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So we start off at the beach, with Tommy, Kim, and Trini hanging out with some kid that Trini apparently knows. Great, child actor. And this season was going so well. The kid leaves and...goddammit, Richie walks past. Richie and a child actor in the same episode. This does not bode well at all. We then see Bulk and Skull's next plan: disguise themselves as Z-Putties to lure out the Rangers. Of course, the costumes are bad, all they do is wreck a sandcastle, and Bulk gets his ass kicked by a 5-year old. Ah well, better luck next time, guys.
On the moon, Zedd isn't too pleased that people are mocking the Z-Putties, so he sends the real deal down to cause some havoc. As well as kidnap that girl. Because every child actor on this show needs to be the kidnap victim. Goldar has a spaz attack so Zedd sends him down too to do...something. It's not really clear what. I also like how Zedd referred to himself as "The Master Of The Universe". And here I thought He-Man couldn't get any more naked than he already was. Apparently I was wrong.
Back on Earth, the girl lets out the most unenthusiastic "hey let me go" I've ever heard, and the group comes running. Just in time to see Goldar teleport away with the girl. They notice a bottle he left behind, which they open, causing flames to shoot out and write a message in the sand in some ineligible language. Which of course has a big Z as the signature, because that's how Zedd rolls.
On the moon, Zedd is glad that Goldar caught the girl successfully, but isn't happy that he dropped the bottle. Goldar's explanation is that he dropped it in the battle.
Zedd: The BATTLE?! With a little girl?!
Oh snap, Zedd's gonna slap a bitch!
But Zedd, evil genius that he is, manages to make a negative into a positive. He realizes that once the Rangers decipher the message, they'll find out where the girl is being kept and head there, meaning they can ransom her for the Green Ranger. Subplot continuing, as expected.
At the Command Center, Billy tries to translate the message to find the girl (named Haley or Hally or Halle or something). They eventually discover that she's trapped on the titular Venus Island, which can be called up at Zedd's will. If it sinks without them rescuing her, she'll be gone forever. Not from drowning, of course, this is a kid's show! She'll just be "lost to Zedd's evil". Zordon mentions that at sunset, the wind will blow towards the island, so it's up to Billy once again to create some device to track the wind. Because he's a super-genius and all that.
*insert pissed-off Wile E. Coyote here*
We cut to Billy's garage, where he uses his technical wizardry to create some wind-tracking device. Because he's just that damn good. He, Jason, and Trini go back to the beach while the others wait in the Command Center...
...Zack sounds off. Sure, it still sounds like him, mostly, but he still sounds different. Almost as if he has a different voice actor dubbed in over his lines...hm.
Anyway, they release the balloon at sunset and head back to the Center. While tracking the signal, the others question whether or not Tommy should go. And Zack has his normal voice again. Weird. Tommy convinces the others to let him go if he agrees to escape should Zedd target him. They find the island, as well as Hally trapped in some magic cage. Apparently it's slowly turning her evil, which means they were being literal earlier. Because Zedd totally needs a little girl in his vast empire of evil. Time is of the essence, so the Rangers teleport to Venus Island.
The Rangers arrive and start wandering the island, which, since it's VENUS Island, has a lot of Venus Flytraps on it. Zedd springs his trap by zapping one of the flytraps and creating his newest monster, the Invenusable Flytrap. Eh, it's alright. The monster teleports in front of the Rangers, so they morph in response. For some reason, Jason and Zack don't make any noise when morphed. Also weird. They fight the Flytrap, who sounds like a stereotypical old lady, and it opens it's chest to capture all the Rangers except for Tommy and Trini. It offers to let them go if Tommy gives up the last of his powers and follow Lord Zedd, but they refuse. Zordon orders them to retreat and they return to the Command Center.
Once there, Zordon explains Zedd's plan to fully control Tommy and the Green Ranger powers. Zordon also reminds them of Hally's dire situation, so Tommy decides that he has to give himself up to Zedd. Trini offers to go fight the Flytrap alone, but Tommy refuses. I have to admit, this scene is pretty tense. It's almost like Tommy's willingly walking to his death or something. Nicely done, Saban. However, Alpha manages to save the day by discovering the Flytrap's weakness, heat. If the other Rangers create intense heat from inside the Flytrap, they'll be able to escape. Tommy and Trini teleport back to the battle to help the others.
Once there, they resume fighting the Flytrap. We then cut to inside it and...OK, I can clearly see Jason moving as though he's speaking, but no noise is coming out! What the hell? Well, as it turns out, this was around the time Walter Jones, Austin St. John, and Thuy Trang, the actors for Zack, Jason, and Trini respectively, were having money issues with Saban, and refused to do voice acting for a number of scenes. This explains why Zack sounded weird earlier. They got different voice actors for the suits, but re-airings of the episode just cut it out altogether. Hence why Jason and Zack don't make any noise while morphed.
Anyway, they combine their energy or something to create plenty of heat from within. This, plus Trini and Tommy fighting outside, cause enough damage to force the Flytrap to release the others. They fight some more and combine their weapons into the Power Blaster. And now Jason and Zack have their voices again. I guess they just re-used an old version of this sequence. They blast it and finish it off.
Zedd's none too happy with failing again. However, he still has the last laugh, as Hally is still trapped on the island. He commands the island to start sinking, forcing the Rangers to move faster to find her. They eventually find her in a cave, but can't get to her right away, since the fog's still around the cage and would just turn them evil. And Zack's voice is gone again. I'd stop pointing it out if it wasn't so blatant. Trini finds the solution, which is to just blast the cage until it's gone. Tommy rescues Hally and...the Rangers blatantly call him Tommy in front of her! Guys! What happened to the whole secret identity thing?! Fine, clearly the producers didn't care, so I won't either.
After the Rangers escape and Zedd promises eventual victory, we arrive at the Juice Bar, where Bulk and Skull are interrogating Hally about the Rangers. She gives surprisingly accurate details about both Jason and Tommy, which naturally scares the piss out of them. Bulk and Skull have some French artist draw the Rangers from Hally's descriptions, which allows Bulk to practice his French, which the artist calls "fascinating". More like offensive. The drawing's finished which turns out to be...some sort of gala event. Alrighty then. Group laughs, episode ends.
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This one was slightly better than the last episode, but not by much. The moment with Tommy resigning himself to his fate was surprisingly well done. And I'll admit that the Bulk and Skull moments were pretty funny. But other than that, this one was still in the middle, and the lack of voices for Jason and Zack really drag it down for me. Overall, OK, but again, just part of something bigger.
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Please keep all vagina jokes regarding the Invenusable Flytrap to yourselves. I'd like to keep some dignity with regards to these reviews.
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