A deaf girl who's friends with Kimberly may be vital in saving the day when Rita sends a music-touting monster down to hypnotize Angel Grove.
Tropes
- Behemoth Battle: Dino Megazord vs. Gnarly Gnome.
- Bizarre Taste in Food: Squatt likes to eat bugs, and Baboo seems to cook with odd ingredients.
- Butt-Monkey: Poor Billy has it hard at the start of the episode after jumping onto a cart that sends him riding out of control.
- Disability Immunity: Melissa's deafness prevents her from being affected by Gnarly Gnome's music, but she can't do anything by herself so she fetches the Rangers to help save her friends. She doesn't witness any of the battle that transpires either.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- Four of the Rangers call their Power Weapons by different names, which were never used before or since: Cosmic Cannon (Power Axe), Battle Bow (Power Bow), Dino Daggers (Power Daggers), and Mighty Mace (Power Lance). Jason later calls the Megazord's Power Sword the "Mega Sword."
- Zordon and Alpha are nowhere to be seen, nor are they even mentioned. The Rangers are alerted to Rita's scheme by Melissa and pretty much figure out and handle everything on their own.
- Hidden Depths: Kimberly the valley girl knows sign language.
- Ignored Expert: After hearing Rita's plan, Finster politely argued that musical-themed monsters just don't get the job done. Rita yells at him to get to work or else she'd turn him into a slug.
- It Only Works Once: During the Megazord battle, Gnarly Gnome makes himself look like inanimate objects to confuse the Rangers while he attacks. He only manages one blow before the team catches onto him; leading to a quick Curb-Stomp Battle.
- Jerkass Has a Point: An enraged Rita threatens major punishment against Squatt, Baboo, and Gnarly Gnome, but they were sleeping on the job rather than preparing for the Rangers' impending arrival.
- Master of Illusion: During his fight with the Megazord, Gnarly Gnome takes the form of a floating building and a giant rolling boulder to confuse the rangers. They No-Sell the latter attempt and defeat him quickly.
- Magic Music: Rita demands this type of monster, although Finster claims such things are "not reliable."
- Make My Monster Grow: Done by Rita to Gnarly Gnome.
- Monster of the Week: Gnarly Gnome.
- Monstrous Humanoid: Gnarly Gnome is one of the only two Monsters of the Week in the entire series that looks even remotely like a human being (the other being the Frankenstein Monster).
- Musical Assassin: Gnarly Gnome, the Monster of the Week.
- Never My Fault: After Gnarly Gnome is destroyed, Rita screams at Squatt and Baboo for the failure of the plan that she herself thought up and the monster she explicitly demanded. Finster isn't shown getting yelled at like this, though he's trembling all the same.
- Our Gnomes Are Weirder: And gnarlier.
- Plot Hole: Seeing her friends kidnapped, Melissa immediately told the Rangers what had happened. The thing is, she didn't know they were the Rangers and she brought them there in their civilian identities. It raises the question: What did she think five civilians, even ones as well trained as the heroes, were going to do against a monster with hypnotic powers? (Possibly her reasoning was, she had to tell someone.)
- The Quiet One / The Voiceless: Aside from a few moments of laughter, Melissa does not say a word. Justified due to being deaf.
- Repeating So the Audience Can Hear: Kimberly audibly dictates whatever Melissa signs to her whenever they have a conversation.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Squatt and Baboo bail rather than help Gnarly Gnome tie his shoes.
- Security Cling: After Rita screams at them, Squatt and Baboo grab onto each other.
- Surrounded by Idiots: After the latest failure, Rita bemoans the fact that her lackeys are fools.
