Life's a Masquerade

Life's A Masquerade is the twenty-fifth episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, season 1. This features a cameo debut of the Super Putties.

Synopsis
Ernie is throwing a costume party at the Angel Grove Youth Center; Alpha 5 becomes a surprise guest when he wants to hang out with his beloved friends. To keep the rangers and Alpha busy, Rita Repulsa creates a Frankenstein monster to crash the party. Billy is suspicious of the monster and follows it. He is led to a cave where he learns of Rita's plan to obtain Super Putty.

Plot
The gang is helping to decorate the Youth Center for the Halloween costume party. Bulk and Skull end up having to help, Zack goes after Angela again, and Tommy helps Kimberly paint. Bulk and Skull's antics once again end with Bulk getting hit with a bucket of paint.

Rita Repulsa goes ahead with her plan to mine Super Putty, but needs to distract the Rangers. Finster creates a Frankenstein Monster. It's sent to Angel Grove.

The five main Rangers convene at Billy's house, all wearing costumes. Tommy is still finishing his costume and plans on catching up with them. Bulk and Skull try on costumes in hope of finding ones that will win the big prize at the party, but just end up going in their usual punk outfits. Alpha shows up at the party because he wanted to party and hang out with the Rangers, and this costume bash would be the perfect opportunity (Alpha is soon surrounded by fawning girls, to Zack's consternation). Frankenstein Monster crashes as well, but no one seems to notice, not even Alpha and his new fan club.

Finster heads the mining of the Super Putty at some cave.

Frankenstein Monster gets violent after its foiled attempt to catch the Rangers. It chases Bulk and Skull outside of the Youth Center. Billy follows the monster to the cave. He morphs and battles the beast with little success. He regroups with the others at the costume party as Rita erupts from the surface of Angel Grove on top of a giant ball of Super Putty. At the Command Center, Zordon fills the five in on Rita's plans. Tommy is ambushed by Putties outside the Youth Center. The other five morph and go to confront Frankenstein Monster. It's very powerful and the Rangers are barely holding out when Rita makes Frankenstein Monster grow.

Megazord duels with the monster and Tommy is finally able to morph and join his friends. Neither Dragonzord or Megazord have any luck fighting the creature so Dragonzord Battle Mode is formed. With the The Power Staff, the Rangers finally kill the Frankenstein Monster after he initially manhandles the Dragonzord Battle Mode.

Back at the Juice Bar, the Rangers celebrate their victory over Rita once again. Tommy runs off to change into his costume. Kim tells Alpha that he is a hit at the party, calling him by name in front of his new fawning fan club. Bulk and Skull show up to pick on the young robot, calling him a tin can. Tommy shows up in his Frankenstein Monster costume (which is a dead ringer for the monster the Rangers just fought) at the party. Ernie declares the winner of the costume contest to be... Alpha! Bulk tells Skull to grab a can opener, as he wants to learn what Alpha really is. Alpha states that his identity is one mystery that will have to remain unsolved, and he walks off with his newfound fan club.

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)
 * Jason Frank as Tommy Oliver (Mighty Morphin Green Ranger)
 * Paul Schrier as Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier
 * Jason Narvy as Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch
 * Richard Genelle as Ernie
 * Renee Griggs as Angela
 * 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 Frankenstein Monster (voice)
 * Maroshi Tamura as Frankenstein Monster (Sentai Footage)

Errors

 * The hair for the US costume for Frankenstein Monster is longer in the back whereas the hair for the Japanese costume is short.
 * This episode aired after "Gung Ho!", but that episode actually dealt with and completed the Super Putties storyline. Technically and chronologically, it should have aired after "Life's a Masquerade". However, FOX most likely wanted a Halloween themed episode aired closer to the actual holiday. The DVD does place "Gung Ho!" after "Life's a Masquerade".
 * Red Ranger mistakenly referred to Dragonzord Battle Mode as the Mega Dragonzord again.
 * When the Frankenstein monster has the Megazord up in the air, it could be said that the wall was a background because the white screen can be seen.
 * When the Rangers went to the Command Center, why didn't they tell Alpha to come with them? And later, why did Billy inquire about Alpha's whereabouts when he returned to the party a little later than the others? (For the second question: the Rangers knew Alpha was still at the Youth Center, but they didn't know EXACTLY where he was at the moment. It's only when they heard his voice that they approached him and the three women that were flirting with him.)