Mighty Morphin Power Rangers S:02 E07

Episode Title: The Green Dream
Original Airdate: September 19, 1994

It feels like ancient history now, but there was once a time when green ranger Tommy was actually working for the forces of evil. In today’s episode, that dark past comes back to haunt him a bit and starts him down a path that will bring big changes for the rangers. Let’s see what happens in The Green Dream.

As we begin, we learn that Tommy has been having strange dreams the last few nights that are causing him to fear that he is doomed to lose his powers. Somehow he’s got to put that out of his mind, though, since he has a 500 word paper to write about something that interests him. He’s chosen to write on mythology, while Bulk and Skull choose to write about the true identity of the power rangers. They even create a device to help reveal who the rangers are. Luckily, Billy has also created a device that will block the signal.

Up in space, Lord Zedd has set his sights on getting his hands on the Sword of Power, which can only be summoned by all the power rangers. So, he sends Goldar and a bunch of putties to nab Tommy and haul him off to the dark dimension. They put Tommy under a spell and then send him off to join the other rangers. Meanwhile, Zedd unleashes a new monster inspired by an image in Tommy’s mythology book, the Robogoat.

Later, at the command center, Tommy suggests they use the Sword of Power to battle the creature. The other rangers agree, since it will help boost Tommy’s already weak power. Tommy then steals the sword and teleports back to Zedd. After handing over the sword, the spell wears off. Now, the guilt-ridden Tommy decides he must face the Robogoat and get the sword back. When the other rangers show up to help, all except Jason are swallowed up by the earth. So, Jason must face Robogoat alone, eventually succeeding in releasing his friends. From there, the creature is made to grow and we get the standard giant monster vs giant robot battle. However, when Tommy tries to summon the Dragonzord to help, he is unsuccessful. Though the battle is won, Tommy ends up still believing that his powers are drifting away.

Technically this is a stand-alone episode, but it gets pretty complex and plays into a bigger story arch that is going to take us through the next several episodes. There is a lot to enjoy. First, the fight that features Tommy vs the putties is quite good. Not surprising considering that Jason David Frank is, no doubt, the strongest martial artist of the group. Getting a little bit of “evil Tommy” once again is kind of fun, too. He’s only a baddie for a short amount of time, though. It probably would’ve been a bit more fun to have a longer stretch with Tommy-gone-bad, but with so much else to squeeze into this episode, I get why this part of the proceedings is cut a bit short.

Our monster this time is not one of the great creatures, but is still silly fun. I don’t quite get why he’s called “Robogoat,” though. I mean, there’s nothing all that “robo” about him. There’s not any robotic components that I can see. I think that someone just decided it was a cool sounding name. I will say, though, I didn’t care for the monster’s voice at all. It’s just a pet peeve of mine when cartoon characters that are goats or sheep always have the weird quiver to their voice that sounds like that bleating sound these animals often make. If find it incredibly annoying.

This episode does gives us some forward movement in the budding romance between Kimberly and Tommy. She holds his hand and stares longingly into his eyes as he laments that his powers may be vanishing at the end of the episode. There’s also a moment that made me continue to wonder if there aren’t some romantic sparks starting between Trini and Billy. She seems to really be buttering him up a bit after he explains his signal blocking device to her.

Tommy may have the love of Angel Grove High’s cutest student, but he’s still a bit in a funk because of the whole losing-his-powers thing. Next time, Lord Zedd has even more plans to zap away the green rangers powers, not to mention a Lovecraftian looking creature called the Octophantom. Join us next time for The Power Stealer.