I decided to rewatch Turbo for the first time since it was on the air, and have to say that, despite the logic holes in it, the Turbo movie is still as good now, story-wise, as it was upon its initial release, and does a really nice job of 'setting the table', as it were, for the actual season itself.
Two sequences stand out in particular for me as better than I remember them being:
1) the Rangers transitioning to the Turbo powers
2) Justin catching up to them and revealing that he's their new teammate
Even without a full explanation as to why a transition is necessary, the way the Rangers take on the Turbo powers isn't as clunky as I remembered it being, and I liked the way Zordon presented them with their new Zords and outlined their mission and the way that the Turbo Keys and Zords would help them succeed in said mission.
Justin's enthusiasm is somewhat cheesy, but the way the veteran Rangers react to his arrival and revelation helps offset that cheesiness, and I really liked and can appreciate the conversation he has with Katherine on the Ghost Galleon, which feeds directly into the first chance to showcase why Zordon accepted Justin as a Ranger courtesy of the PutriPod battle.
Even though she ultimately wouldn't return to it for a while, Hilary Shepard Turner was clearly having fun with the role of Divatox, who's actually a lot more cunning right from the start than I think she's perceived as being.
I really like the first Morphing sequence a lot (it's just flashy enough to look cool, but simplistic enough that it doesn't feel overly drawn out), and kind of wish it hadn't been redesigned later on in the season itself (post-Passing the Torch). Another thing I liked about the team's first group Morph is the way Justin initially does the wrong movement; it's a nice bit of subtle humor and 'lampshading'.
I wish a bit more had been made of Jason and Kimberly being turned evil, because the scene where their eyes glow red and the break their shackles is pretty awesome, as is their subsequent fight against the Rangers. Tommy taking his helmet off and tryin to get Kimberly to recognize him is a nice bit of characterization consistency that I don't think I fully appreciated the first time I watched the film, and really adds some nice layers to the whole Temple sequence.
Words cannot describe how awesome Divatox using Elgar as her sacrifice is, and I find it hilariously and deliciously ironic that, for all her talk about purity, it's evil that ultimately wakes Maligore up.
I really wish they had used the Turbo Megazord transformation sequence later used in the season itself, as well as shot the battle footage of it fighting Maligore the same way they did in the season itself, because the way things happen in the movie is kind of boring.
All in all, the movie is pretty awesome, and, as noted before, a really great way to start off the Turbo season and storyline, with my only real complaint being that we don't see Elgar resurface (that's really neither here nor there, though).
Shift into Turbo is up next for me, and I should have thoughts on it posted soon.
