The Wanna-Be Ranger

Summary
The rangers find themselves seeing double when Lord Zedd attacks them with a Primator. A monster that can change from one ranger to another. Meanwhile Alpha 5 has left the command center exposing him to the monster, and putting him in danger.

Synopsis
While Jason, Kimberly, Tommy, Billy, Trini, and Zack are enjoying a friendly basketball game amongst themselves, they are suddenly alerted by Zordon to the Command Center. The Rangers are informed by their mentor that he will be forced to de-energize temporarily. Before he fades away, he leaves Alpha 5 in charge and to keep an eye on things.

Meanwhile, Lord Zedd senses the sudden flux in energy, and the instant he realizes that Zordon's powers are down, he sends a bolt of lightning from his staff, which strikes a gorilla costume Zack had left behind on the basketball court and transforms it into Primator, who possesses the power to shape-shift into the likeness of any of the Power Rangers.

Back at the Command Center, a bored Alpha 5 checks things out and sees a little boy, Dylan, who needs help. He considers contacting the Rangers, but changes his mind in the next instant and decides to help him by himself. After scaring away Bulk and Skull, who are trying to discover the secret identities of the Power Rangers, he finds Dylan and discovers that the boy has been suddenly separated from his mom, while befriending him and learning how to play soccer.

Meanwhile, Primator shape-shifts into a Billy look-alike and confronts Alpha and Dylan, but when the little robot catches a glimpse of Billy's image in the reflective surface of his helmet, he realizes that "Billy" is a fake, and Primator becomes himself again and attacks Alpha. Panicking, Alpha 5 orders Dylan to run to safety and activates his self-destruct sequence so that Primator can't use him to find the Command Center.

With that plan thwarted, Primator transforms into a Zack look-alike and lures Kimberly and Trini into a trap, as the girls end up battling and defeating Zedd's Putties. Afterwards, the girls return to the Youth Center and confront the real Zack, who distinctly states that he knew nothing about the Putty attack. Jason tries to contact Alpha at the Command Center, but with no response, so the Rangers return to the Command Center, finding that Zordon has restored himself. Zordon debriefs them of Alpha 5's predicament and reveals that they have mere minutes to save him. However, they must battle and defeat Primator first, but he does not make things easy for the team, especially when he begins to confuse the Rangers with his shape-shifting powers, until they have no idea who's who.

They are forced to retreat and regroup at the Command Center, where Zordon explains that the Primator cannot maintain his shape-shifting ability upon seeing his own reflection. Equipped with a mirror, the Rangers teleport back to the battlefield, but somehow get separated. They find Tommy, seemingly in pain because of his waning powers, but become wise when "Tommy" suggests they surrender to Zedd. Using the mirror he brought with him, Billy is able to expose "Tommy" as the Primator. With Primator's shape-shifting powers useless now, Lord Zedd has no choice but to make his monster grow. After a harrowing battle, the Dragonzord and the Thunder Megazord destroy the monster, but the Rangers must still rush to help Alpha before he self-destructs. The Rangers teleport to Alpha's location, and Billy is able to restore the little robot's systems to full operation with not a moment to spare, while Dylan is reunited with his mother.

With Alpha's greatest adventure ended, Zordon rebukes him about leaving the Command Center unprotected and failing to inform the Rangers that he would be leaving. The Rangers tease Alpha about being grounded for life, and Alpha laments about not being able to learn to play soccer.

Episode info

 * Writers: Daniel Sarnoff, Ellen Levy-Sarnoff
 * Director: John Stewart

Cast

 * Austin St. John as Jason Lee Scott (Red Ranger)
 * Walter Jones as Zack Taylor (Black Ranger)
 * David Yost as Billy Cranston (Blue Ranger)
 * Thuy Trang as Trini Kwan (Yellow Ranger)
 * Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly Hart (Pink Ranger)
 * Jason David Frank as Tommy Oliver (Green Ranger)
 * Paul Schrier as Bulk, Primator (voice)
 * All six Ranger actors also portrayed Primator when he changes into a copy of their character, although Amy Jo Johnson did not have lines as Primator (Primator only grunts when he briefly transforms into Kimberly).
 * Jason Narvy as Skull
 * Richard Genelle as Ernie
 * ??? as Dylan
 * David Fielding as Zordon
 * Bob Manahan as Zordon (voice)
 * Romy J. Sharf as Alpha 5
 * Richard Steven Horvitz as Alpha 5 (voice)
 * Ed Neil as Lord Zedd
 * Robert Axelrod as Lord Zedd (voice)
 * Danny Stallcup as Goldar
 * Kerrigan Mahan as Goldar (voice)
 * Michael J. Sorich as Squatt (voice)
 * Dave Mallow as Baboo (voice)

Errors

 * The Dino Megazord is faintly visible beside the Dragonzord through the explosion Primator causes and it's right shoulder can be briefly seen in the corner of the screen when the Dragonzord begins to go one-on-one against the monster at the beginning of the fight.
 * Trini calls Billy by name in front of Dylan when the Rangers arrive to save Alpha.

Quotes

 * Primator Tommy: You guys..uhhh! I'm losing my powers! (limping over to Trini, Billy and Jason) This is too much! Why don't we just give up?!
 * Jason: (kicks Primator Tommy to the ground) The real Tommy would never give up so easily, you bone-headed baboon!
 * Primator Tommy: (angrily) Soon you're all gonna wish you gave up!
 * Billy: (extracts his mirror) Why don't we try a little experiment "Tommy"? Let's see if reflected light brings out a whole new you. Go on! (hands Primator Tommy the mirror) Take a look.
 * Primator Tommy: (he takes mirror from Billy and looks in it and sees red parts of his face emerge on his "helmet") So what am I supposed to see?
 * Billy: My, how colourful!
 * (Primator Tommy growls, throws the mirror to the ground, and reverts to normal)


 * Goldar: What will we do now, master?!
 * Zedd: You will do nothing. I am going to make my beautiful monster a little bigger!