[DreamSword]

Power Rangers Cosmic Fury

I have started and restarted this review in my head about a dozen times now.

It's one of those things where, due to all the various factors surrounding this season of Power Rangers, I have literally no idea how to properly go at it.

Do I talk about the season only in and of itself? If so, is that fair given that not only was this originally just meant to be a third season of Dino Fury, but it's supposed to be our celebration of 30 years of the franchise?

Ontop of that, how fair is it to this show to calculate in the leaks that this is supposed to be our very last season of PR as we know it? Sure, they could just be mere rumors, but with each passing day, those leaks become more and more likely.

I'm sure there's some sort of balance to be had here. Afterall, whenever I watch almost anything I do my best to just look at the show for what it is rather than anything extra, but when it comes to the special circumstances surrounding all things Cosmic Fury, I don't really know that I can. And even then, would factoring in all this meta context come across as condescending?

Perhaps it's best to say this upfront: I did not like Power Rangers Cosmic Fury. The season itself has good things about it, like any Ranger show, but alot of factors both in and outside the show really lessened the experience for me, especially as someone who's loved the show for what it is ever since he was born. Had it simply been a third season of Dino Fury, I think it would've worked alot better. But as a grand finale to the franchise as a whole?

On the flip side, if you're one of the fans who enjoyed it(of which there are a surprising amount!) then honestly, truly, I'm happy for you. I'm glad that you finally got what you wanted out of this franchise that many people had turned their backs on for about a decade now. Many of the creative decisions made are ones that I never found any value in, but if you did, then wear it with pride. But me, I always saw the franchise as more than just many of the factors that Simon Bennett prided himself in, of which I personally saw as superficial.

As such, if you plan to continue reading, I will warn you upfront that this review will be mostly negative. I'll try to be positive where I can, as I always do with Power Rangers, but there's too many thoughts and feelings going through my head right now not only about the season itself, but also the state of the franchise and where it's headed for me to bring my usual cheery passion. But hey, I suppose take it as a positive sign that I'm actually willing to talk about such things here, rather than how I still absolutely refuse to review the 2017 movie.

The absolute biggest issue with the show, I believe, is the pacing. Cosmic Fury was originally written as 20 episodes and it shows, with episode 1 alone feeling like the first episode of Kamen Rider Ghost in terms of how rapidly things are happening. And not in the good way. I'm not even just talking about the plot here(which in itself isn't anything great), but it means alot of character potential and development gets sidelined and/or wasted as a result. Sure, you all can crack the usual "Power Rangers is shallow!" jokes that you want, but you know, atleast the show never pretended to be anything more than what it was. This season however, kinda does?

See, this is one of those times where I'm unsure if I'm being unfair and mixing outside factors or not, because keeping up with the production side of things on social media means I'm alot more aware of certain factors than many other "common" viewers would be. There were so many things the production staff wanted to do with this season, and to me it really comes across as, rather than cutting things off in order to focus on what mattered(the character arcs), they instead opted to keep literally everything in, just scrunched down.

Character arcs like Javi losing his arm, Izzy being a bad girlfriend, and Fern's' friendship with Solon are all finished as soon as they're presented, with no time given to let them sit, and instead much more time is given focusing on the overarching plot which, again, isn't anything all that great or in depth. And that's not even getting into the bits which outright disrespect the legacy of beloved characters like Zedd.

Sure, there are little moments that I do feel work, like Zedd's' interactions with Ollie, the callbacks given by the legacy characters, and the banter between the villains, but it only helps so much. And they certainly feel overshadowed by things such as Master Zedd getting one-upped so easily by brand new villains we barely get to know and the awful retcon/connection this season has to SPD.

But hey, maybe there's some joy to be had in simply turning your brain off and watching the spectacle, yeah? Sadly not, as most of the stock footage is very haphazardly used, the fight choreography in general is rather poor, and none of it is helped by how much I dislike most of the US original suits.

It's not exactly like their hands were super tied when it came to such things either. Would it really have been so hard to have the Rangers color match with the Zords that they pilot? Making Fern Pink or Zayto Purple was never considered?

Things like that really make me question: If you really didn't care for the stock footage at all, then why even use it in the first place?

And here's the part where I start picking on Simon Bennett.

Look, I have nothing against the guy personally, alright?

But I personally just can't ignore alot of the stuff he said on social media in the lead up to Cosmic Fury either.

Like, I get it. There's nothing wrong with taking pride in your work, but to me the culmination of all those bits he dropped came across like a sort of checklist that the season was to do, and then just stop dead at those things.

For those unaware, such things talked included getting rid of Go Go Power Rangers, which they did do, and the theme song we got instead was one that is barely better than the Operation Overdrive theme to me. There's also the focus of getting rid of "lessons of the day" to focus more on plot.

So let's have a fun lesson on why I really don't see any value in shunning Aesop stories: They're an easy way to get an idea across as well as develop your characters. When you give your episode a clear idea like that in mind, it helps in keeping everything focused. You get to see a character's' flaw, you get to see them work to better themselves, and you get to have fun along the way.

Certainly, Cosmic Fury has no "moral of the day" episodes, and it does indeed have a bigger focus on an overarching plot. But again, the result is incredibly rushed character development, a bunch of events that serve neither the characters nor the plot(the stew fight in the desert was pointless), and the plot itself being mostly alot of nothing. Like, congrats guys, you reached the bare minimum of your idea. Good job?

Perhaps it's all just me though, because I've seen alot of these elements being celebrated by other fans online, and I'm not about to talk too much crap given how low I consider my own standards when it comes to just about anything. Heck, my one standard I have towards any given episode of Power Rangers? It's the simple question of "Did I have a good time watching it?" And unfortunately, more often than not, I found myself answering "No" when it came to Cosmic Fury.

And that, at the end of the day, is the nail in of the coffin for me, inside or outside factors not withstanding. Yes, I totally could spend the entire day giving a detailed breakdown of every episode and why I felt almost none of them worked, but really it just came down to the fact that while I did enjoy certain beats, the show as a whole was just a downer for me. As a third season of Dino Fury, it's just very whatever, but in the context of a grand finale to a franchise I've been in love with for my entire life? It's very saddening, not helped by the greater sphere of the fandom either.

In the end, I personally find Power Rangers Cosmic Fury to be the weakest entry in the franchise. Yes, weaker than Super Mega Force, weaker than Operation Overdrive, and weaker than all of the other "bad" seasons of Power Rangers that fans love to complain about. Both the show itself as well as all of the factors surrounding it just leave a really sour taste in my mouth. Maybe in the far future, I'll be able to look back with some more fondness, but for now, the show serves as symbol of so many things that I don't approve of in terms of the direction of the franchise as a whole, and I can't say I approve of it. It scares me, honestly.