Power Rangers Dino Supercharge First Impressions

Dino Charge was decent. It had some problems here and there but it was enjoyable. I could definitely tell they were trying which is all I ask from Power Rangers. Time to take a look at my thoughts on the first three episodes of Dino Supercharge.

Episode one opens up with Tyler doing a recap of the first half. After the recap, we cut to Sledge's ship. Sledge was apparently killed in the crash. Unfortunately, Poisandra survived so now she has even less reason to be here. Its also weird that she seemed to forget about Sledge the second food was mentioned. The episode had some really nice tension with Ice Age from the first half picking off the rangers one-by-one. It also shows Heckyl trying to get close to the rangers while in his human form. Its actually a nice plan that sort of works.

Episode two was ok. Weirdly enough like Dino Charge episode two, this was a Riley-centric episode. Its basically Heckyl trying to wipe the rangers memories so he could swipe their energems. Its actually a rather smart move on his part and its something I'm honestly surprised Sledge didn't try. It has a sub-plot with Riley standing up to a guy who used to bully him in high school. I've honestly never really cared for this trope in PR as it usually just comes out of nowhere. Though I did like that it sort of shows just how much energy the energems put out. Riley challenges the bully to the climbing wall and uses the energem to give him an edge. The energem actually puts out so much energy that it flings him over the climbing wall and makes him land in the tree right behind it. The main plot of the episode involves Heckyl trying to wipe their memories so he can steal the energems. When that doesn't work, he has the monster wipe his memories forcing them to take him to their base to fix it. That part of the plan works but by the end of the episode he gets that bit of his memory wiped away.

Episode three was the weakest of these episodes. Its sub-plot features an overbearing parent trope which is something that has kind of annoyed me over the years because sometimes its not exactly handled well. Its also a bit weird to see her father show up now. It doesn't really feel all that impactful of an episode. My real issue with the episode however is sort of how they handled Heckyl's stuff but I'll get to that in a bit.

These three episodes had something interesting with Heckyl but the pay-off is disappointing. Heckyl does something that I haven't seen many villains in PR do. He basically uses his human-form and the fact that he saved Kendel in the first half to get a job in the museum so he can get close to the rangers. He does this to learn the location of their base so he can steal their energems. He finds out the location of their base in episode two which is fine but his plan from the episode backfires and it sort of wipes his memory. Episode 3 however, is where the disappointment happens. They drop that plan immediately because Shelby walks in while Heckyl is knocking everyone else out and stealing their energems. He even transforms into Snide once he is caught.

They could've honestly played it off because due to Heckyl's main plan in the episode, the rangers hadn't slept in days. If he just pocketed the energems as he was taking them, he could've just convinced everyone that Shelby was hallucinating from lack of sleep. It felt like something that should've been an over-arcing thing until Heckyl's eventual exit from the show but instead it was thrown away after three episodes.

Overall, its an ok start to Dino Super Charge. It shows off Heckyl's ability as a leader but has a few problems with hand-waving away the stuff about him knowing where their base is. Its in-line with the quality of Dino Charge. This might seem like a weird thing to bring up but it doesn't really feel all that different from Dino Charge. It does feel like the stakes have been raised and them ending Heckyl's plot-line about befriending the rangers so suddenly really doesn't help in that regard. I know that introducing Dino Super Drive mode is supposed to indicate that the monsters have gotten stronger since Heckyl took power but it doesn't feel like it was necessary or earned. Also as a personal thing, I don't like that Dino Super Drive mode gets rid of the silver mouth-bit on the helmet. It makes the suits look a bit soul-less if its just the visor on the front of the helmet.