MMPR Season 2 Episode 7: The Green Dream

Cybernetic Lamb Threatened With Hug
Top Secret Weapon Introduced, Immediately Ignored Forever

Those of you who have been watching Power Rangers since late Season 1 might recall that Tommy Oliver's powers are running out. If you've forgotten, the show has been gracious enough to remind you every single time Tommy has been on screen for more than 6 seconds. However for all the bluster and hullabaloo the show has given us about how Tommy's on the way out, all that we've been doing is paying that particular problem lip service. Someone says they're worried about Tommy, he assures them he'll be fine, he goes into battle, nothing goes wrong. Well today's going to change all that, we're finally going to take a long hard look at the Green Ranger's weakening power supply.

For the next four goddamned weeks.

We join Tommy as his English class wraps up and Ms. Applebee reminds the students they have a 500 word essay on a topic of their choice due this Friday. A portly student with glasses sitting in the back smiles and turns in his work early, a 4000 word essay on the episode of Power Rangers where Kimberly fights a vagina shaped flower.

Skull and Bulk become frantic when they realize they haven't started writing anything yet. Skull tries to think of a subject that interests them that they can write about, and offers suggestions such as "Slugs, Ejaculating on your best friend while he's asleep, and Sweat." Bulk decides those bush league topics aren't going to cut it this time, and they need to write about something that's really going to knock some socks off. They're going to write about the one motivation they've been given this season the secret identity of the Power Rangers. Yet again leaving the foremost essay on slugs unpublished by the men most qualified to do so.

Kimberly drops by Tommy's locker after school and inadvertently startles him. It turns out Tommy hasn't been getting much sleep at night due to a recurring nightmare he's been having. A nightmare where Tommy loses his powers, which culminates in him and Jason going to a big karate tournament and hugging each other really close. Then they talk about how good they are together, and then when Tommy wakes up his mom's really mad she has to do an extra load of laundry.

On the Moon Palace, Lord Zedd cackles at Tommy's fading confidence and mentions that the worst is yet to come. Zedd doesn't specifically say he's causing these dreams to manifest in Tommy, but it seems to be implied that's the case as he's closely monitoring their effect on him. The only thing that makes me doubt that is it's much more subtle than anything ever attempted in this show outside of scenes where Bulk doesn't fall into a cake. Zedd mentions that with Tommy's fears becoming a reality he'll soon be able to get his hands on the Sword of Power. With that weapon in his hands he's a shoe-in at the "Laziest Name for a Macguffin" contest!

Oh I see a few of you scratching your heads out there at this Sword of Power development. That was the original Megazord's weapon wasn't it? N-no that was the Power Sword. Easy to mix those two up b-…no now you're thinking of the Red Ranger's weapon which is also named the Power Sword. This Sword of Power is a unique weapon that the Rangers have access to when all six of them are together. You might remember it from all the times the Rangers used it previously, like in the fan favorite episode #87 "Weekend at Ernies."

During the interim of Lord Zedd's desire for things we've never heard about before, Billy's been working on another piece of garbage that's sure to malfunction as soon as someone breathes on it. It's a scrambling device that can block electronic signals up to 20 feet away, and it's entirely unique to the device he made 4 episodes ago that did the exact same thing. Trini informs Billy his device is terrific, but Billy tells her to stop fucking yappin' all the time because Tommy and Kimberly are here and she might have talked over something they had to say.

Tommy tells his friends he has to write a whole 500 word essay on a subject that interests him. His paper is going to be on mythology, because Ms. Applebee threatened to flunk him if she had to read one more cocksucking paper on karate. Thankfully Tommy's selected something easy to write 500 words about like the very narrow topic of "Mythology." While Tommy seems confident in his ability to make things up for a page of material, Trini seems to find this assignment rather daunting.

She hasn't said 500 words in 60+ episodes 

Bulk and Skull show up to ruin everyone's fun dressed to the nines in their Ranger Hunting Gear. Bulk fidgets with a cheap looking gadget he bought from a man wearing a tinfoil hat that only cost a handful of french fries. This hunka junk is supposed to be able to locate strong energy signatures, which should make the Rangers easy to find since they've been soaked in enough radiation to wipe Somalia off the map. That's when this show does something that actually surprises me. This dinky little piece of shit that Bulk has actually starts working and zeroing in on the Ranger Teens.

Credit where credit's due, that is absolutely the last thing I expect when you give someone such a trashy looking prop. We cut to each of the Ranger Teens looking uncomfortable that they're about to be outed by their dearest friends Bulk and Skull, but Billy realizes the solution is right in front of him. He turns on that worthless signal blocker he mentioned 45 seconds ago and it scrambles Bulk and Skull's device. The boys follow the now malfunctioning signal straight to the most likely candidate for Power Rangerdom, Ernie.

Then the show gets its monthly legitimate laugh out of me when Ernie reacts to the accusation that he wears colored spandex and fights fire breathing lizards on his off hours. I expected Ernie to roll his eyes while Bulk and Skull sadly piss their pants, but instead Ernie makes fun of their spurious logic by striking a mock karate pose. When this show gives ancillary characters things to do other than the four generic things they're given every week I automatically dole out some bonus points.

Could have done without the buck teeth though.

Jason laughs at Bulk's misfortune and asks Bulk if he spent a lot of money on that piece of shit. Bulk silently chuckles while he looks at his broken device and realizes he's never going to college.

Tommy heads off to the library to rent more books on mythology that someone can read to him. On his way there, Zedd ambushes him with a handful of Z-Putties meant to capture the Green Ranger while he's alone. Tommy gets into a nice brief battle with the cretins but something popped out at me before the fight even began. The Putties leap onto the scene to challenge Tommy but before any actual fighting can begin we see one Putty holding another one as though they had been attacked. Maybe you guys should wait to be hit before you start doing your exaggerated buffoonery.

Can love bloom on the battlefield?

Unfortunately Tommy is distracted by this tender display of affection and is swiftly kidnapped by the Putties and brought to Zedd's Dark Chamber. Well the show informs me this is a Dark Chamber, but as a human being with working eyeballs I'm able to discern it is actually a "Cave With a Fog Machine On the Floor."

Goldar appears in front of Tommy and welcomes him to Zedd's humble chamber. Tommy wonderfully taunts the villain by asking "Goldilocks" what he's planning. Goldar tells Tommy he wants anything that Zedd wants and that happens to be Tommy. Maybe you missed the memo Goldar but Tommy is in a committed relationship with Kimberly that has just become Facebook Official. For realsies.

Zedd's staff teleports into Goldar's hands as the villain prepares to use it to brainwash Tommy into becoming a servant of evil. Why is Goldar taking Zedd's weapon to do this instead of Zedd getting off his ass and doing this himself? Shut up. Tommy has to be turned evil now. Just as I'm about to make fun of the fact this is well traveled territory, Tommy declares he'll never turn against his friends again. Oh, looks like someone in the writing room has working long term memory. You know I love it when you pay the tiniest attention to detail Power Rangers.

Goldar blasts Tommy with a wave of energy that causes his eyes to blink red like he left his turn signal on. The now evil Green Ranger vows loyalty to Goldar and Zedd after promising to take Squatt out for walks every night. Goldar then starts rifling through Tommy's book bag to see if the teen's got any titty mags only to see one of Tommy's mythology books opened up. The pages have pictures of mythological creatures on them, but no words to be found. Another indicator that Tommy is hiding his illiteracy.

Goldar spies an image of a goat-like warrior and submits it for the approval of the Midnight Society  Lord Zedd. The evil emperor finds this creature just stupid enough to make an interesting looking monster, and blasts Tommy's book with energy to create the fearsome Robogoat.

Did you hear the story about the Blue Ranger and his two brothers lying to this monster? It was called Three Billy's Goat Bluff.

Alpha whines and complains the scanners are detecting a new monster with high levels of electromagnetic abilities. Don't worry Alpha, if you keep him away from your credit card and it'll be fine. Zordon contacts the Ranger Teens and requests their presence so he can discuss Lord Zedd's newest robotic farm animal with them. Just before they teleport to the Command Center, Tommy drops in and informs them that he's feeling particularly not evil today.

The Teens drop by the Command Center and witness footage of Robogoat on the Viewing Globe.  They see the monster holding what will soon be introduced as the Sword of Power, because whoever was editing this footage fucked it up and used a scene from later in the episode out of order. Tommy mugs at the camera while his eyes glow bright red and an obnoxious sound effect plays just to remind anyone who missed the last minute of the show that Tommy is now in league with the bondage clad Satan known as Lord Zedd.

Tommy says he's up to fight this monster but Kimberly says he needs to conserve his powers in case Zedd decides to make an even stronger monster out of a horse or something. Tommy suggests that the Rangers could summon everyone's favorite mainstay of Power Ranger lore, the Sword of Power. This weapon could potentially give Tommy an energy boost to sustain him through the fight. Zack quietly mutters about not knowing anything about all this Sword of Power business, but it's his own damn fault for not going through all the information Zordon gave them during their Power Ranger onboarding.

The Rangers put their hands together like they're trying to summon Captain Planet, but instead summon some janky ass looking sword, which is apparently the most important part of their arsenal that we've never heard about before. As soon as the weapon is summoned Tommy swipes it from the team while cartoonishly cackling and twirling his mustache. He informs his former friends that they'll soon be murdered by the devious might of the great Lord Zedd and his equally handsome assistant Goldar. Tommy teleports out of the Command Center with the Sword of Power in tow, and Billy tells Zordon that their friend Tommy seems to be acting a little different today. 

The Ranger Teens kick themselves for not seeing through Tommy's hammy acting as the Green Ranger arrives inside Zedd's Dark Cave Chamber. Tommy offers the Sword of Power to Goldar, but is instead told to give the weapon to Robogoat who Goldar calls "a friend of mine." Aww, it's good to see you making friends outside of the office Goldar. It's been a tough year for you buddy, but I think the two of you are gonna get along great.

As soon as Tommy hands the sword to Robogoat, the spell over him is lifted because the script wanted a convenient way to un-evilify Tommy since his toys sell the best. Robogoat then laughs his goaty laugh and tells Tommy his powers will be the first to be demolished with the Sword of Power in his grasp. Now back to his senses, Tommy attempts to attack Robogoat by bringing his arms together near the monster's midsection. I don't know much about karate Tommy, but here in the real world we call that a hug. Before Tommy can give a loving embrace to the monster, Robogoat teleports out of the cave before telling Goldar they can meet up at his place for Scrabble at 7:30.

Goldar taunts the Green Ranger by reminding him how weak his power reserves are. This leaves Tommy confronted with the fact that challenging Robogoat to get the Sword of Power back will be wasting his remaining energy and playing right into Lord Zedd's hands. Suffice to say Tommy isn't too bright of a guy and doesn't spend any time contemplating this situation. He immediately morphs to confront the monster. If only there were four perfectly powerful Rangers and also Billy who could go and fight in your steed Thomas. Ah well, c'est la vie.

The Green Ranger arrives in a vacant canyon where he soon spots the Sword of Power jammed into the ground out in the distance. As Tommy approaches the weapon, massive explosions trigger around him as though he was waltzing through a minefield. Ignoring his Da Nang flashbacks, Tommy rolls out of the way of the balls of flaming death as Robogoat leaps onto the scene. The bleating creature informs Tommy that he's not going to allow anyone to retrieve this amazing weapon that he carelessly left out in the open. Tommy and Robogoat then square off and at this moment Power Rangers manages to astound me and prompt the creation of a sentence never before created in human history.

"Maybe I should stop watching this show for babies and focus on planning for the future instead of clinging to nostalgia."

Wait, no, not that one. The other one.

"The choreography when the man in green spandex fights the robotic sheep is excellent."

No seriously, the fight with Robogoat and Tommy is actually really good. It's fast paced, it's foreboding, and it's one of the few times in this show you feel like you're watching a fight between two opponents on an even keel.

Check out that ram rod.

Tommy keeps his eyes on the prize and leaps past Robogoat to grab the Sword of Power. Tommy unsheathes the weapon and prepares to use it to make some nice juicy lamb chops, but Robogoat shows no concern and laughs at the Green Ranger. Just as Tommy pulls the sword out, it abruptly transforms into a rusted over, bent up, inanimate carbon rod. Tommy, along with the rest of the audience, balk at the sudden inexplicable turn of events, and Robogoat strikes the Green Ranger with his staff, sending him plummeting down a rocky hill.

Robogoat pulls the real Sword of Power out of a tiny crevice on the hill and wishes Green Ranger a fond farewell as he attacks him with the mighty weapon. Tommy goes flying even further down the cliff where he realizes how badly his powers are fading. Not only that, but Robogoat appears to have stolen Tommy's Power Cup as well.

Tommy was offered a shield over his chest or a shield over his junk. He's stood by his decision.

Alpha locates their AWOL Ranger in the mountain range and alerts the other teens that Tommy is no longer under Zedd's control. He now needs the other Rangers help desperately because his powers and dick are going ferociously limp. Instead of being at all upset about the fact Zedd used Tommy to get to them or feeling a slight disappointment in Tommy for allowing this situation to escalate instead of asking them for help, the rest of the Ranger Teens nod dopily and say they have to help their best pal Tommy because he looks like he slid pretty hard on those rocks.

The other Rangers morph and confront Robogoat, who flaunts the Sword of Power. The monster uses its newfound weapon to blast the Rangers with massive explosions that leave all five of them knocked to the ground. Barely able to stand, the Rangers try to get back up to challenge the beast, but Robogoat cackles at how pathetic they are. While I'd be hard pressed to say an actor recording lines while bleating like a sheep sounds pretty badass, Robogoat comes as close as you can to proving that idea wrong.

Robogoat decides to have a bit more fun in a one on one match and digs the Sword of Power deep into the ground. Its energy produces a crevice that the Blue, Pink, Black, and Yellow Rangers all fall into. Jason reaches out in vain as he sees his closest friends swallowed up in front of him. Tommy is on his last legs, the other four are now apparently in the bowels of Hell, and Jason is left standing solo against Robogoat.

I don't care what anyone says. I love that tension. I will look you straight in the eye and tell you this sheep monster is a threatening force and I won't hear word one against it. GET BACK HERE SANDRA, I'M NOT DONE TALKING ABOUT ROBOT GOATS YET.

Jason tries trash talking Robogoat by telling him even one Ranger can sheer the shit out of him, but this mystical creature is well versed in the art of smack talk. He responds by telling Jason to "Ask your friend the Green Ranger how easy it was." That right there? Bonafide verbal annihilation. I've ostensibly murdered four of your closest companions and now you think you can beat me? Try asking your buddy who just fought me one on one. Oh that's right. You can't because I left his sorry green ass shivering at the bottom of a mountain.

Another exquisite one on one battle takes place between Robogoat and Jason. Both warriors use their swords and neither fighter gives an inch, though Tommy had an inch to offer earlier. It's another shockingly great battle that manages to showcase just how fun this show can be. Sometimes all you need in life is a nice sword fight between a ram and a high school karate jock. Set the stakes high enough, and anything can be entertaining.

For all you Swordsmen out there, how often do you spin kick your opponents in the face?

Jason finally gains the upper hand by sliding his Power Sword's blade across the Sword of Power (confused yet?). The attack causes the Sword of Power to spew smoke and transform into the same crooked rod Tommy was holding earlier. Why's that? Jason says it's because Zordon teleported it back to the Command Center where it will safely remain in storage and never be seen or heard of again. How literally any of that happened is beyond me, as is the fact Tommy's fake sword took the same shape Robogoat's did when Jason slashed it but whatever. This ends the reign of an episode long macguffin with ill defined powers and abilities that only existed to fall in the hands of evil and immediately be reclaimed. Thanks for nothing everyone. 

Robogoat becomes furious at whatever the fuck just happened and tells Jason he's not going down without a fight. All my disappointments about the Sword of Power being a total bust of a plot point are resolved with another quick skirmish between Jason and Robogoat.

The monster busts out his red staff to battle the Red Ranger, but is soon overpowered by Jason's blade. Red slashes at Robogoat, which prompts four Ranger colored energy spheres to fly out of the monster and transform back into the other Rangers. It's almost like whoever made this fight forgot the Rangers fell into a crevice and needed a quick and easy way to bring them back to resolve dramatic tension. It makes zero sense, but neither does anything else that's ever happened in the entire history of this show so I'll give it a pass.

Though the five Rangers are ready to combat the Robogoat, Lord Zedd isn't willing to give up so soon. He hurls one of his Growth Bombs to Earth, turning Robogoat gigantic. Our heroes call on the Thunderzords which means it's time for everybody's favorite element of Season 2. Shitty Hacked Together Zord Battles Which Can't Show the Monster and the Megazord on Screen at the Same Time So Go Fuck Yourselves Viewers.

After a series of satisfying and visually interesting battles against Robogoat, we get to sit through a total snooze of a fight between two giant sized combatants. I find it ironic that the small-scale fights are able to be so much more visually dynamic, but as soon as everything gets supersized we're reduced to the combat equivalent of shotgunning a bottle of Nyquil.

The most satisfying part of a punch is when it doesn't connect right?

The Thunder Megazord whips out its saber and uses it to destroy Robogoat's Rod of Destruction. Well I hope you're proud of yourselves Rangers, that was a housewarming gift from his good friend Goldar. He had to stand in line for three hours to get that at Home Depot and now it's ruined. Shows how much you clowns understand the true meaning of friendship.

Now left without a weapon to defend himself, Robogoat begins firing electrical charges out of his hands, causing the Thunder Megazord to be caught in an (off-screen) flurry of sparks. It's at this point Tommy decides to wake up from his lack of power nap and answer his Communicator. He watches as the Thunder Megazord is repeatedly blasted by the monster and tries to summon the Dragonzord to help out his friends. Unfortunately, his dwindling energy leaves him unable to summon his Zord. Hey maybe Zordon could use the Sword of Power to give him a boost of energy. Psyche! We're not falling for that one again Tommy.

Tommy bemoans the fact that his terrible nightmare is finally coming to fruition, which all of us have already forgotten was supposed to be the through line of this episode. Tommy dreamt of losing his powers, but he only lost his powers when he was turned evil and made an incredibly stupid decision to try and salvage the Sword of Power by himself. Maybe Tommy should have a dream about controlling his impulsive nonsense.

Robogoat's energy blasts continue rocking the Thunder Megazord while the Rangers roll around in the cockpit trying to find a solution. Tommy stands off to the side while he and his depressing penis both frown at the situation. The Green Ranger asks Zordon to put him back in the fight, as though someone is purposefully not allowing him to join his friends in battle. Tommy's acting like a drunken frat boy who got his car keys taken away but guarantees he's still good to drive.

The Thunder Megazord gets caught in an explosion for the 48th consecutive time and just before you think we're going to get a Zord fight that doesn't leave in a clear shot of the original Megazord, you get a nice surprise from the editing department!

Nice zero hour botch, guys!

While Tommy bitches and moans that his powers don’t work anymore, the Rangers find themselves in full control of the Thunder Megazord again. Not for any real reason, but the fight's been running so long they decided it's time to wrap it up. The Thunder Megazord pulls out its Thunder Saber and finishes off Robogoat. In case you thought it was going to do anything unique or interesting with your time.

Lord Zedd takes his anger out in a healthy and positive way by threatening Squatt and Baboo, informing them he should "Clip their ears and toss them in the trash just like Rita." Holy Christ, I see where Robogoat got his trash talking skills. The bumbling scraps of negative screen presence offer up the most succinct summary of their existence by informing Zedd "We didn't do anything!" Yeah, no shit. You didn’t do anything today just like you didn't do anything last week or the week before and I can guarangoddamntee you aren't going to do anything next week either. Get outta my face you clowns.

After berating the shitty wastes of molecules that occupy his palace, Zedd takes solace in the fact that this battle has taken a huge toll on Tommy's remaining Ranger Powers. Even if the battle is over today, the war against the Green Ranger will soon be won. Goldar solemnly nods in the background as he holds up a picture of he and the Robogoat, sharing a warm moment of companionship that neither of them had ever known before. For Goldar, there would never be someone else to fill that void in his heart. You're gone Robogoat, but never forgotten.

Tommy spends the next day at school sulking on the stairs with Kimberly and Jason who discuss his essay assignment. Tommy pays little attention to it when he addresses the Bulk in the room: his powers are at the end of their rope and he can't do anything to get them back. Lord Zedd has his sights on Tommy and will do everything in his powers to strip the Green Ranger of his.

While his friends try to comfort him, Tommy looks completely desolate and the episode ends on a particularly dour note. Honestly? I love that. If you want us to feel bad about Tommy's weakening strength, we can't end the episode with Bulk and Skull falling into a vat of liquid nitrogen. So I really appreciate this episode having some balls to admit things are getting bad fast, and are unlikely to get better any time soon.

Thus concludes my 4500 word essay on the Power Rangers episode "The Green Dream." Thank you.

Your Weekly 90's Nostalgia: Papers Denoted By Word Count and Not Page Number

Personal Thoughts

This right here? A damn great episode. Really helps you forget about the mediocrity that was "Bloom of Doom." Tommy turning evil isn't anything particularly unique, and the whole concept of his dreams foretelling his inevitable fate doesn't quite stick the landing for me, but it's still really entertaining. Aside from how dumb that Sword of Power nonsense was.

Usually whenever this show introduces some kind of item that acts as a plot point, they have the common courtesy to act like it was something none of the Power Rangers had heard about. This week, all of the Ranger Teens behave as though the Sword of Power is some well known weapon in their cache that's been there from Day 1. If this script had been re-read one more time I guarantee you someone would have caught how awkward this thing is.

One final note about the Sword of Power, before we all forget it ever existed, is that it's a recycled prop from a Tokusatsu movie that was in production at the time called "Super Sentai World." This film was being shot around the same time the Zyu2 footage was filmed, which is certainly not the only time that Zyu2 would reuse old Sentai props as some kind of set dressing. I can't quite explain what it is, but I have a really fun time keeping my eyes peeled for instances of Sentai shows reusing old props in the hopes we wouldn't notice. Maybe I should get some different hobbies.

Billy courageously attempts to use Kimberly as a human shield.

Now that we're onto the topic of Zyu2, we can discuss our old pal Robogoat. He's yet another monster that has had his full block of footage released. Which is all I ever needed in my life because holy moly does his "episode" rule.

Seeing monster costumes with no one in them is weirdly disconcerting.

As soon as Robogoat shows up in the footage, there's a scene cut from the Zyu2 footage that shows off parts of the monster's body. Much like the footage that was cut last week with Bloom of Doom. I can sort of understand why this was cut though, because not only had the U.S. audience already seen the monster, but the choice of body parts to display was quite underwhelming. Though why they chose not to use this in the Viewing Globe instead of that scene where he was holding the Sword of Power I don't have a clue.

That giant gold shield on his chest looks cool. Nah let's just zoom in on his stubble.

As it turns out, we lost some of that delicious fight scene between Tommy and Robogoat. It feels really enjoyable to watch and it's a real shame they had to trim any of it, but it's still a really good looking battle even in an abridged format.

After Tommy is defeated by Robogoat, all of the scenes where he sits at the bottom of the canyon and complains are US scenes to assure kids that the Green Ranger wasn't just murdered by a sheep. These scenes are also used to further delve into the idea that Tommy's powers were wavering which was solely a product of Power Rangers and doesn't seem to be the case in Zyu2 at all.

After Jason defeats Robogoat on the ground I always assumed there was a scene of the Rangers assembling the Power Blaster to attack the monster. As it turns out this wasn't the case, but we did get another one of the things I love blabbing about, a good old fashioned duck n' grow.

If I don't gif one of these I may as well shut this goddamned blog down.

As soon as Robogoat grows, we lose one of the best Zyu2 Zord fights on record. Instead of moving around sluggishly like a majority of the Zyu2 monsters do, Robogoat moves around with an astounding amount of agility for a guy dressed up in a rubber lamb suit. Megazord follows suit and actually manages to keep up with the monster in a rather impressive display. 

When all I had to go off of was the Thunderzord VS. Robogoat battle, I was at a loss for what kinds of stuff we might be missing. What I found most interesting was that the Megazord was shown using its Power Sword when it was caught using the explosion shown in the gif above, but the finishing move used to beat Robogoat was clearly an Ultrazord explosion. The Megazord using its Power Sword but then finishing a monster as Ultrazord hadn't happened in any Zyu2 footage up to this point so I deeply wondered what else was behind the scenes. Well as it turns out, the only other cut scene was Tommy summoning the Dragonzord to drop by at the very end of the battle. We don't see D-Zord do anything, but if this were a Season 1 episode his presence would have been required to summon Ultrazord.

The one thing I'll give the editors credit for during the Robogoat Zord fight is using a particular shot to act as though the Thunder Megazord was approaching Robogoat with its blade drawn. It's very obviously the Megazord's Power Sword and not the Thunder Megazord's Thunder Saber, but it works well enough that you don't really think about it unless you're paying close attention.

Or you're a turbo nerd like me.

Only five more Zyu2 monsters left to discuss everybody. I hope you've had as much fun reading about all this stuff as I had obsessing over it. Thanks as always for reading, and see ya next week!