That’s right, kids. “Kamen Rider Dragon Knight” may be over, but the Riders are crossing over into the world of “Power Rangers RPM!!!” … Well, not really. But hey, I can pretend.

“If Venjix Won” marks the triumphant return of what I would call one of the best seasons of Power Rangers ever. Sadly, it was the first of only four episodes that remained before the end of the entire franchise (remastered reruns aside). But putting all bitterness about the show’s demise behind, I was delighted to see the show again. In many ways, I had forgotten how to watch this thing. It may sound like an odd comment to make, but it had been so long since the last time I had seen it, I found myself struggling to remember different plot points and character dynamics. 

Which, in a way, made it even better that “If Venjix Won” was actually a clip show. So, instead of immediately tossing me back into the complexities of the major story arcs, I could ease my way back into this universe with the help of flashbacks that reaquainted me with the series. And luckily, this wasn’t one of the lazy clip shows, where they just load us up with an endless number of old scenes and give us nothing else to hold onto. “If Venjix Won” actually weaves a legitimate story between all the obvious money-saving clip segments.        

I laughed aloud when the episode began with Summer sitting in Flynn’s car, instructing the mechanic on how to fix his own personal vehicle. And the Mary Sue comments just keep on coming.  

Ziggy’s looking for someone to hang out with, and of course, nobody’s interested… except Doctor K, who uncharacteristically wants to go outside. And here comes the awesome.

I still find it mildly surprising whenever I encounter a fan who actually couldn’t see that these two characters were always meant to have some kind of love connection. I mean, it seemed so blatantly obvious. The playful banter, the emotional deflection on the part of Doctor K, and the amazingly persistent ribbings from Ziggy. All of it was leading us to this point, and I was so glad not to be dissapointed when we got here. The finale may give us a bit more, but this is when their connection is finally solidified beyond any possible doubt. I defy any fan to say they’re not into each other at this point.

And hey, we got some Ziggy/K battle action out of the whole deal. Even better! 

I have to say, I thought it was hilarious when Ziggy sliced through the pipe in K’s hands with his axe. Not because he broke her only weapon. But because, for a split-second, it looked like he was going to accidentally chop K in half. Clumsy Ziggy is clumsy! So clumsy, in fact, that his teleportation trick sends them into a random cave of randomness, where they are trapped for most of the episode.

This is the sort of scenario that I have always loved. Two characters are forced into a situation where they have no choice but to interact with each other, unable to help themselves until the others rescue them. This sort of thing is a dramatic gold mine, and this episode used the plot device very effectively. Although I thought their excuse as to why they couldn’t teleport out to be a bit weak. They don’t seriously expect us to believe that K recharges their morphers after every single miniscule little fight, do they? I’m sure, if we looked back at all the episodes, there would be some inconsistencies with that somewhere. I would have preferred if they had contrived up some reason for the morpher to need recharging, like she had been making alterations to it earlier in the day or something.

In any case, the Rangers try to access K’s computer, only to find that it requires a password. And these guys input some of the most ridiculous passwords you could ever possibly imagine. Seriously, they could have just closed their eyes and smashed the keyboard and still probably would have had better luck than with those crazy guesses. But as they fail time and time again, a recording of K tells them about the history of the team, and thus we have our clips.

I think some fans were bothered by the lack of important information for survival by whoever might find the recording “if venjix won.” I prefer to think that the part of the recording they watched was there more as a time capsule than as an actual explanation of anything imminently relevant. And honestly, I appreciated that the clips they showed us had some kind of dramatic value to them. It told us a story, rather than just tossing a bunch of random fight scenes at us with no sense of progression or subtance, as so many other clip shows are shamelessly guilty of.

Meanwhile, Doctor K reveals the “real” reason she wanted to go outside: It was her birthday. Which, by the way, was an awesome excuse to show clips of her past at Alphabet Soup, since she had most of her birthdays there, and was always being told she couldn’t go outside. It’s rare that old clips can cause me to feel something, but those memories just took me back to the emotion of the original scenes. I felt bad for K all over again.

Ziggy’s attempt to cheer her up was fantastic. Nice callback with his ridiculously complicated shadow puppets making her smile. And awesome moment when she passes out from lack of oxygen right after.
 
And I laughed yet again when Summer figured out what the password must be. This was the funniest usage of clips, because it looks as though Summer was remembering events that she wasn’t even there to witness. For my own sanity, I choose to believe that the clips just represent her thinking process from an abstract point of view, and not that she magically saw into the past because she’s Summer, and she can do whatever the plot needs her to do. Though honestly, I would have loved it if it was Flynn that figured it out. Poor Scottish bastard. He never gets any love. 

The password, amazingly, is Ziggy’s exact name. No extra letters or numbers. Just plain “Ziggy.” K must really love this guy to place the fate of the human race on a computer with the most easily crackable code known to man. 

Of course, Summer has to keep the code to herself after she types it in and Ziggy is able to return with K. How cute. They kinda sorta maybe bonded there for a second. 

The episode was not perfect, but I found the Ziggy/K interactions to be extremely entertaining and worth the wait. The way they used the clips, for the most part, was clever and engaging enough that I didn’t find myself wondering what I was going to have for lunch in the middle of the episode, as I often do during clip shows. In fact, it’s easily one of the better clip shows the franchise has ever had. As it should be. It’s perhaps the last one we’ll ever see. 

“If Venjix Won” gets a B+. 

Bring on the finale!  

 

-Dr. Tristan of HeroPower.