We’re finally back in multi-parter land! And we will be for pretty much the rest of the season.
Ms. Appleby has assigned her students to bring in a childhood photo and share their most treasured memory at that age. She asks who would like to present first, and Aisha waves her hand excitedly.
She explains that the picture was taken after her first dance recital. She cherishes it because her grandmother was sick at the time but was still able to come, and she made her proud that day.
Ms. Appleby calls on Kimberly next, and though she seems more hesitant than her friend, she still steps up with her photo.
Her photo, naturally, is from her first gymnastics competition, and while she was bummed because she lost, the experience helped teach her to be a good sport.
All this sharing inspires Zedd to spin the Earth backwards, thereby turning back time and reverting the Rangers to children. Putting aside the absolute scientific absurdity of that statement, this was a plan I thought we weren’t going to get into for a long time — I guess he does it twice?
Tommy says his photo means a lot because it’s when he first learned about dedication and hard work, so I guess he was super lazy the first ten years of his life?
Billy hits a similar note, saying he learned about determination here, as it took him about four hours to put his mother’s vacuum cleaner back together. From the back of the room, Kimberly calls:
“Bet she wasn’t too happy!”
Rocky keeps it short and sweet, naming his dog Buster and talking about how he taught him responsibility.
Adam loves his photo because it shows him and his dad working together, which is always a special time for him.
Skull: And that’s when I discovered that Bulk and I were meant to be lifelong pals!
Bulk: No. No. That’s when you stuck a grape popsicle down my back and I decided not to clobber ya.
Skull: Exactly my point.
Zedd activates the Rock of Time, which is a slightly better explanation for what’s about to happen, but given the rock’s purpose is to spin the Earth backwards, it’s still stupid as hell.
Billy notices the classroom clock turning back and points it out to Ms. Appleby, who is understandably confused. We get an absolutely unnecessary number of scenes of Zedd screaming with bravado that could have been better served showing basically anything else.
Alpha notices what’s going on and Zordon recommends he check on the Rangers. They’re okay for the moment, so the android programs the computer to monitor them while he works on a way to return the Earth to its proper rotation.
The backwards rotation finally takes effect, and even dumber than the entire premise of spinning the Earth = time travel is the fact that there isn’t even time travel. No one actually goes back in time — everyone just de-ages.
Ms. Appleby, who suddenly has long hair, asks the class who can divide 30 into 900, which is literally the most difficult piece of schoolwork we’ve ever seen her class do. Baby!Kimberly steps forward and answers the question, and no one seems to notice what’s happened, but I’m sticking to my story of de-aging rather than actual time reversal because:
- They’re all still in the high school building.
- They still know who Ms. Appleby is.
- Tommy, Aisha, Rocky, and Adam didn’t even grow up in Angel Grove.
Most likely, what was meant by this scene was that the Earth really did go back in time, and that’s why no one has any memories of the present, but the writers just didn’t bother to jump around the massive plot holes. So we’re just going to go with it.
Bulk and Skull drop a balloon in Kimberly’s chair while she’s at the front of the class, but it falls out of her desk before she has a chance to sit on it. They scramble up to retrieve it, but she “accidentally” steps on it and sprays them with the shaving cream they’d hidden inside.
Ms. Appleby asks who’s responsible for this, and Aisha immediately rats out Bulk and Skull. The teacher grabs them by the ears and shoves them in the direction of Principal Caplan’s office.
The bell rings and everyone scrambles to head home as the Rangers surround Kimberly, who’s glum about the shaving cream having ruined her new outfit. Aisha offers her a wet wipe and Tommy suggests going to the park.
At the Command Center, Alpha confirms my de-aging theory, and Zordon instructs him to create a device to bring the Rangers back to their proper ages (sucks to be everyone else, I guess?). Alpha asks why they can’t just bring the kids to the Command Center, but Zordon replies that it would be too frightening for them at this age.
Aisha shows Kimberly a dance move she’s come up with while Tommy and Rocky train (no changes there) and Billy and Adam work on a kite. A nearby woman goes to take a picture of how cute they are, but Bulk and Skull leap into the shot and jumpscare her.
The camera is dropped and abandoned in the ensuing kerfuffle, and Bulk and Skull march over to Billy and steal his kite. Not yet able to fight (though half of his friends are), he can only demand they hand it back, which they rebuff.
The bullies get tangled in the kite’s string, and when Kimberly baits Skull with an offered kiss (Bulk tries to warn him that she has cooties, but Skull replies that he likes cooties), they stumble over each other and collapse to the ground.
The kids start up a game of dodgeball, and when Skull asks Bulk if he wants to join, he replies that it’s a “sissy game,” even though dodgeball is about as far as you can get from “sissy.”
Zedd sends down a squad of Z-Putties to interrupt, and the kids all jump back in fright. Rocky and Tommy push everyone behind them, because clearly they’d already begun their martial arts training at this age.
Bulk and Skull dash under a picnic table to hide, while poor Adam just looks confused.
Billy wonders if they should ask the Z-Putties if they’re lost, but Kimberly replies that her parents taught her never to talk to strangers — and the foot soldiers look pretty strange to her.
Sweet Adam walks up to a Z-Putty and offers it a ball, asking if it wants to play, but it shoves him away.
He hurls the ball at the Z-Putty’s head in retaliation, and the group officially pounces on the kids. Kimberly and Tommy somersault away from them while Aisha shrieks:
“Get away from me, you big goon!”
Billy suggests they run, but they don’t get far given the Z-Putties have them surrounded. Rocky is the first to try actually fighting one, as he delivers a kick to a Z-Putty’s shins and steals the dodgeball back to throw at the one harassing Adam.
Kimberly steps on another while fleeing while Adam drops into a ball, sending the one chasing him careening. Tommy goes into full karate mode and knocks one over while chucking the dodgeball at another, hitting it square in the chest.
When it explodes, they realize they need to aim for the Z, and the kids throw dodgeballs left and right, destroying them each in turn. Even Bulk and Skull get in on the action, throwing a ball to defeat their very first Z-Putty.
Once the enemies are defeated, everyone except Tommy and Rocky collapses in exhaustion, while the young versions of the White and Red Rangers high-five. I guess we’re pretending Rocky replaced Jason for Tommy the same way Aisha did Trini for Kimberly?
Alpha thinks the kids got lucky, but Zordon reminds him that they chose them to be Rangers for a reason. He instructs the android to finish the descrambler as quickly as possible to return things to normal.
Zedd, meanwhile, is understandably enraged that his foot soldiers were beaten by a bunch of children, two of whom won’t even grow up to be Power Rangers.
He spots the camera long abandoned by the woman earlier, and plots to use it to create a monster that can trap the Rangers in a photograph, freezing them completely in time.
Bulk and Skull, meanwhile, are creeping through the park after the other kids. Tommy turns around and says they all know they’re there, so if they’re scared, they should just admit it. The bullies deny this and claim they’re protecting them, which makes Adam laugh.
The monster appears and does precisely what Zedd wanted — freezes them in a photograph.
Bulk and Skull cower in the bushes, and back at the Command Center, Alpha is hit with a jolt of electricity as he tries in vain to finish the descrambler intended to right the Rangers’ ages. Zordon informs him that the situation has grown worse as Zedd cackles over his presumed victory.
Power Rangers In Order 