Short Circuited

Power Rangers: Time Force, Episode 7

Original Airdate: 3-17-2001

Last Time: Wes stole ten million dollars....because he's a hero!

In a cold opening that proudly declares, "We paid for the fucking Sentai footage, we're going to use the fucking Sentai footate, no matter what," the Rangers kill him both in regular and family size. In a vain attempt to pretend that this sequence has something to do with the rest of the story, Nadira shows up to claim that Circuit, the mechanical owl is somehow important to the team's success. Is it? Seriously? It's like a more annoying version of Alpha...I mean, I can tolerate a few scenes of the owl each episode, but any more than that....Credits!

In the clock tower, Trip is performing maintenance on Circuit and accidentally ruins Lucas and Wes' game of poker with his telepathy. Lucas covers up Trip's forehead gem with a piece of tape, and that somehow turns off Trip's telepathy completely. Wow....that's....the worst superpower in history. "I can read minds, but not always, and usually not when it would be helpful to the plot...and if anything covers up my garish forehead gem in any way, my powers don't work."

At Ransik's Playhouse, Nadira calls upon Medicon, the monster of today's episode. Ten doctor-related puns occur in the next thirty seconds. Also, while Ransik is here, he doesn't say anything. I guess they were paying Vernon Wells by the line.

In town, Trip goes for a walk with Circuit. Suddenly, Nadira in a disguise starts running from some Cyclobots. Trip being the mensch that he is, decides to help her. Nadira reveals herself to Trip, but then decides to run another con on Trip and pretends that she wants to defect. Oh, Trip could take the tape off of his gem and read her mind to verify, but that would require basic logic. Instead, Trip trusts Nadira implicitly. Wait a minute, I can understand why Trip would be so stupid as to not use his powers, but wouldn't Nadira stop and think, "I probably shouldn't try to baldly lie to a guy who can read minds." Anyway, the writers apparently think that Trip hasn't been quite stupid enough in this episode, so Nadira tricks him yet again into leaving Circuit behind when he gets her a hot dog....even though he already got her a hot dog and she's holding it as she asks for another one. I mean, there's an idiot plot and then there's....this. Nadira kidnaps Circuit and teleports away.

Back at some base, Medicon gives Circuit the equivalent of brain damage, leading the robot bird to declare, "Five times five is green." Shit, I don't the Rangers can handle Circuit's retardation and Trip at the same time. Medicon also starts his attack on the city, and the other Rangers wonder where Trip is. Jen calls him and he decides against informing the team that he lost Circuit. The monster this week is especially immobile, and fights accordingly. Anyway, the Rangers blast him into giant mode, and since the Rangers need Circuit to call on the Time Force Megazord....it's kind of a problem. Lucas rips the tape off Trip's head because he now realizes that Trip's grasp on reality is such that he can't afford to fuck around with Trip's head.

Trip then uses his powers to locate Circuit....no, I don't know how a telepath was able to read the thoughts of a mechanical owl. Trip shows up to rescue Circuit and succeeds, mainly because the only things standing in his way were a couple of Cyclobots and Nadira. Even then, though, he still has a tough time of it. Trip fixes Circuit, and that means we can finally hurry this episode the hell along. The merge the zords into a giant plane and summon a tornado to hurt Medicon before they finish him off. Awesome, more stock footage to pad out fight scenes!

Later, the Rangers talk with Circuit about the events of the episode, and the Rangers forgive Trip because they don't have a replacement on hand. Trip then chooses not to use his powers to warn Lucas that he's about to step in dog shit. Thankfully, Show Over!

Next Time: Jen decides that she really needs to get started getting revenge for Alex's death. It only took her eight episodes.