Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 3, Episode 19: Changing of the Zords, Part I

Last time we left off with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Kat had been introduced.  She started as a cat in the park that Kimberly and Aisha took in.  The cat transformed into a teenage girl who went for a car ride with Tommy and got him trapped in an alternate dimension.  Then the girl transformed into a monster that the whole Power Rangers team had to come together to defeat.  Once defeated, she turned into a teenager again and everything was okay.  Until a final reveal that she was still an evil cat sent by Rita Repulsa to take down the Power Rangers.

The next episode is the beginning of another important multi-episode story.  This one will see the Power Rangers transition from their Ninja Zords to the Shogun Zords, while also furthering the Kat story that will write Kimberly out of the show.  Since it’s the first part, it will probably only cover the loss of the Ninja Zords in any detail and give reason to why they must get the Shogun Zords.  Other than that, I don’t really know what else would be in the first part.  I’ll find out right now, though, as I begin…

Season 3, Episode 19: Changing of the Zords, Part I

Finster went to Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa with an idea.  He had deciphered a piece of writing that revealed the location of some Zords.  If the moon base monsters could get those Zords, they would have their best chance yet at defeating the Power Rangers.  Finster, Squatt, and Baboo were sent to find and release those Zords.

Rita doubled down on her evil deeds and went to the park to meet with Kat, who was still under her evil spell.  She told Kat to steal a Power Coin from one of the Power Rangers.  With the use of the Power Coin, they could take control of one of the Power Rangers’ Zords.  That way, no counter attack could be led against the Zords that Finster was going to get.

Kat stole Kimberly’s Power Coin.  She had more motive for it than simply listening to Rita.  She was extremely jealous of Kimberly because Kimberly had Tommy.  Kat wanted Tommy to herself and would force Kimberly out of the picture by taking her Power Coin.

Kimberly’s powers weakened throughout the episode.  When Ninjor had given them the Ninja Powers, he had infused the coins with the Power Rangers’ life essence.  Now that the Power Coin was in evil hands, Kimberly’s life essence would slowly drain away and she would possibly die.  The Power Rangers had to get the Power Coin back to save their friend.

Bulk and Skull spent the episode protecting the beach.  They were basically lifeguards.  They had to make sure people were safe in the water and make sure other people weren’t rambunctious on the shore.  A heroic moment came when they thought some children were drowning.  The pair dove into the water to save the kids.  In true Bulk and Skull fashion, the kids were fine and they were humiliated.

There were two fights in this episode.  The first was when Kat stole the Power Coin.  The Tenga Warriors were sent to the beach to distract the Power Rangers.  A couple interesting things happened.  Adam was able to duplicate himself.  Rocky threw a Tenga Warrior off a boat.  And Kimberly had to fight while her powers were diminishing.  The second fight had Tommy getting into his Zord and teaming up with Ninjor to take on a giant Goldar.  Tommy was about to win when Kat popped up behind him and used the Power Coin to subdue him and steal his Zord.  Goldar then trapped Ninjor.  The bad guys took Ninjor and the Zord back to Rita and Zedd on the moon.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers has been getting better at keeping story elements relevant for longer amounts of time than the individual story they were a part of.  With the story of Kat continuing through Changing of the Zords, it’s easy to see that the writers are becoming more confident in long term writing.  They are more willing to let a thread play out beyond a multi-episode story or a single episode.  There’s a maturity to the story writing now, though the dialogue and fighting still hasn’t found maturity.  Story matters.

Kat has been an interesting character since she was introduced in A Ranger Catastrophe, Part I.  Much like Tommy, she was introduced as an evil teenager.  She was working against the Power Rangers in the beginning.  She still is.  Changing of the Zords, Part I added some depth to her character beyond the puppet for Rita aspect.  She now has a crush on Tommy and her jealousy has made Kimberly the target of her evil.  She stole a picture of Tommy and Kimberly to say that Kimberly would soon be out of the picture while literally ripping the picture in half to remove Kimberly.  It gave her more motivation than just plain being evil.  She had a reason to want to target a specific Power Ranger, and that made things more personal.

The other thing that should be discussed are the Ninja Powers that the Power Rangers have.  Every episode, when they’re fighting the Tenga Warriors, the Power Rangers show off abilities that the audience didn’t know existed before that point.  Many times, they could have been using those skills in previous fights to help win.  But they hadn’t.  Changing of the Zords, Part I had Adam using a power where he could duplicate himself.  This power would make things so much easier every time they fight.  There could be multiples of the Power Rangers.  They would have added numbers to help them fight off the bad guys.  This could make all the different when they’re outnumbered.  They could even the odds and defeat the bad guys quicker and easier.  Why was it only used here?  The show is weird with the powers that it gives the teens.

There’s not too much else to say, since this was the first part of a three-episode story.  It was the building blocks for the rest of the story to play out.  The other two episodes will depend on this one to fully function.  It’ll be interesting to see where the story goes, and to see if Kat ends up joining the side of good by the end of the story.  She still might not, though, because there’s a little bit more time before Kimberly leaves the show.  We’ll find out soon.  Join me for the next episode when the post goes up.