Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Season 1, Episode 7: "Big Sisters"

As I now know, Zyuranger plots tended to focus on random child characters that the rangers would inexplicably befriend.  They typically only appeared for only one episode, have a simple character arc (sometimes), and were typically never seen again.  The show was very rarely about the rangers themselves, which was a bit disappointing.  However, most Power Rangers episodes based on Zyuranger fight footage changed the focus so that the rangers were at the forefront, which ultimately made the show better off in spite of the lack of Zyranger’s darker themes and style.  However, there are a multitude of episodes where the Power Rangers writers (likely due to footage demands) decided to focus on random kid characters anyway, just like Zyuranger.  The results were often nauseating. 

The first, and arguably worst, example of this is found in Big Sisters, an episode that is bafflingly insipid.   Trini and Kimberly have volunteered for a big sisters program, wherein the two of them hang out with a twelve-year-old girl named Maria for the day.  Maria, a monstrous little brat whose voice seems to be coming from another dimension, gets kidnapped and forced by Rita’s Chunky Chicken monster to open up an ancient box that contains the Power Eggs (it can only be opened by innocence, so it’s a wonder how Maria qualifies). What do the Power Eggs do, you ask? Well, you see, they’re very powerful.  The rangers’ communication and teleporting is down for some reason, so they instead travel via the Radbug: Billy’s new invention that will allow them to travel to the Command Center by flying there (with the aid of… the Northern Lights?).  The rangers engage in a battle with Chunky, Goldar, Squatt, and Baboo, which results in the Power Eggs being tossed into the ocean (the one next to the mountainous desert).  After Maria is nearly dropped to her death by the Chicken, the Rangers catch her using the Megazord and she drives off in the Rad Bug to safety.   Now it’s time to take care of the scissor-wielding birdbrain.

 The episode is clumsily stitched together, with the Radbug coming out of nowhere in addition to being extremely goofy.   The Power Eggs idea is underdeveloped (we don’t even see Maria open the box), and the way the box is tossed into the ocean, in the MIDDLE OF THE DESERT, it just lame.  Also, there’s no reason why Goldar or the flying chicken couldn’t have just hopped in and gotten the eggs.  Couldn’t even say “Zordon teleported them somewhere far away,” or something? But none of these issues compare to the biggest problem with the episode.

 Nothing works about Maria at all, except perhaps that the crew actually pulled off using the Sentai footage with her counterpart well enough (though I was instinctively waiting for her to shout “tasukete!” when she was hanging on the rope).  From her introduction (pulling a corny prank where she shuts the hot water off on the guys showering at the Juice Bar) to her downright creepy looks, Maria is a nightmare come to life.  We learn nothing about her, she doesn’t change (she might even be more obnoxious by the end), plus her wig and dubbed voice are terrible.  What an awful, awful character.

 There are a few things I noticed about Big Sisters that were interesting, even if they don’t necessarily make the episode any better.  This is the first time we hear about The Morphing Masters, which may or may not be tied to the show’s overall mythology later on.  This is also one of only a few times that Rita comes down to Earth using her flying bicycle, and while it does look pretty silly, I like how the effect of her flying over trees is all done in-camera.  I also noticed that this might be the only time all the rangers are shown taking out their Power Coins and forming their Power Crystals in their zords (usually it’s just Jason).  It makes for a pretty dynamic sequence, and I wish it had been used more often.  And like it or not, we can’t forget that this is the introduction of the Rad Bug, which does become more important later on. Also, first time the rangers do that pyramid formation attack thing? Super cool.

In conclusion, Big Sisters is the worst episode the show I’ve encountered thus far in my re-watch.  Bulk and Skull do absolutely nothing except getting chili dumped on them at the very end, meanwhile Maria gets an interview on what I assume is Angel Grove’s public access news station, declaring that she’s “the most popular kid in class.”  The episode’s fights aren’t any better or worse than we’ve seen already, and Chunky Chicken, in Goldar’s own words, is a just a lame monster overall (not helped by the fact that we just had a “Pudgy Pig” only last episode, making me wish that they’d gone with at least one more “Fat + Animal” monster throughout the series’ run).   But hey, for damn near rock bottom it’s still pretty entertaining.

Mighty Morphin’ Score: 4/10

Power Rangers Score: 2/10

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Season 1, Episode 6: "Food Fight"

"Come down here and fight like a pig!"

 Here we go, another “classic” episode of Power Rangers that made many, many rounds in my VCR when I was a kid.  Food Fight is sort of the epitome of a Mighty Morphin’ episode: teens have problem, Rita gets inspiration from their problem, makes a monster, the rangers defeat said monster, and then their problem is solved at the end of the day.  What makes Food Fight better than average is the pacing of the story and extended scenes on the moon palace; it's much more fun than listening to Rita screech her plan off screen while Goldar swings a sword at the camera repetitively, anyway.

The ranger teens are helping run a school food fair, trying to raise money for new preschool playground equipment.  Principal Kaplan oversees the festival and Ernie helps provide some Hawaiian specialties.  Bulk and Skull only show up to start a food fight, for which the teens promptly get blamed, and are put on clean-up duty.  But before they even start, Zordon sends them off to fight the Pudgey Pig monster, created by Rita after witnessing their food fight. The rangers’ weapons get swallowed by the pig, who then sends them into a vortex and proceeds to eat all the leftover food at the festival.  By the time the teens make it back, all the food is gone, except for (Trini notices) the food in the spicy section.  The rangers come up with a plan to trick Pudgy into eating a spicy radish so they can get their weapons back and kick the pig’s ass.

Like I mentioned, I love how many scenes there are featuring Rita and her crew.  Typically we only spend a few seconds in the palace out of plot necessity, but this time we got to see a little personality from Finster and Rita that was entertaining and actually kind of funny:

Finster: “I have a Pudgy Pig, my Queen, but it’s not my best work…”

Rita: "THEN MAKE IT YOUR BEST WORK!!!”

An unfortunate side effect of using solely Sentai footage for your villain scenes is that you’re extremely limited by what you can use because of the dubbing possibilities. I appreciate it when as much Rita footage as possible is used, which explains why I like this episode.

 The titular food fight is pulled off pretty nicely, and we get to see more fun from Bulk, Skull and their unnamed minions who I always wished we could see more of.  I’d like to think that Bulk and Skull built up so much bad karma for ruining the food fair that it caused them to be cursed with getting food thrown on them every week for the rest of their lives.  It might be cheesy as all hell, but at least the food fight was fun to watch.  Though we all have to agree that Kaplan is an idiot for making the rangers clean up the festival instead of Bulk and Skull (but they never do anyway, so it’s alright I guess).

The Pudgy Pig is a classic Mighty Morphin’ monster, and for good reason.  He actually does something that hinders the rangers: he takes away their weapons and threatens to eat the world’s food supply within two days, if Zordon’s calculations are correct. WHICH THEY ALWAYS ARE.  It was a decent way to tie the footage together via a food fair, and we get the first monster-on-Bulk-and-Skull action in the series history.  Ok, they just snarl at each other so I don't know if it's "action," but it's something.  The point is, the rangers' have to defeat the monster without their weapons, and while simple, it's definitely an effective plot device.  It's also good that there's no shoehorned Megazord fight at the end.  Not every single episode needs a Zord battle, especially since most of them are pretty inconsequential.

If there's a weakness that the episode has, it's that no one really learns anything or changes.  Maybe Kaplan could have given more than a half-assed apology at the end, maybe a bigger focus on Trini during the festival scenes... I don't know.  Something that could have given it some more substance when it comes to the characters.  Then again, as I'll say plenty of times on here, Power Rangers is a live-action cartoon.  Not like Batman: The Animated Series, I mean like Looney Tunes.  Part of the fun of the show (for kids) is that the rangers do the same thing every time, but they fight a different monster.  I'm not saying I approve of that (I'd much prefer character development and story arcs, but we'll get there in time), all I'm saying is that's what the writers were going for and that's what they achieved.  They were just fortunate to have the right cast to make their cartoon characters come to life much better than they were written, and besides the costumes, fights, robots, and awesome music, that was part of the reason it was such an earth-shattering success. 

Mighty Morphin' Score: 8/10

Power Rangers Score: 6/10

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Season 1, Episode 5: "Different Drum"

 While Power Rangers is not typically known for its deep writing or well-developed characters, it does have bright spots of depth here and there.  Different Drum is an interesting episode for its inclusion of a deaf character (not that she'd ever be seen again or anything) and making her deafness important to the story.  It's only dwells on the "lesson of the day" aspect of her character for a moment before it becomes a "very special episode" of Barney.  So is this episode actually deep?  Maybe not, but for the first time in the show's short run, I think it was trying to be.  If nothing else, it has a consistent theme and sticks with it.

While Kimberly is teaching a dance class at the Youth Center, she sees that one of her students (a deaf girl named Melissa) is having trouble keeping up with the other girls.  Meanwhile Billy tries to dance and shenanigans ensue.  Zack challenges Bulk to a dance-off, which naturally ends with Bulk covered in food after an impressive over-the-counter stunt.  On her moon palace, Rita demands that Finster make a monster that can control people with music.  He creates the Gnarly Gnome, and he promptly captures a few of the girls from the dance class and makes them practice a dance for Rita. Melissa witnesses all this happen, unaffected by the music due to her being deaf and all. After trapping them in a cave with an ordinary net, Melissa thankfully runs back to the Juice Bar to tell the ranger teens what happened instead of going to the police. Although considering Kimberly might be her only nearby friend who can understand sign language, I guess it's justifiable.  The rangers arrive on the scene and take on the Gnarly Gnome, who can apparently go invisible and cause awkward hallucinations.  Can the Rangers take him down? Will Billy learn how to dance?!  This episode's just too hot to handle.

Different Drum is an unusual episode for early MMPR due to its civilian scenes being more enjoyable than the sentai footage that usually spices things up.  I liked the teens' interactions (the dance-off between Zack and Bulk was great), and I give major props to Amy Jo Johnson for learning how to sign so professionally.  It makes me wonder if she had that skill beforehand and the writers decided to use her, but either way it's impressive.  That's not to say that Billy's mishap early on wasn't stupid as hell, but it was pretty funny to see him dance like a pro at the end.

The handling of the Sentai footage is pretty bizarre, considering that the Gnome has the power of invisibility for only one scene and never uses it in battle.  There's a scene where the Gnome, Squatt, and Baboo all take a nap for a few seconds before Rita screams them all awake, and it all feels like needless filler.  The Megazord battle is creative, but it's more disorienting than it is cool.  This might be the first time the teens get involved with a monster of the week without Zordon or Alpha notifying them of what's happened, which is odd but isn't necessarily a bad thing.  However, nothing tops the oddity of what happens during the ground fight: the rangers summon their weapons for the Power Blaster and call out their names.  But the names are completely different, never mentioned before of since this episode.  It must have been an early ADR session and they had to just go with it, but it's bizarre to say the least.  We have the Cosmic Cannon, Battle Bow, Dino Daggers, and the Mighty Mace (Jason still calls his the Power Sword).  It's a bit more creative than calling the weapons "Power [insert weapon name]," but at the same time, it's just too weird.  Having not seen this episode is quite some time, my jaw dropped when Zack called out "Cosmic Cannon!" and probably will every time I watch this one.

So while it get really messy when it comes to the second half, the first half is full of plenty of good stuff.  It's rare for Power Rangers to include real world issues like people with disabilities, so it's good to see the show pull it off cringe-free.  It's a shame that the Sentai footage is used so haphazardly, not to mention that the Gnome's powers are never really established and thus come off as random.  At least we get something memorable with the alternate weapon names, and a few good laughs from the ranger teens.  Paul Shrier is a brave soul for doing that counter hop.

Mighty Morphin' Score: 7/10

Power Rangers Score: 5/10