Episode 112- Blue Ranger Gone Bad

This episode is fishy and weird and really poorly written and just all around bad but I DON'T CARE! I love it so very very much. It's horrible, yet it's one of my favourites. And did you know it will be airing on Nick? When all the other 700 episodes air? Because Haim Saban bought back Power Rangers? Because it totally will be. And I'll love it on network tv again. :D

So we start out with the rangers in art class, all except Rocky and Aisha whom we are assuming are sequestered somewhere else making out. Art class is being taught by somebody who is not Principal Caplan OR Ms. Applebee! Angel Grove High must have had room in the budget to hire a third teacher. Billy has made a hologram, though we're not sure how that's art. Tommy has made what looks like the sawed off head of a mannequin. Another girl in the class has made a statue of Billy. She watches him the entire class. She flirts badly with him. She makes googly eyes and giggles a lot. She molds him out of clay. She's... creepy, which is about the nicest thing I can say about Violet.

Anywho, Kim talks Billy into asking her out on a date, in what we can only assume is her desire to bond with somebody over creepy significant others, and they all head off to the Juice Bar. They are attacked along the way by AWESOME POSING PUTTIES! Seriously, the putties don't get more awesome than this. *will miss the Z putties* In the fight, everybody is very very pretty (though I don't think so with Tommy, but TSB does, so he gets included here too). Goldar uses tentacle-like vines to ensnare Billy and teleport him to the Alternate Dimension Room of Fog Machines, where Goldar is disappointed Billy is not Jason, but figures he'll have to do. They have stolen Violet's statue and made and Evil!Billy out of it. Billy pulls the first male 'scream for Tommy' and I'm saddened momentarily. Evil!Billy glares at Good!Billy and is very hot, which cheers me right back up again. Good!Billy refuses to believe his friends won't notice that he's suddenly turned evil and is very hot while being deliberately obtuse. Oh Billy, honey, you have bad friends. They don't notice spells, you can bet they won't notice an evil clone.

Evil!Billy is very attractive while being sent to the park to rejoin his friends. He's bad at pretending to be Good!Billy, but he's still awesome. He's also apparently smarter than Good!Billy because he refuses to ask Violet out on a date, right to the point of ignoring her when she's talking to him at the Juice Bar. He lifts weights a lot and refuses to study math, but does manage to use the hottest Billy!speak to talk the others out of their communicators and then steals their morphers. He's also very pretty while being evil.

Tommy somehow was the smart one here and kept his communicator, sneaking away to contact Zordon about the "upgrades" Billy will be doing. They decide something isn't right and check into Billy.

The gang get attacked by West Side Story putties and I squee with delight! Zordon has managed to teleport Good!Billy to the park and he's now face to face with Evil!Billy. The others, having discovered their morphers were taken, are now trying to both get them back AND figure out which Billy is their Billy. It's made even harder when Billy morphs and... Evil!Billy morphs with him? What? That... makes no sense. But I don't care because Two Billys! Kim uses her brain and asks about the hologram. Only Good!Billy knows what it is, and they morph and quickly do away with Evil!Billy. We know there is some fic where they rescue the wrong Billy, but we feel there should be MORE. Or at least linked to older fic. Ahem.

Anyway, Zedd and Rita fight over Zedd's staff (gigglesnort) and then make a monster out of Tommy's "art" project. The rangers call zords, they form the megazord, they fight for a minute, Tommy has dialogue, and then they pull out the thundersabre and the fight is over.

Back in art class, Billy apologizes to Violet, who says "It's okay! I'm sure there was a good reason." instead of "You really hurt my feelings, but thanks for apologizing." which would have been far more healthy. Anyway. He asks her out to the movies and she nearly falls over from the excitement.

The art teacher asks them to show their projects. Kim has made a painting of her friends. It's kind of cute. Bulk and Skull (who has drool-worthy arms and he should really show them off more often) have gotten Violet to do their project for them and she's turned Billy into the Gold Ranger. Foreshadowing maybe? ;) Billy is a little creeped out by this, rightly so, but not enough to cancel the date he's already uncomfortable about.

List time!
2.5 fish. I love it too much to give it more.

Billy speak- Evil!Billy speak today "By redefining the geographical servofrequency range, we'll have less high end interference."

Fic we want: Today, we give YOU fic! Today is the most AWESOME DAY EVER OMG HAPPY DAY and both and I have posted fic request posts. Head on over and ask for anything you'd like!

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 from Torchwood 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."

Episode 80- Opposites Attract

So this is not the most memorable episode. It's already fading from my memory and we JUST watched it.

We start off with Billy speak. He's sitting at a table in the Juice Bar with Trini discussing his latest invention. He created some kind of polarity something to observe a storm they're supposed to have later that day. Kim interrupts with a single serving friend of hers named Laura. They are going to take a group of Angelettes out to the park/woods/whatever for a badge. Billy is completely smitten with Single Serving Friend. She is just as smitten with him and Trini comments on it after they leave, but Billy won't even attempt anything. He's sure they'd have nothing to talk about, what with her being the outdoorsy type and Billy being into science magazines. I kind of want to shake him a little here. Trini reads science magazines! Trini never needs a translation of his normal speech! Trini is taken with his big beautiful blue eyes and she never cared about him wearing overalls! You have the perfect girl right in front of you, Billy! Alas, she runs off in a few episodes to go to Torchwood a peace conference.

Without parental supervision, a gaggle of Tiny Female Children come into the Youth Center and help Kim and Single Serving Friend carry boxes of food stuffs outside. They are both adorable AND polite. I approve of these Tiny Children. Ernie has supplied their outdoor hiking/exploring trip at apparently no cost. Billy warns them of the impending storm. We then get a very random shot of Tommy, Jason, and Zack lifting weights. It makes no sense in context of the show, but it shows Austin St. John AND Walter Jones flexing their deliciously rippling muscles so I, being the shallow person that I am, can't really complain about the scene.

In the woods/park/wherever they happen to have gone, Kim and Single Serving Friend are explaining the goal of the trip to the girls. They are to stick with the buddy system and go exploring, but not too far, and if they get lost or in trouble they are to sit down and scream for help. Kim is actually really cute when she's explaining it, especially since she's barely taller than the kids themselves (and I can say this without it being mean because I am shorter than Amy Jo Johnson).

Meanwhile, in other parts of the park, Bulk and Skull have set up some kind of system to contact the power rangers. It looks like Christmas tree decorations. Also in other other parts of the park, Billy has moved half his lab outside. For some reason. He's fiddling with his device when Goldar and a bunch of putties show up. He shows off his awesome gymnastics abilities and beats the crud out of some putties. It lured him away from his device however, which was the main goal, and Goldar grabs it. He vanishes and leaves a very surprised putty looking around astonished until Billy vaults himself over there and destroys it.

Goldar goes back to the moon and Zedd turns Billy's device into a magnet monster. There is some confusing discussion of reversing the planet's polarity and it really doesn't make sense because, well, once again, science doesn't work like that. So this monster does his thing and all of a sudden the Earth starts shaking and people start flipping out and there is some weird little points of light in all the shots that nobody else notices. It makes no sense. Zack, Jason, and Tommy cling tenaciously to each other as they try to get far enough out of the Youth Center to contact Zordon without anybody overhearing. Bulk and Skull rejoice thinking they've contacted the rangers until they see a man in a bear suit bear, and then they run in terror. Kim has the Tiny Children stay with Single Serving Friend while she goes to "contact the park ranger". But really she just wanders a few feet away and uses her communicator to contact Zordon.

At the Command Center, they all discover the monster. They also find Goldar and some putties near the Angelettes. Billy wants to take care of Goldar on his own, to protect the girls, but Zordon won't let him. Tommy gets to do that while the others go after the monster.

All the girls swoon over Tommy while he fights some putties. He beats a few and chases Goldar away. The other rangers, downtown, confront the magnet monster thing. He does his reverse polarity trick again and knocks them all over. Polarity... he keeps using that word. I do not think it means what he thinks it means. Anyway, they don't even TRY with the voice actors and it's horrible, so I'm not terribly upset when they call the power weapons, nearly beat the guy, summon the zords, and immediately pull the thunder sword on him. I swear that fight lasted all of about thirty seconds.

Zedd, in the best line in the whole episode, laments that science and monsters don't mix.

Back at the Youth Center, the Tiny Children are still swooning over the white ranger after Kim and Laura give them bravery badges. Bulk and Skull come in muttering about a bear following them and, in a surprising amount of empathy for this show, the Tiny Children rush to comfort them. Billy then walks in with his device and Laura asks if she can see more of his inventions. We get more Billy speak than we've gotten in every episode this season combined, and then Billy gets the girl.

List time:
3 fish. Science really really doesn't work that way.

Billy speak (hold onto your butts): "It's a polarizing gauge. Scientists have predicted a rare solar storm for today."

"That would be an accurate evaluation, Trini."

"I'm collecting data on the geo-magnetic field."

"An electromagnetic phenomenon has been predicted. It could have unexpected results on the atmosphere."

"Zedd's turned my polarizer into a monster with colossal repercussions!"

"I'd be honoured. If you'd like I can start with my latest. It's a unique method of observing protons and ionized oxygen atoms."

Covered in food: nobody

Episode 65- Putty on the Brain

So today's episode is one I've watched rather often. It's a good Billy AND Zack episode, and I've always loved it, fish-filled though it is.

We start off with Zack running up to Billy in the school hallway with some sunglasses on. They're 90'slicious, dear readers. Zack has a pair for Billy as well as apparently they are supposed to be the protective eyewear for science class. Okay then...

Zedd sees this little exchange and decides to shake things up amongst the rangers. He puts a spell on the glasses so Billy and Zack will see the others as putties. Goldar tries to throw some logic into the plan and points out that they could just take the glasses off, but Zedd scoffs at the mere thought, seeing as the rangers are "no mere humans", and continues on with his dastardly plan.

So Zack and Billy put on their glasses, in the hallway and not in science class at all, and get zapped by evil red light. Suddenly Tommy, at his locker across the hall, looks like a putty. And comments on how he almost overslept and is late (is he ever anything else?). Kim and Jason come up and also look like putties. Billy and Zack freak out, can't seem to tell the voices are coming from the "putties", and "rescue" Principal Caplan by knocking him down when he walks up. As he's wont to do to students who accidentally knock him over, he gives them detention.

Bulk and Skull are walking down the hall trying to figure out who the power rangers are when Mrs. Applebee corners them. She needs them to feed her pet iguana while she runs off some copies of the test. Why she has let the iguana reach a point of starvation that it must be fed right that minute and couldn't wait for her to finish the copies, I'm not sure, but as she's entrusting the job to Bulk and Skull and insists it must be done, the situation must be pretty dire for the poor iguana. Bulk dumps an entire box of iguana food, which looks suspiciously like Cheerios, into the tank. Skull says he'll grow big and strong, and then he does. Because Lord Zedd has turned him into a monster. And somehow gotten hold of a salamander to cross with iguana with to make the monster. I... got lost a bit there. Bulk and Skull, probably getting used to monsters appearing in front of them now, wait a beat before freakout.

Later, in detention, Bulk and Skull slip on Billy and Zack's sunglasses. They get zapped by evil red light and suddenly see Billy and Zack as putties. They drop the glasses and run out of the room in their second freakout in the span of about five minutes. We're pretty sure the spell wasn't supposed to affect normal humans at all, but maybe that just means Bulk and Skull should have been power rangers.

In the park, Billy and Zack are confused about their sexuality. Zedd has determined that they're going to "finish each other off". Oh show, you and your slashy goodness, you just make it so EASY. Zack figures out that some putties on the playground equipment are not, in fact, their friends and they fight for a bit. The others teleport in and Zack and Billy can't figure out who is ranger and who is putty. They fight anyway. Zack accidentally attacks Trini and only then do they decide maybe, just maybe, they ought to contact Zordon about this little vision problem of theirs.

Zordon tells them of more pressing matters with the Salamander Iguana Monster Thing. Apparently it can breathe fire. The brilliant plan is for Billy to create an ice device to cool it down and this will beat the monster. They apparently forget just what luck Billy has with monster-beating devices.

Tommy says he has to stay behind because he forgot to recharge his powers again and the others wait anxiously to go fight. Billy and Zack go to Billy's awesome garage to build the ice device and it seems to take no time at all. Trini teleports in and tries morphing to see if she still looks like a putty when morphed. She doesn't. She looks "like the yellow ranger" and the only thing I could think of was "only with breasts!". Problem temporarily solved! They have to rush off and fight with the device untested, of course. Why do I sense a "science doesn't work that way" coming up?

So they go fight and somehow Billy and Zack end up separated from the others. They try Billy's ice device but, unsurprisingly, it doesn't work. Why am I not surprised? Billy discovers it's missing an extra computer chip that he just so happens to have on him... somewhere... and he slides it into place. Magically, that solved everything and the device now works. This stalls the Salamander Iguana Monster Thing long enough for the others to... come from wherever they'd been hiding. They blast him with the power weapons and almost destroy him but Zedd makes him grow. We're treated to a really long zord summoning sequence and oh I didn't miss these at all. They pull out the Thunder Sword, which I can only assume is the Power Sword: The Next Generation, because it does the exact same thing as the power sword. It magically saves the day and destroys the monster.

Back at school, the iguana appears in the middle of class. Jason, Kim, and Tommy come running in with the sunglasses in hand. Apparently Alpha was able to use some special energy beam and reverse the spell. And if you buy that as proper science, I have some amazing ocean front property in Arizona I'd love to sell you. It works and Billy and Zack can see their friends as normal again. Meanwhile, Bulk and Skull have discovered the iguana and make adorable iguana faces at him while trying to get him to sniff out the power rangers. The rest of the class runs screaming for some reason.

I'm left wondering why Bulk and Skull don't still see Billy and Zack as putties. After all, they were affected by the spell and never received the counter-spell to negate the evil magic. So shouldn't they still see Billy and Zack as putties? They must have run into some fish interference.

List time:
3 fish. Not too bad, but there were some glaring contradictions.

Billy speak: "The lenses and frames seem especially sturdy. They should be more than adequate to protect our eyes during our lab experiment."

Covered in food: Nobody, but Skull was covered in iguana, and adorably so I might add.

Episode 51- Grumble Bee

My little shipper heart absolutely DELIGHTS in this episode. I think I've watched it more often than any other PR episode in it's entire seventeen season run.

So we start out remembering that Angel Grove lacks quality education because Mrs. Applebee, portraying the role of Science Teacher Applebee, is handing out test results. She apologizes to Billy as she hands him his test. He got a B. He's heartbroken! Mrs. Applebee reminds the class that they need top grades to get into the Young Scientists of America Club. Poor Billy is so distraught he can't even be bothered to pick up his backpack, instead dragging it along the ground behind him. He laments his sad, sad little B and Kim attempts to reassure him that a B is still a wonderful grade. After all, she gets them all the time. He appreciates the effort, but he has apparently never in his life ever gotten a B before. I must wonder why he's not in honours classes, advanced a few grades, or gotten his doctorate by this point. Bulk and Skull are mean and tease him, but he can't even give them what for. Poor Billy is the emo-est of all Emo Rangers for just this one episode. Poor little Emo Ranger.

Jason says Billy should take a break and go play some basketball, but I have to wonder if Jason has ever actually paid attention to Billy before. Billy isn't the type to relax and unwind with SPORT. He's just... not. Trini offers to help him "study" and Billy immediately cheers up. Yes, Trini helps him "study" rather a lot apparently. He brightens up so much there is no way it's anything BUT a euphemism. Oh, I'm sorry, was my OTP bias showing a bit there? Let me just go tuck that in.

So Billy and Trini go off to "study" and we discover Billy missed ONE question on the test (what, where there like five questions on a two page test? We assume Mrs. Applebee just asks really long, drawn out questions... or can't do math). The question he missed was about bee classification in the insect kingdom.

Meanwhile, Jason, Zack, and Kim are playing basketball. Putties attack, of course, and we get some really awesome moves from each of them using the basketball as a weapon. Normally fight scenes bore me, but this one was pretty good. They seem to have a handle on things when Goldar shows up with more putties and the Glowing Rope of DOOM. The putties overwhelm the rangers and manage to tie them up. Kim is so little she could probably just slip down between Jason and Zack and get out, but she doesn't even try. It's okay. They all seem to have a thing for bondage on this show. We understand why they don't try too hard to get away.

Rita has sent down her Grumble Bee monster while Jason, Zack, and Kim are all tied up. Zordon was actually paying attention for a change and contacts Billy and Trini about the Grumble Bee and the tied-up rangers. Trini calls out the morphing call and off they go to fight! Together! Just the two of them! They confront the Bee and have a short conversation about the people in your neighborhood. They fight and Billy is weakened by the venom. We then discover the Grumble Bee has some kind of ultrasonic waves that overwhelm them. They bravely run away.

Back at the Command Center, Zordon tells them they have to fight the bee while Alpha tries to break through the Glowing Rope of DOOM to set the others free. Jason reassures them it's the right thing to do, so back to the fight they go. Grumble Bee shoots them with highly toxic... uh... silly string. Billy is affected, but he manages to continue to fight. Meanwhile, Alpha narrows some sort of beam and manages to cut the Glowing Rope of DOOM so the others join the fight. He then gets back to work on some sort of weapon. Apparently it's a case of battery-in-backwards again and he flips something around to finish the weapon. It looks just like a Super Soaker. He sends it to Billy while the others are incapacitated and Billy uses it to shoot foam all over the Bee. Apparently, it really is a Super Soaker.

Rita says, oddly, "Make the monster... giant." for a change. The Zords are called, they get the MegaZord, and then the Bee shoots them with that ultrasonic crap again. He looks more like he's doing the Care Bear stare than anything else. The MegaZord needs more power, they call the Power Sword, the Bee says it probably isn't real, and then he gets blown up good and proper. End of fight.

Back at the Youth Center, Jason and Zack both have pretty arms while sparring. Tommy shows up in a random five second appearance. Apparently he's been restoring the Angel Grove economy by winning a karate tournament. And then Billy comes bouncing in. No, literally, he bounces. He apparently got an A+ on his test and has been admitted to the Young Scientists of America Club. As if there were any doubt. Trini is very proud of him. Bulk and Skull are apparently flipping out at a table, both studying very hard. Skull is so stressed he's tearing pages out of the book and TSB and I flail and bite our hands and can't really handle this part. Books! You don't do that to books! NYAH! Bulk says if he doesn't get a C on the next test, Mrs. Applebee is going to make the six students with the highest grades tutor him all summer. Uh... I don't think she can just volunteer people like that? And way to punish the kids that actually do their work. Anyway, Zack counts the six rangers and then they all rush to attempt to help Bulk and Skull study. Skull is still tearing pages. I'm very bothered.

Lists!

2.5 fish.

Covered in food: nobody

Billy speak: Lots, though most of it's borderline.
"I'm most perplexed. I've never received a B before."

"I appreciate your efforts, but acceptance into the young scientists of America club is very important to me."

"It's a term which defines a specific order of insects, such as bees."

"The ultrasonic waves are too powerful. We have to find the monster's weakness."

"The venom is highly toxic. It's eating through my suit."

Episode 42 - Something Fishy

I'm really sorry I didn't get to Devon's Ghost yet. I've had a really hectic week. It is coming, I swear.

We've reached the reason this blog exists! This is the Billy is afraid of fish episode. And yes, he obviously gets over it at the end, but we still really doubt that he would move to a fish planet and then hook up with one. But the point is, our hatred of that particular plot point would be the reason that we have this blog and the rating scale that we do, so major love for this episode! (It is totally fitting that this is episode #42.)

Our episode begins with discovering that Jason is a licensed diving instructor, which also means that he wears really atrocious shorts. Jason, Zack and Trini are going to go scuba diving, and they invite Kimberly and Billy along. Kimberly says that she doesn't want to mess up a perfectly good hair day (which, it really isn't. Her outfit is pretty awful as well) and Billy says that he doesn't like fish. Instead, Billy and Kimberly are going on a picnic by a lake. Because they are adorable.

Bulk and Skull show up, and it looks like Bulk is wearing tights. Predictable hijinks ensue, where Skull harasses Trini (which is different. Shouldn't he be hitting on Ki instead?) and we find out that they're planning on going fishing. Also, Bulk's locker is disgusting. Seriously, there is no reason for that much trash to be in there. Ewww.

Later, Jason gives a lecture on diving safety, and we get some shots of them zipping up their wet suits. We approve of this. A lot. We have no idea when (or how at 16) Jason managed to become a licensed diving instructor, but at least later canon manages to remember this point.

While they're diving, Kimberly and Billy are having a lovely picnic. Apparently Billy's fear of fish extends to eating fish, (Kim packed fish and chips for lunch) and I'm sure that Cestria will have a major problem with this later. Kimberly asks Billy why he's so afraid of fish, and we get treated to a flashback of wee ickle Billy trying to apply what he learned of whirlpools to a pond, where a fish bit him! Seriously, he is so adorable. Kimberly giggles, and I really can't blame her. She also points out that at least it wasn't a piranha.

There's a disturbance, and they glance over to see Bulk and Skull fishing. Bulk has managed to catch a no fishing sign, along with a lot of other garbage. Apparently their Clean up club didn't do this section of the park. Bulk and Skull try and catch a fish, but all they manage to do is hook their lines to their belts and they end up throwing themselves in the lake.

After laughing at them, Kimberly suggests they go see the divers and then get some ice cream. Billy is all excited, and he asks if it can be chocolate chocolate chip. Now I'm craving ice cream. Which I don't have, but I think there are brownies. Mmmbrownies.

Before they get very far, putties attack! Rita was listening in on their date Billy's fear of fish, and now it is time for an attack. At first Kim and Billy are all "Oh no! Too many putties!" but they end up winning, and they are awesome. Plus, we get to see their gymnastics skills. The Kim and Billy fights are always way fun to watch.

After they defeat the Putties, they actually remember that they have communicators. They contact Zordon and find out that Rita has unleashed a new monster called the Goo Fish, which is the best name ever. The Goo Fish spits out a goo that basically immobilizes people. We should really start keeping track of how many monsters can glue people to the ground or freeze them, I'm guessing it's a lot.

Billy and Kim go and fight alone, while Zordon tries to contact the divers. Did they seriously not plan for this at all? Luckily, their communicators are waterproof, and the other three are just finishing up their swim. Unfortunately, Zordon calls them right before they were about to strip off their wet suits. *sadface*

As Kim and Billy fight the Goo Fish, who is voiced by Lord Zedd and we are both really weirded out by that, Rita places a spell on Billy to make his fear of fish even worse. He goes and cowers by a rock while Kimberly protects him, until the other Rangers show up. Goo Fish runs away, and the Rangers all go back to the Command Center, where they start complaining about how tough the mosnter was. SERIOUSLY? After the events of Doomsday they think this is tough?! Whatever.

They go fight the Goo Fish again, and the Divers get gooed. Billy is all afraid again, so Kimberly kicks some serious ass to protect her friends. Unfortunately, it isn't enough. But Billy's love of his friends gives him the strength to break the spell and (temporarily) face his fear of fish. Rita makes the monster grow, and wow, they were really running low on Sentai footage, because this is one long Zord sequence. The Goo Fish starts beating them up and then Zack (Zack!) comes up with the idea to convert the Goo to energy and somehow that lets them summon the Power Sword and beat up the Goo Fish. Whatever, at least we got 18 minutes into the episode before we had to call fish.

Back at the Youth Center, at a much later point in time, Billy returns from going fishing with Ernie. He claims he might actually like this sport. Ernie says they'll cook up what they caught. Bulk and Skull show up, saying they caught the big one. It turns out that Skull just bought a giant can of tuna. Oh, Skull. Skull says he doesn't know any other kind of fish. *pets him* Everyone laughs. Bulk wants to inspect what Billy caught, and it turns out that Billy caught a lobster. There is so much wrong with that we really don't know where to start. First, that was the most fake lobster ever. Second, there was no way that lobster was alive. And third, that was not a California Lobster. And there are regulations about getting those lobsters, and we doubt that Billy got a sports fishing license. (Yes, this is exactly the sort of thing we nitpick.) (This may just prove my point that Angel Grove is secretly its own country.)

Also, I wouldn't laugh if someone has a lobster attached to their nose. That is just mean.


Fish: This episode gets 2.5 fish. Mostly for the WTF of the Zord fight and the fact that we ended up spending 20 minutes discussing the lobster after.

Billy speak: "I have a regrettable dislike for fish"
"A carefully planned distance from any fish substance!"
"My intuition tells me that Rita is up to something."
(There was probably a lot more, but we were too busy yelling about him eventually marrying a fish)

Covered in: Bulk and Skull get covered in garbage, thrown in a lake, and then Bulk gets a lobster stuck to his nose.

Questions to ponder: What other crazy plot points from early seasons should have shown up later on?

Episode 16- Dark Warrior

This is a public service announcement letting readers of this blog know that Saturday will bring an update of mammoth proportions. We'll be marathoning all 5 parts of Green With Evil and posting a recap. That's right. We won't make you wait a week between pieces of the only decent Tommy storyline in existence. No, we'll be marathoning the fail for you and saving your brain cells by compiling it into one special weekend update. It may take copious amounts of alcohol and I can't guarantee our intelligence coming out of it, but it will be done.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled update.

This episode is... well it's lots of fail. It contains a character that somehow embodies every stereotype of Asians in popular American media. It doesn't make a lot of sense in the first place, but I'm not sure there's even really a plot.

So we start with Stereotype Man. He's a small, grey-haired, glasses wearing Asian man puttering about a lab full of nefariously bubbling liquids of vibrantly coloured questionable content. Surely this means he's a mad scientist! Or at least we hope so because they are ever so much fun.

He is delighted when his invisibility formula is complete, but then perplexed when he pours some onto a plant and it disappears. It's an invisibility formula. It's supposed to make things, y'know, disappear. So begins the fail.

We find Trini in the Youth Center following Jason's expert tutelage... in a class of beginning white belts. Why Trini is in the back of this class we're not sure. She's far too awesome for it. Jason ends class and tells his students their test will be later that day. Um... what? Shouldn't they be tested next class session? I'm a bit confused but alas, no time to puzzle it out because Ernie enlists Billy for some free labour and then Bulk and Skull dump him in the recycle bin. We're 16 episodes in of him being a Ranger and while he could hold his own before and was, in fact taunting Bulk and Skull in previous episodes, Billy apparently can't even fend off bullies anymore... again. Fishy fish fish. Billy in this episode makes NO SENSE.

Trini helps him up and tells him not to worry, that he can meet her Uncle Howard later. He's apparently a world famous scientist. Billy is so depressed, however, that "even scientific achievement isn't much comfort." Poor Billy. He must be really upset!

He decides what he needs to do is re-enlist in Jason's karate class. And hello, we do a double take, pause the episode, and flail for a minute. RE-enlist? As in, he'd dropped out? In what world does this even make sense? Why would the LEADER of the Power Rangers allow his weakest member to DROP OUT of a class that can help him in is Ranger fighting skills? Seriously? What? Some leader you are, Jason Scott. Also, why would super smart excessively logical BILLY say "Hey, I'm a Power Ranger now. I shouldn't at all attend these martial arts classes my friend teaches because they certainly couldn't help me." Fail, Power Rangers, fail.

Back to the show. Rita wins at stalking the Rangers and knows immediately what's going on. She commissions an awesome monster from Finster. He will have the speed of a panther, the wisdom of the ages, and the strength of ten something (we think). Sounds fantastic!

Trini mentions to the group that her Uncle Howard is coming and Jason does a bit of a fanboy flip out. Apparently Uncle Howard is not only a world famous scientist, but he's also a world famous martial artist. So Uncle Howard is a world famous Karate Scientist. That is all kinds of amazingly awesome and wow way to stereotype there, show. Uncle Howard, having lost his invisibility formula (having set it down on the counter and then... turned his back?), finally finds Trini and introductions all around. Billy gets a special separate introduction and Uncle Howard says he'll give Billy special instruction. Meanwhile, Ernie sees a jar of bright neon green liquid and... walks off with it while polishing it? Mmkay?

Goldar, Squat, and Baboo head to Uncle Howard's lab. Squat and Baboo drink something from an unlabeled bottle instead of looking for the invisibility formula like they ought to. Why they drank it we're not sure, but apparently it happens often as Rita then yells at them for doing so. I feel the need to mention here that Rita's plan makes no sense. She wants the invisibility formula to make the Rangers disappear. The only problem with that is they'd still be there physically, still able to fight, but they'd be invisible so the monsters wouldn't be able to see them. That's... not really very evil. It's actually somewhat helpful to the Rangers.

Meanwhile, Uncle Howard spends maybe five minutes training Billy in the park before they are attacked by putties. Billy handles one on his own but is quickly overwhelmed. Meanwhile, three putties take down and make off with Uncle Howard. He, Stereotype Man, world famous Karate Scientist, is taken down by three putties. Do you see the sense this episode is not making? He is placed in a cave with a bunch of dynamite and told he has one hour to give them the invisibility formula. Rita also contacts Trini with a note in a bunch of black balloons.

Billy then RUNS to the Youth Center. He doesn't bother to use the COMMUNICATOR strapped tightly to his wrist to say "Hey Zordon, Uncle Howard has been kidnapped by Rita!" or "Hey guys, could use a little help here with the putties and the kidnapping and stuff." No, he runs to the Youth Center to tell them. They have the ability to teleport. Fish fish fish.

They go to the Command Center where Zordon says he's been expecting them. Um... really? Why not, y'know, contact them yourself there Zordon? Or teleport them when you notice something amiss with the Big Bad? Zordon!fail abounds in this episode.

They somehow find Uncle Howard really really quickly (I guess because Rita uses the same cave for all her kidnappings) and find only a few seconds left on the bomb. Zack asks Billy if he can dismantle it. Yes, because being a genius scientist means you have the ability to diffuse a bomb. Of course. Uncle Howard tells Billy to use his karate training to focus his mental energy. How that's going to help DIFFUSE A BOMB I'm not sure. But it works. Somehow. Billy stops the bomb, they free Uncle Howard, he wanders off, and then they morph. Morph. With Uncle Howard basically right there. He hadn't even left the cave yet. Secret identity fail!

There is an odd battle when the Dark Warrior finally shows up again. He's kind of awesome with a cannon in his arm and everything, but the fight is rather easy and they beat him relatively quickly overall. It wasn't very memorable, as fights and bad guys go.

Back at the Youth Center, Jason is conducting his tests for his beginning white belt students. Most of them have made it to yellow belt, it seems, and Jason is testing Billy in this shot. Y'know, Billy. Who had dropped out of the class ages ago. The one who decided to rejoin the class AFTER the previous session was over. Apparently he gets no class time and jumps straight into the test. Jason pretty much just gives him a yellow belt for doing... well... nothing. I never took martial arts as a kid but TSB assures me this is not how testing for your belt works in the real world.

Ernie puts the jar of neon green liquid on the counter and Uncle Howard, who apparently made it out of the cave just fine, is delighted to see his invisibility formula again. He picks it up and cuddles it. Meanwhile, Bulk and Skull are picking on Billy. He allows them to torment him and his friends just stand there and watch. They don't intervene, they don't say anything, they just let Billy get harrassed. What wonderful friends. Uncle Howard doesn't agree with their pacifist views and drinks some of his invisibility formula. He knocks Bulk and Skull around a bit and then Billy taunts them. For somebody who was about to get an atomic wedgie, Billy is awfully confident. Uncle Howard defies logic and reappears at will.

The only saving grace of this episode really is that at the very end, as the credits roll, we get a voiceover of Jubilee from the old X-Men cartoon telling us to watch her show on Fox Kids. Aw, old school X-Men cartoon! We love it so.

List time!

Five fish. Solidly. If there was a plot, I couldn't find it. The monster of the week was all but non-existent. Stereotypes galore in a single man made me cringe repeatedly. BILLY MADE NO SENSE.

Billy speak? NONE. How sad is that? A Billy-centric episode and not an inkling of Billy speak.

Nobody was covered in food, though Billy was shoved into a recycle bin.

Episode 15- Peace, Love, and Woe

I'd like to start this recap off by saying a high fish episode CAN be an awesome episode. It's just a ridiculous episode. Our first five fish episode is both.

We start with some teens decorating the Youth Center for an upcoming dance. Other teens, mainly the Rangers, continue with normal Youth Center activities anyway. Jason is instructing Trini in some martial arts move, Kim is doing gymnastics, and Bulk is skateboarding. In the Youth Center. I wasn't sure that would be allowed, but apparently Ernie has no rules for his business establishment. Trini doesn't pay attention, kicks Bulk, and he goes straight for Ernie who is carrying a cake. Ernie really ought to know better than to carry a cake around the Youth Center by now. Just as every time before, Bulk runs into him and they get covered in cake. Surprise surprise surprise. Or not.

Rita orders Squat and Baboo to get back to work but we're not entirely sure what they do for her other than praise her. Finster agrees to make her Madame Woe and we cheer. Madame Woe is awesome!

Meanwhile, back at the Youth Center, the Rangers are razzing Billy about his lack of date to the dance. Zack tells Billy he'll teach him some dance moves to impress the ladies and Billy replies with Billy speak. He's not interested in using dance moves to attract women. He has his massive and beautiful brain for that. Trini knows that's what real women find attractive and says as much. "Billy doesn't want to dance JUST to attract girls." She really stresses that JUST. Billy then runs into a girl, quite literally. She is absolutely adorable and they both use the same sophisticated manner of speech. Aw. The other Rangers look on approvingly. They are so invested in his love life, it's almost unnerving! Billy and Adorable Smart Girl see her dropped Necklace of Extreme Significance and bump heads attempting to get it. Aw, cliche romantic interest move! We discover she was also a graduate of the Accelerated Baby Genius program and the adorable factor just went up by about ten points. She asks Billy to the dance and it's so freaking cute I can hardly stand it.

I should mention that a lot of dirty innuendos get thrown around:
Billy: "I'm not really interested in engaging feminine attentions through bodily gyrations"
Adorable Smart Girl: "I'm afraid neither one of us was monitoring our designated entrance or exit"
Plans to "discuss the weather"
And Zack is hanging ALL OVER Jason. No, really, he is. He's resting his hand on Jason's shoulder and is DRAPED across his back. I think this is the most action any Ranger has ever gotten, including Tommy. They were like this the entire 2 minute scene!

Rita calls Madame Woe to her and tells her one Ranger will be in the park that afternoon and should be taken, that the rest will follow. She totally PWNS Zordon on monitoring the Rangers. She knows about their dates and Zordon can't even be bothered to figure out if they're under a spell before 24 hours has passed! Madame Woe goes to said park and, instead of finding Billy, finds Adorable Smart Girl. Her Necklace of Extreme Significance falls to the ground as she is captured. Shortly thereafter, Billy shows up with flowers. Aw, he brought her flowers! He is distraught to discover no Marge (she finally has a name! And we found out before the episode ended too!). He is attacked by putties, however, and calls the other Rangers over. Apparently four putties can hold off five Rangers for a few minutes, or long enough for Billy to discover the Necklace of Extreme Significance on the ground. He's about to explain when Zordon calls them to the Command Center. He was unusually timely this episode and I must applaud him for his first ever lack of fail. I love Zordon but wow does he fail at monitoring them most of the time.

Billy is sad, they attempt to cheer him up, and then discover that they can combine their Power Coins to focus all the power into one Ranger. It has never been mentioned before and never mentioned since, so we like to call this Captain Plot Device. They go and fight and are almost immediately sucked into a Madame Woe's alternate dimension. Wait. What? We call FISH and move on. Billy is all "Oh look it's my girlfriend!" and she's all "Oh look it's the Power Rangers and I totally don't recognize your voice Billy the Blue Ranger."

Somehow Madame Woe can control the elements as well. We're scratching our heads but call fish and move on yet again. Twice in under a minute. That doesn't bode well for this episode. Billy determines they need to get back to their own dimension and they... combine their powers into one ("Morph to the power of one!" reminds us very much of "By your powers combined, I am Captain Planet!") and give it all to Billy. He... breaks free of the alternate dimension. We're not sure how, he just did. He somehow manages to YELL across to the alternate dimension and THEY HEAR HIM. Um... what the what what? Fish again, and moving on.

Billy grabs Madame Woe by the neck and pulls the Big Blue Crystal off her forehead. He CRUSHES it in his hand as if were made of fine powder and suddenly the alternate dimension fades and the Rangers and Marge are brought back to their own dimension. What? He can crush crystals in his hand? It brought them back? What? We yell FISH FISH FISH a lot and beg for the fight to be over already. The Rangers all fight, yet their power is still all in Billy, so we're not sure how. We just want it end, preferably sooner rather than later.

Thankfully it is over and we're brought to the Youth Center for the dance. The Rangers are decked out in atrocious outfits consisting entirely of their individual Ranger colours. Because that's not conspicuous or anything. Marge tells Billy all about the wonderful, heroic Blue Ranger and Billy is looking very boastful for somebody who's Ranger identity is supposed to be a secret. Billy gets the first heterosexual kiss of the show here (Jason and Zack having gotten the first kiss overall in Episode 13.)

We are then treated to horrible comic relief in the form of Bulk grossing us out by paying Ernie (for the cake he destroyed earlier) with money from his overly smelly feet. Ernie passes out into the new cake and, when revived by the Ranger teens, takes the smelly money and goes dancing. On the plus side, it's one of the few times we ever see anybody pay for anything in this show.

And that's the end of that.
Lists:

This is a solid FIVE fish episode. First ever. The morphed scenes are just too ridiculous to even consider going lower.

Billy Speak: "I'm not really interested in engaging feminine attentions through bodily gyrations"
Trini Translation: "Billy doesn't want to dance JUST to attract girls."

Billy Speak: "My priority is to complete my experimental weather analyzing device in my laboratory."

Marge Speak: "I'm afraid neither one of us was monitoring our designated entrance or exit."

Billy Speak: "It's Marge. She never reached the primary destination point we assented to."
Trini Translation: "Marge never showed up here as planned."

Billy Speak: "With alacrity."
Trini Translation: "He means we've got to move fast."

Covered in food: Bulk in cake once at the beginning, and Ernie in cake once at the end.

Episode 14 - Power Rangers Punks

First, a note of clarification on fish - We try not to add fish based on the inherent ridiculousness of the types of monsters or spells themselves. I mean, Power Rangers is totally ridiculous, and if we were judging it based on just that we'd have to give Pudgy Pig 5 fish just because a Pudgy Pig was trying to eat all the food in the world. We (mostly) try to judge the Fish based on how unclear the episode is, or how much the show contradicts its own continuity, which is... why we call it the fish scale in the first place. There will be capslock rage when Billy moves to the fish planet, we're just saying. Basically, it gets fish if we get thrown out of the episode, which is why some of the more ridiculous Tommy centric episodes will get high fish, or if the Rangers behavior makes us start yelling about their failure as role models.

Anyway. Power Punks is one of my favorite episodes of Power Rangers, and the Terror Toad is my favorite Monster of the week, even beating out Pudgy Pig which is QueenRiley's favorite. And considering the week I've had, I was really glad that we were watching this episode. There was actually momentary confusion, because for some reason some of the youtube videos insisted that this was actually episode 21. But we're going with it is episode 14, because that is what Rangers Central tells us, and also we like this episode.

The episode opens with a fabulous game of volleyball, and the best music we've heard on the show yet. Trini and Jason are playing against Zack and Billy, and Billy is doing really well. He falls over while trying to hit the ball, and the Rangers give him an honest compliment! (We've determined it is an honest compliment because they usually overact way more when they're being purposefully mean.) Billy and Kimberly switch places, and we discover that Baboo has created a "Punk Potion" that he will use on the Rangers. Jason and Trini win the game, and then Jason tempts fate by saying "So who do we take on next?"

The answer to that question is a squad of Putties! While the Rangers are fighting them, Baboo peddles over on Rita's amazing bicycle and spikes all the drinks with the Punk Potion. Kimberly and Billy (who, incidentally are the best dressed Rangers this episode. Trini needs to stop wearing sweaters with shorts, and we don't even know what is up with Jason's tank top) drink the water, and are immediately turned into punks, causing us to speculate that the "Punk Potion" was actually just imprints of Bulk and Skull's personality, like in Dollhouse.

The spell instantly affects Kimberly and Billy (for some reason all of the more ridiculous things seem to happen to these two - first body switching and now this) and they instantly become Power Rangers Universe versions of Punks. That... mostly means that they overact in an amazingly over the top manner and yell "YEAH" a lot and call people geeks and dorks. Which is at least consistent with Bulk and Skull. Billy calls them all dorks, and Kimberly and Billy leave, while the others just stand there. Trini suggests that maybe they just got too much sun. Look, we know that it's early in the series, but when Billy starts calling people dorks, it means he's under a spell.

The next day at school, we find out that apparently Bulk's locker is filled with garbage (seriously, show? Stop with the fatphobia. It is beginning to drive us nuts) and that the Rangers are vaguely worried about Billy and Kimberly, but they don't appear to have checked on them at all. That at least is totally consistent with everything else about their friendship. They really are the worst friends ever. And then we get the grand entrance of Billy and Kimberly, in their punk gear. We... well, we will let the fandom secret speak for itself. (And if you're the person who made this secret, hi, please come be our new BFF?) Seriously, punk!Billy is WICKED HOT. Punk!Kimberly has an awesome jacket, but her hair is insane and everything about her outfit is crazy. But OMG, Punk!Billy. Everything about him is wonderful.

The other Rangers just stand there and watch as Billy and Kimberly harass some poor guy in the hallway, and then Kimberly hits on Skull. I'm personally convinced that she and Billy have already hooked up as Punks (and possibly while they were body-switched) but Skull is nearly dead of joy as Kimberly asks him out. Then Billy threatens Bulk, in karmic retribution for Bulk being mean to him. Even after all of that, the three non-affected Rangers can only say "What's with them?" Of course, at this point Zordon suddenly remembers that he has the ability to observe what's going on, so he teleports all of the Rangers to the Command Center, and imprisons Kimberly and Billy behind a force field. Good thing nobody else was in that hallway!

While the Rangers are at the Command Center, Zordon tells them that they have two problems. First, the Power Punk Spell can only be removed with juice from a Singing Squash, which is only found in other dimensions. (At this point we get a brief glimpse of Zordon in his non-warp bubble form. Exciting!) Also, Rita has unleashed the Terror Toad, which a) eats people and b) has a listing under Fetish Fuel on tvtropes. Oh, fandom. (Okay, to be fair, it is also listed under Nightmare Fuel. Anyway. The Terror Toad is still awesome because it is an amazingly creepy villain. Kimberly, in her Punk state refers to it as "Wartsville" which should be the name of a band or a song or something.

Zack, Trini and Jason go off to fight the Terror Toad, and Zack and Trini almost immediately get eaten by the Toad. Alpha goes off to find the Singing Squash, and he makes the mistake of commenting that it appears to be too easy. Of course, this means he immediately gets set upon by Putties. But wait! Apparently Alpha has internal defenses, so he takes them all down easily. Man, if Alpha was leading the Rangers, they'd have totally won by now! He pulls the Singing Squash, which turns out to basically be a mandrake and returns to the Power Chamber, where Billy and Kimberly are making fun of Zordon. They call him a "Big Green Geekoid." Seriously, if there is an award for best overacting, it totally goes to Amy Jo Johnson and David Yost for this episode.

They drink the potion that Alpha makes for them, and Kimberly is horrified by her nails (I'm personally scared for anyone who happens to be around her when she sees her hair) and Billy says "Alpha?" in this terrified voice. They morph (calling out in unison, which is adorable) and arrive to battle the Terror Toad just in time for Jason to be eaten. Billy comes up with a plan to beat the Toad, but then gets eaten as well. And unlike the other Rangers, he actually gets swallowed Terrifying! Kimberly then shoots the Terror Toad in its weak spot, right below its neck, freeing the other Rangers. She then shoots the Toad again, and I'm pretty sure she must get her arrows from the same place that Robin Hood does, because the arrow swerves around trees. The Terror Toad explodes, making this the second time that Kimberly defeats a monster on her own. She is clearly the most powerful of all the Rangers. (It's worth pointing out that Baboo showed up to join the battle briefly. He is adorable.)

Afterward, back at the Youth Center, Kimberly is helping Trini with some neat gymnastics moves, while Skull shows up for his date. At this point we both start wincing because we feel so bad for him. He dressed up! He did his hair! And she did say she'd go out with him. Kimberly is horrified by this, and Billy tells Bulk and Skull that Kimberly and Trini don't date neanderthals. This isn't true at all! Kimberly dates Tommy for a really long time. And then something happens where Billy and Zack try to defend the girls honor or something by playing volleyball. I really don't know, but we got about 19 minutes into the episode before we yelled fish!

Lists!
Fish scale: 1.5 fish. The lowest rated episode yet. Seriously, this episode is amazing, and all fandoms should have a gone punk episode.

Billy Speak: If we just transpose ourselves
Kimberly translation: You mean switch positions?

(For the record, we can totally imaging them having that conversation in bed. Possibly I've developed a Kimberly/Billy thing.)

Covered in food: Bulk and Skull get covered in... the disgusting garbage that was in Bulk's locker.

Fanfic that people should really write: Kimberly goes out with Skull. Look, don't judge me, okay?

Episode 9- I, Eye Guy

Today we have a special Thursday episode of Power Rangers!

I will admit up front, I am heavily heavily Billy biased. He has been my favourite Ranger since the very first episode and the only other Ranger in the entire history of the show who comes close is Bridge (who comes very close indeed). I won't even try to keep that out of my recaps.

I'm very partial to this villain. Eye Guy was pretty cool, as far as villains go. He could separate his one weakness from himself and hide it for safe keeping, he could break into a million pieces and come back together over and over again, and he threw EYES at people. EYES. At people. Threw them. He's awesome.

We open onto the Cranston household outside shot. I love this shot. It's used over and over again in episode after episode, but it just makes me love the house even more. It's one of the few Ranger homes we ever see.

Billy is in the garage with a 12 year old boy. The Rangers seem to spend A LOT of time with 12 year old children. This is creepy and slightly disturbing, actually. Anyway, the boy is in overalls and blue. Mini!Billy is named Willy and they've been working on his science fair project. He's made a virtual reality machine which is actually really cool, especially for a kid and especially in the early 90's. Way to go, mini!Billy... I mean Willy. TSB is convinced Willy is actually a clone of Billy used in previous experiments. I am not so sure, but it's an interesting theory, so I'll go with it (and would love to read some fic!).

Mini!Billy takes the Rangers on a virtual roller coaster that Kim ruins by getting dizzy and making him stop, and Jason grabs hold of Billy affectionately out of surprise. Yes, I see slash in everything. We don't really know why all the Rangers are involved, but they are so we'll nod and smile and assume maybe it was just for testing purposes or moral support.

They head off to the fair and, partway there, are attacked by putties! Like a triceratops family, they shove the kid in the middle and circle around him. Zack calls to "protect the kid" and we get a moment of "awwww". We're impressed. The Rangers have coordinated moves, a plan of attack, and have obviously been practicing together. They're taking this seriously! Crisis averted, they beat back the putties and head off to the science fair.

It's in the Youth Center. I would have thought a school, but okay, whatever. Willy is concerned about his project, Billy gives him a pep talk, they do their awesome secret handshake (complete with overall strap pulling), and then Bulk and Skull show up. Skull covers his mouth lest he catch nerditis. I was beginning to have some negative feelings towards Bulk and Skull due to that little issue, but then the Rangers end up being horribly horribly cruel and, well, any poor feelings towards the "bullies" disappeared. Billy tells them an IQ is required to be at the science fair, Jason calls them cavemen while Zack grunts at them, and then the girls shove them into a makeover machine and they come out looking like girls while everybody laughs. They're all so mean, I just can't see how this is a good example for kids. I have kids and I would never ever condone my kids treating another person the way the Rangers treat Bulk and Skull.

Moving on. Willy is blamed for the ruckus, why we're not sure, but he is told he is disqualified and cannot be in the science fair. He runs off and Billy says he knows just how Willy feels. Frankly, I'm upset with Billy for this. It's Billy's fault the ruckus happened in the first place! Anyway, they suck at finding him and mini!Billy ends up being captured by Eye Guy. Awesome bad guy. Willy is trapped in an aerotrim (that spinny thing used at Space Camp). As soon as they suspect Rita is involved, their communicators beep and they go off to the Command Center. Once again, Zordon FAILS at monitoring the safety of Angel Grove.

The Rangers morph and go to fight Eye Guy. It doesn't seem likely they can beat him, however, since every time they think they've won, he just reassembles himself and gives them another beating! Zordon alerts them of the need to destroy the main eye and tells them where it's hidden. Billy goes off to find it and leaves the others to contend with Eye Guy, who is doing a good job of not losing.

Billy destroys the eye, the Megazord is called and destroys Eye Guy, and the Rangers go get Willy. We find it odd that Willy doesn't pick up that the voices behind the masks are the same people he's been hanging out with all day, Billy in particular. If Billy was around the 12 year old enough (creepy!) to help him build his VR machine, surely he knows what Billy's voice sounds like at this point. But we'll overlook that since we're it's obviously expected of us.

They get back to the science fair in time for the judge that disqualified Willy earlier to offer an apology, let him back in the fair, and give him the blue ribbon. Bulk and Skull then wander in wearing only towels and while I know I should comment on the partial nudity issue, I just can't pass up any opportunity to see Jason Narvy mostly devoid of clothing. They ask for their clothes back and the girls say they cleaned and sanitized them. They present Bulk and SKull with tiny miniature versions of their outfits. So they embarrass them, leave them naked, and then ruin their clothes. Way to be compassionate, Rangers!

We give this 2.5 fish simply because we cannot overlook just how exceptionally mean ALL the Rangers are in this episode. The episode actually follows moderate show continuity, what with having random adults blame kids for things they had nothing to do with, but the bully factor just can't be ignored.

Lists:
Nobody gets covered in food this time.

No Billy speak either! Not one bit of it. There is one line of Mini!Billy speak though, so we'll count it: "The quasitronic circuitry is acting up again causing the visual imagery to fade."

Episode 8 - Switching Places

Before we begin, I need to admit that I was really not looking forward to this episode. It isn't that I don't like body switching episodes - Out of Their Minds is one of my favorite Farscape episodes ever - it's that I remembered this episode as being bad and cringeworthy, and would probably set off my embarrassment squick. QueenRiley even offered to watch this by herself, but I made the effort. I only covered my eyes briefly, I swear.

This episode takes what could be a really awesome premise - Squat messes up one of Billy's inventions, and then Billy and Kimberly end up switching bodies - and... well, fails on the execution. Both of us would desperately like to read fanfic dealing with the fallout of this episode, or fic that handles it better. We're just saying.

Anyway. Billy has apparently invented a mind reading device, and apparently if you just switch some wires around it will make you switch bodies instead. Billy demonstrates this with Kimberly, and then Bulk and Skull who were spying on them end up switching bodies as well. For some reason the cutouts (yes, cutouts) are sized exactly to Kimberly and Billy's bodies, making me wonder if Billy came up with this invention so he could read Kimberly's mind and find out if Trini liked him or something, since they're the only ones who would fit.

There is some fairly decent acting in this for Power Rangers, and David Yost's valley girl impression is never going to stop being funny. EVER. Speaking of the actor, he looks so much better without his glasses, and because for some reason the writers of this episode decided that if they switch bodies, apparently the eyesight switches as well, so BillyinKimberly needs glasses while KimberlyinBilly's eyes are totally fine. (We also think that there should be a scene where Kimberly takes Billy for a makeover after this episode, possibly because of this episode.) Of course, we don't watch Power Rangers for the science, so we probably shouldn't complain, but pointing it out was important.

Kimberly and Billy have clearly never heard of a minor concept called 'calling in sick' when something like this happens, because they both go to school the next day. In fact, they apparently never even bothered to call Zordon or the other Rangers to tell them what happened. It makes you wonder what they did in the hours between the body switch and school the next day. There's some seriously stereotypical problems in the school scenes - BillyinKimberly can't put on makeup or cook! KimberlyinBilly makes a computer explode! (Why BillyinKimberly even tried wearing makeup is beyond us.) There's a lot of unnecessary yelling and Jason wears possibly the most ridiculous outfit so far! (Disclaimer: We are torn on the outfit. I love it, QueenRiley does not. Have a picture.)



We also need to point out that KimberlyinBilly somehow managed to find some snazzy clothes to wear while she's in Billy. These things are also important.

While the body switching hijinks are going on, Rita apparently has a very cunning plan! She's going to send down a genie in a bottle and have Squat rub it the right way, because that is totally thematically relevant with this episode, and somehow this monster is going to destroy the Morphin Grid. Or something. We aren't really sure. It was handwaved in about two seconds.

Zordon has clearly been paying even less attention than usual, because he first sends the Rangers to fight one group, and then teleports them to fight the actual Genie, and then brings them right back to the Command Center. Why? Because he's the worst mentor ever, clearly. (This isn't true, but we'll talk about Dimitria MUCH later.)

Anyway, they go back to the fight, and Rita makes the Genie grow, and then the giant!Genie attacks the megazord with a really phallic hand-powered drill, and then Zordon and Alpha destroy the lamp which destroys the Genie, so the Rangers don't actually even win the battle. Massive fail!

BillyinKimberly figures out how to switch them back, and then has to ask Trini whether he should switch Bulk and Skull back or just leave them like that. Which is just incredibly mean, and the Rangers are still going for the Worst Rolemodels Ever award. He does agree to switch them back, and Skull immediately asks Billy if he's willing to switch places for the math test on Monday. Oh, Skull. Don't worry, you'll get some actual character development soon!


Lists!
Important things of note that didn't quite make the recap: Skull's crush on Kimberly is totally adorable and in a not-sketchy way this episode! We have 87,000 fic bunnies that we would like people to write! Trini's concern over KimberlyinBilly is really sweet. And KimberlyinBilly not being sure which name to answer to during the megazord calling sequence is pretty funny. The home-ec teacher really should have stopped BillyinKimberly as soon as it showed signs of being a disaster. BillyinKimberly refused to wear pink! And most importantly - KimberlyinBilly still felt the need to wear makeup. Oh, Kim. *adores*

Covered in food: BillyinKimberly's entire home-ec class, because apparently BillyinKimberly is that talented at ruining cheese soufle! (It is also neon orange. We suspect silly string was involved.)

Billy speak:
-Facilitate direct thought transfer.
-Parameters are within the specified range.
-Are you feeling nominal?
-The generator experience diothermic overload.
-We've undergone spatial personality displacement.
-I trusted you with an elementary processing tutorial and you turned my transmission decoders into a synaptic nightmare.
-my synaptic interlock generators malfunctioned and I'm unable to reverse the personality displacement until I can rebuild it
-By networking our maximum energy linkage.
-I appear to have regained control over my synaptic neurons.

KimberlyinBilly speak:
-Like, I think so (response to "Are you feeling nominal?")
-Like, what happened?
-Will you please, like, speak English?
-Push shift F4, then this grungy button
-No, no, I think we can get this (computer tutoring)
-Like, what's the big deal?
-People think I've gone totally [?]. My hair, my make up, YUCK (We can't figure this one out. Any takers?)
-Obviously somebody who doesn't know how to put on make up
-'Fraid so (response to "Kimberly, are you in there?")
-You're right. Like, major muscle.
-For sure. Like, that genie's done for, okay?
-Kimberly, I mean, like, Billy, I mean...
-Are you, like, sure this is going to work?

Appearances: The Radbug. Briefly. We do love the Radbug.

Rating: 4 fish. From Billy trying to invent a mind reading device to the fail total embarrassment and Rita's genie having absolutely nothing to do with the theme of this episode.... 4 fish. Yes.