Episode 333 - Hexuba's Graveyard

Good morning, recapees! I am not entirely awake during this recap (I may have spent the previous one repeatedly saying Scorpina instead of Trakeena, but then again, Scorpina is my favorite.) ANYWAY. I am back from Morphicon, and at some point I will actually get my act together and post a con report here. (And maybe we'll do a DVD review at some point, since I purchased the shiny box set. Along with the VR Troopers box set. And a lot of toys. Morphicon was really expensive, okay?)

Speaking of things being posted, there won't be any recaps next week, because it's DragonCon weekend! There's a Power Rangers panel this year, so if you're going to DragonCon, hopefully I'll see you Saturday at 7!

So, we open up on Mutiny going to see Hexuba, who is in a graveyard somewhere, planning a spell to cast on the Rangers. I wonder if she's hung out with Rita before? Is this where Rita got the spell to turn Tommy evil? Did they go to evil Hogwarts?

Hexuba tells Mutiny she has a plan (that somehow involves gopher's guts, IDEK) that releases a bunch of old villains and send s them to Terra Venture. They immediately come upon jogging!Leo, who is very pretty and has really nice arms. Leo is like "wtf, I beat you already" and the monster attacks him.

Leo fights the monster (unmorphed) when the other Rangers show up. Kai helps Leo up, and everyone is like "wait, didn't we beat him already?" and then Leo breaks the fourth wall about it being his last appearance. Leo is also able to beat the monster on his own.

Leo explains that the monster appeared right after a colored streak of light went by, and Karone is like "you mean like that one?" So they follow the light and see ANOTHER monster that they've already defeated. Oh god, this episode is going to be all fighting, all the time, isn't it? DOOOM.

Mike lets them know there's another attack, so the Rangers summon some more weapons and blow up the monster. (We're trying to figure out if they've used those particular toys before. We don't think so, but then again, our recaps tend to include the phrase "and then they pull out some new toys and fight with them.") They go and fight the monster in the city dome, and then Mike shows up and is like "two more monsters."

Kai points out that they can't do this forever, and he has a plan. Leo is like "too dangerous!" but Kai is all "going to the source to stop them, k, bye!" There's some more fighting.

Kai makes his way to the space castle surrounded by space lightning, while back on Terra Venture the ghost of Treacheron threatens Mike, who chases after him. The Rangers are starting to get tired, and they have to split up to fight all the monsters. (And I'm sorry, Mutiny's mooks are so horrible looking. The putties are so much better.)

Kai sees Hexuba cast another spell, and he starts fighting her. We switch back to the Mike vs Treacheron fight, which ends really quickly. I guess Hexuba couldn't bring them back at full power. Leo and Mike fight another monster, while Damon and Karone take on another.

Have I mentioned how little I care about fighting unless there's some character development in it?

Kai tries to stop Hexuba from releasing another monster, but she binds him in magical rope. He manages to escape her and then destroys her crystal ball, which causes her magic castle to blow up.

Back on Terra Venture, the Rangers keep destroying monsters, and they're all exhausted. Just as they're losing, Kai shows up to save the day, because he is great! He blows up the monster, and then Hexuba shows up. Kai chases after her, and everyone else is like "wtf is going on?" But they follow him anyway!

Hexuba uses the combines powers of all the monsters, but the Rangers use the fish of Orion. That has no effect. So Leo summons his fugly battlizer. And I guess transformation is a free action, because while he's powering up, Hexuba just stands there. He shoots her, and then she grows, so they summon the zords.

The Zords don't seem to be doing very well, so they summon even MORE toys. And look, if you want to have this battle mean something, you need to introduce this villain WAY EARLIER IN THE SEASON.

They finally blow her up or whatever.

Back on the ship, the Commander goes to find Mike and Kai and takes them to see the woman in charge of the station. It turns out that the fuel reserves have been tainted, and the systems will start to shut down in 2 more days.

WORST CREW EVER. HOW DID THEY NOT FIGURE THIS OUT BEFORE NOW?

Dramatic reveals, you are DOING IT WRONG.

Fish: 4. Too much fighting, not enough characterization, and massively failing on dramatic reveals.

Episode 332 - Dream Battle

We are back! TSB will be providing a Morphicon report when she recovers enough to do so. As for me, I spent last weekend working and attempting to not think about all the fun I was missing, so I have nothing to report. But we're back! And today's episode is... special. The city is evacuating. And we're trying to figure out HOW they are evacuating because this is a SPACE SHIP. You cannot just evacuate a space ship. That's not how it works. But I can temporarily forgive that because it gives Damon an excuse to be awesome and fix a random girl's car in two seconds flat. Because he is Damon and he is the BEST. Later, he's in his room (during an evacuation? I am confused) when a ginger kid delivers him flowers. He takes a good whiff, because they are from the girls (or are they?) and he's thoughtful like that, but then he falls under a spell and falls asleep. Magic flowers! Sleeping spell! Damon has restless sleep with some bad dreams, but he doesn't wake up. Because the Monster of the Week is controlling this dream state. He does eventually startle awake and Leo tries to reassure him, with no luck, and then he falls asleep again. Then Kai gets a whiff of the flowers, and does not appreciate them, but then he falls asleep too. AND LEO DOES NOT CATCH ON. Seriously Leo? Grow a brain. You're pretty and all, but really, this is ridiculously obvious. Leo finds Alpha and it turns out Damon's jet is damaged, just like in his dream. Leo finally puts the pieces together, sort of. He realizes the dreams are real and tries to wake up his boyfriends with no luck. Unfortunately, he didn't think to warn Karone and Maya because they had flowers delivered to them as well, sniff them, and both end up in the dream world. But not before laughing off that the flowers are "just from the guys" and then saying they won't turn down flowers. Oh girls. I love you. Leo is left alone now, because everybody else is asleep. Did he try to kiss them? That might have worked... Alas, we don't get that. Instead we get Leo being stupid and sniffing the flowers. THE SAME FLOWERS THAT KNOCKED OUT EVERYBODY ELSE. YOU DO NOT SNIFF SOMETHING THAT PUT EVERYBODY ELSE TO SLEEP. Luckily he calls Mike and they start to figure things out. But not before Mike smells them too and then everybody starts to fall asleep. AND ONLY THEN DOES LEO REALIZE IT'S THE FLOWERS. Good lord people. Have you never read a fairy tale? In the not-really-a-dream dreamworld, the other rangers are fighting and fighting hard. They're losing. But in this world, if they lose, they don't wake up in real life either. Ginger delivery boy tries to deliver flowers to Mike, who smartly tells him to throw them away. Meanwhile Leo passes out. And then there is fighting IN THE SNOW! I approve. Because I like snow. How there is snow on a space ship, we're not sure, but considering there is also rain, mountains, an ocean, and earthquakes? Well, snow isn't too far fetched. Mike is currently the only one awake. He manages to stay awake by just walking around. I'm still wondering what happened to that important evacuation from earlier. It's like they just forgot about it. But then, the footage splicing is terrible this episode, so I guess a forgotten evacuation isn't much to complain about. Mike eventually stumbles to where the flower shop was supposed to be but it's not there. He gets zapped to the room with the monster of the week, who is using a crystal ball to control the dreams. I really think Crystal of Nightmares handled this MUCH better. Plus it fed my little shippy heart way better than this episode has done. Mike saves the day by turning the monster's electricity back on her crystal ball and breaking it. The dream spell is broken and suddenly the rangers can call all the toys and beat the monster they were fighting. It really doesn't look like the spell is broken, but whatever. I really want them all to get kissed to wake up. That would make this episode way more enjoyable. And hey, if we could have Jason and Zack kiss in the first season of MMPR, interracial and same gender, in 1993, surely they could have managed to have a few kisses here, in 1999. But no. They beat the monster, the spell is over, and they all wake up on their own. Alas, this is not the Sleeping Beauty story I had hoped for. Meanwhile, the girl Damon helped out earlier stops by to bring him flowers. He reacts by throwing them in the sink and offending her. She doesn't buy Maya's excuse that he's allergic. It is sad, but it's adorable that Maya and Karone tried to help poor traumatized Damon save face. 3 fish. It wasn't bad, it was just boring, and not the story I had hoped for.

Episode 331 - Until Sunset

is going to Power Morphicon! Or at least I am! (Seriously, California, why so far away?) The point is, I will be at Power Morphicon, and you should come say hello to me! This will also be our last recap until after Morphicon. So. Right. I'm recapping a recap episode. As far as I'm concerned, there's only one thing to say about this episode - Leo and Damon are tied up. They've been beaten up. And for some reason, there is a SAD LACK of hurt/comfort fic that takes place after this episode. People taking care of them! Dehydration! SERIOUSLY, FANDOM. HURT/COMFORT FIC. They could take care of each other! The other Rangers could take care of them! They could assure the other Rangers that it isn't there fault! The point is, there should be some cradling and hugs and ridiculous hurt/comfort. (See also my feelings about canon slavery, and why is there no ridiculous AU? I AM JUST SAYING, FANDOM. WHERE IS THE FIC?) I mean. The rest of it is... okay, it's a clip show. Let's go over all of their adventures. I get that they need to save the budget or whatever to stretch this out another episode, but it's pretty dull. Anyway, we open with Leo and Damon being chased by the pirate mooks and Deviot. After the excessive fight scenes of the last episode, I couldn't care less. But somehow we manage to SKIP OVER them being captured, which would have been a GREAT FIGHT SCENE, and instead we skip directly to Leo and Damon being chained up in the hot desert sun, and seriously, will the villains please get out of the way of the camera blocking the very pretty men who are chained up? Deviot is all "I want to kill them now" but for some reason they're waiting until Captain Mutiny gets there in a few hours (at sunset, hence the title) so instead they leave them all alone and tied up. That is a FAIL PLAN. However, I can't express in words how much I approve of the framing device of this episode. Leo is all "we shouldn't have come" and Damon is like "shouldn't you have said that before?" Except it turns out that both Leo and Damon forgot to tell the others which planet they were going to end up on, because they are totally failbots. Damon is mocking Leo for always getting in trouble, which Leo denies, so we get a recap of how Leo ended up on Terra Venture. Then Damon makes fun of Kai for being crazy. Seriously, I love them all. More recaps follow, with them getting the swords, the "death" of Mike, and Leo getting the last saber. We get more shots of Leo and Damon all sweaty and chained up, and then we recap the Magna Defender and his epic cape. This leads into the Mike Defender recap, and Damon mocks the Magna Defender, which is always A+ in my book. Also, his swishy dramatic cape is great. The next set of recaps is just a montage showing how great they are, before the camera lovingly lingers all over the chained up Damon and Leo. The boys are starting to get seriously dehydrated, and now they discuss the villains. The best part of this entire sequence is when they talk about how cute Trakeena is (WHY isn't there more Trakeena/Damon in the world??? Why?) Then we go on to the Psycho Rangers and team-up episode, and the death of Kendrix, which is very sad. :( Leo says its the worst thing that ever happened to them, although five minutes earlier he said losing his brother was the worst. I guess the heat is getting to him. Then we get the Karone is awesome montage, and then we get to the Lost Galaxy part. We finally get to sunset, and Captain Mutiny shows up to gawk at the chained up Rangers. I approve of how their shirts are artfully torn. Both boys try to sacrifice themselves in exchange for the other, but at that point the other Rangers finally show. Damon and Leo morph, and they fight one of the monsters. Leo's fugly armor is still fugly. Leo and Damon argue over which of them is responsible for not telling the others, and Leo claims that the lesson he learned is to wear sunscreen. Then Damon and Leo have a moment about sacrificing themselves for each other and blaming it on delirium. This entire episode was a waste of time, and the only good part was the hurt/comfort fic that should exist because of this. Fish: 2. It was just a clip show, and we did get chained up Leo and Damon, so points for that. Fic we want: GEE, I WONDER. CAN YOU TELL?

Episode 330 - Grunchor on the Loose

Today on Power Rangers... I have no clue what I just watched. We start off with the Starship Troopers opening a big wooden crate. The Rangers rush in to tell them not to open it, that it's a trick. They are too late and there is an explosion and then a weird plant/bug/creature thing that shoots LASERS FROM IT'S EYEBALLS. It burrows underground because... well... I don't know why. It just does. It tears up roads and underground tunnels and... why does a spaceship have ground again? The rangers report that they saw slaves and the big pirate ship has no plans to help them, he just wants to enslave them all too. I had actually forgotten about that. Oh well. The military is running around telling people to evacuate and don't go underground and AGAIN I ASK. WHY DOES A SPACESHIP HAVE AN UNDERGROUND???? AND WHERE THE HECK ARE THESE PEOPLE EVEN EVACUATING TO? Whatever, the monster is in the underground highway. He apparently also spits purple poison on top of his laser eyes and I really hope he eats Nedry. Mutiny's goombas wear kilts. Well, skirts, but I think they're supposed to look like kilts. Or awkward pantaloons. Doesn't matter, I'm impressed either way! Deviot oversees them moving... something... and the rangers stop them and wonder how he managed to get to the Lost Galaxy as well. Because the show finally remembered it's title. I am still less than impressed with these space pirates. TSB and I agree that they aren't nearly as great as the Gokaigers. Maya has a chance to destroy Deviot and Leo stops her because... reasons? He thinks they can get information out of Deviot (oh Leo) and Maya really knew better. But of course nobody listens to her. Deviot feeds them false information and then runs away. The rangers then encounter Grunchor. Apparently we get two monsters this week? Or is the big guy Grunchor? It's really not clear to me. This is a lot of fighting. I'm trying to care about it, I really am, but I just can't be bothered. Grunchor shows up and the rangers combine powers to throw fire at him which really just serves to piss him off. Really guys? Did you actually think Deviot gave you reliable information on how to beat his side? REALLY? They have to call the fugzords. Nobody bothers to get this guys motive either. He could just be cranky. Maybe he has a cold. Maybe he wasn't allowed to get a good night's sleep. Heck, maybe he's confused and thinks he's helping. They just assume he's evil and wants to destroy them, so they fight him. The fight is not going well so the rangers have pulled out alllll the toys. Literally, all of them. Some I don't even remember seeing, but I'm sure were introduced at some point over this past season. Honestly, it's been kind of a rambly season to me, like it never really knew what it wanted to say or where it stood. It... meandered. And so not a lot of it stuck with me. Anyway, All-the-Toys seem to be doing the trick until Captain Mutiny decides to join the fight. Then they start to lose again. It's still pretty boring. I just... I don't quite get why this episode had so much fighting? I really would have liked to get some kind of back story for Grunchor or explanation for why there were two monsters this week or... something. Leo keeps trying to sacrifice himself. Then Mike keeps trying to sacrifice himself. Then Leo does it again. We keep expecting the Dragonzord to show up because this is such a Tommy episode. Tommy, this is not your season! Get out of this episode! Suddenly the others decide to jump in and sacrifice themselves too and this is apparently enough to destroy the poor unexplained monster. Later, the rangers discover Captain Mutiny's planet can just vanish off the radar. Because... reasons? They're in a lost galaxy I guess? Science still does not work that way. And never will. (random note: Curiosity lands tonight. I am incredibly excited about this) 5 fish. Because I don't know what I just watched. And I felt really bad for the poor unexplained monster.