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01-23-2021, 02:36 PM | #461 |
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S(pace)P(atrol)D(elta) Pre-Show Preamble Some people call Dino Thunder the "Time Force of the Disney Era." If I were to give any season that title, it would be SPD. SPD is... how do I explain this? You ever watch a show, a movie, play a game, read a book, whatever, and within a given amount of time, something in the back of your brain just kinda "clicks" and you immediately think "Oh yeah, this is my jam through and through?" To me that's how I know what I'm watching is something truly special. It happened to me with Android Kiakider, Kamen Rider Kuuga, s-CRY-ed, and so many other stories that I don't think this post needs to be bogged down with all of them. SPD is another one of those stories, because from episode 1, I was fully pulled in. Heck, I personally think that SPD has probably the best set of intro episodes in the whole franchise! It's a season that I felt everyone went 120% in on. From great acting, to an amazing theme song, to really tight writing, to great practical effects, to fantastic characters, and to stylish and unique action scenes, SPD has absolutely everything. This made it really, really hard for me to pick a favorite, because I could probably gush about any given episode. But, I think I found the one that best emphasizes most of these qualities. It's a two-parter that I feel many people often forget about, and one that, if you really are someone who's looking for a direct comparison to Time Force, has probably the most blatant comparison you could probably make. Episode 14+15: Wired Oh my GOD that theme song is so good! Ron Wasserman is king of this stuff! This episode is all about a new cadet at the SPD academy, Sophie, and her attempts at working with everyone there. She shows alot of promise! She's a good fighter, is excellent with machines, and has a likeable personality. She even manages to hit it off with Bridge; the two becoming quick friends. It's clear something is up with her though, because she refuses to let Bridge read her aura, tries to sneak into the command center late into the night, seems oddly enamored with the new defense system that Kat is working on, and the monster of the week appears to be hunting her down specifically. Side tangent: Bridge is my favorite character this season and my favorite Green Ranger in the entire franchise. He never fails to get laughs out of me, and is full of likeable personality thanks to a combination of good writing and great acting by Matt Austin. Meanwhile, an alien named Valko works to become Grumm's' new second-in-command by awakening an ancient machine called Goradon, as well as hiring help from local black market dealer Broodwing. He claims he can control Goradon once he's found another machine: The Series-One Processor; Hyper Intelligent Encrypter. I always loved Broodwing's' dynamic as a villain. He's a guy who's willing to provide any criminal service for the right price, and is a straight up weapons dealer. His design being based off of vampires also very obviously symbolizes how he's willing to suck people dry of their cash with no remorse, and it's that absolute thirst for money that turns him into an out and out third faction that the world has to deal with come the later parts of the show. When it comes to the fight, Valko does a good job at holding everyone off, while the giant robot he paid Broodwing for attacks the Delta Base. I always loved how it wasn't always giant monsters this season. Many times the final fight at the end was between the Megazord and another giant robot; A nice shakeup from the norm. The first part ends with a twist. Sophie is a cyborg, revealed via a pretty good looking practical effect. Everyone on B-Squad feels betrayed, and they throw Sophie out of the academy on suspicion that she might be an enemy spy, because no robot can be trusted. Part 2 begins with Bridge feeling like they might've made the wrong decision, and sure enough, once Cruger comes along and learns about what happened, he makes it perfectly clear: "Just because she is a cyborg does not make her our enemy." The team threw her out without doing a proper investigation, among many other things. The team goes to their usual informant whenever they have to do an investigation: Piggy. Piggy is a character I feel that alot of people nowadays miss the point of, especially thanks to the popular (misinformed) opinions of a certain internet critic of whom I won't name. Essentially what people often complain about in terms of him is how he's willing to help out both sides while not at all feeling bad about it. Ignoring that he has a change of heart by the end of the show and earns redemption, Piggy is someone of whom I completely understand. He's someone who values his self-preservation above all else, ontop of someone who's been literally and figuratively thrown in the trash by society. Let's keep it simple here: If someone holds you at gunpoint and says "Tell me what I wanna know or I'll shoot" chances are, you're gonna tell them! So no, I don't feel his character arc is flawed, or that he's annoying, etc. I just see a guy who wants to stay alive and stay out of this ongoing war happening between the police and an evil overlord. Like, dude? Same. Anyway, Piggy gives the Rangers a pretty solid speech about perspective and how humans aren't so different from those they show prejudice towards. Piggy might be selfish, but he ain't racist. Later on, Bridge puts two-and-two together on how Sophie is the very machine Valko had been hunting for via doing his iconic handstand. And it's here I wanna do a small side tangent. Now, I'm no expert on the autism spectrum, so if I'm totally off base here, feel free to yell at me! But, while it's never been outright confirmed, I think that Bridge is the first Ranger we've had who's been on the spectrum, and if so, I feel is a great representation for that, as well as Doctor K from RPM. "Billy" from the 2017 movie? Not so much. Again, maybe I'm just super ignorant on it, and if so I apologize, but the couple friends I have who are on the spectrum seem to agree with my sentiment, so take that for what little it's worth, I guess. The action starts once the Rangers manage to locate Valko and Sophie. I was always a big fan of the Judgement sequence, being a stand-in for the criminal of the week going to trial. Very fitting for a Ranger Team that's a police force. This of course also extends to how the Rangers actively trap the criminals they fight in cards, which is of course sending them to jail/prison. From what I've been told, this is apparently something specific to SPD and not Dekaranger? If so then I'm glad they made that change because uh, let's just say that having a show where the police actively execute every criminal they come across, it uh... it ain't a good look, and let's just leave it at that. Please? This episode is also the debut of the Delta Command Megazord, and lemme just say, the concept alone of a Command Center transforming into a Megazord? That's just cool on its own, but they go full out with it here by showing just how powerful this new machine is, as it makes quick work of Goradon, which had been actively slapping the Delta Squad Megazord around no problem up to now. In the end, everyone apologizes to Sophie for mistreating her, and she gets transferred to another base to work IT, creating new programs for SPD as a whole to use. Overall, I think what I love most about this episode is how it manages to be both subtle and unsubtle at the same time. There's of course the very blatant message about getting to know people before judging them and the anti-prejudice angle, but there's alot of quick and more subtle bits of the dialogue that really do manage to hit home on alot of things, mainly via casual racism. For some examples, when Sky is explaining the Sophie situation to Cruger, he says "We kicked her... it out." which is a quick nod to transphobia. With Jack, he talks about Sophie "lying to them about what she is" which is a line that I feel is very much about the infamous "don't ask don't tell" policy in the military at the time. And another quick one is when the Rangers are doing their investigation, which establishes that Cyborgs are actually fairly common in the world by 2025, hammering home that they are their own people who are often unjustly treated by the system. These episodes have alot going for them in this respect, and I respect it! SPD is an absolutely fantastic show about the idealism of law enforcement and how that can be challenged every day. It manages to have a great balance of cop drama, comedy, action, and character development that I thoroughly enjoy, and I highly recommend this season to anyone who's interested. After-Show Bonus One of the things I didn't like about Hyper Force is how, instead of using Sophie as the new SPD Green, they opted to create an entirely new character in Lina Song. I hope that in the comics, Sophie will later on get her chance to shine and be SPD Gold. Also Kelson Henderson(Boom) is one of the best actors the series has ever been given and I hope he continues to be with the franchise for a long time to come. The characters he plays are always major highlights for me.
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Last edited by DreamSword; 01-23-2021 at 10:48 PM.. |
01-23-2021, 03:09 PM | #462 |
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Not gonna lie, Goradon scared the heck out of me as a kid. Probably due to the size, or the slightly iffy CG.
And yes, the confinement part of the sequence was unique to Power Rangers. One guy pointed out it was probably done because while Dekaranger’s criminals had done stuff that would warrant a death penalty (murder, slavery, mass kidnapping among other things), most of SPD’s had done no worse than blow up a few planets due to the censors in the US being a lot stricter. So the Containment Cards were likely introduced to make the Rangers seem less harsh. The judgment sequences on the other hand are from Dekaranger (they were originally the Rangers asking the court for legal clearance to kill the scumbags and then incinerate their bodies) Last edited by Androzani84; 01-23-2021 at 03:25 PM.. |
01-23-2021, 03:23 PM | #463 |
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Me and a couple classmates waaay back in the day got to meet Chris Violette (SPD Blue) circa 2007-08 ish
Basically, a make-up/prosthetics artist came to our school and did a demonstration. Chris was a guest because the two had worked on an independent feature film together. (Labou if anyone is interested, it looks fun! ) My classmates and I did the whole, "Wait, is that who I think it is? " until we finally asked him haha. Chris was a super nice and down to earth dude. He basically blew our young minds confirming that PR was based from Japan when I asked him if they had to dub some of the footage. He also signed a couple cards for us which I'll share later ! Speaking of SPD Blue, a great Sky focus episode I recommend is the "Reflection" arc. Won't spoil anything for anyone that hasn't seen it but I feel it's one of the more sophisticated and mature storylines done in PR |
01-23-2021, 03:36 PM | #464 |
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Quote:
Not gonna lie, Goradon scared the heck out of me as a kid. Probably due to the size, or the slightly iffy CG.
And yes, the confinement part of the sequence was unique to Power Rangers. One guy pointed out it was probably done because while Dekaranger’s criminals had done stuff that would warrant a death penalty (murder, slavery, mass kidnapping among other things), most of SPD’s had done no worse than blow up a few planets due to the censors in the US being a lot stricter. So the Containment Cards were likely introduced to make the Rangers seem less harsh. The judgment sequences on the other hand are from Dekaranger (they were originally the Rangers asking the court for legal clearance to kill the scumbags and then incinerate their bodies) Quote:
Quote:
Basically, a make-up/prosthetics artist came to our school and did a demonstration. Chris was a guest because the two had worked on an independent feature film together. (Labou if anyone is interested, it looks fun! )
how could you do this to me Quote:
My classmates and I did the whole, "Wait, is that who I think it is? " until we finally asked him haha. Chris was a super nice and down to earth dude. He basically blew our young minds confirming that PR was based from Japan when I asked him if they had to dub some of the footage. He also signed a couple cards for us which I'll share later !
Quote:
Speaking of SPD Blue, a great Sky focus episode I recommend is the "Reflection" arc. Won't spoil anything for anyone that hasn't seen it but I feel it's one of the more sophisticated and mature storylines done in PR
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01-23-2021, 08:52 PM | #465 |
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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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Last edited by DreamSword; 12-03-2021 at 10:44 PM.. |
01-23-2021, 09:29 PM | #466 |
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I— I don't like to say this when I have so many nebulous plans floating around in my brain at any given time, but one of my ideas for a big Kuuga rewatch style thread that I've considered more than most is actually just one where I would go back through at least the first season of MMPR and just kinda ramble about how goofy and fun each episode is, like exactly how you did here, but almost certainly worse. This is a franchise that, as I mentioned at the start, I'm not consistently passionate about, but I very occasionally see this sort of elitist attitude crop up among toku fans that Power Rangers, and especially the MMPR days, is like this big embarrassment you're obligated to dismiss as cheesy kids stuff, despite that being exactly why most of us are here anyway, and I kinda wanted to do something to demonstrate that Mighty Morphin' was a phenomenon (and make no mistake, it was inescapably huge) for a legitimate reason, and that there was genuine value in that sugar rush of inspirational heroic energy and the simple positive values it always stressed, not in spite of how hopelessly silly it all was, but because of it. And I mean, just sayin', but if you wanted to make a thread doing opinionated Ranger Recaps or whatever, I'd be reading it in a heartbeat. You have an infectious love for this franchise I don't think I could hope to match. I know I literally just said this, but thank you for doing this whole countdown. I didn't end up having too much to say, but I really looked forward to each and every one of these posts over the past few weeks.
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01-23-2021, 10:45 PM | #467 |
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YOU DID! I mean, that entire post was genuinely touching. Like, thank you so much for keeping this up over the past month to get to this point. This has been an extremely fun ride, and that passionate summary of a random "filler" episode made for one heck of a climax.
Quote:
I— I don't like to say this when I have so many nebulous plans floating around in my brain at any given time, but one of my ideas for a big Kuuga rewatch style thread that I've considered more than most is actually just one where I would go back through at least the first season of MMPR and just kinda ramble about how goofy and fun each episode is, like exactly how you did here, but almost certainly worse.
No jokes, no sarcasm. DO IT MAN! I'll take any excuse I can to rewatch MMPR again, hahaha! Quote:
This is a franchise that, as I mentioned at the start, I'm not consistently passionate about, but I very occasionally see this sort of elitist attitude crop up among toku fans that Power Rangers, and especially the MMPR days, is like this big embarrassment you're obligated to dismiss as cheesy kids stuff, despite that being exactly why most of us are here anyway, and I kinda wanted to do something to demonstrate that Mighty Morphin' was a phenomenon (and make no mistake, it was inescapably huge) for a legitimate reason, and that there was genuine value in that sugar rush of inspirational heroic energy and the simple positive values it always stressed, not in spite of how hopelessly silly it all was, but because of it.
I think I've mentioned it before, but elitism from Sentai fans is part of what made me hold off on watching the Japanese side of Toku for so long. Also part of the reason I like you guys here at TN: I haven't seen much of that. Quote:
And I mean, just sayin', but if you wanted to make a thread doing opinionated Ranger Recaps or whatever, I'd be reading it in a heartbeat. You have an infectious love for this franchise I don't think I could hope to match. I know I literally just said this, but thank you for doing this whole countdown. I didn't end up having too much to say, but I really looked forward to each and every one of these posts over the past few weeks.
While I certainly could gush about a ton of episodes in this franchise, I'm also juggling alot at any given time, haha. Got a bunch of Toku anime to promote afterall! But, whenever I get in the mood to watch a specific episode, or someone else brings up something they wanna talk about, I'll definitely post about it here. Heck, I do still have those movies to watch, afterall! Thanks for reading along, and I'm glad you got enjoyment out of seeing me gush for a month straight, hahaha.
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01-24-2021, 04:44 AM | #468 |
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I’ll admit, this is an episode I didn’t really focus on that much when I watched for the first time. I got back into PR after dropping off midway through RPM by discovering that Power Rangers had an abridged series. And the guy who made it, rather than give this episode the full treatment, folded the driving putty scene into an adaptation of Mighty Morphin’ Mutants and the scene gave me one of my highlights from his series (“It’s confirmed. There are female putties and they can’t drive.”)
As for favourite episodes: It might take me a while to think about it and compose a full list, but I have some candidates. Lightspeed Rescue Episodes 29-30 (Trakeena’s Revenge): Yes, I actually liked this two-parter. Given that I was someone who found Lightspeed in general fairly lacklustre compared to Lost Galaxy, I pretty much was going to have something good to say about this one. I also don’t mind the lack of dialogue between the two groups because I don’t watch team-ups to see people talking. I watch them to see them team up. It’s right there in the name of the genre. (Also, I’ve seen the Sentai version and didn’t think it was that good) SPD episode 6: I like the idea that the good monster has been framed by a bad monster because he’s violent enough to be mistaken for a criminal. It’s also good to see Bridge doing some detective work for once in a cop show. Jungle Fury episode 5: I love the main moral of “you can’t always win” and some of the shots showing Theo and Gakko on the side of the building are well staged. It’s also the last appearance of the “dramatic chanting” morph theme, which I prefer to the rock version that replaced it afterward. Super Megaforce episode 5: I like how the episode basically makes Vekar the villain protagonist for the first half, complete with some of the funniest dialogue in the series (“We leave at once.” “For Earth?” “No, for Mars.”). And it has what is probably the best use of the ability to turn into any Ranger outside of the finale (as in, turning into different ones rather than a whole team change). Super Ninja Steel episode 10: Honestly, I can’t say much about this one. It’s got a good line up of returnees who basically represent various notable aspects of the franchise, plus an admittedly epic final fight. |
01-24-2021, 07:09 PM | #469 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,428
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Quote:
Lightspeed Rescue Episodes 29-30 (Trakeena’s Revenge): Yes, I actually liked this two-parter. Given that I was someone who found Lightspeed in general fairly lacklustre compared to Lost Galaxy, I pretty much was going to have something good to say about this one. I also don’t mind the lack of dialogue between the two groups because I don’t watch team-ups to see people talking. I watch them to see them team up. It’s right there in the name of the genre. (Also, I’ve seen the Sentai version and didn’t think it was that good)
Quote:
SPD episode 6: I like the idea that the good monster has been framed by a bad monster because he’s violent enough to be mistaken for a criminal. It’s also good to see Bridge doing some detective work for once in a cop show.
Quote:
Jungle Fury episode 5: I love the main moral of “you can’t always win” and some of the shots showing Theo and Gakko on the side of the building are well staged. It’s also the last appearance of the “dramatic chanting” morph theme, which I prefer to the rock version that replaced it afterward.
Quote:
Super Megaforce episode 5: I like how the episode basically makes Vekar the villain protagonist for the first half, complete with some of the funniest dialogue in the series (“We leave at once.” “For Earth?” “No, for Mars.”). And it has what is probably the best use of the ability to turn into any Ranger outside of the finale (as in, turning into different ones rather than a whole team change).
Quote:
Super Ninja Steel episode 10: Honestly, I can’t say much about this one. It’s got a good line up of returnees who basically represent various notable aspects of the franchise, plus an admittedly epic final fight.
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Last edited by DreamSword; 02-13-2021 at 02:14 PM.. |
01-24-2021, 07:38 PM | #470 |
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Probably a plain froyo would just be vanillia.
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