Due to a rare alignment of planets, Zordon ends up de-ionizing for a brief period. Lord Zedd exploits this by creating the Primator monster out of a white gorilla suit of Zack's. Primator can transform himself into an exact double of anyone and uses that ability to confuse the Rangers by mimicking them. Meanwhile, Alpha 5 teleports out of the Command Center for a day and winds up activating his self-destruct sequence when confronted by the monster.
Tropes
- Crazy-Prepared: Kimberly keeps a spare mirror in the Command Center.
- Demoted to Extra: Bulk and Skull only have one scene with them being spooked by Alpha during their hunt for the Rangers' identities.
- Grounded Forever: When Zordon scolds Alpha for leaving the Command Center without telling anyone, Trini jokes that Alpha is "going to be grounded for a few thousand years."Alpha: Ay yi yi yi yi! Now I'll never learn to play soccer!
- Heroic Sacrifice: Invoked by Alpha 5 to stop Primator from finding the Command Center.
- Killer Space Monkey: Primator. Though he was originally Zack's ape suit, brought to life by Lord Zedd.
- Maniac Monkeys: See Killer Space Monkey above.
- Never Trust a Trailer: A TV promo
made it look as though Primator was sneaking up behind Kimberly when it was actually Zack in the ape suit. Only obvious when you noticed the differences in their hands and the other Rangers were laughing. - No Ontological Inertia: Averted again, the transformed subject, Zack's ape suit, is not shown being restored after Primator's destruction, indicating it was lost permanently. The blow is softened somewhat since the suit wasn't a living creature, unlike with the Pirantishead example.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Primator-as-Tommy fakes being weakened and tells the other Rangers they should give up. The other Rangers know the real Tommy doesn't give up too easily.
- Self-Destruct Mechanism: Alpha 5 has one, and activates it when Primator mugs him for information. (Fortunately for him, the Rangers are able to avert it.)
- Shapeshifting: Primator's main gimmick.
- Shock and Awe: Primator uses lightning when forced to fight openly.
- Stock Animal Diet: "You'll never find the Command Center now, Banana Breath."
- What the Hell, Hero?: Kimberly and Trini call out Zack for lying about Tommy being in trouble before they found out Zack was with the others and they were tricked by Primator.
