01×49 & 01×50 – Return of an Old Friend
Going personal, Rita kidnaps the parents of the Rangers, and uses a hypnotised Billy to steal the Dragon Dagger from the Command Centre. Issuing control of the Dragonzord to Goldar, the Rangers have difficulty facing him. With little choice, the Rangers submit to Rita’s demands and surrender their Power Coins as ransom… except Rita doesn’t free their parents anyway.
Turns out, Jason’s got a surprise up his sleeve, too: the presumed destroyed Green Power Coin is still in his possession. Without much other choice, Zordon recharges the coin with his own energy, allowing a re-summoned Tommy to once again enter battle.Regaining control of the Dragonzord, Tommy has his toughest battle as a Ranger yet, and despite an additional power boost from Zordon—at the cost of his own being—and the successful retrieval of the Power Coins, he is seemingly drained of his powers by the end of it.
But things end well for the Rangers when they figure out how to use their own Power Coins to restore Zordon, and find that Tommy’s interaction with the Coins have also restored his powers—temporarily at least. Summoning Titanus to form the Ultrazord, the Rangers destroy the monsters responsible for kidnapping their parents, and successfully free them all.
With this episode, we see the first return of Tommy, albeit in his final run as the Green Ranger. Oddly enough, it is also the first time the Dragon Dagger is named on screen–by Rita, no less.
01×58 – Football Season
Setting Tommy firmly back into the regular line-up, the returning Ranger has some difficulties integrating into schooling life when trying out for the football team. To make things worse, Rita sends a monster and a squad of Putty Patrollers to further terrorise the Rangers.
With the Zyuranger and subsequent Zyu2 footage running out, this episode marks the last time we see the Mega Dragonzord in a battle without Titanus.
01×59 – Mighty Morphin’ Mutants
Between Star Wars and Power Rangers, a lesson learnt about alien space villains is that they’re not big fans of changing their approach to galactic domination. And while Rita’s not big on the building of planet-sized battle stations, she’s certainly a fan of commanding her own team of evil Rangers.
This time arming a squad of Putty Patrollers with weapons similar to Power Rangers’, as well as creating a new sword of Darkness for the Green Ranger, Rita has a new monster lead this team against the Power Rangers. With a monster once again substituting for the Red Ranger in the line-up (albeit with no transformation necessitated this time).
In addition to the Rangers having their Power Weapons upgraded, this episode also sees the final appearance of the original Ultrazord with Titanus only returning some time in the third season.
01×60 – An Oyster Stew
Concluding an impressive 60-episode run, the season finalé sees Zack trying to impress Angela, only for Rita to unleash the Oysterizer. Additionally, Zack’s gift for his date turns out to be a cursed necklace made of the Pearls of Stillness which freezes everything in sight when worn, including Angela and all the Rangers except Zack and Tommy.
To defeat Oysterizer and restore their friends to normal, Zack and Tommy have to work together. In a first, and the only time, Tommy transfers his Dragon Shield to Zack, making him the only Ranger other than Jason or Tommy to wield the Dragon powers. (In the comics, Kimberly gets the opportunity to do so as well.)
This episode also marks the final appearance of the original Putty Patrollers as well as the original Megazord (though they return in later seasons in guest capacities).