So, I ship Leo/Kai a lot, have I mentioned that? Because while I stand by my "this series is pretty much an OT5 where Maya teaches them about polyamory" comments, I really ship Leo/Kai. They have an amazing dynamic.
So I am very pleased about recapping this episode, in case you couldn't tell.
So Leo is narrating the events of earlier episodes (um, this is only episode four. Really? Flashbacks ALREADY?) and i would like this sequence a lot better if he was unmorphed. But Leo has a ton of angst about his dead brother, which I approve of, and then he tosses his saber. I just. This is the sort of angst I love. Andros = not my type. Leo = TOTALLY IS.
So Furio shows up and attacks Leo and is all taunting him, and Leo AGAIN drops his sword. He is really bad at this. Of course, they then get interrupted when there's some random noise in the background, and Leo has more angst about not letting Mike down.
Trakeena is being her badass self and mocking Furio for being a failure, when her father demands to know what's up with him. She covers for Furio who goes off to have another plan, and says he knows her. Furio meets up with some other monster guy who has something called the transdaggers, that are apparently powerful.
Back on Terra Venture, the Commander introduces Leo as a new recruit, and um, how are they explaining Leo being there? How are we explaining Mike being dead? But anyway, Leo apparently scored really highly on the test, but he is an adorable failbot while Kai is all "rules and regulations" and "this is how you do it by the book" and basically being super adorable while Leo is constantly getting Kai in trouble by eating in command and then forgetting to lock the doors and basically being a failbot.
Kai is all flipping out about how Leo has no disciplined, but Kendrix is like "dude, you like him, and also you're jealous of how awesome he is" but Kai denies it.
It starts to pour and it turns out that Leo had just decided that it would be fun to make it rain. They find out about the security breach because of Leo being a failbot, and Kai is totally pissed, because all the weapons have been stolen. Kai is correct in that this is all Leo's fault, although Kai, if you are training him, you should also check up on him. (I am firmly on Team Kai in this fight, although I feel they should solve their issues by making out.)
Leo runs out to try and solve the problem himself, while Kai gets the others for backup. Kai is all "no no, I will handle it" and the Rangers all pose dramatically before running in to fight. The five of them pull their sabers and the monster manages to steal four of them. Only Leo has his, and since the monster can't pull the saber out of his hands, it just takes Leo as well.
In the quarters that the five of them apparently share, Kai is being the EMOEST EMO and I love him so much. Seriously, it is so over the top and AMAZING. He heads off to try and find Leo and the others follow him.
Somewhere on the ship, Furio is trying to destroy the sabers now while Leo is all tied up. I approve of THAT. The saber apparently lets Leo go somehow because some fish guided it perfectly and Leo escapes with all the sabers. He runs into the monster and manages to lose the sabers AGAIN (seriously, how is he so bad at this?) and Furio dumps them into the lava, apparently destroying them, along with the transdaggers.
Except. Apparently Leo switched the sabers with some fakes. Also, they apparently knew all about the transdaggers and that was a plot to find out about those too? But anyway, now they have the sabers and the daggers and the daggers can turn into other cool weapons or whatever.
They show off the new weapons and the sabers some more and then combine the daggers into a formation to make them shoot stars at the monster. The monster grows and the fugly lion is summoned (and I'm still not really sure how it's hidden on a space ship, and we'll probably point that out at least a few more times) and then the lion destroys it.
Leo finds out that Kai said nice things about him in his review, but Leo quits because a) he thinks Kai is the best and b) because he's bad at keeping a schedule. So many points to Leo for knowing what his strengths are and bowing out before he gets in way too far, although now I'm not really sure what he's contributing to the colony, and seriously, how are they explaining him being there?
Kai apologizes to Leo for being too hard on him, and Leo apologizes for being too hard to train, and the Kai mocks him for being impossible. Leo smirks and is all "bet you I'll never be late for duty again" which Kai eagerly accepts, before finding out that Leo just resigned.
Then they make out.
Fish: Four. We... may have to revise the fish scale, because I remember this season being COMPLETELY INSANE.
Fic we want: Leo/Kai. Just assume that I am requesting that in every recap, okay? Also, if someone wants to write something explaining how they explained Leo being on the ship, or how the fugly zord is buried in the ship, go right ahead.
Showing posts with label power weapons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label power weapons. Show all posts
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Episode 95 - Scavenger Hunt
Today on Power Rangers - the team goes on a scavenger hunt, and there is some pretty major fail.
Okay, let me get the fail out of the way first, so I can go back to pretending it didn't happen. Bulk and Skull are, as usual, trying to figure out the identities of the Power Rangers. This time, they hire Gypsy Aballonia. She's supposed to be a psychic, and all three of them dress in the most stereotypical costumes you can think of, and speak in odd accents. Apparently the show thinks that gypsies are acceptable targets or something, but we don't, and honestly we found the entire thing really offensive, and we shall never speak of it again.
So, the actual plot is this - the Rangers are competing in a scavenger hunt. They've split up into two teams (Adam, Kim and Tommy on one, Billy, Aisha and Rocky on the other.) At first I thought they were competing against each other, but it turns out they just split the list in two. Kimberly is really into this, and she's absolutely delightful. And Adam makes the most amazing goofy face when they have to take a picture with their first item, which turns out to be a red car.
Zedd watches them, and is all "so, they like to play games" and it is entirely possible my immediate thought was "Adam and Rocky certainly do" because that is exactly how I roll. Zedd then decides that he will send the Rangers on a never ending scavenger hunt in the Lost Universe. Exactly how does one lose a universe? *blinks* And if Zedd knows where the universe is, how exactly is it lost?
Billy's team is hanging out in Billy's lab, trying to figure out what the next clue is, and somehow they come to the realization that it was a cannon. (Personally, I think the answer was a trebuchet, but I guess that would be even harder to find, and is probably just a nitpick anyway.) Billy realizes that his "little cousin" left behind a toy cannon (really?) and that solves this problem, so they go to the park to find the next clue, where they are promptly attacked by putties and lose the bag of stuff.
Then a miracle occurs - they remember they have communicators, and they call the other Rangers. Kim, Tommy and Adam are all fine, but they agree to keep a lookout. Nobody bothers to call Zordon, and Zordon doesn't notice. But then Zedd sends down the monster, which is made out of Billy's toy cannon.
Zordon immediately knows the name of the monster, its powers, and the fact that it can send them to the Lost Universe. How does he know this? Do the fish fly up and tell him? And how does he know where this universe is? If all of these people know about it, it is NOT LOST.
The Rangers all head to the park to fight the cannon monster. The cannon monster, we must note, is standing in fairly tall grass. The grass the Rangers are standing on is freshly mowed. Great job splicing together the footage! So then the Rangers summon the Power Weapons, but that isn't enough, and so they need to summon the Zords.
Rocky's Zord rides Tommy's. I feel that is important to point out.
Zordon is all concerned, because if the Rangers get sent to the Lost Universe, they will never be retrieved. He tells Alpha they just need to have faith in Tommy. Queenriley and I both start cracking up. But no, they summon Tor (and the other four Rangers finally have something to do during this fight) and all is well. I wonder what the point of even mentioning this Lost Universe was. Adding dramatic tension? Because it really didn't work.
Back at the Youth Center, the Rangers are all excited because they only need one more clue, and Ernie tells them the judges are on the way back. The last clue is "they're the colors of the rainbow, and they fight monsters too." Ernie figures out that it must be the Power Rangers, and he has an 8x10 photo of them. Really, do the Rangers do photoshoots now? How did Ernie get one? And how come the Rangers couldn't figure this out? (Maybe because um, no, they are not the colors of the rainbow. When did black become a color of the rainbow? Did they get an indigo ranger when I wasn't looking?)
The Rangers win the scavenger hunt against Central High. We're left wondering exactly when the Rangers managed to get the toy cannon back.
Fish: 4. It would be a 3.5, but I added half a fish for the rage it caused.
Okay, let me get the fail out of the way first, so I can go back to pretending it didn't happen. Bulk and Skull are, as usual, trying to figure out the identities of the Power Rangers. This time, they hire Gypsy Aballonia. She's supposed to be a psychic, and all three of them dress in the most stereotypical costumes you can think of, and speak in odd accents. Apparently the show thinks that gypsies are acceptable targets or something, but we don't, and honestly we found the entire thing really offensive, and we shall never speak of it again.
So, the actual plot is this - the Rangers are competing in a scavenger hunt. They've split up into two teams (Adam, Kim and Tommy on one, Billy, Aisha and Rocky on the other.) At first I thought they were competing against each other, but it turns out they just split the list in two. Kimberly is really into this, and she's absolutely delightful. And Adam makes the most amazing goofy face when they have to take a picture with their first item, which turns out to be a red car.
Zedd watches them, and is all "so, they like to play games" and it is entirely possible my immediate thought was "Adam and Rocky certainly do" because that is exactly how I roll. Zedd then decides that he will send the Rangers on a never ending scavenger hunt in the Lost Universe. Exactly how does one lose a universe? *blinks* And if Zedd knows where the universe is, how exactly is it lost?
Billy's team is hanging out in Billy's lab, trying to figure out what the next clue is, and somehow they come to the realization that it was a cannon. (Personally, I think the answer was a trebuchet, but I guess that would be even harder to find, and is probably just a nitpick anyway.) Billy realizes that his "little cousin" left behind a toy cannon (really?) and that solves this problem, so they go to the park to find the next clue, where they are promptly attacked by putties and lose the bag of stuff.
Then a miracle occurs - they remember they have communicators, and they call the other Rangers. Kim, Tommy and Adam are all fine, but they agree to keep a lookout. Nobody bothers to call Zordon, and Zordon doesn't notice. But then Zedd sends down the monster, which is made out of Billy's toy cannon.
Zordon immediately knows the name of the monster, its powers, and the fact that it can send them to the Lost Universe. How does he know this? Do the fish fly up and tell him? And how does he know where this universe is? If all of these people know about it, it is NOT LOST.
The Rangers all head to the park to fight the cannon monster. The cannon monster, we must note, is standing in fairly tall grass. The grass the Rangers are standing on is freshly mowed. Great job splicing together the footage! So then the Rangers summon the Power Weapons, but that isn't enough, and so they need to summon the Zords.
Rocky's Zord rides Tommy's. I feel that is important to point out.
Zordon is all concerned, because if the Rangers get sent to the Lost Universe, they will never be retrieved. He tells Alpha they just need to have faith in Tommy. Queenriley and I both start cracking up. But no, they summon Tor (and the other four Rangers finally have something to do during this fight) and all is well. I wonder what the point of even mentioning this Lost Universe was. Adding dramatic tension? Because it really didn't work.
Back at the Youth Center, the Rangers are all excited because they only need one more clue, and Ernie tells them the judges are on the way back. The last clue is "they're the colors of the rainbow, and they fight monsters too." Ernie figures out that it must be the Power Rangers, and he has an 8x10 photo of them. Really, do the Rangers do photoshoots now? How did Ernie get one? And how come the Rangers couldn't figure this out? (Maybe because um, no, they are not the colors of the rainbow. When did black become a color of the rainbow? Did they get an indigo ranger when I wasn't looking?)
The Rangers win the scavenger hunt against Central High. We're left wondering exactly when the Rangers managed to get the toy cannon back.
Fish: 4. It would be a 3.5, but I added half a fish for the rage it caused.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Episode 86- Zedd Waves
Oh man I love this episode. The monster, thematically, makes no sense. But he's just so great that I don't care!
So we start off with a LOVELY shot. It's the Stone Canyon Triathlon happening in what looks like Angel Grove Park. So either they share the park on their borders or Stone Canyon doesn't have a park of it's own. Or it's a plot device. I'm leaning towards fishy plot device. Anyway, back to the awesome scene. So it's the Stone Canyon Triathlon. And of course our SCT (Stone Canyon Trio) are taking place in the SCT (Stone Canyon Triathlon). And first up is the swimming portion. So our lovely lads and lady peel off their shirts and we ogle appreciatively.
It took us awhile to notice the storyline here. Ahem. Apparently at some point they talked about the peace conference and how only really smart kids get to go. They think Billy is a shoe in but don't know what they'll do with one ranger down.
So Bulk and Skull are sitting in a boat on the middle of the lake and using some energy reader thing to detect the energy readings of the athletes. Bulk's hypothesis is Power Rangers will emit more energy than regular humans, so his device should pick them up. Not sound logic, there, Bulk, but you're adorably excited about it so I'll let it slide. Skull, meanwhile, is fishing. He's caught something big, he thinks, and Bulk ends up distracted from his energy readings by the potential of a whale. They both fail at bringing in anything and end up in the water. Meanwhile, Zedd steals Bulk's energy reading device and Skull's fishing pole. Upon resurfacing, Bulk comments on the missing pole and notes that Skull's dad is going to kill him... again. Skull apparently would rather drown himself than face his father so he slips below the surface. And now I just want to bring him to my home and give him cookies and take care of him forever. Poor Skull.
So Zedd turns the energy device into a kind of radio mind control monster. It has nothing to do with reading energy waves nor does it use a fishing pole in any way. A radio would have made more sense, but whatever. He's an awesome monster that speaks as if he's a dj at a radio station, so I'm all for him in this (or any) episode.
He mind controls everybody at the park. Zordon calls for Jason, Trini, and Zack who have just come out of the ocean after scuba diving in footage that is clearly old (and from the Billy is afraid of fish episode, I should point out). Meanwhile, the ranger trio are being attacked by some putties. Rocky, Adam, and Aisha see their distress and immediately abandon the Triathlon (they're on the cycling portion at this point) in order to offer assistance. It puts them way behind, but it's worth it. While the Ranger Trio are fighting alongside the Stone Canyon Trio, the Not On The Payroll Anymore Trio fight the Beamcaster. They are quickly put under his spell and Goldar, on the moon, is giddy with delight at the thought of Jason calling him Master.
The Stone Canyon Trio, after the awesomely synchronized putty fight (synched on the part of the putties, that is), rejoin the race. The Ranger Trio head to the Command Center where Zordon fills them in on the already brainwashed Unemployed Rangers Trio. Tommy is all worried about Jason and Zack but Billy jumps in and pretty forcefully yells "TRINI!" And my little heart goes all aflutter at pretty much the last hint at my OTP.
In the park Bulk and Skull come across a large group of mindless people. They are stumbling around chanting "Lord Zedd" but not really being very productive in... anything. Bulk is then turned by the mind control waves, but Skull is unaffected. He takes a second hit and succumbs but he's all failbot at it and chants "Lord Fred" (Kelman? The Gold Ranger? Nah). So our Ranger Trio find some device of Billy's they can use to block the mind control. They morph (out of order, oddly) and then end up surrounded by the citizens. Billy drops his device and people start stepping on it. Instead of pushing them out of the way, because they aren't DOING anything really, he just lets them destroy it. Then Beamcaster turns his waves on THEM. Billy and Kim succumb to the mind control and suddenly we are faced with an entire team of Zombie Rangers. Tommy is the lone holdout.
He fights Beamcaster and the fakest looking apple that turns out to be a bomb, but even he gets brainwashed. And seriously, I would have pegged him as first to go! After all, when voting for Most Likely to Be Placed Under a Spell, Tommy gets my vote hands down. So our Stone Canyon Trio finally come upon this scene and discover the device. Which Rocky picks up. This draws the attention of the citizens who are now intent on... slowly walking towards them with outstretched arms. The Stone Canyon Trio look on in horror and fear. And then they are promptly teleported out in the first real Zordon win of the season.
Aisha say she can fix the device because she worked at a radio station over the summer. She never mentions this again nor does she ever show her techie talent in any other episode. That job eventually falls to Adam. She fixes it and she and Rocky stand in front of the viewing globe and direct a beam of energy at it. It somehow goes through the viewing globe and breaks the mind control of everybody in the park. I don't know how. It really doesn't work like that. Anyway. The Rangers teleport to the Command Center and thank the SCT. Rocky puts on his HILARIOUS Serious Face and hands the device to Billy. I don't know entirely what happened next because I was too busy laughing at the Serious Face.
Anyway, the Rangers pull out random power weapons and beat Beamcaster.
Bulk and Skull are free and adorable and determined to find out who the Power Rangers are.
The Stone Canyon Trio comes in last in the triathlon. The Ranger Trio, sans the Unemployed Trio, apologize for making them lose and Aisha, while groping Rocky's arm, says it's okay... FINISHING is what's important. Heeee. Meanwhile Adam just stands around being adorable.
List time:
3.5 fish, mostly for thematically inappropriate (yet still awesome!) monster.
Billy speak: none
Covered in food: none, but Bulk and Skull fell in the lake
So we start off with a LOVELY shot. It's the Stone Canyon Triathlon happening in what looks like Angel Grove Park. So either they share the park on their borders or Stone Canyon doesn't have a park of it's own. Or it's a plot device. I'm leaning towards fishy plot device. Anyway, back to the awesome scene. So it's the Stone Canyon Triathlon. And of course our SCT (Stone Canyon Trio) are taking place in the SCT (Stone Canyon Triathlon). And first up is the swimming portion. So our lovely lads and lady peel off their shirts and we ogle appreciatively.
It took us awhile to notice the storyline here. Ahem. Apparently at some point they talked about the peace conference and how only really smart kids get to go. They think Billy is a shoe in but don't know what they'll do with one ranger down.
So Bulk and Skull are sitting in a boat on the middle of the lake and using some energy reader thing to detect the energy readings of the athletes. Bulk's hypothesis is Power Rangers will emit more energy than regular humans, so his device should pick them up. Not sound logic, there, Bulk, but you're adorably excited about it so I'll let it slide. Skull, meanwhile, is fishing. He's caught something big, he thinks, and Bulk ends up distracted from his energy readings by the potential of a whale. They both fail at bringing in anything and end up in the water. Meanwhile, Zedd steals Bulk's energy reading device and Skull's fishing pole. Upon resurfacing, Bulk comments on the missing pole and notes that Skull's dad is going to kill him... again. Skull apparently would rather drown himself than face his father so he slips below the surface. And now I just want to bring him to my home and give him cookies and take care of him forever. Poor Skull.
So Zedd turns the energy device into a kind of radio mind control monster. It has nothing to do with reading energy waves nor does it use a fishing pole in any way. A radio would have made more sense, but whatever. He's an awesome monster that speaks as if he's a dj at a radio station, so I'm all for him in this (or any) episode.
He mind controls everybody at the park. Zordon calls for Jason, Trini, and Zack who have just come out of the ocean after scuba diving in footage that is clearly old (and from the Billy is afraid of fish episode, I should point out). Meanwhile, the ranger trio are being attacked by some putties. Rocky, Adam, and Aisha see their distress and immediately abandon the Triathlon (they're on the cycling portion at this point) in order to offer assistance. It puts them way behind, but it's worth it. While the Ranger Trio are fighting alongside the Stone Canyon Trio, the Not On The Payroll Anymore Trio fight the Beamcaster. They are quickly put under his spell and Goldar, on the moon, is giddy with delight at the thought of Jason calling him Master.
The Stone Canyon Trio, after the awesomely synchronized putty fight (synched on the part of the putties, that is), rejoin the race. The Ranger Trio head to the Command Center where Zordon fills them in on the already brainwashed Unemployed Rangers Trio. Tommy is all worried about Jason and Zack but Billy jumps in and pretty forcefully yells "TRINI!" And my little heart goes all aflutter at pretty much the last hint at my OTP.
In the park Bulk and Skull come across a large group of mindless people. They are stumbling around chanting "Lord Zedd" but not really being very productive in... anything. Bulk is then turned by the mind control waves, but Skull is unaffected. He takes a second hit and succumbs but he's all failbot at it and chants "Lord Fred" (Kelman? The Gold Ranger? Nah). So our Ranger Trio find some device of Billy's they can use to block the mind control. They morph (out of order, oddly) and then end up surrounded by the citizens. Billy drops his device and people start stepping on it. Instead of pushing them out of the way, because they aren't DOING anything really, he just lets them destroy it. Then Beamcaster turns his waves on THEM. Billy and Kim succumb to the mind control and suddenly we are faced with an entire team of Zombie Rangers. Tommy is the lone holdout.
He fights Beamcaster and the fakest looking apple that turns out to be a bomb, but even he gets brainwashed. And seriously, I would have pegged him as first to go! After all, when voting for Most Likely to Be Placed Under a Spell, Tommy gets my vote hands down. So our Stone Canyon Trio finally come upon this scene and discover the device. Which Rocky picks up. This draws the attention of the citizens who are now intent on... slowly walking towards them with outstretched arms. The Stone Canyon Trio look on in horror and fear. And then they are promptly teleported out in the first real Zordon win of the season.
Aisha say she can fix the device because she worked at a radio station over the summer. She never mentions this again nor does she ever show her techie talent in any other episode. That job eventually falls to Adam. She fixes it and she and Rocky stand in front of the viewing globe and direct a beam of energy at it. It somehow goes through the viewing globe and breaks the mind control of everybody in the park. I don't know how. It really doesn't work like that. Anyway. The Rangers teleport to the Command Center and thank the SCT. Rocky puts on his HILARIOUS Serious Face and hands the device to Billy. I don't know entirely what happened next because I was too busy laughing at the Serious Face.
Anyway, the Rangers pull out random power weapons and beat Beamcaster.
Bulk and Skull are free and adorable and determined to find out who the Power Rangers are.
The Stone Canyon Trio comes in last in the triathlon. The Ranger Trio, sans the Unemployed Trio, apologize for making them lose and Aisha, while groping Rocky's arm, says it's okay... FINISHING is what's important. Heeee. Meanwhile Adam just stands around being adorable.
List time:
3.5 fish, mostly for thematically inappropriate (yet still awesome!) monster.
Billy speak: none
Covered in food: none, but Bulk and Skull fell in the lake
Saturday, February 6, 2010
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 toTorchwood 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 aman 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
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
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
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
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Episode 70 - Welcome to Venus Island
Hi! We live! I am back from vacation, and now we have a lot of recaps to catch up on! We're behind on the schedule, which is totally my fault. But! We will catch up, so expect quite a few recaps this week. And probably a post on the reairing of season 1, once we actually catch more than 15 minutes of it.
So. This episode. "Fish do fishy things that require a lot of fish to accomplish their fishy fish."
The episode opens on the beach, where Trini, Kimberly and Tommy are building a sandcastle with an inappropriate young friend named Halle or Haley. I hope that this girl secretly grows up to be a genius and make fun of Tommy on Dino Thunder. Haley tells them that there's a princess in the castle sleeping and waiting for a prince to rescue her. Kimberly says that's romantic. Oh, Kimberly, really? Sleeping Beauty is not an active character. Please don't be telling little girls that they should just wait around waiting for a prince to come and kiss them and rescue them. Let them rescue themselves! And be active!
Then Trini sees Richie, and adorkable music plays, and she has such a crush. Awwww. (I don't understand why they felt the need to give her a different love interest when they had Billy, but whatever.)
Meanwhile, Bulk and Skull have a cunning plan to figure out the Power Rangers identities - they dress up as Z putties (actually, their costumes are pretty good) and they figure that the only people who would stop them would be the Power Rangers. So they go stomp on some kid's sand castle, and then the kid beats them up. Good times! Of course, then Lord Zedd is all annoyed that Bulk and Skull are demeaning his putties, so he sends Goldar down to kidnap Haley for some unknown reason.
At some point, the Rangers notice that Haley has disappeared. They run over, just in time to see Goldar teleport away with her. Goldar has dropped a bottle that has some message from Zedd in a weird language. Also, Kimberly's shorts are unbuttoned. What exactly was she doing with Tommy and Trini?
Back on the moon, Zedd is pissed at Goldar for losing the message in the bottle. Goldar claims he lost it in the fight. What fight? When was there a fight? He just teleported out! Did he lose to a little girl? Because that would be awesome! Zedd changes his mind and decides this is for the best, because now the Rangers will just go do something and then hand over Tommy. Oh, Zedd, your obsession with Tommy is pretty amazing.
Anyway, the Rangers teleport to the Command Center, and Billy uses some nifty scanning technology to figure out that the message was actually Goldar's instructions to take Haley to Venus Island.
So. Here's where the fish come in. Why was Zedd so mad that Goldar lost the instructions? Goldar already did what he was supposed to do! Why didn't he just tell Goldar what to do? And if Zedd's grand plan was to make the Rangers go to Venus Island, then why didn't they just make that the random note? Also, why are they trying to turn a tiny child evil anyway? (Oh, yes, the plan - Zedd is going to turn Haley evil. Or Tommy will surrender himself and be evil instead. At least I think that was what they were trying to do - we kept yelling about fish.)
Anyway, Zordon explains about Venus Island. Apparently it's an island that Zedd can summon, that only exists when Zedd wants it to. Zordon doesn't know where it is. But they can follow the trade winds at sunset and that will lead them there. Everyone is all confused and wondering how to follow the the wind. Billy goes to his lab to invent something, and comes up with a weather balloon. Meanwhile, Zordon keeps saying that the island is getting more and more unstable. He can tell that, but he can't figure out where the island is. Sure.
Jason, Trini and Billy go to launch the weather balloon at sunset. Apparently the clip Billy made for his sensor is too heavy, so Jason steals Trini's scrunchie, and uses that to attach it instead. Cue the drama! They teleport to the Command Center, and Zordon says that the weather balloon is now over the Atlantic. The Atlantic? Seriously? Angel Grove is supposed to be in California, right? How did it get to the Atlantic?! And then they check a map, and look, there's an island! Why is an island that can only be summoned by Zedd on their map? And how come it isn't marked? I don't know.
Also, I still have no idea what Zedd's plan was. If he wanted Haley as bait, shouldn't he have made it easier for the Rangers to find her? And if he wanted to turn her evil then.... no, why would he want to turn her evil?
Tommy says he's going to go along on this mission, and everyone points out that he's too weak. He promises to teleport back if Zedd attacks. Which brings up the question of why he would go along if he's not going to help fight.
On the island (which looks remarkable like the Island of Illusion, Trini comments that the flowers look weird. Maybe that's because they're made of paper. Just a suggestion. Zedd sends down the Invenusable Fly Trap (best name ever) to attack them. Tommy morphs anyway. Because he is a lying liar who lies. The Invenusable Fly Trap traps everyone in its stomach but Tommy and Trini, and they teleport out so that Zordon can tell them what to do.
Tommy has a giant emo fit about how he will go surrender himself to rescue Haley, and that he'll try and resist Zedd (because that worked so well last time) and to tell everyone he's sorry. Blah blah blah. Just as he's about to go, Alpha pipes up with a solution - the monster should be vulnerable to heat. Sounfortunately Tommy doesn't need to go surrender himself. Instead, he and Trini teleport down and start talking about heat.
This apparently lets the other Rangers (who are just sitting in the monster's stomach) figure out that they need to create heat, so they use the power of fish to charge their power coins and then they punch the monster and then they're free. Then they all summon the power weapons and blow up the monster.
Back on the moon, Zedd tells Goldar that he couldn't outsmart a fish sandwich. Because the fish are clearly ruling this episode. Then Zedd starts to sink the island. But before it sinks into the ocean (which Billy can tell because there is an earthquake) they find Haley in a cave. Tommy is going to go surrender himself, but Trini stops him. Instead she goes and shoots the barrier thing which evaporates. Haley wakes up, and Tommy picks her up. She calls him a prince. Whatever.
At the Youth Center, Bulk and Skull are interrogating Haley about the Power Rangers. Somehow she seems to have seen Tommy and Jason without their helmets on! Except we don't know when this happened! They've hired a sketch artist to draw the people she's describing, but he ends up drawing some nobility instead. Everyone laughs. The Rangers all look relieved.
Lists:
Fish - five. Fishiest episode ever.
Billy speak - We're sure that there was some, but we were too busy yelling fish.
So. This episode. "Fish do fishy things that require a lot of fish to accomplish their fishy fish."
The episode opens on the beach, where Trini, Kimberly and Tommy are building a sandcastle with an inappropriate young friend named Halle or Haley. I hope that this girl secretly grows up to be a genius and make fun of Tommy on Dino Thunder. Haley tells them that there's a princess in the castle sleeping and waiting for a prince to rescue her. Kimberly says that's romantic. Oh, Kimberly, really? Sleeping Beauty is not an active character. Please don't be telling little girls that they should just wait around waiting for a prince to come and kiss them and rescue them. Let them rescue themselves! And be active!
Then Trini sees Richie, and adorkable music plays, and she has such a crush. Awwww. (I don't understand why they felt the need to give her a different love interest when they had Billy, but whatever.)
Meanwhile, Bulk and Skull have a cunning plan to figure out the Power Rangers identities - they dress up as Z putties (actually, their costumes are pretty good) and they figure that the only people who would stop them would be the Power Rangers. So they go stomp on some kid's sand castle, and then the kid beats them up. Good times! Of course, then Lord Zedd is all annoyed that Bulk and Skull are demeaning his putties, so he sends Goldar down to kidnap Haley for some unknown reason.
At some point, the Rangers notice that Haley has disappeared. They run over, just in time to see Goldar teleport away with her. Goldar has dropped a bottle that has some message from Zedd in a weird language. Also, Kimberly's shorts are unbuttoned. What exactly was she doing with Tommy and Trini?
Back on the moon, Zedd is pissed at Goldar for losing the message in the bottle. Goldar claims he lost it in the fight. What fight? When was there a fight? He just teleported out! Did he lose to a little girl? Because that would be awesome! Zedd changes his mind and decides this is for the best, because now the Rangers will just go do something and then hand over Tommy. Oh, Zedd, your obsession with Tommy is pretty amazing.
Anyway, the Rangers teleport to the Command Center, and Billy uses some nifty scanning technology to figure out that the message was actually Goldar's instructions to take Haley to Venus Island.
So. Here's where the fish come in. Why was Zedd so mad that Goldar lost the instructions? Goldar already did what he was supposed to do! Why didn't he just tell Goldar what to do? And if Zedd's grand plan was to make the Rangers go to Venus Island, then why didn't they just make that the random note? Also, why are they trying to turn a tiny child evil anyway? (Oh, yes, the plan - Zedd is going to turn Haley evil. Or Tommy will surrender himself and be evil instead. At least I think that was what they were trying to do - we kept yelling about fish.)
Anyway, Zordon explains about Venus Island. Apparently it's an island that Zedd can summon, that only exists when Zedd wants it to. Zordon doesn't know where it is. But they can follow the trade winds at sunset and that will lead them there. Everyone is all confused and wondering how to follow the the wind. Billy goes to his lab to invent something, and comes up with a weather balloon. Meanwhile, Zordon keeps saying that the island is getting more and more unstable. He can tell that, but he can't figure out where the island is. Sure.
Jason, Trini and Billy go to launch the weather balloon at sunset. Apparently the clip Billy made for his sensor is too heavy, so Jason steals Trini's scrunchie, and uses that to attach it instead. Cue the drama! They teleport to the Command Center, and Zordon says that the weather balloon is now over the Atlantic. The Atlantic? Seriously? Angel Grove is supposed to be in California, right? How did it get to the Atlantic?! And then they check a map, and look, there's an island! Why is an island that can only be summoned by Zedd on their map? And how come it isn't marked? I don't know.
Also, I still have no idea what Zedd's plan was. If he wanted Haley as bait, shouldn't he have made it easier for the Rangers to find her? And if he wanted to turn her evil then.... no, why would he want to turn her evil?
Tommy says he's going to go along on this mission, and everyone points out that he's too weak. He promises to teleport back if Zedd attacks. Which brings up the question of why he would go along if he's not going to help fight.
On the island (which looks remarkable like the Island of Illusion, Trini comments that the flowers look weird. Maybe that's because they're made of paper. Just a suggestion. Zedd sends down the Invenusable Fly Trap (best name ever) to attack them. Tommy morphs anyway. Because he is a lying liar who lies. The Invenusable Fly Trap traps everyone in its stomach but Tommy and Trini, and they teleport out so that Zordon can tell them what to do.
Tommy has a giant emo fit about how he will go surrender himself to rescue Haley, and that he'll try and resist Zedd (because that worked so well last time) and to tell everyone he's sorry. Blah blah blah. Just as he's about to go, Alpha pipes up with a solution - the monster should be vulnerable to heat. So
This apparently lets the other Rangers (who are just sitting in the monster's stomach) figure out that they need to create heat, so they use the power of fish to charge their power coins and then they punch the monster and then they're free. Then they all summon the power weapons and blow up the monster.
Back on the moon, Zedd tells Goldar that he couldn't outsmart a fish sandwich. Because the fish are clearly ruling this episode. Then Zedd starts to sink the island. But before it sinks into the ocean (which Billy can tell because there is an earthquake) they find Haley in a cave. Tommy is going to go surrender himself, but Trini stops him. Instead she goes and shoots the barrier thing which evaporates. Haley wakes up, and Tommy picks her up. She calls him a prince. Whatever.
At the Youth Center, Bulk and Skull are interrogating Haley about the Power Rangers. Somehow she seems to have seen Tommy and Jason without their helmets on! Except we don't know when this happened! They've hired a sketch artist to draw the people she's describing, but he ends up drawing some nobility instead. Everyone laughs. The Rangers all look relieved.
Lists:
Fish - five. Fishiest episode ever.
Billy speak - We're sure that there was some, but we were too busy yelling fish.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Episode 63- The Mutiny Part 3
Previously on Power Rangers we discover both piranhas in Angel Grove and Zordon plans to profit.
We get the new opening! Trini looks beautiful. Kim looks adorable. Zack has awesome hair. Billy and Jason are just stunningly GORGEOUS. And Tommy's hair makes me laugh like a cruel, heartless evildoer (TSB disagrees and thinks he looks good... to each their own).
So the Zords stopped attacking for no reason. Then they get turned on the rally. So apparently the monster got smart for once and went after civilians.
The Rangers are still waiting on the signal blocker. Billy and Trini might be able to finish if Zordon would stop interrupting them every five seconds to see if they're done. Of course, it's also my theory that they took some time to relieve some of the intense stress by having a serious make-out session (or, y'know, happy fun naked time). Either way, it's taking awhile and Zordon is impatient. Tommy has to stay behind because his powers are failing him again. He tries to be Emo Ranger but fails miserably. Give it up, Tommy. That role is reserved for Adam.
We see Angel Grove through Lord Zedd vision and are DELIGHTED because it is AWESOME. Somehow the monster magics Bulk and Skull's four wheelers so they go crazy, and then the Tyrannosaurus Zord goes all crazy on the drivers at the rally. Evil controls it way better than Jason does because we had no idea the Tyrannosaurus Zord could do so much damage.
Meanwhile, Zedd makes sure his brilliance astounds everybody. Yes, Lord Zedd, it certainly does. Us included. *fangirl-like sigh of dreaminess*
Back at Billy's lab of Evil Simmering Liquids of Evilness (he's an evil genius, I'm telling you), he and Trini finally finishmaking out the signal blocker. Billy, who had been wearing his glasses during the building of this device, removes them (sad!) and they teleport to the scene of battle. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. Did you check the batteries there, Billy? You seem to have a problem with that.
While Billy tries to figure it out, they blast the piranha monster with the awesome power blaster. It takes him out of the game for a few minutes, but the zords are still going after the rally. Meanwhile, Billy discovers he put the battery in upside down. Again. So he fixes it and they disrupt the signal and all is good, except then Zedd is awesome and glowing red and sends the zords into the pit of a volcano. Or rather, down a crack in the ground into molten lava. I have to wonder though, why is Kim's zord having problems? The darn thing flies OUT OF A VOLCANO! It shouldn't be bothered by being thrown into a pit of lava. Ought to feel like home, really.
So Zordon has Alpha work some impossible magic on the morphing grid and takes the old zords from the molten lava so they can be turned into the new zords. Nod and smile, people. It was a big steaming pile of fish for us too.
Is it can be new zords time nao? Why yes, yes it can! The monster grows, we get the new zords, they form an awesome megazord, and then they destroy the fish monster. Woohoo! Zedd gets mad, goes red again, blames everybody around him, and Finster is all pouty and sulking because Zedd wouldn't use one of his monsters instead.
At the Command Center, Jason is pretty and reassures Tommy that they'll always be friends. They somehow see into Rita's dumpster where she's lonely and singing 99 bottles of slime on the wall. Then everybody laughs at Bulk and Skull who are still trapped on out of control four wheelers. *sigh* There goes that bit of character development. Right out the window.
Back at the rally, Billy and Trini covertly use the signal blocking device to stop Bulk and Skull's four wheelers from going crazy. As they run away, Billy cops a feel. They send Tommy and Kim in to make sure Bulk and Skull are okay, which they are, and Tommy acts all impressed that Bulk and Skull met the Power Rangers. They make Bulk and Skull share a four wheeler while Tommy and Kim take the other one, whereupon Kim insists on driving. Good for her. Tommy would probably forget he's driving and try to kick a rock instead of avoid it, crashing the four wheeler by mistake.
They catch up quickly, but at least they didn't come in first in the race.
List time!
3.5 fish. A little ridiculous, but not too bad overall I suppose.
Billy speak: None. Again.
Covered in food: nobody
We get the new opening! Trini looks beautiful. Kim looks adorable. Zack has awesome hair. Billy and Jason are just stunningly GORGEOUS. And Tommy's hair makes me laugh like a cruel, heartless evildoer (TSB disagrees and thinks he looks good... to each their own).
So the Zords stopped attacking for no reason. Then they get turned on the rally. So apparently the monster got smart for once and went after civilians.
The Rangers are still waiting on the signal blocker. Billy and Trini might be able to finish if Zordon would stop interrupting them every five seconds to see if they're done. Of course, it's also my theory that they took some time to relieve some of the intense stress by having a serious make-out session (or, y'know, happy fun naked time). Either way, it's taking awhile and Zordon is impatient. Tommy has to stay behind because his powers are failing him again. He tries to be Emo Ranger but fails miserably. Give it up, Tommy. That role is reserved for Adam.
We see Angel Grove through Lord Zedd vision and are DELIGHTED because it is AWESOME. Somehow the monster magics Bulk and Skull's four wheelers so they go crazy, and then the Tyrannosaurus Zord goes all crazy on the drivers at the rally. Evil controls it way better than Jason does because we had no idea the Tyrannosaurus Zord could do so much damage.
Meanwhile, Zedd makes sure his brilliance astounds everybody. Yes, Lord Zedd, it certainly does. Us included. *fangirl-like sigh of dreaminess*
Back at Billy's lab of Evil Simmering Liquids of Evilness (he's an evil genius, I'm telling you), he and Trini finally finish
While Billy tries to figure it out, they blast the piranha monster with the awesome power blaster. It takes him out of the game for a few minutes, but the zords are still going after the rally. Meanwhile, Billy discovers he put the battery in upside down. Again. So he fixes it and they disrupt the signal and all is good, except then Zedd is awesome and glowing red and sends the zords into the pit of a volcano. Or rather, down a crack in the ground into molten lava. I have to wonder though, why is Kim's zord having problems? The darn thing flies OUT OF A VOLCANO! It shouldn't be bothered by being thrown into a pit of lava. Ought to feel like home, really.
So Zordon has Alpha work some impossible magic on the morphing grid and takes the old zords from the molten lava so they can be turned into the new zords. Nod and smile, people. It was a big steaming pile of fish for us too.
Is it can be new zords time nao? Why yes, yes it can! The monster grows, we get the new zords, they form an awesome megazord, and then they destroy the fish monster. Woohoo! Zedd gets mad, goes red again, blames everybody around him, and Finster is all pouty and sulking because Zedd wouldn't use one of his monsters instead.
At the Command Center, Jason is pretty and reassures Tommy that they'll always be friends. They somehow see into Rita's dumpster where she's lonely and singing 99 bottles of slime on the wall. Then everybody laughs at Bulk and Skull who are still trapped on out of control four wheelers. *sigh* There goes that bit of character development. Right out the window.
Back at the rally, Billy and Trini covertly use the signal blocking device to stop Bulk and Skull's four wheelers from going crazy. As they run away, Billy cops a feel. They send Tommy and Kim in to make sure Bulk and Skull are okay, which they are, and Tommy acts all impressed that Bulk and Skull met the Power Rangers. They make Bulk and Skull share a four wheeler while Tommy and Kim take the other one, whereupon Kim insists on driving. Good for her. Tommy would probably forget he's driving and try to kick a rock instead of avoid it, crashing the four wheeler by mistake.
They catch up quickly, but at least they didn't come in first in the race.
List time!
3.5 fish. A little ridiculous, but not too bad overall I suppose.
Billy speak: None. Again.
Covered in food: nobody
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Episode 53- Fins and Needles
So the episode list has episode 53 listed as Fowl Play. Even the little title screen has it as Fowl Play. I was so so so excited to recap a Zack episode today! But no, we start it up and get Fins and Needles instead. Yet another Jason and Tommy Need to Learn to Work Together episode. Which makes number what, four, for that theme? If they haven't learnt the lesson by now, I don't think they're going to. So anyway.
Uh, today on Power Rangers, Jason and Tommy are dense, Zordon kind of fails, the rangers are creepy with small children, and Jason really needs some fiber for regularity.
We start out the episode with Tommy and Jason getting along just fine while teaching a free martial arts class for small people at the Youth Center. This is where we start going "Wait... what? Where's Zack?" And we decide we really like appreciating Jason's arms in this episode, but I would really like to appreciate Jason's arms in a Zack-centric episode. Not that I'm bitter or anything. Anyway, moving on.
Rita creates the Slippery Shark monster and has some putties go down to put Jason and Tommy under a spell. Again. They end up in a park fighting the putties when Tommy gets knocked down. Jason protects him by standing over him and catching some evil boomerang with the palms of his hands. Mmkay. Basically this means they're now under a spell. Again.
The putties leave and they start fighting. Again. Haven't we done this plot before? *le sigh*
At school the following day, Tommy is leaning against Jason's locker while talking to Kim and Trini. Jason says excuse me, prompting Tommy to move, but then they just stand there and insult each other like an old married couple. We chuckle because Tommy is just flinging crap, but Jason's insults are actually true. Kim and Trini have no clue what's going on, but soon the insults escalate into physical violence. Bulk and Skull actually sort of attempt to break it up when Mrs. Applebee walks up, asks what's going on, and then accuses them of lying when they tell her exactly what's going on. Kim jumps in and tells her Jason and Tommy were just practicing moves for their class and way to just flat out LIE to the teacher, Kim. The boys get off the hook because, well, one teacher and they're the favourites.
At the Youth Center again, Bulk and Skull are selling tickets to the Jason and Tommy fight. They're making a killing and some guy buys 20 tickets randomly. It's not a raffle, dude, it's just admission. I have to comment here that Jason doesn't look so much angry as constipated. Upon commencement of the fight, Zack steps in to try and break it up. He just wants them to get along! Sweet sweet Zack, we love you so. I wish this were your episode.
Zordon, after spending probably about 24 hours without noticing the spell, contacts the rangers. Zack manages to break up the fight long enough to get Jason and Tommy to go into the hallway and teleport to the Command Center. The very large crowd of teenagers don't notice, don't follow, but instead chase Bulk and Skull for a refund. It's either major secret identity FAIL or major teenagers are dumb... with Angel Grove, either or both is plausible.
At the Command Center, Zordon tells them about the Slippery Shark and how they need to go fight it. And oh yeah, Jason and Tommy are under a spell that makes them fight, by the way, did you notice? *eyeroll* Apparently the only way to break the spell is to get them to set aside their animosity and work together. Y'know, just like every other time this plot has been used with Jason and Tommy.
So the two of them go off to fight the shark together, leaving the others behind in the Youth Center to twiddle their thumbs, possibly find a very uncomfortable place (like the back of a Volkswagen), and observe the viewing globe.
Jason and Tommy can't seem to work together and separate to fight the shark. Tommy wants to attack him while he's under ground, Jason wants to go after him while he's in the air. They decide to go their own way and if Tommy wins he gets to be leader of the Power Rangers and if Jason wins he gets Tommy's power coin. We cheer for Jason. Loudly. Neither of them succeed, though, and after a few minutes of me going "Oh hai thar sentai footage!" (because neither Jason David Frank nor Austin St. John are that skinny and lanky), they finally decide to combine their plans.
Somehow this means throwing a net over the shark while he's popping out the ground? It really had nothing to do with their individual plans, but okay. They worked together and the spell is broken, just like that. So instead of calling for the others, they continue to fight the shark just the two of them. The others must still be busy... observing the viewing globe... possibly from the back of the Volkswagen.
Eventually they can't fight it anymore and call the others. I get excited because Zack gets to do the morphin call! We get some awesome Power Weapons shots, but then the monster grows and they have to call the Zords. The shark just kind of runs between the MegaZord and the DragonZord and they don't seem to try to fight it at all. Then they decide to go with teamwork. The MegaZord holds the shark's fin while the DragonZord whaps it a few times with it's tail. They're making headway! And we haven't even heard mention of the Power Sword yet! So I get all ahead of myself and we have this conversation:
QR: teamwork... by holding the fin so the DragonZord can whack at him for awhile?
okay...
at least it's not another "Power Sword saves them all" fight
or is it?
TSB: you were saying?
QR: oh, it is
nevermind
damn
In other words, they hit it with the Power Sword and it goes kaboom.
Back at the Youth Center, Jason and Tommy are teaching the small children in the free karate class again. Billy, Trini, Kim, and Zack are standing on the sidelines watching and talking VERY LOUDLY about Rita putting Jason and Tommy under a spell. Y'know, talking about being rangers, while standing right next to a group of kids? That's not how secret identities work, guys, I'm just saying. Bulk and Skull come in and demand the fight they feel they are owed. Jason and Tommy provoke them and then step out of the way when Bulk and Skull try to punch them. Bulk and Skull keel over and Jason and Tommy tell the kids of the class that there are always ways other than fighting. The other four are touching the inappropriately young friends inappropriately and I'm bothered.
I still wish this had been the Zack episode.
List time-
2 fish, mostly because I'm already tired of this plot, cohesive though it is.
Billy speak: "It's truly inspiring to see them volunteer their time to teach free classes."
"This confrontation could have disastrous results!"
Covered in food: nobody!
Uh, today on Power Rangers, Jason and Tommy are dense, Zordon kind of fails, the rangers are creepy with small children, and Jason really needs some fiber for regularity.
We start out the episode with Tommy and Jason getting along just fine while teaching a free martial arts class for small people at the Youth Center. This is where we start going "Wait... what? Where's Zack?" And we decide we really like appreciating Jason's arms in this episode, but I would really like to appreciate Jason's arms in a Zack-centric episode. Not that I'm bitter or anything. Anyway, moving on.
Rita creates the Slippery Shark monster and has some putties go down to put Jason and Tommy under a spell. Again. They end up in a park fighting the putties when Tommy gets knocked down. Jason protects him by standing over him and catching some evil boomerang with the palms of his hands. Mmkay. Basically this means they're now under a spell. Again.
The putties leave and they start fighting. Again. Haven't we done this plot before? *le sigh*
At school the following day, Tommy is leaning against Jason's locker while talking to Kim and Trini. Jason says excuse me, prompting Tommy to move, but then they just stand there and insult each other like an old married couple. We chuckle because Tommy is just flinging crap, but Jason's insults are actually true. Kim and Trini have no clue what's going on, but soon the insults escalate into physical violence. Bulk and Skull actually sort of attempt to break it up when Mrs. Applebee walks up, asks what's going on, and then accuses them of lying when they tell her exactly what's going on. Kim jumps in and tells her Jason and Tommy were just practicing moves for their class and way to just flat out LIE to the teacher, Kim. The boys get off the hook because, well, one teacher and they're the favourites.
At the Youth Center again, Bulk and Skull are selling tickets to the Jason and Tommy fight. They're making a killing and some guy buys 20 tickets randomly. It's not a raffle, dude, it's just admission. I have to comment here that Jason doesn't look so much angry as constipated. Upon commencement of the fight, Zack steps in to try and break it up. He just wants them to get along! Sweet sweet Zack, we love you so. I wish this were your episode.
Zordon, after spending probably about 24 hours without noticing the spell, contacts the rangers. Zack manages to break up the fight long enough to get Jason and Tommy to go into the hallway and teleport to the Command Center. The very large crowd of teenagers don't notice, don't follow, but instead chase Bulk and Skull for a refund. It's either major secret identity FAIL or major teenagers are dumb... with Angel Grove, either or both is plausible.
At the Command Center, Zordon tells them about the Slippery Shark and how they need to go fight it. And oh yeah, Jason and Tommy are under a spell that makes them fight, by the way, did you notice? *eyeroll* Apparently the only way to break the spell is to get them to set aside their animosity and work together. Y'know, just like every other time this plot has been used with Jason and Tommy.
So the two of them go off to fight the shark together, leaving the others behind in the Youth Center to twiddle their thumbs, possibly find a very uncomfortable place (like the back of a Volkswagen), and observe the viewing globe.
Jason and Tommy can't seem to work together and separate to fight the shark. Tommy wants to attack him while he's under ground, Jason wants to go after him while he's in the air. They decide to go their own way and if Tommy wins he gets to be leader of the Power Rangers and if Jason wins he gets Tommy's power coin. We cheer for Jason. Loudly. Neither of them succeed, though, and after a few minutes of me going "Oh hai thar sentai footage!" (because neither Jason David Frank nor Austin St. John are that skinny and lanky), they finally decide to combine their plans.
Somehow this means throwing a net over the shark while he's popping out the ground? It really had nothing to do with their individual plans, but okay. They worked together and the spell is broken, just like that. So instead of calling for the others, they continue to fight the shark just the two of them. The others must still be busy... observing the viewing globe... possibly from the back of the Volkswagen.
Eventually they can't fight it anymore and call the others. I get excited because Zack gets to do the morphin call! We get some awesome Power Weapons shots, but then the monster grows and they have to call the Zords. The shark just kind of runs between the MegaZord and the DragonZord and they don't seem to try to fight it at all. Then they decide to go with teamwork. The MegaZord holds the shark's fin while the DragonZord whaps it a few times with it's tail. They're making headway! And we haven't even heard mention of the Power Sword yet! So I get all ahead of myself and we have this conversation:
QR: teamwork... by holding the fin so the DragonZord can whack at him for awhile?
okay...
at least it's not another "Power Sword saves them all" fight
or is it?
TSB: you were saying?
QR: oh, it is
nevermind
damn
In other words, they hit it with the Power Sword and it goes kaboom.
Back at the Youth Center, Jason and Tommy are teaching the small children in the free karate class again. Billy, Trini, Kim, and Zack are standing on the sidelines watching and talking VERY LOUDLY about Rita putting Jason and Tommy under a spell. Y'know, talking about being rangers, while standing right next to a group of kids? That's not how secret identities work, guys, I'm just saying. Bulk and Skull come in and demand the fight they feel they are owed. Jason and Tommy provoke them and then step out of the way when Bulk and Skull try to punch them. Bulk and Skull keel over and Jason and Tommy tell the kids of the class that there are always ways other than fighting. The other four are touching the inappropriately young friends inappropriately and I'm bothered.
I still wish this had been the Zack episode.
List time-
2 fish, mostly because I'm already tired of this plot, cohesive though it is.
Billy speak: "It's truly inspiring to see them volunteer their time to teach free classes."
"This confrontation could have disastrous results!"
Covered in food: nobody!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Episode 43- Lions & Blizzards
Okay, I went into this episode incredibly angry from having watched the character assassination and intensely disturbing plot point from RPM not even an hour before this... and that has somewhat affected my recap. Apologies in advance.
We start this episode at the Oddball Games. We're not sure why they're called that, but okay. All five rangers are on the red team and we seriously couldn't tell Jason was wearing a jersey... it matched his shirt, shorts, shoes, and SHOELACES. Even his shoelaces are bright red.
On the blue team are Bulk, Skull, Angela, and other people we don't know. They end up in a tug of war to break the points tie and, of course, the rangers win and Bulk, Skull, Angela, and Principal Caplan (who was playing referee I guess) end up covered in mud. Zack, after previously trying to convince her to go to his "winning" team, offers to help Angela up and I was rooting for her to pull him into the mud with her, but she didn't.
So the rangers win the Noble Lion Trophy. They go to collect it only to discover that it's been taken. They immediately suspect Bulk and Skull. We get a little irritated but it turns out it was Bulk and Skull. They have it in the park. Rita turns it into a half lion, half goat monster, and it attacks Bulk and Skull, knocking them into the pond. The monster is named Goatan, but we spent the whole episode thinking it sounded just like a Dragonball Z character. So take that for what it's worth.
The rangers separate to go in search of Bulk and Skull and instead end up being attacked by putties. We have to commend Billy here. He has really improved. He holds his own against four putties on a playground. The putties then just randomly disappear. They decide they need to run off and meet up with Jason and Kim. Instead of using communicators, y'know, those things Billy designed to communicate with the others over long distances, yeah, instead of using those, they take off running. Oh show. Fail a little more, okay?
Later, at the Youth Center, Zack calls Angela a "babe-a-saurus" and I want to hit something (I told you I started this recap ANGRY). Angela then walks up to him wearing what looks like something you'd find a cheap hooker down on the street corner, and asks him on a date. What? Earlier, at the games, she turned him down and now she's asking him out? Make less sense, show, I DARE you.
They go to the movies and then Billy and Trini come into the Youth Center wearing bad weather gear... a mix of snow and rain type jackets and hats. Ernie announces they're under a tornado watch and everybody needs to get to the basement. Meanwhile, Zordon calls the rangers on the communicators and they teleport to the Command Center. From the middle of the Youth Center. And it's not like it had been awhile since people went to the basement either. Secret identities, guys, you're doing it WRONG! Zordon sends them out to fight Goatan, and we discuss DBZ again.
Zack, at the movies with Angela, tries to pull the "it's cold in here, let me wrap my arm around you" bit and we want to pound things because he's being sleazy (and hello, started the episode mad at power rangers already, sorry). Zordon tries to contact him but Zack doesn't hear it.
In battle, the rangers are kind of failing a whole lot. Goatan gets them in some tornado thingy and then Zack finally hears his communicator. Angela asks what it was and Zack says it's his popcorn alarm. Seriously, Zack? Popcorn alarm? What, pager, medication alarm, or needing to pee really not working for you or something? Wow, that was just... stupid.
So Zack joins the fight and apparently Goatan ruining his date is worse than his friends being in trouble. Mmkay. I could thwap him right now, I really could. They fight a little. An aside, here, because this fight is very boring and kind of fishy? But I stopped mid-fight and declared this episode would be ten times better if the lion part of the monster suddenly got very hungry and just nommed down on the goat's head right below him. That is the only thing that could have saved this episode. Alas, it didn't happen.
So they end up needing the Zords, of course, and they can't beat him and he freezes them. The controls are frozen as well, but Zack says the left tread isn't frozen and he can spin them. So he does. Despite the controls being frozen. We determined they must have included a "fish in the system" during building of the Zords, just for instances like this one. They beat Goatan really easily and then go back to the Command Center to talk for awhile. Zack then remembers he was on a date and needs to get back to it lest Angela get mad. Gee, you think?
He comes in at the end of the movie with two big buckets of popcorn and Angela, being the smart girl we knew she was in the first place, dumps her bucket on his head and walks out. Good girl.
Back at the Youth Center, Ernie is hanging a plant with help from Kim. Why, I don't know, he just is. A police officer walks in with Bulk and Skull, covered in mud, and Jason identifies them as swamp monsters. Way to sass the police, Jason! I'm sure that's going to go over well. Bulk flails a bit, knocks into Ernie, and gets covered in water. There was a frog in his shirt. Oh show.
2.5 fish. It really wasn't that bad, just the monster fight was weird and Angela asking Zack on a date totally contradicting previous canon.
Billy speak: "[something unintelligible] most effective against our adversaries."
"This is a decidedly large expanse to cover."
Covered in food: Zack gets covered in popcorn (and lots of people get covered in mud).
We have vowed to never watch this episode again.
We start this episode at the Oddball Games. We're not sure why they're called that, but okay. All five rangers are on the red team and we seriously couldn't tell Jason was wearing a jersey... it matched his shirt, shorts, shoes, and SHOELACES. Even his shoelaces are bright red.
On the blue team are Bulk, Skull, Angela, and other people we don't know. They end up in a tug of war to break the points tie and, of course, the rangers win and Bulk, Skull, Angela, and Principal Caplan (who was playing referee I guess) end up covered in mud. Zack, after previously trying to convince her to go to his "winning" team, offers to help Angela up and I was rooting for her to pull him into the mud with her, but she didn't.
So the rangers win the Noble Lion Trophy. They go to collect it only to discover that it's been taken. They immediately suspect Bulk and Skull. We get a little irritated but it turns out it was Bulk and Skull. They have it in the park. Rita turns it into a half lion, half goat monster, and it attacks Bulk and Skull, knocking them into the pond. The monster is named Goatan, but we spent the whole episode thinking it sounded just like a Dragonball Z character. So take that for what it's worth.
The rangers separate to go in search of Bulk and Skull and instead end up being attacked by putties. We have to commend Billy here. He has really improved. He holds his own against four putties on a playground. The putties then just randomly disappear. They decide they need to run off and meet up with Jason and Kim. Instead of using communicators, y'know, those things Billy designed to communicate with the others over long distances, yeah, instead of using those, they take off running. Oh show. Fail a little more, okay?
Later, at the Youth Center, Zack calls Angela a "babe-a-saurus" and I want to hit something (I told you I started this recap ANGRY). Angela then walks up to him wearing what looks like something you'd find a cheap hooker down on the street corner, and asks him on a date. What? Earlier, at the games, she turned him down and now she's asking him out? Make less sense, show, I DARE you.
They go to the movies and then Billy and Trini come into the Youth Center wearing bad weather gear... a mix of snow and rain type jackets and hats. Ernie announces they're under a tornado watch and everybody needs to get to the basement. Meanwhile, Zordon calls the rangers on the communicators and they teleport to the Command Center. From the middle of the Youth Center. And it's not like it had been awhile since people went to the basement either. Secret identities, guys, you're doing it WRONG! Zordon sends them out to fight Goatan, and we discuss DBZ again.
Zack, at the movies with Angela, tries to pull the "it's cold in here, let me wrap my arm around you" bit and we want to pound things because he's being sleazy (and hello, started the episode mad at power rangers already, sorry). Zordon tries to contact him but Zack doesn't hear it.
In battle, the rangers are kind of failing a whole lot. Goatan gets them in some tornado thingy and then Zack finally hears his communicator. Angela asks what it was and Zack says it's his popcorn alarm. Seriously, Zack? Popcorn alarm? What, pager, medication alarm, or needing to pee really not working for you or something? Wow, that was just... stupid.
So Zack joins the fight and apparently Goatan ruining his date is worse than his friends being in trouble. Mmkay. I could thwap him right now, I really could. They fight a little. An aside, here, because this fight is very boring and kind of fishy? But I stopped mid-fight and declared this episode would be ten times better if the lion part of the monster suddenly got very hungry and just nommed down on the goat's head right below him. That is the only thing that could have saved this episode. Alas, it didn't happen.
So they end up needing the Zords, of course, and they can't beat him and he freezes them. The controls are frozen as well, but Zack says the left tread isn't frozen and he can spin them. So he does. Despite the controls being frozen. We determined they must have included a "fish in the system" during building of the Zords, just for instances like this one. They beat Goatan really easily and then go back to the Command Center to talk for awhile. Zack then remembers he was on a date and needs to get back to it lest Angela get mad. Gee, you think?
He comes in at the end of the movie with two big buckets of popcorn and Angela, being the smart girl we knew she was in the first place, dumps her bucket on his head and walks out. Good girl.
Back at the Youth Center, Ernie is hanging a plant with help from Kim. Why, I don't know, he just is. A police officer walks in with Bulk and Skull, covered in mud, and Jason identifies them as swamp monsters. Way to sass the police, Jason! I'm sure that's going to go over well. Bulk flails a bit, knocks into Ernie, and gets covered in water. There was a frog in his shirt. Oh show.
2.5 fish. It really wasn't that bad, just the monster fight was weird and Angela asking Zack on a date totally contradicting previous canon.
Billy speak: "[something unintelligible] most effective against our adversaries."
"This is a decidedly large expanse to cover."
Covered in food: Zack gets covered in popcorn (and lots of people get covered in mud).
We have vowed to never watch this episode again.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Episode 38 - A Bad Reflection On You
First, l'shana tova to anyone on this community who celebrates. Queenriley and I decided to start the new year by watching an episode of Power Rangers, which we think worked out pretty well. Especially considering what a great episode this was. You guys, we've found our first ONE FISH episode. Not 1.5. Just ONE.
We open with Rita's best plan yet, and honestly, we're amazed it's taken her 38 episodes to think of it, because it is a great plan. Under the command of Scorpina (which is awesome in and of itself) and the new monster whose name we never actually caught, probably because we were too busy being pleased by the plan, a group of Putties are going to be turned into duplicates of the Rangers. We know that this same plot happens almost a dozen times (and we're going to count them!) throughout the show, but it is awesome, and we love evil twin episodes.
And we have to say, they are rocking the evil look. Billy in a wifebeater with his overalls rolled down? YUM. Seriously, David Yost has nice arms. They also have on sunglasses, because all of Rita's spells involve glowing eyes. She needs to work on that.
The Rangers are all brandishing tools of some sort (and there's a minor moment of serious fail when you realize that Zack is the one with the crowbar. At least he doesn't menace anyone with it) which they use to take apart a water fountain and add laundry detergent into it. We're just going to say this once and move on - science doesn't work like that. But there are some amazing moments, and Amy Jo Johnson and David Yost are clearly having fun reviving their Power Punks personas. We also get a repeat of the Skull asking out punk!Kim, and her doppelganger agrees to go out with him. Oh, Skull, we feel so bad for him. Because Kimberly keeps saying yes and then breaking the dates. We almost can't blame him for continuing to ask her out, because she does say yes sometimes. Also, twin!Billy totally shoves one of his geek friends up against a locker, and is it hot in here or is it just me? *fans self*
Anyway, Principal Caplan is the one to use the water fountain, and he ends up covered in foam, and I guess we aren't retiring the covered in [whatever] category any time soon. The fake!Rangers take credit and get thrown in detention, and they leave. The real Rangers get out of class right after, and they try to help the Principal, but are thrown into detention anyway. They're all confused, it is pretty adorable.
And can we just say, that is not how detention works. What they are actually describing is in-school suspension. And even in-school suspension you get supervised the whole time, and you have to do the work that you're missing by not being in class. But Principal Caplan just leaves them there. Angel Grove should really hire a second teacher.
Bulk tells Jason to get out of his seat. Jason asks him if his name is on it, and Bulk says yes. "Buulk." I'm really hoping that this is how his last name is actually spelled, or else seriously, how did nobody ever test Bulk and Skull for some sort of learning disability? Kimberly breaks the date with Skull, and at this point the Rangers should realize that there's some sort of spell going on. Kimberly just ignores it and pulls out a book with a pink cover. Oh, Kim, I really hope you're reading a trashy romance.
Bulk has a detention survival kit, which includes an enormous lunch sent by his mother. We get it, show, you think that the only reason people are fat is because they can't stop eating. Shut up already. We're totally creating a fatphobia tag now. *rage*
On the plus side, at least Bulk appears to have parents who actually care. We could try to do some analysis, but we're afraid it would just be depressing. Meanwhile, poor Skull has no lunch, and we're now convinced that Skull has a lousy home life. He asked Bulk for some of his food, and Bulk gives him the soda.
The soda promptly explodes, and everyone laughs at Skull. I guess this episode is getting the Rangers are Bullies tag. And then Skull aims the soda at Bulk, who also gets covered in soda, and Bulk retaliates by throwing a pie at Skull. Oy. Skull even THANKS him for it.
Meanwhile, stage 2 of Rita's plan is in full swing. Since the Rangers are otherwise occupied in detention, Rita has her evil Rangers morph and start attacking a very Japanese section of Angel Grove. (Hi there, sentai footage!) Fake!Jason even yells out "No mercy!" as they leap into the square. And they start firing on school children. Wow. Pretty great way to ruin the Rangers' reputations quickly.
Back in detention, Bulk has pulled out a tv. He and Skull are watching cartoons before it is interrupted with live footage of the Power Rangers destroying Angel Grove. This is how the Rangers find out. Can we say epic Zordon fail? The Rangers are compared to the same hoodlums that they used to fight. I'm not really sure that monsters count as hoodlums. Bulk and Skull think this is awesome. We really can't wait for season 2 and their endless quest to figure out who the Rangers are.
The Rangers realize they need to get out of detention, and just walking out doesn't work. Apparently they can't just teleport either, but they're going to need to immediately morph. Zack comes up with the idea of a magic trick (which is consistent with his character at least! He'll pull this trick again later) that will make them disappear. Bulk and Skull have to cover their eyes, put their fingers in their ears, and count backwards from 10. The Rangers morph and teleport out.
Okay, look, I said it earlier, but Bulk and Skull really need to be tested for dyscalculia right now. Or something. They should be able to count backwards from ten. Also, with Jason's new enthusiasm at yelling "It's Morphin Time!" they should still have been able to hear them. Teleportation is quiet. Do that first, THEN morph.
Anyway, the Rangers go to the square and fight their doubles. The fake!Pink one actually pulls off a pretty good plan, yelling for Trini to help her. Of course, it turns out to be the real Kim that Trini hits, but Kim fights back, and they hit the fake!Kim and she transforms back into a putty. The same thing happens with the other fake Rangers, except it turns out that fake!Jason is actually a monster. And we get a great fight - this time they use their blade blasters and the power weapons. No Zords at all! We missed this stuff. It's been a while since we've had a non-zord fight!
The people of Angel Grove come to see the Power Rangers and tell them that they saw the whole thing and they knew the Rangers would never betray them. Riiiiiiiiight.
Back in detention, Bulk and Skull are trying to figure out where the Rangers have gone. Giving up, they figure they can rat them out to Caplan. Just as they bring him in, the Rangers teleport back in, and they totally throw Bulk and Skull under a bus. The Rangers are forgiven for 'their' prank, and there's no mention of anyone ever calling their parents. Right.
Lists!
One fish. The only complaint we have about the episode is the ridiculous science. But really, most of the nitpicky stuff we have to say is so consistent with earlier episodes that we can't really complain as much, because that is just how this universe operates. We'll still point it out, of course. And we have to congratulate Rita on an excellent plan.
Covered in food: Caplan gets covered in foam. Skull gets covered in pie and a soda. Bulk gets covered in soda.
Billy speak: "Not even Skull is that mentally deficient"
"What a remarkable display of early neanderthal socio-contact."
Evil Billy speak: Pasta la pizza.
Kimberly speak: "And to think I always liked mirrors"
We open with Rita's best plan yet, and honestly, we're amazed it's taken her 38 episodes to think of it, because it is a great plan. Under the command of Scorpina (which is awesome in and of itself) and the new monster whose name we never actually caught, probably because we were too busy being pleased by the plan, a group of Putties are going to be turned into duplicates of the Rangers. We know that this same plot happens almost a dozen times (and we're going to count them!) throughout the show, but it is awesome, and we love evil twin episodes.
And we have to say, they are rocking the evil look. Billy in a wifebeater with his overalls rolled down? YUM. Seriously, David Yost has nice arms. They also have on sunglasses, because all of Rita's spells involve glowing eyes. She needs to work on that.
The Rangers are all brandishing tools of some sort (and there's a minor moment of serious fail when you realize that Zack is the one with the crowbar. At least he doesn't menace anyone with it) which they use to take apart a water fountain and add laundry detergent into it. We're just going to say this once and move on - science doesn't work like that. But there are some amazing moments, and Amy Jo Johnson and David Yost are clearly having fun reviving their Power Punks personas. We also get a repeat of the Skull asking out punk!Kim, and her doppelganger agrees to go out with him. Oh, Skull, we feel so bad for him. Because Kimberly keeps saying yes and then breaking the dates. We almost can't blame him for continuing to ask her out, because she does say yes sometimes. Also, twin!Billy totally shoves one of his geek friends up against a locker, and is it hot in here or is it just me? *fans self*
Anyway, Principal Caplan is the one to use the water fountain, and he ends up covered in foam, and I guess we aren't retiring the covered in [whatever] category any time soon. The fake!Rangers take credit and get thrown in detention, and they leave. The real Rangers get out of class right after, and they try to help the Principal, but are thrown into detention anyway. They're all confused, it is pretty adorable.
And can we just say, that is not how detention works. What they are actually describing is in-school suspension. And even in-school suspension you get supervised the whole time, and you have to do the work that you're missing by not being in class. But Principal Caplan just leaves them there. Angel Grove should really hire a second teacher.
Bulk tells Jason to get out of his seat. Jason asks him if his name is on it, and Bulk says yes. "Buulk." I'm really hoping that this is how his last name is actually spelled, or else seriously, how did nobody ever test Bulk and Skull for some sort of learning disability? Kimberly breaks the date with Skull, and at this point the Rangers should realize that there's some sort of spell going on. Kimberly just ignores it and pulls out a book with a pink cover. Oh, Kim, I really hope you're reading a trashy romance.
Bulk has a detention survival kit, which includes an enormous lunch sent by his mother. We get it, show, you think that the only reason people are fat is because they can't stop eating. Shut up already. We're totally creating a fatphobia tag now. *rage*
On the plus side, at least Bulk appears to have parents who actually care. We could try to do some analysis, but we're afraid it would just be depressing. Meanwhile, poor Skull has no lunch, and we're now convinced that Skull has a lousy home life. He asked Bulk for some of his food, and Bulk gives him the soda.
The soda promptly explodes, and everyone laughs at Skull. I guess this episode is getting the Rangers are Bullies tag. And then Skull aims the soda at Bulk, who also gets covered in soda, and Bulk retaliates by throwing a pie at Skull. Oy. Skull even THANKS him for it.
Meanwhile, stage 2 of Rita's plan is in full swing. Since the Rangers are otherwise occupied in detention, Rita has her evil Rangers morph and start attacking a very Japanese section of Angel Grove. (Hi there, sentai footage!) Fake!Jason even yells out "No mercy!" as they leap into the square. And they start firing on school children. Wow. Pretty great way to ruin the Rangers' reputations quickly.
Back in detention, Bulk has pulled out a tv. He and Skull are watching cartoons before it is interrupted with live footage of the Power Rangers destroying Angel Grove. This is how the Rangers find out. Can we say epic Zordon fail? The Rangers are compared to the same hoodlums that they used to fight. I'm not really sure that monsters count as hoodlums. Bulk and Skull think this is awesome. We really can't wait for season 2 and their endless quest to figure out who the Rangers are.
The Rangers realize they need to get out of detention, and just walking out doesn't work. Apparently they can't just teleport either, but they're going to need to immediately morph. Zack comes up with the idea of a magic trick (which is consistent with his character at least! He'll pull this trick again later) that will make them disappear. Bulk and Skull have to cover their eyes, put their fingers in their ears, and count backwards from 10. The Rangers morph and teleport out.
Okay, look, I said it earlier, but Bulk and Skull really need to be tested for dyscalculia right now. Or something. They should be able to count backwards from ten. Also, with Jason's new enthusiasm at yelling "It's Morphin Time!" they should still have been able to hear them. Teleportation is quiet. Do that first, THEN morph.
Anyway, the Rangers go to the square and fight their doubles. The fake!Pink one actually pulls off a pretty good plan, yelling for Trini to help her. Of course, it turns out to be the real Kim that Trini hits, but Kim fights back, and they hit the fake!Kim and she transforms back into a putty. The same thing happens with the other fake Rangers, except it turns out that fake!Jason is actually a monster. And we get a great fight - this time they use their blade blasters and the power weapons. No Zords at all! We missed this stuff. It's been a while since we've had a non-zord fight!
The people of Angel Grove come to see the Power Rangers and tell them that they saw the whole thing and they knew the Rangers would never betray them. Riiiiiiiiight.
Back in detention, Bulk and Skull are trying to figure out where the Rangers have gone. Giving up, they figure they can rat them out to Caplan. Just as they bring him in, the Rangers teleport back in, and they totally throw Bulk and Skull under a bus. The Rangers are forgiven for 'their' prank, and there's no mention of anyone ever calling their parents. Right.
Lists!
One fish. The only complaint we have about the episode is the ridiculous science. But really, most of the nitpicky stuff we have to say is so consistent with earlier episodes that we can't really complain as much, because that is just how this universe operates. We'll still point it out, of course. And we have to congratulate Rita on an excellent plan.
Covered in food: Caplan gets covered in foam. Skull gets covered in pie and a soda. Bulk gets covered in soda.
Billy speak: "Not even Skull is that mentally deficient"
"What a remarkable display of early neanderthal socio-contact."
Evil Billy speak: Pasta la pizza.
Kimberly speak: "And to think I always liked mirrors"
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Episode 6 - Food Fight
Okay, confession time. This is one of our favorite episodes, and Pudgy Pig is QueenRiley's favorite monster-of-the-week. TSB owns the novelization of this episode, and well... we are biased. It shows.
This episode is relatively low on fight, high on plot. If by plot we mean food. The only people who escape being covered with food are the Rangers. Everyone else ends up with lots of it all over them. Even the city! We are not sure why Bulk thought throwing food at the principal was a good idea (although we must compliment him on his aim - knocking off the toupee takes effort!) or why everyone would immediately participate in a food fight when they are supposed to be selling the food shortly after, but... well, logic has never been anyone in Angel Grove's strong point.
This is supposed to be a cultural food fair so that Angel Grove High can raise money to buy the pre-school playground equipment. Billy and Trini work at the Asian booth, Kimberly (doing a very bad impression of a cowgirl) and Jason (apparently Uncle Sam) work at the USA booth, and Zack works at a booth that we can't see the full title of, but we *think* is Mexican-American. Billy seems to want to charge everyone $20 for everything, even during the food fight itself. This is adorable, but not going to happen. (The only real thing to happen of note during the food fight is that Jason attempts to use hot dogs as nunchucks.) As usual, the Rangers get blamed for things and told to clean up, but they run off, since it isn't like they ever actually pay for anything anyway.
Of course, the reason the Rangers are running off is because Rita has released one of her best monsters EVER the Pudgy Pig. It is SO CUTE. And its TAIL. And it swallows the Rangers' weapons because the Rangers were clearly distracted by the PURE AWESOME that is this monster. But anyway, they lose their weapons and get demorphed and end up hanging around in the park while the Pudgy Pig goes to the Food Fair and eats... the food that wasn't destroyed during the food fight? When the team heads back to the food fair they realize that the Pudgy Pig doesn't like spicy food, showing them how to defeat it.
After feeding the poor pig a spicy... some sort of radish or albino carrot (google tells us it is a Chinese Daikon Radish), the Pudgy Pig gets a horrible case of indigestion and vomits up their weapons, allowing the Rangers to summon the power blaster with the correct calls this time, at which point they return to the food fair without cleaning anything up. Apparently, they are only $20 short to buy new playground equipment! We aren't really sure how this happened, since the food fair was destroyed twice (once before it had even officially opened) but they managed! Billy sells a very spicy sandwich (supplied by Alpha to fight Pudgy Pig) to the principal for $20, which is absolutely outrageous, by the way, and all is right with the world.
Lists!
Covered with food: The city, the principal, Ernie, Bulk and Skull, all of the extras. This was a very high food episode.
Quotes: Zack on Principal Caplan's likely reaction to the fair being trashed a second time: "He'll flip his wig... again!"
Rating: 2 fish. Pudgy Pig RULES.
This episode is relatively low on fight, high on plot. If by plot we mean food. The only people who escape being covered with food are the Rangers. Everyone else ends up with lots of it all over them. Even the city! We are not sure why Bulk thought throwing food at the principal was a good idea (although we must compliment him on his aim - knocking off the toupee takes effort!) or why everyone would immediately participate in a food fight when they are supposed to be selling the food shortly after, but... well, logic has never been anyone in Angel Grove's strong point.
This is supposed to be a cultural food fair so that Angel Grove High can raise money to buy the pre-school playground equipment. Billy and Trini work at the Asian booth, Kimberly (doing a very bad impression of a cowgirl) and Jason (apparently Uncle Sam) work at the USA booth, and Zack works at a booth that we can't see the full title of, but we *think* is Mexican-American. Billy seems to want to charge everyone $20 for everything, even during the food fight itself. This is adorable, but not going to happen. (The only real thing to happen of note during the food fight is that Jason attempts to use hot dogs as nunchucks.) As usual, the Rangers get blamed for things and told to clean up, but they run off, since it isn't like they ever actually pay for anything anyway.
Of course, the reason the Rangers are running off is because Rita has released one of her best monsters EVER the Pudgy Pig. It is SO CUTE. And its TAIL. And it swallows the Rangers' weapons because the Rangers were clearly distracted by the PURE AWESOME that is this monster. But anyway, they lose their weapons and get demorphed and end up hanging around in the park while the Pudgy Pig goes to the Food Fair and eats... the food that wasn't destroyed during the food fight? When the team heads back to the food fair they realize that the Pudgy Pig doesn't like spicy food, showing them how to defeat it.
After feeding the poor pig a spicy... some sort of radish or albino carrot (google tells us it is a Chinese Daikon Radish), the Pudgy Pig gets a horrible case of indigestion and vomits up their weapons, allowing the Rangers to summon the power blaster with the correct calls this time, at which point they return to the food fair without cleaning anything up. Apparently, they are only $20 short to buy new playground equipment! We aren't really sure how this happened, since the food fair was destroyed twice (once before it had even officially opened) but they managed! Billy sells a very spicy sandwich (supplied by Alpha to fight Pudgy Pig) to the principal for $20, which is absolutely outrageous, by the way, and all is right with the world.
Lists!
Covered with food: The city, the principal, Ernie, Bulk and Skull, all of the extras. This was a very high food episode.
Quotes: Zack on Principal Caplan's likely reaction to the fair being trashed a second time: "He'll flip his wig... again!"
Rating: 2 fish. Pudgy Pig RULES.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Episode 5- Different Drum
First, QueenRiley would like to take a minute to apologize for the delay in posting. This should have been up last night, however QueenRiley has small people. Two of them, in fact. These small people are overall good small people, but last night was not a good night and required more Mommy-intervention than usual. So alas, this post had to wait until morning. Now, that out of the way...
We start this episode with a shot of Kim instructing a step aerobics class. She is surrounded by poorly dressed teenage girls while she has immaculate hair and a snazzy (for the early 90's) leotard workout outfit. It seems a bit unfair, really. Kim seems unaware or doesn't care about a particular unfair advantage as only some of her students actually have a step board in which to participate in the step aerobics class.
Jason is shown arm wrestling Trini. We have to wonder why he's doing so since he's obviously physically stronger than she is, what with having bench pressed over 2000 in one day just last episode. It does showcase Jason's arms, however, so we can't complain too much. Upon closer inspection, however, Jason is losing to Trini. Either he severely injured himself during that 2000 in one day bench press event or he's letting her win. His arm is as big as her head.
It took a second viewing to discover Trini winning, however, as the first go-round I was distracted by Zack's hat. It's oddly fascinating.
Ernie brings in some towels for the girls, how helpful of him, on a rolling cart. We can see Billy in the background attempting to keep up with Kim in her step aerobics class. He appears to be the only boy. Good for you, Billy!
But alas, being Billy, he trips over his step board and falls right into the cart of towels. Since it's a rolling cart, it takes off on a wild careening adventure around the room. Kim doesn't notice until Billy almost crashes into her. The other Rangers look away though we're not sure why. Moaning, Billy drags himself to the steps, while Kimberly insults him by telling him that's not the way to get girls. Gee, Kim, thanks for helping your injured friend. Just kick him while he's down. With friends like that, who needs enemies?
Billy is obviously injured since he can't stand up until Trini comes over to help him to his feet and minister her loving affection by... fixing his hair. Well, it's about as close as we'll get to a real relationship, so I'll just sigh contentedly and bask in the glow of my OTP. Yes, I'm highly Billy/Trini biased and no, I don't plan on attempting to keep that out of my reviews.
Meanwhile, in Kim's aerobics class, one girl twirls the wrong direction and bumps into another girl. There appears to be the start of a cat fight before the misdirected girl runs off without saying a word. Kim gives her students a break and goes to see what's wrong. It is here we find out the girl who mis-stepped is deaf. We give Kim major props for knowing sign, but then she makes her deaf (and thus far nameless) friend feel better by insulting Billy's lack of ability to dance. That's great, Kim. Point and laugh at your friend. Good job.
Finster has an awesome monster idea in a fire breathing hedgehog, but Rita refuses to listen to him and demands a pied-piper like musical monster. She should have listened to Finster. A fire breathing hedgehog would have been awesome!
Instead we see Bulk and Skull insulting Kim's students. What was once a step aerobics class has apparently turned into a dance class... using step aerobics moves. Mmkay.
We are five minutes into a dance episode before we see Zack dance at all. That should be illegal. Zack godes Bulk into copying his dance moves and Bulk does pretty well for awhile.
I feel the need to interrupt this stereotyping-overweight-bully taunting to comment on Jason's shirt. It's incredibly low cut. Like, down to his belly button. He might as well not be wearing a shirt at all. Frankly, we wouldn't complain.
And now back to our regularly scheduling cruel taunting of the "bullies". When Bulk manages to do most of the dance moves Zack challenges him with, Zack does a handstand. On a counter. As if that's somehow a dance move. Bulk, of course, can't do a handstand on a counter and falls over, hurting himself in the process and somehow getting covered in... some sort of food stuff. Everybody laughs. That's just a horrible way to treat people and I'm surprised the Rangers are modeling such bad behaviour. They further taunt him as the five Rangers leave the Juice Bar to go see a movie.
We cut to Rita demanding Finster show her his monster. He's created the Gnarly Gnome which isn't very gnarly and looks very little like a gnome. He more resembles a viking troll with an accordion than anything else. He manages to use his "music" to entrance a group of teenager girls on their way to the mall. The plan seems to be to use them as a trap for the Power Rangers. Luckily, the still-nameless deaf girl was with them. She follows the Gnarly Gnome to a cave where she is locked out by a rope net.
We have a particular fondness for this cave. This is the first episode we see people being trapped in it, but it's certainly not the last. This is the cave used just about every time and we can't help but feel a twinge of nostalgia when it's on screen.
Nameless Deaf Girl runs straight to the Juice Bar and finds Jason. Why he's not at the movie, I'm not sure. Clearly, Nameless Deaf Girl knows Jason is a Power Ranger because she bypasses lots of other people and goes STRAIGHT to Jason. She gets his attention and begins to sign for help but he doesn't understand. Ernie, standing right next to Jason, doesn't understand either. She's still signing directly at Jason, frantic for his help. Oh yeah, she knows he's a Ranger. She finally resorts to pen and paper and Jason gets with the program. She needs help!
The Gnarly Gnome makes the girls dance, saying they'll dance for Rita tomorrow. He's playing an accordion but nothing coming out of it sounds like accordion music. Mmkay. There is an awesome scene dancing with putties though, and we feel that ought to be the title of a Ranger autobiography. Dancing With Putties. I know I'd read it!
Meanwhile, Jason and Nameless Deaf Girl have gathered the rest of the Rangers and they hastily make way to the cave of captivity. Kim tells Nameless Deaf Girl to go hide behind the bushes and wait for them. They then morph and go call out the Gnarly Gnome. The girl may be deaf, but she's certainly not blind! They don't even wait for her to get behind a bush before they morph. If she didn't know they were Rangers before (and all signs point to her knowing), surely she knows now!
For reasons unknown, the Rangers give alternate names to their Power Weapons from what we know for the rest of the time they're in use. Zack says Cosmic Cannon instead of Power Axe. Kim says Battle Bow instead of Power Bow. Trini says either Dino Daggers or the correct Power Daggers, but she slurs it and it's hard to tell. Billy says Mighty Mace instead of Power Lance. Jason seems to be the only one to make sense with his Power Sword. Either way, they all combine to make the Power Blaster, so we'll give the weird names a pass.
Rita makes the Gnome grow and the Rangers call the DinoZords. We love this sequence. Best Zord summoning ever was in first season MMPR. They combine Zords into what they call Tank Mode, which means the Zords are together but not in the MegaZord yet. It seems pretty cool, though we're not sure they ever call this mode Tank Mode again. That doesn't last long, however, before they need the MegaZord and somehow the fight transfers from the valley to downtown Angel Grove. We'll nod and smile as we're not sure where that came from or how. It doesn't take long before they take down the Gnarly Gnome.
The Rangers, now demorphed, go and rescue the teenage girls held captive in the cave. They talk about how awesome the Rangers were, beating the monster, and Kim finally gives a name to Nameless Deaf Girl. Melissa. Her name is Melissa. Now why they couldn't have said that at the beginning of the episode, I'm not sure.
They run to the Juice Bar for some ice cream celebration and we discover Jason and Zack have somehow had time to learn some very poor sign language. Melissa asks Billy if he wants to dance and he nervously says no, yet everybody pushes him onto the dance floor anyway. What good friends. Somehow in the less than a minute on the dance floor with Melissa, Billy learns to break dance. Mind, going by later episodes, he forgets completely and can't dance again after this, but we'll just go with it this time since it allows David Yost to show off some of his mad gymnastics skills. And thus ends this episode.
Lists:
Covered in food: Bulk gets covered in... something... after being taunted.
Billy Speak: "I'm intrigued by the rhythmic modulations yet daunted by the coordinating movement of the appendages."
Trini Translation: "He can't dance."
Sightings: First sighting of the cave used for every captive-in-a-cave scene for the rest of the series and first use of Tank Mode with the Zords.
Fish scale: 3.5
We start this episode with a shot of Kim instructing a step aerobics class. She is surrounded by poorly dressed teenage girls while she has immaculate hair and a snazzy (for the early 90's) leotard workout outfit. It seems a bit unfair, really. Kim seems unaware or doesn't care about a particular unfair advantage as only some of her students actually have a step board in which to participate in the step aerobics class.
Jason is shown arm wrestling Trini. We have to wonder why he's doing so since he's obviously physically stronger than she is, what with having bench pressed over 2000 in one day just last episode. It does showcase Jason's arms, however, so we can't complain too much. Upon closer inspection, however, Jason is losing to Trini. Either he severely injured himself during that 2000 in one day bench press event or he's letting her win. His arm is as big as her head.
It took a second viewing to discover Trini winning, however, as the first go-round I was distracted by Zack's hat. It's oddly fascinating.
Ernie brings in some towels for the girls, how helpful of him, on a rolling cart. We can see Billy in the background attempting to keep up with Kim in her step aerobics class. He appears to be the only boy. Good for you, Billy!
But alas, being Billy, he trips over his step board and falls right into the cart of towels. Since it's a rolling cart, it takes off on a wild careening adventure around the room. Kim doesn't notice until Billy almost crashes into her. The other Rangers look away though we're not sure why. Moaning, Billy drags himself to the steps, while Kimberly insults him by telling him that's not the way to get girls. Gee, Kim, thanks for helping your injured friend. Just kick him while he's down. With friends like that, who needs enemies?
Billy is obviously injured since he can't stand up until Trini comes over to help him to his feet and minister her loving affection by... fixing his hair. Well, it's about as close as we'll get to a real relationship, so I'll just sigh contentedly and bask in the glow of my OTP. Yes, I'm highly Billy/Trini biased and no, I don't plan on attempting to keep that out of my reviews.
Meanwhile, in Kim's aerobics class, one girl twirls the wrong direction and bumps into another girl. There appears to be the start of a cat fight before the misdirected girl runs off without saying a word. Kim gives her students a break and goes to see what's wrong. It is here we find out the girl who mis-stepped is deaf. We give Kim major props for knowing sign, but then she makes her deaf (and thus far nameless) friend feel better by insulting Billy's lack of ability to dance. That's great, Kim. Point and laugh at your friend. Good job.
Finster has an awesome monster idea in a fire breathing hedgehog, but Rita refuses to listen to him and demands a pied-piper like musical monster. She should have listened to Finster. A fire breathing hedgehog would have been awesome!
Instead we see Bulk and Skull insulting Kim's students. What was once a step aerobics class has apparently turned into a dance class... using step aerobics moves. Mmkay.
We are five minutes into a dance episode before we see Zack dance at all. That should be illegal. Zack godes Bulk into copying his dance moves and Bulk does pretty well for awhile.
I feel the need to interrupt this stereotyping-overweight-bully taunting to comment on Jason's shirt. It's incredibly low cut. Like, down to his belly button. He might as well not be wearing a shirt at all. Frankly, we wouldn't complain.
And now back to our regularly scheduling cruel taunting of the "bullies". When Bulk manages to do most of the dance moves Zack challenges him with, Zack does a handstand. On a counter. As if that's somehow a dance move. Bulk, of course, can't do a handstand on a counter and falls over, hurting himself in the process and somehow getting covered in... some sort of food stuff. Everybody laughs. That's just a horrible way to treat people and I'm surprised the Rangers are modeling such bad behaviour. They further taunt him as the five Rangers leave the Juice Bar to go see a movie.
We cut to Rita demanding Finster show her his monster. He's created the Gnarly Gnome which isn't very gnarly and looks very little like a gnome. He more resembles a viking troll with an accordion than anything else. He manages to use his "music" to entrance a group of teenager girls on their way to the mall. The plan seems to be to use them as a trap for the Power Rangers. Luckily, the still-nameless deaf girl was with them. She follows the Gnarly Gnome to a cave where she is locked out by a rope net.
We have a particular fondness for this cave. This is the first episode we see people being trapped in it, but it's certainly not the last. This is the cave used just about every time and we can't help but feel a twinge of nostalgia when it's on screen.
Nameless Deaf Girl runs straight to the Juice Bar and finds Jason. Why he's not at the movie, I'm not sure. Clearly, Nameless Deaf Girl knows Jason is a Power Ranger because she bypasses lots of other people and goes STRAIGHT to Jason. She gets his attention and begins to sign for help but he doesn't understand. Ernie, standing right next to Jason, doesn't understand either. She's still signing directly at Jason, frantic for his help. Oh yeah, she knows he's a Ranger. She finally resorts to pen and paper and Jason gets with the program. She needs help!
The Gnarly Gnome makes the girls dance, saying they'll dance for Rita tomorrow. He's playing an accordion but nothing coming out of it sounds like accordion music. Mmkay. There is an awesome scene dancing with putties though, and we feel that ought to be the title of a Ranger autobiography. Dancing With Putties. I know I'd read it!
Meanwhile, Jason and Nameless Deaf Girl have gathered the rest of the Rangers and they hastily make way to the cave of captivity. Kim tells Nameless Deaf Girl to go hide behind the bushes and wait for them. They then morph and go call out the Gnarly Gnome. The girl may be deaf, but she's certainly not blind! They don't even wait for her to get behind a bush before they morph. If she didn't know they were Rangers before (and all signs point to her knowing), surely she knows now!
For reasons unknown, the Rangers give alternate names to their Power Weapons from what we know for the rest of the time they're in use. Zack says Cosmic Cannon instead of Power Axe. Kim says Battle Bow instead of Power Bow. Trini says either Dino Daggers or the correct Power Daggers, but she slurs it and it's hard to tell. Billy says Mighty Mace instead of Power Lance. Jason seems to be the only one to make sense with his Power Sword. Either way, they all combine to make the Power Blaster, so we'll give the weird names a pass.
Rita makes the Gnome grow and the Rangers call the DinoZords. We love this sequence. Best Zord summoning ever was in first season MMPR. They combine Zords into what they call Tank Mode, which means the Zords are together but not in the MegaZord yet. It seems pretty cool, though we're not sure they ever call this mode Tank Mode again. That doesn't last long, however, before they need the MegaZord and somehow the fight transfers from the valley to downtown Angel Grove. We'll nod and smile as we're not sure where that came from or how. It doesn't take long before they take down the Gnarly Gnome.
The Rangers, now demorphed, go and rescue the teenage girls held captive in the cave. They talk about how awesome the Rangers were, beating the monster, and Kim finally gives a name to Nameless Deaf Girl. Melissa. Her name is Melissa. Now why they couldn't have said that at the beginning of the episode, I'm not sure.
They run to the Juice Bar for some ice cream celebration and we discover Jason and Zack have somehow had time to learn some very poor sign language. Melissa asks Billy if he wants to dance and he nervously says no, yet everybody pushes him onto the dance floor anyway. What good friends. Somehow in the less than a minute on the dance floor with Melissa, Billy learns to break dance. Mind, going by later episodes, he forgets completely and can't dance again after this, but we'll just go with it this time since it allows David Yost to show off some of his mad gymnastics skills. And thus ends this episode.
Lists:
Covered in food: Bulk gets covered in... something... after being taunted.
Billy Speak: "I'm intrigued by the rhythmic modulations yet daunted by the coordinating movement of the appendages."
Trini Translation: "He can't dance."
Sightings: First sighting of the cave used for every captive-in-a-cave scene for the rest of the series and first use of Tank Mode with the Zords.
Fish scale: 3.5
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)