Saturday, March 30, 2013

Robo Knight's premiere and enviromental stuff

Despite being a big Power Rangers fan, I'm not going to be overly positive in this review. I didn't like the episode. It started out on a bad note with me due to the overly obvious enviromental message. So anyway, here is my overall impression of the episode. In this episode, Roboknight premieres and we get our first look at new villians with powers based in pollution. They are aptly named Mutants.


My main issue: The environmental message in the episode. It was too obvious. In any visual medium there is an unspoken rule: "Show! Don't tell!". If you're going to have an environmental episode, then have the characters actually cleaning up the pollution instead of just talking about it. Having a character actually do something about the issue at hand helps the message get through much more easily. It does not help when you have a villian pretty much say "Humans are lazy for letting even the smallest amount of pollution remain". When all the characters do is talk about an issue but don't do anything about it, it can sometimes be percieved as shoving it down people's throats. I know its a kids' show but seriously, if you don't have the heroes do something about the issue they're talking about then kids can percieve the issue as not important enough to warrant any effort by them and no lesson may be learned.

 
 I know MMPR was more blantly obvious with its lessons, morals, and messages but I have to cut them some slack simply because it was the first season with no other seasons to help guide their writing. The reason I have harped on this episode's message being obvious is simply because they have 19 other seasons to help guide them in more subtle writing than this. Many of the other seasons have had enviromental episodes that were more subtle than this. This is the 20th season and I honestly haven't seen an episode with an environmental message this blantly obvious in a while.

As for RoboKnight himself, I don't mind him. Though the music they gave played for his entrance reminded me more of RoboCop and his voice only served to increase this feeling. I was expecting a deeper tone to the voice and I really hope the voice actor puts more effort in to the role soon. This is PR, robots have been shown to have emotions in this universe, he shouldn't sound like he doesn't care. At this point, this is all I can say about him.

 
I know I've spent more time ranting about the message and less time on the new villians and RoboKnight but thats because I honestly haven't seen Goseiger and I don't know much else about the new characters. I just expected something better in this episode than what we got. So yeah, call me biased or whatever you want but that is honestly how I feel.

4 comments:

  1. Well when the show is aimed at 5-9 year olds in this day and age where all they want to do is spend time on the computer then actually getting out there and playing. Yeah I have no problem with them shoving the moral down the audiences throat. The main focus of this episode wasn't about pollution.I felt like the main focus of this episode was based upon the mutants, there creation, and Robo Knight. Not necessarily pollution. I mean I understand the want for a more subtle message but sometimes you have to say it multiple times for people to actually get the message. I mean the attention span of the age demographic now and days aren't that long. So you have to hold their attention somehow.

    As for Robo Knight, he's a robot. I get it in PR robots have emotions but why can't Robo Knight be different. I mean Robo Knight has a reason for being that way. So I see no problem with him being a robot who doesn't fall in line. Individuality is a good trait that should be used more often and yeah you spent more time ranting then reviewing.

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    1. The only reason I spent so much more time ranting than reviewing is because this episode was really bland for a sixth ranger's appearance. And yes there is a far better way of getting social commentary and morals across. If you're a sentai fan, watch Liveman and pay particular attention to the Study Brain episodes. That is how you get a message across. You show it through the experiences of the characters! You don't outright state it!!

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    2. Also, having no emotion doesn't make him unique. It essentially puts him on the same level as the grunt robots from RPM. All that is unique about him is that he is an inorganic being fighting for something that only organic beings need to survive. Individuality comes more from personality than it does goals.

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  2. @Anonymous ...Read your comment for a second...I think you have made one of the dumbest defenses I have ever seen for Megaforce. The main "focus" of the episode was so environmental that Captain planet is shaking his head in shame. Social commentary doesn't mean shove it down your throat and out right saying what is wrong. It is shown through the characters and there reactions...watch Liveman you'll understand or Ultraman Nexus. If I want to hold the attention to a kid I don't treat them like they are idiots like Megaforce did.

    As for Robo Knight uh what reason does he have in not have any emotion exactly because from what we saw we only learn of who he is not his character and that "individuality" that you are talking about is so generic the way it was presented in the show. This was a thoughtful review and very objective at what the show did wrong...so yeah nice try defending Megaforce but no dice sorry.

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