Hogday Afternoon

Hogday Afternoon is the name of the 2-part finale to the eleven-episode Alien Ranger story arc, as well as the finale of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in general. Aisha makes her final appearance, with Tanya making her debut. It was later followed by "A Zeo Beginning".

The 32nd and final Zeo Serial Short aired before a later airing of Part 1.

Synopsis
Lord Zedd has brought the Alien Rangers' nemesis Hydro Hog to Earth, and he intends to suck every last drop of water off the planet. While the Alien Rangers struggle to survive, Young Aisha's Zeo Quest takes her to Africa, where she befriends an orphan named Tanya. When she finds the Sub-Crystal, Aisha is faced with a decision that will affect both her future and that of Tanya.

However, there may be no future for anybody when Goldar and Rito finally plant their bomb and arm it to destroy the Command Center. Is this the end of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers?

Part 1
With the Zeo Crystal just one piece away from being completely reassembled, Zordon is concerned over how unusually calm Lord Zedd is. Billy, the Ranger Kids, and Alpha 5 can do nothing but wait for Aisha to arrive with the last Sub-Crystal. Aisha herself has just landed in Africa, where wild animals prowl on the savanna... and a large lion is eyeing her like a menu item.

In the Moon Palace, Lord Zedd orders Rita Repulsa to get in contact with Goldar and tell him to hold off on destroying the Command Center until the Zeo Crystal is complete, then steal it and bring it to him before detonating the bomb. As to the Alien Rangers, Zedd intends to bring Hydro Hog to Earth, but this time, he will throw Zordon off with a decoy signal so that the tyrant of Aquitar can slip through undisturbed.

Aisha panics as the lion gets closer, but she is pulled to safety by a villager and the lion walks away. The villager, named Tanya, tells Aisha that the lion and many other animals are suffering through a plague that is making them sick, confused, and liable to attack anything they see. When asked about where her parents are, Tanya explains that her parents were explorers and vanished while on an expedition, leaving her in the care of a local village that she is now taking Aisha to. With no other option, Aisha follows her new friend.

Zedd fires the decoy signal, which predictably drives Alpha to react and block it. Zedd then fires the real signal and Hydro Hog responds. As he has been bored since the Alien Rangers left Aquitar, the fiend eagerly accepts Zedd's offer to attack Earth and arrives at the Angel Grove lake, just narrowly missing the Rangers as they finish hydrating and teleport to the Command Center. When they detect Hydro Hog's presence, they morph to do battle with their nemesis. The fight turns into utter disaster for the Alien Rangers: Hydro Hog steals their swords and repeatedly strikes them, then proceeds to suck the water out of their bodies before draining all the water out of the lake.

In Africa, Aisha tells Tanya of her quest, and Tanya suggests seeing Ashalla, the wisest person in the village. However, even she cannot explain the source behind the plague, and neither can the wildlife researchers. Aisha mentions that she worked at an animal shelter and suggests that she can help, but Tanya explains that they don't need help... they need a miracle.

Back in Angel Grove, Hydro Hog has just finished draining the lake and has left to seek wetter pastures. Alpha tries to teleport the Alien Rangers to a swimming pool so they can rehydrate, but Hydro Hog anticipates this and drains the pool by the time they land. Unable to even move and with Hydro Hog draining water everywhere on Earth, the Alien Rangers seem doomed.

Down in the tunnels beneath the Command Center, Goldar and Rito have finally reached the prime location to set their bomb, which is already armed and ready to blow. As Rito starts the timer, Rita arrives and tells them not to blow up the Command Center until they capture the completed Zeo Crystal ("And if you mess up this time, don't bother coming back", she adds). Unable to leave due to their new orders and unable to stop the timer, Goldar and Rito can do nothing but wait for the last Ranger Kid to bring her crystal back, even as the bomb counts down to its deadly end. Meanwhile, Aisha is currently running for her life with Tanya to get to the village before sundown... when the animals start their nightly hunt.

Part 2
As Hydro Hog continues his rampage, large storm clouds holding his accumulated water shroud the entire planet. While Billy and Alpha work on a Hyper-Ionization Beam to force the clouds into raining, the Ranger Kids gather bottled water from whatever sources they can find and run to help the Alien Rangers.

Aisha arrives in the village with Tanya, and Ashalla welcomes her. Recognizing the name as one shared by her great-aunt, Aisha listens closely as Ashalla tells her about the plague and how the animals' extinction could mean the village's own if it is not cured. Ashalla then tells Aisha that her arrival was foretold for some time, and that she may be the one who can help the land recover. Aisha only wants to find the Sub-Crystal, and so Ashalla gives it to her... in hopes that she will stay and use it to save them.

Back with the Alien Rangers, the Ranger Kids are giving them as much bottled water as they can carry while Billy activates his device. The beam manages to trigger just enough of a rainstorm on Angel Grove to get the Alien Rangers back on their feet, and they morph once more to confront Hydro Hog. When Rita and Zedd make Hydro Hog grow in size, the Shogun Megazord is summoned to counter him, but the fiend is still too powerful. Fortunately, Billy still has his remote-control for the White Ninja Falconzord, and he is able to summon it and form the Shogun Megafalconzord to destroy Hydro Hog forever.

With Earth safe, the Alien Rangers take a well-deserved hydration. All that remains is Aisha, who is taking Tanya and the Sub-Crystal to where she first arrived in Africa. As Zordon gets in contact with her, Aisha tells him that she intends to stay in Africa and change her family's history in order to help the animals, while Tanya will be returning with the Sub-Crystal in her place. Having anticipated this, Zordon says his farewells to Aisha and teleports Tanya to the Command Center. Tanya promises that she'll make her friend proud, but Aisha tells her that she already has.

In the Command Center, Tanya hands the last piece of the Zeo Crystal to Billy, who reassembles the relic and activates the Crystal Transformer. At once, Earth is rotated forwards in time and all the reversal caused by Master Vile and the Orb of Doom is erased. The planet is now back where it belongs in time and all the Power Rangers are restored to their original ages... and Tanya has also grown into a beautiful young teenager. As to Aisha, she herself is now a teenager again and is living in Africa with Ashalla.

The Boys and Kat leave to say their goodbyes to the Alien Rangers as they return to Aquitar, while Tanya stays with Alpha to get acclimated with her new present. Suddenly, Goldar and Rito teleport into the Command Center and steal the Zeo Crystal before leaving. When the Boys and Kat return, they're shocked to see that the relic they worked so hard to obtain is no longer there. However the Zeo Crystal being stolen is soon the least of their worries, when the timer on the implosion device hits zero.

Explosions start going off all around the Teens and Alpha, and Zordon orders them to evacuate. The Rangers initially refuse and try to at least save Alpha by having him leave with them but the chaos going on around them keeps throwing them off their feet. Zordon tells Alpha to teleport the Rangers out, and as Alpha goes to do so Billy saves the robot from an exploding console but is injured. Alpha then succeeds in teleporting the Rangers out, and then presses buttons on the console as it sparks wildly. The Rangers land just outside the Command Center in time to see it explode in a massive fireball, throwing them all off their feet.

As the dust settles, the Rangers recover and are devastated to find smoldering ruins where the Command Center once stood. With no way of knowing if Zordon or Alpha survived and with the Zeo Crystal gone, the situation seems hopeless. Tommy tells the team that this could truly be the end of the Power Rangers.

The story is continued in A Zeo Beginning.

Cast

 * David Yost as Billy Cranston (Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger)
 * Jason David Frank as Tommy Oliver (Mighty Morphin White Ranger)
 * Michael R. Gotto as Young Tommy
 * Steve Cardenas as Rocky DeSantos (Mighty Morphin Red Ranger)
 * Michael O'Laskey II as Young Rocky
 * Johnny Yong Bosch as Adam Park (Mighty Morphin Black Ranger)
 * Matthew Sakimoto as Young Adam
 * Karan Ashley as Aisha Campbell (Mighty Morphin Yellow Ranger)
 * Sicily Sewell as Young Aisha
 * Catherine Sutherland as Katherine "Kat" Hillard (Mighty Morphin Pink Ranger)
 * Julia Jordan as Young Kat
 * David Bacon as Aurico (Red Alien Ranger)
 * Rajia Baroudi as Delphine (White Alien Ranger)
 * Karim Prince as Cestro (Blue Alien Ranger)
 * Jim Gray as Tideus (Yellow Alien Ranger)
 * Alan Palmer as Corcus (Black Alien Ranger)
 * Paul Schrier as Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier
 * Cody Slaton as Young Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier
 * Jason Narvy as Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch
 * Ross J. Samya as Young Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch
 * Nakia Burrise as Tanya Sloan
 * Khanya Mkhize as Young Tanya
 * ??? as Ashalla
 * David Fielding as Zordon (face)
 * Robert L. Manahan as Zordon (voice)
 * Donene Kistler as Alpha 5
 * Richard Steven Horvitz as Alpha 5 (voice)
 * Carla Perez as Rita Repulsa
 * Barbara Goodson as Rita Repulsa (voice)
 * Ed Neil as Lord Zedd
 * Robert Axelrod as Lord Zedd (voice) and Finster (voice)
 * Danny Wayne Stallcup as Goldar
 * Kerrigan Mahan as Goldar (voice)
 * Bob Papenbrook as Rito Revolto (voice)
 * Brad Orchard as Hydro Hog (voice)

Errors

 * Hydro Hog refers to the Aquitian Rangers as 'Alien', despite being from the same planet.
 * In Part I, Hydro Hog asks Lord Zedd what he wants 'this time', implying previous encounters however in the previous episode Zedd and Rita didn't know who he was until Cestro mentioned him.
 * In Part I, Zordon refers to Hydro Hog as Zedd's "latest monster" despite having earlier being told by the Aquitians that he was their main enemy.
 * Zordon has Alpha teleport the Aquitians to Angel Grove's public pool to rehydrate however, as pool water contains purifiers and is far from being 'natural' water, it would have done little to help them even if it had been full.
 * In Part II, when Zedd and Rita make Hydro Hog grow, the Falconzord's cage can be seen in the background.
 * In Part II, when the Shogun Megazord falls forward the shot is mirror-flipped (evident by the Blue and White Shogunzords appearing on the wrong sides).
 * Upon being restored to his normal age, Rocky had a shorter haircut than before he had been transformed.

VHS Release
The following scenes were included on the VHS Power Rangers Zeo: Zeo Quest:
 * Aisha's Zeo Quest and encounter with Tanya, as well as her decision to stay in Africa.
 * Goldar and Rito's arrival to the center of the Command Center, the planting of the detonator and their theft of the Zeo Crystal.
 * The Rangers' goodbye to Aisha and the Alien Rangers.
 * The destruction of the Command Center.