Quasar Quest

"Quasar Quest, pt. 1" is the first episode of Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy.

The episode sets itself after Power Rangers in Space 's 2-part historic finale episode  Countdown to Destruction.

Episode Summary
In The Not-Too-Distant future, next Sunday A.D. Earth begins it's search for a new world, and we get sucked into a vortex to a place called Mirinoi. It's a pretty much simple place, the natives live in huts and dress in rags and other jungle like apparel. The elderly tribal leader, who's name is never stated, so we'll call Jera, tells the story of 3000 years ago, when the five Quasar Sabers that are lodged into the rock in the center of their village were placed there. For countless generations, people of their world have attempted to remove the Sabers, ala Excalibur, and if they are worthy, shall possess the great powers within, becoming mighty champions of good. The newest batch steps up to the task, and all the strapping buck men and confident women fail to even budge the Sabers from their permanent residence. As this occurs, several sneaky creatures called Stingwingers, begin to invade the village! Being a race of wimps and crybabies, the people can do nothing but scream and run while the Stingwingers set fire to their huts and harass their peoples. One such person, a buxom female named Maya, is focused upon simply because we all know she's going to be a ranger later anyway. She runs around, and soon the first nonStingwinger monster of the series appears, and his name be Furio, despite not being called that this episode. He chuckles and walks amid the blazes of the village, finally reaching the Quasar stone. He tries his hand at removing one of the Sabers, but just gets a hernia

High above Earth, orbiting at any given made up speed, is Terra Venture. Built rather conveniently while we were in reruns, it's one huge momma. The main captain of this baby is Commander Stanton, and he gives orders left and right for final preparations for TV to leave Earth. The search to boldly go where no man has gone before has to get it's start somewhere. We meet Kendrix Morgan right off the bat, she's developing some kind of hybrid plants. Once on the bridge, Stanton's right hand lackey, Mike Corbett, gazes down on Earth's majestic surface. Odds are he'll never see it again, because there are just too many plot holes from previous PR series' back there. Speak of the devil, back on Earth, the shuttleports are jammed with people trying to get on Terra Venture. Only a certain select amount of any given number of people are screened and deemed fit to go. It seems, Professor Phenomenus pulled some strings, so he and Bulk will be going. Bulk thinks he may have forgot something, but it totally escapes him at the moment. Meanwhile, back in Power Rangers continuity, Skull oversleeps in a peaceful slumber. Security at the spaceport toss out our new hero, Leo. Seems the punk doesn't have a pass to get on Terra Venture, so he's outta here! He wanders out to the back alley and kicks some garbage around, and sulks up a storm.

Here comes some old lady walking through the alleyway, thinking "Hey! Alleys are always safe!" when she's confronted by three unarmed thugs. They want her passport to Terra Venture, and will take it by force even if unnecessary (One passport, three guys, Hello?! Dumb brutes...) Luckily, Leo is wallowing in self-pity nearby, and jumps into the ruckus. He defends the old woman, takes her passport, shows it to the thugs and quickly slips it out of it's holder and into his own pocket. The thugs are all nearsighted and don't even notice this obvious move, and what do you know, they all get in a fight. Leo bounces around on a couch, throws a chair, and tosses a thug into a shopping cart. The old lady would do a flying drop kick and end the fight, but that'd be too easy. Anyway, the thugs overtake Leo, and snatch the passport holder and run off. The old broad believes she lost her pass, but Leo surprises her with the actual thing which he saved by sleight of hand. She's pleased as a punching bag, but wonders why he isn't going, since the new world needs young men like him. Elderly Woman wanders off, ready to go die out in space away from her loved ones, probably hoping to stop off on Aquitar to visit their fountains of youth, as the last shuttle is preparing to leave for Terra Venture. Leo checks out some flyers pasted to the alleyway's wall, "Terra Venture: Adventure... for a Lifetime!" The old lady haunts him with her words, and we find ourselves back on Terra V. Mike, Kendrix and our new buddy Kai are suiting up for the final training mission on the moon, before the space station takes off for outer space. Back down on Earth, the final Space Shuttle prepares for departure, and some guys are checking all baggage to make sure everything is secure. Leo sneaks around, hoping to hitch a ride, but brings attention to himself by knocking something over. The baggage men give chase, but Leo hops inside a pickup cart and is loaded onto the shuttle without anyone finding. I could be wrong, but that main baggage guy looks like Ed Neil, whom we all know as Lord Zedd. Is Zeddie working menial jobs now? The shuttle lifts off from the third rock from the sun, as we end up in Mirinoi once more. Furio is furious and quite cheesed he can't get the Sabers out of the rock. He pitches a fit and we watch Maya sprint through the jungles, being chased by Stingwingers.

Ever see "2001: A Space Odyssey"? No? The go do it now, i'll wait... Now you can see for yourself, this scene is either a great rip-off or a great homage to said film. The shuttle is slowly gliding out of the atmosphere, to the same classical tune used in 2001 when the shuttle was docking with the space station, called "Blue Danube" or something like that. It's much shorter a scene here, as Leo creeps out of the luggage compartments and into the main cabin. Judd Lynn can't get enough of this 2001 thing, though, even the flight attendants are dressed alike! (no antigravity walking, though) Leo sits near a little girl, and soon scopes out the view from her window, as the shuttle successfully docks with the massive Terra Venture space colony. Soon, Bulk & Professor Phenom are among those passing through the final terminals into Terra Venture. Bulk is racking his and the Prof's brain as to what they forgot. Prof checks his bag, and once they get to the anti-alien gel, it hits them like a ton of bricks on the skull. Back on Earth, Skull awakens, chest exposed, dumbfounded to the alarm that's been going off. He just as quickly goes back to sleep, new world? He's got the bed to himself for a change, yippee! Anyway, on Terra Venture, Leo is traveling the same area Bulk & Prof just came out of, whom he passes. Bulk & Phenom are crying their eyes out, having forgotten their longtime pal, much like the producers have forgotten the PRIS cast. Leo is at awe over the rich and expanse surroundings of the incredibly expansive city of Terra V. As he rides the escalator, security spots him and he makes a quick about face, running for his freedom and future, Bonk! He accidentally slams into Kendrix, and as he helps her up, everyone can easily tell this is going to be the first Pink/Red Ranger romance since Tommy & Kat. Security is on his stowingaway tail, so he makes a break for it. The guards ask Kendrix & Kai if they saw Leo come this way, but she shuts Kai up and gives them no help in finding him. More chasing, and finally Leo finds a helmet and slips it on, hoping to disguise himself. It works, he loses the guards, but the suit he chose just happens to be that of the defense soldiers, and he's quickly whisked into lineup with the rest of the men and women going to the moon for defense exercises. Reluctant to do anything but go with the flow, he ends up inside a craft along with Kai & Kendrix. He attempts to keep himself unseen by them, and soon the craft arrives on the moon (which now has air, or always did, or not, I don't know anymore) and the troops all pile out for their final defensive drill. Within moments the soldiers are spreading out and flanking all over the lunar surface, which is littered with live explosives. Leo & Kendrix end up together, and sparks fly as Leo gets her moving upon seeing an explosive right near them. There's a huge fireball and they barely make it out without getting their uniforms smudged. Kai rushes over to see if she's all right, as Leo takes off his helmet. Kendrix is giddy to see him, and Kai is ready to smash his stowaway face in. Remember Mike? He runs over to check up on the group, and TA-DA, reveals Leo is his little brother. Big Bro is not happy to see his Little Bro here, as Terra Venture is never coming back to Earth, but they both share the same need for adventure so Leo doesn't care. Back on Mirinoi, Maya is still being chased by Stingwingers, whom have begun firing at her with their eyeblasts! She's desperate for help, which she gets suddenly as she rushes into a conveniently placed vortex portal! It spits her out, even more conveniently, right in the same place on the moon our gang of new friends are standing. She rolls down the hill, and ends up between the brooding brothers. She attempts to get away, but they block her in, hoping to get some answers. Stingwingers following in formation, and the fighting begins. The brothers get tossed aside by the buggy baddies rather quickly.

Maya is targeted by the Stingwingers, and defends herself as best she can, before the others start to help out. Finally, after punching and kicking does no good, Kai fires a laserblast across their path and the three Stingwingers show off how they got their names, spouting wings and taking off back into the vortex. Maya introduces herself, and mentions her planet Mirinoi which nobody has ever heard of. Leo wants to go into the portal with her, but Mike sends him with Kai back to Terra Venture, which is leaving in a few hours. Mike & Kendrix go with Maya by themselves, but Leo proves to be slippery as ever, escaping from Kai's clutches and making a leap into the vortex right behind them.

Cast

 * Danny Slavin as Leo Corbett (Red Galaxy Ranger)
 * Reggie Rolle as Damon Henderson (Green Galaxy Ranger)
 * Archie Kao as Kai Chen (Blue Galaxy Ranger)
 * Cerina Vincent as Maya (Yellow Galaxy Ranger)
 * Valerie Vernon as Kendrix Morgan (Pink Galaxy Ranger)
 * Russell Lawrence as Mike Corbett
 * Paul Schrier as Bulk
 * Jason Narvy as Skull
 * Jack Banning as Professor Phenomenus
 * Tom Whyte as Commander Stanton
 * Tom Wyner as Furio (voice)
 * Kelly Kelso as Little Girl
 * Audrey Gelfand as Old Lady
 * Darius Hastings as Soldier
 * Luke LaFontaine as First Thug
 * Ed Neil as Baggage Checker Man
 * Sebastien Priddle as Second Guard
 * Scott Johnson as Fourth Guard
 * Tom Wyner as PA Announcer (voice)

Trivia

 * Final appearance of Skull until "Forever Red"