Category: Voices from the Grid

Ben’s Journey Part 8 – Lightspeed Rescue

Power Rangers: My Journey
Part 8: Punch it, Chewie
By Ben Taylor

Last time we were here, we discussed Lost Galaxy, which I consider to be the end of the Zordon Era. Lost Galaxy was a galaxy-spanning space opera with insectoid raider villains and some dubious choices here and there. This time we return to Earth with what is the true start of the next generation of Power Rangers (and not a Patrick Stewart in sight, sadly) with…

Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue (aka – I believe the kids would call it “Straight Fire”)

Lightspeed Rescue (referred to from here on as Lightspeed or LSR) is the 8th season of Power Rangers and drags the franchise back to Earth, literally to a city called Mariner Bay, which we discover was built on the site of an ancient demon temple. This is where we get our first major change of the season. This season’s powers are made by Humans, a military style organization that is the eponymous Lightspeed, as opposed to strange alien heads floating in tubes, weird Dudley-Do-Right aliens, or mystical Quasar Sabers, and it really does bring a different feeling to the season. Lightspeed includes a commanding officer, an R&D division, a home base full of people doing jobs such as watching scanners and analyzing data. It’s completely unlike anything we’ve seen before in regard to the actual Ranger side of things. Yes, in Lost Galaxy, Terra Venture had all those things, but they weren’t related to the Rangers. They were secondary. Here it’s all related directly to the Power Rangers.

Unlike IN SPACE and Lost Galaxy, the people making Lightspeed have a pretty firm grasp on what the Sentai they were adapting was all about, in this case Kyukyu Sentai GoGoFive, which roughly translates as Rescue Squadron GoGoFive, which featured a lot of the same themes as Lightspeed, even though the organization in the Sentai is more private that military. The ability to adequately prepare shows makes the season feel more cohesive than the previous two seasons, and less flying by the seat of their pants.

Lightspeed is also a very different Ranger team. The first major difference is that for the first time in franchise history, the Rangers identities are not secret. The first time they morph, they do so in the middle of a busy area with people watching them. These aren’t some “overbearing and overemotional” (as Zordon calls the original team in the very first episode) teenagers being selected by chance. These aren’t the hand-picked replacements for said people and they aren’t mystical warriors chosen by prophecy. They are five people with jobs to do, and they want to do it as efficiently as possible. They’re more likely to pick up a blaster and shoot a monster before it sees them than run up and challenge it to a kung fu fight, even if they can throw down in a good old fashioned fight too.

Another very different aspect to Lightspeed is the second part of the subtitle: Rescue. At several points we see the Rangers saving people, and I don’t mean by defeating monsters, I mean systematically getting people out of burning buildings or from being stuck in the elevator of crumbling buildings. Some of these rescues are on foot, at other times, the Rangers use their individual Zords, all of which are styled after rescue vehicles. It was so cool to see things I had been missing from previous seasons. I didn’t know what I was missing until I watched Lightspeed.

At the beginning of the season, we get to see three people open a tomb and free the demon forces. In the Lightspeed Aquabase (we will come back to this), after the demons reveal themselves, we see this season’s “Mentor” character, Captain Mitchell, opening a series of dossiers and authorising the assembly of the Lightspeed Rescue Ranger team, each of them an expert in their field. I specify the Ranger team here because the infrastructure of Lightspeed is already in place at the beginning of the season, not really giving us any clues to its history (another thing I will talk about more later), but this sequence shows us that this is a moment that Lightspeed has been preparing for.

There are a LOT of characters to cover this season with the rotating cast of villains, six Rangers, and two main support characters, so I guess that we should get to it. Please bear in mind, these are my impressions of the characters and not direct synopses taken from anywhere. Usually, I start off by talking about the season’s Villains; however, the villain situation this season is… complicated, so instead I’m going to discuss the Lightspeed personnel first, then Captain William Mitchell and Miss Fairweather, and then onto the villains. I’ll start with the five main Rangers themselves.

Selected to be this seasons’ Red Ranger is Carter Grayson, or as I like to call him, “Badass.” When he is recruited, Carter is working as a firefighter in Mariner Bay. He chose to become a firefighter after he was saved from a fire in his home by a firefighter, whom he has idolised his entire life. This also led Carter to be very single minded on being the best he can be and not taking time off to relax. Instead, all of his energy goes to serving and protecting the public. Personality wise, it would have been easy for the writers to veer into the trope of making Carter super serious and not having a fun side (much like they do later in SPD with Sky), but even before his focus episode where he learns to take time off, Carter still has a funny bone. We saw Carter was a different kind of Red Ranger and therefore Lightspeed was a different kind of team. When upon first seeing one of the demons, instead of challenging it to a fight, he tries to run it over in a HumVee.

Taking up the mantle of Yellow Ranger this season is Kelsey. Allegedly, Kelsey is a “Professional Mountain Climber,” though I’m not sure how one does that. She is an extreme sports enthusiast which, to be fair, only really manifests itself as her rollerblading everywhere, and she includes the trope of “extreme athletes take unnecessary risks and don’t think things through.” Even after a focus episode where she doesn’t think before acting and it causes her to get caught, unmorphed, in an explosion and suffer injuries, she’s still as eager to jump into situations blindly. Her personality is bubbly, joyful, and caring. She shares a very close relationship, and is often seen doing things, with this season’s Blue Ranger, Chad.

Suiting up in Blue this season, is Chad, aquatic operations expert. Recruited from working at the equivalent of Seaworld, Chad has a knack with things from the sea, often preferring to just take an oxygen tank and spend time swimming around the aqua base than interacting with others. Chad is an incredibly well trained martial artist. We even meet his former sensei at one point, and Chad even spends time trying to teach Kelsey Tai Chi so that she can use it to meditate and relax a little. Personality wise, Chad is the quietest of the team, not saying a whole lot unless he has to (which is good because I have to be honest here, he’s not the best actor) and he has issues talking to women he finds attractive. Also he ends up falling in love with a mermaid that is the daughter of King Neptune. She gets the Rangers involved when the demons steal Neptune’s trident… Yeah… it’s as goofy as it sounds… and I love it.

Joel is the Green Ranger this season. He’s the Ranger who probably gets the most screen time, or at least it seems that way, as he’s not only the Ranger most likely to speak up, he has a storyline where he basically falls in love with one of the major support characters this season, Miss Fairweather. In his civilian life, Joel was a stunt pilot, the “Sky Cowboy.” Other than wearing a cowboy hat, he displays no other cowboy-like qualities so weird name I guess, but branding is branding. From the beginning, Joel is set up as a heart throb, but Miss Fairwather keeps turning him down. Until she doesn’t and then they even end up getting married after the season end. Through most of the season, even though he’s trying to woo her, Joel and Miss F have a fairly adversarial relationship. Sometimes it’s when Joel wants to go off book while on mission, at others it’s just when Miss F wants to needle him in their personal life. Joel is a confident person, comfortable with being in the public eye. He’s also used to being the star of the show, so he has some issues early on working in a team, but he gets over those quickly.

Rounding out the team is the Pink Ranger, aka Dana. Dana is a medic. We don’t really get to see Dana in a civilian life as she is a member of Lightspeed when the series begins. She is billed as a medical professional, though it’s quite clear she’s about 18 year old at the start of the series. In a later season, we see Dana is a trained pediatrician, but the fact that basic training is 4 years for that, the timeline doesn’t add up. It has been speculated that it is likely the only medicine you see her practice during the season is basic first aid, she could actually be undertaking an internship under one of Lightspeed’s more experienced medics, and then later undertakes more in depth training after the season ends. Though that doesn’t quite add up either, as Time Force (the season in which we see Dana as a practicing doctor) takes place in 2001 and Lightspeed isn’t really dated, though it is assumed that the seasons take place in the year they air, unless stated otherwise. So, presumably, Lightspeed would have been 2000, only 1 year earlier. Dana is serious and focused, with a passion for various kinds of science, which makes sense as she was raised to join Lightspeed. She is the daughter of the commanding officer, Captain Mitchell. I won’t lie to you, one of the first things you will notice about Dana is how ABSURDLY SHORT her skirts are, and I’m talking Deanna Troi in Encounter at Farpoint short (that’s a Star Trek: The Next Generation reference), which is kind of weird when you consider a) she’s wearing a military uniform, and b) her father is the commanding officer, who probably had some say in said uniform. Small fun note about Dana, she is the first Pink Ranger to buck the “K” (or C) sound trend at the start of their name. Her predecessors were Kim, Katherine, Cassie, Kendrix, and Karone.

This season’s sixth Ranger is very cool. He is Ryan, the Titanium Ranger, and Dana’s older brother, therefore Captain Mitchell’s son, who grew up with the demons. When Ryan was around 4, he, Dana, and then-not-Captain Mitchell were in a car accident that left the family dangling over a cliff. The Captain had a good hold on Dana, but when Ryan was about to fall, Diabolico (we’ll talk about him in the villain section) showed up and promised to save Ryan in exchange for taking him. Captain Mitchell, under duress, agreed. Diabolico said that he would not see Ryan again until his 20th birthday. Ryan was then raised by the demons for 16 years and as far as anyone but Captain Mitchell knew, had died in that crash. So, on what happens to be Ryan’s birthday (which creepily Dana and the Captain celebrate with cake every year), Ryan sneaks into the Aquabase and steals the experimental Titanium Morpher, starting the usual evil Ranger cycle when he uses it against the Rangers. The Rangers struggle, eventually stop him, and he turns good and joins the team. HOWEVER… there are two things that really need to be discussed about Ryan and the Titanium Ranger. First of all, the Titanium Ranger is a WHOLLY AMERICAN construct. Meaning any footage including him is specially shot for Lightspeed Rescue. This made filming expensive, which leads to point two, he disappears for like 90% of the season. Usually this annoys me (yes, I’m aware they are constrained by the sentai footage) but it really doesn’t this season. Why? Because Lightspeed is a team of people who are PRACTICING EXPERTS IN THEIR FIELDS. Having grown up among the demons for 16ish years, he understands things about them that the others don’t, so it makes SENSE that he is the one that leaves to study ruins and find a non-military way of ending the conflict. Much like each of the other Ranger’s roles are playing to their strengths, this plays to his. The Titanium Ranger avoids one of my least favorite tropes in Power Rangers. I know you’ve heard me discuss it before, but I hate when an evil Ranger joins the Power Rangers and just suddenly can’t do all the stuff that made him a threat (Trent in Dino Thunder is particularly guilty of this). Here, Ryan retains a lot of his powers, but since he’s off screen most of the time, it doesn’t matter that he overshadows the other Rangers.

Onto our two main “support” characters, Captain Mitchell and Miss Fairweather.

Captain Mitchell is the head of Lightspeed operations. We do see at points in the season that even he has superior officers to answer to, but when it comes to day-to-day, Captain Mitchell is in charge and is responsible for the training regimes that we often see the Lightspeed Rangers going through. He’s also tied very tightly to three of our Rangers, being not only Dana and Ryans’ father, but he was also the firefighter who saved Carter when Carter was a child, a fact Carter finds out after he’s been recruited, meaning that their bond of mentor and student strengthens as well. Personality wise, Captain Mitchell is stern but usually fair. Coming off as a bit aloof in the early season, he has an annoying habit of not explaining his orders, instead forcing the Rangers to work out why he is ordering them to do something after they have done it. As I said, this is only really in the early season, and he opens up a little to the Rangers after Ryan’s return, which was a really nice turning point for the character. There’s another nice moment in the finale, where the Aquabase is getting trashed, as is the tradition now that IN SPACE introduced that trope, and Captain Mitchell freezes. Unable to deal with the destruction of everything he’s worked for, he has a “going down with the ship” moment, which leads to our other support character taking the reins for a while.

Angela Fairweather, or Miss Fairweather (or Miss F as the Rangers call her), is the head of Lightspeed’s R&D/Design labs and she is responsible for designing and building the Rangers equipment, from morphers, to Zords, to Battlizers, and more. Miss F is a beautiful genius with the patience of a saint. Though, if someone wears that patience thin, they are going to get the sharp edge of a razor sharp wit. The running theme of her cat and mouse game with Joel is fun to watch. He makes advances and she does her best to avoid them in every instance. Throughout the series, Miss F is always looking to evolve the Rangers’ tech against the threats from the demonic underworld and while it is apparent that she doesn’t hold a military rank, she definitely holds sway within the organization, even being listened to when she issues orders in the absence of the Captain.

The main heroes are now covered, which leaves the season’s villains, so here goes. This season’s main overarching villain is Queen Bansheera, demon queen, and not present for like 90% of the season, except in projections and voice overs, though when she IS present, she’s an imposing and threatening presence, even if she is stuck in a statue for most of her time on screen. In fact the main thrust of the villains’ desire to destroy Mariner Bay, is that the palace once on the site where the city is built, belonged to Queen Bansheera and they want to have it ready for when they summon the Queen back from the otherworld. Given that the Queen is not present, most of the actual antagonizing falls to Bansheera’s lieutenants, Diabolico, Loki (pronounced Low-Kai), and Vypra, and then later yet another lieutenant, Prince Olypmius, the grown up form of Impus, who is the son of Queen Bansheera. We meet Impus at the beginning of the season. Lost yet? Yeah, I would be too if I hadn’t watched the show.

It gets even more complicated when the various lieutenants start making power plays among themselves vying for Bansheera’s favor. While Queen Bansheera is the “main villain,” she is more the person in whose name deeds are being done (though the few times she gets directly involved she wrecks shop). Let’s talk a bit about each of the villains, not to the length of the Rangers, but still.

The two minor villains are Vypra and Loki. Of the two, Vypra sees more screen time being the “hot female villain” who seems to have become a running thing in Power Rangers since… well… since Divatox, really. The issue is, to put it frankly, her acting is not good. It’s the performative equivalent of an asthmatic chipmunk trying to fight its way out of a wet paper bag and failing. She is by far the worst actor in a major role to have been on the show in 7 seasons, and that is saying something when this season has Chad and previous ones had Kat and Justin. Ultimately, it really becomes all I noticed about her, that and apparently, for some reason, a demon has an obsession with a car that has a machine gun. Loki is… there. He’s the henchperson of the lieutenants who all of a sudden, out of nowhere, at the end of the season, is suddenly Diabolco’s best friend of decades even though they had talked the rest of the season.

Diabolico is the “focus” villain early in the season. Queen Bansheera trusts him to not only take Mariner Bay and rebuild her palace, but to care for her infant son, Impus. After many failures, Diabolico played his trump card, Ryan, who becomes the Titanium Ranger. This proves to be the beginning of his own initial downfall, as with Ryan’s help, the Rangers defeat Diabolico. Drained of his power, he rapidly ages Impus into Olympius. After Olympius tries to kill Loki and Vypra, they decide to resurrect Diabolico, and he and Olympius enter into a battle for control, which Diaboloco wins. Bansheera consumes Vypra’s soul to power herself, then uses that power to take control of Diaboloco’s body, forcing him to shoot a weapon at the Rangers who are fighting Loki at close range. The weapon kills Loki (this is right after the whole, “sudden best friends” thing), which causes Diaboloco to turn on Bansheera and… OH GOD I’VE GONE CROSS EYED. Yes, the villain situation is really complicated compared to other seasons, but it’s good watching.

lg-lrcrossover05

The other thing that I’ll talk about in every column if there is one, is the seasonal crossover (not all seasons have them). Unlike the previous crossover, “Trakeena’s Revenge” is a complete mess, spending more time focusing on Carter and a Young Girl who spots some monsters than the relationship between the two Ranger teams. It hand-waves away things that really need explanation, like how the Lost Galaxy Rangers get to Earth from Mironoi. Neither Mike nor Karone are even mentioned (as discussed in the last column, it is Kendrix who has the Pink Ranger powers here). It also featured what might be the stupidest thing I have ever seen in a Power Rangers episode. When the Young Girl tries to alert someone, in this case a receptionist, of the existence of the monsters, the woman just says “there’s no such thing as monsters.” THE POWER RANGERS ARE PUBLIC FIGURES! THERE ARE MONSTER ATTACKS ON YOUR CITY LIKE EVERY OTHER DAY. Ugh. Even if you don’t prescribe to the universal theory that all of Power Rangers takes place in the same universe, the receptionist should at least have known about the attacks on Mariner Bay, let alone, oh let see here… I don’t know, maybe a little thing like THE EARTH BEING INVADED DURING “IN SPACE.”  As I’ve said before, I don’t know much about the backstage politics and goings on in Power Rangers, as I’m fairly new to the franchise, but it is widely touted that the crossover was also plagued by behind the scenes turmoil. Danny Slavin, who plays Leo in Lost Galaxy, split part way through filming due to a wage dispute,leaving the Red Ranger morphed 90% of the time, and Amy Miller who played Trakeena in Lost Galaxy, just flat out refused to return when she realised she would be getting less screen time than a small child, and as such, they wrote in the whole mask and voice change due to scars motif. 
One cool note about the crossover is that it was the first crossover to receive a home video release, which meant that it offered a glimpse into Lightspeed Rescue’s future. When the video was released, things like the OmegaMegaZord, the Max Solarzord, the V Landers, and Olympius hadn’t debuted in the main series yet. This had some…unintended consequences, like Olympius’ voice being much more understated, and Vypra and Loki’s strange loyalties. Oh, and there is a really cool moment where the Lost Galaxy Rangers enter the Lightspeed Zord and power it up with their powers, the Lights of Orion. Great moment.

This season’s Morphing call is simply  “Lightspeed Rescue,” and the morphing sequence is simple, but fitting. I know a lot of people have issue with the Ranger outfits this season. The  color and whale sections look a lot like pinwheel mints. Viewers also had an issue with the Rangers’ helmets being the first helmets to lack silver mouth sections, but this doesn’t bother me as much as it does some others. I didn’t get the mint impression as others did, though I can see why such a break from tradition with the helmets bothered some people, but these were designed by military personnel and needed to be as smooth as possible. I really liked the added touch of the internal rebreather we can see during the morphing sequence.

And speaking of being military designed, I would like to talk about Lightspeed’s Zords and technology. I really like the Rescue Zords, the Rail Rescues, and even the Omega Zords. The one Zord that stands out as weird, is the Lifeforce Megazord, which drains the Rangers’ life energy to power itself, and is shoehorned into the last few episodes. It feels a bit like it was only added because it played such a big role in the finale, they couldn’t cut it out of the Sentai footage. Everything else, the Battlizer, the upgrades, new weapons, fits the theme really well. Also the model work is exemplary in this season. We’re still a season or two away from the CGI Zords of Wild Force and one season beyond of the frankly laughable Galactabeasts of Lost Galaxy.

But the question is, where did this tech come from? As I covered earlier, this is the first season to not have the Powers come from a “mystical” source (it could be argued that Turbo had a more mundane thing going on, but Zordon still magicked those powers out of freaking nowhere). This season, the powers are civilian. It is basically stated that everything Lightspeed has in the way of tech and Zords is thanks to Miss F and her team. How did they get to where they are? Well the best theory I have read is that Lightspeed took parts of old wrecked Zords and machine empire tech and basically reversed engineered it. That is part of the reason that the Commander Center of Aquabase feels a lot like the bridge of the MegaVoyager from IN SPACE. 

As I said before, in Lost Galaxy, it was explicitly set in the universe of Mighty Morphin. Leo and Mike are from Angel Grove. Leo states he was there during the “Countdown to Destruction,” so Lightspeed is the real start of the Ranger “extended” universe. I LIKE the idea that all of the Ranger seasons (except those that explicitly don’t, of which I have been informed there are at least two), take place in the same universe, and apparently so do the makers of the show, with references and crossovers. From what I can tell, the timelines are a bit out of whack, but that is dealable, given that manipulation of the time stream is a plot point next season.

I could keep going on and on about Lightspeed, but frankly I have to draw the line. I LOVE Lightspeed Rescue. I’m not sure if I communicated that here adequately, but Lightspeed just hits on all levels for me. I’m even acutely aware of the season’s faults, but they aren’t enough to really affect my enjoyment of it. I have no idea if this season will resonate with you all as it did with me, but I love Lightspeed. I hope that you will join me next time as it will be time for… Time Force.

SEASON POWER RANKINGS

  1. Lightspeed Rescue
  2. IN SPACE
  3. Mighty Morphin’ Season 3
  4. Mighty Morphin’ Season 2
  5. Lost Galaxy
  6. ZEO
  7. Mighty Morphin’ Season 1
  8. Turbo

If you want to discuss things more or follow me, you can find me on Twitter @BobTGoldfish, or tune in to hear me co-hosting Voices from the Grid (or VftG)’s sister show, AwesomeMania, where Mike and I talk about things in the world of professional wrestling. I also do Twitch streams over at twitch.tv/321_tv, which we announce on Twitter beforehand. Speaking of Twitter, we just got a Twitter for Voices from the Grid, which can be found at @vftg_pr.

Until Then –

Guys, Gals, and Non-aligned Pals, in the words of the sixteenth President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, “Be Excellent to each other and Party On Non-gender specific honorifics!”

Ben’s Journey Part 7 – Lost Galaxy

Power Rangers: My Journey

Part 7: A Rollercoaster

By Ben Taylor

 

We’re in a hell of a roller coaster here, folks. From the highs of MMPR season three, to the holding pattern of Zeo, The nadir that is Turbo, up to the dizzying heights of IN SPACE, the Power Rangers franchise has been kind of all over the place. What does it hold for us this time? Well let’s find out as we dip into unknown waters of Power Rangers after the stellar growing experience that was IN SPACE, and fly off to a LOST GALAXY.

7 - Lost Galxy


Power Rangers Lost Galaxy (aka – Blasting off… AGAIN!)

 

Lost Galaxy is the 7th season of Power Rangers and is the first official post-Zordon Era series, where the show switched to a year-by-year different story basis. Now, the concept of the “Zordon Era” is a nebulous one, because due to guest stars and references, it’s not like anything from IN SPACE back to Mighty Morphin’ is never brought up again. It’s just that the characters of that era stop being the focus of the story. With that definition in mind, due to a few things that happen in this season, I consider Lost Galaxy to be the last season that sequentially really focuses on the Zordon Era (though I’ve only seen through SPD so far, and apparently some of the later Nickelodeon shows have huge call backs).

Lost Galaxy is a season about a colony leaving Earth aboard an amazing looking ship (it’s more like a space station) called Terra Venture. Apparently, chronologically it happens 1 year after the events of IN SPACE, which is one of a few major supporting columns of my thoughts on this season being part of that era. Crewed with not only military but civilians too, they are setting out to establish the first Earth colony. Meanwhile, on another planet on the other side of the galaxy, Mironoi, the main villain, attacks. Our Ranger team finds themselves there thanks to weird wormhole technology. They retrieve ancient weapons called the Quasar Sabers, which are what allow them to morph this season, rescue one inhabitant who is our Yellow Ranger (the rest of the planet’s inhabitants are affected by a spell that petrifies them), and bam, we’re off to the races this season. Our villain, Scorpius, and his band of raiders, want those Quasar Sabers, and it draws their ire toward Terra Venture. 

Sabers in Stone


Okay, let’s get this out of the way; the title “Lost Galaxy” is a total misnomer. The titular lost galaxy doesn’t appear until the 35th episode of the 45 episode season and the involved arc only lasts like 7 episodes. This is because much like IN SPACE, Lost Galaxy’s producers were given footage that indicated a space-based Sentai, but instead what they got was Seijuu Sentai Gingaman, a Sentai with questionable special effects (even for a Sentai) and more of a storybook theme with pirates as villains. That being said, the writers had to write around the situation, hence Terra Venture, the main vessel the show is based on, having large habitation domes that can double for the locations used in Sentai.


Something I won’t be really touching on here; Bulk and Professor Phenomenous (a side character from IN SPACE I didn’t mention there either, because he added nothing to the show). Even though their presence on Terra Venture is a major tie back to the Zordon Era, they are introduced in the first episode, and then show up in two other episodes, and are glimpsed in the finale. Complete waste.

Let’s talk about our major characters; Our villain this season is… Well starts out as Scorpius, a unique looking bug creature who is killed by one of his lieutenants, who then frames the Rangers for Scorpius’ death, causing Scorpius’ very Humanoid daughter, Trakeena, to take over as the season’s main villain. I really like Trakeena as a villain, from her days early in the series observing and needling at her father’s lieutenants, and then when she takes over, she really does take control of the villain faction. There is a great episode where Trakeena recruits a lieutenant of her own, Villamax, who teaches her combat in a great montage. Villamax fulfills a role very similar to the unbrainwashed Ecliptor from IN SPACE, the honorable warrior. There is also a sub-plot with Trakeena and Villamax entering a chrysalis that Trakeena’s father had constructed for her to become more insectoid and more powerful, which really goes nowhere outside the finale.

ScorpiousTrakeena


On to the Rangers, starting with this season’s Red Ranger, Leo. Leo is the Ranger that probably undergoes the most development in the season, starting as a hotheaded risk-taker who throws caution to the wind whenever he can, to learning more control and thinking things through as he goes. Leo’s early recklessness comes from the fact that he wasn’t the original person to pull the Quasar Saber from the rock on Mirinoi. That was actually Mike, Leo’s brother, who died in the first episode, falling off a cliff on Mirinoi. Leo was trying to save him and Mike passed the Quasar Saber off to Leo, who acted recklessly while trying to prove he was worthy. Being unable to save Mike really informs Leo’s character. He was willing to throw himself into very dangerous situations to save other members of the team, even after Mike returns (more on that later!). Leo starts out the season as a stowaway abroad Terra Venture, and after trying to turn his hand to being part of the military, he returns to being a civilian.

Our Blue Ranger is Kai, who is heavily ingrained in the military arm of Terra Venture. Serving in the ship’s Command Center, he has a stiffer personality and is very much a stickler for the rules. His arc this season involves having to learn to not live by the WORD of the rules, but by the spirit of the rules. His insistence on living by the rules brings him to bash heads with Leo early in the season, since Leo is a stowaway and risk taker.  Kai is also the group’s cook, showing a love for it and an aptitude the others don’t have. The rest of the team often comment on how bad the food is when Kai is not the one preparing it.

This season has a Green Ranger in the main team, which is Damon. He’s the mechanic of the team. No, not like Billy who built really complicated things and was a genius. His job on Terra Venture, and more specifically, the Astro Megaship (yes, the IN Sapce Astro Megaship is in a museum on Terra Venture, and is used by the Lost Galaxy Rangers as a transport), is to go around fixing things, but unlike another sci-fi space mechanic, Dave Lister, he’s really good at it. His personality is that outwardly he is always ready with a glib remark or joke, but he takes his role as a Ranger very seriously.

Maya is our Yellow Ranger. Born on the planet of Mirinoi, after the planet’s petrification, and retrieving the Quasar Sabers, she comes to live on Terra Venture. Maya fulfills the “native” trope perfectly. She wears yellow-y tanned skins, carved beads, and has an empathic connection with nature (which allows her to understand this season’s Zords. I’ll get to them later). She also has the ability to get prophetic dreams. None of this is explained, but because she’s from another planet, it can be inferred this is something people from Mirinoi can do, I guess. As for her actual personality, that’s a little harder to pin down. Sometimes she’s stoic, other times she’s carefree. Sometimes she’s serious and at others, comedic. She definitely fits the cypher role that so many Yellow Rangers seem to fall into, very well. I need to point out that much like with Tanya, I have a real issue with how quickly Maya picks up the advanced tech of Terra Venture. Before we meet her, she is living in a primitive village, like one step removed from a “Fire bad, tree pretty,” kinda thing, and in literally the next episode, she is moving around Terra Venture, dealing with advanced tech like computers and tablet-like iPad/PADD devices, as if she’s been using them her whole life. Keep in mind, not that much time has passed in-universe.

 

Lost Galaxy


I’m going to go a bit out of sequence here, and discuss this season’s “Sixth Ranger” before discussing the Pink Ranger, because there is a lot to discuss when it comes to the Pink Power this season.

Our “Sixth Ranger” is the Magna Defender, who is Mike, Leo’s thought-to-be dead brother. I’m not going to go into it, but he winds up not actually being dead. Mike doesn’t have much character development, bar being there to convince Leo that it was Leo’s destiny to become the Red Ranger, and not Mike, and when Mike accepts this, he gains control over the Magna Defender power. The reason I write “Sixth Ranger” in inverted commas, is because his title doesn’t have the word Ranger in it. Several people question his status as a Ranger, but he is the sixth member of the team.

 

prlg-rg-mike


Now we come to the Pink Ranger, or should I say, Rangers. You see Kendrix, the first Pink Ranger this season, becomes our first ever Power Ranger to die in the course of her duty during an encounter with Psycho Pink (yes the Psycho Rangers come back, but we’ll get to that later). She sticks around as a kind of Force ghost for an episode or two and then resurrects in the finale along with the inhabitants of Mirinoi, though no-one was aware that would happen. This was done because the actress who played Kenricx was diagnosed with Leukemia and had to leave the show to receive treatment. Props, however, to Saban, who kept the actress in the credits so that they could aid with paying for her treatment, which was successful. Personality wise, Kendrix is the team’s scientist. Highly analytical and intelligent, she spends her time studying and translating a big book that the team finds in one episode. The book is nicknamed “The Galaxy book.” The team found it part way into the series and it ends up guiding them to certain things. There was an initial attraction between Kendrix and Leo that went nowhere. Kendrix is a worrier, often putting the well being of others before her own, which is what ultimately brings about her end.

So who replaces Kendrix? Initially plans were for it to be Cassie, the Pink IN SPACE Ranger, who Kendrix died helping when the IN SPACE team returned for the season team up (we’ll get to that too). Things didn’t pan out. I’m not 100% sure why, the only thing I have heard is that there was a disagreement on contractual details, but to be honest, I don’t look too much into behind the scenes stuff and only really know what I’ve been told by my co-hosts. The question then remains, who DID step into Galaxy Pink’s shoes? The answer is, Karone.

 

Karone



That’s right, from Episode 32 through the end of the season at episode 45, the former Astronema, the Villain who was reformed at the end of IN SPACE, takes up the Pink Quasar Saber and fights as a Power Ranger. With her transitioning to one of the focus characters, rather than a villain, it allows us a look into her time as Astronema. It’s actually super interesting. Side note, Karone’s unmorphed outfits are made entirely of black leather and silver materials. The closest she comes to wearing her actual Ranger color, is a headband or hair tie. Weird thought, if Astronema hadn’t created Psycho Pink in IN SPACE, Karone would never have been a Ranger in Lost Galaxy.

 

With Kendrix’s rebirth at the end of the season, there is some… confusion… as to who holds the Pink Galaxy power going forward. The Pink Galaxy Ranger appears three more times in the franchise – in Lightspeed Rescue it’s Kendrix wielding the Power, in Super Mega Force, It’s Karone. The third appearance is in Tommy’s history of Power Rangers in Dino Thunder, where Tommy mentions Kendrix and not Karone, but he’s talking about who pulled the Quasar Sabers.

Overall, I’m not a big fan of most of the characters in Lost Galaxy. Each of them has some stellar moments, their arcs are quite clear, and all of them change in some way over the course of the show, which is good. Why am I not a fan of them? Leo’s leap before you look thing gets tired quickly, Mike’s personality is that he doesn’t have one, Kai is just flat out annoying for 90% of the season with his adherence to the regs, and Maya’s Pocahontas meets Snow White schtick gets old, fast.

Okay, the character section was quite meaty this time, a trend I expect to continue now that there is very little carry over between seasons, so time for some more rapidfire sections. This season’s Zords are The Galactabeasts! They are the franchise’s first ever sentient flesh and blood creatures that the Lost Galaxy Rangers rescue from Scorpius’ forces, and they fight individually. In the very next episode after the rescue, the Rangers gain weapons called the “Transdaggers,” which not only transform into their personal weapons, but enable the Galactabeasts to transform into the Galactazords, mechanical versions of themselves, which in turn, allows them to merge into the Megazord. Though they are sentient beasts, they don’t talk, and early in the season, the writers use Maya, the “primitive,” to understand them and communicate their wants and needs to the other Rangers.

 

Galactabeastsgalactazords



I’m not a big fan of Lost Galaxy’s Ranger costumes. The helmets are okay, but the clothes themselves, well… Even before I heard that the fandom had nicknamed them as such, I only really saw them as multi-colored Charlie Browns.

 

LG unmorphed



The Morphing call this season is “Go Galactic,” and the Morphing sequence is… lackluster to be honest. The effects don’t hold up and just pressing a button on the morpher and passing their hands over their faces to summon their helmets, doesn’t really evoke an awesome morphing sequence to me.

 

Another thing that this season introduces is the CROSSOVER EPISODE. Traditionally, this is the current team having an episode or two where they are teamed up with the team before them. This doesn’t happen in every season, which is a shame. This season’s crossover is called “To the Tenth Power,” in which Trakeena’s crew bring back the Psycho Rangers, and the Lost Galaxy crew get the help of Andros and the other IN SPACE Rangers (with no Zhane) to defeat them, including what becomes a staple of the crossover, the combined Morph sequence, complete with colored explosions behind them.

 

Lost_Galaxy_and_In_space_team_up


This, of course, leads into “The Power of Pink,” where Cassie and Kendrix have to confront the only surviving Psycho Ranger, Psycho Pink, and which ultimately leads to Kendrix’s fate.
And yes, technically the ZEO episode “Rangers of Two Worlds” is a crossover between Zeo and the Alien Rangers of Aquitar, but this is really where it starts becoming a franchise staple.

This crossover is an exceptional episode. It’s not the best crossover I’ve seen (as of the time of writing, I’ve just begun watching SPD) but it’s definitely in the upper echelons. The two teams fighting together is superb, working together like a well oiled machine, really showcasing how far some of the action has come since the early days of MMPR season 1. Both teams shine as they battle The Psycho Rangers. There’s also a really cool moment when Leo, upon meeting Andros, points out that Leo was there when Astronema invaded, and saw the Rangers reveal themselves.

You see, this is why I consider this to be the real wrap-up of the Zordon Era. Yes, I’m aware that everything in Power Rangers is kinda taking place in the same timeline (with an exception here or there that we’ll get to when I’ve watched them) and therefore are somewhat interconnected, but Lost Galaxy was the last time it was so heavily overt. Bulk’s presence, the Ranger’s primary non-Terra Venture transport being the Astro Megaship, Alpha’s presence (yes Alpha is aboard the Megaship), the direct references to the invasion from “Countdown to Destruction,” the final destruction of the Psycho Rangers, the references to Angel Grove, and of course Karone’s presence as a Ranger on the team, all connect to the Zordon Era. There is just so much in Lost Galaxy that is linked to the seasons before, that it’s impossible to ignore.

 

The Lost Galaxy arc I mentioned earlier does introduce another villain. Trakeena and company take a break while Terra Venture is in another dimension, but honestly, short of setting up the rough state of Terra Venture going into the finale, the eponymous Lost Galaxy arc is kind of a waste and just feels like the writers put it there so that the season title paid off. I can practically hear them saying, “Wait, we’ve got 10 episodes left and haven’t even mentioned a galaxy yet, let alone a lost one. How do we fix this?” The arc is only one of two major arcs in the season, the other being the Lights of Orion arc, that is basically a prolonged search for what becomes an upgrade for the Rangers, and that happens early in the season. This season has the Lights of Orion (episodes 6-13), Kendrix’s death and replacement (episodes 30-32) and then the Lost Galaxy and Finale arcs (episodes 35-45). Outside of the two-part intro, everything else in the season is a kind of filler, but unlike other seasons, things happen in the filler episodes. Admittedly most of the time it’s character things and not tied to the overarching plot, but at least things are happening.

The Finale involves Trakeena entering the cocoon her father left for her, and emerges as a humanoid insect creature. She begins making her final assault of Terra Venture, which after it’s stint in the Lost Galaxy, is in quite a bad way, causing it to crash land on a nearby planet, that turns out is Mirinoi! The final showdown with Trakeena is… disappointing. It only took Leo on his own, with his battlizer, to take her out. Admittedly he does self-destruct the battlizer, but it’s still a nice one-on-one fight in which I think they were trying to echo Andros/Astronema, but it really didn’t have the same gravitas that the IN SPACE finale did, due to the season-long build between Astronema and her brother. The episode concludes with Maya basically saying, since they were back on Mirinoi, their journey was complete and they should replace the Quasar Sabers into the stone, so that future generations of chosen warriors could receive the power when needed. When they do, magic sparkles emit from the stone and unpetrify the inhabitants of Mirinoi and resurrect Kendrix.

Lost Galaxy has a very strong theme of Death, Sacrifice, and Duty, beginning in the season opener two-parter where Leo can’t save Mike, the promise Leo makes to Mike, Kai’s split duty to his Power Ranger teammates and his position on Terra Venture, Leo being reckless to prove himself and fulfill the aforementioned promise to Mike. There are sub-themes of Destiny and Prophecy with Leo and Mike discussing Leo’s destiny after Mike returns, Kendrix’s death, Karone asking if this was her destiny all along, and the fact that only the “Fated Warriors” could pull the Quasar Sabers from the stone to begin with.

Lost Galaxy has a LOT of flaws too, the acting being one of the main ones, but I’m really trying to focus on the positives here, so to that end, here’s another cool thing. It was the first season to feature ADULT Rangers. These aren’t high school teenagers. They’ve got professions and are grown people, which I’ve been wanting for a while to see. It also removes the teleportation ability from the Rangers, making them actually have to travel to get to places, which is a welcome addition.

I mentioned that Death was a major theme in this season and I really want to emphasise how much death there is. Off the top of my head, I can count 16 people or sentient things that die in this season. That is a lot of Death. And that isn’t even including the monsters Traneeka sends after the Rangers.

 

power-rangers-lost-galaxy-ss1


In conclusion, Power Rangers Lost Galaxy is a HOT MESS. I even went with the Team Rocket reference in my AKA for the season title because like Team Rocket, it has some really good ideas, some really bad ones, and some that just make no sense. It often feels like the writer’s room just put all their ideas into one of those t-shirt cannons and fired it at a wall to see which ones stuck and wrote those. It never feels like there is an overall plan to the season. The lack of a mentor figure REALLY hurt the early part of the season. The Rangers seemingly know things that they had no right to, like when they get the Transdaggers in the 4th episode, they’ve never been mentioned before and suddenly the Rangers are all, “we knew you had the transdaggers all along!” There is a kind of a mentor figure in the Captain of Terra Venture, but he only really acts as a mentor to Kai and sometimes Mike, as they serve on the command deck of the ship. The others have little interaction with him. Even still, he only really serves to teach more human lessons, not advise on the powers.

 

There are lots of plot points that really do NOT hold up if you spend any time thinking about them at all. For example, if Terra Venture was built in the last year, how are the Lights of Orion, which were hidden 3000 years ago, hidden there? Or, how did the Galacatabeasts get from the planet they were inhabiting when they were rescued, to Terra Venture? And where do they hide on Terra Venture? Or, Terra Venture has an extensive military, but Trakeena’s ship is crewed by like seven people… JUST BOARD HER!

Despite all its flaws, Lost Galaxy is a fun, if somewhat rough, watch. I’ve tried rewatching a few episodes, and it’s actually a bit better going into it expecting the rough edges. As I have stated before, I’ve only really been watching Power Rangers for about the last year, so much like Turbo and ZEO, I don’t have nostalgia glasses for some seasons. I think the fact that I am experiencing it for the first time as an adult who tends to analyse things, really hurts it and doesn’t let it get away with certain things a younger audience may.  That being said, it’s still very much worth a viewing just because the good moments are VERY, VERY good and there really are some great character moments. Kai getting to lay out the commanding officer of Terra Venture when he’s possessed, or Mike’s speech to the generals about how it should be a no brainer that they answer a distress call because it could be them one day, for example.

Well that’s it for our first stand alone season. Where does it rank in my Power Rangers journey so far? Look below to find out, and join me next time as we hear the call for a LIGHTSPEED RESCUE!

 

SEASON POWER RANKINGS

 

  1. IN SPACE
  2. Mighty Morphin’ Season 3
  3. Mighty Morphin’ Season 2
  4. Lost Galaxy
  5. ZEO
  6. Mighty Morphin’ Season 1
  7. Turbo

If you want to discuss things more or follow me, you can find me on Twitter @BobTGoldfish, or tune in to hear me co-hosting Voices From the Grid or VFtG’s sister show, AwesomeMania, where Mike and I talk about things in the world of professional wrestling. I also do Twitch streams over at twitch.tv/321_tv, which we announce on Twitter beforehand.

Until next time –

Guys, Gals, and Non-aligned Pals, in the words of the sixteenth President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, “Be Excellent to each other and Party On Non-gender specific honorifics!”

Ben’s Journey Part 6 – In Space

Power Rangers: My Journey

Part 6: Once you go Space… You never go back! 

By Ben Taylor

 

And here we are at the official end of the “Zordon Era” of Power Rangers.  Made up of all the seasons from Mighty Morphin’ all the way through to the end of IN SPACE, the “Zordon Era” of Power Rangers was tied together by the presence of the large floating head-in-a-tube, ol’ Zordon himself. After this point, Power Rangers switched to be a more year-by-year story format, but more on that next time. After a resoundingly negative column last time with Turbo, I’m looking forward to this one, as IN SPACE (yes the all caps are necessary there) is a genuinely good season of Power Rangers.

6 - In Space



Power Rangers IN SPACE (aka – Blasting Off!)

 

There is a lot I want to cover in this column. I’m going to talk about the Rangers themselves, as I didn’t address Carlos, Ashley, Cassie, and TJ’s personalities when they joined the franchise in Turbo. There was so much else to talk about, and given how good this season is, I feel they deserve it. I will also be talking about this season’s Red Ranger, Andros. I’ll break down the United Alliance of Evil, Astronema, and the issues that arose from the implementation they chose for it. There are also a bunch of other things to talk about this season, so let’s just get on with it.

I want to start by saying how good a job the crew did on this season considering, when they got the preview footage for the Sentai they would be adapting, they got spaceships and aliens and the like, hence the end of Turbo pushing them into outer space. However, it turns out that the Sentai IN SPACE is based on Denji Sentai Megaranger, and was actually themed around cyberspace and digital tech (The English translation of the name is even “Electromagnetic Squadron Megaranger), so the writers on this season of Power Rangers did a really good job of rolling with what could have been a KO punch for the season right out of the gate.

Another thing that the Writing team deserved credit for, was their attempts to wrap up a few loose ends left from previous seasons. You see, after the unmitigated disaster that was Turbo, the show was, as far as the production team was concerned, already cancelled. This allowed them to somewhat throw the rulebook out of the window and really take a few risks, and the ones they decided on, paid off.

One of those risks was basically that they made IN SPACE what Turbo should have been. Finally, the Rangers were alone. No all-knowing powerful mentor with nebulous omniscience, no established power base, no support system. The Rangers graduate highschool off screen and are forced to grow up and face a harsh reality. This is a much more… adult team of Rangers. Each one has a role to fill in the MegaShip they call home. They have duties such as manning the scanning stations and performing maintenance on the ship, like ADULTS. And the themes of the season are way more adult too, like the idea of the world being against them and dealing with the loss of a parental figure in their search for Zordon.

You see, this season’s Big Bad is “The United Alliance of Evil,” a team-up of all the previous villains featured on the show, led by “Dark Spectre,” a very powerful being who is a reuse of the Maligore costume from the Turbo Movie, and Astronema, the Princess of Evil, who is not only a scenery chewing attempt to appeal to horny teenagers, being played by a beautiful woman in tight clothing and smouldering looks, but the season’s real primary antagonist. While it is billed as “The United Alliance of Evil,” they aren’t united that often. Instead, they’re spread out, invading various parts of the galaxy, and never really operating as a unit, which is one of the main issues with the idea. Much like the Machine Empire before them, they have a massive army (including the Machine Empire) and still resort to Monster of the Week tactics. At the start of the season, we find out from a mysterious message in Turbo, that Zordon’s Home planet had been invaded. Dark Spectre has taken Zordon hostage, and has him in some elaborate death trap that will lead to the end of the Power Rangers forever.

Astronema Gif
Astronema is by far the most complex villain we’ve had yet in Power Rangers, and not in the nuanced, intricately acted and written way. Her storyline is complex and is intertwined with our new Red Ranger, Andros, but we’ll be back to that after we talk a bit about the other Rangers.

The Blue Space Ranger is TJ, previously leader of the team in Turbo. He exhibits great loyalty and friendship throughout the IN SPACE series, following from an absolute highlight episode in Turbo called “Part and Parcel,” where he helps Bulk and Skull prove their innocence when they get framed. IN SPACE continues this trend, in which TJ is often the steadfast member of the team, putting a little more thought into things that some of his compatriots.

Carlos morphs from Turbo’s Green Ranger to this season’s Black Ranger and has my personal favorite “focus episode” of the season, where he loses confidence in his abilities as a Ranger after he accidentally injured Cassie. Falling back to his old pre-Ranger impulsive acts, he leaves and has to get coached back into believing in himself by one of this season’s stand-out guest stars, who we’ll discuss later.

Cassie’s character becomes somewhat of a tomboy in this season. Her first appearance in Turbo, she was acting like an adult and on her way to Stone Canyon to become a recording artist. In her continued appearances in Turbo, she was back in high school. Now, her character is a little all over the place, though in what is a neat subversion of the usual trope, despite being IN SPACE’s Pink Ranger. Unlike her predecessors, Cassie isn’t the love interest of the season. That falls to this season’s Yellow Ranger.


Ashley. Ashley is an odd character. She has the least change between Turbo and IN SPACE, but in some ways she didn’t need it. Her character was already laid out perfectly in Turbo. She tried to see the best in situations, is kinda clumsy, and often has issues applying herself. She’s  kind, thoughtful, and instantly takes an interest in Andros.

 

Andros is the closest that this season has to a mentor, teaching the previously Earth-based Rangers the ins and outs of the Megaship and acting as their guide to space. The good thing is, he’s not some omnipotent, all-knowing sage. He’s just someone who has a bit more experience than the Rangers and has to help lead them into this new world. He’s confident in most things and a stable leader for the team. Props should also go to Christopher Kayman Lee for his performance of Andros, which seems to hit exactly what it needs to and is just alien enough in the right amount that he would be someone out of sorts on Earth. He has just the right amount of ham when doing his backstory flashbacks. Andros has, at the end of the season, to make the hardest choice any of our Rangers have ever made, which I’ll discuss a bit later.

in space team
The only other character of note for me, is Ecliptor, Astronema’s surrogate father figure, who, while a member of the United Alliance of Evil. isn’t really that interested in ruling the universe. He just wants to protect the young woman he raised. He’s proud of Astronema and when his free will is taken away by the machinations of another villain and his feelings for Astronema are wiped out, it’s heartbreaking, but that makes his eventual breaking free from that control and his shielding of Astronema for the Z Wave (we’ll get back to that) knowing it will destroy him, just amazing.

Yes, there is a 6th Ranger this season, Zhane, but he doesn’t have much of a character other than being a bit smarmy (I feel like they were going for a Han Solo type with him, the way he always kicks his feet up on the console). He fills no real role on the team other than the one time he and Ashley spend time talking and Andros gets a bit jealous. Oh, and to pilot another Zord.

The Phantom Ranger returns this season, and while I noted that they spent some time wrapping up loose ends, this was not one of them. He was just there, no development, no explanation, no continuation with the thing he and Cassie had going. He was just mostly in the background, and really added nothing to being included in the season, or for that matter, Turbo really. Even there he was a way to get the Turbo Rangers new Zords. It was a pointless build up to a mystery they never paid off. But I guess it was super important to have lots of filler episodes or that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles appeared this season. I can’t think of a single better use for those episode allocations. Nope. No stories that needed tying up… Nothing.

 

And yes, you read that right. There is a whole episode dedicated to Astronema mind controlling the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (all five of them… yes five) from the “Next Mutation” into fighting the Power Rangers (who the Turtles don’t believe in and think that the Rangers are just comic book characters). The Turtles break into the Megaship and take it over, even reprogramming it’s AI to speak like them, until they break free of the mind control and team up with the Rangers to fight off Astronema. All that happens in just the 4th episode of the season.

Now, I said I would get back to why Astronema was such a complex villain after I discussed the characters, so I shall. Early in the season, we find out that Andros has a sister, Karone, who was kidnapped when they were playing as young children. In what is the best piece of storytelling Power Rangers has pulled off, this is a running story for the entire season. This story was so well told and so well received, I genuinely believe that it helped inform the fact that  future Ranger seasons (once it was decided there would be) would have more story arcs in them. You may have caught in my description of Ecliptor, that I mentioned that he was Astronema’s surrogate father figure and you should be able to put two and two together and puzzle out that Astronema is in fact Karone. This is revealed to the characters about half-way through the season and THAT is when things get complicated with Astronema turning good, then getting captured, mind controlled, becoming pure evil, acting against Dark Spectre, and more. It’s really well executed.

Speaking of well executed, let’s circle back to that guest star that I mentioned earlier when talking about Carlos’ crisis of confidence. Adam returns and really shines, helping Carlos confront his inner demons. Adam also hits several home runs in the “greatest Ranger ever” contest in this episode, when we see him really missing being a Ranger, having an air of pathos around him when discussing it, and generally acting how Tommy didn’t when he lost his powers. Then, despite only having a faulty Morpher, and it having a chance to kill him, Adam takes the risk and morphs anyway to save Carlos’ life.

Side note about morphing, and I didn’t bring this up in the Turbo column as it was already super long, is that Turbo started a trend of each season having a unique morphing call instead of “It’s morphin time.” Turbo had “Shift into Turbo,” which worked really well as they performed a complex hand gesture and jammed a key into an ignition slot on their morphers. IN SPACE has “Let’s rocket,” as they enter a code into their Morpher. I always wondered what would happen if they put a different alphanumeric code into the Morpher, but we never see that. We do see the franchise’s first Battlizer mode.

We also get the introduction of the Psycho Rangers, a team of evil rangers designed by Astronema to outmatch the Rangers, which they do, very, very well. Their designs are amazing, and by far the best implementation of “evil Ranger team” to this point. They are a staggeringly potent and impactful enemy and this won’t be the last we see of them. The fights between the two teams are very well done and the various ways that the Rangers try to defeat them are creative, including all dressing as the Blue Ranger to defeat the algorithm that has a Psycho be super strong against it’s counterpart on the Ranger team. There is an episode with a super cool concept I wish they’d done a bit more, where after the Psychos lose a member or two, they are upgraded to be able to pick out the Ranger’s voices, so the Rangers can’t talk to communicate or warn each other.

Power Rangers in Space Psycho rangers.png
Then there is the moment that six seasons of Power Rangers have been building to. In the finale, “Countdown to Destruction” (which as far as anyone knew was going to be the final episode), Earth is invaded and held hostage and the real heroes of the Zordon Era come into their own. Bulk and Skull. Astromena informs the inhabitants of Earth (and by Earth here, I mean Angel Grove, let’s be honest) that unless that Rangers turn themselves over, she will start murdering civilians. So in order to buy the Rangers time, Bulk steps forward, declaring himself to be the Blue Ranger, Skull the Black Ranger, and inspiring many other civilians to do the same. They lead the civilians of Earth in aiding the Rangers against the army of foot soldiers.  This is the Zordon Era’s finest moment. Bulk and Skull have been the only real constant throughout the show for 6 years, and seeing their evolution over the seasons led to this moment. It wasn’t reduced to comedy slapstick, making it the best pay-off yet.


This is the official end of the Zordon Era, and as I alluded earlier, Andros has to make the hardest choice a Ranger has ever made. During the finale, while the other Rangers are helping Bulk and Skull fight off the army on Earth, Andros makes his way to the mind controlled Astronema’s flagship to face her down. Upon arriving, he finds a fading Zordon, who orders Andros to smash the tube, destroying him, which will destroy the Alliance of Evil. Andros wrestles with this, but ultimately takes his Spiral Saber, strikes the tube, and destroys Zordon, releasing a wave of energy, known as “The Z Wave.” It washes across the galaxy, destroying some evil doers. It turns Divatox good, who looks a lot like Dimitria (oh yeah… there was a whole fan theory about the fact Divatox and Dimetria were sisters as they were played by the same actress and there had been some lines suggesting one of them had lost a sister). It purifies Rita and Zedd (and surprisingly, puts Zedd’s skeleton back on the inside of his body and his skin the right way round) and way way more.

You’ll notice that I mentioned mind control a lot in this season review, and while the main stories this season are the search for Zordon and the Andros/Karone/Astronema thing, the season as a whole has a really strong subtheme of choice. Be it Andros’ choice, the mind control elements, or perceived destiny, and it really resonates at times. The Rangers have to grow up and make choices, hard choices. It’s exactly what was needed.

Overall, this season is a JOY to watch, despite a few flubs and flaws. At several points while writing this, I would post in our group text chat about how it feel great to be writing positive things about Power Rangers after the Turbo review, and the cool thing is that after “Countdown to Destruction,” it was decided to continue the franchise. So join me next time as we head to what I* consider to be the end of the Zordon Era, but we’ll look into that as we head to a… Lost Galaxy.

 

SEASON POWER RANKINGS

 

  1. IN SPACE
  2. Mighty Morphin’ Season 3
  3. Mighty Morphin’ Season 2
  4. ZEO
  5. Mighty Morphin’ Season 1
  6. Turbo 

If you want to discuss things more or follow me, you can find me on Twitter @BobTGoldfish, or tune in to hear me co-hosting Voices from the Grid or VftG’s sister show, Awesome Mania, where Mike and I talk about things in the world of professional wrestling.

Until Then –

Guys, Gals, and Non-aligned Pals, in the words of the sixteenth President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, “Be Excellent to each other and Party On Non-gender specific honorifics!”

Ben’s Journey Part 5 – Turbo

Power Rangers: My Journey

Part 5: The one that nearly broke me. 

By: Ben Taylor

I’ve been dreading writing this column. Turbo is such an important point in Power Rangers history, but at the same time, it’s Turbo. If you have read the other articles, you know that I like to say at least a few things positive about the season I’m watching amid my issues with it. The thing is, outside two, slightly unpopular opinions I have, there really isn’t much to like in this season. However after a bit of a chat with my co-hosts, we decided that what would be awesome is to have a guest columnist! That’s right, later in this column, my co-host, Shasha Kaplan, will be sharing her thoughts on the movie and the season that is Turbo.
Turbo Movie5 - Turbo



Power Rangers Turbo (aka OH GODS, MAKE IT STOP!)

I want to be very transparent with you all. I despise Turbo. The only parts of it I like are parts that most fans deride. I remember having a conversation with Michael Lindenbaum that went something a little like:

Me: I can’t do this… This is so bad.


Mike: ???

Me: Turbo. It hurts to watch.

Mike: Yeahhhh… So you met Justin…

To put it bluntly, Power Rangers Turbo, about broke me. I genuinely got to a point where I thought I was done with Power Rangers. It was right around when the team transition happened, cause, oh lord, I have thoughts there. But I’m jumping ahead of myself. Where to start? I guess there is no avoiding it; Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie.

Quite frankly the movie is… bland. It has some mistakes and issues, like under-utilizing the return of Kim and Jason. For some reason, my brain read this as if Kim and Jason were an item now. So, is that why Tommy got a dear john letter (WHICH IS NEVER ADDRESSED), but we’ve seen Jason since then and the last time we saw him, he was wandering into the sunset with his biker girl friend. So what gives? Though seeing Kim be evil was quite fun. There is a moment in the movie that really hits home what kind of season Turbo is going to be. Kat is plummeting off a cliff and morphs using the ZEO Powers, she hits the water, and UNMORPHS! The ZEO Powers are NEVER USED OR MENTIONED AGAIN. Not in the movie. Not in the series… never.

The ZEO Powers, the power source that they went out of their way to say got more and more powerful over time, that got stronger and stronger, and they’re never mentioned again. All of a sudden, the giant floating head in the tube with a penchant for robots based on dinosaurs and mythical animals, is like “LOL CARS NAO!” We don’t even get the easy single throwaway line of them having to use the ZEO Powers to make the Turbo Powers. We don’t see the Zeonisers become the Turbo Morphers. They just replace the ZEO Powers. The ZEO Powers aren’t taken away, de-powered, destroyed, or otherwise negated. They still EXIST… Just, for some reason, they stop using them. And what? Store them in a safe? This is the first leap of faith that Turbo asks the viewer to take and it’s such a big one, that it’s very hard to make. In the season finale, when both of the Turbo Megazords are down and out, I was GENUINELY expecting them to bust out the ZEO Powers. But no. Nothing. And alongside Clara jumping into the Doctor’s timestream, Lorelai and Luke getting together on Gilmore Girls, and that one time Becky went upstairs as one actress and came down as another on Rosanne, they are never mentioned again.

The Movie introduces two other factors that I really want to discuss that super impact not only this season, but Power Rangers as a whole. Justin and Divatox.

Okay, so, Divatox. I LOVE Divatox. I KNOW this is an unpopular opinion and I know this will get me some stick, but she’s my favorite Zordon-era villain. Here’s the kicker, if you ask me to list reasons why… I really can’t. Her pirate thing is weird. Pirates don’t want to conquer planets, they want wealth, and she spent hardly any time doing anything to get any. We go from a full on mechanical death robot army with combined forces technology invading from outer space, to a couple of pirates on a submarine. Her method of growing monsters by firing torpedoes at them made no sense… and eventually you would think they would just track where the torpedoes came from. Her refusal to set shorter fuses on her bombs was dumb, but I LOVE her as a villain. I acknowledge each and every flaw she has, but I still think she’s my favorite. Why? Who knows? I think at least in part it’s because she is a comedy villain at heart, and while everything else on this season was so horribly bungled and taking itself so very seriously at the same time as being bungling, making it seem worse, they seemed to find a note with her that just spoke to me. When her periscope would pop out of things like sodas, or the water in a fishtank even though the submarine was huge and miles away, I would genuinely laugh and be entertained. There is just something to be said for seeing how much fun the actresses playing her had. Like it or not, hate her or don’t, Divatox WON. She BEAT the Rangers. The Zords were gone, the power chamber was in ruins, and Zordon/Dimitria (we’ll get to her) were gone and not coming back! Much like Rita and Zedd before her, if it weren’t for a convenient plot to twist, Divatox would be ruling earth. Also I LOVE the Pizza Episode. Deal with it.

Then there is the second biggest sticking point for me in Turbo. If you ask most people their number one thing that is an Issue with the season, the answer is – JUSTIN. There are things I LIKE about Justin, for example he’s not written to be the stereotypical dumb kid (expect when the plot needs him to be). He’s usually the first one to twig something is wrong and instead of standing around monologuing, starts getting on with solving the problem. Now here’s the thing; many people just saw a child as a Ranger and instantly hated it. 

 

A lot of people have the same issues with why they dislike Justin, that I do with why I love Divatox. They can’t really put it into words. I don’t have that issue. I’m easily able to lay out many of my issues with Justin, but if I were to lay them all out, I would still be writing this column when the next one is due out. Please believe me, this isn’t just knee jerk Justin = Bad. First of all, and beyond all else, there is the concept of damage to a child. And make no mistake, when he starts the movie/series he’s 12. He turns 13 in the show, but he’s 12. For a lot of people, myself included, the image of violence against kids gives them what I can best described as ‘The Wiggins,’ an unshakeable feeling of unease. Add to the fact that Justin ACTUALLY being 12, highlights that the other actors in the show are NOWHERE NEAR being teenagers, let alone being in high school.
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Another issue with Justin’s age is, well, in “Shift into Turbo” Part 2, a bunch of Phrianatrons and Elgar, one of the series’ main protagonists who is armed with a sword, loses a fight to an UNARMED, UNMORPHED, 12 YEAR OLD. Then we’re supposed to take Elgar as a credible threat for the rest of the season? HOW. Elgar even WINS fights later in the season. What the hell? They utterly shatter one of their main villain’s credibility in the second episode of the season (technically the first “story” since it’s a three-parter), but then we’re supposed to just forget that?

And while I went off a bit about Elgar there, we’re still discussing Justin. I could carry on about the usual stuff, but there is something that really gets to me about Justin and his character that I don’t see talked about a lot anywhere else. His absentee father.

Now I’ve got no issues with the fact they had his father being a single parent, doing his best to  provide for Justin. That part’s fine. The part that isn’t fine, is the fact that one moment Justin is all mopey about his father situation, the next the dad isn’t mentioned for 10’s of episodes and Justin is over the moon happy. I guess he’s staying with one of the Rangers because his dad is out of town? Then, Justin acts like nothing is wrong when the dad comes back, gets Justin-herpes and up and leaves again, and then the cycle repeats. Sure there’s a happy ending to it all, but it’s yet another in the line of opportunities this season missed.

Just one thing after another, missed opportunity after missed opportunity, from the original teens graduation, the idea of a child Ranger, the writing out of the original team, the removal of Zordon and Alpha, and what that meant for the show. Bulk and Skull’s transformation and invisibility, all of them could have been really excellent story moments, really excellent character beats, leading to new and more exciting things for the team. Instead, we got The mass exodus. It started with Zordon and Alpha. It’s clear that SOME long-term story planning went into this season, as they removed Zordon from Earth so that the predicament he found himself in during Power Rangers In Space, could manifest itself. It could have been a turn toward a bit more self-reliance. This is where I want to bring in our first section from my co-host, Sasha Kaplan.  As Sasha wrote:

“Getting rid of Zordon could have been an asset to the show, where the Rangers were now adults, and had to fight evil by themselves. They had fought off Lord Zedd and the Machine Empire by this point and Zordon was perhaps not needed any more. Since this is the season they finally graduated high school, it would make sense for them to be stronger and capable of fighting evil on their own.”

 

Instead what we got was Dimitria who only spoke in questions. This too COULD have been intriguing, if done right. Making the Rangers question themselves and having to seek inner truths about themselves. But no, she was written and executed poorly. You might as well have put a fortune cookie generator in the tube. If we are talking about Dimitria, we HAVE to talk about Alpha 6. WHO APPROVED THIS?!?! I mean genuinely who looked at this and went “yeah… that’s a good idea. Let’s replace Alpha with another alpha, but the new Alpha will talk ‘Street’… BRILLIANT!”

Then there are the Rangers. Ugh, where to start? How about with Sasha’s thoughts:

“The transition from Tanya, Adam, Katherine, and Tommy to Ashley, Carlos, Cassie, and TJ, while not the best written, did lead to an improvement of ratings in the show. They were new characters, creating new dynamics, and had something different to offer. This change and boost in ratings gave the franchise one more season before it was going to be cancelled. The writing also seemed to improve, with fewer PSA episodes, but still decent plots and storytelling.”

Let’s start with, there didn’t NEED to be an exodus of Rangers. What the show needed was a change, and they had the perfect vehicle for that (pun intended) with the group graduating high school. Rather than changing to new characters on screen, change the ones we had already. Have them deal with growing up, the harshness of the adult world, juggling college and work, and growing responsibility. Use that as a mirror to the pressure of being a Ranger. Show that not all evils and threats to the world can be summed up with a giant robot fight or some morality sting at the end of an episode.

This was not an option, however, as Jason David Frank, who plays Tommy, decided that he wanted to depart from the show and because of the writers deciding to dump the other three older Rangers too. WHY? So we got four new Rangers. Admittedly, the replacement of four out the five Rangers was welcome and definitely helped the show survive (even though they really wouldn’t come into their own until next season), but there was something else that this gave Power Rangers that it really needed, and I’ll let Sasha sum this one up:

“Another positive, is the fact that Tommy was more absent from the show. There were episodes where we hardly saw him. This gave the other Rangers more room to grow, after many had dubbed it the Tommy Oliver show, featuring the Power Rangers.“

 

I’ve made my thoughts on Tommy clear. Heck, when I reviewed “Switching Places,” in season one, I retitled it ‘The Last Episode before Power Rangers Becomes the Tommy Oliver Show for 25 years.”  Sasha really nailed this, that the new Rangers WERE a breath of fresh air (there isn’t much to be said about their characters though, to be honest). The issue is with HOW the transition was handled.

The actual transition of Rangers takes place over a two-part episode, “Passing the Torch.” A TWO PART EPISODE. Kat, Tanya, Tommy, and Adam’s departure only gets a TWO-PARTER? WHAT THE HELL? 

 

Also, there’s the hourglass running in the command center, that apparently has the Ranger’s power tied to it. WHY DO THIS? If the hourglass runs out and they aren’t back at the command center, what then? They just run out of powers and the bad guys win? It’s SO STUPID. 

 

Two of the new Rangers are introduced IN THIS EPISODE. Yes Carlos and Ashley had a one off appearance earlier but TJ and Cassie come out of nowhere on a bus, alone, just the two of them, each not knowing the other, and they just so happen to be on the same bus. Cassie was headed to Stone Canyon to become a music sensation and TJ was on his way to Angel Grove to become a baseball player. Just alone. Meeting on a bus. Travelling like they are adults. No family around, nothing. Then a week later they are back in high school like teenagers taking classes. How’s that work? Ignoring the rest of the “plot” of the episode, there is the ceremony where each of the veteran Rangers passes their powers off to their successor with a little line about why they chose them. Let’s pull these apart shall we?


“I wouldn’t be standing here today TJ, and if it weren’t for your courage and strength. I choose you to lead the team as the new Red Ranger.” -  Not much to pull apart here. TJ did act with strength and bravery saving Tommy in the episode. This is probably the most justifiable line. But still Tommy has NO IDEA about TJ’s real character.

“You’ll be the new Green Ranger, Carlos. You’ve proven yourself to be decisive and intelligent.” – NOPE. The one time we have seen Carlos on screen before this, he was willing to throw teamwork out of the window and wanted to be the star player and MVP in a soccer game.

“You showed compassion and integrity Ashley. I chose you with pride to be the new Yellow Ranger.” – NO YOU DON’T! Before this two-parter, TANYA LITERALLY NEVER SPOKE TO ASHLEY. And in this episode, they only have a line or two.

“Cassie, you came to my defense. I know you to be loyal and trustworthy. You will bring honor as the new Pink Ranger.” – YOU KNOW NOTHING OF THE SORT! You saw Cassie fight Piranhatrons for like 2 minutes, that’s it. That’s all you saw. Much like Billy and Tanya, you are handing your powers over to someone you know NOTHING ABOUT.

 

So much changes in Turbo that the only thing I can liken it to is when Steven Moffat took over as Showrunner for Doctor Who. EVERYTHING changed caters, sets, styles even the Daleks got redesigned. All to separate as hard as possible from the previous regimes. 


In summation, I HATE Turbo. The good is so very much outweighed by the bad and terrible. This season had so much potential. It had so much promise. It should have been a season about not only the powers evolving, but the characters too. It should have been a season about growing up. The audience and the show could have evolved along with the characters, facing life beyond high school, facing adulthood as a parallel of the other threats. Instead, what we got was the show’s two longest running characters being turned into monkeys and learning nothing from it, a qualified police lieutenant deciding to run a juice bar, the Power Rangers equivalent of Scrappy Doo driving a mix of a Monster Truck and KITT from Knight Rider, the veteran Rangers being ejected from the series for being too old, and having to hand their keys over to a bunch of untested rookies, A literal intergalactic empire with an army and tanks and bombers being replaced by pirates with a submarine!, a villain that doesn’t think to shorten the fuses on her bombs, and the leader figure and his assistant we’ve been building up over four seasons, replaced with a Mr. Miyagi wanna be and a socially and racially insensitive robot! Ahhhhh! At least next time no-one will be able to hear me scream… IN SPACE.

SEASON POWER RANKINGS

 

  1. Mighty Morphin’ Season 3
  2. Mighty Morphin’ Season 2
  3. ZEO
  4. Mighty Morphin’ Season 1
  5. Turbo

I want to say a MASSIVE thank you to Sasha Kaplan for writing some amazing thoughts on TURBO for me. She wrote so much more than I could use. I wish I could have included it all, but as it was, this was the longest column I’ve written yet. And we didn’t even get into things like the Phantom Ranger, The Blue Centurion, or the fact there seemed to be less Zord action this season (that, Sasha and I agree, was a good thing). If you want to see more of Sasha, check out her episodes of Voices from the Grid or head over to geekgirl101.tumblr.com or her Instagram (@GeekyCaptain).

 

If you want to discuss things more or follow me, you can find me on Twitter @BobTGoldfish, or tune in to hear me co-hosting Voices from the Grid or VftG’s sister show, AwesomeMania, where Mike and I talk about things in the world of professional wrestling.

Until Then –

Guys, Gals, and Non-aligned Pals, in the words of the sixteenth President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, “Be Excellent to each other and Party On Non-gender specific honorifics!”

Ben’s Journey Part 4 – Zeo

Power Rangers: My Journey

Part 4: Blander than before 

By: Ben Taylor

 

While I have a lot to say and many notes, I’m finding this column difficult to start. Usually, one of these introductory paragraphs will give you some idea what to expect in the upcoming article. The strange thing is, you probably know most of what I’m going to talk about, and that kinda sums up ZEO (I don’t know why I always write it in all caps, but I do) in a nutshell. Anyway, this time we discuss Tanya, Kat, bad Zords, a non threatening Big Bad, and more in…

 

4 - Zeo

 

Power Rangers ZEO (AKA: The most forgettable season of Power Rangers)

 

Power Rangers ZEO. This is possibly the biggest risk taken in Power Rangers. As I said before, for a lot of people Power Rangers begins and ends with Mighty Morphin. At the time, changing the whole look, name, and themes of the show was a massive risk. Gone were the white diamond outfits, the familiar command center, the original villains. Sweeping changes touched nearly every corner of the franchise. However, this led to the writers doing literally nothing interesting with the actual episodes or characters themselves.

Okay, I gotta stop myself. Before I get on to the many negatives of the season, I want to cover some of the things I LIKED about it. The first one will be a bit mixed because it contains some good and some bad. But then, a couple good things.

Rita and Zedd – This one is a mixed bag. The negative is that as I pointed out in my last column, they won. Ultimately they BEAT THE RANGERS. Then the writers just decided that at that very moment would be when the Machine Empire showed up, not allowing Rita and Zedd the chance to follow up on their overall victory, but somehow Rito and Goldar dropped the Zeo Crystal? (I am aware that I capitalize the season, but don’t the crystal itself. It’s how I differentiate). WE SAW THEM TELEPORT AWAY WITH IT! HOW WAS IT IN THE RUINS? And I don’t know if there were some cut scenes or whatever, but this was NEVER EXPLAINED. Rita and Zedd were robbed by unexplained plot contrivances. The good, however? THEY WIN AGAIN. Ultimately at the end of the season, it is they, driving away in the Cosmic Campervan, that destroy the Royal Family and proudly declaring “WE’RE BACK!” until they are not. ROBBED AGAIN.

Zeo.jpg

 

Another really cool thing is the finishing of the initial Power Source situation arc. When the Rangers were fighting Rita in the beginning of season 1, it was very much their tech against Rita’s magic. Over the next two seasons it very slowly changed, be it through powers changing or learning more about powers they already had, until with the Ninja powers, their powers became mystical and with Zeo, we fully flipped around where the villains, the Machine Empire, are technological and the Rangers power source is a magical crystal (even though their Zords are still technological and the Crystal apparently taps into the morphing grid).

I called ZEO the most forgettable season ever and, even with all the risks taken, I stand by this. I asked my Voices from the Grid co-hosts, Sasha, Brian, and Mike, to name their favorite episodes of ZEO and they couldn’t. They cited moments here and there, but no episode names. If I asked them for other seasons, they could easily do so. So what contributed to the overall malaise? The thing is, there isn’t a whole lot that is egregiously wrong with the season, a few small expectations to be detailed later, but the issue is that everything is just… there. It’s like Trini, made into a TV show. However, the parts that are bad are REALLY bad.

The number one thing that makes this season bland and uninteresting is the Machine Empire. This season’s Big Bad. The force so strong it made Rita and Zedd flee the moon. They show up and they have a quite literal invasion force at their disposal. Multi-atmosphere fighters, walking mecha-type tanks, unlimited foot soldiers, weapons of mass destruction. They show up and it’s a real difference from Rita and Zedd, who had a small elite team with a few replaceable foot soldiers. There’s the bombastic entrance and… nothing. The Machine Empire never EVER scores a solid win over the Rangers in ANY WAY. All those troops and combined arms that they could have used and they resort to the same monster of the week tactic.

The ZEO powers didn’t help either. Not that there was anything wrong with the ZEO powers, but they had established that the Zeo Crystal is kind of like a perpetual energy machine, they just keep getting stronger. This, while interesting in concept, left the Rangers’ power escalating while the Machine Empire ran around in a circle, going “WOOP WOOP WOOP!” like Homer Simpson. Between the ever increasing power and the villains refusal to actually utilise their army, the Rangers were basically in God Mode and didn’t have to try, sleeping through most of the season. The Machine Empire was never a threat and it is likely, had Rita and Zedd not blown up the Royal Family, the Rangers would have just ground them down.
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The ZEO Zords don’t really fare much better. They’re just… lame. The Megazord has the cool hat swap thing going for it and the idea that changing hats changed who was sitting in the front of the cockpit was neat, but the alternate hats were introduced too late and looked kinda lame. By the time they were introduced, we were used to the silhouette of the Megazord and when the hats were used, they jarred that perception. It’s a cool idea, but the Megazord itself and the individual Zords were just lame. They had no consistent theming across them. Three were based on animals (the Bull, the Lion and the Phoenix) while the other two were based on INANIMATE STATUES (the Moai and the Dogu) and needed to be pulled into battle by the Bull and the Phoenix as they are stationary gun platforms! I know that apparently the theme of these zords in “OhRanger” (this season’s Sentai equivalent) is mystical beings and statues, but that’s never addressed in ZEO, so we just get this higgledy-piggledy mash-up of stuff. The Dogu and Moai Zords do NOT scan as such. I’m super familiar with both statues and didn’t see it until my co-Host Brian pointed it out. Pyrimidas was just a lump and the least interesting Zord yet. Say what you will about the Moai and Dogu Zords, they at least looked like gun platforms to keep them interesting. Do NOT get me started on the Warrior Wheel, which looked like it belonged in a Hot Wheels set!

Kat and Tanya



Onto the two characters that I want to talk about in this column. Kat and Tanya. We’ll talk about Kat first. Out of the two, she’s the least in offensive, and I didn’t really discuss her when she was introduced. Kat is, for the most part, inoffensive. Why? Because she might as well not exist. By the time of her introduction, Rocky, Aisha, and Adam had joined the team and Aisha and Adam had started to actually develop things about them. Rocky was well. He was bland, but that was at least his thing. When Kim left and Kat took the pink power coin, she lost everything that made her interesting in her introduction arc and just became “I like dancing and swimming and I have a crush on Tommy.” The last one was super vague and those continued to be her only personality traits until she left. 

 

I mention the Tommy thing because, not only was it yet more hero worship for him, but it never really went anywhere outside of them holding hands once (I have been informed that apparently they do it again in the Ninja Steel special) and a lame flash forward in a Christmas episode that is canonically questionable. The other hosts told me about a comic called Soul of the Dragon, which is set in the future, that has them married with a kid. The comic was released right after the Ninja Steel special. I often don’t count ancillary media as canon in much larger franchises, and I choose not to here either. Frankly, if all your fans don’t have access to it, it should not be considered required lore. Also, if that’s true, it paints Dino Thunder Tommy as a horrible human as the implication is that he and Kat are together at the end of their tenure as Rangers, and then again in Ninja Steel, and then in the middle, he moves into a shack in the woods, never mentions her, and flirts with a principal/villain. Also, forcing Tom and Kat into a relationship when the actors had zero chemistry with each other, was  a waste. Not to mention if the writers really wanted her in a relationship, they could have done that with any number of people. It would have given Rocky something to do. Hell, they’d been trying to find Billy a love interest for 4 years at this point. Why not have him dating the hot one (and yes I’m aware of David’s sexual orientation, but I’m talking about Billy the character here). There was also a huge missed opportunity with a “but you’re not Kim,” arc where Tommy has to get used to not seeing his then still girlfriend in the suit. But none of that is Kat’s fault and as a person she is inoffensive and bland.

Then there is Tanya. Once again, personality wise, Tanya is pretty much a blank slate. She comes to 1990s Angel Grove from a 1980s, what seems to be native, African tribe. Think about that. She should have been marvelling at things like phone books and more. Let alone that the first thing she sees when she is dragged forward in time, is a giant floating space head and Alpha 5! When she looked at the viewing globe, it should have blown her mind and it’s highly unlikely that she would have spoken English as her first language. Whereas, what we get is that she adapts instantly, much like Maya in “Lost Galaxy,” who is absolutely comfortable with Terra Venture’s advanced tech-hand using a tablet-like device after spending her life growing up on primitive Mirinoi. The other thing that has always bugged me about Tanya (apart from Karan Ashley’s departure, which I covered before) was the fact that Zordon, Alpha, and the other Rangers turned over the ZEO powers to her within minutes of having met her. Remember, these are the strongest powers they have gotten to this point if the exponential thing is to be believed. Yes, I know Aisha had somewhat hand picked her, but they have had someone acting good to infilitated them recently in Kat, who they just blindly trusted as well.  The fact it was at the expense of Billy, really never sat well with me and still doesn’t now.

Zeo GoldJason’s return was also a mixed bag. While it was cool to see the former Red Ranger again, the weird storyline with him reforming a biker woman named Emily and them seemingly dating there after, until the Turbo movie, which somewhat implied that he and Kim were together. Why, when he returned, were Kat and Tanya so happy to see Jason? They never met him.



That brings us to singularly my favorite and least favorite thing about ZEO all wrapped up in a single package. The moment that Tommy gets the letter from Kimberly breaking up with him. That’s right, the Dear John letter. Why is this my favorite moment in ZEO? Because I’m not a big fan of Tommy and it was nice to see him get kicked in the gut. Another moment here was Tanya being excited that Tommy got a letter from Kim, when they never met, but we can assume Tommy has talked about his long distance relationship. Why was this my least favorite thing of the season? I mean that much should be obvious. It comes out of nowhere, it’s not explained or expanded on, it’s an excuse for the stupid Tommy/Kat relationship, and oh yeah, THEY DID IT WITH A LETTER. The only relationship in Power Rangers history to feature actual kissing and they couldn’t even be bothered to secure Amy Jo Johnson for a cameo. It made for like one good scene in the Turbo movie, but that was about it. Regardless of my feelings about Tommy, the effort that the writers, and many fans, put into this relationship, it deserved better.

Remember back at the start of this article I called ZEO the most forgettable season of Power Rangers? Well it turns out that not only did I forget a whole series of Zords, but the fact that part way through the season they gained the help of a dude who popped out of a Tiki head. That was found by Tayna’s parents. So, she’s not an orphan? Anyway I wanted to point out that after this article was completed and edited, I had to come back, add this paragraph, and resend it to my editor. All because I forgot about Zords and Auric the Conqueror. I think this reinforces my point about how forgettable this season was.

So that was ZEO. Overall a completely skippable season. It doesn’t rank highly on my list, but there is no surprise there as I somewhat spoiled that in the last column.  Is it the worst Power Rangers season? No. Is it the worst of the four I have reviewed so far? Well that’s the rub. The answer is no. I have to put it above MMPR season 1 just because of the risks they DID take. Join me next time as I cover Divatox, a child Ranger, and a mass changing of the guard as we SHIFT INTO TURBO!

 

 

SEASON POWER RANKINGS

 

  1. Mighty Morphin’ Season 3
  2. Mighty Morphin’ Season 2
  3. ZEO
  4. Mighty Morphin’ Season 1

If you want to discuss things more or just follow me, you can find me on Twitter @BobTGoldfish, or tune in to hear me co-hosting Voices from the Grid or VftG’s sister show, AwesomeMania, where Mike and I talk about things in the world of professional wrestling.

Until Then –

Guys, Gals, and Non-aligned Pals, in the words of the sixteenth President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, “Be Excellent to each other and party on Non-gender specific honorifics!”

Ben’s Journey – MMPR Season 3

Power Rangers: My Journey

Part 3: Am I still watching the same show? 

By: Ben Taylor

 

So here we are at the end of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers and where, if you ask many people, Power Rangers ended. You see, to this day, when I talk about Power Rangers with people, Mighty Morphin is their only frame of reference. When I talk about Lightspeed Rescue or even Zeo (which is even mentioned in this season) they look at me somewhat bewildered and say, “That show about the teens and the Dinosaurs, right?” Which is SUCH a shame, because with very few exceptions (I’M LOOKING AT YOU, TURBO) the show only gets better (at least to the point I have watched, which is currently through the end of Dino Thunder). Now I want to clear something up. Personally, I consider the Alien Ranger arc as part of this season, not its own separate thing, and as such, there will be no separate column for it. There also won’t be much talk about it, because outside of some major wins for the villains (which I WILL discuss), it’s just neither good nor bad and will be incorporated into my other points. So without further ado…

 

1-2-3 - MMPR3 - MMAR

 

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 3 (aka The One with Ninja Powers.)

 

I titled this column “Am I still watching the same show?” because it feels like, while some of the issues remain the same, for example the characters are still very one note, the show is being written by new writers. It’s like that moment in any RPG video game when you get that one level up and your character starts to click. MMPR season three does SO many things right. From long term storytelling to writing the characters well (and others not so well, if I’m honest) to having villains getting bonafide victories over the heroes and introducing really good America-only footage. It’s legitimately like the show is being written by different people.

Let’s start with the bad, to get it out of the way. Sadly, the One Dimensional Character issue is still in place. People often cite Kat’s transformation from evil to good, but much like Tommy in season one, I point out that she is still the same character, only this time she loses the ability to become a cat. I wonder if Kim and Aisha ever found out they had been petting a teenage girl? Speaking of Aisha, her departure was one of the most disappointing things in the season; Karan Ashley deserved better. When compared to the effort they put into Kim’s departure, it really showed how little they actually cared about the second wave of Rangers. I’ll discuss Tanya during the Zeo column, but Aisha definitely deserved better.

“Metallic Armor” AKA Glitter. GET OUTTA HERE!

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There are three more things I am going to mention as big detractions from the season. First, Ninjor’s voice. I know a lot of people like it for its corniness. For me, it did nothing but take away from the seriousness of some situations. Dudley Do-Right wasn’t really a big thing in England, so his voice carried no nostalgia. I just thought, “Wait, this dude made the power coins…really?” The second one is Lt. Stone and Bulk and Skull’s story. I don’t mean their gradual evolution, I mean more the fact that they seem so… enthralled by Lt. Stone. Also, their joining the police force was a chance to start pushing them away from the slap stick pratfall comedy, which was starting to get a bit tired at this point (seriously when Ben and Vetty started fulfilling that same role in Beastmorphers, it was almost enough to make me turn off).

The third and final thing I HAVE to highlight before I move on to what was good about this season (and there was a lot), is something I talk about a lot on the podcast: THAT IS NOT HOW SCIENCE WORKS! Or more accurately in this case, time travel.  In the season finale arc, a spell is cast that reverts the Rangers back to children, so it takes the Earth back about 10 years. However, if that was the case, five out of the six Rangers should have just disappeared. We know that Rocky, Adam, and Aisha moved to Angel Grove from Stone Canyon right before they became Rangers. We know Tommy was new in town too. Kat, similarly, was a fresh transplant. As far as I’m aware, the only one that should have been left standing was Billy. At the resolution of the time travel, when Aisha stayed in Africa, her parents would not have been teleported there or had lived there all along!



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Okay on to what was good about season three. Where to start? How about Rito. I know, I know, I just got done talking about how I was getting tired of Bulk and Skull’s shtick, but for some reason I love Rito. Maybe it’s the way he plays comic foil to Zedd, serving as effective footsoldier and complete irritant all at once.

The Zords are a mixed bag this season. While I’m not a big fan of the Ninja Zords and their many and various MegaZord forms (I’m still unsure as to how the Ape and the Frog correlate with Ninjas. The Crane, Bear, and Wolf all at least sound like martial art stances), the Shogun Zords really hit the spot for me. Not just because they are huge Chonky robots that form an even bigger, even more Chonky robot, but the interesting lore they present as well. When I wrote about season two, I pointed out how important a seemingly throw away story about Kim turning up in the wild west was, because it introduced the idea of Rangers before the current team. When the Shogun Zords were introduced as having existed for millenia on a different planet, which itself had been set up not only in season three’s opener (and stealth pilot for the Masked Rider) on Edenoi, but in season two’s “The Power Transfer,” where the Rangers had to retrieve the Sword of Light from another planet to give powers to Rocky, Adam, and Aisha (even though in this season and in season one, Kim and Tommy just handed their coins over). Seeing Humanoid Zords after animal- and dinosaur-based Zords was very refreshing.


And yes, while I was not a big fan of the Ninja Zords, I love, love, LOVED the ninja powers. There is a theory that what made Power Rangers the initial smash hit that it was, was the unerring action scenes, but three seasons later, those had become somewhat samey. The ninja powers/suits did two things. It changed what the Rangers were capable of in fight scenes, but it also tested the waters to see how people would react to a suit change, which may have led to the decision to do so for Zeo. The fights where the Rangers are in their ninja suits and using those powers might be my favorite thing in all three of the Mighty Morphin seasons.



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I mentioned it earlier, that in comparison to Aisha’s exit, Kimberly’s exit was well-handled. While “A Different shade of Pink” is a three-parter, the story writing out Kim really started in “A Ranger Catastrophe,” with Katherine’s introduction, and ran for the full nine episodes. It was by far the best serial writing out of one of the original Rangers, especially when compared to the way they wrote out Jason, Trini, and Zack in short arcs. And well… Billy’s eventual departure was… problematic, to say the least.

Also, between the three seasons that make up Mighty Morphin, this season has the most connected episodes. Perhaps not the biggest number, but the most that are intrinsically linked, such as the nine episodes of the Kat arc and the 11-episodes of the Alien Rangers arc. I’m a big fan of episodes with a knock-on effect, even if it’s just with the ongoing plot, since we’ve established it doesn’t really affect the characters much.

And the long form storytelling led to one of the most impressive things about this season; the Zeo Crystal arc. While the next season is Power Rangers Zeo, most of the actual Zeo lore-building happens in this season, and Power Rangers plays off of its previously established McGuffin of the week, where we fully expect to never hear of it again, only to bring it back around in the end, with the crystal being what finally saves the day after Zedd and Rita essentially… win. They blow up the Command Center, they dusted the power coins, The Alien Rangers have limited effectiveness outside water… Zedd and Rita are in control.

And that’s *another* cool consequence of the serial nature of storytelling. Rita and Zedd get some wins over the Rangers. The stealing of the Falcon Zord, capturing Ninjor, destroying Zords, dusting the power coins, and more. When there is much less filler in the way of episodes, even the smallest victory feels huge, because it has knock-on effects. I mean, the very last scene in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is the Rangers looking at the ruins of the Command Center.


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Think about that. While the people producing the show knew that Zeo was on the horizon, the show’s target demographic didn’t. The internet and spoiler culture wasn’t as prevalent back then, and the final image we are presented, the final image of what had become a worldwide phenomenon, was everything in ruins. Powerless Rangers, wrecked Zords, no Command Center, and Zordon missing. If Rita and Zedd make ANY form of follow up attack at this point, the Rangers are beaten and the Earth and the Zeo Crystal are theirs. 

Over all, season three was the “peak” of the MMPR/Zeo/Turbo era, really finding its feet in terms of storytelling, writing, and action, and the only reason that it doesn’t rate much higher in my overall rankings is that for all that, for all they go through, the characters are mostly the same at season start to end. So where does this rank so far? I mean if you have been reading, you can tell by how much I have glowed about things in this season, it currently ranks #1, but will that change when I look at Zeo? (Spoiler, no… it won’t).

SEASON POWER RANKINGS

 

  1. Mighty Morphin’ Season 3
  2. Mighty Morphin’ Season 2
  3. Mighty Morphin’ Season 1

So join me next time as I look at the characters of Kat and Tanya, the Machine Empire, and the Zeo Zords. If you want to discuss things more or just follow me, you can find me on Twitter @BobTGoldfish, or tune in to hear me co-hosting Voices from the Grid or VftG’s sister show, AwesomeMania, where Mike and I talk about things in the world of professional wrestling.

Until Then;

Guys, Gals, and Non-aligned Pals, in the words of the sixteenth President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, “Be Excellent to each other and party on Non-gender specific honorifics!”

Ben’s Journey – MMPR Season 2

Power Rangers: My Journey

Part 2: The more things change…

By: Ben Taylor

 

In part one, I covered what prompted me to start my journey through the many series of Power Rangers, my thoughts on the original five rangers, and one Tommy Oliver. In this installment, I hope to cover a few of the characters that I missed last time, my thoughts on the second season of the show, and talk a bit about the few philosophical ruts the show seems to be stuck in (or at least ones that I perceived). So, without further ado, let’s move into –

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Mighty Morphin: Power Rangers Season 2 (AKA:…the more they stay the same)

Where to start? I think “The more things change, the more they stay the same,” is such an apt description of MMPR season 2. There were massive changes this season. One new Big Bad, three new rangers, one returning ranger, and six new Zords. Yet, with the exception of Lord Zedd making the bad guys feel a little more…threatening (at first at least), nothing really felt all that different. The teens still spouted the same virtues of barely concealed moral lessons, found ways to beat overwhelming odds, and had no character development. Even when three of the original rangers left the team, the other three were unfazed. There was no episode about Billy and Kimberly having to get used to working with the new team members, such as the way Rocky made decisions different than Jason while in his Zord, or Adam’s more traditional martial arts training and how it affected the group dynamic compared to Zacks more unorthodox HipHopkido. This would have been super interesting to see, but we didn’t get to see any of it. Kimberly seems utterly unfazed by the fact her best friend, Trini, is just GONE, and just plugs Aisha in to replace her like she was hot swapping a harddrive.

 

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Speaking of our new rangers, let’s talk about them. Jason is replaced as Red Ranger by Rocky, who, with Trini also leaving, steps into the role of “Ranger who exists.” He seems to struggle at school a little, but that seems to be his only character trait, which is strange considering that Zordon tells him that he is getting control of the Red Dragon Thunderzord due to his “strength and knowledge.” Rocky’s also notable for being the only ranger to retire due to injury. Unless you count Kendricks…but that’s a different article.

Then there is Aisha, Trini’s replacement, who is a strict upgrade to her predecessor. She is shown to have an aptitude and passion for music (and she’s the aforementioned hot swappable hard drive). More than anything, she was portrayed to be a savant when it comes to animals, so much so in fact, that when she leaves the show pre-Zeo, she is said to have chosen to stay behind to “use her veterinary expertise” to help cure animals in Africa. A TEENAGER. She’s like Doogie Doolittle. Doolittle Hauser?…eh, you get what I mean.

Our third new Ranger is Adam, who takes over from Zack. When I originally caught episodes back in the 90s, Billy was my favorite, (I had a thing for “clever” characters in most media I consumed), but when I rewatched these seasons, I realised that Adam might be my favorite Ranger of the entire “Zordon Era.” He’s one of the few Rangers that shows any form of actual character development from his initial shy, lacking in a bit of self confidence, self. He comes into his own, forming an identity through teaching classes and coaching football, and since we’re talking about Adam, here’s something I have been sitting on for a while: Tommy Oliver is often classified as the Best Ranger of all time by both fans and openly by characters in the show. But what exactly classifies Tommy as the best? Is it his achievements? Maybe. His tenure? Well that doesn’t make someone the best; it makes them the longest serving. Is it the fact he’s got to do it more than anyone else? Who knows? I want to make a bold statement – if those are the metrics that qualify Tommy as the best, then Adam Park should be in consideration as well.

I mean think about it, Adam’s achievements rival those of Tommy in so far as they have both saved the planet multiple times and Adam has been evil fewer times than Tommy has. With the exception of Mighty Morphin’, which Tommy got to be a member of twice (White and Green) they have been a part of the same number of ranger teams (Tommy’s Dino Thunder membership being counteracted by Adam’s temporary membership in Operation Overdrive). Including guest episodes, Tommy has been in 8 (or 9 depending on how you classify Super Mega Force) seasons and Adam has been in 7 (or 8 with the Super Mega Force thing again).

Outside of that, except the one time he became a teacher, Tommy’s ENTIRE character is “I’m the Best at doing Ranger things,” whereas Adam has way more development to his character. Tommy is pretty much the exact same personality when we first meet him in Green with Evil as when we see him in Legendary Battle!, but as I discussed before, Adam evolved, he changed. He learnt self confidence, so much so that he then was able to help another Ranger with the same issue later on. The most change Tommy ever went through is when his suit changed color or when he got dumped by mail in Zeo!

Okay, now that’s out of the way, there were a few things this season did REALLY well. One of the first things I want to talk about is the episode, “Wild West Rangers,” an episode where Kimberly is sent back in time to the old west and gives the ancestors of the current team power coins to help her defeat the evil doers. I am not going to praise the episode, as overall, outside a few really nice nods, it’s fairly average, but it does one very important thing in that it establishes that MMPR are NOT the first Power Rangers team. It dangles this incredibly delicious carrot in our faces. Delicious and important. It’s this establishment that really helps ease into something that happens next season as well as helps set the scene for the ever-evolving face of the Power Rangers we know today.

The other thing this season did that I really enjoyed was there were more multi-part episodes. While I didn’t enjoy all of the stories those episodes were telling, the more multi-part nature made the season feel more connected than a series of stand alone episodes and helped make up for there being an overall lack of character development, because the audience focused more on the story than the characters.

Lord Zedd, and consequently Serpenterra, were great additions too. At least at first. The American version of Zedd really did cut an imposing figure when he first showed up on the screen, and apparently caused a lot of parents to complain that their children were scared of him (hence him turning to buffoonery later in his tenure). Serpenterra too was an imposing threat, that by the end of season 3, was used as little more than a people mover. The issue with introducing a threat the Power Rangers could not defeat, is it had to have a crippling weakness. In this case, it was powered by a room of asthmatic wheel-running hamsters that fell over and died every 10 seconds. Rita and Zedd’s marriage, while disdained by many, I found really enjoyable. The evidence was all there for Rita and Zedd being a thing, so when it happened, it didn’t seem weird to me and it even felt like the next logical step. Logic, something that is woefully missing from certain parts of these first couple of seasons.

The series is a still-way-too-long at 52 episodes (they were absolutely milking this for everything they could by this point). Despite my praise for the multi-part episodic nature of the season, not all of those episodes were necessary. That being said, this season is still better than season one while suffering from many of the same pitfalls I have already talked about. 

 

Now, I know the “Power Rankings” are gonna look kinda obvious at first, but here goes:

SEASON POWER RANKINGS

 

  1. Mighty Morphin’ Season 2
  2. Mighty Morphin’ Season 1

Welp, that’s the second of these columns written and I’m quite enjoying documenting my thoughts on each season. I hope you stick with me through it. I’ve told myself I’m not allowed to start watching SPD until I finish the columns for the Zordon era so that I don’t get too far ahead. Join me next time for NINJA POWERS!

Guys, Gals, and Non-aligned Pals, in the words of the sixteenth President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, “Be Excellent to each other and party on Non-gender specific honorifics!”

Till Next time!

Ben’s Journey – MMPR Season 1

Power Rangers: My Journey

Part 1: Where it all began 

By Ben Taylor

 

When Power Rangers first aired in England in October of 1993, I was vaguely aware of it. I was 15 or 16 at the time and was fully engaged in hobbies that didn’t have me watching TV and on top of those I was studying for exams. Fast forward to Sunday, July 21st, 2019 and I was on a 6 hour long car journey with Voices from the Grid Host Michael Lindenbaum and our good friend Jordan Johnson. Of that 6 hours, Jordan and I spent maybe 4, grilling Mike with questions about Power Rangers at the end of which I just said, “Well Maybe I’ll just watch it.” It’s now May 2020 and I’ve currently made my way through 12 seasons of Power Rangers (13 if you include the first season of Beast Morphers) and after a chat with Mike, we thought it might be fun if I recorded some of my thoughts on each season. Thus, I present my journey through Power Rangers starting with the very first season.

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Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 1 (AKA a bloated winding mess that kickstarted a phenomenon)

While I’m finding my feet with these articles, it doesn’t help that the first series I’m going to write about is also the one that we are covering concurrently on the Podcast, so I’m not going to go into too much detail, as, to be honest, a lot of it would be rehashing my cohost’s or my thoughts. Don’t worry though, I’m not going to blanket it completely.

 

So this is it. The start of the Morphenomenon (don’t worry, hopefully that will be the last time I ever type that word) that is still going some 9,500 days later. Yeah I could have just said 27 years, but the other way sounds more fun.

I’m not going to describe story arcs and the like here, but talk more about my opinions on certain things and characters. So here is the first thing I will discuss, SIXTY EPISODES. Yes, I am aware that the original run of season one was supposed to end with Doomsday Part 2, the 40th episode bringing it more in line with other seasons, but even that is a little bloated. Everything you need to see in season 1 can be summed up in 15ish episodes, including a couple of filler episodes for new zords/combinations of zords to be developed and team bonding to be shown. This is one of the seasons where I actually dislike the filler, mainly because in other seasons things HAPPPEN in the filler outside of new zords getting thrown at the team like candy. There’s character development and consequence. In season 1 there was none of that. The characters were the exact same at the beginning and the end and YES, I know I’m asking a little much for a show from 1993 targeted at kids, but even Sesame Street had an episode where Big Bird learnt about dying!

 

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The characters fit neatly into their tropes. Jason (Red Ranger) is the Martial Artist Savant, the muscle of the team. Zack (Black Ranger) is our streetwise Lothario, who loves to dance. Kimberly (Pink Ranger) was the popular pretty one, the “Face” of the team. I’m using “Face” to mean the one that specializes in social interactions, I’m aware that Red was the “Face of the franchise.” Billy (Blue Ranger) was our resident geek, social outcast, and the brains of the operation. Trini (Yellow Ranger) was… well… She was… there. Not much more than a translator for Billy’s technobabble, because Asian = smart in the 90’s I guess. We’ll call Trini the “Heart” of the team. And yes, it’s as lame as it was in Captain Planet and the Planeteers.

As I said before, 60 episodes later, the 5 “Teenagers with Attitudes” were the exact same at season’s end as they were at season’s start. After saving the world from the brink of death, battling insurmountable odds, having Zords scythed out from under them and so much more, the only difference was that Kimberly had a boyfriend, Tommy Oliver.

 

Tommy Oliver. I have been DREADING this section as I’m about to say bad things about Tommy on a Power Rangers site. I must be mad.  Wait I have to reign this in. To be fair, in season 1 Tommy wasn’t that bad, and in truth, my problem isn’t with Tommy as a character per se. To paraphrase CM Punk’s infamous WWE Pipebomb, “I don’t hate you Tommy, I just hate this idea that you’re the best.” That is not really a thing is season 1, so let’s focus on some things that they did RIGHT with Tommy.

The arc that introduced Tommy, Green with Evil, was very well done. It established Tommy as a threat because he threatened each of our established rangers’ identities. He was just as good, if not better, at Martial Arts than Jason, he was more popular with the ladies than Zack, he stole Kimberly’s heart. Not only could the technology that Billy held is such high-esteem not stop him, he showed no regard for it when he gutted the command center. And Trini… Well… Trini didn’t have a “thing,” so I guess he threatened her by existing.

 

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The other thing the show did right with Tommy were his powers. When he was no longer evil, his power set didn’t change. It showed that what made him a threat when he was evil, was that he had no restraint on how he used said powers. Compare that to say, the White Ranger in Dino Thunder, and Trent loses like 90% of the powers he used when he was evil, when he is freed from the Dinogem’s Influence and it’s shown in later episode he has them for 1 or 2 uses, but they are never mentioned again. Outside of losing the Sword of Darkness, Tommy’s power set remained the same. Anything he lost is something we saw him getting bequeathed by Rita.

 

Then there is the White Ranger. I want to leave some things to talk about on the podcast, but I will say this – that the White Ranger was the VERY START, the thing that instigated the 4 hours of questions on that car ride. On that day the conversation went a little something like this:

Ben: “Mike? You know how Zordon and Alpha created the White Ranger?”

Mike: (wearily) “Yeah…..”
B: “How long did it take?”

M: “Uhhh, not sure. Why?”
B: “Just wondering, because if they can make Rangers, Why not mass Produce them?”
M: (incredulous) ”What?”
B: “I mean imagine Rita being like “Ah, now we will send down a monster to Destroy the Power Rangers…. WHY ARE THERE 27 OF THEM?”

(Yes, I am aware that the White Ranger doesn’t appear till next season, but we were discussing Tommy and not alot about him changes other than his sword can talk; also I intend to talk about other characters in the next installment)

So to sum up, Mighty Morphin’ Season 1 is where it all starts. While season 1 is what kicked down the door to the cultural zeitgeist, firmly placed phrases like, “It’s Morphin’ time,” “Zords,” and “Go, go Power Rangers,” into the lexicon, and it introduces the very basis of Power Rangers lore it is, sadly, mostly bad.

So where does it stand on the top ten? Well, currently it’s number 1. By default. You know, being the only season I have covered.

SEASON POWER RANKINGS

1. Mighty Morphin Season 1

Thanks for reading. I’m pretty sure that I have said nothing, or had no opinions others haven’t had, but I really want to document my thoughts. I’m not sure how often these will come out. Probably a bit more swiftly at the beginning, as I get caught up to where I have watched, but after that, I’ll write as I finish seasons.

Also, I need a sign off and “May the Power protect you,” is too damn cliche, so I’ll use my podcast sign off:

Guys, Gals, and Non-aligned Pals, in the words of the Sixteenth president of the United states, Abraham Lincoln, “Be Excellent to each other and party on Non-gender specific honorifics!”

Till Next time!