes is wearing different clothes, but still a jacket and tie.

Collins: Gentlemen, this is the young man who’s going to be taking my place at BioSynth some day. My son, Wesley Collins.

Wes: (shaking hands) A pleasure. It’s nice to meet you.

Collins: Why don’t we just go inside and hammer out the rest of the details. (indicates a room behind him) Please, go ahead.

Wes: Oh, Dad, I’ll be right in, okay?

Collins: Don’t be long, this is important.

• Later, Wes is standing on a balcony overlooking a swimming pool and some very nicely landscaped grounds. In his mind’s eye, we see and hear Jen’s speech to him from earlier.

Jen: (in flashback - and yes, she says it slightly differently) Name one thing you sacrificed everything for. Something that’s helped everybody but you. Something you couldn’t buy.

• As the flashback ends, we see Trip hidden in the bushes and flowers. He stands up.

Trip: Psst! Wes! C’mon!

• Wes sees him and nods, checks to see if the coast is clear, and then jumps over the second floor balcony railing and onto the tiled patio.

Wes: What are you doing here?

Trip: I need to talk to you. To explain-

Wes: No, no. Jen made it pretty clear. She thinks I’m nothing but a spoiled brat. (sits on a poolside lounger) I don’t know. Maybe she’s right.

Trip: She isn’t right. I have ways of knowing. I’m from the planet Xybria. Our gems give us special visions. (smiles) Here, I want you to see something.

• Trip presses a control on his morpher, and a 3-D image of Alex and Jen holding hands appears above it.

Wes: Hey, that’s me!

Trip: No, that’s - that’s Alex. He and Jen - they were going to get married. (a series of short flashbacks appears during Trip’s speech) That was before Alex tried to stop Ransik from escaping to the past. Ransik struck him down without mercy. And - Alex was gone.

Wes: So that’s why Jen… (gets up) It’s all beginning to make sense.

Collins: (from the balcony) Wesley! Wesley!

• Wes looks up and quickly hides from his father’s view. Then he notices that Trip is gone, runs to the poolside and looks around for him in vain.

• Back on the beach where the TF timeship crashed, Trip has returned. He walks past Katie and Lucas and crouches behind some debris, his expression troubled and sympathetic. He’s looking at Jen, some yards away and leaning against a rock outcropping. We see that she’s staring down at her engagement ring, touching it with the fingers of her other hand. As the camera pulls back, we see Wes approaching her.

Wes: Jen.

Jen: (standing straight as if embarrassed to be caught in a weak moment) What do you want?

Wes: You were right. I’ve never had to fight for anything in my life. But now I have something to fight for. I know about Alex. (Jen gives Trip an angry look) Unless we stop Ransik, neither of us will have a future. Please, let me help you!

• On the prison ship, Frax removes a shrunken prisoner from a capsule.

Frax: Time to reverse the chrono-freeze. The Jetara is ready for reanimation. Begin.

• The sliding door of the freeze/shrink - un-freeze/shrink chamber closes with the tiny figure inside. A cyclobot at the prison control panel taps some controls. A round yellow container above releases a cloud of white vapor. Ransik, Nadira, Frax, and Gluto stand watching. A few flashing and blinking lights later, the door opens and someone - or something - steps forward.

Ransik: The reanimator works perfectly! Now go! Go and destroy!

• Downtown Silver Hills, and a police car screeches around a corner, quickly joined by several others. Jetara - a creature with spikes all over his silvery metallic self and glowing yellow eyes - swoops down from the sky, landing in front of them.

Jetara: Now let’s just see how tough the cops are in 2001!

• He fires finger-blasters at the police, who are now behind hand-held shields. The scene shifts back to the beach.

Circuit: Rangers! We got trouble!

Trip: Circuit’s picking up signs of mutant DNA! At the harbor!

• Jen nods and leads her team away from the shoreline. After several steps she stops, and they all look back at Wes. Jen returns part of the distance towards him, and takes out the red morpher.

Jen: One more chance. (throws the morpher. Wes catches it and grins, then they exchange determined nods) Ready?

Jen, Katie, Trip, Lucas: Time for… Time Force!

• The four of them morph, the screen split four ways to show their sequences. A moment later Wes morphs also.

Wes: Yah! Ready!

Jen: Let’s do it!

Katie: Yeah!

Trip: Wait! Time to use the Time Jet! (opens the yellow case with the toy-sized aircraft inside) Let’s hope this works!

• Four clamps holding the vehicle pop open, and it flies straight up in the air where it quickly enlarges into the Time Jet.

Circuit: Supersonic speed will get you anywhere fast!

Jen: C’mon, let me help you, rookie.

• Jen takes Wes’s arm as they all leap into the air, landing neatly on the Jet. Wes seems off balance for only a moment.

Wes: He wasn’t kidding about the supersonic part! This is intense!

Jen: So Wes, you think you can handle it?

Wes: Piece of cake. (laughs)

• They swoop over downtown.

Jen: Let’s go!

• The five Rangers leap from the Jet, landing in the street where Jetara is attacking.

Jen: Time Force! You’re under arrest! Your days of destruction are over, Jetara! We’re bringing you back to prison!

Jetara: Not without a fight, Rangers!

Wes: Suit yourself!

• Jetara knocks them down with blasts from a weapon built into his gauntlet, and then leaps through the air at them. Wes is the first back on his feet and Jetara barrels into him, driving him backwards quite a distance, kicking all the way.

Wes: Chronosaber!

• The sabers appear from warped space and Wes kicks himself free, rebounds off a post, and then attacks. Leaping into the air, he uses his Time Strike for the first time.

Wes: Time Strike!

• The Time Strike energy hits Jetara, weakening him. Then Wes slashes with his sabers, with unexpected results. A small patch of black with a gold border and a gold design is knocked off Jetara’s shoulder, revealing a shiny, purplish surface underneath. This is followed by a display of purple and then brown globes growing into an explosive mass. Next thing, a hugely expanded Jetara is seen from beneath.

Katie: Circuit, what’s happening?

Circuit: (hovering overhead) His mutant DNA’s been exposed. This causes him to grow to a tremendous size with more strength than ever!

Wes: Oh great, now you tell us! So what do we do now?

Jetara: (now flying and looking sort of like a turtle) That’s easy! Just sit back and prepare to be destroyed!

• Jetara blasts at them from his spikes and his mouth. The Rangers retreat, falling back a few steps and then running into an alley.

Circuit: (being blown backwards by the blasts) Whoaaaa whooaaaa! Whoaaaaaa!

Lucas: Look out! Here he comes again!

Circuit: That does it! We need help! Captain Logan, can you hear me?

Logan: (seen in TF HQ) We’re sending the Time Force Megazord.

• In 3000, we see the runway at Time Force again, and the Transwarp Megazord. A collar-like attachment flies up from Transwarp’s shoulders and reshapes into an arch, which lowers into place on the runway. A ship rises into the air. On a circular launch pad, five ships in each of the Rangers’ colors move into place nose to nose, with Transwarp standing by.

Logan: Time Fliers, online!

• Transwarp extends his arm. The red ship moves into place on the runway. Transwarp’s whole upper body twirls around, and the arch forms the same white time warp that Jen and her crew went through before. Transwarp swats the red Time Flier through, and follows with the others, two at a time. They travel through the timewarp tunnel and emerge in formation from the side of something that looks kind of like a Ferris wheel.

Jen: Wow, they’re incredible!

Circuit: You use your chronomorpher to dispatch the Time Jet!

Jen: Right. Time Jet, online!

• The Time Jet swoops in, and they all leap up.

Jen: Let’s go!

• Cockpit covers open in the noses of the Time Fliers, and the Rangers leap from the Time Jet, each to his or her own Flier.

Wes: Time Force Megazord! Mode Blue!

• The Fliers reconfigure and combine into the Time Force Megazord, Mode Blue. The Rangers find themselves together in a central control room, standing behind control rods rising from the floor.

Wes: Whoa! What do we do now?

Jen: I’m downloading the data. (a moment later) Got it. Guys, we have to all control it together.

Wes: Gotcha.

• They all grab the controls in front of them, labeled with duplicates of their suits’ colored emblems. The Time Jet transforms too, becoming a blaster that the megazord grabs in its hand.

Jetara: I don’t believe it! It’s not possible!

Wes: You’ve got nothing on us, Jetara! Ha, ha!

• The flying megazord blasts the giant Jetara a few times and then slams into him with its feet. Jetara hits back and throw TF Megazord away, shaking up the Rangers.

Jen: Concentrate!

• The megazord uses its feet to rebound off a remarkably solid and springy cloud, and flies at Jetara again. They are both suspended above the city, blasting away at each other, for a few seconds. Both are shaken up and land.

Circuit: Rangers, go to red mode!

Wes: You got it, Circuit! All right guys, let’s break it down!

• TF Megazord Blue splits back into the Time Fliers, which zoom at Jetara, making him dodge.

Wes: Time Force Megazord, Mode Red!

• The fliers join together again to form Mode Red.

Wes: Deploy saber!

• A saber emerges from Mode Red’s chest, and he grabs it. Jetara is ready, he blasts the megazord, but without much effect.

Lucas: Hold on! He’s getting ready to fire again!

Katie: Shield up!

• Mode red protects itself with a pink and yellow shield.

Trip: Yeah!

Jen: Wes, try using the saber!

Wes: I’m on it. Time Force Megazord saber!

• The control rod he has been using now becomes a saber which Wes pulls up from the floor. It’s a duplicate of the saber Mode Red is holding. The megazord copies his movement and holds it up.

Wes: Engage!

• Two side blades snap out from the main one and form right angles with it. Outside, the same happens with the megazord’s blade, and a Time Strike-like clock briefly appears around it. Mode Red and Jetara come at each other, and Mode Red again follows Wes’s example by slashing at the mutant. Jetara is frozen in an explosion as Mode Red slides past him like a skater. The clock appears again, the two smaller blades closing back with the main one to the accompaniment of a ticking sound. When they reach 12 o’clock, there is a massive explosion. Jetara screams as his bubbling mutant DNA reverses its growth. Again reduced to a tiny size and frozen, he falls to the pavement.

Wes: Yeah, we did it!

• Time Force Megazord Mode Red breaks up into the Time Fliers again. Jen kneels next to Jetara’s re-shrunken form and holds a small device over him which casts a bright flash of light downwards. When it clears, he is back in one of those cryogenic containers.

Jen: Back where you belong.

Jen: Power down!

Other Rangers: Power down!

Jen: There’s one down.

Wes: (walking up to her) Glad you captured this guy.

Katie: You mean we captured him. We couldn’t have done it without you!

• Wes looks at Jen, and then reluctantly peels the morpher off his wrist and starts to hand it to her.

Jen: No. Keep it.

Wes: Really?

Jen: Yeah. You earned it. Besides… we need you.

Katie: Ohhhh! Looks like we got a Red Ranger!

Wes: (caught in her over-powerful hug) Ow! Katie, Katie! Katie, Katie!

Jen: (looking on and smiling) Maybe we have a chance after all.

End

• Starting in this episode and for the rest of the series, the prison ship is shown in the woods resting at a tilt of about 45 degrees. Inside, however, the floors appear perfectly level. Maybe the ship is equipped with artificial gravity.

• Ransik's attack of illness in the first scene starts one of the show's important subplots.

• Mr. Collins refers to his company as 'BioSynth' here, but for the rest of the show it will be called 'Bio-Lab'. Either way, here as well as in the previous episode, Wes is obviously being included in corporate business meetings, although it is not clear whether he actually has a job with the company.

• Note Wes's jump from a second floor balcony onto a tiled patio in this episode. It's only the first and mildest of many scenes of Wes taking long falls and remaining apparently unhurt.

• In Wes's red Time Flyer cockpit, a display of the Time Force Megazord is labeled 'Time Robo' - the name used in Timeranger. It shows up again very briefly when Jen downloads data on how to operate the megazord.