So.

I was originally going to wait to do this until after I'd finished binging Beast Morphers, but with the recent announcement that most of Power Rangers will be leaving Netflix, I suppose there's no better time than now.

Power Rangers is a franchise that has been a part of my entire life. No joke, I was born in 1993, the same year that MMPR aired.

It influenced alot of aspects of my personal tastes. If not for Power Rangers, I wouldn't have my love of super heroes, martial arts, rock music, the number six... the list goes on. I have a fondness for it that I really can't put into proper words, which definitely confused the friends of mine who missed it growing up.

A few years back, a good friend of mine did his best to try and understand why I liked it so much, and, coincidentally, the series had just gone up in its(at the time) entirety on Netflix. So, half jokingly, I said to him "Well we could just binge the whole franchise together if you want." And to my utter shock and surprise, his response was a flat "Sure, let's do it."

And so, it happened! And it was alot of fun! We wouldn't just riff on some of the sillier aspects of the show, but also discuss various aspects of the franchise as a whole. The themes and lessons of each episode, the arcs and personality traits of each character, the attention to detail during the action sequences; I feel we really went in depth on it. He even pointed out certain things about each season that I had never noticed before, despite having seen many of them multiple times.

With the sort of bad rep that the franchise has in the Toku-sphere nowadays, I felt like I should do a sort of highlight reel of my favorite episodes for those interested, to maybe show just why I value this series so much. Has it made alot of mistakes? Certainly. But, so has literally every other Toku franchise, and it doesn't mean we should devalue the good that they do. So in the interest of making this a mostly positive experience, I'm going to be doing this in order of what I feel is the weakest season to my personal favorite season.

I do this because I wanna emphasize that even at the show's' lowest points, I can still find alot of positives to highlight. The usual format of one episode a day, my personal favorite episodes of each season.

This means starting off with something that will surprise pretty much no one, the season that I and many other feel is the lowest point the show has ever gotten...

Super Mega Force

Super Mega Force is a season that has absolute infamy amongst those both in and outside the fandom for many, many, Many reasons. And yeah, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't let down by it too. And looking into what all went on behind the scenes only paints the show in an even more negative light than what it already has. BUT! Despite all that, you can definitely see glimpses of a gem in the dirt. And the episode that I feel best exemplifies this is...


Now, there's a couple other episodes I legit enjoy too, such as episodes 11 and 13, but I'm focusing in on this one for a very specific reason that we'll get to later. And I already know what some of you might be thinking...

"Wait, isn't that the episode that made alot of RPM fans mad?"

Why yes it is! And as someone who also likes RPM, I infact liked this episode!

So what's the set-up? The Rangers receive a distress signal from Corinth after a wormhole mysteriously opens up in the sky. Gosei is suspicious, but the Rangers are resolute in helping out anyone who might need their help. As soon as they leave though, it's revealed to be a ruse; Professor Cog, somehow still alive after the events of the RPM and Samurai crossover, appears on Earth with a squad of Grinders to try taking over the planet.

I remember alot of people being upset about Cog being around when the episode first aired, but it's not like the series hasn't just brought characters back with no explanation before, so I was fine with it. Heck, the series would continue to do it later on with Sledge and (especially) Poisandra, two characters that alot of fans always seem happy to see, despite my personal distaste for them.

And right away we get a scene that I think does a decent job at something SMF actually does pretty well for the most part: Embracing ridiculousness. Just the sheer silliness of Professor Cog hitch-hiking a ride to the city from a farmer is just a great image on its own, but what always sells it for my is the Grinders piling ontop of each in the back, and the last bit of one of them trailing behind and chasing the tractor always gives me a chuckle.

We also get a nice scene of Orion, Emma, and Gia continuing their bonding seen in previous episodes. After a bit of a humble-brag by Emma, Orion express his appreciation for the two girls and the team as a whole, as well as a desire to pull his weight in helping keep the Earth safe from the Armada. I actually like alot of the scenes where they're flying about in the Sky Ship; It's a nice set! It's simplistic, sure, but it gets the point across and typically makes for scenery a bit more dynamic than what the Neo-Saban Era typically had(and I say that as a fan of said Era). Heck, they're flying through a wormhole in this one; That's cool!

What follows is something else that made RPM fans annoyed back then: The Corinth that the Rangers arrive in looking in pretty good shape, as well as a new Zord: The Turbo Falcon, which was never established in RPM proper.

Here's my logic for being fine with that though: Even taking the Samurai crossover into account, Corinth has not been under any world-ending threats for a few years by now. And what with people like Doctor K running around, it only makes sense that they would start to rebuild and expand.

As for the Turbo Falcon Zord, Noah explains that it was a prototype Zord locked away due it being hard to control. To me, that actually sounds entirely plausible. So yeah, this stuff checks out.


This episode also serves to highlight something else that I felt SMF actually did pretty well for the most part: Its villains. Prince Vekar is hilarious, with his childish antics and his Generals very obviously only putting up with him because they have to -- It's a dynamic I find highly entertaining! Plus, I love the angle this episode has of Villain vs Villain. They can't let Professor Cog take over the Earth because hey, that's THEIR job, dangit!

Would you all look down on me for saying I feel that SMF would've been way stronger had it been a mainly comedy season ala Ninja Storm? Because I do. This season managed to find alot of ways to make me laugh. Heck, Jake is my favorite character in both seasons of Mega Force because of just how goofy him and his scenarios are. His yelling at the Turbo Falcon to stop because it's going over the speed limit? Delightfully dumb on its own, but having Gia sarcastically remark about how dumb that is? Priceless. Heck, that very scene also serves to highlight each Ranger's' main personality trait. Jake with his simplistic idea, Noah with his offer of friendship, Emma trying to treat the Zord like a puppy, and Gia, who just goes "screw it" and yells at the thing. Meanwhile Troy is just trying to get the job done. It's all simple, but it does a good job at getting the idea across.

The action sequences that follow are pretty good too. I really like a good car chase, and on the villain side of things, seeing the unique fighting styles of each General was a nice treat. And when it comes to acting, the facial expressions everyone gets to make when Gosei breaks the news that the Rangers might be trapped in Corinth are done well. My personal favorite is Noah, who looks like he's super annoyed at how nothing is going the team's' way that day.

When the Rangers do eventually find a way to get back, Professor Cog, clearly out of desperation, offers a truce with Vekar, to which Levira points out it's alot better for the Armada if Cog and the Rangers kill eachother. To which Vekar replies with my favorite line in the entire season...


That line absolutely floored me the first time I heard it, and cemented this episode as my favorite in the season. Prince Vekar is what makes SMF worth it. Major props to whoever wrote for him.


The episode ends fittingly enough; A fight using the RPM Rangers Keys, a new Zord Combination, and even a pretty decent brick joke featuring the return of the Farmer. So, in a way, Professor Cog gets the last laugh.

And that about does it! Was the episode anything super mega amazing? No, but it's by no means bad and has some good aspects going for it. And other episodes also go to show just what aspects of SMF do work. Do I think they save the season overall? No, I do still think it's the weakest season of Power Rangers overall, but do I feel it's one of the worst things ever put to TV like how some other fans react to it? Not by a longshot.


Did you know that Andrew Gray is actually a good actor? Be sure to check out his Instagram where he's uploaded a bunch of other stuff he's done. So yeah, if you want to blame anyone for him acting stuff and wooden throughout most of (S)MF, blame the directors.

Is anyone here able to get enjoyment out of the earlier seasons of Power Rangers? I decided, on a whim, to watch Countdown of Destruction (Part 1). I liked taking note of the monsters and recycled footage, but the show itself... was just kinda boring.

I remember watching it as a kid, rewatching episodes either, with rapt attention. I kinda want that nostalgia back. I've enjoyed RPM and Dino Charge fairly recently, and like Toku in general, so I'm wondering if there's a trick to getting enjoyment out of shows I'd critically consider bad?

Ooh, I'm super excited about this! Always good to see a toku fan expressing unabashed love for PR. I don't know if I'll have a lot of my own thoughts to contribute (I sort of go in and out on actively caring about the franchise), but I'm certainly going to be eagerly reading along.

Super Megaforce is maybe a show I actually would have a decent amount to say about? It was sort of a guilty pleasure for me when it aired, being, make no mistake, a pretty bad show, but in a way that kept my attention to a level that makes me feel, well... guilty! Like, intellectually speaking as someone passionate about the genre, I know I was/am supposed to be mourning the tragedy of the potential Power Rangers hasn't been realizing since Samurai, but for Super Megaforce specifically, I was way too busy being entertained to care. Sometimes in ways that were intentional, and often times in ways that weren't, but it was all part of the same fun. When there were extremely questionable creative choices being made in the production, I mostly found it amusing, and when the show could surprise me with stuff like the genuine humor of a character like Vekar, I also found it amusing.

It was far from a great time for Power Rangers, but it was a pretty great time for me watching Power Rangers, and I'll always have a soft spot for it because of that.

Okay, so I know I only showed up today, but I need to say that this is the first time I've seen anybody say something positive about Super Megaforce, and I'm glad you did. I still cant think of anything good to say about the season, but it's amazing to hear it anyway. I like to think that there's something to like in almost any show, and the people here seem to show that pretty clearly.

On an unrelated note, since this thread is about watching Power Rangers, the two (non MMPR) seasons left on Netflix are also the ones I haven't watched yet, so I should probably watch them now, huh?

Thanks! Happy to have you around, by the way; hope you enjoy your time here!

And yeah, my favorite Kamen Rider show is Ghost, and before that, it was Wizard, so I'm pretty used to being somebody who sticks up for unpopular toku series. :lol

Thanks! I've been here for less than a day, and you've all already made me feel like I have a place here, if that makes any sense.

As for Ghost and Wizard, I haven't watched either yet, but I'm looking forward to doing so, since I know there's at least something to love about them, and I'm ready to see what those things are.

Turn your brain off and just enjoy the ride. That's what I try to do.

oh my gosh a show fish doesnt like

Glad you're gonna be reading along! Yeah, it's weird when people say that SMF is a show that no effort put into it. Because granted, technically true, but like...

At the same time, it is clear with certain aspects, like the writing of Vekar, the editing in episode 13, and the photoshopping they did to remove certain Sentai aspects, there were atleast some people on staff who were trying. But, well, we all know the stories of the behind the scenes nonsense that went on.

Yeah Fish is Resident Contrarian of the board, and we love him for it. Can't wait until I finally get around to watching Wizard because of it.

And yeah! People like to rag on Ninja Steel, but I found myself enjoying it quite a bit. Especially its first season. Hope you enjoy it too!

That just goes to show how indefensible it really is!

But then, on the other hand, I went and looked up the scene where Troy tells a brainwashed Robo Knight HE HAS A MISSION TO FULFILL!!!!! and then goes Super Saiyan to punch great justice back into him, and I'm also wondering how anyone could ever hate this series!

It's a lot of effort being put into the wrong places, is maybe the best way to sum up the issues.

I think my biggest sticking point is when I heard the main cast was apparently futilely pushing to have scripts that did more with their characters, and that's a shame, because even to this day, I still think that was an exceptionally charismatic cast (give or take a Troy), and with how much they elevated the generally weak material they were given, it's a bummer they couldn't get more to work with.

What would've made that scene even better is if Troy's' original backstory had been included in the final product. Speaking of which...

Yeah, it's so weirdly backwards. Because Troy's' actor, Andrew Gray, is actually a good actor! Like, check out his social media sometime. He's uploaded other acting bits and audition takes he's done and he does a good job! So if anything I blame directing on this one.

As well, apparently an episode's' worth of material going into Troy's' backstory was filmed, but never actually included. Like apparently he was born being directly connected to the Morphing Grid, and his father was absentee among other things.

Just... man. People have done entire essays about how SMF could've been done better, but if nothing else, the people I feel the most for are the actors and James W. Bates, who wrote alot of the better aspects of the show.

That all aside though, do I feel it was a total wash? No. It still has some good stuff about it, it's just... man, what coulda been, ya know?

You are a strange, strange person Fish. Never change.

But yeah, chalk me up too the "SMF has a lot of wasted potential and I'm more disappointed than angry". Like, I still think Orion is one of the best Sixth Ranger concepts of recent years (even if it went nowhere), and it's such a shame even the cast felt they were underserved. I'm glad you're finding the good stuff, though.

Funny enough, that is the scene that really makes my blood boil for the show. Granted, that could be because I recently watched Goseiger and just unabashedly fell in love with it and this scene honestly feels like an insult to that show.

It's honestly a perfect summary of what went wrong with that show. Taking something from the source material, completely missing the point and replacing it with a shallow, empty version of their own.

It just... Really makes me mad that Goseiger got dealt a show that tried to pull the same "Never give up"-message but just ended up with a hollow, empty, platitude version of it, where the original show actually committed and worked so hard to pull it off. I honestly feel like Goseiger to Megaforce was a bigger insult than Gokaiger to Super Megaforce.

Goseiger is a season that's definitely underrated. While I do still think Gokaiger was better, Goseiger did alot of nice things that I feel people don't really give it credit for. And this is coming from someone who isn't super passionate about Super Sentai.

Operation Overdrive

Pre-Show Preamble

God that theme song is whack.

Anyway! Operation Overdrive is another season that people look down upon, and when I first saw it growing up, yeeaaahhhh let's just say it was the first season of Power Rangers that I found myself not actually liking. That's not to say I found it all bad though, there were infact some aspects that I always appreciated, and I even found some new ones upon rewatching it with my friend.

For one thing, the show actually had rather good pacing throughout all of it, I liked how there were multiple villain factions all fighting over the same thing, the style and flair was(with a few exceptions) always fun like with every Ranger season, and, most importantly, there were a select few characters who really, really stood out. And I feel that one of those characters shines the absolute brightest in today's' episode; One that will probably surprise literally no one who's seen PROO before.

Episode 25: Things Not Said

I'll be totally honest about this: The set-up for this episode is rather weak.

But the payoff? Oh MAN the payoff. Okay, so the set-up is that the Star of Isis is located, only for the team to be interrupted by an attack from Kamdor.

Out of all the villains, I always liked Kamdor the most. He not only typically came up with the best plans, but his fight scenes were consistently good, I found his partnership with Miratrix interesting, and, oh yeah, he's a frikken SPACE NINJA!

But, in the interest of fairness, before we can properly get to the great parts of this episode, we gotta start with that lame set-up I mentioned earlier. We start off with Mack showing off an old photo of him and his dad camping to his friends, only for Dax to immediately point out that the photo looks doctored.


Let me repeat that, Dax is the one who points this out. The dude who, atleast most of the time, is characterized as the loon of the group. Like, I get Rose not being in the scene because she's revealed to be making new Zord tech, but it would've made way more sense for it to be literally anyone else. I guess it helps make Mack blowing the claim off alot more believable?

Continuing on, when the Rangers deploy to stop whatever Kamdor is up to, Kamdor responds by calling forth a new monster, Datun, who's designed after an old style camera. And I wanna use this entire sequence to highlight something that became a running gag between my friend and I.

Tyzonn is the worst Sixth Ranger ever.

Like, this episode aside, dude gets smacked around alot, to the point that alot of times it seems like he's barely contributing to the fights at all. Even here, when Datun goes giant, what does Tyzonn do?

"Yeah, you go Rangers! I'll be down here... I guess!"

It's so pathetic that it just became funny. And jumping ahead for just a tad, does he fair any better in the fight at the end of the episode? No. Of course he doesn't. Tyzonn sucks at everything always. Like, legit I almost feel bad for the guy. But unfortunately it also makes him the great butt of many jokes, so.

MOVING ON. It turns out that Datun was actually a living trap. Upon his defeat, he sent out a computer virus that... okay it's not super clear how it was transmitted, or maybe I'm just dumb. The best I could gather is that he infected the Zords via interacting with them, which then spread out and infected the home base once the Zords returned. How exactly Hartford knew it was a computer virus solely from the lights flickering is beyond me, but that's not what's really important.

The important part is that the virus infects Mack as well. And this is where the episode comes to a head.


Like, holy crap! Talk about a striking image to have in a show like this! And what follows is no slouch either! I chose that first screencap for a reason, because the directing in all the talking scenes after this is top Frikken NOTCH, dude! The following scene, where it's revealed that Mack was an android built by Hartford only two years ago? MAN that hits hard every time. The director and the actors really pulled out all the stops for the majority of this episode.

Mack, now feeling alienated, opts to stay behind when Kamdor is discovered in the Florida Everglades. The team does their best(which isn't much when Tyzonn is involved), but find themselves quickly outnumbered despite their best efforts. The biggest highlight here being the fight between Kamdor and Will, whose fights are always great in this show. They lend a big part into why I like both characters, despite the flaws they have.


In the midst of this we get another absolutely fantastic scene where Spencer does his best to snap Mack out of his funk enough so he can help his friends. Mack of course expresses the sort of dread you'd expect, but Spencer assures him that despite how he might feel, everyone he's known and created a bond with? Those bonds are real, and they aren't going to change simply because Mack is an android. Once again, the acting is absolutely on point here, and having the typically sarcastic Spencer be the one to reach out only makes it all the better. Mack takes the words to heart and races off, Rose's' newly developed weapon in hand...


This episode also serves as the debut of Overdrive's' Battlizer. The Battlizers in Rangers are always, Always awesome, and this one is no exception. The design itself is cool for starters, and I like how it ties in with PROO's' Anniversary aspect, as I always felt it was a harkening back to the Dragon Shield; the Sentinel Battlizer being a suit of Gold Armor donned thanks to power transfer from another character.

The beatdown that ensues is great too. I especially love the series of slashes Mack does that creates the show's' logo. And at the end of it all, the civilian powers get to be of great use too, with Ronny stealing the Star of Isis from Kamdor at the last second thanks to it.

And I gotta say, this episode knew exactly how and where to end things too, because we close off with yet another great scene centered around Mack. He breaks the news of what he's learned to the rest of the team, and they all, in their own way, do their best to assure him that everything will work out. And, in a nice touch of realism, everything isn't exactly all better with Mack right then and there. He still has doubts, he still has a ton of questions to ask himself, and he doesn't just immediately forgive his father for lying to him for the entirety of his life. Yet again, top notch writing and acting here.

Overall, while I don't think it saves alot of the season's' shortcomings(no thanks in part to the higher ups at Disney), this episode came together in all of the most important ways, and I love it. If you can get past the immediately weak setup, the payoff is fantastic, and made Mack one of my favorite characters from this season. It has great acting, good action, an awesome twist, and lead to some wonderful character development in the following episodes. I really couldn't've asked for more.


People who went to the first PMC reported that there was a demo song for PROO that sounded alot better than the one we got, but the only one I could find was... well, let's just say I'm doing you all a favor by not linking it. Yes, the theme song we ended up getting was, infact, the "good" one.

Y'know I really miss Power Rangers exclusive battlizers. These days the battlizers are just the exact same as the Sentai Power Ups. I don't really count the cockpit modes.

My view may have mellowed a bit with time, but for me it's just that Power Rangers Operation Overdrive took my beloved show that got me into Sentai quite majorly with awesome characters and some memorable non-adapted episodes and just didn't come up with anything interesting to replace it, whereas Boukenger is the one show that just never gets old for me. I probably do hate the original Megaforce basically as much in terms of sheer boredom but it's just that Goseiger beating Megaforce is kind of not saying much in my view(though harsh) whereas for me I just really was not expecting Boukenger to be adapted in that way when I was a teenager!

Ah yes, he “dump the monsters we can’t possibly get a full episode for ‘reasons’” episode. (The rock monster had a weird way of growing, wherein a giant copy of it showed up after the small one died, the junk monster was in a Flowers for Algernon plot with BoukenSilver, the Prince monster kissed the Megazord, the female ninja monster was defeated by a cat planting a sticker on her weak point and the golem monster had a fight scene in nvolving the Yiddish language and lots of Christmas imagery)

But other than that, the Red Sentinel Ranger is probably one of the best Battelisers, mostly for how unlike most of the others, it doesn’t get overpowered or forgotten by the time of the finale (though that battle is a whole other can of worms, for reasons I cannot fathom).

Yeah, it's a shame we haven't had a US-unique power up since Samurai, but at the same time, considering the Red-Only power ups Sentai has been doing all look like Battlizers anyway(and were likely inspired by them), I understand why they stopped bothering.

Personally, while I do agree that Boukenger is an overall better show, Overdrive has little gems in it that make it really stand out, like this episode. You can tell the team on PROO was really trying to make something fun and unique, but it just didn't work out for various reasons.

Yeah, Ninja Steel actually handled that specific aspect in a really cool way, I felt. But we'll get to that later.

I'd have to really think about what my favorite Battlizer is, but yeah, Red Sentinel Ranger is definitely up there!

Didn't BM have two unique non-cockpit upgrades for the Red??

I'm sure part of it is due to having listened to them and getting stuck in my head when I was still a little kid, but the OO theme song is a song I can recall perfectly in head just as well as... just about every other power ranger theme song before that point. I kinda dig it still even now???

Also the android reveal is definitely the most memorable part of that season for me too, even like, a decade and a half later (wow remember when power rangers was celebrating its 15th anniversary? I do because I owned the Nintendo DS power rangers video game that celebrated it). The battlelizer in this one is also definitely one of my favourites.

If I had to make a top three battlelizers real quick, it'd probably go 1. Ninja Storm 2. Operation Overdrive 3. Time Force. Mind you the Time Force knight armour thing is mostly due to looking cool rather than from doing anything (I like Quatum Ranger's weird roller skate armour thing too). Shout-out to Mystic Force's battlelizer where he merges with the dragon mostly because I seriously don't remember if it ever showed up beyond the debut episode.

Okay, so I'm not the only one who remembers all of the theme songs. Good to know.

If I hear the original Go Go Power Rangers, I'll be like 'yeah that is neat'. But if I hear OO's dumb rap or MF's "here come the power rangers" etc, I instantly feel ten different intense emotions at once.

Though it may be a controversial view I'm afraid I'm not too hot on Power Rangers for theme songs in general, I mean Japan obviously cares more on that aspect to make a whole 4 minute 30 song rather than just some cynical producer trying to make a quick buck, technically Zeo and In Space do have theme songs that I both like and have a full version but my favourite Power Rangers-related music tends to be more those old insert songs like Best of the Best that you don't really get now!

Just the one, and Fury Mode was a little different in how it was portrayed, being used in the first season for only two episodes, where the plot of the second one was all about having to stop using it because of how risky it was.

If the second one you're thinking of is that action figure with the Li-Oh styled armor, I don't think that ended up in the show at all? Unless I'm just forgetting it completely somehow? Beast Morphers was more interested in giving the Rangers exclusive weapons than forms. I think DreamSword's overall point about some of the Japanese upgrades now filling the role Battlizers used to still stands.

Fair, I didn't watch beyond the debut of Li-Oh so I just assumed that was a figure of an eventual in-show upgrade. Because why would you make a figure of a design more powerful than the show's final form and not feature it in the show, y'know?

Oh make no mistake, PROO's' theme is the only one I don't like. I absolutely love literally every other theme song in the series. Yes, even Mystic Force's'.

The DS version of Power Rangers Super Legends is a legit fun game! It even served as inspiration of the PR Tabletop campaign I'm doing with my friends.

I can recite every theme word for word. My brain is just wired that way.

I don't really see how length = more care? Heck, if length is all you're focused on, the original "Go Go Power Rangers" is four minutes long, AND has the best guitar solo ever.

But yeah, I really miss the insert songs too. A real shame those ended after In Space. Yet another reason for the next season coming up(you're all gonna hate me).

Alright, so... I know I'm probably not gonna be making any friends over what I'm about to say, so I'mma just say it. To me, the third weakest season of Power Rangers is:

Lost Galaxy

Pre-Show Preamble

Now before you all lynch me, lemme just make this clear: I am by no means trying to claim that Lost Galaxy is a bad season. Personally, I'd put it in the category of "okay." As for why that is, well, it's for a reason that again, I imagine many would be likely to disagree with me on.

For lack of a better term, it's because outside of a few specific aspects, I find it to be on the bland side of things. inb4 this is fish's' favorite season

See, here's the thing. To me it was clear that with Lost Galaxy, Saban was trying to go for a more "down to Earth" sort of approach with its characters. Ironic given its space theme, but hey, that's something the series hadn't really done before, so I'm all for trying something new. The unfortunate result of that though is that I can never remember almost anyone or anything about this season, and I've seen it three times now. Like, yes, Overdrive and SMF ARE worse off, but you know, in their defense, atleast I can actually remember their cast and a majority of what happened in those seasons. Atleast with those I had laughs. Atleast with those, I had stuff to be able to talk about with others. Here? Outside of Kendrix, Karone, and one other character? I struggle hard in remembering everything Lost Galaxy had to offer outside of it killing off Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog(a great show by the way). One thing that will always stick around in my mind about the season though is the character we'll be mainly focusing on with today's' episode...

Episode 10: The Sunflower Search

Yeah it's the Magna Defender, did you really expect anyone else?

Magna Defender is easily the best and most memorable character in the entirety of Lost Galaxy, and is also one of the few times the Sixth Ranger has been my favorite.

The previous episode was his introduction, which already garnered alot of intrigue, but this episode here cemented it, and immediately too, with an opening scene that stands out as one of the best in the entire franchise.

Magna Defender wants revenge on the big bad, Scorpius, because Scorpius looted and laid waste to the Defender's' home planet. During what would've been a final standoff, Scorpius and his minion, Fish Face, take MD's' son, Zika, captive, and use the opportunity to end the planet's' last defense.

Zika, in a moment of bravery, draws a dagger and rushes Scorpius in an attempt to save his father. And the result is a scene that to this day I am still surprised the show managed to get away with: Scorpius effortlessly kills Zika. A child dies. On screen. The aftermath, with Magna crawling towards his son's' corpse is incredibly heart breaking, and the immensely powerful musical score only makes it hit even harder.


The second plot going alongside this episode stems from a conversation that the villains overhear between Kendrix and Maya, where Maya explains that sunflowers hold a special significance to her people. Trakeena takes this as a hint to the whereabouts of the Lights of Orion, as Terra Venture has many a sunflower statue all across it.

Fish Face is thus sent to destroy every sunflower statue on Terra Venture, which gives Magna Defender more than enough motivation to jump in. And in another scene that will always stand out in my mind, Magna Defender's' rage and thirst for vengeance makes him uncaring in who gets caught in the crossfire; Shooting even when civilians are in direct danger of his lazers. The Rangers of course intervene, but still, the entire sequence is totally intense, and we get that awesome music yet again, which makes me think it's MD's' theme song.


After a brief scene of the Rangers all stating the obvious to eachother, we get right back into the action, with the usual scene of the team fighting off the Mooks of the season, but things quickly kick into the high gear when Magna Defender shows up, and proceeds to lay an absolutely brutal beatdown on Fish Face. Unfortunately though, history repeats, as Fish Face takes a nearby little girl looking for her teddy bear hostage.

Except this time Magna Defender doesn't care.


Thankfully, the Power Rangers make it so the little girl doesn't end up splattered across the pavement, but it comes at the cost of the last statue being destroyed, Fish Face getting the chance to grow giant, and him right afterward defeating the Galaxy Megazord without much effort.

So hey, want another reason the Magna Defender is really cool? He is the only Ranger to not just grow giant size himself, but then proceed to wear his own Zord as a suit of armor.


And that's REALLY frikken cool! The Giant battle itself is great too, of course, but just... MAN that's such a great idea!

The episode ends with Leo trying to deliver the overall lesson of the episode; That anger, hatred, revenge, these are all things that blind you and can make just as bad as those you want to get back at. A major theme in a future PR season that everyone loves. Magna Defender though, doesn't want to hear it, and walks off, saying he won't be stopped until either Scorpius dies, or he does.

Magna Defender's' entire arc is really well done honestly. But of the episodes that focus on him, I feel like this one is the overall best. Not that any of those other episodes are by any means bad! I love them just as much! But yeah, this one is great. Genuinely shocking moments, a great musical score, brutal action, and a standout character to bring it all together.


The Ranger Wiki claims that the Netflix version of LG calls the Torozord the "Bullzord." This is false. Magna Defender can clearly be heard calling it the Torozord multiple times.

My initial reaction was 'wow Lost Galaxy?' but then all I can really distinctly remember about it myself is Trakeena and Leo's fight in that desert, the team-up with In Space and the immediate follow-up, and bits of the finale. Then again my memory of most seasons are spotty outside of the biggest highlights.

That bull-man robot is still incredibly cool though...

I can't believe I'd ever come across another soul who thought the same. Also still laughing even now about the boss fights that are just the boss standing in the upper screen, and sending minions to attack you on the lower screen. And when you beat all the minions, the boss just... dies.

Rather than length, it's more like Toei puts a lot of production and marketing into the music of their shows, especially since they make a lot of money from CD sales and live performances. For Power Rangers, it's pretty much like the theme songs to most kids shows where it's enough to serve as the opening credits. (At least... I don't think there are CDs of things like the iCarly theme song, etc *shrug*)

I'm afraid I can't really defend Go Go Power Rangers that much, I mean it's not done entirely good things considering the lyrics are very unimaginative, I have quite a visceral reaction to most things involving Simon Cowell and in my experience that song hasn't necessarily benefitted the reputation of tokusatsu in Britain, I mean people should at least know that the US didn't actually film the whole thing! The Zyuranger opening is actually much more my taste in music in the same way I'm likely to listen to Pavarotti over, say, Harry Styles!

As for Lost Galaxy being a bit bland I can see how it would look that in comparison to Space or Time Force and Lightspeed Rescue wasn't really all that much worse like some people seem to think, but I still thought it was pretty decent for some things like the Karone stuff and it is still kind of close between that and Gingaman.

Yeah that about sums up my memories of LG too.

And I remember discovering the one maneuver that breaks 90% of the game...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd7PvbJece8

Oh, I'm not saying Lost Galaxy is bad at all. I do still like it, it's just that I find not very engaging outside of some specific aspects? Lightspeed Rescue was definitely a step up for my tastes.

I do in fact like Lost Galaxy a whole lot... as I remember it! It's been so long since I've seen it in any significant capacity there's way I could speak to details, but I've long been in love with its blending of sci-fi and fantasy tropes, doing its own thing while embracing aspects of Gingaman that were ripe with dramatic potential, which is definitely most apparent with the Magna Defender's arc, which is pretty much lifted wholesale from the source series. Very wisely.

But yeah, with so much distance, it's going to be hard to offer some big defense of it off the cuff. Definitely a show I'd like to watch again in full some day, and see how much it holds up for me.

please do not make a fish sandwich rewatches lost galaxy thread

dont go into all of the great details my dumb dumb brain missed those last three times

and definitely dont expect me to follow along and talk about every episode too

nope

never

Dino (Super)Charge

Pre-Show Preamble

Dino Charge is a season that I never really understood the popularity of.

Again, not to say it's bad by any stretch. I infact like alot of aspects of it. But I've seen many cite it as some sort of golden standard. Whether it be for the Neo-Saban Era or even for the franchise as a whole. And whenever I ask about it, the answers I get are either things that other seasons have already done better(in my opinion), or the single sentence of "It was a step up from Super Mega Force."

Which I mean like... yeah, it is, but so is literally every other season? That aside, if you love Dino Charge, that's great! No, really! I am in no way trying to look down upon anyone who loves any part of this franchise I hold dear.

As for me, the things I really liked in Dino Charge mainly have to do with the character interactions. The actors all played off eachother really well, and once "Super" rolled around I felt the villain dynamics got alot better with the inclusion of Heckyl and Snide. The comedic aspects were also done fairly decently too(special mention to "The Tooth Hurts" for being a really funny episode). It also gave me one of my favorite Rangers: Philip!

One big aspect of my favorite episodes though, of which I feel I haven't been too clear on, is the rewatch factor I got by binging alongside that aforementioned friend of mine. I really wanna try to get you guys to understand how we went about viewing specific episodes and the injokes therein, which, well, it's really hard to do without ACTUALLY watching it alongside you too, ya know? But, I will try. And to that friend of mine, if you're lurking and reading this right now, you already knew way ahead which episode I was gonna highlight here. How could it be anything other than...

Episode 13: Sync or Swim

Now, to preface this, remember when starting this I stated that this whole thing was about my personal favorite episodes, and not those that are "~objectively~" the best the given season has to offer.

Speaking of personal favorites Dino Charge's' theme song totally slaps, jus' sayin'.

The set-up for this episode is that Tyler and Ivan need to learn to work together in order to stop the latest plan of Sledge's' crew.

But in reality it's about Tyler being insecure and petty to the point of annoying Ivan to no end.

We start of with Wrench coming up with... actually probably one of the smartest plans a Ranger villain has ever come up with: Plant a bomb in the trunk of the Red Ranger's' car, then just sit back and wait for it to go off. Thus killing him, if not the entire team, all in one go.

Meanwhile, as the Dinosaur Museum begins to prepare for a public event, Tyler once again tries to put the moves on Shelby, only for her to real quick see what he's trying to do and have none of that. Tyler then tries to flex his car to a nearby kid, only to have all the attention stolen from him when Ivan rides up on horseback in a suit of armor, which causes Shelby to offer to take him shopping for a new wardrobe so he doesn't stand out so much.

Really this whole sequence, alongside the rest of this episode, makes Tyler, who had so far been characterized as caring, adventurous, and the leader, look like someone who's actually just desperate to be the center of attention, and can't stand when someone else is getting more of it than him. But what really sold the entire scene for me and my bud was this:


Our reactions were as follows.

"Oh my god dude did you see that friggen twirl he did!?"

"Yeah he was all like. "Fine, you go shopping with the pretty boy! I'm gonna go hang with WAY COOLER FRIENDS!! HMPH!!!""

"He has other friends??"

It was a good time.

Also of note, Ivan in no way directly stole anything from Tyler, nor intended to, but Tyler takes it that way anyway, as seen in the very next scene where Ivan and Shelby show up with Ivan wearing the coat that Tyler tried to impress Shelby with. Man am I glad I never got into fashion.

Tyler then proceeds to take advantage of Ivan's' old style chivalry like so:


Which in turn lead to one of my favorite things my friend has ever said ever.

"OH MY GOD YOU PETTY, SMALL-DICKED, LOSER!!!"

I was dying outright when that got blurted out, because it was just such an outburst from a guy who doesn't get super emotive too often. We nearly had to pause the episode because we from then on just kept rolling out these various jokes and scenarios where Tyler, almost Rita Repulsa style, began to have it out for anyone who so much as mildly inconvenienced him. And we still make jokes about it to this day!

While the episode seems to want to portray Tyler and Ivan as being equally as petty towards one another, the fact that Tyler has done way more wrong than what Ivan has really only makes it seem like, well, Tyler is just being a jealous jerk and Ivan is responding in kind. Defending himself.


When Wrench and the Monster of the Week do finally get discovered, this leads into the action sequence of the episode, where Tyler gets smacked around a bit before being saved by Ivan, which causes Tyler to admit defeat. Now, I think what the scene is trying to do is having both characters be more humble towards eachother, but to me it makes way more sense to see it as Ivan seeing that Tyler learned that he can't be Number 1 all the time. So Ivan simply throws Tyler a bone and says "well you're the Red Ranger so atleast be proud of that."

With the two working together a new Megazord formation is unlocked and the monster is defeated. But, again, major props here, for the one and only time ever that Sledge has a good idea: Use the Magna-Beam on the bomb so that way the Rangers can't move it. This leads to a cool sequence where the Megazord takes the bomb in hand and yeets it at Sledge's' spaceship.

The episode ends with Tyler and Ivan having found a new appreciation for eachother, with Tyler buying Ivan a new jacket and Ivan treating Tyler to dinner. Oh, and they take a selfie together which means they're officially a couple now.


I'm kidding about the two being in love of course, and I gotta say, major props to the show for promoting platonic intimacy amongst friends and guys being allowed to compliment eachother's' looks.

Speaking of LGBT relations though, fun bit of side trivia: According to Michael Taber, the actor who plays Riley, Riley is actually gay and has a thing for Chase. And if that's true, boy is that shown literally nowhere in the show! Well, except maybe in that last screenshot, where he does look rather jelly about the selfie they're taking.

Overall, this episode probably isn't going to be anyone else's' "Best Dino Charge Episode" but man, for me personally? This simple glimpse into Tyler's' more negative aspects lead to alot of enjoyment and, ironically, actually gave me more to like about Tyler's' character. Is it perfect? Not by a long shot, but it's alot of fun, and that's equally, if not even more important.

After-Show Bonus

If you're a fan of Dino Charge, and you want a good look into the production of the show as well as other various bits of trivia about it, I highly recommend checking out the official YouTube channel of Brennan Mejia, the actor for Tyler. He's been doing his own breakdowns of each episode and I find them really interesting to watch!

You can listen to a live watch/reaction of this episode by me and Name HERE.

If there’s one thing I take away from this episode, it’s “Let us make the face of ducks”.

I also have to wonder how they thought a colourful monster with huge collar was decided as “the stealth expert monster” by the production team. (Yeah he has smoke powers, but they seem more like a random power than a motif defining power.

"Hello fellow kids!"

Considering the context of the episode, I think that was intentional; Part of the joke that they were going for. Remember, his power is actually what gets them discovered in the first place, and considering his power is farting out literal smoke clouds, I'd say yeah, it's more just an intentional bit of ironic humor and hammering in how incompetent Sledge is.

Mega Force

Pre-Show Preamble

Yes, you read that right. I like Mega Force more than Dino Charge. It has better villains, more memorable characters(even if they are more basic), and is all around just alot more fun for me to watch.

One thing Mega Force is often criticized for is, due to taking a show that was originally 50 episodes and cutting it down to 20, the Rangers get new power-ups "every episode." Which, while yes, they do get them quite often, it is not infact, "every" episode. Also "power-ups" is technically incorrect since it's mainly new Zords, but I digress.

But here's the thing... even if it were every episode, I actually supported what Mega Force was doing in that aspect. Because to me, it seemed like a simple but effective setup: New problem arises that requires a new life lesson being taught, the focus Ranger of the episode learns said lesson, a new toy is rewarded, and the day is saved. This is in no way a bad set up in my eyes. It not only introduces something new and cool every week, but has our characters continue to grow as people all throughout the season.

I've found that alot of the aspects I like most in Mega Force are mainly thanks to writer James W. Bates, who, based on what I've read, had a very different vision for the show as a whole back when it was originally just going to focus on adapting Goseiger. After Gokaiger was thrown in and alot of other behind-the-scenes shenanigans though, he was relegated to handing only a handful of aspects on the show. The most notable of which being Robo Knight.

Jake might be my personal favorite of the crew, but there's no denying that the character that went through the absolute most growth is Robo Knight, and that's who we're focusing on today with today's' episode.

Episode 18: The Human Condition

Despite James W. Bates being the one in charge of everything Robo Knight, this episode was actually written by David McDermott; Bates serves as the editor.

We start off with a scene of Malkor emerging from his cocoon, reinvigorated and ready to lay waste to the Rangers with his newfound power.

Meanwhile, the real star of this episode, Robo Knight, decides to go people watching at the park, in an attempt to better understand humans. What proceeds is a pretty humorous string of events where Robo Knight asks each Ranger about specific aspects of humanity. He asks Troy(who is doing karate in the park for no reason) why humans cry, and Troy gives a simple "idk ask my bff emma." When Emma says that tears and comfort can be born of love, Robo Knight totally ditches her mid-sentence to ask Gia about love(first to reference Haddaway loses). Gia sarcastically remarks that Robo Knight should ask Jake, which results in my favorite line/scene in the whole season:


Again, just like the line from Vekar in Super, I was out and out dead when I first heard that.

Quick side tangent here: You guys ever notice that everyone in this show totally hates Jake for no reason? Like even in this episode everyone totally rags on the guy with very little provocation. This is apparently leftovers from Bates' original concept, where he wanted Jake to be someone super self-interested to the point of wanting to market himself and make money off of being a superhero, thus leading to the rest of the team working on knocking him down a peg.

Did I mention that this episode is really funny yet? Because it is. When Robo Knight reaches Noah, Noah mentions that human psychology is something people have written about for hundreds of years, so it's not like--aaannd Robo Knight is out the door and off to read every book at the local library.

I like the touch of everyone being afraid of Robo Knight too. It makes sense considering all of the recent robot attacks by Vrak, ontop of the Robo-Racism we see come SPD's' time.


Another aspect I've always really liked, both in this season and in SMF, is the villains, despite their silliness, being portrayed as a powerful and oppressive force. It's a fine balance that not many seem to be able to pull off effectively. Dino Charge certainly didn't, atleast. But, Mega Force managed to do it and kept up the momentum, even with two show's' worth of stock footage to sift through. The attack by Malkor is properly bombastic and intense, and he manages to beat the team down with little effort.

Also shout outs to another simplistic yet pretty effective plan: Just ramming the spaceship directly into the city, since they know the ship can take it. Everything else though? Not so much.

But all of that's not really important though, because meanwhile, Robo Knight bonds with a kid over music!


I joke but it actually is a pretty sweet scene, and I just can't help but get a laugh and love the implication that Robo Knight and this kid are just totally oblivious to literally everything going on right outside. City being vaporized? Eh, we got sick tunes to listen to!


This episode is also the debut of the Ultra Gosei Great Megazord, whose origin is a simple matter of throwing out literally everything the team has at that point. And hey, it works! Malkor is defeated, Robo Knight learns more about life and passion, and the Earth is safe for another day.

Like I've said about the SMF episode I've covered, is this a perfect episode by any stretch? No, but it has enough going for it that I ended up enjoying it overall, and it served as yet another great step in Robo Knight's' arc. Special shout out to the similarly named yet totally different episode "The Human Factor." Another one I rather like!

Oh yeah, and Robo Knight raps at the end. You groan, but he has legit better rhymes than I do.


If you want some insight on the show that could have been, I recommend reading this article. It makes me really wish that we had gotten a Goseiger adaptation headed by Bates as a celebration of the 20th year of Power Rangers, and a separate Gokaiger adaptation as a celebration of the 20th series/entry of Power Rangers.

Y'know this is probably never going to happen considering Megaforce reputation but I think a Boom Studio Megaforce Comic with James W. Bates serving as head writer would imo solve all of the show problems. Gives more time with the characters and actually seeing thier original story arcs and personality. Explaning all of the powers in the show ESPECIALLY the Pre-Zyu teams. And the overall not having to shove 100 episodes worth of Sentai footage in only 40 episodes. Or Tzachor breathing down his neck wanting more fight scenes over anything else.

Sorry about that long tangent I just REALLY am dissapointed in this show. It was the one that made me stop watching PR

That would be an absolute dream come true. It sadly won't ever happen, but if it did? Oh you better believe I'd be first in line to buy it. So glad that Saban and BOOM brought us the comics.

At the very least, some of the Pre-Zyu teams have been getting expanded upon in said comics. Rather liked the look into Supersonic, brief as it was.

Still disappointed that they chose original designs for the Omega Rangers rather than using the Dairanger suits though.

Don't be! Though it is a shame you dropped off at this point. Should you ever feel like getting into things again, Ninja Steel is a season I felt was a nice improvement, even if almost everyone else seems to not like it much, haha.

You can listen to me and Name watch these episodes live HERE.

Mystic Force

Pre-Show Preamble

To make a comparison to the Toku franchise my friend loves most, Mystic Force is very much the Faiz of the Power Rangers franchise to me.

What I mean by that is, with Faiz, I really dug the first two acts, but then the third act hit and, well, let's just say I wasn't much of a fan. With Mystic Force it's the same way. I really like the first two thirds of the show, but then good ol' Disney higher-ups came in and cut the episode count down from it's originally planned 40 to 32 at the last minute, resulting in some very rushed pacing among other issues the last act has. "The Light" is the episode where things start to roll downhill, unfortunately.

Despite that though, I always look at Mystic Force fondly. The effects, for the time, were pretty good and creative; Something sort of required in a magic-focused season. The sets and costumes, while not as out and out amazing as the ones in SPD, were still dynamic and nice to look at. And, my issues with how some characters turn out aside, the dynamic and interactions between said characters were all done rather well!

And in today's episode that's what we'll be primarily focusing on. Character relations and interactions, mainly between what I consider the two of the Best Trio that Mystic Force has to offer: Chip and Vida. (If you're curious, the third of the Best Trio is Koragg.)

The friendship between Chip and Vida is one that I appreciated for alot of reasons. First off, they remain completely platonic throughout the entirety of the show's' run, something not often seen in media, which typically force relationships between men and women because hey, they can't just simply be friends! Second, both characters in and of themselves are extremely likeable. Chip with his goofy but good-hearted personality, which plays off perfectly against Vida's' more rebellious but still caring level-headed demeanor.

Heck, Vida actually was my favorite Pink Ranger until Ranger Slayer happened, and Chip is easily my second favorite Yellow Ranger. And that's why whenever I think of Mystic Force, the following episode is always the one that pops into my head:

Episodes 8+9: Stranger Within

Okay yeah, I am technically cheating with this one since it's a two parter, so if you think it shouldn't count, then go watch the third episode, "Code Busters" instead, since it lays down alot of groundwork for this two-parter and is the episode that got me hooked into the show.

Also quick and fun side bit before we get into the plot, Mystic Force's' theme song has always been controversial, so as we were loading up the first episode, the following conversation happened between my bud and I:

Me: Oh man I can't wait for you to hear this theme song.

Him: Well SPD's' was really good so yeah man this should be a blast.

*the first few notes of the song play*

Him: Oh yeah this is pretty goo-

Song: HERE COME THE POWER RANGERS!

Him: *sits in stunned silence for the remainder of the song.*

Hahahaha, love it. Me personally? I like the theme song! Is it out of place in a Harry Potter inspired show? Yeah, but the song itself is catchy, and I still find myself humming it every now and then to this day.

What's the set-up? Leelee invites Nick, Xander, and Vida to see a new talent in town, DJ Fly, whos's apparently the hottest new thing. Nick, being an abrasive douche like always, tells Leelee to buzz off, and that they're busy. But Vida, being a DJ herself, is interested, and opts to go anyway, despite her obligations as a Power Ranger.

The next day, Vida is notably more abrasive and aggressive than usual, showing off a new pose, and even going so far as to take on a group of Hidiacs herself. Everyone is impressed except for Chip, who notices that something is really wrong with this entire situation.

Koragg then shows up, and one thing that's always great about Koragg, other than just being a really cool character in general, is that the fight scenes involving him are always the best in the show with cool spells, great choreography, and I mean really, who doesn't love a good Anti-Paladin?

The fight is cut short though when the light of the sun causes Vi to collapse. Thankfully, the Rangers are able to put two and two together enough to realize something must've happened at the party.


Remember how I criticized Overdrive for having Dax be the first one to have suspicions about Mack's' photo? Well in this situation, having Chip be the first one to notice something is off makes sense, because it falls perfectly in line with his quirks rather than despite them. He's the one who puts together that Vi has been turned into a vampire thanks to him being part of a vampire hunting club, because really why wouldn't the dude who runs around playing superhero with glee be a part of one? And him being the first to notice how different Vi is helps to further highlight the close bond that the two actually have.

When Chip and Vi go to investigate DJ Fly, I like how Chip is able to resist the hypnotic song by pointing out he thinks Vi's' music is better, and I also like how without out and out saying it, the show, well, shows us that it's not the song that turns people into vampires, but rather hypnotizes them, thus leaving them open for Necrolai or Flytrap to bite and turn. Also Flytrap(the monster) sucks blood from the victims. Gross, but in the best way. Chip tries, but ultimately fails in rescuing the people at the party.


Afterward, we get one of my favorite scenes in the season, which goes into Vi and Chip's' backstory a bit, and Vida telling Chip that, if it comes between her and everyone else, Chip should choose everyone else. Chip isn't down with that idea, and proclaims he'll fight for his friends until his last breath. It's really touching, and is probably the scene that cemented these two as part of my favorite Trio from the season. (Koragg had been decided beforehand.)

When it comes to the rest of the team, I like how Madison's' interest in film-making and video recording comes in great use here, as Vi not showing up on video gets the team to believe Chip about Vi being a vampire. And it's another point to how I never understood why fans claim Madison never gets to do anything. Does she have less focus than the others? Yes, but that's not to say she has none. She has alot of standout moments through the show, and I feel that this is one of them.

The fight at the end is really cool, and can I take this time to mention just how cool the Titan Megazord is? Because man it's an awesome design, and all the cool stuff that it gets to do really helps to sell it too. In this fight alone we have the spell that shoots out a flurry of blades at Flytrap.

In the end of Part 1, it's revealed that Vi isn't cured, due to her not being able to cross a circle made of Vampire Chalk. I love the subtle foreshadowing with Leelee done here, with her backing off the second Chip whips the chalk out.

Part 2 starts off really strong. As soon as the team figures out that Nick is able to contact Koragg the same way Koragg has been calling to him, who's the first to rush off? Chip. And I love the funny little turnaround of Claire actually being the one to keep Vida contained, and it's high-and-mighty Xander who falls for Vi's' trick to get out of the chalk circle.


Udonna had great foresight as a mentor, gathering up the ingredients for the Dawn Crystal upon realizing Necrolai had turned Vi. And another great Madison moment here; Even though she's doing her best to hold it together, you can tell this whole situation is really getting to her, considering Vi is her sister and all. She even tears up. Props to Melanie Vallejo for being able to pull that off! Chip opts to stay behind and forge the crystal while everyone else hunts for Vi and Necrolai. And you can tell while he's mixing that he loves this stuff, haha.

When Vida arrives the next day without a scratch, yet again, who's the first to recognize something is off? Chip. Without being blatant about it, Chip shows visible confusion about Vi very clearly not recognizing the pose he does. Man I love that posing is a legitimate plot point in a Toku show!

Also acid apples. That's surprisingly hardcore.

When Necrolai appears and the fight breaks out, Chip goes after Necrolai himself while the rest of the team tries their best to detain a possessed Vida. I love the change-up in Vida's' usual fighting style here, with her using her staff more like an axe, rather than throwing around tornado spells like how she normally does.


Once the Dawn Crystal is prepped, Necrolai opts to use Vida as a shield, presenting Chip with a cruel choice: Either fire, taking down Necrolai, but also likely killing his best friend in the process, or hold off, leaving Necrolai and Vi to wreck havoc. I've made it known that I'm a huge sucker for Power of Friendship moments, especially when they're out and out earned, and Mystic Force most certainly earns its moment here. Chip's' belief in Vida manages to break her free of Necrolai's' hypnosis long enough for the team to put Necrolai down, and even unlock an awesome new finisher for the Titan Megazord!

The episode ends with a great hook for future episodes, that being the connection between Leelee and Necrolai.

Overall, many fans point to Dark Wish as being the best multi-parter in the show, but for me? Stranger Within has it all. Great action, good acting, an engaging plot, and wonderful character dynamics. It's a perfect example of almost everything the season has to offer, and I love it.

After-Show Bonus

If you're not really a fan of Mystic Force's' theme song, Ron Wasserman actually made a song for the show himself which is alot better, but got rejected due to Disney really wanting a rap song because hey, the kids, they listen to the rap music. Check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK1MC36SthI

This is one two-parter that stood out to me when I first watched it. I liked the idea of a main hero turning into a monster. (So much that I kind of ripped off this episode for my own fanfiction, wherein the monster for the chapter was a bat woman accompanied by a rapping fly, who were turning denizens of their club into monsters to drain their energy. Though I did salvage the basic inspiration for a later arc that was more original).

One hing someone pointed out: the Rangers fight a wolfman, a vampire and a cyborg on a regular basis, but Vi being a vampire is apparently too ridiculous to be real?

Well keep in mind that the only Vampire they'd had to deal with up to now was a literal half-bat half-woman, and not a Vampire in the more traditional sense like what Vi was turned into. Like, yeah, it shouldn't exactly be out of their realm of possibility, but considering they hadn't actually seen one up to that point, and probably not wanting to cast any suspicion onto a friend they hold dear, I think their initial disbelief is believable enough.

Also that fanfic scenario of yours sounds like alot of fun.