Oh, and on a minor note, I just realized that I passed the halfway point for this season a few episodes ago. And it only took me about two months. Woo.
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We start off at the Juice Bar where, for a change, it's Zack and Tommy who are sparring. Tommy, being awesome, wins. They then talk about an upcoming dance, and surprise surprise, Tommy wants to take Kimberly. He's just too nervous to ask. Zack actually offers some good advice by telling Tommy to stop stalling and just ask her. I guess Zack isn't a TOTAL asshole.
We cut to the moon where Rita has formed a new plan to take over the planet. Remember way back in the first part of the Green Ranger Saga when Tommy emerges from magic wax under Rita's control? Well, she has now used that same wax to create the titular green candle. When the green candle is lit, it'll start to drain the Green Ranger powers, and when it's melted down to nothing, Tommy's powers will return to Rita fully. It's, as Rita herself put it, "devious even for her". Although she kind of ruins it by using some magic map to find Tommy, when she can just look out that big telescope of hers.
Back at the Bar, Zack and Tommy spar some more, and this time Zack wins. Of course Tommy just blames it on him being distracted by the whole Kim situation. Geez Tommy, don't be a sore loser. Zack then decides to teach Tommy how to impress women with his awesometastic dance moves. Of course Angela, the girl he was trying to impress, turns him down. Bulk and Skull arrive and make fun of the two. Zack challenges them to do the same thing, which, for some reason, causes Bulk to imitate Cornholio and deliver this oh-so-witty poem:
"Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
No girl is going to
go out with you two."
He then gets his head stuck in his shirt. Yeah.
We cut to the moon for a moment where Rita chants a spell to power the candle, or something. Back on Earth, Tommy and Kimberly are walking in the park while Tommy screws up the courage to ask her to the dance. Just before he can finally say it, the Putties attack. The two fight them for a bit (and I could swear Tommy uses a Rider Kick on one of them) and it's actually one of the better Putty fights I've seen so far. Kim then realizes that she dropped her Morpher, allowing a Putty to grab it. The distraction causes the two to lose the fight, the Putties holding Tommy down. Goldar appears and disappears with the Putties and Tommy, leaving Kimberly alone.
They reappear in the dungeon from the Green Ranger Saga. One of the Putties give Goldar Tommy's Morpher, leaving with the other Putties afterwards. Tommy tries to fight Goldar but just gets knocked aside. Goldar then gives him a choice: rejoin Rita and he can keep his powers, or refuse and he loses them. He then moves aside to show the Green Candle, already lit.
We cut to the moon for a moment as Finster creates a new monster for Rita, the Cyclops. I probably don't have to describe this one to you, but he does look a little different than expected. Just imagine a white humanoid with an eye taking up most of his face.
Back at the dungeon, Goldar dares Tommy to get past him and put out the candle. Tommy tries, but winds up failing. This is actually very reminiscent of the Green Ranger Saga and the battle between Jason and Goldar. We then cut to the Command Center, where Kimberly is telling the others what happened. She's worried that Rita's going to turn him evil again, and the others try to pinpoint his location. The alarm goes off as the DragonZord attacks Earth. We see the DragonZord attack via recycled footage from its first appearance. The group realizes that they have to take down Tommy again, but Zordon suddenly points out that it's a fake DragonZord, created by Rita.
Wait, why would Rita create a fake DragonZord if she could get the real one? For that matter, HOW could she do that? When did she study the designs of the DragonZord to the point that she could recreate it? She only had the DragonZord under her control for one episode! And if she could somehow recreate the DragonZord, couldn't she also recreate the other Zords too? And if she could, why doesn't she?
*sigh* That raises way too many questions that I know will go unanswered. Anyway, the Rangers morph and head out. Rita calls Goldar to battle, so he chains up Tommy to make sure he can't touch the candle and heads out as well.
The Rangers fight the Putties and Goldar for a while, and for the most part don't do too well. The fact that the DragonZord keeps attacking the city doesn't help matters. The Rangers give in and summon the DinoZords, forming the MegaZord. The MegaZord fights the fake DragonZord for a bit and doesn't do too well. The Rangers realize that they need to hold down the fort until Tommy is free and can help them.
Speaking of Tommy, Goldar returns to the dungeon and frees Tommy from the chains, daring him to try to get the candle again. Tommy tries but fails, again. Tommy then manages to grab Goldar's sword and teleport out of the dungeon, dragging Goldar with him. He grabs his Morpher from him, morphs, and teleports to the battle. Goldar isn't upset, due to the fact that the candle is still burning, which will come into play later.
Tommy arrives at the battle and summons the real DragonZord. However, there is a noticeable delay in its summoning, which is a smart way of indicating that the candle's effect is already taking hold. It attacks the fake one, damaging it and showing it to actually be the Cyclops in disguise. OK, ignore my rant about Rita's robot-creating abilities. The Cyclops tries to morph into both the MegaZord and the DragonZord Battle Mode, but fails both times due to his injuries. The Cyclops retreats and Rita gloats about how Tommy's end is coming soon.
Back at the Command Center, Alpha is scanning Tommy for any internal injuries and quickly clears him of such. The Rangers are glad Tommy's OK, but Tommy's worried about the Green Candle. Trini tries to pass it off as a bluff, but Zordon quickly destroys that theory. He explains what I said earlier about the wax and such, and Tommy realizes that his time as the Green Ranger is limited. In a nice contrast to the typical formula, Rita laughs as we get a shot of the Green Candle to end Part 1.
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We're off to a great start with this two-parter. The stakes are raised considerably as the Rangers risk losing the aid of their most powerful member. Not to mention Rita brought out a shape-shifting monster to attack the city. But hey, there's nothing to worry about. They're the heroes! Of course they're going to stop Rita, Tommy will be fine, and the season will continue like normal.....right?
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Since the Cyclops is a shapeshifter, I guess I can forgive its rather bland design. Though it is pretty dull.
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