YOPR: 44. Lions and Blizzards
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: The forecast calls for pain.
Why it matters: There are plenty of reasons why “Happy Birthday, Zack” is remembered as the Zack episode – VHS marketing probably the biggest. And it’s a quality candidate! Less often recalled is this treat from late in the season, which takes the Black Ranger on a romantic rollercoaster ride. The Zack-Angela relationship is an interesting relic in the show’s greater history – their back-and-forth very much plays in the background up until this episode, and little more comes of it beyond here. What I appreciate about it is Angela’s forthrightness in her dismissal of Zack’s advances, and Zack’s apparent acceptance of throwing in the towel up until the moment, about a third of the way here, when she conveniently shows up dressed to the nines for an impromptu trip to the movies that she initiates. The best part is how it resolves within the episode – instead of giving him the benefit of the doubt (when he legitimately deserves it), Angela gives into her initial predisposition of spurning Zack because, from her point of view, she was treated poorly. It’s not at all how it seems like it will resolve, especially in a show where the good guys always win. Bravo.
Episode MVP: Writers and editors. The monster of the day, Goatan, was the last to have its footage adapted from Zyuranger. The crew piecing together MMPR episodes has done a bang-up job, considering all the things that can (and did) go wrong while constructing episodes, and the way everything comes together here is as good an example as any of their success and failures. There are nits to pick, but the big stuff – explaining (unnecessarily) why the monster wasn’t made from clay, bridging the Black Ranger’s introduction to the battle, completely forgoing an athlete-related plot – comes together neatly and demonstrates nice growth from the series’ beginnings.
A good quote: “Speaking of happy endings, I left Angela sitting back at the theater.” – Zack
Rating: 5/5 “popcorn alarms”