Season 9, Episode 7: Short-Circuited

"Short-Circuited"
Episode 7
Air Date: March 17th, 2001

Now we are delving into episodes dealing with the other members of Time Force, this time, we get to explore Trip and some of his naive character traits.  I really like Trip, he's without a doubt the heart of the team, not only because he's obviously the youngest, but he has such a naturally innocent and caring person.  Not to mention, he is a Ziberian, which I'm guessing is a race of aliens from the future but whatever, it's Trip's endless sense of concern and compassion that makes him so interesting.  After the rangers dispatch one of Ransik's mutants, Nadria tries to capture Circuit but fails.  She gets an idea to free another one of Ransik's mutants from the prison named Medicon, who apparently is some hack surgeon from the 30th Century.  Kinda wish we got some backstory on his crimes and what landed him in prison honestly!!! Sounds sick and twisted!!! :)  Anyway, for some reason, Lucas grounds Trip's mind reading powers by putting some random large bandage over his crystal.  Ok Lucas, jerk much!  I know he ruined your hand but what if Trip needs that in case of an emergency?! O_o  Anyway, as Trip and Circuit hangout, Trip sees a woman being attacked and chased by Cyclobots.  As he saves her and hides, the woman reveals herself to be Nadira.  She tells him she broke away from her father and is reformed but Circuit clearly doesn't trust her since she is obviously lying.  But Trip believes her and even manages to feed her as well as get her a drink before they head out to see the rangers.

Once again, this perfect sense given Trip's personality that he would trust her so quickly and see the good in her.  But when Nadira manages to get her hands of Circuit and teleport away, Trip realizes it was all an act and begins looking for Circuit.  Meanwhile, at the train yard, Medicon messes with Circuit's wiring and cause him to act stupid to Nadira's excitement now that he can't call the megazord for the rangers.  As Medicon attacks the city, the rangers call for Trip for help but before he can tell Jen what happened, he just says he'll meet them.  As the four rangers arrive and battle Medicon, Trip soon arrives to help.  Once again, he tries to tell one of the rangers what happened but the oncoming Cyclobots stop them.  As Wes and Katie finish off Medicon, he makes himself grow by revealing his DNA.  As Wes calls Circuit and doesn't respond,  Trip finally tells all of them what happened and Lucas take the bandage off of Trip's head telling him he needs to use his crystal only for emergencies.  Oh I see now! :)  As a demorphed Trip makes his way through Cyclobots to find Circuit, he uses his gem to find his location.  As Nadira and two Cyclobots watch over Circuit, Trip blasts his way inside the cargo train and fights his way to save him while the other rangers try to protect the people of the city while Medicon attacks it.  After finally besting Nadira in a fight, she leaves and Trip manages to fix Circuit just in time to arrive back in the city so he can all the Time Force Megazord.

After a cool final zord battle,  Trip apologizes to Circuit for not listening to him and getting him in trouble.  The episode ends with Lucas stepping in poop because apparently Trip didn't think it was important to tell him. LOL....and ewwww!!! O_o  Come on dude!!! Anyway, this was another really strong episode in exploring Trip's character traits and flaws but also putting the rangers in their most dangerous situation yet!!!  Wow once again, keep it up Time Force! :)

Final Morph: A