1.39 Doomsday Part 1

Episode 39, Season 1

Doomsday Part 1

Writer: Stewart St. John

Director: Terence H. Winkless

Episode Summary:

Kimberly reads in the local paper that the Mayor wants to honor Angel Grove’s heroes via Power Rangers Day and hopes they turn up at the park for the festival.  Wink wink nod nod our teens say they think the heroes can make it.  All the while Bulk and Skull reveal a tinge of jealousy in Angel Grove’s respect for the Power Rangers and want to steal their thunder just a bit by creating alter-egos the Incredible Bulkster and Super Skull.

Zack gets turned down yet again by Angela for a date because he’s not a Power Ranger – pfft, gold digger.  Kimberly wonders why Tommy isn’t at the festival – it’s suggested perhaps he feels left out – but seriously, what kind of best friend/boyfriend/etc doesn’t show up for his girlfriend’s holiday?  Rita decides to steal the Rangers thunder, but is far more successful thank Bulk and Skull – she makes the whole crowd disappear and resurrects her ages old Zord – CYCLOPSIS!  Through the help of Lokar the giant head they defeat the Power Rangers Megazord and send our teens crying to Zordon.

In the Command Center we learn the citizens of Angel Grove are trapped in Rita’s dimensional vortex, and once someone gets stuck in Rita’s vortex – they don’t come out.  Unless, you know, you defeat Lokar/Cyclopsis/etc.   Jason realizes they’re the only hope those people have.  Too bad they don’t have a history of saving people on record or those people might have reason to be afraid.

Facts:

-First on-screen – Kim

-First line – Kim - “And because of their contribution . . . “

-Focus – All

-Last Line – Zordon - “They will all be trapped in Rita’s vortex forever.”

-Angel Grove is progressive and has a female mayor – Mayor Kerrington

-Cyclopsis hasn’t been seen in 10,000 years

-Bulk and Skull create super hero alter-egos

Observations:

There’s very little Ranger combat in this episode as most of it’s done in the Zords – which makes sense, this is supposed to be the Rangers biggest and deadliest battle.  The stakes are high.  All in all, the episode does a good job getting the excitement level pretty high pretty early on.  Which, again, makes sense since this and Doomsday Pt 2 are essentially the mid-season finale.

It hit me how cool it was that Mayor Kerrington is a woman – this is 1993 and that’s pretty damn progressive for a kids show.  I like the message it sends – women can be more than teachers (sorry Mrs Applebee) – they really can do anything they put their minds to.  Saved by the Bell eat your heart out.

We also see a continuation of the Zack/Angela storyline which is sweet.  I can’t tell if she’s just busting his chops or if she really doesn’t like him and he’s just not getting the hint.  Either way, way to keep your chin up, bro.

Lastly, continuity error much?  Megazord battles in the dark when we learned in the Green with Evil story line that it runs on solar energy.  Maybe Zordon made some adjustments to their power source when we weren’t looking?  Also - maybe try some editing to make it look not so obvious that Rita's Palace says "Bandora's Palace" from the Zyuranger footage without telling us that she beat up someone named Bandora first.

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!

1.26 Gung Ho!

Season 1, Episode 26
"Gung Ho!"
Director: Robert Hughes
Writer: Mark Hoffmeier

Episode Summary:

Tommy and Jason are training for the Team Ninja competition and having trouble cooperating.  Despite the fact that Zack is coaching and Billy designed a computer program to get them into shape, their constant bickering about who is right and who is wrong is getting in the way of progress.  Because obviously this conflict has been building up since . . . ?  Trini tells the boys they need to learn to GUNG HO!  Kimberly and Trini are walking to the park discussing the conflict between Jason and dreamy Tommy when Rita sends a band of putties to attack the girls.  But wait, these aren't just ordinary putties - they're Super Putties made from the Super Putty from the last episode (CONTINUITY!)!

The other Rangers try to help the girls fight off the Super Putties and then regroup at the Command Center since they've never before had that much trouble with henchmen.  Zack (who leads with "it's morphin time" as the de facto second in command) leads Kimberly, Billy, and Trini into battle against the Super Putties while Zordon comes up with this *amazing* plan to get Tommy and Jason to cooperate - he sends them to gather the only weapons they can use to defeat the Super Putties.  What's the catch?  He gives them a map . . . split in two . . . and gives them each half.  Fool-proof. 

Tommy and Jason still won't gung-ho and even though they find the landmarks they should be, each takes credit for something without helping the other.  Sigh.  They finally spot the weapons and are attacked by a giant mecha-beast.  They morph and Jason comes up with a plan that finally incorporates teamwork - Tommy you're better with a sword (I don't know what this assumption is based on) and I can get up the hill faster to get the weapons, so you take my sword, and I'll take your shield since I'll be defenseless.  They do so and Jason discovers . . . some other team of Rangers weapons!

He steals the other Rangers weapons and brings them to his friends who use them to shoot down the Super Putties.  We then find out the mecha-beast?  Really our good friend Titanus whom Zordon's never mentioned before and can apparently turn Megazord into the ultimate weapon.  Thanks.

Shirtless Tommy and Jason battle fully cloaked ninjas in the Team Ninja Finals and apply their team-working skills from earlier to win the competition.  Yay.

Facts:

-First line - Jason "I could've had you man."
-Last line - Jason "Yeah, we make a great team."
-First on-screen - Tommy and Jason
-Focus - Tommy and Jason
-Introduction of the Super Putties
-Introduction of Titanus the Carrier Zord
-Tommy's shield is transferable

Observations:

I like the plot of this episode - I really do.  It makes sense to have a rivalry between the leader of a team that's been in place and a newcomer that has a lot more power (and a much bigger Zord, if you know what I'm sayin').  But since Tommy became a good guy, he and Jason have been friends and Jason's welcomed the addition to the team, so this conflict seems to come out of nowhere.  But again, I think the conflict makes more sense than the previous episodes of no conflict.  It gives an interesting kick to my study of the power struggle on the team.

Let's talk about the guns.  They very explicitly say "Zyuranger" on them.  I get that we use the Japanese source footage a lot - but is there really no way we could have re-filmed this scene?  Also, when do the Rangers actually use these guns to battle Super Putties again?  They made it sound dire that they get these weapons, yet the Rangers seem to battle the Super Putties with ease later in the series.

Lastly, in Zyuranger, the Zords are guardian beasts that are alive - Titanus seems to exhibit this quality as well.  I don't know how else they would have addressed Zordon hiding this weapon that could have really helped during the Green Ranger saga except to say that Titanus is different from the other Zords.  He really does have freedom of choice and now he's choosing to help the Rangers.

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.

1.21 Green with Evil Part V: Breaking the Spell

Season 1, Episode 21

"Green with Evil Part V: Breaking the Spell"
Writer: Gary Glasberg and Stewart St. John

Director: Robert Hughes

Episode Summary:

The Rangers are still in disbelief that Tommy could be the Green Ranger (the DNA match courtesy of Alpha).  Now that Jason's back in charge he directs the other Rangers to split up and try to find Tommy and appeal to him on a personal level. There's no way anybody can be evil because they want to be - it has to be a spell!  Predictably, Kimberly finds him at Ernie's and whispers to him that she knows he's the Green Ranger and that they can help him overcome Rita.  His eyes glow green and he greets her as "Pink Ranger" (HE KNOWS!) and declares once again that Rita is his queen so back off.  We close-up on Kimberly's face and discover that she really needs to clean her eyebrows.  Seriously.





Rita gives Tommy his very own zord - DRAGONZORD! which he summons with his Dragon Dagger (a dagger that has a flute built in to it - very manly).  Dragonzord goes on a rampage through the Warehouse District in Angel Grove and the Rangers morph into action.  Alpha revives Zordon who then revives the Rangers Zords by making their morphers glow.  Jason's T-Rex then battles Dragonzord and wins (you'd think Dragonzord would have the size advantage, but no).  Jason jumps to the ground and decides to have hand-to-hand combat with Tommy and Zordon informs Jason that he needs to destroy Tommy's Sword of Darkness to break Rita's spell over him.  He knocks said sword loose and destroys it with his Power Blaster freeing Tommy.

Jason asks Tommy to join the Rangers and fight on the side of good, which he bashfully declines since he's so ashamed of his actions.  The other Rangers convince him and then we morph as a six-member team and pose for the camera and say various threats to Rita about how awesome being good is.  Zordon then displays a toy commercial, I mean, new battle-mode for Dragonzord that combines the Mastodon, Triceratops, and Sabre-Tooth Tiger (I totally had this toy - and it was awesome).  Tommy takes the same pledge the other five Rangers took in episode 1 and we end on a high-five, er, six shouting "POWER RANGERS!"  The epic Green Ranger mini-series concludes.

Facts:

-First Line - Kim "I can't believe that Tommy's the Green Ranger."
-Last Line - All "POWER RANGERS!"
-Focus - Tommy
-Jason says "morphinominal" for the first time
-Rita introduces us to Dragonzord and the Dragon Dagger and the summoning song
-Zordon introduces Dragonzord Fighting Mode
-Tommy joins the Rangers, our first sixth Ranger

Observations:

Alpha really drove most of the action in this mini-series.  He kept morale from hitting rock-bottom by giving his rousing speeches, he discovered the identity of the Green Ranger, he protected the Command Center from further damage, and he revived Zordon - TWICE.  Forget Jason and Zack's leadership ability in this mini-series, for the first time ever I'm on Team Alpha.  Ai yi yi yi yi indeed.

This episode really shows the limitation of using the Sentai footage as in Zyuranger the Green Ranger is driven to tears (in his un-morphed form) to dissolve the Sword of Darkness because he cannot bring himself to kill his brother (the Red Ranger).  Additionally, Dragonzord is battled by Goldar and Megazord in Zyuranger since the Green Ranger attempts to assassinate Bandora (Rita).  Furthermore, since the Zords are "guardian beasts" in Zyuranger, they automatically come together to show the Rangers the new battle mode instead of having Zordon introduce it.  Obviously MMPR could not use all of this footage in their storyline and had to splice the Dragonzord footage, cut out the assassination attempt completely, and film an entirely new scene with Jason shooting the Sword of Darkness.  If you go through the final fight with Jason and Tommy slowly, you can definitely pin-point when we switch from the Japanese to the American footage because a) Tommy's shield suddenly becomes some cheap material instead of metal and b) US Jason is a much bigger guy than Japanese Geki.

So now the Morphinominal Project takes a new turn - looking at the composition of a six-member team.

1.5 Different Drum

Season 1 Episode 5
"Different Drum"
Writer: Julianne Klemm
Director: Jeff Reiner

Episode Summary:
Kimberly opens teaching an aerobics class and we find out that Billy has no rhythm.  Melissa is a girl in Kim's class and happens to be deaf.  Kim doesn't sign one of the dance moves and Melissa bumps into another student prompting her to release bitchery unto the poor deaf girl.  Kim apologizes for not signing the moves and the bitch girl apologizes for overreacting.  Bulk and Skull make fun of the hot chicks dancing and Zack challenges Bulk to a dance-off.  Three guesses who won that.  Inspired by the music at Kim's class, Rita creates the Gnarly Gnome who uses his accordion to hypnotize people.  A group of girls from the class head out of Ernie's Gym and are immediately put under the Gnarly Gnome's musical spell.  Like the pied piper he leads them to a cave and forces them to dance for his amusement with the putties.  I have no witty way to say this - the dance was really stupid. 

Melissa gets help from the Rangers and Kim verbally tells her to stay behind a rock . . . because she's deaf and totally understood.  The Rangers combine their weapons (and call them something completely different than the last episode), Kim's pink uniform is gray, and we form Megazord.  The Gnome hypnotizes Megazord (a robot, mind you) with his accordion to think the Gnome is a building and that they're not in a quarry but rather downtown Angel Grove.  Megazord defeats the monster with his sword and the Rangers save the day.  Cut to Ernie's Gym and Juice Bar and Jason is attempting to sign to Melissa (to hilarious results - he says something about his dog).  Melissa then asks Billy to dance and we find out that Billy actually CAN dance when a girl who can't hear teaches him how.

Facts:
-First Line - "Breathe, and the next one we're going to turn." - Kim
-First on-screen Ranger - Kim
-Last Line - "I used to think Melissa was pretty happening before, then she saved your friends and now she's a miracle worker." - Kim
-First monster to show up in US footage
-The Rangers call their weapons something different and never call them this again
  Mighty Mace (Billy), Battle Bo (Kimberly), Cosmic Cannon (Zack), and Dino Daggers (Trini)


Observations: 
First, we see a lot of continuity errors in this episode.  Kimberly's uniform magically turns gray without explanation (was this part of the Sentai plot-line or an editing error on the original tape?).  Second, we call the Power Weapons something completely different (how is his lance a mace, really?).  Third, since when does Megazord exhibit such human-like characteristics such as the ability to be hypnotized?  He's a ROBOT!  As Steve Guttenberg said in Short Circuit, "it doesn't get happy, it doesn't get sad, it just runs programs".  This is where Saban DOESN'T tell you that Megazord's Sentai counterpart is a living creature who thinks on his own.  Blows your mind, doesn't it?

Second, we learn that the teens are pretty open-minded and take the time to get to learn about other people . . . for at least a 30 minute episode.  Example, Kimberly knows ASL.  Even though the story is pretty campy, I thought it was a really good lesson for children watching that learning ASL is a good way to help you understand those who have hearing disabilities.  I am noticing that the live-action teen sequences are more similar to Saved by the Bell than to other actions hows.  Saved by the Bell was the trend-setter.  California Dreams was SBTB with a band.  MMPR is SBTB with superheroes.  The depressing thing is that even though the first half of season 1 is really painful to get through, it still has better continuity and character development than Saved by the Bell.  Even though our teens fulfill stereotypes, they also have broad interests.  Seriously, Kelly didn't know ASL.  End of story.  Kimberly > Kelly.





Most importantly - this is the first episode where we see the trend of Trini and Zack getting a bit cuddly.  Trini/Zack shippers - this is for you.

1.2 High Five

Season 1 Episode 2
"High Five"
Writer: Steve Kramer
Director: Adrian Carr

Episode Summary: We open showing off Jason's amazing ability to climb a rope and Trini is concerned for his safety.  We are led to believe Trini is afraid of heights, however Ernie's Gym and Juice Bar suffered structural damage when Rita began wreaking havoc in the last episode.  Trini is just exercising caution since the rope is attached to the roof, srsly.  Billy arrives in his overalls and glasses and Jason sits on his head while coming down from the rope climb.  Wearing Jason as a boa, Billy swings back and forth comically while we, the audience, enjoy circus music.  We learn that Billy invented "communicators" which function as these devices that allow members of the team to communicate with each other regardless of their location.  Kim remarks that this is "so 90s."  Touché. 

The un-morphed rangers find out Billy's communicators tapped into the morphing grid (oops!) and they can teleport, too.  They encounter a group of Rita's Putties, Billy ends up on a rock formation which requires Trini to overcome her fear of heights to rescue him.  Rita's monster of the week, Bones, is a skeleton who transports the Rangers into a time-warp (has nothing to do with the plot) and Trini throws his head into a giant pit which destroys him.  Since we haven't used the Zords yet in this episode, Rita uses her magic wand to make a random monster grow.  He kind of looks like a medieval knight - but again, he has no relevance to the rest of the episode and disappears just as quickly as he shows up.  We end at Ernie's again and playful Zack scares Trini into climbing up the rope by wearing a skeleton mask (a la Bones).

Facts:
-First episode to focus on a specific character, Trini
-First line - "Okay Jas, let's see you do it." -Kimberly
-Last line - "ZACK!" - Kimberly
-Trini is afraid of heights and has a knack for tech language
-Kimberly first introduces the phrase "Morphinominal!" which she says twice in the episode
-Billy invents communicators and enables self-induced teleportation

Observations:  Bulk and Skull don't hit on Trini and Kim this time, but rather pick on Jason's climbing ability and call him "Monkey Man."  This prompts the sassy teenagers to encourage Bulk to climb a rope with no regard for his safety.  He's an overweight character with little upperbody strength, forcing him to climb a rope with no safety mat underneath caused him to hit his back on the floor when he fell.  So let's laugh at his failure?  Seriously?  Second, Zordon still has this weird English accent.  Third, what's with the random knight monster Rita throws into the mix?  Obviously it's for show-length and to have a chance to use the Zords in the episode (read: 30 minute toy commercial).  But it also shows how creative Saban is in incorporating the Japanese Sentai footage into the US format.  To the trained eye, we see two different episodes of Zyuranger used to bring us "High Five". 

Early Hypothesis: Also, what I'm noticing is that while Jason and Zack have the strength and martial arts training necessary to fight villains and Kim and Trini are both agile and can flip out of situations easily - the team really wouldn't be able to beat most of Rita's villains without Billy.  His communicators are carried throughout the entirety of the series - and at the time were kind of crazy since only Zack Morris had a cell phone.  He enables the rangers to choose when they teleport and allows them to coordinate from long distances.  Oh yeah, AND he knows martial arts (as we see in Episode 1), oh yeah, AND he's a trained gymnast (or, David Yost - the actor is).  Trini speaks tech, knows martial arts, and has the physical flexibility that Kimberly does (without the grace) - clearly she and Billy are the most valuble/undervalued members of the team.

1.1 Day of the Dumpster

Season 1 Episode 1
"Day of the Dumpster"
Writer: Tony Oliver and Shuky Levi
Director: Adrian Carr

Episode Summary:  Astronauts on the moon discover what one assumes to be a dumpster (from the episode's name) and inadvertently release an evil sorceress, Rita Repulsa, and her cronies dooming the world since her release party from 10,000 years of captivity includes destroying the nearest planet.  After 100 centuries of peace, Zordon, an interdimensional being who is also a wise wizard (and apparently English in this episode), orders his robot companion, Alpha 5, to recruit a team of "overbearing and overemotional humans" to become a team of spandex-clad warriors.  They reluctantly agree (after an initial refusal led by valley girl, Kimberly, and African-American, Zack - both well-developed stereotypes) to take on this responsibility and "morph" into these superheroes that command really big battle machines (Zords). 

Rita sends her favorite henchman, Goldar, to take down the Rangers (as apparently he's her only henchman who can actually fight - seriously, where'd she recruit these guys, Squatt and Baboo are a total joke).  Long story short, they fight, they command their Zords and combine them to become MEGAZORD! only to have Goldar escape at the last minute.  Everyone high-fives after Kimberly makes a joke about the helmet ruining her hair.  Silly humans and their humor.

Facts:
-First Ranger Line: "Nice recovery, Zack!" - Jason
-Last Ranger Line: "POWER RANGERS!" - All
-Kimberly is the first to receive her Power Coin
-Jason is the first to wear his ranger suit

Observations: Through exposition we learn that Kim and Trini have taken Jason's karate class as they make fun of class clowns, Bulk and Skull.  We also see that Billy is beginning his martial arts training by taking Jason's class.  Zack is first seen sparring with Jason at the episode's open (with Jason telling Zack he has a nice recovery - clearly Jason > Zack).  Thankfully, this explains why these five "random" teenagers all know martial arts.  We also note that when Zack fights Rita's Putties, he fights to hip-hop dance music, introducing us to his Hip Hop Kido.  Additionally, how conceited is Zordon that he names the battle machines the Rangers use after himself?

Also, I'm not entirely sure why there are astronauts on the moon in 1993.  I had to suspend my disbelief on that one a little.  Teenagers fighting alien monsters without parental consent I can buy, but American Astronauts walking on the moon in the early 90s?  Puh-lease.

Lineup:
Jason - Red Ranger - Tyrannosaurus
Kimberly - Pink Ranger - Pterodactyle
Billy - Blue Ranger - Triceratops
Trini - Yellow Ranger - Sabre Tooth Tiger
Zack - Black Ranger - Mastadon