There are two strong seasons I'm about to cover, and as an ending for the Disney era of Rangers, there could be no better seasons to do so. Jungle Fury takes the theme of teaching and learning and applies that theme to a whole season. RPM looks to the past to fix the present, all while being based in a parallel world.
Pai Zhuq – The Order of the Claw – trains students to unleash their animal spirits. Three students are chosen above the others. Three who will become the Jungle Fury Power Rangers. However, one of the students has darkness in his heart, and is dismissed. A new recruit takes his place, having proven himself by standing up to him.
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A Look Inside the Morphing Grid – Mystic Force / Operation Overdrive [From 18/January-2018]19/2/2020 This series of posts returns stronger than previous efforts, which is more than I can say about the two seasons I'm about to cover. The Disney seasons had already proved they could do characters right, they could do plot right, and they could build up a season in all the right ways.
Mystic Force starts wobbling on the downward path, before Operation Overdrive turns in into a full-on crash. You'll see what I mean as you read on. Mystic Force begins with a tale of the past, about a great war between good and evil, and stopping the human realm being taken over. In the present, four of our heroes work in a music store, with the fifth who will join them arriving on a motorbike. I find it kind of fitting that the main civilian base is a music store, as the music hits all the right notes with this season. The first thing to really notice about The Last Jedi is that it sets quite a bit up within the first ten minutes. Then it decides to go further. What the trailers showed us and what we see in the film is different, though many suspected that it might be. Narrative structures teased in the trailers go to unexpected places, and there are plenty of unexpected things within the film.
The characters here continue from where they left off in Force Awakens, with Poe immediately being back in an X-Wing blowing things up. That trait gets focus here, and some development in his understanding of the larger plan of war happens. BB-8 is again a standout droid, giving some great character and getting into some action of his own. Ah, here we are at last. After Ninja Storm picked up the pieces from Wild Force - and shows that Disney is capable of making good Power Rangers seasons - these two prove that under Disney, the series was still able to achieve greatness.
At least for me, of course, and I'm not just saying that because these were my first seasons. The start of Dino Thunder shows Tommy escaping from an island, which the show later tells us is where he worked. Showing this allows a look at the main evil force right from the off, though at the start he is hidden in shadow as he commands the Tyannodrones to bring Dr Oliver to him. With the end of Time Force, the series took a transition period, where the rights to the series transferred to Disney. At first, Disney were hesitant to continue the series.
Wild Force - the last of the Saban seasons (at least until they got the rights back) - showed Disney that the series was still popular, and with the ability to reduce costs by moving production to New Zealand, the series continued on. However, history lesson over, as these two seasons offer something different. Wild Force was an interesting season for me, but Ninja Storm is where I felt the series really starts to pick back up, so read on and see just what I think. Here we have two seasons that have some very powerful and serious stories to them. Two seasons which have great character development and world building. Time Force also brings forth my favourite villains from the series, and hits the top with many things I like from the franchise.
Lightspeed Rescue has a strong start, and manages to introduce the major elements in the first episode. Stunt pilot Joel, rock climber Kelsey, water park performer Chad, and firefighter Carter are recruited by Lightspeed to tackle the demons that have risen once again. The base is underwater, as that is the one place the demons cannot travel. The demons expect their queen to be waiting at their castle, but all they find is her son. The episode shows all of these, but does little to explain them, and that works to keep the pace brisk. There's time for explaining stuff when focus is placed on them. With Turbo starting the new tone for the series, In Space takes to that and crafts a very well executed story. The same can be said of Lost Galaxy.
While In Space takes previous elements from the past and fuses them with new, Lost Galaxy takes a completely new setting, and in fact a new concept for the world the Rangers inhabit. Let's start this off with Power Rangers In Space. From out of Nowhere is a strong opening, starting with a meeting of evil forces from past seasons, and introducing the new villains. A spy is among them - a Red Ranger. Astronema is chosen by Dark Specter to hunt the spy down. The TV series of Power Rangers is always good fun, with the suits and story pretty colourful and fun. A few seasons took a more serious side with the story, and even in the more light-hearted ones there were some serious moments.
But no-one really expected those spandex suits and cheap effects to change to reflect that more serious tone. Here then, with the first in the new Rangers films, a more serious tone is presented with the effects and suits to match. After that ridiculously long post of Mighty Morphin', I'm glad all of these will now be less than a hundred episodes to cover. With the next two series, it was clear Saban was trying to push for bigger changes more quickly to allow the popularity of the franchise to thrive.
Zeo changed everything right off the bat. Well, all but the Rangers themselves, and Angel Grove as a living community. Turbo also did the same thing. So let's take a look at Zeo, then Turbo, and see how they shape up. As I said in this month's Update, I was never an active watcher, and the point at which I started - Dino Thunder - was effectively The Force Awakens to A New Hope. Familiar with its concepts but presenting them in a new approach.
From an evil Ranger who turns good, the comic relief trying to expose the Ranger's identities in numerous ways, and most importantly of all - Tommy Oliver returning as a core member of a team. So from someone who's first experience into Power Rangers was from Dino Thunder, what kind of opinion would that one get watching the original? |