Trini and Billy lead a collection of petition signatures at school to save a historical landmark statue. Bulk mocks them, saying the city council's proposal to replace it with a barbecue pit sounds much better than a pile of old concrete. There are several boxes of insects around the campaign stand. Billy explains that the statue was originally erected as a symbolic guard against harmful arthropods such as spiders and insects. Zack, however, is grossed out, even by beneficial bugs. Skull sarcastically asks how they can be helpful to humans, and the pair open the boxes and throw them over the crowd who react with revulsion and panic, scratching all over. Zack is particularly frightened by a tarantula on his shoulder. Tommy tries to squash it with a folder, but it leaps off and he hits Zack instead. Kimberly tells the class clowns that what goes around comes around, who are nonplussed. That night, Squatt and Baboo lead the Putties in a mission to steal the statue for Rita. The next day, Trini regrets that most of the science lab's bugs got away, but Jason and the others offer to help her replace them. Meeting Billy, he introduces them to a lab mouse named Jack he's been working with. Bulk and Skull laugh at the team's "new mascot", but Zack retorts that the mouse is smarter than they are as he never failed an IQ test.
Annoyed, Bulk grabs a book off Trini and throws it at Billy, to set up an "obstacle course" for Jack. But he crawls up Skull's trouser leg, causing him a lot of comedic discomforts and he leaps into Bulk's arms. Billy retrieves Jack from Skull's jacket, commending him for his bravery and making Skull look like a coward, who is unceremoniously dropped by Bulk. Finster describes the statue as exquisite and asks Rita where she wants to put it. She snaps nevermind for now and orders him to make a monster. He creates a giant egg for the tarantula beast Spidertron, which the villains will store in a copy of the statue along with several other creepy crawlies as a trap to return to Earth. Sleeping powder-sprinkling moths are included too to put everyone into slumber, including the Rangers. Most of the team look for replacement insects in the countryside. Tommy and Zack are absent for karate and hip-hop kido classes respectively, but Zack's fear of bugs is obviously a factor too. They gather several specimens, but Rita unleashes the Putties. They fight them off including with Billy's use of a bug net in Confusion Fu, and the Putties teleport off. Zack leads his hip hop kido class of made up of several boys a few years younger than he, grooving and kicking off his characteristic fight moves to a funky beat.
The boys are impressed, and he tells them that like all martial arts HHK teaches confidence and self-discipline and that the moves should only be used for self-defense. Setting them practicing so he can get a funkier cassette tape, he dashes off. Little do they know that they've been training next to Rita's imitation statue, and the moths fly over them, spreading the sleeping powder and knocking the boys out. Zack returns, surprised and unable to wake them. He contacts Zordon who tells him to flee from the moths, promising Zack that he and Alpha will watch out for the kids. Leaving the area, he stops and considers that the statue was said to ward off bad bugs, so he unwittingly runs towards it. Seeing it covered in the moths, he also spies that it has snakes instead of flowers in its hair and realizes it isn't the real statue. He morphs, arming the Power Axe into its gun mode and blasts the fake statue apart. The hatched, bipedal Spidertron roars out of the wreckage and leaps down to confront him. But first Goldar shows up and knocks Zack down to the deck. The four bug-hunting Rangers are wrapping up their search, but then Zordon calls them. He sends them to back Zack up. As they help him off the ground, Spidertron covers them in webbing and Goldar blasts them with an energy bolt from his sword. Still webbed up on the grass, the two villains rush them, but Zack is less tied up and leaps through the air and hits the attackers with a flurry from his Power Blaster. Rita grows Spidertron and the Megazord is summoned. It punches the beast in the face and, falling backward, Spidertron responds with a web salvo, pinning the Megazord's feet stationery. It follows up with more web blasts, creating a stereotypical spider web pattern and keeping the mecha held still. It then pulses electricity through the web, shocking the Megazord to the ground. In desperation, Jason quickly separates the Zords.
The Tyrannosaur faces off against the spider, sweeping it to the deck with its tail temporarily. Billy provides support with laser blasts from Triceratops, but it shrugs them off. Zack, facing his fear, vows that he will pay the beast back for attacking him and his friends, and the Mastodon spurts its deep freeze liquid nitrogen attack from its trunk. Temporarily frozen solid, it looks like the spider has lost... but it shakes itself free and blasts the Mastodon, Sabretooth Tiger and Triceratops Zords with energy. The Tyrannosaur leaps high through the air at it, with Spidertron jumping forward too. As they collide, the Tyrannosaur's knees are clipped and it gets knocked backward. Jason begs Zordon to send Tommy, who much like the prior episode is currently practicing a kata, this time with a katana sword outside. Hailed by Zordon, he stabs the blade vertically into the ground and teleports to their aid. He calls the Dragonzord out from the sea with his flute, and it rushes forward to confront the Spidertron. Attacking it with its tail, fists, and a throw, the Dragonzord is however stymied again by the web attack. This time it lifts the web pattern into the air along with the Dragonzord and attacks it with organic barbs. Stoically, Tommy follows up with the fingertip missiles attack and the Zord is dropped back down to the ground and joined by the Tyrannosaur. Enraged, the monster blasts both of them with energy, but the Rangers have had enough. Jason orders Dragonzord in Battle Mode, and it forms up with the other Zords for the endgame. Rushing forward, the Spidertron is skewered by the DBM's drill lance, falling to the ground and finally exploding. Zack hastily retreats back to his class, arriving just in time for them to wake up and to gently tease them. He teaches them all an effective technique. Back at AG High, Trini states that the original statue returned when the beast was destroyed and even better, that the council decided not to demolish it on the strength of their petition. It is now a historical landmark. Tommy asks if Zack's experience helped him overcome his fear of spiders, which is affirmative, so he says that's great because there's a really big one on his left shoulder. Not believing him at first, Zack then freaks out, but Tommy assures him it's actually made of rubber and the group crack up.
Tropes
- Behemoth Battle: Dinozords vs. Spidertron.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies / Giant Spider: Spidertron, of course.
- Eek, a Mouse!!: Averted with Kim, who finds Jack, Billy's "research assistant", cute (we find out next season that she doesn't care for rats, however). Played straight with Skull after Jack crawls into his shirt.
- Forced Sleep: The moths that cover Spidertron's statue in the park inflict this on whoever gets sprinkled with their sleeping powder.
- Insistent Terminology: Billy seems to take offense to Jack being called his pet mouse. Remember, he's a research assistant!
- Insult Backfire: When Zack claims that Jack is smarter than Bulk and Skull, Skull has this to say:Skull: "Hey! You can't talk about Bulk like that!"(Bulk elbows him.)
- Leg Focus: Trini is the only one of the main characters wearing shorts and does a lot more kicks in this episode than usual.
- Macabre Moth Motif: The moths that put normal people to sleep, courtesy of Spidertron.Zach: (running from the moths) If they get me, it's gonna be Rip Van Winkle time!
- Make My Monster Grow: Done by Rita to Spidertron.
- Mid-Season Upgrade / Super Mode / All Your Powers Combined: Though it was technically introduced in Green With Evil Part V, this episode features the first use of the Dragonzord in Fighting Mode in an actual battle.
- Monster of the Week: Spidertron.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Spidertron, naturally.
- Non-Indicative Name: Despite the "tron" in its name, Spidertron seems wholly organic (or ceramic if you want to be technical).
- Projectile Webbing: Spidertron has this ability, and uses it to ensnare the Rangers, the Megazord, and the Dragonzord.
- Shock and Awe: Along with webbing attacks this is one of the Spidertron's primary powers.
- Silent Antagonist: Spidertron has no dialogue aside from some roars.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Variation; the statue was sadly destroyed in Zyuranger but here it is mentioned that it has been returned to the park where it belonged, presumably when Spidertron was defeated.
- This Is a Drill: Spidertron finds out the hard way that this is true for the Dragonzord Fighting Mode's Power Staff and gets Impaled with Extreme Prejudice.
- "What Do They Fear?" Episode: For Zack.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Bugs for Zack, especially spiders. He says the trope word for word.
- Ironically he would also show fear for actual snakes later in "Island of Illusion."
