[DreamSword]

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

also known as "Micro-Dick Tyler"

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.

Now kiss!

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.