"What If?" - The Legendary War

"What If?" - The Legendary War

Thanks to the United Kingdom being further ahead of the US regarding the airing of "Power Rangers: Super Megaforce," many in the US have already seen the final episode of the season entitled "Legendary Battle."

"Legendary" has been a tagline to this season from the beginning

     Since the start of Megaforce (which was adapted from "Tensou Sentai Goseiger") we've been teased about the upcoming Legendary Battle. In the first few seconds of the first episode we see brief flashes of it delivered via a dream to the future Red Megaforce Ranger, Troy. From that point on, the rest of the season deals with an alien invasion of Earth, which is just a precursor for the real invasion in season 2.

     With the start of Season 2, now called Super Megaforce and (mostly) using footage from "Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger," the Rangers are upgraded with Legendary Morphers that use keys to grant the Rangers access to the powers of the Legendary Rangers (all Rangers from the past, plus some never before seen in Ranger history [I may do a post on that later]), and eventually new zords (some based on past zords, some not, and one just reusing a name [I really should just do a general post on Super Megaforce, "Legendary Battle" aside]). Powered up and looking like pirates (but, you know, totally not pirates), the Rangers continue to fight an invasion using Legendary powers and meeting a few Legendary Rangers along the way.

     This all leads up to the final episode, which has been teased and been building for two seasons, "Legendary Battle." We know we're getting 10 cameos from past Rangers, we know the episode will run longer than normal, hopes have been building. It also helped build this hope that Season 2 of the Megaforce series was a marked improvement over season 1.

     By all accounts, things actually looked like they may well be...

     Well, having now seen the "Legendary Battle" I can say it most decidedly was not legendary. I didn't expect much more footage than what had been used in the Sentai for the Great Legend War from the Gokaiger sentai series, but the few minutes that comprised that sequence was cut down to be even shorter. The cameos were entirely pointless, and it left the franchise with an absurd amount of new plot holes (the franchise already has so many...), and the extra run time for the episode was only a minute or two.

Gokgaiger's "Great Legend War"

Power Ranger's "Legendary Battle"

     The "Legendary Battle" could have, should have, been so much more. Now, assuming no budgetary constraints, and with the rest of the Super MegaForce season the same as it actually is, I present a "What If?" scenario...

Series Type: Mini-series
Series Length: 5 episodes
Series Airing: Immediately following "Super Megaforce"

Episode 1: "Invasion Day" 

     The series opens with the Armada arriving in Earth space, the Megaforce Rangers running for their lives as we saw in Super Megaforce episode 1.

     Then we cut to another location, Silver Hills. We see Wes on patrol with a team of the Silver Guardians when the Armada arrives, X-Borgs invading.

     Cut to Mariner Bay, where Carter is putting out a fire and suddenly an energy bolt comes from above, reigniting it. An alien ship zooms by.

     Cut to Ocean Bluff, Casey is teaching a martial arts class on the beach when an army of X-Borgs rise out of the ocean.

     So forth and so on.

     The entire episode is dedicated to see how the world reacted to the first full blown alien invasion since "Countdown to Destruction," and is clearly labeled as taking place in the past. The episode ends with the few Rangers we've actually seen make appearances being contacted by a floating orb that Gosei communicates through, asking for their powers to be given to a new team of Rangers fighting at the primary landing zone of the invasion. They agree, on the condition that they can check up on the Rangers to determine if they deem them worthy, and then we cut to Gosei activating the Ranger keys for the Megaforce Rangers and the episode ends.

Episode 2: "The Resistance"

     We learn the Emperor Mavro has landed in the heart of the Megaforce Rangers city and built a massive fortress downtown, the Horse-themed mothership residing atop it while the majority of the fleet remains in the sky. Many of the citizens have been captured. X-Borgs, Bruisers, and various monsters patrol the streets, constant aerial fly-bys are going on. We also learn that Mavro has recalled most of his forces to this location, as the Megaforce Rangers have proven themselves to be more troublesome than any other resistance force on the planet.

     We then learn that neither the Megaforce Rangers nor the humans are taking this quietly. The Rangers have rallied a fighting force composed of police officers, emergency responders, and military personnel and are now fighting a guerrilla war against the invading Armada. A number of past Rangers are seen amongst the Resistance, but they are not making their identities known. Orion also returns to Earth.

     We then cut to a montage of an unrevealed character travelling to various cities, meeting with past Rangers to rally them against the Armada.

     Back at the LZ, the episode ends with the Resistance learning  of a barely-guarded-but-still-dangerous path into the enemy fortress. Troy and Orion set out on a perilous mission to bring down the emperor by attempting a stealth surgical strike. The episode ends with the two entering the fortress in secret with a sizable amount of small-but-powerful explosive devices.

Episode 3: The Raid

     Much of this episode is focused on Troy, Orion, and their infiltration of the fortress. Along their way up through the tower they lay explosives throughout its infrastructure.

     We see more of the Resistance striking back against the invaders, and the rest of the Megaforce team first learns they have past Rangers working with them when Emma recognizes a disguised Casey. Along with Casey, Carter and Emily reveal themselves. The Rangers contact Gosei who then transfers the power of the relevant keys directly into the three Legendary Rangers. The Resistance gains hope as more fully powered Rangers are now fighting with them.

     We cut to another recruitment montage, this time two unidentified figures (one male, one female) are shown on various alien worlds, including Aquitar, and some of these worlds had previously been conquered by the Armada to help them make a last stand on Earth.

     Back in the tower, the episode comes to a close as the tower explodes, Megaforce Silver and Red chase Mavro into his mothership, it takes off, they battle him inside of it, during which they manage to use the ship to wipe out almost all of Mavro's aerial fleet, before the three of them and the ship come crashing to Earth.

Episode 4: The Reclamation

     The majority of this episode focuses on the Resistance taking back the city and trying to find out if Troy and Orion survived and if Mavro was destroyed. Much to the dismay of the Earthings, when the Armada was destroyed, many of the troops on board manage to evacuate and joined their cohorts in the city.

     It is during this time that two more Rangers, Mike and Dana, reveal themselves as they save a group of humans from Bruisers and X-Borgs. Afterwards they meet with the other Rangers and Gosei infuses the two with their previous powers again.

     Another montage. We see a shadowy figure that looks a lot like Wes monitoring the invasion on a massive computer bank, he hits a button that sets off a red alert. We then see a portal open in a high hallway, an orb of light emerges from it and quickly zips off further into the building it arrived in. Lastly we see various vehicles and teleport streams enroute to Harwood County.

     Meanwhile, the other Megaforce Rangers have managed to track the fallen mothership, where they find Troy and Orion struggling with a weakened-but-still-powerful Mavro. They join the fight, still out matched until Robo Knight returns, his added might forcing Mavro to retreat. The episode ends with the Rangers and other humans celebrating their reclamation of the city, while Mavro has reunited what was left of his army outside of the city (pretty much entirely X-Borgs, but a massive number of them) and sets them on one final march to end the Rangers.

Episode 5:The Legendary Battle

     The episode opens in the Command Center, the Megaforce Rangers and their allies (Robo Knight, Casey, Carter, Dana, Emily, Mike) learn of the approaching army. The rush to action.

     Cut to a brief shot of the marching army and Mavro gloating to himself.

     Cut to the Rangers gathered in the path of the approaching army. To their back is a cliff face. They are talking about how outnumbered they are, but they will fight anyway. Suddenly the sky erupts in noise and color as multiple ships and teleport beams descend behind the cliff face. The Rangers turn to look what is going on, expecting more Armada forces. As they turn, the Rangers suddenly find their key belts activating, as all of their keys fly out of their belts and onto the other side of the cliff. An explosion of color erupts all along the cliff.

     Suddenly we see a male and female approach atop the cliff, Cassie and TJ, making it clear these were the two from a previous episode gathering alien Rangers to defend Earth. Around them we see a whole host of Rangers that have never before been seen on Earth, along with the alien Rangers from Aquitar. Then Cassie and TJ, their powers now infused into them once again, morph into their Space Ranger forms.

     On the other half of the cliff we see Tommy step up to the edge, soon followed by all other Earth Rangers not present. Tommy then morphs, his morph brighter than usually, and from the light erupts five forms; MMPR Green, MMPR White, Zeo Red, Turbo Red, and Dino Thunder Black. Clearly it was Tommy in a past episode gathering teams.

     All 33 groups of Rangers descend, joining the other Rangers already there, who then also morph. The group talks for a few moments before the X-Borg army is upon them.

     They battle, the full sentai footage from the Great Legend War is used, with new footage to accommodate the Silver Megaforce Ranger.

     The X-Borgs are defeated, leaving Mavro to face off with all 34 teams. Knowing he is outclassed, he uses his powers to grow into a giant form. The Rangers keep fighting but he just swats them away. Troy gives everyone an order, suddenly the Rangers fall back a bit, each into their own team, all lining the cliff face. One by one, each team uses its super weapon finishing move against Mavro, ending with the Megaforce teams finisher. The combined assault destroys Mavro, saving the world.

     The Rangers congratulate one another, and the Megaforce team thanks everyone before all the groups go their own way once more, each Ranger actually infused with their powers, no longer needing morphers to change.

     The Megaforce team then celebrates their victory when Gosei mentions there are still many worlds out in space that are under the Armada's rule. The episode ends with the Megaforce Rangers taking their skyship into space to liberate these other worlds.

Notes:

*Clearly the Wes-look-a-like (Alex) and the orb of light (Sam) were what got the Time Force and SPD Rangers involved in the war, respectively.

*The newly used alien Rangers are the pre-MMPR/ZyuRanger suits (along with DaiRanger) and serve to punctuate the powers "never before seen on Earth" that the Megaforce Rangers used without further explanation.

*For powers that had previously been destroyed, it would be explained that Ranger powers can never truly be destroyed, it just takes time for the Morphing Grid to reform them.

*There would be various lines of dialogue explaining how some Rangers showed up (the MMPR team was Jason, Zach, Billy, Trini, and Kim, while Zeo [aside from Red] was Rocky, Adam, Tanya, Kat, and the Turbo Rangers (aside from Blue and Red) were their surviving robot counter parts, etc.

*Yes, I know this would never, ever, have even been considered to be what happened as the budget would be too high as it would be almost entirely original footage.