Dark Warrior is not a particularly memorable episode in the Power Rangers canon. Like much of Season One, it's formulaic, silly, and mostly inconsequential. Upon this re-watch, I see now how obvious it is that Billy's first karate class from Day of the Dumpster is supposed to take place here and not there, given the context. This episode might have been better off with that scene, but it works well enough in DotD too. In any case, Trini's famous karate master/scientist Uncle Howard invented an invisibility formula. Um... fun?
We open with said Uncle Howard testing out his new formula, and it seems to work perfectly. He turns a cactus invisible, which delights him so much, he goes to Angel Grove to tell his niece, Trini. Meanwhile, Billy is feeling a bit low on self-confidence due to being continually harassed by Bulk and Skull, getting comically robbed and dumped into trash cans and such. But as luck would have it, in addition to being a brilliant scientist, Trini's Uncle Howard is also a karate master. Billy also decides to re-enroll in Jason's karate class (and frankly, I'm surprised the writers cared enough to add in the "re-enroll" line). On the moon, Rita orders Finster to create a new monster to steal the invisibility formula, and so he creates the Dark Warrior. Dull name for a monster, honestly.
It's clear from the outset that the production doesn't have nearly enough footage to work with of the Dark Warrior. A few shots are re-used and slowed down over a short span of time, and the bits of the American costume we see are laughably poorly-made. But as usual, once the morphing kicks in, the episode becomes a lot more fun. Season One is consistently entertaining during the fight scenes, combining the music and action to energizing effect. Admittedly, the putty fight is less than stellar, and the Megazord battle is half-composed of the formation sequence yet again. But what a sequence it is!
Rita's plan, described by Zordon in just about the dumbest line he's uttered so far, involves using Uncle Howard's invisibility formula to "make the Rangers disappear forever." Either Rita doesn't understand the concept of invisibility or Zordon doesn't, but in any case, it's really lazy writing. I don't expect much from this show, but I crave a better evil plan than that. Also, the invisibility formula stuff is awkward. Uncle Howard is a ridiculous character, and the invisibility formula comes out of left field, even for this show. Howard leaves it on Ernie's counter, Ernie thinks it's his so he puts it behind the bar, then Howard forgets where he put it... it's all pretty boring. It might have been more interesting if it got switched with Ernie's drink mix and started making the Juice Bar patrons turn invisible or something. Or honestly, just leave out this invisibility formula crap. It has nothing to do with Billy's story anyway.
What makes it imminently watchable is the main cast, who continue to show that they have good chemistry. They continue to deliver their ridiculous dialogue as naturally as they can, and I think this stems from them not being over-directed. It just so happens to work out for them; not so much for characters we'll meet later down the line. Thuy Thrang is just adorable here, talking and acting with the other Rangers like they really are friends. It's hard to fake, and later seasons will prove that. As for Billy's little growth we get here, it's definitely nice to see. He was bullied at the start of the episode, learned to defend himself, and ultimately scared Bulk and Skull off. I would have preferred him to do it on his own without the invisible wackiness, but whatever. It's a corny end to a mediocre episode.
Mighty Morphin' Scale: 5/10
Power Rangers Scale: 3/10
