[TokuKnight89]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

And we’re back for another one of these, even if Fish took the week off. So, without further ado, let’s proceed with…

Seijuu Sentai Gingaman vs Megaranger

Come for the battles, stay for the battles! Don't try to make sense of the story cause it'll ruin whatever fun you'll get out of this!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Gun Boss Sambash: the hot-headed and leather-clad leader of the Sambash Monster Gang. In battle, he wields a pistol with great destructive power and rides a motorcycle equipped with a machine gun. He was the first general of the chosen by Captain Zahab to fight the Gingamen. He would try to revive the Daitanic using trivia about it, until his final plan, wherein he discovered the Galactic Light sealed in a cave and planned to take that. But upon finding that it was a decoy, he went insane and was killed in a botched suicide attack against Ryouma, that ended with him going over a cliff and exploding.

I thought Sanbash was to use what he thought was the Galaxy Lights he had hidden long ago, in secret from Zahab! Makes little sense that the two would be on decent terms here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Spectral Empress Illiess: the leader of the Iliess Monster Tribe and was the third general to face the Gingamen. A spiteful and covetous Egyptian-themed sorceress, Iliess valued money even over the lives of her own family and always demanded monetary compensation upon a successful plan, a trait that did not go unnoticed by Captain Zahab. She gained her position of field general by humialitong Budoh in revenge for his humiliating her uncle Bookrates, then she proceeded to instigate plans to gather certain numbers of people to carry out rituals to break the seal, in exchange for a monetary reward. In her last battle, she summoned the spirits of all her monsters and combined with them to become Evil Empress Illiess (邪帝イリエス, Jatei Iriesu), but was defeated by GingaiOh and BullTaurus, with her soul gem being crushed to stop the Daitanic’s heart from decaying.

Much like Sanbash, the events of the series don't give her and Zahab any reason to remain friendly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

This is also the last Sentai production by Taketera (whose madcap scheme to get creative control over Kamen Rider at first went swimmingly, before his second crack ensured he’d never work at Toei again).

This intrigues me cause I am not familiar with this guy and the problems surrounding him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

But as their Earth Power proves ineffective, it turns out that this monster has its own pirate associated with it. Space Pirate Gregory (who has the same VA as Space Berserker Helmedor from the previous movie)



(I have no idea where either “Gregory” or “Gelmadic” come from. So I hope you won’t mind if I nickname the former “Cap’n Crunch”, since I have trouble taking the name seriously thanks to the Wimpy Kid books)

I recall reading something years ago that suggested that Gregory is named after actor Gregory Peck. Zahab is meant to be a play on Ahab, and Peck apparently played a version of Ahab long ago in an adaptation of Moby Dick.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

As Kenta defeats Cap’n Crunch long enough for the Gingaman to pull out their JuGekiBou (which bizarrely use the original toy-accurate design rather than the upgraded version from Gingaman’s endgame arc). Cap’n Crunch survives this and bids the Gelmadic attack them all, to which the three Silver Starbeasts, Giga-Vitus, GigaRhinos and GigaPhoenix, show up to do battle.

After a protracted fight, the latter two defeat the Gelmadic… only to explode for some reason (no, there isn’t an explanation I can think of or one given in the story for this to happen. It just does)

I kind of see their deaths as resulting from the fact that they used too much energy and tried to destroy something that was clearly stronger than them and it proved too taxing for their bodies to handle.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

But then Cap’n Crunch reveals he revived a whole army of monsters, not just the generals (I won’t bother naming them all, but I will point out that their presence here ultimately screwed up the production of Power Rangers Lost Galaxy by limiting what suits they had access to)

I had heard that this movie impacted Lost Galaxy and that's sad cause while Furio wasn't a bad villain, he didn't match the bug theme of Scorpius and the Stingwingers well enough. Honestly, they didn't need to use all of the suits and I don't really care for how they're taken out here. It should've been a real effort between both teams. I also found it weird that they seemed to put Hielahiela (Gingaman 28; Lost Galaxy's Icy Angel) in the center.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Final thoughts: This was not a great feature. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

For one thing, they try shaking things up by having the big bad be the villain representing the current series rather than previous one. The problem with that is that it shows us why it was always the previous season’s associated villain that got priority. As a result of this inversion, Hizumina is left with nothing to do except theoretically be a reason for the Megarangers to get involved. And she can’t even carry out that function, since they don’t learn she exists until AFTER the team up part has begun. Throw in a load of gratuitous and wholly unnecessary non-sexual fan service, and fail to have the slightest semblance of a plot with anything resembling consistency and Ginga v Mega is an absolute mess of a production. This is really from the same guys who gave us Kamen Rider Kuuga? What the hell happened?

There’s no challenge this week, I’m too annoyed to come up with one. So last week’s is still open for the time being.

I'll admit that I haven't seen this one in awhile, but I want to if only for the battle scenes. The story is overly-simplistic and doesn't strike any kind of balance. Even the battle scenes, which are the best part, aren't perfect. A part of me feels like this was rushed. It's like they didn't have enough time for pre-production and had to jump too quick into filming without detailed checking for flaws much less a hasty rewrite. That's just a personal hypothesis, but it would at least explain this mess and give reason as to why they were able to do Kuuga not long after. When you have the time, you can create art that resonates with a sense of heart and magic. When time runs away from you and the higher-ups give you unrealistic expectations and a so-so budget to play with, you belch-out what you can just to meet a deadline.