Day of the Dino

Day of the Dino is the two-part premiere of Power Rangers: Dino Thunder.

Synopsis
When Mesogog, an evil scientist, unleashes Bio Zords on the city, former Power Ranger Tommy Oliver recruits three high school kids to become Power Rangers and tame the beasts.

Part 1
We find Tommy alone on an island, being chased by Tyrannodrones. He outruns them and manages to escape the island by jumps into the ocean before it sinks. Dr. Oliver watches the island simultaneously go up in flames and sink under the ocean. Years later, Dr. Oliver begins working at Reefside High as a high school science teacher. He meets the new principal, Ms. Randall. As he begins class, he gets some grief from the resident busybody, school reporter Cassidy Cornell. Tommy notices a student is missing. That student is Conner McKnight, soccer star, who is busted for truancy by Principal Randall. Randall also busts musician Kira Ford for performing on school grounds without permission. Finally, she rounds up high tech prankster Ethan James, and brings them all to detention with Dr. Oliver. Instead of detention, Tommy takes the kids to the museum. He sends them off to find artifacts. As Tommy notices that the museum is now run by Anton Mercer, he is confronted by a T-Rex. In the woods, the kids fall into a sinkhole. Unsure of how to get out, the kids explore the caverns. A car chase later, and the T-Rex is out cold, and revealed to be mechanical. The kids stumble across some kind of high tech underground lair, and take some glowing gems from a stand. As soon as they find their way out, they're attacked by Tyrannodrones. The kids discover that the gems have given them powers, and defeat the creatures using them. Soon, everyone meets back up in the woods, and pretend as if nothing happened. Back at school, a fed up Kira hands over her gem to the guys, only to be abducted by Tyrannodrones. Conner and Ethan run to Dr. Oliver's house for help, only to find a secret entrance to the same lair. Tommy finds the kids snooping, and is not pleased. Meanwhile, Mesogog prepares to interrogate Kira.

Part 2
Ethan and Conner tell Dr. Oliver what happened with Kira and the Tyrannodrones and they all leave to find her. Kira is holding her own in Mesogog's fortress, as she gets into a tussle with henchwoman Elsa and tries to run away. Unfortunately, cyborn Zeltrax and his crew are not far behind either. While evading Tyrannodrones and Zeltrax, Kira finds a portal, and it sucks her in. They take off in Dr. Oliver's jeep, where Dr. Oliver explains how the Tryrandrones are his creation: a few years back, Dr. Oliver were working on a way to combine dino DNA with technology. His partner in this endevour, the rich scientist Dr. Anton Mercer, disappeared soon after and right before Mesogog appeared and attacked their lab and and Tommy thought that all of their research was destoryed. She lands right on top of the search party looking for her. Tommy and the gang fight and drive them off. Mesogog orders that the Bio Zords be unleashed on the city, followed by an aerial strike by Zeltrax. Three mechanical dinosaurs begin their rampage through the city streets. Tommy brings the kids to his lair, and gives them morphers so that they may become Power Rangers and stop the Bio Zords. The Rangers accept their roles as super heroes. They head down the city and morph into the Dino Thunder Rangers. When Tyrannodrones attack, Tommy tells the Rangers to summon their power weapons. Finally, they combine their weapons into the Z-Rex Blaster and hit Zeltrax with a shot. Then they tame the Bio Zords, and combine them into the Thundersaurus Megazord. They use the Megazord to destroy Zeltrax's ship. Mesogog punishes Zeltrax and Elsa for their failure with a psionic brain-blast and warns them as a lesson that he doesn't take defeat lightly. Tommy gives the kids bracelets which can access their morphers and allow them to communicate with each other. He also tells them that their lives will never be the same, but as long as they have each other, no one can defeat them, no one.

Trivia
Conner claims Tommy isn't Batman, and scoffs at the idea that an item in his study could reveal a hidden cave (which turns out to be true). The Batman's Batcave entrance with a hidden switch in Bruce Wayne's study was most famously shown in the 1966 series. It also seems logical that they would have Conner deliver that line since James Napier who plays Conner is actually the great-grandson of Alan Napier, who played Alfred in the 1966 series. Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers began pre-production in 1992, in Valencia, California
 * Conner uses the phrases "Have a nice trip, see you next fall" and "Time to head for the back of the neck". The first one was used in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie by Kimberly and the second one also is also homage to a certain scene from the same movie when Tommy removes a bone from a sceleton-dinosaur's back of the neck.
 * The episodes title is a slight reference to Day of the Dumpster.
 * Conner: "Dude, the guy's a teacher, not Batman!"
 * The title of this and the next episode is an allusion to the very first episode of Power Rangers, "Day of the Dumpster."
 * Tommy's address in Reefside, CA: 1992 Valencia Road.