Teamwork, or: The Day The Writers Were Low On Material

Look at that. Not only do the Rangers care about saving the citizens of Earth from evil aliens, but Trini and Kim also care about saving the environment. In the words of my new favorite Vacation Bible School leader, Ms. Ruthie, can we all say "Awww"?

The girls are working on getting students in their high school hallway to sign a petition to close down what Kim calls a "smelly dump site". Now, if I had tried this in my high school, I would've gotten trampled, first of all, because there was no room in the halls. But I also would have gotten shoved, mocked, and possibly given a wedgie. Since this is Power Rangers, though, the only people making fun of Trini and Kim are Bulk and Skull*. In the space of less than two minutes, the pair manages to belch loudly, throw trash at the girls, and dump a full trash can over some poor unsuspecting kid's head. Kim gets her revenge, though, by flipping her way between them so that they fall into a very bromantical hug that completely disgusts them.

Guess who's responsible for the smelly dump site, kids? RITA. Bet you didn't see that one coming.

The guys come up to see the girls petition, right before Bulk and Skull's little display of manliness, and each has his own reason for not going to the dump with Trini and Kim to deliver the petition. "It would be much more impressive if we acted like a team," Trini says. I smell both foreshadowing and a plot device, I say.

So Trini and Kim traipse off alone to the Angel Grove Industrial Waste site, because every small California beach town has one of those lying around. There are barrels of nasty nuclear waste lying everywhere. If the EPA got a good look at this Rita wouldn't be worrying about the Rangers, is all I'm saying. What is she DOING on the moon to generate all this waste, anyway?

Also, who wants to bet Kim's jeans are Jordache?

No lies, though, I really think I own those earrings Kim is wearing. It's official. The 90s are back. And can we just talk about fashion for a moment? As in, I WANT KIM'S SHIRT? I would so wear the hell out of that thing. Actually, I think I saw it in Urban Outfitters recently.

You know, I seriously don't understand why the team could never defeat the putties in these early episodes. They probably have a brain smaller than a stegosaurus. Do you KNOW how small a stegosaurus brain is? The size of a walnut. That's right. A walnut. According to Dan Telfer, they needed an extra brain in their abdomen just so their stomachs would work.

So, while Trini and Kim are fighting stegosaur-brained-putties in Jordache jeans at the nuclear waste site, Rita sends Finster's latest monster to Earth. A Minotaur. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the Minotaur from Greek mythology? Finster doesn't strike me as a student of the classics. I'd like to know how he knows about Minotaurs**.

Typical sexist, man. Zordon sends the BOYS to fight the Minotaur and tells them to help Trini and Kim when they're done, just ASSUMING they're going to get things cleaned up quickly. What was that about teamwork earlier?

While the boys go off to save the day, the girls stuff the putties in trash cans. Sorry, ladies. That only works to defeat AV geeks.

"Working together as a team is their only hope," Zordon says to Alpha. I'm sensing a theme here.

The Rangers are getting their rear ends handed to them, the boys by the Minotaur and Kim and Trini by the putties. "Perhaps it is time for me to reveal to them the ancient secrets of the Power Weapons," Zordon says.

Um, yeah. I would think now would be a great time. Of course, before the fight would have been nice, too. When you first gave them their powers would have been even better. But now's good.

Rita throws her staff down to Earth, which by now we all know means the monster is about to get bigger. Thankfully, the Rangers get their heads on straight and call the Zords. It is nice to see the Zords on their own instead of going directly into the Megazord, though. Man, I always wanted Kim's Pterodactyl Zord when I was a kid.

You know, this episode is thin on the outside-of-battle-plot. They messed up by making Rita in charge of the dump; they should have had someone else own it. Right now all we've seen outside of the fighting was Trini and Kim trying to get people to sign a petition to close the dump at school, and then outsmarting Bulk and Skull in the hallway.

Also, I swear I just saw Zack's Mastodon Zord shoot water out of it's trunk. Awesome.

Alpha: "At this rate, they don't stand a chance!"
Zordon: "You're right, Alpha."

Wow. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Zordon. And then to top it all off, he pulls them out of the middle of battle to come back to the Command Center for more instructions! Like-- what's going to happen to the Zords?? Are they still there with the Minotaur? Because the kids just teleported out.

And of course, Rita is all excited. She thinks they're running away and declares that the world shall be hers. Who's my favorite megalomaniac, Rita? Who's my favorite megalomaniac***?

So, Zordon gives the kids new weapons, which would have come in handy all those other times they had to fight bad guys, but whatever.

Billy gets a Power Lance (a "weapon of great power and rage"-- or at least, it sounded like Zordon said rage. Maybe it was range. But if it was rage I think it maybe should have gone to Jason).

Kim gets a Power Bow-- "accurate and strong". This was the reason I always got to use my BFF Garrett's Nerf Crossbow when we played after school in kindergarten. Kim had the bow. I was the Pink Ranger. He was the Red Ranger, so he didn't get the bow. End of story.

And OF COURSE Jason with the white knight complex gets a POWER SWORD-- "key to all the weapons powers". What? Like Jason needs a bigger ego.

Zack gets a Power Axe-- "Lightning quick and hard as diamond". Yeah, that's what she said, Zordon.

And lastly, Trini gets Power Daggers, which are so BA. "Feather light and true as arrows". Zordon, I am getting a sense that you don't trust the girls' aim. You said nothing about accuracy with the boys' weapons. Misogynistic big-head.

BUT OF COURSE the weapons work BEST together. Because the theme of this episode is TEAMWORK. In case no one had gotten that yet.

Once they get the weapons, they teleport back to beat the Minotaur, talking during the teleporting and effectively freaking me out. All of the weapons like, STROBE with neon light as the Rangers present them with a witty little saying before they beat the Minotaur. All to the tune of GO GO POWER RANGERSSSS. I want these weapons for my very own.

"Your team must act together as one," the bodiless voice of Zordon says. WE GET IT OKAY? THE EPISODE IS ABOUT TEAMWORK. So, in the spirit of teamwork, the kids put their weapons together after presenting them again and shoot a neon beam of light at the Minotaur, which apparently destroys him, but don't ask me how.

"All the bad guys in the universe and I had to get stuck with these NITWITS!" I feel your pain, Rita. I really do.

So, after the battle is over, the writers take us back to the high school for a little dose of something I like to call redundancy.

Trini: "Gee, things sure work out better when we work as a team, huh?"
Billy: "Maybe with a little teamwork, we'll get the dump site closed down yet."

In case you HADN'T gotten the message of teamwork, though, for whatever reason, here is another example for you. The kids are back at the school and the mess from where Bulk and Skull dumped the trash can on the floor is still there. Mr. Kaplan****, the principal, comes around the corner and demands to know why the mess has not yet been cleaned up. He wants to talk to the team, but gets called away by the intercom. Jason says, "What do you say we show a little TEAMWORK and get this place cleaned up?"

Clearly some fifth grade teacher somewhere was paying them to write this episode.


*Who, today, for some reason, have what seems to be a Led Zeppelin reject hanging out with them. Who IS this guy?
**Unless Minotaurs are from HIS planet and some went to visit the Greeks.
***Besides Lord Voldemort.
****Also, have I mentioned that Mr. Kaplan is wearing a royal blue suit with a yellow shirt?