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So we start off with Jason and Zack playing some basketball with the others watching. When a couple of guys who are up to no good start making trouble in their neighbourhood...
...I'm bored, leave me alone.
But it turns out I wasn't far off as Squat appears and spies on the Rangers. He mentions how he's going to catch them off guard with the monster he and Baboo are making. So we go from elaborate multi-part plan that involves attacking the Command Center from within and cutting off the Rangers' power source, to the bumbling idiot duo making their own monster. Oh dear...
We cut to the moon where we see Rita asleep, obviously worn out from all the screaming she did once her best plan ever fell apart. Squat and Baboo sneak by her, wanting to make a monster on their own to surprise Rita. Baboo pulls out a clay figure of a turtle monster, which looks a lot like Tohka from the second Ninja Turtles movie. Not a bad idea, but it could've been better. Baboo decides to add a little more originality to it by sticking a miniature traffic light in it.
A...traffic light?
HUH?!
Even SQUAT is confused by this madness, but Baboo promises him that it'll work in the end. Baboo loads the figure onto the Easy-Bake Oven of Evil, but Squat places some various weapons around it to make it a bit stronger. And, as you can tell from the episode title, the creature is named Shellshock. The required name for all turtle monsters. Despite all the noise the oven makes, Rita just grunts a bit and doesn't really wake up. Soon, Shellshock is born, looking...well, like Tohka from the second Ninja Turtles movie. Except with a traffic light sticking out of it's back.
We head back to the basketball court where we learn that Zack is apparently so awesome at this game, Jason and Tommy have to take him on two-on-one to stand a chance. You know, I'm sure someone would find a racial issue with that, but those people are assholes. Soon enough, Putties show up to interrupt the "fun". The Rangers, of course, kick their asses. Let's not forget, they have Tommy, who's beaten five Putties at once solo, so it's not really fair. The Putties run off and Squat and Baboo get depressed that their plan didn't work. Tommy then leaves the group for his karate practice. Expect this to happen a lot. A hot dog cart arrives and Billy and Trini go to get lunch. Bulk and Skull arrive and tangle with the Rangers in the closest thing to an actual fight with them. Of course, they don't actually get hurt, but they get tossed into the cart, getting covered with condiments. The owner of the cart drags them off to get them to pay for the damages. Not one of their funnier moments.
Shellshock soon arrives and fries the Rangers' basketball. They morph and get ready to fight. Shellshock hits Trini with the green light, causing her to start running away from the group. The others attack Shellshock, but he pulls out a baseball bat from under his shell. He starts hitting multiple baseballs at the group (how he hit so many in such a short time is a mystery), and then hits Kimberly, Zack, and Billy with the red light, causing them to freeze in place. Shellshock's head turns into a cannon and gets ready to finish them off, but Jason blocks the shot and shoots them with his Blade Blaster. Shellshock, Squat and Baboo decide to retreat.
On the moon, Squat and Baboo argue over whether or not they should go back and finish the job. Goldar comes in and ridicules the two for creating a monster without Rita's permission. Rita then wakes up and proves Goldar wrong by praising the duo for making a monster that's actually beating the Rangers. Goldar gets pissed, of course.
We cut to the Command Center, where Jason explains the situation to Zordon and Alpha examines the frozen Billy, Kimberly, and Zack. Zordon explains that a rare flower from the Mountain of Hope can cure them, and since Trini is forced to run everywhere anyway, he's sent her to get them.
Shellshock is sent back to Earth and Rita makes him grow. He starts rampaging and...hang on.....what did he just say?
Shellshock: Wait'll those teenage mutants see what a full-grown turtle can do!
So his similarity to Tohka isn't just a coincidence...
Jason heads down there and summons the T-Rex DinoZord to hold off Shellshock until Trini returns with the flower. Apparently Shellshock has pirate heritage, as he pulls out a hook along with his baseball bat to fight Jason.
We cut to the Juice Bar where Tommy is practicing karate. I guess this is just to remind us yet again how much more awesome than the others Tommy is. We then see Trini running up the Mountain of Hope, looking for the flowers. We head back to the fight where Jason is getting tossed around by Shellshock. Trini calls on the power of Deus Ex Machina...I mean the power of the Saber-Toothed Tiger DinoZord to get the flowers and head down to the fight. As Jason gets kicked around some more, he calls Tommy for help. Tommy morphs, arrives, and summons the DragonZord.
The DragonZord and T-Rex DinoZord start smacking Shellshock around, but then they get zapped with Shellshock's red light. Just as it looks like they're finished, Trini arrives and sprinkles the pollen from the flowers onto Shellshock. This frees the other Rangers and the two Zords from the stop ray, as well as cures Trini. The DragonZord fires all its missiles at Shellshock, while the T-Rex DinoZord fires his big lazer to finish Shellshock off. Rita gets pissed at Squat and Baboo for failing, and at least this time it makes sense. Poor lady still gets a headache, though.
We head back to the basketball court as the Rangers are glad that the fight's over. Kimberly comments on how she doesn't want to see another turtle again. Well, YOU won't, anyway. Tommy arrives and challenges Zack to a game, with the loser buying lunch. Zack then does his superly awesometastic long shot to win the game. Well, he doesn't call it that, but he might as well. Billy then walks on the court and challenges him as well, then hits his super incredibly scientifically proven amazing slam dunk. Hey, I got an idea. How about you STOP SAYING YOU'RE GOING TO SHOOT AND SHOOT?! Of course, no one thinks to comment on how Billy suddenly got so awesome at basketball as the episode ends.
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As I said, things were shaken up after the big five-parter, so they needed an episode to set up how the ones afterwards would work. And this episode did just that. Same as the episodes before it, only Tommy would arrive at the last minute to save the other Rangers' asses, since they apparently became so weak that they need him to do everything. See what I meant when I said that Tommy actually hurt the other Rangers' credibility? Still, for the episode itself, it was OK. The plot was simple, the fight scenes were aplenty, and the battle at the end was satisfying. It does leave you wanting more, though, so I'd put this one somewhere in the middle.
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Is Shellshock a commentary by Saban on the Ninja Turtles franchise? You be the judge.
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