Episode 2 - High Five

Well. We vanished off the face of the Earth, didn't we? Sorry about that. Things called 'the flu' and 'graduate school' got in the way for a while. But we're back with another recap.

Our first individual episode spotlights Trini and her fear of heights. We find this ridiculous, considering that according to Day of the Dumpster Trini is supposed to be fearless. Of course, we can't really blame Trini for being nervous - there is a distinct lack of mats under that rope, and we would be scared that we would fall. On the other hand, we also appreciate the entire rope sequence, because Jason has really nice arms. Also, we are fond of Jason wrapping his legs around Billy's head. And they said this show is for kids. Really.

This episode (yet again) functions to show exactly how mean the Rangers are to Bulk and Skull in this first season. Seriously, Kimberly, telling them to "crawl back to the ooze they came from"? That was uncalled for. You're supposed to be a role model. Please stop. Zack isn't much better, with his "if the rope fits" response to Bulk asking if he was stupid. We also cannot deal with the fat jokes. While Bulk doesn't get covered in food this episode, he ends up trying to climb the rope and pulls down the ceiling. What is that about?

We get a lot of backstory in this episode. We learn that Rita is responsible for trapping Zordon in the timewarp. We also learn that Billy is a super genius who tries to build a wrist watch cell phone but accidentally makes it teleport. Clearly he hasn't been doing anything but playing around with the Command Center tech since they got their powers.

We also wish that Alpha would never use slang again, because him calling the Rangers 'homeboys' and talking about 'the hood' just makes us sad. Partially because we know that it means that Alpha Six is coming, and also because it is just painful to watch.

We love Finster on this blog. We love his collection of monsters, already made. We love how Rita coos over them, and we also think the clay monsters are incredibly cute. However, apparently Rita only wants them to be gruesome and ugly. This possibly explains Goldar and Rito. We also think that they are really easy to beat, and we wonder if Finster was secretly sabotaging Rita from the beginning. Because the Rangers are still fairly pathetic at this point. Of course, Rita herself isn't helping matters, because her plans make absolutely no sense. What sort of plan requires a toy space shuttle and why are people running in terror as it slowly rolls down the street? (Side note - we liked the appearance of the monorail, mostly because we have fond memories of the first movie. And by the first movie, we mean Ivan Ooze.)

Meanwhile, in the Command Center, Zordon fails to notice that Rita is planning something. Rita knows everything that happens to the Rangers, but Zordon doesn't even notice that she launches a toy spaceship towards Earth. He needs to invest in better surveillance equipment. Not that we don't love the viewing globe.

Speaking of things we love yet find ridiculous - Zack's pants. And Jason's shorts. AMAZING.

We also love that it is still so early in the show that they are worried by putties. Of course, this is still so early in the show that Billy cannot handle himself at *all* so Trini needs to rescue him. We're okay with this, because we want Trini and Billy to be together forever. We do love that Trini overcomes her fear of heights to rescue Billy, because she loves him. We do think that Billy needs to not drop his communicator in the middle of a battle though. That is ridiculous. (Also ridiculous - the spinning kick of people being held between other people's thighs. But it looked cool.)

Things that will never get old - the ridiculous poses the Rangers do after they morph. More of this please. We also meet the actual monster - Bones, a skeleton. Who apparently controls a time warp and a dark dimension, yet notably not the same dark dimension that Tommy will... well, we'll get to Tommy eventually. We liked this monster though. Skeletons that can pull themselves back together are automatically awesome. Especially one who has his own henchman and secondary monster? Or did they just use a different costume after the monster grew? We weren't really sure, and honestly, neither of us cared enough to rewatch it.

Speaking of what happens when the monster grows - why did they only summon Tyrannosaurus? I mean, it was cool to watch Jason beat the monster by himself, but we miss the other Zords. Plus, as this is technically a Trini-centric episode, we feel that Trini should have been the one to beat the monster.

We do like the town getting to know the Rangers, but we wonder how Ernie knew they were called the Power Rangers. Does the theme music play during the actual battles? Or do the rangers hold press conferences?

Lastly, we think Zack is cruel scaring Trini up that rope. With friends like them, who needs enemies?



List time!
Ranger facts: Teleportation is only supposed to be used in an emergency. Excuse us while we FALL OVER LAUGHING.

Covered in food: None! But Bulk gets covered in the ceiling.

Billy speak: I finally completed a narrow beam transmission module that will allow wave function over an extended interval.
Trini translation: He's created a communication device using microwaves.

Billy speak: They respond to tactile pressure followed by auditory stimulus
Trini translation: So what you're saying is that we just touch and talk like this

Billy speak: "The neutrino power grid must have cross-molecularized."
Trini translation: Sorry, we didn't get one! How would you translate that?

Rating 3 fish. It would be 4, but we're giving it a pass since it's an early episode.