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Forever Red is an episode of the television series Power Rangers: Wild Force, commemorating the first ten years of Power Rangers. While airing a year short of the actual tenth anniversary of the show, Wild Force is considered the tenth season (although some argue that if you don't consider MMAR and count the three seasons of MMPR, it makes Wild Force the tenth). Forever Red unites all but one of the previous Red Rangers from the series. The only hold-out was Steve Cardenas, who played Rocky DeSantos. who had retired from acting. Slavin, who originally had left due to a falling out with the PR crew, was eventually convinced to make an appearance as a personal favor, but principal photography had completed; he appears in scenes of the episode via digital insertion. Aquitian Ranger Aurico appears, but only in morphed form and voiced by a different actor by the name of Christopher Glenn. It is unknown why actor David Bacon did not reprise his role as Aurico. The ommission of Rocky is a storyline based one: Rocky was severely injured during the events of Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie as well as Rocky not actually having been the leader during his time as The Red Ranger. This episode is often compared to the Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai special, which used a similar tactic in combining many unrelated characters and costumes, but is otherwise unconnected to it. Both were filmed in the same year, although Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai would go all the way back to the first sentai ever created, Himitsu Sentai Goranger. The ten Red Rangers featured, in order of appearance in Power Rangers continuity were: * Jason Lee Scott of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers * Aurico of Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers * Tommy Oliver of Power Rangers: Zeo * T.J. Johnson of Power Rangers: Turbo * Andros of Power Rangers: In Space * Leo Corbett of Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy * Carter Grayson of Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue * Wesley Collins of Power Rangers: Time Force * Eric Myers of Power Rangers: Time Force * Cole Evans of Power Rangers: Wild Force In addition to the Red Rangers guest-starring in the episode, Forever Red, written by long-time fan and then-story editor Amit Bhaumik, makes many references to previous Power Rangers series, including: * Alpha 7, a new Alpha robot that had the voice of Alpha 5 (provided by Richard Steven Horvitz) and the body of Alpha 6 * Astro Megaship Mark II, a new version of the main command center from Power Rangers: In Space. Similarly, a new version of the Lightning Cruiser (the red sports car belonging to the Red Turbo Ranger) was introduced. * The return of Bulk and Skull, the comedic pair from early Power Rangers, and two of the most popular non-Ranger characters in the series. * The return of the Machine Empire, the main enemies in Power Rangers: Zeo, with former Power Rangers Ranger actors Walter Emmanuel Jones, Archie Kao, and Catherine Sutherland providing some of the voices. (Ironically, the Machine Empire generals were actually re-used suits from the Big Bad Beetleborgs show). Only Kao and Jones's characters actually spoke, while Sutherland's didn't. (The other two Machine Empire generals were voiced by David Walsh and Scott Page-Pagter.) * The return of Serpentera, the powerful Zord operated by Lord Zedd in early Power Rangers. * Jason mentions Kimberly ("Are you kidding me? I was the one doing all the work while he (Tommy) was in the juice bar kissing on Kimberly!") * Cole says "Morphinomenal!", a phrase which was originally coined by Kimberly in the early days of Power Rangers. * T.J. mentions that he got baked in a giant pizza. There was an actual PRT episode were T.J. and the other Turbo rangers get baked into a giant pizza (Trouble by the Slice''). * Leo mentions that Tommy didn't discover lost galaxies. * Eric makes reference to his Q-Rex and Tommy's Dragonzord, saying, "My Q-Rex would've clobbered his Dragonzord!" SynopsisSix years after the destruction of the Machine Empire, surviving members of the empire remain, seeking to destroy Earth. Tezzla, Gerrok, Steelon, and Automon (and many Cogs) are all that is left of the Empire, as well as General Venjix, their leader. They have recently learned that Earth's moon is the resting place of Serpentera, a war machine created by Lord Zedd with the power to destroy a planet. The location of Serpentera had remained a mystery for many years. Venjix found it and began using Cog soldiers to dig it up, refitting it with a Neo-Plutonium reactor to power it.
Cole, the current Red Ranger, was contacted by Carter as the Wild Force team were gathered at a park. The two proceeded to NASADA's spaceport, where they meet up with Andros, T.J. and the Silver Guardians.
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 flee to Serpentera. The Rangers battle the Cogs unmorphed and easily defeat them. Eventually, Cole 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. Then all the Rangers gather, morph with their respective morphing calls (except for Aurico, who never appeared demorphed), and battle the Generals. The Rangers destroy four of the five generals, leaving Venjix alone. Venjix then jumps into Serpentera and takes off. The Rangers fear they have failed, but Cole calls upon 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. Afterwards, the Rangers part ways, and Cole remarks how Tommy appeared to be the "greatest Ranger," with the other Rangers good-naturedly refuting the claim. DiscontinuityIn all, Forever Red is considered one of the greatest Power Rangers episodes, however, many parts of the episode have become controversial in fan discussion. The following are the most notable issues:* General Venjix attributes Mondo's death to (presumably) the Zeo Rangers, from the events of "Good As Gold", the season finale of Power Rangers Zeo. However, Mondo was "destroyed" by Lord Zedd and Rita. It is assumed that Venjix is referring to when the giant sized rangers in Good as Gold, defeated Mondo. But at the end of the episode, Zedd and Rita destroyed the Machine King (and his family) with a bomb as a gift. However, it could also be considered that Venjix is referring to the events of "Countdown to Destruction" where the Red Space Ranger, Andros, is responsible for the destruction for all the current villains at the time when he shattered Zordon's energy tube at Zordon's request. * How Bulk and Skull were able to reunite is unclear, as Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy showed that Bulk was on Mirinoi while Skull remained on Earth. (It is shown that the Pink, Blue, Green, and Yellow Galaxy Rangers return to Earth on their Jet Jammers for the Lightspeed/Galaxy team-up. One possible theory is that they could have taken Bulk with them.) * The Ranger powers of Jason and T.J. were both previously destroyed, and there is no mention of new or restored powers. However, it is important to note that this was not the first time in the series that these kind of powers have returned. Adam was able to morph with a damaged Mastodon coin in the episode entitled "Always a Chance" & Justin was able to morph with a spare Turbo morpher in the episode entitled "True Blue to the Rescue". Both episodes aired during the Power Rangers: In Space season. Some fans believe that Tommy somehow made duplicate power sources along with Haley (from Power Rangers: Dino Thunder) to recreate the powers, but as Haley and Tommy's scientific backgrounds not being revealed until that season, as well as many considering this episode to not be part of Power Rangers canon, this idea is often thought of as fanon. * The Machine Empire Generals in this episode are reused costumes from Saban's Big Bad Beetleborgs (originally from Toei's B-Fighter), while previously Beetleborgs had been a comic book series in the PR Universe. * When Leo and Aurico land with Cole, Leo unmorphs, but in the next shot, he is morphed again. This was probably because Danny Slavin was added in digitally. * Serpentera is much smaller in this episode than in previous appearances, as previously, his head was larger than the Thunder Megazord, whereas in Forever Red Cole's Wild Force rider was the size of its head. Also, it seemed much newer and less scratched and battle worn than its last appearance (probably because it was made in CGI). Furthermore, it seems doubtful that something capable of easily defeating a Megazord would be so easily defeated by a normal-sized weapon. Fans also didn't quite like the fact that Cole single-handedly destroyed Serpentera, stating that a team-up effort would've been better. ControversyDue to the controversial nature of this episode and overanalyzation by fans, most message boards consider the subject "off limits." The subject of its inaccuracies has been "beaten to death." One particular website went as far to say that the points of controversy in Forever Red are unimportant compared to the enjoyment of the episode, and that the writers needed to bring all the Red Rangers together and did not have enough time to explain all the details of the episode. This however is not accepted by diehard fans due to the fact that they view the series as an art form.Most fans now come up with their own explanations. Western Super Sentai fans however, point out that the issue regarding the restoration of the several former Red Rangers' ability to morph again stems from the fact that Saban made the Ranger suits into "powers" rather than as "tools", like its Japanese counterpart. The episode is dubbed "The Forbidden Episode" due to the numerous questions surrounding it; in addition, the frequent permanent bans done to posters who bring up the episode in forums during that time. Scorpion RainA long-time hoax in the Power Rangers fandom claimed that a short serial, aired only once, and in Australia, explained the missing story between Power Rangers: Zeo and Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie. Amit Bhaumik, who wrote this episode, was instrumental in creating and perpetrating that hoax, long before he became a writer for Power Rangers. Forever Red makes a few pointed references to Scorpion Rain, including Tommy's line "Awww man, that is one ugly Zord," which is said to be taken verbatim, but the fact that there has never been a definitive transcript or movie of Scorpion Rain (because it was fictional) makes this questionable.This has an issue of debate in the Power Rangers fandom, as Scorpion Rain is regarded as a cruel trick by most of the fans not involved. Bhaumik said jokingly in an online forum that he wrote Forever Red as if Scorpion Rain were in continuity. Because of Bhaumik's story editor title on the show at the time, some have surmised that the pointed references to Scorpion Rain in Forever Red retroactively make the hoax valid in the series continuity. The reaction to this is mixed, as some thus accepted Scorpion Rain as fanon, and others excised Forever Red from the continuity, like many other one-shot teamup episodes.
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