Episode 318 - Blue to the Test

So. We took a bit of a long break there. Neither of us were in a terribly good place and something had to fall, so this community was it. But we're doing (mostly) better now and so we're back! We thank those of you who stuck with us through this and we hope to maintain a more regular schedule again. So we're back on the space colony. Kai is working diligently, plotting courses and making plans and just being a badass. The commander is trying to get Kai to think for himself, to teach him and help him grow as a person, so he gets Kai to admit that changing course now would be more beneficial than waiting. He'd adorably overcautious and I applaud his forethought. Kai is so smart. Meanwhile, Trakeena can't understand her own science nerd, but she listens to him anyway. She's going to plot to get the Rangers to burn up in a star. She's cool like that. We get to see the Commander's daughter again (yay continuity! Although the actress looks like my sister-in-law so it's a little weird at the same time) and she's drawing a picture of her father. It's cute and sweet and he is appropriately impressed. And then there's a monster attack! Because Tiny Children must be put in sort-of danger in this show. The Commander hides his daughter and rushes out to start getting people out of the way. He gets shot with an arrow and won't wake up while his Tiny Child cries for him and awwww my heart just cracked a little there. The rangers rush in to help and Tiny Child still cries for her Daddy and completely ignores them. Because she's a good little girl. Her father wakes up but is clearly not himself. Instead of suggesting he go to the med bay to get checked out, they just walk away. He throws his little girl off and then steps on the picture she drew. She is very sad. Poor Tiny Child. Back at the Command Center, Kai is ordered to shut down engines "to conserve power" and he starts to argue, but the Commander tells him not to think and to just follow orders. Kai shuts down the engines but he clearly knows something is wrong, to the point that he burns dinner later (and tries really hard not to say "shit" and says "shoot" instead). Leo asks if something is bothering him, he admits there is, and Damon is all "Well worry about it later. I need to eat, bro." Mostly we just want an entire show of Cooking with the Rangers. Back at the Command Center, Kai is told to plot in a course that will send them straight into the star. The Commander plays it off as gravity giving them speed and Kai stands up to him. He knows his science and actually refuses a direct order, because it will save the ship and everybody aboard. He is then suspended from duty. And some random guy changes the course that Kai wouldn't change. Why does nobody else stop and say "Hey wait, let's just check his math, mkay?" Seriously people, trust your Blue Rangers. They are (usually) the smartest. Kai FINALLY figures out that the Commander is probably possessed and decides to follow him around. TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH, GUYS. Seriously. Kai sees him talking to a monster and just confronts them without calling for backup or anything. Kai is a terrible spy. But we get an unmorphed fight and it's great! Mind, Leo and the others have to step in to save his ass, but that's okay. Kai runs off to stop the Commander and the others stall the monster for him. Kai stands up to him and it's GREAT, though he really ought to explain plans to his team first. I suppose he didn't really have time this time? Still, would be a good lesson to learn. Kai has an awesome unmorphed fight with the Commander and I would approve of nearly an entire episode like this. Kai is such a badass. Mind, the Commander is kicking his ass, so we have to wonder if he got enhanced skills due to the spell? Or maybe he's just that good with his military training. The rangers all get together to fight the monster and they call out all the toys and it's kind of boring. But there is archery, which is cool. Even if it's plastic and fake. They win. Of course. We'd expect nothing less. Big fight over, Kai and Mike rush to check on the Commander. Spell broken, he's himself again and can't remember a darn thing he just did. Kai gets him back to Command and they're able to stop the ship from plummeting into the red giant star. Kai takes his position back and they change course at the last minute, just breaking free of the gravitational pull. Kai is playing with Tiny Commander Spawn and she rushes to her father when he pulls up. He's sad he ruined her picture so asks her to draw him another one. Then he gives Kai a present! Because Kai saved the day and was willing to disobey orders to do it. So he gets a new uniform and put in charge while the Commander takes the day off. Hahaha, not so sure how that's a present, but he seems proud and happy, so it's all good. Everybody waits for his command and then applauds him and he still gets to be in command, because he is AMAZING. 3.5 fish. Not too bad, but really it shouldn't have taken them THAT long to figure out something was wrong. And somebody, somewhere, should have changed course before the ship got that close to the star, especially after the Commander left.

Episode 313 - The Lost Galactabeasts - Part 2

Previously - COLLARS AND FORCED TO FIGHT EACH OTHER. Oh, and there's a new villain and some possessed evil zords, and I spent a while raging at Queenriley about how to handle special collections and generally had a librarian freakout about THAT IS NOT HOW YOU HANDLE RARE ITEMS, KENDRIX. I have a lot of feelings about it, okay?

Anyway, so there's some villain stuff with being a new general and the evil zords, and could we go back to Damon and Kai being collared and forced to fight each other? I'm just saying, this is pretty relevant to my interests.

Meanwhile, the Rangers are brainstorming about why they can't get the Zords to fight. They... are idiots. It is pretty obvious. Anyway, because Damon is the smartest, he has a plan. And Leo is all "So, we should blow shit up." Oh, Leo. Of course that is your plan. You are such a red.

Meanwhile, Kendrix is going to research. Come join my fictional researcher/librarian favorites list, Kendrix! Although take a class on archives, okay?

Maya is trying to reason with the Fugazords, but they ignore her, and the evil Zords start destroying the colony. The boys show up on their bikes, while Mike and his floppy hair are running around command. Kendrix continues to stare at the book. The boys get ambushed and Damon is all "you two go blow shit up, I will fight all the mooks."

Kendrix sends Mike to go help out while she continues to research, and this is why the teams usually do better when they have a tech! Clearly Billy should show up and be all "let me run everything because I am great at this." But really, I just want more Billy in everything, so. (He should hook up with Kendrix. They could be adorable geeks together!)

Kai blasts more monsters and he is injured, so it is up to Leo to go blow stuff up by himself. The fug zords are just standing there, staring at the evil zords. Meanwhile, Leo nearly gets ambushed, but Kendrix and Mike show up at the last minute, leaving him to drive off.

Meanwhile, Kendrix has FINALLY figured out that the evil zords are galactabeasts, because the fish must have finally stopped interfering with her thought processes. She knows she needs to stop them. Leo is about to drive his bike into the evil Zords to make it explode, but Kendrix throws herself into his path. She explains how the Zords are clearly under a spell and instead a plan is formed to take the evil remote control away from Deviot.

Deviot exposits some more about how he captured the Zords and brainwashed them and we get some more backstory from whatever happened 3000 years ago. Deviot teleports out, and we get some fun fighting as the Rangers try to get the remote away from this week's monster. There's a dramatic pushing the monster off the roof, and seriously, this monster looks like Swamp Thing. Leo finally gets the remote, but the monster destroys it.

The Rangers summon the fish of Orion, and then the monster grows. Of course, their Zords are busy fighting the other Zords, so we have a problem. They get the Zords to stop fighting and form the Megazords. I am not sure why we can see a sun setting, since they are ON A SPACE SHIP.

I also don't know why we can see the moon rising. Anyway, the Rangers are all "Remember who you aaaaaaaaaaaaaare" which is a thing I love. They keep yelling at them to remember that they're friends, and somehow that magically gets to them, and they turn into the nice versions of themselves! Now they have ALL the Zords, so the fight now consists of the new Zords showing off before they destroy the monster.

Deviot has a sad, because he wants to enter the cocoon. He then immediately decides what he should do is destroy Scorpius. I do love a scheming villain - go hang out with Darkonda, Deviot!

Anyway, the Zords have a sad, and we find out that they've gone 14 light years, but they couldn't get back to Earth even if they wanted to? So the most they could go is 27 light years? Although I am impressed that they managed to go 14 light years in 20 episodes! They've got a pretty great FTL drive!

Fish: 3.5! Boys, blowing stuff up might not always be the greatest plan.

Fic we want: LOOK, I know it is last episode, but I am just saying - someone should really write me some dubcon under a spell, Damon/Kai fic. JUST SAYING.

Episode 308- Redemption Day

So I was told I should recap this episode tonight, because it is relevant to my interests. Those being the Magna Defender being dramatic and having a dramatically swishy cape. And seeing as those are my pretty much all things holding my interest right now, yes, yes this is a good episode for me to recap.

So something BAD is going down on Scorpius' ship. They're leaking fuel and it's bad. Trakeena doesn't want to drift and freeze. She is so melodramatic. It's okay though because they know where Terra Venture is and they can totes go steal the fuel there.

Speaking of, Maya and Leo are traipsing around "the mountain dome" in the happiest little car ever (seriously, it's SMILING. I want one now.) This makes Maya think of home and be happy, and then she's suddenly vaguely telepathic again. Just in time to see Scorpius' ship approach. Leo shoves her away from the "window" just as they're attacked. They manage to outrun the fireball instead of being SUCKED INTO SPACE WHICH IS WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED HAD SOMETHING PUNCHED A BIG GIANT HOLE IN THE SHIP. Leo and Maya dash through the airlock just in time to be saved.

Scorpius is draining the power from the mountain dome. The rangers are going to stop him because they are pretty. The Magna Defender overhears and it totally going to get his revenge. So he goes to the volcano in an attempt to blow it up and he's all dramatically emotive. He doesn't care that it will take out the colony as well as Scorpius' ship. Dude has some drama issues.

Then we meet Freaky Tiki and I really... have no words for that. I think I'd rather focus on the Magna Defender being dramatic with his dramatically swishy cape and theme music. He is damaged and injured and has a sad, and then Leo fights off sting wingers to help him and nearly dies defending him. Magna Defender is sort of confused, but brings up Mike, how well he knows him, and how they met at the bottom of the crevice. After 3,000 years, Magna Defender finally had somebody to talk to! He stole Mike's spirit (huh?) and escaped (again... huh?). Basically it boils down to Mike is alive for now but he'll die unless the Magna Defender is destroyed and Leo has to do it. But he doesn't want to because somewhere down inside Magna Defender, the honourable man still exists and Leo only destroys evil, not good guys.

(And this is where I am REALLY confused. How did they switch spirits? How will destroying Dramatic MD save Mike? Won't they both die if Mike only lives in him? What about Mike's body? It's still trapped in the Crevice of Doom. This is super fishy, even for this season)

Magna Defender has honour. He remembers his Tiny Child WHO FOR SOME REASON MUST DIE ON SCREEN AGAIN. REALLY SHOW???? At least it means we get more dramatic swishy cape and Super Sad Dramatic Theme Music? But anyway, Leo won't destroy him and then they go fight the monster-I-refuse-to-talk-about.

Scorpius runs away. The volcano is about to blow. There is lots of dramatic music and fire and falling down. Leo refuses to give up. But they can't make it and force demorph and still try. So Dramatic Magna Defender MONOLOGUES AND IT IS BRILLIANT AND OH MY GOD I LOVE HIM SO. I love him so much I can even deal with seeing Tiny Child die AGAIN. Which is triggery, by the way, so that should tell you just how much I love this storyline that I'm willing to risk watching it.

Magna Defender sees the spirit of his Tiny Child and he convinces him to be the hero. Because to Tiny Child, his father always was and always will be the warrior hero. With pretty flowers to save his father's soul. AND OH MY HEART. So Magna Defender pulls himself together, picks up the pretty soul-saving flowers his Spirit Tiny Child dropped for him, and DRAMATICALLY STUMBLES HIS WAY TO THE TOP OF THE VOLCANO. And saves the day. Because he is the most dramatic ever and it's wonderful. Leo tries to stop him, but he puts them in a bubble and does it anyway. I LOVE THIS GUY SO FREAKING MUCH, YOU GUYS HAVE NO IDEA. He only makes it because Spirit Tiny Child appears and takes his hand, and together they go the rest of the way, until he goes into the volcano and stops it erupting. With his life. It is AMAZING.

Leo assures them he's not gone, that he'll live forever, and the temperature stabilizes. And out of the dust comes Mike. Stumbling dramatically. Too bad he doesn't have a cape. He does have dramatically floppy hair, though, so it's okay.

And there is a hug! Leo runs and hugs him! And they cling to each other and tell them how much they missed them and how they're never going away again and it's all super dramatic and lovely.

3.5 fish. The story was GREAT and I love the Magna Defender arc and it's all so dramatically delightful. Except that it makes no sense. But I love it anyway.

Episode 288 - Mission to Secret City

So, the Rangers get some sort of weird readings in the warehouse district, so Andros, TJ, and Cassie go down to investigate. Turns out the Psychos are all ghosts, so they're giving off weird readings, but they're passing right through the rangers. Ghost psychos are good! They should fight the Gobusters when that gets adapted. Please, Saban, please.

Carlos is hanging out with future Ranger Silvy, because we need an inappropriately young friend, and Ashley a) feeds Andros, and b) teaches him to use chopsticks. The others are trying so hard not to laugh. If I didn't dislike Andros/Ashley so much, I would find that adorable. Instead, I will coo at how adorable Carlos is with Silvy, because awwww.

Meanwhile, monster shows up, and starts making people vanish. Bulk tries to threaten him with a toaster (he thinks it's a raygun, okay?) but he gets vanished, along with Carlos, Andros and Silvy. The other Rangers fight the monster, and somehow their suits block his rays or whatever. He heads out, leaving them to go back to the ship and try and figure out what to do.

In alternate dimension land, we get a gratuitous shot of Carlos' ass. I approve. Carlos is so concerned about future Ranger, Silvy! Awwww. Ecliptor and the Quantrons show up and start rounding people up. Carlos and Andros try to morph, but they discover that their powers are useless. Without their morphers, Carlos and Andros get beaten up. (And Andros gets separated from his morpher, which Silvy picks up, because she's smart.)

ALSO, IS THAT CHAINS ON CARLOS'S WRISTS? THIS IS ESSENTIAL TO POINT OUT.

Silvy hands the morpher over to Carlos and is all "yeah, your friend dropped something, and also, I totally figured out he was a Ranger. Because I am the smartest." How much do I love Silvy? SO MUCH.

Meanwhile, the girls and TJ plan to get taken, and they have some sort of special packs which lets them bring in their weapons, but I am slightly distracted because QR and I are horrible and want fic where Silvy grows up to hit on Carlos repeatedly. He is nice and turns her down, so then she has a threesome with Justin and Fred Kelman instead.

Cassie uses the tech that they've brought in to figure out what's jamming the signal, and then we get some more unmorphed fighting. Andros, Carlos and Silvy sneak off, and Silvy promises Andros that she'll keep her mouth shut. Seriously, stop worrying, she already knows about Carlos.

Silvy suggests Andros use a different button on his morpher, but he says it's too dangerous, and instead uses regular mode, which allows him to break the chains on his and Carlos's wrists. I am sad about this. Carlos then gets blasted by a monster, and Andros presses the button again, and his fist glows red. While the fight is going on, TJ and Cassie (and Cassie's glasses are adorable) are disabling the device, but then they nearly get thrown off a building. But TJ is great and he blows that shit up even while they're dangling off the side.

Silvy watches the fight, and since she is the smartest, she hits the button that on Andros's morpher that he said was too dangerous, which gets him the fugly super-muscled battlizer mode (with wings). SILVY IS GREAT AND KNOWS MORE ABOUT THE POWER THEN ANDROS DOES. Andros flies to catch TJ and Cassie, who are like "what." Ashley looks at him and is like "hot." Ashley, honey, I don't even know.

Andros' new toy comes with a shield and some missiles and I'm sure all the tiny children want to buy it or whatever, and since TJ blew stuff up, the others can morph anyway and fight. Andros plays with some more new toys and he fights him from the air, and then blows him up.
Andros thanks Silvy for being great, and she's so smug and adorable. Then the monster grows, and the bigger toys come out to play, and I really am out of interesting ways to describe a zord fight. Toy comes down and kicks the monster a little, and then the monster gets knocked down. Then they blast the monster and then shoot a missile at it. Seriously, that was boring just to type.

Once they beat the monster, Astronema sends them back to their own reality, and Carlos is concerned because SILVY IS STILL THERE. And OH NOES. Because SILVY. She is GREAT. But they shouldn't worry, because Silvy, Bulk and Skull are all in the secret city, and they can handle anything.

Episode 259- The Craterite Invasion

This whole recap is one big link to Star Trek. Just fair warning.

It's the Boy Who Cried Wolf episode! I wondered when we'd get one of those.

Patrick is a Tiny Child who tells tall tales. He lives in the only apartment complex in all of Angel Grove. This is making me RAAAGGGGGEEEEE. Because Patrick is black and all the white kids we see live in super nice houses. FAIL SHOW. We also never see nor hear mention of a father. FAIL AGAIN SHOW. And his mother clearly works long hours and he's a latchkey kid. FAIL HARDER SHOW, I DARE YOU.

On the MegaShip, the rangers are training! On the holodeck! I love that they train. Good for them, staying on top form! Unfortunately, there is a space wave that causes some major computer malfunctions. It even screws up the holodeck simudeck. The craterites they were training with are suddenly real and can leave the simudeck. They jump off the ship and parachute down to Earth. With big swirly white parachutes. The craterites are fabulously horribly PINK. And I HATE pink. Especially Pepto Pink, which is what these are. Gives me heartburn just watching.

Patrick sees them and hides under his blanket. In the morning his mother has made his lunch and must rush off to work, so neighbor lady will take him to school. At least we're getting to see a parent? She does seem like a good mom, which is two times as awesome as this show usually is.

Patrick gets himself ready and knocks on the door, but neighbor lady doesn't answer. Patrick looks in the window and sees a craterite family. He runs out and everywhere he goes he sees more craterites. He tries to go tell the police officer, who doesn't believe him, because Copper is a craterite too! Patrick is the only one who can see them for what they are apparently. Of course nobody believes him and Tiny Child has a Sad that could rival Andros.

Meanwhile the Professor and Bulk and Skull are trying to track down all the aliens. They are kind of failing. Cassie and Carlos aren't having much more luck even though THEY ARE SURROUNDED BY THEM. Cassie and Carlos try to find out what's wrong with Patrick and His Sad, so they walk him home. What happened to school? He asks if they'll come in, but they have stuff to do, and Carlos reassures him with the Power Rangers looking out for him. Patrick totally doesn't believe him. I DO NOT BLAME YOU, PATRICK.

Ashley finds a construction worker tied up in a van. She calls TJ and Andros and they figure out all the workers are craterites. They are holograms with personality! It's only then they figure out they've all taken human form. YOU THINK? THEY ARE HOLOGRAMS. THEY CAN TAKE ANY FORM THEY WANT. There is a fight and it is boring and we spend most of it talking about how this episode is just an excuse to link to ALL the Star Trek (did you know TOS, TNG, Voyager, and Enterprise are streaming on Netflix? You do now. Now go watch some).

The rangers figure out Patrick really was telling the truth and rushes to his aid. They get him out of the apartment only to be attacked by more craterites. Luckily his mother drives up in their minivan and ushers him inside to drive him to safety. And then, somehow, Andros and Cassie mysteriously end up in a forest. The others manage to save them with some spiral sword thingy. It's supposed to send the craterites back into their holodeck program, but it doesn't work. It just makes them turn into one really big craterite and they have to call the Astro MegaZord. DO NOT ASK. I DO NOT KNOW EITHER. They manage to take it apart like Santa does to Oogie Boogie. However, while Oogie Boogie is made of bugs, the craterites are made of FISH. Entirely of fish. It's the only explanation.

Back at the Surf Spot, Bulk and Skull use the SPACE ALIEN STRIPPER to turn the aliens back into humans. Except all it does is take off their clothes and leave them in their underwear. Everyone laughs. Oh show. SPACE ALIEN STRIPPER! SERIOUSLY SHOW! We want fic of this now... Zhane hires one. And then Andros hires one because it's tradition okay? AND THERE IS LOTS OF STRIPPING AND IT'S FUN.

3.5 fish. Because science doesn't work that way, Pepto Pink is gross, and... giant craterite what the hell???

Fic we want: Space. Alien. STRIPPER. 'Nough said.

Episode 225 - Stitch Witchery

So Ashley should be on Project Runway.

No, seriously, that is pretty much what I got out of this episode. Why doesn't this fic exist?

Anyway, it opens in design class, when someone compliments Ashley on the design. Ashley assumes that she's talking about the yellow coat (of course) that she's currently working on, but instead she's complimenting the actually kinda cute jacket that Ashley's wearing. (It's not the most inventive coat ever, but it's not entirely offensive. People who know more about fashion than I do, feel free to argue with me.)

Cassie shows up and mocks Ashley gently, proving that once again Pink and Yellow are always BFF, even though they've known each other for like 5 minutes. Ashley is concerned about the coat and worries about her fashion sense. She also thinks its a pretty tacky, but a random woman in a limo shows up and wants to buy the design. Of course, she's secretly a monster, but Ashley doesn't know this.

The design is put into production, and the other Rangers go and see them being sold. TJ and Cassie link arms and skip over and they are the most adorable ever, and why aren't they making out? They all try on the jackets (and these Divatox produced ones are fugly. They instantly turn into jerks.

Ashley gets summoned to the Power Chamber because nobody else is responding due to them being jerks. She fights by herself and is awesome, and then she goes to find her friends. (Why she doesn't go get the Rangers before she goes to fight? Well. That would be using logic. The other Rangers start mocking Ashley's design (dude, why are you wearing them if you hate them?) and Justin even throws in a "NOT!" and Ashley is upset to the point of tears and she needs all the hugs.

So even the Blue Senturian has on a jacket which makes him a jerk, and Ashley has to go convince her team to strip, and apparently in the few days they've been Rangers she's learned how to get them to take off their clothes. (We are going to pretend I'm not including Justin in that, because ewww.) I'm going to try hard not to be annoyed at Ashley telling Justin that his is a girl's jacket, but most tween boys would probably freak at that, so I will not be grumpy about it. Then everyone is nice again and they apologize to Ashley.

The Rangers summon Zords and they fight the Blue Senturian, but sadly they don't destroy him. TJ removes the jacket, and then they see the real monster, and blah blah blah fight scene I so don't care.

Everyone tells Ashley that yeah, her original jacket was ugly, but at least they're honest? And they're pretty nice about it, and then there are hugs. Yay!

Meanwhile, Bulk and Skull have been invisible for the whole episode. They spend their time playing ridiculous pranks and pretending to be magicians. They turn visible at the end and Bulk promptly ends up covered in milkshake. Lt. Stone is super glad to see them. Yay! He doesn't seem very concerned about where they were or where the monkeys disappeared to, but it's BULK AND SKULL. BACK. Yay!

Fish: 3.5 Evil jackets? Really?

Fic we want: So, Tracy Lynn Cruz totally confirmed at Morphicon that Ashley continues in fashion. Where is the Ashley as a guest judge on Project Runway fic?

Episode 213 - Bicycle Built for the Blues

Oh hey! It's Justin's birthday! We.... should have delayed this episode, but both of us have blocked out forgotten most of Turbo, or else we would totally have watched this next week.

The Rangers are plotting a surprise party for Justin, and I'm going to use this as an excuse to rant about how much I hate surprise parties. Mostly the ones that have the "and we're going to pretend all day that nothing special is going on" variety, but I guess they haven't learned anything from Zack's surprise party so long ago.

Divatox figures she'll give Justin a special gift too, and sends a bike that turns into a detonator that will explode after he bikes 25 miles. Justin (who is sad because the Rangers are all ignoring him/won't let him into the garage) assumes the bike is from his dad, and is apparently superglued to it instantly or something because he doesn't stop peddling/jump off the bike/crash into a tree like he should.

After all the Rangers leave the party set up because Dimitria actually noticed something was going on (SHOCKING) monkey!Bulk and Skull throw their own party, complete with a "Hey, hey, we're the monkees!" joke. I APPROVE.

While Tommy chases around the MOTW (named Big Burpa. Seriously) Adam, Kat and Tanya just stand there. Then they join in and chase after it some more. Then there's some more chase scenes. Justin still fails to crash into a tree. Oh, and the bike floats. When they suggest Justin stop peddling, he acts like he never thought of that, but yeah, he can't due to magic.

So Tommy summons his ZORD which starts driving and Tommy perches on the car and knocks Justin off the bike. Who was driving the Zord? If Justin was superglued to the bike, wouldn't that have seriously hurt? Who came up with this stupid plot???

They morph and fight the monster and it's really boring. Then everyone heads back to the garage, and aww, Justin's party is happening, and there's actually a bunch of kids! I guess the other people from the shelter? Bulk and Skull give Justin a banana. Justin is still sad, because his dad isn't there.

Except then his dad shows up for the party. And look, we totally understand having a breakdown after losing the wife - that makes sense. But he seems to be fairly recovered now, so why is he still leaving Justin in the shelter?

Justin needs ALL THE HUGS.

(Congrats, Justin, it only took a movie and 8 episodes to win us both over.)

Fish: 3.5 JUST JUMP OFF THE DAMN BIKE.

Episode 210 - Transmission Impossible

So, as previously mentioned, Tanya's summer job is working as a DJ on KAGV radio. She's actually fairly good at it, and she has her own show and everything, instead of just doing the usual intern hell where you just bring someone coffee or whatever. Kat comes to visit her at work (and wow, the clothes are really bad this episode) and somehow the radio station picks up a transmission from some alien who wants to contact Dimitria.

Let me get this straight. Angel Grove's radio station can pick up the signal, but Dimitria didn't pick it up? That is... man, I miss Zordon. Let's just leave it at that.

Divatox decides that if this signal is so important to Dimitria, then she's going to capture the guy before Dimitria can hear the message. She's also going to plant a detonator at the radio station. Oh, and the monkeys figure that if they can get on the radio, everyone will hear their explanations and the Rangers will help them turn back into humans.

Kat is all ready to run off to the Power Chamber, but Tanya is stuck at work. I guess missing class was ok, but missing work is not. Adam is also at the Power Chamber, doing the tech stuff, because he's awesome. Dimitria manages to contact the guy (Visceron) who is from her home planet, but unlike her, he doesn't have to phrase everything in the form of a question. I like him better than Dimitria already. He has important news for Dimitria, but he's afraid someone else is listening, so he can't tell her until he gets to Earth. Of course, Divatox promptly kidnaps him by tractor beaming him from warp? Fiiiiiiiiiiiish. And then she decides to break him by having Porto brainwash him with a water gun and make him do the dishes. I wish I was making this up. (I also wish I could brainwash someone to do the dishes.)

Tanya is still at the station, and her Turbo Navigator picks up the detonator, but she can't leave and for some stupid reason she can't contact the Power Chamber. (I refuse to believe that the radio station could block their signal. That is STUPID.) So instead, she just assumes that they're listening to her radio show at the Power Chamber, and dedicates a song to the power rangers called "I need you now" and drops a hint about it being the bomb, and the others figure it out. Oh, and Kat gets to say Shift Into Turbo instead of Adam. I approve.

Adam, Tommy and Justin handle Pirahnatrons while Kat goes to get Tanya, who is just pacing back and forth instead of doing something. Then she puts on a really long song so she can go join the others. And.... she didn't just do that before? Whatever.

Visceron has been turned into a monster, and they fight him, and he eventually ends up with the detonator, which explodes in a small enough space that only he is affected. Then he turns back into Visceron, and all of the Rangers feel really bad. But don't worry, because Dimitria saves him with the power of love.

He wakes up, and tells Dimitria her records have been altered and she has a twin sister. Apparently, power Rangers, REALLY likes the long lost sibling trope. This is the second time we've had it, and it's not going to be the last.

Anyway, Tanya forgot about her job, but don't worry, her job is safe because the manager knows she's a Ranger the manager thinks its really funny that the monkeys were DJing. Bulk and Skull just saved Tanya's job.

Fish: 3.5 SPACE DOES NOT WORK LIKE THAT. Also, Tanya is not going to forget her job.

Episode 190 - Bomber in the Summer

It appears to be summer in Angel Grove, and don't ask how this timeline works, because seriously, Angel Grove isn't just its own country, it has its own weird sense of time as well. But Ernie is taking advantage of the heat to open up a side business by opening a beach club.

Unfortunately, it appears that Angel Grove has a biker gang, and they don't particularly like the idea of people using their beach. You can tell that they're bad because one of them popped a wheelie.

Jason and the Rangers are all "We are tough" but the biker gang isn't having it, and neither is Ernie, who just doesn't want any trouble. I keep wondering where the police are, and then I remember this is Angel Grove and that's how this works.

The bad girl on the back of a guy's bike makes eyes at Jason, and she has a significant necklace.

Meanwhile, Rito and Goldar are doing their work for Rita and Zedd, which involves shooting a rocket at the Machine Empire which turns out to be a monster named Louie Kaboom, who is very annoying. They lose the remote control and make Bulk and Skull look for it while Louie Kaboom tries to take things over within the Machine Empire.

At the Juice Bar, the Rangers are very sad that they can't use their powers for personal gain to stop the biker gang, when significant necklace girl (Emily) comes in, and Jason immediately recognizes her as the biker girl, and figures that if Tommy can ditch him for a blonde, he might as well do the same. So he uses his powers of looking concern and inspirational speeches to convince her to take a walk with him, where she tells him a sob story about being the new girl and having no other friends. They promptly run into Louie Kaboom who turns the significant necklace into a monster. Jason tells Emily to run, and she does, while Jason tries to take on the monster on his own. How this is different than Rocky last episode, I have no idea.

Anyway, the other Rangers show up and there's a fight, and Billy manages to rewire the remote and everything is boring while Jason goes to fight cogs.

Back at the beach club, the biker gangs feel guilty because of how Jason saved Emily, and now Emily works for Ernie and everyone is happy and this is COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS.

Fish: 3.5. I'm sorry, doesn't Angel Grove's police department do anything?

Fic we want: Jason and Tommy talking about being the sixth ranger and having to run off while the regular team does stuff. Also, Jason and Emily are totally Sky's parents. YOU KNOW THIS IS TRUE.

Episode 185 - Rock-A-Bye Power Rangers

Today, on Power Rangers - Rocky is smart, and the Rangers are tired. Also, they should sell toys of this monster - we would totally buy them.

The episode begins with a fight scene, and the Rangers are getting their butts kicked. Seems that King Mondo has a pretty great plan - he's been sending the cogs down for random quick attacks and then pulling the cogs out after, just so that he can tire the Rangers out. Luckily, they're saved this time by the Gold Ranger, but they clearly can't keep this up much longer.

At the Youth Center, Tanya and Rocky look completely exhausted, and Adam actually has fallen asleep on his homework. Billy comes in, and Tanya is all concerned about him - where has he been all the time? Billy tries not to avoid answering, and the Rangers grow suspicious.

At the detective agency, Bulk and Skull are charged with guarding a safe for 24 hours. This is not going to end well. Especially when they manage to get themselves tricked by a thief who pretends to be a locksmith. Although we do get to find out that the detective agency has a duck phone.

Now that Mondo has tired out the Rangers, he decides to send down a monster that will put them to sleep. The Somnibot is freaking ADORABLE. I just want to cuddle her forever! And frankly, the Rangers would probably appreciate the rest.

Zordon summons the Rangers, all of whom look exhausted (and Adam and Tanya were napping at the youth center, and Adam's hair is delightfully mussed and Tanya tries to fix it, and they are the most adorable ever) and they find out about the monster. Alpha says he'll come up with a protective frequency that will keep them from going to sleep, but he needs Billy's help, and Billy finally shows up to make the last minute adjustments, proving that Billy is smarter than Alpha.

Turns out the calculations weren't exact, so the Rangers are losing again. Billy says he has an idea, and he leaves the Power Chamber, and then the Gold Ranger shows up. They manage to get through the fight, and Billy provides some pathetic excuses for why he wasn't there.

The Somnibot and Clank and Orbus turn a truck into a power station that will project the sleep song over the whole city, and the Rangers go chasing after them on their Zeo Cycles, while Billy vanishes again as soon as the Power Surge is set up. There's a fight scene, the power surge goes off, the Rangers win, etc.

Bulk and Skull recover the safe, which apparently only contains some prize winning recipe and also doubles as a fridge. Eww.

Back at the Power Chamber, Adam is all disheveled, and there's no sign of Tanya. We're assuming she just stayed behind to straighten up a little before going to the Power Chamber. Rocky confronts Billy, saying he's figured it out, and Billy is the Gold Ranger. Billy denies it.

If there was any justice in this show, Billy would be the Gold Ranger. But since we know he's not, this whole thing just makes Billy look like a jackass. What was he doing that was so important? Working for the Intergalactic CIA? Spying for Aquitar? Building the Turbo Zords? Creating the Phantom Ranger powers?

Pfft. Billy for the Gold.

Fish - 3.5. The stuff about Billy is RIDICULOUS.

Episode 160 - For Cryin' Out Loud

This episode is not one of my favourites. It's not as bad as I remember, but it's still kind of... uh... fishy.

So we start out AWESOME. Adam and Rocky are MOCKING TOMMY to the fullest extent. They're even singing the wedding march and apologizing for not having time to get gifts. Tanya joins them and wonders what's going on. Tommy explains that he and Kat have to pretend to be married for a few days for a class project. Tanya joins in on the mocking. Because she is just awesome like that.

Kat finally shows up and, surprise!, she has a baby with her. A REAL baby. Not some soda bottle baby, or the flour baby, or even one of those high tech baby dolls I hear they use now. No, she has a real, live, flesh and blood, breathing toddler in her hands. I'd estimate he's about... oh... 14 months old? He's young. He's the most freaking adorable little baby I've seen on this show, though!

Kat apparently agreed to watch this little boy, whom she babysits for on occasion, for "a couple of days" while they're doing their project. First of all, who lets a teenager babysit a baby that young for "a couple of days"? I did overnights with kids when I was 17/18/19, sure, but they were generally older children and I DIDN'T HAVE SCHOOL. Nobody would say "Sure, take my kid for a couple of days and he can go to all your high school classes with you!" Uh... no. Second of all, it wasn't really fair of her to spring this child on Tommy "for their class project" when it wasn't actually a part of the class project. They just had to pretend to be married, no children involved. I mean, my kids are a prime example of the fact that more children are surprises than planned, but still... that's... more than a little extreme for a class project. And at least if it were real life surprise!baby, Tommy would have had a good 8-9 months to prepare for a wrinkly little alien invading his life. But hey, the kid is there now and there is nothing "Daddy" can do about it, so he will help out and do the best he can.

Anyway, back to the story. Everybody oohs and aahs over the adorableness of Joey, and then Tanya notices a distinct aroma. She and Rocky quickly make excuses and flee. Adam doesn't even bother with an excuse. He just runs away. Far, far away. Tommy tries to sneak off and Kat calls him back to help her change the diaper. I really can't blame her. She may have sprung this kid on him, but he's supposed to be "Daddy" here so he BETTER help her out.

On the moon, the Machine Empire is basically bickering over who had what idea. King Mondo wins, as usual, and creates the BooHoo Monster out of some of Joey's toys. This causes something to happen to amplify and alter Joey's cries so everything he begins to cry, he causes an earthquake. Suddenly we aren't so sure he isn't really Tommy's illegitimate son...

Joey ends up at school with Kat in what we're assuming is the next day. Bulk and Skull try to stop her from entering the computer area with the baby, as it's been designated a no-crying zone. She gets in anyway. Rocky says babies can't be THAT much trouble. HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA Oh, Rocky. Joey wakes up and starts crying, causing an earthquake. Kat and Rocky get him outside and calmed down while Tommy and Billy go try to figure out what caused it. Meanwhile, Kat and Rocky get joined by Adam and Tanya just in time to get attacked by Cogs. Tommy joins them and they morph to fight, Kat running off to the side with the baby. Luckily Alpha shows up to watch over Joey while Kat goes to fight. We want a MILLION FICS of Alpha babysitting, like he did with Baby!Dillon. Unfortunately, cogs get hold of Alpha and fry his circuits, kidnapping Joey in the process.

There is some really bad episode splicing with Sentai and the rangers end up fighting downtown. "Joey" (who looks very little like the American Joey, and looks like she could be a girl in the Sentai...) is up on top of a really tall and flimsy metal staircase, so Tommy fights his way up. There is some dramatic scene where he nearly falls off, but the baby doesn't budge in his stroller, and he, unsurprisingly, eventually makes it to the top. He offers Joey a bottle only to discover it's empty. What a tease, Tommy. Unfortunately, the staircase gets attacked and the stroller falls off the edge. Tommy jumps after it, grabbing it in midair, and lands safely. Except it's empty!

Because Billy is SMART and teleported baby Joey to "help him out in the Chamber". OMG Billy with a baby? SO FREAKIN CUTE.

Back to the fight, they have to call out the Zords and there's a big boring fight and they win. As usual.

At school, they are all saying goodbye to Joey who is apparently going home now that the project that didn't really involve babies is over. The teacher comes up to Tommy and Kat and congratulates them, says he enjoyed their performance, and then just gives them their grade right there in front of everybody. Kat mentions looking forward to having kids one day, in the future, y'know, far in the future, not now by any means. The teachers says he was hoping to hear that because he and his wife need a babysitter for that Saturday. For their twins. And Kat just can't say no. So she agrees. And the teacher says he had hoped Tommy would join in. So Tommy has to help now too. Hahahhaha.

3.5 fish. It wasn't as bad as I remember, but it certainly wasn't great. The only reason I'd ever rewatch is for the adorableness of the baby. Dawwwwwwwbabies.

Fic we want: Alpha as a babysitter. Millions and millions of fics of Alpha as a babysitter.

Episode 144- Rangers in Reverse

TINY CHILDREN! Rangers! As Tiny Children!

Ahem. This episode. Yeah.

So we start off in the Youth Center with incredibly attractive young men (Rocky and Billy) showing off their lovely lovely arms by hauling fruit boxes for Ernie. We approve of this opening scene! So we discover that it's soon to be Kat's birthday, which Rocky only knows because he helped her register for classes (AW), and she hasn't told anybody. Aisha decides it's a great idea to give her a surprise party. Frankly, I'm of the opinion that if somebody doesn't tell you their birthday, it's because they don't WANT a fuss or party. If you want a surprise party, you subtly drop hints about having never had one and oh yeah, did you know my birthday is [whenever]?

So on the moon, Zedd and Goldar are making fun of Master Vile. Rita defends her Daddy! Aw. Master Vile has a very fishy plan about how he's going to insert some crystal orb thing into some very precise coordinates and it will freeze the Earth on it's axis which will SOMEHOW reverse time. This... makes about as much sense as all the OTHER times they've tried to reverse time or travel in time.

At the Command Center, Zordon has deactivated AGAIN. Alpha starts to panic, but Zordon comes back from his PRIVATE CHAMBER (where he watches the rangers have sex) and reassures him that things will be okay... mostly.

So for Kat's birthday, they all take her to a carnival. But she's blindfolded, so she doesn't know where they're taking her, just that they all know it's her birthday and they all want to help her celebrate. So this is more a surprise destination than a surprise party. They are at a carnival. In Angel Grove. This canNOT end well.

Master Vile sends his dutiful son down to Earth to place the orb. It's supposed to be just to the north of Angel Grove, and I have to grumpily wonder, WHY is it ALWAYS Angel Grove? Couldn't they have gone to barren wastelands of Siberia or somewhere else Far Far Away? But no. It's in Angel Grove. Again. I'm beginning to think Angel Grove isn't just it's own country, but that it's really it's own PLANET.

Anyway, so Rito goes to place the orb and Zordon calls the rangers to alert them of the danger. They morph and go fight some Tengas on what appears to be the edge of the carnival, although they were made it seem like Rito was far away. Oh well. That's the least of the fish in this episode. So they fight for a bit and then they must call on the SPARKLEPOWERS and I'm reduced to capslock irritation. Stupid sparklepowers. We spend the rest of the fight ignoring the actual fight and instead figuring out how Kim relates to Jacob since Tommy is obviously the super-special-but-nobody-can-figure-out-why Personality of Cardboard Belle and Kat is, unfortunately, reduced to the Sparkle and Stalkery Creepiness of Edward. Kim just has really nice abs.

Oh. But they were fighting. Right. Um... so Rito gets past them and manages to place the orb and then Tommy gets knocked back because it can't be undone once it's placed. Rito and the Tengas go away and the rangers rush back to the carnival. Then time almost immediately reverses a good TEN YEARS. And... suddenly we're at my favourite part of the episode!

It's the rangers! As Tiny Children! ADORABLE TINY TINY CHILDREN! And Rocky has the worst hair EVER. Seriously, whomever inflicted such atrocious hair on that poor little boy ought to be forced into a different career in which they never ever ever get to give advice on hair again. Ugh. And for some reason Billy is now a dashing brunette and no longer blond. But the rest of them! Tiny!Aisha is scared! Tiny!Adam asks Tiny!Billy if they can still morph! Tiny!Tommy tries to morph and gets all upset when it doesn't work! OMG THEY'RE ALL SO DARN CUTE!

Meanwhile Zedd and Rita are on Earth and they grow all big and stomp around a bit. While scaring the FREAKING CUTE TINY RANGER CHILDREN!

And that is all.

3.5 fish. It just... it's fishy, okay? But there are Tiny Children! So that makes up for it.

Episode 119- Ninja Quest Part 4

Previously, on Power Rangers - OMGTHE.... oh, wait. That was THREE EPISODES ago. Previously on Power Rangers - ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAPPENED. Well, Adam became a frog, but he didn't even sulk about it!

The episode opens with them summoning Zords. This is... not a good sign. High fight episodes never go well. But they summon their Zords, which are apparently coming from a city, even though they should still be in the desert of whatever. And I'm not really sure why the wolf zord appears to live on top of a building - if I lived in Angel Grove, I would totally try to get to the roof and hang out by the Zord. Anyway, the Zords all go and fight Rito, and some of them have fun powers. Wolf Zord does a few flips and hits Rito with his tail, the bear Zord apparently can cause an earthquake (Way to accidentally break the city, Aisha!), Frog Zord spits fire, Ape Zord has some weapons, and so on. Rito is all "haha, that tickles" so they form into the Megazord, and Rito is just glad that he only has 1 target instead of 5. (He's not counting Tommy either.) So then Tommy's Zord joins with them and they fly up, and Rito uses his jet pack, which is pretty awesome. The Megazord kicks Rito in the face, and then they punch him, and he runs away. (The wolf and ape are the arms)

Queenriley: way to double team him Billy and Rocky!
TSB: that sounds so wrong

Up on the moon, Zedd is angry that the Rangers have new Zords, and Goldar is frustrated. We can't really blame him - he just went from Jason to Rito for a boyfriend! The villains calm down and remember that the Vampirus egg is still about to hatch.

Back on Earth, it is time for the Bulk and Skull training montage. Bulk and Skull get an awesome theme song, and we adore them.

At the Command Center, the alarms go off. There is apparently a great disturbance in the force, although they don't know where it is. It's not in Angel Grove, so it must not be on Earth. You guys, we were wrong. Angel Grove isn't its own country, Angel Grove is a PLANET. Then Billy miraculously fixes something, and they realize that the Vampirus egg has hatched and the temple is being attacked.

.... Oh no, it's another Zord fight. But at least Ninjor gets to fight also! Ninjor is awesome! He turns into his own Zord! Anyway, fight, punch, win, really boring. Two Zord fights is one too many. Back at the Command Center, the Rangers watch on the viewing globe as Ninjor tells them they're now allies in the fight against evil. They'll be able to call on his amazing powers of snark at any time!

We end the episode at Bulk and Skull's graduation. The Rangers all go, which is really sweet of them. And they're actually all really happy for Bulk and Skull! Way to be good friends, Rangers! Of course, it wouldn't be the show if Bulk and Skull didn't make fools of themselves, but seriously, so awesome.

Fish: 3.5 There was a lot of stupid stuff in the Zord fights.

Episode 108- Storybook Rangers Part 1

Today we squee over our mutual adoration of books. That's really the best part of this episode arch, I think.

So we start out in a book fair at the high school. Stone Canyon apparently never had book fairs because Aisha, Adam, and Rocky are all marveling at the mere idea. Adam is lost in a book when Billy runs over, all excited at having found Quantum Physics Can Be Fun, which he's apparently been trying to find for a number of months. Rocky has found a book on meditation, which he tells Tommy would be great for their martial arts, and Tommy just takes it right out of his hand while asking if he can read it. Poor Rocky is just left there with his hand in the air where the book once was going "uh..." and looking like a lost puppy.

Kim says she loves fairy tales while looking through the books on the fairy tale table, because she always wanted to be a princess and get rescued by her white knight in shining armour or something like that. Kim, honey, you could be SO much more than a damsel in distress, though I do admit to loving fairy tales myself. Tommy throws out a line about a white tiger instead of knight and I have to roll my eyes. But I can't hate Tommy too much in this episode, much as I want to. Kim has found a book she adored as a little girl, a book her father used to read to her every night at bedtime, called Grumble the Magic Elf (my father read me Jeremy Mouse... so I totally get where Kim is coming from here). She gets very nostalgic and Tommy immediately buys the book for her. That earns him about a billion points in my sight, but alas, he'll probably lose all those awesome points within the next few episodes.

So Tommy, Kim, and Rocky agree to go meet Aisha, Adam, and Billy at the Youth Center. On the way, Kim is looking through her new book when Rita, while Zedd is napping, decides to beat the rangers by sending three of them into Kim's storybook. So she zaps the book with her awesome wand and then zaps Tommy, Kim, and Rocky into the book. Kim recognizes where they are and they begin the trek to the end of the story.

Meanwhile, Billy is wandering around the Youth Center while reading his new quantum physics book and Adam is sitting behind a pile of books at a table. Oh boys! We completely understand. We're the same way. Aisha joins them and asks about what books they're reading while they wait for the other three.

Meanwhile meanwhile, Bulk and Skull have found a book for Skull's mother about how to cook a Thanksgiving feast, and a book for themselves about how to make monsters. So they hightail it back to Skull's garage/workroom/whatever it is from previous episodes so they can make their own monster to attract the Power Rangers. They forgot batteries, though, so Bulk puts Skull in charge of finishing the monster while he goes to the store. Skull gets ready but then has misplaced the book, so he runs all over the place, up and down some stairs, into drawers and cabinets, and good holy hell this garage is ENOURMOUS. It's bigger than the houses I grew up in, based just on this scene. We theorize that it's not actually a garage but rather a TARDIS, seeing as it's much bigger on the inside. Seeing as Skull has a TARDIS, we can only assume he's a Time Lord. I'm now completely in love with this idea and we both spent a good bit of the next scene yelling at the screen for Skull to just open his pocketwatch! Open your watch, Skull! You could do AMAZING things!

Anyway, he eventually finds the book, but accidentally grabs his mother's Thanksgiving feast book and uses it to finish building the monster. Bulk comes back, all gleeful and ecstatic at the opportunity to animate his monster. Clearly, Bulk is a direct descendant of Dr. Frankenstein.

Back in the storybook, the Transported Trio run across Grumble the Magic Elf who is really just Ticklesneezer in a Santa suit. He's a very grumpy elf and I ADORE him and his grumblings. He has to get toys to kids and he's NOT happy about it.

The Non-Transported Trio are beginning to wonder what's keeping the others. Aisha calls it perfectly when she says Tommy is always late but Rocky and Kim really ought to be there by now. They can't find them back at the book fair, nor can they raise them on the communicators, so Billy says they should go tell Zordon. I know I should be surprised Zordon hasn't noticed anything amiss yet, but frankly I'm so used to Zordon!Fail that I knew he wouldn't know what's going on.

Zedd, having woken from his nap, decides he needs to keep the story from ending so the rangers can't ever escape it. He sends some putties into the book to steal the toys. They're rather ineffective putties and not at all Punctual Putties, but they eventually get the job done and leave Grumble without any toys, which he proceeds to, well, grumble about. The Transported Trio push forward through the story anyway, where they end up in a frozen snowy wasteland with a big monster that looks suspiciously like the Primator. They discover the morphers won't work and Rocky surmises it's because of the cold. I didn't know morphers could freeze. *sigh*

Back at the Command Center, Billy takes charge of the situation and says he's going to locate their communicator signals. Zordon tells him it's a good idea and that's about all the use he is. Billy finds the signals, figures out they're in a book, but nobody can figure out where the book is. Billy also manages to pull them up on the viewing globe and frankly, Zordon and Alpha are just useless here. Billy figures out the morphers are frozen and they all watch as the Transported Trio get attacked by the Snow Monster that isn't Primator (but really he is).

Fade to black and To Be Continued!

Fish: 3.5 It wasn't too bad, but there is an awfully big school of fish just swimming right out of Zedd's lack-of-logic here.

Billy speak: "Their morphers are experiencing hypothermal malfunctioning." OMG WE GOT BILLY SPEAK!

Nothing else that we keep track of, really. Though now I'm totally enamoured with the idea of Skull being a Time Lord, and I so want fic where he opens his Chameleon device!

Episode 107 - Best Man For The Job

Today on Power Rangers - The exciting world of Angel Grove politics! The Geography makes even less sense than usual! Skull channels Bert from Mary Poppins and Tommy really can't get along with anyone!

Seriously, I love this episode.

We begin with the announcement that school elections are being held. Billy decides that Tommy would make a good president, and we wonder if Billy hit his head before the episode began. The slogan he comes up with for Tommy's campaign (Tommy Oliver - the best man for the job) just confirms this. Why would Tommy be good at being president? What are his qualifications? Has he expressed any interest in running for student council? I think not.

Aisha clearly has some sense, because she pulls Kim aside and tells her that sometimes the best man for the job is a woman, and that Kim should run for class president. This is slightly better. But do you know who would make an awesome class president? Aisha. You know, the one who already has control issues and wants to improve the community? Remember that? But instead Aisha decides that Kim should run and she'll manage the campaign.

Kimberly asks Tommy if he'd be okay with her running against him. He tells her it's fine, and I don't see why he has a say in it. *grumpy* But the fact is, he does support her in this, so he gets about a million points for that. The two of them agree to have a nice campaign since they're friends. Aww.

In an amazing nod to continuity, Skull would also like to be class president. He will get rid of homework, detention, and school if he's elected. Bulk ignores him for a minute, and then decides that he should run for president on a campaign promise of revealing the Rangers' secret identities. He seems to think these will be in the school files. ... Right. Skull sulks for a minute, and then supports Bulk. Don't worry, Skull, we're only a season and a half away from Bulk supporting you!

Up on the moon, Rita and Zedd start arguing over who could come up with a better plan to destroy the Rangers. Zedd goes off to plot, while Rita just pulls out the glowing rope of doom and puts a spell on Tommy and Kim to make them really try to beat each other. Because we need another lesson in learning to get along. (Common denominator of all of those spells - Tommy. HA.) As soon as they trip over the glowing rope of doom they begin to bicker, and clearly the writers' know exactly what Tommy's weaknesses are, because Kimberly hits the nail on the head with her insults.

The next day Tommy is drawing a mustache and a beard on Kimberly's poster. Billy shows up and is all horrified, but Tommy just then covers up his own handiwork with a sign of himself. Billy lets Tommy know that they're ahead in the polls by 15% (really? When was this poll? They just announced this earlier that day! And are we sure the polling data is accurate?) and Tommy tells him he wants to beat Kim by 50%. Kimberly and Aisha show up, and Kim and Tommy start arguing about who will win. They accost some random guy in the hall, and Tommy is all "You WILL vote for me, right?" except Kimberly grabs the same guy and informs Tommy he'll vote for her. "Win with Kim!" (Which is a much better slogan than the best man for the job. Anyway.) Billy walks off with Tommy, and Kimberly defaces Tommy's poster so that it says "Don't Vote For Dummy." *DEAD*

Bulk is campaigning in a top hat. How is he so awesome?

Rocky and Adam finally show up. We're pretty sure that they were off making out. Or they just didn't want to choose between their friends. I like the first theory better.

Tommy finds a note taped to his locker telling him to go to the park if he wants information on how to destroy Kimberly. He goes, and it is, of course, a trap. Goldar and some putties are waiting for him. There's a pretty awesome fight scene, but Tommy is quickly overwhelmed. Zordon actually notices something, and calls the other Rangers, who are busy confronting Kim about the negative campaign. Kimberly mocks Tommy for getting into trouble again, and then the five Rangers morph in the hallway. Secret identities? Really?

Kim and Tommy spend the whole fight arguing with each other. Goldar is totally confused, because they're completely ignoring him, trampling any putties who get in the way of their bickering. Goldar finally manages to get their attention by stealing Saba and Kimberly and Tommy continue to argue over whose fault it was.

Back at the Command Center, Billy has finally realized that maybe the two of them are under a spell. Zordon agrees, and says that smelling roses will fix it.

.....

Right. So they smell the roses and apologize to each other. Tommy stays behind to help Alpha build an electromagnet (I DON'T EVEN KNOW) to get Saba back, while the other Rangers go back to the park. Keep in mind they are at the park. This is important. Rita is actually on Earth (although we don't get to see her bicycle) and she uses Saba to summon the tigerzord. The other Rangers call the megazord and they fight. Except the fight scene keeps going between a fight at the lake and a fight in downtown. I'm pretty sure there aren't any giant buildings in the middle of Angel Grove park, except they clearly squash one during the fight. Angel Grove geography makes no sense at all.

Tommy shows up with the magnet and they get the sword back, and Rita teleports back to the moon. Everyone is happy.

Later, at the Youth Center the candidates are giving their speeches. Why this is being held at the juice bar and not in the school we.... have no idea. Kim is wrapping up a speech, where she has clearly outlined a plan and has done research. (Or Aisha has. I have a theory.) Tommy gets up to give his speech, and instead says that actually, Kim would be better at this than he would be, because she clearly has a plan, and he's just there to look pretty. So he forfeits.

Skull shows up, all one man band and announces Bulk. Bulk is all dressed up as Uncle Sam and makes his speech about the identity of the Rangers. Then the elections are held. I guess there are only 100 people in the whole school? But Kim wins. Bulk demands a recount, and the principal tells him that he only got one vote. Bulk glares at Skull, and Skull says that Kim made an awesome speech.

I am actually not too happy with this election - I would have liked Kim to win based on her awesome speech, and not just because Tommy dropped out and basically gave it to her. She did the research, and Tommy wasn't prepared. Basically, she won by default, and I'm just not okay with that.

Oh well.

Five episodes left in the season! We're getting there!

Fish: 3.5! Hey, we've gotten out of the high fish episodes!

Fic people should write us: President Aisha! And grownup!Skull/Kim!

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

Episode 77 - White Light - Part 1

First, a bit of housekeeping. We changed the tag "Green Ranger era" to "Tommy era." Just in case anyone is wondering.

So. Tommy. Yeah. I hate this episode. I loved it when I was ten. But the thing that actually is going to cause the rage blackout happens in part 2, so I'll try not to rant about it that much.

The episode opens with Bulk and Skull (who are decked out as explorers on a safari, IDEK) demand to know where their sandwiches are. Trini snarkily calls them out on their rudeness, as she is awesome.

Kimberly bounces in, all excited because Tommy has sent her a letter (I guess he remembered which Ranger he's actually dating) telling her that he'll be back at the end of the week. I have no idea what happens next, because we held an all caps conversation about this.

second_batgirl: SERIOUSLY, WHERE WAS HE?
queenriley: okay, WHERE THE HELL DID HE GO IN THE FIRST PLACE????? Does he not have SCHOOL???
second_batgirl: APPARENTLY NOT
queenriley: I can't imagine school gives sabbatical for "I lost my ranger powers"

So we finally decided that they have to be on summer vacation or something. We already know that Miss Applebee teaches everything, so I guess that works? (Alternately, the administration knows that they're Rangers and does give a sabbatical for "I lost my powers.")

Anyway, at the Command Center it turns out that Zordon and Alpha are going to work on a project, so they shut down the Command Center without telling the Rangers. Do they not remember what happened the last time Zordon shut down? (I guess since Alpha isn't going to go rescue baby!Dillon this time, they didn't feel the need to call them.) Zedd, who is as awesome at surveillance as Rita was, immediately notices something weird, and then gives us a fish filled explanation about how the Morphin Grid is maintained by a balance of Zedd and Zordon. Right. I guess it's also supported by some giant fish. So Zedd decides this would be a great time to a) capture Tommy again and b) send down a monster named Nimrod.

Back on Earth, Zack, Curtis and Jasosn are playing sports and damn, Jason has nice arms. Then Rita's garbage pail crashes on Earth, and Bulk and Skull decide this is the sign that will tell them who the Power Rangers are. Right. I'm not entirely sure why it took 17 episodes for her to land on Earth. Maybe some fish were blocking her path.

At his uncle's lake, we see Tommy getting out of the lake. Wow, for a moment both of us thought he was naked. Those swim trunks were remarkably close to the color of his skin. Anyway, gratuitous shirtless soaking wet Tommy is gratuitous. And then he gets teleported out by someone in a flash of white light. Hmmm.

Zack wanders over to get a football, and he finds the statue covered in slime, so he calls the others. They are all concerned by the slime, but none of them bother to inspect the back of the statue, which has the monster's head on it. The Rangers soon discover that Zordon isn't answering their communicators, so they teleport to the Command Center which is totally shut down. However, Billy manages to access what we're guessing is the footage from the security cameras, so they teleport down to his lab to check it out.

While in the lab everything starts to shake, so they realize that a monster is attacking. It's Nimrod, and it's two helpers AC and DC. I love this show so much. Midway through the battle Billy teleports to the Command Center to go figure out what Zordon and Alpha are up to. He enters the same code he saw Alpha put in, and falls through the door of light. Instead of ending up in the main room where Alpha and Zordon are, he lands in the room above them, which conveniently has a grate for him to look through. Zordon and Alpha fail at noticing his presence, but Billy is able to see that there's another Ranger....

To be continued. Tomorrow.

Fish: 3.5 The fish sure nudged a lot of plot points into place today.

Billy speak: There was a lot of borderline comments, but the only thing of note was "The activity disc is showing the combination of controls that Alpha coordinated."

Covered in: I did mention soaking wet Tommy and the lake, right?

Episode 75 - Orchestral Maneuvers in the Park

We're back! It's been a not-so-great two weeks (I had a car accident this morning, and is just back from the funeral) and how do we make ourselves feel better? Clearly, the answer is to watch a fish filled episode.

We open at the Juice Bar, where Richie is working in Ernie's job. I miss Ernie, why is he not there today? Curtis shows up, and attempts to have a personality that isn't an exact clone of Zack by telling everyone that he's going to be performing in a jazz concert at the Youth Center that day, except he's worried that his trumpet won't show up in time since it's still on the moving van coming from St. Louis.

And that would be where the episode lost me. Look, my younger brother is a musician. He's at a conservatory for college. He plays the double bass which is freaking huge and it goes with him everywhere, because if you care that much about music then you do not go that long without practicing! And you certainly don't trust the instrument to a moving van. So, I'm already calling fish and we're not even two minutes into the episode.

Zack tells Curtis not to worry - maybe he could use their uncle's trumpet! Their uncle was apparently a famous musician, and for some reason the trumpet is at Zack's house. Really? Zack is a dancer, not a musician. Wouldn't the trumpet, you know, go to Curtis who actually plays the instrument? More fish!

Zack, Kimberly, and Billy go to Zack's house (which we sadly don't get to see) to retrieve the trumpet. Instead, they walk through the park, where Zack is just carrying the trumpet. It isn't in a case or anything. Cue music related rage - that is not how you handle an instrument. Especially when you are walking through Angel Grove Park and have a fairly high chance of getting jumped by putties that would require you to put the trumpet on the ground!

Which... well, guess what happens. Zedd has a plan to put a spell on the trumpet that will make the Rangers hallucinate their old foes, and then they will wear themselves out fighting the illusions. Okay, a few things about this plan. Not that it isn't a good plan, but why is Zedd using all of Rita's monsters? Why doesn't he just send out a bunch of real monsters of his own? They always have enough trouble taking on one monster, just make six or seven of them and send them down at the same time! And why are his illusions solid?

So, the three of them fight the Putties, and while they're fighting another Putty shows up to sprinkle magical fairy dust on the trumpet. Nice plan! Also, for some reason Zack isn't wearing any black - we guess he's the yellow Ranger this episode.

Meanwhile, Bulk and Skull have a plan to figure out who the Rangers are. They're going to make castings of their bootprints, and then have everyone in Angel Grove step in them. Nice plan! There is so much wrong with that plan I can't even figure out where to begin. Let's start with the obvious - the Rangers wear boots. I feel that I've said enough on that subject, so instead I will point out that Bulk came up with this plan because of Cinderella - the movie where the prince is surrounded by all the babes to try on a shoe. *DEAD* Then Bulk makes Skull do all the work, and we spend the next few minutes debating whether it should be Cinderskull or Skullerella. Oh, and then Bulk gets covered in concrete. I thought we'd moved passed this stage.

Back at the Youth Center, Curtis is performing with the magical trumpet, and the actors are really bad at pretending to play. The Rangers all seem to enjoy it, and as he plays they get covered in the fairy dust. After the concert, the best exchange ever occurs.

Billy: Your musical prowess far exceeded my expectations.
Trini: He means you were incredible.

Except that totally isn't what he meant. He meant that he thought that Curtis wasn't going to be that great. Oh, Billy, please continue to snark at people who can't understand you. ♥

Anyway, then the trumpet disappears, because it's been captured by Zedd. Instead, everyone figures that maybe someone walked off with it. I guess Angel Grove has a problem with kleptomaniacs or something. The five Rangers go walking through the park, and then they get attacked by a bunch of old monsters!

Roll call! Fighting Flea! Slippery Shark! Praying Mantis! Grumble Bee! Rhinoblaster! Soccadillo! Saliguana! Stag Beetle! (For the record, I object to this list. If it was going to be a best of their foes, why is the Terror Toad not on it?)

Anyway, so they have a long fight, and Bulk and Skull come and watch and make plans to capture the footprints after. Zordon finally notices what is going on and teleports them out. Kimberly says that the fighting was worse than the mall the day after Christmas. Kim, honey, we think you mean the day after Thanksgiving. (Not that the day after Christmas is a day we would go to the mall either. But then again, I try to avoid the mall during the entire holiday season.) Zordon tells them to go fight the real monster (which he had been previously insisting that there weren't any monsters on Earth, except this one was there the whole time) and then they go and there's a long Zord summoning, and they fight it and the world is safe again.

At the Youth Center, Billy returns the trumpet to Curtis, who is very pleased. Then Bulk and Skull show up with their concrete impressions of the Rangers's footprints. I'm really impressed that they're carrying it, but I guess if Bulk can do 1010 bench presses we shouldn't be that surprised. Zack arranges for a crowd of people to trample them so they drop it. Oh, Power Rangers, never change.

Fish: 3.5. We're being generous since we haven't watched an episode in two weeks.

Billy speak: "I've always been fascinated by the intricate rhythms in jazz."
"Your musical prowess far exceeded my expectations."
"How do you explain the phenomenon that just took place?"

Covered in concrete: Bulk.

Episode 67- The Green Dream

Yay! We get to use the Tommy is better when he's evil tag again!

So we start the episode out at the end of class. The students are reminded that their essay is due on Friday. It needs to be 500 words long and about something that interests them. Clearly, the rangers are either in third grade or attend TSB's grad school and this is their final.

Bulk and Skull haven't started theirs yet, but they decide they're going to write about finding out the real identities of the Power Rangers. Oh boys. *pets*

In the hallway, Tommy doesn't hear Kim because he's thinking about the nightmare he's had three nights in a row now. He's dreaming about losing his powers. This is actually a completely normal and healthy response to something major in one's life and for all that I dislike the character, his wooby face makes me want to give him a hug. Meanwhile, they talk VERY LOUDLY about losing the green ranger powers in the middle of the hallway. Secret identities. They don't work like that.

Zedd overhears from the moon (but none of the kids standing next to them do?) and decides to take advantage of that little nightmare. Oh, Zedd! *dreamy fangirl sigh*

At the Youth Center, Billy explains a device he's created that scrambles electronic waves up to twenty feet. He's determined to build an even bigger version that can scramble Zedd's electronic waves from the moon. How that won't interfere with anything else, I'm not sure, but it's Billy and he's awesome so I'll go along with it. Tommy joins them and talks about how hard the paper is going to be and his nightmares and how he fails at being Emo Ranger. He's off to the library to find a book on mythology, as that's what he's decided to write his paper on. Before he can leave, however, Bulk and Skull come in with some sort of device. It's somehow going to find some specific signal to tell them who the rangers are. They almost hone in on our six heroes when Billy sets off his scrambler and directs Bulk and Skull to Ernie. Ernie's pretending is kind of cute, actually. Defeated, they leave and Tommy follows. At some point Jason was mocking Bulk and Skull, but I was too busy being distracted by his pretty pretty arms to notice what he said.

Tommy's alone in the park, which is never a good thing. Sure enough, he's attacked by putties, captured, and teleported to the Cave of Captivity where he's confronted by Goldar. Goldar is rather sad he had to get Tommy instead of Jason. Tommy swears he won't go evil again and then is promptly put under a spell and swears his allegiance to Lord Zedd. Oh Tommy. Good try there, honey.

He goes back to the Youth Center, his kidnapping and spell going completely unnoticed, and then Zordon calls them all to the Command Center. Apparently Zedd has sent down the Robogoat. Tommy wants to fight, they want him to conserve his powers, yada yada yada. He has a suggestion! Maybe the Convenient Plot Device, I mean, the Sword of Power (which I don't think we ever see again), can infuse him with enough power to fight now! They summon it, he reveals his evilness, and teleports away with the Convenient Plot Device. He gives it to the Robogoat and suddenly the spell is broken. Why? Why let him be good again? I can only assume the plan was intercepted by a large school of fish.

He fights, he falls, his power starts to fail, whatever. This whole time Zordon "can't locate his signal" so the rangers are just kind of standing around. As soon as Tommy is down for good, Zordon miraculously finds him. Now, he can analyze a monster in a matter of seconds, he can teleport people into a supposedly impenetrable dark dimension, and yet he can't find Tommy out in the open in the "we fight here every day" abandoned rock quarry. I'm beginning to think Zordon does this on purpose and it's all an evil plot to get rid of Tommy for good. He's purposely sabotaging Tommy. Or maybe he just got distracted by the fish. Either way.

So the others morph and go fight the Robogoat. He bleats evilly at them which really is more adorable than threatening. I just want to scritch him between his little horns.

The rangers, excluding Jason, fall into a hole and disappear. Jason fights the Robogoat for the Convenient Plot Device. Zordon manages to teleport it back to the Command Center, Robogoat lets the other rangers out of energy bubbles (but they fell in a hole in the ground! FISHY FISH FISH what?), and then they all summon zords and fight. Tommy is sad because he is almost out of power and even Dragonzord won't come fight. The other rangers use their spiffy sword to blow up the monster, and the fight is over. Darn.

Back at a very empty school, Tommy is sitting on the steps trying to be Emo Ranger. Kim is trying to comfort him and Jason either needs acting lessons or really actually doesn't care because he's more condescending than comforting.

List time:
3.5 fish... the Convenient Plot Device was the only glaring problem, but get enough little fish and it adds up.

Billy speak: "It's capable of scrambling electronic signals up to 20 feet away." I consider it borderline Billy speak, but it's all we get this episode, so there you go.

Episode 66 - Bloom Of Doom

Today on Power Rangers - Kimberly and Trini are totally girlfriends BFF, Bulk proposes the greatest crossover since we found out Batman exists in the Power Rangers Universe and Kimberly proves why she is my favorite female Ranger.

So, we open with a club fair. Apparently this is the last day to sign up for clubs. If you move in the middle of the year you aren't allowed to join. Sorry, Stone Canyon Trio! Also, it appears that you can only sign up for one club. Angel Grove makes no sense.

Zack is running a hip hop kido club, which means we get gratuitous shots of him dancing. *fans self* You know, they could just show us 22 minutes of that, I'd have no real problem. Jason, Tommy and Billy don't seem to have any clubs (really, Billy, you aren't running Young Scientists of America? And Jason and Tommy aren't doing something martial arts related? Okay, whatever, we guess they're busy joining the fishing club.) Trini is running the volleyball club, and the show remembered that Kimberly has an interest in flowers so points for continuity! Nobody seems to be interested in joining Kimberly's club, they're all signing up for Trini's. Poor Kimberly is a little bit jealous, which is a perfectly normal reaction. And really, how many high school students are going to sign up for a gardening club?

Zedd sees a sign of weakness among the Rangers, and decides to put a spell on Kimberly to magnify her jealousy and tear the team apart. At least that's what he says he's going to do - unfortunately it appears that a fish got in the way of his plans. Anyway, he sends a putty down to replace Kimberly's cactus with one that will put a spell on her, instead of just hitting it with something from space. The putty has long hair and a trenchcoat. Clearly, he's evil. And we lose a few minutes laughing hysterically.

Oh, and did we mention that Bulk and Skull are running the unsolved mysteries club? How much do we love them, seriously. Of course, we find out that they had to bribe people to join their club, and I just want to hug them both, even if they are horribly mean to Kimberly.

While the putty is stealing Kim's cactus, Ernie makes Kim a drink, and is very much the inappropriate friends, the older generation. Oh, Ernie, we know that you're just trying to make sure that the Rangers all stay emotionally stable.

Anyway, Kimberly talks to her cactus, and then is under a spell. Amy Jo Johnson does bitchy really well. Ernie suggests that Tommy give her some flowers to cheer her up, but really, it doesn't count if Tommy doesn't think of it himself. Kimberly bitches out both Trini and Tommy, and then goes off to her garden. Seriously, I love her so much.

Trini's first practice for volleyball club is apparently 15 minutes after the club fair ends, which makes me assume that she didn't help clean up. Fail, Trini! She's also not very good at teaching volleyball, but we'll forgive her. Especially because her hair is adorable. Soon after Jason and Tommy show up to discuss Kim, and Trini's practice must have been really short. They say that normally Kim wouldn't be upset about nobody signing up for her club, because Rangers aren't allowed to experience any sort of negative emotion, they must be happy and perky all the time. No wonder Tommy is so much better when he's evil.

While this is going on, Zedd creates the Bloom of Doom, which will give everyone bad allergies. Speaking as someone with horrible allergies, this is a perfectly good way to conquer the planet. Zordon notices the monster (although he hasn't yet realized that Kimberly is under a spell) and tells the Rangers to go to the cityside of the park. The cityside? How big is this park? How does the geography work? Is the other side the beach? Angel Grove geography makes no sense!

Trini is concerned that Tommy's powers will fail, but Zordon says it is up to Tommy, and Tommy is determined to go fight.

Meanwhile, in Kimberly's garden, her communicator beeps, and Kimberly does the best over the top perky voice ever when she answers. Oh, Kim, I ♥ you. Zordon comes up with a new weapon for her, which is a ribbon. It will... do something. IDK.

The Rangers all go to fight the monster and the fish take over the episode. What's the point of Zedd's plan again? Kimberly is still fighting the monster, and the other Rangers are concerned about her, but it isn't tearing the team apart, so I really don't know what Zedd was trying to accomplish. However, the Bloom of Doom spits its fire pollen at them, and they are so overcome by the allergens that they start doing flips. Kimberly almost manages to destroy the monster with her ribbon thing, but Trini tries to finish off the monster by hitting it, which temporarily shreds the ribbon, and Kim yells at her. That isn't really Trini's fault, nobody bothered to fill her in on the new weapon. Fail, Zordon! Anyway, somehow Kim gets stuck in another dimension, the other Rangers all miraculously recover from their allergy attacks, and they go back to the Command Center to discuss.

Billy's suggestion is that Trini needs to throw her daggers at a 90 degree angle and that will a) free Kimberly and b) break the spell.

... OH, SHOW. For real? Okay. I guess that isn't quite as bad as negative protons. Trini does so, and Kim is free, and then they all summon the power weapons and defeat the Bloom of Doom.

Back at the Youth Center, the club fair is still apparently going on, since there are a bunch of girls who were apparently sent to the wrong location to sign up. The principal apologizes for messing up the ad in the school paper (... the principal does the ad in the paper? Oh, Angel Grove. Fail harder.) and Kimberly says next time she'll call all the girls personally. But if she knew they wanted to sign up, why didn't she call them before she flipped out? Meanwhile, she apologizes to Trini for being a giant bitch, even though she was under a spell. Whatever.

Bulk and Skull show up and threaten to reveal the identities of the power rangers. They don't. For some reason the Rangers actually appeared worried.

Oh, and Bulk introduces himself as Indiana Bulk, and I demand that a crossover exist immediately

Fish: 3.5. Zedd's plan makes no sense.

Billy speak: "It's incendiary pollen, I feel like I'm going to spontaneously combust."
"If you throw your daggers at a 90 degree directional course"

Questions: Describe the geography of Angel Grove. We'll give you a cookie if you can!