Trial By Fire

This article is about an episode in Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue.

Trial By Fire

Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue, Episode 8x03

Air Date(s)

February 26, 2000

Production Information

Written by

Judd Lynn

Directed by

Ryuta Tasaki

Episode Guide

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Lightspeed Teamwork	Riding the Edge

Trial By Fire is the third episode of Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue.

Synopsis[]

When Carter fails to make the right decisions in both training and real battle, he questions his abilities as a Ranger. He must regain his confidence to stop Vypra from destroying Mariner Bay with her tremor inducing spikes.

Plot[]

As the Rangers prepare to head out to training, Kelsey talks about how her family thought she was crazy when she told them that she wanted to climb cliffs even as a child. Joel tells everyone that when he was eight, he wanted to fly, even building himself a set of wings and jumped out of a second-floor window. Dana asks Carter if he always wanted to be a fireman, and Carter tells them he didn't always until one night... but then remembers the night his house burned down and decides not to tell the story. The other four Rangers try to persuade him but are then interrupted by a summons from Captain Mitchell to report to the training area.

The Rangers are split into teams and given different challenges while timed by Captain Mitchell. Chad and Joel have to complete a taxing and exhausting obstacle course while the girls conduct a rescue scenario where they have to retrieve a (fake) baby from a burning room and provide it with medical care. Carter, working alone, is given a tactical scenario where he has to shoot cardboard pop-up demons with a paintball gun. He manages to shoot the targets and get out of the building quickly, beating the times of the other two teams. As Carter enjoys his victory, Captain Mitchell goes in to inspect the targets. When he emerges, he tells Carter that while he had the fastest time, he also had the lowest score. Carter doesn't understand since he hit every target, but Captain Mitchell said that he needs to learn to use his brains before he uses his blaster and that just because something seems obvious doesn't always make it right. He orders everyone to return to the Aquabase, as Carter is left mystified and unable to understand what he did wrong.

In Skull Cavern, the demons watch the footage of the Lightspeed Megazord destroying Magmavore. Diabolico declares they need to destroy Mariner Bay and restore their palace quickly lest Queen Bansheera returns. Vypra, already in the city, says she has a plan to destroy it from the ground up. A tremor soon hits Mariner Bay, and Captain Mitchell sends out the Rangers immediately knowing it isn't natural. Below a building, Batlings are hammering spikes into the ground under the command of Vypra, who plans to destroy Mariner Bay with an earthquake. The Rangers turn up and the demon princess introduces herself to them before ordering the Batlings to attack. As the other Rangers take on the Batlings, Carter fights Vypra. The two are evenly matched, however Vypra manages to knock Carter back and uses the chance to make a getaway.

Heading up to the next level, a parking lot, Vypra finds some civilians and shoots energy at them. Carter catches up and stands between her and the people. Vypra tries blasting him but he manages to deflect the energy into a wall, causing part of the roof to fall. Carter aims his blaster at Vypra and manages to pin her against the wall. Vypra notices a barrel of flammable liquid hidden under the stone debris and uses her power to start a fire between her and Carter. As Carter recoils from the heat, Vypra teleports away. Carter notices that the ceiling directly above a group of people is cracking and about to collapse. He goes to save them but Captain Mitchell, monitoring the situation, tells him to put out the fire first. Carter argues that there's no time and the people are the priority but Mitchell orders him to put out the fire. Carter reluctantly does so, converting his blaster into an extinguisher and putting out the blaze. However just as he finishes the roof collapses and Carter is unable to get to the people in time, with a young boy getting injured (and his toy plane is broken). As the other Rangers arrive and take the boy and his mother to a hospital, Carter leaves in a fury.

Returning to the Aquabase, Carter storms into Captain Mitchell's office and angrily tells him that he was wrong to order him to put out the fire when he should have been saving the people in jeporday. Captain Mitchell calmly tells him that he wasn't wrong and putting out the fire was the right thing to do, but doesn't say why. Carter leaves angry and frustrated. In the hospital, Carter visits the boy in his hospital bed, where he is still unconscious. Guilty over allowing him to be injured, Carter talks about how he'll never be as good as 'him' and tells of the day he decided he wanted to be a fireman; when he was a child, Carter was trapped in a burning building. Surrounded by fire and smoke, with the intense heat and unable to breath, Carter was very scared until a fireman came into the room to save him. As the fireman tried to get Carter out, a burning beam fell from the roof. The fireman shielded Carter from it with his own body, and even though his shoulder was burning all the fireman cared about was getting Carter out which he did just in time. Carter never found out who the fireman was or what happened to him. Carter finishes by telling the boy that the fireman who saved him would never have allowed him to have been hurt, and that he (Carter) will never be that good.

Carter returns to the house from his training and looks it over. As he looks at the cardboard demon he shot, he suddenly notices something he didn't notice before; the blue canisters around the room are labeled as explosive... and he hit them when shooting the targets. Suddenly realizing why he got the lowest score, Carter runs back to the scene of the accident. Looking under the debris, he finds the barrel of flammable liquid and realizes that if he hadn't put out the fire and let it reach the barrel, it would've caused a huge explosion and everyone would have been badly hurt or worse. Like with the training exercise, Carter hadn't fully observed his surroundings or considered the situation. As Carter reflects on his mistakes, Captain Mitchell arrives reminding him that the obvious choice isn't always the right one. He tells Carter that being a leader isn't easy and he'll have to learn a lot of tough lessons like the one he's learning today. Suddenly a small tremor hits, a sign Vypra has resumed her attempts at causing an earthquake. Upset that his rashness nearly caused a disaster, Carter isn't sure he's cut out to be the team's leader. Mitchell however feels the opposite; seeing Carter willing to admit and learn from his mistakes has him more convinced than ever that he was the correct choice to be Red Ranger. He sends Carter to help the rest of the team stop Vypra.

In an undergound tunnel, the other Rangers are kept busy against Vypra's Batlings as the demon herself prepares to hammer in the final spike and cause the earthquake that will destroy Mariner Bay. At the last second Carter shoots the hammer out of her hand. Vypra is ready to fight him again, but this time Carter decides not to take her on and his priority is removing the spikes. He manages to get the main one out of the ground and tells the other Rangers to remove the rest. They do so and the team destroys them with their blasters, ending Vypra's plan for good. Furious, Vypra sets the Batlings on the Rangers while she makes a run for it, chased by Carter.

Observing from Skull Cavern, Loki orders Jinxer to create a monster to cover Vypra's escape. He does so and wastes no time in using his magic to make his creation Quakemon grow. The Rangers mobilize the Rescue Zords and immediately form the Lightspeed Megazord. After a brief scuffle, Quakemon digs underground and tries grabbing the Megazord's feet from below. The Rangers counter this by using the Megazord's Ladder Arms to do a vertical spin kick knocking the monster from the ground and into the open. They then utilize the Lightspeed Megazord Saber and use the ignite attack to destroy Quakemon.

Carter goes to the hospital to visit the injured boy with a present, only to find his bed empty. Initially fearing the worst, he is relieved to find the boy up and about. The boy thanks Carter for saving him telling him he wants to be like him when he grows up, as Captain Mitchell watches on proudly.

Cast[]

Sean Cw Johnson as Carter Grayson (Red Lightspeed Ranger)
- Tyler Foster as Young Carter
Michael Chaturantabut as Chad Lee (Blue Lightspeed Ranger)
Keith Robinson as Joel Rawlings (Green Lightspeed Ranger)
Sasha Williams as Kelsey Winslow (Yellow Lightspeed Ranger)
Alison MacInnis as Dana Mitchell (Pink Lightspeed Ranger)
Monica Louwerens as Ms. Fairweather (credit only)
Ron Rogge as Captain William Mitchell
Neil Kaplan as Diabolico (voice)
David Lodge as Loki (voice)
Kim Strauss as Jinxer (voice)
Jennifer L. Yen as Vypra
Wen Yann Shih as Vypra (voice)
Brianne Siddall as Impus (voice)
Soren Fulton as Hostage Boy
??? as Quakemon

VHS/DVD releases[]

Trial By Fire was released on Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue (VHS).

Errors[]

Despite crawling on the ground, Chad and Joel’s clothes don’t appear to be that dirty.
Judging by it, when Dana and Joel jump off the stairwell, a crash mat is used to cushion their fall. The viewers can tell by the way of the derby slightly jolting up.
Despite paint being on one of the fuel canisters, there was no paint on it the first place.
- Also the paint spot on the door frame seems a bit lower than it was earlier in the episode.
Though it’s possible that this episode was referring to either Carter’s past or the situation of fire and explosive substances, this episode doesn’t make much sense within itself.

Notes[]

This episode marks the first time Jinxer makes a monster grow. Strangely, this instance removes the footage of Jinxer throwing the card into Quakemon's remains like he would do in all other instances but only shows him casting the spell.
This episode shares its title with The Fugitive (1963-1967) Season 3, episode 4 and the 1996 Journey Album and song of the same name.