Yeah, Ninja Storm just seemed odd to me. The smaller Ranger team though is a unique thing...as it also is next season before we go super massive for SPD...but you'll get to that.
THough I will admit I didn't watch Ninja Storm. I didn't start minorly getting back into Rangers until next season...so my only experiences with Lotor were for the team up ep...which ends with one of the best moments in a team up ever IMO.
yay! Thank you so much for getting this up, Linkara! I have been looking forward to this one for ages! I can't wait to see what you think of this season as I, personally, really like it.
Regarding them not using the theme song when the Rangers are being awesome:
This was always a cue in a LOT of shows.
In the original Japanese Sailormoon the lack of a music transition to the character's theme song at a climactic moment was moments-before foreshadowing that the character was about to fail and fail HARD.
The Real Ghostbusters always segued into their theme when they were about to unleash some serious particle acceleration on something. If it didn't play ... the plan wasn't going to work.
And there are a few times even in video games when the protagonist's theme starts playing -- then collapses into confused notes or "danger" music to indicate that the heroic moment is Not Coming.
It makes me sad when I don't hear a theme within a show. Not just because you lose the foreshadowing, but because ... well, nothing's as blood-pumping as the crescendo of the characters' trademark music in the background.
As a series quite enjoyed Ninja Storm it was the last complete Power rangers series I would ever watch and the lighter funnier tone was a nice note for me to leave.
As a series I quite enjoyed ninja storm. It was the last full series I watched in the end the lighter tone was a good note to go out on for me. Plus I kinda enjoyed the friendly chemistry the cast seemed to have.
For the first few years of Power Rangers I wasn't allowed to watch it and later I just wasn't bothered anymore. But back when Ninja Storm was airing me and my siblings decided to have a go at watching an episode (which I guess must have been episode 2 since the rangers were introduced to their Zords and the Thunder Rangers showed up at the end). We hated it.
However, for the last few days I'd been thinking of adding Ninja Storm to my 'PR seasons to watch' list but after watching this I've decided not to. I guess one reason is, as you pointed out, the villains. The other day I realised that one of the main reasons I want to watch specific seasons (In Space, Lost Galaxy, Time Force, Wild Force) was because of the villains. For example in the case of Wild Force after watching you're video for that I really liked Jindrax and Toxica as well as the story behind Master Org, other aspects of that seasons I'm not too bothered with. Of course some seasons I want to watch because of other good sounding aspects of the plot, but others it probably is just the villains. So here's hoping there are good villains in Dino Thunder.
I always took Lothor as one of those guys who could be silly because He quite clearly can kick eveybody else's ass, But Like I disagree with your standing on character death in fiction, I will respect your disdain for the silly... Though you should get use to to it. Disney did.
Though I'd still take Lothor over Mesogog*He that proclaims to be badass, but never lives up to it* and Mesogog over Grumm for reasons you'll find for yourself
I have REALLY been looking forward to this video and within the first 15 seconds I was laughing so hard it was tough to breathe. HOPR may take a while to make, but it is WELL worth the wait.
Good videos. I remember watching this show back in the day, I liked the wide variety of weapons and abilities that the Rangers used in the fights, as well as the various weapons and combinations for the Megazords. It gave them a nice variety.
Is it just me, or is Lothor trying to channel Darth Maul with his luchador mask?
Sorry to put a correction in the first post, but the Rangers' main Megazord was called the Storm Megazord and the combination with the Thunder Megazord was called the Thunderstorm Megazord, which I have to say is probably one of the best Megazord name combinations ever.
Really good review. Always takes a minute when you go from a theatrical run time to a tv special one, but again good none the less. Is there any more info on the "Ranger Alliance" thing anywhere?
Ha. Odd tidbit, but I'm pretty sure one of those three at the end of the season that showed up (the ones meant to mirror the Ninja Rangers when they were first starting out) was also that kid in the first Power Rangers movie that got together with the Angel Grove children and saved all the parents.
You never gave your thoughts on the morphers, but hey, that's okay.
So, you are enjoying Samurai...except for the fact that you dislike the humor and bad puns made by the Ninja Storm Rangers during fight scenes. And that's somehow different from what Power Rangers Samurai is doing?
Personally, I think a comedic focused Power Rangers CAN work, but how effective Ninja Storm was in that, I guess we determined it wasn't all that great. Still, in terms of Sentai, Hurricanger was also really comedic, so maybe they were just trying to match the tone.
All in all, this does look like a fairly decent season, and you did a pretty good job this time. As impatient as I am, I can't wait for the next episode. Though hopefully those can come out a bit sooner, considering that future seasons start reducing the episode count a bit, with the last few seasons under Disney being just 32 instead of 40. Still, take your time.
Ninja Storm was a middle ground ranger series for me. It was around the time that the channel chooses start to get jumbled up as disney played with what channel to show it on so I missed a few episodes here and there and the way many of the episodes were written didn't make me interested in trying to look up any of the missed episodes. With Wild Force the season before and this, I almost lost interest in the rangers...
...until I saw the previews for DinoThunder and became hyped for next season. ^^
Alright first I guess, probably not. Anyway, as always, loved your Ninja Storm review. Surprised you didn't point out the breaking the fourth wall thing at the end of the season when Lothor said, "This is the most fun I had all season." Although, I guess it can be played off as a seasonal thing instead of a breaking the fourth wall. You and I have very different yet very similar views of this season. I felt that Lothor as a comedic main villian was cool, if only for the fact that it was a change for Power Rangers altogether, although I do agree that most of the jokes in this season was a little bland. To no surprise, Cam was my favorite character the entire season even when he was a jerk. Everyone else just seemed to have no dimensionality. Judging by your reaction in these videos, sounds like Ninja Storm is your least favorite season of Power Rangers that you've seen thus far. I don't know, it just felt that the entire video was rushed, like you just wanted to get it over with or you had to get it over with but was still pretty good. Also, when you said that in the script the environmental conference was originally going to be a peace conference, I was kind of hoping you were going to make a Power Rangers Peace Conference joke, but since it wasn't in the show and the episode was basically a filler episode, I can probably let it go. Those are my thoughts on the Ninja Storm season and your review of Ninja Storm. Can't wait to see your Dino Thunder Review.
I love these history videos, especially now that we are getting into stuff that I never got to watch. It makes wish I had kept up with the series more closely.
Ninja Storm wasn't just trying to be funnier than the rest, it was meant to be taken as a parody season. When you watch and accept it as a parody it becomes much more enjoyable since it wasn't ever really meant to be as serious as the rest.
Good points on the weakness of the music this season though. I do agree with that. However, this review was fairly disappointing, especially after such a long wait.
A new episode of History of Power Rangers, and just in time for my birthday! =D
Glad to hear that you're enjoying Power Rangers Samurai so far. While I think the show has some good things going for it, I'm having a hard time watching it and not comparing it to Shinkenger... I'm also really confused as to why the season started on an episode focusing on the Green Ranger and not on the team first getting together.
That aside, Ninja Storm was just an okay season for me, pretty much just as you described it. The season had some good points, but was hampered by a lot of hammy acting by the villains... even if I will admit that self-referential humor, especially stuff that points out how silly some of the concepts of the show are, does make me laugh.
In it's ridiculousness, it harkens back to an earlier time. Mighty Morphin had it's goofy parts and still sparked a timelessness that still has it's place today, albeit in nostalgia alone. I am a little disappointed you didn't go into a description of the throwaway baddies this time, as you have in the past. What, they were just too lame to get into. Once again, good documentary on a show that I am sadly not young enough to caught the craze, but I still love to see how it worked out in the end.
What I find interesting about your HOPR is how professional you are when reviewing it. Most people who would take this sort of perspective would usually dissmis a program aimed at a younger audience.
I think that's what stuck with me about some of the later Power Ranger seasons and where Ninja Storm sort of failed. The core audience, fans like ourselves, had grown up. Now the proposed season you mentioned at the beginning would have been great for us, but wouldn't have brought in new viewers and I think that is why they went with what they did. Trying to pull in a new audience while trying to have a friendly laugh with the core fans.
Another interesting point, about this review in particular is just how little you had to say about the individual episodes. Thinking about it other than one or two "Event" multi-parters that you covered the overall plot of the season was very thin. Compare that to the three, almost rushed, videos you did for Wild Force and shows just how much was memorable from the previous season.
While personally I dislike Wild Force more I think both these seasons are a low point in the shows history. Not horrible or unwatchable but still... Things start to pick up with Dino-Thunder then improve with the fantastic SPD, which I suspect you'll be starting soon.
Still that's another review. Please don't rush them and remember that quality is worth a little hesitation.
I've always assumed that Lothor's "We can only destroy the Rangers when they're morphed" remark was actually him talking about not just killing them, but destroying the Ranger powers too, so they can't just put someone else in the suit.
I thought the comedy was overdone, but otherwise I rather enjoyed the show, considering it was their first attempt at continuing the franchise. Had they been doing it for a while it totally wouldn't have worked. Like you said, when they did it right it was great and when they failed they really failed.
Ah, Ninja Storm, now we are getting to seasons I have actually seen, Ninja Storm, Dino Thunder, Mystic Force (first i watched will be fun to see what Linkara think about that one :p), well I did watch In Space too, only one of the older ones.
I've been looking forward to this review for awhile. Not because it's what people consider to be the first disney season and "where the show started to go downhill". But rather for different reasons. For previous power rangers reviews, you've had an opinion very similar to mine. For that reason, I had a feeling how you'd react to seasons like Lightspeed, Time Force, and Wild Force. And my predictions on what you would think of Dino Thunder seem to be correct based on your twitter feed. This was the one season I really had no clue how you'd react to.
I'm surprised though, that there was quite a few parts of the season that you never brought up or skimmed over, which I'm surprised about. I suppose it was just to keep the review from being too long, considering how long Wild Force was, so it's not that big of a deal.
In regards to the first morph, are you sure that wasn't suppose to be the franchise making fun of itself or something? Granted, I agree, I thought it was weird also, but I seemed to take it as a parody.
Yes, I have to agree that I didn't find Lothor to be much of a threat either. However, I will say I could at least tolerate him. His nieces on the other hand I could do without.
Yes, the guinea pig thing was weird. I cracked up towards the end of the review when he transformed back and you made the comment "He transformed back because... The rangers..." I also find it weird that Lothor wouldn't check to see that the mentor was dead this time, since he had to have realized the last time he attacked him, he turned into a guinea pig.
Agreed on Cam. Cam was awesome. Cam and Tori were my favorite characters of the season.
Overall, I agree with the cons you pointed out with this season..... buuuuuuuuuut I have to admit, I don't find it to be a terrible season. And while Lothor didn't seem to be a huge threat (at least until the end of the season, at least for me), I didn't consider him to be that terrible. In all honesty, with the exception of the green ranger arc, I would rather watch Ninja Storm over MMPR season 1. I just felt the good parts outweighed the bad. But that's just me.
Overall, interesting review. But I can't wait to see the full review for Dino Thunder, which I feel is 10 times better than Ninja Storm.
It may be just me, but this really seemed like an all-together bland season. There were good parts, don't get me wrong, but it just felt like a "meh" season all around.
I did like the "Wild Wipeout" episode where Tori gets transported to the mirror-verse, and was hoping it would of been talked about more.
Still, this was a fun review and I agree with the part about Zergane in the end. Poor guy was the only sane man in the villain camp and he paid for it.
Can't wait to see the Dino Thunder review, but to keep me occupied I'm going to check out that uber team-up mentioned in the first video. Thanks for the tip off on it Linkara.
This season really seemed to lack in confidence. I would think a full on comedic take would work if it went all the way, and vice versa I think the premise here could have made a great dramatic action series. But it really seems like they pulled too many of their punches. Maybe because of having a new production company looming over them? Couldn't say.
Still can't wait for DinoThunder and definitely can't wait for SPD, which is the season that pulled me back into watching.
I know you brought up a lot of good points on why they didn't do a crossover with Wild Force, but there was the minor detail of the Jindrax and Toxica characters being evil in that episode, having stolen the Growl phones along with the nieces and a few of the generals and were using them to pose as the Wild Force Rangers. Granted they could have just brainwashed them, but what are ya gonna do.
You know... I never really saw the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX parallels until you mentioned them in the review. Then again, nowadays whenever I think of the episode Legacy of Power next season, I immediately think History of Power Rangers Abridged.
Ninja Storm was definitely flawed the first time I saw it since it was the point where I started to lose my interest in Power Rangers. The flaws you mentioned in the review were definitely noticeable, but I have to bring up one in particular that dragged down this season and some future seasons for me personally. They only had one female Ranger. In previous seasons, there were always two. Even if in the Sentai version there weren't two female Rangers, they would edit it so they were female, but nope Disney made it too much like the Sentai. That or the prodcution team. I don't know who exactly to blame. Speaking of Disney, since this was their first outing with the Rangers, they had so much potential for ideas that Saban never used in earlier seasons, yet they don't use most of them sooner rather than later making me question why.
For one thing, they could have easily made Hunter a tomboyish girl with similar character traits making her not only the, technically, first female Red Ranger, but the first evil female Ranger turned to good in the same season. In fact, knowing you, I kinda expected some feminism remarks from you from this fact. But nope, no remarks, and we don't even see the idea of a female Red Ranger until *spoilers* S.P.D. *end spoilers*
Also, as I mentioned in my last comment they had great potential for a team-up with Wild Force, even if they fixed the ending up a bit, but like you mentioned couldn't due to budget. However, we do see some good protectors of the right and defenders sworn to fight team up in Dino Thunder.
All that talk about Cam turning into a bug and giant bee weapons (My God) made me think of the rock-opera version of Franz Kafka's Metamorphoses from Home Movies. I just was about to pronounce randomly:
HE IS FRANZ KAFKA!!
in the middle of the review, but I doubt no one would get it. Regardless...what the heck were they thinking? Sure we don't get Rangers in giant pizzas, but I think they probably were trying too hard to appeal to the younger set with this whether or not Hurricanger was supposed to be like this. (at least in Carranger's case, it was supposed to be comedy/parody but they tried to make it serious at first...even with the mess that is Divatox) And yeah...Lothor is a lucha...nuff said.
Great review, as always! I'm a huge fan of Ninja Storm, despite its flaws, but I can definitely see where its not for everyone! In fact, I didn't realize how much I liked this cast until the NS/DT battle when I was rooting for Wind Rangers in every instance!
As always, you backed up all your critiques with examples and some good thoughts! Can't wait to hear what you think of Dino Thunder!
Hey Lewis! :) Just wanted to say that I love "History of the Power Rangers" and it really got me interested in the series again. To the point where I've been watching each season from Mighty Morphin' forward! Odd as it sounds, I ended up meeting my girlfriend through my interest in Power Rangers, never thought that would ever happen. ^^;
Anyway, I felt like I both agreed and disagreed with you on this. I totally understand where you're coming from, in fact a friend of mine didn't really like this season at all. However, for reason unknown to me, I really enjoyed this season. The music actually didn't come off that annoying to me, and I gotta say I agree with you on Cam being the best of the characters! Although I'm not dumb enough to say I liked Lothor, honestly he was horrible.
Well, that's all I wanted to say, awesome work Linkara, great stuff as always! :3
Ah, now I remember why I didn't care for Ninja Storm much. Cam was my fav. Ranger too. And I despised Lothor and the neices: Mara and....what's her name? I can't remember.
As for PR Samurai.. I have to disagree with you Linkara. I don't like the show. I haven't seen an episode since the second one. It's too cheesey, and the lack of an origin episode really put me off.
ChrisDV said... I've always assumed that Lothor's "We can only destroy the Rangers when they're morphed" remark was actually him talking about not just killing them, but destroying the Ranger powers too, so they can't just put someone else in the suit.
That's what I assumed as well. Lothor wanted to destroy the Ranger powers so the Rangers couldn't be replaced. (Which has been done in the franchise.)
I understand you not liking Ninja Storm due to the self-referential humor.
One thing I find weird is that all fanbase, who love Ninja Storm, constantly use Poe's Law as a source of why things are the way they are. What I mean is that many fans are willing to put up with it, stating that it's all parody. Don't get me wrong, I consider Ninja Storm to be the best Disney Season up until RPM, but the fact that it had all of mistakes that fans won't to cover is odd.
In alot of ways, this season was an anti-Wild Force. While Wild Force was a darker, seriouse season, the fanbase only remembers the Animus BS. Likewise, with Ninja Storm, there are good amounts of seriouse, but is only remembered for the comedy. While this helps Ninja Storm, it hurts Wild Force, epsecially since WF is already sandwhiched with Time Force.
Popping here by the first time to say I really enjoy and appreciate the History Of Power Rangers series. Being addicted to the show until Lost Galaxy, losing interest but then having gone back to watching it over a year ago thanks to my boyfriend's influence, these are always really fun and informative, seeing as I don't have interest to watch all the seasons post-LG, yet like these overviews to have a greater grasp on what went on during the years I don't plan on seeing.
Also, I definitely don't always agree with your opinions, but you have a good insight and always back up your opinions in a logical, comprehensible way, which is a bonus to the enjoyability I get from listening to your comments and jokes.
I've always assumed that Lothor's "We can only destroy the Rangers when they're morphed" remark was actually him talking about not just killing them, but destroying the Ranger powers too, so they can't just put someone else in the suit.
Me too.
Overall decent review. I was surprised how you pretty much skipped over Marah and Kapri completely. Granted, their purpose is to ultimately be comic relief like Bulk and Skull, but I found it odd that you didn't at least talk briefly about their general role in the series or personalities. I was a little disappointed by that. Ditto with Zurgane, other than "I think he would be a better main villain" you really barely discussed him. I was a little disappointed by that as I was interested in what you thought of them.
I actually rather liked Lothor as a villain. Yeah, he was goofy, but that's part of the reason he cracked me up throughout the season. Honestly I think Ninja Storm has one of my favorite groups of villains in the series because they're pretty consistent in making me laugh, and I don't think I would've been interested in Zurgane as the main villain. I think Ninja Storm was my favorite Disney season until RPM. I really can't wait until you get there...
Though I'd still take Lothor over Mesogog*He that proclaims to be badass, but never lives up to it* and Mesogog over Grumm for reasons you'll find for yourself
Even if Mesogog never had the power to actually back it up, I think he might be the creepiest villain in the franchise. There's villains that are scarier than him, but unlike guys like Zedd, Ransik, or Venjix, there's a certain subtlety to his menace that renders him creepy. Of course, his theme music really helps out.
Here's hoping that the Dino Thunder review will be coming out in less time than it took to make this one!
I watched bits and pieces of this season in passing when it was on TV. Could never get over the fact that their mentor was a guinea pig.
That said, I checked out a few episodes here and there after you started this and it wasn't too bad to me. I got a couple of laughs here and there which gives it points in my book.
Looking forward to your next vid. Between TV viewings and net viewings, again since you started this, I've probably watched more Dino Thunder than anything else.
I was hoping I'd make it through this before you, but I failed quite badly. You've sped up. (Please slow down again, I can't watch as much Power Rangers as you!)
I do have to say, the original plan for Ninja Storm, while probably likely to end in disaster, does sound like it would have made for a great story in the correct hands.
The music is...not good, this season. The theme lacks either the energy or the evocative nature of previous themes, and the background music continues its seasons-long descent into total stock canned crap as you noticed.
The lesson does make sense. It's combat training in the most basic form; he did teach them something by making them fight, because he wants to teach them to fight.
As long as Kanoi doesn't squeak like a guinea pig. That's the important thing. And I don't believe he does.
The sarcasm is strong in this HOPR, sir. It's pretty strong in the show, too, but yeah.
Out of curiosity, how did you make the opening video? Did you go through the various opening themes and choose the best pieces done to the original theme music? Might be my imagination but the first part of the review felt different from your usual version. Wasn't bad, just different. As for the season, is it stating that free will means absolutely nothing and that everything to ever happen is 'fated'? That's making all the struggles, fears and hopes a bit pointless isn't it?
"How many kids do you know whose primary form of entertainment is extreme sports that they participate in?"
They all work at an extreme sports shop and in many of the episodes they are shown working and building their bikes.
Like anyone who works in their area they got discounts for their stuff and the place they worked at has connections with professional athletes in the sport.
About the review itself, it did feel a little rushed compared to the others in terms of editing like when you were talking about the same music, you show a clip of Tori vs the other rangers and flash a huge wall of text over what it was but later on verbally explain the episode itself. Another is if you think about it, you spend ten minutes talking about Samurai Rangers and the Scorpion Rain while showing nothing but Wildforce footage.
Finally, you talked the importance of showing the characters in the suit and then later, I saw footage of them unmorphed in the cockpits of their megazords! I don't think any Power Ranger shows ever did that before but that was footage.
I didn't like how they had civilian powers while unmorphed when in previous seasons they didn't, at least without explanation. At least in Dino Thunder, SPD and Overdrive they at least gave a reason for their civilian powers. And it really felt out of place to use them when their morphers were taken away. It's almost like their were going by a different set of rules then previously established.
I do understand your criticism of this show I did enjoy Ninja Storm. Guess I saw it as the franchise doing something was light hearted and fun after Wild Force was so the preachy and heavy handed.
Yeah Lothor is pretty goofy but given the theme of the show he fits in kinda well plus as someone else’s review said, it’s more of the light hearted fun theme that was going on.
Honestly that’s what I think the franchise was missing as there are some Ranger series that just take that take themselves far too seriously, cos let’s this show does have a rather silly concept face however instead of being to be serious Ninja Storm decided to embrace its silliness and have some fun with it.
That said Ninja Storm is not favourite my Ranger Series, it’s certainly not the best of the Disney era Rangers although given what’s to come it’s certainly not the worst, but I did enjoyed it.
The original concept for this show that you mentioned in part 1 sounds interesting, although it would probably work better as a video game, an RPG maybe, than a TV show.
Can't wait for the Dino Thunder review, I look forward to your views on it.
Hang on one second, while I get my tear of joy out of my eye... ok that's better. Anyways, I liked Ninja Storm overall, however the story to me always seemed predictable, except for the final episode. With such great titles as Thunder Strangers and Return of Thunder and that "great" spoiler opening you almost knew what was about to happen. And the lack of important episodes is shown heavy, especially compared to previous seasons (the past HOPR always tried to focused on the main important storyline and there was a lack of episode talking in this HOPR episode because there wasn't many of those important episode, just tidbits here and there). However you almost have to look at this season as a new beginning because some of the elements were changed and had to figure out their new aspects of the show. BTW, what was up with the megazord's main weapons: a bee, a pinwheel, a rubber stamp, and a scarf? (I almost expected you Linkara to use the clip of the scarf).
"Out of curiosity, how did you make the opening video? Did you go through the various opening themes and choose the best pieces done to the original theme music?"
I got the first episode of each season plus an episode featuring a sixth Ranger and zipped through them looking for a clean headshot of that character that would last for a few frames. Then I pulled the ending logo of each season as well as clips here and there that I thought would work for the theme song.
Hooray! More HOPR! This remains my favourite thing you're doing. It's really nice to get a runthrough, highlights and insights for each series. I'd heard this one was very tongue-in-cheek and with a tendency to lampshade everything. Seeing the clips here, I think RPM was more successful at the lampshading thing, I wonder if you'll agree when you get to that series?
Somehow I always seem to find these videos when I'm rewatching older entries and the link to the new one pops up in the window when it's finished. I should just bookmark this site and save time.
I had originally skipped Wild Force because I saw it as a step down in quality from Time Force, but when I came back for Ninja Storm it seemed more like a parody of the Power Ranger concept. The megaphone in particular had me rolling my eyes. But it picked up with the development of Cam's character and I came to like it by the end.
One note about the finale: It sucked! What's the point of losing your Ranger Powers if you're just going to use your Ninja Powers to beat the bad guy? It's a major anti-climax. It makes sense, but it's just a bad message. "Even if you're not a Power Ranger, you can still fight evil...if you can shoot a hurricane from your fingers."
Good Job Linkara, but you'll be due for an incoming barrage of WHAT from fans now!
On Hexagon... You like alot of people give the idea that it was some wonderful idea that just was fininacial two big too do. Storywise it is the single worst idea for franchise ever. Amit was planning on ending Zordon era Power rangers and starting from scratch... That and his apparently hateon for Tommy, since in the Original Forever Red, Amit wanted to portray Tommy as that Elitist bought into his own hype kinda guy.
Thank you for continuing this series Linkara; it's awesome to have a vehicle by which to discuss Power Rangers again and it's a real joy to find out more about one of my favourite franchises.
That Gokaiger team up...wow, I can't wait to see what Power Rangers does with it!
As for Ninja Storm, I think most of its flaws are forgivable given budget considerations, and it seems to me like a solid ranger series (despite gerbil wisdom). I agree with you about not liking comedic main villains, and I also agree that Zurgane should have been the main villain. It's never revealed in the series, but it turns out Zurgane is actually a small ant-like creature that controls a mechanical ninja suit. To me, that makes him 100 times cooler; he's Mr. Mind!
I also see your point about the excessively eclectic suit design for some of the villains and monsters. In my opinion the ornate designs sometimes looked good, such as on Zurgane's costume, but the villains didn't seem to really have a theme and the monsters often looked like collections of random objects...though I suppose that lack of direction is fitting for Lothor.
Great review. Hope you still aren't getting bugged by people asking you when the next review is coming out.
Personally, I really liked the screwing up of the morphing sequence scene in the first episode. That's one thing that always irked me about power rangers was that whenever they morphed, they always did some little cheoreography with their hands before, the timing was perfect etc.
I always thought it would be funny if during season one they argued about who went in what order when morphing. Clearly not something you would do every episode but if you did it once, like they did here, then that's enough.
Lothor being a male Divatox, I don’t agree on this one. There are few sci-fi/fantasy characters that are more annoying than Divatox (except Elgar). Listening to her is like listening to nails on a chalkboard. The problem with her, aside from just being annoying, is that she’s a second-rate villain introduced into an in-progress storyline that has already featured more serious villains to challenge our heroes. So her presence was a complete clash with the existing environment. You can’t convince the audience that a whiny and vain pirate with a submarine is comparable to intergalactic tyrants and sorcerers with armies at their command.
On the other hand, Ninja Storm is its own storyline. It is a Power Rangers series, but the setting and characters are new, so the expectations aren’t as strict. Now, when I first saw the show with its tongue-in-cheek humor and somewhat goofy and ditzy Rangers (you pointed it out well with them forgetting the morphing sequence), I didn’t think Lothor was that out of place. If anything, I actually thought the first three Rangers were more annoying. Lothor really isn’t great as a villain, but at times I enjoyed his shtick. And Lothor, to his credit, actually does have at least the trappings of a major villain (his ship, generals, etc) unlike Divatox, who had...a sub. I still can't get over that!
Someone can correct me, but wasn’t the whole scroll of destiny a last-minute add by the writers because fans were complaining that the story wasn’t going anywhere, and the writers needed to make Lothor seem like a more calculating villain?
And yeah, Mesogog may outdo the other PR villains for sheer creepiness.
Loved all the points you made and still love Ninja Storm. It was the series that got me back into the show after Turbo left a bad taste in my mouth and never wanted to give any other series a chance afterward. But with Ninja Storm I was old enough to have nostalgia and watch the show, and young enough for the comedey bits never to bother me.
Loved the review ^ ^ ... though, to be a nitpicky douche, you forgot a few points.
1) Tori's the first female blue power ranger 2) Dustin's the first human male yellow ranger, though second male yellow ranger entirely, and the first male yellow ranger for more than 14 episodes 3) First time that the cannon has three different modes 4) first time certain rangers have darker shades of the primary colors (red -> crimson & blue (though a light blue) -> navy)
though I still liked the review and I'm sorry for being a nitpicky douche
this is going to become very interesting for me, seeing as i started watching power rangers, however briefly, around the end of dino-thunder. the first real season for me was SPD.
Oh man! I want Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger to become a Power Ranger show! It could get expensive, but boy would that be a great show (for the kids and us adults).
The show would really excell here in the States if the show took on a heroic, individualistic, Space Pirate Captain Harlock sort of standing. American anime fans may not go for that, but American CHILDREN would thrive on it. Just think of the money Saban would make if they went that route!
Though Personally I wouldn't go much further....by which I mean the latest series Samurai.
You begin to suspect that they aren't trying anymore when what I sincerely hope isn't the real opening is just a touch up of the season 1 theme, the rangers actually say 'go go' when they morph, and the word samurai is the latest to gain the 'izer' suffix.
Forgot earlier what was said at start of video when I made last comment. I fear for myself if I can't remember something that short a while ago. Though I stick by my comment about the morphing scene.
Another fine review of a bit of an oddity in the Power Rangers franchise. The Storm Megazord looks to have taken a lot of influence from the mecha from an anime called Gear Fighter Dendoh whose gimmick was that it had other animal themed mecha that could be attached and used as weapons.
Mmm well I guess I can respect your opinion. At least you didn't say you didnt like it.
And yeah I'll admit, Luthor antics were a little off the wall sometimes. I wouldn't call him Divatox 2 though, cause he at least had his eyes on the ball. You gotta give him credit, the whole filling the abyss plan was clever.
The thing I liked about him was after the grimness of Master Org, he was a good breather. You couldn't take him seriously and he made ya laugh, giving a good energy to the show. He may not have been super serious, but an entertaining villain is better then a bland one. Still to each his own.
Regardless, the season is still one of my favorites. Just in the fact that it was..well different. It didn't feel like the others and was willing to shake up the norm. I loved the Green Samurai arc and the final battle was glorious. Shame about the team up though but don't worry DT fixes that.
That said, good review as always and to the other commenters, keep in mind this is Linkara's opinion of the season. Don't let that stop you from watching it. You might like it.
Ninja Storm to me, I agree with you a lot to like but even more to dislike and I don't mind a few inside jokes & self deprecating humor but even I know my limits in taste and Speaking of humorous moments in Power Rangers history happens in "Dino Thunder". In a filler episode, Kira, the Yellow ranger, meets with a musical Svengali and gives her an entire makeover which makes Zach Morris' makeover in "Saved By The Bell" look sane and I watched the episode with some friends and when they saw her makeover, they needed oxygen, that is how funny it is. So when you watch the episode, it is imperative that you breathe before you watch and while watching, the episode HAS been known to kill. Now I'm going to breathe (Taking deep breathes and automatically thinks of Kira's Makeover and Laughs, Guffaws, pounds table, laughs more) Oh god, she looks like Lady Gaga's Sane Niece(Laughs harder and harder then falls down out of chair, picks himself up.) Ooh, I think I crapped myself!
Pirate Planet FTW!! Tom Baker in a Douglas Adam written script is awesome isn't it?
Nice to see another HOPR Lewis, your videos done really well.
I never watched Power Rangers (until I saw your vidoes on them - now I'm about 2/3 the way through season one of Mighty Morphin), but you do make these videos interesting and your analytical approach is really entertaining and informative.
Wow...you'd really think Disney of all people would be able to create more a more credible villian - he seems to be a kick ass fighter - but really lacks motivation and his attitude seems bipolar (and what WAS the deal with his nieces anyway - couldn't he ditch the Valley Girls at a mall somewhere?).
Anyhow, awesome review and I look forward to your next installment.
oh boy, well if my experience told me anything it's that Dino Thunder is going to be worth the wait now that this is out of the way. It's too bad that if you have to get through SPD it means the next one comes out this Christmas. that show just felt like it took forever to end. fun ride but took forever.
Technical Note: I had several problems with the video for part 1. There were several points where the video would end prematurely, which continued happening even after I reloaded the page and changed browsers. I think it is an issue with the video, so I thought I should let you know.
Apart from that, good review. I found it interesting that there was relatively little analysis of individual episodes. I'm guessing that most of them didn't leave that big of an impression.
I noticed that during the video you made note of how TMNT can exist in the same universe. Well, if you haven't seen it, the movie TMNT Turtles Forever explains the whole turtle-multiverse and how the Turtles seen in Power Rangers aren't the ones seen in comics or cartoons. If you haven't seen the movie, you should if for nothing more than to see the homage to the original comics and creators.
"I noticed that during the video you made note of how TMNT can exist in the same universe. Well, if you haven't seen it, the movie TMNT Turtles Forever explains the whole turtle-multiverse and how the Turtles seen in Power Rangers aren't the ones seen in comics or cartoons. If you haven't seen the movie, you should if for nothing more than to see the homage to the original comics and creators."
Actually, that was in relation to some commenters saying that the turtles must have come from a different dimension when they were saying the Power Rangers weren't real.
The thing that really was dumb, was how the main mega zord looked. One zord for the head, one for the arm, and then one for the other arm legs and body. I know they only had three rangers starting out, but still having one zord make up 75% of the mega zord just looks off to me.
I'm a huge fan of the HOPR series since I have a huge soft spot for the series that initially sparked my love for cheesy entertainment. Besides that, it's interesting to see an actual serious look at the elements that make up the different Power Rangers series instead of just poking fun at all the nonsensical stuff that they contain.
And last but certainly not least, I actually got my hands on and saw all but two seasons last year (everything except SPD and Mystic Force) so most of this is still fresh in my memory.
As for this season, it's one of my two least favorite alongside Lost Galaxy. Most of this comes from the reasons you mentioned ('forgetting' that they exist in the same universe as the other ranger teams, lack of character development for anyone not named Cam, incredibly annoying and bad villains) as well as the fact that it had some of the worst filler episodes in PR history.
I mean, we've seen a kid get his hands on Lothor's remote, the much overdone 'being in two places at once' episode, the body switch, a monster changing people into perfumes and of course as mentioned before, Cyber-Cam and the the Electric Guitar of Doom (actually, am I the only one who thinks this thing should have been a trumpet to summon the big elephant?)
I agree with you that the series has some very good high points, but sadly balances it out with some very bad low points.
All that said, I can't wait for you to tackle Operation Overdrive, the last season I saw and the one that still has the highest WTF factor for me.
PS: Not that I think it's necessary, but I'll add that my inability to wait expressed above is to be taken as 'patiently looking forward to' rather than 'I WANT IT NAO!!!1!' ;) Much of what I like about your HOPR videos comes down to the amount of work you put into them. They may take a while to arrive, but that also means that when they do, they're great rather than 'good enough'. Keep up the good work!
"Just a quickie: The villain didn't say the RANGERS could only be destroyed, he said that this was the only way to destroy their POWERS.
In other words, shoot the rangers in the head in civilizn mode, and the good guys can just make new Rangers."
Except it wouldn't exactly be a chore to take their morphers from them off their dead bodies.
Or, to extend the tactic, they don't need to actually KILL the Rangers, they simply need to cause terror and destruction. Attack them where they feel they're at their safest, show them that there's no place they can hide, that they can never have a normal life. Even if they don't kill them, they'd certainly make their lives more difficult.
So... huh. You kept saying in earlier videos how you don't like the whole "civilian powers" thing, but you never even mentioned them here. Not even at the end. ...Weird. Also, I... kind of like Samurai so far. It's nice to see Bulk again, though why he's paired up with this guy, Spike, who is (according to the official website) Skull's son I don't get. Especially since the part about him being Skull's son has yet to be mentioned on the show itself. And yeah, the lack of an origin episode is stupid, but... no, never mind. It's just stupid. By the way... I was listening to your interview with Jonny Yong Bosch (I can never spell that correctly), and you mentioned that you had already seen Once a Ranger. Care to give your thoughts on that, or are you just going to wait until you actually get to that season? One more thing: I hope this isn't too spoilerific, but the main villain of Mystic Force is "The Master." I'm expecting plenty of Doctor Who jokes for that one...
"So... huh. You kept saying in earlier videos how you don't like the whole "civilian powers" thing, but you never even mentioned them here. Not even at the end. ...Weird."
I had actually written it out as I watched the series, but the more I watched the less they used them. I've transferred it to DinoThunder.
Hey there, a couple quick thoughts. I personally liked that they weren't sure how to morph, cause look at it from there perspective. "Hey, your school is destroyed, your classmates kidnapped, aliens are attacking, sensei is a guinea pig, your now Power Rangers, here's a monster go fight it, and here is the activation phrase good luck." It's a lot to process fast.
As for Lothor, I always felt that the goofiness was all an act on his part, obfuscation as to his true plans.
Speaking of which, I'm surprised you did make a "What was that?" joke about the ENERGY BEAMS OUT OF NOWHERE ending. I mean, even a character asked What The Flounder it was. AND THEY NEVER TELL US! What, ninjas can just shoot random energy beams?
As for sensei's 'wisdom', I agree that most of it is bunk, but that I did personally find the 'lost in thought is still lost' to be genuinely wise.
Also, yeah, Cam was the best character. "I don't need powers to fight." "Screw continuity, he needs to be destroyed." "My ability to play the electric guitar lets me control this ancient mammoth zord. Don't question it, I'm awesome!"
The whole aborted story idea of the Power Ranger Academy sounds interesting. Like a couple of other people said, it will be interesting if Saban or Disney tries to adapt Gokaiger, since they'll have a surplus of Japan-only teams to deal with.
Huh, nice. Lookin' forward to the Dino Thunder one, that was probably the series I caught the most of after Mighty Morphin.
As a side note, this did inspire me to try watching a power rangers series again, with RPM. I'm rather glad I did, it's probably one of the more awesome things ever filmed.
I would just like to thank you for re-sparking my love of PR. Thanks to you I managed to find a common interest with a close friend that I never thought I would find and have become even closer! Thanks a billion for the awesomeness and for bringing me and my friend closer together!
Doubt Linkara will see this comment but if you do. There's this really funny British parody of the Power Rangers called the Mighty Moshin' Emo Rangers. You've likely heard about it. There's something like 6 episodes of it although I'm not sure. Anyway just thought a review of that from you would be hilarious.
Damn, the Sentai villains are really getting shafted in the American version As far as sentai goes, Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger had some of the more memorable villains. Especially the sheer FoeYay (in one episode even overlapping into LesYay) between Nanami (HurricaneBlue) and Furabiijo (Marah's Japanese counterpart)
The monsters had more of a unified theme - each of the generals commanded their own army of monsters, and each army had it's theme
The issue of the Ninja drop-outs was actually addressed in Hurricaneger. If someone fails their training, they get mind-wiped. One episode actually dealt with a drop-out who managed to avoid the mind-wipe.
The thing with the guitar is a rather interesting one. Originally it was a traditional Japanese guitar (can't remember the proper name), and it even played like one when used by most people, but while used by Shurikenger (green) it sounded like a electric guitar
Also to the elements - earth, water, and air were actually the three fighting styles thought at the academy.
Another problem with the villains is the nieces. Furabijo in Hurricanger looked adorable. You just want to cuddle with her, even though bee motif is rather squicky. Wendinu was rather sexy. American versions lacked in both aspects severely.
Ofcourse it is based on appearances, since I haven't watched neither of the series past a few episodes.
Hm first time Commenting on any of your works Linkara. Got to say I liked this episode, Ninja storm was my second series I watched after Dino thunder. I tend to like it better then you did but that probably because when I was young I never got into the older series and did not get into this series as a whole in general until I was like twelve and Dino-thunder was on the air (Then I lost interest around mystic force.)In other words I probably only like it because at the time I never watched the older series except for the rare occasion they showed older episodes on Jetix.
One thing I got to say about it though is the Ninja academy must be rather forgiving or really desperate for new recruits to allow Marah and Kapri (Luthor's nieces) to join up. I suppose one could argue that perhaps that Sensai Watanabe was doing it out of some sort of family kindness sort of thing but it kind of flimsy considering according to wikipedia they were Luthor nieces by marriage (though wikiapedia might be wrong and it been a long time since I seen the series) meaning they were unrelated to Sensei by blood and maybe not even legally related to them unless their world has laws on recognizing marriages from other civilized worlds. But I digress I am way over thinking this series.
Point is I liked this video, I can't wait to see what you think of dino thunder, and although I do not agree with your opinion on this particular season I still respect it.
Another great review. I rather liked this season, although there are better. I'm looking forward to your Dino Thunder review, since I've heard mixed things about it from others.
Until then, I'll just have to watch all the AT4W that I've been missing out on.
Linkara, the reason why the Thunder Rangers hate the Wind Rangers, iirc WAS mentioned in the season: Wind and Thunder were originally rival schools. Hence why the debut of the Thunderstorm Megazord had the surprise that the 2 rivals could actually combine.
Heck, the Megazord names in this season were really good. Thunder + storm == Thunderstorm? And an even bigger thunderstorm == hurricane?. Overdrive gave the stupidest name "Battlefleet" Megazord, RPM has "High Octane" Megazord, Dino Thunder has "Thundersaurus"(not even a word!) Megazord
"Divatox 2"? Since when Divatox and Lord Zedd could single-handedly take on a full team of morphed rangers and win? Divatox couldnt fight while Lord Zedd was being a wuss when his Z-Staff "broke".
Heck, looking back, I think only 2 PR villains actually proved their dangers by singlehandedly taking on the full Ranger team without relying on mass fodder(pretty much Zordon era. Heck, did Mondo put up a fight in the finale?) on grwoing to mass size to curmbstomp the Rangers and still almost come out on top without some sort of Dues Ex Machina: Ransik and Lothor.
Lothor could still be a dangerous villain while being comedic. "What? Did you think I was going to make the monster grow as usual?" or something of that sort.
They're ninjas. "Civilain power"? 90% of everything they do in Ninja Storm: though typical and cliched but are actual Shinobi applications. A ninja has to blend with their environments. Sneak attacks? Should be seen from a mile away.
Power Ranger Season 3? Ninja "magic". Alien magic.
Ironically, you failed to mention Hunter's Battalizer.
Lastly, apparently Samurai is even more camp than Ninja Storm and even MMPR and you liked that better than this?
I'm sorry, but you dissed the last PR season I watched and enjoyed. Everything after, especially when comparing to the Sentai equivalent, are really bad.
"Originally it was a traditional Japanese guitar (can't remember the proper name), and it even played like one when used by most people, but while used by Shurikenger (green) it sounded like a electric guitar "
"Ironically, you failed to mention Hunter's Battalizer."
I recall a flying vehicle that he had in the same episode that introduced Motodrone, but not a Battlizer.
"Lastly, apparently Samurai is even more camp than Ninja Storm and even MMPR and you liked that better than this?"
I didn't say I liked it better than Ninja Storm, I simply said I'm enjoying Samurai so far. All of six episodes in. That evaluation may change by the end, and even then, I never went into specifics of what it was I liked or disliked about anything. I just knew people were going to ask, so I answered ahead of time.
"I'm sorry, but you dissed the last PR season I watched and enjoyed. Everything after, especially when comparing to the Sentai equivalent, are really bad."
I did not "dis" it. People need to stop believing that offering critique is the same thing as disliking something. I liked Ninja Storm. I SAY IN THE VIDEOS THAT I LIKED NINJA STORM. That does not mean I found it without flaws or without things that bugged me.
... am I the only one who enjoyed a change of pace when it came to villains? It may just be me (and that's a big possibility), and it may just be my distaste for Wild Force (the environmental message may have only tapped you over the head, but it bludgeoned the hell out of me), but I liked Lothor. Hell, he's probably my favourite villain out of the whole series.
Yeah, I said it.
What I liked SO much about him was his fourth-wall breaking. It's like he's watched the show. I think what clinched it is when Zurgane (I think) asked him what to do after his monster was defeated when small, and he said something to the effect of, "... make it grow. What else would we do? When the monster explodes, we make it grow. It's what we've done for every single monster up to this point! Why are you even ASKING?"
I dunno. It was nice to see a villain who was actually ENJOYING himself for a change. That really hadn't been there since Zedd and Rita. Guess I'm crazy, but Lothor was a lot of fun.
Another great retrospective Linkara, although I might have liked Ninja Storm a little more than you did. Maybe it's nostalgia talking, but I feel that Ninja Storm is definitely up there as one of the better one. Sure the jokes could get a little lame, Lothor's mask looks really dumb even when I was little and the nieces were really REALLY irritating, the show was still quite good to watch.
Lothor really kicked ass in the finale and while he was very comical during the run of the season, when his plan was revealed, it really felt like he was obfuscating stupidity. I mean his plan was pretty brilliant, send a monster to fight the Rangers and let it die. Slowly, you can accumulate a large number of monsters and beat the rangers with an unsuspecting invasion. He was acting stupid so that his minions wouldn't notice. Would you suicide yourself if your boss told you to do so? In the same vein, the nieces were like obfuscating power-levels. They were strong but they hid it behind the way they act, maybe. When you really have no minions left, it gets hard to tell how strong the nieces are.
As you said, when the show does something right, it does it really well. I don't think that the bad points were THAT bad though, Cyber-Cam not withstanding(HATED HIM ALOT). Also, when you were discussing the characters, it felt like early MMPR, the characters were kind of bland and the show most revolve around Tommy/Cam. Kind of a weird parallel.
i not defending the fact that the ninja storm rangers should know that power ranger exiset but maybe in the time span they live in the power rangers mu have bine made in to a childs tatle just a gess
Wait a sec; at the end of the video, you mention that Ninja Storm was not a good first outing for Disney's management of Power Rangers...but didn't you say that most of the stuff done in Wild Force was done by Disney? I know spiritually, WF feels like Saban to you, but even so...wouldn't that make Ninja Storm the second series Disney made?
It's the first showing of the new Disney-assembled Ranger Productions as opposed to the Saban-assembled MMPR Productions which was hired by Disney to do Wild Force. That being said, it's common for fans to lump Wild Force in with Saban because it kept the same production studio and most of the same staffers as previous seasons. (When giving overviews of the series, it's often more useful to divide it into LA and NZ eras.)
Great review as always-It's cool for me to see your take on the first of these shows that I went out of my way to watch: Now I can actually compare opinions with you and actively join in the seminar!
I can't claim to be a Power Rangers fan (though I did catch a little MMPR as I think we all did when it was first on) and Ninja Storm was the first series to really catch my eye. I thought it was positively delightful: I loved the irreverent, self-awareness of the whole thing, how it didn't take itself seriously at all and just seemed to be having a fun time. I'm always drawn to that particular anarchic style, probably also why I adore shows like What's New, Scooby-Doo? and Douglas Adams' run on Doctor Who.
I saw Ninja Storm as more of an affectionate parody of the Rangers/Sentai formula then a straight example of it and I think that's why it was easier for a non-fan like me to gravitate to it so easily. I'm a little sorry you didn't seem to enjoy it quite as much as I did though: Unfortunately, I have a feeling I loved it for the exact same reasons you criticized it.
I thought Lothor, Mara and Kapri were hilarious, the idea that "ninja" can apparently mean whatever the hell the plot wants it to mean was part of the camp charm for me and I maintain that "Ninja Sensei Guinea Pig" is one of the most crazy awesome concepts to be shown on any action show ever.
I must hasten to add I can totally understand and respect your position, however and it was very well articulated in your review, as it usually is. I get the impression this is a show that's not for everyone: Despite its relatively compelling plot (at points) Ninja Storm seems to specialize in self-referential anarchy, and if viewers are looking for more than that I can see them being irritated by it.
Incidentally, the other Rangers show I took a huge liking to was RPM, so take that for what it's worth I suppose.
Anyway, enough of my blabber. Great analysis as usual and always a pleasure discussing. I'll keep watching!
"Hey Linkara! Love your videos. I notice this one hasn't shown up on your page for TGWTG.com. I'm new to following your blog, is there usually a delay?
Thanks, and I really enjoy your reviews."
There usually is a delay because this and other special videos don't have a set schedule. Atop the Fourth Wall DOES appear here before it shows up on TGWTG, but it's only by a few hours.
I know you haven't finished SPD yet, and I don't know where you are in it yet, so when you finish watching I have a quick question or two I want to ask.
But because you finished Dino Thunder, and seen Samruai so far, I was wondering if you could answer this question. I know many of the seasons say that their story line takes places during the year it premiered, but with the reveal that Skull had a son, the whole background with Tommy as a researcher/scientist, and (If I recall, you said you've seen Once a Ranger) the whole son of Lord Zedd and Rita, do you think it's best to ignore the "each season takes place during the broadcast year" thing PR has been doing, and just assume longer periods of time have passed between seasons than just one year?
"But because you finished Dino Thunder, and seen Samruai so far, I was wondering if you could answer this question. I know many of the seasons say that their story line takes places during the year it premiered, but with the reveal that Skull had a son, the whole background with Tommy as a researcher/scientist, and (If I recall, you said you've seen Once a Ranger) the whole son of Lord Zedd and Rita, do you think it's best to ignore the "each season takes place during the broadcast year" thing PR has been doing, and just assume longer periods of time have passed between seasons than just one year?"
Sometimes most definitely. It's implied in Lost Galaxy that actually several years have passed since In Space, which would make sense considering the scale of a project like Terra Venture. DinoThunder and Ninja Storm also have odd timescales and you brought up Spike, as well, who needs to be 13 at the most unless he had a son during the years he was on the show that we weren't aware of.
One last question I just remembered. Is the abyss of evil and the shadow dimension from lightspeed rescue the same place? I know we never got a confirmation about it in the show, but I see a lot of similarities between the two places.
"One last question I just remembered. Is the abyss of evil and the shadow dimension from lightspeed rescue the same place? I know we never got a confirmation about it in the show, but I see a lot of similarities between the two places."
Not a clue. Power Rangers would have you believe the multiverse is a very, VERY big place, though, considering the sheer amount of places like that (especially during the MMPR days).
"Not a clue. Power Rangers would have you believe the multiverse is a very, VERY big place, though, considering the sheer amount of places like that (especially during the MMPR days)."
Ahh, I see. I was just curious, considering in the wild force review you talked about how the org event could have been related to Lost Galaxy, and I thought that the abyss of evil could have been another connection to a previous series. That is a good point though. It is a pretty big multiverse. I just thought it would have been cool if those two places were the same place. I mean obviously, it's not in the same city as lightspeed, but I think you get what I mean.
But Linkara are you honestly saying that They should have gotten the First morph right for "Epicness' Sake" and then later do the comedic morph screw up? Wouldn't that just make the rangers look even dumber, then them understandably screwing up the FIRST morph.
Or Am I just misunderstanding your thought process
"Or Am I just misunderstanding your thought process "
You are misunderstanding my thought process. The first morph should be epic, then in future episodes if, like, they're distracted or under a spell or etc., etc., it's okay then to screw up the morph.
"The first morph should be epic, then in future episodes if, like, they're distracted or under a spell or etc., etc., it's okay then to screw up the morph."
I know, this is again just a difference of opinion. I just don't really enjoy it when the season attempts a more comedic focus since it clashes with the drama that's occurring.
It's just my opinion on it, and it doesn't mean the season isn't still good, it's just a nitpicky thing of mine.
I gotta say, I remember watching Ninja Storm...and I remember absolutely nothing about it whatsoever. Huh. Guess that's a great impression it left on me. I just remember Cam's whole "Back to the Future" plot but that's really it. Great review though! ^ ___ ^ b
Though I do have an opinion question for ya Linkara. You seem like you don't like fourth wall breaking very much. Or at least really bad attempts at fourth wall breaking. Did it bug you at all with this series or any of the ones coming up (cause lord almighty will RPM [despite it's epicness] bug the every lovin mother out of you), or do you think PR can do it well when it actually tries?
I can't wait for the Dino Thunder review! Since it includes our favorite spotlight stealer, Tommy Oliver! (Though most fans couldn't care less cause....IT'S TOMMY! TOMMY!)
Leaving thoughts on Power Rangers Samurai, personal opinions. SUCKS!!! Sorry Maybe I found the wrong first episode but I feel that there should be more character development before setting the characters up for, well, character development. Oh and the theme song is terrible. Sorry again but those are my thoughts about the first episode.
Now thoughts on Power Rangers Dino Thunder. I feel that the ending is lackluster. The series just kind of, well, ends. The power rangers win and everybody's happy. Sort of disappointing, not that I don't like to see the hero's win but not just like ... Super awesome special move go, monster dead. So to me the season sort of just ended on a semi-high note. Oh note on villain, Over acting egotistical plans a go,go. Lol
Dino Thunder is ok Samurai remains to be improved.
Ninja Storm is one of the series that I still really enjoy to this day and have fond memories of. It was around the time it came out that I really got back into Power Rangers and they were the first Power Ranger DVDs that I bought. I think there's a marked improvement in the acting here compared to some of the Saban series, though it's very much the teen Disney style of acting from their popular TV shows. I agree that Lothor is not a great formidable villain but I do give kudos to the actor playing him and the Sensei as I didn't realise for ages that they were the same guy. I was seriously impressed when I found out.
As always your video was entertaining and informative and it gave me a real thrill to see this series analysed. I've recently bought the complete series boxset of it so this was good timing lol. Compared to some of the other later Disney series it's not as good or as bad as some. I'd put it in the middle. I still find it hugely enjoyable and think that the characters, particularly the Rangers, are more fleshed out than in some of the Saban series. They actually feel like real believable kids not archetypes or action figures/cardboard cutouts. Particular love goes to Cam who I always identified with a lot and is the first Power Rangers example of a snarky geek character rather than a timid pushover awkward geek. Some of the villains are more three-dimensional too, though there are way too many of them as the series goes on. There are a lot of breaking the fourth wall jokes - which I kinda appreciate now and then, I have to admit. They do make me laugh, is that bad? lol.
Thanks as always for doing these videos. I always really enjoy them :) Looking forward to your Dino Thunder thoughts.
When I look back on Ninja Storm I do see how it was a tad too comical at times but back then I didn't mind. 2000-2004 were really great years and I enjoyed most of the stuff I watched.
I'm really looking forward to your Dino Thunder video(s). That's my all time favorite Power Rangers series so far. Nice touch with the "light in the distance" reference (not sure if it was intentional).
Really good Reveiw Linkara, I'll forgive you for bashing Lothor but lets be real for moment, you've started SPD that means your one reveiw away from the Triangle of DOOM.
Mystic Force Operation Overdrive Jungle Fury
The three seasons that are quote the worst unquote seasons of PR. Are you hoping it's just bitter old fans that overplay the awfulness, because it's just not "THIER" PR anymore or are your truly terrified to your core?
Man that's a little harsh don't you think Anonymous? I've been watching Mystic Force, its got some interesting things going for it and I'm rather enjoying it. When I hear people talk about the later PR seasons it really does seem like fans of the older series are upset that they're not more like Mighty Morphing etc :/ As one of my friends described it-Mystic Force is like Power Rangers and Harry Potter's weird love child. So I could see how it could easily be hit or miss with PR primary audience, with more of an emphasis on spells then guns or lasers.
But to be fair, I really only watched Lost Galaxy and Wild Force growing up, so I'm kind of an oddball in the fact that I actually prefer the later seasons.
On a side note: I nearly had a heart attack when I heard Samurai's theme :D Go-go Power Rangers!
Just curious as far as the intro update. I know fans have been asking when you'll update the intro, and you said when the sixth ranger arrives. I'm assuming you didn't want to update it for ninja storm because you didn't want to redo the intro twice during Samurai's run.
To which I have to ask, why not wait until the season is over to update the intro? I mean, from what we've seen from what we've seen from NS and DT, (and based on the intro, I'm assuming you're aware at least about how many rangers are in SPD, MF, OO, JF and RPM), we've seen not one extra ranger, but two or more. Wouldn't it be safe to wait for the season to end before updating the intro?
"To which I have to ask, why not wait until the season is over to update the intro? I mean, from what we've seen from what we've seen from NS and DT, (and based on the intro, I'm assuming you're aware at least about how many rangers are in SPD, MF, OO, JF and RPM), we've seen not one extra ranger, but two or more. Wouldn't it be safe to wait for the season to end before updating the intro?"
For a few reasons: -Samurai is going to be two seasons, not just one. -The season is apparently following the sentai to the letter, which means no extra rangers beyond the sixth and something else, which may not even happen this season. -The times when they added extra Rangers were very rare and usually only happened, with the seasons you described, when they started with three Rangers and not five.
"-Samurai is going to be two seasons, not just one."
So, they are doing two seasons. How exactly is that going to work? Is it going to be two 20 episode seasons, or a 40 episode season with the second season having new fight footage?
Seems odd though that a series other than MMPR is getting more than one season. I suppose I could understand saban trying to keep the cast around for more than one season, but after almost 20 years it just seems more natural to just upgrade the powers than stick to the same powers for more than one year. But I suppose that's just me.
"So, they are doing two seasons. How exactly is that going to work? Is it going to be two 20 episode seasons, or a 40 episode season with the second season having new fight footage?"
From what I understand, it's two twenty-episode seasons.
Man that's a little harsh don't you think Anonymous? I've been watching Mystic Force, its got some interesting things going for it and I'm rather enjoying it.
Those three and Wild Force are generally the fandom's punching bags. Turbo part 1 is really the only part most agree across the board was flat out terrible
There are plenty of people who liked all three, they just get drowned out by the "Serious" PR fans
Hell, I personally really liked OO*Just rewatched it :P*, and thought JF was decent. I just couldn't get into MF for various reasons. *I'm currently rewatching it along with the other Kalish Era seasons and RPM since i missed alot of them*
When I hear people talk about the later PR seasons it really does seem like fans of the older series are upset that they're not more like Mighty Morphing etc :/ As one of my friends described it-Mystic Force is like Power Rangers and Harry Potter's weird love child. So I could see how it could easily be hit or miss with PR primary audience, with more of an emphasis on spells then guns or lasers. I fail to remember Harry Potter having Jetbikes and Turning into a Giant Robot... or the 50 foot Hentai Monster >.>
My favorite complaint is that the old Rangers would see through/Beat/ Whatever blank in 5 seconds.
The old Tommy would have won in Turbo arguement basically
Another great summary and analysis of Power Rangers. This being the first fully-Disney, NZ-based season, I was really curious to see how that affected the production of the series. Thanks for giving that context. I look forward to seeing how the series continues to evolve.
That said, I feel like this episode gave a shaky understanding, at best, of the cast and setup of this season. For example, I had to infer from context about the extreme sports shop they work at since you never explicitly introduced it it. And I still don't understand the whole "discs" thing that the spheres come from. You touched on it briefly, but the sentences didn't make sense to me, as someone coming to this series not having watched it. I don't think we even saw it in the video. (Or if we did, I didn't understand that that's what I was seeing.)
And while you address Lothor's crew as a group, I have no idea who most of its members were. I realize they were terrible villains by your summation, but that didn't stop you from digging into why Divatox or Elgar were so bad. The nieces in particular seemed to be regularly referenced in the plot summary, so understanding who they were beforehand would have helped.
Overall, there are a lot of points (far more than any previous episode) where you had to stop and say "Oh yeah, I didn't mention this at the time…" which implicitly raises the question of "Well why not?!?" Maybe this simply signifies something about the scattershot nature of the season, but if it's relevant later, it would have been worth mentioning sooner.
The initial discussion of the behind-the-scenes changes was very enlightening, the late parts of the summary were still understandable despite the shaky start, and the analysis was thoughtful as always. I thoroughly enjoyed this installment, and I'm looking forward to the next one.
One question, though: How do you think this series falls on the magic-vs-technology dichotomy?
your reviews are amazing and i can't wait till you get to SPD it is one of the Best of the Disney era seasons to me along with RPM But you'll get to it when you get to it.
You know, I just thought of something. I'm not sure if anyone suggested it, and it may sound completely nuts, but hear me out. (I should also note, I'm aware that there's no way the creators of the show planned this. I also apologize if this isn't the place for theories)
I was thinking about how long time took place between seasons of powers, and I realized something. I believe that Lost Galaxy took place way after most of the newer seasons (the exception being the future scenes of time force, spd, and one other season). Why? Because we know that quite a few years have passed since in space, and that the technology that humanity could create at the time was much more advance than not only earth at the time of in space, but many of the following seasons.
Now, with this theory, I think I can explain some of the inconsistencies with the series. I'm going to start with Bulk and Skull. Everyone wondered how bulk got back on earth? Simple, because he never left earth yet. If Lost Galaxy came way after Wild Force, then you have a reason to explain why bulk is there for forever red. (I know Bulk knew of the stingwingers in the deleted scenes… but that wasn’t in the official episode now was it?) Now, I'm sure you're thinking of a few questions, but I'll get to it in one minute. I just want to note that this could explain one other thing. We notice that skull did not end up going with bulk. I think we can now have a canon reason, other than a comedy gag. We know Skull had a son, Spike. Could it be that instead of Skull decided at last minute not to leave earth with his best friend, but rather stay with his son? Which actually makes that scene very interesting... (Cont.)
Ok, let me address another other question. If Lost Galaxy came after most of the newer seasons, then how did they know Lost Galaxy rangers existed at the time? And how did the Lost Galaxy rangers get to earth for the team up episodes? Because I believe they had access to time travel at the time. Why? Well, why not? We've seen humanity being able to create terra venture on their own, possibly reverse engineer zords from MMPR-In Space, or at the very least create their own powers, all in the span of a few short years after the events of In Space. If Humanity can figure out how to do that very quickly, they can find a way to do time travel.
But wait! In forever red, Andros said he contacted Leo on his planet. How does that make sense? Well, we've got time force in the group, and we know from reinforcements from the future that the silver guardians had a way to communicate with the future. Carter knew of the existence of lost galaxy, and you've got the time force who has access to records about when in time the lost galaxy rangers existed. Either Carter sent a message through time to Leo that they needed their help again, and Andros just brought Tommy up to speed, OR they contacted Andros between the end of Lost Galaxy and the events of the Lost Galaxy/Lightspeed team up, so Andros would be the only face Leo would recognize.
But then why was Leo late if he had time travel? Well, we know that Aurico was riding with Leo when they got to the moon. It’s possible the time portal caused Leo to end up on Mirinoi in present day. Either he went to pick up Aurico, or Aurico’s planet was near by and met up with Aurico on the way there. And since Leo was at the battle, Tommy knew of the existence of the Lost Galaxy rangers, thus why in Dino Thunder he put them in the history. My guess is he got the footage from Time Force. I mean, he had footage of them traveling through a time hole in PRTF, where would he get that footage? (Cont. Last one, I swear)
Now, there’s one other question I’m sure you’re thinking of. In Forever Red, the megaship was mark II, not mark I. That’s true. But did Andros ever mention the first one being destroyed? Who’s to say that they just didn’t create Mark II because they were updating technology? Mark I was getting older, and needed to be retired. But it was left on earth in the event it a back up was needed to be used.
One other thing that you may be thinking, wouldn’t the character be significantly older since some time had passed. Well, surely they were older, no doubt about that. But it couldn’t have been that long. Again, in the Power Rangers Universe, it seems the advancement of technology is much faster than our world. So its very possible that all the characters from previous seasons could easily still be alive, and be close to the same age as they were in “In Space”.
Now, I know you haven’t seen all the seasons yet, and it’s possible as you watch, you may see something that could counter what I’ve said. I have explanations for that, but I’ll get to it once you catch up with all seasons. But is there anything I may be missing up to this point? Does this theory make sense and actually give us a believable fan explanation for why things happened to you?
(Apologizes for long post. Once I got this far, I realized I had to finish this thought.)
Heya Lewis, I kept forgetting to tell you, I saw Tony Oliver at Sakura-Con last month and asked him if he was aware of your HOPR series. He said you'd asked him about doing it beforehand, and that he thought you have continued to do really well with it. =D
What's the point of the "History" of the Power Rangers if you don't care that you left out important things? You don't even bother to name off any of dozens of weapons they used repeatedly for their Megazord.
I can't believe this. This is the result of six months worth of work? I understand that you have other things (like your storyline that has dragged on longer in terms of episodes than the number of issues in Countdown) but seriously, this feels like you just put it together in a a few days.
Based on what I see, it seemed like you just watched the a couple of episodes, and used wikipedia and the Rangerboard for the rest of your information.
First off, in Hurricanger, the sensei changed into a hamster to avoid capture, but forgot the part of the spell that would change himself back into human form (though of COURSE he changes back at series end). Second, Hurricanger didn't take itself too seriously either, but their villains (insect space ninja clan, btw) were MUCH more threatening than Lothor and his entourage. AND there was the team-up with Gaoranger (highly recommend checking it out). Third, absolutely love your reviews. Two thumbs WAY up.
Well, I re- watched this season review and I remember why I dislike it...the season, your reviews are great even if I dont share the same opinions some times, this was for me the Disney era version of Turbo in Saban era. I hate it; it is to dull, even for PR and thats saying a lot.
In the other hand, I been watching all the HOPR reviews and I grown to love the show; its fantastic, nostalgic and funny as hell. You are doing a truly awesome job.
Take your time for season, the waiting pays off with every new HOPR. However Im not going to lie to you: I cant wait for the next season.
Why? Without giving any damn spoilers I will say this: one day I was watching tv changing channels as bored as a rock when in a channel it was the intro for PR Dino thunder...My reaction was:
HOLY SHIT!!! is...! is...! They got...!!! Oh, I cant fucking believe it!!!. It was like time travelling to my youth back to the present and sit in front of the tv with the nostalgic fuel fully charged.
Looking back on ninja storm, I do admit it was goofy but I felt it was a nice change and I enjoyed the Disney era. Even thought Disney was getting board with the show, I felt that they did a good job with it. I did here that there was supposed do be a cartoon series but Disney didn't do anything with it.
Even though Power Rangers Ninja (Japanese for "Stealth Person") Storm has outstanding equipment and magically cool ninja powers, I have a hard time dealing with it due to the fact that most of its Rangers behave like stereotypical teenagers. Just because they're teenage in there, it doesn't mean that they should influence undergrown people into thinking that's how true teens are. I once thought. Boy, was I wrong?
I also have a problem with the villainesses who are known as Kapri and Marah. Seriously, their stereotypically Californian attitudes grind me gears.
Plus, I can't stand it when any of the Ninja Storm Rangers use the word "dude" in the usual way.
But I like Cam the best because he's smartest, most disciplined, and most mature of all the Rangers in that show. And he doesn't strike me as a stereotypical teenager.
Because of Cam's personality and powerful heroism, he should have been the leader of the main heroes in this series. Not only that. Every other NS (NInja Storm) Ranger could learn more than one thing from him. If you ask me, he's lucky to have parents who were magical and Japanese martial artists, which explains how developed the personality of a typical Asian (specifically, one who's Japanese).
1. What makes you think Ninjor founded the Academies? Especially when the show was SUPPOSED to be more stand-alone?
2. Why are you posting on the BlogSpot? There is no reason to do so AT ALL anymore. The website has been around for a year. You can't even watch the videos here anymore what with Blip's closing.
I love your reviews of Power Rangers, i born in the 90's so i watch all the generatios, great job!!
ReplyDeleteGreatings from Mexico!!
Yeah, Ninja Storm just seemed odd to me. The smaller Ranger team though is a unique thing...as it also is next season before we go super massive for SPD...but you'll get to that.
ReplyDeleteTHough I will admit I didn't watch Ninja Storm. I didn't start minorly getting back into Rangers until next season...so my only experiences with Lotor were for the team up ep...which ends with one of the best moments in a team up ever IMO.
yay! Thank you so much for getting this up, Linkara! I have been looking forward to this one for ages! I can't wait to see what you think of this season as I, personally, really like it.
ReplyDeleteGreat job as always, Linkara! I can't wait to hear your response to Tommy in Black Dinoranger form!
ReplyDeleteRegarding them not using the theme song when the Rangers are being awesome:
ReplyDeleteThis was always a cue in a LOT of shows.
In the original Japanese Sailormoon the lack of a music transition to the character's theme song at a climactic moment was moments-before foreshadowing that the character was about to fail and fail HARD.
The Real Ghostbusters always segued into their theme when they were about to unleash some serious particle acceleration on something. If it didn't play ... the plan wasn't going to work.
And there are a few times even in video games when the protagonist's theme starts playing -- then collapses into confused notes or "danger" music to indicate that the heroic moment is Not Coming.
It makes me sad when I don't hear a theme within a show. Not just because you lose the foreshadowing, but because ... well, nothing's as blood-pumping as the crescendo of the characters' trademark music in the background.
As a series quite enjoyed Ninja Storm it was the last complete Power rangers series I would ever watch and the lighter funnier tone was a nice note for me to leave.
ReplyDeleteAs a series I quite enjoyed ninja storm. It was the last full series I watched in the end the lighter tone was a good note to go out on for me. Plus I kinda enjoyed the friendly chemistry the cast seemed to have.
ReplyDeleteFor the first few years of Power Rangers I wasn't allowed to watch it and later I just wasn't bothered anymore. But back when Ninja Storm was airing me and my siblings decided to have a go at watching an episode (which I guess must have been episode 2 since the rangers were introduced to their Zords and the Thunder Rangers showed up at the end). We hated it.
ReplyDeleteHowever, for the last few days I'd been thinking of adding Ninja Storm to my 'PR seasons to watch' list but after watching this I've decided not to. I guess one reason is, as you pointed out, the villains. The other day I realised that one of the main reasons I want to watch specific seasons (In Space, Lost Galaxy, Time Force, Wild Force) was because of the villains. For example in the case of Wild Force after watching you're video for that I really liked Jindrax and Toxica as well as the story behind Master Org, other aspects of that seasons I'm not too bothered with. Of course some seasons I want to watch because of other good sounding aspects of the plot, but others it probably is just the villains. So here's hoping there are good villains in Dino Thunder.
I always took Lothor as one of those guys who could be silly because He quite clearly can kick eveybody else's ass, But Like I disagree with your standing on character death in fiction, I will respect your disdain for the silly... Though you should get use to to it. Disney did.
ReplyDeleteThough I'd still take Lothor over Mesogog*He that proclaims to be badass, but never lives up to it* and Mesogog over Grumm for reasons you'll find for yourself
I have REALLY been looking forward to this video and within the first 15 seconds I was laughing so hard it was tough to breathe. HOPR may take a while to make, but it is WELL worth the wait.
ReplyDeleteGood videos. I remember watching this show back in the day, I liked the wide variety of weapons and abilities that the Rangers used in the fights, as well as the various weapons and combinations for the Megazords. It gave them a nice variety.
ReplyDeleteIs it just me, or is Lothor trying to channel Darth Maul with his luchador mask?
Sorry to put a correction in the first post, but the Rangers' main Megazord was called the Storm Megazord and the combination with the Thunder Megazord was called the Thunderstorm Megazord, which I have to say is probably one of the best Megazord name combinations ever.
Really good review. Always takes a minute when you go from a theatrical run time to a tv special one, but again good none the less. Is there any more info on the "Ranger Alliance" thing anywhere?
ReplyDeleteHa. Odd tidbit, but I'm pretty sure one of those three at the end of the season that showed up (the ones meant to mirror the Ninja Rangers when they were first starting out) was also that kid in the first Power Rangers movie that got together with the Angel Grove children and saved all the parents.
ReplyDeleteYou never gave your thoughts on the morphers, but hey, that's okay.
ReplyDeleteSo, you are enjoying Samurai...except for the fact that you dislike the humor and bad puns made by the Ninja Storm Rangers during fight scenes. And that's somehow different from what Power Rangers Samurai is doing?
Personally, I think a comedic focused Power Rangers CAN work, but how effective Ninja Storm was in that, I guess we determined it wasn't all that great. Still, in terms of Sentai, Hurricanger was also really comedic, so maybe they were just trying to match the tone.
All in all, this does look like a fairly decent season, and you did a pretty good job this time. As impatient as I am, I can't wait for the next episode. Though hopefully those can come out a bit sooner, considering that future seasons start reducing the episode count a bit, with the last few seasons under Disney being just 32 instead of 40. Still, take your time.
lol Best 4th wall joke I've heard in awhile!
ReplyDeleteNinja Storm was a middle ground ranger series for me. It was around the time that the channel chooses start to get jumbled up as disney played with what channel to show it on so I missed a few episodes here and there and the way many of the episodes were written didn't make me interested in trying to look up any of the missed episodes. With Wild Force the season before and this, I almost lost interest in the rangers...
...until I saw the previews for DinoThunder and became hyped for next season. ^^
Just wanted to throw down a thank you for all this.
ReplyDeleteAlright first I guess, probably not. Anyway, as always, loved your Ninja Storm review. Surprised you didn't point out the breaking the fourth wall thing at the end of the season when Lothor said, "This is the most fun I had all season." Although, I guess it can be played off as a seasonal thing instead of a breaking the fourth wall. You and I have very different yet very similar views of this season. I felt that Lothor as a comedic main villian was cool, if only for the fact that it was a change for Power Rangers altogether, although I do agree that most of the jokes in this season was a little bland. To no surprise, Cam was my favorite character the entire season even when he was a jerk. Everyone else just seemed to have no dimensionality. Judging by your reaction in these videos, sounds like Ninja Storm is your least favorite season of Power Rangers that you've seen thus far. I don't know, it just felt that the entire video was rushed, like you just wanted to get it over with or you had to get it over with but was still pretty good. Also, when you said that in the script the environmental conference was originally going to be a peace conference, I was kind of hoping you were going to make a Power Rangers Peace Conference joke, but since it wasn't in the show and the episode was basically a filler episode, I can probably let it go. Those are my thoughts on the Ninja Storm season and your review of Ninja Storm. Can't wait to see your Dino Thunder Review.
ReplyDeletethis made me stop playing pokemon black because i needed to watch.
ReplyDeleteI love these history videos, especially now that we are getting into stuff that I never got to watch. It makes wish I had kept up with the series more closely.
ReplyDeleteThanks for working so hard on your HOPR Series Linkara! :D
ReplyDeleteNinja Storm wasn't just trying to be funnier than the rest, it was meant to be taken as a parody season. When you watch and accept it as a parody it becomes much more enjoyable since it wasn't ever really meant to be as serious as the rest.
ReplyDeleteGood points on the weakness of the music this season though. I do agree with that. However, this review was fairly disappointing, especially after such a long wait.
Took you long enough! Now only 6 more months until Dino Thunder!!! /sarcasm
ReplyDeleteA new episode of History of Power Rangers, and just in time for my birthday! =D
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that you're enjoying Power Rangers Samurai so far. While I think the show has some good things going for it, I'm having a hard time watching it and not comparing it to Shinkenger... I'm also really confused as to why the season started on an episode focusing on the Green Ranger and not on the team first getting together.
That aside, Ninja Storm was just an okay season for me, pretty much just as you described it. The season had some good points, but was hampered by a lot of hammy acting by the villains... even if I will admit that self-referential humor, especially stuff that points out how silly some of the concepts of the show are, does make me laugh.
In it's ridiculousness, it harkens back to an earlier time. Mighty Morphin had it's goofy parts and still sparked a timelessness that still has it's place today, albeit in nostalgia alone. I am a little disappointed you didn't go into a description of the throwaway baddies this time, as you have in the past. What, they were just too lame to get into. Once again, good documentary on a show that I am sadly not young enough to caught the craze, but I still love to see how it worked out in the end.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the Lucha mask IS totally stupid.
I KNEW you would make a "Bees. My God." joke. Great review! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat I find interesting about your HOPR is how professional you are when reviewing it. Most people who would take this sort of perspective would usually dissmis a program aimed at a younger audience.
ReplyDeleteI think that's what stuck with me about some of the later Power Ranger seasons and where Ninja Storm sort of failed. The core audience, fans like ourselves, had grown up. Now the proposed season you mentioned at the beginning would have been great for us, but wouldn't have brought in new viewers and I think that is why they went with what they did. Trying to pull in a new audience while trying to have a friendly laugh with the core fans.
Another interesting point, about this review in particular is just how little you had to say about the individual episodes. Thinking about it other than one or two "Event" multi-parters that you covered the overall plot of the season was very thin. Compare that to the three, almost rushed, videos you did for Wild Force and shows just how much was memorable from the previous season.
While personally I dislike Wild Force more I think both these seasons are a low point in the shows history. Not horrible or unwatchable but still... Things start to pick up with Dino-Thunder then improve with the fantastic SPD, which I suspect you'll be starting soon.
Still that's another review. Please don't rush them and remember that quality is worth a little hesitation.
Thomas
Nice video, Ninja Storm comes off exactly like I remember it, average overall with some good moments laced in with some horrible ones.
ReplyDeleteI do have a higher tolerance for Lothor than most people, but outside of a very moments he was likely PR's most goofy villian
I've always assumed that Lothor's "We can only destroy the Rangers when they're morphed" remark was actually him talking about not just killing them, but destroying the Ranger powers too, so they can't just put someone else in the suit.
ReplyDeleteI thought the comedy was overdone, but otherwise I rather enjoyed the show, considering it was their first attempt at continuing the franchise. Had they been doing it for a while it totally wouldn't have worked. Like you said, when they did it right it was great and when they failed they really failed.
ReplyDeleteAh, Ninja Storm, now we are getting to seasons I have actually seen, Ninja Storm, Dino Thunder, Mystic Force (first i watched will be fun to see what Linkara think about that one :p), well I did watch In Space too, only one of the older ones.
ReplyDeleteI'm confused, I've never heard of Dino Thunder. Are you referring to "Power Rangers: TOMMY IS BACK BITCHES"?
ReplyDeleteI've been looking forward to this review for awhile. Not because it's what people consider to be the first disney season and "where the show started to go downhill". But rather for different reasons. For previous power rangers reviews, you've had an opinion very similar to mine. For that reason, I had a feeling how you'd react to seasons like Lightspeed, Time Force, and Wild Force. And my predictions on what you would think of Dino Thunder seem to be correct based on your twitter feed. This was the one season I really had no clue how you'd react to.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised though, that there was quite a few parts of the season that you never brought up or skimmed over, which I'm surprised about. I suppose it was just to keep the review from being too long, considering how long Wild Force was, so it's not that big of a deal.
In regards to the first morph, are you sure that wasn't suppose to be the franchise making fun of itself or something? Granted, I agree, I thought it was weird also, but I seemed to take it as a parody.
Yes, I have to agree that I didn't find Lothor to be much of a threat either. However, I will say I could at least tolerate him. His nieces on the other hand I could do without.
Yes, the guinea pig thing was weird. I cracked up towards the end of the review when he transformed back and you made the comment "He transformed back because... The rangers..." I also find it weird that Lothor wouldn't check to see that the mentor was dead this time, since he had to have realized the last time he attacked him, he turned into a guinea pig.
Agreed on Cam. Cam was awesome. Cam and Tori were my favorite characters of the season.
Overall, I agree with the cons you pointed out with this season..... buuuuuuuuuut I have to admit, I don't find it to be a terrible season. And while Lothor didn't seem to be a huge threat (at least until the end of the season, at least for me), I didn't consider him to be that terrible. In all honesty, with the exception of the green ranger arc, I would rather watch Ninja Storm over MMPR season 1. I just felt the good parts outweighed the bad. But that's just me.
Overall, interesting review. But I can't wait to see the full review for Dino Thunder, which I feel is 10 times better than Ninja Storm.
It may be just me, but this really seemed like an all-together bland season. There were good parts, don't get me wrong, but it just felt like a "meh" season all around.
ReplyDeleteI did like the "Wild Wipeout" episode where Tori gets transported to the mirror-verse, and was hoping it would of been talked about more.
Still, this was a fun review and I agree with the part about Zergane in the end. Poor guy was the only sane man in the villain camp and he paid for it.
Can't wait to see the Dino Thunder review, but to keep me occupied I'm going to check out that uber team-up mentioned in the first video. Thanks for the tip off on it Linkara.
This season really seemed to lack in confidence. I would think a full on comedic take would work if it went all the way, and vice versa I think the premise here could have made a great dramatic action series. But it really seems like they pulled too many of their punches. Maybe because of having a new production company looming over them? Couldn't say.
ReplyDeleteStill can't wait for DinoThunder and definitely can't wait for SPD, which is the season that pulled me back into watching.
I know you brought up a lot of good points on why they didn't do a crossover with Wild Force, but there was the minor detail of the Jindrax and Toxica characters being evil in that episode, having stolen the Growl phones along with the nieces and a few of the generals and were using them to pose as the Wild Force Rangers. Granted they could have just brainwashed them, but what are ya gonna do.
ReplyDeleteYou know... I never really saw the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX parallels until you mentioned them in the review. Then again, nowadays whenever I think of the episode Legacy of Power next season, I immediately think History of Power Rangers Abridged.
ReplyDeleteNinja Storm was definitely flawed the first time I saw it since it was the point where I started to lose my interest in Power Rangers. The flaws you mentioned in the review were definitely noticeable, but I have to bring up one in particular that dragged down this season and some future seasons for me personally. They only had one female Ranger. In previous seasons, there were always two. Even if in the Sentai version there weren't two female Rangers, they would edit it so they were female, but nope Disney made it too much like the Sentai. That or the prodcution team. I don't know who exactly to blame. Speaking of Disney, since this was their first outing with the Rangers, they had so much potential for ideas that Saban never used in earlier seasons, yet they don't use most of them sooner rather than later making me question why.
For one thing, they could have easily made Hunter a tomboyish girl with similar character traits making her not only the, technically, first female Red Ranger, but the first evil female Ranger turned to good in the same season. In fact, knowing you, I kinda expected some feminism remarks from you from this fact. But nope, no remarks, and we don't even see the idea of a female Red Ranger until *spoilers* S.P.D. *end spoilers*
Also, as I mentioned in my last comment they had great potential for a team-up with Wild Force, even if they fixed the ending up a bit, but like you mentioned couldn't due to budget. However, we do see some good protectors of the right and defenders sworn to fight team up in Dino Thunder.
All that talk about Cam turning into a bug and giant bee weapons (My God) made me think of the rock-opera version of Franz Kafka's Metamorphoses from Home Movies. I just was about to pronounce randomly:
ReplyDeleteHE IS FRANZ KAFKA!!
in the middle of the review, but I doubt no one would get it. Regardless...what the heck were they thinking? Sure we don't get Rangers in giant pizzas, but I think they probably were trying too hard to appeal to the younger set with this whether or not Hurricanger was supposed to be like this. (at least in Carranger's case, it was supposed to be comedy/parody but they tried to make it serious at first...even with the mess that is Divatox) And yeah...Lothor is a lucha...nuff said.
Great review, as always! I'm a huge fan of Ninja Storm, despite its flaws, but I can definitely see where its not for everyone! In fact, I didn't realize how much I liked this cast until the NS/DT battle when I was rooting for Wind Rangers in every instance!
ReplyDeleteAs always, you backed up all your critiques with examples and some good thoughts! Can't wait to hear what you think of Dino Thunder!
Hey Lewis! :)
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say that I love "History of the Power Rangers" and it really got me interested in the series again. To the point where I've been watching each season from Mighty Morphin' forward! Odd as it sounds, I ended up meeting my girlfriend through my interest in Power Rangers, never thought that would ever happen. ^^;
Anyway, I felt like I both agreed and disagreed with you on this. I totally understand where you're coming from, in fact a friend of mine didn't really like this season at all. However, for reason unknown to me, I really enjoyed this season. The music actually didn't come off that annoying to me, and I gotta say I agree with you on Cam being the best of the characters! Although I'm not dumb enough to say I liked Lothor, honestly he was horrible.
Well, that's all I wanted to say, awesome work Linkara, great stuff as always! :3
Ah, now I remember why I didn't care for Ninja Storm much.
ReplyDeleteCam was my fav. Ranger too. And I despised Lothor and the neices: Mara and....what's her name? I can't remember.
As for PR Samurai.. I have to disagree with you Linkara. I don't like the show. I haven't seen an episode since the second one. It's too cheesey, and the lack of an origin episode really put me off.
"How many kids do you know whoses primary fomr of entertaimnet is extreme sports that they participate in?"
ReplyDeleteUmm... *shyly raises a hand*... every cousin in my family XD My family isn’t rich, but ya, they are really big into sports.
Good episode. Sadly, i never got into this season because of, well, all the reasons you stated.
ChrisDV said...
ReplyDeleteI've always assumed that Lothor's "We can only destroy the Rangers when they're morphed" remark was actually him talking about not just killing them, but destroying the Ranger powers too, so they can't just put someone else in the suit.
That's what I assumed as well. Lothor wanted to destroy the Ranger powers so the Rangers couldn't be replaced. (Which has been done in the franchise.)
I understand you not liking Ninja Storm due to the self-referential humor.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I find weird is that all fanbase, who love Ninja Storm, constantly use Poe's Law as a source of why things are the way they are. What I mean is that many fans are willing to put up with it, stating that it's all parody. Don't get me wrong, I consider Ninja Storm to be the best Disney Season up until RPM, but the fact that it had all of mistakes that fans won't to cover is odd.
In alot of ways, this season was an anti-Wild Force. While Wild Force was a darker, seriouse season, the fanbase only remembers the Animus BS. Likewise, with Ninja Storm, there are good amounts of seriouse, but is only remembered for the comedy. While this helps Ninja Storm, it hurts Wild Force, epsecially since WF is already sandwhiched with Time Force.
Popping here by the first time to say I really enjoy and appreciate the History Of Power Rangers series. Being addicted to the show until Lost Galaxy, losing interest but then having gone back to watching it over a year ago thanks to my boyfriend's influence, these are always really fun and informative, seeing as I don't have interest to watch all the seasons post-LG, yet like these overviews to have a greater grasp on what went on during the years I don't plan on seeing.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I definitely don't always agree with your opinions, but you have a good insight and always back up your opinions in a logical, comprehensible way, which is a bonus to the enjoyability I get from listening to your comments and jokes.
Great work, Linkara. Thanks for making these.
I've always assumed that Lothor's "We can only destroy the Rangers when they're morphed" remark was actually him talking about not just killing them, but destroying the Ranger powers too, so they can't just put someone else in the suit.
ReplyDeleteMe too.
Overall decent review. I was surprised how you pretty much skipped over Marah and Kapri completely. Granted, their purpose is to ultimately be comic relief like Bulk and Skull, but I found it odd that you didn't at least talk briefly about their general role in the series or personalities. I was a little disappointed by that. Ditto with Zurgane, other than "I think he would be a better main villain" you really barely discussed him. I was a little disappointed by that as I was interested in what you thought of them.
I actually rather liked Lothor as a villain. Yeah, he was goofy, but that's part of the reason he cracked me up throughout the season. Honestly I think Ninja Storm has one of my favorite groups of villains in the series because they're pretty consistent in making me laugh, and I don't think I would've been interested in Zurgane as the main villain. I think Ninja Storm was my favorite Disney season until RPM. I really can't wait until you get there...
Though I'd still take Lothor over Mesogog*He that proclaims to be badass, but never lives up to it* and Mesogog over Grumm for reasons you'll find for yourself
Even if Mesogog never had the power to actually back it up, I think he might be the creepiest villain in the franchise. There's villains that are scarier than him, but unlike guys like Zedd, Ransik, or Venjix, there's a certain subtlety to his menace that renders him creepy. Of course, his theme music really helps out.
Here's hoping that the Dino Thunder review will be coming out in less time than it took to make this one!
I watched bits and pieces of this season in passing when it was on TV. Could never get over the fact that their mentor was a guinea pig.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I checked out a few episodes here and there after you started this and it wasn't too bad to me. I got a couple of laughs here and there which gives it points in my book.
Looking forward to your next vid. Between TV viewings and net viewings, again since you started this, I've probably watched more Dino Thunder than anything else.
I was hoping I'd make it through this before you, but I failed quite badly. You've sped up. (Please slow down again, I can't watch as much Power Rangers as you!)
ReplyDeleteI do have to say, the original plan for Ninja Storm, while probably likely to end in disaster, does sound like it would have made for a great story in the correct hands.
The music is...not good, this season. The theme lacks either the energy or the evocative nature of previous themes, and the background music continues its seasons-long descent into total stock canned crap as you noticed.
The lesson does make sense. It's combat training in the most basic form; he did teach them something by making them fight, because he wants to teach them to fight.
As long as Kanoi doesn't squeak like a guinea pig. That's the important thing. And I don't believe he does.
The sarcasm is strong in this HOPR, sir. It's pretty strong in the show, too, but yeah.
Out of curiosity, how did you make the opening video? Did you go through the various opening themes and choose the best pieces done to the original theme music?
ReplyDeleteMight be my imagination but the first part of the review felt different from your usual version. Wasn't bad, just different.
As for the season, is it stating that free will means absolutely nothing and that everything to ever happen is 'fated'? That's making all the struggles, fears and hopes a bit pointless isn't it?
"How many kids do you know whose primary form of entertainment is extreme sports that they participate in?"
ReplyDeleteThey all work at an extreme sports shop and in many of the episodes they are shown working and building their bikes.
Like anyone who works in their area they got discounts for their stuff and the place they worked at has connections with professional athletes in the sport.
About the review itself, it did feel a little rushed compared to the others in terms of editing like when you were talking about the same music, you show a clip of Tori vs the other rangers and flash a huge wall of text over what it was but later on verbally explain the episode itself. Another is if you think about it, you spend ten minutes talking about Samurai Rangers and the Scorpion Rain while showing nothing but Wildforce footage.
Finally, you talked the importance of showing the characters in the suit and then later, I saw footage of them unmorphed in the cockpits of their megazords! I don't think any Power Ranger shows ever did that before but that was footage.
I didn't like how they had civilian powers while unmorphed when in previous seasons they didn't, at least without explanation. At least in Dino Thunder, SPD and Overdrive they at least gave a reason for their civilian powers. And it really felt out of place to use them when their morphers were taken away. It's almost like their were going by a different set of rules then previously established.
ReplyDeleteSo, scale of one to ten, ten being the most awesome you can get, where would you place the Great War at the beginning of Gokaiger?
ReplyDeleteGreat review as always, and Dino Thunder should be AWESOME!
Oh wow, the new instalment is here.
ReplyDeleteI do understand your criticism of this show I did enjoy Ninja Storm. Guess I saw it as the franchise doing something was light hearted and fun after Wild Force was so the preachy and heavy handed.
Yeah Lothor is pretty goofy but given the theme of the show he fits in kinda well plus as someone else’s review said, it’s more of the light hearted fun theme that was going on.
Honestly that’s what I think the franchise was missing as there are some Ranger series that just take that take themselves far too seriously, cos let’s this show does have a rather silly concept face however instead of being to be serious Ninja Storm decided to embrace its silliness and have some fun with it.
That said Ninja Storm is not favourite my Ranger Series, it’s certainly not the best of the Disney era Rangers although given what’s to come it’s certainly not the worst, but I did enjoyed it.
The original concept for this show that you mentioned in part 1 sounds interesting, although it would probably work better as a video game, an RPG maybe, than a TV show.
Can't wait for the Dino Thunder review, I look forward to your views on it.
Hang on one second, while I get my tear of joy out of my eye... ok that's better. Anyways, I liked Ninja Storm overall, however the story to me always seemed predictable, except for the final episode. With such great titles as Thunder Strangers and Return of Thunder and that "great" spoiler opening you almost knew what was about to happen. And the lack of important episodes is shown heavy, especially compared to previous seasons (the past HOPR always tried to focused on the main important storyline and there was a lack of episode talking in this HOPR episode because there wasn't many of those important episode, just tidbits here and there). However you almost have to look at this season as a new beginning because some of the elements were changed and had to figure out their new aspects of the show. BTW, what was up with the megazord's main weapons: a bee, a pinwheel, a rubber stamp, and a scarf? (I almost expected you Linkara to use the clip of the scarf).
ReplyDelete"Out of curiosity, how did you make the opening video? Did you go through the various opening themes and choose the best pieces done to the original theme music?"
ReplyDeleteI got the first episode of each season plus an episode featuring a sixth Ranger and zipped through them looking for a clean headshot of that character that would last for a few frames. Then I pulled the ending logo of each season as well as clips here and there that I thought would work for the theme song.
Hooray! More HOPR! This remains my favourite thing you're doing. It's really nice to get a runthrough, highlights and insights for each series. I'd heard this one was very tongue-in-cheek and with a tendency to lampshade everything. Seeing the clips here, I think RPM was more successful at the lampshading thing, I wonder if you'll agree when you get to that series?
ReplyDeleteI think that you just fell on the floor, because Lothor just broke your 4th wall.
ReplyDeleteSomehow I always seem to find these videos when I'm rewatching older entries and the link to the new one pops up in the window when it's finished. I should just bookmark this site and save time.
ReplyDeleteI had originally skipped Wild Force because I saw it as a step down in quality from Time Force, but when I came back for Ninja Storm it seemed more like a parody of the Power Ranger concept. The megaphone in particular had me rolling my eyes. But it picked up with the development of Cam's character and I came to like it by the end.
One note about the finale: It sucked! What's the point of losing your Ranger Powers if you're just going to use your Ninja Powers to beat the bad guy? It's a major anti-climax. It makes sense, but it's just a bad message. "Even if you're not a Power Ranger, you can still fight evil...if you can shoot a hurricane from your fingers."
Good Job Linkara, but you'll be due for an incoming barrage of WHAT from fans now!
ReplyDeleteOn Hexagon... You like alot of people give the idea that it was some wonderful idea that just was fininacial two big too do. Storywise it is the single worst idea for franchise ever. Amit was planning on ending Zordon era Power rangers and starting from scratch... That and his apparently hateon for Tommy, since in the Original Forever Red, Amit wanted to portray Tommy as that Elitist bought into his own hype kinda guy.
Thank you for continuing this series Linkara; it's awesome to have a vehicle by which to discuss Power Rangers again and it's a real joy to find out more about one of my favourite franchises.
ReplyDeleteThat Gokaiger team up...wow, I can't wait to see what Power Rangers does with it!
As for Ninja Storm, I think most of its flaws are forgivable given budget considerations, and it seems to me like a solid ranger series (despite gerbil wisdom). I agree with you about not liking comedic main villains, and I also agree that Zurgane should have been the main villain. It's never revealed in the series, but it turns out Zurgane is actually a small ant-like creature that controls a mechanical ninja suit. To me, that makes him 100 times cooler; he's Mr. Mind!
I also see your point about the excessively eclectic suit design for some of the villains and monsters. In my opinion the ornate designs sometimes looked good, such as on Zurgane's costume, but the villains didn't seem to really have a theme and the monsters often looked like collections of random objects...though I suppose that lack of direction is fitting for Lothor.
"This is the most fun I've had all season!" XD
Looking forward to Dino Thunder! :)
The new HoPR was a pleasant surprise and made my day. Thanks for your hard work.
ReplyDeleteGreat review. Hope you still aren't getting bugged by people asking you when the next review is coming out.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I really liked the screwing up of the morphing sequence scene in the first episode. That's one thing that always irked me about power rangers was that whenever they morphed, they always did some little cheoreography with their hands before, the timing was perfect etc.
I always thought it would be funny if during season one they argued about who went in what order when morphing. Clearly not something you would do every episode but if you did it once, like they did here, then that's enough.
Keep up the good work
I was thinking of a slightly less civil thing when you said what no united we ....
ReplyDeleteI was half expecting you to say "what no united we Fart"
Aso with the mega Zord Mega cool I did kinda expect a "Mega Hi" from the Captain N mega man.
Lothor being a male Divatox, I don’t agree on this one. There are few sci-fi/fantasy characters that are more annoying than Divatox (except Elgar). Listening to her is like listening to nails on a chalkboard. The problem with her, aside from just being annoying, is that she’s a second-rate villain introduced into an in-progress storyline that has already featured more serious villains to challenge our heroes. So her presence was a complete clash with the existing environment. You can’t convince the audience that a whiny and vain pirate with a submarine is comparable to intergalactic tyrants and sorcerers with armies at their command.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Ninja Storm is its own storyline. It is a Power Rangers series, but the setting and characters are new, so the expectations aren’t as strict. Now, when I first saw the show with its tongue-in-cheek humor and somewhat goofy and ditzy Rangers (you pointed it out well with them forgetting the morphing sequence), I didn’t think Lothor was that out of place. If anything, I actually thought the first three Rangers were more annoying. Lothor really isn’t great as a villain, but at times I enjoyed his shtick. And Lothor, to his credit, actually does have at least the trappings of a major villain (his ship, generals, etc) unlike Divatox, who had...a sub. I still can't get over that!
Someone can correct me, but wasn’t the whole scroll of destiny a last-minute add by the writers because fans were complaining that the story wasn’t going anywhere, and the writers needed to make Lothor seem like a more calculating villain?
And yeah, Mesogog may outdo the other PR villains for sheer creepiness.
Loved all the points you made and still love Ninja Storm. It was the series that got me back into the show after Turbo left a bad taste in my mouth and never wanted to give any other series a chance afterward. But with Ninja Storm I was old enough to have nostalgia and watch the show, and young enough for the comedey bits never to bother me.
ReplyDeleteLoved the review ^ ^ ... though, to be a nitpicky douche, you forgot a few points.
ReplyDelete1) Tori's the first female blue power ranger
2) Dustin's the first human male yellow ranger, though second male yellow ranger entirely, and the first male yellow ranger for more than 14 episodes
3) First time that the cannon has three different modes
4) first time certain rangers have darker shades of the primary colors (red -> crimson & blue (though a light blue) -> navy)
though I still liked the review and I'm sorry for being a nitpicky douche
I'm glad you didn't try to say Ninjas only wear black, because then I'd have to hurt you.
ReplyDeleteGreat birthday present, Linkara!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for the next one :D. I really appreciate you putting the time in and doing these, so take your time. They're always worth the wait.
this is going to become very interesting for me, seeing as i started watching power rangers, however briefly, around the end of dino-thunder. the first real season for me was SPD.
ReplyDeleteOh man! I want Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger to become a Power Ranger show! It could get expensive, but boy would that be a great show (for the kids and us adults).
ReplyDeleteThe show would really excell here in the States if the show took on a heroic, individualistic, Space Pirate Captain Harlock sort of standing. American anime fans may not go for that, but American CHILDREN would thrive on it. Just think of the money Saban would make if they went that route!
Thank you. Just thank you.
ReplyDeleteLoved it.
ReplyDeleteThough Personally I wouldn't go much further....by which I mean the latest series Samurai.
You begin to suspect that they aren't trying anymore when what I sincerely hope isn't the real opening is just a touch up of the season 1 theme, the rangers actually say 'go go' when they morph, and the word samurai is the latest to gain the 'izer' suffix.
The one upside.....Bulk is back!
Forgot earlier what was said at start of video when I made last comment. I fear for myself if I can't remember something that short a while ago. Though I stick by my comment about the morphing scene.
ReplyDeleteAnother fine review of a bit of an oddity in the Power Rangers franchise. The Storm Megazord looks to have taken a lot of influence from the mecha from an anime called Gear Fighter Dendoh whose gimmick was that it had other animal themed mecha that could be attached and used as weapons.
ReplyDeleteMmm well I guess I can respect your opinion. At least you didn't say you didnt like it.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah I'll admit, Luthor antics were a little off the wall sometimes. I wouldn't call him Divatox 2 though, cause he at least had his eyes on the ball. You gotta give him credit, the whole filling the abyss plan was clever.
The thing I liked about him was after the grimness of Master Org, he was a good breather. You couldn't take him seriously and he made ya laugh, giving a good energy to the show. He may not have been super serious, but an entertaining villain is better then a bland one. Still to each his own.
Regardless, the season is still one of my favorites. Just in the fact that it was..well different. It didn't feel like the others and was willing to shake up the norm. I loved the Green Samurai arc and the final battle was glorious. Shame about the team up though but don't worry DT fixes that.
That said, good review as always and to the other commenters, keep in mind this is Linkara's opinion of the season. Don't let that stop you from watching it. You might like it.
Durp its "Lothor" =P. My bad
ReplyDeleteNinja Storm to me, I agree with you a lot to like but even more to dislike and I don't mind a few inside jokes & self deprecating humor but even I know my limits in taste and Speaking of humorous moments in Power Rangers history happens in "Dino Thunder". In a filler episode, Kira, the Yellow ranger, meets with a musical Svengali and gives her an entire makeover which makes Zach Morris' makeover in "Saved By The Bell" look sane and I watched the episode with some friends and when they saw her makeover, they needed oxygen, that is how funny it is. So when you watch the episode, it is imperative that you breathe before you watch and while watching, the episode HAS been known to kill. Now I'm going to breathe (Taking deep breathes and automatically thinks of Kira's Makeover and Laughs, Guffaws, pounds table, laughs more) Oh god, she looks like Lady Gaga's Sane Niece(Laughs harder and harder then falls down out of chair, picks himself up.) Ooh, I think I crapped myself!
ReplyDeletePirate Planet FTW!! Tom Baker in a Douglas Adam written script is awesome isn't it?
ReplyDeleteNice to see another HOPR Lewis, your videos done really well.
I never watched Power Rangers (until I saw your vidoes on them - now I'm about 2/3 the way through season one of Mighty Morphin), but you do make these videos interesting and your analytical approach is really entertaining and informative.
Wow...you'd really think Disney of all people would be able to create more a more credible villian - he seems to be a kick ass fighter - but really lacks motivation and his attitude seems bipolar (and what WAS the deal with his nieces anyway - couldn't he ditch the Valley Girls at a mall somewhere?).
Anyhow, awesome review and I look forward to your next installment.
oh boy, well if my experience told me anything it's that Dino Thunder is going to be worth the wait now that this is out of the way. It's too bad that if you have to get through SPD it means the next one comes out this Christmas. that show just felt like it took forever to end. fun ride but took forever.
ReplyDeleteTechnical Note: I had several problems with the video for part 1. There were several points where the video would end prematurely, which continued happening even after I reloaded the page and changed browsers. I think it is an issue with the video, so I thought I should let you know.
ReplyDeleteApart from that, good review. I found it interesting that there was relatively little analysis of individual episodes. I'm guessing that most of them didn't leave that big of an impression.
I noticed that during the video you made note of how TMNT can exist in the same universe. Well, if you haven't seen it, the movie TMNT Turtles Forever explains the whole turtle-multiverse and how the Turtles seen in Power Rangers aren't the ones seen in comics or cartoons. If you haven't seen the movie, you should if for nothing more than to see the homage to the original comics and creators.
ReplyDelete"I noticed that during the video you made note of how TMNT can exist in the same universe. Well, if you haven't seen it, the movie TMNT Turtles Forever explains the whole turtle-multiverse and how the Turtles seen in Power Rangers aren't the ones seen in comics or cartoons. If you haven't seen the movie, you should if for nothing more than to see the homage to the original comics and creators."
ReplyDeleteActually, that was in relation to some commenters saying that the turtles must have come from a different dimension when they were saying the Power Rangers weren't real.
The thing that really was dumb, was how the main mega zord looked. One zord for the head, one for the arm, and then one for the other arm legs and body. I know they only had three rangers starting out, but still having one zord make up 75% of the mega zord just looks off to me.
ReplyDeleteNew History of Power Rangers! \o/
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge fan of the HOPR series since I have a huge soft spot for the series that initially sparked my love for cheesy entertainment. Besides that, it's interesting to see an actual serious look at the elements that make up the different Power Rangers series instead of just poking fun at all the nonsensical stuff that they contain.
And last but certainly not least, I actually got my hands on and saw all but two seasons last year (everything except SPD and Mystic Force) so most of this is still fresh in my memory.
As for this season, it's one of my two least favorite alongside Lost Galaxy. Most of this comes from the reasons you mentioned ('forgetting' that they exist in the same universe as the other ranger teams, lack of character development for anyone not named Cam, incredibly annoying and bad villains) as well as the fact that it had some of the worst filler episodes in PR history.
I mean, we've seen a kid get his hands on Lothor's remote, the much overdone 'being in two places at once' episode, the body switch, a monster changing people into perfumes and of course as mentioned before, Cyber-Cam and the the Electric Guitar of Doom (actually, am I the only one who thinks this thing should have been a trumpet to summon the big elephant?)
I agree with you that the series has some very good high points, but sadly balances it out with some very bad low points.
All that said, I can't wait for you to tackle Operation Overdrive, the last season I saw and the one that still has the highest WTF factor for me.
PS: Not that I think it's necessary, but I'll add that my inability to wait expressed above is to be taken as 'patiently looking forward to' rather than 'I WANT IT NAO!!!1!' ;) Much of what I like about your HOPR videos comes down to the amount of work you put into them. They may take a while to arrive, but that also means that when they do, they're great rather than 'good enough'. Keep up the good work!
Just a quickie: The villain didn't say the RANGERS could only be destroyed, he said that this was the only way to destroy their POWERS.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, shoot the rangers in the head in civilizn mode, and the good guys can just make new Rangers.
"Just a quickie: The villain didn't say the RANGERS could only be destroyed, he said that this was the only way to destroy their POWERS.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, shoot the rangers in the head in civilizn mode, and the good guys can just make new Rangers."
Except it wouldn't exactly be a chore to take their morphers from them off their dead bodies.
Or, to extend the tactic, they don't need to actually KILL the Rangers, they simply need to cause terror and destruction. Attack them where they feel they're at their safest, show them that there's no place they can hide, that they can never have a normal life. Even if they don't kill them, they'd certainly make their lives more difficult.
So... huh. You kept saying in earlier videos how you don't like the whole "civilian powers" thing, but you never even mentioned them here. Not even at the end. ...Weird.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I... kind of like Samurai so far. It's nice to see Bulk again, though why he's paired up with this guy, Spike, who is (according to the official website) Skull's son I don't get. Especially since the part about him being Skull's son has yet to be mentioned on the show itself. And yeah, the lack of an origin episode is stupid, but... no, never mind. It's just stupid.
By the way... I was listening to your interview with Jonny Yong Bosch (I can never spell that correctly), and you mentioned that you had already seen Once a Ranger. Care to give your thoughts on that, or are you just going to wait until you actually get to that season?
One more thing: I hope this isn't too spoilerific, but the main villain of Mystic Force is "The Master." I'm expecting plenty of Doctor Who jokes for that one...
"So... huh. You kept saying in earlier videos how you don't like the whole "civilian powers" thing, but you never even mentioned them here. Not even at the end. ...Weird."
ReplyDeleteI had actually written it out as I watched the series, but the more I watched the less they used them. I've transferred it to DinoThunder.
Hey there, a couple quick thoughts. I personally liked that they weren't sure how to morph, cause look at it from there perspective. "Hey, your school is destroyed, your classmates kidnapped, aliens are attacking, sensei is a guinea pig, your now Power Rangers, here's a monster go fight it, and here is the activation phrase good luck." It's a lot to process fast.
ReplyDeleteAs for Lothor, I always felt that the goofiness was all an act on his part, obfuscation as to his true plans.
Speaking of which, I'm surprised you did make a "What was that?" joke about the ENERGY BEAMS OUT OF NOWHERE ending. I mean, even a character asked What The Flounder it was. AND THEY NEVER TELL US! What, ninjas can just shoot random energy beams?
As for sensei's 'wisdom', I agree that most of it is bunk, but that I did personally find the 'lost in thought is still lost' to be genuinely wise.
Also, yeah, Cam was the best character. "I don't need powers to fight." "Screw continuity, he needs to be destroyed." "My ability to play the electric guitar lets me control this ancient mammoth zord. Don't question it, I'm awesome!"
The whole aborted story idea of the Power Ranger Academy sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteLike a couple of other people said, it will be interesting if Saban or Disney tries to adapt Gokaiger, since they'll have a surplus of Japan-only teams to deal with.
Huh, nice. Lookin' forward to the Dino Thunder one, that was probably the series I caught the most of after Mighty Morphin.
ReplyDeleteAs a side note, this did inspire me to try watching a power rangers series again, with RPM. I'm rather glad I did, it's probably one of the more awesome things ever filmed.
I would just like to thank you for re-sparking my love of PR. Thanks to you I managed to find a common interest with a close friend that I never thought I would find and have become even closer! Thanks a billion for the awesomeness and for bringing me and my friend closer together!
ReplyDeleteWhat? No Dragonforce joke!? You should be ashamed of yourself as a headbanger, Lewis.
ReplyDeleteDoubt Linkara will see this comment but if you do. There's this really funny British parody of the Power Rangers called the Mighty Moshin' Emo Rangers. You've likely heard about it. There's something like 6 episodes of it although I'm not sure. Anyway just thought a review of that from you would be hilarious.
ReplyDeleteDamn, the Sentai villains are really getting shafted in the American version
ReplyDeleteAs far as sentai goes, Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger had some of the more memorable villains. Especially the sheer FoeYay (in one episode even overlapping into LesYay) between Nanami (HurricaneBlue) and Furabiijo (Marah's Japanese counterpart)
The monsters had more of a unified theme - each of the generals commanded their own army of monsters, and each army had it's theme
The issue of the Ninja drop-outs was actually addressed in Hurricaneger. If someone fails their training, they get mind-wiped. One episode actually dealt with a drop-out who managed to avoid the mind-wipe.
The thing with the guitar is a rather interesting one.
Originally it was a traditional Japanese guitar (can't remember the proper name), and it even played like one when used by most people, but while used by Shurikenger (green) it sounded like a electric guitar
Also to the elements - earth, water, and air were actually the three fighting styles thought at the academy.
Another problem with the villains is the nieces.
ReplyDeleteFurabijo in Hurricanger looked adorable. You just want to cuddle with her, even though bee motif is rather squicky.
Wendinu was rather sexy.
American versions lacked in both aspects severely.
Ofcourse it is based on appearances, since I haven't watched neither of the series past a few episodes.
Hm first time Commenting on any of your works Linkara. Got to say I liked this episode, Ninja storm was my second series I watched after Dino thunder. I tend to like it better then you did but that probably because when I was young I never got into the older series and did not get into this series as a whole in general until I was like twelve and Dino-thunder was on the air (Then I lost interest around mystic force.)In other words I probably only like it because at the time I never watched the older series except for the rare occasion they showed older episodes on Jetix.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I got to say about it though is the Ninja academy must be rather forgiving or really desperate for new recruits to allow Marah and Kapri (Luthor's nieces) to join up. I suppose one could argue that perhaps that Sensai Watanabe was doing it out of some sort of family kindness sort of thing but it kind of flimsy considering according to wikipedia they were Luthor nieces by marriage (though wikiapedia might be wrong and it been a long time since I seen the series) meaning they were unrelated to Sensei by blood and maybe not even legally related to them unless their world has laws on recognizing marriages from other civilized worlds. But I digress I am way over thinking this series.
Point is I liked this video, I can't wait to see what you think of dino thunder, and although I do not agree with your opinion on this particular season I still respect it.
admit it, the biggest reason you like Samurai is cuz Bulk is back
ReplyDeleteAnother great review. I rather liked this season, although there are better. I'm looking forward to your Dino Thunder review, since I've heard mixed things about it from others.
ReplyDeleteUntil then, I'll just have to watch all the AT4W that I've been missing out on.
Linkara, the reason why the Thunder Rangers hate the Wind Rangers, iirc WAS mentioned in the season: Wind and Thunder were originally rival schools. Hence why the debut of the Thunderstorm Megazord had the surprise that the 2 rivals could actually combine.
ReplyDeleteHeck, the Megazord names in this season were really good. Thunder + storm == Thunderstorm? And an even bigger thunderstorm == hurricane?. Overdrive gave the stupidest name "Battlefleet" Megazord, RPM has "High Octane" Megazord, Dino Thunder has "Thundersaurus"(not even a word!) Megazord
"Divatox 2"? Since when Divatox and Lord Zedd could single-handedly take on a full team of morphed rangers and win? Divatox couldnt fight while Lord Zedd was being a wuss when his Z-Staff "broke".
Heck, looking back, I think only 2 PR villains actually proved their dangers by singlehandedly taking on the full Ranger team without relying on mass fodder(pretty much Zordon era. Heck, did Mondo put up a fight in the finale?) on grwoing to mass size to curmbstomp the Rangers and still almost come out on top without some sort of Dues Ex Machina: Ransik and Lothor.
Lothor could still be a dangerous villain while being comedic.
"What? Did you think I was going to make the monster grow as usual?" or something of that sort.
They're ninjas. "Civilain power"? 90% of everything they do in Ninja Storm: though typical and cliched but are actual Shinobi applications. A ninja has to blend with their environments. Sneak attacks? Should be seen from a mile away.
Power Ranger Season 3? Ninja "magic". Alien magic.
Ironically, you failed to mention Hunter's Battalizer.
Lastly, apparently Samurai is even more camp than Ninja Storm and even MMPR and you liked that better than this?
I'm sorry, but you dissed the last PR season I watched and enjoyed. Everything after, especially when comparing to the Sentai equivalent, are really bad.
"Originally it was a traditional Japanese guitar (can't remember the proper name), and it even played like one when used by most people, but while used by Shurikenger (green) it sounded like a electric guitar "
A harisen.
"Ironically, you failed to mention Hunter's Battalizer."
ReplyDeleteI recall a flying vehicle that he had in the same episode that introduced Motodrone, but not a Battlizer.
"Lastly, apparently Samurai is even more camp than Ninja Storm and even MMPR and you liked that better than this?"
I didn't say I liked it better than Ninja Storm, I simply said I'm enjoying Samurai so far. All of six episodes in. That evaluation may change by the end, and even then, I never went into specifics of what it was I liked or disliked about anything. I just knew people were going to ask, so I answered ahead of time.
"I'm sorry, but you dissed the last PR season I watched and enjoyed. Everything after, especially when comparing to the Sentai equivalent, are really bad."
I did not "dis" it. People need to stop believing that offering critique is the same thing as disliking something. I liked Ninja Storm. I SAY IN THE VIDEOS THAT I LIKED NINJA STORM. That does not mean I found it without flaws or without things that bugged me.
... am I the only one who enjoyed a change of pace when it came to villains? It may just be me (and that's a big possibility), and it may just be my distaste for Wild Force (the environmental message may have only tapped you over the head, but it bludgeoned the hell out of me), but I liked Lothor. Hell, he's probably my favourite villain out of the whole series.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I said it.
What I liked SO much about him was his fourth-wall breaking. It's like he's watched the show. I think what clinched it is when Zurgane (I think) asked him what to do after his monster was defeated when small, and he said something to the effect of, "... make it grow. What else would we do? When the monster explodes, we make it grow. It's what we've done for every single monster up to this point! Why are you even ASKING?"
I dunno. It was nice to see a villain who was actually ENJOYING himself for a change. That really hadn't been there since Zedd and Rita. Guess I'm crazy, but Lothor was a lot of fun.
Another great retrospective Linkara, although I might have liked Ninja Storm a little more than you did. Maybe it's nostalgia talking, but I feel that Ninja Storm is definitely up there as one of the better one. Sure the jokes could get a little lame, Lothor's mask looks really dumb even when I was little and the nieces were really REALLY irritating, the show was still quite good to watch.
ReplyDeleteLothor really kicked ass in the finale and while he was very comical during the run of the season, when his plan was revealed, it really felt like he was obfuscating stupidity. I mean his plan was pretty brilliant, send a monster to fight the Rangers and let it die. Slowly, you can accumulate a large number of monsters and beat the rangers with an unsuspecting invasion. He was acting stupid so that his minions wouldn't notice. Would you suicide yourself if your boss told you to do so? In the same vein, the nieces were like obfuscating power-levels. They were strong but they hid it behind the way they act, maybe. When you really have no minions left, it gets hard to tell how strong the nieces are.
As you said, when the show does something right, it does it really well. I don't think that the bad points were THAT bad though, Cyber-Cam not withstanding(HATED HIM ALOT). Also, when you were discussing the characters, it felt like early MMPR, the characters were kind of bland and the show most revolve around Tommy/Cam. Kind of a weird parallel.
i not defending the fact that the ninja storm rangers should know that power ranger exiset but maybe in the time span they live in the power rangers mu have bine made in to a childs tatle just a gess
ReplyDeleteapparently Tzachor has dubbed all Disney era seasons NON CANON
ReplyDeleteWhat are your thoughts on this?
Can't wait for Dino Thunder! Been waiting for it since MMPR.
ReplyDeleteConcerning the dr who clips that you have been showing reciently in your videos are you planning on doing a retrospect for dr who in the future?
ReplyDeletealso where did that comment about a sleak black car originate from in your mind?
and I'm sorry I just gotta say this
about Part 1 at 12:57:
Yellow... wind ranger?.... oh god that reminds me of the old irish policemen's line from 1985's year of the dragon:
your pissing in the wind sonny!
"also where did that comment about a sleak black car originate from in your mind?"
ReplyDeleteHrmm... no idea. Are you suggesting I took it from someone else? If that's the case - well, crap. ^^;
Nah I was just curious if it originated from that green hornet film that came out a few months ago
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBFH2tzFbW4
or brad showed you an episdoe from one of the early seasons of miami vice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU964Wtmkkc
Wait a sec; at the end of the video, you mention that Ninja Storm was not a good first outing for Disney's management of Power Rangers...but didn't you say that most of the stuff done in Wild Force was done by Disney? I know spiritually, WF feels like Saban to you, but even so...wouldn't that make Ninja Storm the second series Disney made?
ReplyDeleteIt's the first showing of the new Disney-assembled Ranger Productions as opposed to the Saban-assembled MMPR Productions which was hired by Disney to do Wild Force. That being said, it's common for fans to lump Wild Force in with Saban because it kept the same production studio and most of the same staffers as previous seasons. (When giving overviews of the series, it's often more useful to divide it into LA and NZ eras.)
ReplyDeleteAnyone got the link to that team up video? All I can find are other sentai team ups and I really want to see that one.
ReplyDeleteHey Lewis,
ReplyDeleteGreat review as always-It's cool for me to see your take on the first of these shows that I went out of my way to watch: Now I can actually compare opinions with you and actively join in the seminar!
I can't claim to be a Power Rangers fan (though I did catch a little MMPR as I think we all did when it was first on) and Ninja Storm was the first series to really catch my eye. I thought it was positively delightful: I loved the irreverent, self-awareness of the whole thing, how it didn't take itself seriously at all and just seemed to be having a fun time. I'm always drawn to that particular anarchic style, probably also why I adore shows like What's New, Scooby-Doo? and Douglas Adams' run on Doctor Who.
I saw Ninja Storm as more of an affectionate parody of the Rangers/Sentai formula then a straight example of it and I think that's why it was easier for a non-fan like me to gravitate to it so easily. I'm a little sorry you didn't seem to enjoy it quite as much as I did though: Unfortunately, I have a feeling I loved it for the exact same reasons you criticized it.
I thought Lothor, Mara and Kapri were hilarious, the idea that "ninja" can apparently mean whatever the hell the plot wants it to mean was part of the camp charm for me and I maintain that "Ninja Sensei Guinea Pig" is one of the most crazy awesome concepts to be shown on any action show ever.
I must hasten to add I can totally understand and respect your position, however and it was very well articulated in your review, as it usually is. I get the impression this is a show that's not for everyone: Despite its relatively compelling plot (at points) Ninja Storm seems to specialize in self-referential anarchy, and if viewers are looking for more than that I can see them being irritated by it.
Incidentally, the other Rangers show I took a huge liking to was RPM, so take that for what it's worth I suppose.
Anyway, enough of my blabber. Great analysis as usual and always a pleasure discussing. I'll keep watching!
Hey Linkara! Love your videos. I notice this one hasn't shown up on your page for TGWTG.com. I'm new to following your blog, is there usually a delay?
ReplyDeleteThanks, and I really enjoy your reviews.
"Hey Linkara! Love your videos. I notice this one hasn't shown up on your page for TGWTG.com. I'm new to following your blog, is there usually a delay?
ReplyDeleteThanks, and I really enjoy your reviews."
There usually is a delay because this and other special videos don't have a set schedule. Atop the Fourth Wall DOES appear here before it shows up on TGWTG, but it's only by a few hours.
I was surfing the interwebs and found this interesting little thing:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXN5CQ_ZED0&feature=related
So we have a Japanese singer performing the theme to an American show which, in turn, was adapted from a long-running Japanese series.
It's a funny ol' world, innit?
I enjoy your History of Power Rangers videos but I am looking forward to the next one. Power Rangers Dinothunder is my favorite season.
ReplyDeleteI know you haven't finished SPD yet, and I don't know where you are in it yet, so when you finish watching I have a quick question or two I want to ask.
ReplyDeleteBut because you finished Dino Thunder, and seen Samruai so far, I was wondering if you could answer this question. I know many of the seasons say that their story line takes places during the year it premiered, but with the reveal that Skull had a son, the whole background with Tommy as a researcher/scientist, and (If I recall, you said you've seen Once a Ranger) the whole son of Lord Zedd and Rita, do you think it's best to ignore the "each season takes place during the broadcast year" thing PR has been doing, and just assume longer periods of time have passed between seasons than just one year?
"But because you finished Dino Thunder, and seen Samruai so far, I was wondering if you could answer this question. I know many of the seasons say that their story line takes places during the year it premiered, but with the reveal that Skull had a son, the whole background with Tommy as a researcher/scientist, and (If I recall, you said you've seen Once a Ranger) the whole son of Lord Zedd and Rita, do you think it's best to ignore the "each season takes place during the broadcast year" thing PR has been doing, and just assume longer periods of time have passed between seasons than just one year?"
ReplyDeleteSometimes most definitely. It's implied in Lost Galaxy that actually several years have passed since In Space, which would make sense considering the scale of a project like Terra Venture. DinoThunder and Ninja Storm also have odd timescales and you brought up Spike, as well, who needs to be 13 at the most unless he had a son during the years he was on the show that we weren't aware of.
One last question I just remembered. Is the abyss of evil and the shadow dimension from lightspeed rescue the same place? I know we never got a confirmation about it in the show, but I see a lot of similarities between the two places.
ReplyDelete"One last question I just remembered. Is the abyss of evil and the shadow dimension from lightspeed rescue the same place? I know we never got a confirmation about it in the show, but I see a lot of similarities between the two places."
ReplyDeleteNot a clue. Power Rangers would have you believe the multiverse is a very, VERY big place, though, considering the sheer amount of places like that (especially during the MMPR days).
"Not a clue. Power Rangers would have you believe the multiverse is a very, VERY big place, though, considering the sheer amount of places like that (especially during the MMPR days)."
ReplyDeleteAhh, I see. I was just curious, considering in the wild force review you talked about how the org event could have been related to Lost Galaxy, and I thought that the abyss of evil could have been another connection to a previous series.
That is a good point though. It is a pretty big multiverse. I just thought it would have been cool if those two places were the same place. I mean obviously, it's not in the same city as lightspeed, but I think you get what I mean.
Great analysis of Ninja Storm.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see you do the awesomeness that is Power Rangers Dino Thunder, featuring the return of the greatest Power Ranger ever, Tommy Oliver.
Hate to be a stick in the mud.
ReplyDeleteBut Linkara are you honestly saying that They should have gotten the First morph right for "Epicness' Sake" and then later do the comedic morph screw up? Wouldn't that just make the rangers look even dumber, then them understandably screwing up the FIRST morph.
Or Am I just misunderstanding your thought process
"Or Am I just misunderstanding your thought process "
ReplyDeleteYou are misunderstanding my thought process. The first morph should be epic, then in future episodes if, like, they're distracted or under a spell or etc., etc., it's okay then to screw up the morph.
"The first morph should be epic, then in future episodes if, like, they're distracted or under a spell or etc., etc., it's okay then to screw up the morph."
ReplyDeleteBut then... It's not that funny
"But then... It's not that funny "
ReplyDeleteI know, this is again just a difference of opinion. I just don't really enjoy it when the season attempts a more comedic focus since it clashes with the drama that's occurring.
It's just my opinion on it, and it doesn't mean the season isn't still good, it's just a nitpicky thing of mine.
My first comment on ATFW! Yay!
ReplyDelete...what the hell do I say now?
I gotta say, I remember watching Ninja Storm...and I remember absolutely nothing about it whatsoever. Huh. Guess that's a great impression it left on me. I just remember Cam's whole "Back to the Future" plot but that's really it. Great review though! ^ ___ ^ b
Though I do have an opinion question for ya Linkara. You seem like you don't like fourth wall breaking very much. Or at least really bad attempts at fourth wall breaking. Did it bug you at all with this series or any of the ones coming up (cause lord almighty will RPM [despite it's epicness] bug the every lovin mother out of you), or do you think PR can do it well when it actually tries?
I can't wait for the Dino Thunder review! Since it includes our favorite spotlight stealer, Tommy Oliver! (Though most fans couldn't care less cause....IT'S TOMMY! TOMMY!)
Leaving thoughts on Power Rangers Samurai, personal opinions.
ReplyDeleteSUCKS!!!
Sorry Maybe I found the wrong first episode but I feel that there should be more character development before setting the characters up for, well, character development. Oh and the theme song is terrible.
Sorry again but those are my thoughts about the first episode.
Now thoughts on Power Rangers Dino Thunder. I feel that the ending is lackluster. The series just kind of, well, ends. The power rangers win and everybody's happy. Sort of disappointing, not that I don't like to see the hero's win but not just like ... Super awesome special move go, monster dead. So to me the season sort of just ended on a semi-high note. Oh note on villain, Over acting egotistical plans a go,go. Lol
Dino Thunder is ok Samurai remains to be improved.
Ninja Storm is one of the series that I still really enjoy to this day and have fond memories of. It was around the time it came out that I really got back into Power Rangers and they were the first Power Ranger DVDs that I bought. I think there's a marked improvement in the acting here compared to some of the Saban series, though it's very much the teen Disney style of acting from their popular TV shows. I agree that Lothor is not a great formidable villain but I do give kudos to the actor playing him and the Sensei as I didn't realise for ages that they were the same guy. I was seriously impressed when I found out.
ReplyDeleteAs always your video was entertaining and informative and it gave me a real thrill to see this series analysed. I've recently bought the complete series boxset of it so this was good timing lol. Compared to some of the other later Disney series it's not as good or as bad as some. I'd put it in the middle. I still find it hugely enjoyable and think that the characters, particularly the Rangers, are more fleshed out than in some of the Saban series. They actually feel like real believable kids not archetypes or action figures/cardboard cutouts. Particular love goes to Cam who I always identified with a lot and is the first Power Rangers example of a snarky geek character rather than a timid pushover awkward geek. Some of the villains are more three-dimensional too, though there are way too many of them as the series goes on. There are a lot of breaking the fourth wall jokes - which I kinda appreciate now and then, I have to admit. They do make me laugh, is that bad? lol.
Thanks as always for doing these videos. I always really enjoy them :) Looking forward to your Dino Thunder thoughts.
When I look back on Ninja Storm I do see how it was a tad too comical at times but back then I didn't mind. 2000-2004 were really great years and I enjoyed most of the stuff I watched.
ReplyDeleteI'm really looking forward to your Dino Thunder video(s). That's my all time favorite Power Rangers series so far. Nice touch with the "light in the distance" reference (not sure if it was intentional).
you know when you do power rangers dino thunder(take as long as you want by the way) you should play "back in black" by AC/DC when you introduce tommy
ReplyDeleteReally good Reveiw Linkara, I'll forgive you for bashing Lothor but lets be real for moment, you've started SPD that means your one reveiw away from the Triangle of DOOM.
ReplyDeleteMystic Force
Operation Overdrive
Jungle Fury
The three seasons that are quote the worst unquote seasons of PR. Are you hoping it's just bitter old fans that overplay the awfulness, because it's just not "THIER" PR anymore or are your truly terrified to your core?
Only with Overdrive. I'm really looking forward to Mystic Force and Jungle Fury because I know so little about them.
ReplyDeleteMan that's a little harsh don't you think Anonymous? I've been watching Mystic Force, its got some interesting things going for it and I'm rather enjoying it. When I hear people talk about the later PR seasons it really does seem like fans of the older series are upset that they're not more like Mighty Morphing etc :/ As one of my friends described it-Mystic Force is like Power Rangers and Harry Potter's weird love child. So I could see how it could easily be hit or miss with PR primary audience, with more of an emphasis on spells then guns or lasers.
ReplyDeleteBut to be fair, I really only watched Lost Galaxy and Wild Force growing up, so I'm kind of an oddball in the fact that I actually prefer the later seasons.
On a side note: I nearly had a heart attack when I heard Samurai's theme :D Go-go Power Rangers!
Just curious as far as the intro update. I know fans have been asking when you'll update the intro, and you said when the sixth ranger arrives. I'm assuming you didn't want to update it for ninja storm because you didn't want to redo the intro twice during Samurai's run.
ReplyDeleteTo which I have to ask, why not wait until the season is over to update the intro? I mean, from what we've seen from what we've seen from NS and DT, (and based on the intro, I'm assuming you're aware at least about how many rangers are in SPD, MF, OO, JF and RPM), we've seen not one extra ranger, but two or more. Wouldn't it be safe to wait for the season to end before updating the intro?
"To which I have to ask, why not wait until the season is over to update the intro? I mean, from what we've seen from what we've seen from NS and DT, (and based on the intro, I'm assuming you're aware at least about how many rangers are in SPD, MF, OO, JF and RPM), we've seen not one extra ranger, but two or more. Wouldn't it be safe to wait for the season to end before updating the intro?"
ReplyDeleteFor a few reasons:
-Samurai is going to be two seasons, not just one.
-The season is apparently following the sentai to the letter, which means no extra rangers beyond the sixth and something else, which may not even happen this season.
-The times when they added extra Rangers were very rare and usually only happened, with the seasons you described, when they started with three Rangers and not five.
"-Samurai is going to be two seasons, not just one."
ReplyDeleteSo, they are doing two seasons. How exactly is that going to work? Is it going to be two 20 episode seasons, or a 40 episode season with the second season having new fight footage?
Seems odd though that a series other than MMPR is getting more than one season. I suppose I could understand saban trying to keep the cast around for more than one season, but after almost 20 years it just seems more natural to just upgrade the powers than stick to the same powers for more than one year. But I suppose that's just me.
"So, they are doing two seasons. How exactly is that going to work? Is it going to be two 20 episode seasons, or a 40 episode season with the second season having new fight footage?"
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand, it's two twenty-episode seasons.
Man that's a little harsh don't you think Anonymous? I've been watching Mystic Force, its got some interesting things going for it and I'm rather enjoying it.
ReplyDeleteThose three and Wild Force are generally the fandom's punching bags. Turbo part 1 is really the only part most agree across the board was flat out terrible
There are plenty of people who liked all three, they just get drowned out by the "Serious" PR fans
Hell, I personally really liked OO*Just rewatched it :P*, and thought JF was decent. I just couldn't get into MF for various reasons. *I'm currently rewatching it along with the other Kalish Era seasons and RPM since i missed alot of them*
When I hear people talk about the later PR seasons it really does seem like fans of the older series are upset that they're not more like Mighty Morphing etc :/ As one of my friends described it-Mystic Force is like Power Rangers and Harry Potter's weird love child. So I could see how it could easily be hit or miss with PR primary audience, with more of an emphasis on spells then guns or lasers.
I fail to remember Harry Potter having Jetbikes and Turning into a Giant Robot... or the 50 foot Hentai Monster >.>
My favorite complaint is that the old Rangers would see through/Beat/ Whatever blank in 5 seconds.
The old Tommy would have won in Turbo arguement basically
Another great summary and analysis of Power Rangers. This being the first fully-Disney, NZ-based season, I was really curious to see how that affected the production of the series. Thanks for giving that context. I look forward to seeing how the series continues to evolve.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I feel like this episode gave a shaky understanding, at best, of the cast and setup of this season. For example, I had to infer from context about the extreme sports shop they work at since you never explicitly introduced it it. And I still don't understand the whole "discs" thing that the spheres come from. You touched on it briefly, but the sentences didn't make sense to me, as someone coming to this series not having watched it. I don't think we even saw it in the video. (Or if we did, I didn't understand that that's what I was seeing.)
And while you address Lothor's crew as a group, I have no idea who most of its members were. I realize they were terrible villains by your summation, but that didn't stop you from digging into why Divatox or Elgar were so bad. The nieces in particular seemed to be regularly referenced in the plot summary, so understanding who they were beforehand would have helped.
Overall, there are a lot of points (far more than any previous episode) where you had to stop and say "Oh yeah, I didn't mention this at the time…" which implicitly raises the question of "Well why not?!?" Maybe this simply signifies something about the scattershot nature of the season, but if it's relevant later, it would have been worth mentioning sooner.
The initial discussion of the behind-the-scenes changes was very enlightening, the late parts of the summary were still understandable despite the shaky start, and the analysis was thoughtful as always. I thoroughly enjoyed this installment, and I'm looking forward to the next one.
One question, though: How do you think this series falls on the magic-vs-technology dichotomy?
your reviews are amazing and i can't wait till you get to SPD it is one of the Best of the Disney era seasons to me along with RPM But you'll get to it when you get to it.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I just thought of something. I'm not sure if anyone suggested it, and it may sound completely nuts, but hear me out. (I should also note, I'm aware that there's no way the creators of the show planned this. I also apologize if this isn't the place for theories)
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about how long time took place between seasons of powers, and I realized something. I believe that Lost Galaxy took place way after most of the newer seasons (the exception being the future scenes of time force, spd, and one other season). Why? Because we know that quite a few years have passed since in space, and that the technology that humanity could create at the time was much more advance than not only earth at the time of in space, but many of the following seasons.
Now, with this theory, I think I can explain some of the inconsistencies with the series. I'm going to start with Bulk and Skull. Everyone wondered how bulk got back on earth? Simple, because he never left earth yet. If Lost Galaxy came way after Wild Force, then you have a reason to explain why bulk is there for forever red. (I know Bulk knew of the stingwingers in the deleted scenes… but that wasn’t in the official episode now was it?) Now, I'm sure you're thinking of a few questions, but I'll get to it in one minute. I just want to note that this could explain one other thing. We notice that skull did not end up going with bulk. I think we can now have a canon reason, other than a comedy gag. We know Skull had a son, Spike. Could it be that instead of Skull decided at last minute not to leave earth with his best friend, but rather stay with his son? Which actually makes that scene very interesting... (Cont.)
(Cont from above)
ReplyDeleteOk, let me address another other question. If Lost Galaxy came after most of the newer seasons, then how did they know Lost Galaxy rangers existed at the time? And how did the Lost Galaxy rangers get to earth for the team up episodes? Because I believe they had access to time travel at the time. Why? Well, why not? We've seen humanity being able to create terra venture on their own, possibly reverse engineer zords from MMPR-In Space, or at the very least create their own powers, all in the span of a few short years after the events of In Space. If Humanity can figure out how to do that very quickly, they can find a way to do time travel.
But wait! In forever red, Andros said he contacted Leo on his planet. How does that make sense? Well, we've got time force in the group, and we know from reinforcements from the future that the silver guardians had a way to communicate with the future. Carter knew of the existence of lost galaxy, and you've got the time force who has access to records about when in time the lost galaxy rangers existed. Either Carter sent a message through time to Leo that they needed their help again, and Andros just brought Tommy up to speed, OR they contacted Andros between the end of Lost Galaxy and the events of the Lost Galaxy/Lightspeed team up, so Andros would be the only face Leo would recognize.
But then why was Leo late if he had time travel? Well, we know that Aurico was riding with Leo when they got to the moon. It’s possible the time portal caused Leo to end up on Mirinoi in present day. Either he went to pick up Aurico, or Aurico’s planet was near by and met up with Aurico on the way there. And since Leo was at the battle, Tommy knew of the existence of the Lost Galaxy rangers, thus why in Dino Thunder he put them in the history. My guess is he got the footage from Time Force. I mean, he had footage of them traveling through a time hole in PRTF, where would he get that footage? (Cont. Last one, I swear)
(Cont from above)
ReplyDeleteNow, there’s one other question I’m sure you’re thinking of. In Forever Red, the megaship was mark II, not mark I. That’s true. But did Andros ever mention the first one being destroyed? Who’s to say that they just didn’t create Mark II because they were updating technology? Mark I was getting older, and needed to be retired. But it was left on earth in the event it a back up was needed to be used.
One other thing that you may be thinking, wouldn’t the character be significantly older since some time had passed. Well, surely they were older, no doubt about that. But it couldn’t have been that long. Again, in the Power Rangers Universe, it seems the advancement of technology is much faster than our world. So its very possible that all the characters from previous seasons could easily still be alive, and be close to the same age as they were in “In Space”.
Now, I know you haven’t seen all the seasons yet, and it’s possible as you watch, you may see something that could counter what I’ve said. I have explanations for that, but I’ll get to it once you catch up with all seasons. But is there anything I may be missing up to this point? Does this theory make sense and actually give us a believable fan explanation for why things happened to you?
(Apologizes for long post. Once I got this far, I realized I had to finish this thought.)
Heya Lewis,
ReplyDeleteI kept forgetting to tell you, I saw Tony Oliver at Sakura-Con last month and asked him if he was aware of your HOPR series. He said you'd asked him about doing it beforehand, and that he thought you have continued to do really well with it. =D
http://www.12thblog.com/wp-content/images/2011/02/d30/31.jpg
ReplyDeleteWell after they show they eventually have to make a living somehow lol.
What's the point of the "History" of the Power Rangers if you don't care that you left out important things? You don't even bother to name off any of dozens of weapons they used repeatedly for their Megazord.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe this. This is the result of six months worth of work? I understand that you have other things (like your storyline that has dragged on longer in terms of episodes than the number of issues in Countdown) but seriously, this feels like you just put it together in a a few days.
Based on what I see, it seemed like you just watched the a couple of episodes, and used wikipedia and the Rangerboard for the rest of your information.
First off, in Hurricanger, the sensei changed into a hamster to avoid capture, but forgot the part of the spell that would change himself back into human form (though of COURSE he changes back at series end). Second, Hurricanger didn't take itself too seriously either, but their villains (insect space ninja clan, btw) were MUCH more threatening than Lothor and his entourage. AND there was the team-up with Gaoranger (highly recommend checking it out). Third, absolutely love your reviews. Two thumbs WAY up.
ReplyDeleteI'm only posting this anonymous cause I'm to lazy to create and account.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering, lewis, if all the poer rangers seasons being on netflix is going to help speed up the reviews?
I know before I tried finding them all online and it was hard.
I'm obviously not rushing you :P, I was just curious
ok... im just diing to see the dino thunder review!!! can you at least tell me how much of it did you already make?
ReplyDelete@the June 26, 2011 anonymous commenter, watch Linkara's Wild Force review from 2:05-6:00.
ReplyDelete@9:48-54, Obelisk Blue, Ra Yellow? What's he talking about? ~_^
ReplyDeleteWell, I re- watched this season review and I remember why I dislike it...the season, your reviews are great even if I dont share the same opinions some times, this was for me the Disney era version of Turbo in Saban era. I hate it; it is to dull, even for PR and thats saying a lot.
ReplyDeleteIn the other hand, I been watching all the HOPR reviews and I grown to love the show; its fantastic, nostalgic and funny as hell. You are doing a truly awesome job.
Take your time for season, the waiting pays off with every new HOPR. However Im not going to lie to you: I cant wait for the next season.
Why? Without giving any damn spoilers I will say this: one day I was watching tv changing channels as bored as a rock when in a channel it was the intro for PR Dino thunder...My reaction was:
HOLY SHIT!!! is...! is...! They got...!!! Oh, I cant fucking believe it!!!. It was like time travelling to my youth back to the present and sit in front of the tv with the nostalgic fuel fully charged.
Damn Quilty
Looking back on ninja storm, I do admit it was goofy but I felt it was a nice change and I enjoyed the Disney era. Even thought Disney was getting board with the show, I felt that they did a good job with it. I did here that there was supposed do be a cartoon series but Disney didn't do anything with it.
ReplyDeleteEven though Power Rangers Ninja (Japanese for "Stealth Person") Storm has outstanding equipment and magically cool ninja powers, I have a hard time dealing with it due to the fact that most of its Rangers behave like stereotypical teenagers. Just because they're teenage in there, it doesn't mean that they should influence undergrown people into thinking that's how true teens are. I once thought. Boy, was I wrong?
ReplyDeleteI also have a problem with the villainesses who are known as Kapri and Marah. Seriously, their stereotypically Californian attitudes grind me gears.
Plus, I can't stand it when any of the Ninja Storm Rangers use the word "dude" in the usual way.
But I like Cam the best because he's smartest, most disciplined, and most mature of all the Rangers in that show. And he doesn't strike me as a stereotypical teenager.
Because of Cam's personality and powerful heroism, he should have been the leader of the main heroes in this series. Not only that. Every other NS (NInja Storm) Ranger could learn more than one thing from him. If you ask me, he's lucky to have parents who were magical and Japanese martial artists, which explains how developed the personality of a typical Asian (specifically, one who's Japanese).
A few other thing I want to point out about PRNS (Power Rangers Ninja Storm) are these:
ReplyDelete1. It doesn't have much of a Japanese feel.
2. Ninjor, who I'm guessing founded the Ninja Storm Academies, isn't referenced in it.
3. There's no telling of why Kia/Lothor wanted to be a villain.
1. What makes you think Ninjor founded the Academies? Especially when the show was SUPPOSED to be more stand-alone?
ReplyDelete2. Why are you posting on the BlogSpot? There is no reason to do so AT ALL anymore. The website has been around for a year. You can't even watch the videos here anymore what with Blip's closing.