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So we start off at the Juice Bar where a "Cultural Food Festival" is being held, with booths displaying food from all over the world. Ernie walks in in a Hawaiian outfit (thankfully with his shirt still on), and recruits Bulk and Skull to help him out, despite the two being distracted by the Hawaiian dancers. Our heroes enter the frame and meet with...*sigh* Mr. Kaplan. He discusses the festival with the group and we learn that it's for building new playground equipment for the kids. Isn't that just like our heroes, taking time out of their busy lives saving the world to raise money for kids? I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but sometimes you need to go over your priorities. Kaplan tries to sample some of the food, but the group tells him he needs to buy it. Kaplan, being a douche, comments that he wasn't hungry anyway and leaves. The group is looking forward to the festival, but Jason hopes that Rita doesn't decide to show up. Oh, way to go Jason! You're giving her ideas!
Sure enough, we head up to the moon, where Squat and Baboo are spying on the festival. Rita is sick, and when she sees the festival taking place, not wanting to think about food, orders the two to "get rid of it". THIS should be good...
We cut back to the Juice Bar where we see a lame Hawaiian dance, which, naturally, get applause. Trini and Billy are working at the Asian food stand (I know, I know, let's just move on), Zack is working at the African-American stand (DAMMIT SABAN), and Jason and Kimberly are working at the U.S.A. stand. Bulk and Skull decide to crash the party by throwing some of the pies that just so happen to be near them. By the way, that punk girl from a couple of episodes ago returns, along with a black punk, forming the closest thing to a gang that Bulk and Skull have ever had. Sadly, we won't see them again after this, so enjoy the two's riveting acting skills as they say nothing, shout and grunt and nod like idiots. Skull grabs one of the pies and wanders off while Mr. Kaplan is being offered stir-fry by Trini. Bulk claims he can hit the principal and attempts to do so. The pie sails over Kaplan's head (revealing that he's wearing a toupee), and nails Skull right in the face. Skull cries out the title of this episode and everyone, being stupid teens, get involved. Our heroes duck and cover while everyone starts throwing whatever they can grab. Kaplan salvages his toupee from a nearby punch bowl, and being an ineffectual principal, does nothing.
We cut back to the moon as Rita is feeling even worse with all the food flying around. She orders Finster to make her a Pudgy Pig monster, one with a large enough appetite to eat all the food on Earth. This is a dumb plan. Not so much in its execution, as a monster that's designed to eat everything is pretty intimidating, but really, if he eats all the food there is on the planet, eventually, the people of the planet will die of starvation. If that happens, who will Rita rule over? It's that kind of short-sighted planning that weakens Rita as a villain. Anyway, they send the Pig to Earth and he starts eating whatever he can find.
Back at the Bar, the Rangers decide to put an end to this, while Mr. Kaplan hides under a table like a douche. Bulk and the punk chick are tossing pies everywhere, and you can just tell the actor playing Bulk is having a blast with this. Jason walks towards him and starts twirling a link of sausages around. Bulk, wincing every time he thinks Jason is going to hit him, drops the pie he's currently holding onto his own head. Skull is about to throw a bowlful of....something at Kimberly, but she ducks and it hits Bulk instead. Bulk, of course, is pissed and throws another pie at Skull, nailing him right in the face.
We cut to a park where the Pudgy Pig drops in on a group of kids having a picnic. The kids run off while the Pig rolls around in the food, eating like....well, a pig.
Back at the Bar, Trini and Billy stop a kid from throwing the burgers, when the black punk shows up with two pies. He runs at them but trips and falls over the table, landing in some...sauce, I think. I'd like to think it's chili, but a) it'd be thicker, and b) he'd probably burn his face off. Bulk has more fun spraying people with whipped cream, when Zack appears in front of the Hawaiian table, asking him to take it easy. We get a silly matador-esque sequence which ends in Kaplan getting drenched in fruit punch. THIS, apparently, is the last straw for him and everyone immediately stops as he says so. He berates the kids for this and, of course, blames the Rangers for it and puts them in charge of clean-up. The group then gets called to the Command Center by Zordon and head there.
Once they arrive, they watch the Pudgy Pig go to work in Sentai footage that won't be used this episode. Zordon reveals that if it keeps going, it will consume the entire food supply of the planet in two days. TWO FREAKIN' DAYS. I think this could legitimately be the planet's most serious threat so far in this series. After a goofy bit with Alpha, the Rangers morph and head out to fight the Pig.
A problem soon arises when the Pig actually eat their Power Weapons. I couldn't help but think at this point "you have lazers. SHOOT HIM!", and I doubt I'm alone in this. Then again, those things almost never worked, so I can see why they didn't use them. The Pig them uses a gust of wind to teleport the Rangers away and de-morph them. Zordon then contacts them and reveals that the Pig is at the food festival.
Despite the mess from earlier due to the food fight, there's still plenty of food for the Pig to consume and dump all over the place. We get an interesting segment where Bulk and Skull have their first monster encounter with the Pig. The Pig snorts at them, and Bulk mockingly snorts back. The Pig then growls at them, causing them to run off. He resumes eating everything in sight, except for the spicy food. Remember this, it's important. After not actually eating everything and leaving plenty on the floor, he teleports away, just as the Rangers arrive. They're upset that they've made a bigger mess of the place and that the Pig ate their weapons, so they can't fight back. I would think they'd be slightly more upset that they only have TWO FREAKIN' DAYS to save the world! Teenagers...Trini then points out the fact we already saw, that the Pig didn't eat the spicy food. They assume that it would make the Pig sick and formulate a plan.
Back on the moon, Rita celebrates the fact that the monster is doing so well. Finster is especially happy that one of his monsters is actually working for a change.
Back on Earth, the Pig arrives at the Food-Packing Plant, and the Ranger morph and follow him after a brief chat with Zordon. They toss down various food items at the Pig, which he eats. Trini then throws down a sub sandwich with a spicy radish inside it. The Pig promptly pukes (try saying that five times fast) everything it ate, including their weapons, which they use to fight him. They then form the Power Blaster and finish it off, which causes Rita to get pissed and feel sick again.
The group returns to the Juice Bar, happy that they won, but upset that they still have a mess to clean and that they don't have enough for the playground equipment. Alpha contacts them and sends over some sandwiches (try saying THAT five times fast) to help them out. Principal Douchelan walks in and assures them that he knows they aren't responsible. He then explains that they almost have enough to pay for the equipment, but are a little short. Trini offers to sell him one of the sandwiches, and Kaplan finally gives in. Of course, he bites into one with a spicy radish in it, prompting him to pour a jug of water on himself, and then proclaim the sandwich to be "not bad". The group laughs a little longer than they should, and we end the episode.
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This episode is one of the more memorable of the season, though I'm not sure why. The Pudgy Pig was an interesting monster, but nothing special. Picture a weird ball with a large mouth, a pig's nose, big black eyes, humanoid arms and legs, and a big Marvin The Martian style helmet. Sure he was weird but just OK in terms of monsters. Plus the fight scenes weren't that great and we didn't even see the MegaZord. Maybe it was the food fight scene. Yeah, I can see why kids would love that scene. A bunch of people throwing food at each other? What kid wouldn't want to do that? But outside of that scene, this was just OK. Not bad, but pretty silly.
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Aww, ain't he just the cutest Pudgy Pig you ever seen?
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