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#451 |
Monster Enthusiast
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Canadia
Posts: 516
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zeo and ohranger are some of the most fascinating seasons for me because ohranger suffered so many behind the scenes issues and ultimately ended up being kind of a weird mess, but then zeo uses literally every element of ohranger they had BETTER than ohranger did.
mainly the villains, obviously. its weird that mondo is just actively a better antagonist than bacchus wrath was. also just cutting the weird shit with buldont and multiwa |
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#452 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 2,546
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Quote:
zeo and ohranger are some of the most fascinating seasons for me because ohranger suffered so many behind the scenes issues and ultimately ended up being kind of a weird mess, but then zeo uses literally every element of ohranger they had BETTER than ohranger did.
mainly the villains, obviously. its weird that mondo is just actively a better antagonist than bacchus wrath was. also just cutting the weird shit with buldont and multiwa |
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#453 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,393
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Quote:
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Anyways, as someone who has lost faith towards the show aspect of the franchise and wonders if he still can call himself a fan, in Space fortunately helped me realize I still love Power Rangers.
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#454 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,393
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Ninja Storm Pre-Show Preamble Ah yes Ninja Storm, another season that, based on what I've looked up, wasn't too popular at first, but grew more fans as the years went by. Anyone else getting a feeling that if it's not a popular season, any given season of Power Rangers isn't allowed to be considered good until like 5 years later minimum? And as you could probably guess by it being so high on the list, I absolutely love Ninja Storm! And no, I'm not covering "I Love Lothor!" Friend: Even though it's fundamentally the best one of the season. You hush. Anyway! Ninja Storm was the first entry in the Disney Era and MAN did they start off great in my eyes! The tone, the style, the starting team only being three Rangers instead of the usual five... almost everything felt fresh and new! Especially that first bit, as this would be the first season to focus alot more on its comedic aspects. Old posts I dug up suggest that there were alot of people who didn't like it because the season didn't take itself too seriously. ...Which is really funny, because nowadays(especially during the twitch marathon), alot of people now praise it for the exact same thing. Personally, I think it works out great, because this show is legitimately funny! And it's thanks to that that whenever the season does go for something more dramatic, it offers an excellent contrast, making me care about these likeable characters all the more. And these characters certainly are a blast! I don't think there's a single character in Ninja Storm that I don't like. My favorite though is Dustin, who quickly became my favorite Yellow Ranger in the entire franchise(very closely followed by Chip in Mystic Force). Now before I start, I just wanna say this write-up is gonna be really weird for me, because the episode I deemed my favorite is also the one that I deemed the funniest, so I dunno exactly how well I'll be able to portray that, considering humor is very subjective in general. But, I'll try, and I hope you all can atleast get a smile out of my highlights. With that, today's episode is... Episode 15: Pork Chopped It's a classic set-up we've seen a bunch of times before. Tori agrees to watch Shane at his skate demo, only for her to accept a date invite from Blake to go see a movie scheduled for the exact same time. Rather than like, simply call Blake and tell him she already had prior plans she forgot about, she instead uses her Ninja Speed to try and be in both places at once. Hijinks ensue. Lothor meanwhile uses the current split in the team to try and mount a surprise attack with his latest alien: General Trayf, a pig who has dimensional powers. What really sells the scenario though, atleast to me, is that the comedy of the episode doesn't actually come from the cliched setup itself. Instead, like alot of the comedy this season, most of it comes from the genuine personality of all the characters involved. The cast really did a great job making all of their characters really likeable this season; Even the villains! I cannot stress this enough. ![]() "Hello? Like, attack?" While Marah is keeping Shane and Dustin busy, Trayf traps the Thunder Brothers in a dimensional bag of popcorn(no I am not making that up), so that way they stay out of most of the action this episode. The magic in the bag is so strong that it even blocks them from Morphing! But you know what the worst part of it is? It's not even not real butter that's gonna end up destroying them. ![]() "IT'S ARTIFICIAL FLAVORING!" (That's actually my favorite line in the whole season, by the way.) When the Wind Rangers manage to track down Trayf, the big pig challenges them to follow him into his dimension of horrors, where he reigns supreme. With no other option, the Ranger jump in to find... ![]() "Not another rock quarry!" The fight is full of personality too, featuring highlights like Trayf shooting off dozens of exploding pig snouts and Shane surfing on a trashcan lid to attack mid-flight. Even Lothor loves this stuff, watching the fight from the movie theater. Private screenings, man. ![]() I always dug how the Storm Striker was modular, meaning that any of the three Rangers could lead off and have a different finishing attack as a result. It's an idea I'd love to see used again. And if Sentai has done it since, feel free to lemme know. Rangers sure hasn't. The Megazord is cool too; I always liked how the artillery Zords popped out of its chest. Oh right, Blake and Hunter. They manage to escape the popcorn bag by using their bio-electricity to pop all of the unpopped kernels at the bottom of the bag, thus propelling them back out into the world. The fight they get afterward is fun too, as they use the butter they're covered in to clown on a group of Kelzaks. Kind of a reverse scenario to the Jungle Fury episode I covered. In the end, Tori learns her lesson about managing her time better, and declines Blake's' invitation to try their date over again. Blake mentions he's "not good with dates either" and respects Tori's' decision. Still, he does now have a leftover ticket, so who to take to the movie? ![]() Overall, this episode never fails to put a smile on my face. It oozes personality, has a bunch of great lampshades and comedic beats, and the action is creative and fun to watch. It really does capture the essence of Ninja Storm for me, and I couldn't ask for any better than that. After-Show Bonus Jason Chan was about 30 when he applied for the role of Cam, the Green Ranger. He actually only ended up getting the part because his agent lied to some of the higher-ups at Disney, claiming he was in his early 20s. Considering how amazingly the guy has aged, I'd've believed it too! Nowadays he directs his own independent films, and if you're curious, I'd recommend checking them out! They're definitely interesting if nothing else.
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Last edited by DreamSword; 06-09-2022 at 12:38 AM.. |
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#455 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 2,546
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In all honesty, I thought the “artificial flavouring” gag was the best in this episode too.
And not to be a shameless self promoter, but I’ll be covering the Sentai episode this episode was adapted from on Tuesday, if anyone’s interested. |
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#456 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,393
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I'll be sure to read that post! Definitely curious if the episode is anywhere near as funny as this one is.
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#457 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,393
|
Lightspeed Rescue Pre-Show Preamble If any of you feel that I've been coming off as high-and-mighty towards viewers who didn't like specific seasons at first, only to come around to them later; First off, not my intent, but secondly, now you all get to know that I am in no way immune to that either. Lightspeed Rescue is a season I remembered not really caring about all that much as a kid. I watched it, I enjoyed it, but similar to Lost Galaxy, it just didn't stick with me the same way alot of the other seasons did. This is one reason why my interest became quite piqued when it came time to rewatch it during the binge my friend and I did. The other reason being that a second friend of mine, upon learning we had been binging the whole series, outright demanded that we wait up for him so he could join us for LSR. As it turned out, this was actually his favorite season growing up, with Carter being his favorite Power Ranger period. This was so unique to me, because while Carter had always had diehard fans online, I'd never actually talked to someone who liked him in person before. So all three of us sat down, and within the course of a week we blasted through every episode. And I gotta say, it was probably the best rewatch I've had with almost any show ever. I could feel the love of the show just radiating off that friend of mine, and I in turn found a ton of things to appreciate about Lightspeed Rescue that many people, myself included, never actually seemed to give it proper credit for. There's the obvious one in the character of Ryan of course, but besides that... I loved the characters, the actors, the musical score, the constant air of mystery the season had going for it, that for the first time the monsters were demons and not aliens, and I liked that there was a season that focused alot more on the, well, Rescue aspect of being a Ranger than beating up said monsters. This was also the first time that more than just the Red Ranger had a Battlizer(Blue and Green get in on it too), as well as the Ranger team themselves being brought together and funded by a sect of the government. Also, that underwater base effect is entirely practical and looks amazing even today! It made choosing an out and out favorite episode this season really difficult, because there are a ton that I absolutely love. But in the end, I felt it only right that I cover what I consider not only the most important episode in the entirety of Lightspeed Rescue, but one of the most important episodes in Power Rangers history as a whole. Episode 11: From Deep in the Shadows ![]() The staff of the Aqua Base are testing a brand new Morpher, the Titanium Morpher, as a way to give Carter an upgrade. Unfortunately, the power ends up being too much for any normal human body to handle, so Captain Mitchell locks the Morpher away in his personal safe. The scene here is actually really well edited, and displays some really good acting on the part of Sean CW Johnson as well as great body language from the suit actor for the Titanium Ranger bits. They did a great job syncing the two up! It also happens to be the birthday of Ryan, Captain Mitchell's' son and Dana's' brother, who was lost in a car crash years ago. The two celebrate what would've been his 20th birthday, and Mitchell assures his daughter that whatever happens, he loves her, and to always remember that. ![]() Late into the night however, a mysterious man sneaks into the underwater base, Solid Snake style, and proceeds to steal the Titanium Morpher for himself, but not before stopping to stare at some of the Captain's' personal belongings. The next morning, Vypra attacks Mariner Bay, only this time with the goal of directly challenging the Rangers in mind. And it's here that I wanna point out that this episode was actually directed by Jonathan Tzachor. Yes, the same guy who was made infamous for what he ended up turning Mega Force into. It really makes me wonder what happened to the guy over the years, because staff have claimed that when it came to PRMF, Tzachor didn't care about the Rangers as people, yet in this episode alone, he shows the exact opposite attitude. The directing is great here! There's a constant air of mystery and dread, and he even managed to get some of the better acting ever displayed from Jennifer L. Yen as Vypra. Just like... what happened, dude? Anyway, after a brief scuffle, Vypra reveals that the demons have a new ally on their side... ![]() The Titanium Ranger, and this is huge for a few reasons. First, as everyone here probably already knows, Titanium Ranger was the very first US-original Power Ranger, and a Sixth Ranger to boot. And man does he make a great showing! In this episode alone, they put alot of detail into practically every aspect of him. First, all throughout the episode they make sure to keep his face atleast partially obscured, keeping his identity a secret. Second, what few times he does speak, he talks like the demons whom he's working with. Third, the fights with him are incredibly intense. Not just in terms of destruction, but in how he fights the other Rangers. Whereas the Lightspeed team fights using more refined forms of combat(or in Carter's' case, weapon use), Titanium attacks wildly; Using long sweeps and actively clawing at his opponents whenever he isn't using the Titanium Lazer. He even manages to reflect a direct blast from the Rescue Bird! I also love how unique and dynamic his suit looks compared to the rest of the team. Granted, alot of that has to do with them repurposing a Turboranger suit in order to make it, but the gleaming gray with the gold accents and very unique visor shape all come together to make a really cool and memorable design for me. It's also part of the reason I wanna get around to watching Turboranger eventually. The Rangers opt for a temporary retreat, and yet again, the sense of dread and mystery is great here. The team theorizes that they might have a traitor in the ranks, while the demons talk to the mysterious man from before, Morpher now attached to his wrist and still obscured in shadow. When it comes to the rematch, Ms. Fairweather sends another dangerous weapon to aid the Rangers. ![]() This episode also marks the debut of the V-Lancers, which have their own really cool finishing attack. While the V is obviously referencing the five Rangers, as a kid I always assumed it stood for Victory. In the end, Mitchell calls off the attack once Titanium Ranger's' eyes become revealed, and Mitchell realizes who it is. ![]() "He's my son." This scene is what made a huge impact on that second friend of mine, and cemented LSR as his favorite season of Power Rangers. And yeah, I can totally see why. The entire episode essentially builds up to it, and it not only offers a nice twist, but is in itself a fantastic episode for future episodes to come. How is Ryan alive? Did Mitchell lie to Dana? How did he become allied with the demons? So many great questions for future episodes to dive into! While the appearances of the Titanium Ranger are few, the staff made sure to make every one of them very memorable and very important to not just the plot, but many of the character arcs in play. They knew how important this character was in a meta sense, and made sure to make him every bit as important in the story. He was the start of yet another bit of evolution for the franchise, which can be seen even today as we continue to get more US original Rangers in the comics. Ryan went on to become my favorite Silver Ranger, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. After-Show Bonus While Ryan became my favorite Silver Ranger(even though I personally think he should be classified as a Gray Ranger), my actual favorite character in Lightspeed is Joel. Keith Robinson was actually the second choice to play Joel, and boy am I glad it worked out the way it did because Keith did great! His facial expressions never failed to get a laugh out of me during the episodes focused on him, and he just did a great job at making Joel likeable overall. Podcast episode is HERE.
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Last edited by DreamSword; 12-26-2022 at 10:58 AM.. |
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#458 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,393
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Top 3 now! Very curious to hear how you all feel about this next one...
Hyper Force Yeah that's right, I'm counting it as an official season. Saban said it counts, a bunch of the Ranger alumni say it counts, the comics say it counts, and I see no reason to disagree with any of them. In my experience, Hyper Force has been one of the most love it or hate it things that the PR franchise has ever produced. For the few of you who might not know, PRHF is not a traditional season of the show, but rather a recorded tabletop campaign taking place within the Power Rangers universe, with various ties to different seasons of the show therein. The very nature of the project itself led to alot of contention as to whether the show should be counted as a "proper" season or not, ontop of some very... interesting, things that the plot of HF in general had to say in terms of various other seasons. The divide made itself very apparent in my binge friend and I: I came out overall loving it, whereas my friend absolutely hated it. And I won't lie, I totally understand why this show just doesn't work for many. Like, I fully acknowledge the season has alot of flaws. The biggest one being that the plot is full of retcons ontop of being incredibly bonkers(and often not in the good way), but despite those issues, I overall had a really fun time watching this campaign. The biggest highlight being the players, who all did an amazing job at portraying their characters, leading to some of the biggest laughs as well as some of the most powerful character moments the franchise has seen. The show was created as one of the many ways that Saban was celebrating the franchise's' 25th Anniversary, which I frankly feel was the best Anniversary the franchise has ever seen up to this point. We got so much out of that year, and Saban was determined to bring all of it together, most notably in the biggest crossover event in Rangers history: Episodes 19+20: Shattered Grid When Saban said that Shattered Grid would be crossing over the entire franchise, they friggen meant it! This two-parter is canon to the event, taking place inbetween issues 25 and 26 of the MMPR comics. Kyle Higgens is even a guest player this time around! As such, you probably already know what the set-up is: The Rangers detect a dark energy reading and go to investigate, only to discover that, somehow, everything they knew about the timeline has suddenly changed... ![]() And right off the bat we get a great example where I feel this season really shines. When Zac Eubank(the GM) does his impression of Alpha, everyone just loses it. You can tell everyone is having a great time doing the show, and that positive energy is really infectious! I also get one of my favorite Vesper moments out of the opening exchange: #FindAndObliterateZordon When the Hyper Rangers land in "New Tech City" the air is immediately different. The GM does a good job at describing the scene: Barren streets, a dead quiet, and the sun seeming to have left the area entirely. After immediately botching a stealth mission, they run into Captain Hicks(Higgens), who then leads them to Colonel Song(Malika Lim). ![]() The majority of the first part is character interaction, and everyone plays off eachother great. From Marv assuring Vesper that they're a family now and they can't afford her running head first into danger, to Chloe sassing the grizzled old soldier, to Eddie freaking out that he doesn't wanna be interrogated again(a callback to the SPD episode), it's really entertaining! My favorite bit though is when Vesper is being, well, herself, and when Song and her crew wonder if she's all there, the rest of the Rangers immediately jump to defend her weirdness. Those are the type of people you want in your life, guys! Oh, and Song briefly mentions a lieutenant Victor. My personal headcanon is that he's an alternate timeline Victor Vincent from Ninja Steel. Anyway, as it turns out, the defeat of Lord Drakkon didn't just magically fix everything for the world of the Coinless. His death ended up creating a power vacuum, with Scorpina from the main timeline jumping in to try and take his place. She plans to execute a bunch of prisoners the next night. The counterplan? Have the team split into two groups: The Hyper Force Rangers, Song, and Hicks leading a frontal assault on the prison camp, while the rest of the Coinless sneak in from underground to try and sneak the prisoners out. I love the accidental foreshadowing done here too. When the Rangers theorize about what would've happened had the Zordon Wave never happened, Eddie shudders at the thought of Pumpkin Rapper coming back, and later on when thinking up a plan to free the prisoners, Jack brings up the possibility of planting a mole and creating a false flag operation. ![]() Come the twist at the end of part 1 where it's revealed that Hicks was Pumpkin Rapper in disguise, everyone's' reaction matches my own, and everything only gets even better when Eddie starts actually matching Pumpkin in a rap battle. And I gotta say, Andre, Eddie's' player? He does amazing throughout this entire campaign. I'm not a huge fan of his YouTube content(nothing personal!), but he ended up making Eddie my favorite Blue Ranger, and antics like this are half the reason why. The other half is the really strong character moments he ends up getting during a handful of episodes. Great work Andre! Part 1 ends with the discovery that Scorpina plans to revive Serpentera, Pumpkin Rapper self-destructing, killing what civilians and sentries hadn't been evacuated, and the arrival of Lord Drakkon himself. ![]() In Part 2, things get really real really fast. And lemme just start by saying that JDF does an amazing job as Lord Drakkon all throughout this episode. He's clearly gotten into the swing of the game this time around, and he absolutely nails all of the dark humor throughout the entire episode too. I love the reaction everyone has when the GM reveals that Drakkon can not only use their power-ups, but receive energy from the crowd as well(which of course viewers donated energy to him). He also manages to straight away make what I consider the most memorable moment in the entirety of Hyper Force with one single line. "I cut his head off." Needless to say, everyone, both in character and out, was absolutely floored by this. It certainly was a quick way to get everyone's' attention and get them to agree to a temporary alliance! What proceeds is actually a really interesting scenario where the team is forced to work with Drakkon, all while infiltrating and traveling through Serpentera itself, which is filled with death traps. ![]() This is then followed up by a really involving action sequence featuring Scorpina sending an army to burn all of New Tech City down, Drakkon attempting to rips Marv's' Morpher clean off him, Vesper taking control of Serpentera, Song shooting a rocket through a guy, and my favorite bit, Eddie ricocheting a bomb off the trees into a nearby enemy truck. He won a marble contest when he was 9, afterall! ![]() The final showdown ends with some pretty big shocks too. The ones that would likely stand out to most people being that Vesper gets her arm chopped off, Scorpina still being alive, Drakkon's' forces working on repairing Serpentera, and Alpha 55 getting a mysterious message from the future, prompting a direct hook into the comics proper. But to me, there was one twist that stood above those. That Red Sentry's' name really was Georgie. Rest in peace. Overall, yeah, Hyper Force certainly has issues, and it's most definitely not the kind of show that's for everyone, but for me, the characters that all of the actors bring to the table, ontop of just the sheer fun factor of the whole thing more than carries it for me. It's a damn shame that the show will likely never get a proper second season, especially given that atrocious ending. You can tell alot of love and care went into this; It was a real passion project! And on a more personal note, if not for this show, I never would've given tabletop gaming a try, nor would the current Power Rangers campaign that I run with my friends even exist. So because of that, this show will always have a special place in my heart, and be an important piece of Ranger History. After-Show Bonus: Despite the show effectively being cancelled, Hyper Force continues to get nods to this day, especially in terms of the comics. And Peter Sudarso has said that he'd have no problem playing Marv should the show ever get a direct reference in the live-action side of things. Personally, if Hasbro really is planning to make an animated Power Rangers series like many rumors suggest, I hope it's a direct adaptation of this. It'd almost be a total waste not to do that.
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Last edited by DreamSword; 01-28-2021 at 05:36 PM.. |
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#459 |
Member
Join Date: Oct 2019
Posts: 462
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I had never heard of it then at one point I looked it up and I'm sorry, but tbh I was a bit disappointed to see basically just people playing a board game! It's fair enough for the people that like it and I'm not saying I'll never ever watch it or anything like that but it does look like something I'd have to be in the mood for I'm afraid!
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#460 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,393
|
Quote:
I had never heard of it then at one point I looked it up and I'm sorry, but tbh I was a bit disappointed to see basically just people playing a board game! It's fair enough for the people that like it and I'm not saying I'll never ever watch it or anything like that but it does look like something I'd have to be in the mood for I'm afraid!
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