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.

A Tribute to Super Sentai and Power Rangers

I found this cool video on Youtube and I hope this contributes to the peace between Super Sentai fans and Power Rangers fans since they're on the same side- justice. One thing is that this video uses the MMPR theme song and that's great. Hee hee. I hope this helps. Honestly speaking, the severity has gone too long and I've been involved in that severity after discovering Zyuranger, however I realized that Toei needed Power Rangers to keep itself alive in the U.S. market due to cultural differences. And BTW I hope some moderately edited Sentai an PR gets shown where PR is shown, at least to show the differences between the original and the adaptation.

If Power Rangers Should Cross the Norm

I was thinking on what could happen if Power Rangers crosses certain norms...

An Asian red ranger- In the past, Power Rangers featured Asians as the "backbone" of the group which even puts the leader in balance (ex. Kai to Leo) or the bad-ass (ex. Trini) but never the leader which I think is plain understandable why. Well I think that an American lead whether black or white is more appropriate for Power Rangers though seeing it's an American show but then again, it's nice to deviate sometimes. A fluent in English Chinese may do the job. But of course, don't expect to see it often. This would be good only for a Shinkenger adaptation IMO.

Or maybe the more "Manga" look. We haven't had that in Power Rangers haven't we?

Add more humor than usual between rangers. Well Saban has had the habit of using the whites (more than the blacks) as all purpose cast members while blacks and Asians were usually the "cool characters" IMO maybe to promote them in a positive image. IMO if Saban gets to use a pink ranger bad cook, he might get a really gorgeous white lady for the job to prove looks can be deceiving. IMO Rin Takanashi does look like she's only half-Japanese. :-P

Maybe a half-breed ranger. Saban didn't cast anybody as a half-breed if I'm not mistaken. Looking at it, Trini Kwan was pure oriental without a mention of mixed heritage (but American-Chinese marriages are now getting common), Zack Taylor was portrayed as more than half-African (but his actor Walter Jones being African-American, he may have white ancestors along the way) and none of the Asian cast members were said to be half-breed. In Sentai in a supposedly all Japanese team (multiracial is hard to do IMO), there were some half-breed rangers like Peggy in Goranger (half-Swiss), Karen in JAKQ (half-American), Ryu and Lin in Dairanger (both half-Chinese) and Jiraya in Kakuranger (half-American). If you ask me though, Lin looks like she's a Eurasian. :-P

Or maybe we can have this kind of scene. Probably not.

I don't know about this... hee hee...

Should Power Rangers Be Serious or Funny?

The thing is it's been argued about Power Rangers whether or not it should be serious or funny. I have to admit that the reason why I watched Power Rangers also involved comedy subplots which later in Super Sentai, some rangers resembled Bulk or Skull. Back then, the so-not-Sentai type characters of Bulk and Skull were added as constant comedy relief involved from one misadventure to another. I believe these two characters allowed Sentai to actually create dumber rangers than they already did.

Of course some Sentai fans dared to berate Power Rangers for being "too campy". IMO Sentai can get funnier than Power Rangers in some cases like Carranger and Go-onger, both awesome comedies. You don't see that facial expression above in PR so often do you?! (Note: Bulk reminds me of that guy... hee hee.) I just find it crazy to berate a show for being funny because I like to watch funny scenes.

As Boukenger gets preferred over Operation Overdrive, some Power Rangers-Super Sentai fans who may like one over the other I believe commented on how funny Boukenger's humor was. I liked the humor in Boukenger and it was definitely a lighter series although it had its serious moments or it's gonna spoil. Above is a picture of what humor PR doesn't have yet.

A reverse kind of happened when Judd Lynn came in for Disney. While Go-onger was a funny Sentai (but strangely it had an apocalyptic finale) it was a rather dark Power Rangers series. Why? Well it takes place in a future where only Corinth is the safe dome and Venjix runs the world. The cast members were serious except Gem and Gemma. In Go-onger, the cast members were basically funny except Hiruto and Mio. I kind of thought that Gem and Gemma should have switched places with Hirtuo and Mio since they are hyperactive characters like the Go-ongers. LOL.

And maybe we should note- despite Shinkenger's serious nature, the show had its rather campy moments especially Mako Shiraishi's cooking. And one thing, Shinkenger had humor that reminded me of MMPR at times. :-P

Bad Cooking for Power Rangers?

The thing is after watching Shinkenger, I kind of thought that a lighthearted franchise like Power Rangers should actually utilize one thing- BAD COOKING! I mean, well maybe my fan-fiction entitled "Power Rangers Sword Dynasty" doesn't have it, but I think this is going to add some humor to the franchise. Big possibility is Saban might use a Caucasian girl if he ever wants to put this kind of humor noticing that almost every funny character in Saban's era were whites. I kind of thought though that it's too bad Judd Lynn didn't add this to Jen in Time Force, it could have at least helped lighten up an already lighthearted show.

I just hope Saban's release of Shinkenger will be the first (and last) Asian themed Power Rangers series (with the rest being non-Asians LOL).