The series opens with a being named Keeper being chased across the solar system by a bounty hunter/collector named Sledge. Sledge's crew, consisting of foot soldiers named Vivix, his fiance, Poisandra; his general, Fury; and mechanic, Wrench are chasing Keeper to obtain the Energems, ten crystals with ancient power which would make the wielder of all ten invincible. When Keeper's ship is hit by a blast, it crashes into Cretaceous Era Earth. Consequently, Keeper entrusts the Energems to the ten strongest beings on the planet - ten dinosaurs.
Fury chases after Keeper, but is tricked into bringing a booby-trapped case onto Sledge's ship, causing it to be damaged, Fury to be ejected back to Earth, and Sledge's asteroid collection to come loose and start heading towards Earth, wiping out the dinosaurs. Whoops.
Cut to Amber Beach Dinosaur Museum, 65 million years later, and we meet our new heroes, Tyler Navarro (an explorer in search of answers), Shelby Watkins (a waitress at the museum cafe), Chase Randall (a museum custodian) and Koda (an incredibly strong warehouse worker). As the museum prepares for an imminent dig close to the city, Shelby tries to prove herself to the dig manager, Kendall Morgan, who flatly refuses citing museum protocol. Undeterred, Shelby sneaks onto the truck Koda and Chase are in to force herself onto the dig. Meanwhile, following a tip from Chase, Tyler heads to a cave and finds the red Energem buried in a T. rex fossil.
At the digsite, Shelby spots a dark-robed figure stealing supplies from the truck, and gives chase after unsuccessfully trying to get Chase and Koda's attention. The box turns out to have the Pink Energem inside it. Just as the being is about to attack, Tyler swings by (literally) to rescue her, and the two stand their ground. The gems react to them and summon gun-like morphers, which they try to use as weapons after a misfire, only to morph into Power Rangers.
The duo fights the monster, only for the gigantic T. Rex Zord to appear and toss the monster away before stomping off. Koda and Chase head back to the museum, leaving Shelby stranded. Tyler gives her a ride, and explains he was in town looking for clues about his father, who disappeared on an expedition 10 years ago after being stalked by a mysterious monster. Said monster, revealed to be Fury, begins to follow the two, smelling the presence of Energems.
Tropes in this episode:
- Bad Boss: Sledge in spades. He shoots a mook who is in the way of his fiance's vision when she is trying to shoot Keeper out of space.
- Big "NO!": Sledge when his asteroids come loose due to Keeper's sabotage.
- Big "WHAT?!": Sledge when he realizes that Keeper swapped the Energems for his crystal bomb.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Ms. Morgan's only employees in the museum are Chase and Koda, neither of whom look very impressive at first glance.Shelby: (as Chase plays with his skateboard and Koda noms on a burger) They hide it well.Kendall: You have no idea.(Koda promptly belches loudly)
- Continuity Nod: Remember when Tommy said the Dino Gems came from the asteroids that wiped out the dinosaurs?
- Demoted to Extra: The remainder of the core cast only appear in one or two scenes, with most of the episode focusing on the lore of the Energems, and their subsequent discovery in the 21st Century by Tyler and Shelby.
- Foreshadowing: Right from the off, it's clear there's something different about Koda, like his being able to lift a whole box, with Shelby on top, with no effort.
- I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: Tyler comes very close to accidentally shooting Shelby.
- I Meant to Do That: When Tyler accidentally shoots Iceage with their morphers. Then when they morph...
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Keeper tricked Fury into bringing the former's crystal bomb onto Sledge's ship instead of the Energems; not a bad plan. But then that caused the ship to drop the asteroids Sledge was collecting, which doomed the dinosaurs.
- Non-Indicative Name: With a name like Poisandra, you would expect someone to have an appearance modeled after a poisonous or venomous creature. Instead, its an alien covered in hearts...
- She is, however, incredibly brightly colored, which many poisonous animals are.
- Phlebotinum Killed the Dinosaurs: The asteroids Sledge was collecting turn out to be the ones that ultimately do in the dinosaurs.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Keeper's crystal bomb causes Sledge to lose his asteroid collection, dooming the dinosaurs to extinction.
- Real Event, Fictional Cause: While it is known that the dinosaurs went extinct and the prologue takes place in the years when dinosaurs were around, Keeper's crystal bomb inadvertently causes Sledge to drop his asteroids on Earth.
- Reality Is Unrealistic: While not as spread out as modern day as shown in the episode, the continents were already split from Pangaea, but that didn't stop some from complaining that Earth shots should have been Pangaea.
- Reckless Gun Usage: Right after he gets his morpher, Tyler starts fiddling with it and nearly shoots Shelby in the face by accident. She's upset, but her anger is cut short since they're under attack by an ice monster and they decide to turn their guns on him. Worse, they still do a lot of dramatic posing and such with their guns (fingers on triggers, too!) that would make anyone who's ever even been in the same room as a real gun hold their breath. Maybe they should have made the Dino Coms the morphers after all...
- Somebody Set Up Us the Bomb: Keeper tricks Fury into bringing his crystal bomb into Sledge's ship instead of the Energems. When Sledge discovers this, the bomb explodes, causing Sledge to release his asteroids as well as the dinosaurs' eventual extinction.
- Taste of Power: What the skirmish with Iceage proves to be, as Tyler and Shelby are a) inexperienced with being a ranger, b) using raw Energem power, not concentrated from the Dino Chargers, and c) are pretty much just defending themselves. When they join the other rangers next episode, they are far more effective.
