This article is about an episode in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. |
Rita's Seed of Evil is the forty-first episode of the first season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
Synopsis[]
For a school project, the Rangers spend the afternoon planting trees in the park. However, Rita has some seeds of her own and sends Squatt down to plant her latest monster, the Octoplant. If allowed to grow un-impeded, it will grow as big as the Earth and crush it into oblivion.
Plot[]
The Rangers and Mr. Caplan are gathered around a table with several plants on it. Mr. Caplan tells the teens, "The samples you have grown from your science project look very healthy". He thinks they're ready for phase two, transplanting them to the park. Zack gets excited of their plants providing oxygen and clean air. Billy adds with the accelerated rate rain forests are being destroyed, every tree planted counts. Mr. Caplan tells them to keep him posted on their progress and walks away. Bulk and Skull taunt them, "with nerds, nerds, how absurd, how does your garden grow?" Jason replies, "with Billy's special fertilizer, it's going to grow great." Bulk says, "This time we got you geeks beat"! and snaps his fingers. Skull pulls a rollaway table over and reveals their plants. Bulk boastfully tells them, "Now these are baby trees. Not like the little toothpicks you guys are growing". Skull adds, "Yeah, toothpicks!" Kimberly walks over, looks at the tag on their trees, and reads, "100% pure baby plastic trees, $19.95. Yeah, you guys are really ahead of us. Not". Skull makes a face as he knows he is in trouble as Kimberly joins her friends. Bulk pushes the table away and angrily tells Skull, "I thought I told you to pull off the tags". Skull replies, "I knew I forgot something". Bulk tries to grab Skull, but he stays out of his reach. Skull grabs a guy painting and green paint splatters all over Bulk. The Rangers laugh and Zack tells his friends, "That's the closest he is ever going to get to having a green thumb."
Rita has been watching the classroom and comments, "So you want to raise some trees". Goldar tells her, "I will send down Squatt, my queen, to sow the seeds of the terrible Octoplant. The dreaded Octoplant will grow and grow until its tentacles encircle the entire Earth and destroy it"! Rita cackles in triumph.
The Rangers are walking through the park with their equipment and trees. Jason stops them and tells them this is the spot where they are supposed to plant the trees. Billy points out that his special fertilizer will enhance the growing process. Trini is very impressed. Kimberly suggests a spot and they all follow her. Kimberly, Billy, and Jason work in one group. Digging holes in the ground and planting their small trees. Trini and Zack work in another group. Trini playfully scoops up the dirt and tosses it over to Zack's spot. Billy carefully waters and uses the fertilizer on his tree. They soon leave to go get more water, while Bulk and Skull move to steal their trees to use themselves.
Meanwhile, unknown to the Rangers, Squatt is able to successfully plant the Octoplant seeds, despite interference from Bulk and Skull, scaring the crap out of them. When the Rangers catch him, the Putty Patrol arrives to cover his escape.
Puzzled by the presence of Squatt and the Putties, the Rangers teleport to the Command Center to inquire Zordon and Alpha over the situation. Observing the Viewing Globe, they notice that earthquakes have begun to occur all over Angel Grove. Kimberly assumes Rita's having another of her temper tantrums. Nevertheless, while Alpha struggles to analyze the data, Billy helps him, while Jason returns to the park to investigate.
Zordon soon contacts him with their results, and warns Jason they have to find the bulb before it blooms, or the monster will reach full strength. With the seeds planted, the Octoplant begins to grow. Jason finds them, but they are protected by an energy field that repulses his attempts to dig them up. Once big enough, it attacks the people in the park with its tentacles, including Jason. Despite his best attempts to fight off the tentacles, they manage to capture him and try to strangle him to death, but the other Rangers are able to rescue him after the alarm sounds at the Command Center and they see Jason in trouble on the Viewing Globe. Not wanting them to destroy the seedling bulb before it matures, Rita dispatches Goldar, Scorpina, and the Putties to distract the Rangers. Thanks to their distraction, the bulb soon matures and develops a flower from the tip of the bulb. Several of the petals peel away to reveal the Octoplant's face, and she soon dissolves her bulb to reveal her fully-developed body before going to fight the Rangers.
Rita quickly uses her wand to grow the Octoplant monster, and the Rangers summon the Dinozords to fight her. After the Megazord is formed, the Octoplant easily brushes off multiple attacks from the Megazord's fists and sent it reeling. Then she subdued it with her tentacles and blasted it. Having it on the ropes, she goes for the kill, but the Power Sword is summoned, slicing the tentacles and freeing the Megazord, who manages to evade the killing strike. Then the Octoplant balks upon seeing her reflection in the glass windows of a nearby skyscraper, distracting her. Seizing the moment, the Rangers powered up the Power Sword for the finishing blow, and by the time the Octoplant realized her situation, it was too late, and she is obliterated by a single slash. Shocked, Rita faints in disbelief as the Megazord stands victorious once more.
Back with Bulk and Skull, who had holed up in a portable restroom after events with the Putties and Squatt, they are still trapped as the restroom is taken away on a truck with several other identical ones.
At Angel Grove High, the Rangers head to class, hoping Rita's done with her green thumb. In class, Mr. Caplan commends the class on their efforts, and also reveals he stopped by the park to see how the Rangers' saplings were doing, and was very impressed. Trini and Billy thank him and hope that the saplings grow big and tall to be a valued asset to the park and humanity. Moments later, Bulk and Skull enter the classroom, covered in septic sewage, asking for an "A+" from Mr. Caplan after the suffering they endured, but unsympathetic to their plight, Mr. Caplan wonders where they've been as they're tardy to class, and despite Bulk and Skull's explanations, when he goes to confront them, one whiff of the septic sewage causes him to immediately pass out in a dead faint. Bulk and Skull smell themselves and shrug in confusion, while the Rangers laugh in amusement.
Cast[]
- Austin St. John as Jason Lee Scott (Mighty Morphin Red Ranger)
- Thuy Trang as Trini Kwan (Mighty Morphin Yellow Ranger)
- Walter Jones as Zack Taylor (Mighty Morphin Black Ranger)
- Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly Ann Hart (Mighty Morphin Pink Ranger)
- David Yost as Billy Cranston (Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger)
- Paul Schrier as Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier
- Jason Narvy as Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch
- Henry Cannon as Mr. Caplan
- 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)
- Minoru Watanabe as Squatt
- Michael J. Sorich as Squatt (voice)
- Hideaki Kusaka as Baboo
- Dave Mallow as Baboo (voice) (as Colin Phillips)
- Ami Kawai as Scorpina
- Wendee Swan as Scorpina (voice)
- Brianne Siddall as Octoplant (voice)
Errors[]
- Jason calls the Power Sword the "Mega Sword".
- Also, in the same shot, the arm and shoulder of Goushi can be seen to the far right at the very start.
- When Jason morphs to battle the Octoplant solo, there is a single frame of the Zyuranger transformation sequence before the scene cuts to him somersaulting.
- The Rangers fought the Putties in a quarry but then were suddenly fighting Goldar and Scorpina in the park.
- When Goldar and Scorpina blast the Rangers with their crossed blade blast, Jason can be heard grunting in pain despite being further away fighting Putties.
- When Zack commands the morph, Trini and Billy morph out of sequence.
- The episode cuts from Jason having taken down the last of the Putties to him immediately being amongst the other Rangers to say, "C'mon Rangers, let's get it together."
- The Pink Ranger can be seen rushing a girl away from the battle with Goldar and Scorpina since this is recycled from Island of Illusion, although the shot runs fully unlike in the original episode.
- Trini is missing throughout the battle, most notably when Goldar and Scorpina fire their hand blasts at the Rangers.
- "Zyuranger" can be seen on Jason's morpher, when he takes out his Power Coin.
- When Baboo remarked about the Octoplant's bulb not yet blooming, the footage of him and Squatt was reversed.
- "Zyuranger" is seen on Jason's Blade Blaster when he changes it into Blaster Mode.
- During the Rangers' fight with Goldar and Scorpina, Red Ranger has the Power Sword. When he is struck by Goldar and falls, the Power Sword switches to a Blade Blaster between shots because this was reused footage from No Clowning Around.
- When the Octoplant charges on the Megazord, the cockpit footage is edited, and the Rangers are sitting in the wrong positions.
- At the end of the episode, when Mr. Caplan falls after getting a whiff of Bulk and Skull, the blue mat he lands on can be seen.
Notes[]
- This episode features the first of the new battle tracks with "Hey Rita".
- This is the final appearance of the Super Putty Patrollers.
- This is the first episode to feature Jason with a solo morph.
- This episode marks the first of only two times Ron Wasserman's "I Know a Place" is played during the Megazord fight.
See Also[]
- Ep. 17: The Sixth Hero - Super Sentai counterpart in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. See comparison page. (Putty fight footage)
- Ep. 19: Female Warrior Scorpion! - Super Sentai counterpart in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. See comparison page. (Putty fight footage)
- Ep. 30: Satan Comes!! - Super Sentai counterpart in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. See comparison page. (Putty fight footage)
- Ep. 31: Reborn! The Ultimate God - Super Sentai counterpart in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. See comparison page. (Putty fight footage)
- Ep. 32: Geki! Slash Your Tears - Super Sentai counterpart in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. See comparison page. (Octoplant fight footage)
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References[]
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