Sunday, August 29, 2010

Different types of Production for Power Ranger seasons

The production of Power Rangers have been different from season to season throughout the years. Thus, fans have a different reaction to each of these types.

  

1. Overarching seasons

MMPR, Zeo, and Turbo were seasons that flowed from one season to the next. They never had any conclusion that the seasons were working towards. It was meant to go on forever (until Turbo forced the Production crew to end it with In Space). The only thing that these seasons had going on for them, was the changing in the status quote, and how all the characters would change as the settings and cast changed throughout the years. For some, this was lots of fun. For others, some of the changes weren't so great. To date, this style of production has yet to be tried again since the Zordon Era. Could it be due to there being less viewers? Or just the production crew still wanting to change the cast every year?

      

2. Translating Sentai

Lightspeed Rescue, Time Force, Wild Force, SPD, Mystic Force, OO, and Jungle Fury's method of production was to just translate Super Sentai's plots. Of course there were differences, but for the most part, it mostly just translated their Sentai counterparts. The only major element that these shows don't really imitate are the Sentai characters themselves (with a few exceptions). As evidenced when Lightspeed Rescue did not copy the family stories from GoGoFive. Some fans love this style, due to being faithful to their Sentai counterparts. Others don't like this style, as it shows how lazy the producers are being for not using their own ideas and just blatantly copying an already existing story.

My personal opinion, I used to not care much for this style, as it just copied a story I had already experienced. But recently, I thought it would be better to appreciate these seasons (not all of them. I'm looking at you OO. :P ) for doing a good job at translating their Sentai counterparts. Watching Lightspeed Rescue and Time Force in that way truly makes them something that's worth appreciating. After all, it can be quite hard to adapt Sentai. Of course, I can't really give the shows credit for story, due to them being ideas from Sentai's writers. So in my eyes, Time Force is just an "English translation to Timeranger." And did a good job at it too. Though if I'm to look for a season that stands on it's own, it would require more originality imo.

 

3. Completely Original

Dino Thunder and RPM. Both of these seasons have absolutely nothing in common with their Sentai counterparts. To some extent, both of these shows also parodied the franchise itself.



4. Parody

Unlike Dino Thunder and RPM, Ninja Storm was an all out parody style season. So it's kind of like the "American Carranger." Of course, Ninja Storm still had some serious stories. Most which were copied from Hurricaneger. Ninja Storm, being a comedy season will vary from person to person, depending on who finds what funny.

 

5. A mix of types

In Space and Lost Galaxy. In Space was a mix between "Type 1" and "Type 3." It picked itself up from Turbo. But it still had it's own season long contained stories. These stories were all original (except for the Psycho Rangers Arc), as well as having it's own original Space motif. Lost Galaxy was a mix of "Type 2," "Type 3," and a little bit of "Type 1." Lost Galaxy was partially connected to In Space, due to Alpha 6, the Megaship, Bulk and Phenomenus, Karone, and the Psycho Rangers. Lost Galaxy was also original for having it's own original Space Colony motif, and having a very different cast of villains. Despite this, Lost Galaxy mostly copied a lot of plots from Gingaman.

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers - Japanese Dub

MMPR Japanese: Day of the Dumpster - Part 1
MMPR Japanese: Day of the Dumpster - Part 2

No, it's not Zyuranger. It's Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers dubbed in Japanese. Found this on YouTube and thought I'd share with everyone. I believe the dub was done by Toei, not totally sure. The dub is pretty good, I like Jason's voice for the dub. Mixing Japanese voices with the epic background music makes it 100 times more epic than it already was! XD This proves that Toei actually likes Power Rangers. I think there were more dubs for the series, all the way up to Lightspeed I think? Someone wanna get a hold of Toei and ask them to do more dubs? RPM perhaps? And, -maybe- Jungle Fury? Lol

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Happy 17th Anniversary Power Rangers

August 28th, 1993, was the beginning of Saban's Power Rangers. And today, August 28th, is the 17th anniversary, and also the end of Disney's run with Power Rangers. As of tomorrow, Power Rangers will be officially Saban's once more. 17 seasons, 17 years, 700 episodes, and 2 theatrical releases. Happy 17th Anniversary Power Rangers!



I just wanna say that this video makes me proud to be a fan of Power Rangers. Here's to the return of Power Rangers for it's 18th Season, and possibly even more. Power Rangers for life! =D

Friday, August 27, 2010

How I Felt About Katherine Hillard

I kind of have my thoughts on Katherine Hillard and how I ended up disliking her for some time, even if as a character she was a pretty likable person. So what's the big deal? First and foremost, she became the replacement of Kimberly Hart whose relationship with Tommy Oliver kept the show going for some time. Why Amy Jo Johnson left the show is something I'd like to know. So because of that, I felt like the whole show tumbled down, losing the famous match-up and it did happen.

When? In Zeo, thanks to some immediate bad writing, Kimberly Hart dumps Tommy Oliver for another guy with a Dear John letter, which really was a frustration (that just wasn't like Kimberly Hart for a start). It was probably due to the fact the actress Amy Jo Johnson didn't show up at all so the writers came up with a rush script. Still, they could have just kept Tommy Oliver and Kimberly Hart in a long distance relationship. I felt like her relationship with Tommy Oliver was a bit forced, plus I disliked the fact that one episode of Zeo featured her as Tommy Oliver's wife in the future and NO future episode contradicts it. In Turbo, the relationship continued but fans are left to assume the fate of it, when she left the set and the other four members found new successors.

So far, I believe that while her existence was necessary to keep the series going but that Dear John letter may have caused her to go underrated. However, jump the shark as it was with her kind of forced relationship with Tommy Oliver (sadly, Amy Jo Johnson never came back so my favorite couple disappeared), the events that happened here concerning a change in relationship can happen. After all, life isn't perfect at all and they were but teenagers back then. :-P