Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 2, Episode 31: When is a Ranger Not a Ranger?

On the previous episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Adam helped a kid train for a karate competition.  He saw a lot of himself in the kid.  The kid lacked self-confidence, like Adam did at a young age, so Adam decided to help the kid find some.  Lord Zedd tried to attack Adam’s sense of self-confidence, but Adam overcame the obstacle and the Power Rangers blasted away Lord Zedd’s evil plan with their new Power Cannon.

Now it’s time to set our sights on another episode.  Who will the episode be about?  I don’t know.  It looks like someone will be questioning their position as a Power Ranger.  This is another standalone episode that will hopefully delve into character building.  Though I like the new characters, I want to know more about them.  The same goes for the old characters.  They could be fleshed out some more.  Whoever this episode focuses on, it should be more of the same entertainment.  That’s coming up in…

Season 2, Episode 31: When is a Ranger Not a Ranger?

Adam gave a presentation on kaleidoscopes in class.  Lord Zedd thought that the kaleidoscope would be a good inspiration for a monster.  The monster had the power to tear down someone’s personality and put it back together without memories.  It’s an interesting power that became an important plot point.

The Power Rangers hurried into battle against the kaleidoscope monster.  First it was Tommy, Kimberly, and Billy fighting it, and the putties that came with it.  They were quickly defeated when the monster hit them with its power and they forgot who they were.  It was up to the three newer Power Rangers to save them.  They teleported Tommy, Billy, and Kimberly to the Command Centre to see if they could get their memories back.  They couldn’t.  A new plan had to be formed.  Adam would take Billy to go get some prisms to refract the monster’s powers, while the other four went to fight the monster.

Bulk and Skull staked out where the monster was, and saw the arrival of the Power Rangers.  They were shocked to discover the true identities of the heroes.  Adam and Billy quickly rejoined the rest of the team with their prisms, but their memories immediately got wiped.  When Rocky and Aisha tried to get the prisms, their memories got wiped too.  Bulk and Skull were the only people left to save the day.  They got up, got the prisms, and confronted the monster.  The monster tried to attack them, but the prisms freed the Power Rangers’ minds.  Bulk and Skull hit their heads during the attack and forgot what happened.

With their memories back, the Power Rangers got into their Zords to fight the now giant kaleidoscope monster.  They made the Megazord and sliced it with their mega sword.  The monster was defeated.

Back at the Angel Grove Youth Centre, Bulk and Skull recounted how they helped the Power Rangers.  Some of it was true.  They couldn’t remember what happened though, so a bunch of it was made up.  People didn’t believe their story because the Power Rangers weren’t at the Youth Centre thanking them.  They were though.  Kimberly and Aisha walked up to tell Bulk and Skull how brave they were, and to say that they were actually good guys.  Bulk and Skull ruined the moment by asking the girls out.  Then the episode ended.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers has been making Bulk and Skull more likeable.  This episode had them saving the Power Rangers and the world.  It’s the second time that we’ve seen the characters helping out in a time of need.  The Power Transfer saw the duo caring for a child while the Power Rangers were off saving his father.  The show seems to be working to move them out of the territory of simple comic relief.  They’re becoming more complex, which is going to help with the world building that the show will hopefully do.

Also of note was the moment where Aisha tried to get Kimberly’s memories back by saying that they were best friends.  It seems kind of quick for Aisha and Kimberly to have become best friends.  Has Kimberly already moved past Trini, only a few episodes after Trini left?  What are Rocky and Adam to Aisha, if not her best friends?  I know that the show is pairing the female characters as best friends because that’s what a show like this would do in the 1990s, but it just seems like a quick best friendship.  There could have been more care in building that up, seeing as the characters haven’t known each other for that long.

This was another solid episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.  It’s nice to see Bulk and Skull step up and save the world for once.  It was nice to have a section of the episode where the new characters were the ones tasked with doing the work.  Will the next episode continue the trend of solid outings?  We’ll only find out by watching the next episode, which is what I will be doing soon.  See you then.