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Rita Repulsa is a fictional character from the TV series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
An evil alien witch bent on galactic domination, Rita Repulsa was the first villainess the Power Rangers had to face. Most discernible by her two pointed hair cones, one may also recognize her by her screeching voice and obnoxious attitude. She possessed a wand which she would use to transform her monsters to gigantic sizes. In 2006, Jetix asked fans to determine the Power Rangers' greatest villain of all time - fans chose Rita, followed by her husband Lord Zedd.
Character History
In Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Rita Repulsa, "Empress of Evil", having been imprisoned over ten thousand years in a space dumpster, was released by a pair of clueless Earth astronauts. She exited the dumpster along with her minions Goldar, Squatt, Baboo and Finster. Rita claimed she would conquer the first planet she saw after being freed, and it happened to be Earth. Over the course of the show, Rita Repulsa battled the Power Rangers using everything from phobia spells, super Putty patrollers, binding magic spells, and on occasions, she would even allow the likes of Goldar and Squatt and Baboo to be "in charge" of destroying the Power Rangers. Obviously, nothing worked, and Rita would normally take her frustrations out on her henchmen by bashing them on the head with her sceptre. One of Rita's most memorable traits was that follwing each loss, she would either swear vengeance, or complain that she had a headache (the latter becoming one of her trademarks). Eventually Rita's reign of terror came to an end when Lord Zedd - the "True Emperor of Evil" as Goldar put it - returned from conquering galaxies to assume control. Zedd was furious that Rita failed to defeat "children" and conquer the Earth. Despite Rita's begging and pleading, Lord Zedd vaporized Rita's magic wand and shrank her down to the size of a toy before again exiling her into space in the same dumpster that Zordon had locked her in.
Locked within a space dumpster, Rita came within inches of freedom when her dumpster came to Earth, and Bulk and Skull succeeded in opening the dumpster. But the Power Rangers were successful in sending Rita back into space. Eventually her dumpster crashed into the moon, and she escaped. Down but not out, after regaining her freedom, Rita sought assistance from Finster, her still loyal henchmonster, to concoct a potion that would generate libidic feelings for use on Lord Zedd. The potion worked and the two were then married in The Wedding episode. Once married to Lord Zedd, Rita abandoned her magic practices (crystal ball, spell books, etc.) and worked alongside Lord Zedd as a partner in crime. While Zedd and Rita became far less serious after their marriage, they were still formidable opponents and the Rangers struggled to defeat both of their foes. Zedd and Rita attempted to defeat the Rangers, using clones of the Rangers and time-travel, and though they each failed, the Rangers did not claim victory so easily. Also, following this, monsters were now made to grow by Rita and Zedd crossing their staves and combining energies.
Shortly after the wedding, Rita's brother, Rito Revolto, arrived to join his sister and brother-in-law on their quest to destroy the Power Rangers. Later still, her father, Master Vile made his entrance, aiding the villains greatly by leaving the Rangers as children. Nevertheless, they continued to fail, even with help from Rita's spy, Katherine Hillard, who, after breaking free from Rita's control, joined the forces of the Power Rangers as the second Pink Ranger when Kimberly Hart departed for Florida. Later Goldar found out about the potion Rita used on Lord Zedd and had a concoction created to reverse the effects. The concoction had no effect, however; Zedd had apparently developed a real attachment for Rita of his own accord, possibly as a result of believing himself to be hers.
In Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
In the film (which takes place in a different continuity than the TV series), Rita (played by Sydney native Julia Cortez) and Zedd (Mark Ginther), while appearing to be married, still often argue and insult one another. Rita disagreed with the supposed efficiency of Zedd's plan to release shape-shifting tyrant Ivan Ooze, and vehemently criticised Ooze when the Rangers were able to search for the greater power. Ooze proceeded to glue her mouth shut, much to Zedd's pleasure. However, both he and Rita were soon betrayed and imprisoned within a snowdome by Ooze, only being released after his destruction at the hands of the Rangers (for the first time, they cheered the Rangers on).
In Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers
After her father turned back time using the Orb Of Doom, The Alien Rangers were summoned from Aquitar. During this season, Rita, Zedd, and Goldar finally accomplished their personal mission of neutralizing the Power Rangers as we knew them by destroying their Ninja Power Coins.
In Power Rangers: Zeo
Rita and Zedd fled to live in refuge with Master Vile during the invasion of the Machine Empire. However, the couple, along with the other villains, returned to the moon in a campervan and throughout the latter part of Zeo, Rita and Zedd had harassed the House of Gadgetry's plots and even aided the Rangers once to prevent the Machine Empire from claiming Earth.In the last episode of Zeo,Finster makes a new wand for Rita,which is absurdely more powerful than the previous as it creates a monster that is strong even for the Zeo Ultrazord. After King Mondo and his family are defeated by the Power Rangers, Zedd and Rita give Prince Sprocket a present which is actually a bomb which blows the Machine Empire to pieces.
In Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie
Rita and Zedd made a small cameo appearance. Divatox calls them in the middle of the night to ask them how to destroy the Rangers. Rita manically laughs and comments "If I knew that, do you think I would be lying here, listening to this!?" She then puts the phone to Zedd's face who is sleeping and snoring loudly. Rita then advises her to "RUN!!" before hanging up the phone. Obviously, this advice wasn't followed and Divatox would learn the hard way.
In Power Rangers Turbo
Rita and Zedd also appear briefly in the Millennium Message.
In Power Rangers in Space
In their final feat, Rita and her spouse joined the United Alliance of Evil headed by Dark Specter, and assisted the monarch with his masterful scheme to vanquish all good in the universe. However, during the final confrontation, when Zordon sacrificed himself (at the hands of the Red Space Ranger Andros), Rita was transformed into a good woman, to live blissfully with her husband (who was formerly Lord Zedd).
In Power Rangers: Mystic Force
In the Mystic Force series, Rita Repulsa has become the Mystic Mother, the ruler of the Magical dimension, after being turned good by Zordon's energy wave (when he instructed Andros to kill him). She is said to be the source of all good magic, and made her first appearance in the series finale when the Master entered her throne room. Though she managed to seal him in an orb of fire, the Master broke it and destroyed the entire chamber, apparently killing her in the process. She is later revealed to have survived the assault by teleporting away in midst of the collapse, granting Udonna's apprentice Clare the powers of a full Sorceress, and helps the Rangers to defeat The Master once and for all.
In Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive
In the anniversary team-up episode Once a Ranger it is revealed that Rita had a son with Zedd at an unspecified time (despite the apparent fact that she became frightened when he mentioned the thought of having children to her in one episode); the son, Thrax (Like his mother), was sealed in a space dumpster by the Sentinel Knight. Thrax ultimately returned to seek revenge. Rita did not appear herself, but her change to the side of good was mentioned by Thrax, who also called her (along with his father) weak for making such a decision. He vowed to restore his evil legacy and is seen using the staff that belonged to his father.
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