1.27 Wheel of Misfortune

Season 1, Episode 27
"Wheel of Misfortune"
Writer: Mark Ryan & Cheryl Saban
Director: Terence H. Winkless

Episode Summary:
We open with the rehearsal of Angel Grove High School's production of Rumpelstiltskin directed by Principal Caplan.  Our tragic heroine ordered to spin straw into gold is played by the only Ranger who can act so well that we can see her acting as her character "acting" - KIMBERLY!  We also see Jason break out of the jock-stereotype as another lead in the production.  Oddly enough, we also see Bulk and Skull taking part in their school's production.  The spinning wheel (trustingly donated by Kimberly's grandmother) is then broken when Bulk spins it too hard (that's what she said? reaching too much?)

Kimberly is extremely upset at the loss of her grandmother's prized spinning wheel that only Tommy can comfort her as he offers to fix the wheel for her.  Unknownst to our teens but knownst to us - Rita has stolen the wheel to turn it into her latest monster: The Wheel of Misfortune!  We learn the wheel will destroy anything it touches - watch out, Rangers!  Tommy is kidnapped by putties and tied to a tree while the other Rangers battle Scorpina and Goldar.  Rita asks us to watch her monsters grow and the Rangers must battle the villains AND the wheel WITHOUT DRAGONZORD!

Luckily Tommy is smart and fakes being sick to trick the putties and gets himself loose in time to morph and call on Dragonzord to bring all the Zords together to form ULTRAZORD (with Titanus)!  After their victory, the wheel is returned better than its original state as it's no longer broken.  The show goes on and someone tells Kimberly to "break a leg" - Tommy winks (swoon) and tells Kimberly "Don't you dare."  Bulk comically splits his pants and Kimberly closes the show.  Applause.

Facts:
-First on-screen - Billy
-First line - "And places everyone" - Billy
-Focus - Kimberly
-Last line - "The end." - Kimberly
-First time the Rangers use Ultrazord

Observations:
We see more of the flirtation between Kimberly and Tommy which is good for showing a developing a season-long story arc.  So that's a good, but we also see some writing that's just sloppy.  Bulk is starring in a school play directed by the Principal.  I get that we only have two faculty members in all of Angel Grove (Ms Applebee the English teacher and the Principal) but wouldn't Applebee have been the better choice?  Was she unavailable for this episode?  And let's say Bulk is in the show because of detention or something - why is he the lead?  Was there really no other student who could pull the role off?    And the school play takes place in Ernie's Gym and Juice Bar?  Does the school just not have an auditorium?  Has public school funding for the arts deteriorated that much?  However, I like that Jason's in the play, to me that says he's building up his extracurriculars to make his college application more marketable.  You go, Jason.

I enjoy any episode about Kimberly, naturally.  And naturally at this point in the show anything about Kimberly will also be about Tommy since they're meant to be - but his capture by the putties is just stupid.  I get why they had to get Tommy out of the picture - the Sentai footage doesn't allow for the Green Ranger to appear as frequently as the other Rangers due to his Green Candle dilemma (his candle in Sentai-world is counting down the hours he has left to live - so you understand why he's reluctant to fight in every battle).  I still think the putties tying him to a tree is stupid, and I think his plan to trick them by faking sick is even more stupid.  Why didn't the putties trap him to a different dimension or use something other than shoddy rope to tie him to the tree?  Sigh.  Henchmen.

Nothing else in the episode is really that statistically significant for the study - we see the introduction of Ultrazord since it's a new toy Zord for the show but as for characterization, nothing else is really all too different or significant. And Trini . . . Trini, you're slowly disappearing from statistical significance in my study!  Come back!