I have seen my fair share of strange things on television, but the episode The Rat from Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills takes the cake for pure nineties madness. The whole show was clearly a cheap copy of major superhero franchises, but this particular story goes down a very weird path when a teenager named Gordon tries to play a practical joke on his classmate Swinton. Gordon steals Swinton’s laboratory rat named Darwin and takes it with him when their alien leader Nimbar flashes their tattoos to call them through the power portal. Because of that silly move, the teleportation process gets mixed up and Gordon ends up trapped inside the body of the tiny rodent.

What I find interesting about the story is how the other kids react to their friend becoming a mouse. Instead of being deeply worried, Swinton actually takes the opportunity to lord it over Gordon and continue his science experiments on him. While this comedy is happening, the main villain Emperor Gorganus sends a monster named Culebra to raise the temperature of the Earth and destroy it. It is hilarious to watch the team try to save the world from an alien threat while one of their strongest fighters is stuck squeaking in a cage. The special effects look incredibly cheap and the costumes are just people jumping around in spandex, but the sheer chaos of the plot keeps you watching.

In the end, Nimbar has to scramble to reverse the molecular merge before the hot weather monster defeats them. It does not take a university degree to see that the writing is foolish, but there is a real charm in how the show handles the lesson about pranks backfiring. You get to see the teenagers put aside their constant bickering to fix their friend and save the day. It is definitely a product of its time, but it reminds me of how creative and unpredictable children television could be back in the day.