Power Rangers

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

  1. Samurai8472

    Samurai8472 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 27, 2007

    It was big. All the sentai ranger's up to that point sacrificed their powers to suppress the enemy forces

    This is from the Gokaiger VS Goseiger movie

    [YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs73TDM32P0[/YT]

    Sorry for no English subtitles.

    The scope of the project was very exciting. There were at least 200 stunt actors and people called in for the day to take part.
     
  2. Agent Richard07

    Agent Richard07 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2001
    ^ I thought I saw Jarrod in his Lion/Dai Shi garb.

    Anyway, that does look pretty big. I've never seen anything on that scale in the American version. Looks like they spend a lot more money and have a more mature approach to the drama and action. There's quite a variety of ranger designs too. Something tells me that when this comes around on Megaforce, it won't be as grand and we'll see past rangers in costume only. I hope I'm wrong though.
     
  3. Stephen!

    Stephen! Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2008
    Toei seems to outsource a lot of the design work to a company called PLEX, which also created stuff for Saban/Disney - Titanium Ranger, Jungle Fury Spirit Rangers and Samurai's Mega Mode.

    http://powerrangers.wikia.com/wiki/PLEX
     
  4. Agent Richard07

    Agent Richard07 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2001
    I saw Gokaiger Goseiger Super Sentai 199 Hero Great Battle last night. It's the Super Sentai movie that commemorates the 35th anniversary of Power Rangers and has the Rangers war that was foreshadowed in Megaforce. It looked like a real game changer for the franchise. At least it started off that way. It didn't go in the direction I had hoped it would after that great set-up, but it was still pretty good. Even if the American version waters it down a little, it'll still be quite the event, one worthy of a 20th season celebration. As for appearances by past actors, there's room for that. I hope it happens, but if it doesn't we still have an event.

    Now I have a question for those in the know… Is the current cast signed on for two seasons or just one? The movie I saw was a transition piece. If Megaforce follows the Japanese version, that means we'll get a new cast with Pirate Rangers in 2014. There was a post about that here but I can't find it right now.
     
  5. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    ^I read an item saying that the current costumes will be kept for the second Super Megaforce season. Presumably that means the current cast will stick around as well.
     
  6. Agent Richard07

    Agent Richard07 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2001
    ^ That's good in that we'll get an extra year with this cast, but bad in that it sounds like a reset to a pretty good transition piece. The Pirate Rangers were a fascinating concept. I hope they can squeeze a decent arc out of it if that's where they're going with Megaforce.

    By the way, I read that the next season will be called "Ultra Megaforce". Apparently Saban registered that title along with "Super Megaforce". Guess we'll see.
     
  7. DigificWriter

    DigificWriter Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 20, 2001
    Location:
    West Haven, UT, USA
    There's no cast change. Megaforce and Super Megaforce will have the same group of Rangers.
     
  8. Samurai8472

    Samurai8472 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 27, 2007
    Super Megaforce will be like MMPR season 2. Keep the suits the same but pick and choose elements from the sentai series(Dairanger)

    Super Megaforce will bring over the Silver ranger from Gokaiger. Most likely the zords too.
     
  9. Mark_Nguyen

    Mark_Nguyen Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2006
    Location:
    Calgary, Alberta
    So wait - we'll see the Gokaiger footage with the Goseiger guys spliced in, then? Will pirate rangers feature at all?

    Mark
     
  10. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    As stated above, it'll probably be the same sort of thing they did in MMPR season 2 -- new, US-produced footage of the Rangers in their first-season costumes intercut with stock footage of Zords and monsters from the subsequent Sentai season.


    As stated, it's expected that the GokaiSilver character/costume will be added to the series, much as MMPR season 2 incorporated the White Ranger from Dairanger.
     
  11. Mark_Nguyen

    Mark_Nguyen Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2006
    Location:
    Calgary, Alberta
    Thanks - guess I just needed it spelled out. :) Admittedly I didn't watch much of MMPR S2/3, getting back into it around Turbo/Space before falling back out. Was this sort of mashup successful? Or were the differences in Zord / editting stuff too obvious? I know this is how we got Tommy back as the white ranger out of Dairanger, but not about how the other Daiganger or followups fared...

    Mark
     
  12. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    I actually preferred the greater amount of new footage in MMPR season 2 -- because at the time, I had no prior familiarity with Super Sentai, and all I knew was that the US-made footage looked a lot better. (In fact, I was surprised when I learned the PR seasons were based on SS seasons from only one year earlier, since the film quality made them look far older.) I was actually hoping that Saban would eventually abandon using recycled footage altogether and make entirely original Power Rangers content.

    As for the integration, it was sometimes awkward. Saban had commissioned Toei to shoot a couple of dozen episodes' worth of new Zyuranger action footage when PR season 1 proved a breakout hit and got its season extended. But they switched over to the Dairanger Zords before they'd exhausted the "Zyu2" footage (as the fans call it), so there were some episodes where you'd see no interaction between the monster and the Megazord, just a shot of one firing a weapon and a cut to a shot of the other being hit, and you could tell it was two mismatched things spliced together. But this was only in a few episodes, until they used up the leftover footage.

    Also, in order to justify keeping the first-season extinct-animal-themed costumes and power coins alongside the Dairanger mythical-animal-themed Zords, they created an FX sequence showing the original "Dinozords" morphing into the new "Thunderzords," which was shown every time the Zords were summoned. These shots were made using modified versions of the toy Zords rather than the original miniatures, and thus they look rather crude.

    The main problem reconciling the footage was that the Dairanger White Ranger was actually a preadolescent boy who became adult-sized when morphed, and who thus acted rather childlike in costume. It was incongruous seeing Tommy behave normally as himself and as the White Ranger in the US-made footage, and then suddenly turn all goofy and hyperactive in the recycled footage.
     
  13. Agent Richard07

    Agent Richard07 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2001
    After just hearing more about the Pirate Rangers, I'm even more disappointed that they won't be going that route, but it's understandable. It could have eclipsed RPM in terms of risk and sophistication, but it also would have been too dark for a kids show in the western market.
     
  14. Stephen!

    Stephen! Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2008
    It seems like one of those "damned if they do, damned if they don't" type of situations.

    If they mix Goseiger mecha footage with Gokaiger monsters, it could look kinda clunky.

    Or if they use Gokaiger mecha footage (Bandai would presumably want to sell new Megazords for 2014) it'd look odd that there's a robot with a green arm, while there's still a black ranger as part of the team.
     
  15. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    Wouldn't be unprecedented. MMPR season 3 used Kakuranger footage and Zords but still used the Zyuranger costumes, so the Pink Ranger had a white/red Crane Zord and a white Shogun Zord. They never made any attempt to explain or justify it.
     
  16. Mark_Nguyen

    Mark_Nguyen Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2006
    Location:
    Calgary, Alberta
    Methinks the crappy sentai footage quality had lots to do with PAL/NTSC video conversion - it's not like they had the original film to work with, and this was before "remastering" was a thing. :)

    I also wondered about the "Zyu2" stuff. It boggled me that between series their megazord cockpit went from a fairly detailed, techy room with seats to a nondescript green counter they all stood behind, that may have stolen from the juice bar. :P The Thunderzord morphing scenes looked pretty silly as well - but Saban at the time wasn't into leveraging the actual sentai stuff besides the suits and the stock footage, I guess.

    I watched most of Gokaiger, mostly for the nostalgia factor since I've been watching PR and sentai in chunks for most of the past 25 years (I also watched all of Gobusters, which makes it the first and only Sentai show I've seen end to end). If we get Gokaisilver, it'll be another oddity as the guy who played him was also an immature kid and it showed in his performance.

    Mark
     
  17. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    I'm noticing a trend... four of the past five Super Sentai series have had names beginning with "Go." Go-onger, Goseiger, Gokaiger, Go-Busters. I wonder if that's a nostalgia sort of thing, since the very first incarnation was Goranger. (And we've also had Goggle Five and GoGoV.) It could also be a pun on go being the Japanese word for "five," as in the number of Rangers, and on the English "go" and its connotations of action (as it was on GoGoV, and on Mach Go Go Go, aka Speed Racer).

    Then again, the next one will be Kyoruger, so it's not a permanent thing.
     
  18. Mark_Nguyen

    Mark_Nguyen Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2006
    Location:
    Calgary, Alberta
    I'm sure it's the same word association that powered Zyuranger, Dairanger, Kakuranger, etc.; ditto with Dynaman, Fiveman, Jetman, etc.

    Incidentally, I just watched the first episode of Kyoryuuger, and had more fun with it than I thought I would (being a fan of the more paramilitary / vehicle sentai years). A particular note was how this team, at least at the outset, WANTS to maintain secret identities, even to each other. I'm sure I'll catch the odd episode going forward but I think the kids'll love it.

    Mark
     
  19. Hound of UIster

    Hound of UIster Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 26, 2002
    It is a pun. The japanese love those. The same for the very original, Goranger. Their motto loosely translated was "Five People Together Goranger".
     
  20. Samurai8472

    Samurai8472 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 27, 2007

    And in MMPR season 2 they used the Dairanger mecha.

    There was just enough black on the the green dairanger's mecha to pass as a black lion