Power Rangers Episode Reviews: Power Rangers Season 1 Episode 1

I know what you people are thinking.

"He's insane." More than likely.

"He's crazy." Same as the last thing.

"He's a complete nerd." Says the one commenting on the nerd's blog.

But yes, it's true. I'm going to do it. I'm going to post reviews of every single Power Rangers episode to date. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.

Considering the first season alone has 60 episodes, that's a lot to watch. I'll try to talk about various aspects of the show from both the perspective of a child and an adult, which won't be as easy as it sounds, I'm sure. I'll also try and look at it as though I'm seeing it for the very first time, which will be even more difficult as I know a lot of these things by heart, as I'm sure many of you do. Also, just to clarify, I won't be reviewing the original pilot episode of the series, because it's very similar to the first episode, so there wouldn't be a lot of point in reviewing it twice.

But the big question is, why? Why would I waste valuable hours of my time watching episodes from a kid's TV show, some of which I've never seen before?

Well, the truth is, Power Rangers was a huge part of my life as a child. I still hold fond memories of seeing the original Megazord destroy giant monsters left and right, and still get chills up my spine when I hear the familiar theme music. When I heard the news that the series had finally come to an end, I was naturally sad. Sure, I mocked the series like everyone else for going on for what seemed to be ages, but I came to expect that it would always be around. Finding out that a part of my childhood was really and truly over was hard for me to believe.

Thankfully, Saban bought the rights to the name back from Disney, and there will be a new series coming out next year. Will it be as good as the last series Saban did, or will it stink like Power Rangers seems to do lately? No one knows, but I know it'll have its fans.

Hearing the news of Power Rangers return to its original owners inspired me to take this trip down memory lane, as well as see how the series has evolved since I stopped watching. It's going to be a very, very, VERY long road, so I'm not going to waste any more time and dive in. Let's begin with the episode that started it all, Day Of The Dumpster.

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So the episode begins with what is supposed to be the moon, but it looks nothing like it. It actually looks closer to Mars, and the fact that the sky is actually blue seems to support this. Two astronauts (walking around in hazmat suits for some reason) see something glow in the distance and run towards it. They come upon what they call a "space dumpster", and, being the most unprofessional astronauts ever, decide to open it right then and there. Beams of light shoot out of the opened dumpster and turn into the series villains, who immediately bring out their leader.

The main villain of this series is Rita Replusa, an intergalactic witch who is called the Empress Of Evil. Her henchmen are Goldar, a cool looking griffin-like monster who serves as her second-in-command, Finster, a white dog-like creature who makes her monsters, and Squat (the short blue one) and Baboo (the tall bat-like one), who are basically the comedy relief duo.

Rita destroys the dumpster with her magic wand and declares that she's going to destroy the first planet she sees. And surprise surprise, the first planet she sees is good ol' Planet Earth.

We then cut to the main city of the series, Angel Grove. We specifically move to the Angel Grove Juice Bar, the main hangout for the series, and is apparently so popular that it and it's bartender Ernie get mentioned on the radio. By the way, Ernie is a very memorable minor character that sort of serves as the main characters' parent figure, mainly because their real parents almost never show up.

Speaking of said main characters, let's meet them now. First is Jason, the prototypical jock with the heart of gold, who's such an expert in martial arts that he teaches his own classes at the bar. Next is Zack, Jason's best friend and the cool guy of the group, and almost as good as Jason in martial arts. He's developed his own fighting style called "hip-hop-kido", which I guess is based on dance moves, and as we see later, teaches this style to other kids. Next is Trini, sort of the calm, spiritual one of the group, though she mainly serves to translate technobabble. And I should probably mention that the actress who played her, Thuy Trang, died in a car accident, which is an absolute shame. Next is Kimberly, the valley girl of the group and an accomplished gymnast. And, like Jason and Zack, teaches her own classes. Don't get surprised yet, these kids are going to be doing a LOT as the series progresses. Finally, we have Billy, the nerd of the group. You can probably picture him in your mind right now. Glasses, overalls, speaks in technobabble almost all the time. He starts off this episode by joining Jason's karate class, in an effort to improve his self-confidence and learn to defend himself. Because, after all, he's the nerd, and is getting picked on a lot. Especially from the next two characters we meet, Bulk and Skull, two punk bullies who make fun of our heroes constantly through the first season. When I originally watched these guys as a kid, I thought they were stupid and wasted a lot of time that could be devoted to more fight scenes and giant monster battles. But watching them now, I realize that they were pretty damn funny. They played off of each other very well, their comedic timing was perfect, and they were able to take a pratfall like few others. They had their own distinctive theme, and whenever I hear it now, I instantly associate it with hilarity. Plus, Skull's laugh is just great.

So after we're introduced to the good guys, we cut back to the moon, which is suddenly night, and Rita has a cool palace already set up. She orders Finster to start making Putty Patrolers, which serve as her soldiers. The Putties are basically just guys in grey suits making random wooping noises, but they were actually pretty intimidating in the early episodes. Goldar volunteers to lead them down to Earth to take it over, causing Rita to laugh evilly, as she is wont to do.

We cut back to the juice bar, where Jason is teaching his karate class. Billy seems to be having trouble with it, even with Jason's encouragement. We then have Bulk and Skull join in, demanding that Jason teach them how to beat people up. Jason decides that Bulk is ready for more "advanced training", and asks Bulk to try a side kick (or for those wrestling fans out there, a Superkick). Now, for those who haven't actually watched the show, you can probably guess why Bulk got his name. Yet, to the surprise of many, including me, he manages to pull off the move easily. Jason then demonstrates a spin kick, and asks Bulk to try. Bulk, naturally, falls flat on his face.

After the class ends, Jason and the others try to cheer Billy up, who still thinks he did badly in the class. I know this may seem cliched, but it's nice that we're introduced to a group who are all friends at the start, and the scene where they try to keep Billy's spirits up establishes this. It certainly makes more sense than grabbing five people with little in common and asking them to save the world. An earthquake suddenly starts as people begin to jog briskly out of the bar instead of running for their lives. Billy remarks that he feels this is no ordinary earthquake. How he figured this out is a mystery, but I like to think that Billy is such a genius that he read ahead a bit.

We then cut to the Command Center, the base of operations for the Power Rangers, although at the moment, it's only inhabited by two beings: Alpha 5, a robot who's best known for saying "Ay-yai-yai-yai-yai!" a LOT, and Zordon, an alien from the planet Eltar who's trapped in an interdimensional timewarp or something and now only appears as a floating head in a glass tube. Zordon serves as the mentor to the Power Rangers and gives them advice throughout the series as they battle Rita's monsters. Alpha 5 is Zordon's assistant, and can get pretty annoying, but he has his moments. Zordon realizes that Rita is the one attacking the planet, and gives this rather humourous order to Alpha:

Zordon: "Teleport to us five overbearing and overemotional humans."

Alpha: "No! Not that! Not teenagers!"

Zordon: "That's correct, Alpha."

Alpha: "I was afraid of that..."

Gee, if you have such a low opinion of teenage humans, guys, why would you entrust the fate of the planet to them?

So Alpha presses a few buttons which causes our heroes back at the juice bar to freeze in place....somehow. They then turn into coloured blobs and jet off to the Command Center. They look around the place and Billy, being the techno geek he is, presses a few buttons in the hopes of finding out where they are. This causes Alpha to come out and shake a little bit before falling over. Naturally, Billy is ecstatic to see what he calls "a fully sentient, multi-functional automiton". Zordon then appears in the giant glass tube like Oz and introduces himself and Alpha to our heroes. He explains the situation involving Rita and her henchmen and her desire to conquer the world. Trini asks what that has to do with them, which causes Zordon to explain that they will form a superhero team which draws their power from dinosaurs, which causes Kimberly to scoff. They're given belt buckles that serve as their Power Morphers, which allows them to change into said superheroes which will be called the Power Rangers.

One thing I don't get: Saying that they'll gain power from dinosaurs gets a scoff. Saying that you'll be called the Power Rangers gets nothing? I mean, if that name was pitched to a writing staff today, they'd probably be laughed out of the room for being so corny. Ah, '90s. How I miss your simplicity.

Anyway, Zordon continues by saying that they'll also be able to call upon giant robots called Zords to aid them in their fight, which can combine into one robot called the Megazord. Jason will be the Red Ranger and will use the Tyrannosaurus Zord. Zach will be the Black Ranger and will use the Mastodon Zord. Kimberly will be the Pink Ranger and will use the Pterodactyl Zord. Billy will be the Blue Ranger and will use the Triceratops Zord. And Trini will be the Yellow Ranger and will use the Saber-Toothed Tiger Zord.

Alright, a couple of things I should get out of the way right now. First off, I know that the Mastodon and Saber-Toothed Tiger aren't dinosaurs. Anyone who passed elementary school knows that. I seriously doubt any kid cared, they just looked cool anyway. Besides, dragons never existed and we accepted that, but I'm getting ahead of myself. The other thing is probably more well-known. Zach, played by a black man, was the Black Ranger, and Trini, played by an Asian, was the Yellow Ranger. That's a pretty big misstep and would get a lot of heat nowadays. Well, according to Saban, they didn't realize this until about 10 episodes in. I don't believe in coincidences, but I doubt that they did this on purpose. Even though similar mistakes would be repeated in later seasons, but again, getting ahead of myself. Besides, I could just as easily comment on the fact that in the original Japanese Super Sentai that this was based on, the Yellow Ranger was played by a guy, since it's really equally as important.

So, anyway, after hearing all this incredible exposition, what do our heroes do? Walk out, unable to believe any of it, although Jason takes a bit longer. Alpha is obviously worried, but Zordon assures him that they'll be back. This part of the episode really annoys me. I mean, put yourself in their situation. You just got teleported out of your local hangout while an earthquake was going on, landed in a giant computer room in the middle of a desert, talked to a robot, and met a giant Oz wannabe who told you that you're going to be superheroes who are going to save the world. How can you not believe any of that? And I guess it could be argued that they walked out because they couldn't believe that THEY, of all people, would be heroes, but again: Giant floating head. I think he would know what he's talking about, despite his disdain for teenagers.

So the heroes walk out of the Center, Kimberly commenting on the fact that Zordon could've sent them back. Maybe he was pissed you said no?

Anyway, we cut to the moon, where Rita has seen everything and questions if Zordon really thinks he can stop her with teenagers. Finster creates some Putties by molding clay figures and sending them through a magic oven. It's a pretty cool idea, and reflects Rita's magic-heavy beliefs well.

We go back to the desert where Jason suggests that they go back and accept Zordon's request. Trini doubts they're up to the job. Rita spies on the group and sends her Putties down to attack. Keep this in mind. Rita has now seen the teens and knows their identities as Power Rangers. Any other supervillain would've used that to their advantage immediately. But then again, if that happened, we wouldn't have much of a series, would we?

So our heroes decide to battle the Putties. To their surprise, they get their asses kicked. Even Jason, the most experienced fighter of the group, can't do anything to them. Out of options, Jason suggests they use the Power Morphers and see what happens. We get our first morphing sequence of the series and our first full look at the Rangers.

Alpha immediately teleports them back to Angel Grove, where more Putties are being led by Goldar. The Rangers fight off the Putties easily this time, including Billy, the weakest of the group. Rita is pissed that her Putties are being beaten by "a bunch of pimple-faced nitwits". Squat suggests she use her magic to make Goldar grow. She's annoyed at this, but does it anyway by throwing the wand down to Earth which creates a fissure, and the steam from said fissure turns Goldar into a giant. The Rangers are surprised, but confident enough to call on the DinoZords.

The DinoZords appear one a time, and the Rangers quickly enter them and start to form the Megazord. For some odd reason, in the first half of the season, they always form some sort of tank before turning into the true Megazord. Saber-Toothed Tiger and Triceratops form the legs while Tyrannosaurus serves as the main body and head. Mastodon latches onto T-Rex's back forming the arms while the Pterodactyl sits behind the T-Rex's head. They fire their weapons at Goldar but it doesn't finish him off, so they start to form the true Megazord. The Megazord stands up and the T-Rex head ducks down onto the chest, revealing the true head. The Pterodactyl becomes the chest plate for the Megazord, finally completing the true form. The MegaZord and Goldar fight for a bit, with Goldar having the upper hand. The group calls down the Power Sword, the Megazord's key weapon, which causes Goldar to retreat. Rita, naturally, is pissed that they lost, particularly at Goldar for retreating, and gets her first headache, a bit of a running gag in the series.

We cut back to the group in the Command Center, excited over their victory and Zordon congratulating them. He then lays down the three ground rules for the Rangers this season. One, they can never use their powers for personal gain. Two, they can't use their powers to escalate a fight, only when Rita forces them to. Three, they must keep their identities a secret. This despite the fact that Rita already knows who they are, and this rule will get pretty much ignored in later seasons. Zach doubts they're up to this, believing they only won due to luck. Zordon reassures them that they're up to the task, proving to be true heroes, which the group finds hard to believe. Jason, Zack, Trini, and Billy eventually agree to be Rangers, but Kimberly says she won't. Of course she's joking, which confuses Alpha, him being a robot and all. The group then does a cheesy cheer to end the episode.

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For the first episode of a brand new series, this had its ups and downs. It did a good job in establishing the setting and the plot. It gave kids cool fight scenes and made them want to tune in to see more. The main characters were likable, albeit a little bland. They're basically the definition of "goody-two-shoes", despite their personality differences, and this will be established further as we move along. Bulk and Skull, as I said, are excellent as the comedy relief duo, and well worth watching. The villains look intimidating enough, particularly Goldar, who looks like a strong monster should. Also, I doubt anyone's really mentioned this, but Rita's outfit has these weird horn things where her chest should.....never mind. The Ranger outfits are classic, having bright colours and diamond designs, with unique helmet designs for each character. The Zords are cool, and their entrances alone are well worth your time. The MegaZord, looking back on it, is a little bulky, but it's classic. It's immediately recognizable and is what comes to mind when someone says the term "MegaZord". However, as I said, the acting is a little off, and the fact that the kids just walked out after hearing all that still bothers me. The acting will continue to be hit or miss through the series, but for now, it could be a lot better. Overall, not a bad start, but it leaves you wanting more.

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