[DreamSword]

FINAL THOUGHTS ON POWER RANGERS SPD

Have you ever seen a TV show where, as soon as you tuned into it, it felt like it just clicked with you immediately?

Power Rangers SPD was one such show for me.

SPD aired when I was 12 years old; A very tough time in my life. And this show, with all of the elements it had that seemed tailor mode to appeal to me directly, gave me something to look forward to at the end of each day.

I've always been a Power Rangers fan, that much can be assured. But something about the way Space Patrol Delta presented itself; with its high intensity action, its almost film-like direction, engrossing atmosphere, and its very genuine devotion to character development and drama made me feel that this show was something special.

Make no mistake, I'm not saying that all the other PR shows prior didn't have any of these elements, but none were quite like this. PRSPD was, first and foremost, a cop drama for kids. The closest thing I could even think of to ever attempt for such a thing was Filmore, but that was allegory. This was literal.

But it's not like the show is all moody seriousness all the time, like what some viewers claim they want out of the franchise. No, there was a surprisingly great balance of comedy too. SPD had no less than three comic relief characters who not only balanced the overall mood out but never felt like they were in the way. And their likability was only further enhanced by them both being genuinely funny as well as getting their own well thought out arcs.

It's the sort of show where I genuinely feel as though everyone involved was giving it their all. Not just in terms of writing, either. Every actor plays their part perfectly: From Bridge's' wacky antics to Sky's' more somber drama, no one feels like they're phoning it in. And that's not even getting into the incredible amount of effort that Greg Aronowitz put into the show's' world building, which I feel might be one of, if not the best example of it in the franchise. New Tech City feels like a very distinct place that you could actually go to, aliens and all.

Is it absolutely perfect? No. There are some plot bits that I felt could've been handled a bit better, and while the characters are overall handled very well, even I'll admit that there's a few areas that could've been improved on if not outright shifted in terms of focus. While the easy pick for this sort of thing is Sam, and sure, more screen time with him would've been nice, one particular example that I've never seen talked about is Z, who only has a grand total of one two-parter to her name, which is shared with Sam. Like, "Who's Madison?" is a derogatory meme aimed at Mystic Force, but Madison atleast had two whole episodes devoted entirely to her. Z has no such luxury. Where's the "Who's Z?" meme?

None of that really matters though because again, I am totally in love with this show. Any flaws that I could point out really do not hinder my overall experience in the slightest. Sure, I wasn't wild about the SWAT two-parter, but man, that's such a small drop in the bucket compared to how SPD continuously managed to deliver banger after banger in terms of episode quality. Even now on rewatch, the tale of B-Squad felt like an actual reward for getting through my average day of work. And on the especially killer days, it felt even sweeter. It was such a wonderful reminder of so many things that I love about not just this season specifically, but the Power Rangers franchise as a whole.

If you were looking for an at all "objective" analysis of this tokusatsu, then I'm very happy to say that it's not. The point of this thread was to showcase my love, not my derision. And I can only hope that even a fraction of the passion that I have for both SPD and the parent franchise that it comes through at all reached you. So long as that was achieved, then it really doesn't matter to me whether or not one loves this show as much as I do or not.

In the end, I give Power Rangers SPD a very, very strong 5/6. It's not absolutely perfect, but it is plenty perfect for me, and I don't think that will ever change. Nor would I hope it to.

============

With that out of the way, it's time for some tallies. You might've noticed that I've been keeping track of certain aspects of SPD due to various misconceptions that have cropped up around the show over the years. As such, I am going to address said misconceptions here on now.

1. Jack only uses his civilian power once in the entire show!

Not true. Jack uses his power to phase through objects a grand total of five times throughout the season, with the last time being Episode 18: Samurai.

2. All of the action scenes are nothing but giant fireball explosions!

Again, no. There are a total of six episodes where fireballs are made prominent, and most of those are ones focused around the acquisition of new vehicles, and the other two being during giant, climactic fights. Yes, the fireballs do still exist in other action scenes, but they're more often than not very one-and-done. The usual Sentai Sparks can still be found all over the show. And ontop of that, SPD isn't what started increasing their usage: Dino Thunder did that.

3. Sam gets literally no focus or character development!

Even if you tried to make the claim that the "Sam" two-parter doesn't count for some reason, Sam does still have his moments. He's a boy who wanted to grow up wanting to encapsulate what he felt were the best qualities of the heroes he admired, with the unfortunate circumstance of his future becoming an apocalypse meaning that he had to fly solo alot, and thus needed to learn the value of teamwork when he traveled back to the past. Yes, he does get less focus than everyone else, but to say he gets literally nothing isn't the case.

4. Most of the character focus episodes focus on other characters too much!

The only episodes that I feel you could even remotely make this argument for are episodes 3, 4, and 25. The previous two being very early in when the show is still trying to warm the audience to its cast, and the latter being due to stock footage requirements. Every other character episode very much has is central character at the forefront over everyone else.

5. All of the character flaws come out of nowhere and are immediately forgotten once the episode is over!

This is the misconception that baffles me the most out of all of them, because not only is it not true, it also doesn't make sense. The only character flaw that you could reasonably argue comes out of left field is Jack's' fixation on the Shadow Saber in episode 18(and even then I'd argue against it), otherwise literally every other lesson of the day has a basis.

For example, literally every episode focused on Syd deals with her upbringing as a spoiled princess, just with a different angle to it every time, and it's certainly not something forgotten when it runs through the whole show. Meanwhile, other character clashes are brought up multiple times, such as Sky talking about Jack's' bossiness in episode 4 and Jack talking about Sky's' jealousy in episode 24.

But even in the few cases where something isn't ever brought up again(again, Shadow Saber), wouldn't that just mean that the character learned their lesson and moved past it? It's pretty basic character development, guys.

6. The Blue Heads and Orange Heads don't talk.

This one was actually an L on my part. I legit just forgot that these two mook types had voices. Now, granted, they speak alot less as the show goes on, but they do indeed speak regardless. And throughout alot of the show, too.

And that's about all I recall people raising a stink about, specifically, and thus what I kept my eyes out for the most. If you feel I'm misguided, I recommend watching the show yourself and keeping your own tally. Would love to compare notes, and you'd get to see a great show out of it!

============

And now it's time for me to give a spiel about a personal anecdote that I felt appropriate to put here, but you know, feel free to skip this part since the review aspect of the thread is essentially over.

There was a time last year where I felt like giving all this up.

It seemed as though ever since the Reiwa era of Japan hit, the toku sphere at large was just getting more and more toxic, and depressingly so.

Power Rangers had always been the chew toy at the center of it all, yeah, but it seemed like as time passed, people were just hating the medium in general more and more. Even on this very website, a place that I thought was a step up compared to other toku centers I'd been to, the toxicity and infighting just kept building to the point that I started to actively dread reading threads, rather than feeling motivated to partake in them.

Honestly, I seriously considered just throwing my hands up and calling it quits on at all interacting with the fanbase and just keeping all of my experiences to myself. But then, in 2014, a small miracle happened: I was able to afford going to Power Morphicon, the biggest PR convention in the US, for the first time.

To say that I found it to be a magical experience would be an understatement. Inside of that large convention center were what seemed like hundreds of people, not there to fight or argue over which franchise was superior or how MMPR was the worst thing to ever happen to television, but rather to celebrate a medium that was all knew and loved: Not just Power Rangers, but tokusatsu as a whole. Even shows known for being widely hated online like Kamen Rider Ghost, had its own loud and proud fans who showed up.

I had never experienced an event or a place with such a huge concentration of positive energy before, and honestly? It was exactly the type of healing my soul needed at the time. I found myself interacting and talk with so many different people. Hearing their stories about just how much these shows meant to them. Seeing them cry when talking to the various actors who showed up to the con. And even making a few new friends that I still talk to now, a year later, among them. It was a much needed reminder not just about how different the online and real worlds can be from one another, but just how important every tokusatsu franchise is to so many. Yes, even something as "kiddy" and "dumb" as Power Rangers is often seen to be online.

These people weren't "dumb" or "misguided" or "ignorant" or anything like that either. They knew how badly Hasbro was mishandling the franchise, they knew how to keep calm and articulate their opinions well. And they knew that at the end of the day, we were all on the same team. We all want what's best for these shows and we want them to succeed and to be respected. Every show, every franchise, it meant something to someone, and we were all rooting eachother on just as much as we were rooting for toku as a medium.

And this rewatch of SPD? Yet another firm reminder as to my own passions. Even if the franchise dies under whatever it is Hasbro plans to do, I'll always have 30 years worth of content to look back on fondly. I don't know if I'll ever do another Power Rangers centered thread(heck, I still think someone like Fish Sandwich would be better suited to tackling shows like Mighty Morphin' and Lost Galaxy), and I don't even know if I did at all well with this one, but the experience alone was one I'd say was worth it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, but Power Rangers is a franchise very near and dear to my heart; it having been with me since I was born. Sure, it gets me mocked pretty often online, but really, I don't care. Even if I'm not the best articulated, or the smartest, or even the most comprehensive viewer of the shows out there, I'll continue doing what I can to keep my passions alive, and it's something I recommend that everyone do, whether they like the same things I do or not. Others around me have quit or taken extended breaks, and hey, they have every right to. But me? I still love what I love, and I wanna talk about it.

A big thank you to everyone who not just participated, but even so much as read any of this thread at all. And I hope to see you again with whatever I decide to talk about next.