Power Rangers

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by SG-17, Aug 7, 2010.

  1. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^No, you're missing my point. The production number doesn't necessarily represent the intended story or broadcast order. There are plenty of cases where the episode numbered 101 is not intended to be the first story. Those are merely internal codes for organizational purposes and don't reflect the intended story order. And it's obvious from watching this episode, and from the other clips that we've seen, that this was not meant to be the first installment in the storyline.

    And I don't think it was a question of Saban's decision-making. I gathered from comments above that it was Nickelodeon's decision to skip the real premiere, and that makes sense, since it's often the network that dictates broadcast order (for instance, it was FOX that decided not to air the real pilot of Firefly until after they'd already cancelled the show).
     
  2. DigificWriter

    DigificWriter Vice Admiral Admiral

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    All indications are that the decision to make/air/treat "The Team Unites" as the 'premiere' was mutually made by both Saban and Nickelodean (as both entities assign the '101' production code to it), even though we know that there is clearly footage out there that, story-wise, takes place earlier and serves as a 'proper introduction' to the characters, villains, and setting of PRS.
     
  3. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    You're still not hearing me. Numbering an episode 101 only addresses the production order. It's how the people actually filming the thing refer to it for their convenience, regardless of any intentions about broadcast or story order. It has nothing to do with whether an episode is intended to be the premiere, because it applies to the production process, not the broadcast. You're reading more into the production number than it actually means.
     
  4. Samurai8472

    Samurai8472 Admiral Admiral

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    Last edited: Feb 13, 2011
  5. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    The usual time slot for Power Rangers Samurai seems to be Sundays at noon Eastern. I caught the second aired episode about an hour ago. It had kind of an interesting premise -- a monster trying to trick a kid into giving up his dreams, the Rangers Kevin and Mia talking about their own dreams that they've had to put on hold. The concept that the Rangers have had to give up their families and lives and devote themselves entirely to Ranger training is an intriguing new element that offers a lot of character potential.

    Unfortunately, the execution was very poor. The dialogue was quite badly written, and the actors aren't all that great. This is the first time we've gotten to see either female Ranger do anything significant, and while they're both moderately cute (particularly Mia), neither is a very good actress (particularly not the blonde -- Emily, is it?). The guy who plays Kevin is okay, but not excellent. As for the other two male Rangers, the ones featured last week, they're decent, but the guy playing Jayden is poorly cast for a Red Ranger. I find him kind of creepy, with a look better suited to a villain. When he smiles, it looks more like a sinister leer to me.

    Bulk and Spike still serve no purpose beyond random slapstick insertions, and it does seem they'll be making a habit of reviving the "Bulk gets splattered" trope from MMPR's first season. And Spike's voice was even more annoying here than last week, if that's physically possible.

    Basically, whatever potential I'm seeing here probably comes from the Japanese original, given how closely the episodes are evidently being adapted. The American translation is being handled rather poorly this time around. I'm fine with Saban getting the rights back, but they should've kept more of the creative staff from prior years. If, say, Jackie Marchand were writing these scripts, they'd be a lot more palatable.
     
  6. Samurai8472

    Samurai8472 Admiral Admiral

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  7. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^Err... okay. What happened there?

    Damn, I wish those Japanese classes in college had stuck with me...
     
  8. Samurai8472

    Samurai8472 Admiral Admiral

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    A year ago, 34 super sentai gathered to fight off an attack by the zangyack. They used all their powers to seal/fend off the invasion.

    The Gokaiger's arrive and are wanted by the zangyack.

    So now the gokaiger's meet the past sentai and help them regain their power.

    I'm waiting for subs to explain how the gokaiger's have ranger keys in the beginning
     
  9. Kelthaz

    Kelthaz Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Well, that was certainly an episode. I just finished watching it and I can barely remember what happened. Something to do with Hockey or something.

    Anyway, Gokaiger was amazing. The characters are interesting, the humour is top-notch, and bringing together 35 years of history is all kinds of fanboy Squee. I'm excited to see where they go with the show.
     
  10. Samurai8472

    Samurai8472 Admiral Admiral

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  11. Saga

    Saga Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    has there ever been a Rita figure before? gonna have to pick that up. and i guess that one figure of Samurai Red with the gold helmet is going to be a battlizer?
     
  12. Samurai8472

    Samurai8472 Admiral Admiral

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    None like this new one

    [​IMG]
     
  13. Chris3123

    Chris3123 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    One was planned to be included in the very first wave of Evil Space Aliens back in the day, but they canceled it. This will be the first Rita Repulsa figure to be released.

    Technically, none of those are Rita. ;)
     
  14. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Ouch, today's Samurai episode was the worst one yet. The dialogue was painfully bad, and it's becoming increasingly evident that this is just about the least talented cast any Power Rangers series has ever had, and one of the least charismatic. Even the mentor is bad and unappealing.

    The story didn't make much sense either. It was the usual PR sort of thing where the Red Ranger gets a new weapon/power source and has to struggle to master it, but the way it was executed was incoherent. Red Ranger Jayden is obsessively training himself to exhaustion, trying and failing to master the new weapon, so his mentor Ji tells him he needs to learn to relax and not be so obsessive, that he needs to find balance in his life. But Jayden ignores this and keep on training obsessively, eventually mastering the weapon through sheer persistence and willpower. Then at the end, Jayden says he's learned that he needs to relax from time to time to achieve balance in his life. Huh? So he succeeds because he completely ignores that lesson, and yet in the process he learns the value of that lesson? What the hell?

    In the Sentai-footage department, we got a new twist on the giant-monster fights: this time around, the mooks (called "Moogers") are able to turn giant themselves, and the main giant monster is apparently free to call in a horde of giant myrmidons anytime it pleases. Now, if this is the case, if the villains have so many giant monsters at their disposal at once, why do they only send one at a time? Why not just unleash this whole giant army to lay waste to the cities of the world? Yeah, yeah, I know Sentai/PR villain strategy is generally devoid of logic or coherence, but this is really pushing it.

    At least for once the Bulk-and-Spike scenes didn't involve Bulk getting splattered with something (although there was a bit with Bulk voluntarily wolfing down a whole wad of cotton candy in one go), but they didn't really have any other payoff or point. And Spike's voice continues to redefine "annoying" in new and unpleasant ways.

    I am very close to the point of deciding to stop watching this show. I think it's a solid contender for the worst Power Rangers season ever, which is doubly disappointing given that it follows the hands-down best PR season ever, RPM. If they ever get around to showing the actual series premiere, I'll check that out, but I don't know if I'll bother to come back on a weekly basis after this.
     
  15. Samurai8472

    Samurai8472 Admiral Admiral

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    If Power ranger's samurai had bothered to do the proper introduction of the Samurai Megazord the giant moogers would have appeared earlier.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gpkvvo5oMM

    But they skipped introductions and are now using footage from episode 4 of Shinkenger.

    The longer they delay the proper introductions the weirder things will look if they use the footage in say Episode 15. Ofcourse they could just use it as unseen flashback footage.


    As for your second point. Yeah I'm hearing that this cast and season are at least 5 steps back from what RPM established in terms of acting and execution.




    Over in Japan, Gokaiger's second episode was great.



    Gokaioh battle

    YouTube - Gokaioh Battle



    Gokai Changes in episode 2

    YouTube - Gokai Change episode 2


    The all red ranger attack was awesome
     
  16. SG-17

    SG-17 Commodore Commodore

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    Compared to the last series that I watched (Dino Thunder), Samurai feels more like a parody. Of course though I do love the references to the original series. The intro is amazing and I smile every time Bulk is on screen. The man looks the same as he did 19 years ago.
     
  17. DigificWriter

    DigificWriter Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Cross-posted:
    It's looking ever more likely that 'The Team Unites' was a fluke, tonally, and this season is going to be much more reflective of the tonal standard set by Ninja Storm than the tonal standard set by the original MMPR (NS's tone being a reflection of said tone, but without the multiple issues associated therewith). This episode felt to me like it was a combination of elements from 'Gung Ho!', 'Always a Chance', 'Facing the Past', 'Snip It, Snip It Good', 'The Samurai's Journey', and 'Petrified Xander', but with a vibe that was equally all its own.

    Some of the Rangers' dialogue made me chuckle because of how cornily obvious it was, but it didn't detract from the episode in any way, nor did it detract from their characterization.

    The Beetle Zord and Beetle Blaster Megazord were pretty awesome, although the horn protrusion sticking out as far as it did from the Megazord's helmet did catch me a bit off guard, at least until I saw its attack in action.

    For the first time, Bulk and Spike's scene didn't annoy me, even though I do have to say that it was kind of gross seeing Bulk gorge himself on that cotton candy.

    The weakest link in the episode, for me, was the monster, or more specifically, his voice; it was kind of hard for me to take him seriously as a major threat when he came across as someone affecting a very bad parody of a Western gunslinger/outlaw.
     
  18. SG-17

    SG-17 Commodore Commodore

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    Well this episode is the last one that I will watch.
     
  19. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^I watched the teaser, and the actress playing Emily was so painfully bad that I didn't even bother to watch the rest.

    I did some checking, and it looks like this is mostly a US cast, with Iris Hampton doing the US casting and Terri De'ath doing the NZ casting as I believe she did on the previous NZ seasons. IMDb says that Iris Hampton was the Power Rangers casting director from ...in Space to Wild Force, so we know her casting can be hit-or-miss. The only really standout Ranger cast in that span was the Time Force cast. But this bunch is an all-time low. Maybe Saban needs to hire a new casting director.
     
  20. Takeru

    Takeru Space Police Commodore

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    No, he needs to stop being a cheapskate. When they were casting the parts a lot of actors posted about in on facebook or their blogs. When they learned how much he was willing to pay most of them walked out. Switching casting directors won't change that