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.