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The Chayncemaniac

The Chayncemaniac Rewatches Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (currently - Season 1)

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I recently bought the complete series of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, and I decided... why not blog about my journey through rewatching it? I'm not sure on the timeline on when I'll watch and post about it, because I actually start my new job on Monday but if all goes according to plan, it SHOULD be once a week, could be more if able. It's going to be in bulks of 10 because that's how the DVDs have them sorted (at least season 1), so let's get started. First, I'll make a list of our main cast and as new characters get introduced I'll mention who's playing them as they come.

Note: This blog will not include the pilot episode since it's not included in the series DVDs

The Cast

Spoiler

The Rangers

Austin St. John as Jason Scott (Red Ranger)

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Walter Jones as Zack Taylor (Black Ranger)

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David Yost as Billy Cranston (Blue Ranger)

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Thuy Trang as Trini Kwan (Yellow Ranger)

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Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly Hart (Pink Ranger)

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Jason David Frank as Tommy Oliver (Green Ranger/White Ranger) [Episode 17 onward]

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Rangers Allies

David Fielding (Until episode 34) and Bob Manahan (Episode 34 onward) as Zordon

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Richard Horvitz as Alpha 5

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Civilians

Paul Schrier as Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier & Jason Narvy as Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch

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Richard Genelle as Ernie

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Henry Cannon as Principal Caplan

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Royce Herron as Ms. Appleby

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Villains

Machiko Soga (1993-1994), Carla Perez (1994-1998) as Rita Repulsa

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Kerrigan Mahan as Goldar

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Michael Sorich as Squatt

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Dave Mallow as Baboo

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Robert Axelrod as Finster

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Episode 1: Day of the Dumpster

Spoiler

We first get introduced to the cast (rangers in their suits before we meet our cast of rangers) and some of the other cast with the opening.

To start the episode proper, we are greeted by two astronauts somewhere in the Solar System and they come across what they describe as a "space dumpster". They open it for some reason and Goldar, Squatt, Baboo, Finster and the leader and evil sorceress Rita Repulsa emerge from the dumpster exclaiming their gratitude for being freed after 10,000 years of being imprisoned in the dumpster. They then announce how they plan to celebrate their freedom--conquering Earth.

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We transition to the city of Angel Grove and we meet our characters Zack, Kimberly, Billy, Trini and Jason at the Angel Grove Youth Center. Jason & Zack are sparring while Billy, who isn't exactly the most athletic, watches on as a student of their karate class. Kimberly is practicing gymnastics and Trini is doing breathing exercises. Then enter the high school bullies, Bulk & Skull, who try to hit on Kimberly & Trini. They are flipped onto the floor by the girls for their troubles.

Rita and her allies have made an ancient Moon Palace their lair and Rita eagerly readies for her conquest of taking over Earth. Finster, Rita's scientist, has created a lab where he creates monsters from clay, the first being the Putty Patrollers and bringing them to life using his Monster-Matic.

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Back in the Youth Center, Bulk demands Jason to show him how to beat people up. Jason explains to Bulk that karate isn't about violence, but he proceeds to put Bulk on the mat. After class Jason meets up with Kimberly, Zack, Billy and Trini at Ernie's juice bar and as they meet up an earthquake rocks the youth center and everybody (except our five teens) panic and run out.

We then transition to Zordon and Alpha 5, Zordon telling Alpha to find him "overbearing and overemotional humans" to which Alpha responds with "No! Not that! Not teenagers!". We meet our group of 5 again just as they are teleported out of the youth center in beams of light and to the command center with Alpha and Zordon. Zordon explains what is going on and why he has summoned Jason and the others, saying only they can defeat Rita Repulsa (whom the teens have only seen through the Viewing Globe). Zordon gives the teens Power Morphers, which will allow them to "Morph" into "all-powerful warriors", but the teens decline Zordon's offer and leave, still with their power morphers.

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They leave the Command Center and are suprised by Rita's Putty Patrollers, they fend them off for a little while and then they are overwhelmed by the Putties. They then use their Power Morphers to change into their "all-powerful warriors" and defeat the Putty Patrollers.

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Zordon then teleports the teens back to Angel Grove where Goldar awaits them with more Putties. The Rangers handle the Putties pretty easily as Rita throws her magic wand to earth and causes Goldar to grow to the size of a skyscraper. The Rangers then summon their Dinozords and form the Megazord to overpower Goldar and cause him to retreat back to the Moon Palace.

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Back on the moon, Rita comes down with a headache and blames Goldar for it since he lost to the Rangers.

In the command center, Jason, Trini, Zack, Kimberly and Billy have accepted Zordon's request to protect the Earth from Rita's plans. Zordon states they must never use heir powers for personal gain, never escalate a battle with their powers unless forced and they need to keep their identies as Power Rangers a secret from everybody.

Episode 2: High Five

Spoiler

After the opening, we are greeted by Jason climbing a rope in the youth center, while Trini reveals she has a fear of heights (I see where this is going). Bulk & Skull come in and give the crew a hard time, Jason challenges Bulk to climb the rope, which Bulk accepts and fails both times, the 2nd time the rope and some plaster falling on him. The group laugh and Kimberly tells Bulk "You really showed us this time."

Billy arrives for the first time this episode, revealing he's created a communicator to communicate with Zordon & Alpha, as well as the other Rangers. Billy also unintentionally gave them the ability to teleport to and from the Command Center. Alpha takes Billy's communicator and allows the teleportation feature to work more smoothly, all while shortcircuiting Alpha momentarily.

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Rita intends to trap the Rangers in a time warp, just like she did Zordon, using a device that looks like a space shuttle and a monster by the name of Bones that Finster created.

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Zordon sends the Rangers to see what the Putties are doing while he analyzes the time device. They try to be sneaky but are quickly discovered. Kimberly says they should morph, but Jason re-states what Zordon said about them only using their powers when necessary. Jason tells Billy & Trini to split from the group to spread out the Putties. Billy & Trini then split to spread the Putties out even more. Billy climbs up a hill and Trini watches from below as Billy is forced closer to the edge. Billy then drops his Power Morpher as Trini slowly overcomes her fear of heights to help Billy, egging on the lone Putty that followed Billy up, only to have him run off the edge of the cliff.

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Billy & Trini rejoin Kimberly, Jason and Zack who are trapped by a group of Putties and help break them out. Then Jason calls for a "human chain" with Zack on his shoulders laying back and Kimberly sat between Zack's legs and take out the Putties.

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Zordon tells the Rangers that Rita has sent Bones to the amusement park, which the Rangers morph and magically end up at the amusement park (won't be the last time this series either). Bones then traps and attacks the rangers with some henchmen of his own while Squatt and Baboo light the fuse to a bomb that will destroy the time device and trap the Rangers. The rangers use their Blade Blasters to "destroy" Bones, until Billy realizes that unless they destroy Bones' head, he will be able to keep reassembling himself. Billy grabs Bones' head before it can reattach and throws it to Trini who throws it into a chasm of magma, the rest of Bones' body is destroyed as a result.

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Rita sends down another monster (who has no official name but the Power Rangers wiki calls him Giant) who punches a hole in the time warp and grabs Jason as the bomb Squatt and Baboo set explodes, sending the other Rangers out of the time warp.

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Jason shoots the Giant in the eye with his blaster to get out of it's grip and then calls upon the Tyrannosaurus Dinozord to singlehandedly defeat and destroy the Giant while the other Rangers look on. Rita develops another migraine because of her loss, again.

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Jason, Kimberly, Trini and Billy return to the Youth Center and as they are sitting at a table, Ernie tells a customer about "Angel Grove's Superheroes, the Power Rangers." The teens laugh and Billy tells them that Zordon and Alpha made the communicators fully functional. As the teens make their way to the rope, Billy thanks Trini and Trini hopes she doesn't have to do it again. Zack sneaks up on the others, even though Jason sees him, putting on a monster mask and growls behind Trini, causing her to climb the rope I think quicker than Jason did earlier in the episode. Zack tells Trini it looks like she's overcome her fear of heights as Kimberly, Billy and Jason laugh.

 

 

WILL POST THE OTHER EPISODES I'VE WATCHED LATER!

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Before I continue the first 10 episode reviews, I wanted to post this after the previous episode that focused heavily on Trini, just to show how loved Thuy Trang was, who tragically died September 3, 2001 at the age of 27.

 

Episode 3 - Teamwork

Spoiler

Kimberly & Trini are taking signatures for a petition to clean up the local dumpsite. They ask Jason, Billy and Zack to go with them to take the petition but they tell the girls they all have things to do, including Zack teaching Alpha how to dance. Bulk & Skull as well as a female bully by the name of Sharkie (Stella Angelova) decide to "show the girls" what they think of recycling, to which Kimberly and Trini subsequently put Bulk & Skull in the recycling bins.

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Rita's plan this episode is to pollute the planet (as if that wasn't obvious from how this episode started out). Kimberly and Trini go to the dumpsite alone to try to convice the city to clean it up and are attacked by Putties. Zack & Alpha are in the command center, Zack teaching Alpha hiphopkido, as Zordon shows Zack the girls are in trouble. Finster creates and brings to life the Mighty Minotaur and sends him to Earth to stop the Rangers. Billy, Jason & Zack show up to fight the Mighty Minotaur as Goldar and more Putties show up to deal with the girls.

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The Rangers are overwhelmed by Mighty Minotaur, now a colossal monster due to Rita's wand. The monster proves even too strong for the Dinozords, to which Zordon responds with having the Rangers come back to the Command Center (during the middle of a fight) and he tells them that the Zords have gone back into hiding with them arriving at the Command Center to recieve their new Power Weapons; Jason recieving the Power Sword, Zack recieving the Power Axe, Billy recieving the Power Lance, Trini reciving the Power Daggers, and Kimberly recieving the Power Bow.

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The teams goes back to Mighty Minotaur in the dumpsite (who now has shrunk to normal size for some reason), and defeats him pretty handily with their new Power Weapons and combines them to make the Power Blaster to destroy Mighty Minotaur, which angers Rita.

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The Rangers decide to use teamwork (aha way to work in the title of the episdoe) to clean up the mess that was left from earlier on in the episode after Principal Caplan asks what is with the mess. He returns asking what happened to the mess to which Jason responds with "Mess? What mess?". Alpha tries to dance again in the Command Center but ends up shorting out the controls.

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Episode 4 - A Pressing Engagement

Spoiler

We open with Jason trying to break the Youth Center's bench press record, which 1,010 will break the record (seems high for a youth center) and we get alternating shots of Kimberly on a balance beam and Jason doing the bench press.

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Kimberly gets off the beam and goes to cheer Jason on, while Ernie is couting Jason's reps. Ernie loses count and asks what number he was on (just moments before he shouted 1,005) and nobody responds.

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Rita sees Jason through her telescope and says that he's "not so tough when he's on his own." Um, you sure? He just did a bench press over 1,000 times Rita, or did you not see that part?? Rita plans to send Goldar and a monster, which we haven't seen at this point, down to separate Jason from the rest of the Rangers... when clearly Jason is the leader, so wouldn't he be one of the strongest, even alone?

We cut back to Jason doing the rep AGAIN and he's one rep away from 1,010 as Kimberly starts blowing a bubble with her gum, someone in the crowd watching Jason says "Hey guys, look at Kimberly!". Personally, I'd be more impressed watching a guy who's done over 2,000 reps over a bubble that thanks to camera magic looks HUGE.

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As Kimberly is blowing the bubble and Jason is doing the reps (why couldn't he have broken the record while all this is going on??), Zack comes in the juice bar riding a skateboard, because he's Zack (I guess) and loses control, running into Kimberly and getting gum all over their faces as the bubble pops. Jason is distracted by the shenanigans and fails to break the record... again!

Rita and Finster discus bringing a Sphinx monster that has wings to separate the Rangers, getting Jason alone, which Rita is happy with.

Back at the juice bar, Kimberly is back on the balance beam while Zack is asking for Jason to forgive him for the shenanigans earlier. Jason strings him along for a second and excepts the apology eventually. Zack then tries apologizing to Kimberly, horribly I might add. Kimberly tells him "forget it. It's casual." Since when was that slang in the 90s??

Jason is gloomy over the fact he didn't beat the record because he "doesn't want to be known as a quitter." Jason you just did over 2,000 reps!. Bulk & Skull join the fray as we find out that Bulk is actually the current record holder.

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Bulk demonstrates his strength by giving Jason the Heimlich maneuver (I guess). Zack tries to intervene to which Jason says he can handle it, tickling Bulk and stomping on his foot which causes Bulk to let go and grab his foot, which results in his pants splitting. Skull tries to help, but ends up making Bulk's pants fall to his ankles. Bulk chases after Skull, falling over his pants along the way.

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Jason tells Kimberly & Zack that he told them he could handle Bulk, which they respond with assurance that they knew he could, Kimberly responds with "What's wrong with getting a little help from your friends?" to which Jason replies with "Nothing, unless you're trying to break the bench press record." Jason's communicator goes off (to the theme of "Go Go Power Rangers" I might add) just as Ernie comes by with some smoothies that Zack had requested prior to the situation with Bulk & Skull. Zack tells Ernie that the jingle he just heard is from his "new watch!" and to put the smoothies on Zack's tab.

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Zordon informs the Rangers of Rita's plans and teleports them to the park where the Putties are attacking as Rita screams from her base (Ok I know Rita's voice is loud, but how can anyone hear her from space?) to separate the others from Jason. We then get our first look at King Sphinx, who first blows Kimberly away back to the juice bar, on the balance beam, unmorphed, soon after Zack joins her on the balance beam, back to back.

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Alpha, watching from the Viewing Globe in the Command Center, freaks out because Jason cannot be contacted and is isolated. In a scene that feels like it should've been swapped with the scene with Alpha, King Sphinx grabs Jason and teleports him to a desert like area. Goldar joins in the mix and Jason has to fight both Goldar and King Sphinx, to which he's able to hold his own until Rita throws her wand down to make Goldar and King Sphinx grow.

We go to Billy's house, to which him and Trini are alone and have been their presumably the entire episode up to this point. Kimberly & Zack come racing in and tells them that Rita has Jason to which Billy responds with a very unconvincing "Oh no". Kimberly tells Zack, Trini and Billy that jason "may need his friends way more than he knows." Random line considering Jason NEVER said he didn't need his friends as Trini tries contacting Jason with her communictor, to no avail. They then teleport to the Command Center to plan their move.

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Zordon tells Alpha to locate Jason on the Viewing Globe, to which he appears on the screen fighting giant Goldar and giant King Sphinx without his Zord for some unexplained reason. Zordon brings up the Power Crystals, and that they can be used to find each other in any situation by using the Morphing Grid. Zordon sends the crystals directly to Jason, which they cause the side of a mountain to explode to which Jason runs to them and digs them out, knowing exactly what they are even though he wasn't in the conversation that the others just had with Zordon & Alpha, teleporting the others to him for the fight with Goldar and King Sphinx.

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The Rangers call their Zords and use their Power Crystals to power up the Zords. Jason says they should try the crystals' power, to which the Zords do the same blast in tank mode we've seen before.

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They get into battle mode and are immediately hit by Goldar and switch to tank mode as a result. They blast Goldar once... then go back into battle mode (why?). King Sphinx hits the Megazord with a wing blast which causes the Megazord to be stuck in place. Jason calls down the Power Sword (the Megazord's weapon of choice) and it makes King Sphinx explode and causes Goldar to retreat. Rita throws another tantrum but doesn't reprimand Goldar for fleeing (why?)

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We go back to Jason yet again trying to break the bench press record, Trini counting this time instead of Ernie with everyone else cheering Jason on. Everybody is in the same clothes, so Jason has now done 3,000 reps in the same day. Jason breaks the record this time and the crowd erupts with excitement. Ernie shows up with a cake to celebrate the record being broken, which says "Happy birthday mom." Bulk & Skull come in and Bulk says he's going to get his record back, with Skull repeating everything Bulk says. Kimberly tells Bulk & Skull to "get a life" as Zack offers them a piece of cake to which  Bulk replies with "only if I get the first bite." Bulk trips on his way over to the cake and falls face first into it, which causes Skull to crack up. Bulk slams a fistful of cake into Skull's face as the Rangers laugh at Bulk's misfortune.

Note: as a nice touch to end this episode, the credits run with the usual ending theme mixed with Bulk & Skull's theme.

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Episode 5 - Different Drum

Spoiler

We open the episode with Kimberly teaching a step class with Billy a student and Jason and Trini arm wrestling as Zack watches on.

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Ernie comes in pushing an empty cart and awkwardly dance around Billy with it. Billy then trips over a step and lands on the cart and comically Billy goes around the entire youth center floor on top of it telling people to get out of the way, Zack and Trini watching on laughing instead of helping for some reason.

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Kimberly is alerted to what's going on with Billy as he crashes into the locker room and somehow turns around and is catapulted off, covered in toilet paper and coat hangers. Billy crashes onto the stage and Kimberly ducks out of the way. Everyone laughs at Billy instead of checking on him. Kimberly jokes "Let me let you in on a secret. This is not the way to meet girls."

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We cut to Rita and she yells that she hates "kids music" and comes up with a plan that we don't get revealed to us right away.

We go back to the juice bar where Billy is crawling on the ground afer his fiasco. Trini comes up to him and asks him "Billy, what happened? Are you okay?" even though she just watched and laughed with Zack as it was happening. As Billy makes his way to the bar where Zack is sitting, we have one of the most amazing exchanges so far in the series.

"Zack: my main brain, wassup?

Billy: Well, I'm intrigued by the rhythmic modulation, yet daunted by the coordinating movements of the appendages.

Zack: Say what?

Trini: He can't dance.

Billy: Precisely."

Kimberly goes back to teaching her step class as a student, by the name of Melissa has a problem keeping up and bumps into another girl, who gets upset at Melissa saying "You almost knocked me over!"

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Kimberly has the class take a break and checks on Melissa, who we find out is deaf because Kimberly starts using sign language to communicate with Melissa. Melissa explains to Kimberly that she messed up the steps and ran into the other girl. Kimberly apologizes immediately and says it's her fault for not signing the steps to Melissa. Kimberly assures Melissa that she's a good dancer and points out that hearing people make mistakes, as the camera cuts to Billy trying to dance.

Rita storms over to Finster, who tells her that he's working on a "monster that eats cars and smells like a fish." Rita has other plans, telling Finster to create a musical monster, like the "Pied Piper only meaner." Finster interestingly enough tells Rita that musical monsters aren't very reliable but she insists he make one.

The girl that Melissa ran into apologizes to Melissa for overreacting. Bulk & Skull join in for the first time this episode and calls the dancers "rapping ballerinas" which Skull adds "Not even ballerinas. Stuff they're doing is too easy." Zack challenges Bulk to try what they're doing and in Bulk's best moment thus far, he does two full sets of steps and kicks Jason's chair out from under him to which Zack holds Jason back from attacking Bulk.

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Zack challenges Bulk to a dance-off. The first round Bulk does surprisingly well, however the 2nd round? Bulk rips his pants again. Zack then does a handstand on the bar to which Bulk tries, but slides right over the counter and catches Zack's food in his mouth to which Zack replies "Keep it" while Skull is visibly embarrassed by what just happened.

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Kimberly wraps her step class, after being interrupted three times and the Rangers head out to catch a movie. Bulk says as the teens leave "Yeah, you better bail fast, 'cause nobody tricks me." Did Zack trick you though Bulk?? To which Zack replies "Looks like we already did."

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Finster has created a monster that hypnotizes humans with his according, to which he calls the Gnarly Gnome, whom hypnotizes the girl Melissa bumped into earlier and a group of other girls that were all going to the mall with Melissa. Melissa follows the group of girls to a cave in the woods and is unable to save her friends because a net covers the entrance, she runs to get help.

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Melissa returns to the juice bar and finds Jason and Ernie, who are unable to understand Melissa's sign language. Melissa grabs Ernie's pad and pen and writes that her friends are in trouble, as Jason tells her he'll help her get her friends back.
Back in the cave, Gnarly Gnome has the girls dancing and has the Putties join them in dancing for some reason as Squatt and Baboo are cooking for him. After Gnarly Gnome and Squatt eat (Squatt eats a bug for some reason), and Gnarly Gnome falls asleep momentarily. Rita wakes them up by somehow screaming from space, causing Gnarly Gnome to turn invisible. Finster's earlier speech about musical monsters being unreliable is starting to show as Gnarly Gnome tries to escape.

Kimberly, Jason, Billy, Zack and Trini arrive at the cave with Melissa and Kimberly tells Melissa to go and hide as the others morph (Kimberly is miscolored in this scene for some reason).

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The Rangers combine their weapons, which they have new names... for this one episode for some reason, and before they can use them Rita causes the Gnarly Gnome to grow. The Rangers call upon their Zords and again Kimberly is miscolored in this scene.

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Gnarly Gnome plays his according which causes the Rangers to hallucinate that Gnarly Gnome is a building running towards them. Jason calls down the Mega Sword and in unison say "Strike three, you're out!" This isn't a baseball themed episode though?

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We cut to the teens (unmorphed) rescuing the girls and we have what could be the biggest unexplained plot hole conversation between the girl who got mad at Melissa earlier, Zack and Kimberly.

"Kimberly: Melissa ran for help and this totally manky (that's what the subtitles show she said) monster hypnotized you and trapped you in a cave.

Zack: So, like, without her and the Power Rangers...

Former Bully Girl: Well, we could have been trapped forever! Hey, we owe you big time! then she hugs Melissa

Zack: Hey, let's go get some ice cream huh?"

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We get another scene of Rita screaming at Squatt and Baboo, and she reasonably asks "Why do I keep these fools? They drive me totally nuts!"

We go back to the juice bar where everyone toasts Melissa for being the hero. We get this moment of where Jason tries signing to Melissa but Melissa and Kimberly laugh as Kimberly tells Jason that he told them his dog smells.

Melissa then asks Billy to dance (love interest #1 for Billy?) to which Billy first refuses then Melissa pulls him out anyway.

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As Melissa and Billy are dancing Jason and Zack agree that "sign language isn't that hard to learn" and that "there's a lot we can learn from Melissa."

We then get Billy busting out one amazing dance sequence, to which Kimberly calls Melissa a "miracle worker."

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Episode 6 - Food Fight

Spoiler

We open with the Youth Center hosting a cultural food festival. Ernie walks up carrying cream pies as Bulk & Skull are standing around playing with a spoon. Ernie snaps at them to give him a hand with the pies. Bulk & Skull think Ernie means helping them with the hula girls who've shown up but Ernie sets them straight and Bulk & Skull comply.

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Principal Caplan comes in and tells Kimberly and Trini how great the festival looks as Zack, Billy and Jason jump into shot and Trini says that the festival is to help benefit the local preschool & daycare center.

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Principal Caplan tries to take a bite of Kimberly's cake (get your mind out of the gutter, the cake in her hands in the picture above!) but Kimberly reminds Caplan that he has to buy it first which Billy says that the cake is $20 to which Principal Caplan replies with "Well, I wasn't really very hungry anyway."

Squatt and Baboo are spying on the Rangers through Rita's telescope as Rita says she's feeling sick. Squatt & Baboo get excited and tell Rita that what they see will make everyone feel better, HINT it doesn't make Rita feel better, but makes her feel worse.

Billy and Trini serve "Asian" food, to which Billy correctly calls out the food. My guess is him and Trini are secretly an item, even though Trini doesn't know it either.

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Zack's booth is listed as "African American" but what's funny about this is Zack clearly has no idea what any of his food is. These are his lines as he's serving food "All right, man, what can I get for you? You want some of this? We got some of this. This is good stuff. You're gonna like it."

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Kimberly, who's clearly not dressed to cook, and Jason are running the "American" booth and Kimberly is upselling the "good old-fashioned American cheeseburger."

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Bulk & Skull plot to ruin the event while Principal Caplan praises the efforts of everybody else. Bringing back Sharkie and adding a new unnamed member, who is cast as Erik Betts, Bulk throws a pie at Principal Caplan, but overshoots it and knocks Caplan's toupee off, and hitting Skull right in the face to which Skull responds with "FOOD FIGHT!"

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Rita orders Finster to make her a monster that will eat all the food on Earth, to which Finster replies he has one ready but it's not his best work. Rita sends the monster, known as Pudgy Pig, to Earth and it races over to a trash can and quickly devours what's inside. Side Note: This monster is easily the most disgusting monster in the franchise and you can't tell me otherwise.

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The food fight is still going on and instead of participating, the Rangers are dodging food thrown at them. Trini exclaims they got to save the food fair even though it is noticeably ruined. Caplan pops his head up and then disappears saying "Oh, this is terrible!" Some authority figure you are Caplan.

Jason grabs a string of hot dogs off a cart and finds Bulk who is still throwing pies at people. Jason spins the hot dogs like nunchucks and makes Bulk dizzy, dropping a pie on Bulk's own head.

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Kimberly then runs up to Skull and yells at him to put a bowl of what looks like chips down, he then throws the chips at her, missing her and hitting Bulk instead, who throws another pie at Skull.

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The Pudgy Pig terrorizes a group of picnickers, who run away as the Pudgy Pig gobbles up their food.

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A kid carrying two cream pies run toward Billy and Trini who duck before he kid can make contact, catapulting him over the table into a vat of soup. Trini laughs "Healthy lunch" as Billy pulls out a receipt pad and tells the kid "That'll be twenty dollars."

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Zack faces off with Bulk, who has been spraying people with whipped cream. Zack uses his apron like a bullfighter's cape, and Bulk falls for it, leaping directly onto the Hawaiian table, going down it like a Slip n Slide which causes Zack to realize that it may not have been the best idea.

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Bulk reaches the end and hits a punch bowl, causing it to drench Principal Caplan.

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Principal Caplan finally has enough and yells "That's IT!" and he yells at everyone telling them that the food festival is ruined. He places full blame solely on Jason and the others even though they were trying to stop it from happening. Caplan throws at mop at Jason and tells him he's in charge of clean up... but it's Ernie's juice bar, not school?

Zordon contacts the teens as Caplan storms out, teleporting them to the command center and telling them about Pudgy Pig. He tells the Rangers that the Pig will eat Earth's entire food supply in 48 hours which causes the team to immediately morph and teleport to the Pudgy Pig. The Pig puts up a surprisingly good fight, which includes eating the Rangers' weapons. Finster says the Pudgy Pig is his greatest creation as the Pig teleports the Rangers unmorphed to a forest. Zordon alerts the Rangers that while they were being teleported Pudgy Pig is wreaking havoc on the food festival.

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The pig then stuffs it's face into trays of food that weren't destroyed in the food fight. Bulk & Skull spot Pudgy Pig and growl and make faces, mocking it. Once they realize what they're dealing with they run away in fear.

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The pig continues eating everything in sight, except for a bowl of salad which is thrown out of shot.As the Rangers appear on scene, the Pig teleports away. Kimberly is upset at the sight of the juice bar and Zack worries that Mr. Caplan is going to "flip his wig. Again."

Trini notices that the pig ate everything at the festival except for the spicy food. Billy comes up with a plan to lure the pig in with food, but sneak spicy food inside. The Rangers hope this will get it to cough up their weapons. Kimberly declares this to be a “morphenomenal idea.”

On the moon, Rita is watching the pig’s conquest with joy. She calls for Finster, who doesn’t appear. She calls again and again, but apparently success has gone to Finster’s head, as he wants to let her wait a while before answering her call.

The Rangers morph again and teleport to the food packing plant, where the pig is attacking. They bait it with food and hide a spicy radish in Trini’s sub. 

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The pig’s mouth explodes as soon as it tastes the spicy food, and he coughs up all of the Rangers’ weapons. The Rangers combine their weapons (which are back to their original names) and blast the pig to dust. 

Rita screams at Finster for his monster’s failure, and he points out that he warned her that it wasn’t his best work. Baboo blames Squatt for some reason, saying, “This is your fault! I don’t know how, but you always mess everything up!” Rita screams at them to shut up as she bemoans her lot in life.

Back at the Juice Bar, the teens celebrate their victory before remembering the state of the festival. Alpha’s been working on cooking for the festival in the background, and teleports them some sandwiches he’s made to tide them over. Principal Caplan comes back in and Kimberly apologizes for what happened at the festival. Caplan admits that he knows it wasn’t their fault, and says they raised almost enough money for the playground equipment. They show him Alpha’s sandwiches and say that they have enough to make up the remaining amount.

Caplan reaches out to take one, but Trini reminds him they’re $20. He sighs and coughs up the money, taking a bite out of a sub. Billy realizes too late that he’s grabbed one with a spicy radish (no idea why Alpha put them in the sandwiches he made for the festival…) and Caplan is overcome by the heat.

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Kimberly hurries to get him water, and in his rush to drink it, Caplan’s toupee comes off again.  Luckily, Caplan has a sense of humor about the situation, and he and the kids all have a good laugh about it as the episode ends.
 

Episode 7 - Big Sisters

Spoiler

Kimberly and Trini are participating in about their fiftieth charity organization of the show thus far, this time Angel Grove’s version of the Big Sister program. However, they’ve lost their little sister, a twelve-year-old girl named Maria (played by Wendee Lee according to the Power Rangers wiki). 

Meanwhile, Zack and Jason are training in the Juice Bar, because that’s literally all they ever do. To spice things up and give viewers some much-appreciated eye candy, Zack is shirtless.

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The girls worry that Maria has gotten into trouble, though the boys assure them that she’s probably fine. Behind them, a small hand switches off the hot water to the Juice Bar. 

Half a dozen boys race out of the locker room in reaction to this, apparently their brains so addled by the cold water that they forgot they could just get out of the shower instead of leaving the locker room entirely wearing nothing but towels.

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Rita screams about how much she wants to destroy the Rangers and running off to tell Finster she has a plan.

Back in the Juice Bar, Trini assures Maria that they’re not mad at her, but asks why she turned off the hot water. She says she did it to get their attention, and the girls point out that there are better ways to do that than tampering with utilities.

Trini asks Maria if she would like to go on a picnic with them. Kimberly mumbles, “I hope you know what we’re getting ourselves into…”

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Back on the moon, Rita declares she’s located ancient power eggs that she can use to defeat the Rangers once and for all. 
Squatt tries to open the box containing the eggs, but is immediately blasted with a face-full of energy. Rita suddenly remembers that the box can only be opened by a child.
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Rita tells Finster that she wants a chicken monster that can catch a child.
 
We cut to Trini, Kimberly, and Maria’s picnic. Maria expresses that her father “tries real hard, but there’s things that he just doesn’t understand.”  Kimberly asks Maria who the “raddest boy” in her class is, and Maria is horrified, declaring them all to be “dorks.” Kimberly tells Trini that she’ll learn.
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Putties arrive on the scene and Kimberly and Trini pull Maria between them while they fight them off. They’re both pretty kick-ass in the fight, though Maria does ultimately get captured and teleported away. 
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Back at the Juice Bar, Ernie delivers a vat of ice cream to Zack.
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Kimberly and Trini rush inside in a panic, telling the boys that the Putties have taken Maria. Jason tries his communicator, but it isn’t working. Kimberly declares that this is “more than just a bad hair day.”

Billy tells them that he has a back-up plan in his garage, and they all head to his house. He reveals his latest invention — the Rad Bug, which he claims is “capable of transporting us to any destination on the planet’s surface.” 
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Zack asks what’s so rad about the car, even though Billy just said it could transport them anywhere. He replies that “it does zero to three thousand in two-point-eight seconds.”

Jason does the funniest double-take when Billy reveals the speed, and Zack claps his hands and says, “I’m sold!”

Once at the Command Center, Kimberly tells Zordon what’s happened and asks what Rita might be planning. Both Zordon and Alpha immediately know that Rita must have located the power eggs. Zordon tells them the story
" Millions of years ago, ancient sorcerers who called themselves the Morphing Masters hid a universe of power within two mystic power eggs. By casting the eggs into the sea, the sorcerers believed that their ancient ancestors would look down on the eggs and protect them from universal danger."
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Zordon then states that to open the box, the touch of an “innocent child like Maria” is necessary.  The writers clearly didn’t think Maria actually opening the mystical box was important to see, so it happens off-screen. Thus, Squatt is able to run up and grab the eggs to give to Rita.
 

We get an unnecessarily long sequence of the Rad Bug driving toward the cave, even though we’ve seen it can fly (Billy explains that it’s stealthier if they stay on the ground). They FINALLY get to the cave, and pull up in front of the Rita’s goons.

The teens immediately morph and do…whatever the hell this is. 
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They fight Goldar and Chunky Chicken as we see Repulsa flying through the air for.... reasons?
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Zordon asks Alpha if he can get a read on Maria’s whereabouts. Alpha says the chicken has her tied up at an old warehouse. We clearly see Rita, Goldar, and the chicken at the warehouse with Maria, despite the fact that the chicken and Goldar were just fighting the Rangers. Rita shrieks that she’ll give Maria back when the Rangers return the eggs to her, even though they haven’t taken them. They just swatted them away into an easily-accessible lake.
 
Rita again demands the power eggs as a trade for Maria, but Jason tells her that if she wants them, she needs to set Maria free first. Rita then has the chicken play chicken with Maria’s life, slicing away at the rope so that it’s barely holding her. 
 

Rita and the Rangers trade verbal barbs, and surprisingly, Rita actually tells the chicken to cut the rope entirely.

And then the Megazord catches Maria.

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Rita makes the chicken grow to fight the Megazord, and Billy has the sense to call the Rad Bug to get Maria away from the scene. Jason tells Maria to get in the car to get to safety, and Maria sprints for it with a cry of, “You don’t have to tell me twice!”

The chicken’s scissors are apparently a portal gun, because the creature can jump from place to place by cutting the air. It uses this to get the upper hand on the Rangers at first, but they take it down with a punch and a slash from the Power Sword. 
 
Rita yells at her minions and declares she has a headache. Interestingly, she demands they get her an aspirin, so I guess they have that on the moon. 
 
Back at the Juice Bar, Ernie and some local random children are watching the news with rapt interest, despite it being a dull segment about the mayor awarding some teenagers an award for creating a recycling drive to keep trash out of their landfill. Because, again, teenagers do everything in this city. 
 
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The news then reports that “once again, the amazing Power Rangers have saved our fair city and the world from one of Rita Repulsa’s lethal monsters.”

Ernie asks Kimberly to grab a pot of chili for him, because apparently he’s too busy watching the news to be bothered with running his own restaurant.

Maria pops up on the screen next and declares that since the Power Rangers saved her, she’s become the most popular girl in class.

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Bulk is sitting enjoying ice cream like a perfectly normal person, not harming anyone. Kimberly starts waving around a pot of Ernie’s veggie chili, which he declares to be on the house. Even though I’ve never seen anyone pay for anything else he’s served them.

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People start swarming the counter, which Jason looks concerned about.
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Naturally, Kimberly loses control of the chili and accidentally dumps the presumably boiling hot substance on Bulk’s head. She apologizes and laughs it off with a, “Sorry Bulk! It was supposed to be on the house, not on you!”

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Episode 8 - I, Eye Guy

Spoiler

Apparently it’s our Main Brain’s turn to mentor a child, Willy (casting unknown) hooks up the teens to his roller coaster simulation, which they’re all impressed by. Kimberly in particular is freaked out by it, begging him to stop the game even though she could just take off the glasses.

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Trini declares the game to be morphenomenal. 

Jason asks Willy if he invented the game. Willy replies that he did, and that he’s planning to enter it in the Junior Science Fair.

On the moon, Rita calls her minions to her and tells them she wants to steal Willy’s intelligence and make it her own. 

Back on Earth, Willy isn’t sure he has a chance in the competition, but Billy assures him he does. 

Putties jump down from wherever they always arrive from, and Willy is more concerned about his machine than his life. Jason wisely grabs him and throws him behind him, ordering the Rangers to form a circle around him. 

An unnecessarily long series of slow-motion fight shots ensues, and all the teens are able to handle themselves unmorphed. Even Billy, surprisingly.

Once the Putties are defeated, the teens grab Willy’s machine and continue their walk to the Science Fair as if nothing happened.

Rita storms up to Finster to ask what monster he’s planning to make for her, and the show dips into obvious Sentai footage as he describes the eye monster he’s used previously to steal children’s intelligence.

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The Junior Science Fair is, of course, happening at the Juice Bar, because this show has five sets. A random judge helpfully informs us that the fair will begin in ten minutes, and that “all those who are late will be disqualified.”

Willy and Billy set up their stand and techno babble at one another, and then Willy says that without Billy, he “wouldn’t even be here.” No idea why that is. They then do an extended high five and fist bump with blooping and squeaking sound effects.

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Finster summons Eye Guy for Rita’s approval.
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Back at the Juice Bar, Bulk and Skull stride in to discover the Science Fair in action. Bulk declares that they are in a “room full of nerds,” and there’s a brief funny moment where Skull covers his mouth with his jacket to protect himself, though he ruins it by saying that he doesn’t want to “catch nerditis.”

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The bullies start to terrorize the participants, though it turns out that the first student they storm up to has invented a machine that can dematerialize clothes, which of course leaves Bulk standing in his underwear again. 
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Billy lays into the bullies, remarking, “Don’t you feel a little out of place here? After all, an IQ is required.”

Zack and Jason come to Billy’s aid (not that he needs it), and Jason calls Bulk a caveman while Zack makes grunting noises. Bulk snaps that they’re both “dust,” and Zack claps back with a well-delivered “Temper, temper.”

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Bulk and Skull make the unwise decision to engage Jason and Zack. ason runs circles around Bulk, but it’s really Zack who shines in this scene, catching Skull’s punch with one hand and throwing him to the ground with a wave. 
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Billy and Willy (yes, it sounds ridiculous every time I type it) catch the bullies on a flatbed and roll them into another participant’s invention, the Fashion Machine, which Kimberly and Trini activate. Somehow they’re transformed into drag queens, which horrifies them and they run out of the Juice Bar in disgrace.

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The random judge from earlier strides up to Willy to inform him that his antics could disrupt the other competitors, and that he is thus disqualified. 

Billy rightfully protests, saying that none of this was Willy’s fault (especially since it was the Fashion Machine girl who ultimately flipped the switch on Bulk and Skull), but the judge insists that his decision is final.

Willy is understandably distraught and runs out of the Juice Bar. The boys all chase after him while the girls say they’ll catch up with them later. Not sure what they’re planning to do at the Science Fair, since the only reason they were there to begin with was Willy.

Willy, meanwhile, has found a pond to sit and mope at. He splashes water dramatically while he monologues internally about his best invention yet being disqualified. 
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Eye Guy appears and kidnaps him, leaving only his hat behind. For some reason, he teleports Willy directly onto some kind of barf machine from an amusement park. 
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We cut to the boys out in the woods looking for Willy. Apparently the girls decided not to stick around at the Science Fair, after all, because they’re walking along a nearby path.

Billy spots Willy’s hat and they all race over to it, Jason immediately suspecting Rita’s involvement. The Rangers’ communicators go off, and they teleport to the Command Center, where Zordon informs them that Willy is being held in a dimension inside Eye Guy’s eye.

 

The Rangers morph and teleport to Eye Guy’s location. For some reason, Baboo is there, though he departs quickly with an “All yours!”

The Rangers combine their weapons and blast Eye Guy to pieces, but he quickly reforms. And then his…breast eyes…grow cartoony faces and launch themselves at the Rangers like missiles?

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Zordon senses that Eye Guy’s main eye (which they have to destroy to defeat him) is hidden somewhere in the park, and he orders Billy to go find it while the others fight his body. 
Billy finds the eye in about .02 seconds and hits it with his Power Lance, which weakens Eye Guy instead of killing him. Rita throws her staff to make him grow which means Megazord time!
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The Megazord makes quick work of Eye Guy, and Willy appears on the ground once he’s vaporized. He thrills at the fact that the Power Rangers rescued him while Rita screams about having a headache.

The teens take him back to the Juice Bar, which seems pretty harsh given what went down there only a few minutes ago. Of course, Ernie and the dick judge from before are enjoying Willy’s roller coaster VR, and the judge apologizes to Willy for overreacting earlier. This exchange follows:

"Willy: Thank you, sir. I hope you'll allow my invention to be included in the competiton.
Judge: Of course, Willy. In fact, I've given your invention first prize. Congratulations."
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Billy and Willy do their dumb high five again, and Bulk and Skull come back in asking for their clothes, which causes Kimberly and Trini to grin at one another. They tell Bulk and Skull they washed and sterilized their clothes, and somehow it caused their clothes to shrink?
 
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Episode 9 - For Whom the Bell Trolls

Spoiler

In the classroom (also a first for the show), we learn that it’s Hobby Week for the students of Angel Grove. This…is a high school, right?

We meet a new soon-to-be-recurring character — Ms. Appleby, one of Angel Grove’s teachers. I’m not sure what she teaches, but I’m going to assume it’s homeroom.

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Ms. Appleby says that Trini has volunteered to share her hobby first, and our resident badass skips to the front of the room to wheel out her doll collection 

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Naturally, all of the Rangers are in the same class, and are supportive of her hobby. Less supportive are Bulk and Skull, who crack wise and imitate fellatio on a pen. 

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Trini then introduces us to her favorite doll, Mr. Ticklesneezer, who belonged to her mother when she was growing up. According to legend, the doll has the power to “capture things and put them in a magic bottle.”

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On the moon, we’re witness to Rita’s worst evil plan motivation yet. Apparently she never got to play with dolls as a child, so she’s going to attack Trini purely out of jealousy. 
 
Back at the school, the other teens share their hobbies with the class. Jason whips around a bow staff, terrifying poor Ms. Appleby. 
Bulk mocks Jason by twirling a pencil around.
Zack’s hobby is apparently surfing, which he demonstrates by riding a board on top of Ms. Appleby’s desk.
Kimberly’s the first so far to display a hobby we’ve actually seen, as she does a press handstand to display her gymnastics ability. And, of course, she does it on Ms. Appleby’s desk. 
Ms. Appleby, bless her heart, seems more concerned with the safety of these insane children in her care than the fact that they’re all complete terrors. 
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Billy’s hobby is apparently science in general, because he’s brought a model volcano to class. Which he proceeds to activate. Getting pink gunk all over Ms. Appleby’s desk. 
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Ms. Appleby actually seems happier with Billy’s hobby than the last three, perhaps because it doesn’t involve him endangering himself or others. Though that’s after an initial panicked reaction. 
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Ms. Appleby dismisses the class for the day, reminding them to read chapter four of their English books  to further explore “Question Marks: Why Do We Need Them?”
 
Trini compliments Billy’s volcano, and Bulk of course decides to be a typical bully and snatch Mr. Ticklesneezer. He and Skull toss it back and forth while Trini demands its return, and Bulk finally loses his balance and accidentally hits the volcano’s erupt button, launching pink goo straight into his mouth.
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Having successfully retrieved Mr. Ticklesneezer, Billy and Trini get in a good laugh. 
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Later that night, Trini goes to bed in her room.

There are creepy dolls everywhere.

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Trini talks to them, saying they “had a long day,."

Rita sees Mr. Ticklesneezer through her telescope and comes up with a plan. Three guesses what it is.

Indeed, she sends Squatt down to shoot a green laser at Mr. Ticklesneezer, making him grow to human-size and bringing him to life in the process. He brings him to the moon, where Rita tells him that he needs to collect the Rangers in his magic bottle.

The next day, Trini can’t find Mr. Ticklesneezer anywhere, so she takes Billy and retraces her steps in her car. Billy thinks someone might have stolen the doll, but Trini suddenly sees him wandering around the middle of the road and points him out to Billy.

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Mr. Ticklesneezer collects them both in his bottle, though he’s actually more interested in the car than them, and captures two Rangers entirely by accident.

Billy and Trini are, understandably, quite panicked.

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At the Juice Bar, Jason and Zack are sparring again, and once they’re finished, Kimberly hands them a stack of wood to break. Jason does so easily, though Bulk and Skull are unimpressed.

Bulk tells Skull he could do the same easily, and grabs a cake Ernie just set out to prove it. He smashes through it (duh), but hits his hand hard against the metal plate it was on, groaning in pain.

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ason is about to break another set of boards when the group’s communicators go off. The teens teleport to the Command Center, where Zordon briefs them on the situation. In addition to Mr. Ticklesneezer, Rita has sent down Squatt, Baboo, Goldar, and a legion of Putties. Recognizing the severity of the situation, they instantly morph and head to fight.

Goldar goes toe-to-toe with Jason while Squatt and Baboo kind of just bumble around. Mr. Ticklesneezer immediately tries to bail, but trips over a cinder block and loses control of his bottle. Kimberly manages to snatch it out of the air, but Goldar attacks before she is able to free the others.

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Goldar’s attack knocks the bottle onto nearby train tracks, where of course a train is incoming. Kimberly grabs the bottle in the nick of time and yanks the cork out, freeing Trini and Billy. They morph and join the battle.

Rita makes Mr. Ticklesneezer grow and Goldar, Squatt, and Baboo instantly teleport away (I guess that answers the question of how they get back and forth between Earth and the moon).

Mr. Ticklesneezer immediately captures the Megazord in his bottle, which he’s somehow gotten back. Jason calls for the Power Sword, the arrival of which somehow knocks Mr. Ticklesneezer over and makes him drop the bottle. The bottle pops open, freeing the Megazord.

The Megazord scoops up the bottle and Jason threatens to “bottle up [Rita] forever” if she doesn’t release Mr. Ticklesneezer. He makes good on his threat, uncorking the bottle and starting to pull Squatt in. I don’t know when or why he and the rest of Rita’s gang came back to Earth, either.

Rita gives in and zaps Mr. Ticklesneezer, teleporting herself and her minions away afterward. Not sure why she didn’t just do that when Jason opened the bottle.

Zordon says that they have to make sure Mr. Ticklesneezer returns everything he stole, and is sure that he will “because he has goodness in his heart and meant no harm to anyone.” No idea where that’s coming from, but Mr. Ticklesneezer does in fact open the bottle to release his victims.

We then cut to Trini waking up in her bedroom, revealing the whole thing to have been a dream. It’s an incredibly dumb cop-out, but she does sigh in relief when she sees Mr. Ticklesneezer back in doll form, saying, “I definitely have too much Rita on my mind.” 
 

Back in Ms. Appleby’s classroom, it’s Bulk and Skull’s turn to present their hobbies. I guess they get to present as a pair? We learn two things from this scene:

  1. Bulk and Skull’s real names are Farkas and Eugene.
  2. Ms. Appleby doesn’t give a damn about scratching whenever and wherever she feels like.
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The class goads the bullies as they step forward, which is rude, but it’s not like they don’t deserve it after their earlier mockery.

Bulk announces confidently, “We like parasites.” Everyone is immediately grossed out — including Billy, who should frankly be appreciative of their scientific purpose.

Bulk then adds that they “pick fleas off of the stray dogs in the neighborhood,” which is disgusting. Ms. Appleby gives a darling, “Oh, dear.”

Skull then reveals a flea circus, which, despite its recruitment process’s gross factor, is actually an admirable hobby for the two of them. Of course, the fleas have all escaped — probably because their dingbat owners didn’t put them in any sort of containment.

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The fleas, as it turns out, have all attached themselves to Ms. Appleby, which makes her earlier scratching make sense. 
 
Everyone has a good laugh at her expense instead of going to help her or berating Bulk and Skull. Speaking of Bulk and Skull, they have a very-shippable moment in which Skull places his head on Bulk’s shoulder while laughing. 
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Episode 10 - Happy Birthday, Zack

Spoiler

Ernie is checking on a contraption called a Cake-o-Matic at the start of the episode, presumably using it to bake Zack’s birthday cake. 

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Billy, meanwhile, is blowing up balloons and reminding us of his stellar dancing skills as he bops around to whatever’s playing on his walkman.

The Cake-o-Matic starts spewing blue foam, and Ernie, Trini, and Kimberly all scream at Billy to get him to notice.

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Kimberly finally gets his attention, and he sprints over to help. 

Billy manages to shut off the device and tells Ernie that apparently he has some bugs to work out. Ernie just glares at him and declares, “I. Hate. Machines.”

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Cut to Rita’s moon base. She cries, “A birthday? We must make a present!” 
 

Back at the Juice Bar, Kimberly teases Trini for her “Happy Birthday” sign, saying, “Ehh, it looks all right.” Trini snaps, “Kimberly, get back to work,” and Kimberly laughs and runs off.

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Billy still can’t figure out what went wrong with the Cake-o-Matic, and Jason strides in to make sure we all know that the party will be a surprise. He also thanks Ernie for “keeping the place open late” so they could set up.
Ernie says, “Speaking of surprises, you guys will never guess what I found out about the Power Rangers!” Billy acts dumb and asks who he’s talking about, and Ernie describes them as “the superheroes with the large DinoZords.” 
Jason responds with “The ones with the colored costumes!” 
Ernie says he heard that the Power Rangers are ordinary humans, but Jason throws him off by saying that he heard that they’re actually space aliens. 
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Ernie instantly believes Jason for some reason, and Bulk and Skull stride into the Juice Bar despite it being after hours. 
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Billy points out that the Juice Bar is closed, but Bulk ignores him while Skull grabs the “Happy Birthday” banner from Trini. No idea why Ernie didn’t lock the place when it closed, or where he disappeared to in this scene, because he does absolutely nothing to stop the bullies.

Bulk blows his nose with the banner, and when Trini objects, Skull grabs her. She shoves him into a stack of paint buckets.

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Bulk pops a balloon in Kimberly’s face, and Jason taunts him from behind. Naturally, Bulk runs at him like a bull and smacks into the pole he was leaning on, tumbling into a box of inflated balloons. More importantly, Badass Trini slides into frame to lean against the pole just as Bulk is falling backward. 

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Skull apparently decides it’s his turn to run smack into a pole, because he does so with little prompting after scrambling off the floor. Billy justifiably laughs at him, and Skull makes another glorious face before charging at him. 

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Billy ducks out of the way, of course, yanking the door to the Cake-o-Matic open in the process, and Skull plummets directly into it for a face-full of blue goop. Kimberly remarks, “I hate party crashers” and Trini laughs 

Rita has Finster create a monster. Surprises abound. One interesting note is that Rita mentions the monster Finster is building has been used before, and “made space dust out of Tarmac 3’s finest warrior.” 

Back at the Juice Bar, Billy compliments Trini’s drawing skills while Jason puts on and takes off a party hat for no reason in the span of about ten seconds. Gotta give him something to do, I guess. 

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Ernie bursts in and announces that he thinks he just saw Zack pass by his office window.

We get a wacky cleaning montage like back in episode three, and Zack runs inside to find Ernie alone eating popcorn. Again, Ernie, this could all be avoided if you just locked the doors after closing.

Zack asks Ernie, “What’s with the late hours?” Was he just…passing by and noticed that the lights were still on? Ernie replies that he’s “catching up on some work,” even though he’s definitely just eating popcorn and staring at the wall.

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Zack says, “Trini’s mom told me the gang might be here, so I just came down to see if you saw them."

Ernie denies seeing the kids, saying "It’s just me, my stack of papers, my bowl of popcorn, tables, a coupla chairs…"

Zack tells him that if he sees the gang, he should tell them he’s looking for them. He departs with with a wave and the kids pop up from behind the counter. 

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Finster exposits that the sword they are welding can cut through anything and hands it to Rita to enchant.

Post-spell, the sword lifts off the anvil and somehow cuts a tree in half without moving.

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he next morning, Zack strides up to Kimberly and asks if he looks “any older today.” Instead of doing the smart thing and acknowledging his birthday so as not to arouse suspicion, Kim plays dumb and cries that it’s her poodle’s birthday and she forgot to buy her a birthday present.

Zack is disheartened and walks away, dismissing his other friends with a “Yeah, right” when they try to greet him, even though they haven’t done anything to him yet. They ask Kimberly what’s up, and she tells him that Zack thinks they forgot his birthday. She then asks if the surprise party was a good idea after all.

Jason and Billy assure Kimberly that Zack will be cheered up once he gets to the surprise party, anyway. 

16.png?w=1024

Zack, meanwhile, goes on a nature walk out of despair, because I guess class doesn’t matter when it’s your birthday. He apparently agrees, as he says, “I should’ve just stayed in bed today.”

17.png?w=1024

Rita chooses this moment to attack, and bizarrely announces that she’s taping this fight. Indeed, Squatt and Baboo are set up with a TV camera and microphone. 

Zack leaps to his feet and morphs, using his axe to fight Rita’s knight one-on-one.  And Squatt and Baboo commentating, because apparently we’re keeping that schtick going. 

Zack’s doing pretty well on his own until Goldar joins the fight and throws things off-balance. Zordon senses what’s happening and calls the other Rangers to Zack’s aid. Goldar is nowhere to be found (I guess he only stepped in momentarily?), so they all take on the knight together.

The knight’s magical sword ruins the Rangers’ weapons, making it the second time a monster has been able to strip them of their use. Jason orders them to bring their Blade Blasters together, culminating in that thing we saw them do a few episodes ago. 
19.png?w=1024
 
The knight, not being a complete moron, takes advantage of their stupid stance and bounces the blast back at them, knocking them over. 
20.png?w=1024
 
Rita makes her monster grow and Jason calls for the Tyrannosaurus Zord while the other Rangers flail around behind him without anything to do. The other rangers call their zords as well, and form the Megazord.
Jason calls for the Power Sword, which the knight ruins like he did the rest of their weapons. 
24.png?w=1024
 

The knight knocks over the Megazord and starts kicking it around, which is honestly kind of jarring to watch.

Zack figures out that the knight is beating them by reflecting their energy back at them, and comes up with a plan to “reflect his energy back at him, along with a bit of our own.” And when I say “comes up with a plan,” I mean that is the plan. No explanation of how they’re planning to do this, but Kimberly declares it “morphenomenal” and away they go.

Zack asks for the honor of “zapping Sir Buckethead,” and somehow makes the Megazord shoot lasers from its eyes to set the knight’s sword on fire and bring the Megazord back to its feet in a hysterically obvious footage rewind.

25.png?w=1024
 
Once his sword is out of the way, the Megazord makes quick work of the knight. Defeated, Rita heads back to her base to blame her minions for the loss. To Goldar, she barks, “Next time I ask you to get the Power Rangers, get them!” 
 
Back on Earth, the gang leads Zack into a darkened Juice Bar, where of course they flip the lights to reveal his surprise party. He’s over the moon and hugs his friends several times, exchanging words with Jason, in particular:
Jason: You thought we forgot, didn’t you?
Zack: Yeah! I was bumming!
26.png?w=1024
 
 
The Cake-o-Matic starts acting up again, this time spewing pink goo, and Billy and Ernie race over to fix it while the others head to the dance floor. 
The final minute of the episode cuts between Ernie and Billy at the Cake-o-Matic and the other teens participating in the whitest, 90sest dancing you have ever seen. 
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