Island of Illusion (Revisited Series)

''This article is about the two-part episode. For the place where the episodes took place, see Island of Illusion (place).''

Part 1
As Zack is practicing for his upcoming dance contest at the Angel Grove Youth Center, Bulk and Skull start hounding him about losing and implant seeds of self-doubt in Zack's mind and heart.

Meanwhile, Rita Repulsa is calling forth the ultimate in monsters she has summoned—the mutant warrior Mutitus and the spirit warrior Lokar. Goldar realizes that his Empress is planning to destroy the Power Rangers with their own worst fears by sending them to the Island of Illusion in a remote dimension somewhere.

Back at the Youth Center, Zack is challenged by Bulk to a dance-off but Bulk ends up embarrassing himself, as usual. Bulk tries to copy Zack's dance style, and does well for the most part but breaks apart some decorative stone pillars. However, it still doesn't make Zack feel any better, so he leaves the Youth Center to think about some things, while up on the moon in Rita's Moonbase, Rita realizes that doubt is in the Black Ranger's mind and heart. She casts another incantation and summons an unearthly storm of Dark Power to Angel Grove. When the Power Rangers realize what's happening, they contact Zordon, and he tells them that an unfamiliar surge of dark energy is being summoned by Rita. The Rangers start rushing out of the Youth Center to look for Zack, but Tommy realizes that two karate students he had been mentoring are frightened of the unnatural phenomenon, so he stays behind to watch them.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Power Rangers find Zack in a secluded area of Angel Grove Park, just as Putties start attacking. The Rangers manage to hold them back until Goldar and Scorpina show up. The Rangers morph and attack the twosome, but the villains thrash them considerably. This gives Rita enough time to chant her final incantation, summoning the giant Mutitus. The Rangers summon the Megazord and fight the monster. They have the chance to obliterate him to nothingness, but then Rita appears on a fire escape on some building. Then, a giant fireball streaks through the sky and transforms into a giant spirit head. This is Lokar, the other monster Rita talked about earlier and has now called forth.

Back at the Youth Center, Tommy gets a call from Zordon, and after making arrangements with Ernie for him to watch the two boys, he runs off to help his team. Back at the battlefield, Lokar has just used his Breath of Doom to mutate Mutitus and increase his power. Mutitus blasts the Megazord with stronger energy, and it looks like the Rangers are done for, until Tommy shows up and summons Dragonzord. The Megazord joins Dragonzord in the fight against Mutitus, but then the mutant monster incapacitates the Zords with some kind of toxic foam. Then, as the Rangers evacuate the Zords, Lokar opens a portal to the Island of Illusion dimension and throws the Rangers and Alpha into it. At the Command Center, Delta 4 is panicked at the fact that the Power Rangers and Alpha 5 have disappeared into another dimension, and Zordon tells her that his chosen ones and his foster son are beyond his reach, and only their individual self-confidences can help them escape.

When the Rangers land on the island, they realize that their communicators and Morphers have mysteriously vanished, and they start exploring the island, each of them realizing that they are all afraid that they may never return home. A few minutes into their exploration, they hear some tuneful flute music, and realize that a little man is playing a panpipe. When Kimberly tries to explain that Rita sent them to this island, she doesn't get to finish, as the little man—who reveals himself to be named Quagmire after about a minute of poetry—tells her he is not a friend of Rita's and vanishes.

Then, Goldar's image appears in the sky, taunting the Rangers and Alpha that they would soon lose more than their powers before this day was over, and then, four monsters the Rangers have previously battled and destroyed appear—Pudgy Pig, Snizzard, Pineoctopus and Shellshock. The Rangers prepare for a battle that they know they cannot win without their powers, but then, just as they come near, the monsters mysteriously vanish. The Rangers wonder where they are, and Goldar taunts them that the only thing real in this dimension is the danger. Zack's fear and self-doubt grow considerably, and he takes off down a path, only to come face-to-face with a giant python. However, when the other Rangers hear Zack scream, they realize that he is screaming at something only he can see. Billy deduces that Rita is trying to destroy each of them with their own individual self-doubts and fears, which Alpha—in his own fright—confirms. On this note, Zack starts gradually fading away, and Quagmire tells them in verse that Zack's own worst fears and self-doubts are causing him to fade. Jason urges Zack to fight Rita's spell, but his efforts are useless. The episode ends when Goldar taunts the Rangers and Alpha with the fear of ceasing to exist, one by one.

Part 2
Zack attempts to fight Rita's spell, but his fear and self-doubt are too great. In his verse style, Quagmire tells the Rangers that only he can help them escape. Meanwhile, back on the moon, Rita and her minions are reveling in their apparent first victory.

Back on the island, the Rangers realize what they had just learned, and after a few tries of remembering his name, Trini shouts Quagmire's name, and the little man appears. Kimberly and Alpha tell Quagmire that Rita is making their friend Zack fade away, and then Quagmire realizes that Rita has sent the teens here to destroy them with their own worst fears and self-doubts, rather than kill him. Quagmire urges Zack to think about something positive, and Zack recalls the time he'd faced off against Rita's Knasty Knight. By remembering he had the power to defeat the monster, Zack's body fully restores itself.

When Rita discovers that Zack has somehow escaped her spell, she still looks on the positive side herself, because without their powers, it's only a matter of time before the rest of the Rangers are destroyed. Meanwhile, at the Command Center, Delta 4 and Zordon are trying to contact the Power Rangers, but are unable to, so Delta attempts to boost the power of the communication signal, but ends up destroying the console in the end and she runs around the room uncontrollably for a few seconds.

Back on the island, Tommy suggests that Quagmire may know what happened to the Rangers' powers, but in verse, he tells them that they must find their powers on their own. Billy suggests to start going in an opposite direction from their position, but just as they are getting started, Goldar confuses Kimberly with a strange illusion of Bulk and Skull dressed as angels and helping a lost turtle find its way home. But just like before, when Zack faced the python illusion, the other Rangers cannot see what Kimberly is seeing. This illusion implants seeds of self-doubt in Kimberly's mind and heart, and she begins to fade away. Trini calls for Quagmire's help, and in his verse style, he urges Kimberly to recall her memories of how she destroyed the Terror Toad monster, twice. With these positive thoughts, Kimberly's body is able to fully restore itself.

But it's not over yet, as Tommy now feels the effects of the island's magic, and he begins to attack Putty Patrollers who he thinks are ganging up on him. However, under the island's spell, Tommy has mistaken the other Rangers for Putties. The Rangers—and Rita—realize that Tommy has lost confidence in his friends. The other Rangers try to snap their friend out of the spell, but fighting the "Putties" soon exhausts Tommy and implants seeds of self-doubt in his mind and heart. He starts to believe he is unable to win, and begins fading away. Zack urges for Quagmire's help, and Quagmire urges Tommy in verse to believe in his skills. Tommy recalls the day of the Angel Grove Youth Center costume party, when he'd had to fight off a horde of Putties on his own. He had managed to defeat them—and restore himself to normal.

Ted and Alpha, also, have similar illusions—Ted's was fighting his dark clone in the miror dimension and Alpha's was when he was trapped inside the Samurai Fan Man's jar, but the Rangers managed to break him free.

Later on, Trini begins to feel paralyzing fear that Rita may try something with her next, and at that point, she herself starts to fade away while experiencing a traumatizing event—when Billy was trapped on a high mountain ledge by Putties when they were kids, and only she could rescue him, but first she had to overcome her fear of heights. Quagmire realized what was happening, and in verse told Trini to overcome the traumatic event. On this, Trini could see in her mind's eye herself reaching Billy in time and sending the Putty hurtling over the ledge. On this note, she regains her full corporeal form. But then, Billy starts feeling doubtful about his own skills, and Quagmire presents a memory for this young Ranger, when he had to save the other Rangers and his then-girlfriend Marge from Madame Woe's dimension. By remembering the positive outcome, his body was fully restored.

Then Jason suggests that they find a way off the Island of Illusion, but is taunted by Goldar, who says that Jason should have been the one to lead the Rangers to victory. In his illusion, Jason sees his friends fade away completely, and he believes it is his fault that he is now alone. But Quagmire's voice echoes in his head, telling Jason he can win. Jason remembers his first solo battle with King Sphinx, and recalls the positive outcome, because of the fact that he refused to give up, even though he was all alone in battle.

After the final illusion is broken, the Rangers' communicators and Power Coins are restored, and they realized that they could have escaped all along if they had each believed in themselves in the first place. On this note, Rita transforms into a giant and shakes the Island of Illusion, causing earthquakes all over. The Rangers and Alpha morph and teleport off the island just as Rita uses her wand's energy to completely destroy it.

When they return to Earth, the toxic foam melts off the Megazord and the Dragonzord, and all eight Power Rangers reappear in the Megazord cockpit. Combining their Zords into the Mega-Dragonzord, they are able to destroy Mutitus, but they still have Lokar to crush. They call forth Titanus and form the Ultrazord. Ultrazord launches its finishing blow on Lokar, but he retreats back into space, as does Rita, who vows that she isn't done yet.

The Rangers return to the Youth Center, in time to see Bulk and Skull mess up on the dance floor and getting a negative score in return. Then Zack is called forth to compete, and after some gentle urging from the Rangers and Alpha, the audience chanting his name, he goes out and dances as he has never danced before. Alpha wonders who is providing the music, and then realizes that the disc jockey is Quagmire (although he calls him Quasimodo due to having read The Hunchback of Notre Dame recently). At the end, the judges proudly give Zack a perfect score, and Ernie declares him the winner.

Cast

 * Austin St. John as Jason Lee Scott (Red Ranger)
 * Thuy Trang as Trini Kwan (Yellow Ranger)
 * Walter Jones as Zack Taylor (Black Ranger)
 * Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly Ann Hart (Pink Ranger)
 * David Yost as Billy Cranston (Blue Ranger)
 * Jason David Frank as Tommy Oliver (Green Ranger) (as Jason Frank)
 * Paul Schrier as Bulk
 * Jason Narvy as Skull
 * Richard Genelle as Ernie
 * David Fielding as Zordon
 * Romy J. Sharf as Alpha 5
 * ??? as Alpha 5 (Gold Ranger, morphed form)
 * Richard Steven Horvitz as Alpha 5 (voice) and [[Theodore "Ted" Swanson (Teal Ranger) (as Richard Wood)
 * Machiko Soga as Rita Repulsa
 * Barbara Goodson as Rita Repulsa (voice)
 * Takashi Sakamoto as Goldar (Zyuranger)
 * Danny Wayne Stallcup as Goldar (American)
 * Kerrigan Mahan as Goldar (voice)
 * Takako Iiboshi as Finster
 * Robert Axelrod as Finster (voice) and Lokar (voice)
 * Minoru Watanabe as Squatt
 * Michael J. Sorich as Squatt (voice)
 * Hideaki Kusaka as Baboo
 * Dave Mallow as Baboo (voice)
 * Ami Kawai as Scorpina
 * Wendee Lee as Scorpina (voice)
 * Masahiko Urano as Lokar
 * Richard Epcar as Mutitus (voice)
 * ??? as Quagmire

Errors

 * Zack apparently didn't feel the earthquake or see the lightning while sitting in the park. Why was this?
 * Goldar was the one to taunt Jason about his supposed failed leadership, but he later said "She's right" and the Rangers told him not to "listen to her", stating that it was Rita taunting Jason instead.