Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 1, Episode 46: To Flea or Not to Flee

It has been months since I last posted about an episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.  I am sorry for the delay.  I’m not sure what took me so long in coming around to another episode.  I had already watched the episode I am about to write about right after I wrote the last post, but for some reason never actually wrote this post.  This week, I decided that I would rewatch the episode and finally get around to writing this.

So I left you off on an episode that reused fight footage that had already been a part of the first season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.  I assumed that the rest of the season would be the same because they had run out of Super Sentai footage to use.  That assumption was wrong.  Partially wrong.  They had, in fact, run out of footage that they could use because they had taken from all of the Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger episodes previously.  But the American producers asked the Japanese producers to make some new footage for them.  Hence, we come to the land of Zyu2 footage.

Zyu2 footage is the nickname given to the extra footage shot by the Japanese producers because the American show had run out of footage to use.  The episode I’m about to write about wasn’t the first episode to use this extra footage.  That came a couple episodes before with Something Fishy.  But this episode also used the bonus footage and was the first one to use it after the rest of the American footage had been used up.  Do you want to know what the extra footage was this time?  Let’s get to the episode.

Season 1, Episode 46: To Flea or Not to Flee

This is a very depressing episode for Ernie.  Very early on, we find out that he doesn’t have enough money to keep the Youth Center and Juice Bar open, even though the place is packed whenever you see it.  He just doesn’t have enough regulars to pay the cost of operation.  He’ll keep bringing it up throughout the episode, making the normally fun show seem downright sad.

No need to worry about being sad right now, though.  Jason has found a lost dog.  And the dog likes Ernie’s chili.  Jason wants to find the owner and return the dog, so he and Kimberly go to the park.  Bulk and Skull follow them, hoping to steal the dog and earn themselves a tidy sum of money as a reward.

This is the perfect time for Rita Repulsa to come up with another dastardly plan.  In this episode, she wants to single out the Red Ranger by giving him fleas.  She gets Finster to make her a monster flea, which she then sends down to the lost dog.  When Jason pets the dog, he gets covered in fleas and cannot stop itching himself.  This comes to his advantage, though.  When Rita sends down a team of putties, Jason realized that he can spread the fleas onto the putties.  This immobilizes them.  Jason and Kimberly win the putty fight.  But Bulk and Skull managed to steal the dog.  Little do they know that it comes with a monster.  When the flea shows itself, the two run away as fast as possible.

Everyone convenes at the Command Center to talk about Jason’s problem.  Zordon says that it has to do with Rita’s monster.  Alpha is able to temporarily mask the symptoms, but the masking will be undone if Jason comes in contact with the monster.  Billy decides that he is going to try and find a permanent cure.  Jason and Kimberly go back to the park to find the dog.  Trini and Zack go to the Youth Center.

In the park, Jason and Kimberly come face to face with the monster.  Jason starts itching, Kimberly tries to fight it alone and can’t do much, Zack, Trini, and Billy show up, big monster fight… Same stuff as usual.  Billy manages to have a spray that stops Jason from itching, though, so that’s good.  They defeat the monster like they always (well, almost always) defeat monsters.  Angel Grove has been saved again.

Back at the Youth Center, the dog has been found eating chili and his owner comes to pick him up.  She offers a large reward for her dog, and the gang gives the reward to Ernie.  He’s able to keep the Youth Center open!  Meanwhile, Bulk and Skull are sitting at a table itching because they got fleas from the dog.  Billy and Jason decide to help them out and give them a little something to stop the fleas.  Is it the potion that Billy made?  Nope.  Their gift is two flea collars, which Bulk and Skull must wear for a week.  Credits.

I wouldn’t say that this episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was great.  It wasn’t even all that good.  The Ernie stuff kept bringing to fun of the show to a halt.  There was a whole lot more walking around than there needed to be.  And the fighting seemed to play second fiddle to the whole itching subplot.  Now, I understand that most of the show’s episodes aren’t high art or anything, but the writing in this one just seemed like it was a mess.  I wish they had tightened it up a bit, found a tone, and focused a little more on the fighting rather than the rash.  The rash is a good subplot, but it should be a subplot.

As for Bulk and Skull, it’s nice to see them interacting with the monsters a little bit more.  They started off as the comedic foil to the gang when they weren’t fighting monsters.  They’re still in that role.  But now they are starting to transition a little bit into the Power Rangers side of things.  It’s good to see some sort of blending done in there as it could make for some interesting stories further down the line.

I wonder what’s in store for me next time I watch a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episode.  Will Bulk and Skull see the Power Rangers and help in the fighting?  Likely not.  If that ever happens, it will probably be a long way down the road.  For now, it’ll probably be another monster, another fight, another victory for the Power Rangers.  And that’s fun, as long as there’s not a depressing tonal shift bringing down the proceedings.  I’ll see you next time.