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We start off at the school, where our heroes are growing a few modest plants. Douchelan is with them to suggest that they transplant them to the park, which leads Zack to...son of a bitch, we're getting into the environmental messages again!
You know, sometimes I wonder if I'm too harsh on an episode that features environmental themes in it. After all, they aren't really THAT bad, and could be much worse. Especially considering we get a whole season of them much later on. Then I remember the one episode where they try to depict cleaning up the park as "cool" and I realize I'm not being harsh enough. This episode is screwed.
So after more save-the-rainforests bullcrap, Douchelan leaves and Bulk and Skull enter. They show off a few trees of their own, which Kimberly quickly discovers are plastic. Naturally, Bulk gets pissed at Skull for forgetting to remove the tags, which ends with Bulk getting covered in green paint. Yeah, there was a guy behind them painting a picture and I'm sure you really care. Oh, and there was something about Billy having special fertilizer for the trees. I'm mentioning it in case it's important to this stinker of a plot.
We then cut to the moon where we learn of Rita's new plan. Squat's going down to Earth to plant the seeds for an Octoplant, which will grow large enough to encircle and destroy the planet. And I really, really don't want to comment on the technical aspects, but this scene where they show the plant encircling and destroying the Earth is really cheesy, even for Power Rangers.
We move to the park where the Rangers decide to plant the trees and...for the love of God, they're doing it again! It's just like the trash episode wherein they try to depict planting trees as "cool". The only difference is that, instead of them flipping around and shoving trees in the ground, it's just them planting trees with rock music playing in the background. Just...stop. No one is going to think that anything to do with menial labour is cool just because you place cool music in the background while it's going on. Especially something as non-physical as PLANTING TREES.
The Rangers leave and Bulk and Skull arrive, their plan being to move the trees to a different spot so they get the good grades instead of the Rangers. At the same time, Squat arrives to plant the seeds for the Octoplant. He bumps into Bulk and Skull, and they piss themselves and make a run for it. If someone like SQUAT scares you, you pretty much suck forever. Especially if he causes you to hide in an outhouse. The Rangers come back and see Squat, but some Putties appear and Squat escapes. We get the expected fight scene with the Putties, which I have to admit have gotten MUCH better over time, along with a few scenes of Bulk and Skull being stuck in the outhouse, with Skull having to "go". After the fight's over, an earthquake occurs, indicating the plant's growth. This causes the Rangers to teleport to the Command Center.
Once there, Zordon fills them in...no, wait, he's as clueless as the others as to why this is happening. There's a shocker. Jason offers to teleport back to the park to look for clues while the others wait for Alpha to get more information. Once there, he wanders around a bit while an Octoplant tentacle creeps up on him. He finds the spot where Squat planted the seeds, since it's crackling with purple electricity. Like a dumbass, he touches it, which shocks him. What'd you think was going to happen, idiot?! The tentacles finally catch up to Jason, leading to some unintentionally funny scenes of Jason trying to dodge what look like grey hoses with plastic on the ends of them, before giving in and morphing.
He fights them off for a short while before they ensnare him. The others see what happens and morph (out of order, with Billy going last instead of Trini) to go help him. They free Jason from the tentacles and go to dig up the seeds, which, despite still crackling with purple electricity, is possible now that Alpha "disabled the energy field". Which is why the purple electricity is still there. Rita sends Goldar and Scorpina down to fight the Rangers and prevent them from destroying the Octoplant.
We get a nice, long fight scene with the Rangers against the Putties, Goldar, and Scorpina. The extended battle kills enough time for the Octoplant to grow larger and larger. It finally blooms revealing...it has a face. And then it turns into another monster-of-the-week. And then Rita makes it grow. Did I miss something here?! I thought the plant was already big enough to encircle the entire planet! That would actually make it bigger than if Rita used her typical magic on it! So why even...
You know what? I don't even care anymore. The Rangers summon the DinoZords, fight a bit, form the MegaZord, fight some more, and then kill the Octoplant. Whatever.
We then see Bulk and Skull still trapped in the outhouse, getting hauled off on a truck somewhere. We then move to the school where Douchelan talks to the students about the project, we get more super-hippy-dippy, save-the-environment, dear God can this just END already?! Bulk and Skull arrive, covered in excrement, they make Douchelan faint due to sheer smell, group laughs, this finally ends.
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God, I hate this one. Nevermind the fact that they cram yet more environmental BS down our throats, but the fact that the monster was built up as a planet-destroying menace due to its sheer size, only to become just another monster-of-the-week really pisses me off! I mean, we see very little of the plant in the beginning, except for the tentacles, so they could've used just about anything! But no, it's just another monster. Just, fucking whatever. Skip this one at all costs.
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By the way, want to know how they kill off Octoplant? It's distracted by its reflection in a building, leaving it open for the final blow. Fucking unbelievable.
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