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?