The Bad Guys
I’ll say this about the villains: some of them have truly awesome designs. Unfortunately, beyond that, the villains aren’t exactly much to write home about. For most of the season, anyway. They’re demons who live in a spooky skull castle that looks like something off a power metal album cover and want to destroy the city so that they can rebuild their Queen’s palace for her when she returns at some point.
They’re led by Diabolico, a very pointy demon with a menacing design who does have quite the presence on screen. He has a chest-face, and as a giant Gurren Lagann fan, that’s always something I appreciate. Diabolico spends a good chunk of the season standing around in the skull castle, scheming with the others, not really doing much else.
He does eventually decide to take to the field and blasts a hole straight through the Megazord to demonstrate his power, but then promptly gets taken out of the picture by the newer, way cooler and better Megazord (buy the toy) for some time. It’s not until later on in the season that Diabolico actually gets some development, with Vypra and Loki actively lamenting his demise and wanting him back. When Diabolico is forced against his will to kill Loki, he is horrified by this act and displays a previously unseen level of kinship with his fellow demons.
Everyone who isn’t Diabolico
Loki is the previously mentioned second-in-command, who, again, doesn’t really do much until he dies to provide some development for Diabolico. You’d be forgiven for forgetting this one even existed, to be honest.
Impus is the child of Queen Bansheera, a baby who spends the first leg of the show cooing and occasionally irritating the others. Later on, Impus grows up and becomes Olympius, who proves to be a more formidable opponent than his predecessor. He has much more daring plans, such as infiltrating the Lightspeed Rescue headquarters and, in one instance, literally killing 4 of the Rangers before it’s undone due to convenient accidental time travel. His design is also very cool-looking.
Vypra varies the designs by just being a human in a demonic bikini. She delivers one of the most bizarrely awful acting performances in the franchise, which is saying a lot considering one of the things Power Rangers is unfortunately known for is occasionally poor acting. I’m no Orson Welles myself, but even I have to scratch my head a bit at some of the lines she comes out with.
Queen Bansheera is built up throughout the show as the biggest bad: the looming threat who’s bound to cause some serious trouble when she inevitably arrives. Thankfully for the audience, the show delivers on that promise with some truly dastardly deeds that solidify her as one of Power Rangers’ most despicable villains. This lady simply exists to be a hater and I’m all for it. With a villain that’s built up throughout a show prior to their arrival, there’s always the risk of the payoff not being worth it (see Power Rangers in Space) and Lightspeed Rescue managed to stick the landing in this regard.
Big Robots
The Megazords are certainly a highlight of Lightspeed Rescue. While the Rangers and the organisation at large are officially a rescue service to help people, the Megazords are specifically designed to beat the ever-loving snot out of the demons. The initial Megazord still fits the underlying theme of “we’re here to help those in need” with its individual components being rescue vehicles, but I don’t think any excuse can be made for the ones that come after it.
The Super Train Megazord is a hulking behemoth armed with a gatling gun and missiles. The Solar Megazord can absorb energy blasts to send them straight back at their attacker tenfold. And the Life Force Megazord drains the life force of those piloting it in order to power up its attacks.
On more than one occasion, these Megazords are deployed at the same time against a single opponent and absolutely devastate them with no quarter given. It’s absolute overkill, and I love it. This is what happens when you have a home-developed Ranger team without Zordon for guidance.
The Theme Song
The opening theme song is, to me, one of the most important parts of any Power Rangers season. For the most part, the best ones are exciting enough to get me hyped and watch the show, even if the season itself isn’t as good. Check out my ranking of every Power Rangers theme song if you want to know more. The Lightspeed Rescue theme song falls somewhere in the middle for me, as it certainly does a good job of building excitement in the first half, but the second half just devolves into saying ‘Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue!’ over and over again.
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