Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Poll Results from the Power Rangers and Sentai fandom!


Out of 25 votes, Power Rangers fans voted for Operation Overdrive to be better with:

-Better acting 15 votes
-Better script 19 votes
-More episodes in detail 13 votes
-Faithfulness to Boukenger 6 votes
-Less of the corny humor 17 votes
-Better team-up 15 votes

Overall, I agree Operation Overdrive was a bad series. If only Kalish and Tzachor would put just the slightest amound of effort into the series, the reviews by both Sentai fans and PR fans would be a lot better.


31 fans voted the 90's Sentai had the best leaders in comparison to Power Rangers' with 13 votes. 9 went with 00's Sentai, 8 for 80's Sentai, and 1 for the 70's Sentai. I do agree the 90's Sentai had perhaps one of the best, though the 00's were very memorable, too.


Out of 31 voters, 18 had voted Power Rangers SPD had been the best of the Kalish seasons. Mystic Force recieved 3, Operation Overdrive with 2, and it left Jungle Fury with 8 votes.

That being said, SPD had perhaps been the only half-decent of Kalish's seasons. And also one of the acceptable Disney seasons, I wouldn't say it's half-bad.
__________________________
My last announcement for now. Possibly forever.
I must speak with the 3 moderators of this blog, Sean, Kingdom Rider, and Fantasy Leader. I plan on retiring from the Power Rangers Union, soon. I will explain why in a conference.
Please find a time to contact me on Yahoo Messenger. All 4 of us must be online.

Re-thinking Power Rangers Turbo


Okay, Power Rangers Turbo is commonly hated throughout the fandom. However, there is only one reason really why it's hated, and it's all because of one character. Everyone's favorite Blue Ranger, Justin.


I'll get to Justin soon, but right now, I wanna start off with the movie. The movie is just, terrible. It just feels like a really boring four parter. You never feel like there is a real threat. Maligore ends up being wasted. Divatox comes out of nowhere and you have no real reason to see her as a threat, Lerigot and his subplot is annoying. Jason and Kim coming back were horribly wasted. And the pacing is terrible it's just so boring. Also, there really isn't a good transition from Zeo to Turbo, unless you count Scorpion Rain as the transition or no explanation on who made the Turbo powers. There is, however, speculation that Billy created the Turbo powers before he left for Aquitar. I have no idea what to believe, but I'm sticking with that and Scorpion Rain.


Now let's talk about the original material, Gekisou Sentai Carranger. Carranger ended up being a parody of the Sentai franchise due to Ohranger's ratings and such. The producers and writers had a totally different plan for Turbo. They thought of a dark season for Turbo. However, it backfired. The first half of Turbo really seemed jarred so much with the Carranger footage. It stripped the comedy out of the Sentai, and attempted to continue the previous year's serious bent. Groundwork was laid for the old villains to continue. Every episode followed the new, grittier Power Rangers formula of searching for bombs before they exploded and killed lots of people. It's just pointless fillers and has one of the worst hand offs in Power Rangers, the episodes "Passing The Torch." And continuing with the old rangers mixing one new ranger together didn't really seem to clique. The second team was better with Justin. Also, Bulk and Skull turned into chimps was a weird subplot.


The second half of Turbo seemed to handle the Carranger footage more properly. Carefully weighted plots, episode-driven yet laying slow groundwork for the next year. It excelled at off-center scenarios that gave the episodes really different flavors, and had the best season cliffhanger for any Power Rangers show, ever.


People tend to blame Turbo's failure because of Justin. However, looking at Justin now, he's not a bad character while not my favorite. Like, I've never understood the massive amounts of hate the fandom has for Justin. So he's a kid...so what? It's like hating one for their race and/or sexuality. It's totally dumb. It's not the character's fault that the producers wanted to have a kid for a Ranger. People call him whiny and childish and this or that, but really...what do they expect a 12-year-old thrust into being a superhero to act like? I doubt the haters would've reacted any differently in his shoes. Heck...I think Justin acted remarkably mature for his age, all things considered. I can't exactly say that about the haters.

Was I sad to see Rocky go? Absolutely. I enjoyed his character immensely, and he was part of the great chemistry the team had together, especially in season 3 and Zeo, not to mention the way he was written out really left something to be desired. But I'm not going to begrudge his replacement just because of that. It's the nature of Power Rangers to change in some fashion every year, and you just have to learn to accept it.


I don't like Turbo, but I don't hate it either. It's an okay season, but the second half of Rangers is what really made this season what it was... at least in my opinion. Their episodes dealt with the Carranger footage better and it went from serious to campy, which made it slightly more likeable. Not that it wasn't but there's just something about the campier half that appeals to me more. XD It's still the "resolution" season for me as it leads into the "conclusion" season of Power Rangers in Space. Also, it's got the best theme song for Power Rangers, ever! 8D

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Bulk and Skull in Power Rangers

So far these two characters were berated by Sentai fanboys as being "unnecessary" and I do had that point of view too, since in Tokusatsu, characters like these either work alongside the heroes knowing their secret identity to becoming the heroes themselves. So I think I'll talk about how they got involved in Power Rangers.

At first, they appeared to be two bullies who weren't exactly much of bullies either since they didn't do drugs or beat people up. They normally just came with wacky schemes to make money which included trying to figure out who the Power Rangers were. I just hate the fact that Skull has a crush on Kimberly. Their attempts to find out who the Power Rangers were always a source of comedy.

In MMPR season 3, they became junior police officers to detectives. It was a big change for them. I kind of compared Lt. Stone to Detective Hayate in Kamen Rider Black RX.

In Turbo for some reason, they were changed into monkeys. This is plain silly if you ask me. Later on they had various odd jobs.

In Power Rangers in Space, the two joined in with Professor Phenomenus in various crazy plans. They did play a big role in encouraging everyone to stand up against the enemy and supporting the rangers no matter what. However the duo was later separated in Lost Galaxy.

In Lost Galaxy, it's shown they have become respectable businessmen but they only appeared for a short time.


Sidenote:
Bulk in Power Rangers reminded me of Raita/Yellow Owl from Jetman because they're both funny characters. Hmmm if Saban got Jetman instead, Bulk may have become a Power Ranger and later Tor the Shuttlezord. LOL.

Why I Think Dekaranger is Famous with Some Power Rangers Fans

For some Power Rangers fans, they do also like Dekaranger (I think most of them saw SPD first). I think are are some of the reasons:

I think it has to do with the cast of characters. IMO the Dekaranger cast is more well-balanced than the SPD team with how each one's strengths and weaknesses are shown and balanced throughout the whole show. Each one of them had funny moments, even the serious guy like Hoji Tomasu who I felt triggered every positive and negative emotion of the viewer more than the others. Some of them I felt were so MMPR in personality like Hoji Tomasu, Jasmine Reimon and Tetsu Aira. Also I think the hot babe Ayumi Kinoshita may have played a role in it too.

I think it has to do also with how the script was written and its one-of-a-kind storytelling which is kind of different than the typical PR/Sentai expectation. There was the right blend of seriousness with humor. Timeranger and Time Force anyone?

Some fans didn't like the costume of the American counterpart but that's just plain shallow. Some liked the American counterpart costume better. Go figure.

The show itself had more bad-ass police action with less CGI effects. That was kind of present in Saban's era of Power Rangers. Hoji Tomasu's suitless fight scenes rock. Some friend of mine commented that he sees Hoji Tomasu like Jason Lee Scott of MMPR. I agree.

I wonder if the unique villain Aburera has something to do with it. He operates ALONE and goes from one random client to another, which he indirectly controls them. On the other hand, Power Rangers SPD seems to stay on the stereotypical side. He didn't appear so often yet he was so feared by the group because of his influence.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Kendrix' Death: The only drama portrayed by the Saban seasons?


We all know the death of the original Pink Galaxy Ranger, Kendrix, also featured one of the only very dramatic moments in PR history. The episode with the the Lost Galaxy and In Space rangers was very praised by both serious Power Rangers fans and Sentai fans alike.

However, could this be the only portrayal of PR maturity? The answer is no. There have been many signs of this kind of drama throughout the entire PR franchise, many seem to fail to realize even though not every glance is complete.

The beginning of Lost Galaxy was perhaps the first real moment of PR maturity compared to Sentai. It may have not been real, but Mike, the Magna Defender, had (supposedly) lost his life in falling off a cliff made by Furio. The fans wouldn't know about him living in the end, and neither did Leo, the Red Ranger, would have a clue until later on whether he survived or not.

Also, the beginning of Time Force is one of the perfect examples. Alex, the original Red Time Force Ranger, had nearly died trying to stop Ransik. Jen, the Pink Ranger, had nearly her heart broken and her determination of stopping Ransik had just burst into hatred. Plenty of PR fans would've felt the same way towards Alex's (supposed) death just as Kendrix had.

Sentai fanboys can whine about PR not having as much maturity and drama as Sentai, but a fan of both will see the truth behind the mask of Power Rangers.

Ransik's Impact in Power Rangers

I kind of thought though that Ransik deserves a lot of tribute. Why? Unlike most villains, he actually is more of the type to actually have a noble intention- that is the safety of mutantkind (like Magneto in X-Men), however he goes beyond the border to achieve his goals. He became so full of hatred that he became public enemy number one in no time. His was a cycle of hatred because of he was despised for how he looked, only to realize one day that revenge is a cycle that will go nowhere.

I believe that Don Dinero of Timeranger isn't as threatening as this guy, however U.S. standards can't permit Ransik to be that evil either. In his term as the main villain of Time Force, his relationship with his daughter Nadira is a troubled one- Nadira despite being his daughter had begun to question his extreme hatred for humans. Also, he later discovered that Frax was actually the person he assaulted near death and the one who created the serum to help him survive the Venomark poisoning.

So I thought that in the final battle, he was really cool and destructive only to find out he could have killed his own daughter Nadira (who was carrying a human baby) in the process, which caused him to break his cycle of hatred for humanity and that he gave himself in to the authorities. I thought that this made him quite unique for handing himself over, something that Don Dinero would never do in Timeranger even if Ransik was the more violent one.

Later on, he would return for Power Rangers Time Force to reveal his past with the Orgs, where he granted his mutant DNA to three Orgs in exchange for his power to draw blades from his body without wounding himself. He nearly sacrificed himself to destroy the mutant halves of the Mut-Orgs, which in process proved he deserved a second chance, symbolized by him becoming completely human, something he originally despised.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

The Zack and Trini "Racism" Controversy is STUPID

The fact is some Sentai fanboys as well as the general public have begun to accuse Haim Saban for "racism" in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers which I don't think was true. The reason why I believe such an accusation exists? Well for a start, there are three white members and two non-whites. Zack Taylor was an African-American and Trini Kwan was an Asian-American. However the two members seem to overshadow their white teammates in fandom as well as the show for being "different".

Perhaps the most controversial has to be Zack Taylor the African guy hailing as an African-Aermican of the group being the black ranger which some Sentai fans criticized as "racist" which I find not to be true. I think it made more of a reference to Battle Kenya from Battle Fever J who was a black ranger because Kenya was an African nation.

What do I think on behalf of Zack Taylor? Not at all. Zack Taylor was hardly portrayed as an idiot, he was a cool guy. In fact, he had rather cool moves combining dance and karate to win a fight. He was one of those who gave the team the morale or at times, overshadowed the rest with his original footage. He was in fact a favorite character by many PR fans because he was just so cool. I don't think the actor minded though if he saw Battle Fever J and was a fan of Battle Kenya but that's just hypothesis. In fact, I find him cooler than Adam Park too. If I get to interview him, I'd really ask him on what his favorite tokusatsu series were and why he left the set.

When the character was written off, I think it had to do with the pay issues that he voluntarily walked out.

Okay this is just way too far. Some Sentai fans probably non-oriental Asians also used Trini Kwan as reference to racism but again, in Super Sentai it's an ALL ASIAN group so ALL yellow rangers in Sentai are ASIANS get it?! It's just stupid to use her as a basis for racism in MMPR. Also, Trini Kwan at many instances overshadows the lovely Kimberly Hart with her rather kick-ass martial arts moves similar to how it happens with Sentai's female duos. In her case, her Zyuranger counterpart was really a man!

In fact, the late Thuy Trang (RIP) was chosen to play this character because of her impressive fighting skills in karate (she could really stand a chance against Yukari Oshima) and many times, she did her own stunts in the show more than the others, which again she can overshadow the rest. When she left, MMPR lost some really good fighting scenes which I think as great as a martial artist Adam Park was, he just wasn't enough. She was considered an icon that I believe some MMPR fans departed when she departed too. If I'm not wrong she got fired out of salary disputes since she said she had enough and quit.

In fact, Kimberly Hart was portrayed to be somewhat a much weaker character than Trini Kwan was in the show for some time. She started off as a somewhat ditzy, materialistic girl who was usually prone to disasters most of the time. Also, a lot of times it took Trini Kwan to back her up in most of her battles when the show started.

Overall these accusations are just so shallow, without realizing that Haim Saban himself is actually Asian in ethnicity.


Note: This was originally from my Sentai blog but I transferred it here. :-P

Zordon Era: Plot vs Unnecessary Filler



I think the way people view the Zordon Era has a lot to do with it's equal number of plot related episodes and unnecessary filler episodes.

A lot of people praise the Zordon Era for it's plot related episodes and it's strong character development episodes. Saying that the majority of them is what truly makes the Zordon Era story one of the best (if not THE best). Also, these episodes tend to usually be the eps that the fans actually bother to re-watch. They are:

MMPRS1 (24/60)

1. Day of the Dumpster (First episode to start the story)
2. High Five (introduced the popular communicators. Also, fans love this ep for Billy and Trini's good character development.)
3. Teamwork (introduces the team's weapons)
6. Food Fight (It's a filler ep. But is quite popular amongst fans due to the popular monster of the week, Pudgy Pig.)
10. Power Ranger Punks (another popular episode, based off of ep 26 of Zyuranger. Like Dan and Mei, Billy and Kimberly also become gangster tough. xD )
11. Peace, Love and Woe (another popular ep that gave Billy a lot of development.)
12. Foul Play in the Sky (introduces Zack's love interest, Angela. Despite the ep not focusing on the relationship, the fact that we're introduced to it, makes this ep a must see for many fans.)
17.-21. Green with Evil (debatably the most popular story arc of MMPR)
25. Life's a Masquerade (Starts the Super Putty Arc)
26. Gung Ho! (Finishes the Super Putty Arc. Introduces Titanus. And is best remembered for Jason's and Tommy's intense rivalry and teamwork.)
28-29. Island of Illusion (introduces Lokar. Also the first time an Ultrazord is used.)
34-35. The Green Candle
39.-40. Doomsday
49.-50. Return of an Old Friend
59. Mighty Morphin' Mutants (A popular ep featuring an evil team of Rangers via Zyu2 footage.)
60. An Oyster Stew (Zack gets to try on the Dragon Shield. The last ep with Angela.)

MMPRS2 (24/52)

1.-3. The Mutiny
11. The Song of Guitardo (a popular ep that shows great character development. Fans also remember Kimberly singing with her guitar.)
12.-13. Green No More
15. Missing Green (A popular ep that showed good development for Jason.)
16. Beauty and the Beast (Best remembered by fans for Kimberly pretending to be Rita.)
17.-18. White Light
22.-24. The Ninja Encounter (Introduces Rocky, Adam, and Aisha.)
27.-28. The Power Transfer (Mixed among fans. But fans still say these eps are a must see.)
32. Mirror of Regret (Introduces the Power Cannon. Adam is given good development in this ep.)
41.-43. The Wedding
44.-46. Return of the Green Ranger
51.-52. Wild West Rangers

MMPRS3 (34/43)

1.-3. A Friend in Need (Actually, this arc is despised by many. But many fans take a look at it, just out of curiosity.)
4.-7. Ninja Quest
14. Final Face-off (Titanus returns, since Mighty Morphin' Mutants. Ninja Ultrazord is used.)
16.-17. A Ranger Catastrophe (introduces Kat)
18.-20. Changing of the Zords
21. Follow that Cab! (introduces the Shark Cycles)
22.-24. A Different Shade of Pink
25. Rita's Pita (This was one of two major eps that gave a bad impression on Kat to fans.)
26. Another Brick in the Wall (The second of two major eps that gave a bad impression on Kat to fans.)
28.-30. Master Vile and the Metallic Armor
32. The Sound of Discordia (Titanus' final appearance. Shogun Ultrazord is used.)
33. Rangers in Reverse
34.-43. Alien Rangers mini-series

Zeo(34/50)

1.-2. A Zeo Beginning
3. The Shooting Star (Introduces the Zeozords and Tanya's boyfriend Shawn.)
4. Target Rangers (Introduces the Zeo Megazord's Zeo Battle Helmets. Rocky gets some development, with his love interest, Jennifer.)
6. Rangers in the Outfield (Tanya breaks up with Shawn.)
7. Every Dog has his Day (A popular ep that showed good development for Kat.)
10. Graduation Blues (Billy graduates and leaves to Aquitar.)
12. Instrument of Destruction (A popular ep that developes Skull and Adam.)
13. Mean Screen (Billy plans to return.)
14. Mr. Billy's Wild Ride (Billy returns.)
15.-17. There's No Business Like Snow Business (Famous for Kimberly sending Tommy the Dear John Letter.)
18. Inner Spirit (David, Tommy's brother is introduced. Red Battlezord is introduced.)
19. Challenges (Continues Tommy's arc.)
20. Found and Lost (Continue's Tommy's arc.)
21. Brother, can you Spare an Arrowhead? (Concludes the Tommy/David Arc.)
25. Song Sung Yellow (Tanya is given a chance to become a singer. A well liked ep amongst fans for her development.)
27. A Season to Remember (Remembered by fans for the scene where an elderly Tommy is married to an elderly Kat. Debated amongst fans whether it's canon or not.)
28. The Power of Gold
33. Revelations of Gold
34. A Golden Homecoming
35. Mondo's Last Stand
36. Bomber In The Summer
38. The Lore of Auric
40. The Joke's on Blue (Gasket and Archerina are introduced. Louie Kaboom is destroyed.)
41. Where in the World is Zeo Ranger 5? (Tommy gets abducted)
42.-43. King for a Day
46. Another Song and Dance (A popular ep with Tommy and Tanya singing. xD )
47.-48. Rangers of Two Worlds (Zeo and Alien team up. Billy leaves to Aquitar.)
49. Hawaii Zeo (Last appearance of Gasket and Archerina.)
50. Good as Gold

Turbo (19/45)

1.-3. Shift into Turbo
4. Shadow Rangers (Considered to be one of the better eps during the first half of this season by fans.)
10. Weight and See (Considered to be one of the better eps due to Kat's development.)
13. The Millennium Message
14. A Drive to Win (Carlos and Ashley are introduced.)
18.-19. Passing the Torch (Disliked by many fans. But still considered a must see.)
21. The Wheel of Fate (Introduces the Lightning Cruiser and the Storm Blaster.)
22. Trouble by the Slice (The famous pizza episode. xD )
23. The Phantom Phenomenon (Phantom Ranger is introduced.)
26. The Darkest Day (General Havoc is introduced.)
27. One Last Hope (Rescue Zords and Artillatron introduced.)
28. The Fall of the Phantom (First appearance of the Rescue Megazord combo.)
29. Clash of the Megazords (Havoc and the Phantom Ranger both return home.)
43. Parts and Parcel (Shows great development between Bulk and Skull and the Rangers.)
44.-45. Chase into Space


Now, looking at the first five seasons of the Zordon era, there's a pretty good amount of eps that fans love. However, what fans do not like about the Zordon era is the fact that there's just as many unnecessary filler eps in the seasons (most notable in MMPR S1, S2, and Turbo). Many that are quite average or below average and don't really show much development. As a result, many fans tend to find it a chore to have to watch every single episode from the first five seasons. In fact, many fans tend to create similar lists as I just did right now, and just choose to ignore all the other unnecessary filler eps. I did not list In Space, due to how that season was the first to be more serialized. Thus, fans tend to watch and enjoy almost every ep from that season.

Saban's Portrayal of Asians

For some reason, I want to talk about with how Saban portrayed Asians. Unlike the white characters, it seems Saban puts them as the unique person, maybe the cool character, the team moral support, the tough guy/gal and probably the most skilled. Well knowing Saban is Asian himself, I guess it's normal that he portrays Asians the way he does in the shows.

Trini Kwan- This started some controversy to a yellow ranger being Asian but she was one of the coolest, if not the coolest member of the team. She was portrayed to be one who despite the fact she's hesitant to fight, she turns out to be a pretty skilled martial artist herself and the most knowledgeable in that field of defense. IMO she reminded me of Bioman's Mika Koizumi (the first yellow ranger of the show who died in episode 10) and later of Maskman's Haruka, both yellow rangers in their respective Sentai series. I feel like her ethnicity is left ambiguous because the show doesn't mention whether or not she is Chinese, Vietnamese or Korean. The late Thuy Trang being Vietnamese made me assume that this character is Vietnamese. When she left the show, some fans berated the series as she was a very likable character and the team's best fighter despite her gender.

Adam Park- So I kind of find it weird that despite the fact that Johnny Yong Bosch is only half-Korean (and it's obvious), Saban had him portray a full Korean instead. He was a pretty cool character who some fans however felt wasn't close to being cool as Zack Taylor (I agree, I like Zack Taylor more). He returned in Operation Overdrive for a short time having his original powers but the new morph wasn't welcomed by fans.

Cassie Chan was the first and probably only will be Asian pink ranger. So I kind of thought that she reminds me of Momoko from Maskman, being a skilled martial artist in the defensive stance and being gentle despite her tough exterior. So okay Patricia Ja Lee is Korean but I wonder why the writers made her character Chinese. Some fans however felt she was underrated. For some reason though IMO I wish she were yellow instead.

Kai Chen- I wonder if he and Cassie are related. Joke. Okay he's too different because he's the smart one of the team, he's the counterbalance to Leo Colbert's rashness in the team making him the ideal leader IMO. He's far too different than his Gingaman counterpart Gouki who wasn't much of a thinker like he is. He's the first one to be Chinese in script and played by a real Chinese actor.

Chad Lee is an exceptional fighter in the team, probably the most skilled of the group. He's the team "tough guy".


I wonder if he counts at all:

The actor Michael Copon is half-Filipino (father side) and half-German (mother side) born in America but his character Lucas Kendall seems to be ambiguous in ethnicity. So he's the cool guy of the group, just like his color.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Too Long, Too Short- Something about Power Rangers' Episode Counts

Power Rangers had gotten berated in terms of episode count. Here's what I think:

MMPR had three seasons, 155 episodes because it was such a monster hit. Saban would have wanted it to end after a year but demand was too high to do so plus the opportunity to earn more came in so while most costumes remained, zords were changed. Also, only Dragon Ranger's costume was removed and came in Kibaranger's costume for Tommy (strangely the child Dragon Ranger later played Kibaranger). However some disadvantages do happen in an overextended series- there will be a LOT of jump the shark moments like how Jason, Zack and Trini left altogether for the second season and later, Kimberly which for me ruined the chemistry of the whole show because she and Tommy were so cute together. In short, this is way longer than Goranger (the first Super Sentai back in 1975) which had 84 episodes and Kamen Rider the First which had 98 episodes.

Later the problem of being too short came which was during the Bruce Kalish seasons. They were rushed so none of the cool concepts like the Corona Aurora was given much room for development. It only had 32 episodes. This lasted until Power Rangers RPM. This means it's three episodes shorter than JAKQ, the second Super Sentai series.

I think it's time to really put a balance of the number of episodes placed in the series.

Originality in Power Rangers

This post is somewhat similar to the one FantasyLeader did a few months ago, talking about the originality in Power Rangers. Fans like to complain that Power Rangers is never good unless it's exactly like it's counterpart.


Some fans tend to complain that Power Rangers is better when it stays true to the original content. I fully disagree to this. I mean, yes, we had some good seasons like Lightspeed and Time Force. But sometimes it feels like I'm watching GoGo V and Timeranger with a different cast.


Fans also complain that Power Rangers is too campy and cheesy. This, makes no sense...at all. Since the campiness and cheesiness make Power Rangers unique.


Here's an example, when the producers and writers saw Megaranger, they thought is was a space season. But when they actually saw footage of the show, it wasn't, exactly. Megaranger was video-game themed. They never left Earth, their ship was in orbit, it just flew down to Earth for the fights. There was no footage of the ships sailing the stars, no alien landscapes or monsters, no space at all from the Sentai that was destined to be 'Power Rangers in Space.' But since the producers thought that it was gonna be the last season of Power Rangers, they went ahead and still went with the space idea. Shot their own footage of space and such. It looked bad, but it worked. It's also loved as the best season of Power Rangers ever.


Another example would be Power Rangers RPM. Disney hired Eddie Guzelian who had worked with a few Disney shows such as American Dragon: Jake Long and Kim Possible. When Guzelian first saw footage of Go-Onger, he basically went nuts. He wasn't sure on how to make it into a Power Rangers season. He defied the Sentai material, changed Go-Onger significantly. Go-Onger was turned into a post apocalyptic setting with a mature tone, a Terminator/Mad Max feel and a new villain named Venjix. The season was serious, yet lighthearted, serious, yet funny. This season was the best we've seen in years. It's said that Eddie had some other plans for the show (like an ending totally different from Go-Onger's and the one that Chip wrote, another story arc between Dillon and Tenaya, revelation of Dr. K's actually name, etc). If he hadn't gotten fired, we most likely would've seen those happen. It was a good season. It was unique in it's own way, and it didn't need to copy elements from the Sentai material.


And finally, my last example, Power Rangers Operation Overdrive. The basic premise of a millionaire relic hunter funding his own team of rangers to find the jewels of the Corona Aurora was amazing in theory. What we got was FAR different than that. The rangers weren't very likeable, the story was muddy, and I feel like a lot of the characters were so one note it felt like I was watching the same episode with a different adjective each week. This season is just absolutely terrible, but it did show Power Rangers' true colors. It had so much potential, and it all went down the drain.


Overall, Power Rangers doesn't need to stay true to the original material Sentai offers. It's just some of the writers and producers (I'm looking right at you, Tzachor and Kalish) are just lazy to come up with something original. Yes, we did have some good seasons that stayed true to the original content like Lost Galaxy and Time Force, but it's just we want to see something new and interesting. I'm hoping that we'll see something new and creative for Season 18. If not, make it a good adaptation, Tzachor.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Why I Think the Disney Seasons Were Berated Badly

The fact is the Disney-PR era was deemed to be really bad and Saban's era was better. So let's get down what I think caused it:

When Bruce Kalish took over, there was PLENTY of bad writing. Operation Overdrive stands out for this. Scripts were that short. The only respectable series was SPD.

Starting with Ninja Storm, there were a good number of overacting girls. They were really ruining the whole show. Overacting cast members ruin a good show, the higher the overacting, the more damage done to a script. Bad writing and overacting made it worse. I agree with DancingAlienDude in comparing Disney and Nickelodeon acting. I have to admit that overacting existed in Saban's era of PR or Super Sentai but it wasn't this bad IMO.

During this era, I felt many of the characters lacked development. Take Hoji and Sky for example. Hoji revealed more of plus and minus points than Sky for me IMO. Why? Well Sky as great as he is as an officer with a cocky attitude at the start, his character didn't show much development for some time and just shifts too fast. Hoji was shown to have more personality from the good points (the you're all more important than me personality) to the bad points (like his being cocky and overconfident at times), which makes him more developed for a character as well as some of the tragic incidents in his add drama which shape him up.

I think it has to do with the wasteful way of running things. Just imagine that Tetsu was a real guy, in SPD the Omega Ranger was just a ball of light because they could not hire another actor from too many explosions.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Why I Think Boukenger is Famous with Some Power Rangers Fans

So far I can't help but think that some PR loving friends of mine were actually Sentai fans (which one they like better I don't care really) gave some positive views of Boukenger to even compare its goodness to a Saban season that is like Lost Galaxy (but Lost Galaxy is more serious than this). Why I think it's the case? Here are some:

According to DancingAlienDude, he feels like the main characters are as likable as the MMPR cast. I agree although I can only see Power Rangers similarities to Satoru (Tommy), Souta (Billy and to an extension Kai of Lost Galaxy) and Sakura (Kimberly and maybe with Jen from Time Force but she's sweet as Kimberly even if she's tough). I kind of thought that Masumi is like Leo in Lost Galaxy and Natsuki is more likely a parody of Maya in Lost Galaxy. As for Eiji, I think he's probably another tribute to Tommy or maybe to Ryan in Lightspeed Rescue who was an original ranger by Saban.

I don't know but some of these Power Rangers fans actually compare him to Zordon although DancingAlienDude likes this artificial intelligence being better than the other even if he turned out to be nothing more than an "it" given life by Leona Giordana who actually created him as a simulation to take care of things if she's gone noticing that his behavior is too different from his creator.

I think the lighthearted humor may have done a great factor. Some fans complained about the corny humor of the Disney seasons.

I think it has to do with the villains being more well-developed.

I think it also has to do with the plot is more detailed especially with the heroes and the enemies due to the fact there's just enough episode count to do so. Operation Overdrive was rushed.

Or maybe it had to do with the wacky and goofy guy Morio Makino. I honestly can't help but think of the hilarious Professor Phenomenus except he's actually working with the rangers. Goofy guys like him make PR/Sentai good especially if they're working with the rangers. Too bad though he doesn't have bumbling assistants with him like Bulk and Skull.

Or does the team-up have something to do with the likability factor to Power Rangers fans? Maybe. I kind of thought that the humor, action and drama of the "you decide whether its canon or not" vs. movie Boukenger vs. Super Sentai was well-done although Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai was WAY better for me though.