Power Rangers - General Discussion

[In2You]

Its a decent show but nothing amazing. But way better than the past few Power Rangers on Nick.

[Terrafamilia]

So...Tyler's new upgrade allows him to become the Rainbow Ranger. Are TPTB trying to telegraph something?

[DigitalCount]

Since Rita Repulsa was revealed a few days ago and was trending for a good long while, I figure we should have a topic for this too.

 

The New Rita Repulsa: Secretly Brilliant, or Headache-Worthy?

[Nite Ryder]

I like Rita Repulsa's look for this, and clear strong Green Ranger vibes there, so I'm going with secretly brilliant. 

 

One of the first "official leaks" about this movie were the character bios late last year.   I'm interested in how these relatively new actors will do with these updated, more fleshed out versions.  
 

Jason – 17 years old, the makings of someone or something great if he would just get out of his own way. Jason was a legend of this town—a freshman quarterback with the skills to take him all the way. People knew his name. Children wore his jersey. Until, one night Jason wrapped his car around a pole and busted out his knee. Everything Jason was going to become ended in an instant. And with it, he lost himself. When we meet him at the start of the film, he’s a kid in need of redemption. By the end, he’ll be leading this disparate group of teens to shed their individual baggage and find who they truly are.

 

Kimberly – 17 years old, unconventionally cool all in a way the popular girls wish they were. In fact, she was one of those girls, but isn’t anymore. Not since she’s returned to school after an absence of 6 months. Rumors are flying as to why; rumors she seems not to care about, because she’s come back with this new rebel-without-a-cause, edgy attitude. But the truth is, it’s all masking a deep secret that makes her feel profoundly vulnerable.

 

Trini – 17 years old, mysterious and extremely bright. Her parents constantly move for work, making Trini the perpetual new girl to any school. A loner who owns it, Trini is self-sufficient, contemplative, but always observant. All she wants is to find her gang of friends, but she’ll never admit it – least of all to herself.

 

Billy – 17 years old, slight and awkward. Billy is challenged in his abilities to communicate and interact socially. Whip-smart and sweet, but always odd. Sometimes in a fun way, sometimes not, Billy is a kid with no filter. Showing his emotions, understanding sarcasm, and dealing with his OCD is a constant challenge. Has never really had any friends and instantly gravitates towards Jason.

 

Zack – 17 years old, always the life of the party. Filled with bravado and swagger, Zack’s tough and cool on the exterior. A charming guy who’s never had trouble with the one-liner, nor lacked confidence around women. A great athlete that’s never wanted to play on any team but his own. Zack advertises everything about himself, except the truth, which is that he lives in a trailer park with his single mom, and because of it, feels deeply inferior to all his peers.

Source. 

 

 

 

[Terrafamilia]

Heh, I just saw Brennan Mejia (Red Ranger) on the season premiere of American Ninja Warrior. A bunch of new obstacles right off the bat so it would be harder for contestants if they were expecting what we've all become used to.

[Terrafamilia]

Heckyl/Snide got their own megazord (I did like the look of it). They almost beat the Rangers but those darned kids pulled out another victory at the last minute. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the new big bad, Lord Arcanon bound Heckyl and threw him back into solitary (Shoot! I like Heckyl). And Arcanon has the power of the !DARK ENERGEM! We may be gearing up for some more Rangers - IN SPAAACE!

Does anyone know why all the monsters have something akin to a noh mask somewhere on their outfit, often more than one?

[Last Time Lord]

On 9/24/2016 at 5:38 PM, Terrafamilia said:

Does anyone know why all the monsters have something akin to a noh mask somewhere on their outfit, often more than one?

It's an aspect from the Sentai. In the Sentai, the villains were trying to revive their leader, Deboss, and did so by gathering emotions, with each of the core villain crew being the leader of a specific emotion.

There was Anger, lead by Dolgold (Fury), Sadness, lead by Aigaron (Wrench), and Joy, lead by Candelilla (Poisandra). Later on, they introduced Envy, lead by Endolf (Singe), but they really didn't do a whole lot with him, and he ended up being a waste of a concept until he was suddenly important at the end of the series.

All the MOTWs have emotion totems on them, but because Dino Charge didn't do the emotion gathering aspect, all the villains have the emotion faces plastered on them, most in very prominent places, making them really stand out.

[Terrafamilia]

Heckyl gets his own backstory, and it may set the stage for him becoming something of an antivillain or an atoner.

[DigitalCount]

Recently watched The Rangers Rock, and gurrrrrrrl. Shelby is a total boss. I love how consistently awesome she's been, and how her story has progressed through from Episode 1 to now.

[Last Time Lord]

Fandom: Man, Megaforce's finale has got to be the most underwhelming and disappointing finale Power Rangers has ever done.

Judd Lynn: Hold my beer.

[Terrafamilia]

Argh, time travel headaches on yet another show.

[DigitalCount]

Yeah, this was...not great. It really was looking up near the end, but the last five minutes were bizarre, disorganized, and poorly written. 

[Last Time Lord]

Starts this Saturday. They uploaded a clip to YouTube. After it ends, there's a little bit of the opening theme song, which I think sounds really good.

Also: Well played, Official Power Rangers Twitter account. Well played.

[Last Time Lord]

Eh. It was all right, I guess.

Got a kick out of seeing Mig easily defeat RPM Venjix's first body. Brody seems a lot more likeable that I ever found Tyler to be.

The last third of the episode was pretty much an E.L.James-ing of the last third of Dino Charge's premiere. Hopefully that will be the extent of it.

It's funny to look back at Jungle Fury's premiere, and when RJ asked if they had ever heard of the Power Rangers, and Casey's immediate response was "who hasn't?"

That was nine years ago. Now, it's "Power Rangers? What are these Power Rangers you speak of?"

Chip, if anything happens to that dog...

[Terrafamilia]

I'm glad I got the head's up that this was starting. Apparently, even some at Nickelodeon didn't get the memo as the bumpers during the show were still about Dino Charge.

[SVNBob]

As I'm sure most people around here know, all Power Rangers seasons start existence as a season of a Super Sentai series in Japan, then gets adapted for an English-speaking audience. 

Sometimes it gets really meta.  There's the one episode of Dino Thunder where the Rangers watch an episode of Abaranger.  And the entirety of SPD was aired in Japan, with the original Japanese cast of Dekaranger dubbing the voices of their American counterparts.

 

The franchise has been going for 40 past seasons, with the 41st currently airing.  And this one actually had some involvement from Bandai in the early stages of creation of the show, to help with the eventual adaptation.

Who's seen any of the original Sentai, and what did you think?

[SVNBob]

I've now seen the first 4 episodes of the current sentai season: Uchuu Sentai Kyuurangers.  So far, not the best, but not too bad.  There's a vibe similar to the original Star Wars trilogy (including seeing the big bad as a hologram...) or Power Rangers RPM, since the series takes place after the bad guys win, and the Rangers are the Rebellion.

By episode 4, we've seen all 9 of the core Rangers.  (That is not a typo.  "Kyuu" is nine in Japanese, so the name of the team means 9 Rangers.)  With a large core crew, they did the smart thing and staggered the introduction of the Rangers.  Episode 1 had 3 already in the suits, with 2, including the red, gaining their powers in that episode.  2 more followed in episode 2, and the 8th appeared in episode 3.  And while the last Ranger has been in every episode since the star, she only got her powers in episode 4.

But one Ranger is not on the team yet; the one introduced in episode 3.  Think the original Green Ranger, or the White Dino Ranger.  And since the theme for the rangers is different constellations, it seems telling that the "evil" Ranger is the Scorpion.

The rangers themselves are also a little different.  3 of them are androids/robots, and 1 is wolfman.  Plus their leader is an anthropomorphic Chinese dragon.  Dragon Kruger, if you will.  So 5 of the lead cast are always in some form of suit.  And the Scorpion Ranger has a scorpion stinger in his civilian form as well.

The mech is a little unusual too.  The main body is the Red's personal mech, and bigger than the others (Law of Chromatic Superiority is always in play).  So 4 of the remaining Rangers' mechs make the limbs.  But each limb is interchangeable and can be either an arm or a leg.  Thus far, the Yellow Swordfish has always been an arm, and the Blue Wolf and Black Bull legs, but that might not always be the case.

Another cool thing about this season is that Bandai was involved earlier than usual.  In the past, reps from Bandai were invited to see the production after it had started, so they could see the suits, mechs, etc., and start on the adaptations and toy lines.  This time, Bandai was brought in during pre-production, and actually gave input during the concept stage.  I think the easiest thing to point to that they influenced are the Rangers' civilian team jackets.  They've got a little bit of an MCU Captain America vibe to them, which is the kind of thing they were trying to bring to the franchise.

This is an interesting series, and a pretty fun watch so far.  But I can't help wondering about the inevitable American version.  It's probably going to be one of the straighter adaptations, like from Shinkenger to Samurai.  But things like the large core team, and the 4 non-human rangers make me wonder how they'll be handled.

[xaxat]

Twitch is currently (March 14th) running a marathon of all 831 episodes.

[SVNBob]

A couple more episodes of Kyuurangers down.  But first, there's a couple of things I didn't mention last time that I need to mention now, since they get referenced more in these episodes. 

In Episode 1, we see Earth only for about a minute...as it's being taken over by the empire.  The rest of the first episode and all of 2 and 3 take place on other planets.  But in Episode 4, the Rangers finally get to Earth.  And it's a little odd, because there's way too many empire forces on Earth.  Each other planet had one governor monster (and maybe a visiting general), and one machine that was mining the unobtanium from the planet/mech for the governor, and mooks enough for a fight scene or two.  But Earth has WAY more than that.  Plus, the "evil" Orange ranger found out that the Empire is hiding some sort of secret on Earth.  (And come to think of it...where are the 40 other sentai teams that defended the Earth? Or the various Kamen Riders?  Or Metal Heroes?)

In Episode 3, it was revealed that in addition to their personal transformation orbs, the Rangers have access to additional orbs (also based on constellations) that give them slight upgrades to their powers.  Red used the Gemini one in that episode, gaining a temporary duplicate.  And in Episode 4, Yellow used Cancer for a Pincer attack upgrade to his weapon, and Pink used Telescopium as a sniper scope.

In episode 5, the "evil" Orange ranger was revealed to be a spy, planted by Dragon Kruger.  He just didn't mention it to the rest of the Rangers.  Because he's a Wacky Leader...  But that does mean that all 9 core rangers are now officially on the team, so the rebellion has truly begun.  And the Rangers have declared that they'll free Earth first.  However, Orange is still acting more solo on the ground, versus the other 8 in the Command Spaceship.  But he said he'll join the team if they need him in the bigger fights.

In Episode 6, Red is given another orb to use; Pegasus.  That became some chest armor with wings for a speed upgrade.  And it was sentient, talking to the Rangers for the rest of the episode and staying on Red even after he powered down.  There was also a plot about the Rangers needing to learn teamwork and coordination, which Dragon Kruger decided to do through dance training.  (This brought the closing theme and ridiculous associated dance into the episode itself.)  It was through this dance training that Red tamed the Pegasus, since he kept at it long after the others stopped.

So, one clunker (#6) out of the 6 so far.  The next episode is a special one-hour crossover with the currently airing Kamen Rider series.

[SVNBob]

On 3/24/2017 at 5:55 AM, SVNBob said:

The next episode is a special one-hour crossover with the currently airing Kamen Rider series.

Actually, it wasn't a one-hour special.  Each show was self-contained, minus the cameo crossover with the "lead" from the other series.  So the Red Kyuuranger appeared on Kamen Rider, and the main Rider appeared (by being summoned by one of the support orbs) on episode 7 of Kyuuranger.  Outside of the unnecessary for the actual story cameo, the episode is pretty good.  Something is stolen from one of the Kyuurangers, and the remainder of the episode becomes a heist story of the rest of them getting it back.  Kinda wacky, but showed off the individual Rangers skills and their teamwork very well.

Episodes 8 and 9 were a sort of two-parter.  Throughout episode 8, the 9 Rangers are split up.  3 are off Earth in search of a particular support orb, 3 more get captured by a couple of "bounty hunters" employed by the empire.  And the last 3 get their asses handed to them when they try to rescue the captives.  That's when Dragon Krueger shows up, and uses his pimp cane to turn into the Violet Ranger.  But he keeps muttering about being in a hurry, or there not being enough time.  And episode 8 ends with him in a stalemate with the hunters.

Episode 9 starts with the captured and injured Rangers escaping (except for one getting captured again), and we learn Dragon's backstory.  In the early days of the rebellion, before any of the real prophesied Rangers were found, Dragon had found a way to make a support orb work as a temporary transformation orb, thus letting him start the fight.  Even though this went against the orders of his commander, Bear.  And then the hunters were hired to stop the one Ranger...and Bear sacrificed himself to protect Dragon.  Dragon then took up the cause to find the real Rangers and get the rebellion underway correctly.  Back in the present, the hunters try draw the rangers into a fight  by threatening their captive, and Dragon goes to fight them solo.  But the others (minus the 3 still off world...but heading back with the orb they went to find) follow as backup.  This leads a fight where the rangers support their leader, which leads to the 9 Dragonballs summoning Shenron and granting Dragon Krueger a wish. 

No, seriously. That happens.

So Dragon wishes to join the fight beside his Rangers, and his orb becomes a regular transformation orb.  And the summoned dragon becomes his mech.  So the 10th Ranger is the new Sixth Ranger.

[SVNBob]

Before going on to Episode 10, I need to go back again to Episode 5.  In that episode, we met a couple of kid brothers that were seemingly the only people on Earth opposing the empire.  (Granted, all they did was throw rocks, but it was more than any adult did until the Rangers showed up.)  And in Episode 8, the older of the 2 boys showed up in the middle of all the clusteryness there, wanting to become a Ranger himself.

Episode 10 starts with a mech fight, and the Rangers apparently winning, but the monster had a backup plan.  After that, Red takes the kid back down to Earth from the Command Spaceship.  But the kid really wants to be a Ranger and has "borrowed" a transformation blaster and a couple of orbs.  Meanwhile, the backup plan kicks in and the Command Ship starts flying toward the Sun.  Red and the kid overhear the monster laughing about his plan, and that as long as he lives, the ship will be destroyed.  The robotic Rangers, unaffected by the increasing temperatures, check the ship (using Microscopium, another orb) and see that the monster has infected the ship with nano-versions of himself.

Red starts to fight the monster, and the kid tries to transform again to help.  Instead, the ghost of Bear shows up and possesses the kid.  (Complete with blue wig to indicate "possession").  Monster runs off, and Red relies on his incredible good luck to find him again.  Eventually, another fight ensues, with Red getting knocked around.  Eventually the kid's pleas to Bear for help get to him, and Bear's spirit enters one of the orbs the kid has.  That allows him to finally become the SkyBlue Ranger, based on Ursa Minor.  (#11!)

Unlike Justin, or the kid that was the source for Tommy's White Tiger Ranger, he doesn't grow to adult size while transformed.  He's a kid-sized Ranger...until he uses the other orb, Ursa Major.  Then he becomes a giant-sized kid Ranger.  (Twice adult height or so, not mech-sized.)  So Red and SkyBlue curbstomp the monster, and the Command ship is freed from his control.  Just in time for them to change course and save the day.  Yay.

[Avatar19]

Power Rangers in Space was hands down one of the greatest Power Rangers seasons of all time.

[Silverglitter]

I loved Dino Charge and that includes the finale. I don't care who knows it. :D

[Silverglitter]

On 7/2/2017 at 9:20 PM, Avatar19 said:

Power Rangers in Space was hands down one of the greatest Power Rangers seasons of all time.

I consider In Space to be one of the best seasons of TV I've seen, period.

[SVNBob]

On 7/2/2017 at 9:20 PM, Avatar19 said:

Power Rangers in Space was hands down one of the greatest Power Rangers seasons of all time.

 

On 1/19/2018 at 10:53 PM, Silverglitter said:

I consider In Space to be one of the best seasons of TV I've seen, period.

The finale was epic.  And considering at one time, it was supposed to be the end of Power Rangers, full stop, it was appropriately so.

Still, as (just) the end of the Zordon Era, it was a good way to close that chapter in the PR saga.

[SVNBob]

The previous sentai season ended on the 4th, and the newest season premiered on the 11th.  And this one's another change from the basic formula, so it might not get adapted.  But it's a rather clever idea.   Coming back down from the core team of 9 (and final team of 12...that's right, 3 Sixth Rangers, not counting the actual Ranger #6) from the previous season, the core team of Rangers has only 3 members.  Each team, that is.

That's right.  In Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger, there are two separate and opposite teams of Rangers at the start of the series.  The Lupinrangers are stylish phantom thieves, while the PatRangers are by-the-book police officers.  But both teams are the heroes, battling against the Ganglers, a criminal organization from another planet.  While the Patrangers have an obvious reason to stop the Ganglers, the Lupinrangers have their own reason.  The Ganglers have stolen the Lupin Collection; a set of artifacts collected by Arsene Lupin, the original phantom thief.  So the Lupinrangers are assigned to stealing those back, one item at at time.  But because they're also thieves, the Patrangers are trying to catch the Lupinrangers as well.  But the two teams seem to be connected, since they use the same transformation device, among other things.

First episode was really cool, focusing more on the Lupinrangers.  It starts at a casino run by one of the Ganglers in human disguise.  And the artifact he has can affect probability, so he uses that to cheat gamblers out of their winnings, and taking them to be involuntary organ donors when they can't pay their debts.  The Lupinrangers, LupinRed, LupinBlue, and LupinYellow, bust in and destroy the casino and Gangler, stealing the artifact, and saving lives, but not before the eventual Patrangers show up to try to arrest everyone.

We do also meet the Ganglers at a birthday party for their leader, Dogranio Yabun.  He's now 999 and planning to retire, so he wants a successor.  He tells his gathered people that he'll give the entire organization to whomever conquers Earth, setting up a reason for the Ganglers to be the MOTW.

In the middle of the episode, the Lupinrangers get their next assignment and make their plans to go after the Gangler, and get involved in a heavy fight.  The police find out about the disturbance and are about to head out, but their supervisor hands them some new tech that they've been waiting for.

So at the end of the episode, the Lupinrangers are in the middle of a fight with the latest Gangler, when the cops show up.  They then pull out their new transformation devices, which the Lupins recognize as being just like their own.  The three cops then transform into Patranger #1 (Red), #2 (Green), and #3 (Pink).  And the episode ends on that cliffhanger.

It's going to be an interesting series, since the two teams are very opposite.  LupinRed is very casual and cool while PatRed is super straight-laced (read: giant stick up his ass), or basically Lupin III and Zenigata.  LupinBlue is serious and smooth while PatGreen is goofy and awkward.  LupinYellow is a bit ditzy,but PatPink is a serious skilled cop in her own right, yet not as hard-assed as Red.  The Lupin suits are their color and black, and the Pats suits are their color with white highlights.  And the Lupins will have plane mechs, while the Pats get ground vehicles.  And with the plot about the Lupin collection, there's going to be a three-way dance for control of these artifacts.

Like I said, cool ideas, but probably very hard to adapt.  So I wouldn't expect to see an American version of this season either.

[SVNBob]

It's been announced that the next season of Power Rangers is coming in 2019 and will be subtitled Beast Morphers,  Based on the subtitle alone, many thought it was going to be an adaptation of Zyuohger, the next series after Ninninger and one with an animal theme.  Instead, it's going to be adapted from Go-Busters, the series that originally aired between Gokaiger and Kyoryuger, the seasons that became SuperMegaforce and Dino Charge.  This is the first case of PR going backward in the sentai timeline to adapt a series that was originally skipped.

 

Personally, I'm wondering if adapting this 3 member team series is the start of a new Zordon Era-like chronology where the cast will remain mostly the same and evolve through different powers like the original team did.  Given Saban can apparently now jump around in the sentai timeline, I can see how it would be possible to construct a logical sequence to do something like that again.

[SVNBob]

How about some DVD news?

Shout Factory has had the license from the original Saban-era for a while, and has produced every single season on DVD; from the original MMPR Season 1 all the way to RPM released this March.  (The Disney-era and beyond are also available on DVD, but were not licensed to Shout.)  Well, for the 25th anniversary this year(!), they're doing a special 20-disc steelbox set of the entire MMPR series.  That's all 3 seasons, including the Alien Rangers saga, plus the original movie, and 2 discs of bonus material.

And speaking of Shout and licenses, they'd also made a deal with Toei to release the original source sentai series (with subtitles, of course).  They started at Zyuranger, which was MMPR Season 1, and have put out every season since that one, up to Timeranger (Timeforce) coming out next month.  They also announced something else coming out later this year.  They're also releasing Jetman, the series that came before Zyuranger.  It's the first Shout sentai release that isn't connected to a full season of Power Rangers (although Jetman did appear in part in Gokaiger, as did every other previous sentai in the line, and Gokaiger was adapted into (the markedly inferior) SuperMegaforce).  And many sentai fans say that it's one of the best sentai seasons, and is often recommended as a entry point for new sentai watchers.

There's a lot of speculation about this new entry in the Shout series, as there has been with every new Shout sentai release.  When they first released Zyuranger, people were immediatly asking if this meant that Dairanger (the next season, and the one that became MMPR season 2...minus the suits, except the white one) would be next.  And when that did come out, the questions started slowly morphing from "Will the next season be released?" to "When will the next season be released?" (Standard answer to that has become "two seasons a year; one in the first half and the other in the second, specifics to come when Shout says.")  And there was always the undercurrent of "Will there be releases for Shinkenger (Samurai) and beyond, or will it stop at Go-onger (RPM)?"  But with Jetman coming out, there's now two new questions that are variations on a couple of the older ones. "Will the previous season (which is currently Fiveman) be released?" and "Will there be releases going all the way back to Gorenger (The original sentai series)?"  The usual answer to all of these questions, going back to the first Zyuranger release, is that it'll depend in part on the sales of each existing release.  As long as it seems profitable for Shout and Toei to keep making these DVDs, they probably will.

[Terrafamilia]

If I hadn't had my dvr set to pick up new episodes I would have completely missed last night's Power Ranger Reunion. Apparently, all the old power rangers are still busy rangering on whatever world, time period or alternate dimension they hail from. For such an expanded cast the episode's threat was dealt with rather swiftly. I would have thought they would want to make it a two-parter with cliff-hanger.

[SVNBob]

On 8/29/2018 at 6:54 PM, Terrafamilia said:

For such an expanded cast the episode's threat was dealt with rather swiftly. I would have thought they would want to make it a two-parter with cliff-hanger.

Then again, that's what they did with "Once A Ranger..." back in Operation Overdrive.  And that two-parter was almost universally panned.  Not because of the Retro Rangers (which is apparently the name of the team led by Adam), but because of the then-present Rangers becoming whiny snot-nosed punks who actually quit being Rangers...until they get bored of their pre-Ranger lives.  (Minus Mack, since he chose to instead become an Alpha for the Retros...which if you think about it is even more foreshadowing for his eventual reveal.) 

Also, it could have been a cost-saving measure.  Since this was an American version special, there was no sentai footage they could really use for it.  So the entire thing had to be filmed anew.  And on top of all the extra effects needed, bringing back 10 former cast members, including flying many in (JDF in particular) for just the one episode was probably costly enough. 

However, I think I've heard there will be an extended version, similar to the Legend War finale for "super"Megaforce.  That's the version I'm waiting to watch...even if I have seen a lot of cool clips from the episode.

[tessaray]

This is a test. Please ignore.

[SVNBob]

On 6/12/2018 at 1:19 AM, SVNBob said:

"Will the previous season (which is currently Fiveman) be released?"

Apparently so.  While Shout! hasn't said so officially, word around the internet tokusphere is that Fiveman is one of the Super Sentai releases coming this year.  Fiveman came out 2 years before Zyuranger, with the already released Jetman in between.  With this addition, Shout! will have an unbroken string of Sentai from Fiveman to Hurricanger (Ninja Storm), with presumably more to come in both directions.

This news was paired with an official story that the Blu-Ray of the original MMPR movie, which was originally only available as part of the 25th anniversary steelbox of the full 3-season release of MMPR, is available for pre-order as a standalone release.  It also appears that they're releasing individual season steelbooks of MMPR as well.  Currently, only season 1 is available for pre-order.

[SVNBob]

In more Shout! DVD news: They've got a big sale going on.  Apparently, the website it moving warehouses, or something, so they're trying to clear out as much inventory as possible.  Which means deep discounts on a lot of titles they offer, including many under their Power Rangers license.

The entire MMPR story (all three seasons before the change to Zeo) in the steelbox I've mentioned before is now available for $80, which is 60% off.  They've also currently marked down their box sets of 8-12 (Lightspeed Rescue to Dino Thunder) and 13-17 (SPD to RPM).  Or just get the single DVD release of the original 5-part "Green with Evil" saga for $3.

[Terrafamilia]

Has anyone been watching Beast Morphers? The 1st season is over save for the Christmas Special. Evox has been defeated - or has he? The evil Roxie and Blaze avatars have been destroyed so the originals are out of their comas. I suspect they'll be full-fledged rangers next season as there are still plenty of colors as yet unused. Grid Battleforce will be working overtime to replace all the zords that were destroyed. I do like Ben and Betty as the comic relief who know all about the ranger, and being at least half-way competent and useful in their myriad jobs.

[Terrafamilia]

Steel and Nate have their minds/bodies switched allowing Steel, in Nate's body, to finally experience what it's like the be 100% human. This turned out to be my favorite episode of the season if only for the fact that Steel/Nate and company get a full-bore musical number - "It's Great to be Human!".

[Terrafamilia]

I happened to be scrolling through my TV's guide this morning to find that a new Power Rangers series, Dino Fury, was now airing. Given that we've already had Dino Thunder, Dino Charge and Dino Super Charge, not to mention Jungle Fury, it's no wonder I managed to overlook the start of this one.

A couple of interesting notes:

The Pink Ranger is a girl and her Ranger outfit has the usual girl's outfit style of the hem of the tunic extending down below the buttocks instead of being tucked in or contiguous with the pants like the guy's outfits. The Green Ranger is also a girl but wears guy's style outfit. I was wondering whether they were doing some sort of political signalling though I see that in the corresponding Super Sentai series the Green Ranger is a guy. (added to say: I see that her suit originally had the little skirt but that she tore it off in a prior episode that I missed)

The Zords are styled as giant Legos. The cynic in me wonders about some commercial tie-in.

This is "Dino" Fury but the Green Ranger's Zord is a sabre-toothed tiger (not a dino).

Edited April 3, 2021 by Terrafamilia
new info

[SVNBob]

The new Sentai season, the 45th anniversary one, has been airing in Japan for a few weeks now.  While it looks to be a decent season so far, I think this one might not get adapted into a Power Rangers season. 

There's a couple reasons. 

To begin with, the premise of the season has the "regular world" merged with a world populated by humanoid robot people called Kikainoids.  And 4 of the team are Kikainoids; there's only one human member of the team.  This means that 4 members of the main cast are in full-body suits the entire time.

The "ranger" forms of these 4 are also full-body suits, meant to invoke the Megazord of the the seasons they represent: Red Zyuranger (MMPR Season 1), Yellow Gaoranger (Wild Force), Pink Magiranger (Mystic Force), and Blue Boukenger (Operation Overdrive).  They also represent the main recurring themes in Sentai; Dinosaurs, Animals, Magic, and Vehicles.

On top of that, part of the gimmick is that instead of piloting mechs, these 4 grow and transform into giant mechs themselves; T-Rex, Lion, Dragon, and Dump Truck.  Then they can combine, but very differently.  Think Batman villain Two-Face; each one is a vertical half of the combined form.  Yellow and Pink are the right sides, while Red and Blue are the lefts.  So there's either a Yellow/red and Pink/Blue, or a Yellow/Blue and Pink/Red combo during the mech fights.

As for the human member of the team, his ranger suit is the most traditional, but in multiple senses of the word.  His costume is actually a throwback to the leaders of the first two Sentai teams, Gorenger and JAKQ.  So he's a White Ranger with rainbow stripes, and his helmet has big blue "bug eyes", complete with dozens of holes to see out of.  (Those two are also the two Sentais that don't have a giant robot; the next season introduced the concept and tropes to the franchise.)

The overall gimmick are the Sentai Gears, which give the team special powers/attacks based on previous Sentai teams.  For example, in the first episode, they use the Ninninger (Ninja Steel) gear to give the slow Red a ninja-speed boost in a fight with the footsoldiers.  And in the second, the trio of White, Red, and Yellow use the Hurricanger (Ninja Storm) gear to do one of the special shadow theater attacks.  And each gear is numbered with each season it links to.  So the two gears I mentioned were numbered 39 and 26, respectively.  And each ranger also has their "season number" on their forehead after transformation.  16, 25, 29, and 30 for the Kikainoids, and 45 for the sole human.

 

Given all the numbering and references there will be to seasons and themes that never got adapted for the US audience, I highly doubt Hasbro will want to touch this season.  Which, given how badly Gokaiger was adapted into Super Megaforce, is probably a good thing.

[Terrafamilia]

Dino Fury season 2 will be exclusively on Netflix so I guess I'm out of luck.

https://deadline.com/2021/10/power-rangers-netflix-dino-fury-season-2-premiere-date-1234859505/

[SVNBob]

While that may be bad for you, I think it's a good thing for the franchise in general.

A move to Netflix means a move away from Nickelodeon, with their 20-episode seasons.  It allows for longer and better-paced seasons that can make decent use of the source material, instead of skipping half the original season to give every episode a new power-up/toy.

It might also mean that some of the presumed "unadaptable" seasons, like LuPat or the currently airing Zenkaiger, have a better chance at getting adapted.

[SVNBob]

Sentai #46, Avataro Sentai DonBrothers, has been airing since March.  It's a decent, if chaotic, season thus far, but it's another one that would be a difficult adaptation.

Because the theme is the Japanese folktale of Momotaro the Peach Boy.  As in the Red is based on Momotaro, the three other male members are based on his animal companions; a monkey (though the suit in show is a mix of apes and monkeys), a dog, and a pheasant.  And the lone female is based on the oni, Momotaro's enemies from the story.  It's not exactly the most well-known story in the US.  The Sixth Ranger got introduced recently, and he's based on Son Goku from Journey to the West, the Chinese novel.  And that's only more known because it's also the inspiration for Dragonball.

Also making it difficult is the fact that two of the team in suit, the dog and pheasant, are fully CGI characters.  And the pheasant is a male Pink.  Plus, the Monsters of the Week, which are normal people that lose themselves to their desires (including Pink himself in one episode!) are loosely based on previous sentai, including ones from before Zyuranger.

There's also elements of They Live, as in the team does have the special sunglasses which allows them to see the footsoldiers, called Anoni, as they really are.  (Without the shades, the Anoni look like normal people.)  The shades also allow them to see weird portals and jump-pads hidden in the world, which are often used to interesting effects by the heroes, both in and out of fight scenes.

There's also an antagonist team, a trio of two men and one woman, that also transform to fight the MotW.  But while the Rangers separate the Monster from their human hosts, the antagonists seemingly kill the humans.  (It's shown later that they really imprison them in another dimension.  But still, it's several episodes before that's shown.)

Like I said, it'd be another series that'd be hard to adapt.  But given that there's been a lot of talk that Power Rangers will be divorcing itself from Sentai soon (granted, that's been in the rumor mill for quite a while), they probably weren't going to try anyway.

[tessaray]

I know very little about the original Japanese source material but that sounds very, very  trippy. 🙂

[SVNBob]

1 hour ago, tessaray said:

I know very little about the original Japanese source material

Most of us in the West don't, which is part of why I doubt it'll get adapted, if Hasbro continues adapting Sentai at all.

The original story is a relatively basic fairy tale dating back to the late 1300s.  Elderly couple finds a large peach floating down the river; inside is a boy. They name him Momotaro (lit: Peach Eldest Son), and raise him as their own, as he says he is a gift from the Gods for them.  He grows up strong and (depending on the version) dutiful.  On the cusp on manhood, he goes to fight a band of oni (ogres or demons) that had been running rampant over the land.  On his way to Onigashima, the oni's island, he encounters a dog, a monkey, and a pheasant.  They each agree to join him in exchange for one of the dumplings his parents gave him as supplies.  The four companions reach the island, work together to defeat the oni, then head home with the oni's treasure and the head oni as a captive.

There's lots of elements of the original story that did make it into the Sentai.  Momotaro is still the leader of the group and incredibly strong.  He refers to the rest of the team as his companions.  The three animals and the oni as other Rangers, of course.  There's even been an episode where the dumplings were an actual plot point.

1 hour ago, tessaray said:

but that sounds very, very  trippy. 🙂

Oh, it is.  It's very chaotic, in a good way.  The finishers are some of the most colorful scenes you'll ever see.

And I hadn't even mentioned the early running gag of Yellow getting kicked aside by different characters (the two men on the antagonist team and Momotaro himself) specifically using their right legs, which pays off when they finally get their giant robo, and Yellow is the right leg.

Plus it's episode 17, and the team still isn't actually fully together.  Another part of the conceit of the season is that the team can get summoned/transported to the monster fights by their changer blasters, often getting transformed along the way.  They can also leave the area the fight happened in without changing back.  This meant that the team met in costume first, and most of them stumbled across each other's civilian identities by accident.  The result is that the team has only met the Black Ranger in his dog form thus far.  (They partially suspect that Black might actually be a dog and not a human.)  And he's only seen the others as Rangers.  Red, Blue, Yellow, Pink, and Sixth (Gold...again) all know both of each others' identities, and they've all met Black in both his identities.  They just haven't seen him transform.  Nor has he seen any of the others transform, despite striking up a friendship with Pink (which is going to explode when they realize that they're both in love with the same woman, and that's not even a normal love triangle.)

[SVNBob]

On 7/2/2022 at 1:35 AM, SVNBob said:

Plus it's episode 17, and the team still isn't actually fully together.  Another part of the conceit of the season is that the team can get summoned/transported to the monster fights by their changer blasters, often getting transformed along the way.  They can also leave the area the fight happened in without changing back.  This meant that the team met in costume first, and most of them stumbled across each other's civilian identities by accident.  The result is that the team has only met the Black Ranger in his dog form thus far.  (They partially suspect that Black might actually be a dog and not a human.)  And he's only seen the others as Rangers.  Red, Blue, Yellow, Pink, and Sixth (Gold...again) all know both of each others' identities, and they've all met Black in both his identities.  They just haven't seen him transform.  Nor has he seen any of the others transform, despite striking up a friendship with Pink (which is going to explode when they realize that they're both in love with the same woman, and that's not even a normal love triangle.)

At the halfway point of the season (with a fake finale to go with the actual finale of the Kamen Rider series that was airing in the prior half-hour timeslot, and said fake finale was a clip show episode), and this is still the case!  This series is so very strange, in a good way, but there's no possible way it can get adapted.

Switching over to news out of Power Morphicon: for the first time since the Zordon era, there's going to be a third season with the same team!  The current Dino Fury cast is sticking around for the next season.  However, the title is changing.  Next season is Power Rangers Cosmic Fury.

There's a lot of speculation regarding any source material being adapted.  All I'm going to say is that the set they're working on in the announcement video looks a hell of a lot like the bridge of the ship from Kyuuranger.

[SVNBob]

On 9/2/2022 at 12:43 AM, SVNBob said:

for the first time since the Zordon era

Kinda prophetic words, since further details have been released.  Not only is the cast from the Dino Fury seasons returning for Cosmic Fury, several other former Rangers are returning for the 30th anniversary.  All from the original MMPR seasons.

• Walter Jones as Zack
• Johnny Yong Bosch as Adam
• Karan Ashley as Aisha
• Steve Cardenas as Rocky
• Catherine Sutherland as Kat
• and David Yost as Billy!

Joining these Legacy Rangers will also be newcomer Charlie Kersh, who is presumed to be playing Minh, Trini's daughter.

A photo of this group (along with an Alpha-series android!) was released, and Adam and Aisha are in some interesting costumes.  Adam in particular has a badge on his chest...that says S.P.A.  (Confirmed on Twitter by Johnny himself.)  Karan is partially behind Charlie, so while her outfit looks similar to what Johnny is wearing, we cannot see if she also has the badge.

ETA: An official Tweet with the photo in question:

Edited October 30, 2022 by SVNBob

[BetterButter]

R.I.P.: Jason David Frank, Green Power Ranger, dead at 49

[cambridgeguy]

According to TMZ it was a suicide

Such a damn shame.  Young folks may not truly realize how popular Power Rangers was back in the 90s and he was THE Ranger.  Plus he seemed to really love the franchise and was the face of it even after he left the show.

[Starfish35]

Oh wow.  That is awful. 😢 He was my favorite when I was a kid, as obviously he was for many.  

[MagnusHex]

11 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

According to TMZ it was a suicide

I wouldn't really trust TMZ as a reliable news source, considering its tabloid nature. That being said, who knows what goes on with that franchise, with David Yost being bullied for his homosexuality.

49 is a pretty young age. It's kinda weird, because Tommy wasn't exactly my favorite ranger (it's Jason growing up, then Adam), but I've seen JDF in a couple of YouTube videos just a few years ago where he replayed his role as the White Ranger just for the fans. He was really dedicated to that, not something you could say for a lot of actors.

[SVNBob]

More news coming out of the Ranger-sphere:

First, a short BTS video about the 30th anniversary special, with Karan also clearly having the SPA badge, and a suit I don't think anyone expected to see.  But lots of love between the cast members.

Second, for the upcoming Cosmic Fury, the cast showed off their new suits.  The suits are totally original, except for the helmets which are still based on the Ryusolger/Dino Fury design.  However there is one major change...

Hunter Deno is now the first official female Red Ranger!  A first for both Power Rangers and Sentai.  (Barring the older sisters for the Reds in Shinkenger and Samurai, the color swaps in ToQger, and the all-Red changes in Gokaiger.  But those don't necessarily count as they either weren't full time cast members, or suit swaps as part of the season gimmick.)

 

And speaking of Sentai: it took 44 episodes (of 50), but the team in DonBrothers was finally made aware of both of everyone's identities and the team finally had a full team morph sequence.  Still no roll call though. 

However, the way the reveal happened was part a battle between the civilian identities of the Black and Pink.  They've been in a weird season long love triangle.  Pink (who has almost as many red flags as a Chinese parade) is married to a woman who is actually a "evil" copy of Black's fiancee.  And Black was told killing the copy would release the real one.  So Black wounded the copy, she told Pink that Black's civilian identity attacked her, then Pink went after Black.  And in the middle of the fight, they both transformed and shot at each other.  Then the MoTW showed up and knocked both of them out of their Ranger forms, the rest of the team showed up, and then the full team transformation (finally) happened.  But most of them didn't really notice what had happened until long after the fight was over and they split up as they normally do.

Team's still not together per se, because of the animosity Pink has towards Black.  Which in episode 45 led to Pink turning into the MoTW...for the 3rd or 4th time.  But this time, the antagonist team (or rather, their superiors, as the main antagonist team is less antagonistic towards the DonBrothers by this point) got to him first and imprisoned him in the alternate dimension.  Which means they can't form the giant robo.   For a series that has been chaotic from the jump, it's getting even crazier near the end.

Also in Sentai news, the next season has been announced. Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger (King Sentai King-King-ger.)  As the translation of the name suggests, the Rangers are all royalty, as in monarchs of individual kingdoms.  But the theme is also insects, so each one is based on different insect.  Red is the Stag beetle, Blue a Dragonfly, Yellow a Preying Mantis, Black a Bee, and Violet (a first time color for a core team member) is a Butterfly.  The cast hasn't yet been introduced, so there's been some questions surrounding Violet.  Yellow has been noted to be female (the queen of her country), and Red, Blue and Black are male (all kings) but they've avoided gendered terms for Violet.  There's been rumors that the actor or character might be non-binary, which would be another first.

Their giant robo made a pre-season appearance in DonBrothers episode 45.  Like I said, the DonBros team couldn't form their robo, because one of the members was the MoTW.  But through plot contrivance, the next robo showed up to save the day, then disappeared back into pre-production land.  After that was when Pink DonBro got imprisoned.

[SVNBob]

The MMPR 30th Anniversary special, "Once and Always", dropped on Netflix earlier today.

I have seen it, and my spoiler-free review is: Excellent.  Honors the original series well, and with enough Easter eggs and references to the rest of the franchise, up to the present.  Cheesy in the way the series always has been, but poignant at times given the main thrust of the plot.  Some of the CG was iffy, but that's to be expected.  I had a huge grin on my face throughout most of it...only breaking down into tears at the end when they put in a clip of a season 2 episode. 

If you have any affection for the OGPRs, go watch this special if you can.  And may the Power continue to protect you.

Edited April 20, 2023 by SVNBob