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So we start off at the school with Tommy running late for class. I'm sure this is important, somehow. Once he arrives, Ms. Appleby reveals the assignment for the week: the students ask their friends about any negative qualities they may have that they need to work on. I really don't see what subject this would be classified under, but whatever.
On the moon, Rita goes on about how her cronies couldn't find a weakness for the Green Ranger. Again, Tommy, perfect. She then tells them to get the Badges of Darkness to transform some of her Putties into Mutant Rangers. Uh, didn't we do this plot already?
We move to the Juice Bar with Jason and Tommy sparring. Afterwards, Tommy mentions the assignment and asks Jason if there's any negative qualities he needs to work on. Jason mentions Tommy's forgetfulness. What? Aw, come on, he's not forgetful. Sure, he was late for class in this episode, and he forgot his notebook in this episode, and just now he forgot his water bottle, his towel, and his drink in this episode...see a pattern yet? Tommy asks Kimberly and Trini and they confirm this, and offer to help him out, of course.
We then get a montage of Putties training under Goldar to decide who will become the Mutant Rangers. For some reason, we keep seeing one Putty trying and failing miserably time and again. Goldar decides to fire him, and by that, I mean set him on fire until he's nothing. He gives the other five Putties a Badge of Darkness, deciding that there won't be a Mutant Red Ranger. Because it's not like you have umpteen other Putties that are competent and could fill the role, right? By the way, the Mutant Rangers aren't that different from the normal Rangers, besides grey gloves, boots and belts instead of white. After a bit with Bulk and Skull back at the...wait, wait, I have to mention this or it'll drive me crazy.
See, Bulk and Skull talk to Tommy and act like their usual selves, but when the assignment comes up, they say that they don't have any negative qualities. If they left it at that, I wouldn't say anything, but they go on to say that they like themselves as they are. Tommy says that they'll fail the assignment then. Now, I'm probably just nitpicking here, but what kind of message does that send? "Don't like how you are as a person, but change yourself so that other people like you"? Yeah, I know Bulk and Skull aren't the best people right now, and they will change for the better later on, but what the hell's wrong with liking yourself as you are? It's probably nothing, but this really bothers me.
Anyway, Kim and Tommy are walking home when they run into the Green and Pink Mutant Rangers. They pair off with their respective colours and fight and...it's bad. I mean, they don't do much and when they "connect", you can clearly see that they're nowhere near touching them. After supposedly getting beaten by the two, the Mutant Rangers retreat. We skip to the Command Center, where Zordon fills the group in on the Mutant Rangers, as well as explains that the reason there's no Mutant Red is because Rita hasn't created a capable leader yet.
We see Tommy with a miniature computer (created by Billy, of course) to help him remember things. Wouldn't it be funny if he forgot that too? We then meet our monster-of-the-week, Commander Crayfish, who is now the leader of the Mutant Rangers. Yeah, it's a crayfish, nothing special. Tommy's computer malfunctions and he forgets more stuff, then Zordon contacts the other Rangers about Commander Crayfish. Oh, Tommy forgot his communicator, so he can't show up right away.
Wait...
You mean to tell me that this was all just another way to keep Tommy from showing up right away...?
.....
POWER! SHORTAGE! You devoted a two-parter to that specific plot point and you keep avoiding it and create other reasons to keep Tommy away! USE YOUR STORIES!
So, the Rangers morph and go to fight Crayfish. Once there, Crayfish says "It's Mutant Time!" and the four Putties morph into the Black, Pink, Yellow, and Blue Mutant Rangers. They do their own poses to mock the real Rangers and the fight begins. Crayfish even has a dark version of Jason's Power Sword as indication of his leader position. They fight for a bit until Tommy finally gets his communicator. He morphs and joins the fight, fighting against the Mutant Green. I'd ask how the Mutant Green has the Sword of Darkness, but I'll just chalk that up to a reference. The bad guys get the upper hand when they combine their weapons to form an evil Power Blaster and zap the Rangers, causing them to retreat. OK, that was a nice touch.
At the Command Center, Zordon hands the group upgraded versions of their weapons to help them in the fight. They teleport back to the battle and the fight starts up again. The fight is fairly entertaining this time around, culminating in a showdown with both teams' Power Blasters firing at each other. Our heroes win that and defeat Mutant Yellow and Pink. Rita ups the ante by not only making Commander Crayfish grow, but the remaining three Mutant Rangers as well. Nice. The Rangers summon the DinoZords and form the MegaZord while Tommy summons the DragonZord.
The brawl begins with the MegaZord handling Commander Crayfish while the DragonZord fights the three Mutant Rangers. Incidentally, I think this could technically be the first time the goons of the show go giant. Sure, they're technically powered up, but I think it counts. Oh, and I love this one line here.
Tommy: DragonZord, use your Tail Whip, now!
See, it's funny because Pokemon practically exploded onto the scene about 3 or 4 years after this, effectively knocking Power Rangers off its pedestal as the "in thing" amongst the kiddies. You know, retrospect and all that.
Anyway, we get a weird bit where the Mutant Rangers lift up Commander Crayfish, giving him the high ground or something. The Rangers summon Titanus and form the UltraZord, firing all weapons and finishing Crayfish and the Mutants. Rita is beyond words.
We move back to the school and get the message of being proud of who you are and your faults make you unique, etc etc. I'd call this a blatant contradiction of earlier, but I'm just going to assume the Rangers themselves actually learned this one themselves. We then get a bit with Bulk and Skull, pretending to be high class gentlemen (Bulk looks very much like Penn Gilette of Penn and Teller in a suit...), giving a gift to Ms. Appleby. She gets them to open the gift, Silly String sprays out, they run off, group laughs, episode ends.
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OK, so this one wasn't THAT bad. Yes, Tommy suddenly being forgetful seemed to be yet another way to keep him out of the episode until the end. But, if they bring this up in a later episode, then I'll consider it an actual character trait. The Mutant Rangers bit was done before, and while this one wasn't as good as that time, it wasn't necessarily bad. It's just that that episode was exceptionally good, so it'd be hard to top it. Overall, this one was alright, worth a watch I suppose.
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Here's Commander Crayfish and the Mutant Rangers. I actually have to wonder...why did Rita make a crayfish monster the leader of her evil Rangers? It just seems so random...
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