1.12 Power Ranger Punks

Season 1 Episode 12
"Power Ranger Punk"
Writer: Mark Hoffmeier
Director: David Blyth

Episode Summary:
We open on the cast of Saved by the Bell teens playing volleyball in the park when Babboo stops by to drop his magic "potion" in their drinks.  Billy and Kimberly (aka the weakest links at volleyball) are poisoned and immediately take on the personalities of "punks" which in the 1990s meant they donned Jersey Shore accents and said "insults" like "dorks" and "the service stinks".  Baffled by their rude friends, our remaining teens go on about their day.  The next day at school, Billy picks a fight with Bulk and Snookie Kimberly asks Skull out on a date Saturday night (he accepts).  If you're having trouble spotting our "punks" - Billy miraculously has arm muscles and Kimberly is wearing a pink teddie.

Rita attacks with her Terror Toad monster who eats Rangers and then places their helmet decal on his belly.  The three non-punky Rangers battle the Terror Toad but Zack and Trini are immediately eaten.  Alpha 5 finds an antidote for Billy and Kimberly (coming from the legendary Singing Squash) and the two remaining Rangers exclaim - (wait for it) - IT'S MORPHIN TIME!  Jason and Billy are subsequently eaten and Kimberly frees everyone with her Power Bo because she's awesome.  Kimberly kills her first monster with an arrow from her Power Bo and my heart swells with pride.

We end with Bulk and Skull demanding revenge from Billy humiliating them and poor Skull recovers from a heart-break after realizing Kimberly is kind of a bitch and ditches him for their date.  Bulk and Skull hilariously fall into a volleyball net and the teens laugh at their misfortune.

Facts:
-First line - Jason - "All right, let's go"
-Last line - Zack - "Give it to him, Billy, this I gotta see."
-Focus Character - Kimberly and Billy
-First Skull/Kim flirtation scene
-First time Kim defeats a monster BY HERSELF
-First time we see Power Rangers as bad guys
-First time someone other than Jason says "It's Morphin Time!"

Observations:
This was the second episode I remember seeing as a youngin and for some reason it really drew me into the series even though upon further inspection the acting makes me cringe - except for Amy Jo as Kimberly who can do no wrong.  Kim shows her Ranger supremacy by preventing herself from being eaten (seriously, if someone's going to rescue Rangers, it's going to be Kim), defeating a monster BY HERSELF, and still finding time to go home and fix her teased hair afterward.  When does the girl sleep?

Trini once again shows her interest in everything because she's awesome at everything in life by taking gymnastics lessons from Kimberly.  As for the guys, I'm realizing more and more that Jason and Zack really are teenage boys - they always make fun of those weaker than they are (Bulk and Skull) and occassionally start trouble (i.e. instigate the fight in "Food Fight" and this fight with B&S). 

This episode definitely continues the trend of making the storylines centered around the girls and perpetuating my belief that Kimberly will be the overall best Ranger (biased statement) of the original five.  It also gives us our first taste of the fact that Billy can be kinda hot when he's not covered in glasses and overalls.

We're about four episodes away from my official statistical results about the original five - so stay tuned!