Season 1, Episode 12: Power Ranger Punks

"Power Ranger Punks"
Episode 12
Air Date: September 20, 1993

Sometimes I wonder with these early episodes if writers were grasping at straws to make the majority of the Sentai footage work with the American footage/original plotlines.  Because "Power Ranger Punks" just left me scratching my head at what I just watched. O_o You can tell the quality of the show varied depending on who's directing, especially during that pathetic Puttie fight where the direction is horrid. Quick cutaways, terrible fight choreography, bizarre slow motion and you can barely see what's going on until the fight is over. It's clear the writers had some idea of how the show worked but were still finding a solid approach to the series (That will be coming up soon thankfully!) Here, the plot of the episode is stupid. Baboo makes some evil potion that turns Kimberly and Billy into Punks. Ooooo scary!!! -_- There are pretty much lame bullies who make Bulk and Skull look normal by comparison and God bless, Amy Jo Johnson and David Yost!!! I blame the writing and direction for their laughable performances. I just can't take them seriously, especially when Kim asks Skull out on a date.

Why not just turn Billy and Kimberly evil??? I believe this is the first "ranger under a spell" episode and there will be MUCH better ones but my god, how does turning them in jerks make for a good plan??! -_- Anyway, with two rangers out of commission, Zordon teleports them to the Command Center, tells the others what happened to them and how to fix it. My god, the whole backstory with the singing squash is just.....horribly bad and absurdly hilarious!!! But still no backstory on him and Rita??? Great!! Anyway, Rita unleashes the Terror Toad on the rangers since they are down two as Jason and the others morph and go after him. The fight scene is pretty good as Terror Toad is pretty creepy looking. I like his attacks and how he can just eat the rangers if he wants! lol When both Zack and Trini get eaten it's up to Jason to stand his ground while Alpha is sent by Zordon to retrieve the singing squash (Only on Power Rangers!!!) Once he enters the inter dimensional gap (just go with it!!), he's attacked by Putties to which he dispatches them with his defense system....(Hmmm,I'm gonna bring this up later!!!) Anyway, Kimberly and Billy, make stupid insults as Alpha makes them the antidote. They drink it, God knows why if they're Punks and are reverted back to normal. Once they see Jason in trouble, they morph and aid him. I gotta say, seeing Jason get eaten literally by Terror Toad is a disturbing image for a kid's show....then Billy gets eaten the same way and poor Kimberly has to save the day.  She kicks ass and the other 4 rangers are released from the Toad's belly.  Also, we get a cool shot of Kimberly sending her bow into the Toad's mouth (Though Zordon did say hit his weak spot which was UNDER his mouth but whatever!) Also, why didn't Zordon tell Jason, Zack and Trini about cutting off the monster's horn and hitting his weak spot before!!? Plot. HOLE!!! -_-

Won't talk about the epilogue, Bulk and Skull just get owned and embarrassed again!!!

The episode is a serious mixed bag from me, the spell portion of the episode is horrible while the Terror Toad action is over the top fun!! Meh, it's mediocre overall, which is a shame because the plot could have been seriously tweaked!!

Final Morph: C-