Ninja Quest

Ninja Quest is a four-parter of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 3, immediately succeeding the premiere three-parter. It is the first appearance of the Ninjazords, Ninjor, Rito Revolto, the Tenga Warriors and Lieutenant Jerome Stone. It also marks a complete change in the Rangers' power set.

Synopsis
Rita Repulsa gets a surprise when her brother Rito Revolto arrives, bearing gifts. Lord Zedd and Rita send him and a set of monsters to engage in a sneak attack against the Rangers. The attacks leave the Rangers with their powers completely drained. Zordon and Alpha 5 know of a legend that might allow the Rangers to gain new powers to battle Zedd's army, but will the bearer of the Ninja Powers allow the Rangers to have them?

Part 1
Lord Zedd celebrates his wedding anniversary with Rita Repulsa by giving her a new telescope, which she tests by spying on the Power Rangers as they compete for Angel Grove in a volleyball tournament against Stone Canyon. Suddenly, a loud explosion goes off near the Moon Palace, so loud that Billy hears it from Earth, and a skeleton monster comes crawling out of the explosion site. After pausing to lay some eggs in the lunar soil, the monster teleports into Zedd's throne room. Much to Zedd's and everybody else's shock, Rita introduces the monster as her brother Rito Revolto.

Rito quickly proves to be quite the annoying pest. He continuously mispronounces Zedd's name as "Ed", teases him over his failure to conquer Earth, and refuses to tell Rita what's inside the eggs he got her as a wedding gift. As she watches the eggs grow, Rita decides to lure the Rangers into a trap by using Rito as the unwitting decoy. At the very least, it will get Rito out of the palace for a while.

Having won the volleyball tournament for Angel Grove, the Rangers celebrate at Ernie's Outdoor Cafe as he offers free food to everybody. Bulk and Skull are also enjoying the food when they overhear a pair of girls talking about the Power Rangers and how they love men in uniform. Inspired by these words and a nearby poster, Bulk announces to everybody that he and Skull are going to join the Angel Grove Junior Police Patrol. The crowd is literally left speechless, as is Skull who has to be reminded by Bulk to think of the girls.

Accompanied by four monsters (all of which Finster had revived from past battles and made stronger), Rito hangs outside the city like an idiot while his partners take hidden positions. Rito's presence is detected by Zordon and Alpha 5, but they are unable to identify him due to system failures in the Command Center. Regardless, the Rangers are contacted and sent to meet with this unknown threat.

Rito makes his entrance to the Rangers, who morph and prepare to engage in battle. Before they can throw the first punch, Rita and Zedd cross their staffs to summon lightning and make Rito grow. The Thunder Megazord and White Tigerzord are sent out, but Rito proves surprisingly skilled in fighting them off. The other monsters are enlarged to spring the trap, and the fight quickly turns in Rito's favor as both the Thunder Megazord and White Tigerzord struggle to survive against their combined onslaught.

Alpha tries to feed as much power into the zords as he can, however its still not helping and Zordon warns that the backlash from the power surge could cost the Rangers their powers. Tommy decides to take the risk, but things go wrong and the resulting feedback overloads and causes massive damage to the Command Center. Unfortunately, Rito and his entourage prove too strong, and the Rangers are forced to escape as their powers vanish and their Zords fall to pieces, beyond all hope of repair.

Part 2
No longer able to morph, the Rangers return to the wrecked Command Center in utter defeat as the villains celebrate. Zordon confirms that with the Command Center's power almost gone, there's no way to restore the destroyed zords. When Adam asks where their powers came from, Zordon explains that beneath the Desert of Despair lies a hidden temple, where its keeper Ninjor forged the original Power Coins. Though it will be dangerous, the Rangers realize that Ninjor is their only hope, and so Zordon uses the last of the Command Center's power to teleport them to the desert.

Back in Angel Grove, Bulk and Skull have just arrived at the police academy. Skull is having second thoughts about having to do so much running, swimming, and physical activity as part of training, so Bulk carries him screaming to the registration office. On the moon, Rito's eggs are finally hatching to Rita's delight, but Rito has already forgotten what the eggs are hatching into. A bit of threatening from Rita jogs his memory, and Rito introduces the newly-hatched Tenga Warriors to her as they start flying around the Moon Palace. One of the eggs remains unhatched, and Rito reveals that it contains a very special monster -- a Vampirus.

Zedd suddenly spots the Rangers through his visor as they cross the desert and realizes that they seek the Temple of Power. Rita gets the idea to have the Tengas attack the Rangers once they find the temple, then place the egg near the temple so that Vampirus can steal its power when he hatches.

Using a map given to them by Alpha, the Rangers cross the Desert of Despair and try to ignore the woeful screaming in the air that gives the desert its name. Kimberly pauses to pick up a rock, which sets off a fire trap that the Rangers barely evade but burns the map to ash. Now powerless and lost, they later stumble into a quicksand pit that very nearly buries Aisha. Eventually, Billy spots a rock formation that he thinks is what the map directed them to.

The Tengas suddenly arrive to destroy the Rangers, and they quickly prove to be far more dangerous minions than Rita's or Zedd's Putties ever were. As the Rangers run for their lives into the rock formation, Adam accidentally triggers a hidden switch and opens a path into a tunnel. With no other way to go, the Rangers follow the tunnel to a dead-end, which is revealed to be an illusion when Tommy steps into a wall and vanishes. As the other Rangers follow Tommy, the Tengas place the Vampirus egg outside the rock formation.

Part 3
The Rangers step out to find themselves in a beautiful forest leading up to the gates of an ornate temple. As they enter, a voice demands to know what they are doing in the temple. Billy tracks the source of the voice to a blue vase and finds a tiny armored figure inside, who reveals himself as Ninjor.

After growing to his full-size, Ninjor again demands the Rangers to tell him their reasons for intruding on the Temple of Power. They explain to him of Zordon, the Power Rangers, and how Lord Zedd defeated them, but Ninjor shows no interest to their plight and tells them to leave. Tommy tries to console his friends over their loss by explaining that Zedd can never destroy their own power of friendship between them and that they'll find another way. Hearing this, Ninjor is convinced that they are not seeking power out of greed and agrees to help the Rangers.

At the police academy, Bulk and Skull are introduced to Lieutenant Jerome Stone, who has been appointed to train the new recruits. The pair's first stop is at the barber's for a police-regulation crewcut, which goes over as well as it can for them (which is to say, not well at all).

The Rangers are guided by Ninjor to harness a new power from deep within their souls... the power of Ninja. This power focuses on using intelligence and cunning in battle as opposed to the brute force of the past Dinozord and Thunderzord powers. They are granted new Power Coins, ninja robes in their familiar Ranger colors, and a set of new Ninjazords. Meanwhile, Bulk and Skull's police training proves less impressive, as their slacker attitudes towards exercise earn them repeated admonishment from Lt. Stone.

With their new Ninja powers, the Rangers leave the temple grounds to battle the Tengas. The feathered fiends quickly prove no match for the might of their Ninja Ranger forms and soon they take off in a panic. Ninjor comes out to congratulate the heroes for mastering their power and sees them off as they morph once again into the Power Rangers and return to Angel Grove. However, Ninjor does not notice the Vampirus egg as it begins to hatch...

Part 4
The Rangers return to Angel Grove, and none too soon as Rito Revolto is back in the city and ready to destroy it. Their new Ninjazords prove tougher for Rito to handle, which infuriates Zedd. As to Bulk and Skull's police careers, they are made to run the Hangman's Obstacle Course, with Lt. Stone snapping at them every step of the way.

Rito suddenly draws a flamethrower and begins making a stronger assault. The Rangers counter by bringing the Ninjazords together into the Ninja Megazord and eventually the Ninja Megafalconzord. This time, the fight is too much for Rito and he goes down exploding, though he slips back to the moon at the last second. Back in the desert, Vampirus is now fully-hatched and ready to capture the Temple of Power for Lord Zedd.

As the Rangers help repair the Command Center, the alarm goes off. Angel Grove is still quiet, but with the Center still mostly offline, Alpha is unable to locate the disturbance. Bulk and Skull, meanwhile, are testing every one of Lt. Stone's nerves as they repeatedly try to slack off in the obstacle course.

Vampirus orders Ninjor to come out and challenge him in the desert. When he does, Rita and Zedd make the monster grow, but Ninjor enlarges himself to fight his enemy on equal terms. The fight is detected by Zordon as repairs to the Command Center are completed, and the Rangers head out to aid Ninjor in the Ninja Megafalconzord. Ninjor shifts to his Battle Mode to wound Vampirus, allowing the Rangers to finish the monster off. With all his plans foiled once more, Zedd takes his anger out on Rito, who to top it all off is still getting his name wrong.

At the Command Center, Ninjor gives his congratulations and thanks to the Rangers for all their help and swears that he will continue to aid them in the fight against evil. Later, the Rangers and Ernie attend Bulk and Skull's graduation into officers of the Angel Grove Junior Police Patrol. Although they're now dedicated to helping the community, Bulk and Skull's clumsiness is still in full force as they accidentally knock over all the other graduating cadets.

Cast

 * Jason David Frank as Tommy Oliver (Mighty Morphin White Ranger)
 * Steve Cardenas as Rocky DeSantos (Mighty Morphin Red Ranger)
 * Karan Ashley as Aisha Campbell (Mighty Morphin Yellow Ranger)
 * Johnny Yong Bosch as Adam Park (Mighty Morphin Black Ranger)
 * David Yost as Billy Cranston (Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger)
 * Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly Ann Hart (Mighty Morphin Pink Ranger)
 * Paul Schrier as Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier
 * Jason Narvy as Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch
 * Richard Genelle as Ernie
 * Gregg Bullock as Lt. Jerome Stone
 * David Fielding as Zordon (face)
 * Robert L. Manahan as Zordon (voice)
 * Sandi Sellner as Alpha 5
 * Richard Steven Horvitz as Alpha 5 (voice)
 * Kim Strauss as Ninjor (voice)
 * Carla Perez as Rita Repulsa
 * Barbara Goodson as Rita Repulsa and Fighting Flea (voice)
 * Ed Neil as Lord Zedd
 * Robert Axelrod as Lord Zedd, Finster (voices)
 * Danny Wayne Stallcup as Goldar
 * Kerrigan Mahan as Goldar (voice)
 * Bob Papenbrook as Rito Revolto (voice)
 * Michael Sorich as Squatt, Vampirus (voices)
 * Dave Mallow as Baboo (voice, as Colin Phillips)

Errors

 * Finster stated he has recreated four of his most horrible monsters, but Octophantom and Stag Beetle had been created by Zedd. Similar errors were made by Zordon and others in Season 2, wherein monsters attributed to Zedd were originally Finster's creations under Rita.
 * During the destruction of the Thunderzords, the guys went from holding Kimberly back to shielding their faces then back to holding Kimberly.
 * At the end of Part I when the Command Center's power overloaded, while there was a large explosion the console was left intact. However, at the beginning of Part II, the place is shown as completely wrecked with the control panels ripped and blown out from the console.
 * In Part II, bright flashes of light clearly showed that the lights on the Command Center wall were nothing more than strung-up Christmas tree lights.
 * In Part II, the 'distinctive rock formation' which marked the entrance to the temple was identical to the double peaked mountain where the Command Center was located.
 * The Rangers seemingly knew that Rita and Zedd had sent the Tengas despite having never encountered them before.
 * Rita's plan had been for the Tengas to attack the Rangers after they found the opening to the Temple of Power, but they then attacked before this.
 * Just before the Rangers formed the Ninja Megazord, the Falconzord fired a pink laser out its mouth, but, when Rito blocked it, it was blue. This is because the Kakuranger counterpart did not have the Falconzord fire on him. The Holy Stealth Beast Tsubasamaru was a sixth auxiliary mecha for the Kakurangers, and was introduced late. The footage used for the zord fight was taken from the episode where Rito's counterpart was destroyed.
 * The Ninjazords begin to form Ninja Megazord prior to Ninjor transforming in his battle with Vampirus. However when they are about to get to him they are seen arriving as individual Zords again, and reform once more.
 * In Part I, as the Rangers perform the movements to morph, the formation of each Rangers changes every time the camera cuts. In the first scene, where the Rangers pull out their Morpher, they are shown lined up in single file line, facing toward the camera. In the second scene, where the Rangers pulls the Morpher to their left shoulder, they are shown side by side. Finally, when thrusting and turning the Morpher forward, they are shown in a pyramid formation. It is also worth noting that the morpher is activating before thrusting forward.
 * In Part I, when the Stag Beetle kicks the fallen Thunder Megazord the legs of the original Dino Megazord can be seen during the explosion of the impact.
 * When the Rangers Morphed from Ninja to Power Rangers, Rocky's Morpher was closed. This would be repeated as stock footage three more times.
 * In Part IV, Rito was shown to be the same size as the Ape Ninjazord and the Ninja Megazord (of which the Ape Ninjazord was just an arm).
 * In Part IV, for the battle against giant Vampirus the Frog, Bear and Crane Ninjazords were shown transforming for the Ninja Megazord but in a later shot were shown in their standard animal forms. The Crane Ninjazord was then shown transforming again.
 * In Part III, during the fight with the Tengas, a truck can be seen in the background.
 * Scorpina (played by Wendee Day) is mentioned in the closing credits, but does not appear in this episode.

Song

 * Part 1: White Ranger Tiger Power
 * Parts 2 & 3: Tenga Bye Bye (Instrumental in Part 2)
 * Part 4: Shape It Up, Bulk & Skull