I like to think of Bridge as the S.P.D. version of Alan Alda's 'Hawkeye Pierce' character from M*A*S*H. Both break the mold of the stereotypical 'super serious hard ass' type so often found in their respective series', replacing it with a bit of eccentricity/comic relief that can still be reined in/turned off when the moment calls for it.

I've got no defense for the others though. :lol

Wait, Netflix has different available series depending on region?
I didn't know that...

Bridge is likeable for sure and with that explanation it makes sense but he feels a tad out of a place for me. But then, so does everyone else minus Sky.

Netflix UK is a pile of dogshit, I used to pay for a thingy that allowed me to use the US Netflix but then I realised it wasn't worth the money.

I just found out the Amazon lovefilm UK thing has all of Power Rangers and VR troopers. Guess who I just joined?

SPD...Shadow Ranger?

As really awesome as Cruger's return to action was - and it was ridiculously cool don't misunderstand - Shadow Ranger? Not only does Shadow Ranger sound like an evil Ranger (and he kind of looks like one as well) it is even weirder considering he is part of a real organisation. Yeah I heard there is a new squad of the police force know as the...Shadow Squad. Yeah no.

The other thing is they were going for a whole Samurai Warrior motif with his backstory and his sword and what have you and for the last time Power Rangers Samurai =/= Ninja.

I still remember that stupid comment in the Dino Thunder Ninja Storm cross over where they went on about a Ninjas 'honour'. What the hell Ninjas are you on about? Naruto? I get that extreme sports dudes aren't exactly real life Ninja but you aren't fooling anyone in trying to make Ninja's sound heroic, no matter what Japan say.

Also the Lovefilm streaming quality is CRAP. Apparently HD is 'not supported' on my internet, minus the fact I can use it everywhere else so I had to settle for SD quality and although for the most part it was actually pretty good obviously Power Rangers has a lot of motion and things happening on screen and what have you and by the first minute or so into a fight it was a pixelated nightmare.

Thankfully I got thirty days free.

I also used this opportunity to check out the opening Zeo story, it was really really bad and yet...actually kinda amazing. It says so much about MMPR that Zeo paints the villains from it as basically American Sitcom archetypes and almost completely ignores the actual characters appearances in doing so meaning no one really matches up properly. Was it always like this even in MMPR? I don't remember it being this bad.

Also when you compare this to say - Samurai or Megaforce it almost feels like Saban is trying, almost. It at least has a plot. And everyone seems to at least put some effort into their acting, even if they can't actually act.

I'm gonna do you a favor. US Netflix has pretty much anything Power Rangers up there. When I moved to Canada and saw how little TV shows are on Netflix up here I looked for a solution and found unblock US. IT's $5 a month and it's well spent. I have it set up so I can use my PS3 to watch stuff on my TV in HD and all I have to do it switch to region where the stuff I want is from their website. I am always switching between US/Canada/UK as they all have movies and shows that are exclusive to them. There no slowdown like with using a VPN. With this and Hulu I canceled cable a long time ago.


Also, you can go to a number of places where you can search what is available where. http://www.moreflicks.com/ is great but still new.

The name "Shadow Ranger" never bothered me, due to the dark coloring of the suit. I am surprised that it's the name that's bothering you, and not the fact that Doggie's head (specifically his snout) is able to fit into a helmet obviously designed to fit a human head.

Well come on this is Power Rangers if we wanna question the logistics of morphing we have a lot more questions than 'how does his head fit'.

did dekaranger adress the way doggys head fits in the helmet?

I think they at least brought it up but they still didn't answer it either.

Dekaranger brought it up as a joke.
It was responded by Doggie muttering and stammering then being saved from answering by the end credits.

Oh yeah talking about Zeo, the theme song is so GOOD. It's so so so terrible but so glorious in just how awful it is.

Back onto SPD, I really dunno how I feel about the reaction to the Shadow Ranger.

On the one hand I don't know whether it is intentional meta but it is a pretty funny critique of the series, as soon as the sixth ranger comes practically no one else is relevant again in the series until the Red gets his battlizer, despite the fact that the team was doing just fine before the sixth ranger turned up.

On the other hand though, this isn't a series about teenagers at a high school any more. Jack and Z have an excuse but why are the three trained officers so happy to roll over and let Kruger do the work? What assholes.

Also why do they call him Shadow Ranger? He has a name.

"I think we'll move to New Zealand, no one will find us there!"

Wait they call him Shadow Ranger? I haven't seen SPD in years so i don't remember.

Even Kruger does it so he sounds like he is talking about himself in the third person.

I think it's a sign of authority or something, though it doesn't make any sense why he would call himself that.

I guess they just wanted to say Shadow Ranger until it didn't sound dumb any more.

It actually was a mild critique on the series, since most shows introduce the 6th ranger as a god mode unstoppable beast until they get that "Humbling" moment where they lose a fight or drastically need the other 5 rangers' help.

However, I felt Dekaranger did it better. In Dekaranger, the rangers still fought and did their jobs, but they were battling with the knowledge that, if an enemy is too tough, Doggie can bail them out and handle it for them, instead of trying to overcome it themselves.
(And no, I'm not trying to pull a 'Sentai is better than PR' thing you hate. I just felt they handled this particular story line better on the Sentai side of things)

I want to like the series because I enjoy the setting, the fights and the stories but the central cast just don't do it for me at all.

They bother to make SPD feel like a real organisation and try their hardest with their budget to build the world convincingly but then give us five Rangers who seemed to have strolled out of another series entirely and it just really doesn't work for me and is the only thing that is holding me back from enjoying the series.

And even if I do warm to the characters that doesn't change that none of them fit. Why is Jack red? Why is Z on the team at all? Why are none of the trained officers actually like trained officers at all until the show specifically calls for them to be?

I thought when it focused on the backstory for the powers this would all make sense but nope, these really are just five of the most unlikeable characters in Power Rangers history.

That and the show utterly fails at blending the sentai footage and new footage together in any convincing fashion.

Man the proportions of the SPD base are confusing.

I'm up to episode 5 of Jungle Fury. My thoughts so far:

*How does Theo grow taller when he morphs?
*Poor Fran—having to deal with the children from the black lagoon all by herself.
*R.J. is stoned. He's also better than Gou.
*Why was R.J. rqndomly dancing in episode 5?
*I am do glad that knuckle-popping sound is gone in the Jungle Pride Megazord combination sequence; I always found it disturbing and grotesque.

Episode 6's description provided by Netflix reads, "The friendship between Theo and Lily is tested by the Yellow Ranger's budding platonic relationship with Casey." Sounds… steamy. Things are 'bout to get hot in this joint.

(… I am so sorry for the previous two sentences.)

After like, 2 weeks of procrastinating it, I finally started up Wild Force.
Now then. Is it as bad as everyone says or is everyone on the internet too chicken to watch it themselves to form their own opinion on it?
Let's find out!

I only got through the first handful of episodes before I had to give up.

The actual opening story isn't that bad but I didn't like the core characters and it felt really censored in places in others it was just kinda dumb.

That's fine.
Unless the show is truly horrible, I think I'll be able to watch it start to finish.

"Sorry we had to kidnap you."
Greatest line ever, by the way :lol

So SPD made an episode about racism using robots? Oh my, how original.

To be fair though it was pretty epic that the whole base turned into a Mega...Megazord, that thing was an absolute beast, even if it's so unconvincing as an actual building no matter how hard they tried.

"Nice suits!"

And that's episode 1, down.

Meh. The acting could use work, but damn near every PR series starts off with actors that need work.
The fights were okay, I liked them showcasing their abilities that they'd never use again.

I really hate it when the MOTW get voices. Those are probably the most annoying characters...

I LOVE when MOTW get voices and get dialogue. But this is related to the old school PR shows when it was the exception that they did not talk.

Eh. I'm not a fan.

Anyway, two episodes down.
It is not going well.

I do hope things improve by the episode 10 mark.

Just powered through the first 10 episodes of Ninja Storm and I'm enjoying it. I only caught random episodes back when this was airing. Gonna rewatch Dino Thunder next. Any suggestions after that? Was thinking RPM or Samurai.

Samurai is awful.

RPM is among Power Rangers best with Time Force and Jungle Fury.

Yeah. Samurai is pretty bad. I only watched, like, 5 episodes of it's 40 episode run, so I'm unsure if it improves, but yeah...

RPM is pretty cool, though.

But you should totally watch Turbo.

Oh yeah also, Dino Thunder is 100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 percent overrated. The first quarter of the show is fantastic but then it all falls apart and it's only more painful because it establishes some great things in that first quarter.

Speaking of which, I just finished the Master Phant episode. Some additional thoughts on the series:

*That Battilizer looks incredibly painful.
*Episode 6 was hilarious (mainly because I kept imagining everything they said was hidden innuendo).
*Dai Shi's costume is better than Rio's in some ways (the shoulders and covering of the armpits) and worse in others (the thin armoring of the arms). Also, he cannot do the Rio cape flare.
*I like Theo.

Now, onto the infamous kite episode!

I love how the episode about the kite is a bit of cloth in the sentai footage. The fuck was Kalish doing?

Master Phant is so fucking cool.

Been watching like an episode of Turbo a week since I only saw the last few episodes of that series as as kid. I just thought Samurai has cool designs, or rather they borrow cool designs, so maybe it would be okay. I know that is flawed logic lol. I think it was the first one in HD too.



Yeah? I remember seeing the premiere and I thought that it was cool since Tommy was back and they connected the series but only saw maybe 10 episodes total.

The only legitimate cool characters in Samurai are the Green Ranger and Antonio, Antonio's one of my favorite rangers THAT'S how cool he is too me.

Just finished up the Master Fin episode. Some additional thoughts:

*Master Swoop is awesome.

*Casey was a bit of a jerk in the kite episode. Seriously, you could have been so much nicer to Josh.

*Am I the only one who thought that R.J. smoked about 10 joints in the Master Fin episode when Lily and Theo found him on his chair?

*I really like the relationship between Master Fin and R.J.; it reminds me of the one between myself and my dad.

*Have I mentioned how awesome R.J. is? Because R.J. is a magnificent example of a Power Rangers character, and superior to Gou.

Now to the first episodes of Jungle Fury I ever watched; the Spirit Masters arc!

Since you don't wanna read a dissertation on it here is my general feelings about the show without going into specific details.

I just don't think the show...cared about itself.

Power Rangers viewership was allegedly in huge decline and Tommy came back for a favour, lucky for them DINOSAURS which means Power Rangers nostalgia...yeah!

And at first, it genuinely seems they are trying to make something with their show and refusing to fall back on that safety blanket but once the interesting aspects are established it's like they then realised what they knw all along..."hey but NOSTALGIA even if we make the biggest pile of shit we have Tommy and Dino Rangers and everyone will love this show, so why are we even trying, again?"

And thus the end of anything interesting or with depth as the show just seems to take random stories and chucks in sentai footage whether it fits or not, taking everything else and flattening it to cardboard cut out versions.

Well, I finished the Spirit Master arc. Some additional thoughts:

*What if one of the Rangers was afraid of death? Or God? Or something controversial?

*My dad watched bits of the episode with me, and the only thing that bothered him in the final fight scene (aside from the fact that it was a "mindless fight scene") was where the Rangers were getting the fuel for the jets on the Jungle Master Mode suits. I told him to stop questioning the physics of a universe where you can breathe on the Moon.

Now... off to bed.

No, PR makes more sense than one episode of Akibaranger :lol

So I just got to the Boom centred episode of SPD and it was...pretty awful I have to say.

That being said Orange is my favourite colour so we need a real orange Ranger already!

So they just started phoning it in? I guess I can see that happening.