My Concerns For The Upcoming MMPR Movie: Part 3

Yes there are more now...I'm really getting tired of doing these. Every time something new for this movie gets revealed, I lose more and more hope of this actually being a Power Rangers movie. Just...how...How do you mess up this badly just trying to update the visuals? HOW?!

The rangers' zords just...ugh...they look terrible. Why does the Mastodon have eight legs? Going by the toy, it also throws webs. At that point its not the Mastodon, its a spider! Furthermore, why does the Triceratops have six legs? For some reason the T-Rex has cannons where its arms should be. It even has two cannons on one "arm". It looks lopsided and it would probably look better if they lengthened the tail and made that a bladed cannon instead. This is what I was afraid of when the zord teasers came out. Like with the ranger suits and Rita's design, they overdid it to a major extreme. I get why they changed the designs but they've taken it too far.

The movie megazord is...wow...just wow. It looks so generic. It doesn't even remotely resemble the original design. It also doesn't feel like the megazord and it doesn't even look like its made of multiple zords. As someone on twitter put it "You've messed up when the robot for a movie made in 2017 looks more like a guy in a suit than the robot from the 90's that was an actual guy in a suit.". It looks slightly worse in the new trailer than it does as a toy.

The movie design for Alpha, I'm not a fan. It looks off and looks like it will be entirely CGI. Unfortunately, the CGI will probably be extremely obvious. Why didn't they just build a suit? Its looks too alien and not robotic enough. Pretty much the only positive I have for it is that it at least resembles Alpha. I can't really say that for pretty much every other design in the movie. Its actually kind of sad that even Alpha looks the closest to the original look, they still messed it up just trying to make it "modern". I'm not a fan of the voice but I'll probably get used to it. The design definitely doesn't need the eyeballs. I'm not giving the movie credit for not messing up Zordon because its kind of hard to mess up a floating bald head.

The movie Goldar is bleh...no...just no. It looks like the Megazord just dipped in molten gold. Thats taking the name way too literally. I might actually be more irritated by that than any of the other designs in this movie. It just looks so lazy. I mean really, they couldn't come up with something more creative? It looks even worse in the trailer than it does as a toy.

Apparently they're also cutting out the blasters and the other 4 rangers' weapons. Why? Whats the point of redesigning the Power Sword if you're not gonna give the other rangers weapons as well? I'd have to guess that its because they've spent so much money redesigning everything else just to be "modern". Its probably a minor thing to complain about after they've changed so much, I expected them to at least keep all the Power Weapons in this thing.

The second trailer is better than the first though thats not saying much. They brightened up the colors which is actually something I'm happy about. You have no idea just how much bright colors can help the feel of a superhero movie. The music choice however was extremely predictable and it feels like they just wanted a recent-ish song that has the word "power" in it. The banter unfortunately doesn't work for me in the trailer. I also didn't care for the drug test joke with Trini...I'd have just assumed she was screwing with her mother, not that she was high. Gotta ask...why is something like that even in a Power Rangers movie? With that being said, it looked a bit more fun so I have a little more hope that this won't be a complete trainwreck. I'm still not holding my breath regarding it being an actual Power Rangers movie.

There is something I've been turning over in my mind since the first trailer was released and the zords/megazord sort of reinforce this thought for me. Between the visuals and the trailer, it feels like Lionsgate is outright ashamed to be making a Power Rangers movie. It doesn't look like there isn't going to much here for Power Rangers fans. They've downplayed what makes Power Rangers feel like Power Rangers to pander to people who likely don't care about the franchise. These people will likely forget about the movie after it comes out. I may have said this in one of the other posts about the movie but I simply don't care that this is supposed to be a reboot/reimagining. A reboot/reimagining has to resemble what its rebooting and they've changed so much just for the sake of being modern. Its lost that Power Rangers feeling in my opinion. At this point these are being less concerns more me just venting about this thing. The plot for this movie better be good because I'm not liking everything else so far.

Power Rangers Dino Supercharge Review

Sadly, I'm not impressed with Dino Supercharge. There is a very notice-able difference in quality between this and Dino Charge. It just feels like a completely different show compared to Dino Charge. With that being said, do I necessarily think its bad? Well read on and find out.

Characters: 

The rangers are still simply ok. They're not bad but they're also nothing to write home about and my opinions of them haven't really changed since the first half. I'm honestly a bit disappointed that Graphite and Aqua aren't used that much despite all of their appearances being American footage and Saban Brands having the suits on hand. It just seems like a waste to me. Due to that, we don't really get a feel for Prince Philip and Tyler's dad this half. Its especially disappointing for Prince Philip since he was introduced in Dino Charge. Kendal also hasn't fought much in this half. Given that and Aqua and Graphite not showing up much, I can't help but think that Dino Charge went over budget in its first half. Granted thats just speculation on my part but I feel its worth mentioning because there was a lot more stock-footage used in ground fights this time. Now some people have had issues with Tyler's father just going into hiding after bonding with the aqua energem, but I don't mind it. His reasoning is sound enough in my opinion. Yeah he did have to abandon his son but the only other option was putting him in the line of fire if Fury ever tracked him down again. Unfortunately, I don't have much to say regarding Zenowing since I missed his introduction episodes and haven't had the time to watch them. From what I did see of him, he was just kind of there.

Writing: The writing this time around leaves something to be desired. Its a massive step-down from Dino Charge's writing. It sets things up but there isn't really much pay-off to the setups. One of the big pitfalls is the mystery of what happened to Tyler's dad. They practically give away the reveal the episode before it happens. It had all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face. They did everything but have his father's friend look at the camera and say "Hey audience, his dad found an energem too!". Its a case of them underestimating the audience's intelligence. It also drops the ball with Heckyl but I'll get to that in a bit. The subplots for certain episodes are down-right stupid and it really drags the show down at points. Like when Arcanon showed up and started controlling their zords, the sup-plot about Chase learning to bake a desert was entirely irrelevant and took focus away from the action. It was all just away to hand-wave them figuring out how to make a new megazord. It was a lot more work than they needed to do because all the rangers had to do was say "Hey, maybe we should try using the Titanozord.".

Villains:

Yeah, the villains in this half are kind of lacking. There were quite a few missteps with Heckyl/Snide. He had a rather interesting plan during first couple episodes that just gets dropped suddenly. He was cozy-ing up to the rangers to steal their energems. The sad thing is that it was kinda working until he screwed up in a way that felt really forced. He engineered a situation that resulted in the rangers being awake for days and even got everyone but Shelby's energem. Then for some reason, he left the energems sitting on a table by entrance to the cafe. Shelby showed up and caught him in the act. That seems like a slip-up thats out of character for Heckyl. Once Arcanon shows up, they build up the Heckyl/Snide has with Arcanon and they kinda drop the ball there too. Snide really doesn't end up doing much on his own. He pretty much starts working with Sledge, steals the dark energem, and goes out with a whimper. The weirdest part is that it feels like Heckyl's plot-line was leading up to him becoming a ranger. That doesn't happen but for some reason they built up to it. They even had the Spino zord end up where he was camping. If I had to guess, he was intended to become one but it might have been scrapped for budget reasons.

Singe has absolutely no presence whatsoever. He felt so much like nothing that I forgot he was even in the show each week. He also doesn't even add much to the show. He is little more than a generic goon. He doesn't even feel that strong so its kinda weird to see the rangers struggling against him. Arcanon isn't much better either. Heck when Sledge came back and killed Singe and Arcanon, I forgot they were dead after the episode ended. Like Snide, they both went out with a whimper. I legitimately had to ask a friend what happened to them because I couldn't remember.

Ironically, the biggest plus I have for Dino Supercharge is Poisondra. By that I mean the lack if Poisondra. Its like the writers realized that Sledge was the only reason she had to be in the show. Unfortunately, they decided to reveal Sledge was alive just so they could close her plot-line. Some people have asked my why I hate Poisondra so much. Its because she is utterly irrelevant to anything other than Sledge. She is the only villain I've ever seen whose goal can be accomplished by literally doing nothing at all. I can only actually remember a single episode out of Dino Charge and Supercharge where she did anything other than get in the way. It was the episode "Catching Some Rays" which is an episode I'll talk about later. Basically while the rangers were on vacation, she tried to party with them so she could swipe their energems. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing her get sent into the sun in the finale. It was fitting end for such an annoying character. The rest of Sledge's crew don't feel like much this time around since they get down-played in favor of Heckyl. Even Fury takes a backseat to the new guys.

Worst Episode: I have disliked quite a few episodes of Dino Supercharge for various reasons, however, the one I dislike the most is definitely the episode "Catching Some Rays". Not only is it the worst episode out of this half, its one of the dumbest PR episodes I've ever seen. It is filler in every sense of the word. Basically, all that happens is that Koda accidentally unleashes an ancient monster whose power is to make people go on vacation. There is virtually nothing to the threat because the episode doesn't show the consequences of people just dropping whatever they're doing to relax. Granted there is the stuff about Poisondra partying with them so she can steal the energems but Poisondra was never a threat herself so I really don't care that she tried this. Out of all the Kyoruger episodes they had left at that point, why did they choose to adapt the vacation episode?

The Ending:

I don't really mind the ending and I don't think its all that bad. It carried a heavy consequence to destroying the dark energem. I give it props because the obvious choice ended up being the worst possible choice they could've made. Plus it sufficiently justified bringing in time travel as the ultimate solution in my opinion. I get people's frustration with the idea that Dino Thunder could be non-canon now however, unless they say otherwise, Dino Thunder is still canon. However, what this technically means is that Dino Charge itself never happened since the fight took place before the energems were scattered. I do sort of find it odd that some are angry that Dino Charge might be in its own separate universe. I get why they're annoyed but I don't mind it as its not really a big deal in the grand scheme of the franchise. I sort of like the idea of a PR multiverse. I do like that Koda and Ivan get to go back to their original times.

Final Thoughts: I had a feeling the quality would sink this half. Its why I went in with so many reservations and didn't just go with it just because Judd Lynn is the producer. Its a shame because Dino Charge's first half was so consistent and gave this half so much potential. While I still enjoyed it here and there, it was kind of a let down. Though I still sort of get a chuckle out of hearing people say its worse than Megaforce and Super Megaforce. This half and Dino Charge overall didn't hit that level of bad or laziness. It is gonna take a complete train wreck for me to say something is worse than that season. Overall, I don't think its necessarily good, but its not bad either. It hits square in the middle for me with a lot of wasted potential.

My Issues With Power Rangers Jungle Fury

I'm sort of doing this because I've seen a resurgence regarding the fandom's opinion on Jungle Fury. I just seem to run into more and more fans of it. If you've spoken with me on Facebook and Twitter, you probably already know I'm not a fan of this particular season. I figured I might as well tell you guys why I don't like it. Note: I will have to draw comparisons to Gekiranger to make certain points so please bear with me.

Lets start off with something simple: the action. Jungle Fury's action is not that good. I'm speaking of the American footage here. It just lacks a certain oomph and it doesn't mesh well at all with the stock footage. It makes it really easy to pick out the American footage from the stock footage. Heck, RJ doesn't even use Gou's fighting style in the American footage.

For a series whose main motif is martial arts, we rarely get to see them training. Heck when I think of their base, the first thing that comes to my mind is the pizza restaurant, not their loft. We actually see more scenes of them working in the pizza restaurant than we do actually training. Now normally that would sort of be ok but the show itself doesn't really give off the impression that they're getting stronger. The only time we get the feeling that they've gotten stronger is when a new power-up or weapon gets introduced.

I'm one of the people who can't stand Casey feeling guilty about Jarrod getting possessed. Jarrod was nothing more than an arrogant bully in the beginning. If Casey hadn't been the target of Jarrod's arrogance in the first episode, he would've simply targeted someone else. Jarrod's arrogance is the entire reason the show even happens and it his own fault that he got possessed. I get that its supposed to give Casey some more character but its utterly irrelevant given how Jarrod was before being possessed.

I like the designs of the Spirit Rangers but their introduction and the Phantom Beast stuff leaves something to be desired. I'd have preferred it if the actual masters had become the Spirit Rangers instead of just being stand-ins for them. Its kind of waste in my opinion since they still had access to the actors. Like pretty much everything else in Jungle Fury aside from RJ, they left absolutely no impact on me.

My biggest issue is the way Jarrod and Daishi are handled. Daishi makes no sense as a villain and this is where I have to bring in the Gekiranger comparisons to make my point. Having Daishi possess Jarrod pretty much combines the characters Rio and Long from Gekiranger into one being. Normally that might not be an issue, however it causes a major problem imo. They combined both characters without changing the context of the surrounding arcs to fit the new context. Daishi is supposed to be a god-like being in Jungle Fury yet for some reason despite possessing Jarrod, he still needs to train. There is no reason given why Daishi has to train. If Daishi is possessing Jarrod, he should be at full power. If that were the case, he wouldn't lose to Grizzaga at all. This could've easily been fixed by adding a line saying that Jarrod's body is too weak to withstand Daishi's full power, hence the need for the Overlords to train his new body. It makes Daishi seem weak if someone that strong can lose so much. Rio lost a lot in Gekiranger to but thats because he was still basically human and like the Gekirangers, he constantly trained to get better. Combining the two characters for Jungle Fury makes the training scenes irrelevant because there is no reason why he needs to train. I can't even count the Phantom Beasts as a change added to fit the new context. On its surface, it is something different but each episode minus the stuff with Wiger is still stuff from Gekiranger.

Daishi needing to train unfortunately makes me think that Jarrod at least has some control over himself while being possessed. It sort of paints Jarrod in a worse light for me because if he was, the backstory they tried to give him to make him more sympathetic is irrelevant. It means he may have chosen to do evil. I can't really back that up but its just a vibe it gives me. Thats what happens when they only show him fighting for control near the end or when the hawk dude was training him.

I can't really say much else for it but yeah, thats what I think of Jungle Fury. It is definitely in my bottom 5 seasons for the franchise. As usual, if other people like it, more power to them. Its definitely not for me because not only did it bore me as a PR season, it bored me as a kung fu movie fan. I seriously can't remember any of the action that isn't Gekiranger stock footage. If I had to guess, the reappraisal of Jungle Fury is probably due to Linkara's History of the Power Rangers episode. I usually see this sort of thing after he releases a new one.