1.29 - Island of Illusion Part II

Episode 29, Season 1

“Island of Illusion Part II”

Writer: Stewart St. John, Chris Schoon and Shuki Levy

Director: Terence H. Winkless

Episode Summary:

BACK TO ACTION!

Zack is still disappearing from the last episode, so if you watched this first run in 1993, Zack was disappearing overnight.  Ever the observant one, Kimberly shouts “Zack, you’re disappearing” to explain to us what is happening.  Trini remembers Quagmire (the little man who rhymes story exposition) and calls on him to help Zack.  He says something about thinking positive thoughts (the moral of the story, folks) to regain your confidence.  Zack is disappearing because he doesn’t believe in himself.

Zack remembers battling the Knight on his birthday when he was by himself and reappears!  Then it’s Kimberly’s turn to see an ILLUSION!  She envisions Bulk and Skull dressed as angels helping a lost turtle find his way.  If Rita can make them nice, she can do anything!  Kimberly starts disappearing before she remembers all the times she saved the Rangers asses by using her bow because she’s awesome.  KIMBERLY REAPPEARS!

Tommy, the lone Ranger (pun intended), envisions the Rangers have abandoned him and they’re all putties.  He starts to fight them before he remembers that time he fought the putties all by himself.  Tommy reappears FTW!  Next we see Trini afraid that Rita may come after her next and envisions Billy standing on a really high mountain (a la High Five).  She remembers overcoming her fear of heights to save Billy and reappears – but not in time for Billy to start doubting his scientific abilities!  Clearly he should have calculated a way for them to get off the island already.  He then remembers his battle with Madam Woe and all is well again.

Then we have Jason.  After seeing his teammates disappear he realizes he’s a bad leader.  Then Quagmire makes him remember the time he took on the Sphinx and Jason’s better again!  Now that the Rangers have beaten the illusions, they magically get their stuff back.  Apparently these are the rules.  They teleport back to Earth, MegaDragonzord forms to take down Mutitis, Lokar escapes at the last minute – and Zack wins the dance competition.

The end.

Facts:
-First on-screen – Zack
-First line - "Zack, you’re disappearing!” - Kim
-Focus - All
-Last line - "Let’s boogie!” - Zack
-MegaDragonzord kills one monster (Mutitis) but lets Lokar escape

Observations:

A couple of things bothered me about this episode, but mostly why was Kimberly’s illusion so lame?  Every other illusion fit the character’s personality.  Zack hates creepy crawlies, Trini is afraid of heights, Jason’s all about being a leader, Tommy’s always fighting alone, and Billy only has his smarts going for him.  So many things could have been done with Kimberly but the writers blew it just to make sure they honored Bulk and Skull’s “you must appear in every episode” contracts.

The other thing that bothers me is that Trini and Billy are at the end of this episode.  Trini is the only Ranger who remembers Quagmire’s name to save the day – and they let her be dumb enough to fall for these illusions?  Billy I can understand doubting himself, he’s smart but has no common sense.  Trini has common sense because she is proficient in every unique quality the other Rangers have (she does martial arts a la Tommy and Jason, she’s smart a la Billy, she does gymnastics a la Kimberly, she has legitimate cuddle time with Zack to learn his dance moves and hip-hop-kido through osmosis).

All that said, I still like the attention paid to character in this episode and appreciated the chance to see the American actors do their thing.