Switching Places

Switching Places is the sixteenth episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, season 1.

Synopsis
Thanks to Squatt's meddling Billy and Kimberly find themselves switching bodies for the day. Both of them are forced to see life from each other's point of view. In the midst of their confusion Rita Repulsa has sent a Genie she released to Earth. Her wish: for him to destroy the Power Rangers.

Plot
Squatt sneaks into Billy's garage one late evening to mess with the power source on his new invention. He intends on Billy getting hurt when he tests it, and the others will be too preoccupied to meddle in Rita Repulsa's plans. Back at Rita's palace, she decides to use the Genie as her chosen monster for her next plan.

The next day, Billy invites Kimberly over to show her his new project. It's supposed to allow people to read each other's thoughts. Billy states that it's still in its experimental stage, but should still work. Meanwhile, Bulk and Skull are eavesdropping behind the Rad Bug. As Bulk carries on about the possibilities the device could have for him, Skull tries to tell him about the snarling dog behind them. They are chased out of the garage.

Meanwhile Billy and Kimberly test the machine without noticing Bulk and Skull (or their brief departure). The device starts to short circuit and sparks fly. Billy and Kimberly realize that they've switched bodies (or minds). The two scream.

Goldar and company get their hands on the Genie's lamp and plan on sending it to Earth.

Bulk and Skull escape the dog and return to Billy's garage to use the machine on themselves. Of course the same results happen and they switch minds.

At school, some girls laugh as Billy (in Kimberly's body) messes up when applying makeup at his locker. He then proceeds to ruin Kimberly's home economics presentation by blowing up a cheese soufflé. Kimberly (in Billy's body) fails to help tutor one of Billy's peers with file sorting, resulting in a computer screen exploding. Both Billy and Kimberly have an argument in the hallway at school when the others intervene. They explain the situation. Billy explains that he won't be able to reverse the effects until he rebuilds the generator of his machine.

Bulk (in Skull's body) eats a giant sandwich at the youth center while Skull (in Bulk's body) watches. Bulk says that they need to find Billy to fix this.

The Genie is hidden inside the lamp when being sent to Angel Grove to bypass Zordon's detection. On Earth, Squatt accidentally rubs the lamp and releases the Genie (off screen). Alpha alerts Zordon and the Power Rangers are summoned. The lamp is retrieved and taken back to the Command Center. The Rangers go confront Goldar and his Putties, but Alpha re-directs them to the Genie. When they're defeated, Alpha brings them back to the Command Center. Zordon tells them to combine their powers to defeat the Genie.

The Rangers return to face the Genie, but Rita Repulsa makes it grow into a giant. The Megazord is summoned, but the Genie is too strong. Alpha traces the monster's power back to the lamp, and decides to zap it in the teleporter. Zordon warns that too much power at once could destroy everything in the Morphing Grid, including the Power Rangers.

Jason tells Billy to bypass the damage done to the Megazord by the Genie, and to tap into the Power Morphing System. Alpha slowly feeds power into the lamp before finally using full power. The Genie suddenly disappears after the lamp is destroyed (as stated by Alpha). Rita Repulsa returns home.

With the mind reading machine fixed, Kimberly and Billy return to their normal selves. Bulk and Skull beg to be fixed, too. After that, Skull asks Billy if they can switch minds so Skull can pass a test.

Cast

 * Austin St. John as Jason Lee Scott (Mighty Morphin Red Ranger)
 * Thuy Trang as Trini Kwan (Mighty Morphin Yellow Ranger)
 * Walter Jones as Zack Taylor (Mighty Morphin Black Ranger)
 * Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly Ann Hart (Mighty Morphin Pink Ranger)
 * David Yost as Billy Cranston (Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger)
 * Paul Schrier as Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier
 * Jason Narvy as Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch
 * Richard Genelle as Ernie
 * David Fielding as Zordon
 * Romy J. Sharf as Alpha 5
 * Richard Steven Horvitz as Alpha 5 (voice)
 * Machiko Soga as Rita Repulsa
 * Barbara Goodson as Rita Repulsa (voice)
 * Takashi Sakamoto as Goldar (Zyuranger Footage)
 * Danny Wayne Stallcup as Goldar (American Footage)
 * Kerrigan Mahan as Goldar (voice) (as Ryan O'Flannigan)
 * Takako Iiboshi as Finster
 * Robert Axelrod as Finster (voice)
 * Minoru Watanabe as Squatt
 * Michael J. Sorich as Squatt (voice)
 * Hideaki Kusaka as Baboo
 * Dave Mallow as Baboo (voice (as Colin Phillips)
 * Tom Wyner as Genie (voice)

Errors

 * Bulk and Skull were out of the garage during Billy and Kimberly's switch so they shouldn't know how to use the machine correctly.
 * Somehow Billy's bad eyesight transferred to Kimberly during the switch. This mistake would also be made in the similarly-themed Power Rangers Super Megaforce episode "The Grass is Always Greener... or Bluer", in which Noah and Jake switch bodies.
 * Instead of the CPU malfunctioning during Kimberly's failed tutorial to Billy's peer, the screen explodes and the CPU remains intact.
 * Rita's plan to avoid Zordon picking up on the Genie's presence when teleporting to Earth doesn't make sense, because she just sends Baboo and Squatt with the lamp. Zordon surely would still take notice of them since they are affiliated with her.
 * How does Jason know so much about the Megazord's technical schematics? Even more so than Billy?
 * The Rangers prepared to morph by merely touching their communicators.
 * During the morphing scene, Billy (In Kimberly's body) isn't wearing his glasses while Kimberly (In Billy's body) is.