Power Rangers: Season 1, Episode 3: Teamwork

With each episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, more things are revealed to me that I had forgotten over the years.  In the first episode, it was the fact that not all of the zords were dinosaurs.  In the second episode it was the watches that allow communication and teleportation.  The third episode continued this trend by introducing two elements to the series.  One of them is important, and the other is not so important.  Let’s get into the episode and I’ll explain what I mean.

Season 1, Episode 3: Teamwork

The title really says it all about this episode.  I’m going to tackle the plot in two sections.  Both have to deal with teamwork and how it helped the Power Rangers and their teenage alter egos.

The first part is the high school stuff.  Trini and Kimberly were getting signatures for some sort of petition that I think had to do with reducing the rate at which waste materials are output.  The guys don’t want to join in with the girls and head off to do their own things.  One of these things includes Zack showing Alpha 5 how to dance at the headquarters.  Anyway, in the end, the newly introduced high school principal character threatens the five teenagers because of garbage on the hallway floor.  They work together to clean it up.

The other part of the story is the Power Ranger stuff.  When Trini and Kimberly were getting signatures, they were dumb enough to go into a closed of chemical waste facility.  While there, they were attacked by putties.  The guys find out and are about to help when Rita Repulsa sends a Minotaur down to Earth.  The guys then go fight the Minotaur while the girls fight putties.  Goldar also shows up to fight.  Yes, his name changed from Flydar to Goldar.  Whatever.  Rita throws her staff to Earth and the Minotaur grows giant.  The Power Rangers get their zords, but can’t beat the Minotaur.

Here’s where the second introduction comes in.  This is more important than the principal.  The Power Rangers are called back to the headquarters and Zordon, the giant floating head boss, gives them each a power weapon.  The Power Rangers combine their weapons to make a giant missile crossbow thing, and it blows up the Minotaur.  For whatever reason, Goldar left.  The Power Rangers win by using teamwork.

That’s the moral of the episode.  Teamwork works.  The Power Rangers used teamwork to get rid of the monsters, and to get the principal off of their backs.  It was an episode filled with teamwork and a two minute dance sequence that wasn’t that good.

Oh, another notable thing is that when the Power Rangers were called back to headquarters, they were wearing their Power Ranger suits.  This is, I think, the first time in the series that the suits have been shown in a scene that wasn’t ripped from the Japanese series that it is based on.  That’s a landmark moment for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

As you might be able to pick up from my episode descriptions so far, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is like a mixture between a Godzilla type of movie, and Saved By the Bell.  It has both the giant monsters aspect and the high school children’s morals aspect.  It makes for an interesting combination that I’m looking forward to revisiting more.  There is much more to come from me as I continue my adventure through the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series.