How About That Thing?

We’re talking about Power Rangers again. And since it’s “Spooky Season”, as the kids like to call it now, we’re tackling the super obvious choice, and talking about the episode “Trick or Treat”.

Not going to lie, I was a bit hesitant to bother with this one. If for no other reason, then because every other Power Rangers retrospective reviewer type on the net already covered it in graphic detail. Also, Allison Pregler: the reviewer formerly known as Obscuris Lupa, even got in on this one as well. So yeah, perhaps we’ve milked this lolcow dry.

On the other hand, the monster of the day this go around is something that’s just got to be seen to be believed. Plus, I’m pretty sure all the other episodes I’ve covered have also been run into the ground at some point. So fuck it, let’s do this!

The episode begins with Kimberly telling Trini and Tommy about how she’ll be appearing on the show Trick or Treat. Tommy exposits that Trick or Treat is the most popular game show in America, or something to that extent, anyway. Yeah, I have a hard time believing that. Like, I’m willing to suspend my disbelief when it comes to people who are clearly in their twenties pretending to be teenagers, and spandex-clad superheroes fighting rubber monster suits and all, but a Halloween themed game show being popular? Maybe back in the 90s, when evangelical dipshits insisting Halloween was a Satanic holiday were dismissed as the fringe lunatics they were and still are, and corporate America hadn’t begun trying to phase out Halloween in favor of getting more Christmas carols on the radio, and Christmas decorations in stores. God I miss the 90s.

But whatever. We have exposition. Kimberly is going to be on a game show, the grand prize is a car, and her opponent…

Honestly, the only thing that surprises me is Skull is the one who got on the show. This really seems more like a Bulk sort of thing… But I find as I go through these old episodes that they tend to do stuff like this every now and then. IE, Skull orders the sandwich that’d make the dude from Man Vs Food quake with fear despite the fact BULK is the walking talking fat joke.

Meanwhile, Rita has a plan. And before she can tell us what it is, Goldar reveals he had the exact same idea, and exposition dumps their plans to use The Pumpkin Rapper and his “rotten pumpkin seeds” to take over the Earth. And I guess he passed that plan over to Squat and Baboo hours prior to this scene, because they point out that they already planted all the seeds despite the fact Rita only just now came up with the plan. If I didn’t know better, I’d say Goldar was gunning for someone’s job.

FUN FACT: when I tried planting rotten pumpkin seeds, nothing happened. Either this show is bullshitting me, or I need to learn more kid-friendly black magic.

Anyway, we get to the game show, and…

Yip, this is the most popular show in America, ladies an gentlemen. Seriously, it looks like what you’d get if you made Count Floyd the host of a game show. And that audience? I’m going to guess maybe twenty, thirty people tops. When your turnout makes the audience of an AEW Collision taping look massive by comparison, you may want to reevaluate a couple of things.

Skull, as the photo from earlier proves, is dressed like a mummy. Kimberly, meanwhile, recycled her princess costume from that costume party royalty-free Frankenstein ruined almost a year ago. Okay, so maybe not the most ORIGINAL costume on the planet, but hey, there’s something to be said for being thrifty. Take it from me: a guy who made a black ranger costume out of a black track suit, silver felt, and a ski mask in third grade instead of buying the overpriced official one.

Count Dorkula over here explains the rules of the game. Unlike most gameshows, where the host asks you questions, and you get points for a right answer, you ask the HOST questions, and you get points if he either answers wrong, or gives up. As a kid, I remember thinking this was a pretty neat idea. As an adult, I’m still somewhat convinced you could make this work… As long as you don’t ask questions that don’t have any answers, or ask nonsensical questions where the only way you could know the answer is if you were there. IE, what did Frank have for lunch earlier? But I appear to be in a minority, because everybody else who’s retrospected this episode rips this concept apart.

Also, if you stump the host, you get the opportunity to earn EVEN MORE POINTS in a physical challenge sort of game. Considering the budget that went into the stage, I’m surprised they had any money left for physical challenge props. Like, I know better than to expect something on par with Double Dare, but still…

Skull goes first. And, like a dope, his first question ends up being “Who? Me?” I’d put the little yellow guy facepalming here… But upon rewatching this episode, that actually did make me chuckle a bit.

Kimberly’s turn comes up, and she asks the host if he knows the real names of the power rangers. Naturally, Count derpula doesn’t know the answer, so he awards a point to her, and invites her to take the challenge. And…

Uh, what? Did they just strap Kimberly to a Catherine wheel? Seriously, what’s the objective of this game? They sure as hell don’t explain it in the show. I’m guessing her head has to land on a certain spot once the wheel comes to a stop. Or maybe the idea is she has to keep from hwarfing all over the host after being spun around like that. Hell, maybe the objective is to make sure your princess gown doesn’t flop down over your head when you end up up-side-down and give the network a view of your panties. All I know is she gets spun, and we move on.

Tommy is on his way to a karate match when he stumbles across all these rotten pumpkins.

“Man, this place stinks!” he says to no one in particular.

Jumpcut to Rita.

“What!?” she bellows. “I’ll show YOU who stinks! Send putty patrollers down to give him the business! That’ll definitely convince him nothing suspicious is going on.”

Cut back to Tommy, who finds himself fighting off an entire squad of putties.

“Wow,” he says, “I think something suspicious might be going on.”

He contacts Zordon, who tells him that indeed, something suspicious is going on. However, it’s nothing for the COOL ranger to worry about. He says he’ll get the other five idiots on it first chance he gets, and Tommy should focus on that karate tournament thingy.

Back at the game show, Skull stumps Count Drabula by asking him what the name of his best friend is. He then gets to play the web of disaster. And…

Oh come on. Kimberly gets strapped to a Catherine Wheel, but Skull gets an actual game? Basically, he has to grab three bugs off that web before the spider comes along and gets him. Unfortunately, he isn’t fast enough, and the spider takes a massive webbing dump all over his face. God, I HOPE that’s what that white stuff was.

We then cut to the command center, where Zordon and Alpha5 are watching the show on the viewing globe. And… Honestly, the idea of the almighty Zordon and his robot companion watching TV in their downtime just makes me laugh. Seriously, do they have a favorite show? Do they have debates over who gets the remote? Does Alpha5 complain about how Zordon got to watch that stupid Sasquach documentary last time, and now it’s his turn to watch that Battlestar Galactica marathon over on The Scifi Channel? I have no idea why, but I actually want to see an episode where there’s no monster attack, and Zordon and Alpha are just vegging out, watching music videos on MTV, and making fun of them ala Beavis and Butthead.

But anyway, they’re watching the game show, when suddenly, they lose the signal. Yeah, I remember what it was like trying to watch TV with an antenna. You could only get ten channels on a clear day, and only about three or four had anything good on at any given time.

Except in THEIR case, the alarm goes off.

“Oh, right, the pumpkin patch,” said Zordon. “I completely spaced that out.”

As a result of the emergency, Kimberly has to fake a fainting spell in order to get away from the crowd. It’s actually one of the few times they actually showed the sacrifice it took to be a power ranger. I mean yeah, winning a new car isn’t exactly a HUGE sacrifice, but man, having to forfeit a game you’re clearly winning against the dumbest motherfucker who ever lived so you can fight another monster? This is what I was talking about in that “Plague of the Mantis” retrospective when I imagined this shit got really old really quick.

Zordon brings them all to the command center, and explains the situation to them. He warns them that the biggest pumpkin in the patch is housing The Pumpkin Rapper: a monster who will “use his clever raps to distract you, and wrap you up in his vines.” So many jokes I could make right now… And I can’t use any of them, because they’re all about hack rappers in 2024.

Zordon SPECIFICALLY tells the rangers to not touch the pumpkins. So when the rangers morph and take to the pumpkin patch…

YOU IDIOT!

Oh, well, look at that. The pumpkin engulfed your entire head and is now suffocating you. Sure wish someone warned us this was going to happen.

Fortunately, Kimberly is the only smart ranger of the five, and actually leaves the pumpkins alone. She karate chops the one on the red ranger’s head, causing it to… Explode? Okay. An I don’t mean just bursts into a cloud of random pumpkin bits, either. I mean there were actual sparks and everything! The hell are these pumpkins made of?

But just when they thought it was safe to proceed any further, we get…

PFFFF-FAH-HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Oh my god, you can’t be serious! These are the stupidest looking minions I’ve ever seen in my life. Seriously, I’m drawing a blank on a more idiotic looking group of minions than this. Though, to be fair, I gave up on this show after Power Rangers Turbo, and that entire fucking show was stupid, so…

The rangers fight against these pumpkinheaded losers. When each one is beaten, they turn back into a regular pumpkin. Only to return to being a pumpkinheaded putty moments later. This would probably be the point where rangers would want to make like Billy Corgan, and start smashing pumpkins.

Instead, they set their sights on the biggest pumpkin in the patch. They agree it needs to be destroyed… But instead of destroying it immediately like a SMART person would, they instead bust some of the worst rhymes I’ve heard since Lil Pump was relevant, and waste their opportunity. Pumpkin Rapper hatches, and…

PFFFFFF-FAH-HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. But it is impossible to take this monster seriously. Like, come on, really? The only positive I can say is that at no point does he begin any of his raps with “My name’s Pumpkin Rapper, an I’m here to say…”. I think we established long ago that was the mark of a hack rapper.

Even the voice they went with for this guy is just… Oh man, wait here, I got to get all the laughter out.

Okay, I’m back.

So yeah, this is The Pumpkin Rapper. And yes, he IS just as stupid as you think. That being said, he does give the rangers a run for their money. And yet, he’s one of the few who doesn’t get to grow into a giant. Yip, that’s right. He gets taken out with the power blaster.

Pumpkin Rapper goes kablooy, Rita complains about getting a headache, and just when it looks like Bulk and Skull get to drive around in the car they won by forfeit, some random woman claiming to be the network head shows up, and repossesses the car after reviewing the footage and catching the two of them cheating. It’s an ending that, if I’m being honest, feels slapped together. Like, I think it would’ve hammered home the point that being a hero means having to make sacrifices if they just let Bulk and Skull have the car. And if they have to have a feel-good ending… I don’t know, maybe they reveal Skull flunked driver’s ed at the last possible minute, and he crashes it into a wall. Throw in several wacky sound effects, and the airbag deploying moments after the crash, and boom! Instant 90s comedy.

That aside, though, this episode is hilarious. And it’s hilarious for ALL the wrong reasons. It’s the kind of campy goodness that makes me not regret coming back to this show decades later and still finding reasons to enjoy it. It’s an episode that truly has to be seen to be believed.