Episode Title: Teamwork
Original Airdate: September 8, 1993
Well, last time we saw the Power Rangers battle a monster that looked a bit like a giant Roman soldier. So this time we end up with a creature out of Greek mythology. Prepare to take the bull by the horns…actually it’s a minotaur…in this week’s episode, Teamwork.
Today’s episode actually doesn’t start at the Angel Grove Gym and Juice Bar, it starts at Angel Grove High School. Yes, these teenagers actually go to school! On this day, Trini and Kimberly are gathering names for a petition to clean up a local dumpsite. The girls are going to go there to deliver the petition later that afternoon, unfortunately all the guys have other commitments keeping them from going along. At the same time, Bulk & Skull decide it would be fun to dump the contents of all the recycling bins all over the halls of the school.
What the girls don’t realize is that Rita has a hand in the problems going on at the dump. Just in time for the girls’ arrival at the dump, she sends a batch of Putties down and a fight breaks out. Meanwhile, at the command center, Zordon, Alpha, and Zack (who is there giving Alpha a dance lesson) spot that the girls are in trouble. They teleport Jason and Billy there and receive instructions.
Back up in space, Finister has just completed a new monster for Rita…a minotaur. The guys decide they need to deal with the monster first, leaving the girls to deal with the putties themselves. To make matters worse, Goldar comes down to join the Putties against the girls. Things end up not going well for any of the Power Rangers…especially after Rita makes the minotaur grow to giant size. The Zords are summoned but still our heroes struggle. So…Zordon calls the Power Rangers back to the command center. Here he gives them new weapons. Billy receives the Power Lance, Kimberly gets the Power Bow, Jason receives the Power Sword, Zack gets the Power Axe, and Trini is given the Power Daggers.
Now, the Minotaur is back down to normal size. So the Power Rangers break out their new weapons and go to battle. They do some serious damage to the minotaur, but the moment comes to bring the weapons together. When they do, it creates one ultimate weapon that completely destroys the monster. Working as a team, they were able to do it. AND it was good practice, because when they return to the school they find that they have to work as a team to clean up the mess Bulk & Skull left behind.
We continue on the trend of episodes with a message this time. It’s all about working as a team, not to mention the fact that we have a “green” episode before anybody even knew what that was. Interestingly, though, while this episode focuses on teamwork, one of the highlights of this installment is seeing some of the individual powers of the different Zords. We’ve seen them come together to take down a monster, but here we get to see them exhibit a few skills of their own. Kimberly’s pteradactyl zord has big lighting bolts that shoot out at Goldar and the Putties. We see that the trunk of Zack’s mastadon zord has freeze breath that can ice over an enemy. Then we also have Billy’s triceratops zord, which can shoot its individual horns at the bad guys. Up till this point we’ve really only seen them come together to make a tank or a mega zord, so it’s nice to see that each of these robot dinos can put up a fight on their own.
But remember, the theme of this episode is teamwork. I’m not sure why, but I really kind a dig the way that the five different Power Weapons come together to make one ultra weapons. I also love, in a cheesy kind of way, how that happens. Each ranger tosses their weapon into the air and shouts it’s name. “Power Axe! Power Bow!” etc, etc. It’s quite a lengthy process for them to come together. It seems to me like a monster with half a brain would just zap the Power Rangers while they were all shouting things and waiting for their weapons to assemble. But I guess that’s just it, these monsters don’t have half a brain.
Speaking of the monster in this episode, he’s a little underwhelming. He’s a minotaur, and that’s cool, but that’s about all he has going for him. Finster needs to up his game a bit next time. Oh, and by the way, why does the minotaur suddenly shrink back down to human size after having grown already earlier in the episode? I guess the effect of her wand is temporary?!? We should also mention that we are introduced to a new character in this episode. This is where we meet the toupee-wearing principal of Angel Grove High, Mr. Kaplan (Henry Cannon). He’ll be showing up in several episodes as we progress.
So, even though we have a less than stellar monster this time, some cool new weapons and nice Zord action still makes this episode a winner. Next time we meet a nasty monster known as King Sphinx in A Pressing Engagement.
Channel: Superhero 