Season 11, Episode 2: There's No "I" In Team

"There's No "I" In Team"
Episode 2
Air Date: February 15th, 2003

It seems with this show, there's always this overarching theme throughout it: teamwork.  Since the debut of the franchise, the emphasis on rangers working as a team has been plot point of many episodes. From Season 1's "Teamwork" to Lightspeed Rescue's "Lightspeed Teamwork" to even last season "Click, Click, Zoom", the idea of the rangers being MUCH better as a team than individual is pretty much one of the essentials to show at it's core.  So in this episode of Ninja Storm, we once again are introduced to that idea; this time being presented in the form of some Ninja riddle the rangers read on a scroll during a simulation.  Of course, it's pretty easy to figure out but not for the rangers as they fail to work as a team, especially since Shane is being a supreme d!ickhole and says it's Tori and Dustin who need to get it right, NOT him.  And I kind of like this interpretation of a ranger, one who is too stubborn to realize that he can't do this ranger thing without working with his other teammates.  It immediately causes a small rift in the group and since we are only focusing on 3 rangers so far, it helps to build a new and interesting dynamic very quickly. Nice!

On the villain side of things, even Lothor's nieces, Marah and Kapri, are forced to work together when after summoning the monster of the day, Mad Magnet, the two are literally stuck together and have to work on defeating the rangers together.  And I kind of like having the villains having to learn something the same way the rangers, well mainly Shane, has to learn how to do the same.  Sigh...even if the comedy between the two villainous nieces is forced at best at this point! -_-  I also like how they use a side character named Holly, Dustin's boss at the thrift shop, to give Shane some advice on what the importance of being a team is.  It's not a big moment but at least it worked to begin open Shane's eyes a bit so that when he faces off with Mad Magnet, he eventually realizes he can't do it alone.  And while I like the Sensei having Tori and Dustin wait to help him until realizes he needs help, did he have to wait until the very last minute??? O_o  Dude was pinned down to a car and being crushed to death but whatever!  After the two arrive to save Shane, he apologies for being a major douche as they combine forces to destroy Mad Magnet, especially with their Storm Striker that just.....creates a HUGE ball of 100 pounds of weight that crushes him.  But the battle isn't over yet as Kapri summons a scroll from her remote thingy that makes him grow.  So like many rangers before them, they are screwed and are gonna get crushed....but it's Power Rangers!  They have zords right???

So we saw Cam working earlier on their zords and it turns out they aren't ready yet but Sensei thinks the rangers are ready to pilot them so Cam quickly gives the rangers briefing on them.  Shane gets the Hawk Zord that materializes from a plane, Tori gets a Dolphine Zord which materializes out of a cruise ship and finally Dustin, gets the Lion Zord the comes out of no where after being a roller coaster.  One wonders what happened to the people on said plane, ship and especially roller coaster, not to mention, won't people notice their missing??? O_o  But anyway, in typical Power Rangers fashion, they board their zords and begins to do the most ridiculous things with them like Tori using her Dolphine Zord to play with the monster by bouncing it on the zord's nose like a real Dolphine would bounce a ball on it's nose. Yeah...why am I not surprised!  When it looks like the rangers destroy Mad Magnet, he simply reassembles himself  and continues his attacks.  But when the three remember the words of the scroll from the hologram they "work as one" by forming the Storm Megazord.  It's cool looking but def not one of my favorite ranger zords! So they use their morphing discs to create a power sphere that gives them a sword with...a talking end that looks like a snake??? O_o  Seriously! They use the zord's finisher to destroy the monster for good and collectively celebrate as Lothor is outraged from losing again!  But suddenly, 2 new rangers appear on his ship out of the shadows to reveal themselves as he laughs manically.  Hmmmmmm...little too soon to be introducing evil rangers, let alone TWO but it's definitely a great cliffhanger.  Overall, "There's No "I" In Team" is a decent second episode with a series staple message of working together aka harmless fun! :)

Final Morph: B-