Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 2, Episode 20: Opposites Attract

Previously in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Lord Zedd stole Kimberly’s purse and turned it into a monster, along with the lipstick inside it.  The Power Rangers fought two monsters at once to save Angel Grove.  Trini got her chance to hang out with Richie.  Kimberly got to go on another date with Tommy.  Bulk and Skull were also there, running around the park and through a lake with a Power Rangers detector.  It was a crazy episode.

Now I’m at Opposites Attract.  My guess is that the episode involves Skull and Kimberly in some sort of a relationship, but I’m probably way off.  She’s with Tommy now.  It just seems like the right kind of name for that situation.  The episode could be about a magnet monster.  I wouldn’t put that past the show.  All I know for sure is that this is the last episode that Austin St. John, Walter Jones, and Thuy Trang were present for.  Let’s give them a farewell.

Season 2, Episode 20: Opposites Attract

Everyone was busy in this episode.  Tommy, Jason, and Zack were working out together at the Angel Grove Youth Centre.  Kimberly was leading a group of girl guides called Angelettes on a tracking expedition in the woods with her friend, Laura.  Billy was preparing his magnetic device to track a magnetic storm that was going to hit Angel Grove.  They were all wrapped up in their own events, except for Trini.  Billy even had a hint of relationship with Laura.

Bulk and Skull had a strange idea to find the Power Rangers.  They decided to rig up a system that would send messages out into space.  I’m not entirely sure who they were trying to contact.  While working on their device in the park, a severe magnetic storm hit.  The Earth shook (it also affected the Youth Centre), and a bear began walking towards them on its hind legs.  Bulk and Skull freaked out and ran away to be soothed by the Angelettes once they returned to the Youth Centre.

The magnetic storm was the perfect chance for Lord Zedd to attack.  He sent Goldar to steal Billy’s magnetic device and turned it into a monster called Magnethead.  You know, because the monsters have head in their names now.  The monster controlled the magnetic storm and made it stronger.  That extra force caused Angel Grove to have a giant earthquake that didn’t destroy anything.

There were a few big fights that need mentioning, so this is going to be fairly long.  The first was Billy’s solo fight.  There aren’t many times that Billy has had his own fight scene.  There was bit of wirework in the fight as Billy kicked a putty and it slid down a long picnic table.  That was the most impressive part of the fight.  There was also a moment where Goldar got Billy’s magnetic device and disappeared, leaving a putty looking around curiously at where he used to be.  Another putty fight happened between the Power Rangers and putties at an industrial building.  Putties were knocked down stairs.  Power Rangers jumped to crazy heights.  One putty fell down a ladder and ended up with its head in a box.  There were interesting visuals that I hadn’t seen before.  The third of the big fights was between Tommy (as the White Ranger) and Goldar.  The general of evil always goes after the leader of the team for one-on-one fighting.  It used to be Jason, but now Tommy is the leader.  This was another fight that utilized wirework with Tommy’s long jumps and Goldar flailing while flying through the air and into a tree.  It was an entertaining fight.  The least entertaining fight was the Zord fight that ended super quickly.  The Power Rangers combined their weapons to shoot the monster and Lord Zedd did the growing thing.  The monster grew and the Power Rangers formed the Mega Thunderzord.  After being caught in a magnetic trap, they broke free and killed the monster with their sabre.  The end.

There’s not a whole lot about this episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers that will have a huge impact.  Directly, that is.  It had a hint at Billy having a relationship with Laura, but that’s about it.  There’s something more indirect that will have a lasting impact.  This was the last episode that Austin St. John, Thuy Trang, and Walter Jones were present for the filming of.  This was the final time that the five original Power Rangers actors would be on screen together.  It would also mark the final appearances of Curtis and Richie, characters who were tied to Zack and Trini.  When Walter Jones and Thuy Trang were let go, those two characters were collateral damage.  That’s sad because the characters were good additions to the show.  They broadened the group of friends beyond the people who were Power Rangers.  They helped build out the universe.

Instead of going into the weird things that happened in this episode, I want to discuss the final moments, which felt like a good send-off for the five actors without truly being a send-off.  Usually when the group hangs out at the Youth Centre, they are around a table or curved around the juice bar.  This time they were at the juice bar, but everyone was huddled together.  They were watching Billy and Laura talk.  When I say everyone, I mean all of the friends.  Kimberly, Ernie, Curtis, Richie, Zack, Jason, Tommy, and Trini.  They were all together for the last time, at the end of their final episode together.  It was a group shot of the cast.  It was a time capsule of this era of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.  I’ll share the picture at the end of the post.

The next episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is called Zedd’s Monster Mash, in which a bunch of former monsters return.  These monsters include ones that Zedd wasn’t even around for, like the Pumpkin Rapper.  It’s also the one episode in between the dismissal of three of the original Power Rangers actors and the addition of three new ones.  That’s what we can look forward to in the next episode.  I’ll see you then.