Episode 344 - Wheels of Destruction

We are back, ladies and gentlemen! Pneumonia and holidays and work tends to really knock a person out. We're glad to be back and feeling better and schedules calmed down, because we love this blog and this show and it's great to finally get back to it. I've missed it! Today is a Joel episode. I do not approve. We start off with him going to ask Ms. Fairweather on a date. She is not at all upset when he has to go do Rangery things. She does not approve of his condescending attitude towards her and neither do I. So the rangers go fight something that shows up with lots of mooks. Can I just say I LOVE these guys? They have little bat wings! BAT WINGS! It’s ADORABLE. I hate when they have to fight them. So this monster apparently makes lots of wind. The rangers shoot him and he explodes and they THINK they’ve won. Dana hears something and they discover Vypra has a go-kart. With wings. She fires all the missiles. Joel attempts to take on the go-kart by himself and fails miserably. The only thing worse than his attitude is Vypra’s acting. Rangers chase in the Hummer of Heroness but they lose her. Because she’s in a go-kart, not a car, and therefore can hide in places a HUMMER cannot go. She leaves before finishing the job, though, and that’s okay. Because they have a whole season to get through and she can’t destroy them yet. She then vanishes at 88 miles per hour. Ms. Fairweather is sad at the damage done to the Hummer of Heroness (which is actually called the Rescue Rover, but I don’t care. I like my name better). Joel doesn’t even hit on her. The rangers report the new go-kart of doom to Captain Mitchell. Ms. Fairweather is very sad that her toy is ruined. Vypra gets reamed because she refused to finish the rangers off. They turn to an elephant monster instead and he’s going to stomp Mariner Bay into the dust. Vypra storms off in a pouty huff. Because she can’t act. Ms. Fairweather is busy fixing things when Joel interrupts her work and keeps trying to get her to leave and go on a date with him. She really does not have time for this shit. There is science to be done! But Joel doesn’t really want to take that for an answer so she has to trick him into leaving by telling him she’s working on a surprise and he assumes it's for him. He moons over her in the bunk. Carter and Chad gently mock him. But then he gets all snotty and says “She didn’t have to yes to a date with me because she loves me so much she has all her co-workers working around the clock to build me something awesome”. NO, JACKASS. You are self-centered and condescending. That is not attractive. Then he tells Carter to learn from his example, because Carter was clearly mocking him. NO CARTER. DO NOT LEARN FROM HIS EXAMPLE. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE BE A BETTER MAN THAN THAT. The rangers must go help a bunch of injured people because Vypra took to town with her Go-Kart of Doom. But then she does that 88 miles per hour thing again and Carter is not happy. He reports to Captain Mitchell and they come up with a plan. They need Ms. Fairweather’s surprise. Which is not for Joel, despite what he thinks, the condescending ass. He tells them to act surprised. But it’s him that will be surprised. Because her job is personal, but not for Joel. She built them ALL motorcycles (Lightspeed Cycles, whatever, they’re motorcycles)! Because she is AWESOME. Joel is disappointed, because he’s a douchebag who thinks her world revolves around him. Because he thought she was building him a ray gun thingy. But she wasn’t. She was building for the TEAM. Because it’s about the TEAM. Not about Joel The Jackass. Then there is a fight with the elephant monster thing and it is boring. I want more Ms. Fairweather, please! Then they go fight Vypra and her Go-Kart of Doom on their motorcycles and that’s only slightly less boring. They win this time. Back on base, Joel goes to talk to Ms. Fairweather. He says the motorcycle is very complex and he wants her to give him a private lesson. She is totally mocking him and I LOVE HER FOR IT. She tells him she will not go out with him because it’s against the rules. Regulation 322.1 – no fraternization between squad members. He is sure they’d have a great time if it weren’t for that pesky rule. She continues to mock him. BECAUSE SHE IS THE BEST EVER. And he’s a self-centered JACKASS. There is also no regulation 322.1. As Dana points out. Ms. Fairweather confirms but says in Joel’s case, there should be. I LOVE HER SO. 5 fish. This episode flipped between Joel is a Jackass and Buy Our Shiny New Toys. Also, it was boring. I was contemplating tagging it Rage Inducing, because Joel makes me see red, except then I realized I'd have to do that for ALL his episodes and... no. Just... no.

Episode 343 - A Matter of Trust

You know what sucks? The flu. You know what sucks even more? PNEUMONIA. I have been sick for the ENTIRE MONTH. It has sucked, and left me too exhausted to do ANYTHING, but now I've (basically recovered.)

Anyway, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am thankful for all of you who are reading this blog! And I am thankful for my wonderful coblogger, , and I am thankful for Power Rangers. ♥

So. Lightspeed Resscue. Lets do this. I have no Dana icon, and no Captain Awesome icon, so Carter's face will have to do.

We open in a briefing where Captain Awesome is telling the team about a super powerful fuel cell that is extremely powerful and also sensitive. The team (except for Dana) is going to go to the airport and pick up the doctor and escort the doctor and the fuel cell to the base for safety.

Meanwhile, Dana is told that she's going to be escorting her father's old friend around. She suggests that he just call him a taxi because she needs to be with the other rangers. He tells her that she has her assignment, and she's understandably furious. She says he claims he trusts her to be the Pink Ranger, but instead, all he sees her as is his little girl.

Which, yeah. That is how parents are! And this is super realistic and great, because she's an adult now and wants to be seen as one, and also being given that assignment with no explanation has to be grating (even though it's totally obvious that she's guarding the real fuel cell from the beginning, and MAYBE her father could have just told her that) but having the conflict between the newly grown daughter and the father is a wonderful character touch and I love it.

The demons are all "so we'll steal the fuel cell" and then the baby monster creates a monster. Is he related to Finster? Is there an AU where Finster was one of these demons?

The four Rangers get the guy off the helicopter, and start escorting him to safety. Meanwhile, Dana gets to take the condescending old guy who hugs her without permission fishing, and because she's "Such a good girl" she can drive the truck. Stop being a condescending asshole, guy. That's really not charming at all.

Of course, there's no way that the four Rangers will make it to safety WITHOUT being attacked, so they're now trying to fight the monster and the ridiculous adorable bat things without jostling the super powerful thing.

Carter calls for Dana to help, and Dana says she's on her way, but the Captain counteracts the order and demands that she return to the base immediately. The monster grabs the box away from the others and opens it, and it turns out that the fuel cell isn't in there! The monster, being the smartest, realizes that as there are only four Rangers there, the Pink Ranger must be guarding the real box.

Since the Rangers won't tell the monster where the real fuel cell is (and why do monsters want a fuel cell, anyway?) the monster uses the power of the sun to BURN THE CITY. That is pretty traumatic. I hope that Mariner Bay has really good insurance. Does this count as an act of god? Do you need separate monster insurance?

Anyway, Dana and her dad's friend get hit, and the box starts to spill and some ice comes out. He runs to fill up the box with more ice, and Dana realizes that her dad actually DID trust her and believe in her, and then of course they get attacked by Vypra.

Dana leads the guy and the fuel cell away while  the other Rangers fight the monster and Batlings on a roof. Dana uses her medical skills to fix the guy's arm, and he tells her that she looks just like her mother, and that her mother would be very proud of her. I love ridiculously touching moments, but maybe wait until after Vypra isn't attacking you?

Too bad they don't have teleporters. Of course, if they did, this whole episode would be pointless. (Unless the fuel cell can't be teleported?)

Dana manages to get away from Vypra and escort the fuel cell to safety. (I'm not sure how? Did they swim? Was there a submarine waiting for them? Did the fish carry them?) She then immediately asks permission to go help the other Rangers, who are getting their butts kicked. Of course, Dana is super awesome and shows up to help.

There's a fight scene and then they blow up the monster, which of course manages to grow. Dana summons the zords, which then blows up the monster without any real problems.

Back on the base, Dana goes to see her dad so she can apologize to him for what she said. She's still not sure that her father doesn't see her as a child. Her dad tells her that he's been training her for years, and she so deserves to be a Ranger, but he'll always see her as his little girl. She tells him that she's proud to be a Ranger, but she also loves being his little girl.

I LOVE THEIR RELATIONSHIP SO MUCH. That is a SUPER realistic father&daughter relationship, and I adore EVERYTHING about it.

Fish: 2. Only because we still have no idea how they got from the pier to the base.