The final run for Ninja Steel episodes started out not bad but would soon change.
Though it was weird how the Rangers needed to earn the Blaze zords before the Prism would create them, I liked how they worked in the mysterious cloaked strangers (Wes, Gemma and Koda) as a teaser right before "DIMENSIONS IN DANGER" (or as I like to call it, "Forever Tommy").
Great callback to DinoThunder with Reefside and Tommy's house. I was amazed seeing him use all his powers and how they got all the morph calls perfect (Probably more JDFs doing than Production). Gotta wonder if Zeo Red and Black Dino Master Morpher Power Coins will be for sale at the next PMC.
Not much of a group morph here unfortunately. Did they have to go cheap for the insta-morph effects? I feel like they're better than this. Even if we had more time, I doubt they would've had them do individual calls but at least a silent insta-morph would've been better than five in one shot. Everyone saying "It's Morphin Time" with the classic pose was pretty cool though. Also loved Falconzord returning. Man it had been SO long. Better fight than Cole destroying Serpentera too. >_>
With only one part, a little too much Ninninger footage and a fast battle, it wasn't great for an anniversary special. They didn't even acknowledge that Tommy and Kat were an item (let alone really give them anything together), which I was kind of surprised by. And
aside from the zord portion of the episode, they reverted back on the
BGM (before they went full MMPR ripoff), I assumed for dramatic
effect. The stuff they gave Tommy was still better than just about all of the regular episodes, so for that, the most deserving 5/5 of Ninja Steel. I'd rank it between "ONCE A RANGER" and "LEGENDARY BATTLE" (the worst).
Following that we got the best filler episode of the entire two years in "LOVE STINGS" - classic love spell plot with Hayley and Preston actually acting like normal people with solid delivery - something Ninja Steel often struggled with. And speaking of struggling, it was pretty much back downhill after this with questionable plot points, execution of the episodes lesson and Victory & Monty getting completely ridiculous. They also manage to blow a chance at doing a good Metal Hero teamup with Sherriff Skyfire in a weird episode about respecting authority. And despite reusing the Halloween Intergalactic Court from Dino Super Charge, I enjoyed "MONSTER MIX-UP" and thought the cast did a great job pretending to be the monsters.
Getting to the finale, I liked Odius' final plan brainwashing civilians and using Mick to help her but the execution was poor leaving little reason to care. The Rangers find out the plan way too easily through simple eavesdropping. I did like evil Dane vs Brody & Levi for a minute while Hayley faces an evil (and unconvincing) Calvin, who of course is able to take out the satellite in one blast. The final battle needed some buffering such as trying to use Lion Fire first than to quickly conclude there was no point. And once Odius is gone, the Rangers just assume everything is fine, completely ignoring Badonna & Cosmo, who for being Generals, are killed off with very little thought. I just wish they had done more with Cosmo, besides when he came to Earth in "GRAVE ROBBER."
The Prism then takes back the power stars only to return them A THIRD TIME in "THE POISY SHOW" - a rather decent end to the Neo Saban era with Poisandra turning Galaxy Warriors into her own talk show with a Christmas special featuring the Rangers while Sledge teams up with Snowfright. We finally get the Sudarso Bro moment with the guys doing the classic morph pose and one last bomb takes out Sledge, Poisandra, Wrench and the entire Warrior Dome for good. Dino Charge was the only real good thing to come out of Neo Saban (especially the first half) in what was otherwise the worst seasons of PR ever.
I still gotta call Samurai and its bad start to Neo Saban the worst season, though ironically, also the best finale and end-of-season-arc
(mainly due to translating Shinkenger) but it was sure rough getting
there with little originality and childlike acting. Ninja Steel is next which had problems other seasons didn't... Some of the worst episode plots and plot execution ever... Refusing to have any genuine conflict... Ridiculous over-the-top comedy... An atrocious amount of closure... Kind of makes Megaforce look a little better now which had one of the best casts, one of the best midseason cliffhangers with the Armada arriving, a better school setting and plots, but still relied on too much sentai over originality, completely screwed the buildup to the Legendary Battle, and what could've been a good season long tribute to the PR legacy.
