Hey, Tommy is in the credits! We're officially back in the Green Ranger era. Oh well.
Back at the Command Center, Kimberly asks what good Tommy's coin will do. Alpha says that they've located their parents, but... we'd already seen that! Why is this news? It isn't like they can teleport them out.
Tommy gets teleported to the Command Center, and Rita gets the best reaction shot on her face ever. But Rita decides not to worry that much, and instead decides it is time to conquer Earth once and for all.
Jason gives Tommy his coin back, and Tommy is all "WTF is going on?" We skip the explanations, and Tommy asks how that will work. Zordon says that he'll infuse Tommy with his own energy, but Billy says it's dangerous, and we find out that the powers could fail at any time. Tommy says he'll take that risk.
Cut to Goldar summoning Dragonzord and destroying part of Angel Grove. How is Tommy supposed to get control of his Zord back anyway? Billy tells us that if Zordon drains too much of his energy he'll cease to exist. Seriously?
Tommy is all "Whee! Powers!" Oh, the shield of cheap bling. We've almost missed you. but not quite."
Goldar and Tommy start fighting, and for some reason the box containing Power Coins appears. Why would Goldar do that? I mean, seriously! Tommy gets attacked by Putties, and it is a pretty nice fight scene. But then Tommy falls down, and Goldar taunts him. Zordon's energy level is apparently dangerously low. Jason tells Alpha to turn up the power, and the shield of cheap bling glows. Tommy's powers start to fail, and he reaches for the box of power coins. He doesn't manage to get that because it electrocutes him or something, but he does get the Dragonzord. Goldar and Scorpina grow, and seriously, the Dragonzord is awesome. For all I can't stand Tommy, I love his Zord. Plus, Scorpina. She's awesome.
Also, the song is nice. The music for this show is fabulous. Zordon starts fading out, so Tommy has used too much power or something. They're going to try to bring Tommy back. Just as Tommy's powers fail and the shield of cheap bling glows menacingly, Tommy grabs the power coins and then passes out in the Command Center. Kimberly kneels by his head, and I'll refrain from commenting on that.
Alpha and the other Rangers come up with a plan to bring Zordon back. They're going to combine their power coins to infuse Zordon with energy, and apparently Zordon is Captain Planet! Seriously, they call on their combined powers.
Now that Zordon is back, Rita attacks. Zordon tells them that if they destroy the monster, their parents will come back. They all morph and go fight the monster, which emits gas from its armpits. Eww. Everyone but Kimberly ends up under a spell.
Back at the Command Center, Tommy starts levitating and glowing green. This is never a good sign.
The Rangers are all apparently Zombies under the spell, and they start lumbering towards Kimberly yelling "attack the Pink Ranger." Tommy apparently is electrically charged, and that restored his powers? Whatever. Fish. He morphs and that causes a giant lightning storm that breaks the spell? I don't even know. I guess it's because he's the most special Ranger ever or whatever.
Rita makes the monster grow, and it really looks like a less hairy ROUS. They summon the Zords and it's suddenly night out. Good thing Billy fixed that powered by the sun flaw. I really want a Dragon Dagger. I hope they sell one in the new toy line. They summon Ultrazord and blow up the monster. Rita has a headache.
Back at the Command Center, we find out their parents have been freed. They're probably worried about where their kids are. Even if supposedly they remember nothing. We get warned that Tommy's powers could fail at any time, but he will remain a Power Ranger anyway. At the Youth Center, the Rangers hug their parents and tell them how much they love them. The thing with Kimberly's divorced parents was actually really sweet. And then she introduces them to Tommy.
Bulk and Skull decide to start a food fight. Everyone gets covered in pie. Ms. Applebee gets her revenge on the principal for not hiring another teacher by getting him. The Rangers make stand in the hallway and laugh.
Fish: 3.5 It does have Tommy, and the whole thing with his powers makes very little sense.
Covered in food: Did you see the part about the food fight?
Showing posts with label shield of cheap bling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shield of cheap bling. Show all posts
Friday, October 16, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Episode 37- Clean-Up Club
Today on Power Rangers we are, once again, reminded that Angel Grove lacks quality education. And that we're old.
We start out in Ms. Applebee's class. She is the only teacher employed by Angel Grove High School and there is, apparently, only one very large classroom. Today they are doing video documentaries. On VHS tapes. Oh god we are so OLD.
Skull is filming Bulk. That is apparently going to be their documentary.
Trini does a documentary on pollution. Ms. Applebee agrees it's a disturbing trend and Trini proposes a Clean-Up Club to get cracking on all that pollution in Angel Grove. The other rangers immediately volunteer to join the club.
Meanwhile, Rita is spying on them. Per usual. She decides to foil their recycling plans by creating and sending down the Polluticorn monster. It's a unicorn with claws that... pollutes. Really? On Power Rangers? Okay, he's kind of lame here, but we think he would be ten times more awesome as a Captain Planet monster. He would totally work there. Here, not so much.
We then see them all at the Youth Center later that day. They're wearing matching green shirts that say Clean-Up Club. Those got made awfully fast. Jason and Zack karate chop some cans and Billy is painting some recycle bins for the Juice Bar. Apparently nobody has ever recycled in Angel Grove before. Ever. Despite the last attempt at cleaning up pollution.
The kids all head to a park to do some clean up and it is absolutely TRASHED. I've never seen anything look that bad, even with horrible litter, unless a tornado just hit. Or it was my kids' bedroom. Either way, their park has NEVER looked this bad. Billy takes a soil sample and puts it in some solution in a test tube and it immediately turns green, which means the park is totally polluted. First of all, soil samples don't work that way. Second of all, SCIENCE does not work that way.
Lots of acrobatics ensue while the rangers clean up the gigantic mess, and all without wearing gloves. I shudder at the thought. Mostly it seems to be just paper lying about, so it fills up a bunch of trash bags, but doesn't take that long to clean. Billy then immediately tests the soil again (not how it works, Billy) and magically it comes out clean, all pollution gone. NOT HOW IT WORKS, SHOW!
Rita, however, interrupts. She sends down some putties and a really awesome fight scene takes place amidst the trash. Billy is really improving his fighting skills here. They also let David Yost show off his mad gymnastics skills and I am very impressed. I wish they'd let him show off like that more often. They do a pyramid of awesome and Kim and Trini tag team some putties. Then Jason has really nice arms. And a nice ass. But mostly nice arms.
Goldar and Scorpina head down with Polluticorn and the rangers morph. Jason has gotten really good at his "It's morphin time!" exclamations and we assume he's taken some lessons from Tommy. Tommy is good at getting Jason enthusiastic about things. They fight and then end up going back to the Command Center, where Zordon is running an analysis on the Polluticorn.
Billy is asked to decipher the results, calls Zordon "Sir", and then they waste a lot of paper. All for Billy to discover they need to cut off the Polluticorn's horn to stop him. So they morph and go fight him at a recycling plant. I have to wonder though... if there wasn't any recycling in Angel Grove before, why do they have a huge recycling plant? While I ponder these pressing questions, Jason goes to fight Polluticorn on his own while the others go after Goldar and Scorpina. It's a pretty impressive fight, actually.
Jason has to pull out the Shield of Cheap Bling and then Rita makes Polluticorn grow, lest Jason and his Shield of Cheap Bling stop him. They have the shortest Zord summoning sequence ever and then beat him with just the MegaZord. It's really pretty cool to see them beat a monster with just the MegaZord again. I missed it's awesomeness.
After the fight, back at the Youth Center, they watch Reporter Guy report on the latest monster attack. They sure do watch themselves a lot. Deciding it's time to get working, they go down and start adding to large stacks of papers, plastic bottles, and soda cans. Whomever thought it was a good idea to stack 500 soda cans needs to be smacked upside their head. We suspect it was Billy, as he's the only one stacking, but we can't be sure. This, of course, will not end well.
And right on cue, in walk Bulk and Skull. Skull is still filming Bulk, who's trying to appear helpful. Skull falls into the papers and bottles and Bulk, laughing, trips over a tire and knocks down the entire soda can tower. Surprise, surprise, surprise.
In school the following day, in the only class run by the only teacher, she very rudely tells Bulk it's his turn. Skull hands over the VHS tape (OMGwearesoOLD) and it's a video that makes Bulk look really really bad. Ms. Applebee, apparently gunning for the Worst Teacher of the Year award, laughs at them. Bulk then attempts to chase Skull out of the classroom but can't get out of his desk because he is, apparently, too fat. Everyone laughs some more. Way to go with the fat jokes, Power Rangers.
All in all, we give this episode only 1.5 fish. It's pretty consistent overall and the only real glaringly obvious problem with it is the science. Science does not work how Billy pretends it works.
Billy Speak: "I'm deeply concerned about the ecological ramifications of ozone depletion, acid rain, deforestation and the loss of our top soils."
"I'm using a special mixture of totally organic paint, pigmented with various natural substances."
"This kind of wanton disregard is so destructive to such a fragile ecosystem."
"My analysis shows that the Polluticorn derives its power from its horn."
Covered in food: nobody (though Bulk is covered in recycling and garbage bags, but not food)... we may have to retire this category soon.
Discussion question: Why was there a large recycling plant if nobody recycled before Trini started the Clean-Up Club? Also, if they only intend to recycle one day a week (as stated with the club), what do they do the rest of the time?
We start out in Ms. Applebee's class. She is the only teacher employed by Angel Grove High School and there is, apparently, only one very large classroom. Today they are doing video documentaries. On VHS tapes. Oh god we are so OLD.
Skull is filming Bulk. That is apparently going to be their documentary.
Trini does a documentary on pollution. Ms. Applebee agrees it's a disturbing trend and Trini proposes a Clean-Up Club to get cracking on all that pollution in Angel Grove. The other rangers immediately volunteer to join the club.
Meanwhile, Rita is spying on them. Per usual. She decides to foil their recycling plans by creating and sending down the Polluticorn monster. It's a unicorn with claws that... pollutes. Really? On Power Rangers? Okay, he's kind of lame here, but we think he would be ten times more awesome as a Captain Planet monster. He would totally work there. Here, not so much.
We then see them all at the Youth Center later that day. They're wearing matching green shirts that say Clean-Up Club. Those got made awfully fast. Jason and Zack karate chop some cans and Billy is painting some recycle bins for the Juice Bar. Apparently nobody has ever recycled in Angel Grove before. Ever. Despite the last attempt at cleaning up pollution.
The kids all head to a park to do some clean up and it is absolutely TRASHED. I've never seen anything look that bad, even with horrible litter, unless a tornado just hit. Or it was my kids' bedroom. Either way, their park has NEVER looked this bad. Billy takes a soil sample and puts it in some solution in a test tube and it immediately turns green, which means the park is totally polluted. First of all, soil samples don't work that way. Second of all, SCIENCE does not work that way.
Lots of acrobatics ensue while the rangers clean up the gigantic mess, and all without wearing gloves. I shudder at the thought. Mostly it seems to be just paper lying about, so it fills up a bunch of trash bags, but doesn't take that long to clean. Billy then immediately tests the soil again (not how it works, Billy) and magically it comes out clean, all pollution gone. NOT HOW IT WORKS, SHOW!
Rita, however, interrupts. She sends down some putties and a really awesome fight scene takes place amidst the trash. Billy is really improving his fighting skills here. They also let David Yost show off his mad gymnastics skills and I am very impressed. I wish they'd let him show off like that more often. They do a pyramid of awesome and Kim and Trini tag team some putties. Then Jason has really nice arms. And a nice ass. But mostly nice arms.
Goldar and Scorpina head down with Polluticorn and the rangers morph. Jason has gotten really good at his "It's morphin time!" exclamations and we assume he's taken some lessons from Tommy. Tommy is good at getting Jason enthusiastic about things. They fight and then end up going back to the Command Center, where Zordon is running an analysis on the Polluticorn.
Billy is asked to decipher the results, calls Zordon "Sir", and then they waste a lot of paper. All for Billy to discover they need to cut off the Polluticorn's horn to stop him. So they morph and go fight him at a recycling plant. I have to wonder though... if there wasn't any recycling in Angel Grove before, why do they have a huge recycling plant? While I ponder these pressing questions, Jason goes to fight Polluticorn on his own while the others go after Goldar and Scorpina. It's a pretty impressive fight, actually.
Jason has to pull out the Shield of Cheap Bling and then Rita makes Polluticorn grow, lest Jason and his Shield of Cheap Bling stop him. They have the shortest Zord summoning sequence ever and then beat him with just the MegaZord. It's really pretty cool to see them beat a monster with just the MegaZord again. I missed it's awesomeness.
After the fight, back at the Youth Center, they watch Reporter Guy report on the latest monster attack. They sure do watch themselves a lot. Deciding it's time to get working, they go down and start adding to large stacks of papers, plastic bottles, and soda cans. Whomever thought it was a good idea to stack 500 soda cans needs to be smacked upside their head. We suspect it was Billy, as he's the only one stacking, but we can't be sure. This, of course, will not end well.
And right on cue, in walk Bulk and Skull. Skull is still filming Bulk, who's trying to appear helpful. Skull falls into the papers and bottles and Bulk, laughing, trips over a tire and knocks down the entire soda can tower. Surprise, surprise, surprise.
In school the following day, in the only class run by the only teacher, she very rudely tells Bulk it's his turn. Skull hands over the VHS tape (OMGwearesoOLD) and it's a video that makes Bulk look really really bad. Ms. Applebee, apparently gunning for the Worst Teacher of the Year award, laughs at them. Bulk then attempts to chase Skull out of the classroom but can't get out of his desk because he is, apparently, too fat. Everyone laughs some more. Way to go with the fat jokes, Power Rangers.
All in all, we give this episode only 1.5 fish. It's pretty consistent overall and the only real glaringly obvious problem with it is the science. Science does not work how Billy pretends it works.
Billy Speak: "I'm deeply concerned about the ecological ramifications of ozone depletion, acid rain, deforestation and the loss of our top soils."
"I'm using a special mixture of totally organic paint, pigmented with various natural substances."
"This kind of wanton disregard is so destructive to such a fragile ecosystem."
"My analysis shows that the Polluticorn derives its power from its horn."
Covered in food: nobody (though Bulk is covered in recycling and garbage bags, but not food)... we may have to retire this category soon.
Discussion question: Why was there a large recycling plant if nobody recycled before Trini started the Clean-Up Club? Also, if they only intend to recycle one day a week (as stated with the club), what do they do the rest of the time?
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Episode 36 - Birds of a Feather
Today on Power Rangers we get our first real taste of All-About-Tommy syndrome, in which an episode that looks like it will be about one character turns out to be about another character. Of course, since Tommy lost his powers last time, it isn't actually about him. This episode just looked like it was going to be all about Zack, but then turned out to be mostly about Jason. Which is still good, it's just that we want Zack to have more episodes! He is awesome!
While the credits were rolling, we actually had a discussion about why we think Rita is awesome. In the words of Queenriley, it is because she's in a cramped little space dumpster for 10,000 years and the first thing she wants to do is conquer Earth... not have a pee, not have a drink, not even have a cheeseburger. She just wants to rule the world. Seriously, Rita, we salute you and your total awesomeness.
The actual episode opens with a martial arts lesson, and miracle of miracles it isn't Jason teaching the class! No, they've remembered that Zack has his own style, and we get to see Zack teach a hip hop kido lesson. Not in the park this time, either! He's been promoted to being allowed to teach in the Youth Center. Anyway, Zack and his inappropriately young friend, Cameron, do a kata for the class, and then Cameron falls down. Zack tells him not to worry, and if he just concentrates he'll be great at the competition coming up.
Of course, it wouldn't be time for an encouraging moment between a teacher and a student without Bulk and Skull showing up to try and destroy a child's self-esteem. They have apparently sponsored their own kid in the competition, the appropriately named Biff. Biff shows off, and we're too busy being surprised that actual parents are in the background to pick up their kids from karate class. We didn't think such a thing was possible in Angel Grove.
At the competition, the first thing you need to do is to pay attention to the Rangers' outfits. This isn't just us on another making fun of the fashion thing, although we do enjoy that. It isn't even that Zack has apparently moved on from Jason to Billy (probably because Jason dumped him for Tommy) based on the color of his pants. No, it's that they are going to randomly change clothing in a few minutes and it makes no sense.
Just as the competition is about to start, Jason's communicator goes off. They all need to go fight a monster. Seriously, I'm amazed that Rita didn't pull things like this more often. She could easily ruin them if she made them cut out of tests and competitions and things. And you know, I'm not quite sure why they need Zack immediately anyway. Let him watch his student, for real. They can call him if they desperately need him. That's what they do with Kim later on!
So they go fight the Hatchosaurus and we're barely 5 and a half minutes into the episode, and this is going to be really high fight, isn't it. Jason also summons the dragonzord, since he has Tommy's powers now. And they blow up the monster. There's still 12 minutes left, how does this happen? So we go back to the command center, and seriously, they have all changed outfits.
Rita has apparently devised a spell where she can weaken the Dragonzord. No idea why she never did this before, but apparently it can drain energy from the Zord and also make its arms not move? In other words, she put a giant ring of energy around it or something.
Back at the Command Center, we find out that the reason that the monster is not yet destroyed is because they have to blow up the heart computer, aka the cardiotron. The show gets points for the name, I'll give it that much. They morph again and summon the Megazord to fight the Hatchosaurus, and promptly get beaten up. To help, they summon Dragonzord, but it's taking a while to show up, and they manage to blow up the monster again anyway, but it almost immediately reforms. Also, the Dragonzord falls down without hitting any buildings. We're wondering if the city planners left space for a monster fight or something.
Jason comes up with the brilliant idea of jumping down the monster's throat so he can fight the cardiotron inside it. The cardiotron is pretty creepy (it actually reminds us of a Dalek and has a lot of tentacles. Seriously, Jason, you have a sword. Why are you not slashing at the tentacles? Are you into tentacles? Instead, he just summons Dragonzord repeatedly, but it's still weak, so he summons the Shield of Cheap Bling and Dragonzord wakes up, and the Cardiotron is destroyed and they summon Titanus and hey, everything is fine now!
The next day (supposedly, we're not quite sure how it's the next day especially when they're still wearing the same outfits they change into earlier) they find out that Cameron has made it to the highest martial arts level. Or as normal people call it, the finals. He's up against Biff. surprise, surprise. Zack apologizes to Cameron, who forgives him, and then Cameron wins the competition. Biff tells Bulk and Skull he's getting a new coach, because he doesn't cheat. We like that kid. He looks kinda like the kid who plays young!Rocky.
Anyway, Cameron tells Zack that it's all okay because as long as he made Zack proud, and wow, that line comes off as so inappropriate. Oh, Power Rangers. You worry us, because we know where the inappropriately young friends thing is going. But don't worry, we love you anyway.
Fish: 3. And this is mainly the fault of the wardrobe department. We literally spent more time trying to figure out why they had changed clothes than anything else. Fail, wardrobe department!
Billy speak: "We must disconnect the cardiotron"
"Something is interfering with his mega receptors"
While the credits were rolling, we actually had a discussion about why we think Rita is awesome. In the words of Queenriley, it is because she's in a cramped little space dumpster for 10,000 years and the first thing she wants to do is conquer Earth... not have a pee, not have a drink, not even have a cheeseburger. She just wants to rule the world. Seriously, Rita, we salute you and your total awesomeness.
The actual episode opens with a martial arts lesson, and miracle of miracles it isn't Jason teaching the class! No, they've remembered that Zack has his own style, and we get to see Zack teach a hip hop kido lesson. Not in the park this time, either! He's been promoted to being allowed to teach in the Youth Center. Anyway, Zack and his inappropriately young friend, Cameron, do a kata for the class, and then Cameron falls down. Zack tells him not to worry, and if he just concentrates he'll be great at the competition coming up.
Of course, it wouldn't be time for an encouraging moment between a teacher and a student without Bulk and Skull showing up to try and destroy a child's self-esteem. They have apparently sponsored their own kid in the competition, the appropriately named Biff. Biff shows off, and we're too busy being surprised that actual parents are in the background to pick up their kids from karate class. We didn't think such a thing was possible in Angel Grove.
At the competition, the first thing you need to do is to pay attention to the Rangers' outfits. This isn't just us on another making fun of the fashion thing, although we do enjoy that. It isn't even that Zack has apparently moved on from Jason to Billy (probably because Jason dumped him for Tommy) based on the color of his pants. No, it's that they are going to randomly change clothing in a few minutes and it makes no sense.
Just as the competition is about to start, Jason's communicator goes off. They all need to go fight a monster. Seriously, I'm amazed that Rita didn't pull things like this more often. She could easily ruin them if she made them cut out of tests and competitions and things. And you know, I'm not quite sure why they need Zack immediately anyway. Let him watch his student, for real. They can call him if they desperately need him. That's what they do with Kim later on!
So they go fight the Hatchosaurus and we're barely 5 and a half minutes into the episode, and this is going to be really high fight, isn't it. Jason also summons the dragonzord, since he has Tommy's powers now. And they blow up the monster. There's still 12 minutes left, how does this happen? So we go back to the command center, and seriously, they have all changed outfits.
Rita has apparently devised a spell where she can weaken the Dragonzord. No idea why she never did this before, but apparently it can drain energy from the Zord and also make its arms not move? In other words, she put a giant ring of energy around it or something.
Back at the Command Center, we find out that the reason that the monster is not yet destroyed is because they have to blow up the heart computer, aka the cardiotron. The show gets points for the name, I'll give it that much. They morph again and summon the Megazord to fight the Hatchosaurus, and promptly get beaten up. To help, they summon Dragonzord, but it's taking a while to show up, and they manage to blow up the monster again anyway, but it almost immediately reforms. Also, the Dragonzord falls down without hitting any buildings. We're wondering if the city planners left space for a monster fight or something.
Jason comes up with the brilliant idea of jumping down the monster's throat so he can fight the cardiotron inside it. The cardiotron is pretty creepy (it actually reminds us of a Dalek and has a lot of tentacles. Seriously, Jason, you have a sword. Why are you not slashing at the tentacles? Are you into tentacles? Instead, he just summons Dragonzord repeatedly, but it's still weak, so he summons the Shield of Cheap Bling and Dragonzord wakes up, and the Cardiotron is destroyed and they summon Titanus and hey, everything is fine now!
The next day (supposedly, we're not quite sure how it's the next day especially when they're still wearing the same outfits they change into earlier) they find out that Cameron has made it to the highest martial arts level. Or as normal people call it, the finals. He's up against Biff. surprise, surprise. Zack apologizes to Cameron, who forgives him, and then Cameron wins the competition. Biff tells Bulk and Skull he's getting a new coach, because he doesn't cheat. We like that kid. He looks kinda like the kid who plays young!Rocky.
Anyway, Cameron tells Zack that it's all okay because as long as he made Zack proud, and wow, that line comes off as so inappropriate. Oh, Power Rangers. You worry us, because we know where the inappropriately young friends thing is going. But don't worry, we love you anyway.
Fish: 3. And this is mainly the fault of the wardrobe department. We literally spent more time trying to figure out why they had changed clothes than anything else. Fail, wardrobe department!
Billy speak: "We must disconnect the cardiotron"
"Something is interfering with his mega receptors"
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