1.23 Itsy Bitsy Spider

Season 1, Episode 23
"Itsy Bitsy Spider"
Writer: Steve Kramer
Director: Robert Hughes

Episode Summary:

Having recovered from the crap that was the previous episode, the teens decide to embark on a story that has an actual plot.  We open with Billy and Trini calling on their fellow students to sign a petition to keep City Hall from destroying a statue monument and putting up a BBQ pit in its place.  Legend has it that the statue was built to ward off harmful bugs and so Billy and Trini have the science club's entire collection of bugs on display.  Bulk suggests that at last they can get some good bbq and ribs and throws the entire bug collection on their surrounding students wherein we discover that one, Zack Taylor, is afraid of bugs (spiders in particular).  Upon hearing Billy tell the legend of the statue, Rita decides to steal it and send an evil slimy spider in its place that will sprinkle sleeping dust on those around it.

Kim and Jason decide to help Trini and Billy collect more bugs to replace the ones Bulk lost (sadly Tommy is practicing karate/teaching a class/etc and did not join).  Our teens are caught unaware and attacked by putties - but don't worry, they can handle it.  Zack is teaching a Hip-Hop Kido class (which has the same tenets of self-discipline blah blah blah as any martial arts) to small children and he leaves them unattended to get a tape with "funkier" music out of his car.  When he returns, he finds the children he left unattended sleeping since they were sprinkled with sleeping dust.  Zack tries to outrun the sleeping dust and delivers a poetic soliloqui about how much he hates bugs.

Goldar and Rita's Spidercron monster attack Zack and Zordon calls on the other Rangers to help (except Tommy - who never helps) but they're paralyzed by silly string the Spidercron shoots at them.  Rita makes her monster grow and we call on some Zord action.  By this time Tommy has finished practicing karate and put his communicator back on (Zordon should have a talk with him about that) and morphs to bring us DRAGONZORD!  Dragonzord forms with the Mastadon, Triceratops, and Sabre-tooth Tiger to form MegaDragonzord and we take out Spidercron. 

Zack informs us he's officially over his fear of spiders and jokester Tommy puts a plastic spider on Zack's shoulder and relishes in Zack's anguish and fear (pfft, jerk). 

Facts:
-First line - Trini -"Come on, sign the petition."
-Last line - Tommy - "It's a good thing you've overcome your fear of spiders."
-Focus - Zack
-Zack is afraid of spiders
-Zack teaches Hip Hop Kido to paying students
-First time MegaDragonzord used in battle

Observations:

After Trini's been largely ignored for the past ten or so episodes, we start to see her established character traits show up again with her political activism.  Additionally, we see some progression of character in Billy as the boys learned in "Teamwork" that they should help the girls out next time a petition type event comes up again.  Continuity!  I'm also glad they played against type and had Zack (a boy) afraid of spiders and sent Kim (the girly-girl) out into the woods to collect bugs.  This episode picks up where we were before the Green Ranger saga in developing the other Rangers' characters again.  It also acts as an apology for "The Trouble with Shellshock".

The show keeps up this Saved by the Bell/California Dreams playfulness with the teen storylines (they're still going to high school and doing teen things like saving the planet and teaching karate classes) and is really a breath of fresh air after the intensity and darkness of the Green Ranger saga.  I'm taking the fact that we're further developing Zack to mean that either the show recognized how ignored he's been for the first part of the season and that he's actually a pretty decent character OR that they pulled his name out of a hat as the character this story will be about. 

Now for a Jason tangent.  Jason is the defined leader of the group.  But aside from a few select episodes, he's really not a major character in the series.  My guess is because he was hired as a legit martial artist and not so much as an actor.  Which I'm totally fine with, but it's interesting to see how even though he's the leader of the team, the show is not entirely about him (at all). 

From a statistical standpoint, Trini's falling behind in importance (blowing my early hypothesis out of the water), Billy's becoming less boring, Zack's becoming more than a stereotype and earning some screen time which could earn him some statistical points, Jason's still being Jason, and Kimberly and Tommy are taking a back-seat this week so everyone else has a chance.