Season 1, Episode 4: A Pressing Engagment

"A Pressing Engagement"
Episode 4
Air Date: September 9, 1993

Well, this is an improvement over last episode!!! If you can get pass the usual ridiculousness of the show (Seriously, no one could do 1,010 bench presses in a row!! Seriously!?! LOL) This is a fun episode that includes the first memorable monster of the week: King Sphinx. So after Ernie messes up his counting of Jason's impossible record benching (I'm not gonna mention the skateboard, bubblegum sequence between Zack and Kimberly) Jason is getting the impression he doesn't always need his friends' help. I mean sure Bulk and Skull are so dumb, Jason can handle them with a tickle and a stomp on the leg but it's weird after an episode about "teamwork", we get an episode where the leader feels he can handle things on his own sometimes. Meanwhile, Rita gets the idea to separate Jason from the other rangers which is funny. I mean Rita could just kill the rangers in their sleep since she knows their identities BUT at least she's thinking of different ways to defeat the rangers besides a simple monster attack and pathetic Puttie patrol.

So Zack, Kimberly and Jason are contacted by Zordon about Goldar and King Sphinx attacking the park.....yeah....cause that's so scary and imposing in terms of plans! They morph (Seriously, that morph call was so lifeless and casual in these early episodes) and fight Goldar (who's voice is grating in these first episodes) and King Spinx. The Sphinx literally blows Kimberly and Zack away (I love the moment where Zack attacks Squatt and Baboo beforehand though) and they end up back at the Youth Center...unmoprhed....because! So suddenly Jason is fighting both King Sphinx and Goldar by himself, which is an impressive fight as we get to see a solo ranger fight against the main general and a monster. I love the change in location to the quarry. Though I have no idea how Rita, some how, cut off communication between Jason and the other rangers as well as Zordon at the Command Center. That's a seriously plot hole right there. Anyway, Zack and Kimberly regroup with Billy and Trini. After failing to get in touch with Jason, they teleport to the Command Center.

Some how, Zordon believes the rangers can rejoin Jason through "the Morphin' Grid" :), the first time we've heard of the famous power system of which the rangers use to morph.  Then we are introduced to the Power Crystals, which the rangers channel/create/whatever and Alpha teleports them to Jason's...sword???...so the other rangers can access his location and call the zords.....seriously, HUH!? So Rita makes both Sphinx and Goldar grow. Jason's sword unleashes some lightning that causes the crystals to appear and he runs to them. Goldar and the Sphinx attack Jason as he makes his way to them and once he has them, the rangers appear after he throws them into the air cause...POWER RANGERS!! I have to say what follows is the best zord fight so far. We see both monsters attack the megazord as it combines, the megazord handling both monsters rather well and the megazord using different modes/blasts against them. Once King Sphinx is destroyed, Goldar retreats.

The episode ends with Jason finally beating the record (Seriously, huh???) and Ernie gets him a cake as his reward, enter Bulk and Skull for some usual stupidity and the episode ends! Either way, I really like this episode! Even though the lesson of the episode was weak, the action was strong, especially getting see a ranger isolated from the others and having to deal with TWO monsters on his own.  I mean Jason handled himself well and the Megazord fight was awesome, full of punches, blasts and the first time we see the rangers use the megazord finisher with the Power Sword, which was cool! King Sphinx is like the first monster of the week to have both a nice design and somewhat of a personality. He proved to be a pretty tough match for the rangers, well, mostly Jason and sure he had Goldar there to help him but his moveset/powers were interesting.  Overall, silly, cheesy but action packed fun! That's all I want! :)

Final Morph: B+