YOPR: 36. Birds of a Feather
On April 19, MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS: ONCE AND ALWAYS premieres on Netflix. I’m writing about all 60 episodes of MMPR’s first season in the lead-up to that premiere.
If you’d like to follow along on this rewatch, entirety of MMPR’s first season is available for free (with ads) on YouTube.
One-sentence synopsis: Back to the basics.
Why it matters: The removal of Tommy from the show is a strength in the sense that it recenters the narrative so that he doesn’t have to be written out of every battle. However, it feels like a narrative misstep for the immediately preceding episode to not acknowledge his dismissal – especially when that episode climaxes to the use of the powers he passed along to Jason in the prior two-parter! Aside from that, the civilian story that frames it is forgettable; Zack assisting a kid with self-confidence issues is a terrific concept that, unfortunately, gets undermined by an avalanche of Zyuranger footage between its beats. At least the final ground fight is great!
Episode MVP: Richard Cansino. He doesn’t appear until the last third of the episode, but the voice behind Cardiatron – the “computer” that powers Hatchasaurus – puts on one hell of a voice-over job. It’s far more sinister than it probably oughta be, and brings a lot of life to a monster that, while terrifying in appearance, could easily have gone the other direction in personality.
A good quote: “Now for that geek with a beak.” – Jason
