I almost can't believe that this episode exists. I mean, neither of us remembered very much about it other than "Rangers get turned into kids" but I'm going to have to watch this episode a million more times because it is PURE GOLD.
You may not agree with me, but apparently a thing that I love is "people get turned into children." There needs to be SO MUCH FIC of baby!Rangers. And fic where Trini/Jason/Zack show up and have to babysit the baby!Rangers! And I just... yeah, I would read a million words of this. Or watch this episode a billion times, even though it makes no sense whatsoever and baby!Rocky has the worst hair I've ever seen.
Anyway, onto the actual episode. We open and the Rangers are in first grade. Well, not really. They're still in high school, but they are having show and tell. Their assignment is to bring in a photo of themselves as a kid, and talk about what it means to them. So Aisha has a picture of herself at a dance recital, Kimberly has a picture from her first gymnastics meet (she lost, I'm amazed) but it taught her to be a good sport. Tommy has a picture of him from a karate match (hard work), Billy took apart his mother's vacuum, Rocky learned responsibility from his dog, Buster, and Adam loves his dad. Bulk and Skull have a joint photo, of how they became BFF. (Or at Bulk put it, how Skull dropped a grape popsicle on Bulk and Bulk decided not to beat him up after. I love them so much.)
I officially have so much fanon about their childhoods it is now officially completely ridiculous. I could babble about that for most of the recap, but I don't think anyone but me wants to read a million words about Adam and Rocky playing in the sandbox together and then Aisha dumped a bucket of sand over both of their heads and told them that they were doing it wrong.
Zedd is all "AHA! I know! If I turn them into children they can't fight me anymore!" Oh, Zedd. This never ends well. So he creates the rock of time which will somehow turn them into children or maybe make time go backwards. It isn't really clear.
Back at school, Billy notices that the clock is running backwards, and he tells Miss Applebee, who is really freaked out about it. She doesn't know what to do. For some reason, calling a janitor is not one of the suggestions. And I have no idea why changing time would make the clocks run backwards. That isn't how this works. No, really. REALLY. I have opinions on time travel, I read a lot of scifi. (Maybe the clock is controlled by fish?)
Then the spell takes hold, and suddenly we are distracted by tiny!Rangers. They look like they're in... third grade? Just a guess? So about nine. Somewhere between eight and ten anyway. But we're suddenly distracted by the horrible hair. It isn't just Rocky's thing, which looks like a cross between a mullet and a hedgehog. Miss Applebee also has an awful wig, and Adam's hair isn't that great either. They just keep going as if nothing is wrong, and we're suddenly distracted by the giant swarm of fish that just swam across the TV.
Okay, the questions. If they did go back in time, why are Tommy, Adam, Rocky and Aisha still in Angel Grove? Why are they in the high school classroom? How have their memories changed so that they still know each other, but they don't know that they're Rangers? Why did the clocks run backwards? Why did their clothes shrink? Why are they doing more advanced work as children then they were doing in high school? Why does Rocky have a mullet? Why isn't Zordon affected? How is Zedd unaffected? Are they back in time, or did they just all get new memories? Is this an alternate reality? How is baby!Aisha so freaking awesome? Why did Queenriley and I accidentally decide that Zack is the Face of Boe? (The answer to that last one is actually that I made the best typo ever.)
So, Miss Applebee and her awful hair ask the students to do long division, and Kimberly gets called up to the board. She does long division, explaining step by step how to do 900 divided by 30. Aww, Kim. You kick ass at math. She goes back to her seat, and it turns out that baby!Bulk and Skull had tried to put a shaving cream balloon on her seat while she was up at the board. But their plan backfired, and they end up covered in shaving cream, and Kimberly only gets a speck on her jumper. Miss Applebee asks what happens, and Aisha stands up to tattle.
I take it back, CLEARLY Aisha, Rocky and Adam became BFF when she ratted them out for doing something. Also, she totally becomes a lawyer when she grows up. Nothing will convince me otherwise.
After class, the baby!Rangers and Bulk and Skull all go to the park. Adam and Billy try to fly a kite together. (Bulk and Skull then steal the kite and manage to get themselves tangled up in the string, at which point all the Rangers make fun of them. Apparently some things never change.) It is so adorable I can't even deal. But both Zedd and Zordon are watching. Zordon is concerned that bringing the Rangers to the Command Center will scare them, and Zedd is out to destroy them. So Zedd sends down some putties to attack the baby!Rangers. Kimberly clings to Billy, and Billy wonders if the putties are lost. And then Adam asks if they want to play, but the Putties attack instead.
I'm sorry, this fight is too adorable for words. Tommy manages to kick a dodgeball into the Z of one of the Putties. All of the Rangers join in, and even baby Bulk manages to destroy a putty! Aww, I am so proud of them! *pinches their cheeks* Zedd is not pleased that the baby!Rangers have managed to defeat the putties, so he turns a camera into a monster, and traps the baby!Rangers in a polaroid.
At the Command Center, Alpha works on a device to fix things, while Zordon worries. DUN DUN DUN.
To be continued. On Thursday.
Fish: FIVE. There are SO MANY QUESTIONS. But this episode was still AMAZING. I hope part 2 is as good.
Covered in: Bulk and Skull get covered in shaving cream, and some random lady at the park gets covered in garbage
Fic people should write us: ADVENTURES OF THE BABY RANGERS.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Episode 98- A Reel Fish Story
I'm so disappointed in this episode. Rocky is a lifeguard and we don't get a single shirtless scene!
We start out at the lake. Kids are playing in the water and a little girl is trying to convince a little boy to go swimming with her. He won't go in the water, however, because Here There Be Monsters. The girl assures him the Power Rangers would save him but Little Dougie is a smart kid. He's not going in that lake.
We discover Rocky is a lifeguard. He's enjoying his position as lifeguard. He's wearing Teeny Tiny red shorts, and a yellow shirt. We feel he needs to lose the shirt. And his shorts could be smaller. There should also be lots of running down the beach. In slow-motion. Yes, we would both gladly watch Power Rangers: Baywatch.
Rocky tries to convince Little Dougie to go in the water, but the kid will have none of it. Rocky lies to him, saying he's been there his whole life and the lake is perfectly safe. LIAR! Angel Grove is plagued with monsters and the lake is certainly no exception! Nevermind the fact that Rocky lived in Stone Canyon until very recently, but I suspect Stone Canyon shares the lake with Angel Grove, but only when convenient for plot. Billy and Aisha join in to help convince Dougie the lake is perfectly safe, but the boy continues to insist There Be Monsters!
Bulk and Skull decide to pretend to be sharks in order to attract the Power Rangers. Instead it just draws Billy onto a jet ski. Rocky jumps ontohis ass the back, and they both chastise Bulk and Skull. Meanwhile, Zedd gets an idea. He's going to send down all the fish monsters. Well, almost all. There is one conspicuous absence that makes me sad, but we'll get to that in a minute.
He starts with the Slippery Shark that he calls the Shark Monster. It's heading towards the lake and, unable to contact a scuba-diving Tommy (and Kim and Adam) in very familiar footage, Zordon contacts Rocky instead. Why he didn't contact Rocky first, seeing as Rocky was already at the lake and there to protect people, we can only assume is fish-related. Rocky abandons his post, grabs Billy and Aisha, and they morph. At some point, the beach is evacuated/everybody runs away/somehow whatever. The rangers fight the shark when two more monsters show up. We get the piranha monster from the season 2 premiere and the Goo Fish which wasn't even a Zedd monster to begin with. Shortly after they show up, we get Commander Crayfish as well. Tommy, Adam, and Kim emerge from a lake that looked suspiciously like an ocean in all the previous shots. This is the closest we get to shirtless as Tommy and Adam aren't wearing any shirts under the scuba gear. The gear covers most of their chests, however, so we only get a shot of the boys being Slightly Shirtless. Alas.
They morph and join the others in the fight. Four monsters against six rangers, they should be able to handle it. But wait! Zedd's not done. He makes a monster out of an inner-tube and sends it to downtown Angel Grove. It looks like a bunch of hoses looped together and isn't at all threatening, actually. Bulk and Skull, in the middle of the lake and now tubeless, are distraught at how they will return to shore. Zordon contacts Tommy and he sends the five other rangers to go fight the tube monster while he takes on the FOUR fish monsters BY HIMSELF. Tommy, math was never your strong suit, was it? And apparently he never did learn that lesson about teamwork. *sigh*
I have to take a moment here. I was hoping we'd get ALL the fish monsters, but we didn't. They did not include my favourite fish monster. The Vulva Monster is nowhere to be seen. I would have loved to see His Glorious Phallicness again, but alas, it wasn't to be. We get this Hose Beast (literally!) instead of the Vulva Monster? I'm so disappointed.
Both fights are amazingly short with the thundersabre being pulled out pretty much immediately and Tommy knocking out the other four monsters in a matter of seconds. We have to wonder why Tommy couldn't do that when he had five other rangers helping him, but whatever.
People return to the lake and Dougie notices Bulk and Skull struggling out in the water. Skull gets a cramp. Bulk is exhausted and can't drag him back to shore. They being to have problems and start calling for help. Steve, the lifeguard that stood in for Rocky while he ran off for his "emergency", is too busy flirting with a cute girl to notice the drowning people. So Dougie braves his fear and runs to the rescue. He grabs the now returned inner-tube and jumps into the water, swimming it out to Bulk and Skull, and then dragging them back to shore and safety pretty much on his own. He is a hero and Rocky says so, while Billy insists that he's seen enough fish to last him a lifetime. Oh Billy, honey, if only you knew what they had in store for you. It gets worse, Billy. Far far worse.
So we've determined that Little Dougie, Fred Kellman, and Justin will be a future team of rangers. Because we're special like that and the ages work. We'd love fic.
List time!
4.5 fish... um... kind of literally, actually...
Billy speak: None technically, but I'm so counting "I've seen enough fish to last me the rest of my life."
(note: this gets a rocky-centric tag even though Rocky was barely in it and it wasn't really anything-centric)
We start out at the lake. Kids are playing in the water and a little girl is trying to convince a little boy to go swimming with her. He won't go in the water, however, because Here There Be Monsters. The girl assures him the Power Rangers would save him but Little Dougie is a smart kid. He's not going in that lake.
We discover Rocky is a lifeguard. He's enjoying his position as lifeguard. He's wearing Teeny Tiny red shorts, and a yellow shirt. We feel he needs to lose the shirt. And his shorts could be smaller. There should also be lots of running down the beach. In slow-motion. Yes, we would both gladly watch Power Rangers: Baywatch.
Rocky tries to convince Little Dougie to go in the water, but the kid will have none of it. Rocky lies to him, saying he's been there his whole life and the lake is perfectly safe. LIAR! Angel Grove is plagued with monsters and the lake is certainly no exception! Nevermind the fact that Rocky lived in Stone Canyon until very recently, but I suspect Stone Canyon shares the lake with Angel Grove, but only when convenient for plot. Billy and Aisha join in to help convince Dougie the lake is perfectly safe, but the boy continues to insist There Be Monsters!
Bulk and Skull decide to pretend to be sharks in order to attract the Power Rangers. Instead it just draws Billy onto a jet ski. Rocky jumps onto
He starts with the Slippery Shark that he calls the Shark Monster. It's heading towards the lake and, unable to contact a scuba-diving Tommy (and Kim and Adam) in very familiar footage, Zordon contacts Rocky instead. Why he didn't contact Rocky first, seeing as Rocky was already at the lake and there to protect people, we can only assume is fish-related. Rocky abandons his post, grabs Billy and Aisha, and they morph. At some point, the beach is evacuated/everybody runs away/somehow whatever. The rangers fight the shark when two more monsters show up. We get the piranha monster from the season 2 premiere and the Goo Fish which wasn't even a Zedd monster to begin with. Shortly after they show up, we get Commander Crayfish as well. Tommy, Adam, and Kim emerge from a lake that looked suspiciously like an ocean in all the previous shots. This is the closest we get to shirtless as Tommy and Adam aren't wearing any shirts under the scuba gear. The gear covers most of their chests, however, so we only get a shot of the boys being Slightly Shirtless. Alas.
They morph and join the others in the fight. Four monsters against six rangers, they should be able to handle it. But wait! Zedd's not done. He makes a monster out of an inner-tube and sends it to downtown Angel Grove. It looks like a bunch of hoses looped together and isn't at all threatening, actually. Bulk and Skull, in the middle of the lake and now tubeless, are distraught at how they will return to shore. Zordon contacts Tommy and he sends the five other rangers to go fight the tube monster while he takes on the FOUR fish monsters BY HIMSELF. Tommy, math was never your strong suit, was it? And apparently he never did learn that lesson about teamwork. *sigh*
I have to take a moment here. I was hoping we'd get ALL the fish monsters, but we didn't. They did not include my favourite fish monster. The Vulva Monster is nowhere to be seen. I would have loved to see His Glorious Phallicness again, but alas, it wasn't to be. We get this Hose Beast (literally!) instead of the Vulva Monster? I'm so disappointed.
Both fights are amazingly short with the thundersabre being pulled out pretty much immediately and Tommy knocking out the other four monsters in a matter of seconds. We have to wonder why Tommy couldn't do that when he had five other rangers helping him, but whatever.
People return to the lake and Dougie notices Bulk and Skull struggling out in the water. Skull gets a cramp. Bulk is exhausted and can't drag him back to shore. They being to have problems and start calling for help. Steve, the lifeguard that stood in for Rocky while he ran off for his "emergency", is too busy flirting with a cute girl to notice the drowning people. So Dougie braves his fear and runs to the rescue. He grabs the now returned inner-tube and jumps into the water, swimming it out to Bulk and Skull, and then dragging them back to shore and safety pretty much on his own. He is a hero and Rocky says so, while Billy insists that he's seen enough fish to last him a lifetime. Oh Billy, honey, if only you knew what they had in store for you. It gets worse, Billy. Far far worse.
So we've determined that Little Dougie, Fred Kellman, and Justin will be a future team of rangers. Because we're special like that and the ages work. We'd love fic.
List time!
4.5 fish... um... kind of literally, actually...
Billy speak: None technically, but I'm so counting "I've seen enough fish to last me the rest of my life."
(note: this gets a rocky-centric tag even though Rocky was barely in it and it wasn't really anything-centric)
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Episode 97 - Forever Friends
So, we start off our second year of recapping with the single slashiest episode we've had so far. Here at Ranger Recaps, we are TOTALLY equal opportunity slashers, and oh my god, nothing is ever going to convince me after this that Kimberly/Aisha (and Aisha/Shawna) isn't canon.
Instead of a martial arts competition, apparently Angel Grove's economy is going to run on some sort of gymnastics competition, which Kimberly is going to compete in. We're just shocked that it isn't a martial arts competition, but I guess Kimberly feels the need to contribute to the economy as well. Aisha is excited, because her best friend from Stone Canyon, Shawna Hilton, will also be competing, and she can't wait to introduce Kimberly to Shawna.
At this point, Shawna shows up, and holy crap, it is TOTALLY the jealous ex-girlfriend. She immediately starts in on Aisha for ditching her to move to Angel Grove, even though it is totally not Aisha's fault that she transferred! (Insert theory here about how Zordon arranged for the SCT's parents to all get transferred.) And Shawna is bitching at her for not calling, even though Aisha says she has been. Aisha says that she has a lot to tell her, and then glances at Kim. Kim says that it's really nice to meet her, and they'll be competing in the gymnastics tournament. Shawna glances at Aisha, and tells Kimberly that they're competing for a lot more than that.
That is SO NOT the words of a friend, that is totally a jealous ex-girlfriend speaking. FOR REAL.
Also, Amy Jo Johnson is really hot in this episode. (I told you we were equal opportunity.)
Anyway, we spent the next few minutes all capsing about how they were totally girlfriends, so there may have been some more dialogue that probably reinforced the belief that Shawna and Aisha totally had a thing, and Shawna was really jealous of Kimberly.
Meanwhile, the boys are all at shop class. We're going for the stereotypes today, folks. Adam and Tommy are both really bad at it. Oh, boys. *squishes them* Meanwhile, Bulk and Skull are building jet packs, because they've heard that the Rangers have a new ability called jetting. Everyone needs jet packs! I approve of this plan!
Meanwhile, Kim, Aisha and Shawna are in the park, so that they can all get to know each other, and it is the most awkward conversation ever! The current girlfriend and the ex-girlfriend? Yeah, that never goes well. So the awkwardness continues, when Goldar shows up and kidnaps Kim and Shawna. Aisha tries to call the boys on the communicators, but they can't hear her over the power tools. Instead of trying to contact Zordon, she runs all the way to wherever it is they're working. (... don't even bother to try and figure out why Kim and Aisha weren't in class.) Aisha is all "My best friends have been kidnapped!" so they head to the Command Center. Nobody really reacts. I guess that they know Kim can take care of herself, but Rocky and Adam should know Shawna, so why aren't they worried?
While this is going on, Kim and Shawna are in the Cave of Captivity, trapped behind a force field. Aww! We missed the cave. There's something oddly comforting about it. Shawna says something that pretty much boils down to "Wow, Kim, you're really hot" and Kimberly tells Shawna she understands where she's coming from - after all, Kimberly felt a lot of pain when her parents went through a divorce.
You guys. She is comparing the Aisha and Shawna breakup to a divorce. (Okay, she is also trying to say that Shawna has abandonment issues. But my point still stands.)
At the Command Center, Tommy says he'll rescue the girls, and everyone else can go fight Zedd's supposedly really dangerous saw monster. Nobody is worried about the girls, except for Aisha, who thinks this makes her a failure as a Power Ranger.
So the Rangers jet instead of teleport, just so Bulk and Skull can try and jetpack, only to crash again. (Into a random haystack, even!) Four of the Rangers go fight the saw monster and some Putties, and Rocky says my new favorite bit of amazingly bad dialogue. "Any friend of yours is an enemy of mine!" And then they fight some Putties, and Billy makes a comment about them never learning their lesson. Possibly because they keep blowing the Putties up!
Back at the Cave of Captivity, Tommy rescues Shawna. Shawna then refuses to leave her newgirlfriend friend behind. The dialogue was pretty much "But I wanted to talk her and Aisha into a threesome!" Tommy insists on Alpha teleporting her out anyway, and then Kimberly morphs and rescues herself. Aww, Kim. Then she goes to teleport out to join the others, while Tommy fights Goldar, who is sad that he isn't Jason.
Meanwhile, Kimberly shows up just in time to rescue Aisha. The Rangers call the saw monster a sawtoothed turkey head, for some unknown reason. Then they summon their zords, and the monster is destroyed.
Back at the Youth Center, it is time for the competition. Kim and Shawna both get a 9.8, so they tie for first. Aisha takes their trophy and hugs them both, because it is time for a threesome now.
Fish: 2
Fic people should write us: ALL THE AISHA/SHAWNA/KIMBERLY IN THE WORLD.
Instead of a martial arts competition, apparently Angel Grove's economy is going to run on some sort of gymnastics competition, which Kimberly is going to compete in. We're just shocked that it isn't a martial arts competition, but I guess Kimberly feels the need to contribute to the economy as well. Aisha is excited, because her best friend from Stone Canyon, Shawna Hilton, will also be competing, and she can't wait to introduce Kimberly to Shawna.
At this point, Shawna shows up, and holy crap, it is TOTALLY the jealous ex-girlfriend. She immediately starts in on Aisha for ditching her to move to Angel Grove, even though it is totally not Aisha's fault that she transferred! (Insert theory here about how Zordon arranged for the SCT's parents to all get transferred.) And Shawna is bitching at her for not calling, even though Aisha says she has been. Aisha says that she has a lot to tell her, and then glances at Kim. Kim says that it's really nice to meet her, and they'll be competing in the gymnastics tournament. Shawna glances at Aisha, and tells Kimberly that they're competing for a lot more than that.
That is SO NOT the words of a friend, that is totally a jealous ex-girlfriend speaking. FOR REAL.
Also, Amy Jo Johnson is really hot in this episode. (I told you we were equal opportunity.)
Anyway, we spent the next few minutes all capsing about how they were totally girlfriends, so there may have been some more dialogue that probably reinforced the belief that Shawna and Aisha totally had a thing, and Shawna was really jealous of Kimberly.
Meanwhile, the boys are all at shop class. We're going for the stereotypes today, folks. Adam and Tommy are both really bad at it. Oh, boys. *squishes them* Meanwhile, Bulk and Skull are building jet packs, because they've heard that the Rangers have a new ability called jetting. Everyone needs jet packs! I approve of this plan!
Meanwhile, Kim, Aisha and Shawna are in the park, so that they can all get to know each other, and it is the most awkward conversation ever! The current girlfriend and the ex-girlfriend? Yeah, that never goes well. So the awkwardness continues, when Goldar shows up and kidnaps Kim and Shawna. Aisha tries to call the boys on the communicators, but they can't hear her over the power tools. Instead of trying to contact Zordon, she runs all the way to wherever it is they're working. (... don't even bother to try and figure out why Kim and Aisha weren't in class.) Aisha is all "My best friends have been kidnapped!" so they head to the Command Center. Nobody really reacts. I guess that they know Kim can take care of herself, but Rocky and Adam should know Shawna, so why aren't they worried?
While this is going on, Kim and Shawna are in the Cave of Captivity, trapped behind a force field. Aww! We missed the cave. There's something oddly comforting about it. Shawna says something that pretty much boils down to "Wow, Kim, you're really hot" and Kimberly tells Shawna she understands where she's coming from - after all, Kimberly felt a lot of pain when her parents went through a divorce.
You guys. She is comparing the Aisha and Shawna breakup to a divorce. (Okay, she is also trying to say that Shawna has abandonment issues. But my point still stands.)
At the Command Center, Tommy says he'll rescue the girls, and everyone else can go fight Zedd's supposedly really dangerous saw monster. Nobody is worried about the girls, except for Aisha, who thinks this makes her a failure as a Power Ranger.
So the Rangers jet instead of teleport, just so Bulk and Skull can try and jetpack, only to crash again. (Into a random haystack, even!) Four of the Rangers go fight the saw monster and some Putties, and Rocky says my new favorite bit of amazingly bad dialogue. "Any friend of yours is an enemy of mine!" And then they fight some Putties, and Billy makes a comment about them never learning their lesson. Possibly because they keep blowing the Putties up!
Back at the Cave of Captivity, Tommy rescues Shawna. Shawna then refuses to leave her new
Meanwhile, Kimberly shows up just in time to rescue Aisha. The Rangers call the saw monster a sawtoothed turkey head, for some unknown reason. Then they summon their zords, and the monster is destroyed.
Back at the Youth Center, it is time for the competition. Kim and Shawna both get a 9.8, so they tie for first. Aisha takes their trophy and hugs them both, because it is time for a threesome now.
Fish: 2
Fic people should write us: ALL THE AISHA/SHAWNA/KIMBERLY IN THE WORLD.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Episode 96- The Great Bookala Escape
Today we learn Billy has an alien fetish! And that sets up for his send-off in even more disturbing ways.
I hated this episode when it first aired. I haven't watched it since then, and yet I remembered it. I wish I hadn't had to watch it today. I will never watch it again. And maybe, just maybe, one day I will be able to scrub it from my brain altogether.
So Billy, Aisha, and Adam are in the park. Doing... whatever supposedly-wholesome teenagers do in parks on sunny afternoons. A small spaceship crash lands and they go investigate. Aisha thinks there's a doll inside, but Billy sees some monitor somewhere that shows a heartbeat, so it's a living hibernating little... thing.
They remember they have communicators and contact Zordon. He says it explains why Zedd is heading towards Angel Grove in Serpenterra. So Zordon actually noticed evil-doing, but didn't bother to contact anybody? I'm beginning to think the only time Zordon actually WINS at anything is when he's in plastic packaging sitting on a shelf [photo courtesy of Bevo, who is awesomely dorky like we are].
They wrap the overly hot spaceship in a blanket and teleport to the Command Center, where they are joined by the others. Zordon tells them it's a Bookala, from the planet Bookala, and is just a space traveler. Billy has to take a large plastic diamond full of sparkly glitter and put it next to the little doll-looking-thing. It suddenly grows and comes to life while Billy comforts it and it learns English. It's almost like they tried to make him sound like Yoda but failed miserably and instead it's just really really offensive.
Zedd wants the diamond, so they break into Skull's dad's garage/basement/workroom place (or rather, they used the same set for this scene) and make a doll!Bookala while Billy fixes the spaceship. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, he FIXES THE SPACESHIP. Because apparently being a genius means you know absolutely everything ever EXCEPT how to properly insert a battery. Some random monster thing goes to get the diamond and attacks the rangers in very badly spliced footage, seeing as he's in a warehouse of entirely different lighting and proportion to the garage the rangers are in. He fails and they escape. So Zedd sends Goldar and they set up the plan with the fake ship.
Goldar actually succeeds for a change! Even Zedd is taken completely by surprise. He puts the fake diamond into Serpenterra and they go about their merry way, while the rangers send Bookala off in his repaired spaceship. As a present, because he's going to miss his BFF Billy, he makes it snow in Angel Grove for a few minutes (and TSB and I had a rousing discussion on the merits of snow... but she grew up with enough snow to be hassle and I, who have always loved having a good foot on the ground, spent 13 years in a climate where even the slightest hint of a snowflake was a sign of the impending apocalypse... you live somewhere hot enough to never snow, and you're going to want to see it. I'm just saying.) Anyway, it's cheesy and stupid and they say tearful goodbyes and then Bookala is thankfully on his way.
We rejoice, for this means the end of the episode! Right?
Or not. That's right, this atrociousness continues. Zedd is mad he got a fake diamond so he makes yet another monster out of the little doll!Bookala the rangers made to distract him. It grows, zords are called, the thundersabre is pulled, and the fight is over. At least it was a short fight.
Back at the Youth Center, Kim has received a postcard from Trini all the way fromTorchwood Switzerland. Well, at least one of them still writes! Then Bulk and Skull, who have been trying to take pictures of the alien thinking it's a power ranger, come in and declare they have the identity of the power rangers. Only they ended up taking pictures of themselves and not anything else.
Frankly, I'm just glad the episode is finally over.
5 fish. Just... I'd like to forget this even exists.
Billy speak: borderline... "It appears to be an extra-terrestrial transport."
I hated this episode when it first aired. I haven't watched it since then, and yet I remembered it. I wish I hadn't had to watch it today. I will never watch it again. And maybe, just maybe, one day I will be able to scrub it from my brain altogether.
So Billy, Aisha, and Adam are in the park. Doing... whatever supposedly-wholesome teenagers do in parks on sunny afternoons. A small spaceship crash lands and they go investigate. Aisha thinks there's a doll inside, but Billy sees some monitor somewhere that shows a heartbeat, so it's a living hibernating little... thing.
They remember they have communicators and contact Zordon. He says it explains why Zedd is heading towards Angel Grove in Serpenterra. So Zordon actually noticed evil-doing, but didn't bother to contact anybody? I'm beginning to think the only time Zordon actually WINS at anything is when he's in plastic packaging sitting on a shelf [photo courtesy of Bevo, who is awesomely dorky like we are].
They wrap the overly hot spaceship in a blanket and teleport to the Command Center, where they are joined by the others. Zordon tells them it's a Bookala, from the planet Bookala, and is just a space traveler. Billy has to take a large plastic diamond full of sparkly glitter and put it next to the little doll-looking-thing. It suddenly grows and comes to life while Billy comforts it and it learns English. It's almost like they tried to make him sound like Yoda but failed miserably and instead it's just really really offensive.
Zedd wants the diamond, so they break into Skull's dad's garage/basement/workroom place (or rather, they used the same set for this scene) and make a doll!Bookala while Billy fixes the spaceship. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, he FIXES THE SPACESHIP. Because apparently being a genius means you know absolutely everything ever EXCEPT how to properly insert a battery. Some random monster thing goes to get the diamond and attacks the rangers in very badly spliced footage, seeing as he's in a warehouse of entirely different lighting and proportion to the garage the rangers are in. He fails and they escape. So Zedd sends Goldar and they set up the plan with the fake ship.
Goldar actually succeeds for a change! Even Zedd is taken completely by surprise. He puts the fake diamond into Serpenterra and they go about their merry way, while the rangers send Bookala off in his repaired spaceship. As a present, because he's going to miss his BFF Billy, he makes it snow in Angel Grove for a few minutes (and TSB and I had a rousing discussion on the merits of snow... but she grew up with enough snow to be hassle and I, who have always loved having a good foot on the ground, spent 13 years in a climate where even the slightest hint of a snowflake was a sign of the impending apocalypse... you live somewhere hot enough to never snow, and you're going to want to see it. I'm just saying.) Anyway, it's cheesy and stupid and they say tearful goodbyes and then Bookala is thankfully on his way.
We rejoice, for this means the end of the episode! Right?
Or not. That's right, this atrociousness continues. Zedd is mad he got a fake diamond so he makes yet another monster out of the little doll!Bookala the rangers made to distract him. It grows, zords are called, the thundersabre is pulled, and the fight is over. At least it was a short fight.
Back at the Youth Center, Kim has received a postcard from Trini all the way from
Frankly, I'm just glad the episode is finally over.
5 fish. Just... I'd like to forget this even exists.
Billy speak: borderline... "It appears to be an extra-terrestrial transport."
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Episode 95 - Scavenger Hunt
Today on Power Rangers - the team goes on a scavenger hunt, and there is some pretty major fail.
Okay, let me get the fail out of the way first, so I can go back to pretending it didn't happen. Bulk and Skull are, as usual, trying to figure out the identities of the Power Rangers. This time, they hire Gypsy Aballonia. She's supposed to be a psychic, and all three of them dress in the most stereotypical costumes you can think of, and speak in odd accents. Apparently the show thinks that gypsies are acceptable targets or something, but we don't, and honestly we found the entire thing really offensive, and we shall never speak of it again.
So, the actual plot is this - the Rangers are competing in a scavenger hunt. They've split up into two teams (Adam, Kim and Tommy on one, Billy, Aisha and Rocky on the other.) At first I thought they were competing against each other, but it turns out they just split the list in two. Kimberly is really into this, and she's absolutely delightful. And Adam makes the most amazing goofy face when they have to take a picture with their first item, which turns out to be a red car.
Zedd watches them, and is all "so, they like to play games" and it is entirely possible my immediate thought was "Adam and Rocky certainly do" because that is exactly how I roll. Zedd then decides that he will send the Rangers on a never ending scavenger hunt in the Lost Universe. Exactly how does one lose a universe? *blinks* And if Zedd knows where the universe is, how exactly is it lost?
Billy's team is hanging out in Billy's lab, trying to figure out what the next clue is, and somehow they come to the realization that it was a cannon. (Personally, I think the answer was a trebuchet, but I guess that would be even harder to find, and is probably just a nitpick anyway.) Billy realizes that his "little cousin" left behind a toy cannon (really?) and that solves this problem, so they go to the park to find the next clue, where they are promptly attacked by putties and lose the bag of stuff.
Then a miracle occurs - they remember they have communicators, and they call the other Rangers. Kim, Tommy and Adam are all fine, but they agree to keep a lookout. Nobody bothers to call Zordon, and Zordon doesn't notice. But then Zedd sends down the monster, which is made out of Billy's toy cannon.
Zordon immediately knows the name of the monster, its powers, and the fact that it can send them to the Lost Universe. How does he know this? Do the fish fly up and tell him? And how does he know where this universe is? If all of these people know about it, it is NOT LOST.
The Rangers all head to the park to fight the cannon monster. The cannon monster, we must note, is standing in fairly tall grass. The grass the Rangers are standing on is freshly mowed. Great job splicing together the footage! So then the Rangers summon the Power Weapons, but that isn't enough, and so they need to summon the Zords.
Rocky's Zord rides Tommy's. I feel that is important to point out.
Zordon is all concerned, because if the Rangers get sent to the Lost Universe, they will never be retrieved. He tells Alpha they just need to have faith in Tommy. Queenriley and I both start cracking up. But no, they summon Tor (and the other four Rangers finally have something to do during this fight) and all is well. I wonder what the point of even mentioning this Lost Universe was. Adding dramatic tension? Because it really didn't work.
Back at the Youth Center, the Rangers are all excited because they only need one more clue, and Ernie tells them the judges are on the way back. The last clue is "they're the colors of the rainbow, and they fight monsters too." Ernie figures out that it must be the Power Rangers, and he has an 8x10 photo of them. Really, do the Rangers do photoshoots now? How did Ernie get one? And how come the Rangers couldn't figure this out? (Maybe because um, no, they are not the colors of the rainbow. When did black become a color of the rainbow? Did they get an indigo ranger when I wasn't looking?)
The Rangers win the scavenger hunt against Central High. We're left wondering exactly when the Rangers managed to get the toy cannon back.
Fish: 4. It would be a 3.5, but I added half a fish for the rage it caused.
Okay, let me get the fail out of the way first, so I can go back to pretending it didn't happen. Bulk and Skull are, as usual, trying to figure out the identities of the Power Rangers. This time, they hire Gypsy Aballonia. She's supposed to be a psychic, and all three of them dress in the most stereotypical costumes you can think of, and speak in odd accents. Apparently the show thinks that gypsies are acceptable targets or something, but we don't, and honestly we found the entire thing really offensive, and we shall never speak of it again.
So, the actual plot is this - the Rangers are competing in a scavenger hunt. They've split up into two teams (Adam, Kim and Tommy on one, Billy, Aisha and Rocky on the other.) At first I thought they were competing against each other, but it turns out they just split the list in two. Kimberly is really into this, and she's absolutely delightful. And Adam makes the most amazing goofy face when they have to take a picture with their first item, which turns out to be a red car.
Zedd watches them, and is all "so, they like to play games" and it is entirely possible my immediate thought was "Adam and Rocky certainly do" because that is exactly how I roll. Zedd then decides that he will send the Rangers on a never ending scavenger hunt in the Lost Universe. Exactly how does one lose a universe? *blinks* And if Zedd knows where the universe is, how exactly is it lost?
Billy's team is hanging out in Billy's lab, trying to figure out what the next clue is, and somehow they come to the realization that it was a cannon. (Personally, I think the answer was a trebuchet, but I guess that would be even harder to find, and is probably just a nitpick anyway.) Billy realizes that his "little cousin" left behind a toy cannon (really?) and that solves this problem, so they go to the park to find the next clue, where they are promptly attacked by putties and lose the bag of stuff.
Then a miracle occurs - they remember they have communicators, and they call the other Rangers. Kim, Tommy and Adam are all fine, but they agree to keep a lookout. Nobody bothers to call Zordon, and Zordon doesn't notice. But then Zedd sends down the monster, which is made out of Billy's toy cannon.
Zordon immediately knows the name of the monster, its powers, and the fact that it can send them to the Lost Universe. How does he know this? Do the fish fly up and tell him? And how does he know where this universe is? If all of these people know about it, it is NOT LOST.
The Rangers all head to the park to fight the cannon monster. The cannon monster, we must note, is standing in fairly tall grass. The grass the Rangers are standing on is freshly mowed. Great job splicing together the footage! So then the Rangers summon the Power Weapons, but that isn't enough, and so they need to summon the Zords.
Rocky's Zord rides Tommy's. I feel that is important to point out.
Zordon is all concerned, because if the Rangers get sent to the Lost Universe, they will never be retrieved. He tells Alpha they just need to have faith in Tommy. Queenriley and I both start cracking up. But no, they summon Tor (and the other four Rangers finally have something to do during this fight) and all is well. I wonder what the point of even mentioning this Lost Universe was. Adding dramatic tension? Because it really didn't work.
Back at the Youth Center, the Rangers are all excited because they only need one more clue, and Ernie tells them the judges are on the way back. The last clue is "they're the colors of the rainbow, and they fight monsters too." Ernie figures out that it must be the Power Rangers, and he has an 8x10 photo of them. Really, do the Rangers do photoshoots now? How did Ernie get one? And how come the Rangers couldn't figure this out? (Maybe because um, no, they are not the colors of the rainbow. When did black become a color of the rainbow? Did they get an indigo ranger when I wasn't looking?)
The Rangers win the scavenger hunt against Central High. We're left wondering exactly when the Rangers managed to get the toy cannon back.
Fish: 4. It would be a 3.5, but I added half a fish for the rage it caused.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Episode 94- Where There's Smoke, There's Fire
Today we learn Aisha has control issues and Skull wants to be a politician. Skull for President!
So we start out proving the point, once again, that Angel Grove has the worst education standards ever. Basic fire safety being taught to high schoolers? Rewards from the fire chief for writing an essay? Are they still in elementary school or something?
Anyway, Aisha wrote the best essay and so she gets appointed fire safety captain for the week. She takes this role VERY seriously. Disturbingly so.
Anyway, the next day she sets up a demonstration on overloading electrical sockets. She and Kim exchange hair tips in the middle of class (all of which made no sense to me, but whatever) and then get on with discussing what to do in the case of an electrical fire. Why she's DEMONSTRATING it, I don't know. Bulk and Skull come in to give a demonstration of their own, having just joined the Future Fire Fighters Club. They brought a Dalmatian puppy with them! Awwwww. In setting up the projection system, however, they overload a socket and start an electrical fire. Aisha unplugs the main power strip and then uses a fire extinguisher, talking about needing a cool, level head and quick thinking.
At the Youth Center/Juice Bar later, Aisha has everybody hanging up fliers. Except Adam and Rocky who are just... not there. Without explanation. I have my own theories on what they do with their alone time. ;) Anyway, Aisha is bossy and has Kim go hang up fliers in the hallway. She hands Tommy a huge stack to go hang up at the mall, the library, and the gas station while he's out on a run. She then goes to inspect Ernie's kitchen for fire hazards. Why she's doing inspections I have NO idea. That's not her job. But she's incredibly bossy about it all.
Meanwhile, in the park, Bulk and Skull are coming up with a bad plan to set a fire and attract the Power Rangers. Skull is kind of afraid of fire and says he'd rather be a politician instead. Skull for President! Bulk blows him off though and they are conveniently in front of a large metal trash can when Zedd's new monster, Flame Head (who looks more like the Headless Horseman), sets fire to it. Both Bulk and Skull freak out and run for the lake.
Y'know, I was going to comment on the lack of evil with this monster since she only set fire to trash cans for a few minutes. But then she set fire to a shrubbery, so it's all good. My only question is, will the rangers need to cut said shrubbery down with a herring? It's possible.
Adam and Rocky joined Tommy for a run in the park. Adam is wearing a shirt that is barely there and Rocky is, once again, wearing black with his red. Somebody must have clued him into Ranger Rule Number 23. They are attacked by putties and make quick work of them (Rocky taking out FIVE at once, because he's awesome), when they smell the fire. They are immediately confronted with Ichabod Crane's nemesis and morph into action. Zordon either doesn't notice or doesn't feel it's important to alert the others. We feel this is all part of his plan to sabotage Tommy and it's just unfortunate that Rocky and Adam were involved. The others find out thanks to a news report, but only after Aisha has handed Ernie a list of potential problems he needs to fix right away.
They go the Command Center and Aisha insists on taking on the fire monster herself while Billy and Kim try to come up with a way to fight it. Billy wants to go fight, but Aisha wields those control issues and is very demanding. She joins the fight and takes out all of the putties on her own, including wiping out the mass attacking Tommy. Zordon pulls them all back to the Command Center where he tells Aisha the lesson she's supposed to have learned, that sometimes extraordinary circumstances happen that are out of our control and we need to rely on the team to help out. I don't think she learned that lesson. Tommy lectures her on there being no "I in team" and I nearly spray soda on my monitor. Pot calling the kettle black much?
They go into the fight as a team and this is where the main fish come in. They link hands and, by their powers combined, create an energy barrier to block the flames. Uh... okay? We figure if they think hard enough they can summon enough fish to put out the fire. From there on out it's very predictable. Monster grows. Zords are summoned. About 10 seconds of fight. Thundersabre drawn. Endgame.
Back at the Youth Center, Aisha apologizes for going on a rampage with the fire safety thing. She learned her lesson about control and responsibility... though all we got out of it was Aisha is apparently not strong enough to take on responsibility. We don't like that theory. Aisha is too awesome for that. (though I fully support her being a very dominant personality... in, uh, many different ways)
Bulk and Skull come in and are bummed because they were kicked out of the junior fire fighters club thingy. Ernie blows them off and then brings out a cake alight with candles for Aisha and all the hard work she did on fire safety. Skull flips out and dumps a pitcher of water on Bulk while Aisha blows out the candles. *le sigh*
List time!
3 fish. It wasn't too bad, but that whole energy barrier thing? Uh... yeah.
Billy speak: None, alas
Covered in food: Skull throws water on Bulk.
So we start out proving the point, once again, that Angel Grove has the worst education standards ever. Basic fire safety being taught to high schoolers? Rewards from the fire chief for writing an essay? Are they still in elementary school or something?
Anyway, Aisha wrote the best essay and so she gets appointed fire safety captain for the week. She takes this role VERY seriously. Disturbingly so.
Anyway, the next day she sets up a demonstration on overloading electrical sockets. She and Kim exchange hair tips in the middle of class (all of which made no sense to me, but whatever) and then get on with discussing what to do in the case of an electrical fire. Why she's DEMONSTRATING it, I don't know. Bulk and Skull come in to give a demonstration of their own, having just joined the Future Fire Fighters Club. They brought a Dalmatian puppy with them! Awwwww. In setting up the projection system, however, they overload a socket and start an electrical fire. Aisha unplugs the main power strip and then uses a fire extinguisher, talking about needing a cool, level head and quick thinking.
At the Youth Center/Juice Bar later, Aisha has everybody hanging up fliers. Except Adam and Rocky who are just... not there. Without explanation. I have my own theories on what they do with their alone time. ;) Anyway, Aisha is bossy and has Kim go hang up fliers in the hallway. She hands Tommy a huge stack to go hang up at the mall, the library, and the gas station while he's out on a run. She then goes to inspect Ernie's kitchen for fire hazards. Why she's doing inspections I have NO idea. That's not her job. But she's incredibly bossy about it all.
Meanwhile, in the park, Bulk and Skull are coming up with a bad plan to set a fire and attract the Power Rangers. Skull is kind of afraid of fire and says he'd rather be a politician instead. Skull for President! Bulk blows him off though and they are conveniently in front of a large metal trash can when Zedd's new monster, Flame Head (who looks more like the Headless Horseman), sets fire to it. Both Bulk and Skull freak out and run for the lake.
Y'know, I was going to comment on the lack of evil with this monster since she only set fire to trash cans for a few minutes. But then she set fire to a shrubbery, so it's all good. My only question is, will the rangers need to cut said shrubbery down with a herring? It's possible.
Adam and Rocky joined Tommy for a run in the park. Adam is wearing a shirt that is barely there and Rocky is, once again, wearing black with his red. Somebody must have clued him into Ranger Rule Number 23. They are attacked by putties and make quick work of them (Rocky taking out FIVE at once, because he's awesome), when they smell the fire. They are immediately confronted with Ichabod Crane's nemesis and morph into action. Zordon either doesn't notice or doesn't feel it's important to alert the others. We feel this is all part of his plan to sabotage Tommy and it's just unfortunate that Rocky and Adam were involved. The others find out thanks to a news report, but only after Aisha has handed Ernie a list of potential problems he needs to fix right away.
They go the Command Center and Aisha insists on taking on the fire monster herself while Billy and Kim try to come up with a way to fight it. Billy wants to go fight, but Aisha wields those control issues and is very demanding. She joins the fight and takes out all of the putties on her own, including wiping out the mass attacking Tommy. Zordon pulls them all back to the Command Center where he tells Aisha the lesson she's supposed to have learned, that sometimes extraordinary circumstances happen that are out of our control and we need to rely on the team to help out. I don't think she learned that lesson. Tommy lectures her on there being no "I in team" and I nearly spray soda on my monitor. Pot calling the kettle black much?
They go into the fight as a team and this is where the main fish come in. They link hands and, by their powers combined, create an energy barrier to block the flames. Uh... okay? We figure if they think hard enough they can summon enough fish to put out the fire. From there on out it's very predictable. Monster grows. Zords are summoned. About 10 seconds of fight. Thundersabre drawn. Endgame.
Back at the Youth Center, Aisha apologizes for going on a rampage with the fire safety thing. She learned her lesson about control and responsibility... though all we got out of it was Aisha is apparently not strong enough to take on responsibility. We don't like that theory. Aisha is too awesome for that. (though I fully support her being a very dominant personality... in, uh, many different ways)
Bulk and Skull come in and are bummed because they were kicked out of the junior fire fighters club thingy. Ernie blows them off and then brings out a cake alight with candles for Aisha and all the hard work she did on fire safety. Skull flips out and dumps a pitcher of water on Bulk while Aisha blows out the candles. *le sigh*
List time!
3 fish. It wasn't too bad, but that whole energy barrier thing? Uh... yeah.
Billy speak: None, alas
Covered in food: Skull throws water on Bulk.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Episode 93 - Lights, Camera, Action
I've got a stomach virus or something, so I am at home with a lot of soup, but that doesn't stop me from recapping this completely ridiculous episode. There are so many questions that can only be answered by saying that the fish did it. Although I still encourage people to write fic.
So, the episode opens with Aisha giving a report on tv. I still want to know what class it is, since I'm assuming it's the same class that Adam did his report on kaleidoscopes. But besides pondering what class it is, we're both instantly struck with the need to all caps at each other about how OLD we are, because Aisha pulls out a VHS tape to show some footage about TV. Seriously, we are SO OLD.
Aisha finishes up her report, and Ms. Applebee asks the class if they know who the father of television is, and Bulk answers Captain Kangaroo. Seriously? Apparently Captain Kangaroo ended in 1993, but... would Bulk and Skull really have been watching? I'm 25 and I barely know who Captain Kangaroo is. Ms. Applebee basically calls Bulk an idiot, and Adam correctly answers the question.
This somehow leads into Ms. Applebee telling them about their homework - the Power Rangers are going to be on TV that night on a nationwide broadcast (Angel Grove is so its own country) promoting education, since they are apparently worldwide ambassadors of education. Everyone in class needs to watch the broadcast and then write a report on it. I have a few suggestions on things they could talk about - the need for some new teachers at Angel Grove High and replacing the curriculum with something that accurately reflects a high school being pretty high up there on the list.
But I keep getting distracted by the actual logistics of this. How was this arranged? Did the newsguy catch them after one of their fights and ask if they would be willing to be on TV? Did they just teleport into the studio and declare themselves proponents of education and say they wanted to be on primetime? Was there a giant press conference where the United Nations declared them worldwide ambassadors of education? These are the things that I think about! Also, I desperately want to read the Rangers' reports about themselves. I'm sure that Tommy's is all about how great the White Ranger is.
Out in the hall, Adam is all freaking out because he doesn't like cameras. He really doesn't want to be on tv! Rocky tries to tell him it will be okay, possibly because he's hoping to make a video of his own later. Billy gets all touchy feely with Adam, and they point out they'll still have their masks on (possibly in the video that Adam and Rocky make also)
Anyway, Zedd is all "Hmm, the Power Brats will be on TV? I should take advantage of this by kidnapping them and replacing them with Evil!Rangers who will spread my message of hate!" That is... actually not a bad plan! Although I'm fairly sure if Zedd showed up at a TV station and demanded that they hold a press conference, they would let him.
So, sometime before the broadcast the Rangers are wandering along the beach when Goldar and some putties show up. Adam is all "crap, Goldar!" because he is clearly terrified that Goldar will take him to Scorpina (or, you know, steal his self-esteem.) So they morph, and there's a fight, and the Rangers win, and Zedd is all "Well, Goldar screwed up, so no evil twins today!" Instead, he makes a camera monster.
At the Harvey Garvey show (yes, that is actually the name) the host is wearing the most ridiculously early 90s outfit, words will not do it justice. Also, the guy is pretty sleazy. The audience is all "We want the Power Rangers!" and I'm just hoping a riot doesn't break out. So the Power Rangers all come out, and there's a lot of martial arts and some ridiculous pyrotechnics, and then the host goes straight to commercial. Oh, and Bulk and Skull have a plan that will try and expose the Rangers identities on live television. This will obviously fail, and Bulk will get hit in the head a lot, and I'm not going to even bother to mention it again.
Harvey Garvey asks the Rangers if education has helped them. The answer is clearly not, since they go to Angel Grove. Also, the guy is making it sound like they're already out of school (of course, nobody suspects that it's a bunch of high school kids) and the Rangers encourage this, talking about how all of the monsters have a weakness, and they have to use their heads to figure it out. I'm sure that Tommy has a very hard head.
Also, Rocky is pretty much sitting on Adam and Aisha, and this is very important.
Anyway, Kimberly and Billy talk about the Pudgy Pig and we're all happy to see the old footage. Pudgy Pig is awesome!
The next question has absolutely nothing to do with education, and instead Harvey Garvey asks about how they do all those kicks, so Aisha and Rocky give him an impromptu lesson. (Points for involving Aisha in this, since they would usually do Tommy and Adam.) Of course, Harvey Garvey falls.
The next question is directed at Tommy, asking what happened to the Green Ranger. Which brings me to another question - how DO they explain these things? Do people just assume that the Green Ranger died? But Tommy is saved from having to answer this, because Zordon has noticed that Zedd sent down a monster. Alpha initially doesn't want to contact the Rangers, since they are on TV, but saving the world is more important. Tommy answers his communicator on the air, and then the group teleports out, just as Bulk stumbles onto the set to try and pull off their helmets.
The only notable thing about the conversation in the Command Center is that Tommy says "lights, camera, we're morphin into action." What the fuck.
Anyway, there's a fight, Zords are summoned,you know the drill. It was pretty boring.
The next day, Ms. Applebee is asking students about the broadcast. One guy (who appears to have a mullet) says that since the Rangers think education is cool, he does too. If the Rangers all jumped off a bridge, I bet he would. Then Ms. Applebee asks Rocky what he thought, and Rocky smirks and says that the Rangers reached out and touched him. I'm sure that Adam did all night long. :D
Ms. Applebee says that they really touched her (although hopefully not in the same way) and that they touched people all over the world. Really, I thought this was only a nationwide broadcast? Okay. And apparently Zack, Trini and Jason were all watching, since they faxed the school to say how great it was. I'm surprised that Torchwood let them contact everyone, and also amazed that they didn't directly contact the other Rangers. I guess they are all sad they weren't invited.
Bulk and Skull show up late, expecting to be treated like stars since they crashed the broadcast. Instead, they get more detention.
Fish: FIVE. The fish clearly arranged everything
Covered in: Bulk gets hit by a bunch of stuff. Apparently we're backsliding.
Billy speak: If there was any, we were too distracted by the fish to notice.
So, the episode opens with Aisha giving a report on tv. I still want to know what class it is, since I'm assuming it's the same class that Adam did his report on kaleidoscopes. But besides pondering what class it is, we're both instantly struck with the need to all caps at each other about how OLD we are, because Aisha pulls out a VHS tape to show some footage about TV. Seriously, we are SO OLD.
Aisha finishes up her report, and Ms. Applebee asks the class if they know who the father of television is, and Bulk answers Captain Kangaroo. Seriously? Apparently Captain Kangaroo ended in 1993, but... would Bulk and Skull really have been watching? I'm 25 and I barely know who Captain Kangaroo is. Ms. Applebee basically calls Bulk an idiot, and Adam correctly answers the question.
This somehow leads into Ms. Applebee telling them about their homework - the Power Rangers are going to be on TV that night on a nationwide broadcast (Angel Grove is so its own country) promoting education, since they are apparently worldwide ambassadors of education. Everyone in class needs to watch the broadcast and then write a report on it. I have a few suggestions on things they could talk about - the need for some new teachers at Angel Grove High and replacing the curriculum with something that accurately reflects a high school being pretty high up there on the list.
But I keep getting distracted by the actual logistics of this. How was this arranged? Did the newsguy catch them after one of their fights and ask if they would be willing to be on TV? Did they just teleport into the studio and declare themselves proponents of education and say they wanted to be on primetime? Was there a giant press conference where the United Nations declared them worldwide ambassadors of education? These are the things that I think about! Also, I desperately want to read the Rangers' reports about themselves. I'm sure that Tommy's is all about how great the White Ranger is.
Out in the hall, Adam is all freaking out because he doesn't like cameras. He really doesn't want to be on tv! Rocky tries to tell him it will be okay, possibly because he's hoping to make a video of his own later. Billy gets all touchy feely with Adam, and they point out they'll still have their masks on (possibly in the video that Adam and Rocky make also)
Anyway, Zedd is all "Hmm, the Power Brats will be on TV? I should take advantage of this by kidnapping them and replacing them with Evil!Rangers who will spread my message of hate!" That is... actually not a bad plan! Although I'm fairly sure if Zedd showed up at a TV station and demanded that they hold a press conference, they would let him.
So, sometime before the broadcast the Rangers are wandering along the beach when Goldar and some putties show up. Adam is all "crap, Goldar!" because he is clearly terrified that Goldar will take him to Scorpina (or, you know, steal his self-esteem.) So they morph, and there's a fight, and the Rangers win, and Zedd is all "Well, Goldar screwed up, so no evil twins today!" Instead, he makes a camera monster.
At the Harvey Garvey show (yes, that is actually the name) the host is wearing the most ridiculously early 90s outfit, words will not do it justice. Also, the guy is pretty sleazy. The audience is all "We want the Power Rangers!" and I'm just hoping a riot doesn't break out. So the Power Rangers all come out, and there's a lot of martial arts and some ridiculous pyrotechnics, and then the host goes straight to commercial. Oh, and Bulk and Skull have a plan that will try and expose the Rangers identities on live television. This will obviously fail, and Bulk will get hit in the head a lot, and I'm not going to even bother to mention it again.
Harvey Garvey asks the Rangers if education has helped them. The answer is clearly not, since they go to Angel Grove. Also, the guy is making it sound like they're already out of school (of course, nobody suspects that it's a bunch of high school kids) and the Rangers encourage this, talking about how all of the monsters have a weakness, and they have to use their heads to figure it out. I'm sure that Tommy has a very hard head.
Also, Rocky is pretty much sitting on Adam and Aisha, and this is very important.
Anyway, Kimberly and Billy talk about the Pudgy Pig and we're all happy to see the old footage. Pudgy Pig is awesome!
The next question has absolutely nothing to do with education, and instead Harvey Garvey asks about how they do all those kicks, so Aisha and Rocky give him an impromptu lesson. (Points for involving Aisha in this, since they would usually do Tommy and Adam.) Of course, Harvey Garvey falls.
The next question is directed at Tommy, asking what happened to the Green Ranger. Which brings me to another question - how DO they explain these things? Do people just assume that the Green Ranger died? But Tommy is saved from having to answer this, because Zordon has noticed that Zedd sent down a monster. Alpha initially doesn't want to contact the Rangers, since they are on TV, but saving the world is more important. Tommy answers his communicator on the air, and then the group teleports out, just as Bulk stumbles onto the set to try and pull off their helmets.
The only notable thing about the conversation in the Command Center is that Tommy says "lights, camera, we're morphin into action." What the fuck.
Anyway, there's a fight, Zords are summoned,you know the drill. It was pretty boring.
The next day, Ms. Applebee is asking students about the broadcast. One guy (who appears to have a mullet) says that since the Rangers think education is cool, he does too. If the Rangers all jumped off a bridge, I bet he would. Then Ms. Applebee asks Rocky what he thought, and Rocky smirks and says that the Rangers reached out and touched him. I'm sure that Adam did all night long. :D
Ms. Applebee says that they really touched her (although hopefully not in the same way) and that they touched people all over the world. Really, I thought this was only a nationwide broadcast? Okay. And apparently Zack, Trini and Jason were all watching, since they faxed the school to say how great it was. I'm surprised that Torchwood let them contact everyone, and also amazed that they didn't directly contact the other Rangers. I guess they are all sad they weren't invited.
Bulk and Skull show up late, expecting to be treated like stars since they crashed the broadcast. Instead, they get more detention.
Fish: FIVE. The fish clearly arranged everything
Covered in: Bulk gets hit by a bunch of stuff. Apparently we're backsliding.
Billy speak: If there was any, we were too distracted by the fish to notice.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Episode 92- Rocky Just Wants to Have Fun
Today we have the ONLY character development episode for Rocky in this entire season, and it's Secretly About Tommy. We get one half-arsed episode in season three and then nothing until Zeo. Even that is sporadic. Poor Rocky. You could have been so awesome, if only they'd given you a chance.
So we start off with Rocky and Billy sitting around a table at Ernie's Juice Bar. They have a pile of books and Billy is quizzing Rocky on math. Rocky gets the proper answer and Billy is sure Rocky will have no trouble acing the ADVANCED MATH test. The same ADVANCED MATH test that Billy himself is taking. Which means, Rocky is on level with Billy when it comes to math which means Rocky is NOT stupid (despite popular fanon opinion).
I kind of love Rocky, can you tell? I hate that he gets a bad rap in the fandom.
Anyway, Ernie is setting up a new pachinko machine. Ernie tells Rocky to give it a try and Zedd notices that Rocky seems to enjoy it. So while everybody conveniently turns away, Zedd puts Rocky under a spell. An irresponsibility spell. It makes Rocky want to play non-stop (and I see sudden disturbing similarities between Rocky and my Spousal Person). He even says he just wants to have fun when Billy tries to get him to stop playing and study some more. A Tiny Child of Adorableness comes up and pleads with Rocky to help her practice for her green belt, but he refuses. She asks Billy what's wrong with Rocky and THAT was the first sign to Billy that something really was amiss. Really? Do you have so little faith in Rocky, Billy, that you wouldn't notice when he goes from abnormally responsible teenager to tethered to a pachinko machine? Seriously?
Meanwhile, Skull blocks Bulk's video game (oh arcade games... I miss the days of your allowance eating fun) with a huge stack of papers. It appears Skull has done LOTS of research. He's gathered information on every single monster attack for the prior six months and coordinated local citizens habits. He discovered that every time a monster attacked, Ernie had the day off (except he didn't really). Ergo, Ernie must be a Power Ranger! They grow suspicious.
In Ranger happenings, instead of remembering those handy little communicators that he invented, Billy runs all the way to the park to meet up with the others and tell them something is wrong with Rocky. Adam says he'll go talk to Rocky, but not once does ANYBODY say "Gosh, maybe my normally reliable friend has fallen under a spell that has changed his personality! We ought to look into that hypothesis." No, that never crosses their minds. They are horrible friends.
Zedd doesn't want them ruining his fun so he sends down a bunch of putties. He's cruising around space in Serpenterra for no reason other than he's a badass. Go on with your bad self, Zedd, and have your fun.
Aisha brilliantly remembers the communicator she's had for all of a month or whatever and calls Zordon. They apparently need backup. Zordon is going to send Rocky over and doesn't question Rocky's behaviour when he answers his communicator in a surly voice and nearly refuses to go the park. He changes his mind, however, when he realizes the park could be a lot of funsince Adam is there and Rocky always finds "fun" with Adam.
Back at the Youth Center, Bulk and Skull are trying to be secretive and detective-like and investigate Ernie. It's adorable and Skull is awesome at improvising.
Rocky shows up at the park and ignores the putties, instead playing around with a frisbee and the playground equipment. He has some nice arms. Ahem. Anyway, Zedd turns Ernie's pachinko machine into a monster and the rangers all morph, even Rocky, though we can't figure out why he morphed as well. He runs straight for the monster, thinking he'll know how to have fun. He dances around the other rangers and generally acts very silly. They STILL don't suspect a spell or any kind of evildoing. Terrible terrible friends.
The pachinko machine monster starts turning rangers into balls and Rocky plays around with them. Heeee. My inner twelve year old giggles uncontrollably at Rocky playing with his teammate balls. Eventually even Rocky is turned into a ball leaving Tommy as the only ranger standing. He throws a frisbee and the monster chases it, giving Tommy enough time to collect his friends-as-balls and teleport to the Command Center. He tells Zordon Rocky was acting kind of funny and Zordon scans him, discovering he was under a spell the whole time. AND NOBODY NOTICED. *sigh* So Tommy is determined to be the hero and stop the monster on his own. He doesn't need his friends or anything.
Tommy goes off to fight while Alpha finds a way to turn the balls back into rangers. Tommy kind of fails and this takes up about half the episode it seems. Because it's all about Tommy and how he's supposedly awesome. Luckily, Rocky is revived and somehow that magically broke the spell. He feels incredibly guilty (and self-loathing!Rocky is really hot... I may have relationship issues) and is determined to beat the monster and make up for his irresponsible behaviour. So he goes to fight with Tommy. And he wasn't doing half bad until the others show up with their zords. At that point Zedd comes down in Serpenterra and tries to step on them. Tor magically appears and we see the same exact footage we saw four episodes ago. Tor gets squished, Serpenterra loses power (in this episode because Tor drained it), the city is saved (but looks nothing like Angel Grove, because four episodes ago it was an abandoned city on another planet), and Serpenterra flies away. The rangers win by default.
Back at the Youth Center, Bulk and Skull discover that Ernie is not, in fact, a Power Ranger. Bulk is mad at Skull for having an hypothesis. Poor Skull.
Rocky walks over to Aisha and Billy and tells them he'll join their study session after he teaches his karate class and helps Tiny Child of Adorableness practice for her green belt. Billy is kind of mean and decides to confirm that Rocky really is being responsible and doesn't "just want to have fun". Rocky says he learned his lesson, but really? He was UNDER A SPELL. His behaviour was NOT IN HIS CONTROL. It's not like he was doing it on purpose. Anyway, Aisha breaks out and old saying and it's basically a turnaround of "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."
Billy still doesn't quite believe him, though, even when Ernie offers Rocky another game of pachinko. I just want to smack Billy upside the head and repeat UNDER A SPELL over and over. It wasn't his fault, people! Give the poor kid a break.
And that's all the not-really-development of Rocky we get for... um... basically ever (although this episode does totally set up our personal fanon that Rocky has an addictive personality... which I kind of love about him, even if it's not exactly a healthy thing).
List time!
4 fish. I'd like some actual character development here, please!
Billy speak: "So it's the exponential difference between this number and that number."
"It's sensational not to be spherical"
Covered in food: Bulk and Skull had some popcorn accidentally spilled on them? But I'm not really counting it.
So we start off with Rocky and Billy sitting around a table at Ernie's Juice Bar. They have a pile of books and Billy is quizzing Rocky on math. Rocky gets the proper answer and Billy is sure Rocky will have no trouble acing the ADVANCED MATH test. The same ADVANCED MATH test that Billy himself is taking. Which means, Rocky is on level with Billy when it comes to math which means Rocky is NOT stupid (despite popular fanon opinion).
I kind of love Rocky, can you tell? I hate that he gets a bad rap in the fandom.
Anyway, Ernie is setting up a new pachinko machine. Ernie tells Rocky to give it a try and Zedd notices that Rocky seems to enjoy it. So while everybody conveniently turns away, Zedd puts Rocky under a spell. An irresponsibility spell. It makes Rocky want to play non-stop (and I see sudden disturbing similarities between Rocky and my Spousal Person). He even says he just wants to have fun when Billy tries to get him to stop playing and study some more. A Tiny Child of Adorableness comes up and pleads with Rocky to help her practice for her green belt, but he refuses. She asks Billy what's wrong with Rocky and THAT was the first sign to Billy that something really was amiss. Really? Do you have so little faith in Rocky, Billy, that you wouldn't notice when he goes from abnormally responsible teenager to tethered to a pachinko machine? Seriously?
Meanwhile, Skull blocks Bulk's video game (oh arcade games... I miss the days of your allowance eating fun) with a huge stack of papers. It appears Skull has done LOTS of research. He's gathered information on every single monster attack for the prior six months and coordinated local citizens habits. He discovered that every time a monster attacked, Ernie had the day off (except he didn't really). Ergo, Ernie must be a Power Ranger! They grow suspicious.
In Ranger happenings, instead of remembering those handy little communicators that he invented, Billy runs all the way to the park to meet up with the others and tell them something is wrong with Rocky. Adam says he'll go talk to Rocky, but not once does ANYBODY say "Gosh, maybe my normally reliable friend has fallen under a spell that has changed his personality! We ought to look into that hypothesis." No, that never crosses their minds. They are horrible friends.
Zedd doesn't want them ruining his fun so he sends down a bunch of putties. He's cruising around space in Serpenterra for no reason other than he's a badass. Go on with your bad self, Zedd, and have your fun.
Aisha brilliantly remembers the communicator she's had for all of a month or whatever and calls Zordon. They apparently need backup. Zordon is going to send Rocky over and doesn't question Rocky's behaviour when he answers his communicator in a surly voice and nearly refuses to go the park. He changes his mind, however, when he realizes the park could be a lot of fun
Back at the Youth Center, Bulk and Skull are trying to be secretive and detective-like and investigate Ernie. It's adorable and Skull is awesome at improvising.
Rocky shows up at the park and ignores the putties, instead playing around with a frisbee and the playground equipment. He has some nice arms. Ahem. Anyway, Zedd turns Ernie's pachinko machine into a monster and the rangers all morph, even Rocky, though we can't figure out why he morphed as well. He runs straight for the monster, thinking he'll know how to have fun. He dances around the other rangers and generally acts very silly. They STILL don't suspect a spell or any kind of evildoing. Terrible terrible friends.
The pachinko machine monster starts turning rangers into balls and Rocky plays around with them. Heeee. My inner twelve year old giggles uncontrollably at Rocky playing with his teammate balls. Eventually even Rocky is turned into a ball leaving Tommy as the only ranger standing. He throws a frisbee and the monster chases it, giving Tommy enough time to collect his friends-as-balls and teleport to the Command Center. He tells Zordon Rocky was acting kind of funny and Zordon scans him, discovering he was under a spell the whole time. AND NOBODY NOTICED. *sigh* So Tommy is determined to be the hero and stop the monster on his own. He doesn't need his friends or anything.
Tommy goes off to fight while Alpha finds a way to turn the balls back into rangers. Tommy kind of fails and this takes up about half the episode it seems. Because it's all about Tommy and how he's supposedly awesome. Luckily, Rocky is revived and somehow that magically broke the spell. He feels incredibly guilty (and self-loathing!Rocky is really hot... I may have relationship issues) and is determined to beat the monster and make up for his irresponsible behaviour. So he goes to fight with Tommy. And he wasn't doing half bad until the others show up with their zords. At that point Zedd comes down in Serpenterra and tries to step on them. Tor magically appears and we see the same exact footage we saw four episodes ago. Tor gets squished, Serpenterra loses power (in this episode because Tor drained it), the city is saved (but looks nothing like Angel Grove, because four episodes ago it was an abandoned city on another planet), and Serpenterra flies away. The rangers win by default.
Back at the Youth Center, Bulk and Skull discover that Ernie is not, in fact, a Power Ranger. Bulk is mad at Skull for having an hypothesis. Poor Skull.
Rocky walks over to Aisha and Billy and tells them he'll join their study session after he teaches his karate class and helps Tiny Child of Adorableness practice for her green belt. Billy is kind of mean and decides to confirm that Rocky really is being responsible and doesn't "just want to have fun". Rocky says he learned his lesson, but really? He was UNDER A SPELL. His behaviour was NOT IN HIS CONTROL. It's not like he was doing it on purpose. Anyway, Aisha breaks out and old saying and it's basically a turnaround of "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."
Billy still doesn't quite believe him, though, even when Ernie offers Rocky another game of pachinko. I just want to smack Billy upside the head and repeat UNDER A SPELL over and over. It wasn't his fault, people! Give the poor kid a break.
And that's all the not-really-development of Rocky we get for... um... basically ever (although this episode does totally set up our personal fanon that Rocky has an addictive personality... which I kind of love about him, even if it's not exactly a healthy thing).
List time!
4 fish. I'd like some actual character development here, please!
Billy speak: "So it's the exponential difference between this number and that number."
"It's sensational not to be spherical"
Covered in food: Bulk and Skull had some popcorn accidentally spilled on them? But I'm not really counting it.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Episode 91 - When is a Ranger Not a Ranger?
I apologize in advance for how crazy this recap is. This episode was filled with fish, and also I got all the Sims 2 expansions, and it is entirely possible I feel the need the go build a new Adam/Rocky house. Like, immediately.
Anyway, this episode is filled with so many fish, and incredibly horrible science, but it is also the first Bulk and Skull are BIG DAMN HEROES moment, and I love them so much. SO MUCH.
So, we open in Ms. Applebee's classroom, where Adam is giving a report on kaleidoscopes. Apparently the Rangers are all in third grade. I'd point out that Angel Grove lacks quality education, but we knew that already. Besides, more importantly, Aisha is staring at Adam with a "damn, that boy is fine" expression on her face. I have my priorities when it comes to important things about this show. Ms. Applebee thanks Adam for his awesome report, and asks if anyone has any questions. Bulk and Skull raise their hands, and she sighs and asks if anyone has any intelligent questions, and we start raging about how she needs to be fired immediately as this is completely unacceptable behavior. Bulk says he has an intelligent question, and then asks something about a mountain, and Ms. Applebee asks if he has anything related to Adam's report, which he grumbles that he didn't understand. *bangs head on wall repeatedly* I used to teach high school, and this is just causing me to rage.
So let's talk about happier things, like this plot. On the list of tropes I love, convenient plot-related amnesia is probably up there toward the top of the list. And Zedd is fascinated by Adam's kaleidoscope and decides he will turn it into a monster that will make the Rangers forget who they are. \o/ So barely two minutes into the episode, he sends Putties down to fight the Ranger Trio (Kim/Billy/Tommy) and there is a really awesome fight until the monster is created. Oh noes, the three of them now have amnesia.
You guys, I want all the fic in the world about this. Amnesiac!Kimberly thinks Tommy is creepy and she's dating Billy! Tommy's evil personality reasserts itself! People trying to make them remember things! This should TOTALLY HAPPEN. And yes that deserves the caps.
Back at the Youth Center, Bulk and Skull are preparing a camouflage outfit thing so that they can spy on the Power Rangers. Rocky hypnotizes them, and seriously? The Stone Canyon Trio have only known Bulk and Skull for like, 30 seconds, so they need to stop picking up the worst habits of the old Rangers.
Zordon summons the Stone Canyon Trio to the Command Center, and Zordon fills them in on what happens, and then sends them down to get the other three Rangers. Why they didn't just teleport the others to the Command Center, I have no idea. By this point Kimberly has decided that Billy is totally a brain, and Tommy thinks Kim is really pretty, and if I shipped Tommy/Kim at all I would think that is really sweet, but since I don't, I'm going to just ignore it.
Rocky is all leaderish, and seriously, why doesn't he get more to do? Because he needs more episodes about him, since he's awesome, and really good at taking command.Insert comment about how Adam enjoys that here. He then confirms that yes, Billy is a brain. Aisha then tells Kim that they're best friends and they go shopping together every day. Kimberly is all "What the hell is wrong with me? Why am I so shallow?" and I just want to give both girls a hug. Aisha is all "Oh God, how is Zedd that powerful?" and I flash back to Island of Illusion with Kim being all "Bulk and Skull nice? RITA WILL WIN."
Adam doesn't bother to tell Tommy anything. HA.
Adam tries to explain Zedd, and the Ranger Trio are all freaked out, and would probably have run away, except Zedd screws up his own plan by sending Goldar down, causing them to run to the Stone Canyon Trio. (Kim holds out her hand to Aisha and is all "best friends, right?" and it is actually really sweet.)
Back at the Command Center, it's like a flashback to the first episode! Billy and Kim both repeat their dialogue from Day of the Dumpster and we start flailing since we're exactly that dorky.
Then there's some absolutely horrible science, that I'm not going to even dignify with a mention in this recap, except to say that Adam comes up with the plan that maybe if they expose the monster's beam to a prism everyone will get their memories back. I couldn't make this shit up if I tried. So Adam and Billy go to Adam's lab, while the other four go to try to find the monster, and Aisha and Rocky morph in the process.
They teleport right in front of Bulk and Skull, and Bulk and Skull are so damn awesome. They're totally shocked, as is to be expected, and I have no idea what really happened, because we were too busy allcapsing about how awesome they are.
The monster shows up, and then Adam and Billy teleport back in, and Adam instantly gets memory wiped. Aisha and Rocky try to go get the prisms Adam dropped and yell about how that will save them, and then they lose their memories too.
AND THEN.
Bulk and Skull decide that They Will Not Let The Rangers Be Hurt. So they go FACE DOWN A MONSTER because they are THAT AWESOME and they get to the prisms and all the Rangers get their memories back, but Bulk and Skull lose their memories, and seriously, why is there not fic where they get to keep their memories? Also, how awesome are Bulk and Skull? SO AWESOME.
Anyway, the Rangers summon Zords and defeat the monster, and everyone is all happy, and then they tell Bulk and Skull that they saved them, and there is much flailing.
Back at the Youth Center, Bulk and Skull are trying to tell the story, and nobody believes them, and someone asks why the Power Rangers don't show up and give them credit. Which they should be doing. Instead, Kim and Aisha go over and tell Bulk and Skull that they believe them, and say really nice things about them, and there is more flailing. And then Bulk and Skull try to ask them out, and the girls turn them down very nicely.
If the science in this episode didn't suck so hard, it would be so awesome.
Fish: 4.5. SCIENCE DOES NOT WORK LIKE THAT.
Billy speak: "There is a margin of merit in your plan of action, but the likelihood of bettering our situation is..."
"a fully sentient multi-functional automaton"
Fic people need to write: Bulk and Skull keep their memories, and all sorts of amnesia hijinks.
Anyway, this episode is filled with so many fish, and incredibly horrible science, but it is also the first Bulk and Skull are BIG DAMN HEROES moment, and I love them so much. SO MUCH.
So, we open in Ms. Applebee's classroom, where Adam is giving a report on kaleidoscopes. Apparently the Rangers are all in third grade. I'd point out that Angel Grove lacks quality education, but we knew that already. Besides, more importantly, Aisha is staring at Adam with a "damn, that boy is fine" expression on her face. I have my priorities when it comes to important things about this show. Ms. Applebee thanks Adam for his awesome report, and asks if anyone has any questions. Bulk and Skull raise their hands, and she sighs and asks if anyone has any intelligent questions, and we start raging about how she needs to be fired immediately as this is completely unacceptable behavior. Bulk says he has an intelligent question, and then asks something about a mountain, and Ms. Applebee asks if he has anything related to Adam's report, which he grumbles that he didn't understand. *bangs head on wall repeatedly* I used to teach high school, and this is just causing me to rage.
So let's talk about happier things, like this plot. On the list of tropes I love, convenient plot-related amnesia is probably up there toward the top of the list. And Zedd is fascinated by Adam's kaleidoscope and decides he will turn it into a monster that will make the Rangers forget who they are. \o/ So barely two minutes into the episode, he sends Putties down to fight the Ranger Trio (Kim/Billy/Tommy) and there is a really awesome fight until the monster is created. Oh noes, the three of them now have amnesia.
You guys, I want all the fic in the world about this. Amnesiac!Kimberly thinks Tommy is creepy and she's dating Billy! Tommy's evil personality reasserts itself! People trying to make them remember things! This should TOTALLY HAPPEN. And yes that deserves the caps.
Back at the Youth Center, Bulk and Skull are preparing a camouflage outfit thing so that they can spy on the Power Rangers. Rocky hypnotizes them, and seriously? The Stone Canyon Trio have only known Bulk and Skull for like, 30 seconds, so they need to stop picking up the worst habits of the old Rangers.
Zordon summons the Stone Canyon Trio to the Command Center, and Zordon fills them in on what happens, and then sends them down to get the other three Rangers. Why they didn't just teleport the others to the Command Center, I have no idea. By this point Kimberly has decided that Billy is totally a brain, and Tommy thinks Kim is really pretty, and if I shipped Tommy/Kim at all I would think that is really sweet, but since I don't, I'm going to just ignore it.
Rocky is all leaderish, and seriously, why doesn't he get more to do? Because he needs more episodes about him, since he's awesome, and really good at taking command.
Adam doesn't bother to tell Tommy anything. HA.
Adam tries to explain Zedd, and the Ranger Trio are all freaked out, and would probably have run away, except Zedd screws up his own plan by sending Goldar down, causing them to run to the Stone Canyon Trio. (Kim holds out her hand to Aisha and is all "best friends, right?" and it is actually really sweet.)
Back at the Command Center, it's like a flashback to the first episode! Billy and Kim both repeat their dialogue from Day of the Dumpster and we start flailing since we're exactly that dorky.
Then there's some absolutely horrible science, that I'm not going to even dignify with a mention in this recap, except to say that Adam comes up with the plan that maybe if they expose the monster's beam to a prism everyone will get their memories back. I couldn't make this shit up if I tried. So Adam and Billy go to Adam's lab, while the other four go to try to find the monster, and Aisha and Rocky morph in the process.
They teleport right in front of Bulk and Skull, and Bulk and Skull are so damn awesome. They're totally shocked, as is to be expected, and I have no idea what really happened, because we were too busy allcapsing about how awesome they are.
The monster shows up, and then Adam and Billy teleport back in, and Adam instantly gets memory wiped. Aisha and Rocky try to go get the prisms Adam dropped and yell about how that will save them, and then they lose their memories too.
AND THEN.
Bulk and Skull decide that They Will Not Let The Rangers Be Hurt. So they go FACE DOWN A MONSTER because they are THAT AWESOME and they get to the prisms and all the Rangers get their memories back, but Bulk and Skull lose their memories, and seriously, why is there not fic where they get to keep their memories? Also, how awesome are Bulk and Skull? SO AWESOME.
Anyway, the Rangers summon Zords and defeat the monster, and everyone is all happy, and then they tell Bulk and Skull that they saved them, and there is much flailing.
Back at the Youth Center, Bulk and Skull are trying to tell the story, and nobody believes them, and someone asks why the Power Rangers don't show up and give them credit. Which they should be doing. Instead, Kim and Aisha go over and tell Bulk and Skull that they believe them, and say really nice things about them, and there is more flailing. And then Bulk and Skull try to ask them out, and the girls turn them down very nicely.
If the science in this episode didn't suck so hard, it would be so awesome.
Fish: 4.5. SCIENCE DOES NOT WORK LIKE THAT.
Billy speak: "There is a margin of merit in your plan of action, but the likelihood of bettering our situation is..."
"a fully sentient multi-functional automaton"
Fic people need to write: Bulk and Skull keep their memories, and all sorts of amnesia hijinks.
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