Do you think my boy Sky would ever make that mistake? Of course not. Clearly Krueger made an exception.

"With the truest sword in the Galaxy I will right all wrongs."

It's a great line. Also, 1 minute 34 seconds.

Thanks for timing it. So good.

Episode 13: Abandoned

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0r3q5ElXkg

This one was... alright.

Like, I get the general idea here: The team is getting complacent and needs to realize that if they start to slack, their mission of defending Earth is doomed.

More specifically it's about not over-relying on the Shadow Ranger to carry all the weight, and reinforcing that as a team, the Rangers can accomplish many great things, just as they always have.

I just don't think the execution was the best, especially given that the overall plot of this episode features something that features a surprising bit of continuity with two past seasons: Lightspeed Rescue and Ninja Storm. More specifically that The Abyss comes into play.

And heck, you could easily write an entire episode centered around that! It's the first time that magic has come into play in SPD's' setting, and the continuity inherent in "The Evil's'" existence is ripe with crossover material, even if it'd have to be more subtle or minor stuff like what we'd end up seeing in Disney seasons beyond this one.

Even ignoring that though, I feel like the overall message would've been alot better had the monster of the week just been a rather average criminal that the team needed to deal with, rather than a superpowered unique beast. Then Cruger would've been even more justified in his refusal to contribute to the case. With how things are, one could very much argue that he was being reckless in risking total annihilation over something relatively petty.

But for what it's worth, the message itself is fine, and many of the usual things that tend to make help make an average episode of SPD work is still here; Namely the way everyone plays off eachother. I just felt like this should've been two separate episodes, mainly. One about The Abyss and the other about taking things for granted. It's not a particularly great episode of the show, but it's not anything horrendous either. I overall just kinda shrug at this one.

Yeah, this is one of those episodes they adapted wholesale from the Sentai equivalent to fill a slot. The main differences being that the rock is more apocalyptic (it’s only power in Dekaranger was to make the vampire immune to sunlight), there wasn’t a kooky old green guy (the line about him planning to move to Zealand is one it took me years to get) and there’s a gag scene before the credits where the question of how Kruger’s nose fits inside the DekaMaster suit is raised.

And said episode had, in one of the blatant examples of every alien’s name being a pop culture reference, the vampire alien be called Ferley from the planet Kristoff.

Of course, but the PR haters probably don't remember them.

For sure. Bennett was a coward for closing the door on this.

Yeah, Kat's great, I actually prefer her to her Sentai counterpart. While Doggie is a wise mentor, he's still fallible and when he pulls rank to dismiss the valid concerns of his Rangers, it's good that Kat is around to be the firm voice of reason whenever he needs scolding.

I got the reference!

Even Gruumm knows firsthand, or rather firsthorn, that Doggie is a formidable enemy. Doggie becoming a Ranger almost seems like overkill and yeah, his debut as Shadow Ranger is awesome, showing off his strength, skill and cunning all at once!

I always saw him as a Black Ranger due to the dominant color of his suit and Morpher and since I really didn't know what to call that other color, but you're right that he stands out for his unconventional design, along with another Ranger appearing later in this show. It's a cool and intimidating suit for sure! While his Sentai counterpart isn't officially a Sixth, I think it's fair to count Shadow Ranger, since PR is more inclusive about such classifications and I recall Disney did plan for him as a Sixth before they found out about the other guy.

They should've kept it that way. Would've improved my enjoyment of the episode, I think.

I'm glad someone did, haha!

Episodes 14+15: Wired

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtKuwsQk-6k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG6BS1jg7Yg

I've already talked about this two-parter pretty extensively for a separate project, so rather than repeat a bunch of stuff I've already said, I'll just try to highlight what few things I neglected to bring up in that old review. Be warned though, that old review has a few minor spoilers for future episodes.

Firstly, this is the fourth time that Jack uses his civilian power. And speaking of those powers, man, Bridge's' power just gets more and more OP the further in we get. He can read your emotions, he can see your memories, and in these episodes, it's shown that he can even get brief flashes of the nearby future. Bridge is cracked, man.

Second, this episode continues the trend of SPD being good at interweaving stock footage. It's especially notable here though, because they even went through the effort of having the lighting of some of the original footage match the Sentai stuff. Especially that shot of Shadow Ranger catching the card.

Third, they reused the food materializer from Power Rangers in Space here! Probably unintentional, but it's still a neat callback to that season. The same prop and all, too.

And last, Name and I recorded a podcast where we watch the episode live. Check that out if you want some other scattered thoughts.

This is my favorite pair of episodes this season, and there's so many reasons why.

The downside of that would be even more pathetic to see the Rangers begging Doggie to help them defeat an average criminal. It's not like Doggie's inaction here is malicious or anything, he believes in his Rangers and wants them to believe in themselves so they can handle the mission when he's not around. I think this is a good mentor move and I respect how he pretends like he's not there, like a shadow I guess you could say, as he waits for them to reach the conclusion on their own. After all, he's not the leader, Jack is, so he doesn't want to intervene unless necessary.

SPD can easily explain this with Morphin' Grid universal dimension-bending properties, which is convenient since SPD-Doggie's nose is a lot longer than Deka-Doggie's.

Any episode that carefully deals with prejudice is a good thing to have. It's the kind of thing that kids should learn early. Honestly, if RIC gets a pass, then so should Sophie, but of course the contradiction is the whole point, as bigotry doesn't make sense anyway. That's why people need to think about their ideals to determine if they're outdated and need to change.

Oh and Delta Command Megazord is cool! Sucks for anybody inside who has to suddenly move though.

Sure, but on the other hand, it being an average criminal would help sell the idea that the team is slacking on their input.

Indeed. And it's why I never understood the complaints later seasons got about a given human actor not being the same height as a suit actor. Guess we all already forgot about Cruger here as well as Justin from Turbo, huh?

Absolutely agree. I think the writers did a good job with this one wherein the general idea is upfront enough for kids, yet subtle enough for adults to pick up on real world parallels.

Makes me wonder if that got added to the contract at some point. "Must be willing to have room shift around at a moment's' notice." Haha.

Episode 16: Boom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gIYO1ahUU8

Kelson Henderson is a treasure.

While this technically wasn't the first season of Power Rangers he was in(that would be Dino Thunder), SPD is what put him on the map.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that every character he's played, both since and including Boom, has been a big fan favorite. Kelson's' comedic stylings are always a delight, and Boom was the first role where he really got to show it off.

And yet, it's kinda funny in hindsight, because up to now he's kinda barely been in the show? Don't get me wrong, he's certainly been around, but it's been an average of like one scene per episode, if that. Which, in my opinion, make it all the cooler that they decided to dedicate an entire episode to the guy.

This episode details the antics that come from a lie Boom told his parents: That he is, infact, the Orange SPD Ranger and leader of the team. As said during the premiere, Boom in reality flunked out of Cadet Training, and hard. But he managed to find work regardless by being the Chief Gadget Tester as well as Kat's' assistant around the lab.

Now, it might not be what the episode itself was going for, but the angle in itself not only makes for some decent wacky hijinks, but also as a but of a keen response to certain bits of the tokusatsu fandom at large. Because, see, there are a surprising amount of people who feel that if a character isn't a Power Ranger, or a Kamen Rider, or an Ultra, then they're frankly, worthless. And this episode's' story goes completely against that idea.

Sure, Boom isn't a Ranger. Heck, he can't even put up much of a fight. But he still knows his way around machines, is a great guy at heart, and is always willing to help where he can. He did help Bridge upgrade RIC, afterall(heck, RIC turns into a bike in this one)! And even if none of that were true, he's still a great friend to all of B-Squad and a valued member of the team. His occupation and position within the SPD Organization is one to be proud of, not ashamed. And in the end, his parents love him regardless.

It's why I really can't agree with the people who say that Boom should've become the official Sixth Ranger in SPD; because doing that would go entirely against everything presented in this episode. It's a bit harsh, but there are some things people just can't do. Boom can't be a Power Ranger, and he learns to fully accept that by the end of this. I get the dissatisfaction that some had with who the show's' actual Sixth ends up being, but I really don't find making him Boom to be the wise alternative. But, that's getting off topic, so we'll save more of that discussion later down the line.

In the end, this is a fun episode that helped Henderson become a regular when it came to the Power Rangers franchise as a whole, and I honestly couldn't be happier with it.

Oh, and Morgana is fully a thing now. But more on her in a later episode.