Yesterday Again

This article is about an episode in Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue.

Yesterday Again

Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue, Episode 8x23

Air Date(s)

September 30, 2000

Production Information

Written by

Judd Lynn
Jackie Marchand

Directed by

Issac Florentine

Episode Guide

Previous	Next
The Chosen Path	As Time Runs Out

Yesterday Again is the twenty-third episode of Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue. It features the debut of the Mobile Armor Vehicle.

Synopsis[]

While testing the Red Mobile Armored Vehicle, Carter is delayed on the way to join his teammates in a battle against Olympius and Mantevil. Just as they're destroyed, he's thrust back in time by one day, reliving events with knowledge of what's to come. Can he keep history from repeating?

Plot[]

Carter is testing his new Red Mobile Armored Vehicle, but problems with it force him to eject and bail out, revealing it was all a simulation for the real deal he was going through under Ms. Fairweather and Joel's supervision.

Later, in the Galley, Chad and Joel discuss Carter being ready for his first real flight, while Dana tries a joke she just read in the newspaper, and Kelsey ends up making a mess when she collides with the chef, causing him to spill the tray he was carrying, and forcing her to clean it up as punishment.

Afterwards, Carter mounts up, morphs, and takes the Red Mobile Armored Vehicle on its first flight. During the flight, the Red Mobile Armored Vehicle suffers a mechanical problem, forcing Carter to land to effect repairs. Unfortunately, the alarm sounds at that point, reporting a monster attack in Mariner Bay, and the other Rangers mobilize to investigate.

In the city, Olympius and his demon Mantevil are terrorizing the people to draw out the Rangers. When Chad, Joel, Kelsey, and Dana show up to confront him, they easily fight off his Batlings.

Meanwhile, Carter, having powered down, leaves his jacket on a tree branch while he effects repairs to the RMAV. When Dana is wounded by Mantevil, she calls Carter for help, and morphing again, Carter mounts the RMAV, despite having not finished repairs yet, and finds he is unable to restart the engines. As he struggles to restart them, they finally reignite as he grows frustrated over being unable to help the other Rangers, and quickly flies off to their aid. However, in the process, he causes his jacket he left on the tree branch to be blown off by the exhaust from the engines and land on the ground, forgotten.

Back with the Rangers, after Mantevil overpowers Kelsey, Chad calls in the Rescue Bird, but this is what Olympius had been waiting for. As Carter struggles to get to the aid of the other Rangers with his RMAV engines still misfiring, Olympius is able to capture the Rescue Bird in its Unilaser formation and take it for himself, despite a desperate attempt by Chad to stop him. With the Unilaser now his, Olympius prepares to use it against the Rangers as Mantevil watches in triumph, while Carter is still struggling to get to them in time, but his misfiring engines are keeping his speed down so he's taking too long to reach them. As a result, Carter can only watch on his viewscreen in horror as Olympius fires the Unilaser, despite a final plea of mercy from Dana not to pull the trigger, and mercilessly slaughters the Lightspeed Rangers.

As Olympius chuckles at how Bansheera will be proud of him for having killed four of the Lightspeed Rangers and there being only one left now, Carter vents his fury at the RMAV and the malfunctions he had to deal with on it causing him to be too late to save Dana and the others. Suddenly, without warning, Carter finds himself being thrusted back in time, waking up back in the RMAV simulation hangar in a panicked frenzy as Joel and Ms. Fairweather try to calm him down. Carter is confused by what's happened, and as he tries to sleep that night, the image of his fellow Rangers being mercilessly cut down by Olympius with the Unilaser causes him to snap awake in a cold sweat, wondering if what happened was really real or not.

The next morning, events play out just as they did before, but this time around, when Carter enters the Galley like before, but in a different mood after the nightmare he had last night, when Dana starts laughing about the joke she found in the paper, Carter beats her to the punchline when she asks the question, leaving her and the other Rangers confused as to how Carter knew the answer when she just read it in today's paper. Hearing that, Carter takes the paper from Dana to check the date and confirm he's reliving the fateful day that led to the Rangers' deaths. Then, when Kelsey comes in, Carter, remembering what happened, is able to intervene just in time to prevent Kelsey from crashing into the chef this time around, much to the chef's gratitude.

As Carter begins to realize everything is playing out just like before, it soon leads to where he is being told by Ms. Fairweather of what he'll be doing on the maiden flight of the RMAV. Worried because of what he knows is coming next, he attempts to explain his concerns to Ms. Fairweather, but she assures him that simulations can have that effect on people. Nevertheless, Carter approaches the RMAV with dread, knowing what's to come...

Indeed, once Carter is airborne in the RMAV, events play out just like before. When his engines malfunction like last time, he reports he knew that would happen to Ms. Fairweather, leaving both her and Joel shocked. Seeing the readings inaccurate, Ms. Fairweather orders Carter to land. Once he touches down in the same area as before, he soon finds the jacket he left behind when he landed last time to repair the RMAV, shortly after being told by Ms. Fairweather of what repairs he already knows needs to be done to fix the RMAV. Upon finding the jacket and looking back at the RMAV, he realizes it wasn't a simulation after all. He really did go back in time thanks to the RMAV. When Dana then calls him to warn him of the attack from Olympius and Mantevil, realizing if he doesn't go now, the Rangers will meet the same fate as before, he desperately tries to call Ms. Fairweather to tell the Rangers to abort the mission as he heads back to the RMAV, but Ms. Fairweather is not at the mic to hear his warnings, too busy helping the Rangers deal with the Batlings before they confront Olympius and Mantevil. Carter then desperately tries to warn them not to call the Rescue Bird, but getting no reply, he realizes he has to hurry before they call it in. Thankfully, the RMAV's engines roar to life the moment Carter tries to start them, and he races to the rescue.

Back with the Rangers and Olympius, events play out like before: Chad calls the Rescue Bird, Olympius captures it to turn on the Rangers, and Mantevil cheers his boss on to use the Unilaser to kill them. As Dana makes her final plea for mercy to Olympius not to pull the trigger, Olympius' finger starts to squeeze the trigger, but this time around, a laser shot from out of nowhere stops Olympius cold from killing the Rangers, revealed to be Carter, having arrived just in time in the RMAV, refusing to let his teammates down a second time. Turning chicken, Mantevil tries to flee, but Carter chases him down and slays him with a missile barrage from the RMAV, the backlash causing Olympius to drop the Unilaser as he is knocked over. Not letting Carter get away that easily, Olympius takes off in pursuit, chasing Carter in the sky, but Carter is able to push the RMAV into hyperspeed, allowing him to outsmart Olympius and cause him to crash in to the ground, where Olympius swears revenge.

Returning the other Rangers, they are grateful for Carter's last minute save, but when Kelsey tells Carter that she doesn't know what would've happened to them if Carter had not got there in time, Carter assures her that is one answer she doesn't want to know about. However, Jinxer revives Mantevil and makes him giant, and Carter summons the Omegazords to form the Omega Megazord to fight him. Unfortunately, Mantevil survives the Omega Megazord's finisher, so Chad and Carter call in the Supertrain Megazord and Lightspeed Solarzord to deliver the killshot to Mantevil. Unable to withstand both Megazords' barrages, Mantevil is destroyed.

Back in Skull Cavern, Olympius apologizes to his mother for what happened, but Bansheera's reply is one of contempt over his failure. Though he tries to explain that Carter is to blame, Bansheera silences him, saying there is no excuse for his failure, and Olympius quickly sobers up, promising to do better next time.

Back in the Lightspeed Aquabase, Carter arrives to speak to Ms. Fairweather as her techs look over the RMAV, and she explains that they've overhauled the circuitry so Carter should have no further problems with the RMAV from now on. The other Rangers then arrive, and impressed with Carter's flying skill when he saved them from Olympius earlier, they present him with his own Sky Cowboy hat as thanks. Carter proudly puts it on and smiles, glad to have saved his friends and teammates from a worse fate that only he remembers thanks to the RMAV.

Cast[]

Sean Cw Johnson as Carter Grayson (Red Lightspeed Ranger)
Michael Chaturantabut as Chad Lee (Blue Lightspeed Ranger)
Keith Robinson as Joel Rawlings (Green Lightspeed Ranger)
Sasha Williams as Kelsey Winslow (Yellow Lightspeed Ranger)
Alison MacInnis as Dana Mitchell (Pink Lightspeed Ranger)
Rhett Fisher as Ryan Mitchell (Titanium Ranger) (credit only)
Ron Rogge as Captain William Mitchell (credit only)
Monica Louwerens as Ms. Fairweather
Diane Salinger as Queen Bansheera (voice)
Michael Forest as Olympius (voice)
Kim Strauss as Jinxer (voice)
Jennifer L. Yen as Vypra (credit only)
Michael McConnohie as Mantevil (voice)

Errors[]

Despite the fact that the Mobile Armored Vehicle was lowered in preparation for launch, it was then shown appearing from the highest possible point (the top of Bay 55).
The Rescue Bird was shown separating when flying to the Rangers, but would approach them in its Unilaser form.
- It normally would have been impossible to take control of the Rescue Bird with the method used to turn it against the Rangers, as the Unilaser form also requires the handle from a Rescue Blaster to serve as the firing trigger which is attached by the Rangers directly, thus creating a plothole.
After having killed the Rangers on the first day, Olympius boasts and brags about how his mother will be proud of him that only one Ranger remains, seemingly forgetting about the Titanium Ranger, so he would actually mean two.
It isn't explained how the jacket was duplicated when Carter went back in time.
The second day was unaccountably different to the first in the following ways:
- On the first day, Ms. Fairweather asked Carter "Are you going to be ready for it?" in reference to his flying the Mobile Armored Vehicle, but on the second day she asked "Are you going to be okay for it?".
- Joel was standing in a different place when the MAV's engines started malfunctioning.
- Carter demorphed upon starting repairs on the MAV on the first day, but simply took his helmet off in the second (although Carter was conscious of the loop so could conceivably act differently the second time).
- On the first day Chad used his Battle Booster, then Dana was smacked against the railing and finally Kelsey called Carter for help, however on the second day this was reversed with Kelsey calling for help, Dana being knocked over the railing instead of against it and then Chad used the Battle Booster.
- Mantevil charged the Rangers after the Rescue Bird was summoned on the first day, but on the second he charged before Chad called for it.
- Mantevil blasted the four Rangers after they saw Olympius claim the Rescue Bird on the first day, but didn't on the second.
- Olympius didn't tell the Rangers that this was the end on the second day.
- Dana begged for mercy without adding "please" at the end on the second day.
- Olympius told the Rangers to "Say goodbye" on the second day, but had said "Goodbye" himself on the first.
Carter went after Mantevil upon arriving at the scene in the Mobile Armored Vehicle, rather than Olympius who still had the four Rangers at gunpoint.

Notes[]

This marks the only time that a Non-Ranger uses the Rescue Bird.
Captain William Mitchell (Ron Rogge) and Vypra (Jennifer L. Yen) don't appear in this episode.
This is the first time Carter appears helmetless.
The plot also has some similarity to an episode of Time Force's counterpart Timeranger due to a freak accident causing a Ranger to relive the day over again, with knowledge of the terrible events that were to come, resulting in that Ranger being able to stop those events from coming to pass, though this episode aired almost a month prior to the Timeranger episode.
This episode was likely based on Groundhog Day.
This episode is somewhat similar to Zeo's "A Brief Mystery of Time" where a Red Ranger experienced repeating events.