[The previous description was plagiarised from the work’s official episode synopsis. Please replace it with original writing.]
Tropes
- Batman Gambit:
- Ecliptor set up a trap by creating a false signal meant to bait the Rangers into searching a particular planet for Zordon. It was actually working like a charm, until Darkonda intervened with his Barillian bug.
- Darkonda used a Barillian bug to mutate a Ranger because he knows where the only cure is and that Andros knows it, too. He advises getting to KO-35 first and simply waiting for the Rangers to inevitably show up. The ending reveals that the true purpose of this plan wasn't even to get the Rangers, but to get in good with Astronema.
- Body Horror: Carlos and Cassie are temporarily turned into Barillian monsters, and everything from initial symptoms of the sting (chills, sweats, nausea) to the change (their DNA being rewritten), suggests that it was not pleasant. The bite itself looks like a super-infected pustule, and when Carlos begins to change, he gets these visible inflamed veins all over his body, and when he finally does start to enter the metamorphosis, he actually looks like he's having a seizure.
- Bring It: The Astro Megazord waves the full-grown Barillian monster in.
- Card-Carrying Villain: When introducing himself to Andros and T.J., Darkonda happily describes himself as such.
- Do Wrong, Right: Darkonda chastises Ecliptor's trap, calling it old-fashioned and saying it lacks the creativity of his Barillian bug plan.
- Expy: The basic plot of the rangers trying to find the mutated Carlos on the ship is a G-Rated version of Alien.
- Foreshadowing: While introducing himself to Astronema, Darkonda mentions that he met her once, but Astronema doesn't remember meeting him. Darkonda "met" Karone/Astronema when he kidnapped her.
- From Bad to Worse: The first encounter with the mutated Carlos leaves Cassie with a sting.
- Godzilla Threshold: Before he and T.J. head down to KO-35, Andros orders Ashley to guard the bridge and be prepared to shoot Carlos and Cassie if need be.
- It Can Think: Possibly. The mutated Carlos appears to be luring the four Rangers into pursuing him to engineering. As Andros says, they can't use their blasters there without risk of doing major damage.
- Noodle Incident:
- Ecliptor previously threatened Darkonda to never come anywhere near him again.
- Swarms of Barillian bugs once ravaged KO-35, mutating countless locals. It took the scientists developing an antidote to drive them off.
- Nothing Is Scarier:
- The mutated Carlos is initially just glimpsed at when Ashley and Cassie walk in on him and when the others are searching the decks.
- As Andros and T.J. are about to head down to KO-35, they start hearing assorted noises in the vents and proceed to start running.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Carlos getting bitten by the bug derails Ecliptor's trap. The fact that his least favorite person was responsible just makes it even worse. Ecliptor returns to the Dark Fortress ranting and raving, as well as hassling any mooks he bumps into. Astronema lampshades how things must've really gone wrong for him to be behaving this way.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: "Now, I'm really going to bug you!"
- Properly Paranoid: Ecliptor says that Darkonda is always scheming.
- Tainted Veins: Carlos gets these when the infection of the sting progresses.
- This Is Gonna Suck:
- When Carlos says he thinks he was stung by a bug of some sort, Andros starts getting very worried and wants T.J. to join him on the planet's surface.
- Ashley doesn't much like the prospect of being alone on the Megaship with two mutating monsters.
- The Virus: Not as extreme as other examples, but Barillian bugs are able to sting humaniods, and turn them into Barillian monsters, who can in turn sting other humaniods.
- Was Once a Man: Without the limited antidotes, there is a genuine fear that Carlos, and later Cassie, will be stuck as monsters.
- Which crosses into
Fridge Horror when, at the end of the episode, Darkonda releases one last Barillian bug, which then turns into a human sized monster and then the Monster of the Week Zord fight. Seconds previously, Darkonda had crushed the last remaining dose of the antidote, implying that the antidote would have turned the monster into a humanoid as well. Were all Barillian bugs former people transformed by The Virus? We'll never know.
- Which crosses into
- Wham Episode: Subtle, but still apparent. This is where the series starts to get into its well-known darker phase, despite being a kids show, as it plays Carlos' sting, sickness, transformation, and prowling around the ship as serious and graphic as it can get for a kids' show. Darkonda also makes his debut and quickly drops hints about his past with Astronema and Ecliptor.
- Who Are You?:T.J.: Who are you?
Darkonda: Darkonda is my name. Evil is my game.
