[Kurona]

Just got Netflix back recently and I decided on a whim to throw on the first episode of RPM to see if it was working well -- just a few minutes, and then I'd move onto the new stuff I wanted to watch. ... aaaaand then I couldn't turn away and I guess I rewatched the full first episode now!

Not a full series rewatch by any means, just Episode 1; but this holds up better than I remember. I am noticing some flaws, mind -- there's some odd sound mixing here and there, unfortunately most particularly on Dillon's first listen to his fobwatch; our first three rangers needed slightly longer introductions imo; and the threat of the Grinders is not built up nearly enough for the subversions of Flynn and Dillon easily dispatching them to work the way they want. Like, literally; outside of stock footage the first Grinder we see is the torso Flynn chucks out his bus. Otherwise, really solid! I love how the tone is built; I love how aside from silly things like 'blaster' painfully standing in for 'gun' they don't shy away from more serious elements but still don't go full-on edgelord with it; many of the interactions are nice; and something I didn't pick up on before is that this episode had one hell of a budget! Like okay sure, there's some super dodgy CGI; but when was the last time Power Rangers had access to anything like a full-on barren desert location? How many takes did some of the fantastic car action near the end take? We talk a lot about RPM's budget in relation to there being almost no Sentai footage, but it's clear how present it is besides that!

Just... man. I forget the timing of it exactly, but I think RPM is actually something I watched before Gokaiger; it was either that or almost immediately after, so it was either my big gateway into my big Toku kick or at least a big part of it. I've got no love for the vast majority of Power Rangers and the nature of the franchise, but RPM? Yeah. Yeah I can vibe with this. Super good kid's TV.