1.30 The Rockstar

 

Episode 30, Season 1

 The Rockstar

Writer: Peggy Nicoll

Director: Terence H. Winkless

Episode Summary:

We open with our favorite teenagers packing the car for a field trip (whether this is school sponsored or just for funsies remains unanswered).  Trini packs some “exotic cookies” that turn out to be escargot and everyone enjoys before she unveils what escargot actually is and the teens comically throw the “exotic cookies” over their shoulders.  Through exposition we find out that Jason is not going on this trip because his cousin, Jeremy, is in town and he wants to hang out with him.

We cut to Rita who tells us of her evil plan to obtain the Mirror of Destruction which, true to its name, destroys anything that stands in its path.  Luckily for our Rangers, this mirror is hidden in Angel Grove so they don’t have to travel very far to battle Rita’s evil plan. 

Bulk and Skull are eating a large pizza (the sloppy joe pizza to be exact) and Bulk picks a fight with Jason.  He makes some martial arts moves that are rather uncomfortable to watch and Jason merely evades and lets Bulk make a fool of himself.  He tells Jeremy to remember brains over brawn.  Jason and Jeremy then practice some karate kicks and Jason tells his cousin how martial arts helped build his confidence and made him a better person and the same old crap we hear in every after school special.

Realizing I’m taking too long to get to the point of the episode, I’ll sum up the rest of the ep in one paragraph.

Jason and Jeremy fight some putties on the beach, Jeremy finds a map  that produces an earthquake.  Our teens feel said earthquake in their car (yes, scientifically this baffled me, too) , must be Rita and not the fact that we live in California.  Scorpina then summons Rockstar (cleverly named because it shoots rocks).  Rockstar kicks a morphed Trini and Zack in a pool with rocks attached to their bellies.  Billy shows up despite the fact that he was not in the morphing sequence.  Jeremy finds the mirror and kills some putties with it (not before telling us brains before brawn) and then he masterfully kills Rockstar with it.  Scorpina grabs the mirror and Rita makes her grow.  Goldar joins and the Rangers are able to destroy the mirror.  Jeremy then recounts the story and the Rangers’ egos grow as he tells them how awesome they are.

Facts:

-First on-screen – Jason, Zack, Kimberly, Billy

-First line – “This is going to be fun!” - Billy

-Focus - Jason

-Last Line – “I have a martial arts class that I need to teach.  Come on, Jeremy.” – Jason

-Tommy does not appear in this episode nor is he mentioned

-Jeremy kills the monster, not the Rangers

Observations:

First of all – this is probably the second episode where we see a monster destroyed but NOT by the Rangers (with Alpha 5 destroying the Genie earlier in the season).  But note that Jeremy does not gloat about this when recounting his story later.  I think this humility is perhaps a greater lesson for the kiddies watching at home rather than us constantly being beat over the head with “brains over brawn”.

Second, there are some scientific aspects of this show that really just . . . left me in pain.  Billy didn’t realize what escargot was until he thought about it for a second, he’s a brainiac he should have known exactly what escargot was when Trini said it the first time.  Then we have them feeling the earthquake in the car – which just doesn’t happen.  Then we have the Rangers with rocks on them in the pool.  They were floating in the pool, not sinking.  It makes one question if these rocks were really rocks or rather some Styrofoam prop (my money’s on prop).  I get that drowning Rangers might be too heavy for kids to watch, but having floating rocks is just dumb.

Overall, I didn’t personally enjoy this episode due to the lack of Kimberly (or for that matter, Tommy) – but I can see how this show might be one of those episodes that people distinctly remember from 20 years ago.  If you’re a kid watching this and see someone who looks like you practicing karate with Jason the Red Power Ranger, that’s pretty cool. 

Not to mention, I think Jeremy is undervalued in this episode.  He’s an actual teenager (which at this point none of the actual Rangers are), and he’s actually not that bad with martial arts.  His moves aren’t as polished and tight as Jason’s, but they’re still not too shabby form-wise.  He’s got his wits about him and fights some Putties, kills Rockstar, finds the Mirror of Destruction and recognizes when it’s “too hot to handle” and doesn’t get power hungry.  NBD.  No other kid on the show (at this point) has shown herself/himself as being capable and have all been damsels in distress (for lack of a better phrase).  Trini’s cousin Sylvia?  She couldn’t fight her way out of a paper bag without Trini.  Kimberly and Trini’s “sister” Maria?  Punky Brewster was captured within minutes of us being introduced to her.  Billy’s protégé, Willy?  Forced to hang out in a monster’s eyeball.  Zack’s entire Hip-Hop Kido class?  Sleeping on the job.

We’re getting away from the idea that only the Rangers are the heroes and getting more into the fact that other people, normal average people, have the power to be heroes inside of them.   Now lets go sing some Kumbayahs.