Doomsday

Doomsday was a two-part episode of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers that aired in 1993, on November 23 and November 24, consecutively. It is the episode noted for introducing the concept of Zords piloted by antagonists to American audiences, a trait that would continue in various subsequent seasons of Power Rangers.

Production History
Doomsday was originally intended to be the series finale of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, and an ending was scripted where the team succesfully capture Rita Repulsa and her minions, and place her within her space dumpster once more. The script's initial drafts also did not include Goldar as the pilot of Cyclopsis, but the infant man-child "Bubba", the Power Rangers equivilant to Bandora's son Kai.

The overwhelming popularity of the series led to more episodes being commissioned, and Toei were contacted and commisioned to produce new Zyuranger footage to accomodate the fresh episode order. These new episodes, named Zyu2 in Japan, would be incorporated into the remaining episodes of the first season, and into the early episodes of the second season. The new footage also enabled the return of the fan-favorite in Power Rangers—Tommy Oliver—to return, with his role in the series having ended with The Green Candle, which had utilized the final storyline that featured his Zyuranger counterpart.

To ensure the series would continue, the original ending was scrapped and changed so that Rita and her minions would retreat and return to the moon. However, this ending had still concluded with Zordon's offer to the Rangers to step down from their duties and return to civilian life (which was also included in the original script). Zordon would go on to pressure his Rangers into pursuing their own life goals many more times in the series, ultimately and usually succeeding while paving the way for new Rangers and fresh minds.

Part One
The day begins at Angel Grove High School, as most episodes of this season do. Kimberly reads in the paper to her friends—Jason, Zack, Trini, and Billy—that the Madame Mayor of Angel Grove has declared an annual "Power Ranger Day" on this day.

Meanwhile, Rita Repulsa is planning her biggest scheme yet. She plans to bring her entire Lunar Palace from the moon and land it on the Earth. On Earth, Rita's powers will be increased exponentially, and she will be able to summon an evil War Zord that only made one appearance 10,000 years ago—the dreaded Cyclopsis. As added insurance, she plans to trap all of Angel Grove's populace—excluding the Rangers—in another dimension.

Back on Earth, in Angel Grove Park, a myriad of citizens have shown up for a special appearance by the Power Rangers, but Bulk and Skull show up as the "Incredible Bulkster" and "Super Skull" (A take on "The Incredible Hulk" and "Super Skrull" from the Fantastic Four stories, respectively). While showing off to the crowd, they end up making total fools of themselves, as always. Meanwhile, Rita has just landed her Lunar Palace on Earth, and is putting her plan into action. The plan works almost perfectly, but Zordon and Alpha 5 are alerted to Rita's arrival. As the Power Rangers alert Zordon of the situation and its gravity, Zordon tells the Rangers that Rita has arrived on Earth and awakened Cyclopsis, the evil War Zord.

The Rangers morph and teleport to downtown Angel Grove and summon the Megazord. The Megazord is beaten badly, so they summon Dragonzord for extra power. Then the Zords change battle modes, and Dragonzord Battle Mode, fighting alongside Tyrannosaurus Dinozord, fend off Cyclopsis. However, the Rangers are still losing badly, until Zordon summons Titanus. The Zords all form the Ultrazord, who finishes off Cyclopsis, but the evil Zord's head remains intact. Rita uses her new magnified power to send Titanus to its doom in a giant sinkhole. Then she summons back Lokar to revive Cyclopsis.

Part Two
While the Power Rangers are working as fast as they can to recharge the Zords, Cyclopsis begins another assault on the deserted city of Angel Grove. Jason knows that the Zords aren't fully recharged yet, but he decides that the Rangers have to stop Rita. He suggests that the Rangers take the Zords while they are halfway recharged, but Zordon advises against it—the Rangers could end up destroying their powers. But the other Rangers agree with Jason, and Alpha sets the coordinates. The Rangers morph and take the Megazord into the city to fight off Cyclopsis, but the Megazord gets wrecked and loses an arm in the process. Jason summons Dragonzord, but it does no better against Cyclopsis and gets half its tail sliced off. After being overloaded with magic from Rita's staff, the Zords lose all power and seem to disintegrate as the Rangers evacuate, ending up in the deserted Angel Grove Park. Jason tries to call Zordon, but the signal to the communicators is jammed. When Billy says he can alter the frequency modulation on the communicators, the Rangers race to Billy's lab.

Meanwhile, Rita decides that the Rangers must be destroyed before they can restore their Zords' energies, so she sends Goldar and some Putties to finish off the teens. At the Command Center, Alpha 5 gives Zordon a status report and then discovers some shocking information—with the Lunar Palace on Earth, Rita has left information about her monsters vulnerable to computer access. Alpha takes advantage of this, and just as the Rangers fix their communicators and teleport to the Command Center, Zordon informs the teens that Cyclopsis must adjust its computers to compensate for battle with a new opponent. The quicker and the more frequently the Rangers change Zord Battle Modes, the weaker Cyclopsis will become as it attempts to adjust to its new enemy.

With this new information and the Zords fully re-energized, the Rangers morph and teleport to the city, call for their Zords, and attack individually at first, then use the Megazord and Dragonzord Battle Modes. All three strategies fail, but not before Dragonzord manages to sever Cyclopsis's blade hands. After one final blast from Lokar, the Rangers summon Titanus and form the Ultrazord. On this note, Cyclopsis freezes up completely, leaving it helpless when Ultrazord finishes it off. Rita and her minions yell at each other, blaming everyone else, before escaping back to the moon. The Angel Grove citizens are restored to their own dimension, and the Mayor tells Bulk and Skull to get off the stage, while the Power Rangers approach, being greeted by several citizens on the way to the stage. Several children boast about their favorite Ranger, and then Tommy (making a cameo appearance) hints that all the Rangers are awesome. The Mayor praises the Rangers for saving their city and the world several times, and the audience cheers them.

Back at the Command Center, Zordon also praises the Rangers for their dedication and hard work to saving the world and offers them a chance to return to their normal lives, but they make a unanimous decision to remain Power Rangers forever.

Zords

 * Tyrannosaurus Dinozord
 * Mastodon Dinozord
 * Pterodactyl Dinozord
 * Triceratops Dinozord
 * Sabre-Toothed Tiger Dinozord
 * Dragonzord
 * Megazord
 * Dragonzord Battle Mode
 * Ultrazord

Trivia

 * First time Titanus attacks a monster outside of the Ultrazord mode.
 * Lokar's Zyuranger equivalent Dai Satan's destruction sequence is omitted from this episode possibly due to producers feeling that it was too graphic to be shown to young children.

Errors

 * At the beginning of part two Alpha said the Zords would need twelve hours to completely recharge from the first fight with Cyclopsis. Despite attacking Cyclopsis and taking even more damage when the Zords were only at half power, shortly afterward the Zords seemed to be at full power and completely repaired.