Megaforce thoughts and Super Samurai update

Rarely does Power Ranger news leave me speechless -- But that's what happened on the 11th when I clicked a link to the Megaforce press release on Facebook and was quickly shocked to see the word "Goseiger." Thinking back on the week, it reminded me of around this time 9 years ago, when the DinoThunder news came out that announced Tommy would be back -- and was shot down by Doug Sloan for being a bit premature.

I've watched some episodes of Gosei to see what it's like before I start Gokaiger and I see a lot of potential with Warstar. I'm generally optimistic but not so much that Megaforce won't follow Samurai and end "season 1" just before the team powerup is introduced. And it'd be nice to see PR Legend War used next year, though wouldn't be surprised to see it saved 2 years to transition to PR's Gokai. I like the concept of going back to "5 teenagers with attitude" with Master Head/Datas in Zordon/Alpha roles -- I just hope they can make it work and maybe change some of the names. I'm glad they at least won't be following Gosei's story so closely or using any kind of angel theme. Hopefully Saban gets out of the 2 year thing by 2015.

Super Samurai, I thought has gotten somewhat better thanks to focus episodes we should've had early in Samurai. "THE STRANGE CASE OF THE MUNCHIES" was easily the most original and I'd say best episode we'll get, with "HE AIN'T HEAVY MENTAL, HE'S MY BROTHER" behind it, plus decent focus on Kevin, Mike, Mia/Spike and the crush on Pink. "THE MASTER RETURNS" was a good episode to go out on. I was surprised and liked Xandred getting angry enough to cross over, while Serrator showed his true motives and the Rangers got beat pretty bad. Though Dayu's sudden temper felt really forced and I wish Serrator had gotton Octoroo to shutup. Yeah, it's all pretty much straight Shinkenger and this is why I haven't seen much of it.

PRS #35 "TRUST ME": New era? Not so much...

Mostly liked this one. Serrator's evil agenda and attitude is a welcome change from Xandred (who clearly would've been better off as another unseen overlord or something... bah).

The action was good and I liked how the Rangers were grouped up and fought the villains. The whole "era of the laser blaster" felt strangely outta left field. It worked OK for me (and the Mooger army was awesome) but the big deal about the new era and spin swords being out could've been handled better.

Jayden having the others pilot Bullzord was a nice change... woul'dve been great if we hadn't had Gigazord/Shogun/Papyrex thrown in after. Also, Jayden's secret weighing on him and the exchange with Mia didn't seem very believable without much backing (otherwise Samurai's lack of character development generally doesn't bother me most of of the time).

Nice job mashing two Shinkenger eps together and not slowing things down with morphing or Bulk and Spike in an episode that was pretty packed enough. 4/5

PRS #31 "KEVIN'S CHOICE": Blue to the Test

Another good episode that should've happened say, about 20 eps ago. Enjoyed the focus on Kevin's past as a swimmer and how he's sorta become the teams zord tech expert. Najee wasn't bad in this I thought and it helped it was almost all him and Alex.

Action wise, the episode was great. Awesome job by the editors in the first fight. Since Kevin went Super in "SHELL GAME" I didn't mind Jayden using it here, plus I liked Deker and Dayu defeating Skarf to "unlock his true power." Deker's return itself was pretty meh - oh, he's back. Now will he be back in the credits?

Another hideous ultrazord, made worse by using an additional powerup. >_<

I almost thought Kevin was gonna use symbol power to heal the leg. Also wish there had been a situation where he was forced to morph to save the swim team, instead of keeping it from them. 4/5

PRS #30 "HE AIN'T HEAVY METAL..." + #27 "THE RESCUE"

The Moogers in the school would've worked better if they had been sent to kidnap kids and the Nighloks obviously aren't aware of the school schedule. But it was like they just threw the fight scene in there and didn't think much of it. Didn't occur to me until the end that were wasn't a MoTD in this episode either. Also I liked they destroyed Papyrex quickly, leaving plenty of time for the concert and to wrap-up the episode after.

Bulk and Spike were genuinely funny. Great episode for them and being part of the main plot for once. It kinda felt like a situation Bulk would be in during MMPR, which further makes him seem "dumb-downed." Something about the way he wanted to hire the tough guys for security - they do seem to be writing him as if this was MMPR Bulk. Loved the practice bit and the rap was fun. Bonus points for what looks like a spoof of Daft Punk:

No doubt a lot happened in this episode that should've happened much earlier in Samurai's run. It got random in places but there was more than enough to make up for points taken off. Jaever Santos fit the role pretty well and the concert was nicely done. A pretty good episode for Mia and great way to utilize Super Pink. 5/5

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Ranger Bar Episode 25

BatZilla98 and I go over breaking PR news, share varied opinions about PRS #26 "SOMETHING FISHY" and I have some fun with Najee De-Tiege's horrible grammar on twitter.

PRS #24-25 "SHELL GAME" and "TRADING PLACES"

BatZilla98 and I chat about the episodes on Ranger Bar:

"SUPER SAMURAI": Stronger Than Before, Powered Up For More

This was pretty much what I was expecting - a good start to the "season" with a mostly original episode (For me I'm going with this being Samurai's 23th episode, skipping "CLASH OF THE RED RANGERS").

The Rangers out being active before the river pools were discovered was a nice start to the episode. I like the updated opening and I wasn't surprised they kept the same logo with the slight modification. The cast looks good in their credit shots.

Antonio's crazy as ever, but I thought it did work once we got to the Shinkenger fight.

Octoroo setting up a barrier to block the morphing was pretty sneaky. The unmorphed action was great and the blend with the Shinkenger fight looked nice, though it was weird when it was suddenly just Jayden. After so many years of team power up finishers, one Ranger at a time using Super Mode will be a bit different. 4/5