The six Rangers are enjoying a casual outdoor game of basketball when unbeknownst to them Squatt shows up and promises to give them a nasty surprise. Zack pulls off a trick longshot and Squatt teleports back to the moon to help Baboo make a monster of their own. Rita is snoring in her rocking chair, so they tiptoe quietly and head over to a chest where Baboo reveals his clay template: a spiky turtle combined with a model traffic light. They run it through the Monster-Matic along with a baseball bat, a baseball, a toy cannon, a brass knuckles, and a pirate's hook. They dub him Shellshock and send a squad of Putties down to attack the Rangers first. The team handles the Putties quite easily using the basketball as an Improvised Weapon. Aghast at the failure, the bumbling bad guys prepare to send Shellshock down. Tommy leaves the game for karate class, and the other five continue playing and order hot dogs. Bulk and Skull show up and the former declares the game over. Throwing the basketball away, he grabs Kimberly, but Jason and Zack restrain him and she chucks Skull at him for a pratfall finish into the hot dog cart. The owner tells them to pay for the damage, and with them being broke forces them to work it off with two weeks of unpaid labor.
In the bushes, Squatt and Baboo instruct Shellshock to attack the Rangers with his traffic light weapons. The green go light destroys the basketball and the Rangers morph. It then hits Trini and she's forced to jog away involuntarily. The other four attack the villains who barrage them with a flurry of baseballs. Shellshock blasts all of them except Jason completely stationary with the red stop light and proceeds to sprout the cannon from his neck to blow them away. Jason draws his fire away from the frozen Rangers and manages to scare the villains off with bursts from his Power Blaster. Back on the moon, Goldar growls that Rita won't be happy on waking up to Squatt and Baboo's little scheme, and they retort that of course she'll be happy and he's just jealous because they took the initiative. Rita is indeed pleased with them and Goldar is exasperated. Jason is teleported to the Command Centre alongside the three stationary Rangers, and is obviously worried for them. Zordon says that the Deandra flower on the Mountain of Hope can cure them. He's sent Trini to pick them, even in her forced running state. Rita grows Shellshock and he attacks downtown Angel Grove. Jason teleports and summons the Tyrannosaurus Dinozord to battle the gigantic turtle, which sprouts the baseball bat and hook to fight with.
Tommy practices a lightning fast bo kata in the Youth Center. Trini approaches the flower to gather it. Shellshock is wiping the floor with Jason, who pleads Zordon to send backup. Zordon summons the Sabertooth Tiger Dinozord's spirit to guide Trini to the flower, and she picks it. Jason hails Tommy who's just finished practice and he morphs, teleports and calls on the Dragonzord. The mighty beast supports the Tyrannosaurus with its drill tail and they regain the upper hand. Shellshock feints getting dust in his eyes and thus being unable to see, but blasts both Zords with a surprise freeze ray. Trini shows up in the nick of time, leaps onto Shellshock's head and sprinkles the pollen from the Deandra flower onto him while jogging in place. The traffic light malfunctions and the pollen reaches the Command Center, releasing the remaining Rangers from their stasis. The Zords are also unfrozen and the Dragonzord blasts Shellshock with its fingertip missiles. The Tyrannosaurus fires an energy shockwave into the ground which finishes Shellshock and the two Zords hi-five in celebration. The Rangers and Alpha are ecstatic given this is the first time Tommy's been able to aid the team as a force for good. Rita rages at Squatt and Baboo for their incompetence and misplaced confidence in their monster. Back at the basketball court, Tommy challenges Zack to a shoot-off whereby the loser buys lunch. Zack scores, but Billy unexpectedly steps up and challenges him too, loser buys lunch for two. Billy tackles the ball away, mocks Zack's hip hop taunts with his own Technobabble laden variations and slams the dunk for a surprise victory.
Tropes
- A Day in the Limelight: For Squatt and Baboo, as their making of Shellshock causes most of the episode's events to happen.
- And I Must Scream: Shellshock's freeze ray has this effect, even though his victims often don't realize what's happened to them given how quickly it acts. Partially averted with Jason who gets hit with it while piloting his Zord. He himself can still move, but all of the controls are stuck as is presumably the hatch to get out so all he can do is sit there helplessly in the cockpit.
- Baseball Episode: While not the point of the entire episode, among Shellshock's arsenal are a baseball bat and a seemingly endless supply of baseballs, which he uses to overwhelm the Rangers at one point.
- Behemoth Battle: Dinozords vs. Shellshock.
- Beware the Silly Ones: The Rangers nearly get defeated by a monster created by Squatt and Baboo.
- Big Damn Heroes: Tommy uses the Dragonzord to save Jason's skin in this fashion, and Trini releases both Zords and the other Rangers using the Deandra flower. Even if she does do it in a slightly dorky way, having to run around or jog in place throughout much of the episode.
- Breather Episode: After the intensity that was the Green Ranger saga, this episode definitely reassures us that aside from Tommy's addition to the cast, the status quo has returned (at least until "The Green Candle").
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Shellshock is certainly more cartoonish even by Power Rangers standards, but damn if he doesn't do a decent job keeping the Rangers on the ropes before Tommy and Trini return.
- Forgot About His Powers: We never see Shellshock use his yellow light, so what its ability was is a mystery (while one could assume it probably slowed things down, it's not a given).
- Hammerspace: Shellshock has a variety of fairly large weapons (a baseball bat, a pirate hook, a cannon), but they all remain hidden inside his turtle shell until he needs them.
- Hook Hand: One of Shellshock's weapons.
- Giver of Lame Names: Baboo considered naming their monster "Greta" or "Peitouche" before Squatt pointed out those were lousy names for a turtle monster and suggested "Shellshock." Thankfully, they went with the third option.
- Innocuously Important Episode: This is the first episode to have the Zord/giant monster fight take place in the city.
- Make My Monster Grow: Done by Rita to Shellshock.
- Monster of the Week: Shellshock.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: A turtle monster with a traffic light on his spine combined with various other weapons/trinkets.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Shellshock is surprisingly effective at pummeling the Rangers. Doubly so for Squatt and Baboo, who manage to make such a strong monster in spite of their shortcomings.
- Pocket Dimension: The Mountain of Hope apparently exists in one.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Shellshock.
- Shout-Out:Shellshock: "Wait till those teenage mutants see what a full-grown turtle can do!"
- This, of course, becomes
Hilarious in Hindsight when they actually appear later in Power Rangers in Space, and with the Mighty Morphin’ Rangers in their comics continuity crossover. There’s also the fact that the Turtles’ popularity influenced the naming of the MMPR.
- This, of course, becomes
- This Cannot Be!: Goldar is in utter disbelief that a monster created by Squatt and Baboo actually defeated the Rangers in battle, even briefly.
- Took a Level in Badass: Billy levels up again, this time in the sporting realm.
- Vocal Evolution: Inverted; as Goldar is back to his old raspy voice this episode, most likely because the voice dubbing was done out of order given the hectic production schedule of the show.
