Episode Title: The Green Candle Part 1
Original Airdate: November 17, 1993
This week’s episode of Power Rangers is the start of a two-part adventure that will lead to some major changes in the series. Rita once again ends up obsessed with her former minion, the green ranger, Tommy, in this week’s installment, The Green Candle Part 1.
As we begin, Tommy is waffling over whether or not he should ask Kimberly to the upcoming dance. Sorry, but I’ve got to question Tommy’s intelligence a bit on this one. Kimberly has done just about everything possible to show Tommy that she has the hots for him, short of spray painting “Take Me Now, Tommy” on her pink leotard. Get a clue, dude! Meanwhile, Rita is hatching a plan to use a magical green candle to snatch away Tommy’s powers. First, though, some putties need to be sent down to steal Tommy’s power coin.
Later, Tommy and Kimberly are walking through the park. He’s struggling to ask her to the dance, when suddenly the putties show up. During the ensuing battle, the usually inept Puttie Patrol succeed in separating Tommy from his morpher and whisking him off to another dimension. There, Goldar lights the green candle which when burned out will mean Tommy’s powers are gone. That is, unless he agrees to serve Rita once again.
As for the other rangers, they’re going to have to contend with other problems. It appears that Rita has regained control of Tommy’s Dragon Zord and is now attacking the city. In actuality, though, it’s a monster called Cyclops who can take other forms. The rangers then Morph and first have to battle Goldar and some putties before summoning their zords to battle the fake Dragon Zord. Eventually, Tommy is able to escape from the alternate dimension and summon the real Dragon Zord. His powers are growing weak, though. They manage to stop the Cyclops for a time, but the candle continues to burn. Can the rangers stop it in time? We’ll have to wait until next time to find out.
There’s a lot of action in this episode, which makes it a lot of fun. However, it does get a bit confusing. Instead of fighting a big rubber-suited monster, the rangers have to battle a fake version of the Dragon Zord. Once Tommy joins in the fight, we have the Mega Zord and two Dragon Zords all in the same battle. It gets a bit nuts and it’s hard to keep track of who is who. I get why the writers might’ve thought this was a cool idea, but it’s a bit messy.
The best moment of this episode is actually the hand-to-hand fight sequence that pits Tommy and Kimberly against Goldar and the putties. Jason David Frank’s karate skills and Amy Jo Johnson’s high-kicking gymnastics set them apart from some of the other actors on the show when it comes to the plain-clothes fight sequences. The scene is exciting and well-choreogrpahed. It’s also good that the putties actually put up somewhat of a fight. Usually the just fumble their way around for a few minutes. Here they actually achieve what they set out to do.
While we’re on the subject of Jason David Frank and Amy Jo Johnson, we should address the continuation of the romance element of their character’s relationship. Young love is in bloom here, folks. This probably was met with mixed opinions from the young fans of the show when it first aired. You need only do a simple Google search to see how many young 90’s boys consider the original pink ranger to be their first crush. The same holds true for many 90’s girls and greenboy, there. Still, there’s a bit of a sweetness to the sequence where Tommy is trying to ask Kim out. He’s interrupted by the putties, though, before he can get the full question out.
Next time, we continue this story and see if the Power Rangers can save their friend from losing his powers. That candle is burning down quickly. Join us for The Green Candle Part 2.
Channel: Superhero 