Episode 9- I, Eye Guy

Today we have a special Thursday episode of Power Rangers!

I will admit up front, I am heavily heavily Billy biased. He has been my favourite Ranger since the very first episode and the only other Ranger in the entire history of the show who comes close is Bridge (who comes very close indeed). I won't even try to keep that out of my recaps.

I'm very partial to this villain. Eye Guy was pretty cool, as far as villains go. He could separate his one weakness from himself and hide it for safe keeping, he could break into a million pieces and come back together over and over again, and he threw EYES at people. EYES. At people. Threw them. He's awesome.

We open onto the Cranston household outside shot. I love this shot. It's used over and over again in episode after episode, but it just makes me love the house even more. It's one of the few Ranger homes we ever see.

Billy is in the garage with a 12 year old boy. The Rangers seem to spend A LOT of time with 12 year old children. This is creepy and slightly disturbing, actually. Anyway, the boy is in overalls and blue. Mini!Billy is named Willy and they've been working on his science fair project. He's made a virtual reality machine which is actually really cool, especially for a kid and especially in the early 90's. Way to go, mini!Billy... I mean Willy. TSB is convinced Willy is actually a clone of Billy used in previous experiments. I am not so sure, but it's an interesting theory, so I'll go with it (and would love to read some fic!).

Mini!Billy takes the Rangers on a virtual roller coaster that Kim ruins by getting dizzy and making him stop, and Jason grabs hold of Billy affectionately out of surprise. Yes, I see slash in everything. We don't really know why all the Rangers are involved, but they are so we'll nod and smile and assume maybe it was just for testing purposes or moral support.

They head off to the fair and, partway there, are attacked by putties! Like a triceratops family, they shove the kid in the middle and circle around him. Zack calls to "protect the kid" and we get a moment of "awwww". We're impressed. The Rangers have coordinated moves, a plan of attack, and have obviously been practicing together. They're taking this seriously! Crisis averted, they beat back the putties and head off to the science fair.

It's in the Youth Center. I would have thought a school, but okay, whatever. Willy is concerned about his project, Billy gives him a pep talk, they do their awesome secret handshake (complete with overall strap pulling), and then Bulk and Skull show up. Skull covers his mouth lest he catch nerditis. I was beginning to have some negative feelings towards Bulk and Skull due to that little issue, but then the Rangers end up being horribly horribly cruel and, well, any poor feelings towards the "bullies" disappeared. Billy tells them an IQ is required to be at the science fair, Jason calls them cavemen while Zack grunts at them, and then the girls shove them into a makeover machine and they come out looking like girls while everybody laughs. They're all so mean, I just can't see how this is a good example for kids. I have kids and I would never ever condone my kids treating another person the way the Rangers treat Bulk and Skull.

Moving on. Willy is blamed for the ruckus, why we're not sure, but he is told he is disqualified and cannot be in the science fair. He runs off and Billy says he knows just how Willy feels. Frankly, I'm upset with Billy for this. It's Billy's fault the ruckus happened in the first place! Anyway, they suck at finding him and mini!Billy ends up being captured by Eye Guy. Awesome bad guy. Willy is trapped in an aerotrim (that spinny thing used at Space Camp). As soon as they suspect Rita is involved, their communicators beep and they go off to the Command Center. Once again, Zordon FAILS at monitoring the safety of Angel Grove.

The Rangers morph and go to fight Eye Guy. It doesn't seem likely they can beat him, however, since every time they think they've won, he just reassembles himself and gives them another beating! Zordon alerts them of the need to destroy the main eye and tells them where it's hidden. Billy goes off to find it and leaves the others to contend with Eye Guy, who is doing a good job of not losing.

Billy destroys the eye, the Megazord is called and destroys Eye Guy, and the Rangers go get Willy. We find it odd that Willy doesn't pick up that the voices behind the masks are the same people he's been hanging out with all day, Billy in particular. If Billy was around the 12 year old enough (creepy!) to help him build his VR machine, surely he knows what Billy's voice sounds like at this point. But we'll overlook that since we're it's obviously expected of us.

They get back to the science fair in time for the judge that disqualified Willy earlier to offer an apology, let him back in the fair, and give him the blue ribbon. Bulk and Skull then wander in wearing only towels and while I know I should comment on the partial nudity issue, I just can't pass up any opportunity to see Jason Narvy mostly devoid of clothing. They ask for their clothes back and the girls say they cleaned and sanitized them. They present Bulk and SKull with tiny miniature versions of their outfits. So they embarrass them, leave them naked, and then ruin their clothes. Way to be compassionate, Rangers!

We give this 2.5 fish simply because we cannot overlook just how exceptionally mean ALL the Rangers are in this episode. The episode actually follows moderate show continuity, what with having random adults blame kids for things they had nothing to do with, but the bully factor just can't be ignored.

Lists:
Nobody gets covered in food this time.

No Billy speak either! Not one bit of it. There is one line of Mini!Billy speak though, so we'll count it: "The quasitronic circuitry is acting up again causing the visual imagery to fade."