Power Rangers

[timothy]

wow who knew antonio could sing.

so is the bulk in this series is he the same one in lost galax? and if so how did he get back to earth?

[cylkoth]

Bulk (and Skull) was seen in 'the 'Forever Red' special', during Wild Force's season. No mention was ever made on how he got back to Earth. Though we can speculate that since the Astro Megaship had been rebuilt on KL-35 (Andros' planet), regular runs to Miranoi and elsewhere were possible.

[The Borgified Corpse]

Samurai8472 wrote:

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Shout Factory's will manufacture season dvds

http://tvshowsondvd.com/n/16646

While I really shouldn't be buying any more DVDs of anything right now, I'd be very tempted to get some of these. Back in the day, I missed quite a few 3rd season episodes of MMPR. I loved Zeo & In Space. If I'm in a campy mood, I might pick up Turbo, if only for Hilary Shepherd Turner's portrayal of Divatox. ("Viva la Diva!") And I've heard lots of great things about RPM, so I might try that one if I'm interested in something new.

[Christopher]

I didn't much care for today's music-oriented Super Samurai episode, although it's noteworthy in that it seems to be a more original story for a change rather than a slavish adaptation of a Sentai episode. The fact that Bulk and Spike actually get significant screen time and are somewhat integrated into the story, rather than just having a couple of short scenes unconnected to what else is going on, is evidence of that (though all that stuff with the biker gang was bizarre). But the timing for such a story is odd, because the final defeat of that monster who's been recurring for the past few weeks, the guy who was played up as such a big menace, comes off as an afterthought.

[Christopher]

Well, obviously I was wrong two weeks ago about that being Serrator's final episode. Anyway, I kinda liked this week's episode, "Runaway Spike." They managed to make Spike less annoying and more sympathetic by having him try to get work to help his Uncle Bulk, and go through a personal crisis about his constant failure. And it's good that they're finally starting to have some interaction between Bulk & Spike and the Rangers. It's been very awkward having them in brief tacked-on scenes that had little or nothing to do with the main episode plots, and only interacting with each other. If they begin to interact more regularly with Mia, Antonio, and hopefully the other Rangers, it would be a better way to make use of the characters.

[timothy]

Fantastic episode this week. I like spike boy did he inhearet his fathers laugh. I just want to know who his mother is?

[DigificWriter]

I'm finally doing a watch-through of Kevin's Choice, and the episode has me 100% convinced of a couple of things:
1) The prohibition against interacting with others and giving up your old life is less of a 'hard and fast' rule and more of a 'guideline', albeit one that Kevin has latched on to as a personal indicator of one's level of dedication to the Samurai lifestyle and the duties of being a Samurai Ranger

2) Dayu's angst and issues have less to do with what actually happened to her and Deker and more to do with the way she's 'internalized' what happened to her and Deker, with her having latched on to the image of a 'perfect wedding' and her physical Harmonium as a way to deal with her angst and issues and cope with what happened to her and Deker. In a way, the symbols of the perfect wedding and her Harmonium have become more important than the actual circumstances surrounding Serrator tricking her and cursing both her and Deker.

Note: I'd actually become convinced of Point #1 earlier on in the season after being able to watch the first 10 episodes of the season in their proper chronological order, but Kevin's Choice just further cemented things for me.

Edit: I'm in the process of watching Runaway Spike now, and the Dayu/Deker scene in the episode only further illustrates my second point.

[Christopher]

Well, last week I said it would make better use of Bulk and Spike if they were integrated more with the Ranger cast, and that's exactly what seems to be happening. Their treatment this season is a definite improvement over last. And this episode was a lot of fun (though I'm wondering where Emily got the wig).

[cylkoth]

Christopher wrote:

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And this episode was a lot of fun (though I'm wondering where Emily got the wig).

Ji's closet!

It was fun. Great seeing Bulk and Spike fully involved-the most of any episode(?) and not simply cut and pasted in. Though it did bother me that Emily didn't give them credit for returning the wallet (to Mia).

[timothy]

She looked hot in that outfit.

[Admiral_Young]

I just saw the story about the Power Rangers DVD's...finally. I've been waiting for Mighty Morphin to be released forever it seems. Also have been doing a casual re-watch thanks to Teletoon Retro...this show brings back a whole lot of memories for me lol.

[Agent Richard07]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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I just saw the story about the Power Rangers DVD's...finally.

Just read about it too. Now I can finally catch up. I only started with Operation Overdrive.

I'm also looking to see what the next series will be called. I saw something about Power Rangers Angel Force, but that turned out to be fan fiction. Then I saw something about Mighty Morphin' Pirate Rangers and finally settled on Power Rangers Megaforce as the likely title.

[Praetor_Shinzon]

i keep reading rumors that they are gonna skip Goseiger and adapt Gokaiger instead.

[Christopher]

Today's Super Samurai episode was the kind that really shows how slavishly they're retelling the original Japanese stories, and there's a lot here that would be lost on most American viewers. This was basically recapitulating the history of the samurai class, how they were rendered irrelevant when firearms brought an end to the age of the sword. Which would kinda make sense in a Japanese show symbolizing the culture's history and heritage and mythology, but still seems rather strange in the context of a show where various types of gun and blaster and cannon and the like have been a routine part of the Rangers' arsenal from the beginning.

And you know, it occurs to me that they've missed an opportunity. In a show that's built around paying homage to the lore of the samurai, why settle for having only six team members instead of adding one more and going for the full Kurosawa? I mean, The Seven Samurai, so I gather, is pretty much the ultimate samurai film of all time. It seems an oversight not to reference it.

Of course, a lot of stuff about this show is similarly rooted in Japanese cultural elements that don't translate well. One thing I was reminded of recently is that samurai wasn't a job description, but a hereditary noble class -- something they acknowledged to an extent with Antonio, since he wasn't born into the lineage and thus could never be a true samurai. But the idea of all these non-Japanese characters being samurai by heritage is rather ridiculous -- and of course Bulk & Spike's quest to learn to become samurai is missing the whole point. Of all the Sentai seasons that Power Rangers could've chosen to adapt nearly verbatim, Shinkenger is probably the worst choice, since it's so deeply rooted in Japanese culture and heritage. I wish they'd reworked the concepts and storylines some so that they weren't as incongruous when Westernized.

[Samurai8472]

Christopher wrote:

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And you know, it occurs to me that they've missed an opportunity. In a show that's built around paying homage to the lore of the samurai, why settle for having only six team members instead of adding one more and going for the full Kurosawa? I mean, The Seven Samurai, so I gather, is pretty much the ultimate samurai film of all time. It seems an oversight not to reference it.

Since they're following Shinkenger so closely, we'll get our 7th ranger with female Samurai Red Ranger.