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Power Rangers

We have a new pink ranger


http://news.tokunation.com/2015/10/07/2017s-power-rangers-movie-has-cast-its-pink-ranger-29443

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Wellp, just watched the Dekaranger 10 Years After V-cinema. Like much of Sentai anyway but disappointingly not like the TV show, a number of twists seemed to be made up on the fly, and everything was wrapped up a little *too* neatly. Despite that, the special was painfully short, and I easily could have watched another 30 minutes. It was just simply lovely to see them again. There are few teams that I've wanted to come back, but the Dekarangers were at the top of the list.

One thing that crossed my mind was how I would've loved to hear the theme song way back during the Legend War. After all, the 25th anniversary Gaoranger Vs. Super Sentai used music from various shows, not just its predecessor. To me it's just much more action-packed and suitable for a large scale battle of the ages than the Goseiger theme.

A political thought: police corruption in fiction is nothing new, but as an American, I just could not help but link the basic premise with the ongoing and increasing attention to the very real and very dangerous police corruption and brutality in the real world. It's a first to have corrupt SPD for Dekaranger I think, though Power Rangers: SPD did this 10 years ago; and even if it's not the first, they definitely brought it back to the forefront. Yet in both shows, it brings that concept to child audiences. Fiction is often a reflection of the times, though I'm more than certain that it was neither Sentai nor PR's intention to do that. Even then, A-Squad was a landmark in that they were America's first willingly corrupt Rangers.

I'm sure I'm projecting here, and I've no idea what conversations are going on about Japan's law enforcement (if any), but still, that police corruption is such a common trope that it's in kid shows now is fairly alarming. Tropes don't come from vacuums, they come from experience and consumption. Though, of course, the case can be made that this movie was made for older audiences because of the 10 year nostalgia (that and there's an actual blood splash!)

Holy crap, Jasmine. Is her husband, like, a decade younger?
 
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i liked it but certain things felt off. couldn't Jasmine have just read Doggy's mind while he was in the hospital? it was nice to see the show and cast in HD, though for the mech battle you could tell certain shots were reused from the series.

also, Umeko wasn't the one who got married. but yeah, it did seem like a big age difference.
 
^Crud, it was late and I could swear they said Umeko's name far more often than Jasmine's, so it probably stuck in my head.
 
^Okay, that would seem to suggest the early reports that they were recasting the original MMPR team are wrong, and gives credence to the more recent suggestion that this is going to be an in-continuity followup to Dino Supercharge with a new set of characters. Because that guy doesn't look much like Zach.

Although I suppose it's possible that they're changing the ethnicities of the MMPR characters. After all, there were some unfortunate implications to having an African-American Black Ranger and an Asian Yellow Ranger, and the franchise has avoided those combinations since (except for Will in Operation Overdrive).
 
Has Ninninger's Yoshua Sudarso cameo episode aired, and if so does anyone know which episode number it was? I haven't been watching this year's Sentai (far too goofy for my taste), but I have been enjoying Dino Charge.

Mark
 
Christopher said:
Although I suppose it's possible that they're changing the ethnicities of the MMPR characters. After all, there were some unfortunate implications to having an African-American Black Ranger and an Asian Yellow Ranger, and the franchise has avoided those combinations since (except for Will in Operation Overdrive).
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Even as a 4th grader, I remember my classmates at the time talking about that. It hit a sore spot for several friends, understandably so. Though lately I've noticed the trend of Asian Americans reappropriating the image of Trini as the Yellow Ranger as a source of Asian empowerment, like this cute article, primarily because of the word yellow in there and the fact that Trini was the most visible Asian Ameriacn hero (and female, to boot) on TV for 1.5 seasons.

I suppose in a way it's akin to how the word "queer" had been used as a derogatory for decades, and only recently has been reappropriated by LGBT folks as a word of identity (as long as intent isn't malicious, of course).
 
^Well, most Ranger teams have had at least one Asian member -- they just haven't been put in yellow costumes. (In recent years, the tendency has been to cast blond women as the Yellow Ranger.)

Not that I've got anything against embracing Trini as a hero and role model. She was pretty fantastic, sartorial issues aside.
 
Christopher said:
^Well, most Ranger teams have had at least one Asian member -- they just haven't been put in yellow costumes. (In recent years, the tendency has been to cast blond women as the Yellow Ranger.)

Not that I've got anything against embracing Trini as a hero and role model. She was pretty fantastic, sartorial issues aside.
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Yeah. It's funny how times change, but I suppose I'm kind of realizing in action that these sorts of actions and statements don't just happen, but that it's a gradual process, especially since yesterday's fans grow up to be today's thinkers and creators.
 
Cyke101 said:
Yeah. It's funny how times change, but I suppose I'm kind of realizing in action that these sorts of actions and statements don't just happen, but that it's a gradual process, especially since yesterday's fans grow up to be today's thinkers and creators.
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Indeed. While I've never considered Power Rangers to be particularly good or important television (I'm a fan, but it's mostly junk food for the brain), I suppose it's been part of the TV landscape for a whole generation now and people have grown up with it. So the fact that it's always portrayed diverse, multiethnic teams has probably been influential in its own quiet way.
 
Christopher said:
Although I suppose it's possible that they're changing the ethnicities of the MMPR characters. After all, there were some unfortunate implications to having an African-American Black Ranger and an Asian Yellow Ranger, and the franchise has avoided those combinations since (except for Will in Operation Overdrive).
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[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBSrP7ub6VA[/yt]
 
I must say, if this is not a reboot of MMPR, then I'm a lot less interested. I was really looking forward to seeing a new take on those old stories and characters.
 
RoJoHen said:
I must say, if this is not a reboot of MMPR, then I'm a lot less interested. I was really looking forward to seeing a new take on those old stories and characters.
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Honestly, I think that MMPR was one of the weakest incarnations of the franchise in terms of its writing and production values. Its only real strength was in its cast. So bringing back those one-dimensional characters with a different cast wouldn't do much for me. Many later seasons have had better characters and much better stories even if the actors weren't as memorable.

Besides, it's hard for me to sympathize with the point of view that MMPR is the "original" incarnation, given that it was built around footage and costumes from the 16th incarnation of Super Sentai. So I don't see it as something that really needs to be revisited.
 
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