Season 1, Episode 8
"I, Eye Guy"
Writer: Stewart St. John
Director: David Blyth
Episode Summary:
Billy and his young protege, Willy (clever writers), are in Billy's garage tinkering with Willy's latest invention: a Virtual Reality Roller Coaster (1993's vision of THE FUTURE!).
They test it out on the other Rangers and silly Kimberly reacts as if the coaster is real thereby rendering his invention awesome. Willy and Billy exchange some odd nerdy high-five ending in a yank on their overalls (as awkward to watch as it is to describe). The Rangers walk Willy through the park to get to the Science Fair which is conveniently held at Ernie's Gym and Juice Bar since the Rangers don't really know how to go anywhere else. Putties attack because Rita decides she wants Willy's genius for herself. She plans to use the Eye Guy monster to capture Willy in his big eye (Eye Guy is a bunch of prop eyes glued to a suit) and feed off his genius.
They make it to the fair despite the putties and Bulk and Skull cause trouble with the nerds (cos who else goes to science fairs?) which Jason and Zack try to prevent, somehow Bulk and Skull lose their clothes and end up in drag, and Willy gets blamed for the entire fiasco and kicked out of the fair. Willy goes off on his own because he was blamed for Jason and Zach's actions and oops! is captured by Eye Guy. Willy then becomes a Japanese child in a space simulator trapped in Eye Guy's eye. The Rangers morph and call on Megazord to defeat Eye Guy (who by this point has a severe case of conjunctivitis because he has Willy in his eye). The Rangers take Willy back to the fair where the judging Professor and Ernie are both enjoying his VR Roller Coaster and announce Willy is the best inventor ever FTW! Bulk and Skull are naked and want their clothes back since they lost them earlier, Trini and Kimberly are bitches and shrunk their clothes. Laughter ensues.
Facts:
-First Ranger Line - "Aww, come on, you've gotta have faith." - Billy
-First on-screen Ranger - Billy
-Focus Character - Billy
-Last Line - "Sure, we washed and we sterilized them." - Kim
-Jason wears blue jeans for the first time
-Trini says "morphinominal" for the first time (leaving just Billy and Jason to say it)
Observations:
This is our first Billy episode and definitely isn't as moving or fast-paced as other episodes (i.e. "High Five" and "A Pressing Engagement"). Unlike our Trini and Kimberly-centric episodes which develop the characters further and debunk Kimberly's valley girl stereotype, Billy's episode doesn't do anything to further develop his character beyond anything but a nerd who wears dorky glasses and overalls. The only way to believe he's actually friends with Zack, Jason, and Kimberly is if they're copying his homework - and since the MMPR have such high moral standards - you know this isn't happening. So, I don't buy Billy's place in this group.
We see more of the Sentai footage influence in this episode when Willy is trapped in Eye Guy's eye with the Japanese child stuck on the space simulator. Much like Maria in the last episode, it is very obvious it is not the same American actor. However, unlike Maria, Willy is dressed appropriately - similar to his mentor Billy - and not in an obvious attempt to fit the Japanese footage likePunky Brewster Maria. I'd like to say this is evidence of Saban getting better at stitching the Japanese and American footage together - but I assure you we're way off from that happening. Additionally, anyone notice the small Japanese girl the Blue Ranger is protecting when he attacks Eye Guy's center eye? Continuity much?
Additionally, when Willy goes to the park by himself, we hear our first ever voice-over on the show. Oddly enough, it's not one of the Rangers. This breaks down the fourth-wall removed format of the show and has the character directly addressing the audience. I don't have much recollection of this happening again - so my guess is it's because we're at the beginning of the series and haven't yet found the voice or stride of the MMPR format.
Billy and his young protege, Willy (clever writers), are in Billy's garage tinkering with Willy's latest invention: a Virtual Reality Roller Coaster (1993's vision of THE FUTURE!).
They test it out on the other Rangers and silly Kimberly reacts as if the coaster is real thereby rendering his invention awesome. Willy and Billy exchange some odd nerdy high-five ending in a yank on their overalls (as awkward to watch as it is to describe). The Rangers walk Willy through the park to get to the Science Fair which is conveniently held at Ernie's Gym and Juice Bar since the Rangers don't really know how to go anywhere else. Putties attack because Rita decides she wants Willy's genius for herself. She plans to use the Eye Guy monster to capture Willy in his big eye (Eye Guy is a bunch of prop eyes glued to a suit) and feed off his genius.
They make it to the fair despite the putties and Bulk and Skull cause trouble with the nerds (cos who else goes to science fairs?) which Jason and Zack try to prevent, somehow Bulk and Skull lose their clothes and end up in drag, and Willy gets blamed for the entire fiasco and kicked out of the fair. Willy goes off on his own because he was blamed for Jason and Zach's actions and oops! is captured by Eye Guy. Willy then becomes a Japanese child in a space simulator trapped in Eye Guy's eye. The Rangers morph and call on Megazord to defeat Eye Guy (who by this point has a severe case of conjunctivitis because he has Willy in his eye). The Rangers take Willy back to the fair where the judging Professor and Ernie are both enjoying his VR Roller Coaster and announce Willy is the best inventor ever FTW! Bulk and Skull are naked and want their clothes back since they lost them earlier, Trini and Kimberly are bitches and shrunk their clothes. Laughter ensues.
Facts:
-First Ranger Line - "Aww, come on, you've gotta have faith." - Billy
-First on-screen Ranger - Billy
-Focus Character - Billy
-Last Line - "Sure, we washed and we sterilized them." - Kim
-Jason wears blue jeans for the first time
-Trini says "morphinominal" for the first time (leaving just Billy and Jason to say it)
Observations:
This is our first Billy episode and definitely isn't as moving or fast-paced as other episodes (i.e. "High Five" and "A Pressing Engagement"). Unlike our Trini and Kimberly-centric episodes which develop the characters further and debunk Kimberly's valley girl stereotype, Billy's episode doesn't do anything to further develop his character beyond anything but a nerd who wears dorky glasses and overalls. The only way to believe he's actually friends with Zack, Jason, and Kimberly is if they're copying his homework - and since the MMPR have such high moral standards - you know this isn't happening. So, I don't buy Billy's place in this group.
We see more of the Sentai footage influence in this episode when Willy is trapped in Eye Guy's eye with the Japanese child stuck on the space simulator. Much like Maria in the last episode, it is very obvious it is not the same American actor. However, unlike Maria, Willy is dressed appropriately - similar to his mentor Billy - and not in an obvious attempt to fit the Japanese footage like
Additionally, when Willy goes to the park by himself, we hear our first ever voice-over on the show. Oddly enough, it's not one of the Rangers. This breaks down the fourth-wall removed format of the show and has the character directly addressing the audience. I don't have much recollection of this happening again - so my guess is it's because we're at the beginning of the series and haven't yet found the voice or stride of the MMPR format.
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