Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers Episode 27: Wheel of Misfortune

As the Rangers prepare for their Rumpelstiltskin play, Rita turns Kimberly’s grandmother’s spinning wheel into the Wheel of Misfortune.

Episode Summary

The episode begins with our teen heroes rehearsing for a Rumpelstiltskin play with Principal Caplan…in his office? Bulk and Skull of course fare poorly, and Bulk isn’t even in costume: “Just adding a little touch of the ’90s, Mr. Caplan.”

He gets pretty rough with the spinning wheel prop and breaks it; this prop belongs to Kimberly, or rather, her grandmother, and she gets so, so pissed. This is the angriest we’ve ever seen her, so hats off to Amy Jo Johnson for her acting (no joke).

In the Juice Bar, the other Rangers try to cheer Kim up, and Tommy even offers to fix the wheel for her. But when they go back to the principal’s office to collect it, it’s gone! Rita stole it and turned it into a giant wheel of misfortune with spikes ‘n stuff.

After looking for the wheel, Tommy is ambushed by Putties and tied up with thin-looking rope. Meanwhile, Goldar and Scorpina attack a quarry, so the other Rangers morph and get into their Zords.

Tommy manages to break free and joins the fight in the Dragonzord as the Wheel of Misfortune makes an appearance. Jason calls Titanus (from the last episode) for the first time, and all the zords combine into one and blast the shit out of everything.

The wheel turns back into its original form, good as new, just in time for the play.

Bulk screws up his lines and rips his tights on stage, then Kimberly tells the audience “The End” – but wait, nothing ended. They didn’t even tell the whole story! What kind of a play is this?

Thoughts

The play stuff in the first and last scenes was a bit fun and I even laughed at some of it. But the rest of the episode was rather unremarkable. The titular Wheel barely gets screentime and only shows up at the very end; understandable because the original Zyuranger episode didn’t have a lot of usable footage. It does make for a disappointing “monster” though.

We do see some more of Tommy and Kimberly’s blossoming romance in this episode, though. I know some people like this. Maybe you will.

Random observation: After Tommy escapes the Putties and contacts Zordon, Zordon’s voice sounds weird and deeper. Like they wrote a new line at the last minute but couldn’t get the actor to say it in time, so they just had someone else say it.