YOPR: 28-29. Island of Illusion
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
28-29. Island of Illusion
Why it matters: If Power Rangers was a primetime network show, “Island of Illusion” would serve as a fitting midseason finale – and fittingly, it comes almost right at the halfway point of MMPR’s original season! It starts and concludes as a Zack-centric episode – a brief encounter with Bulk causes him to start doubting his ability to win a dance competition – but goes well beyond that core. The series’ first multi-part episode not centered on the introduction of a new team member morphs into a clipshow in part two, framed through moments of self doubt that each of our heroes overcame, and it’s wonderfully executed on multiple levels: the selected callbacks and weakness triggers are mostly on-point, and they’re a nice crutch on which the writers could lean for additional Zyuranger footage beyond what’s repurposed for new content in the episode (that aspect, too, is cleverly conceived). The show was originally ordered as a 40-episode program; had it not become a phenomenon – spawning additional in-season episodes and 29-plus more years of content – this would have been the prelude to a marathon finish up to “Doomsday.” Watched with that in mind, it’s particularly poignant.
MVP: Quagmire. A magical man who exists on (and, at least in one scene, maybe outside?) the Island of Illusion, Quagmire on one hand is a borderline insensitive character; I think it’s fair to say that a little person being asked to portray a rhyming, magical elf-like creature wouldn’t exactly go over without some objection, internally or externally, in 2023. On the other hand, he’s incredibly memorable, to the point that it’s kind of a shame he wasn’t used within the series beyond these two episodes. You could go either way with Quagmire’s line delivery – the rhymes can be either endearing or infuriating, depending on one’s mood and appetite – but actor Kevin Thompson, to his credit, gives it the full muster of someone who understood the assignment. I would totally get behind a Boom! Studios one-shot with Quagmire as a protagonist.
A good quote: “That’s the matter, the huge Snake!” – Zack
(Another Zack quote deserves a mention. “I don’t feel so good,” he utters while disappearing from existence, decades before Tom Holland uttered it under similar circumstances. Eat your heart out, Spider-Man!)
Rating: 5/5 reused monster suits