Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Re-Thinking Power Rangers Operation Overdrive

(Yes, the picture is Boukenger's. I was just too lazy to find an Operation Overdrive pic. hehe)

We can all say that Power Rangers Operation Overdrive happened to be one of the worst PR series' ever. However, is it possible this season could be underappreciated to the Sentai fandom? I've thought of possible ways of how the series could've been better.

- Operation Overdrive had a rather good storyline overall. The idea of treasure hunting was not a bad idea, actually. I think the only problem was the fact that they had rushed many elements in the plot into 32 episodes and nothing could really be understood. The villains were perfectly fine, though not as developed as Boukenger's. Kalish should've maybe extended the length of the series, and it would've been much better.

- Overdrive's "Once A Ranger" wasn't too bad compared to "Boukenger vs Super Sentai." The kids obviously didn't want something as long and violent as Boukenger's team-up. Comparing to Sentai's anniversary team-up, "Once A Ranger" had actually done a better job revealing the past Power Rangers. Compare that to Sentai's, who only went as far back to GaoRanger of 2001. "Once A Ranger" is possibly one of the best PR moments, though Adam's new morph and music dissapointed most MMPR fans.

- Most importantly, the horrible acting of Operation Overdrive needed a lot of improvement. The dialogue was also lame at many points, but what can you expect? A kids' show, lol. But aside from that, do fanboys also realize Boukenger had pretty bad acting, too? Though most don't realize it, there were a few signs in Boukenger of overracting, especially by BoukenYellow, Natsuki. I still say it's much better than Overdrive's, however, but Kalish could've hired some more well-known Disney actors to help him. The series would've been much better.


Could it be lack of budget? Laziness of producers? Greediness? What else do you think caused Operation Overdrive to be a poor season?

7 comments:

  1. If I'm to talk Chise Nakamura is more on the underacting side IMO. Sentai/PR acting is either good, bad or really bad. Mostly they're just starting so I don't expect much but some cast members are just way exceptional especially the comedy characters way back in Saban's era.

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  2. While I do feel this season had it's merits, the bad far outweighs the good. 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 series BY FAR had the most wasted potential on the chopping block.

    Bruce Kalish is like the Jonathan Tzachor of the Disney era, always liked to borrow concepts from the Sentai counterpart. Too lazy to come up with something better. Now I'm starting to dread about Season 18 for Power Rangers after bringing up Tzachor.

    Operation Overdrive had so much potential...and it went all down the drain. It's terrible, there's nothing good about it, 'nuff said.

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  3. Hold on a minute. Tzachor worked a lot with Judd Lynn and produced some great seasons, like In Space, Lost Galaxy, Time Force exc. I wouldn't give up hope for the next PR season yet.

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  4. I don't think Operation Overdrive is under appreciated at all. And not just the Sentai fans think that. Most Power Rangers fans don't like Operation Overdrive either. Definitely, treasure hunting was an excellent motif to work with Power Rangers. But everything just fell apart. Even the team up was terrible. Yes, it was cool that Adam came back. But he could've been used so much more. Instead, the team up just focused on the Operation Overdrive rangers trying to be the "hero." And even if it is a kids' show, I don't think that's any excuse for poor dialogue and bad writing. And even if Boukenger had some bad acting, that shouldn't even come close to being compared to Operation Overdrive's horrendous performance. Overall, I'd say the cause of all this is a bit of everything that could cause the show to go wrong.

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    1. While I agree that a "kids show" label on the series does,in no way, excuse poor writing and acting, you cannot possibly say that PR OO had a "horrendous performance". I mean, come on, have you seen the early episodes of PR MM? I realize that mine is an unpopular one but my opinion is that until Tommy joined the cast, the acting in PR MM was god awful.So was the latter half of Turbo, after Tommy and the others left, and most of In Space. Not to mention that since I am writing this in 2013, I have seen both PR samurai (and super samurai) and PR megaforce, and let me tell you,they have some of the WORST acting I have ever seen. I recent seasons, in my opinion, Galaxy-RPM, the acting has been good, but hardly Emmy worthy, and PR OO follows that pattern. Was the acting not as good as some, yes. Is it far worse than some, definitely. is it THE worst? the answer is no. while I do think that PR OO foreshadowed the current state the series is in, cliche writing and drop dead awful acting, it is hardly worthy of all the hate it takes from the entire PR community.

      Of course, in reference to the current state of the series, I completely blame it on Saban and his return to the show. ever since he came back, the show has gotten steadily worse. First of all, he is the laziest producer on TV, as he seems absolutely dead set on filming as little new material, and using as much of the senti footage (which has been the downfall of many an episode) as possible. Also, he is Freaking addicted to the original theme music. It was great, but each season should have its own theme music, other wise it cheapens the show and makes it seem like you couldn't hire a song writer for it. All in all, if Saban doesn't leave the show, soon and permanently, it could take a massive down hill slide, which could end horribly for the entire PR universe.

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  5. Mr. Smith, true but remember that Chip was along side writing the seasons. You've seen Wild Force right? That season is a hot mess. D:

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  6. first of Disney power rangers are not bad,but we are talking bout PR OO,i think PR OO was great except for few episodes,PR OO and PR MF team up was excluded,but pr started to suck since pr mystic force (except rpm),few episodes,no team up.i enjoyed PR DT,PR RPM and PR SPD i think they were great.

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