Tuesday, August 14, 2007

"ONE FINE DAY" (PR-1522): Rose is Rose

Today's sub-title comes from the comic strip of the same name.

A straight average episode following the teamup, which is what I was expecting.

ANOTHER DAY OFF?! Yep, must be a 'Bruce' episode. -_- "ONE GETS AWAY" was great, but I knew he wouldn't pull it off again.

Nice to see Tyzonn try to get Rose to open up a bit, but the serious dramatic acting doesn't really work on this show. It was all pretty flat and Ty was too annoying.

Why didn't they contact Hartford and Spencer for help with the forcefield?

I liked Sentinel Knight when he was non-corporeal, but now that they'll pull out the sword every chance they get, it'll get old as fast.

It was cool they showed Mig really kick Ty's butt and shoot at him, but why in the hell didn't he morph sooner?!

Mack was found 2 years ago? This has to be better than "The Light" crap. It certainly can't be any worse. And Mack is already much better than Nick anyway, so this should be good.

Flurious can't stand Norg, but won't just vaporize him. Scenes like this make having the Yeti more worthwhile.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

"ONCE A RANGER, I and II" (PR-1920-1921): A Midsummer 'Knights' Dream

I tell ya, I hadn't been that buzzed after an episode of PR since probably "FIGHTING SPIRIT." The hype for this was a lot like "FOREVER RED" I'd say -- But the wait between getting info for this and it airing was a bit shorter. And unlike FR, this wasn't total fan service, but had a good share of it, while managing to keep the OO story going.

Thrax didn't look as freaky as he appeared in the teaser. They could've put a little bit of Rita in him, but it was done well enough. It was more of a tribute to Zedd than anything. Funny how he was imprisoned in a space dumpster. Nice nod to Rita there. Glen Levy wasn't anything special either. You have to figure the kid (I use the term loosely) was pretty messed up too. >_>

I thought Thrax would just be after the Rangers, but enjoyed how he had a personal vendetta against Sentinel Knight. Liked how he invited each of the villains to his lair too, which was on good ol' Onyx.

It was fun to see the villains join forces for once and only time I'm sure. Didn't take much to kill the link to the Morphing Grid. I was surprised they actually gave it a physical form, which I always thought was best left to the imagination.

Loved the morphed Ranger intros. I imagined how cool it would be if they played the instrumental themes and was so glad they did. Too bad Disney will probably never own the MMPR music library.

I find it funny how Sentinel Knight bothered to go all the way to 2026 or so to get Bridge and said "previous Power Rangers." I'm glad how he became Red didn't get left unexplained.

Now that I think of it, I also find it funny how the Chillers are usually the main foot soldiers and the CGI Lava Lizards is so darn obvious.

Kira: What an incredible Command Center. Dr. O would have loved to seen that.
Adam: Hey, you know, I still can't believe he's a doctor.
Me: Niiice.

The nod to Angel Grove was also nice. Wish the warehouse fight could've been longer, but I'll take it. "Plan Xander" returns! And Adam might be a little "old school," but he still gots it. ^_^

...Okay yeah, the instrumental mash-up was getting done to death, but it was great hearing SPD's theme again. <_< style="font-weight: bold;">"THUNDER STORM" aired, you knew it HAD to happen.)

It was cool how the vets got to pilot the Megazords too. Nice unique way of using a Bouken mecha battle. Mack's super jumping and defeating Vultures was also taken from Bouken, right? I guess I'll let that slide then. Thank God they apparently learned from using sentai in the SPD/DT teamups...

So OO has a running theme of Rangers quitting. Mack... Will... Everyone. Granted, I don't blame them... (Would you wanna work for Hartford? >_>) Kind of amusing in a kids show so focused on teamwork and doing the right thing.

After watching this a second time, I don't think Alpha's voice was TOO bad and was a better attempt at the original than Mystic Mother ever was. His height though is another story. o_O Yeah, some explanation would've been nice, but I'm happy they really put in the effort to do this so long after PRLG. I'd like to think that after the Galaxy Rangers and people of Terra Venture got settled on Mirinoi, they shipped Alpha to the PR warehouse (possibly when Bulk came back), figuring that he would be needed again on Earth someday.

Enjoyed Adam leading the morphing and the new sequence was sweet. And I liked how they arranged the morphing and vet intros by season (oldest first and more recent first) and mixed it up for the unmorphed fight.

The final battle was essentially what I expect from the show now. No battlizers was nice, but I was kinda surprised no power-up modes were used either. Remember the SWAT laser-palooza in "HISTORY"? And I take it Sentinel Knight is full of power, but destroying Thrax in a few kicks was as bad (if not worse) than Cole driving through Serpentera. -_- Aside from that, I was pretty satisfied with how it turned out.

Nice updates on what the vets are doing now and "Buttery" makes a return. And the teamup ends in MMPR-style.

Thank you Jackie and everyone for doing your best to get in references and make it memorable, while dealing with the way the show is so Disney-fied. Too bad the music director really screwed up -- But aside from that and a few things left to the imagination, well done. I'd put it in the middle, maybe right around RoTW... Better than "TRAKEENA'S REVENGE" and "TIME FOR LIGHTSPEED," but below TtTP/PoP, RFtF, FR and "THUNDER STORM."

Part I: 4/5, Part II: 5/5
As a whole: 4/5, 8/10

To each their own, but for an anniversary teamup some 5 years into the "Disney Era" and the third season under Kalish, I enjoyed it and the effort put into it was certainly "morphinominal."