1.7 Big Sisters

Season 1 Episode 7
"Big Sisters"
Writer: Gary Glasberg and Shuki Levy
Director: Jeff Reiner

Episode Summary:
We open with Kimberly looking for Punky Brewster Maria at Ernie's.  However, Maria is a trouble-maker and turned off the hot water in the guy's shower room.  Figuring that all Maria wants are friends, Trini and Kimberly volunteer to be her "Big Sisters" and hang out with her and talk with her any time she wants . . . unless it's after this episode.  Zack and Trini have a good cuddle at Ernie's and then Kim and Trini take Maria to the park for a picnic where she is bombarded with traditional teenage girl questions such as "who's the most rad boy at school."  Rita discovers the location of the Power Eggs which are ancient mythical eggs that only a child can take out of the box they're kept in.  Thank goodness the writers have cleverly written a child into this episode.

Ages ago, the Morphing Masters put these eggs to sea to protect the world from universal danger.  Rita creates a Chunky Chicken monster to kidnap Maria to open the egg-box and OH NO teleportation and the communicators are down (OVERUSED PLOT DEVICE) forcing the Rangers to use Billy's newest invention - the Rad Bug.  They take the Rad Bug (a suped up old VW Beetle) to the Command Center and inform Zordon of Maria's capture (apparently he did not sense this danger as he seems to sense all other danger).  Chunky Chicken ties Maria up and threatens to kill her, the Rangers form Megazord to catch her from falling and kill the monster.  We end at Ernie's with Kim holding a bowl of Ernie's Veggie Chili.  Apparently this is a popular item as she announces it's on the house and then drops it on an unassuming Bulk and then she utters the funniest line ever said on Power Rangers, "It was supposed to be on the house, Bulk, not on you."

Facts:
-First Line - "Hey Ernie, have you seen a little girl wearing long black pig-tails?" - Kim
-First on-screen Ranger - Jason and Zack
-Last Line -Kim, see above
-We first learn about the Power Eggs - and never hear about them again
-Billy invents the Rad Bug
-Maria is intentionally dressed like the child from the Japanese Sentai footage

Observations:
The Rad Bug seems to come at a very convenient time even though we had no prior knowledge Billy had been working on it.  We later see it used to transport the Rangers to the monster without actually seeing the American actors inside - obviously the Japanese footage had a similar car so this is really just convenient.

Maria wears awkwardly long pig-tails and an outfit that you'd really only ever see on Punky Brewster, which seems odd at first until you realize that it's to blend her in seamlessly with the Sentai footage which contains a similarly dressed Japanese girl.  This will start the beginning of the trend of using small children as plot devices and dressing them very oddly so they match up with the Japanese footage.

This is also the first episode we don't see Bulk and Skull starting trouble.  They're just sitting down at Ernie's trying to enjoy a sundae when Kim accidentally spills veggie chili on him.  While we won't see the transformation of Bulk and Skull into good citizens for another two seasons, it's good to see that they're starting to be more than just one-dimensional generic high school class clowns.

1.6 Food Fight

Season 1 Episode 6
"Food Fight"
Writer: Cheryl Saban
Director: Robert Hughes

Episode Summary:
The episode opens with Kimberly and Trini greeting Principal Kaplan at Ernie's Gym and Juice Bar.  We soon  learn that they're having a cultural foods festival to raise money for some playground equipment.  Bulk and Skull start a food fight and we find out Kaplan wears a hairpiece.  Rita is inspired by their festival and creates the Pudgy Pig to eat all the world's food supply.  The Rangers morph to fight the pig only to have him eat their weapons . . . and do some squeal noise and cause his tail to do something that really made me feel awkward to watch. 

He attacks the food festival and as the Rangers observe the damage, Trini (aka the only Ranger with a brain, sorry Billy) notices that he didn't touch any of the spicy food.  The Rangers once again morph and take food with them to feed the pig.  Trini stuffs a spicy radish in a sub and feeds it to the pig which causes him to get horrible indigestion (which I completely understand) and throw up their weapons.  They then combine their bile-covered weapons to kill Pudgy Pig.  At the episode's end the Rangers are upset that the festival was ruined but luckily Alpha 5 made some food which comically included a spicy radish.  Trini shows us that she's a proper saleswoman and convinces Principal Kaplan to buy a radish sub for $20 for the playground.  Trini > everyone. 


Facts:
-First Line - "Hi!" - Kim and Trini
-First on-screen Ranger - Kim and Trini
-Last Line - "Laugh!" - All
-Pudgy Pig shows up in the US-shot footage (the second time this happens, Gnarly Gnome was the first)
-Zack says "Morphinominal" for the first time


Observations:
First of all, I was at first reluctant to buy the fact that Angel Grove couldn't afford playground equipment.  The people are well-dressed and drive nice cars, one would assume they're taxed pretty decently and the city could use those funds to purchase playground equipment.  Then I remembered this is Angel Grove and the city is destroyed nearly every single day by giant monsters.  They rebuild fairly quickly which must eat up a lot of resources and money - so THAT'S why we're having a fundraiser. 

Secondly, this is the first monster Rita's created that actually poses a viable threat to the world.  If he eats the entire world's food supply - yeah, that would really suck.  That would suck far more than a giant ape with wings or a Gnarly Gnome or Sphinx with special blowing powers.  However, I don't like Zordon's calculation that he will eat the entire food supply in 48 hours, he spent 20 minutes alone in just Angel Grove for goodness sake.  Also, the way he kept saying "I'm hungry" and in that voice - was anyone else thinking Cartman on South Park?

Third, the cultural foods booths . . . Zack is in charge of African-American food, Trini is in charge of a generic Asian foods booth.  Really?  I wouldn't mind the African-American food booth except that Kim and Jason are at the USA booth.  However, if racism offends you, at least they pay you off with a bit of fan-service by keeping Kimberly in a skimpy outfit showing her stomach at all possible moments.  Win-win. 

 

1.5 Different Drum

Season 1 Episode 5
"Different Drum"
Writer: Julianne Klemm
Director: Jeff Reiner

Episode Summary:
Kimberly opens teaching an aerobics class and we find out that Billy has no rhythm.  Melissa is a girl in Kim's class and happens to be deaf.  Kim doesn't sign one of the dance moves and Melissa bumps into another student prompting her to release bitchery unto the poor deaf girl.  Kim apologizes for not signing the moves and the bitch girl apologizes for overreacting.  Bulk and Skull make fun of the hot chicks dancing and Zack challenges Bulk to a dance-off.  Three guesses who won that.  Inspired by the music at Kim's class, Rita creates the Gnarly Gnome who uses his accordion to hypnotize people.  A group of girls from the class head out of Ernie's Gym and are immediately put under the Gnarly Gnome's musical spell.  Like the pied piper he leads them to a cave and forces them to dance for his amusement with the putties.  I have no witty way to say this - the dance was really stupid. 

Melissa gets help from the Rangers and Kim verbally tells her to stay behind a rock . . . because she's deaf and totally understood.  The Rangers combine their weapons (and call them something completely different than the last episode), Kim's pink uniform is gray, and we form Megazord.  The Gnome hypnotizes Megazord (a robot, mind you) with his accordion to think the Gnome is a building and that they're not in a quarry but rather downtown Angel Grove.  Megazord defeats the monster with his sword and the Rangers save the day.  Cut to Ernie's Gym and Juice Bar and Jason is attempting to sign to Melissa (to hilarious results - he says something about his dog).  Melissa then asks Billy to dance and we find out that Billy actually CAN dance when a girl who can't hear teaches him how.

Facts:
-First Line - "Breathe, and the next one we're going to turn." - Kim
-First on-screen Ranger - Kim
-Last Line - "I used to think Melissa was pretty happening before, then she saved your friends and now she's a miracle worker." - Kim
-First monster to show up in US footage
-The Rangers call their weapons something different and never call them this again
  Mighty Mace (Billy), Battle Bo (Kimberly), Cosmic Cannon (Zack), and Dino Daggers (Trini)


Observations: 
First, we see a lot of continuity errors in this episode.  Kimberly's uniform magically turns gray without explanation (was this part of the Sentai plot-line or an editing error on the original tape?).  Second, we call the Power Weapons something completely different (how is his lance a mace, really?).  Third, since when does Megazord exhibit such human-like characteristics such as the ability to be hypnotized?  He's a ROBOT!  As Steve Guttenberg said in Short Circuit, "it doesn't get happy, it doesn't get sad, it just runs programs".  This is where Saban DOESN'T tell you that Megazord's Sentai counterpart is a living creature who thinks on his own.  Blows your mind, doesn't it?

Second, we learn that the teens are pretty open-minded and take the time to get to learn about other people . . . for at least a 30 minute episode.  Example, Kimberly knows ASL.  Even though the story is pretty campy, I thought it was a really good lesson for children watching that learning ASL is a good way to help you understand those who have hearing disabilities.  I am noticing that the live-action teen sequences are more similar to Saved by the Bell than to other actions hows.  Saved by the Bell was the trend-setter.  California Dreams was SBTB with a band.  MMPR is SBTB with superheroes.  The depressing thing is that even though the first half of season 1 is really painful to get through, it still has better continuity and character development than Saved by the Bell.  Even though our teens fulfill stereotypes, they also have broad interests.  Seriously, Kelly didn't know ASL.  End of story.  Kimberly > Kelly.





Most importantly - this is the first episode where we see the trend of Trini and Zack getting a bit cuddly.  Trini/Zack shippers - this is for you.

1.4 A Pressing Engagement

Season 1 Episode 4
"A Pressing Engagement"
Writer: Jeff Deckman and Ronnie Sperling
Director: Adrian Carr

Episode Summary:
Jason opens the episode bench-pressing to beat Bulk's record while Ernie (owner of Ernie's Gym and Juice Bar) counts.  Kimberly is practicing her gymnastics moves on the balance beam and encourages Jason after she dismounts.  Kim starts blowing a bubble with her gum which distracts everybody because it's so big (that's what she said) and Zack enters the gym on his skateboard and crashes into Kim causing Ernie to lose count of Jason's progress and Kim to get gum all over her face (ha ha ha).  Zack apologizes to both Kim and Jason to which Kim replies "Forget it, it's casual" (that's what she said).  Rita is inspired by Jason's frustration with his friends and plots to get him alone so she can destroy the leader of the team and ultimately bring down the Power Rangers.  She questions Finster's manhood and ability to create a worthwhile monster but ultimately sends his Sphinx monster whose power is to blow people away by flapping his wings. 

Jason, Zack, and Kim morph and fight but Kim is blown back to Ernie's by the Sphinx monster causing angry Zack to punch Rita's henchman, Squatt, for no reason (other than the racist stereotype of the angry black man).  The Sphinx blows Zack back to Ernie's and around minute ten of the episode (halfway through) we finally see Billy and Trini.  Rita makes her monster grow (that's what she said) and poor Jason is by himself.  The other Rangers go to the Command Center because they can't find him (despite the fact that he's fighting a 100 foot monster in Angel Grove - how can you miss that?) and Zordon introduces the "Power Crystals" which resemble Astropops and can be sent to Jason through his sword and allows the other Rangers to teleport there?  They ultimately defeat the Sphinx using Megazord and the teens go back to Ernie's for Jason to defeat the record.  Bulk is jealous and falls into a cake.

Facts:
-Focus Character: Jason
-First line: "Okay, Kimberly" - to herself
-First on-screen Ranger: Jason
-Last line: "Yo, man, why don't you just have a piece of cake and chill." - Zack
-Bulk is a boxer-man
-Angel Grove has a large children's theatre
-First (and probably last) exposure to the Power Crystals
-Alpha 5 has a teddy bear
-Trini is the only ranger who can count past 1,009
-Jason's bench-pressing record is 1,010

Observations: 
Bulk really isn't as lame as originally thought since he originally held the bench-press record of 1,009 at Ernie's gym.  Also, we see an overhead shot of the inside of the Megazord, a view we don't see often in the series, and on Jason's console there's a green power coin that *spoiler alert* hasn't been introduced to the show yet.  I choose to see this as a sign that the Green Ranger in a few episodes doesn't come out of nowhere as opposed to a continuity error - it will help me sleep better at night.

Since we're in our fourth episode, and third specific-character focused episode, we're beginning to see the stereotypes personalities of the teens come out more and more.  Billy is a geek who plays with tech-toys and wears overalls.  Jason is a gym-rat meat-head and doesn't care about the environment.  Zack dresses in bright colors, says things like "yo man" and dance-fights to hip-hop music.  Kim wears pink, likes the mall, and is really short.  Trini, as we've learned, can speak Billy's tech-speak, can count past 1,009, is concerned about the environment, knows martial arts, and dresses better than Kimberly.  She is by far the most well-rounded character and with two focused episodes out of four so far, has the most screen-time. 

Sidenote, don't get attached to the Power Crystals.  I am predicting they won't be used again.

1.3 Teamwork

Season 1 Episode 3
"Teamwork"
Writer: Cheryl Saban
Director: Robert Hughes

Episode Summary:
BFF Trini and Kimberly open this episode pleading with their fellow students to help them close an industrial dump-site in Angel Grove.  We meet Angel Grove High Principal Mr Kaplan who voices his support for the girls' endeavor.  Bulk and Skull tease Kim and Trini by throwing trash on the floor in front of them.  They throw a barrel at the girls which Kim flips over and Skull says something witty about her finally flipping over him.  Zack, Jason, and Billy all come up with lame excuses as to why they can't help their female counterparts do something that saves the world in a different way (sexism, much?) and leave the girls to take their petition to the dump-site alone.  Rita Repulsa is inspired to attack Kim and Trini before the boys can help and thereby weaken and ultimately destroy the Power Rangers. 

The girls have an awkwardly choreographed fight scene with the putties, Zack teaches Alpha 5 his brand of hip-hop martial arts (Hip-Hop Kido), the boys morph to battle Rita's Minotaur monster.  The girls beat the putties and morph to join the boys.  They form Megazord who (to me) looked like he was kicking the Minotaur's ass but apparently was not inspiring Zordon to give the Rangers their Power Weapons.  They combine their weapons and kill the Minotaur.  Back at school, the Rangers use teamwork to clean up the mess Bulk made earlier and confuse Principal Kaplan because, as children's shows have taught us, all adults are stupid.  Alpha 5 shorts the computers in the Command Center trying to practice Zack's patented Hip-Hop Kido, but obviously robots have no rhythm and the episode is given a humorous conclusion.

Facts:
-First Line - "Stop the pollution of our neighborhood" - Trini
-First on-screen Ranger - Kim
-Last Line - "Forget about the hip-hop, man, keep being a robot and keep that control console working." - Zack
-Zordon introduces the Power Weapons in this order
Power Lance (Billy), Power Bo (Kimberly), Power Sword (Jason), Power Axe (Zack), and Power Daggers (Trini)
-This is our first introduction to Principal Kaplan
-Walter Jones (Zack) is missing a finger
-A Ranger says "it's morphin time" for the first time

Observations: 
We see Saban's genius splicing the Japanese Sentai fight-scene footage with his American teenager footage in full-force in this episode.  Example, we see the morphed Yellow and Pink Rangers in the foreground with the giant Minotaur fighting the boys in the background . . . and they have an unexplained small child with them in the shot.   Additionally, this is the first time Zordon explicitly designates a leader - Jason.  His Power Sword holds the power to all the weapons, which kind of isn't too smart in case something happens to his sword.  I hope something doesn't happen that would isolate Jason from the team and jeopardize this.

Additionally, Zack's Hip-Hop Kido doesn't look anything like martial arts, but rather break-dancing.  But now I just sound petty.  The thing that stood out most to me in this episode is that Rita's plan is to isolate rangers from each other in order to weaken the team (hence the episode name) - which on paper sounds really smart.  So smart we'll see her do this about 120 other times before the series end.

Early Hypothesis:
Rita has difficulty accepting responsibility for her own actions.  She seems to blame either Goldar or Finster for her problems when both are merely trying to make her happy.  If she can do it so much better, why doesn't SHE go to earth and become giant and try to beat Megazord.  Frankly, I'd like to give Goldar a medal as the only bad guy who consistently battles and NEVER DIES. 

Also, I'd like to propose to the Baltimore Orioles - please sign Rita Repulsa, her throwing arm (and aim) is out of this world (literally).

1.2 High Five

Season 1 Episode 2
"High Five"
Writer: Steve Kramer
Director: Adrian Carr

Episode Summary: We open showing off Jason's amazing ability to climb a rope and Trini is concerned for his safety.  We are led to believe Trini is afraid of heights, however Ernie's Gym and Juice Bar suffered structural damage when Rita began wreaking havoc in the last episode.  Trini is just exercising caution since the rope is attached to the roof, srsly.  Billy arrives in his overalls and glasses and Jason sits on his head while coming down from the rope climb.  Wearing Jason as a boa, Billy swings back and forth comically while we, the audience, enjoy circus music.  We learn that Billy invented "communicators" which function as these devices that allow members of the team to communicate with each other regardless of their location.  Kim remarks that this is "so 90s."  Touché. 

The un-morphed rangers find out Billy's communicators tapped into the morphing grid (oops!) and they can teleport, too.  They encounter a group of Rita's Putties, Billy ends up on a rock formation which requires Trini to overcome her fear of heights to rescue him.  Rita's monster of the week, Bones, is a skeleton who transports the Rangers into a time-warp (has nothing to do with the plot) and Trini throws his head into a giant pit which destroys him.  Since we haven't used the Zords yet in this episode, Rita uses her magic wand to make a random monster grow.  He kind of looks like a medieval knight - but again, he has no relevance to the rest of the episode and disappears just as quickly as he shows up.  We end at Ernie's again and playful Zack scares Trini into climbing up the rope by wearing a skeleton mask (a la Bones).

Facts:
-First episode to focus on a specific character, Trini
-First line - "Okay Jas, let's see you do it." -Kimberly
-Last line - "ZACK!" - Kimberly
-Trini is afraid of heights and has a knack for tech language
-Kimberly first introduces the phrase "Morphinominal!" which she says twice in the episode
-Billy invents communicators and enables self-induced teleportation

Observations:  Bulk and Skull don't hit on Trini and Kim this time, but rather pick on Jason's climbing ability and call him "Monkey Man."  This prompts the sassy teenagers to encourage Bulk to climb a rope with no regard for his safety.  He's an overweight character with little upperbody strength, forcing him to climb a rope with no safety mat underneath caused him to hit his back on the floor when he fell.  So let's laugh at his failure?  Seriously?  Second, Zordon still has this weird English accent.  Third, what's with the random knight monster Rita throws into the mix?  Obviously it's for show-length and to have a chance to use the Zords in the episode (read: 30 minute toy commercial).  But it also shows how creative Saban is in incorporating the Japanese Sentai footage into the US format.  To the trained eye, we see two different episodes of Zyuranger used to bring us "High Five". 

Early Hypothesis: Also, what I'm noticing is that while Jason and Zack have the strength and martial arts training necessary to fight villains and Kim and Trini are both agile and can flip out of situations easily - the team really wouldn't be able to beat most of Rita's villains without Billy.  His communicators are carried throughout the entirety of the series - and at the time were kind of crazy since only Zack Morris had a cell phone.  He enables the rangers to choose when they teleport and allows them to coordinate from long distances.  Oh yeah, AND he knows martial arts (as we see in Episode 1), oh yeah, AND he's a trained gymnast (or, David Yost - the actor is).  Trini speaks tech, knows martial arts, and has the physical flexibility that Kimberly does (without the grace) - clearly she and Billy are the most valuble/undervalued members of the team.

1.1 Day of the Dumpster

Season 1 Episode 1
"Day of the Dumpster"
Writer: Tony Oliver and Shuky Levi
Director: Adrian Carr

Episode Summary:  Astronauts on the moon discover what one assumes to be a dumpster (from the episode's name) and inadvertently release an evil sorceress, Rita Repulsa, and her cronies dooming the world since her release party from 10,000 years of captivity includes destroying the nearest planet.  After 100 centuries of peace, Zordon, an interdimensional being who is also a wise wizard (and apparently English in this episode), orders his robot companion, Alpha 5, to recruit a team of "overbearing and overemotional humans" to become a team of spandex-clad warriors.  They reluctantly agree (after an initial refusal led by valley girl, Kimberly, and African-American, Zack - both well-developed stereotypes) to take on this responsibility and "morph" into these superheroes that command really big battle machines (Zords). 

Rita sends her favorite henchman, Goldar, to take down the Rangers (as apparently he's her only henchman who can actually fight - seriously, where'd she recruit these guys, Squatt and Baboo are a total joke).  Long story short, they fight, they command their Zords and combine them to become MEGAZORD! only to have Goldar escape at the last minute.  Everyone high-fives after Kimberly makes a joke about the helmet ruining her hair.  Silly humans and their humor.

Facts:
-First Ranger Line: "Nice recovery, Zack!" - Jason
-Last Ranger Line: "POWER RANGERS!" - All
-Kimberly is the first to receive her Power Coin
-Jason is the first to wear his ranger suit

Observations: Through exposition we learn that Kim and Trini have taken Jason's karate class as they make fun of class clowns, Bulk and Skull.  We also see that Billy is beginning his martial arts training by taking Jason's class.  Zack is first seen sparring with Jason at the episode's open (with Jason telling Zack he has a nice recovery - clearly Jason > Zack).  Thankfully, this explains why these five "random" teenagers all know martial arts.  We also note that when Zack fights Rita's Putties, he fights to hip-hop dance music, introducing us to his Hip Hop Kido.  Additionally, how conceited is Zordon that he names the battle machines the Rangers use after himself?

Also, I'm not entirely sure why there are astronauts on the moon in 1993.  I had to suspend my disbelief on that one a little.  Teenagers fighting alien monsters without parental consent I can buy, but American Astronauts walking on the moon in the early 90s?  Puh-lease.

Lineup:
Jason - Red Ranger - Tyrannosaurus
Kimberly - Pink Ranger - Pterodactyle
Billy - Blue Ranger - Triceratops
Trini - Yellow Ranger - Sabre Tooth Tiger
Zack - Black Ranger - Mastadon

The Morphinominal Project

The early 1990's saw the creation of one of the most lasting legacies of childrens television programming.  Mighty Morphin Power Rangers aired for the first time in 1993 after the release of the original line of action figures - which retailers were finding difficult to keep on the shelves due to their overwhelming popularity.  The show had big expectations going into the first episode - and as time has shown, MMPR did not disappoint.

 

original Bandai release of MMPR action figures

Problem: After the 18th season reinvention of MMPR, I was inspired to revisit the original series and see what the makings of the show were.  What are the primary drivers in their team dynamics?  Who is the leader, really?  Did Tommy deserve to become the leader as White Ranger?  These and many questions needed to be answered.

 

Hypothesis: Not only do I aim to figure out who the most important (statistically) member of the team is, I will discover who the most popular ranger is in terms of episode focus and air-time.  There's the obvious hypothesis that Jason was the initial favorite and then Tommy the dark brooding ranger usurped that role.  There's also the obvious hypothesis that Kimberly was clearly the most popular of the initial five (this hypothesis could also be clear only to me since she was my favorite). 

 

Methodology: I'll keep track of certain pieces of information in an MS Excel spreadsheet to create data points to answer some of these questions (i.e. who says "it's morphin time" the most and who kills the monster of the week - are there any correlations?).  Once I'm finished, I will compile the data and conduct a statistical analysis of these data points to get to the bottom of this phenomenon.

While I'm working through these episodes, I'll post regular updates on the most recent episodes I've gone through and any interesting observations.

 

I hope you're ready for the ride, cos guess what?  It's morphin time.