Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 2, Episode 1: The Mutiny, Part I



Previously in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, we wrapped up the first season with an episode about Zack taking Angela out on a date.  The pearl earrings he bought her froze everyone, leaving only Zack and Tommy to fight off a giant oyster monster.  Then the season was over.

This post marks the beginning of the second season, a season that will bring big changes.  Right now, the Power Rangers are Jason, Zack, Trini, Tommy, Kimberly, and Billy.  Sometime during this season, we will be introduced to Rocky, Adam, and Aisha.  First we have to be introduced to Lord Zedd, the new main villain.  Lord Zedd will replace Rita Repulsa as the monster/person trying to conquer Earth.

Season 2 begins with a three part story called The Mutiny.  I think it will be the transition from Rita Repulsa to Lord Zedd.  It should be a good transition, leading to a more frightening villain.  Let’s get to the first episode.



Season 2, Episode 1: The Mutiny, Part I
This is a big episode in terms of storyline.  Let’s start with the most important part.  Lord Zedd was introduced to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.  He is the former leader of the moon base.  He returned to take his rightful place as head of the bad guys.  Goldar immediately bowed down to him.  They put Rita Repulsa into another space dumpster and threw it out into space.

For the Angel Grove storyline, the gang participated in a cross country four-wheeler race.  Everyone was there, including Bulk, Skull, and the principal of their high school.  When Lord Zedd returned, some strange things happened in the sky.  The gang was beckoned to the Command Centre, and that was it for the Angel Grove stuff.

Bulk and Skull have been given more to do this season.  They were the comedic effect for the first part of the episode, but soon got to be in the action.  Lord Zedd sent down a new, stronger kind of putty.  The gang of putties went after Bulk and Skull until the Power Rangers arrived.  Bulk decided that he and Skull were going to find out the Power Rangers real identities.

As for the Power Rangers storyline, when the gang was brought to the Command Centre, they were told all about Lord Zedd.  They quickly went to fight the putties attacking Bulk and Skull.  Tommy started losing his power.  He was lucky, however, because Jason found out that you could hit the Z on the putties’ chests to get rid of them.  They returned to the Command Centre and discovered that Lord Zedd created a piranha monster from a fish in the lake.  They went to fight the monster but Tommy had to stay behind to recharge his powers.  The final moments of the episode saw the Power Rangers summoning their Zords only to have the piranha monster freeze the Zords, making them immobile.



This episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers brought a lot of change to the show.  Bulk and Skull now have a story that may play out over the season.  The main antagonist has changed.  Tommy was actually weakened during the fighting.  And the Zords were frozen so that they couldn’t be used.  It’s a lot for one episode, especially when compared to the episodic nature of season one.  That’s not to say that this season won’t revert to that after the Mutiny storyline.  It probably will.  For now, we have changes that will impact the series as it moves forward.

There are a few other notes I want to make.  This was the first episode to feature a non-Japanese actress playing Rita Repulsa.  She looked much different in the American footage.  Also looking different was Goldar, whose snout was smaller than before.  That was distracting.  Finally, Bulk and Skull thought the gang just ran away when the putties arrived.  They were on open terrain.  Where would the gang have gone?
The next episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers will directly follow this one.  The Mutiny Part 1 ended on a cliffhanger.  Episode 2 is sure to bring some good monster fighting to fully kick off the season.  I’ll see you soon with a post for The Mutiny, Part 2.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is "Real Steel" Like "Over the Top"?

When I was going through my weekly movie binge a couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon two movies that I had never seen before that tackled a very similar story.   It was an odd thing to have happen because I didn’t know of any similarities between the two movies.   The first was Real Steel, a movie about a man who participates in robot boxing while bonding with the son that he had left years before.   The second was Over the Top, a movie about a man who participates in arm wrestling while bonding with the son that he had left years before.   Similar?   I think so. Let’s begin with Real Steel.   I watched this one because, why the hell not?   I quite enjoyed the movie and by the end I was rooting for Hugh Jackman’s character to help his robot, Atom, to a victory.   The thing to point out about Real Steel is how good the visual effects were.   I wasn’t expecting too much going in, but I thought they masterfully crafted each robot in a way that it entirely fit its surroundings and didn’t
Read more

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 2, Episode 8: The Power Stealer

Image
Last time we sat down with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers , Tommy was going through some serious stuff.   His powers were running low because Lord Zedd was targeting him.   He felt hopeless.   His friends were comforting him.   There was also a Robo Goat trying to take a powerful sword and use it against the Earth.   There were fights all over the place and an emotional hook that was unmatched in any episode that wasn’t in a multi-part arc. This episode, there might be follow-up to the Tommy storyline.   It would be nice to see more of the struggle with his powers.   Right now, that’s the one throughline that has been playing out.   II hope this episode continues to have some sort of meaning to the overall story, instead of being a self-contained and meaningless.   The show needs to grow and evolve, with a storyline that builds to something significant.   Having episodes that keep the story at a standstill is boring.   The story needs to move forward.   Will this episode d
Read more

A Short Description of how Baby's Day Out (1994) is a Live Action Cartoon

Image
Animated movies have been a large fixture throughout cinematic history.   There is currently an Academy Award category devoted entirely to animated features.   They are an important part of the cinematic landscape.   Movies would be completely different if not for the animated films that have been popular throughout the past century. Children have always been a large part of the popularity of cartoons.   This has not been solely a movie based genre.   Television also thrives on animated shows.   As a child, I can remember watching cartoons on Saturday mornings.   In the children’s cartoons, characters could be forced into dangerous predicaments, get injured or nearly killed, and continue on with their lives as if nothing ever happened to them.   This was the way of cartoons such as Looney Toons , where Elmer Fudd, Wile E. Coyote, Daffy Duck, and Yosemite Sam would always suffer great physical trauma, then return to their normal selves in the next scene. This is probably
Read more