The Ranger teens take Katherine to the Angel Grove Fair for her birthday. Meanwhile, Master Vile's master plan is revealed, as he sends his son Rito down to plant the Orb of Doom, and reverse the Earth's rotation, turning the Rangers back into powerless kids! Can our heroes stop them before being forced to revisit their youth yet again?
Tropes:
- Acoustic License: The Rangers openly discuss calling Zordon right next to Bulk and Skull. Fortunately, they're not listening, being more concerned about food.
- Actually Pretty Funny: The villains can't help cracking up (Zedd included) when an annoyed Vile literally muzzles Goldar for making one criticism too many.
- A Birthday, Not a Break: It's Kat's birthday and Master Vile unleashes his newest plan. The fact it's Kat's birthday is coincidental, but it's one of the darkest hours for the Mighty Morphin' team.
- The Bad Guy Wins: And how! The Rangers are turned into kids, Rita, Zedd, Goldar, and Rito turned themselves giant, and it seemed there was nothing to stop Master Vile.
- The Cat Came Back: Lt. Stone had actually taken the day off to avoid any craziness and visited the carnival, only to suddenly bump into Bulk and Skull working the parking lot. He bemoans how he's always running into these two no matter what he does.
- Cliffhanger: Notable in that it appeared to be a setup for a multi-partner, but there was no To Be Continued at the end, which let viewers know that this won't be resolved in just a few episodes.
- Continuity Nod: Lord Zedd brings up to Master Vile the last time he did the whole "turn the Rangers into kids" trick and how it didn't work. Vile's plan is definitely smarter though since the Orb had to blow up as part of its activation, unlike Zedd's Rock of Time, whose destruction just, well, destroyed it.
- Darkest Hour: The Rangers are turned back into and stuck as powerless kids and are unable to stop Rita and Zedd's forces.
- Deus Exit Machina: While Ninjor isn't all-powerful, his presence in the episode would've certainly made it harder for the villains to successfully plant the Orb of Doom on Earth. Oddly, there isn't even a reason given as to why he doesn't join in, he just doesn't appear for some reason, nor do the Rangers or Zordon think of summoning him.
- Divide and Conquer: The villains force the Rangers to split up during their fight. It works.
- Doomy Dooms of Doom: The Orb of Doom.
- Downer Ending: This, technically the final episode of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, ends with Master Vile winning.
- Forgot About His Powers: Tommy, Rocky, and Kat don't summon their Metallic Armor as they fight Goldar, Rito, and the Tengas, despite the dire consequences if they don't win this fight. No one thinks of calling Ninjor for help, either.
- Fountain of Youth: For the second time in the series.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: Some of Rito's Tengas run off to harass the fair, forcing Billy, Aisha, and Adam to go after them, leaving Tommy, Kat, and Rocky to try and stop Rito (and later Goldar) on their own.
- Make My Monster Grow: For the first (and only) time, Zedd and Rita use their magic to make themselves grow alongside Goldar and Rito.
- Mineral MacGuffin: The Orb of Doom is a highly powerful magic crystal ball. Rito even asks Master Vile if it can tell him his fortune.
- Never Live It Down: Invoked by Zedd after the Orb of Doom successfully activates. He gripes that Vile is never gonna let him hear the end of this one and how he attained victory where Zedd couldn't.
- Never Recycle Your Schemes: Zedd is incredulous about Vile's plan, saying they tried turning the Rangers into kids before and that that plan failed. To Zedd's frustration, Vile's plan is far more refined and powerful (such as how, as noted above, the Orb of Doom is destroyed as part of the plan, meaning there's no quick "destroy the given object" fix this time).
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Rito gets a rare moment when he actually does something right for once, successfully planting the Orb of Doom.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Zedd mockingly refers to Master Vile as "Dad" when berating his plan.
- Ripple-Proof Memory: Unlike the last time, the powerless Ranger children at least retain their memories.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Master Vile's efforts to create the Orb of Doom cause Zedd's palace to shake violently. In all the chaos, Finster opts to beat his feet towards the nearest exit.
- Seen It All: Unlike others at the carnival, Bulk and Skull express complete indifference to lightning suddenly filling the sky and leave to grab some food.
- So Proud of You: Master Vile congratulates Rito for successfully planting the Orb of Doom, if in a backhanded way (see below). On the other hand, he muzzles Goldar for openly wonder if Rito screwed up.
- Stealth Insult: Master Vile when congratulating Rito.Master Vile: I knew if I found the proper task, you could do something right.
- Tears of Fear: Billy and Katherine are shown crying slightly when they see that they've really become powerless, with Katherine breaking into a sob at the end.
- The Day the Music Lied: The dark, tense music that sets up a To Be Continued played, but it was a standalone episode.
- This Is Gonna Suck: As Master Vile finishes creating the Orb of Doom, the Command Center picks up his efforts. Alpha doesn't know what's going on, but he knows it's going to be very, very bad.
- Timey-Wimey Ball: A very convoluted example with the Orb of Doom. The best way to explain it is that chronologically it's still 1996, but aside from the Rangers, everyone else thinks it's roughly 1988-1989.
- To Be Continued: Averted. This being the first time a major cliffhanger didn't end on a "to be continued" was notable.
- Wham Episode: Master Vile plans to use the ancient Orb of Doom to reverse time on Earth and turn the Rangers into powerless children, but the Rangers will save the day and come out on top as they always do, right? Wrong.
