Since people are still having trouble posting comments to the blog, and we have basically no idea how to fix it, QueenRiley and I now have a livejournal community which can be found here.
We are also ranger_recaps on livejournal! Feel free to join the community and comment. We have almost all of the posts up now, and we should be finished with it tomorrow.
We're sorry for all the trouble with the comments. Seriously, blogspot. Fail harder, we dare you.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Episode 22 - The Trouble With Shellshock
Well, we thought about taking a week off after our Green With Evil marathon last weekend, but the Power Rangers compels us! This episode opens with a basketball game, as Zack and Tommy compete for Jason's affection. Or at least we're pretty sure that's what they're competing over. It might actually just be that the loser buys lunch, but we like our version better. We love that they're playing basketball! The boys all have really nice arms, and you know how we feel about that. And Zack's idea of trash talk is amazing.
While they play, Squatt shows up to monologue about how he and Baboo are going to make the most awesome monster ever to impress Rita. They're actually right! The monster they make is awesome. Not quite as awesome as Pudgy Pig or Terror Toad, but still great. It's a turtle with a traffic light stuck in it's neck, and it has a ton of wacky weapons, like a random hook, a baseball bat, and a cannon. They're making this monster in secret while Rita sleeps, although since she's snoring pretty loudly I don't know why they're so worried about accidentally waking her. Baboo says they should call the monster "Greta" or "Pitoush" (or at least we think that's what it says, it's unclear) but Squatt suggest Shellshock instead, and Baboo wisely listens to him.
Back at the basketball game, Bulk and Skull show up to taunt the Rangers, who have apparently decided to stop pretending to be nice to them, and instead just suggest they go back to the circus they came from. Skull wonders if the circus is actually in town, and Bulk tells him that they're being made fun of. A brief tussle ensues, and Skull and Bulk end up being thrown into the random hot dog cart and they end up covered in ketchup, mustard and relish, and even though Kimberly was the one to throw them into it, they're told that they need to pay for it, and seriously, why so mean to them? Tommy goes off to a martial arts class, and then Putties and Shellshock attack.
Really, Squatt and Baboo should make monsters more often, because Shellshock does really well. He hits Trini with a "Go Ray" which makes her run away from the battle. And then he shoots baseballs at the Rangers, before he hits Zack, Billy and Kimberly with a freeze ray, and they are turned into statues. Oddly, it looked like Jason was hit by the ray as well, but he appears to be fine. Zordon appears to actually be paying attention for once, as the team is teleported to the Command Center, where Zordon tells Jason that the only way to unfreeze the others is to get some random flower and he's already sent Trini on the quest. Wait, what? This is a brand new monster, how does Zordon know about the cure already? And when did he have time to tell Trini this at all? We call fish.
Goldar tells Squatt and Baboo that Rita will be pissed at them for creating a monster without permission, but when Rita wakes up she's proud that they managed to do so well. Jealous!Goldar is awesome. She immediately sends Shellshock back to Earth, having made it grow so that it can better trash Angel Grove. Even better, Shellshock makes a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles joke. Win.
While Jason goes to battle Shellshock on his own, Tommy is at the Youth Center showing off. Apparently "Class" was a codeword for "wanting to show off." He isn't wearing his communicator either, so he doesn't hear the cry for help. This will be consistent with Tommy's character, so we can't add fish for it.
Meanwhile, Trini is still searching for the random flower, and Zordon tells her he is sending her the Saber-Toothed Tiger Zord to help her, and all sense leaves this episode. Apparently the Zord gives her the ability to summon a flower? Or telekinesis? We really have no idea, except suddenly the flowers are in her hand. I hope it actually gives her telekinesis, that's the mutant power I would want if I could choose. Whatever it is, the Saber-Toothed Tiger Zord would be really useful around Mother's Day, because finding decent flowers is hard. Tommy is finally done showing off, so he answers his communicator and goes to join the battle, but almost immediately both zords get frozen by Shellshock. He's doing pretty well for himself!
But wait, the battle isn't over yet! Trini, who still can't stop jogging, leaps to the top of Shellshock's head and... shakes the pollen on it? Apparently allergies save the day, as the Zords and the other Rangers are all unfrozen, and Trini is no longer compelled to run. Jason shoots the monster once, and it explodes. We're not sure if we should give him the credit for blowing up the monster, or Trini, for covering it with pollen. I'm inclined to say Trini, because allergies suck.
Now that they've defeated the monster, Zack and Tommy still haven't figured out who gets to claim Jason for themselves, or who has to pay for lunch, so we return to the basketball game. There's some more trash talk, and Zack wins! He starts making fun of Tommy, but then Billy interferes, and QueenRiley starts squealing because Billy is going to play basketball. Billy unleashes the greatest trash talk ever ("It's time for my vernacular spectacular veracious(?) bodacious autophonic morphinomic jam") and does a slam dunk, and the episode ends.
We have to go with 3.5 fish for this one. Okay, so the monster gets beaten by a pollen allergy, but that is still amazing. Most of the fish comes from the Saber-Toothed Tiger Zord helping summon the flower.
Covered in food: Bulk and Skull get covered in various hot dog related things.
Billy speak: Billy's awesome trash talk, as quoted above.
Questions that need to be answered: If the Saber-Toothed Tiger Zord lets you summon flowers, what do the spirits of the other Zords do?
While they play, Squatt shows up to monologue about how he and Baboo are going to make the most awesome monster ever to impress Rita. They're actually right! The monster they make is awesome. Not quite as awesome as Pudgy Pig or Terror Toad, but still great. It's a turtle with a traffic light stuck in it's neck, and it has a ton of wacky weapons, like a random hook, a baseball bat, and a cannon. They're making this monster in secret while Rita sleeps, although since she's snoring pretty loudly I don't know why they're so worried about accidentally waking her. Baboo says they should call the monster "Greta" or "Pitoush" (or at least we think that's what it says, it's unclear) but Squatt suggest Shellshock instead, and Baboo wisely listens to him.
Back at the basketball game, Bulk and Skull show up to taunt the Rangers, who have apparently decided to stop pretending to be nice to them, and instead just suggest they go back to the circus they came from. Skull wonders if the circus is actually in town, and Bulk tells him that they're being made fun of. A brief tussle ensues, and Skull and Bulk end up being thrown into the random hot dog cart and they end up covered in ketchup, mustard and relish, and even though Kimberly was the one to throw them into it, they're told that they need to pay for it, and seriously, why so mean to them? Tommy goes off to a martial arts class, and then Putties and Shellshock attack.
Really, Squatt and Baboo should make monsters more often, because Shellshock does really well. He hits Trini with a "Go Ray" which makes her run away from the battle. And then he shoots baseballs at the Rangers, before he hits Zack, Billy and Kimberly with a freeze ray, and they are turned into statues. Oddly, it looked like Jason was hit by the ray as well, but he appears to be fine. Zordon appears to actually be paying attention for once, as the team is teleported to the Command Center, where Zordon tells Jason that the only way to unfreeze the others is to get some random flower and he's already sent Trini on the quest. Wait, what? This is a brand new monster, how does Zordon know about the cure already? And when did he have time to tell Trini this at all? We call fish.
Goldar tells Squatt and Baboo that Rita will be pissed at them for creating a monster without permission, but when Rita wakes up she's proud that they managed to do so well. Jealous!Goldar is awesome. She immediately sends Shellshock back to Earth, having made it grow so that it can better trash Angel Grove. Even better, Shellshock makes a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles joke. Win.
While Jason goes to battle Shellshock on his own, Tommy is at the Youth Center showing off. Apparently "Class" was a codeword for "wanting to show off." He isn't wearing his communicator either, so he doesn't hear the cry for help. This will be consistent with Tommy's character, so we can't add fish for it.
Meanwhile, Trini is still searching for the random flower, and Zordon tells her he is sending her the Saber-Toothed Tiger Zord to help her, and all sense leaves this episode. Apparently the Zord gives her the ability to summon a flower? Or telekinesis? We really have no idea, except suddenly the flowers are in her hand. I hope it actually gives her telekinesis, that's the mutant power I would want if I could choose. Whatever it is, the Saber-Toothed Tiger Zord would be really useful around Mother's Day, because finding decent flowers is hard. Tommy is finally done showing off, so he answers his communicator and goes to join the battle, but almost immediately both zords get frozen by Shellshock. He's doing pretty well for himself!
But wait, the battle isn't over yet! Trini, who still can't stop jogging, leaps to the top of Shellshock's head and... shakes the pollen on it? Apparently allergies save the day, as the Zords and the other Rangers are all unfrozen, and Trini is no longer compelled to run. Jason shoots the monster once, and it explodes. We're not sure if we should give him the credit for blowing up the monster, or Trini, for covering it with pollen. I'm inclined to say Trini, because allergies suck.
Now that they've defeated the monster, Zack and Tommy still haven't figured out who gets to claim Jason for themselves, or who has to pay for lunch, so we return to the basketball game. There's some more trash talk, and Zack wins! He starts making fun of Tommy, but then Billy interferes, and QueenRiley starts squealing because Billy is going to play basketball. Billy unleashes the greatest trash talk ever ("It's time for my vernacular spectacular veracious(?) bodacious autophonic morphinomic jam") and does a slam dunk, and the episode ends.
We have to go with 3.5 fish for this one. Okay, so the monster gets beaten by a pollen allergy, but that is still amazing. Most of the fish comes from the Saber-Toothed Tiger Zord helping summon the flower.
Covered in food: Bulk and Skull get covered in various hot dog related things.
Billy speak: Billy's awesome trash talk, as quoted above.
Questions that need to be answered: If the Saber-Toothed Tiger Zord lets you summon flowers, what do the spirits of the other Zords do?
FYI - comments
Apparently something got reset on the blog, and it was preventing people from commenting. I think we've fixed it now. Sorry about that!
ETA: If you're still having trouble commenting, go down to where it says select profile and choose whichever option you want to use! You can comment anonymously, although we hope you sign something so we know how to reply to you, or you can choose name/url and then you can just put in whatever you'd like to use. We really have no idea what's up with blogspot and why it's being so difficult.
If you're still having trouble, feel free to contact me at thesecondbatgirl @ gmail dot com
ETA: If you're still having trouble commenting, go down to where it says select profile and choose whichever option you want to use! You can comment anonymously, although we hope you sign something so we know how to reply to you, or you can choose name/url and then you can just put in whatever you'd like to use. We really have no idea what's up with blogspot and why it's being so difficult.
If you're still having trouble, feel free to contact me at thesecondbatgirl @ gmail dot com
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Episode 21 - Green With Evil Part 5 - Breaking the Spell
Seriously, internets, we've been doing this for over five hours now, and we are exhausted. There are only so many fish you can take in one day. Really.
This episode opens with a recap of yes, Tommy is the Green Ranger. Everyone is horrified. We are confused by this, because it isn't like Tommy is actually their friend! They've only known him for two days, and he's been a jackass to them for most of it. But apparently it is nearly enough to make them give up. Somehow Alpha talks them out of it, and they are reminded they are heroes, and that they need to stop Rita from blowing up the Command Center again or taking over the world, not necessarily in that order.
Meanwhile, Rita is having a party on the moon. Rita is amazing. Somehow, footage of this party is shown on tv at the Youth Center, which is in perfect shape and has a crowd, so I guess the people of Angel Grove decided not to abandon the city after all. Ernie tells Kimberly that he's glad the Power Rangers are there, while Bulk and Skull say that people should be thanking them because they helped distract the monsters. We're pretty sure this is going to lead to the first shift in Bulk and Skull's personalities - instead of just being bullies, they are now going to try to be famous. It's a start, and we're glad they're getting some character development.
Kimberly goes and confronts Tommy in the middle of the Youth Center, because that is totally what you should do with an evil Ranger. We're not sure that Kimberly actually understands the concept of under a spell, because telling Tommy that Rita is evil is really not going to help. He knows that, it's part of the spell. SERIOUSLY. Also, major secret identity fail, because they're having this conversation in public, and you would think that someone would react badly in the middle of a crisis situation to hearing someone say that Rita was their empress.
Back at the Command Center, Alpha enters four random digits, which apparently solves all of their problems. Why it took so long to figure that out, we don't know. Kimberly complains to Billy, Zack and Jason about how Tommy really is under a spell, and they all sound really confused, and we are rapidly losing patience with them. Trini runs over to tell them that a monster is attacking, and apparently the show has forgotten that the communicators were fixed.
As we cue a long montage of the sheer awesome that is the Dragon Zord, Zordon comes back and says that the Zords are totally fine, and by the way all you have to do is break Tommy's sword. Seriously? They go, there's a battle, Jason finally gets his hands on Tommy, or rather on the dragonzord as they toss the zord through a mountain. Jason yells at Tommy to watch out, that he's going down, and our minds went firmly to the gutter. Look, we're both adults, but we never said we were particularly mature. Really, this entire miniseries should be subtitled the Jason/Tommy epic. We'd watch that.
Jason jumps out of the megazord and he and Tommy fight, and then Jason shoots the sword of darkness and Tommy demorphs and now everyone really is BFF. Jason tells Tommy it's okay and he's not evil anymore, and he's welcome to the team and all is forgiven. They morph again, and we're suddenly stuck in an episode of Sailor Moon, with everyone yelling about how they're going to defeat the powers of evil. For some reason they form the DragonZord in fighting mode which looks awesome, but we're not really sure WHY they're doing it.
They go back to the Command Center, where we find out there's a prophecy about the six rangers, and look, show, you are DOING IT WRONG. What prophecy? You cannot just dump a prophecy on us with no explanation! We are FRUSTRATED. Anyway, Zordon reiterates the three rules of being a Ranger, Billy gives Tommy a communicator, and they do the cheeziest jump into the air thing ever. All is well.
This episode gets four fish, because everything is fixed up really easily and basically deus ex machina solves everything.
Fic people should write us: How does Tommy get introduced to the citizens of Angel Grove as a good guy now? Do people just accept the new Green Ranger or what?
This episode opens with a recap of yes, Tommy is the Green Ranger. Everyone is horrified. We are confused by this, because it isn't like Tommy is actually their friend! They've only known him for two days, and he's been a jackass to them for most of it. But apparently it is nearly enough to make them give up. Somehow Alpha talks them out of it, and they are reminded they are heroes, and that they need to stop Rita from blowing up the Command Center again or taking over the world, not necessarily in that order.
Meanwhile, Rita is having a party on the moon. Rita is amazing. Somehow, footage of this party is shown on tv at the Youth Center, which is in perfect shape and has a crowd, so I guess the people of Angel Grove decided not to abandon the city after all. Ernie tells Kimberly that he's glad the Power Rangers are there, while Bulk and Skull say that people should be thanking them because they helped distract the monsters. We're pretty sure this is going to lead to the first shift in Bulk and Skull's personalities - instead of just being bullies, they are now going to try to be famous. It's a start, and we're glad they're getting some character development.
Kimberly goes and confronts Tommy in the middle of the Youth Center, because that is totally what you should do with an evil Ranger. We're not sure that Kimberly actually understands the concept of under a spell, because telling Tommy that Rita is evil is really not going to help. He knows that, it's part of the spell. SERIOUSLY. Also, major secret identity fail, because they're having this conversation in public, and you would think that someone would react badly in the middle of a crisis situation to hearing someone say that Rita was their empress.
Back at the Command Center, Alpha enters four random digits, which apparently solves all of their problems. Why it took so long to figure that out, we don't know. Kimberly complains to Billy, Zack and Jason about how Tommy really is under a spell, and they all sound really confused, and we are rapidly losing patience with them. Trini runs over to tell them that a monster is attacking, and apparently the show has forgotten that the communicators were fixed.
As we cue a long montage of the sheer awesome that is the Dragon Zord, Zordon comes back and says that the Zords are totally fine, and by the way all you have to do is break Tommy's sword. Seriously? They go, there's a battle, Jason finally gets his hands on Tommy, or rather on the dragonzord as they toss the zord through a mountain. Jason yells at Tommy to watch out, that he's going down, and our minds went firmly to the gutter. Look, we're both adults, but we never said we were particularly mature. Really, this entire miniseries should be subtitled the Jason/Tommy epic. We'd watch that.
Jason jumps out of the megazord and he and Tommy fight, and then Jason shoots the sword of darkness and Tommy demorphs and now everyone really is BFF. Jason tells Tommy it's okay and he's not evil anymore, and he's welcome to the team and all is forgiven. They morph again, and we're suddenly stuck in an episode of Sailor Moon, with everyone yelling about how they're going to defeat the powers of evil. For some reason they form the DragonZord in fighting mode which looks awesome, but we're not really sure WHY they're doing it.
They go back to the Command Center, where we find out there's a prophecy about the six rangers, and look, show, you are DOING IT WRONG. What prophecy? You cannot just dump a prophecy on us with no explanation! We are FRUSTRATED. Anyway, Zordon reiterates the three rules of being a Ranger, Billy gives Tommy a communicator, and they do the cheeziest jump into the air thing ever. All is well.
This episode gets four fish, because everything is fixed up really easily and basically deus ex machina solves everything.
Fic people should write us: How does Tommy get introduced to the citizens of Angel Grove as a good guy now? Do people just accept the new Green Ranger or what?
Episode 20- Green With Evil Part 4- Eclipsing Megazord
I'm still not entirely sure what was going on in this episode. I'll do my best for you loyal readers but if it doesn't make much sense, don't blame me. Blame the writers of the episode. I... don't even know.
Okay, so the Rangers are wondering if Goldar attacking is a trap. Well duh. They try to morph but can't. Lots of sparks and small explosions and the Command Center powers down. Apparently they overloaded the system and broke the Morphin Grid. Yeah...
But no worries! Billy can fix it. Somehow. Something about connecting two positive electrodes and we're rather forcibly reminding of the whole "negative proton molecules" reason for Billy not taking the Gold Ranger powers in Zeo (which I know is in the future, but it all kind of molds together in my head in some sort of wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey thing). So Billy fixes the morphin grid. It makes no sense whatsoever but I'm totally stoked that BILLY fixed the fracking MORPHIN GRID. He's awesome.
Scorpina then kicks major tail in an awesome battle where she just rules. She is seriously powerful. The Rangers, now morphed thanks to the awesomeness of Billy fixing the Morphin Grid, are scattered like little flies at Scorpina's force. Goldar, giant sized, tries to step on them, but fails. For some reason, with all the ground shaking and monster fighting going on, Bulk and Skull steal a bus from the Youth Center parking lot and drive straight towards the battle. Apparently they were trying to get away but, um, yeah.
Tommy ends up in the Command Center again while Alpha is distracted trying to get Zordon back. Tommy breaks him again by... pulling a tab on his back? Really? Okay.
Rita joins the fight with the Rangers by taunting them while flying on her awesome bicycle. Even better, she calls Jason by name. Aw. Meanwhile, Goldar picks up the bus and tells the Rangers their little friends Bulk and Skull are in there. He's having fun with them. Bulk and Skull, not so much. Goldar puts them down on the edge of a cliff and, though the wheels aren't even over, Kim becomes frightened and worried they'll "go over any second".
Back at the Command Center, Alpha recovers with the aide of his backup system and encases the Green Ranger in a force field. He gets Zordon back and I'm still scratching my head. Backup system? What happened to it last time? Deus ex machina shows up in this episode as if it multiplies like bunnies.
Back at the fight, the Rangers get in the MegaZord and manage to catch the bus before it falls off the cliff. Y'know, the cliff it wasn't even really hanging over in the first place. Instead of placing it safely on the ground or on the road home, they put it back on the cliff. Good thinking there, guys.
Rita sets her plan in motion and a solar eclipse starts. The MegaZord quickly loses power. Because it's powered by the sun apparently. Or so this episode says. The MegaZord is then attacked by both Giant Goldar and Giant Scorpina and continues to lose power as the moon continues to eclipse the sun. But wait! There is hope! The Deus Ex Machina offspring, I mean, The Power Sword can restore power to the power cells! Okay then.
Back at the Command Center, Tommy is snarking hard core at Zordon and Alpha. I mean, seriously, wow is he ever snarky and sarcastic and just an all around pain in the rear. He's awesome when he's evil though. Zordon tells Alpha to demorph him so they can find out who is behind the Green Ranger but he magically teleports himself out of the force field and away from the Command Center. I have no idea how. It is not explained, it just happens.
He grows super big and attacks the Rangers too! So now they are being electrocuted by Giant Scorpina's tail, beaten up by Giant Goldar, and battered around by Giant Green Ranger. All while losing power. And trying to fight back with the Power Sword. And restore their own power with the Power Sword. It's not working, though, and they use the last of the juice only to be smacked down, force demorphed, and watch their Zords get eaten by a volcano. Shouldn't Kim's pteradactyl be immune to that though? I mean, when she summons it, the darn thing flies right out of an erupting volcano. You'd think it would handle the lava just fine.
They make it back to the Command Center and talk about giving up. Jason gives a pretty good motivational speech for a leader of few words and Zack tells him to give it up anyway. Then Zordon reveals they have the identity of the Green Ranger. Apparently Alpha scanned his interspacial bio vibrations while he was in the force field. I... I don't even know. I have no explanation for that. I had to move on before I injured my brain trying to puzzle it out.
Everyone is shocked to learn that Tommy is the Green Ranger and then we get the dreaded To Be Continued screen of blackness.
And I still don't know what happened in that episode.
List? Yes, let's, shall we?
5 fish. I just... there is no way it's any less. Billy fixes the morphin grid (which is awesome, but really?). Teleporting out of force fields? Interspacial bio vibrations? Zords being eaten by a volcano? I just... no. There is no way this is anything but 5 fish.
Nobody is covered in food and there is no Billy speak to mention.
Okay, so the Rangers are wondering if Goldar attacking is a trap. Well duh. They try to morph but can't. Lots of sparks and small explosions and the Command Center powers down. Apparently they overloaded the system and broke the Morphin Grid. Yeah...
But no worries! Billy can fix it. Somehow. Something about connecting two positive electrodes and we're rather forcibly reminding of the whole "negative proton molecules" reason for Billy not taking the Gold Ranger powers in Zeo (which I know is in the future, but it all kind of molds together in my head in some sort of wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey thing). So Billy fixes the morphin grid. It makes no sense whatsoever but I'm totally stoked that BILLY fixed the fracking MORPHIN GRID. He's awesome.
Scorpina then kicks major tail in an awesome battle where she just rules. She is seriously powerful. The Rangers, now morphed thanks to the awesomeness of Billy fixing the Morphin Grid, are scattered like little flies at Scorpina's force. Goldar, giant sized, tries to step on them, but fails. For some reason, with all the ground shaking and monster fighting going on, Bulk and Skull steal a bus from the Youth Center parking lot and drive straight towards the battle. Apparently they were trying to get away but, um, yeah.
Tommy ends up in the Command Center again while Alpha is distracted trying to get Zordon back. Tommy breaks him again by... pulling a tab on his back? Really? Okay.
Rita joins the fight with the Rangers by taunting them while flying on her awesome bicycle. Even better, she calls Jason by name. Aw. Meanwhile, Goldar picks up the bus and tells the Rangers their little friends Bulk and Skull are in there. He's having fun with them. Bulk and Skull, not so much. Goldar puts them down on the edge of a cliff and, though the wheels aren't even over, Kim becomes frightened and worried they'll "go over any second".
Back at the Command Center, Alpha recovers with the aide of his backup system and encases the Green Ranger in a force field. He gets Zordon back and I'm still scratching my head. Backup system? What happened to it last time? Deus ex machina shows up in this episode as if it multiplies like bunnies.
Back at the fight, the Rangers get in the MegaZord and manage to catch the bus before it falls off the cliff. Y'know, the cliff it wasn't even really hanging over in the first place. Instead of placing it safely on the ground or on the road home, they put it back on the cliff. Good thinking there, guys.
Rita sets her plan in motion and a solar eclipse starts. The MegaZord quickly loses power. Because it's powered by the sun apparently. Or so this episode says. The MegaZord is then attacked by both Giant Goldar and Giant Scorpina and continues to lose power as the moon continues to eclipse the sun. But wait! There is hope! The Deus Ex Machina offspring, I mean, The Power Sword can restore power to the power cells! Okay then.
Back at the Command Center, Tommy is snarking hard core at Zordon and Alpha. I mean, seriously, wow is he ever snarky and sarcastic and just an all around pain in the rear. He's awesome when he's evil though. Zordon tells Alpha to demorph him so they can find out who is behind the Green Ranger but he magically teleports himself out of the force field and away from the Command Center. I have no idea how. It is not explained, it just happens.
He grows super big and attacks the Rangers too! So now they are being electrocuted by Giant Scorpina's tail, beaten up by Giant Goldar, and battered around by Giant Green Ranger. All while losing power. And trying to fight back with the Power Sword. And restore their own power with the Power Sword. It's not working, though, and they use the last of the juice only to be smacked down, force demorphed, and watch their Zords get eaten by a volcano. Shouldn't Kim's pteradactyl be immune to that though? I mean, when she summons it, the darn thing flies right out of an erupting volcano. You'd think it would handle the lava just fine.
They make it back to the Command Center and talk about giving up. Jason gives a pretty good motivational speech for a leader of few words and Zack tells him to give it up anyway. Then Zordon reveals they have the identity of the Green Ranger. Apparently Alpha scanned his interspacial bio vibrations while he was in the force field. I... I don't even know. I have no explanation for that. I had to move on before I injured my brain trying to puzzle it out.
Everyone is shocked to learn that Tommy is the Green Ranger and then we get the dreaded To Be Continued screen of blackness.
And I still don't know what happened in that episode.
List? Yes, let's, shall we?
5 fish. I just... there is no way it's any less. Billy fixes the morphin grid (which is awesome, but really?). Teleporting out of force fields? Interspacial bio vibrations? Zords being eaten by a volcano? I just... no. There is no way this is anything but 5 fish.
Nobody is covered in food and there is no Billy speak to mention.
Episode 19 - Green With Evil Part 3 - The Rescue
Previously, on Power Rangers. Tommy is evil. Goldar is trying to kill Jason.
Villains on this show have a serious problem with monologuing. We get it, Goldar, you want to taunt Jason about how you're going to kill him. Stop, alright? Also, waving your sword around like that has some symbolism we're not quite sure the show intended, but we still would like some fanfic. Jason manages to escape certain death by rolling out of the way and hiding in the smoke, although we don't know what took him so long.
Rita has decided that she doesn't have quite enough minions, so she's going to bring in Scorpina. This is awesome! We love Scorpina. Okay, the reason I love Scorpina is because she totally asks Adam to the Sadie Hawkins Dance far in the future, but I would probably like the character anyway. Scorpina has apparently been trapped in a pulsating rock that is covered with scorpions for the last 10,000 years, but we're glad to see her.
Meanwhile, the Rangers are still trying to find Zordon, but they fail. The Command Center keeps losing power, and Billy keeps saying things that are vaguely technical but aren't quite up to anything that we can term Billy speak, which is sad. I guess that Kimberly finally got to him. Jason is still missing, and they're getting concerned, so they go look for him.
Apparently go look for him is code for Kimberly going to the Youth Center to ask Ernie if she's seen Jason. He hasn't, and he wonders if Jason is okay. Bulk and Skull volunteer to help Kimberly look, and they promise they'll work cheap, for kisses. Kimberly agrees, and Ernie stares at her like she's lost her mind, and Kimberly tells Skull to close his eyes. He puckers up, leans in, Kimberly moves out of the way and Skull kisses Bulk on the cheek. I'm torn on my reaction to this. First, I do ship Bulk/Skull. But the fact that both boys act totally disgusted by the kiss bothers me. I mean, it is in character for Bulk and Skull, but I really hate the idea of modeling to tiny children that kissing someone of the same gender is disgusting.
Kimberly bumps into Tommy, and asks him if he's seen Jason. He says that Jason was supposed to show up at school to meet him (and I'm still unclear as to when they actually set up this meeting) but Jason never made it. He continues to mock Kimberly, and she looks really hurt. Zack shows up, and Tommy blows them both off, and Zack asks what's with him, to which Kimberly replies that Tommy is acting really strangely.
Which... look, Kimberly. You had all of one conversation with Tommy before he was placed under the spell. You really have no basis for comparison. I'm not quite sure why Kimberly thinks that she knows him based off a three minute conversation when everything since then has been him treating her horribly, and the whole thing really bothers me.
Zack also says that he knows that Jason was at school, so they decide to go chase down Tommy and ask him about it. Apparently he's made it all the way to the park at this point, and the two Rangers are immediately set upon by putties. They fight and win, and then in a conversation that makes absolutely no sense, they wonder why Tommy wasn't attacked. Well, Tommy isn't a Ranger as far as they know, so if it was a choice between attacking a civilian or trying to kill them, who do they THINK Rita would pick? Internal logic FAIL. I'm not sure why this is supposed to be suspicious, but they think it is. I blame the school system.
Goldar is going around through the smoke, trying to stab Jason, who he can't locate. Jason finally gets up, and lets out a yell, which totally defeats the purpose of a surprise attack, and then he nearly gets his ass kicked again. Evil Green Ranger shows up and tells Goldar that now Jason is his toy, so Goldar should go and play with Scorpina. Not in those exact words, but that's the implication anyway. Jason tries to tell Tommy that if he's a true ranger, he'll join them because Rita is evil. Seriously, Tommy had to be rolling his eyes at that, since his response is basically "So am I." Jason gets knocked back down to the ground, and he's about to get skewered, when Billy manages to teleport him out. It's a really good thing that the villains on the show like to talk, because otherwise Jason would be dead.
Goldar yells at Tommy for taking too long to kill Jason, and confines him to the Dark Dimension, while the Rangers discuss what's going on. Apparently Jason has a lot to tell them about the Green Ranger, including that he's "one mean fighter." We'd be surprised that it took this long to figure that out, but they aren't very smart.
Scorpina is attacking the warehouse district of Angel Grove, and how much do we love that Angel Grove has a warehouse district? We assume the insurance companies set it up so that something relatively inexpensive would get destroyed. For some reason Goldar pulls Scorpina out of the fight, even though she's winning, and all of the minions have a giant argument over who should get to defeat the Rangers. We aren't sure why Rita doesn't just send all of them, but apparently that doesn't occur to her. Rita is apparently preparing for a final battle, where she'll cause an eclipse to block the solar power of the Megazord. Huh? What? The Megazord is powered by the sun? Why doesn't she just attack at night then?
As Scorpina was teleported out, the Rangers regroup in the Command Center again, and they still can't get a lock on Zordon. The episode ends with us discovering that Goldar has attacked the downtown area, and the team wonders if it's a trap. Gee, I wonder?
Fish: 3.5 At this point, they're just introducing random elements and seeing what sticks. Some of the elements are more ridiculous than others.
Billy speak: We're worried we're going to have to abandon this category, because while Billy is still using a large vocabulary, it's stopped requiring translations.
Fanfic people should write us: Goldar/Jason. Also, Goldar/Scorpina who totally have a thing. Oh, and why does Angel Grove have a warehouse district?
Villains on this show have a serious problem with monologuing. We get it, Goldar, you want to taunt Jason about how you're going to kill him. Stop, alright? Also, waving your sword around like that has some symbolism we're not quite sure the show intended, but we still would like some fanfic. Jason manages to escape certain death by rolling out of the way and hiding in the smoke, although we don't know what took him so long.
Rita has decided that she doesn't have quite enough minions, so she's going to bring in Scorpina. This is awesome! We love Scorpina. Okay, the reason I love Scorpina is because she totally asks Adam to the Sadie Hawkins Dance far in the future, but I would probably like the character anyway. Scorpina has apparently been trapped in a pulsating rock that is covered with scorpions for the last 10,000 years, but we're glad to see her.
Meanwhile, the Rangers are still trying to find Zordon, but they fail. The Command Center keeps losing power, and Billy keeps saying things that are vaguely technical but aren't quite up to anything that we can term Billy speak, which is sad. I guess that Kimberly finally got to him. Jason is still missing, and they're getting concerned, so they go look for him.
Apparently go look for him is code for Kimberly going to the Youth Center to ask Ernie if she's seen Jason. He hasn't, and he wonders if Jason is okay. Bulk and Skull volunteer to help Kimberly look, and they promise they'll work cheap, for kisses. Kimberly agrees, and Ernie stares at her like she's lost her mind, and Kimberly tells Skull to close his eyes. He puckers up, leans in, Kimberly moves out of the way and Skull kisses Bulk on the cheek. I'm torn on my reaction to this. First, I do ship Bulk/Skull. But the fact that both boys act totally disgusted by the kiss bothers me. I mean, it is in character for Bulk and Skull, but I really hate the idea of modeling to tiny children that kissing someone of the same gender is disgusting.
Kimberly bumps into Tommy, and asks him if he's seen Jason. He says that Jason was supposed to show up at school to meet him (and I'm still unclear as to when they actually set up this meeting) but Jason never made it. He continues to mock Kimberly, and she looks really hurt. Zack shows up, and Tommy blows them both off, and Zack asks what's with him, to which Kimberly replies that Tommy is acting really strangely.
Which... look, Kimberly. You had all of one conversation with Tommy before he was placed under the spell. You really have no basis for comparison. I'm not quite sure why Kimberly thinks that she knows him based off a three minute conversation when everything since then has been him treating her horribly, and the whole thing really bothers me.
Zack also says that he knows that Jason was at school, so they decide to go chase down Tommy and ask him about it. Apparently he's made it all the way to the park at this point, and the two Rangers are immediately set upon by putties. They fight and win, and then in a conversation that makes absolutely no sense, they wonder why Tommy wasn't attacked. Well, Tommy isn't a Ranger as far as they know, so if it was a choice between attacking a civilian or trying to kill them, who do they THINK Rita would pick? Internal logic FAIL. I'm not sure why this is supposed to be suspicious, but they think it is. I blame the school system.
Goldar is going around through the smoke, trying to stab Jason, who he can't locate. Jason finally gets up, and lets out a yell, which totally defeats the purpose of a surprise attack, and then he nearly gets his ass kicked again. Evil Green Ranger shows up and tells Goldar that now Jason is his toy, so Goldar should go and play with Scorpina. Not in those exact words, but that's the implication anyway. Jason tries to tell Tommy that if he's a true ranger, he'll join them because Rita is evil. Seriously, Tommy had to be rolling his eyes at that, since his response is basically "So am I." Jason gets knocked back down to the ground, and he's about to get skewered, when Billy manages to teleport him out. It's a really good thing that the villains on the show like to talk, because otherwise Jason would be dead.
Goldar yells at Tommy for taking too long to kill Jason, and confines him to the Dark Dimension, while the Rangers discuss what's going on. Apparently Jason has a lot to tell them about the Green Ranger, including that he's "one mean fighter." We'd be surprised that it took this long to figure that out, but they aren't very smart.
Scorpina is attacking the warehouse district of Angel Grove, and how much do we love that Angel Grove has a warehouse district? We assume the insurance companies set it up so that something relatively inexpensive would get destroyed. For some reason Goldar pulls Scorpina out of the fight, even though she's winning, and all of the minions have a giant argument over who should get to defeat the Rangers. We aren't sure why Rita doesn't just send all of them, but apparently that doesn't occur to her. Rita is apparently preparing for a final battle, where she'll cause an eclipse to block the solar power of the Megazord. Huh? What? The Megazord is powered by the sun? Why doesn't she just attack at night then?
As Scorpina was teleported out, the Rangers regroup in the Command Center again, and they still can't get a lock on Zordon. The episode ends with us discovering that Goldar has attacked the downtown area, and the team wonders if it's a trap. Gee, I wonder?
Fish: 3.5 At this point, they're just introducing random elements and seeing what sticks. Some of the elements are more ridiculous than others.
Billy speak: We're worried we're going to have to abandon this category, because while Billy is still using a large vocabulary, it's stopped requiring translations.
Fanfic people should write us: Goldar/Jason. Also, Goldar/Scorpina who totally have a thing. Oh, and why does Angel Grove have a warehouse district?
Episode 18- Green With Evil Part 2- Jason's Battle
I'll be the first to admit, this is the only storyline involving Tommy I actually like. But this episode? It has some glaring issues.
We start out in the Command Center with Jason ranting about the Green Ranger and wanting to get his hands on him. He says that a lot, actually. Euphemism? The world may never know.
Billy is using something large, silver, and flashy in an attempt to fix Alpha. Poor Alpha's back is open and all his wires are exposed. Trini is concerned but Billy assures her Alpha feels no pain. They switch tactics and suddenly Alpha is fixed. Billy used a subatomic manipulator. Why that fixed fried circuits we don't know. Kim looks concerned from the sidelines and Zack either hugs her, cops a feel, or does both. It's too dark to tell.
We then see Tommy in an alley looking evil. Bulk and Skull stumble upon him and decide he needs to be taught a lesson. They ran away terrified at school, but somehow going after him in an alley is less scary? Bulk says nobody insults him, but we figure that can't be right as the Rangers insult him all the time without retaliation. Tommy scares them once again and they get tossed in a dumpster. Tommy, glowing green eyes and shooting lasers is really not the way to keep your secret identity, y'know, secret. Now, we're not sure why he even needs to keep his identity a secret, but Rita commanded it and so he does. It doesn't make much sense, and he kind of fails at doing it anyway, but there you have it.
Jason and Zack spend some time with a punching bag in the Youth Center and I am momentarily distracted by Jason's arms. He has really really nice arms. Soooo pretty. Anyway, moving on, I tune back in and realize they are talking about Zordon in the middle of the Youth Center. Really guys? There are other people around and they can hear you. It is decided that the Green Ranger MAY BE working for Rita... maybe. I want to slam my head against a brick wall. These are supposed to be intelligent people. I don't get how they only now came to this conclusion. Must be the appalling lack of quality education in Angel Grove again. Once again Jason wants to get his hands on the Green Ranger. Get a new euphemism, Jason. This one is already getting old.
At school, Kim approaches Tommy to find out why he stood her up. She's all sweet about it and he's really cruel to her. Poor girl runs off nearly in tears, but I have to give her a lot of credit for getting a dig in at him before she left. Good girl.
We then learn Tommy must pass a test. Rita has a weapon for him, the Sword of Darkness. She pinched it off Zordon ages ago and has been waiting for the right person to wield it. It will also keep Tommy under her spell because apparently she can't do that herself. Tommy, in a ridiculous shirt made of green netting, goes to take his test on the beach. His test is... he must beat some putties. That's it. Just a small handful, four or five, of putties. Not that he hasn't already handled four putties on his own or anything. Obviously he passes the test with flying colours and is welcomed to the club of evil. Literally, welcomed, with the line "Welcome to the club, Bucko". Mmmkay.
Tommy ends up back in school where Jason has been wandering the halls searching for him. Finally finding him on the steps, he regretfully informs Tommy he cannot work out with him that afternoon as promised, that something important had come up. Tommy says it's fine, he understands, in a very wispy not-at-all serious voice. Jason apparently can't read body language, however, and turns to walk away. Tommy's eyes glow green again and he shoots a really big beam of green light down the hallway, capturing Jason in a dark dimension. Nobody else seems to notice. Again, not really the best way to uphold that secret identity.
Jason can't make the communicator work. First of all, Billy hasn't fixed them yet, but beyond that, they just don't work in Rita's dark dimension. That's kind of a duh. I mean, what good would it do her if all her captives could contact their friends? He reaches for his morpher when he discovers Goldar in the cell with him, but his morpher is gone. Goldar has taken it. Where in those tight tight pants Jason was hiding his morpher, I'm not entirely sure. I'm assuming some kind of pocket dimension is involved.
Meanwhile, Zack and Kim are waiting at Billy's garage for Jason. He was supposed to meet them but hasn't shown up. Kim is very concerned and sitting on the Radbug waiting. Zack is relaxed and not at all worried. Instead of showing his concern for his missing friend when there is an evil Green Ranger running around trying to destroy you, Zack is confident that Jason is just fine and they should go to the Command Center without him. Kim finally caves and they leave in the Radbug.
Billy and Trini, still in the same clothes from the previous day, have almost finished putting the Command Center back together. It seems they worked all night and all through the school day. Poor guys, they must be exhausted! Nobody seems concerned for their well-being, however, and instead push Billy to fix more faster.
Back in the dark dimension, Goldar brings Jason to his knees. Literally. They battle some and we discover that Goldar is there because Rita gave Jason to him. Rita GAVE Jason to Goldar. I thought this was supposed to be a kids show (but now we both really want Jason/Goldar fic... we're so bad, we know).
Kim, Zack, and an exhausted Billy and Trini must morph and go fight once Billy gets the viewing globe functioning again and they discover the Green Ranger waiting for them. They kind of fail against him and so call their Zords. For some reason, the Tyrannosaurus shows up and they form the MegaZord. I don't know how or why. I was under the impression the Zords needed to be driven and, lacking the fifth member of the team, they would lack the fifth Zord. But whatever. Tommy at least attempts to fight the MegaZord on his own, without a Zord or growing or anything. He's got chutzpah, I'll give him that.
We end the episode in the dark dimension with Jason insulting Goldar, Goldar retorting with a painfully longer than necessary reply, and then Goldar knocking Jason down. Jason doesn't even try to get up while Goldar monologues and we get the To Be Continued. Ooooo ominous.
List!
This gets 4 fish because a lot of it didn't make sense. Billy and Trini single handedly fix the Command Center without sleeping, presumably eating, and while skipping school. Yet they appear to be perfectly happy and content to keep plugging away. Robots, or it doesn't make sense. There is also Zord formation without all team members, Jason's really bad euphemisms, Jason/Goldar non-con, and the disturbing lack of logic applied (or rather not, in this case) by all parties.
Billy speak: None of note
Covered in food: Bulk ends up with a banana peal on him in the dumpster, if that can really count.
We start out in the Command Center with Jason ranting about the Green Ranger and wanting to get his hands on him. He says that a lot, actually. Euphemism? The world may never know.
Billy is using something large, silver, and flashy in an attempt to fix Alpha. Poor Alpha's back is open and all his wires are exposed. Trini is concerned but Billy assures her Alpha feels no pain. They switch tactics and suddenly Alpha is fixed. Billy used a subatomic manipulator. Why that fixed fried circuits we don't know. Kim looks concerned from the sidelines and Zack either hugs her, cops a feel, or does both. It's too dark to tell.
We then see Tommy in an alley looking evil. Bulk and Skull stumble upon him and decide he needs to be taught a lesson. They ran away terrified at school, but somehow going after him in an alley is less scary? Bulk says nobody insults him, but we figure that can't be right as the Rangers insult him all the time without retaliation. Tommy scares them once again and they get tossed in a dumpster. Tommy, glowing green eyes and shooting lasers is really not the way to keep your secret identity, y'know, secret. Now, we're not sure why he even needs to keep his identity a secret, but Rita commanded it and so he does. It doesn't make much sense, and he kind of fails at doing it anyway, but there you have it.
Jason and Zack spend some time with a punching bag in the Youth Center and I am momentarily distracted by Jason's arms. He has really really nice arms. Soooo pretty. Anyway, moving on, I tune back in and realize they are talking about Zordon in the middle of the Youth Center. Really guys? There are other people around and they can hear you. It is decided that the Green Ranger MAY BE working for Rita... maybe. I want to slam my head against a brick wall. These are supposed to be intelligent people. I don't get how they only now came to this conclusion. Must be the appalling lack of quality education in Angel Grove again. Once again Jason wants to get his hands on the Green Ranger. Get a new euphemism, Jason. This one is already getting old.
At school, Kim approaches Tommy to find out why he stood her up. She's all sweet about it and he's really cruel to her. Poor girl runs off nearly in tears, but I have to give her a lot of credit for getting a dig in at him before she left. Good girl.
We then learn Tommy must pass a test. Rita has a weapon for him, the Sword of Darkness. She pinched it off Zordon ages ago and has been waiting for the right person to wield it. It will also keep Tommy under her spell because apparently she can't do that herself. Tommy, in a ridiculous shirt made of green netting, goes to take his test on the beach. His test is... he must beat some putties. That's it. Just a small handful, four or five, of putties. Not that he hasn't already handled four putties on his own or anything. Obviously he passes the test with flying colours and is welcomed to the club of evil. Literally, welcomed, with the line "Welcome to the club, Bucko". Mmmkay.
Tommy ends up back in school where Jason has been wandering the halls searching for him. Finally finding him on the steps, he regretfully informs Tommy he cannot work out with him that afternoon as promised, that something important had come up. Tommy says it's fine, he understands, in a very wispy not-at-all serious voice. Jason apparently can't read body language, however, and turns to walk away. Tommy's eyes glow green again and he shoots a really big beam of green light down the hallway, capturing Jason in a dark dimension. Nobody else seems to notice. Again, not really the best way to uphold that secret identity.
Jason can't make the communicator work. First of all, Billy hasn't fixed them yet, but beyond that, they just don't work in Rita's dark dimension. That's kind of a duh. I mean, what good would it do her if all her captives could contact their friends? He reaches for his morpher when he discovers Goldar in the cell with him, but his morpher is gone. Goldar has taken it. Where in those tight tight pants Jason was hiding his morpher, I'm not entirely sure. I'm assuming some kind of pocket dimension is involved.
Meanwhile, Zack and Kim are waiting at Billy's garage for Jason. He was supposed to meet them but hasn't shown up. Kim is very concerned and sitting on the Radbug waiting. Zack is relaxed and not at all worried. Instead of showing his concern for his missing friend when there is an evil Green Ranger running around trying to destroy you, Zack is confident that Jason is just fine and they should go to the Command Center without him. Kim finally caves and they leave in the Radbug.
Billy and Trini, still in the same clothes from the previous day, have almost finished putting the Command Center back together. It seems they worked all night and all through the school day. Poor guys, they must be exhausted! Nobody seems concerned for their well-being, however, and instead push Billy to fix more faster.
Back in the dark dimension, Goldar brings Jason to his knees. Literally. They battle some and we discover that Goldar is there because Rita gave Jason to him. Rita GAVE Jason to Goldar. I thought this was supposed to be a kids show (but now we both really want Jason/Goldar fic... we're so bad, we know).
Kim, Zack, and an exhausted Billy and Trini must morph and go fight once Billy gets the viewing globe functioning again and they discover the Green Ranger waiting for them. They kind of fail against him and so call their Zords. For some reason, the Tyrannosaurus shows up and they form the MegaZord. I don't know how or why. I was under the impression the Zords needed to be driven and, lacking the fifth member of the team, they would lack the fifth Zord. But whatever. Tommy at least attempts to fight the MegaZord on his own, without a Zord or growing or anything. He's got chutzpah, I'll give him that.
We end the episode in the dark dimension with Jason insulting Goldar, Goldar retorting with a painfully longer than necessary reply, and then Goldar knocking Jason down. Jason doesn't even try to get up while Goldar monologues and we get the To Be Continued. Ooooo ominous.
List!
This gets 4 fish because a lot of it didn't make sense. Billy and Trini single handedly fix the Command Center without sleeping, presumably eating, and while skipping school. Yet they appear to be perfectly happy and content to keep plugging away. Robots, or it doesn't make sense. There is also Zord formation without all team members, Jason's really bad euphemisms, Jason/Goldar non-con, and the disturbing lack of logic applied (or rather not, in this case) by all parties.
Billy speak: None of note
Covered in food: Bulk ends up with a banana peal on him in the dumpster, if that can really count.
Episode 17 - Green With Evil Part 1 - Out of Control
Good morning, internets! We are beginning our Saturday marathon of the Tommy introduction, Green With Evil, and we have to say, we are surprisingly low fish so far! I mean, look, even with our thoughts on Tommy we really do like this miniseries.
The saga begins at the Angel Grove Martial Arts Expo. We learn a few things here. First, Angel Grove has a really high teenage martial artist population. Second, apparently Jason has already been declared Angel Grove's finest. Third, even though Trini also loves martial arts, she isn't bothering to participate. Someone new has challenged Jason, so there will be a competition.
We observe the challenger, one Tommy oliver, who is wearing green, and is way cuter in this episode than I remember him being. Kimberly, in a sign of what is to come, immediately says that she thinks he's cute. Trini gets the most disgusted look on her face, and we proceed to the competition. Jason and Tommy are evenly matched, and it ends in a tie. Those were some pretty impressive moves, we've got to admit. Kimberly continues to drool over Tommy, and Trini tells her maybe they'll see him in school the next day, and he must be new. If Angel Grove is a city, why do they assume he goes to their high school? Or will go? Maybe he's just a challenger or he goes to another high school in the city? Who knows.
The next day Bulk and Skull show up at Kimberly's locker, and try to harass her into... letting Skull carry her books? She tells them to go away and is basically ignoring them. They try and continue to bother her, when Tommy shows up. Bulk and Skull threaten to teach Tommy a lesson, so Tommy... decides to show off some martial arts skills to scare them. If I was a brand new transfer student in a school, I'm sure that would make a great impression on the administration. More importantly, it's the start of Tommy showing up to protect "his" girls, even though they can usually handle themselves. We are supposed to think this is romantic, of course, but QueenRiley and I are just busy rolling our eyes. Kimberly asks Tommy out (which we do actually approve of even if we don't like Tommy - she likes him, so she goes for it, instead of hinting around for him to ask her out. Good for her) and they agree to meet at the Juice Bar after school.
After school, Tommy walks down an alley that is decidedly not the way to the juice bar, so I have to wonder if he was planning on skipping out on the date or what? Rita has decided that he would be her perfect Green Ranger, which leads us to question where she got a power coin from in the first place. She sends a squad of putties to attack him, and a pretty awesome fight scene follows. Unlike the Ranger's first fight, Tommy is able to handle himself, and even throws a garbage can lid like Captain America's shield. This is apparently enough to convince Rita, and she places him under a spell.
In the biggest piece of Zordon Fail of the series so far, Zordon tells Alpha to power down while he goes into a meditative state, leaving nobody to watch the Power Chamber. Tommy, as the Green Ranger, enters. He easily manages to break Alpha by slipping a disc with a computer virus into his back, and then he sets about destroying the Command Center and severing Zordon's connection with this dimension, although not before Zordon apparently recognizes Tommy. We also hear for the first time about the nobody without a power coin can enter the Command Center. Really? How did the Rangers get in the first time? Or is it just that Zordon can override it? Same with Alpha, he doesn't have one. Does the Command Center recognize robots? Because if not Rita should just send in a robot army or something.
Anyway, the Command Center is trashed, and Tommy does his evil laugh, and we return to look in on our heroes. Apparently the boys idea of a good time is waxing the Radbug. The Radbug IS awesome, we have to give them that. Zack even offers to show them something called the Zack Wax. Anyway, the girls show up and Kimberly is sad because Tommy ditched her. Technically, he does have a good excuse, what with the brainwashing and all. Alpha manages to page them, but he makes even less sense than usual, and they discover teleportation is down. So they decide to take the Radbug. It really IS the only way to fly.
Before I forget, I really think the costume designer on this show should have been fired. Jason's shirt is orange. And there is no excuse for Trini's outfit. NONE.
They are horrified to see the state the Command Center is in. Trini is almost crying. Billy removes the virus from Alpha, and apparently all is well with him. Except some of his memory banks are fried. Rita takes advantage of everything to send Goldar to destroy things, and Goldar yells about his Empress, Rita Revolta? I swear, that's what it sounds like, but her name is Rita Repulsa, so no idea what is up with that. The Rangers go and summon the Megazord to fight him, and then Tommy shows up and managed to go through a door in the Megazord's head and throws them all out of it? Why is there a door in the Megazord's head?
Anyway, even though Tommy was evenly matched with Jason earlier, he now manages to beat all the Rangers. He also has nifty energy ball creating powers, so apparently he's now Goku from Dragon Ball Z. They teleport back
to the Command Center in defeat, Alpha has further complications from the virus, and the episode ends with the Rangers realizing that things are just going to get worse, in what is an amazingly dark ending for a children's tv show. We're pretty impressed.
Lists!
2.5 fish. We have many nitpicks, but we didn't really call fish while we were watching. The biggest problem is how Tommy went from being evenly matched with Jason to being able to beat up all the Rangers. Of course, Tommy is also apparently better than world famous karate scientist from last episode.
Billy speak: The communicators! They're non-functional!
Fanfic that people should write us: How did Rita get the green coin anyway?
Covered in food: None! Amazing!
The saga begins at the Angel Grove Martial Arts Expo. We learn a few things here. First, Angel Grove has a really high teenage martial artist population. Second, apparently Jason has already been declared Angel Grove's finest. Third, even though Trini also loves martial arts, she isn't bothering to participate. Someone new has challenged Jason, so there will be a competition.
We observe the challenger, one Tommy oliver, who is wearing green, and is way cuter in this episode than I remember him being. Kimberly, in a sign of what is to come, immediately says that she thinks he's cute. Trini gets the most disgusted look on her face, and we proceed to the competition. Jason and Tommy are evenly matched, and it ends in a tie. Those were some pretty impressive moves, we've got to admit. Kimberly continues to drool over Tommy, and Trini tells her maybe they'll see him in school the next day, and he must be new. If Angel Grove is a city, why do they assume he goes to their high school? Or will go? Maybe he's just a challenger or he goes to another high school in the city? Who knows.
The next day Bulk and Skull show up at Kimberly's locker, and try to harass her into... letting Skull carry her books? She tells them to go away and is basically ignoring them. They try and continue to bother her, when Tommy shows up. Bulk and Skull threaten to teach Tommy a lesson, so Tommy... decides to show off some martial arts skills to scare them. If I was a brand new transfer student in a school, I'm sure that would make a great impression on the administration. More importantly, it's the start of Tommy showing up to protect "his" girls, even though they can usually handle themselves. We are supposed to think this is romantic, of course, but QueenRiley and I are just busy rolling our eyes. Kimberly asks Tommy out (which we do actually approve of even if we don't like Tommy - she likes him, so she goes for it, instead of hinting around for him to ask her out. Good for her) and they agree to meet at the Juice Bar after school.
After school, Tommy walks down an alley that is decidedly not the way to the juice bar, so I have to wonder if he was planning on skipping out on the date or what? Rita has decided that he would be her perfect Green Ranger, which leads us to question where she got a power coin from in the first place. She sends a squad of putties to attack him, and a pretty awesome fight scene follows. Unlike the Ranger's first fight, Tommy is able to handle himself, and even throws a garbage can lid like Captain America's shield. This is apparently enough to convince Rita, and she places him under a spell.
In the biggest piece of Zordon Fail of the series so far, Zordon tells Alpha to power down while he goes into a meditative state, leaving nobody to watch the Power Chamber. Tommy, as the Green Ranger, enters. He easily manages to break Alpha by slipping a disc with a computer virus into his back, and then he sets about destroying the Command Center and severing Zordon's connection with this dimension, although not before Zordon apparently recognizes Tommy. We also hear for the first time about the nobody without a power coin can enter the Command Center. Really? How did the Rangers get in the first time? Or is it just that Zordon can override it? Same with Alpha, he doesn't have one. Does the Command Center recognize robots? Because if not Rita should just send in a robot army or something.
Anyway, the Command Center is trashed, and Tommy does his evil laugh, and we return to look in on our heroes. Apparently the boys idea of a good time is waxing the Radbug. The Radbug IS awesome, we have to give them that. Zack even offers to show them something called the Zack Wax. Anyway, the girls show up and Kimberly is sad because Tommy ditched her. Technically, he does have a good excuse, what with the brainwashing and all. Alpha manages to page them, but he makes even less sense than usual, and they discover teleportation is down. So they decide to take the Radbug. It really IS the only way to fly.
Before I forget, I really think the costume designer on this show should have been fired. Jason's shirt is orange. And there is no excuse for Trini's outfit. NONE.
They are horrified to see the state the Command Center is in. Trini is almost crying. Billy removes the virus from Alpha, and apparently all is well with him. Except some of his memory banks are fried. Rita takes advantage of everything to send Goldar to destroy things, and Goldar yells about his Empress, Rita Revolta? I swear, that's what it sounds like, but her name is Rita Repulsa, so no idea what is up with that. The Rangers go and summon the Megazord to fight him, and then Tommy shows up and managed to go through a door in the Megazord's head and throws them all out of it? Why is there a door in the Megazord's head?
Anyway, even though Tommy was evenly matched with Jason earlier, he now manages to beat all the Rangers. He also has nifty energy ball creating powers, so apparently he's now Goku from Dragon Ball Z. They teleport back
to the Command Center in defeat, Alpha has further complications from the virus, and the episode ends with the Rangers realizing that things are just going to get worse, in what is an amazingly dark ending for a children's tv show. We're pretty impressed.
Lists!
2.5 fish. We have many nitpicks, but we didn't really call fish while we were watching. The biggest problem is how Tommy went from being evenly matched with Jason to being able to beat up all the Rangers. Of course, Tommy is also apparently better than world famous karate scientist from last episode.
Billy speak: The communicators! They're non-functional!
Fanfic that people should write us: How did Rita get the green coin anyway?
Covered in food: None! Amazing!
Friday, July 24, 2009
Meta - Our Thoughts on Tommy
We thought that it might be a good idea to discuss our issues with Tommy before we marathon Green With Evil tomorrow. Look, the thing is, we actually really want to like Tommy. We think that in theory, he is a really interesting character. In fact, we like Green With Evil and we're mostly looking forward to watching it!
But Tommy has some serious flaws that really bother us. It isn't so much his actual flaws - those are the things about him that are interesting. It's the way the show wants to portray him. So we thought we'd give you a numbered list.
1-We hate how Tommy drains the sheer awesome out of his girlfriends. Kimberly is awesome. As it stands now, she is the only ranger to have defeated a monster by herself, and she's done it twice. But once Tommy shows up, we know we're in for lots of screaming of his name as Kimberly (and later Kat) will not be able to handle herself anymore and will need to be rescued all the time. We're also really not looking forward to her fainting at the sight of his glorious majesty or whatever in White Light.
2-Every single episode is about him. Everyone has their favorite character. TSB's is Adam. QueenRiley's is Billy. We like seeing episodes about them. But we also enjoy episodes about the others. It is an ensemble show. It's not "The Amazing Adventures of Tommy Oliver with Occasional Guest Appearances by the Other Rangers." So it is really annoying when you're watching an episode that from the summary looks like it should be about Adam, and it turns out to be secretly about Tommy. Or when Tommy is always the one to solve the problem, even though you know that others on the team should be able to figure it out.
3-It is Tommy's flaws that make him interesting, but the show pretends he is perfect. To be fair, it takes a little while before we get to the guiding white light heart of the team nonsense. But look at Tommy. He was placed under a spell and did a lot of awful things. Now, we aren't saying that he should be the angstiest ever (especially because when he is angsty, he drives us even crazier) but the show could have set up a way better redemption arc than it did. In fact, most of what TSB does like about Tommy could be termed "Fanwank" for how his drive to be perfect really comes out of his need to atone for what he did, and also this is why he's addicted to the power. Unfortunately, that is mostly fanwank. In the show, Tommy is basically portrayed as being the perfect Ranger, and he is almost always right. It is annoying.
4-Lastly, we're pretty sure Tommy faked his doctorate. We could totally buy Billy having a doctorate by age 24, but Tommy? Who didn't even go to college immediately so he could go race cars or whatever? Hell no. Plus, the one flaw he does have is a lousy memory. No way in hell did he earn it.
We really do want to like Tommy, and in her younger days TSB even thought he was cute, but basically he drives us crazy. We know that lots of people in fandom love him and judge him to be the greatest Ranger ever, but we disagree. You should all write us fanfic to convince us otherwise. Or argue with us in the comments. Whichever works.
But Tommy has some serious flaws that really bother us. It isn't so much his actual flaws - those are the things about him that are interesting. It's the way the show wants to portray him. So we thought we'd give you a numbered list.
1-We hate how Tommy drains the sheer awesome out of his girlfriends. Kimberly is awesome. As it stands now, she is the only ranger to have defeated a monster by herself, and she's done it twice. But once Tommy shows up, we know we're in for lots of screaming of his name as Kimberly (and later Kat) will not be able to handle herself anymore and will need to be rescued all the time. We're also really not looking forward to her fainting at the sight of his glorious majesty or whatever in White Light.
2-Every single episode is about him. Everyone has their favorite character. TSB's is Adam. QueenRiley's is Billy. We like seeing episodes about them. But we also enjoy episodes about the others. It is an ensemble show. It's not "The Amazing Adventures of Tommy Oliver with Occasional Guest Appearances by the Other Rangers." So it is really annoying when you're watching an episode that from the summary looks like it should be about Adam, and it turns out to be secretly about Tommy. Or when Tommy is always the one to solve the problem, even though you know that others on the team should be able to figure it out.
3-It is Tommy's flaws that make him interesting, but the show pretends he is perfect. To be fair, it takes a little while before we get to the guiding white light heart of the team nonsense. But look at Tommy. He was placed under a spell and did a lot of awful things. Now, we aren't saying that he should be the angstiest ever (especially because when he is angsty, he drives us even crazier) but the show could have set up a way better redemption arc than it did. In fact, most of what TSB does like about Tommy could be termed "Fanwank" for how his drive to be perfect really comes out of his need to atone for what he did, and also this is why he's addicted to the power. Unfortunately, that is mostly fanwank. In the show, Tommy is basically portrayed as being the perfect Ranger, and he is almost always right. It is annoying.
4-Lastly, we're pretty sure Tommy faked his doctorate. We could totally buy Billy having a doctorate by age 24, but Tommy? Who didn't even go to college immediately so he could go race cars or whatever? Hell no. Plus, the one flaw he does have is a lousy memory. No way in hell did he earn it.
We really do want to like Tommy, and in her younger days TSB even thought he was cute, but basically he drives us crazy. We know that lots of people in fandom love him and judge him to be the greatest Ranger ever, but we disagree. You should all write us fanfic to convince us otherwise. Or argue with us in the comments. Whichever works.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Episode 16- Dark Warrior
This is a public service announcement letting readers of this blog know that Saturday will bring an update of mammoth proportions. We'll be marathoning all 5 parts of Green With Evil and posting a recap. That's right. We won't make you wait a week between pieces of the only decent Tommy storyline in existence. No, we'll be marathoning the fail for you and saving your brain cells by compiling it into one special weekend update. It may take copious amounts of alcohol and I can't guarantee our intelligence coming out of it, but it will be done.
Now, back to your regularly scheduled update.
This episode is... well it's lots of fail. It contains a character that somehow embodies every stereotype of Asians in popular American media. It doesn't make a lot of sense in the first place, but I'm not sure there's even really a plot.
So we start with Stereotype Man. He's a small, grey-haired, glasses wearing Asian man puttering about a lab full of nefariously bubbling liquids of vibrantly coloured questionable content. Surely this means he's a mad scientist! Or at least we hope so because they are ever so much fun.
He is delighted when his invisibility formula is complete, but then perplexed when he pours some onto a plant and it disappears. It's an invisibility formula. It's supposed to make things, y'know, disappear. So begins the fail.
We find Trini in the Youth Center following Jason's expert tutelage... in a class of beginning white belts. Why Trini is in the back of this class we're not sure. She's far too awesome for it. Jason ends class and tells his students their test will be later that day. Um... what? Shouldn't they be tested next class session? I'm a bit confused but alas, no time to puzzle it out because Ernie enlists Billy for some free labour and then Bulk and Skull dump him in the recycle bin. We're 16 episodes in of him being a Ranger and while he could hold his own before and was, in fact taunting Bulk and Skull in previous episodes, Billy apparently can't even fend off bullies anymore... again. Fishy fish fish. Billy in this episode makes NO SENSE.
Trini helps him up and tells him not to worry, that he can meet her Uncle Howard later. He's apparently a world famous scientist. Billy is so depressed, however, that "even scientific achievement isn't much comfort." Poor Billy. He must be really upset!
He decides what he needs to do is re-enlist in Jason's karate class. And hello, we do a double take, pause the episode, and flail for a minute. RE-enlist? As in, he'd dropped out? In what world does this even make sense? Why would the LEADER of the Power Rangers allow his weakest member to DROP OUT of a class that can help him in is Ranger fighting skills? Seriously? What? Some leader you are, Jason Scott. Also, why would super smart excessively logical BILLY say "Hey, I'm a Power Ranger now. I shouldn't at all attend these martial arts classes my friend teaches because they certainly couldn't help me." Fail, Power Rangers, fail.
Back to the show. Rita wins at stalking the Rangers and knows immediately what's going on. She commissions an awesome monster from Finster. He will have the speed of a panther, the wisdom of the ages, and the strength of ten something (we think). Sounds fantastic!
Trini mentions to the group that her Uncle Howard is coming and Jason does a bit of a fanboy flip out. Apparently Uncle Howard is not only a world famous scientist, but he's also a world famous martial artist. So Uncle Howard is a world famous Karate Scientist. That is all kinds of amazingly awesome and wow way to stereotype there, show. Uncle Howard, having lost his invisibility formula (having set it down on the counter and then... turned his back?), finally finds Trini and introductions all around. Billy gets a special separate introduction and Uncle Howard says he'll give Billy special instruction. Meanwhile, Ernie sees a jar of bright neon green liquid and... walks off with it while polishing it? Mmkay?
Goldar, Squat, and Baboo head to Uncle Howard's lab. Squat and Baboo drink something from an unlabeled bottle instead of looking for the invisibility formula like they ought to. Why they drank it we're not sure, but apparently it happens often as Rita then yells at them for doing so. I feel the need to mention here that Rita's plan makes no sense. She wants the invisibility formula to make the Rangers disappear. The only problem with that is they'd still be there physically, still able to fight, but they'd be invisible so the monsters wouldn't be able to see them. That's... not really very evil. It's actually somewhat helpful to the Rangers.
Meanwhile, Uncle Howard spends maybe five minutes training Billy in the park before they are attacked by putties. Billy handles one on his own but is quickly overwhelmed. Meanwhile, three putties take down and make off with Uncle Howard. He, Stereotype Man, world famous Karate Scientist, is taken down by three putties. Do you see the sense this episode is not making? He is placed in a cave with a bunch of dynamite and told he has one hour to give them the invisibility formula. Rita also contacts Trini with a note in a bunch of black balloons.
Billy then RUNS to the Youth Center. He doesn't bother to use the COMMUNICATOR strapped tightly to his wrist to say "Hey Zordon, Uncle Howard has been kidnapped by Rita!" or "Hey guys, could use a little help here with the putties and the kidnapping and stuff." No, he runs to the Youth Center to tell them. They have the ability to teleport. Fish fish fish.
They go to the Command Center where Zordon says he's been expecting them. Um... really? Why not, y'know, contact them yourself there Zordon? Or teleport them when you notice something amiss with the Big Bad? Zordon!fail abounds in this episode.
They somehow find Uncle Howard really really quickly (I guess because Rita uses the same cave for all her kidnappings) and find only a few seconds left on the bomb. Zack asks Billy if he can dismantle it. Yes, because being a genius scientist means you have the ability to diffuse a bomb. Of course. Uncle Howard tells Billy to use his karate training to focus his mental energy. How that's going to help DIFFUSE A BOMB I'm not sure. But it works. Somehow. Billy stops the bomb, they free Uncle Howard, he wanders off, and then they morph. Morph. With Uncle Howard basically right there. He hadn't even left the cave yet. Secret identity fail!
There is an odd battle when the Dark Warrior finally shows up again. He's kind of awesome with a cannon in his arm and everything, but the fight is rather easy and they beat him relatively quickly overall. It wasn't very memorable, as fights and bad guys go.
Back at the Youth Center, Jason is conducting his tests for his beginning white belt students. Most of them have made it to yellow belt, it seems, and Jason is testing Billy in this shot. Y'know, Billy. Who had dropped out of the class ages ago. The one who decided to rejoin the class AFTER the previous session was over. Apparently he gets no class time and jumps straight into the test. Jason pretty much just gives him a yellow belt for doing... well... nothing. I never took martial arts as a kid but TSB assures me this is not how testing for your belt works in the real world.
Ernie puts the jar of neon green liquid on the counter and Uncle Howard, who apparently made it out of the cave just fine, is delighted to see his invisibility formula again. He picks it up and cuddles it. Meanwhile, Bulk and Skull are picking on Billy. He allows them to torment him and his friends just stand there and watch. They don't intervene, they don't say anything, they just let Billy get harrassed. What wonderful friends. Uncle Howard doesn't agree with their pacifist views and drinks some of his invisibility formula. He knocks Bulk and Skull around a bit and then Billy taunts them. For somebody who was about to get an atomic wedgie, Billy is awfully confident. Uncle Howard defies logic and reappears at will.
The only saving grace of this episode really is that at the very end, as the credits roll, we get a voiceover of Jubilee from the old X-Men cartoon telling us to watch her show on Fox Kids. Aw, old school X-Men cartoon! We love it so.
List time!
Five fish. Solidly. If there was a plot, I couldn't find it. The monster of the week was all but non-existent. Stereotypes galore in a single man made me cringe repeatedly. BILLY MADE NO SENSE.
Billy speak? NONE. How sad is that? A Billy-centric episode and not an inkling of Billy speak.
Nobody was covered in food, though Billy was shoved into a recycle bin.
Now, back to your regularly scheduled update.
This episode is... well it's lots of fail. It contains a character that somehow embodies every stereotype of Asians in popular American media. It doesn't make a lot of sense in the first place, but I'm not sure there's even really a plot.
So we start with Stereotype Man. He's a small, grey-haired, glasses wearing Asian man puttering about a lab full of nefariously bubbling liquids of vibrantly coloured questionable content. Surely this means he's a mad scientist! Or at least we hope so because they are ever so much fun.
He is delighted when his invisibility formula is complete, but then perplexed when he pours some onto a plant and it disappears. It's an invisibility formula. It's supposed to make things, y'know, disappear. So begins the fail.
We find Trini in the Youth Center following Jason's expert tutelage... in a class of beginning white belts. Why Trini is in the back of this class we're not sure. She's far too awesome for it. Jason ends class and tells his students their test will be later that day. Um... what? Shouldn't they be tested next class session? I'm a bit confused but alas, no time to puzzle it out because Ernie enlists Billy for some free labour and then Bulk and Skull dump him in the recycle bin. We're 16 episodes in of him being a Ranger and while he could hold his own before and was, in fact taunting Bulk and Skull in previous episodes, Billy apparently can't even fend off bullies anymore... again. Fishy fish fish. Billy in this episode makes NO SENSE.
Trini helps him up and tells him not to worry, that he can meet her Uncle Howard later. He's apparently a world famous scientist. Billy is so depressed, however, that "even scientific achievement isn't much comfort." Poor Billy. He must be really upset!
He decides what he needs to do is re-enlist in Jason's karate class. And hello, we do a double take, pause the episode, and flail for a minute. RE-enlist? As in, he'd dropped out? In what world does this even make sense? Why would the LEADER of the Power Rangers allow his weakest member to DROP OUT of a class that can help him in is Ranger fighting skills? Seriously? What? Some leader you are, Jason Scott. Also, why would super smart excessively logical BILLY say "Hey, I'm a Power Ranger now. I shouldn't at all attend these martial arts classes my friend teaches because they certainly couldn't help me." Fail, Power Rangers, fail.
Back to the show. Rita wins at stalking the Rangers and knows immediately what's going on. She commissions an awesome monster from Finster. He will have the speed of a panther, the wisdom of the ages, and the strength of ten something (we think). Sounds fantastic!
Trini mentions to the group that her Uncle Howard is coming and Jason does a bit of a fanboy flip out. Apparently Uncle Howard is not only a world famous scientist, but he's also a world famous martial artist. So Uncle Howard is a world famous Karate Scientist. That is all kinds of amazingly awesome and wow way to stereotype there, show. Uncle Howard, having lost his invisibility formula (having set it down on the counter and then... turned his back?), finally finds Trini and introductions all around. Billy gets a special separate introduction and Uncle Howard says he'll give Billy special instruction. Meanwhile, Ernie sees a jar of bright neon green liquid and... walks off with it while polishing it? Mmkay?
Goldar, Squat, and Baboo head to Uncle Howard's lab. Squat and Baboo drink something from an unlabeled bottle instead of looking for the invisibility formula like they ought to. Why they drank it we're not sure, but apparently it happens often as Rita then yells at them for doing so. I feel the need to mention here that Rita's plan makes no sense. She wants the invisibility formula to make the Rangers disappear. The only problem with that is they'd still be there physically, still able to fight, but they'd be invisible so the monsters wouldn't be able to see them. That's... not really very evil. It's actually somewhat helpful to the Rangers.
Meanwhile, Uncle Howard spends maybe five minutes training Billy in the park before they are attacked by putties. Billy handles one on his own but is quickly overwhelmed. Meanwhile, three putties take down and make off with Uncle Howard. He, Stereotype Man, world famous Karate Scientist, is taken down by three putties. Do you see the sense this episode is not making? He is placed in a cave with a bunch of dynamite and told he has one hour to give them the invisibility formula. Rita also contacts Trini with a note in a bunch of black balloons.
Billy then RUNS to the Youth Center. He doesn't bother to use the COMMUNICATOR strapped tightly to his wrist to say "Hey Zordon, Uncle Howard has been kidnapped by Rita!" or "Hey guys, could use a little help here with the putties and the kidnapping and stuff." No, he runs to the Youth Center to tell them. They have the ability to teleport. Fish fish fish.
They go to the Command Center where Zordon says he's been expecting them. Um... really? Why not, y'know, contact them yourself there Zordon? Or teleport them when you notice something amiss with the Big Bad? Zordon!fail abounds in this episode.
They somehow find Uncle Howard really really quickly (I guess because Rita uses the same cave for all her kidnappings) and find only a few seconds left on the bomb. Zack asks Billy if he can dismantle it. Yes, because being a genius scientist means you have the ability to diffuse a bomb. Of course. Uncle Howard tells Billy to use his karate training to focus his mental energy. How that's going to help DIFFUSE A BOMB I'm not sure. But it works. Somehow. Billy stops the bomb, they free Uncle Howard, he wanders off, and then they morph. Morph. With Uncle Howard basically right there. He hadn't even left the cave yet. Secret identity fail!
There is an odd battle when the Dark Warrior finally shows up again. He's kind of awesome with a cannon in his arm and everything, but the fight is rather easy and they beat him relatively quickly overall. It wasn't very memorable, as fights and bad guys go.
Back at the Youth Center, Jason is conducting his tests for his beginning white belt students. Most of them have made it to yellow belt, it seems, and Jason is testing Billy in this shot. Y'know, Billy. Who had dropped out of the class ages ago. The one who decided to rejoin the class AFTER the previous session was over. Apparently he gets no class time and jumps straight into the test. Jason pretty much just gives him a yellow belt for doing... well... nothing. I never took martial arts as a kid but TSB assures me this is not how testing for your belt works in the real world.
Ernie puts the jar of neon green liquid on the counter and Uncle Howard, who apparently made it out of the cave just fine, is delighted to see his invisibility formula again. He picks it up and cuddles it. Meanwhile, Bulk and Skull are picking on Billy. He allows them to torment him and his friends just stand there and watch. They don't intervene, they don't say anything, they just let Billy get harrassed. What wonderful friends. Uncle Howard doesn't agree with their pacifist views and drinks some of his invisibility formula. He knocks Bulk and Skull around a bit and then Billy taunts them. For somebody who was about to get an atomic wedgie, Billy is awfully confident. Uncle Howard defies logic and reappears at will.
The only saving grace of this episode really is that at the very end, as the credits roll, we get a voiceover of Jubilee from the old X-Men cartoon telling us to watch her show on Fox Kids. Aw, old school X-Men cartoon! We love it so.
List time!
Five fish. Solidly. If there was a plot, I couldn't find it. The monster of the week was all but non-existent. Stereotypes galore in a single man made me cringe repeatedly. BILLY MADE NO SENSE.
Billy speak? NONE. How sad is that? A Billy-centric episode and not an inkling of Billy speak.
Nobody was covered in food, though Billy was shoved into a recycle bin.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Episode 15- Peace, Love, and Woe
I'd like to start this recap off by saying a high fish episode CAN be an awesome episode. It's just a ridiculous episode. Our first five fish episode is both.
We start with some teens decorating the Youth Center for an upcoming dance. Other teens, mainly the Rangers, continue with normal Youth Center activities anyway. Jason is instructing Trini in some martial arts move, Kim is doing gymnastics, and Bulk is skateboarding. In the Youth Center. I wasn't sure that would be allowed, but apparently Ernie has no rules for his business establishment. Trini doesn't pay attention, kicks Bulk, and he goes straight for Ernie who is carrying a cake. Ernie really ought to know better than to carry a cake around the Youth Center by now. Just as every time before, Bulk runs into him and they get covered in cake. Surprise surprise surprise. Or not.
Rita orders Squat and Baboo to get back to work but we're not entirely sure what they do for her other than praise her. Finster agrees to make her Madame Woe and we cheer. Madame Woe is awesome!
Meanwhile, back at the Youth Center, the Rangers are razzing Billy about his lack of date to the dance. Zack tells Billy he'll teach him some dance moves to impress the ladies and Billy replies with Billy speak. He's not interested in using dance moves to attract women. He has his massive and beautiful brain for that. Trini knows that's what real women find attractive and says as much. "Billy doesn't want to dance JUST to attract girls." She really stresses that JUST. Billy then runs into a girl, quite literally. She is absolutely adorable and they both use the same sophisticated manner of speech. Aw. The other Rangers look on approvingly. They are so invested in his love life, it's almost unnerving! Billy and Adorable Smart Girl see her dropped Necklace of Extreme Significance and bump heads attempting to get it. Aw, cliche romantic interest move! We discover she was also a graduate of the Accelerated Baby Genius program and the adorable factor just went up by about ten points. She asks Billy to the dance and it's so freaking cute I can hardly stand it.
I should mention that a lot of dirty innuendos get thrown around:
Billy: "I'm not really interested in engaging feminine attentions through bodily gyrations"
Adorable Smart Girl: "I'm afraid neither one of us was monitoring our designated entrance or exit"
Plans to "discuss the weather"
And Zack is hanging ALL OVER Jason. No, really, he is. He's resting his hand on Jason's shoulder and is DRAPED across his back. I think this is the most action any Ranger has ever gotten, including Tommy. They were like this the entire 2 minute scene!
Rita calls Madame Woe to her and tells her one Ranger will be in the park that afternoon and should be taken, that the rest will follow. She totally PWNS Zordon on monitoring the Rangers. She knows about their dates and Zordon can't even be bothered to figure out if they're under a spell before 24 hours has passed! Madame Woe goes to said park and, instead of finding Billy, finds Adorable Smart Girl. Her Necklace of Extreme Significance falls to the ground as she is captured. Shortly thereafter, Billy shows up with flowers. Aw, he brought her flowers! He is distraught to discover no Marge (she finally has a name! And we found out before the episode ended too!). He is attacked by putties, however, and calls the other Rangers over. Apparently four putties can hold off five Rangers for a few minutes, or long enough for Billy to discover the Necklace of Extreme Significance on the ground. He's about to explain when Zordon calls them to the Command Center. He was unusually timely this episode and I must applaud him for his first ever lack of fail. I love Zordon but wow does he fail at monitoring them most of the time.
Billy is sad, they attempt to cheer him up, and then discover that they can combine their Power Coins to focus all the power into one Ranger. It has never been mentioned before and never mentioned since, so we like to call this Captain Plot Device. They go and fight and are almost immediately sucked into a Madame Woe's alternate dimension. Wait. What? We call FISH and move on. Billy is all "Oh look it's my girlfriend!" and she's all "Oh look it's the Power Rangers and I totally don't recognize your voice Billy the Blue Ranger."
Somehow Madame Woe can control the elements as well. We're scratching our heads but call fish and move on yet again. Twice in under a minute. That doesn't bode well for this episode. Billy determines they need to get back to their own dimension and they... combine their powers into one ("Morph to the power of one!" reminds us very much of "By your powers combined, I am Captain Planet!") and give it all to Billy. He... breaks free of the alternate dimension. We're not sure how, he just did. He somehow manages to YELL across to the alternate dimension and THEY HEAR HIM. Um... what the what what? Fish again, and moving on.
Billy grabs Madame Woe by the neck and pulls the Big Blue Crystal off her forehead. He CRUSHES it in his hand as if were made of fine powder and suddenly the alternate dimension fades and the Rangers and Marge are brought back to their own dimension. What? He can crush crystals in his hand? It brought them back? What? We yell FISH FISH FISH a lot and beg for the fight to be over already. The Rangers all fight, yet their power is still all in Billy, so we're not sure how. We just want it end, preferably sooner rather than later.
Thankfully it is over and we're brought to the Youth Center for the dance. The Rangers are decked out in atrocious outfits consisting entirely of their individual Ranger colours. Because that's not conspicuous or anything. Marge tells Billy all about the wonderful, heroic Blue Ranger and Billy is looking very boastful for somebody who's Ranger identity is supposed to be a secret. Billy gets the first heterosexual kiss of the show here (Jason and Zack having gotten the first kiss overall in Episode 13.)
We are then treated to horrible comic relief in the form of Bulk grossing us out by paying Ernie (for the cake he destroyed earlier) with money from his overly smelly feet. Ernie passes out into the new cake and, when revived by the Ranger teens, takes the smelly money and goes dancing. On the plus side, it's one of the few times we ever see anybody pay for anything in this show.
And that's the end of that.
Lists:
This is a solid FIVE fish episode. First ever. The morphed scenes are just too ridiculous to even consider going lower.
Billy Speak: "I'm not really interested in engaging feminine attentions through bodily gyrations"
Trini Translation: "Billy doesn't want to dance JUST to attract girls."
Billy Speak: "My priority is to complete my experimental weather analyzing device in my laboratory."
Marge Speak: "I'm afraid neither one of us was monitoring our designated entrance or exit."
Billy Speak: "It's Marge. She never reached the primary destination point we assented to."
Trini Translation: "Marge never showed up here as planned."
Billy Speak: "With alacrity."
Trini Translation: "He means we've got to move fast."
Covered in food: Bulk in cake once at the beginning, and Ernie in cake once at the end.
We start with some teens decorating the Youth Center for an upcoming dance. Other teens, mainly the Rangers, continue with normal Youth Center activities anyway. Jason is instructing Trini in some martial arts move, Kim is doing gymnastics, and Bulk is skateboarding. In the Youth Center. I wasn't sure that would be allowed, but apparently Ernie has no rules for his business establishment. Trini doesn't pay attention, kicks Bulk, and he goes straight for Ernie who is carrying a cake. Ernie really ought to know better than to carry a cake around the Youth Center by now. Just as every time before, Bulk runs into him and they get covered in cake. Surprise surprise surprise. Or not.
Rita orders Squat and Baboo to get back to work but we're not entirely sure what they do for her other than praise her. Finster agrees to make her Madame Woe and we cheer. Madame Woe is awesome!
Meanwhile, back at the Youth Center, the Rangers are razzing Billy about his lack of date to the dance. Zack tells Billy he'll teach him some dance moves to impress the ladies and Billy replies with Billy speak. He's not interested in using dance moves to attract women. He has his massive and beautiful brain for that. Trini knows that's what real women find attractive and says as much. "Billy doesn't want to dance JUST to attract girls." She really stresses that JUST. Billy then runs into a girl, quite literally. She is absolutely adorable and they both use the same sophisticated manner of speech. Aw. The other Rangers look on approvingly. They are so invested in his love life, it's almost unnerving! Billy and Adorable Smart Girl see her dropped Necklace of Extreme Significance and bump heads attempting to get it. Aw, cliche romantic interest move! We discover she was also a graduate of the Accelerated Baby Genius program and the adorable factor just went up by about ten points. She asks Billy to the dance and it's so freaking cute I can hardly stand it.
I should mention that a lot of dirty innuendos get thrown around:
Billy: "I'm not really interested in engaging feminine attentions through bodily gyrations"
Adorable Smart Girl: "I'm afraid neither one of us was monitoring our designated entrance or exit"
Plans to "discuss the weather"
And Zack is hanging ALL OVER Jason. No, really, he is. He's resting his hand on Jason's shoulder and is DRAPED across his back. I think this is the most action any Ranger has ever gotten, including Tommy. They were like this the entire 2 minute scene!
Rita calls Madame Woe to her and tells her one Ranger will be in the park that afternoon and should be taken, that the rest will follow. She totally PWNS Zordon on monitoring the Rangers. She knows about their dates and Zordon can't even be bothered to figure out if they're under a spell before 24 hours has passed! Madame Woe goes to said park and, instead of finding Billy, finds Adorable Smart Girl. Her Necklace of Extreme Significance falls to the ground as she is captured. Shortly thereafter, Billy shows up with flowers. Aw, he brought her flowers! He is distraught to discover no Marge (she finally has a name! And we found out before the episode ended too!). He is attacked by putties, however, and calls the other Rangers over. Apparently four putties can hold off five Rangers for a few minutes, or long enough for Billy to discover the Necklace of Extreme Significance on the ground. He's about to explain when Zordon calls them to the Command Center. He was unusually timely this episode and I must applaud him for his first ever lack of fail. I love Zordon but wow does he fail at monitoring them most of the time.
Billy is sad, they attempt to cheer him up, and then discover that they can combine their Power Coins to focus all the power into one Ranger. It has never been mentioned before and never mentioned since, so we like to call this Captain Plot Device. They go and fight and are almost immediately sucked into a Madame Woe's alternate dimension. Wait. What? We call FISH and move on. Billy is all "Oh look it's my girlfriend!" and she's all "Oh look it's the Power Rangers and I totally don't recognize your voice Billy the Blue Ranger."
Somehow Madame Woe can control the elements as well. We're scratching our heads but call fish and move on yet again. Twice in under a minute. That doesn't bode well for this episode. Billy determines they need to get back to their own dimension and they... combine their powers into one ("Morph to the power of one!" reminds us very much of "By your powers combined, I am Captain Planet!") and give it all to Billy. He... breaks free of the alternate dimension. We're not sure how, he just did. He somehow manages to YELL across to the alternate dimension and THEY HEAR HIM. Um... what the what what? Fish again, and moving on.
Billy grabs Madame Woe by the neck and pulls the Big Blue Crystal off her forehead. He CRUSHES it in his hand as if were made of fine powder and suddenly the alternate dimension fades and the Rangers and Marge are brought back to their own dimension. What? He can crush crystals in his hand? It brought them back? What? We yell FISH FISH FISH a lot and beg for the fight to be over already. The Rangers all fight, yet their power is still all in Billy, so we're not sure how. We just want it end, preferably sooner rather than later.
Thankfully it is over and we're brought to the Youth Center for the dance. The Rangers are decked out in atrocious outfits consisting entirely of their individual Ranger colours. Because that's not conspicuous or anything. Marge tells Billy all about the wonderful, heroic Blue Ranger and Billy is looking very boastful for somebody who's Ranger identity is supposed to be a secret. Billy gets the first heterosexual kiss of the show here (Jason and Zack having gotten the first kiss overall in Episode 13.)
We are then treated to horrible comic relief in the form of Bulk grossing us out by paying Ernie (for the cake he destroyed earlier) with money from his overly smelly feet. Ernie passes out into the new cake and, when revived by the Ranger teens, takes the smelly money and goes dancing. On the plus side, it's one of the few times we ever see anybody pay for anything in this show.
And that's the end of that.
Lists:
This is a solid FIVE fish episode. First ever. The morphed scenes are just too ridiculous to even consider going lower.
Billy Speak: "I'm not really interested in engaging feminine attentions through bodily gyrations"
Trini Translation: "Billy doesn't want to dance JUST to attract girls."
Billy Speak: "My priority is to complete my experimental weather analyzing device in my laboratory."
Marge Speak: "I'm afraid neither one of us was monitoring our designated entrance or exit."
Billy Speak: "It's Marge. She never reached the primary destination point we assented to."
Trini Translation: "Marge never showed up here as planned."
Billy Speak: "With alacrity."
Trini Translation: "He means we've got to move fast."
Covered in food: Bulk in cake once at the beginning, and Ernie in cake once at the end.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Episode 14 - Power Rangers Punks
First, a note of clarification on fish - We try not to add fish based on the inherent ridiculousness of the types of monsters or spells themselves. I mean, Power Rangers is totally ridiculous, and if we were judging it based on just that we'd have to give Pudgy Pig 5 fish just because a Pudgy Pig was trying to eat all the food in the world. We (mostly) try to judge the Fish based on how unclear the episode is, or how much the show contradicts its own continuity, which is... why we call it the fish scale in the first place. There will be capslock rage when Billy moves to the fish planet, we're just saying. Basically, it gets fish if we get thrown out of the episode, which is why some of the more ridiculous Tommy centric episodes will get high fish, or if the Rangers behavior makes us start yelling about their failure as role models.
Anyway. Power Punks is one of my favorite episodes of Power Rangers, and the Terror Toad is my favorite Monster of the week, even beating out Pudgy Pig which is QueenRiley's favorite. And considering the week I've had, I was really glad that we were watching this episode. There was actually momentary confusion, because for some reason some of the youtube videos insisted that this was actually episode 21. But we're going with it is episode 14, because that is what Rangers Central tells us, and also we like this episode.
The episode opens with a fabulous game of volleyball, and the best music we've heard on the show yet. Trini and Jason are playing against Zack and Billy, and Billy is doing really well. He falls over while trying to hit the ball, and the Rangers give him an honest compliment! (We've determined it is an honest compliment because they usually overact way more when they're being purposefully mean.) Billy and Kimberly switch places, and we discover that Baboo has created a "Punk Potion" that he will use on the Rangers. Jason and Trini win the game, and then Jason tempts fate by saying "So who do we take on next?"
The answer to that question is a squad of Putties! While the Rangers are fighting them, Baboo peddles over on Rita's amazing bicycle and spikes all the drinks with the Punk Potion. Kimberly and Billy (who, incidentally are the best dressed Rangers this episode. Trini needs to stop wearing sweaters with shorts, and we don't even know what is up with Jason's tank top) drink the water, and are immediately turned into punks, causing us to speculate that the "Punk Potion" was actually just imprints of Bulk and Skull's personality, like in Dollhouse.
The spell instantly affects Kimberly and Billy (for some reason all of the more ridiculous things seem to happen to these two - first body switching and now this) and they instantly become Power Rangers Universe versions of Punks. That... mostly means that they overact in an amazingly over the top manner and yell "YEAH" a lot and call people geeks and dorks. Which is at least consistent with Bulk and Skull. Billy calls them all dorks, and Kimberly and Billy leave, while the others just stand there. Trini suggests that maybe they just got too much sun. Look, we know that it's early in the series, but when Billy starts calling people dorks, it means he's under a spell.
The next day at school, we find out that apparently Bulk's locker is filled with garbage (seriously, show? Stop with the fatphobia. It is beginning to drive us nuts) and that the Rangers are vaguely worried about Billy and Kimberly, but they don't appear to have checked on them at all. That at least is totally consistent with everything else about their friendship. They really are the worst friends ever. And then we get the grand entrance of Billy and Kimberly, in their punk gear. We... well, we will let the fandom secret speak for itself. (And if you're the person who made this secret, hi, please come be our new BFF?) Seriously, punk!Billy is WICKED HOT. Punk!Kimberly has an awesome jacket, but her hair is insane and everything about her outfit is crazy. But OMG, Punk!Billy. Everything about him is wonderful.
The other Rangers just stand there and watch as Billy and Kimberly harass some poor guy in the hallway, and then Kimberly hits on Skull. I'm personally convinced that she and Billy have already hooked up as Punks (and possibly while they were body-switched) but Skull is nearly dead of joy as Kimberly asks him out. Then Billy threatens Bulk, in karmic retribution for Bulk being mean to him. Even after all of that, the three non-affected Rangers can only say "What's with them?" Of course, at this point Zordon suddenly remembers that he has the ability to observe what's going on, so he teleports all of the Rangers to the Command Center, and imprisons Kimberly and Billy behind a force field. Good thing nobody else was in that hallway!
While the Rangers are at the Command Center, Zordon tells them that they have two problems. First, the Power Punk Spell can only be removed with juice from a Singing Squash, which is only found in other dimensions. (At this point we get a brief glimpse of Zordon in his non-warp bubble form. Exciting!) Also, Rita has unleashed the Terror Toad, which a) eats people and b) has a listing under Fetish Fuel on tvtropes. Oh, fandom. (Okay, to be fair, it is also listed under Nightmare Fuel. Anyway. The Terror Toad is still awesome because it is an amazingly creepy villain. Kimberly, in her Punk state refers to it as "Wartsville" which should be the name of a band or a song or something.
Zack, Trini and Jason go off to fight the Terror Toad, and Zack and Trini almost immediately get eaten by the Toad. Alpha goes off to find the Singing Squash, and he makes the mistake of commenting that it appears to be too easy. Of course, this means he immediately gets set upon by Putties. But wait! Apparently Alpha has internal defenses, so he takes them all down easily. Man, if Alpha was leading the Rangers, they'd have totally won by now! He pulls the Singing Squash, which turns out to basically be a mandrake and returns to the Power Chamber, where Billy and Kimberly are making fun of Zordon. They call him a "Big Green Geekoid." Seriously, if there is an award for best overacting, it totally goes to Amy Jo Johnson and David Yost for this episode.
They drink the potion that Alpha makes for them, and Kimberly is horrified by her nails (I'm personally scared for anyone who happens to be around her when she sees her hair) and Billy says "Alpha?" in this terrified voice. They morph (calling out in unison, which is adorable) and arrive to battle the Terror Toad just in time for Jason to be eaten. Billy comes up with a plan to beat the Toad, but then gets eaten as well. And unlike the other Rangers, he actually gets swallowed Terrifying! Kimberly then shoots the Terror Toad in its weak spot, right below its neck, freeing the other Rangers. She then shoots the Toad again, and I'm pretty sure she must get her arrows from the same place that Robin Hood does, because the arrow swerves around trees. The Terror Toad explodes, making this the second time that Kimberly defeats a monster on her own. She is clearly the most powerful of all the Rangers. (It's worth pointing out that Baboo showed up to join the battle briefly. He is adorable.)
Afterward, back at the Youth Center, Kimberly is helping Trini with some neat gymnastics moves, while Skull shows up for his date. At this point we both start wincing because we feel so bad for him. He dressed up! He did his hair! And she did say she'd go out with him. Kimberly is horrified by this, and Billy tells Bulk and Skull that Kimberly and Trini don't date neanderthals. This isn't true at all! Kimberly dates Tommy for a really long time. And then something happens where Billy and Zack try to defend the girls honor or something by playing volleyball. I really don't know, but we got about 19 minutes into the episode before we yelled fish!
Lists!
Fish scale: 1.5 fish. The lowest rated episode yet. Seriously, this episode is amazing, and all fandoms should have a gone punk episode.
Billy Speak: If we just transpose ourselves
Kimberly translation: You mean switch positions?
(For the record, we can totally imaging them having that conversation in bed. Possibly I've developed a Kimberly/Billy thing.)
Covered in food: Bulk and Skull get covered in... the disgusting garbage that was in Bulk's locker.
Fanfic that people should really write: Kimberly goes out with Skull. Look, don't judge me, okay?
Anyway. Power Punks is one of my favorite episodes of Power Rangers, and the Terror Toad is my favorite Monster of the week, even beating out Pudgy Pig which is QueenRiley's favorite. And considering the week I've had, I was really glad that we were watching this episode. There was actually momentary confusion, because for some reason some of the youtube videos insisted that this was actually episode 21. But we're going with it is episode 14, because that is what Rangers Central tells us, and also we like this episode.
The episode opens with a fabulous game of volleyball, and the best music we've heard on the show yet. Trini and Jason are playing against Zack and Billy, and Billy is doing really well. He falls over while trying to hit the ball, and the Rangers give him an honest compliment! (We've determined it is an honest compliment because they usually overact way more when they're being purposefully mean.) Billy and Kimberly switch places, and we discover that Baboo has created a "Punk Potion" that he will use on the Rangers. Jason and Trini win the game, and then Jason tempts fate by saying "So who do we take on next?"
The answer to that question is a squad of Putties! While the Rangers are fighting them, Baboo peddles over on Rita's amazing bicycle and spikes all the drinks with the Punk Potion. Kimberly and Billy (who, incidentally are the best dressed Rangers this episode. Trini needs to stop wearing sweaters with shorts, and we don't even know what is up with Jason's tank top) drink the water, and are immediately turned into punks, causing us to speculate that the "Punk Potion" was actually just imprints of Bulk and Skull's personality, like in Dollhouse.
The spell instantly affects Kimberly and Billy (for some reason all of the more ridiculous things seem to happen to these two - first body switching and now this) and they instantly become Power Rangers Universe versions of Punks. That... mostly means that they overact in an amazingly over the top manner and yell "YEAH" a lot and call people geeks and dorks. Which is at least consistent with Bulk and Skull. Billy calls them all dorks, and Kimberly and Billy leave, while the others just stand there. Trini suggests that maybe they just got too much sun. Look, we know that it's early in the series, but when Billy starts calling people dorks, it means he's under a spell.
The next day at school, we find out that apparently Bulk's locker is filled with garbage (seriously, show? Stop with the fatphobia. It is beginning to drive us nuts) and that the Rangers are vaguely worried about Billy and Kimberly, but they don't appear to have checked on them at all. That at least is totally consistent with everything else about their friendship. They really are the worst friends ever. And then we get the grand entrance of Billy and Kimberly, in their punk gear. We... well, we will let the fandom secret speak for itself. (And if you're the person who made this secret, hi, please come be our new BFF?) Seriously, punk!Billy is WICKED HOT. Punk!Kimberly has an awesome jacket, but her hair is insane and everything about her outfit is crazy. But OMG, Punk!Billy. Everything about him is wonderful.
The other Rangers just stand there and watch as Billy and Kimberly harass some poor guy in the hallway, and then Kimberly hits on Skull. I'm personally convinced that she and Billy have already hooked up as Punks (and possibly while they were body-switched) but Skull is nearly dead of joy as Kimberly asks him out. Then Billy threatens Bulk, in karmic retribution for Bulk being mean to him. Even after all of that, the three non-affected Rangers can only say "What's with them?" Of course, at this point Zordon suddenly remembers that he has the ability to observe what's going on, so he teleports all of the Rangers to the Command Center, and imprisons Kimberly and Billy behind a force field. Good thing nobody else was in that hallway!
While the Rangers are at the Command Center, Zordon tells them that they have two problems. First, the Power Punk Spell can only be removed with juice from a Singing Squash, which is only found in other dimensions. (At this point we get a brief glimpse of Zordon in his non-warp bubble form. Exciting!) Also, Rita has unleashed the Terror Toad, which a) eats people and b) has a listing under Fetish Fuel on tvtropes. Oh, fandom. (Okay, to be fair, it is also listed under Nightmare Fuel. Anyway. The Terror Toad is still awesome because it is an amazingly creepy villain. Kimberly, in her Punk state refers to it as "Wartsville" which should be the name of a band or a song or something.
Zack, Trini and Jason go off to fight the Terror Toad, and Zack and Trini almost immediately get eaten by the Toad. Alpha goes off to find the Singing Squash, and he makes the mistake of commenting that it appears to be too easy. Of course, this means he immediately gets set upon by Putties. But wait! Apparently Alpha has internal defenses, so he takes them all down easily. Man, if Alpha was leading the Rangers, they'd have totally won by now! He pulls the Singing Squash, which turns out to basically be a mandrake and returns to the Power Chamber, where Billy and Kimberly are making fun of Zordon. They call him a "Big Green Geekoid." Seriously, if there is an award for best overacting, it totally goes to Amy Jo Johnson and David Yost for this episode.
They drink the potion that Alpha makes for them, and Kimberly is horrified by her nails (I'm personally scared for anyone who happens to be around her when she sees her hair) and Billy says "Alpha?" in this terrified voice. They morph (calling out in unison, which is adorable) and arrive to battle the Terror Toad just in time for Jason to be eaten. Billy comes up with a plan to beat the Toad, but then gets eaten as well. And unlike the other Rangers, he actually gets swallowed Terrifying! Kimberly then shoots the Terror Toad in its weak spot, right below its neck, freeing the other Rangers. She then shoots the Toad again, and I'm pretty sure she must get her arrows from the same place that Robin Hood does, because the arrow swerves around trees. The Terror Toad explodes, making this the second time that Kimberly defeats a monster on her own. She is clearly the most powerful of all the Rangers. (It's worth pointing out that Baboo showed up to join the battle briefly. He is adorable.)
Afterward, back at the Youth Center, Kimberly is helping Trini with some neat gymnastics moves, while Skull shows up for his date. At this point we both start wincing because we feel so bad for him. He dressed up! He did his hair! And she did say she'd go out with him. Kimberly is horrified by this, and Billy tells Bulk and Skull that Kimberly and Trini don't date neanderthals. This isn't true at all! Kimberly dates Tommy for a really long time. And then something happens where Billy and Zack try to defend the girls honor or something by playing volleyball. I really don't know, but we got about 19 minutes into the episode before we yelled fish!
Lists!
Fish scale: 1.5 fish. The lowest rated episode yet. Seriously, this episode is amazing, and all fandoms should have a gone punk episode.
Billy Speak: If we just transpose ourselves
Kimberly translation: You mean switch positions?
(For the record, we can totally imaging them having that conversation in bed. Possibly I've developed a Kimberly/Billy thing.)
Covered in food: Bulk and Skull get covered in... the disgusting garbage that was in Bulk's locker.
Fanfic that people should really write: Kimberly goes out with Skull. Look, don't judge me, okay?
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