This article is about an episode in Power Rangers Wild Force. |
Forever Red is the thirty-fourth episode of Power Rangers: Wild Force. It commemorates the tenth anniversary of the Power Rangers franchise and features what would come to be known as the Veteran Red Rangers.
Synopsis[]
General Venjix, a servant of Power Rangers Zeo foe King Mondo, seeks to carry on his fallen King's legacy. Andros, the Red Space Power Ranger, discovers Venjix and remnants of Mondo's empire are preparing to invade Earth and retreats to Earth to alert the veteran Power Ranger, Tommy Oliver, of what's about to unfold. Tommy then recruits all of the former Red Rangers as well as the Red Wild Force Ranger, Cole Evans, to make a daring trip to the Machine Empire's hideout on the Moon and stop them.
Plot[]
Four years after the destruction of the Machine Empire, surviving members of the empire remain seeking to destroy Earth (how they had survived Countdown to Destruction remains unclear). Tezzla, Gerrok, Steelon and Automon (and many Cogs) are all that is left of the once mighty and proud Empire as well as General Venjix, acting as the head leader. They learn that Earth's Moon is the resting place of Serpentera, the Zord created and used by Lord Zedd with the power to destroy a planet. Ever since Zedd's "death" in Countdown to Destruction, the location of Serpentera remained a mystery for many years. Venjix finds it and begins using Cog soldiers to dig it up, refitting it with a Neo Plutonium reactor to power it.
Andros, the Red Space Ranger, discovers Venjix and finds out about his plan after following him for several years. Andros goes to the moon to gather video evidence of their plans. He succeeds and sends the tape to Tommy Oliver, the Red Zeo Ranger. When Tommy learns of Venjix's plan, he asks Andros to gather all the current Red Rangers on Earth and meet him at the NASADA space port on Earth. Although it is not explained how each Ranger would be contacted, it's assumed that Andros had contacted Carter, probably recommended by Leo as Leo had met Andros and Carter in two different team ups who in turn used governmental connections to track down Cole as well as Wes and Eric of the Silver Guardians. T.J. is easily available as he also served as Andros' second-in-command while Aurico and Leo were contacted by Andros. However, Tommy contacts his former teammate Jason Lee Scott himself. However, Jason doesn't give Tommy a definitive answer as to whether or not he would show up at all.
Cole, the current Red Ranger, is contacted by Carter as the Wild Force team are gathered at a park. Carter states that only Cole is needed. The two proceed to NASADA's space port where they meet up with Andros, T.J. and the Silver Guardians, of which the latter two are immediately recognized by Cole as he already met the two in the Wild Force and Time Force team up. Tommy appears and explains that he would be leading the team of Red Rangers. At the last second, Jason pulls up to the group on a motorcycle, surprising Tommy somewhat. Jason explains that he didn't think the mission would feel right without the original Red Ranger. He then proceeds to rib Cole "the new guy" of the group who originally offered a handshake. The Red Rangers board the Astro Megaship Mark II, created specifically for this mission, and proceed to the moon. With new Alpha robot, Alpha 7, Tommy further explains the mission to the other Rangers and that they must stop the Machine generals and destroy Serpentera. On the moon. Venjix and his other generals prepare to board Serpentera but they are then interrupted by the Rangers. Venjix sends Cogs to distract the eight Rangers while he and the others proceed to Serpentera. The Rangers do battle with the Cogs unmorphed and dispose of them with relative ease.
Cole somehow escapes the barrage of Cogs and chases the generals. Venjix fires at him, but Cole is rescued by Leo and Aurico on Leo's Jet Jammer. As the other Rangers catch up, Leo demorphs and tells Andros that he and Aurico had gotten there as soon as they could. Venjix and the other Generals then arrive and are shocked to see ten Red Rangers before them. All of the Rangers sans Aurico then morph with their respective calls and do battle with the Generals in groups of two:
- Cole and Jason fight Venjix, where Jason shows the new Red Ranger a corkscrew kick.
- Tommy and Wes fight Gerrok and Tommy destroys him with the Zeo Flying Power Kick.
- Eric and Aurico fight Tezzla and destroys her with Eric's Quantum Defender.
- T.J. and Leo fought Automon and destroy him with Leo's Quasar Saber, Transdagger and T.J.'s Turbo Blade and Turbo Lightning Sword.
- Andros and Carter fight Steelon and destroy him by combining power from their Astro, Rescue, and Thermo Blasters.
- Cole then severely damages Venjix with his Crystal Saber.
Venjix then jumps into Serpentera and takes off. With no time to get to the Ship before it takes off, the Rangers rely on Cole with his Wild Force Rider to battle Venjix. Cole uses the rider to fly into Serpentera and destroy it from the inside. Both Venjix and Serpentera are destroyed for good, truly ending the Machine Empire menace once and for all. Afterwards, the nine human Rangers part ways, and Cole remarks how Tommy appeared to be the "greatest Ranger ever" with the other Rangers bragging of their exploits.
Red Rangers[]
The ten Red Rangers featured, in order of appearance in Power Rangers continuity were:
Title | Role | Actor | Generation |
---|---|---|---|
Red Ranger | Jason Lee Scott | Austin St. John | Mighty Morphin Power Rangers |
Red Aquitar Ranger | Aurico | Christopher Glenn (voice) | Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers |
Zeo Ranger V Red | Tommy Oliver | Jason David Frank | Power Rangers Zeo |
Red Turbo Ranger | T.J. Johnson | Selwyn Ward | Power Rangers Turbo |
Red Space Ranger | Andros | Christopher Khayman Lee | Power Rangers in Space |
Galaxy Red | Leo Corbett | Danny Slavin | Power Rangers Lost Galaxy |
Red Lightspeed Ranger | Carter Grayson | Sean Cw Johnson | Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue |
Time Force Red | Wesley Collins | Jason Faunt | Power Rangers Time Force |
Quantum Ranger | Eric Myers | Daniel Southworth | Power Rangers Time Force |
Red Wild Force Ranger | Cole Evans | Ricardo Medina Jr. | Power Rangers Wild Force |
The inclusion of the Quantum Ranger from Time Force was a source of debate among fans as in the series he was considered a "Sixth Ranger" and not a "Red Ranger". However, Eric's inclusion was partially justified by Rocky's absence (which made Eric necessary to reach 10 Rangers for the tenth anniversary) and by the fact that Wes and Eric effectively led the Silver Guardians together both at the end of Time Force and during "Reinforcements from the Future" (an earlier crossover between Time Force and Wild Force). Since the series, other non-Red Rangers have been similarly termed Red Rangers including Hunter Bradley (the Crimson Ranger) in Power Rangers Ninja Storm.
Cast[]
Primary Cast[]
- Ricardo Medina Jr. as Cole Evans (Red Wild Force Ranger)
- Jack Guzman as Danny Delgado (Black Wild Force Ranger) (unmorphed only)
- Phillip Jeanmarie as Max Cooper (Blue Wild Force Ranger) (unmorphed only)
- Alyson Kiperman as Taylor Earhardt (Yellow Wild Force Ranger) (unmorphed only)
- Jessica Rey as Alyssa Enrilé (White Wild Force Ranger) (unmorphed only)
- Phillip Andrew as Merrick Baliton (Lunar Wolf Wild Force Ranger) (credit only)
- Ann Marie Crouch as Princess Shayla (credit only)
- Sin Wong as Toxica (credit only)
- Ilia Volok as Master Org (credit only)
Guest Stars[]
- Austin St. John as Jason Lee Scott (Mighty Morphin Red Ranger 1)
- Christopher Glenn as Aurico (Red Aquitar Ranger) (voice only)
- Jason David Frank as Tommy Oliver (Zeo Ranger V Red)
- Selwyn Ward as T.J. Johnson (Red Turbo Ranger)
- Christopher Khayman Lee as Andros (Red Space Ranger)
- Danny Slavin as Leo Corbett (Red Galaxy Ranger)
- Sean Cw Johnson as Carter Grayson (Red Lightspeed Ranger)
- Jason Faunt as Wesley Collins (Red Time Force Ranger)
- Daniel Southworth as Eric Myers (Quantum Ranger)
- Paul Schrier as Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier
- Jason Narvy as Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch
- Richard Steven Horvitz as Alpha 7 (voice)
- Unknown performer as Alpha 7 (suit)
- Archie Kao as General Venjix (voice)
- Walter Jones as Gerrok (voice)
- Catherine Sutherland as Tezzla (voice)
- Scott Page-Pagter as Steelon (voice)
- Dave Walsh as Automon (voice)
Production[]
Development[]
There were four separate outlines for Forever Red: one by Koichi Sakamoto, one by Jonathan Tzachor, and two by Amit Bhaumik.
- The first outline involved the villains planning to attack Earth and assaulting various Red Rangers, whose introductions are staggered throughout the story.
- The second outline had all the Red Rangers, introduced in brief showcase scenes, being separately gathered by Alpha 5 to Angel Grove, where they surprise the "Five Metallic Warriors" upon arrival.
- The third had Andros gathering the Red Rangers after discovering a cult are trying to resurrect Dark Specter, and involves all ten fighting a resurrected Specter; this draft brought all the Rangers together early on, so they could interact more. Most of the elements from this draft would survive into the fourth. Bhaumik hoped to include a reference to Maligore - since Dark Specter and Maligore used the same costume - and claim Dark Specter was an adult of the same species.[1] It is unknown how Alpha 5 survived the attack on Eltar in this draft of the script, but it is known that in this case, he was to serve as the mentor in place of Tommy. Bhaumik moved the battle to the Moon as a deliberate twist on the first four years where Rita through King Mondo operated there: "our heroes [are] proactive and bringing the battle to the villain’s base on the Moon for a change."[1]
- The fourth outline became the script: only one draft was made for the script due to time constraints.[1]
Post-Production[]
The episode was originally intended to be an extra-long special, and a number of scenes were trimmed or removed when it was made into a regular episode. These scenes are available online, as part of production footage. The bits that did not make it include:
- Bulk and Skull have a much longer scene, referencing all of the show's old monsters: Bulk is trying to one-up Skull. Skull is trying to avoid Professor Phenomenus. Tommy Oliver was retired and was the owner of Bulk's restaurant; he is not aware of the Machine Empire until Andros calls him.[2] The trimmed scene gives the impression that Bulk and Skull are aware he is a Ranger and that Tommy has already been working with Andros; as the line about "I'm retired" never aired, Power Rangers Dino Thunder would follow the implication that Tommy was active and reveal that he was working in secret to prepare for Mesogog's return.
- The Wild Force Rangers break up two kids fighting, who claim they are playing Power Rangers, and tell them Power Rangers "don't fight people, so you shouldn't either". Carter Grayson informs the other Rangers that only Cole has been "selected" for the mission and the others cannot come, and Cole tells Max "it is important for you guys to stay and protect Turtle Cove".[3] The kids were called Ray and Manny, after two Power Rangers webmasters.[3][4]
- In the final draft after Leo said "Andros, we got here as soon as we could," Aurico said sheepishly, "Sorry, I always forget to turn right at the Andromeda Galaxy."
- Andros' original reason for why he is a great Red Ranger was "I destroyed Zordon".[5] This was re-dubbed in post-production to "I saved two worlds!", likely because it is disturbing for Andros to brag about destroying Zordon without mention of Zordon's order to Andros to sacrifice him and bring an end to all evil.
- At the end of the episode, T.J. had more lines saying, "I mean... (laugh) it was like Pepperonis and cheese and... and heat. And it was hard to breathe. It-It's a great story!" Eric says during this, "Yeah! May the Power be with Ya!" Jason also said, "Yeah, and I heard it was burnt and crispy and …all kinds of stuff!"[6]
Errors[]
- Serpentera is significantly smaller in Forever Red than it was when it first appeared in "The Power Transfer". In the beginning, Serpentera was so large that the Red Dragon Thunderzord looked like a mosquito by comparison. Here, Serpentera's head was barely big enough to fit Cole Evans and his Wild Force Rider inside its mouth.
- The Megaship, after landing outside of the hangar, appeared much too small in proportion to the Rangers and their vehicles.
- The absence of Danny Slavin, the actor portraying Leo, during filming has resulted in inconsistencies in certain scenes:
- After Leo rescues Cole, he demorphs to greet the other Rangers. However, in the scene right after, he is seen in his Ranger form again.
- Although Leo was digitally inserted into the goodbye scene at the end, he is absent when the Rangers do a group fist bump.
Notes[]
- Phillip Andrew (Merrick), Ann Marie Crouch (Princess Shayla) and all of the regular villains as well as the Orgs do not appear in this episode.
- The other Wild Force Rangers do not have any lines in the episode, and they do not appear morphed either.
- Consequently, this is the only episode of Wild Force in which no Orgs appear.
- Despite being loosely based on Hyakuju Sentai Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai as well as having been produced to celebrate a franchise anniversary like its Sentai counterpart, Forever Red does not utilize any footage from the special. However, it did draw upon the concept of the current Red Ranger teaming up with their past Red Ranger predecessors to overcome an adversary.
- The chess pieces used for the Psycho Rangers were repainted action figures of Batman from the Batman and Robin toy line, and they make a return from Five of a Kind.
- The costumes and weapons of the Machine Empire Generals are recycled from Big Bad Beetleborgs and Beetleborgs Metallix: Venjix - Shadowborg; Tezzla - Ladyborg with two of Blue Stinger Beetleborg's Pulsabers with the locks for Sonic Laser Sabers facing down; Gerrok - Green Hunter Beetleborg; Automon - Fireborg's head on Lightningborg's body, and Blue Stinger Beetleborg's Stinger Blade; Steelon - Dragonborg and Mega Blue Beetleborg's Thunder Stinger. One of the Cogs is also seen carrying Titanium Silver Beetleborg's Metallix Grappler. This was not a random choice but a calculated decision which led to the revival of Serpentera. Bhaumik said he preferred this idea, as "it allowed us to combine the villains from two different seasons".
- Furthermore, the generals were all voiced by Ranger alumni - with three of them having previously portrayed Rangers: Archie Kao voiced Venjix, Walter Jones voiced Gerrok, Catherine Sutherland voiced Tezzla, Scott Page-Pagter voiced Steelon, and Dave Walsh voiced Automon, respectively, though the latter two were left uncredited.
- Serpentera being lost and ending up buried on the moon is a reference to Scorpion Rain, the non-canon fan hoax explaining what happened during the Zeo-Turbo transition gap. Amit Bhaumik, who was involved in the hoax, became a writer on Wild Force and considers the events of Scorpion Rain to be canon, so he followed up on them here.
- Steve Cardenas was originally contacted to appear as Rocky, but he moved and changed addresses without notifying the production team and they could not find him in time to film.[7] Rocky would have only participated in the battle as the MMPR Red Ranger if Austin St. John proved unable to make filming. No in-universe explanation is made explaining his absence or why he was never contacted.
- Leo was originally not expected to appear in the episode due to Danny Slavin's own personal issues with the production team from "Trakeena's Revenge", but ultimately did as a favor to one of the producers. His scenes were filmed in post-production and was inserted through CGI. This is made further apparent in the scene where only eight Red Rangers form their circle of fists, as Slavin was not present during the filming of said scene.
- Tommy was deliberately given lines that Zordon used to say.[8]
- Jason and TJ both lost their powers previously, and the restoration of said powers were left unexplained. Story-wise, Bhaumik explained that Tommy had gone to Zordon's home-planet Eltar and restored the Turbo and MMPR powers, while also rebuilding Alpha 7. Alternatively, Chris Funaro canonizes the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Ninja Rangers comic flipbook, saying Jason got his Power Coin back from the Red Dark Ranger, Osamu. None of these explanations are explicitly shown in the episode, and it has become generally accepted by fans that returning Rangers in future team-up specials going forward will have their powers restored without explanation.
- Production wise, Bhaumik recognized the errors but was forced to cut details due to the time constrains given for the episode and wanted to focus more on the present than background details in the past, which the majority of the episode's viewers would not care for anyway. Bhaumik later admitted that these issues would have been addressed in the now-scrapped Power Rangers: Hexagon, but Disney's direction with Power Rangers Ninja Storm ultimately turned Tommy into a paleontologist in Power Rangers Dino Thunder.
- Cole's use of the Wild Force Rider to destroy Serpentera was considered the "Deus ex machina" of the episode by fans. Serpentera had been previously shown to be a powerful war machine and "the greatest Zord ever built", yet it was destroyed by a single Ranger without even using a Zord, which was considered improbable. However, some also claim that Animus, who gifted the Rider to Cole, was a god, thus its gear could even destroy Serpentera.
- This episode was the last time Jason and Tommy would appear together on-screen. Although Tommy would appear in Dino Thunder and two other anniversary episodes like Super Megaforce's Legendary Battle and Super Ninja Steel's "Dimensions in Danger", Tommy's actor would pass away in November 2022, four years after his appearance in Super Ninja Steel. Jason would appear in Beast Morphers' episode, "Grid Connection" in 2020.
See Also[]
- Hyakuju Sentai Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai - Super Sentai counterpart in Gaoranger. See comparison page.
- Final Ep.: Let's Go! - Super Sentai counterpart in Dairanger. See comparison page. (Final appearance of Serpentera)
External Links[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Forever Red: Ten Years Later, by writer Amit Bhaumik (24/5/2012)
- ↑ Pool Scene
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Park scene archived footage
- ↑ children named in an interview with Amit Bhaumik
- ↑ the final scene
- ↑ Ending scene archived footage
- ↑ Steve Cardenas states why he did not appear in Forever Red
- ↑ Forever Red: Ten Years Later, by writer Amit Bhaumik (24/5/2012)
Footnotes[]
List of Power Rangers Wild Force episodes |
---|
1: Lionheart • 2: Darkness Awakening • 3: Click, Click, Zoom • 4: Never Give Up! • 5: Ancient Awakening • 6: Wishes on the Water • 7: The Bear Necessities • 8: Soul Searching • 9: Soul Bird Salvation • 10: Curse of the Wolf • 11: Battle Of The Zords • 12: Predazord, Awaken • 13: Revenge of Zen-Aku • 14: Identity Crisis • 15: The Ancient Warrior • 16: The Lone Wolf • 17: Power Play • 18: Secrets and Lies • 19: The Tornado Spin • 20: Three's a Crowd • 21: A Father's Footsteps • 22: Sing Song • 23: The Wings of Animaria • 24 & 25: Reinforcements from the Future • 26: The Master's Last Stand • 27: Unfinished Business • 28: Homecoming • 29: The Flute • 30: Team Carnival • 31: Taming of the Zords • 32: Monitoring Earth • 33: The Soul of Humanity • 34: Forever Red • 35 & 36: The Master's Herald • 37: Fishing for a Friend • 38: Sealing the Nexus • 39 & 40: The End of the Power Rangers |
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