Power Rangers

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

  1. Samurai8472

    Samurai8472 Vice Admiral Admiral

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  2. Samurai8472

    Samurai8472 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Gokaiger's 6th ranger is revealed in toy catalog



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  3. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Holy crap, the sixth Ranger's breastplate is covered with the helmets of other sixth Rangers.
     
  4. Unicron

    Unicron Boss Monster Mod Moderator

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    Yeah, I was just going to ask if he defeated their evil scale model counterparts from a parallel universe or something. :lol:
     
  5. Saga

    Saga Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    it looks kinda dumb with all the heads. maybe it will look better when on film.
     
  6. Sephiroth

    Sephiroth Vice Admiral Admiral

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    aaaaaaaaaaand my interest just dropped
     
  7. Samurai8472

    Samurai8472 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Thanks to Poraemon!

    The Gokaiger's are all the teams, so skirts were added to represent the girls

    Ranger's that were originally guys in their shows get skirts because the girls use their powers.


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    Episode one is next week!!!!!


    Seems that turning into a team of red's isn't VS movie exclusive

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    Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger promo plus passing of the torch from GoseiRed to GokaiRed

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldAqzjzd5S4
     
    Last edited: Feb 6, 2011
  8. Samurai8472

    Samurai8472 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    6th ranger GokaiSilver's spear/gun/anchor and catalog cover


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  9. Chris3123

    Chris3123 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    The first episode of Power Rangers: Samurai just aired on Nick. Did anyone else catch it?
     
  10. Samurai8472

    Samurai8472 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I'm waiting for clips since I don't have Nick.
     
  11. SG-17

    SG-17 Commodore Commodore

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    I'm watching the West Coast feed (Nick 2) premier now, and I have to say I had a nostalgia attack during the opening credits.

    However it feels a bit weird to open in media res like that with the base 5 already assembled.

    Edit: I just read that Nick for some reason decided to leave out the first two real episodes and just made that small little teaser at the beginning. Is this true and if it is where can I see the two first episodes?
     
  12. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    I am miffed that they didn't start with the premiere, but aside from that, if one takes it as a routine episode rather than blaming it for not being the pilot, it was okay. Certainly not as silly as I was expecting, given all the evident nostalgia for MMPR, and not as badly written as I expected from the clip I saw a while back. It did feel very Japanese, as though it were based very closely on the Sentai episode, but that's not a detriment. The cast is a little bland so far, but the story was okay, and it does seem they're trying to give them distinct personalities and personal issues to deal with, which is a step up from MMPR where the characters were all perfect except when under evil spells.

    It's gratifying that they've finally started crediting the writers and directors of the original Sentai episodes they're adapting. They've also added an opening credit reading "Created by Haim Saban and Toei Company, Ltd." Those factors together suggest that Toei negotiated a better contract for itself this time around. Credits mean money, so the creators of Shinkenger are presumably going to get paid for its Power Rangers adaptation, which is a good thing. Although I wonder what effect it has on the show's budget. It can't be as cheap to produce if they're paying the original writers and directors as well as their own.

    Not crazy about the return to the musical style of MMPR. I admit to feeling a mild swell of nostalgia when I heard that familiar fast electric-guitar riff in the opening titles, but that style of music gets tiresome fast (and that theme song is too much of an earworm -- it only took a few minutes to get sick of having it stuck in my head). And not only have they recycled the main theme -- even the villain scenes are scored by a variation of Rita Repulsa's theme from MMPR. I would've preferred Lord Zedd's theme, which actually sounded menacing.

    The henshin sequence is very elaborate. We've had multistage costume transformations before, but this one is really drawn out, especially four times in a row. I preferred the transformations that were done without the cutaway sequence, particularly Mike's transformation in the climax. As for the Zords, those unfolding things are kind of silly-looking and overly toyish, but the Megazord's okay, and I rather liked the part where the sword materialized. The "Mega-Mode" costumes are too bulky and ugly.

    I found the "Spike" character very annoying. They're trying to make him a replacement for Skull, but his voice is far more unpleasant and he's too broad. Wikipedia says he's actually Skull's son, which means that "Uncle Bulk" is a nickname and they're not actually related.

    So it's not a standout so far, but it's not as bad as I feared. I hope they show the actual first two episodes fairly soon.
     
  13. Kelthaz

    Kelthaz Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Okay, that was bad. Really, really bad. The episode failed on practically every level possible and even invented a few new levels just to fail on.

    The acting and dialogue was poor even by Power Rangers standards with the exceptions of Bulk and Spike, and surprisingly enough, Mike's Friends. After the season premiere I actually know more about Mike's friends and like them more than I do the Rangers. The Rangers on the other hand have virtually no personality and are wooden beyond belief. Yes, the original MMPR rangers have the same flaws, but at least their actors were charismatic. These Samurai Rangers would have put me to sleep if it wasn't for the loud MOTW and his endless puns.

    The show seems to be copying Shinkenger almost completely, but yet also leaving out the important bits that are needed for the show to make sense. With Jaydan a nice guy instead of a hard-ass and Mike less of a screw-up the whole damn episode didn't make a lick of sense. And don't even get me started on the forced Bulk and Spike scene. I love Bulk and I have no problem with Spike, but their characters need something to do. If the writers are just going to cut to a random and completely unconnected shot of Bulk getting hit in the face with something than you might as well just use old MMPR footage. At least that way we'll get Skull, Lt. Stone, and Ernie back.

    It almost feels like I'm watching a parody of the first season of MMPR. It takes all the elements that were in MMPR (Cheesiness, poor acting, undeveloped characters, bad puns, etc.) and ramps it up to eleven with no understanding of what made the show so good in the first place.

    I am probably judging the show way too much based off of one episode -- one episode that I strongly believe was aired out of order -- but first impressions do count for a lot. I'll give the show a chance and hope it improves, but if "The Team Unites" is any indication of the quality for the rest of the season then I seriously doubt I'll be sticking around for much of it.
     
  14. SG-17

    SG-17 Commodore Commodore

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    I wish that they would use the Bulk and Skull theme during the Bulk and Spike segments.
     
  15. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    They did use its melody a little bit, mainly toward the end of the scene.
     
  16. DigificWriter

    DigificWriter Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Casting aside all of my objections to and confusion with some of the decisions that Saban and Co. have made thus far with PRS, I was able to watch this ep in its entirety, and I now offer some thoughts:
    * The Rangers being teammates already is a nice callback to MMPR S1, Ninja Storm, S.P.D., and Jungle Fury

    * Mike having a life that he had to leave behind is also a nice callback to earlier seasons, and also helps establish who his character is without having to go into a whole lot of expository detail

    * What we're able to learn of the villains' motivation might not make sense in a 'real-world' context, but is perfectly acceptable within the conceits, constraits, and context of what the PR franchise is and offers

    * I liked the morph almost instantly when we saw it as part of the first sneak-peak promo, and it still works for me seeing it again here; it's a nice callback to previous seasons, while offering something new and unique at the same time. I also liked the effect on the 'insta-morph'

    * Corny weapon and attack names come with the territory of what PR is, so I wasn't bothered by them, although Jayden's first attack name (Fire Smasher) did make me chuckle. Speaking of Jayden, does anyone know why he had two spin sword special attacks?

    * Calling this season's mecha "Folding Zords" is interesting, and a neat way to acknowledge the Japanese Origami influence. Having suit enhancements that are strictly limited for use when piloting the zords is also interesting and somewhat unique. My only nitpick is that I wish the zords were bigger, since it's kind of weird seeing them fight a monster that's much larger than they are. The Megazord's design is pretty neat, and reminds me of a cross between the original Thunder Megazord, the Shogun Megazord, the Galaxy Megazord, and the Titan Megazord, with a little bit of Lion Voltron influence thrown in for good measure. I also liked its finishing attack, even though the 'pull the sword joysticks out, spin them around, and turn them back into swords' bit was a bit overly drawn out

    I'm not going to give a 'final verdict' to the episode, but there were certainly enough things that I liked about it and that intrigue me about the season to keep me watching in the future.
     
  17. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Except that this "premiere" is actually the third episode; Nickelodeon decided to skip the actual beginning of the story for some reason. No telling how long it took the team to come together in the first two episodes.

    Although in the intro that aired before the episode on Monday, there was a brief sequence of color-coded arrows with notes on them landing next to the various Rangers. I'd assume that was part of how the Rangers were recruited.


    Yeah, that did take an absurdly long time.


    It bugs me a bit that one of the Rangers is named Mike. We've already had a Mike, the Magna Defender from Lost Galaxy. Maybe he wasn't technically a Ranger in name, but he was a member of the team.
     
  18. DigificWriter

    DigificWriter Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Christopher: Internally, "The Team Unites" has a production code of '101', making it the first episode of the season even though it, by all accounts, is based on and features footage from the third episode of Shinkenger. It's one of the things that I don't understand and am bothered by with regards to Saban's decision-making process when it comes to PRS, but I didn't want my review to be clouded by those feleings, and so I avoided the subject.

    The other two issues I've got at this point with Saban's decision-making process have to do with the decision to re-use the MMPR theme, and the decision to bring back the 'hit Bulk in the face with stuff' gag, but, again, I made an effort not to let my impressions of the episode be clouded by said issues/complaints.
     
  19. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^Well, the intro certainly seemed to have scenes from a premiere episode we haven't seen yet, and the online clips certainly seemed to be from a premiere we haven't seen yet. (The first clip that came out of the Rangers in action, IIRC, had the monster reacting as if the Rangers were unfamiliar, and I saw a clip of Bulk that certainly seemed more "introductory" than the scene shown here.) It's not unprecedented for a show's production order to differ from its story order so that the pilot is one of the later stories filmed; for instance, the BBC's Sherlock produced its first season's three episodes in the reverse of their story order intentionally so that the actors would be at their best in the premiere (since they would've had more time to work together and find their characters/rapport/etc.). So maybe this episode was filmed first even though it's clearly not meant to be a debut episode. They wouldn't make a debut episode that only focused on one or two characters.
     
  20. DigificWriter

    DigificWriter Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Christopher, I don't understand Saban's decision to make "The Team Unites" episode 101, but that's what they did. It's one of several issues I've got with their decision-making process thus far, but I really didn't want my viewing of the episode to be clouded or influenced by said issues, and made an effort to analyze it based solely on what we were presented as it was presented.