Lord Zedd is a major villain from the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Revisited series and recurring through Power Rangers Zeo: Revisited and Power Rangers in Space: Revisited. He was played by Ed Neil, with Robert Axelrod supplying his voice.
Originally depicted as a frighteningly more evil character than Rita, with a dark, gothic atmosphere during his scenes in the Lunar Palace and the dark tone of his theme, complaints from parents resulted in Zedd being toned down immensely, such as his marriage to Rita and reversing time around Angel Grove High School in an attempt to make the Rangers become children. After this, most of his plans seemed rather hair-brained and wackier than previously.
He and Rita both have a daughter, Sareena, who appears in Operation Overdrive: Revisited, during the 3-part special, "Once A Ranger", where he is mentioned to have succumbed to good by his daughter, though she says also that she misses him very much.
Since his appearance, Zedd is often considered the greatest Power Rangers villain of all time.
History[]
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Revisited[]
The Emperor of Evil rises.
Zedd (former name: Zarius) is the self proclaimed "Emperor of Evil"; the source of his power is the legendary Dark Crystal. As Countdown to Destruction seems to confirm, he appears to once have a human form. Thousands of years before the start of the series, perhaps eons before, he had betrayed Zordon (stealing the Strobe of Dark Power and giving it to Rita) and left Rita Repulsa to take over Earth while he pursued the conquest of other systems and planets. Irk, Vort and even Edenoi managed to fend him off in a three-way alliance.
Eons ago, Zedd was a human from an unknown planet who was corrupted by Dark Power at an unknown point in time. This seems to be confirmed by Countdown to Destruction as Zordon's energy wave purified all villains who were previously corrupted into evil beings.
After his corruption, Zedd claimed the Dark Crystal and apparently managed to forge his own empire, as he proclaimed to be "Emperor of Evil" in the series proper. He enslaved multiple other evil beings, such as Goldar, Scorpina and Rita Repulsa. Because he did not think Earth was important enough to warrant his attention at the time, he had left Rita Repulsa to conquer it.
In the show's second season premiere, he arrived on Earth, to punish Rita, disgusted with her failure in defeating the Power Rangers along with Zordon and Prince Alpha, and her overall incompetence as a villain in general. Stripping Rita of her powers and cruelly scolding and berating her for her failure, he shrunk her and imprisoned her within a "Space Dumpster," hurling her into the depths of space. He then mutated a piranha into the monstrous Pirantis, who assumed command of the Tyrannosaurus Dinozord and Dragonzord. The Rangers barely survived the attack, but managed to regain control of their Zords. Furious, Lord Zedd attempted to encase the five dinozords in a field of dark energy, only for the rangers and Alpha to turn the tables and transform them into the more powerful Thunderzords.
Despite the Rangers' acquisition of the Thunderzords, Lord Zedd attacked again and again, each assault deadlier than the last. His monsters were created from objects on Earth with the Dark Power that emanated from his scepter, and he made them grow using spherical grenades - Zedd would throw the grenade down to the monster who would then catch it, pull out the pin and throw it to the ground to make itself grow. After his marriage to Rita they would instead grow their monsters by crossing their staffs. He once desired Kimberly to be his queen based on her good looks, courage and tenacity, and sent Goldar to capture, brainwash and train her into being so, but his plan failed when it was discovered that the magic dust that was used to entrance her didn't work and that she was really doing a Rita impression to fool Goldar and buy the Rangers enough time to rescue her.Beauty and the Beast (Revisited Series) Zedd has, through his later marriage to Rita, regretted wanting to marry Kimberly then but he does not realize that his marriage to Rita was a sham.The Wedding (Revisited Series) That is, until the love potion's effects were negated by an antidote created by Finster on Goldar's orders despite longing for his abuse by Zedd to stop.The Potion Notion However, Zedd continued to create for Kimberly many extravagant gifts such as clothing and jewelry in the hopes of seeing her beautiful smile.
Zedd once attempted to create a team of evil Power Rangers by using five new AGHS students, but Tommy managed to free his enslaved group of humans before the plan took place. He swore to erase the Green Ranger forever, finding him the most offensive of Rita's mistakes, concentrating his attacks on him. He finally succeeded with the TurbanShell monster, wiping out Tommy's power forever. He later planned to make Tommy his successor by brainwashing him, but Zordon managed to get to Tommy first, making him the new White Ranger. Unfortunately for Zedd, these aforementioned events left Zedd without a queen or heir, making him grow angrier with the Rangers because of their constant interferences.
Over time, Lord Zedd discovered that the Rangers were no pushovers, and each of his monsters failed to defeat them. With the Thunderzords and new White Ranger at their side, the Power Rangers seemed indestructible. He soon unearthed the gigantic war machine known as Serpentera that was so large that it could crush the Rangers and their Zords with ease. However, while absurdly powerful its flaw was that it used up its energy so fast that it could only be used for short periods of time.
Zedd once attempted to use the Rock of Time to turn the Rangers into powerless children with their Ranger memories erased, but his plan was partially foiled by Chronos, who focused his powers on just the high school and peace conference building instead, with his companion Mnemosyne allowing the people in both places to keep their present memories. This made Zedd furious, and he created Photomare to capture the Mini Rangers and freeze them in time forever. The kids were freed by Alpha and foiled Zedd's scheme before being reverted to their normal ages.Small But Mighty
Zedd undergoing the rejuvenation of his dark energies.
Soon it was time for Zedd's Centennial Recharge, which he must undergo to fully restore his Dark Power. While in his dream state, he and Rita combined their dark energies and used them to brainwash and reprogram a lonely and neglected Alpha 5 into becoming a servant of evil, twisting and bending his memories so the little robot would think his loved ones shut him out and abused him. It was during this slumber that Rita Repulsa returned to the Palace, plotting revenge. After Alpha's conversion to darkness, Rita poured a love potion created by Finster into the Centennial Recharge machine, and when Zedd awoke, he instantly fell in love with Rita, proposing. However, the love potion did not work as Rita hoped; she planned on manipulating him, but Zedd was strong enough to resist, just not completely. He became less serious on defeating the Rangers and more focused on his life with Rita, again not knowing that it was all a lie.The Wedding (Revisited Series) However, Goldar forced Finster to create an antidote to the potion, and used it on Zedd; he returned to his previous personality and almost threw Rita out of the palace once again, but Rita restrained him and began to siphon the Dark Power from his Z-Staff into her wand, her strength increasing.The Potion Notion
With Zedd and Rita side by side, the Rangers battles were more difficult.
During the Pink Ranger power drain fiasco (when Zedd had her held hostage to force the Rangers to use the Shogun Zords in his service), Lord Zedd battled Tommy personally to keep him from saving Kimberly from an alternate dimension. This marked the only time that Zedd had battled a Ranger personally, proving himself quite capable of holding his own, a trait passed down to his daughter in later years. Though Zedd easily gained the upper hand against the White Ranger, Tommy used Saba to shatter Zedd's Z-Staff, completely depleting the staff of its evil energy and forcing him to retreat.
When Master Vile arrived on the moon, Lord Zedd was pushed to the side as Vile took over in his search for the Zeo Crystal, a crystal belonging to Alpha 5. He expressed disdain for his father-in-law, who constantly put him down. Once Vile was killed after his army was defeated and the time reversal plan was foiled by Alpha 5, Zedd was pleased with his former minion for doing this, and he resumed his attacks on Earth. Zedd managed to find a map of the Rangers' Command Center, pointing out a weak point. However, Dark Specter sent Goldar, Mordant and Rito in to plant a bomb and steal the Zeo Crystal. Though unable to stop the rangers in undoing the damage Master Vile almost did, another time reversal, Zedd was able to destroy the Command Center. But before they could take advantage of it, the Machine Empire arrived.
Zeo and Beyond[]
When the Machine Empire arrived and attacked, Zedd and Rita were forced to retreat, taking Serpentera to the M51 Galaxy. (Zedd's dark energies continued to be siphoned away from his body.) They soon returned, however, plotting to overthrow King Mondo and destroy the Empire. The two forces clashed on several occasions, neither gaining much ground. At one point, Prince Gasket had Alpha brainwashed and about to kill the other Rangers, but Zedd had Finster help free them to prevent a Machine Empire/Alpha 5 victory. After a series of failed attempts, they almost managed to destroy the Royal House of Gadgetry with a bomb in the shape of a gift, but the bomb was hurled back to Zedd causing the motor-home they were driving in to explode.
Zedd and Rita were mysteriously absent during the Power Rangers: Aero season, and fans have speculated that a "gap" between Power Rangers Zeo: Revisited and Aero reveals what occurred after Rita and Zedd had regained control of the moon from the Machine Empire. Events in Forever Rangers suggest that Zedd at some point launched an attack on Earth with a significantly more powerful Serpentera, only to be defeated again by the Zeo Rangers. Disillusioned and finally convinced he would never defeat them, Zedd and Rita retreated for good.
A year later, Zedd and Rita attended Dark Specter's conference on the Cimmerian Planet, Zedd toasting to Dark Specter's capture of Zordon, Alpha 5's eternal sleep (not knowing that he escaped the Power Chamber explosion) and takeover of the universe. Months later, they invaded the Vica Galaxy and quickly conquered it, defeating and capturing the Gold Ranger in the process. When Zordon's energy wave washed over them and their army, Zedd was spared, transformed into a human being. His love for Rita seemed to remain but Rita angrily divorced him for his arrogance (by kicking him and storming away with a young Sareena), much to the relief of the Gold Ranger.
Years later, Sareena mentions that she seeks to rebuild her parents' legacy, saddened by the fact that they were "lost to goodness", but she misses them very much.
Personality[]
In his debut appearance and 40 episodes after, Zedd starts off as a very menacing and frightening character. He abuses his lackeys, silencing Goldar and others frequently and blaming them for most failures. During and after The Wedding however, thanks to Rita's Love Potion, his personality changes to a mostly-loving and caring person around Rita, and even Alpha when he is brainwashed by Zedd into wanting to have the Rangers killed for shutting him out.
Like most heartless supervillains, Lord Zedd cared very little for his army and henchmen, and generally loses patience with them quite easily when they report a complication or failure. That is, until Rita Repulsa returned to enact revenge on him for banishing her. Afterwards, he cares a little more about his monsters and henchmen, and has a particular soft spot for Alpha 5.
When he was turned good by Zordon's Energy Wave, none of his evil personality traits remained, except for one, his lust for power; his love for Rita was enough for Zordon's energy to turn him into a human being. However, she still divorces him due to his egotistical attitude.
Powers and abilities[]
Right from his first appearance, Lord Zedd established himself to be much more capable in the fields of magic compared to Rita Repulsa. While Rita has to rely in Finster and his Monster-Matic to create her monsters and foot soldiers, Zedd can effortlessly create his own putties and monsters on his own, using nothing but his magic staff and Dark Power surges. In the case of Putties, Zedd simply conjures them out of thin air. However, when creating a monster, he usually needs an item or animal to turn into a monster, instead of creating them from nothing at all. Despite his arrogant claiming to the contrary, he is actually weaker than all the following seasons' villains and villainesses including Telissa.
Zedd also possesses other magical feats, which include:
- Conjuration: Zedd is able to conjure objects out of thin air, such as his staff or growth bombs.
- Brainwashing: Zedd can brainwash and corrupt others into serving him, such as Alpha 5 and Katherine. During the former instance, he infused his own evil energy into the young robot to cloud his electronic mind and give him the ability to fire bursts of dark power, as well as create shards of Dark Crystal to corrupt the Command Center.
- Telescopic vision: Zedd's vision is so accurate, he can see what's happening on Earth by just looking at the planet. He also seems to be able to see what happens in an entirely different solar system, as seen when the Rangers traveled to Edenoi.
- Curses: On multiple occasions, Zedd managed to curse objects, giving them different effects. An example is cursing two pairs of sunglasses to make the wearer see everyone else as a Putty, in hopes of turning the rangers against each other.
- Weather manipulation: In his first appearance, he caused a thunderstorm on the moon.
- Projection: He also created a giant projection of himself in the clouds of said storm.
Outside of his magical abilities, Zedd has proven himself to be an excellent hand-to-hand fighter, as he easily defeated Tommy in battle, and an expert designer of weapons, seeing as he single handedly designed his own Zord Serpentera, which is, to date, still the largest Zord in the entire universe of Power Rangers Revisited and probably the most powerful if it weren't for its small energy supply. Zedd also seems to have a more tactical mind, compared to his subordinate and later "wife" Rita. Many of his plans involve trying to cause confusion or division among the rangers, seeing as he realized their teamwork and friendship was their greatest asset, whereas Rita, during her solo tenure, was much more straight forward. He also does not limit himself to the standard plans of just sending out monsters, as he tried to create his own evil team of human rangers on two separate occasions and changed the rangers into child versions of themselves at another, although the latter proved to be a foolish idea at they still managed to beat him even in their younger forms.
Character Relationships[]
Zordon[]
Zordon is Zedd's nemesis. They battled each other eons ago.
Alpha 5[]
Through infusing of his dark energy (from the Dark Crystal) and the bending of the little robot's memories, Zedd manipulated Alpha to serve him. However, Zedd and Rita's hold over Alpha was broken when the Rangers convinced Alpha of his true memories and restored him to normal.
When Kimberly was captured, an angered Alpha charged towards Zedd and kicked him hard in the face. Noting that Alpha has become powerful since "last time", Zedd offers Alpha to rejoin him again in exchange for the Rangers using the Ninjazords for evil. Crying, Alpha refuses, remembering the damage he caused while under Zedd's power. Moved by his former minion's pure processor, Zedd reneges on his demands of the Rangers to use the Shogun Zords, his gifts, for evil purposes, imparts to the Rangers the location of Kimberly. and states that he will only restore Kimberly's powers and release her if a Ranger fights him one-on-one. Tommy takes up the challenge and fights him.