Episode 7- Big Sister

I strongly dislike this episode. It's horrible. It's a struggle to get through it. This episode contains some of the worst dubbing EVER. The plot is... um... well I'm sure it's there somewhere and I might be able to find it if only I could dig deep enough. Alas, I haven't the fortitude. As it is, TSB required a glass of wine and I downed an entire beer before we could watch this episode in it's entirety. We needed the alcohol to numb us.

We start the episode with Kim and Trini, atrociously dressed, looking frantically around the Youth Center for a little girl in pigtails. We learn she's twelve, named Maria, and part of a Big Sisters program for which Kim and Trini volunteered their time. Thankfully we get to be distracted from the blindingly bad clothing by Jason and Zack sparring. Jason's arms are dazzling and Zack is shirtless. It's so pretty we've decided Zack should have spent the rest of the series shirtless. That is one good looking young man.

We're then treated to the apparently hilarious sight of a group of teenage boys running out of the shower, soap in their hair and towels around their waists. Maria is laughing by the valve for the hot water, having shut it off to get Kim and Trini's attention. Why she needed to pull a prank (and way to be supportive and understanding, Rangers, laughing at the poor mostly naked boys) to get the attention of two teenagers who spent the past half hour looking for her, I'm not sure.

Rita has found the Power Eggs, some sort of weapon she's been looking for for all of ten seconds. She can't open the box, however, and needs a child. She commands Finster to make her a monster to kidnap a diabolic and mean child, and requests the Chunky Chicken. He does not even remotely resemble a tin of questionable meat, though that's all I can think of when he's on screen. Chunky Chicken. Bad name for a monster. Bad name for a food product at that.

Kim and Trini have taken the Not-A-Twelve-Year-Old to the park for a picnic. Kim has asked her about boys, apparently assuming all twelve year olds are interested in them (surprise surprise, they're not), when, oh no, they're attacked by putties! The Not-A-Twelve-Year-Old is not even the slightest bit scared and instead manages to get herself kidnapped. The girls race back to the Youth Center (why didn't they just use their communicators?) only to find Jason daring Zack to eat an enormous ice cream sundae. It was surprisingly typical behaviour for teenage boys and I'm amazed it made it into the episode. They hardly get a word in before the communicators start making an odd sound and we find out they're not working! We don't know why they're not working, and we never find out, but how very convenient for the plot.

I can forgive that, however, as we're introduced to the most awesome vehicle ever, the Radbug! Billy has been working on it in his garage for awhile as a surprise. We can only assume Trini, despite all the time spent at Billy's, did not know about it because Billy wanted to surprise her... in a very uncomfortable place. I also must mention that Trini, Jason, and Kim all fit in the back. Of a Volkswagon. In a very uncomfortable place, if you know what I mean. The Radbug gets our heroes to the Command Center in record time where we discover Zordon knows absolutely nothing about what's been going on. Zordon's observing skills really need some work. Zordon has been fearing Rita would find the Power Eggs for ten millennium, yet he didn't set up some kind of watch to see if she'd go after them? It took her all of ten seconds to find them... Zordon!fail.

The Rangers take the Radbug to the location of the Power Eggs and meet up with Goldar, Squat, Baboo, and the Tinned Meat Product. They morph, they fight, and then we see Rita flying on her bicycle! This whole episode could be worth it just because we get to see Rita on her bicycle. That's one classy villain. The Rangers call the Zords in the Longest. Summoning. Sequence. EVER. I think it took a quarter of the episode just to summon the Zords. The MegaZord catches Maria just as the Tinned Meat Product cuts the ropes that are dangling her over... somewhere. We can't help but cheer on the Tinned Meat Product. We don't particularly care what happens to Maria and the Bad Dubbing of Doom, despite Jason's creepy obsession with saving "the little girl". Billy summons the Radbug and it, like the true hero it is, saves the day by getting Bad-Dubbing-of-Doom Maria off our screen.

I must note that the Rangers talk to Maria while they are holding her in the MegaZords hands and she can clearly hear them. While doing so, they call each other BY NAME. Way to be discreet and protect your secret identities there, guys.

We are treated to the shortest fight scene ever and then back to the Youth Center. Mr. Reporter Guy is reporting on some environmentally conscious youths in the area when he interrupts the story to tell us the Power Rangers saved the day and rescued a little girl. Good job, Mr. Reporter Guy! Ernie then asks Kim to get his bowl of freshly made vegetarian chili, declares it on the house, and then a crowd convenes around Kim causing her to throw the chili. It lands, rather predictably, on Bulk in his only appearance in this episode.

And that's the end of that one, thank goodness. List time!

Billy speak: None really.
Covered with food: Bulk gets covered in vegetarian chili and the poor guy doesn't even get a line.

Rating: 4 fish. Were it not for the Radbug and Rita's bicycle, this would have been a 4.5 at the very least.