Power Rangers Zeo


Power Rangers Zeo
"Mean Screen"
Original Air Date:5/8/96		Featuring Footage & Some Story Stuff From: Ohranger #10- - Sanjou Dorobo Da Yon (The Visiting Thief)
Regular Season 3 Continues (4th Season By Series) Official Network Show Number PR-356 13th episode of PRZ 168th total Power Rangers episode
Writer: Ron Milbauer & Terri Hughes		Director: Vickie Bronaugh
Starring Cast: Catherine Sutherland _AS_ Kat (Zeo Ranger 1, Pink) Nakia Burrise _AS_ Tanya (Zeo Ranger 2, Yellow) Steve Cardenas _AS_ Rocky (Zeo Ranger 3, Blue) Johnny Yong Bosch _AS_ Adam (Zeo Ranger 4, Green) Jason David Frank _AS_ Tommy (Zeo Ranger 5, Red) David Yost _AS_ Billy Cranston Paul Schrier _AS_ Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier Jason Narvy _AS_ Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch Gregg Bullock _AS_ Lt. Jerome Stone		Additional Cast: Bob Manahan _AS_ Zordon (voice) Donene Kistler _AS_ Alpha 5 Richard Wood _AS_ Alpha 5 (voice) David Stenstrom _AS_ King Mondo (voice) Alex Borstein _AS_ Queen Machina (voice) Barbara Goodson _AS_ Prince Sprocket (voice) Oliver Page _AS_ Klank (voice) Barbara Goodson _AS_ Orbus (voice) ? _AS_ Mean Screen (voice)

CAPSULE SUMMARY:

At the Angel Grove High School Resource Center/ Computer Lab, we find Adam & Tanya getting on-line. There doesn't seem to be a teacher anywhere, but it's definitely a Computer Club, and instead, they're learning the how-to's of the www by a Jewish teenager named Raymond. If you're reading this, you know everything Raymond teaches the newbie Rangers. Silly Tanya somehow finds a virus online, a bouncy animated smiley face icon with a giggling voice urging 'click me!'. Raymond warns her, and she still clicks on it, and a friendly screen tells her she has 45 seconds until she gets a virus. It counts down, and Raymond's rapid keyboard clicking proves futile. The whole computer lab will crash if it isn't stopped, so Raymond rushes over to his laptop and cranks out an Anti-virus file into a floppy and inserts it just in time to stop the clock at 3 seconds remaining. Considering how cheaply done this was, I honestly suspect Raymond placed the virus in Tanya's computer. Had she followed his directions, nothing would have happened. But she made a mistake, and thus, Ray got to play computer hero by saving the hard drives of every comp in the school. Yeah right. They breathe a collective sigh of relief, calling that 'one mean virus'.

On the Machine Skybase, King Mondo figures that if a little virus can shake up the Ranger Teens that much, a larger one would prove most useful. Klank begins to tell his majesty of an idea he has, when Prince Sprocket cuts him off and steals his idea, telling his father to make their own virus to attack the computers of Angel Grove. Since almost everything is run by computers, it'll cripple the city. Mondo & Machina think this idea is wonderful, and Mondo has the perfect monster, Mean Screen! It's a Y2K Bug in 1996, and worse case scenario is there! Soon at the school, Adam finds a martial arts chatroom. He's instantly flamed and vows never to go on it again. Tanya has to go meet with Tommy, who is teaching her a new kata today, and so, she leaves Raymond & Adam alone to scour the web for Putty Porn. But before they can do that, Kat & Rocky interrupt them, asking how cyberspace is. Adam then shows Rocky the martial arts chatroom, but since Kat isn't within viewing range of the screen, they're likely viewing nude pics of Grumble The Magic Elf.

Meanwhile at some building in Angel Grove, Klank leads Mean Screen to a computer terminal and tells him that King Mondo wants him to hack into the Rangers' computer system and wreak havoc on Angel Grove by shutting down their weapons. Mean Screen does this, and his test pattern face turns into a computer screen, with the Zeozords blueprints suddenly appearing on them! It seems that Zordon & Alpha have the Power Chamber's computers hooked up to a phone line, and considering no villains have ever had Internet access, their security safeguards were rather lax. Mean Screen injects a virus into the Rangers' computer, leaving them defenseless and screwing up computers all over the city. ATM machines spew money, automatically opening doors slam closed quickly, and parking lot gates lift & close themselves out of control. Elsewhere, Bulk & Skull are on duty and polishing off their Patrol Bike. Lt. Stone contacts them over the radio (the bumbling duo squabble over who gets to answer it) and informs them that a code blue traffic situation is in progress at the intersection of Third & Elm. Bulk & Skull, excited about getting a real assignment, finally get to use the most powerful tools of law enforcement available at their disposal. Taking our a small black case and opening it, the bumbling duo peer into the shining light from within, to find two pairs of white gloves and two traffic whistles. Putting them on quickly, they hop on the bike and ride off, Skull thinking they're to go to Third & Maple.

Back at the computer lab, Kat remarks to Adam that he's really getting the hang of the computer and they may have to tell Billy he has a new rival! Suddenly, the web browser is replaced by an onslaught of multicolored digital binary information. Thinking it a widespread virus, Raymond has Adam yank the plugs, hoping to put a stop to it before it destroys anything. Raymond, in all his years being all about the Pentiums, has never seen anything like this. The three Ranger teens' Communicators go off, and Adam uses the excuse "we'll go see if there's a power outage somewhere" in order to keep Raymond from getting suspicious. He swallows their BS.com, and begins working on an Anti-virus on his laptop. Once in an alleyway, our heroes contact Zordon, who informs them of the Mean Screen virus infecting Angel Grove's Central Operating Computer and causing computer crashes everywhere. Before they can teleport to the PC, Cogs make the scene, and the three are forced to Morph Into Zeo Rangers. They battle the Cogs for a bit, while Red & Yellow Rangers are off inside the Computer Center, looking around for Mondo's goons. Mean Screen is making like Big Brother and watching them, Klank & Orbus accompany him, and egg him on to go have 'real interactive fun'. As Tommy & Tanya search for the computer where the virus was introduced to the system from, they find Mean Screen inside a television set. He shocks them with a 'power surge' and pops out of the screen, charging at them.

Elsewhere, Blue, Pink & Green Rangers tackle the Cogs in the parking lot. Adam literally takes a few on with one hand behind his back. The Cogs are beaten to a retreat, and the three Rangers teleport off to join their two friends. In the Computer Center, Mean Screen fires a few blasts from his antenna, "terminating the connection" of Tommy & Tanya. Adam, Kat, & Rocky show up, wielding their Laser Pistols. Mean Screen runs a scan on the weapons, and pops up a force field he calls his "screen saver", blocking the laserblasts. Adam mentions that the virus has spread to their weapons, which isn't quite true, just that Mean Screen is immune to their power now. Mean Screen fires some more electric blasts at all five Zeo Rangers. They scramble to escape the firepower being unleashing in the small office room. After being chased around, they try their Laser Pistols again, this time in the secondary Rifle modes. Mean Screen quickly scans the weapons, and is able to use his force field to block them.

In the Power Chamber, Alpha ay-yi-yi's about how he's never seen a computer virus work like this, it's somehow managed to infiltrate the Power Chamber's computer network and is spreading so quickly that Alpha can't destroy it.

Boy these capsules sure are long, aren't they? Long story short, the virus blocks the calling of the Zeo Megazord. Even the Zeo Blaster is ineffective against Mean Screen, as is the Defender Wheel! Mean Screen gets an "upgrade" from Orbus and grows big. Green Zeo teleports to the school and enlists Raymond's help in making an Anti-virus. Using that, the Rangers are able to call on their Zeo Megazord. It uses the Green & Blue helmets, and with the chop of a saber, Mean Screen goes down. King Mondo beats the oil out of Klank on the Skybase. Bulk & Skull end up in the middle of nowhere, until Lt. Stone pulls up and chews them up for causing the traffic jam to get worse. They're forced to hand over their gloves & whistles.

In the Power Chamber, all is well, but they realize things would have been easier had Billy been around. Speak of the devil, Billy's on the Viewing Screen, with news that the Aquitians solved their conflicts through peaceful means (the hell that means, we're not told), and he's ready to come home. The Zeo teens are ecstatic, and the Machine Empire plans a welcome home gift of their own for the "brainy one".