Episode 5
"Thunder Strangers, Part I"
March the Eighth, Two-Thousand and Three
Teleplay (Written) by Ann Austen
Directed by Charlie Haskell

[introduction, then opening theme song and credits]
We see the waterfall near where Ninja Ops is located. We go into Ninja Ops, and we hear Shane say, "Unbelivable." Dustin says, "Dude, that is so wrong." Dustin and Shane are looking at a laptop screen. His elbow is resting on the table with his hand supporting his head. Shane comes in with, "Watching the lines on this baby, the way they move, dude I can't believe it!" Shane thumps his head on the table (not a good idea). Cam comes walking in and sternly points out, "You better not be doing anything illegal!" (like downloading music!). Dustin and Shane quickly turn the laptop towards them and try to spit out words but can't make anything of them. Cam comes over (wearing a long-sleeved dress shirt) and asks to see. He jerks the laptop (probably his) and says, "Tsunami Cycles?" (they must have changed the screen). Shane and Dustin act like they knew the entire time by laughing. Cam asks if they could be doing schoolwork or annoying their parents. Dustin says something about channels and Cam interrupts by saying computers don't have channels (unless you have a TV Tuner PC card) and says he would appreciate it if they wouldn't just cruise in without asking him first. Shane rudely asks, "What's the big deal? We didn't hurt it." Cam says it's taken him two weeks to fix the onboard preliminary systems and says he doesn't want anything when a beeping noise sounds from the laptop (maybe they did mess the computer up. And wasn't Dustin supposed to run tests for Cam?). Cam types some stuff and asks if it's a dream (maybe they downloaded a virus). Cam's laptop turns off and four red objects in a row are on the screen; he screams out, "I don't believe this!" The screens on the main computer turn off. Dustin points out that Cam is sweating really really bad and asks if he's ok. Shane nodds. Cam yells out, "It's frozen!" Cam immediately gets up and says the system has locked up. Cam goes over to the main computer and says the systems are all locked up. Shane asks if he backed it up (wow, he knows something about computers). Cam says he must have, and remembers something. He tells Dustin that he gave him the backup (yeah last episode) on the disc. Dustin acts as if he has no clue. Dustin says, "Ye Ye Yeah, it's in my back-" Dustin reaches over his shoulder, but no backpack! Dustin has a flashback, not to when he left it at the track, but to Cam giving him the disc at the forest last episode. Dustin says, "It's in my backpack." (so? go get it! it's not...lost is it?)

Lothor holds the disc Dustin left and he says, "The Wind Rangers' greatest hits. Are all my favorites on there?" We see a closeup of his face (ewwww). The Thunder Rangers are standing there. The Navy Ranger says, "If you mean Tsunami Cycle Serinade, then yes." The Crimson Ranger asks if they know that it has been released a little early. Lothor says he wishes he could see the look on the "rodent's" face. Marah flashes a bell sound in Kapri's face, which makes her wake up. The Crimson Ranger says it pleases to their agreement they have unfinished business. Lothor tells them to relax, holding the golden disc. He says evil plans are like fine wine, you must let them sit awhile before uncorking them. Blake points out that they go bad if you leave them too long (wine? I see people today drinking 100 year-old wine). Marah says, "He's right. I read that. It's something about the cork and the sediment." Kapri tells her to stop showing off. Lothor doesn't look too pleased that they spoke. Marah tells Kapri, "Just because you had to repeat Evil Alien 1 four times don't get all mad at me." Lothor growls, and asks, "Do you mind?" Marah and Kapri get off of Lothor's chair. Choobo claims he told them not to sit there. Zurgane steps up to the front. He says he has a plan to attack at a place called Storm Chargers. Lothor says Zurgane's name three times, and asks him how many times must they go over it, a Ranger can only be destroyed when he or she is in Ranger form. Zurgane says, "Of course sir." Lothor continues, saying, "Therefore, we must defeat them at the right moment." Marah and Kapri assume sitting at Lothor's chair. Lothor finishes with, "Otherwise, our efforts will be in vain." Lothor leans in front of Zurgane and asks, "Surely such a powerful general could understand? While your plan is completely ridiculous!" Zurgane leans back, and Kapri and Marah look intimidated. Zurgane just stands there, leaned back, while the Thunder Rangers look on. Lothor backs off. Lothor tells Zurgane to take a vacation. The Thunder Rangers agree with Lothor. Zurgane says if that is his wish. Lothor tells him it's an order. Marah and Kapri wave to Choobo. Lothor says they will put their heads together and see what they can come up with, as we walks up towards the Thunders. Lothor laughs, and Marah and Kapri laugh with him. The Crimson Ranger says he's ready. Zurgane raises his fist and shouts out, "Take a break! I'll show you!" He leaves (maybe he'll have the best vacation ever).

We're at Storm Chargers. We see a Hawaii poster on the wall. Kelly walks in, and sees stuff flying all around. She asks, "What is this?" She shouts out, "Hello? Dustin!?" Dustin pops out from the counter, and gives a quick hey whlie thinking. Kelly asks if he understands the concept of cleaning. She points out that things go onto the shelves. Dustin walks around and says he lost his backpack and he can't think of anything else until he finds it. Kelly tells him he will find it. Dustin takes a quick breath as a girl comes from the dressing room. Kelly says she's been meaning to ask if he's seen Blake or Hunter. Dustin says they kind of blew him off last week and he hasn't seen them since. Kelly asks if he's got a cell number. Dustin says he does and grabs a pen and paper. Kelly says she's got the money for regionals the next week. She says she got a 250 team put together yesterday. Dustin gives it to her and heads off, saying, "All right." Dustin then stops a minute and asks, "What about me?" Kelly says she only has a budget for 250's and says those guys have the experiences on those big bikes. She asks if he understands. Dustin says, "Yeah, sure, if I were going to get a team I'd want them too", rather calmly. Dustin says he has to go. Kelly looks on.

We see the waters. Then, we see Shane at skate park. He rides up a ramp. He does some nice moves, like grinding. Dustin walks around near the area with his hands on his head. Tori is near the scene as Shane stops by tilting his board. Shane asks, "Any luck?" Dustin says, "No man." Tori tells him to think, where else has he been. Dustin puts his hands on his head, and points to Tori saying, "The track!" The Wind Morphers making the beep noise. Cam tells Shane that he's getting a strange energy reading at the quarry. Cam is watching Shane from his monitor. Shane asks if it's Kelzaks. Cam says he doesn't know what it is. He tells him to Ranger up just to be safe. Shane says it's not going to be a problem. Dustin looks around for anybody. Shane asks if they're ready. Tori says, "Ready." The Rangers morph. The Rangers flash to the quarry. Shane asks, "What's going on?" Tori says not a whole lot. Dustin says there's nothing here. Shane communicates to Cam that the place is like downtime deadville. Cam says he's taking a heat reading from the air force satelite. He says it's usually right on. The Thunders approach from the hill that Dustin dove off of last episode. The Navy asks, "You ready." The Crimson replies, "Let's do it. Goodbye Rangers!" Shane looks as if he heard it, when a lightning bolt hits them, sending the Wind Rangers into the air. The Rangers stumble up and says, "Note to himself, never doubt Cam." After the smoke clears in front of them, the Wind Rangers see the Thunder Rangers. They stand with their back to the Wind Rangers. Dustin asks who are they. Tori asks, "What's with the attitude?" Shane asks if anybody's home. The Crimson turns around and tells the three they didn't get the memo. The Navy Ranger says, "Old Rangers out, new Rangers in." Dustin asks, "What, you expect us to fight you?" The Navy and Thunder Rangers run at them, then flash towards them half-way. The Rangers get hit all over the place. They get sent to the ground. Shane says it doesn't seem like they want to talk. Tori says she goes for kicking their wanna-be butts. Dustin says he hears here. Shane stands up. He asks the Thunder Rangers if anyone ever taught them to play nice. Shane does his Ninja Air Assault. He runs in the air towards the two Thunder Rangers, who just stand there. The Navy one says they don't do nice. The Navy Ranger jumps up and lands a flying kick at Shane's chest, sending him back. The Navy Ranger gives him a goodbye kick and Shane crashes into a mountain. The Navy Ranger flashes right in front of Shane. Shane says it was brutal. The Crimson Ranger fights the Blue and Yellow Rangers. Dustin misses a swing with his sword and Tori's kick is blocked. The Crimson Ranger quickly blocks attacks. Shane yells to his fellow Rangers, as the Crimson Ranger flips Dustin over. Shane runs over with his Ninja Sword yelling, "Hang on!". The Navy Ranger asks, "What for?" Shane swings his sword but misses, and then lands a kick which is blocked. The Navy Ranger gets the staff behind his back and summons it, calling it, Thunder Staff. He says, "Mega power", and does some twirly stuff. Shane swings over the Crimson Ranger's head when he notices the charging Navy Ranger. He whacks all three Rangers at once. The Thunders approach them holding their Thunder Staffs. Shane says they have sticks. Tori adds in really big sticks. Dustin asks if anybody has a suggestion (yeah, RUN!). The Thunders stop walking and the Crimson Ranger asks, "You want an idea? How 'bout, give up!" The Navy Ranger tells them, "Trust us, it will be less painful this way." We get shots of their logos on their chests. The Rangers struggle up and Shane says, "Oh I get it, this is a training thing, isn't it?" Tori tells Cam they got them. Dustin says, "I think this is for real!" (for once, Dustin is the intelligent one). The Crimson Ranger asks his buddy if he's ready, and he says "yeah". They hold out a hand each, grasping energy in their hands. They fly all over, then vanish. Shane asks where they went (probably for lunch). Dustin crosses his arms and says, "Hopefully far away, if we're lucky."

Back at Ninja Ops, the three Wind Rangers have their faces planted in Sensei's "home", telling him simutaneously about the Thunder Rangers. Sensei blows a whistle from his mouth and tells them one at a time. Shane decides to go first and asks him who were those guys. Sensei walks around and says they fight in the style of the Thunder Ninja Academy. Sensei says that is all he knows for certain (guess Sensei never got out of the academy much). Dustin chips in a thought, saying he thought Lothor captured all the other ninja schools. Tori asks if Lothor could have turned the Thunder Rangers against them so he could fight fire with fire. Sensei says their fire comes deep within (maybe the Wind Ninja Academy beat the Thunder Ninja Academy in some contest). Sensei says that not even Lothor could drive the Thunder Rangers to attack with such passion (maybe a suitcase of money is driving them, although I think alien dollars won't get a good exchange rate in New...the United States). Dustin says he doesn't care what their problem is, all he knows is that the Thunder Rangers (Dustin calls them "dudes") almost smoked them. Shane says they didn't. Shane pauses, and states he wants to know why (maybe they left their house door open).

We're on the alien spaceship, and we hear the Crimson Ranger saying he would have given anything to see the look on their (the Wind Rangers) faces. The Navy Ranger says, "Yeah, they were scared alright." The Crimson Ranger thinks it's going to be easier than they thought (maybe they're talking about the dinner they are going to eat). The Thunder Rangers are walking through a hallway, when Zurgane comes out of a hall and blocks their path. Blake says, "Yo, Zurgane! What up dawg?" Zurgane tells the Rangers to step aside. The Thunder Rangers try to pass, but Zurgane side-steps to block their path. The Navy Ranger puts a hand on Zurgane's shoulder and tells him if he wants to dance, to at least put on music. Zurgane asks why didn't they destroy the Rangers when they had the chance. The Crimson Ranger asks Zurgane, "Are you familiar with the term, need-to-know basis?" The Navy Ranger explains, "It means we know, and it means we don't have to tell you anything! Oh, but we'll call if we change our mind." The Crimson Ranger continues, saying, "Or if we need someone to carry our bags." Zurgane babbles about them being disrespectful. Zurgane pulls his arm back for a punch but the Navy Ranger puts a hand on Zurgane's fist and yells, "HEY!". The Crimson puts a hand on the other fist, and asks if he's ever considered anger managment thearapy. The Navy Ranger realizes that it's going nowhere, that they're supposed to be on the same team. Zurgane puts a fist up and says only for the time being. Zurgane finally allows the Rangers to pass (what was he going to get if he didn't let them pass?). The Navy Ranger walks by without looking at Zurgane, pushing off with his hand on his chest. The Crimson Ranger stares down Zurgane for a brief second. Zurgane growls softly for the entire time. Zurgane holds a fist up and claims he will show them how it's done (is he talking about the dancing?). He transports himself down to the quarry.

We're at Ninja Ops, and the Rangers are all behind Cam at his computer. We see the exact scene of Zurgane at the quarry. Cam asks if it's a monstercon at the quarry. Shane sees that it's Zurgane, and comments he's ugly as ever. Zurgane is shown walking around (maybe he dropped a quarter). Tori wonders why doesn't he have an evil alien side-kick. Sensei tells them it could be a trap, and to use caution when engaging him (get metal detectors). Shane claims they always do. Cam says, "Yeah right." The Rangers morph inside the Ninja Ops. The Rangers are morphed and engage Zurgane, who is caught off-guard and has to turn around. Shane folds his arms and asks if Lothor has run out of good-looking monsters. Zurgane says if you want something done right, you do it yourself. Zurgane pulls out the swords that are attached in his shoulders. Zurgane puts the two swords together in an "X" and tells the Rangers to prepare for their destiny (not much of a destiny if you ask me). Shane pulls out his Ninja Sword attached to the back of his suit. The Rangers yell out, "Ninja Swords!" The three Rangers and Zurgane square off. Both sides stop, and Shane yells out, "You got it!" The Rangers simutaneously flip in the air (from three angles) and try to whack Zurgane. Zurgane blocks their attacks with his swords, and hits all three in the chest with a swing from each of his two swords. Dustin says it was a good idea, but a bad result. Zurgane walks up to the fallen Rangers and says he's sick of Power Rangers (maybe he's watched previous Power Ranger series in the past and gotten sick of the lackluster plots or mediocre endings). Zurgane says, "Rangers Rangers Rangers, it's all I ever hear." Shane clashes swords with Zurgane but gets overpowered. Shane ends up getting elbowed in the chest and rolling to the ground. His friends go in front of him to protect him. Zurgane clashes his swords together over his shoulder and says, "Maybe this will teach you to respect me." He fires a blast right at the Rangers and they go flying. The alien ship has the fight on their screen. Zurgane is saying he's going to finish what the Thunder Rangers (he calls the Thunders, imbasults) could only start. Lothor is sitting down, with Marah and Kapri standing behind him. Lothor says to himself, "You ask for one simple thing, and you turn your back, and it's total enity." Zurgane throws out his hand and a red blast is fired from the alien ship down to earth. Zurgane is instantly pulled into the sky by the beam, just as the Rangers struggle to stand up. Shane says, "Catch ya later big guy." Dustin says it's weird. Tori asks what do they want from them. Little sparks fly around the Rangers as they all defend themselves. No Rangers falling down. The Rangers look in a direction and in a blur, see the Thunder Rangers approaching. They walk simutaneously. The Thunder Rangers hold their arms in front of themselves at a slant, and the Crimson Ranger asks, "Recognize these?" (maybe it's Dustin's bed items when he was younger). They throw a lightning bolt in front of them, which turn into motorcycles. We see a closeup, and they look rather similar to the Tsunami Cycles. We get a four-way shot of a cycle, each focusing on logos. We get another four-way shot of the other cycle. We get a full shot. Cam, at Ninja Ops, spits out, "They." Cam complains, "Those are my Tsunami Cycles!" as he looks at the Crimson one on his screen (well, he can't do anything about it since he doesn't have a patent on them! Hopefully, he did register the name "Tsunami cycles" with the government). Tori yells out, "NO!" Dustin yells out, "Dude!" Shane hits his head with his hands and says, "No way!" The Navy Ranger says, "Yes way!" as both approach their version of Tsunami Cycles. The Crimson Ranger claims their Tsunami Cycles come with improvements (maybe they could come and fix Cam's, since Dustin obviously is too darn lazy). Dustin says it's so wrong. The Crimson and Navy Ranger hop on their cycles. The Crimson Ranger asks the Navy Ranger if he's ready ro ride, and he says he is. The Crimson Ranger tells his pal to show the posers how it's done. They accelerate towards the Rangers and fire colored lightning bolts at the Rangers, causing them to fly over the cliff. The Rangers quickly get back up, as the Crimson Ranger rides to a spot and stops. The Crimson Ranger asks, "Are you ready for another lap?" The Navy Ranger rides straight into the Rangers and he and his pal pop a wheelie and end up hitting the Rangers with the front wheels (not shown in entirety though). Shane and Tori look to be ok. Dustin looks to have tripped over something and fallen face first into the rocky surface. The Crimson Ranger tells Dustin, "Ha, nice face plant!" Shane and Tori get out their Laser Blasters. They fire to no effect. The Crimson Ranger rides through and fires a blast as he passes them. It's a direct hit. The Wind Rangers meet up again. The Crimson Ranger calls out, "Thunder energy blast!" The Navy Ranger yells out, "Fire!" The Thunders ride past the Wind Rangers, creating two lines of fire, and hitting them with thunder blasts. A big explosion happens behind the Thunder Rangers, as they stop. The Thunder Rangers look at each other. The Crimson Ranger asks, "You smell something burning?" The Navy Ranger asks, "Hey, anyone feel like smores?" Shane tries to get up but falls. Dustin yells out, "I can't believe they stole Cam's disk!" (wow, I can't wait until Dustin finds out that it was he who lost it). Tori asks, "But...how?" Shane changes the topic and asks, "Who are these guys?", as he sticks his Ninja Sword in the ground to try and get up.

Blake is shown hopping a rope fence. Kelly is shown and she's asking Blake what's he doing here because there's an attack. Hunter comes and says they need help. He tells Kelly to "come on". All three hope the rope fence again to the other side. The Storm Megazord is shown, still down, with sparks still coming out of it. Dustin has some movement in him. Tori sits up, and groans. Shane has woken up, but seems to have a headache since he touches his head with his hand.

We see the video screen on the alien spaceship of the damaged Storm Megazord lying on the ground. Lothor speaks, "Round 1 is in the books. With the zords out of my way, it's only a matter of time!" Marah and Kapri stand behind him, but don't say a word (what a shock!"). To be continued...

[Got news, send it! | Site Updates | News Archive]