Episode 319 - Mean Wheels Mantis

Wow, this episode was a) dull and b) makes no sense. A whole episode about getting a new toy, with nothing else to offer. I apologize in advance. Recapping races (of the non-wacky variety) is really dull. We get a shot of some mountains, and the geography of this colony still makes no sense. Maya is, for some reason, up a tree, and having a conversation with her fugly zord. She insists that talking to her zord is easy, and starts pulling a Pocahontas listen with your heart thing. Meanwhile, Trakeena has a new monster courtesy of Deviot, and he's really annoying. He's a Mantis on a bike, and seriously, I wonder how the colony manages to keep rebuilding all the buildings that are destroyed. I mean, its not like they have unlimited resources. They are on a space ship. Maya and Kendrix show up and fight him, and the girls are pretty awesome! Just as the other Rangers show up, Maya and Kendrix get turned into trophies. Mantis is all "Won't change them back unless you beat me in a race" and at least this episode is giving me an excuse to link to Wacky Races. The boys start chasing him around the dome, and seriously, the geography of Terra Venture makes NO SENSE at all. The monster is, of course cheating, and Kai gets knocked out by a rope placed on the road. Damon gets taken out by some falling rocks, so only Leo is left. Leo and the monster fight and the monster manages to beat him via more cheating, and the monster vanishes with the trophies of Maya and Kendrix. Leo is blaming himself for this, even though a) monster cheated and b) Damon and Kai also got knocked out. Damon is all "our bikes are trashed, we're screwed" and he also insists that its too dangerous. Of course, since Damon is also Miles O'Brien, he will come up with something brilliant. But really, he is only one man, and he can only do so much. The Fug Zords try to talk to Leo, and somehow he understands that they're telling him he needs more power? Or something? So he takes his bike (which is fixed, because Damon is brilliant) and goes to find the monster. Leo puts up his saber as the stakes for the race. The monster continues to cheat by shooting at him and jumping on his bike and just generally cheating. But Leo thinks about his friends and listens with his heart and somehow that makes his bike morph into a new bike. I... am not sure how listening with your heart manages to create a new bike that can also turn into a fireball but whatever, for Power Rangers, this somehow makes sense. I guess. The fish did it or whatever. Damon is really impressed with the bike, and I still have NO IDEA HOW THE BIKE WAS CREATED. Anyway, since this episode is even more about selling toys than normal, we get the zord fight on top of the buy the shiny new bike toy propaganda. Leo tells Maya that he learned about the cycle from the beast, and then tells her a story about baby galactabeasts, which is adorable, but also bullshit. Basically, Leo's whole plan boils down to keeping his fingers crossed and hoping for the best. I bet he supports the Chudley Cannons. And then the team has an orgy. Fish: Five. Seriously. What. This was the most blatant "buy the new toy" episode in a while.