[CookSux]

01

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Originally Posted by ljacone

Well, just because we are not shown something doesn't mean it doesn't happen; Lightspeed's entire mission is dedicated to stopping these demons should they escape, hence it is reasonable to assume that they had some sort of sensing devices located at the tomb.

That's fair to say... except I'm a firm believer of the "if it didn't happen on screen, it didn't happen at all" mantra. There could have been an alarm system of some kind, but you'd think that they would move the wizard's body, or even the tomb into... a lake?

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Except that Mariner Bay is "their" city, so that's where they want to go. Egypt doesn't hold anything that the demons want.

True... but it's still a long journey. Why not stretch your muscles a bit and cause some damage. I was just pointing out how odd it was that the two locales were so far apart. Mariner Bay is in California... if they wanted these demons in a tomb, just throw them into Nevada.

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While I understand your line of reasoning here, we still need to have some exposition and start getting to know the characters. Also remember that theoretically they could turn down the assignment and leave, hence they need a briefing. Admittedly this scene is for the audience and not for the narrative, but I suspect that if we'd jumped straight into the fight without meeting the characters then folks would be complaining about that.

I totally understand the need for this scene. I was just complaining about how an organization built on fighting these monsters (and even developing technology to battle them) doesn't do anything but just let 5 people do all the work. They seriously could have sent out firefighters, paramedics, etc to do something... instead of just watching downed civilians and taking their sweet ass time.

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For the same reason that every single technology based super sentai and Power Rangers team didn't do it -- because that's how the story works. It's part and parcel of the genre as one of it's generic identifiers. That's like asking why a good guy wears a white hat in a Western.

Bah, I'm aware of the trope... I'm just sputtering whatever is on my brain. If I was a writer on the show, I would have figured something else out to prevent people from asking the very same questions that I ask.

02

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Originally Posted by ljacone

Eh, I see your point, but then we don't have a story.

It's a writer's job to make it work.

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This had been established in Lost Galaxy, where with few exceptions the team always wore the same outfits. Part of it was explained as several members of the team wearing uniforms. It's become a trope in it's own right.

Hmm space uniforms are one thing... but Kelsey wearing that training bra and yoga pants... Carter wearing the red shirt and blue jeans... it's kinda getting old (and a crappy cost-cutting procedure).

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This is true; but, this is also a kids show so we're probably not going to get too involved with this line of thought, yes? /DeathsHead

Bad joke :T

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Nope, he's gigantic all the time in Japan as well. It's his thing.

Good to know!

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This is a GoGoV thing which is carried over. In GoGoV they are the "Rescue Soldiers," so the preservation of human life is what is most important. So getting the people out of harm's way is the most efficient way for the series to show us this. As for the toss... yeah, pretty silly, but a better finisher is coming soon, heh.

Hmm in GoGoV did they do a better job showing the audience how they evacuate the civilians from the buildings that are getting smashed up? I swear there were like 6 skyrises and countless other structions that got pulverized by the time the 3 kids were saved. I also hope you're not talking about that spin kick move... cause that move is laaaame.

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You answered your own question, dude.

I did

03

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Originally Posted by ljacone

It's a training course; not every single piece of training that you do on the job translates 100% to your actual job functions. Clearly (from the fact that Mitchell is timing them and evaluating their performance enough to give them a score) this is an evaluation course moreso than a "Let's go learn how to be Power Rangers" exercise.

Fair assessment, but this is assuming that the organization isn't aware of their abilities. Something I can't believe considering their "extensive" bio for each member. Besides, I'd much rather watch people learn how to be Power Rangers than it being an automatic thing.

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This one I will agree with you on, it's never really explained to my satisfaction (until close to the very end) just where the heck the demon's palace is.

If it'll be revealed later down the road, I'll just ignore this for now.

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This scene is utilitarian more than anything else. It's certainly not elegant, that's for sure. But we get some more background on Carter and plant the seeds for future subplots (that's why the mask is coming off). Expecting subtlety out of a PR show from 2000 is a false expectation.

Haha, agreed... professionally I work in the entertainment industry so I have a keen knack of criticizing things that aren't up to snuff. I'm typically very forgiving for shows in this genre (otherwise I'd be long gone), but I'm just poking fun at things that I normally wouldn't care about. Seriously though, writing and production are still big deals... so expecting things to make sense is a big deal for me. It doesn't matter if the show is for a kid or an adult, or what era it was made.

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Different strokes for different folks, then. These Zords are about the only ones in this era that have any real character and do anything on their own other than "fly together and merge."

My memory is hazy, I'll have to get back with you on that... but you might have a point. The more I think about it, it does remind me of Daimos a bit though.

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The difference being that as a fireman you normally are carrying weaponry and not actively trying to hurt and/or kill monsters. Its a different sort of skill set and Carter has to learn to do what he does in the context of the fight against the demons. Like I said, it's an evaluation. Clearly Mitchell and Lightspeed know that Carter has the right skillset they want to be Red Ranger but he has to translate those into the ones specific for this task.

Perhaps, but that would nullify Mitchell's line at the end of the episode. I forget it off hand, but Mitchell began to fully believe in Carter now that he learned this lesson. The harming/killing monsters training is clearly an important exercise... but the concept of assessing the situation (which is what the entire episode was about) isn't about shooting bad guys. Putting out a fire or saving a kid has nothing to do with fighting demons. Thus as a story teller, the writer's intention was for us to see Carter just become aware of his surroundings. This is why I can't wrap my head around this episode... especially knowing that Carter was basically the best fireman on the force.

04

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Originally Posted by ljacone

Emphasis mine. Agreed about the boooootay. I imagine when the costume designer told Sasha Williams that she would be wearing spandex shorts for the entire run of the series, she started working on her glutes. Anyways, is the scene unrealistic? Yeah, but this is a series about a team of superpowered young adults fighting demons with spandex suits and giant robots; realism is not a goal. I always thought this scene was well choreographed and directed, personally.

Like I said, there are some things we can forgive... and some things that are just lazy. This was a lazy mistake. Don't get me wrong, the scene was fun... continuity-wise... it doesn't work. If the director or script supervisor knew what they were doing, they would have stayed consistent. At least choreograph the scene using a different camera angle to show the actual action. But since we know that this is an ultra-low budget show... they clearly don't care. I feel like they're just phoning it in most times.

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I know when this episode first aired, nearly the entire adult-aged PR community thought the same thing. It cannot be a coincidence, in my mind.

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Again it's a super sentai trope. Things have to have their full, lovingly shot introduction, especially things which are being made into toys by Bandai.

Yeah... but that's not entirely true. MMPR repeatedly reused the longer stock footage from Zyuranger when it came to DaiZyuJin's intro. Zyuranger took things on the fast track when they needed to. If the GoGoV episode took as much time during a shuttle crash, then I don't have anything to say. Either way, I'm just pointing out weird choices that Saban makes... not the original source material.