Once a Ranger

"Once a Ranger" is a special two-part team-up episode of Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive, commemorating the fifteenth anniversary of the Power Rangers television series begun in 1993. It features the return of five former Rangers who aid the current team of Operation Overdrive Rangers against the son of the original two villains of the series. arrives and proposes a temporary alliance with the four factions of Operation Overdrive villains. The villains, hesitant at first, join forces and wage an all out war against the Rangers. United, the villains defeat the Overdrive Rangers. Then, as the final attack, Thrax severs their link to the Universal Morphing Grid, stripping them of their powers and making it impossible for Andrew Hartford to restore them. Sentinel Knight's spirit arrives and whisks the Rangers to safety.
Andrew then tells the Rangers that Thrax's alliance is attacking various locations around the world and tells them to use their genetic enhancements as they head to Stonehenge to fight Kamdor and Mig. Things weren't looking good for the Rangers with Kamdor and Mig overwhelming them. In the nick of time, veteran Rangers Adam Park, Tori Hanson, Kira Ford, Bridge Carson, and Xander Bly arrived and fended off Kamdor and Mig.
Back at Hartford's mansion, Sentinel Knight reveals that he summoned them to take their place while the Morphing Grid is being fixed. Andrew Hartford reinforces the Morphing Grid so that Thrax cannot cut off the veteran Rangers' powers as well, while Adam seeks a way to repair the Grid. All the Operation Overdrive Rangers, save for Mack, feel left out and decide to leave Operation Overdrive to return to their pre-Ranger lives.
Without his Ranger powers, Mack's role in Operation Overdrive is reduced to sweeping floors at the mansion. Adam brings his new teammates to Angel Grove to retrieve Alpha 6 to repair the Operation Overdrive link to the Morphing Grid. Meanwhile, Mack learns of the legend of Excelsior, a golden sword which is the only weapon capable of fully restoring the Sentinel Knight.
After consulting Rose, who is again teaching college-level courses, Mack decides to search for Excelsior. Rose deduces Mack's plan and gathers the rest of the Overdrive team to join him; not a difficult task, since none of the Overdrive Rangers were happy with their "normal" lives seeing as how their mission is still unfinished. Successfully retrieving the sword from beneath Thrax's fingertips results in the destruction of a powerful monster attacking the city. Alpha 6 restores the Overdrive Rangers' link to the Morphing Grid, and all 11 Rangers band together to confront Thrax and his alliance.
The villainous alliance is dissolved with Thrax's destruction by the Sentinel Knight, restored and repowered by Excelsior. The Episode ends with all 11 Rangers placing their hands together and cried the traditional Power Ranger call, "Go Go Power Rangers!"
Reception
During their initial broadcasts and subsequent reruns on ABC, "Once a Ranger" gathered some of the series' highest ratings for the 6-11 demographic (other demographics not reported). The Nielsen ratings for part 1 show 0.8/4 for the first showing and its rerun a week later; the second part received 0.9/5 for its first showing Only a few other episodes received higher ratings than the average for the series as a whole, the pilot (1.6/8 & 1.2/6) and several reruns shown at 12:00p.

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