The episode starts at Justin’s house - Justin’s father apparently could be picked for a really important, high paying job, and as his father leaves, almost forgetting his briefcase, Justin tells him that if they had any brains, they should pick him. Cut to the moon. Divatox arrives in her flying Cadillac and Porto introduces her to this rather nasty looking zord-sized monster called Goldgoyle, the most destructive monster in the universe, according to him. The piranhatrons cower in fear, but Divatox seems quite impressed.
Meanwhile, in the Youth Centre, the teens are watching footage of a space shuttle landing back on Earth, and Justin seems particularly impressed. Justin’s father then comes in and tells him that he got the job. The only problem is that they will have to move from Angel Grove. At this, Justin gets quite upset, saying that he doesn’t want to leave his friends, TJ, Carlos, Cassie, Ashley, Niko and even Bulk and Skull. To this, Justin’s dad says that he wants to do his best by Justin, so he will not take the job. Just then, the rangers’ communicators go off, forcing them all to dash away, but not before Justin asks his dad if they can talk more about it later.
At the Power Chamber, Dimitria informs them of an incoming transmission from Eltar. Soon, Zordon appears in the Viewing Screen, and he tells the rangers that Eltar is under attack, but that they should not come to his aid. He also is about to warn them of something (Goldgoyle, Dark Spectre or maybe Dark Spectre’s alliance of villains) when the signal cuts out. Suddenly, the Power Chamber’s scanners detect Goldgoyle flying through the atmosphere towards Earth - Dimitria tells them to be careful, and they morph and teleport into the park.
Goldgoyle lands and, after blasting the rangers, they call on the Rescue Megazord, which at first uses its hand blasters to fire upon the monster. However, the monster’s tentacles fly out and destroy the guns. They then call on artillery power, but once they fire, Goldgoyle seemingly absorbs the blast and sends it back towards the Megazord, destroying both artillery cannons and knocking the Megazord over. It gets up, but Goldgoyle continues to blast it. Again, and again. They try everything, but to no avail. Because the Megazord is too badly damaged to repair, TJ decides to self-destruct the Megazord and blow up Goldgoyle at the same time. Slowly, the Rescue Megazord takes its last steps towards the monster, and once there, it grabs on. The rangers just barely manage to escape to the Turbo Zords when the Megazord explodes, and although Goldgoyle is initially gone, he soon reforms, totally unaffected.
Now in the Turbo Zords, the rangers form the Megazord, and immediately call on the Turbo Megazord Sabre and perform a spinout. As they race towards the monster, Goldgoyle sends out an energy blast, but the spinning Megazord flies over it, through the air and right through Goldgoyle sword first. But despite this, he is still alive and kicking. Turning to the Megazord, he gathers up all the excess energy, created by the previous spinout, and firing at the Megazord, he completely destroys the Megazord with just one shot. The rangers escape, TJ summons the Turbo RAM, and once Justin has set it to detonate on impact, TJ calls up Lightning Cruiser. With TJ flying towards Goldgoyle, the RAM shoots directly at Goldgoyle and flies straight into his mouth - the resulting explosion completely destroys the monster.
Returning to the Power Chamber, the five teleportation streaks of the rangers are seen and followed by Rygog and Elgar, who then discover the Power Chamber. Meanwhile, on the Space Base, the piranhatrons all have party hats, drinks and skull decorations and are dancing to some pretty freaky music. Divatox is making a speech when Rygog and Elgar interrupt, telling her that they know the location of the Power Ranger’s Chamber. Divatox is ecstatic, and immediately gives the order to ready the armies.
Back at the Power Chamber, the rangers tell Dimitria about both Megazords, and are horrified to learn that Eltar has fallen to evil forces. Knowing that the Power Rangers are the Earth’s only defence against Divatox, Dimitria herself and Blue Senturian plan to leave for Eltar. Dimitria gives the rangers a pep talk, which I have to admit would have had me convinced, and Justin gives Blue Senturian his lucky coin, telling him that he may need it. Blue Senturian says thank you and tells Justin that he will miss him. Then, Dimitria and Blue Senturian teleport out, leaving the Power Chamber silent.
But outside, hundreds, if not a thousand, piranhatrons materialise, some with 'Divatox' flags and some on motorcycles. Divatox is there too, and from her cobra throne, she watches as Dimitria and Blue Senturian leave. Then, when Rygog asks when they begin the attack, she screams, "Now!" Inside, the Power Rangers are alerted to the enemy presence and, realising that the advancing piranhatrons will soon be all over the place, they all decide to race out and confront the piranhatrons. Alpha opens the exterior door, and the Power Rangers run out of the building and across the plain to battle the dozens of advancing piranhatrons.
To be continued...
Well, the curtain has fallen on Turbo. After a season that was at worst unwatchable and at best very interesting, the season finale has hit us - the first in an explosive two-parter. And I must ask, just how explosive was it? With things blowing up, cast members leaving and others facing some pretty tough decisions (ie, Justin having to choose between his father’s job or his friends,) ‘Chase into Space part 1’ hit a high note that we will expecting to be carried, well into part 2.
Divatox’s wackiness was right on par for this episode, and since in the next season we’re sure to get a new set of loony villains, I for one will miss her, and I must say that I prefer Hilary Shepard Turner’s wacky and hysterical Divatox to Carol Hoyt’s cool and calculating Divatox. Goldgoyle was a good monster of the day, although I think he set the record for the number of times that the monster of the day can be killed. But he was so over-confident of his own abilities that he bordered on careless, and I knew that they’d kill him eventually.
Now, is it just me but do all of the best zords leave the show in the worst of ways? Firstly, the Thunder Zords were destroyed by Rito Revolto (I still shudder when I think of that scene), the Super Zeo Zords just disappeared and now the Rescue Zords, the first ever set of triple-changing zords, self-destruct. My friends, ‘tis a dark day for us all.
The whole episode, but in particular, the last fifteen minutes really set up for the continuation of ‘Chase into Space’ and also the next season, and I don’t know about you but it’s got me darn worried. For starters, Zordon has been captured, presumably by that Dark Spectre fellow, Dimitria and Blue Senturian have left the planet completely (and you know, I have to admit that I ain’t that sad about that one) and, from the ‘Next Time on Power Rangers Turbo’ bit, we see that they lose the Power Chamber too.
Now, for me at least, my favourite part of the episode was right at the end, when the Power Rangers see the approaching army and charge out towards their enemies. Was that great or what? It put a perfect brave and heroic spin on the heroes, charging out to fight their final battle, and the way the camera angles shifted was a really nice touch. In particular, I loved the top view, when we were looking down at the Rangers as they raced from the Power Chamber. And the orchestral music played as Alpha opened the outer door and the rangers race outside was perfect. Now, I honestly can’t do this scene justice just by writing about it, but this counts as one of my favourite ever scenes in the whole entire series.
Now, this scene contains quite a lot of symbolism. As the rangers race out, they run out in a triangular formation, with the Red Ranger (TJ) in front, the Pink Ranger (Cassie) behind his right shoulder, the Yellow Ranger (Ashley) behind his left shoulder, the Blue Ranger (Justin) behind the Pink Ranger and the Green Ranger (Carlos) behind the Yellow Ranger. Now, remember back to the Turbo movie, when the Turbo Rangers confront Maligore when they fire on him and just before they all escape outside, they are all in the exact formation as the team were above. So, the Turbo Rangers faced their first enemy the same way that they faced their last. It could be just a coincidence, but I hope not. Stuff like this keeps people like me happy.
Gotta give this one to Divatox for sheer magnitude. After she sees Dimitria and Blue Senturian teleporting away, her expression is priceless, and when Rygog asks about attacking, she replies, "Wanna know when we attack? We attack NOW!!!"