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What are you watching? Power Rangers Edition
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01-23-2021, 08:52 PM
#
465
DreamSword
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,392
My number 1 spot is probably a surprise to literally no one. Let's do this.
Mighty Morphin' Season 1
Pre-Show Preamble
...
I...
...
I really don't know where to start.
Like, this show, this franchise, this genre... it just means so much to me guys, I dunno if I can even properly convey it. I'll just ramble and see where it goes!
Where do I even begin here? There's so many elements to
Power Rangers
that I almost feel contractually obligated to turn into a less articulate FS just at having a
chance
at gushing about everything I love so much.
As I've mentioned before,
Power Rangers
and I are the same age, so the show has been with me my entire life. Now you might be thinking, "How could possibly love
MMPR
so much then? You were like 0 years old when it aired!" To which I say you clearly don't get how
huge
it actually was.
Even by the time I became old enough to remember watching TV(around 4-5 years old),
MMPR
reruns were on
all the time
, going alongside whatever the latest season was. Not only that, but alot of the members of my family noticed how much fun I had with the show too, so they went out of their way to get me VHS tapes of past episodes(some of which I still have!).
Heck, a few of my cousins loved watching the show with me too! We'd always have a ton of fun cheering our favorite Rangers on, bragging about which one was the coolest, laughing at the antics of Bulk and Skull, feeling legit threatened whenever Rita's' monsters showed up, and of course, getting super excited whenever the Rangers or their Zords showed up to do something totally awesome!
MMPR
is responsible for some of the most fun I've ever had!
And speaking of getting super excited, need I remind everyone that this show has probably the greatest theme song
of all time???
...What? You think I'm talking about "Go Go Power Rangers?" While that song is amazing, and features the sickest guitar solo I've ever heard in my life... No. The song I'm referring to is THIS masterpiece!
That song is doofiness and fun personified, and it never failed to get me in a good mood as a kid. Still doesn't!
There's so many aspects to this show and I honestly don't know how to properly go about talking about them all, so I guess I'll just try to bring them up as they become relevant in the episode. So with that, well, the episode that I chose is--
"Oh lemme guess! It's 'Green With Evil!' That's everyone's favorite!"
Well no actually it's--
"Oh well then it's gotta be 'Happy Birthday Zack' since it features your favorite monster of the week!"
Uh, I mean I do love that episode but--
"Oh wait-wait no, it's 'An Oyster Stew' because it has the Dragon Shield Black Ranger!"
Again, amazing episode but--
"Oh god it's gonna be something really stupid isn't it?"
Well I mean maybe try keeping an open mind--
"Already don't like it."
ENOUGH. LET ME EXPLAIN YOU A THING.
The one that ended up being my favorite episode, not just of this season, but of the show as a whole? It's none other than...
Episode 57: Enter... The Lizzinator
Yes, yes really. This is my favorite
Power Rangers
episode ever.
It's an episode that I've heard literally no one else bring up or cover before, and while I certainly understand why it's passed up, it's very special to me.
The set-up is that Kimberly's' younger cousin Kelly is trying to become the next big cheerleader at Angel Grove Junior High, in an attempt to follow Kim's' legacy, but just can't seem to get the routine down.
Kim does her best to help, but this only makes Kelly's' mood worse, saying she feels she can't measure up. Kim assures her that practice makes progress, and that Kelly shouldn't just give up over a few mistakes. Kim even insists that she only got so good through tons of hard work and practice; She's not perfect!
"I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO ANYONE SHOULD BE CHEERING FOR!"
I... I love Rita Repulsa as a villain. This woman is petty personified. She's the type of person who, upon hearing a kid is bad at soccer, will create a soccer-themed monster not just as a way to kill a ton of people, but to make that kid specifically feel double bad about how much he sucks at soccer. And yes, that is almost word for word the plot of one episode.
So what's her plan this time? Well, she takes Kelly sucking at cheerleading as inspiration to really stick it to the people of Earth for
daring
to have lives not centered around her. But here's the thing; Her plan actually has a logic to it! She wants to kidnap Kelly specifically BECAUSE she's Kim's' cousin, which will make the Rangers alot more focused on finding her. Then, while they're distracted, she'll send down a monster to wreak havoc.
That... is actually kinda smart from a tactical standpoint. Stuff like this is why I love villains like Rita. Yes, she is incredibly petty and full of camp, but she also proves herself to actually be a legitimate threat time and time again. She's a Witch that went toe to toe with Zordon in ages past, afterall! You know, Zordon? The guy with so much good magic in him it can sweep across an entire known universe? Rita, Zedd, and a handful of other
PR
villains strike such a great balance of silly and threatening that I've seen so many other shows mess up.
Hahaha, that Putty going down the slide kills me.
We get our first action sequence here as Rita sends down a squad of Putties to distract Kim and Tommy while Squatt and Baboo kidnap Kelly. While this episode doesn't display the absolute best example of this, I really love that Saban made sure to hire actors who were either trained martial artists or experts in specific athletic activities and even let them choreograph alot of their own fight scenes. It really lends alot of authenticity to the show that, even nowadays, most other action shows and movies don't really have. Heck, in this scene alone we get to see Kim do a bunch of gymnastics, since Amy Jo is a trained gymnast.
Let's also not forget that whenever a fight breaks out we get that amazing soundtrack by Ron Wasserman.
"DUDE!" - Me every time I see this.
When Jason is out on his own getting supplies for Ernie, Rita makes another smart move; Sending her newest monster, the Lizzinator, to ambush Jason. Jason puts up a valiant fight, but considering the dude gets hit by a flying car and is thrown through multiple walls, he's no match for the might of Rita's' newest monster, and is only saved by said monster's' own hubris. Did I also mention that Lizzinator sounds like Arnold Schwarzenegger? Because he does, and that's incredible. Finster must be a fan.
I wanna take this time to praise this show, the franchise as a whole, and also
Super Sentai
for their practical effects. It's an artform that dies out more and more as the years go on, but they really do help to make these shows feel incredibly real and impactful. You actually
see
Lizzinator lifting that very real car. You
feel
the impact as Jason gets beaten down, with sparks flying off his body. It's the type of thing you really can't properly replicate with CGI, and I wish it'd make a comeback in other media.
Later on, when Jason reports in to the Command Center, it turns out that Lizzinator is made out of super metal from another galaxy, meaning he's super tough. Zack shows concern over Tommy's' faulty Power Coin, but Tommy says it's a risk he needs to take for the good of everyone else.
And now to praise this show's' set design. When it came to designing every set they planned to use, there actually was a solid reasoning and logic behind each one other than "places kids/teens hang out at." The staff at Saban were actually heavily inspired by comic books, which is only fitting considering this is a superhero show. And the way they managed to achieve such good designs and effects while on a shoestring budget never fails to impress me. Heck, take the Command Center for example. It's iconic in design; looking like a room out in the middle of space. But you wanna know how they achieved that effect? By being in a big room with all the main lights off, and having Christmas lights lining the walls in the distance. Maybe I'm just dumb, but I personally never would've thought of that on my own.
"MASTODON!!!"
Oh my
god
the Morphing Sequence. Talk about what might be the most iconic
thing
in the entire franchise.
Whenever you heard "IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!!!" you KNEW it was about to go down. You knew the Rangers were about to engage in an epic battle with whatever monster Rita had sent their way. And whatever else followed, it was gonna be hype as hell. Always worked for me!
Also am I... am I allowed to gush about what a great character Zack is? I'll save it for the end for those who don't care, but all you really need to know is that he's not only my favorite Power Ranger, but one of my all time favorite characters in anything ever.
Speaking of iconic shots...
I will never get tired of seeing Rangers flip over the camera.
The ensuing fight with Lizzinator is legit intense, featuring things like lazers flying everywhere, explosions, sick martial arts moves, and a Putty that can drive.
"Wait, Putties can drive?"
"JUP THEY CAN DRIVE!"
(Two of my favorite lines said in anything ever.)
Lizzinator then proceeds to show off his immense strength once again by lobbing huge boulders at Jason.
ONLY FOR TOMMY TO COME OUT OF NOWHERE AND DRILL KICK A CAR-SIZED BOULDER RIGHT BACK AT HIM!!!
Like, holy crap! That's one of the most hype things I've ever seen in my life! Is it any wonder Tommy has so many fans with moves like that?
In a nice character moment, Jason is too wounded to continue on, so Tommy does his best to hold Lizzinator off so Jason has time to recover. They also do a nice job at not going too far with Green Ranger here, as while he does clash with Lizzinator, you can see that none of his hits are causing any real damage.
In a nice twist, Rita doesn't even give the team a chance to go for the Power Blaster like they normally would, opting to instead say that epic line:
"MAKE MY MONSTER GROW!!!"
When the Dragonzord proves no match for Lizzinator's' sheer strength, the Rangers call in the rest of the Zords, and the highlight during the Zord sequence is always Kim for me. As every Ranger drops into their cockpit, they always have a cool line to say like "READY FOR ACTION!" or "LET'S DO THIS!" But what kind of lines does Kim always contribute?
"I just love this part."
Shout out to one of my friends whose favorite character is Kimberly(she knows who she is). For the record, Kim's' best line ever is "Nice stereo!"
The Rangers of course end up saving the day by creating the Ultrazord and blowing Lizzinator to bits, but... what have Kelly, Squatt, and Baboo been up to this whole time?
Turns out Kelly has been doing cheers with the goon squad as not only a way to help her practice, but as a way of tiring Squatt and Baboo out so she could have a chance to escape.
See, here's what alot of kids media(atleast that I've seen) fails to mention about cheerleading: It's alot of hard work! One of my cousins was forced to be a cheerleader, and she
hated
it. She'd always tell me about just how stressful it was for her, especially physically, and it's something I'm happy
Power Rangers
decided to bring up, even if only a little bit. The season is aimed at 5 years olds, afterall.
And of course it wouldn't be a proper episode without the Real stars of the show showing up. After a funny bit with Bulk and Skull, the episodes ends with Kelly nailing her latest cheer, and making it onto the team she was trying out for.
...
Yeah, that's it.
What? You maybe expected something "more?" Something "deep and nuanced?" Maybe something that'd radically shift your viewpoint on
PR
?
Well, sorry to disappoint, because guys, here's the thing with me. The thing I love most about this franchise is, to put it simply, it's
fun
. This season is an absolute roller-coaster ride from beginning to end!
The music, the action, the pacing, the absolute
insanity
of everything that goes on. The show doesn't even give you proper time to think about it. It takes you along for a wild ride from the get go and I LOVE it. This also results in a universe that quickly establishes that anything goes.
Like, there could be an episode where someone goes "Hey yeah, I decided to take a trip to Mt. Rushmore to honor the God of Ducks who sits atop it sending down cotton candy to every kid who does a duck related deed so that way Truthcifer, a monster who eats people's' darkest truths, doesn't awaken" and I would 100% believe it.
But I gotta say, I think even all of that would ring hallow if not for the great characters attached, and what one in particular means to me personally.
As I mentioned before, Zack is not only my favorite character in the entire franchise, but one of my favorite characters
period
. He's energetic, he's funny, he cares about his friends, he lives life to the fullest, he's always there to support someone in need, and despite his own personal fears and fumbles, he keeps going. He's not strong because he's a Power Ranger, but because he keeps moving forward; trying his best to be there for those he cares about.
Zack was my idol growing up. Maybe you need to have grown up an unpopular and hated minority kid like I did in order to fully understand, but Zack always gave me hope for each day. I tried my best to be like him. He inspired me to come out of my shell, to try and connect with other people, and to help those I knew I had the ability to reach out towards, despite whatever me or my family faced on a day to day basis. But, just as Asumu learned in
Hibiki
, being exactly like your idol isn't the main goal, but rather to learn from them, and make your own life decisions from there.
Is he incredibly deep? No. Is his character arc super complex and one you need to sit down and think over? Also no, but that's not the point, nor does it need to be.
Power Rangers
is a show that creates heroes meant to inspire kids and to be people they can relate to... connect to in some way. To me, a true Power Ranger, hell, a true superhero, is someone who leads by example. Someone who is willing to be there for others in some way. They do things not because they should or they have to, but because it's a part of what they feel is right.
I know I'm awful with words, so I hope I was able to convey just how much this franchise has and always will mean to me. I think the best way to end all of this is with a quote from James W. Bates, who seemed to share my sentiments:
“On the outside people can think it’s a silly show and a cheesy show. But just like Superman works best when he’s pure Superman, not feeling angst and not being in the grey world of ugliness, Power Rangers works on the same level in that they’re aspirational characters. [...] We need good guys sometimes to just be good guys. Let’s aspire to work hard with friends to do good things. And that’s what I think the show should be and it mainly is and that’s why it works."
After-Show Bonus
I feel as though I've held the spotlight from you guys for way too long with this, so now I ask you all: What are some of your favorite episodes in the franchise?
__________________
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Metallic Rouge
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Last edited by DreamSword; 12-03-2021 at
10:44 PM
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