S1E4: Switch
Original Airdate: October 24, 1994
Episode Synopsis:
Emperor Gorganus and Lechner begin the episode by plotting against the Galactic Sentinels, this time by “hitting them at the source – the portals!” Gorganus explains that if he sabotages the portals and lures the Sentinels into them, “I can sabotage the Sentinels themselves!” He chooses a monster, Voldek, to carry out his plot. Keep in mind that Fargo was still two years away, so hiring an Eastern European to do your dirty work was still a novelty.
Back in Beverly Hills, Gordon eyes a girl as she passes by him in the school hallway and says “whoa!” Laurie witnesses the event and berates Gordon for not having “a little more self-control.” Gordon defends himself with the following:
“What’s so wrong with appreciating a fine girl? She obviously eats up
the attention.”
When Laurie asks that he stop “acting like such a Neanderthal,” Gordon continues:
“Typical gender brainwashing. Men are tougher, more adventurous,
and natural born leaders.”
Who wrote this episode, David Wooderson? Suddenly, the team’s tattoos start glowing and they jump into the portal, which appears in the women’s bathroom. Gordon and Swinton initially refuse to enter, worrying that doing so would break school rules. Sorry guys, you’ll only gonna find true bathroom equality on Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Berkeley.
The team eventually arrives and Nimbar explains that they must stop Voldek. In response, Gordon says “I hope he isn’t more charged up than last time” and Nimbar warns that Voldek’s electrical output is now “twice as powerful and twice as deadly.” You’ve probably noticed that we’re only in episode 4 and have yet to encounter Voldek, which means this episode was aired out of order. With superhero continuity issues this bad I had to confirm that Bryan Singer didn't write this episode.
The teenagers transform into Galactic Sentinels and face Voldek, but he quickly teleports away, possibly to Vladivostok. The team returns to Nimbar confused but confident that they defeated him, though Nimbar remains skeptical. The Sentinels return to Beverly Hills and come to a startling discovery- they have switched bodies! Specifically, Gordon switches with Laurie and Drew switches with Swinton. Swinton-in-Drew’s-body explains that there has been a “gender transference,” and the group decides that they need to tell Nimbar about the problem. However, they suddenly realize that communication is “unidirectional,” meaning if the tattoo ain’t rockin’, don’t come knockin’. They decide to wait for Nimbar to call and, in the meantime, do their best to act like one another so as not to arouse suspicion.
What follows is a genuinely creepy set of sequences where the gang struggles to fit into their new bodies. First, Swinton’s father comes to pick up Swinton from the coffee shop, and Drew quickly asks the real Swinton for any information she might need to know when she goes to his house. Swinton-in-Drew’s-body tells her that his brother likes to crawl into bed with him at night, but has a tendency for wetting the bed. We’ve never met his brother, so I’m gonna go ahead and assume he’s younger than 5 to keep this synopsis from getting really dark. Meanwhile, one of Gordon’s friends stops by and thanks Laurie-but really Gordon- for helping him with his homework, and proceeds to kiss her/him on the lips. They don’t say what class it was for but I get the feeling he’s getting an A in Sexual Harassment 101. Meanwhile, Swinton neglects to serve customers in the coffee shop, showing that Drew is a terrible waitress regardless of who is controlling her body.
Meanwhile, Gorganus decides to put the Galactic Sentinels’ new roles to the test by sending a truly formidable foe- Alfred Kinsey! Wait, sorry, he actually just sends Voldek back out to Earth. The Sentinels are finally called by Nimbar, who explains that he couldn’t call the Sentinels earlier because his portal was going “haywire” and that Voldek’s electrical charges ionized their portals, causing the gender transference. Of course, some say that portal gender transferences are natural occurrences and besides, who cares whether it’s natural or caused by evil galactic emperors, but we’ll leave that discussion for another time. Nimbar suggests that transforming again will reverse the effect, but warns that the Sentinels might not be effective fighters in their present state. Well, it only took a gender transference for Nimbar to express concern about sending teenagers to fight large monsters, but it’s a start.
The fighting begins per usual and the team decides to call Knightron, but Gorganus claims that it’s too late. I was hoping this would allude to some sort of plot twist that would actually inject some novelty into the typical fight sequence, but alas, the team transforms into Knightron and promptly defeats Voldek. Gorganus complaints that it is impossible, but he just learned a valuable lesson in how much humanity can accomplish when writers lack imagination. The team teleports back to Nimbar and finds that they are now back in each other’s normal bodies. Gordon, learning a valuable lesson, says he will “never say a woman’s place is in the home- it’s wherever they want it to be.” Friedan, Steinem, Gordon Henley.
The team returns to school and leave the women’s bathroom, only to encounter the school principal. The Sentinels hastily come up with a story- the girls saw a rat and screamed, so the men had to go into the bathroom to save them. Under the circumstances, they claim, it was “necessary for them to be there” because “men are so much better at these things than we are.” Just what the kids love, an action series ending an episode with an ironic joke about gender roles.
Lesson of the Episode:Back in Beverly Hills, Gordon eyes a girl as she passes by him in the school hallway and says “whoa!” Laurie witnesses the event and berates Gordon for not having “a little more self-control.” Gordon defends himself with the following:
“What’s so wrong with appreciating a fine girl? She obviously eats up
the attention.”
When Laurie asks that he stop “acting like such a Neanderthal,” Gordon continues:
“Typical gender brainwashing. Men are tougher, more adventurous,
and natural born leaders.”
Who wrote this episode, David Wooderson? Suddenly, the team’s tattoos start glowing and they jump into the portal, which appears in the women’s bathroom. Gordon and Swinton initially refuse to enter, worrying that doing so would break school rules. Sorry guys, you’ll only gonna find true bathroom equality on Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Berkeley.
The team eventually arrives and Nimbar explains that they must stop Voldek. In response, Gordon says “I hope he isn’t more charged up than last time” and Nimbar warns that Voldek’s electrical output is now “twice as powerful and twice as deadly.” You’ve probably noticed that we’re only in episode 4 and have yet to encounter Voldek, which means this episode was aired out of order. With superhero continuity issues this bad I had to confirm that Bryan Singer didn't write this episode.
The teenagers transform into Galactic Sentinels and face Voldek, but he quickly teleports away, possibly to Vladivostok. The team returns to Nimbar confused but confident that they defeated him, though Nimbar remains skeptical. The Sentinels return to Beverly Hills and come to a startling discovery- they have switched bodies! Specifically, Gordon switches with Laurie and Drew switches with Swinton. Swinton-in-Drew’s-body explains that there has been a “gender transference,” and the group decides that they need to tell Nimbar about the problem. However, they suddenly realize that communication is “unidirectional,” meaning if the tattoo ain’t rockin’, don’t come knockin’. They decide to wait for Nimbar to call and, in the meantime, do their best to act like one another so as not to arouse suspicion.
What follows is a genuinely creepy set of sequences where the gang struggles to fit into their new bodies. First, Swinton’s father comes to pick up Swinton from the coffee shop, and Drew quickly asks the real Swinton for any information she might need to know when she goes to his house. Swinton-in-Drew’s-body tells her that his brother likes to crawl into bed with him at night, but has a tendency for wetting the bed. We’ve never met his brother, so I’m gonna go ahead and assume he’s younger than 5 to keep this synopsis from getting really dark. Meanwhile, one of Gordon’s friends stops by and thanks Laurie-but really Gordon- for helping him with his homework, and proceeds to kiss her/him on the lips. They don’t say what class it was for but I get the feeling he’s getting an A in Sexual Harassment 101. Meanwhile, Swinton neglects to serve customers in the coffee shop, showing that Drew is a terrible waitress regardless of who is controlling her body.
Meanwhile, Gorganus decides to put the Galactic Sentinels’ new roles to the test by sending a truly formidable foe- Alfred Kinsey! Wait, sorry, he actually just sends Voldek back out to Earth. The Sentinels are finally called by Nimbar, who explains that he couldn’t call the Sentinels earlier because his portal was going “haywire” and that Voldek’s electrical charges ionized their portals, causing the gender transference. Of course, some say that portal gender transferences are natural occurrences and besides, who cares whether it’s natural or caused by evil galactic emperors, but we’ll leave that discussion for another time. Nimbar suggests that transforming again will reverse the effect, but warns that the Sentinels might not be effective fighters in their present state. Well, it only took a gender transference for Nimbar to express concern about sending teenagers to fight large monsters, but it’s a start.
The fighting begins per usual and the team decides to call Knightron, but Gorganus claims that it’s too late. I was hoping this would allude to some sort of plot twist that would actually inject some novelty into the typical fight sequence, but alas, the team transforms into Knightron and promptly defeats Voldek. Gorganus complaints that it is impossible, but he just learned a valuable lesson in how much humanity can accomplish when writers lack imagination. The team teleports back to Nimbar and finds that they are now back in each other’s normal bodies. Gordon, learning a valuable lesson, says he will “never say a woman’s place is in the home- it’s wherever they want it to be.” Friedan, Steinem, Gordon Henley.
The team returns to school and leave the women’s bathroom, only to encounter the school principal. The Sentinels hastily come up with a story- the girls saw a rat and screamed, so the men had to go into the bathroom to save them. Under the circumstances, they claim, it was “necessary for them to be there” because “men are so much better at these things than we are.” Just what the kids love, an action series ending an episode with an ironic joke about gender roles.
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| Gorganus' next monster: a Title VII lawsuit! |
Don’t let your parents tell you that a class in Gender Studies is a waste of your tuition.
After being transferred into Laurie’s body, Gordon complains that he’s now “a better candidate for Sarah Lawrence than Princeton.”
Joke of the Episode:
The lights in the school flicker and Gordon suggests that it was caused by “the girls in Home Ec blowing up another oven.” Drew counters that it’s “more likely the boys in shop playing with their little power tools.” Ouch, right in the masculinity.
Overall Review:
OK this actually wasn’t a terrible episode, mostly because Gordon-in-Laurie’s-body is genuinely funny at times. The acting after the gender transference is overdone to emphasize the team’s mannerisms, which seems to be intentional and really adds to the lightheartedness of the episode, all of which almost compensates for the usual Knightron cop-out. Still, if Swinton’s brother turns out to be 15 then disregard the above.
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