People say that Power Rangers was a goofy show especially in it's early years and for the most part they are right. As the show did have it's more goofy episodes however what alot of people seem to forget that this show was based off of Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger also had it's fair share of goofy episodes with the episode of Power Rangers that i'm going to be talking to you all about today being a good example of just how goofy Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger was alot of the time and so then join me as I review the episode that has a dreadful ending with the episode in question being called simply just "For Whom The Bell Trolls" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is when Trini falls asleep and her favorite doll is kidnapped and turned evil by Rita it's up to the rangers to the giant doll and rescue Billy and Trini who have been captured by the doll before it's far to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. Plot wise this episode was about as good as it was ever going to be given that the original sentai episode that this episode is based off of also had a really goofy premise to it and to this episodes credit they do there best to make what was a really silly plot in the original now be a bit less silly and bit less goofy and yet in doing that the plot does also loose alot of it's charm as this is an episode that should have been more silly ad should have been more goofy just to show the fact that Rita is willing to do anything to defeat these teenagers. The plot of this episode does also have more then a few things in it that don't make sense one of which will be getting discussed later on in the review but the other one is that for some reason it's Trini and Billy that go looking for her doll it makes sense for why Trini was looking for it as it's her doll afterall but why is Billy going as from a storyline point of view that doesn't make sense as yes those two are each others best friends but surely Billy would have his own thing to do and while that is a small issue it is one that does show that relying on previously shot footage can also cause things to not make sense and heck the plot of the episode isn't that's that well thought out but given the ending of the episode that is something that can be slightly over looked with the plot of the episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Austin St. John as Jason Lee Scott , Thuy Trang as Trini Kwan and Walter Jones as Zack Taylor. Also starring in this episode is Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly Ann Hart , David Yost as Billy Cranston , Paul Schrier as Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier , Jason Narvy as Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch , Royce Herron as Ms. Appleby , David Fielding as the voice of Zordon , Richard Steven Horvitz as the voice of Alpha 5 , Barbara Goodson as the voice of Rita Repulsa , Kerrigan Mahan as the voice of Goldar , Robert Axelrod as the voice of Finster , Melanie Neat as Squatt , Michael J. Sorich as the voice of Squatt , Dave Mallow as the voice of Baboo and Tom Wyner as the voice of Mr. Ticklesneezer.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. The acting in this episode is about what you would expect from early Power Rangers seasons as yes the actors are nearly all over the top in their performances especially those that are playing the rangers themselves but that's something does add to the charm of the show and this episode as this episode is a bit more lighthearted and therefor having these more over the top performances is something that does work well withing the context of the episode that doesn't make it good tho. Yet you can still see that the actors playing the rangers are now trying to turn in good performances with this being something that does make sense as they are getting to grips with there characters and while the acting from the ranger actors is getting better the acting from the newly introduced characters like Royce Herron as Ms. Appleby is about on par with how bad the acting was from all of the shows actors back in episode one of the show. With the best actor in this episode being Thuy Trang as Trini Kwan as this is her spotlight episode and she does make the most of it by showing us that Trini is more then the technical translator for Billy as Thuy does get to show of her more caring almost motherly side to her with that being something that does sine through in her performance with the acting that's in this episode nor really being helped by the fact that the script for this episode is just so bad as t gives none of this episodes actors all that much to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place with this being something that does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
As with any episode of Power Rangers there is going to be some changes made from the original episode. With this episode not really being any different as in the original episode the character that we know as as Mr. Ticklesneezer isn't a doll that's brought to life for no good reason rather he's hapless dwarf that doesn't really know any better and is threatened by Rita into working for her with Mr. Ticklesneezer being a kind hearted sole who likes to make things with him capturing things so that he can make his models of them more accurate. This change alone makes the character more kind hearted in nature as he's being forced into doing these evil things whereas in this episode it comes across as him still being this kind hearted person as he does give back everything that he stole when the rangers ask him to it but he also comes across as being a bit less dumb as he knows that Rita is evil and yet he still chooses to work for her which makes no sense in terms of how this version of this character is being shown as surely if your a kind hearted person then you'd want to avoid working for someone that you know for sure is evil. With alot of the other changes in this episode being more smaller things like there is a kid character that does team up with Mr. Ticklesneezer who is almost completely gone from the episode with it being him that takes the bike due to Ticklesneezer allowing him to use his bottle and all of the other objects taken cause such a panic that it makes the news where as here there's zero news coverage which is fine as it's a small change and doesn't really effect the plot of the episode infact it could be argued that none of the changes made to the original episode effect it's plot.
This episode does the worst thing that any TV show could have done for it's ending by revealing that the entire episode was just a dream that Trini was having. Much like how Dallas ended it's ninth season this ending makes no sense as it would mean that Trini would have to know exactly what Rita's palace looks like in order for her to dream about and she would have to know what alot of her minions would sound like amongst other things whereas in the original episode that ended it with Ticklesneezer walking off into the distance and vowing to maybe come back one day and yet here in this episode they do away with that sweet and perfectly acceptable ending all for no reason. Heck they could have had the whole thing be real and have it be explained that the doll has now returned to it's doll form which yes granted isn't that good of an ending either but it's also alot more better then the ending then what we ended up with as that ending just doesn't work with it feeling like that the makers of this episode really didn't know how to end the episode with them instead choosing the laziest ending that they could have done and called it a day. This is a show where the main villainess of this season is a witch you could literally come up with anything and make it work and yet they instead chose to go with the option that even fans of Dallas hated when they did it this wouldn't be a bad thing if this was the middle of the episode and it was going to be revealed that Trini was caught in some sort of trap but no it's the actual ending and it's one that just doesn't work both for this episode and for the show as a whole as the show is usually pretty good with giving us endings that are satisfactory and while this episode does get a pass for it being apart of the first batch episodes it is something that the makers of this episode should have thought more about.
To be fair to this episode this episode does do the best that it could have done given just how goofy that the original episode was. With the episode being turned from something that just a comedy with a small bit of action in it into something that is more story focused and action focused with there only being the typical early Power Rangers comedy at the start and end of the episode which is something that dies make this episode feel more serious then what it should have been as by all rights given the premise of even this episode this is one that should have been alot of more goofy and should have been alot more fun and while it does make sense that the makers of this would tone done the goofiness of the original episode. As this is meant to be a more serious show it still would have been quite fun to see the original episode as it was meant to be seen only with the Power Rangers actors in it as you very easily could have had this episode be placed right before the Green With Evil arc and have this episode be sort of a calm before the storm type of episode which is something that this show does do quite well. While it does make sense that it wasn't done for this episode as they were still trying to work out just what this show could be it is something that does leave this episode in a bit of an odd place as for example we have scenes with Rita complaining about how she never got to play with dolls due to having to learn spells which is a goofy scene but then the episode follows that up by having more serious moments like having Billy and Trini be trapped in what is possibly Trini's car which does give the episode more of an odd tone where both the silly aspects of the episode clash with it's more serious nature.
Power Rangers is usually very good with hiding the fact that it's actually using Japanese footage outside of the fact that you do see Japanese signs and people. However in this episode that forgot to edit out the character of Toshio as even tho he plays a big role in the original episode in this version of the episode tho the makers of the episode do have to cut him out as it would mean having to dub not only him but also his mother and school teacher and also give him a part in the plot which would have been a bit much for the episode to do therefor he is mostly edited out of the episode with him only appearing in one unedited scene near the end of the Megazord battle with this being something that very easily could have been edited around as well as they could have cut to stock footage on the Megazords face for a brief shot or to inside of the cockpit with some stock footage yet for whatever reason the makers of this episode left the character in the episode granted they might not have noticed him at the time of editing or just thought that since the shot doesn't last for very long in the first place that people might not catch it either one is fair enough as we wouldn't have been able to slow down the episode back in the nineties but it's something that once you see it you really can't unsee it with the fact that it's in the episode at all making the editors of this episode seem lazy as they would have had enough stock footage of the Megazords face that they could have cut to do to make the scene work and yet they didn't do it. With this being something that does make it obvious that this is a Japanese show and while the fans back in the nineties such as myself wouldn't have noticed this it is still something that does make the episode unintentionally hilarious as we now have a random giant boy in the scene for quite literally no reason what so ever.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty minuets and sixteen seconds. With this episodes running time pretty much being the bogstandard running time for the rest of the show as well and to be fair to this episode this episode really does have the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time this is of course is despite the fact that the episode really doesn't use its running time all that wisely. As the episode doesn't really take the time to fully its plot which is something that you did kind of expect from this show as the main focus of this show has never been and will never be its plot rather it will always be its action which is fair enough and to be fair to this episode this is the kind of episode that really doesn't require having a deep and well thought plot inorder for it to work and given the fact that so much of the plot of this episode does originally involve a character that is mostly cut out of the episode it does result in an episode that does have a plot that feels really underbaked with the same thing also being true for the episodes character development as well as none of the episodes characters get character development of any kind which again is fair as you could make the case that the characters would get there development in the next set of episodes. However tho it still would have been nice for the makers of this episode to at the vert least lay the groundwork for some of the characters character development even if it's just something small like Bulk and Skull being confronted by Mr. Ticklesneezer and choosing not be afraid of him only for them to run away when Goldar shows up which would have been small but it would have something but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action how that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. With the episodes action being really well done with this of course being due to the fact that it was filmed for another show entirely but even so this episodes action was really well done and while it would have been slightly if the makers of this episode did add in an unmorphed fight with either the Putties or Squatt for example before then morphing to take on both the putties and Goldar just having them jump right to the morphed fight worked just as well. With the best action scene in this entire episode being the grounded fight with the rangers taking on the Putties and Goldar with the scene having the added drama of Kim trying to capture and then uncork Ticklesneezers bottle all before the train comes and runs them over which is something that might be small but it does add in that extra level of threat that wouldn't have been there otherwise and while the Megazord fight is good it's a fight that's not as good as it could have been due to the fact that due to the lack of Megazord fight footage that there is for this episode the makers of this episode couldn't have the fight last all that long which does result in the fight being over just as should have been getting going with it being made clear as day that the makers of this episode did put alot more thought and effort into giving us some really good action as that is where this episode does shine best with the rest of the episodes action being really good in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall while this episode isn't the best of the early Power Rangers episodes out there it's also not the worst one either with this episode more then proving that this show isn't fully to blame for being goofy as the original show was just as goofy with this episode being a really fun filled episode to watch in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.



























