 This article is about an episode in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
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Mighty Morphin' Mutants is the 59th episode of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Season 1)
Synopsis
Goldar trains select Putties to fight like the Rangers and gives them badges of darkness to look like and have the same powers as well. However, none are good enough to be the Red Ranger so Commander Crayfish becomes the leader. How can the rangers possibly defeat enemies against which they are perfectly matched?
Plot
Tommy is late to Miss Appleby's class. There, an assignment is given - ask a friend to point out your flaw and try to fix it. On the Moon, Rita Repulsa decides to use the Badges of Darkness to create her own evil Rangers from Putties.
Tommy is sparring with Jason at the Youth Center. Afterwards, Tommy explains the homework. He forgot his water and a towel, so he asks Jason for a sip of his water and if he has an extra towel. Jason tells Tommy that his flaw is forgetfulness. Trini and Kimberly confirm Jason's assessment to Tommy. Bulk and Skull don't believe they have faults, but the girls and Tommy say that they're bullies.
Goldar is training six Putties, but one of them is too clumsy and is sent back to Finster's lab. The remaining set are given their own morphers. The Green and Pink Mutant Rangers are sent to attack Tommy and Kimberly in the park. Both are bested by their evil counterparts. Zordon informs his team of the new menace.
Billy and the gang help Tommy with his assignment. It doesn't seem to work very well as Billy's planner device malfunctions and Tommy seems even more forgetful. The appearance of Commander Crayfish, the Red Ranger equivalent of the Mutant Rangers, causes Zordon to send the five main Rangers into action. Unfortunately, they are forced to leave without Tommy who left his communicator in his locker.
The two teams meet on the beach. Each Ranger fights their evil version. Tommy is finally contacted and he too joins the fight. The Rangers regroup to fight back against the Mutant Rangers, however the evil clones combine their weapons into a Power Blaster and fire at the Rangers, forcing them to retreat. At the command center, Zordon and Alpha give the six upgraded versions of their Power Weapons which look identical to the originals but are promised to be stronger. The Rangers go back into battle and fight the mutants. This time, the two sides are more evenly matched.
The Power Rangers' Power Blaster succeeds in destroying the Pink and Yellow Mutants and knocking Crayfish and the other Mutants off their feet. However, Rita makes her monster and the Green, Blue and Black Mutant Rangers turn into giants. Commander Crayfish is hoisted up by his teammates so he's out of the range of both the Megazord and Dragonzord. Titanus is called for and Ultrazord destroys the enemies.
Tommy feels like he didn't complete his homework, but Billy says that a fault can also be what makes someone unique. Bulk and Skull come to school dressed in suits and are acting mature. They give Miss Appleby a present, but she tells them to open it for her. It sprays them in Silly String.
Cast
- Austin St. John as Jason Lee Scott (Mighty Morphin Red Ranger)
- Walter Jones as Zack Taylor (Mighty Morphin Black Ranger)/Black Mutant Ranger (voice)
- David Yost as Billy Cranston (Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger)/Blue Mutant Ranger (voice)
- Thuy Trang as Trini Kwan (Mighty Morphin Yellow Ranger)/Yellow Mutant Ranger (voice)
- Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly Ann Hart (Mighty Morphin Pink Ranger)/Pink Mutant Ranger (voice)
- Jason David Frank as Tommy Oliver (Mighty Morphin Green Ranger)/Green Mutant Ranger (voice) (as Jason Frank)
- Paul Schrier as Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier
- Jason Narvy as Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch
- Royce Herron as Ms. Appleby
- David Fielding as Zordon (face)
- Robert L. Manahan as Zordon (voice)
- Romy J. Sharf as Alpha 5
- Richard Steven Horvitz as Alpha 5 (voice) (as Richard Wood)
- Machiko Soga as Rita Repulsa
- Barbara Goodson as Rita Repulsa (voice)
- Takashi Sakamoto as Goldar (Zyuranger Footage)
- Danny Wayne Stallcup as Goldar (American Footage)
- Kerrigan Mahan as Goldar (voice) (as Ryan O'Flannigan)
- Takako Iiboshi as Finster
- Robert Axelrod as Finster (voice)
- Minoru Watanabe as Squatt
- Michael J. Sorich as Squatt (voice)
- Hideaki Kusaka as Baboo
- Dave Mallow as Baboo (voice) (as Colin Phillips)
- Tom Wyner as Commander Crayfish (voice)
Notes
- Commander Crayfish is a "Zyu2" creation made especially for the American series.
- The Mutant Rangers' weapons are actually the untransformed versions of the Legendary Weapons from Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger (which made a brief appearance in the episode "Teamwork"). Mutant Green's sword is Green Ranger's Sword of Darkness from the "Green With Evil" saga (since there was no powered-down version of the Zyusouken).
- The upgraded Power Weapons look exactly like the old ones (this is noted by Zack during the episode), but Alpha notes that they are much stronger than the old ones.
- Tommy also receives a new Dragon Dagger, making the possible loss of the original in the previous episode rather moot as he could have just been given the new version as a replacement.
- This is the last time Rita makes a monster grow with her wand this season.
- Final appearance of the original Ultrazord combination. Titanus will be absent until Season 3.
- Commander Crayfish returns in the season two episode "A Reel Fish Story".
- This was also popularized by MyWay Entertainment in one of three Power Ranger parodies, Commander Crayfish known as "Gangsta Crizzab".
- Kimberly says, "Rita's created her own evil Rangers again", which is a reference to "A Bad Reflection on You".
- Finster, despite making a cameo at the start, and being mentioned by Goldar during the mutant training, does not have any lines in this episode.
- First time that the Power Blaster is seen and fired outside of it's usual Zyuranger stock footage sequence, this method will be used again for the second and final time against Pirantishead in "The Mutiny".
- The Green Mutant has a cleaner and more golden looking Dragon Shield than the normal Green Ranger in the Zyu2 footage, although Green Ranger’s shield has always looked darker and worn since his return.
Errors
- The title of this episode includes an apostrophe following the word Morphin, while the show's title omits this.
- The Mutant Rangers equivalent to the Power Blaster had The Lance parts and daggers facing the wrong direction.
- The Power Axe is missing it's blaster mode handle and trigger in the Zyu2 footage.
- The Yellow and Pink Mutant Rangers both vanish after being thrown by the Power Blaster explosion.
- Their weapons are shown to have been left laying on the ground, so it can be presumed they were destroyed.
- When the Green Ranger and his mutant counterpart are battling the Sword of Darkness bends up to ninety degrees.
- Rita strangely refers to her wand as "sceptre".