Island of Illusion

Island of Illusion is a two-part episode of Power Rangers Thunderstorm.

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.

Back at the Youth Center, Zack is challenged by Bulk to a dance-off but Bulk ends up embarrassing himself, as usual—but 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. She casts another incantation and summons an unearthly storm to Angel Grove. When the Power Rangers realize what's happening, they contact Zordon, and he tells them that an unfamiliar 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 destroy him, but then Rita appears on a fire escape. Then, a giant fireball streaks through the sky and transforms into a giant spirit head. This is Lokar, the other monster Rita has summoned.

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 toxic foam. Then, as the Rangers evacuate the Zords, Lokar opens a portal to the Island of Illusion dimension. At the Command Center, Alpha 5 is panicked at the fact that the Power Rangers have disappeared into another dimension, and Zordon tells him that his chosen ones 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 disappeared, and they start exploring the island, each of them realizing that they are all afraid that they may never get back home. A few minutes into their exploration, they hear some tuneless 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 that they would soon lose more than their powers before this day was over, and then, five monsters the Rangers have previously battled and destroyed appear—Pudgy Pig, Eye Guy, 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. 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 it is useless. The episode ends when Goldar taunts the Rangers 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 learned, and after a few tries of remembering his name, Trini shouts Quagmire's name, and the little man appears. Kimberly tells Quagmire that Rita is making her 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. 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, because without their powers, it's only a matter of time before the rest of the Rangers are destroyed. Meanwhile, at the Command Center, Alpha 5 and Zordon are trying to contact the Power Rangers, but are unable to, so Alpha attempts to boost the power of the communication signal, but ends up destroying the console in the end.

Back on the island, Tommy suggests that Quagmire may know what happened to the Rangers' powers, but in a 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 an 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 memory of how she destroyed the Terror Toad monster. With that positive thought, 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.

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, 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 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 to them, 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 morph and teleport off the island just as Rita uses her wand's energy to destroy it.

When they return to Earth, the toxic foam melts off the Megazord and the Dragonzord, and all six 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 deal with. They call forth Titanus and form the Ultrazord. Ultrazord launches its finishing blow on Lokar, but he retreats back into space, as does Rita.

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