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We kick things off with the Rangers at the fair. We get a couple of shots of the rides before we see the Rangers, minus Trini, watching Zack walk around on stilts. After a lame joke by Kimberly, Billy advises Zack to keep his balance level. Zack, being an asshole, does the exact opposite by attempting to dance with the stilts. Naturally, he falls on his face, although Jason was kind enough to cushion the blow. They walk off and we see a clown nearby watch them leave. Then, for a brief moment, we see that this clown is actually a Putty in disguise.
This doesn't really make sense when you stop and think about it. If the Putties can disguise themselves as humans, why doesn't Rita take advantage of this? She could have the Putties pretend to be the Rangers' parents or something and finish them off when their guard is down. Then again, it IS the Putties we're talking about here, and we're getting to the point where a Ranger could easily fight a Putty one-on-one demorphed. So I guess the point is moot.
We then see another clown come over and reassure the Putty that they'll still get the Rangers in the end. He then proceeds to laugh evilly. I've seen this guy for five seconds and I already love him, purely on cheese factor. There's just something about over-the-top cackling mad supervillains that just tickles me. Or maybe it's the fact that he's a clown. I dunno.
We then get a further shot of the fair as the Pyro from Team Fortress 2 talks via the sound system. Or at least it sounds like him. We then see Trini arrive with her younger cousin Sylvia. So yes, we're gonna get another crappy child actor that has a connection with one of the Rangers, will serve as the bait for the episode, and we'll never see them again afterwards. My feelings towards this episode have dropped to Willy-levels of dislike and she hasn't even had a line yet.
We then see our resent comedy duo of Bulk and Skull arrive, who promptly snatch someone's cotton candy. We then see the Rangers watch the evil clown from earlier juggling (and we learn his name is Pineapple). Trini arrives with Sylvia and introduces her to the others. Pineapple asks if any of the group want to try juggling some eggs and gives a particularly long look at Sylvia for some reason.....um.....anyway, Billy eventually volunteers to do so and starts throwing the eggs in the air. Bulk and Skull walk over and, of course, the eggs fall on their heads. The group then leaves to watch a gymnastics show, but Sylvia wants to stay behind and play with Pineapple. Trini reminds her of their promise to stick together, and promises they'll come back after the show. They leave, with Pineapple saying that he'll see them later, while giving Sylvia another particular...look.....wow. Not.....suggestive at all, that.....
We move to the moon where Rita is going over the plan with Finster. Turns out that Pineapple the clown is actually our monster-of-the-week in disguise, Pineoctopus. He can apparently turn the Rangers into cardboard cutouts of themselves, leaving him free to go terrorize the city.
He can turn them into.....cardboard?
Excuse me one second.
*inhale*
WHAT THE FUCK?! THAT HAS TO BE THE MOST RIDICULOUS POWER I'VE EVER HEARD! WHY CAN'T THE CLOWN JUST KILL THE POWER RANGERS?! WHY DOES HE NEED TO TURN THEM INTO CARDBOARD, OF ALL THINGS! IT MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE WHATSOEVER!
*exhale*
Anyway, this does not bode well for the rest of this episode.
So, back at the fair, the group is attempting to do one of those gymnastics pyramids with one of the clowns. Gee, that'd be so much easier if you had a sixth guy with you, huh? Trini goes to complete the pyramid, and while she does so Pineapple reappears and gets Sylvia to walk off with him. Trini sees this and follows them. After going through the crowd, we see Sylvia and Pineapple as Pineapple is showing Sylvia "a new trick". I really don't like where this is going...
Trini catches up with them and reminds Sylvia that they need to stay together. Pineapple gets a little grabby (NOT IN THAT SENSE, I SWEAR), and the end result is Sylvia being cardboardified. Pineapple runs off, leaving the wooden Sylvia with Trini.
Heh, see what I did there? Because of....her condition.....and....
Eh, give it a minute. It'll come to you.
Trini meets up with the others and fills them in. Billy, of course, has a MacGuffin machine in his garage, so Trini heads there with Sylvia while the others stay behind. Jason grabs a nearby megaphone and gets the crowd to leave because Rita is attacking. I'd comment on Rita being public knowledge and how no one outside of the Rangers are doing anything about it, but at this point I'd just be beating my head against a wall. After everyone leaves, the Rangers are left alone, save for the clowns. Yes, as it turns out, all the clowns besides Pineapple are Putties. Not trying to say anything there, huh?
Billy runs after Pineapple while the others fight the Putties. I should note that, while the Rangers are skilled enough to hold their own demorphed, they still seem to be using their environment more than their own actual skills. At least there's some sense of continuity so far in this series. Billy almost gets cardboardified, but Pineapple misses with his magic dust and gets one of the Putties instead. Pineapple then promptly disappears again. After the Rangers beat the Putties, they find Pineapple again, who promptly melts and turns into a Japanese tentacle monster.
.....God, I really just said that, didn't I?
We cut to the moon where Baboo comments on the fact that Pineoctopus might need help. Rita agrees (for once) and sends Goldar down to assist.
Back at the fair, the Rangers morph and start fighting Putties. Wait...I think they recycled fight footage from the episode with King Sphinx! What a gyp! How cheap can you get? I mean, ignoring the fact that they're essentially reusing footage from a Japanese TV show in their fight scenes, that's still pretty cheap. Anyway, the fight itself isn't that great, especially when its shorter than the first time it was used.
We very briefly cut to Billy's garage, where Trini and Alpha discover that the cure for Sylvia's condition is water.
.....excuse me again.
WATER?! THE CURE FOR BEING TURNED INTO CARDBOARD IS FUCKING WATER?! WHAT KIND OF WEAKNESS IS THAT? ESPECIALLY COMING FROM A GIANT PLANT, OF ALL THINGS! THE FACT THAT THE CURE FOR BEING TURNED FROM FLESH AND BLOOD INTO MODIFIED TREE IS SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN FIND ANYWHERE IN THE COUNTRY JUST MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE!
Sorry, again. This is getting ridiculous.
So they use the water on Sylvia while the Rangers get their asses kicked by Goldar. We get a funny moment where Alpha tosses water on Sylvia after she goes back to normal, but it's ruined by Alpha's lame attempt at hiding by moving against a wall.
Back at the fight, Pineoctopus takes over the fight and tries to cardboardify the Rangers. We then learn that their suits apparently protect them from this. Because they're the Power Rangers, dammit! Pineoctopus rambles on and on and on and on and on and finally whips the Rangers with his vines. Rita decides to make Pineoctopus grow, and he starts spreading more of his magic dust. Even though we just established that THAT DOESN'T WORK! Trini arrives and they summon the DinoZords.
Rather than form the MegaZord right away, they attack Pineoctopus separately. Billy holds him down while Zack freezes him. THEN they form the MegaZord. They blast him while in tank mode a couple of times, switch to the true form, then finish him off with the MegaZord's head lazer. Rita blames everyone else and goes to form her next plan.
We cut back to the fair where Billy is attempting to walk on stilts, even though he isn't actually any higher off of the ground...Sylvia apologizes for wandering off and we experience more of her wooden acting skills, so I guess the water didn't really work after all! Ahahaha....haha.....ha....
Oh shut up, at least my joke was better than Zack's at the end.
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This one was BAD. Bad acting from the child, though not at Willy levels of beating over our heads. The plot was dumb (CARDBOARD WAS SUPPOSED TO STOP THE RANGERS EVEN THOUGH THE SUITS PROTECTED THEM?!). The fight scene was recycled from a better episode, and the MegaZord battle was even more one-sided than it usually is. The only redeeming factor was the villain pre-plantification, and they ruined that by making him into a creepy possible child molester! It's because of that alone that this would not fly today in the post-9/11 world. Plus, they did beat over our heads the message of "not wandering off with strangers", because it's not like the parents of the kids watching this didn't do that enough already. All in all, a very bad episode, made worse by the fact that it actually showed some potential at the beginning.
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I already made a tentacle monster joke with Pineoctopus. I don't need to hear more, thank you.
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