Putting Samurai to Bed and Powering Up For Megaforce

Now that I've thought back on 2 years of Samurai, it's definitely the worst ever from Power Rangers. At first it was alright and picked up somewhat when Antonio joined. Then Super Mode was stalled and it only got worse as the show dragged on and on with Super Samurai in mostly translated episodes. It started to get frustrating as a fan and rock bottom for the entire legacy was reached with "TRICKSTER TREAT." There was some good though... "HE AIN'T HEAVY METAL, HE'S MY BROTHER" and "THE STRANGE CASE OF THE MUNCHIES" were the biggest and only real creative gems, while "TEST OF THE LEADER," "THE TENGEN GATE" and "THE SEALING SYMBOL" were also really good I thought. There were enough decent plots for several 4/5s I gave out. But for over 40 episodes, it was a fairly small amount, compared to other seasons.

In that regard, I'd put Turbo just above Samurai, which I've always considered the low point that also only had a few episodes I thought were really good (and "CHASE INTO SPACE") out of 45. It got to the point I stopped caring for awhile and missed a bunch of fillers in a second half (something I wouldn't do now unless I stopped watching completely).

Another difference is that it's not fun to hate the show anymore - unlike say, during Mystic Force and Overdrive when Rangercast would go on about how bad the episodes were and bitching about the show was sort of new territory for the fandom (though both seasons did have some really good 2 parters and fillers within the shorter seasons).

Even Disney's worst never had some of the problems Samurai had. Often times the Rangers talked down to the audience and nearly every episode had a flashback from the season. It seemed like the writers never communicated with eachother, the cast was never told how to act properly and so on. Plus all the pre-season hype 2 years ago from the trailer was lost when the third episode aired first and the actual premiere (a direct translation of Shinkenger #1) came later. And Bulk and Spike were utilized badly, especially after the Pink Ranger crush was dropped and they disappeared. I'm glad they at least got to finally meet the Rangers at the end of it all though.

After suffering through all that, I'm optimistic that things can only get better with Megaforce. It won't be as close to the sentai as we've had but a lot of improvement has to be made if this year is gonna be much better. Looking forward to how the villains play out, going back to a high school setting and how exactly burning through the entire Goseiger this year ends up. Hopefully the MMPR nostalgia doesn't get too out of hand and it'd be nice if we find out how Skull became rich and Bulk with practically nothing. I'd say it'll really get interesting when we get to the legend war (maybe as another Nick movie special) and then all the anniversary stuff and cameos in 2014.