Switching Places

This article is about an episode in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Switching Places
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Season 1), Episode 1x16
Air Date(s)	October 4, 1993
Production Information
Written by	Shuki Levy Steve Kramer
Directed by	Jeff Reiner
Episode Guide
Previous	Dark Warrior (episode)
Next	Green With Evil

Switching Places is the sixteenth episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, season 1.

Synopsis

Thanks to Squatt's meddling Billy and Kimberly find themselves switching bodies for the day. Both of them are forced to see life from each other's point of view. In the midst of their confusion Rita Repulsa has sent a Genie she released to Earth. Her wish: for him to destroy the Power Rangers.

Plot

Squatt sneaks into Billy's garage one late evening to mess with the power source on his new invention. He intends on Billy getting hurt when he tests it, and the others will be too preoccupied to meddle in Rita Repulsa's plans. Back at Rita's palace, she decides to use the Genie as her chosen monster for her next plan.

The next day, Billy invites Kimberly over to show her his new project. It's supposed to allow people to read each other's thoughts. Billy states that it's still in its experimental stage, but should still work. Meanwhile, Bulk and Skull are eavesdropping behind the Rad Bug. As Bulk carries on about the possibilities the device could have for him, Skull tries to tell him about the snarling dog behind them. They are chased out of the garage.

Meanwhile Billy and Kimberly test the machine without noticing Bulk and Skull (or their brief departure). The device starts to short circuit and sparks fly. Billy and Kimberly realize that they've switched bodies (or minds). The two scream.

Goldar and company get their hands on the Genie's lamp and plan on sending it to Earth.

Bulk and Skull escape the dog and return to Billy's garage to use the machine on themselves. Of course the same results happen and they switch minds.

At school, some girls laugh as Billy (in Kimberly's body) messes up when applying makeup at his locker. He then proceeds to ruin Kimberly's home economics presentation by blowing up a cheese soufflé. Kimberly (in Billy's body) fails to help tutor one of Billy's peers with file sorting, resulting in a computer screen exploding. Both Billy and Kimberly have an argument in the hallway at school when the others intervene. They explain the situation. Billy explains that he won't be able to reverse the effects until he rebuilds the generator of his machine.

Bulk (in Skull's body) eats a giant sandwich at the youth center while Skull (in Bulk's body) watches. Bulk says that they need to find Billy to fix this.

The Genie is hidden inside the lamp when being sent to Angel Grove to bypass Zordon's detection. On Earth, Squatt accidentally rubs the lamp and releases the Genie (off screen). Alpha alerts Zordon and the Power Rangers are summoned. The lamp is retrieved and taken back to the Command Center. The Rangers go confront Goldar and his Putties, but Alpha re-directs them to the Genie. When they're defeated, Alpha brings them back to the Command Center. Zordon tells them to combine their powers to defeat the Genie.

The Rangers return to face the Genie, but Rita Repulsa makes it grow into a giant. The Megazord is summoned, but the Genie is too strong. Alpha traces the monster's power back to the lamp, and decides to zap it in the teleporter. Zordon warns that too much power at once could destroy everything in the Morphing Grid, including the Power Rangers.

Jason tells Billy to bypass the damage done to the Megazord by the Genie, and to tap into the Power Morphing System. Alpha slowly feeds power into the lamp before finally using full power. The Genie suddenly disappears after the lamp is destroyed (as stated by Alpha). Rita Repulsa returns home.

With the mind reading machine fixed, Kimberly and Billy return to their normal selves. Bulk and Skull beg to be fixed, too. After that, Skull asks Billy if they can switch minds so Skull can pass a test.

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
• Richard Genelle as Ernie
• David Fielding as Zordon
• Romy J. Sharf as Alpha 5
• Richard Steven Horvitz as Alpha 5 (voice)
• 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 Genie (voice)

Notes

• The Rad Bug is seen again (introduced in Big Sisters) in Billy's garage.
• After the mind switch, Kimberly's valley girl accent seems to be more severe once she's in Billy's body.
• It is unclear if the dog that attacked Bulk and Skull is Billy's or a neighbor's dog.
• This is one of the few times where the monster is destroyed by other means rather than by the Power Rangers directly.
• The machine has two spaces provided, one of them can only fit Kimberly as Skull had trouble standing in it. Suggesting that Billy made the invention specifically for her.
• Notably, while the episode shows how Billy and Kimberly have trouble living each others personal life, they seem to have no problem fighting as Rangers in each others bodies. Since they were forced to use different unfirmiliar powers and were also gender-swapped, this should have been an issue for them. The reason for this not being explained was most likey due the extreme recycling of Super Sentai footage for battle scenes and the child friendly atmosphere that the show was projecting not allowing for such themes. It could however be explained by them using each other's power coins, since it was established in Day of the Dumpster that the Rangers automatically knew how to operate their zords when morphed.
• The pyrotechnics used in Billy's brain-switching machine had caused both Amy Jo Johnson (Kimberly) and David Yost (Billy) to accidentally catch on fire while filming the scene. While both are okay now since the accident, Amy Jo would later be wary of being too close to such special effects equipment because of the accident.
• The lamp in the Sentai footage is noticeably different from the prop used in the original footage, the latter is a toy of the magic lamp from the 1992 Disney film Aladdin.
• This is also the first time that Kimberly speaks in big words (like Billy did usually) while Billy's mind is in her body. This would occur somewhat in the feature film.
• Notable, once switched, Kimberly wears dark purple; Amy Jo Johnson hated the color pink.[Citation needed]
• This is the final episode of Season One before the arrival of Tommy, who would join as the sixth Power Ranger in the next episode "Green With Evil", although he was absent from "The Green Candle" to "Return of an Old Friend" as Rita abolished his Green Ranger powers.
• According to David Yost (Billy) this is one of his three favorite episodes of the series (along with Food Fight and Power Ranger Punks).

Errors

• Bulk and Skull were out of the garage during Billy and Kimberly's switch so they shouldn't know how to use the machine correctly.
• Somehow Billy's bad eyesight transferred to Kimberly during the switch. This mistake would also be made in the similarly-themed Power Rangers Super Megaforce episode "The Grass is Always Greener... or Bluer", in which Noah and Jake switch bodies.
• Instead of the CPU malfunctioning during Kimberly's failed tutorial to Billy's peer, the screen explodes and the CPU remains intact.
• Rita's plan to avoid Zordon picking up on the Genie's presence when teleporting to Earth doesn't make sense, because she just sends Baboo and Squatt with the lamp. Zordon surely would still take notice of them since they are affiliated with her.
• How does Jason know so much about the Megazord's technical schematics? Even more so than Billy?
• The Rangers prepared to morph by merely touching their communicators.
• During the morphing scene, Billy (In Kimberly's body) isn't wearing his glasses while Kimberly (In Billy's body) is.

See Also

• Ep. 11: My Master! - Super Sentai counterpart in Zyuranger. See comparison page. (fight footage and story)