Hasbro's Power Rangers era and General Tokusatsu discussion

[Christopher]

The Power Rangers costumes from the first MMPR movie are going up for auction. I've always found those costumes a bit odd.

I hated the movie costumes. The original Zyuranger costumes were good, sleek designs, but the movie versions were bulky eyesores by comparison.

What I was hoping the movie would do with the costumes, back in the day, was to keep them basically the same but make the visors clear so we could see the actors' faces within them. I figured that the movie would be all original footage rather than recycled Sentai footage, so they could show us the actors within, at least in close-ups. But no such luck.

 

[JulieYBM]

Oof, I don't like getting rid of the visors. Save that for helmet-less scenes. I wanna see the stunt actors doing their thing. The graceful movements arr what make them so cool.

 

[Christopher]

Oof, I don't like getting rid of the visors. Save that for helmet-less scenes. I wanna see the stunt actors doing their thing. The graceful movements arr what make them so cool.

Movies have been doubling bare-headed actors with stunt doubles for as long as movies have existed. Usually the stunt performers are moving too quickly and not in sufficient close-up to see their faces clearly, and stunt doubles are well-trained at hiding their faces from the camera. And what I was thinking was that the visors would be tinted, so that you could see the actors' faces in close-up, but from a distance they'd be harder to distinguish.

Anyway, I think you're forgetting that part of what was so impressive about the original MMPR cast was that they did do a lot of their own stunts in the unmorphed scenes. Most of them were cast more for their martial-arts or gymnastic skill than for their acting ability (though Amy Jo Johnson was brilliant at both). So naturally they would've been doubled for the more strenuous stunts, but they could've done a fair amount of their own stunt work both in and out of the suits if necessary.

 

[Samurai8472]

What I was hoping the movie would do with the costumes, back in the day, was to keep them basically the same but make the visors clear so we could see the actors' faces within them. I figured that the movie would be all original footage rather than recycled Sentai footage, so they could show us the actors within, at least in close-ups. But no such luck.

They toyed with visor less scenes in the movie

https://www.reddit.com/r/powerrangers/comments/1a9i93/til_that_the_power_rangers_movie_suits_had/

"Originally, the crew felt that the total covering of the Power Rangers' faces removed any ability to express emotion, so initial shooting took place using the actors in costume with no visors on the helmets. However, they realized that this was a mistake and realized that the Power Rangers in Morphed Mode are not supposed to show emotion, but rather were supposed to be a powerful fighting force and that their identities had to be concealed. To correct the error, the action scenes were re-shot the next month with the visors added back."

 

[Christopher]

I don't think I would've gone so far as to remove the mouthpieces. That just looks weird.

There have been a couple of Sentai/PR seasons where the visors could retract, so sometimes you could see the eyes or full face inside and sometimes just the solid visors. The two I can think of are GoGoFive/Lightspeed Rescue and Hurricaneger/Ninja Storm. I liked that approach.

 

[JulieYBM]

Civilian form fights are nice but that's even more reason why the transformed scenes should belong to the suit actors. They produce an entirely new and more sophisticated language of movement. Trying to toss in the visorless shots (aside from the occasional battle damage) looks tacky.

 

[Christopher]

Civilian form fights are nice but that's even more reason why the transformed scenes should belong to the suit actors.

Again, I never said otherwise. It is a given that stunt doubles will perform the more strenuous action scenes in any movie or TV production, whether helmets are involved or not. So I certainly never meant to imply that the main actors would perform all their own stunts, because that has never been how movies work. I just meant that we'd be able to see their helmeted faces in close-ups and dialogue scenes, with the implicit understanding that they'd be doubled in the heavy action shots as per normal filmmaking practice.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

They toyed with visor less scenes in the movie

https://www.reddit.com/r/powerrangers/comments/1a9i93/til_that_the_power_rangers_movie_suits_had/

That just looks wierd without the mouth piece.

I still remember Air Wolf and they had the Visors up so you can see the actors eyes and that was usually enough IMO.

 

[Christopher]

I still remember Air Wolf and they had the Visors up so you can see the actors eyes and that was usually enough IMO.

If there's one thing the era of COVID has made me realize, it's how nonessential the lower face is to recognizing people.

 

[Samurai8472]

New magazine scans for December


Blazes and Saber get upgrades. For Kamen Rider Saber it looks like Guilmon went straight to Dukemon/Gallantmon LOL

King Lion Dai Senki and Dragonic books

Kiramager




Jaaku King Express

It's not Golfdom but we do get a golf Jamen and Yodonna encounters a popsicle salesman. Expect ALOT of scenes involving sticking her tongue out.

Christmas episode


Curantula, Yodonna and Bechatto will form an Rap Group in Yodonheim. Curantula will also take control over Turn Table Gomoryuu Jamenjuu which is Bat motif Jamejuu with DJ Disk face. He will also perform Rap inside it.

 

[Christopher]

I like Saber's upgrade there. Basically a silver "knight in shining armor" motif with red highlights. Kinda classy.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

I like Bladez shoulder cannon's, it's always good to have front facing shoulder cannons in a sword fight =D

 

[Samurai8472]

Kamen Rider Saber episode 11

Alot of happened in this episode. Pretty brutal of the megido to turn people into red blotches on the streets

Looks like Rintarou and Kento will be out of action for a couple of episodes

Rintarou says he's never had a family (indicating he was raised entirely within Sword of Logos), I wonder if this will be important later?

This is the first time I realized that Saber's take on the Town Musicians of Bremen has them literally being their instruments

Pretty dramatic to mute all sound when Rintarou was spitting blood but we know he survives

 

[Christopher]

Kamen Rider Saber episode 11

Alot of happened in this episode. Pretty brutal of the megido to turn people into red blotches on the streets

I couldn't tell whether that was supposed to be fatal or just some kind of reversible transformation. The way the CGI effect was done, flattening them out into 2-D sheets that fluttered to the ground, made it seem like the latter, like they were turned into some kind of spray-painted pavement graffiti. But then, why make it red?

Pretty dramatic to mute all sound when Rintarou was spitting blood but we know he survives

Oh, right, because of the magazine showing Blades' upgrades.

I wonder what happened to Sophia. I bet that mystery woman from the Southern Base had something to do with her disappearance, as we know she was on the scene and we didn't see her after she called in Kento.

So Old Saber/New Calibur is on some obsessive search for The Truth about something and is willing to embrace evil and bring about the end of the world to find it. Must be something pretty big.

I find it amusing that the Jaou Dragon Wonder Ride Book that gives Calibur his powerful upgrade is... a pop-up book!

Meanwhile, it does seem they're starting to peel back Tassel's facade and hint that he's more than the cutesy narrator. He's been dropping character lately, and here we see him talking to someone on the phone and getting a mystery visitor at the end. I wonder how this will tie in.

I think this is the first episode that hasn't used the henshin theme music cue that I like so much.

 

[Samurai8472]

Kamen Rider Saber episode 12

Things are getting interesting.

Tassel is in the real world now and not just narrating, which raises a whole host of questions. Is it too much to ask for his narrations to be over? He's also bringing that mysterious guy that he called which we saw in Avalon

So Touma remembered Luna at last. If Reika is really her, I wonder if we'll find out before the New Year break? Meanwhile it wasn't mentioned what happened to Sophia...

After Rintarou's getting severely injured last episode and now Kento also being injured I'm not so sure he's dead

Those quick split screens right as each Rider delivers their final attack was really interesting to see

 

[Christopher]

Kiramager 32: We get a romance episode for Sayo, but it turns out to be an evil plot of Yodonna's to manipulate her into completing the genetic engineering of a monster. Pretty effective twist, and I loved the bit where Sayo gave Yujin her changer to go contact the others while she stayed to fight the Yodon unmorphed. That was pretty badass. Although it underlines the design flaw in having the changer be their only communication device. Come to think of it, couldn't she have given Yujin her phone and kept the changer?

Saber 12: Well. It seems Rintarou being struck down last week was the fakeout to set us up for Kento's surprise death this week. I don't think they'll repeat themselves two weeks in a row and have him turn out just to be injured; the intensity of how it was played, and the fact that it was a powerful enough event to bring Tassel and his robed friend to witness the scene, makes it clear that it's a bigger deal this time. This was definitely a death scene, though Riders who die this early in the season have a tendency to come back from the dead later on, e.g. Laser from Ex-Aid. (I think there are other examples, but I'm blanking.)

So Touma remembered Luna at last. If Reika is really her, I wonder if we'll find out before the New Year break?

The way Kento was talking to Rintarou about the promise "we" made, and the way Mei seemed jealous of Rintarou's expression of caring for Kento, I wondered for a moment if it would turn out that Luna came back... as Rintarou. Genderfluid characters are not unprecedented in the franchise, though I don't recall if we've had a transgender character per se. (The donut cart proprietor in Wizard was presented as a transvestite man, though the actor later came out as transgender.)

 

[JulieYBM]

I don't remember what term was used for the character but Kaba-chan previously identified as a gay man before coming out as a trans woman.

I'd not used 'transvestite', either. It's a very outdated term with a negative connotation.

 

[Christopher]

I'd not used 'transvestite', either. It's a very outdated term with a negative connotation.

Oh, I didn't know that.

 

[Samurai8472]

Kiramager 32: We get a romance episode for Sayo, but it turns out to be an evil plot of Yodonna's to manipulate her into completing the genetic engineering of a monster. Pretty effective twist, and I loved the bit where Sayo gave Yujin her changer to go contact the others while she stayed to fight the Yodon unmorphed. That was pretty badass. Although it underlines the design flaw in having the changer be their only communication device. Come to think of it, couldn't she have given Yujin her phone and kept the changer?

This was an intense episode, sprinkled with some frustrating Japanese wordplay from the MotW.

 

[Christopher]

This was an intense episode, sprinkled with some frustrating Japanese wordplay from the MotW.

Yeah, I didn't understand the Kiramagers' counter-riddle at the end. How is "something buried in an empty lot" (or whatever) a pipe?

But there's a grand tradition of riddles in Super Sentai, going back to the original Gorenger, where characters stumping each other with riddles was a routine feature (usually the kid mascot stumping Kirenger, but not always). For part of the series, even the post-credits preview scenes had the narrator give out riddles rather than describing the next episode.

This show has a lot of Gorenger nods, I've realized. The Rangers' color scheme is the same (red, blue, yellow, pink, green). The mask-based Jamen monsters are a reference to GR's Kamen monsters. And both shows have an episode featuring a train-based monster running all over the city, though the purpose of the running is different. So this was probably a Gorenger nod as well.