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So we start off at night, with Squat wandering around some darkened area. We quickly learn that he's in Billy's garage, and that he's supposed to screw around with some new invention Billy has. He switches a couple of wires and continues to talk, apparently infected with a disease I like to call "exposititis", which causes the victim to provide exposition for no notable reason. Apparently the plan is to distract the Rangers with whatever's going to happen to Billy while Rita attacks Earth.
That has to be the lamest plan from them yet. So they can't beat the Rangers on their own, so they decide to distract them with some mild annoyance and attack Earth, even though they could just ignore the problem and save the day, tending to it afterwards? The holes in this plan are big enough to drive a spacecraft through.
So Squat leaves and heads to the moon, where Rita explains that she'll be sending some monster called The Genie down to attack while the Rangers are busy. I hope it's voiced by Robin Williams, it'd make this episode SO much better.
We go back to Billy's garage the next day, where he's explaining the invention to Kimberly with his usual technobabble. But, somehow, Kimberly actually understands it, despite not getting it before. Some may attribute that to character development, but it's only the eighth episode in a 60+ episode season. Character development doesn't happen just like that, it has to take time. Anyway, the device can allow people to read minds. Again, where's Billy Nobel Prize? Or Darwin Award? Or whatever super-sciency thing they give away for this stuff?! The man deserves it!
Anyway, Bulk and Skull happen to be listening in. Bulk explains to Skull, who, being an idiot, doesn't get it. Bulk asks him to imagine the possibilities of a device that can read minds, but for some reason doesn't elaborate on them. Now, us older viewers could probably figure out a number of reasons as to why a device that can read minds is a kickass thing, but remember, this is a kid's show. A little explanation would be nice.
As Kim and Billy enter the device and get it ready to go, Skull keeps trying to get Bulk's attention. When he gets it, they see that Billy has a dog. A big German Shepard, I think. Naturally, they run off, the dog chasing them away. Billy throws the switch, and thanks to Squat, something goes wrong. The two exit the device, seemingly OK, although Billy's speaking in a different way than he usually does. Once Kimberly puts on Billy's glasses, we find out: They've switched bodies, hence the episode title.
OK, time out.
.....WHY?! Why in God's name did we need to use THIS crappy storyline?! Out of all the potential things that could go wrong to serve as a distraction to the Rangers, why this?! Copying Freaky Friday has become one of the most cliched things to do, even by the time this show came on the air. Also, what possible distraction could this serve for the Rangers? The two are both OK, just in different bodies. They act the same as they already do, they would presumably fight the same too. The only way this could be a distraction is because of those outside the group who wouldn't know what was going on! And this is just a minor gripe, but I have to add: Billy would not need his glasses in Kimberly's body! His weakened eyesight is because of his body, not his brain! It doesn't make any sense and only serves as a way to remind us that they're in different bodies, because we're apparently idiots and can't figure that out ourselves!
OK, I'm done. For now.
We cut to the moon where Squat and Baboo have retrieved the lamp containing the Genie, and as tradition indicates, Squat gives the lamp a rub, releasing the Genie. Well, he is blue, but sadly isn't voiced by Robin Williams. You can imagine my disappointment. He does look alright, though. Goldar orders him to go down and destroy the Rangers, and the Genie naturally responds with "Your wish is my command".
We move back to Billy's garage, where Bulk and Skull have managed to sneak in. I could comment on the fact that they're breaking and entering, but since Billy likes to leave the front of the garage open for them to see what he's doing, as well as leaving the back door open, he really has no one to blame but himself. Anyway, they decide to give the device a try, with Bulk telling Skull to think of something once he flips the switch. Skull asks if he can think of Kimberly, which annoys Bulk. Well, I can't blame Skull, personally. Bulk throws the switch, and they switch minds.
OK, time out again.
WHY?! With Kimberly and Billy at least there was a reason for it to happen, but this is just stupid! It doesn't serve any other purpose beyond lame comedy, and trust me when I say it is VERY bad! The two only wind up accentuating the more annoying aspects of the opposite's character and basically mock each other, ending any potential comedy gaps we could've had! Like, say, the two didn't switch minds, and Skull tries to come on to Billy in Kimberly's body. (by the way, if you haven't noticed by now, Skull seems to have a particular interest in Kimberly over the other girls in the series) I'm sure we could've had a least one funny bit where Billy confuses the hell out of Skull with technobabble coming out of Kimberly's mouth. But no, instead we get this.
OK, I'm done again. Again, for now.
So we cut to the school where...OK, I gotta be honest, I fast-forwarded through this part, just wanting this episode to end as quickly as possible. Billy-as-Kimberly screws up Kimberly's cooking class (yet another thing these kids do) and causes a souffle to explode, while Kimberly-as-Billy screws up teaching some kid about computers and causes it to blow up. Remember back in the early 90's where no one knew what exactly computers could do and thought they would blow up at a moment's notice? Good times. The only positive I can see out of this segment is the fact that Billy's wearing purple to indicate the colour switch, while Kimberly is wearing a sweater vest to accentuate her high fashion sense. Just a minor touch that I like.
We cut to the moon where we go over the plan a little further. Goldar explains that they'll send the Genie down to Earth in his lamp so that Zordon can't detect him. The Genie then returns to the lamp as they replay the scene from earlier backwards.
We go back to the school where Billy and Kimberly are arguing over how the other is portraying them in their bodies. The other Rangers show up and Billy explains the situation. Of course, being the brain surgeons these guys are, it takes them a minute to get it. You'd think that due to the fact that these guys are superheroes, that they'd just accept whatever is thrown at them. "Oh, you guys are in each other's bodies? Cool, let's go fight some monsters." We also get a Bulk and Skull segment, but like I said, it's bad. Skull just acts like a bigger asshole that Bulk has and Bulk laughs twice as much and in a much more annoying voice.
We go to the moon where the villains go over the plan AGAIN, this time with Rita there. She sends Squat and Baboo down to Earth with the lamp, but Squat drops the lamp after rubbing it. This presumably lets off enough energy that Zordon can in fact detect the Genie's presence.
Which I'm using as the explanation as to why Zordon does detect the Genie, and asks Alpha to send the Rangers over to the lamp's location. They head there and Zack grabs the lamp before going to the Command Center. Zordon explains that the Genie has left the lamp and is now a serious threat to the Rangers. The alarm goes off due to Goldar and the Putties attacking. The Rangers morph and head there to fight.
A couple of things I want to mention. First, when the Rangers morph, Kimberly and Billy says their bodies' DinoZords, not their minds'. You'd think that they'd have trouble getting used to saying a different phrase, but they seemed to have no problem here. Second, when they fight the Putties, they don't seem to have a problem. Now, I know that this plot was tacked on and the Sentai footage didn't reflect this, but you'd think they'd at least comment on it in some way.
After a very, very brief fight, Zordon realizes that Goldar is a distraction, so the Rangers are teleported away to fight the Genie for a brief time. And by "brief time", I mean all of five seconds, and by "fight" I mean "they get their asses soundly kicked". Zordon teleports them again to the Command Center, gives them a dull speech about teamwork and such, and sends them back to fight.
Rita arrives on the scene and summons the Genie again, this time as a giant. So the group summons the DinoZords. And, again, why didn't Billy or Kimberly have a problem with summoning their respective Zord? Or a problem controlling a Zord they weren't used to? Not that it matters, since the group quickly forms the MegaZord, as expected. While the group gets their asses kicked by the Genie, Alpha discovers the source of the Genie's power, which should've been obvious: the lamp. Honestly, has no one watched Aladdin in this universe? Zordon explains that they need to destroy it, but it must be done carefully, as too much power could destroy the Morphing Grid, which gives the Rangers THEIR power. The Rangers get beat some more and Jason spouts off some technobabble of his own as a way to turn things around. How Jason figured out so much concerning the MegaZord is anyone's guess, but considering it's been proven how much he cares about being a Ranger, it's conceivable that he'd want to learn more. Just as the MegaZord's about to get trashed courtesy of the Genie's weird drill thing, Alpha destroys the lamp, destroying the Genie. Rita gets another headache and teleports away.
We move back to Billy's garage where he and Kimberly manage to switch back to their original bodies, finally bringing this episode to an end. Oh, wait, no, we still have the subplot with Bulk and Skull. Billy considers leaving the two switched, but the group eventually decides to switch them back. Afterwards, Skull asks Billy if they can switch brains for his math test tomorrow. Billy comments that "some people never learn". And NOW, the episode comes to a close.
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I don't think I've hated an episode of this series more than I've hated this one. The subplot with Kimberly and Billy was not only dumb, but pointless. The two switching bodies didn't affect their morphing, their fighting abilities, or their usage of the DinoZords in any way, shape, or form. In other words, it served no purpose at all. Plus, the fights in this episode were criminally short, the longest being the fight with the MegaZord, and even then, the MegaZord didn't actually win. The Genie only lost because Alpha destroyed the lamp. The biggest anti-climax of the season so far. Not only that, but I couldn't find any sort of hidden messages in here. The closest thing I could think of was Zordon trying to teach the group about teamwork, but didn't we already have that episode? Plus, we just had it in one segment, and never mentioned again, a sharp contrast to the last episode. Really, the only positive I could see in this whole fiasco is that it gave Amy Jo Johnson and David Yost (the actors for Kimberly and Billy, respectively) the chance to flex their acting muscles a bit. It was kinda funny to see Billy act like a prissy bitch, as well as Kimberly acting like a nerd, but beyond that, nothing is redeemable about this episode.
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Well, OK, The Genie was pretty cool, but everything else was bad.
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