Power Rangers Megaforce: A first episode review.
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Yesterday, at 1 P.M. EST, we were all graced with the first episode of the 20th anniversary of the longest running American Toku series, Power Rangers, Power Rangers Megaforce.
Now, after the atrocity that was Power Rangers Samurai/Super Samurai, Saban had to pull out all the stops and dig really deep for this one and, quite honestly, he did just that. Megaforce touched on all the things that a return to Power Rangers should have been. We get a fresh set of faces in the original Primary Color scheme of Mighty Morphing, along with some nods to it as well. Not only that, I sense some nods towards Kamen Rider Decade (in terms of the opening scene.) But enough of that. Let's get to my The Good,The Bad, and The Ugly review.
The Good:
Kamen Rider Decade-esque opening- This is how an episode of a season should start, with an intro that grabs you and demands your attention. The clip from The Legendary War was really something that made you go 'Whoa' or "WTF!?' or both at the same time, just from the sheer numbers of rangers on screen at once.
Casting- Here's something that I really didn't expect- good quality cast members. No one, in my opinion, tries to go too far into their role nor do they have voices that make me wanna damage my ear drums every time they laugh or speak. Everyone played their role accurately and didn't try to oversell it.
Weapon names and attacks- Here was another surprise for me. The weapon names (save for the Mega Blasters) and attacks were not childish at all. I mean, these were some decent, hardcore names. Shark's Bite, Snakes Venom, Phoniex Blaster, Tiger Claw, Dragon Sword: These are names you would expect to appeal to an older audience as well as a younger one.
Homage to Mighty Morphing- At first, this was going to go in 'the Bad' section, but then I realized that this actually helped the show. You have Gosei, who was trained by Zordon (although, I am curious as to when he was trained. Must have been during Turbo/Zeo Era.) and Tensou, an obvious nod to Alpha-5, but a lovable nod nonetheless. Teleporting is back, which is great because it offers a better explanation as to how the Rangers move across town so fast without the aide of vehicles or something.
Writing- Although a somewhat modified carbon-copy of 'Day Of The Dumpster' (the first episode of Mighty Morphing), it was done in good taste. There was only one pun that made me cringe, but other than that one, I can say that there wasn't much script wise that I could hate with all my heart.
Transformation/Morphing Sequence- Comparing this to Goseigers, I would say that this is a better one, in terms of CGI and effects.
Warstar keep their names as 'Warstar'- Need I say more?
Next we have The Bad-
Warstar General names- When I first found out about these names, I didn't like them. These were completely childish names and you could tell. Monsu Doreiku (Mons Drake) Became Admiral Malkor, Ryūsei no Dereputa (or just Dereputa) became Creepox- A name I beleve sounds like some kind of Minecraft monster- and Buredoran of the Comet, the most bad ass villian I've ever seen in Super Sentai so far, became Vrak. Every time I hear that name I think of Brak, the character from Space Ghost.
Cannon Fodder Names- The new names for the Bibi Soldiers is Loogies...... Ok, I'm pretty sure this is a downgrade, even by Goseiger standards. What's worse is their yellow-green outfit makes the name fit, but only in an insulting way.
Role Call during Morphing- There wasn't any real need for this, at least in my eyes. We could see the color that they were going to become from the cards they held (unless this was for those that are color blind. Then I can understand somewhat.) Speaking of the cards-
Lack of Editing- When it came to the cards, if you paid attention, you would see the original names of the Goseigers or their weapons/Headers. Actually, in the first morph, you could see that the Rangers were already holding their Change Cards, making the next scene where they are holding blank cards that change into their Change Cards pointless. This is a simple fix that could've been righted with a little motion capture software and/or photoshop.
Catchphrase- "MegaRangers, that was a Mega Victory!"....... No. Just.....No.
The Ugly:
I actually don't have anything to put here. This would be one of the few times I think I could ever leave this section empty.
Now, just from watching this one episode alone, I can tell we won't be getting Gosei Green's appearance, which stinks because I really wanted to see him become adapted into the show somehow. We also lost Datas, but that isn't something that really bothers me because Datas wasn't a strong character to me, so I'm more interested in the formation of Hyper Gosei Great (if that's going to be it's name.)
Minor misgivings and personal opinions aside, I have very high hopes for Megaforce, and I'm eagerly awaiting the rest of this season and the next (just so long as they don't space it out as they did Power Rangers Samurai.)
Now, after the atrocity that was Power Rangers Samurai/Super Samurai, Saban had to pull out all the stops and dig really deep for this one and, quite honestly, he did just that. Megaforce touched on all the things that a return to Power Rangers should have been. We get a fresh set of faces in the original Primary Color scheme of Mighty Morphing, along with some nods to it as well. Not only that, I sense some nods towards Kamen Rider Decade (in terms of the opening scene.) But enough of that. Let's get to my The Good,The Bad, and The Ugly review.
The Good:
Kamen Rider Decade-esque opening- This is how an episode of a season should start, with an intro that grabs you and demands your attention. The clip from The Legendary War was really something that made you go 'Whoa' or "WTF!?' or both at the same time, just from the sheer numbers of rangers on screen at once.
Casting- Here's something that I really didn't expect- good quality cast members. No one, in my opinion, tries to go too far into their role nor do they have voices that make me wanna damage my ear drums every time they laugh or speak. Everyone played their role accurately and didn't try to oversell it.
Weapon names and attacks- Here was another surprise for me. The weapon names (save for the Mega Blasters) and attacks were not childish at all. I mean, these were some decent, hardcore names. Shark's Bite, Snakes Venom, Phoniex Blaster, Tiger Claw, Dragon Sword: These are names you would expect to appeal to an older audience as well as a younger one.
Homage to Mighty Morphing- At first, this was going to go in 'the Bad' section, but then I realized that this actually helped the show. You have Gosei, who was trained by Zordon (although, I am curious as to when he was trained. Must have been during Turbo/Zeo Era.) and Tensou, an obvious nod to Alpha-5, but a lovable nod nonetheless. Teleporting is back, which is great because it offers a better explanation as to how the Rangers move across town so fast without the aide of vehicles or something.
Writing- Although a somewhat modified carbon-copy of 'Day Of The Dumpster' (the first episode of Mighty Morphing), it was done in good taste. There was only one pun that made me cringe, but other than that one, I can say that there wasn't much script wise that I could hate with all my heart.
Transformation/Morphing Sequence- Comparing this to Goseigers, I would say that this is a better one, in terms of CGI and effects.
Warstar keep their names as 'Warstar'- Need I say more?
Next we have The Bad-
Warstar General names- When I first found out about these names, I didn't like them. These were completely childish names and you could tell. Monsu Doreiku (Mons Drake) Became Admiral Malkor, Ryūsei no Dereputa (or just Dereputa) became Creepox- A name I beleve sounds like some kind of Minecraft monster- and Buredoran of the Comet, the most bad ass villian I've ever seen in Super Sentai so far, became Vrak. Every time I hear that name I think of Brak, the character from Space Ghost.
Cannon Fodder Names- The new names for the Bibi Soldiers is Loogies...... Ok, I'm pretty sure this is a downgrade, even by Goseiger standards. What's worse is their yellow-green outfit makes the name fit, but only in an insulting way.
Role Call during Morphing- There wasn't any real need for this, at least in my eyes. We could see the color that they were going to become from the cards they held (unless this was for those that are color blind. Then I can understand somewhat.) Speaking of the cards-
Lack of Editing- When it came to the cards, if you paid attention, you would see the original names of the Goseigers or their weapons/Headers. Actually, in the first morph, you could see that the Rangers were already holding their Change Cards, making the next scene where they are holding blank cards that change into their Change Cards pointless. This is a simple fix that could've been righted with a little motion capture software and/or photoshop.
Catchphrase- "MegaRangers, that was a Mega Victory!"....... No. Just.....No.
The Ugly:
I actually don't have anything to put here. This would be one of the few times I think I could ever leave this section empty.
Now, just from watching this one episode alone, I can tell we won't be getting Gosei Green's appearance, which stinks because I really wanted to see him become adapted into the show somehow. We also lost Datas, but that isn't something that really bothers me because Datas wasn't a strong character to me, so I'm more interested in the formation of Hyper Gosei Great (if that's going to be it's name.)
Minor misgivings and personal opinions aside, I have very high hopes for Megaforce, and I'm eagerly awaiting the rest of this season and the next (just so long as they don't space it out as they did Power Rangers Samurai.)