Tag Evox

Power Rangers Beast Morphers, “Evox Unleashed” Review (Season Finale!)

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

***As big a Power Rangers fan as I am, I must admit: I’m a little behind on modern PR. Here’s where I attempt to fix that, as I check out episodes of Power Rangers Beast Morphers!***

Evox, giant form, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Evox UnleashedSERIES: Power Rangers Beast Morphers
EPISODE: S27:E22 – “Evox Unleashed”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Jamie Linehan (Voice)
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Johnny Hartmann
DIRECTOR: Simon Bennett
PREMIERE DATE: June 26, 2020 (UK), December 12, 2020 (US)
SYNOPSIS: Evox makes his ultimate play for control of the Morphin Grid. 

New around here? Check out the Power Rangers review archive!

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

As the city comes under attack by Evox, Zoey’s mother pleads with Commander Shaw to let Zoey, who she still thinks works in the laundry department, flee the city with her. This results in Zoey revealing her identity as the Yellow Ranger to her mother, and a great “I’m proud of you” moment to close out their story together. I also liked the scenes closing shot of Zoey’s mother and Commander Shaw, who are both mothers of Power Rangers.

Evox has been in the Grid Battleforce computer system and developed a resistance to the Rangers’ weapons. The Beast Morphers team works around this by using weapons from past Ranger teams. Specifically, weapons from Lightspeed Rescue, SPD, RPM, Dino Charge, and Ninja Steel.

Past Ranger Weapons, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Evox Unleashed

I see this more as a clever storyline use of the Grid Battleforce vault than a treat for longtime fans. But it is, indeed, yet another nod to seasons past. Beast Morphers has done a lot of that, to the point that it’s drawn some criticism from fans. Personally, I think Beast Morphers does a really nice job of walking the line between doing its own thing and pulling from the nostalgia column. If it utilized nostalgia and past Ranger stuff any more than it does, I might agree with its detractors. But I really think the show managed to find that sweet spot.

Steel heroically walks into the Morphin Grid vortex and stabs Evox with the antivirus arrow developed by Nate and Doctor K. Evox is unaffected, however, and kills Steel. This would have made for a satisfying, fitting end for his character. A cyborg who desperately wanted to be human ultimately sacrificing himself for all of humanity. That’s not how it turns out in the end. But it’s still a pretty epic moment.

After what winds up being a pretty brief battle against a giant and altered Evox, the Rangers are able to defeat him by striking at him with Morph-X infused with their own human DNA. So…did Evox go out like a chump? Yeah, kinda. But keep in mind, in “Source Code” Doctor K was worried about traces of the Venjix virus still being in the RPM dimension. So who’s to say there aren’t traces of the virus elsewhere? Perhaps we haven’t seen the last of Venjix/Evox after all…

The Morphin Grid restores Steel after the battle is over, making him human. Annoyingly, they dub Jamie Linehan’s slightly altered voice over that of the young actor they cast as human Steel. Given what they do with Jamie Linehan and the song from “The Silva Switch” at the end of this episode (more on that in a bit), I’d have just let the kid give a traditional performance as Steel.

In yet another goodie for longtime fans, James Gaylyn cameos as Colonel Mason Truman near the end of the episode, escorting Scrozzle into Grid Battleforce’s custody alongside Ben and Betty. There’s another potential spin-off story: Ben and Betty: Monster Hunters.

Blaze and Roxy, the real Blaze and Roxy that is, kind of got shoved off to the side for this finale, didn’t they? We see Roxy helping get people to safety when Evox attacks the city, and then later she acts as a pretty thing for Ravi to paint. Then we briefly see Blaze working as Steel’s stunt double.

We learn in the closing moments of the episode that Devon has taken over Commander Shaw’s job, and that Shaw has been promoted to general. If it were me in charge, I might have taken that opportunity to make Blaze the new Red Ranger. That way, his development as a character bears fruit, as he earns the position he was supposed to have at the start of the series.

On the subject of Shaw (who irritatingly never got a first name…), she’s conspicuously absent from Steel’s birthday party in the episode’s closing scene. As are Blaze and Roxy, come to think of it. They’re Steel’s friends too, aren’t they? What gives?

I adore that they used the song from “The Silva Switch” to close out the episode. A fitting tribute to Steel’s journey over the course of the series, and a callback to one of my favorite episodes of Beast Morphers.

In the end, Power Rangers Beast Morphers turned out to be a good show. Not great, but good. Very, very good. Better than anything I’ve seen from the so-called “Neo-Saban Era” of the show, i.e. everything between Samurai and Ninja Steel. The characters were all likable, despite most of them suffering from what I would classify as informed attributes. The villains were formidable. Beast Morphers acknowledged elements from the show’s past in a manner unforeseen up to this point, while still keeping its primary focus on the current team. (“Grid Connection” is an exception to that rule, but I’d argue that was largely dictated by the Sentai footage.)

All in all, Beast Morphers was a step up for the show, and in hindsight, a good omen for things to come…

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers, “Source Code” Review (Evox’s Big Reveal!)

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

***As big a Power Rangers fan as I am, I must admit: I’m a little behind on modern PR. Here’s where I attempt to fix that, as I check out episodes of Power Rangers Beast Morphers!***

Evox, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Source CodeSERIES: Power Rangers Beast Morphers
EPISODE: S27:E21 – “Source Code”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Andrew Laing (Voice)
GUEST-STARRING: Olivia Tennet
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Chip Lynn
DIRECTOR: Simon Bennett
PREMIERE DATE: June 26, 2020 (UK), December 5, 2020 (US) 
SYNOPSIS: Evox infiltrates Grid Battleforce, and a terrible secret is revealed.

New around here? Check out the Power Rangers review archive!

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

“Source Code” contains what, up to that point at least, may very well be the biggest surprise in the show’s history: That Evox and Venjix from Power Rangers RPM are, in fact, the same entity. This twist was apparently planned from the get-go. In hindsight, the return of Doctor K obviously serves as evidence of that. What’s more, Randall Ewing, the voice of Evox, is a pseudonym for Andrew Laing, the actor who voiced Venjix in RPM.

For viewers unfamiliar with RPM, this is just another layer to the Venjix character. But for lifetime Power Rangers geeks like yours truly, it’s not just a continuity nod, it’s a full-on incorporation of a piece of the show’s history, the likes of which had never been seen on the show before. It solidifies Venjix/Evox as one of the most formidable villains in Power Rangers history.

Indeed, at the end of RPM, we saw that the Venjix virus had survived by hiding in the red Cell Shift Morpher. So the stage had been set for a Venjix return. But based on the nature of the show, we had no reason to suspect he’d ever actually return. Except for possibly in an RPM/Samurai team-up, but that wasn’t the direction they ultimately took things. It’s hard for me to find anything negative to hurl at this twist…

Actually, there is one minor thing. Once we get the reveal, Evox’s voice changes to the one Laing used for Venjix in RPM. Personally, I prefer the Evox voice. I’d have used the Venjix one for the big reveal, but then reverted back to Evox. That’s the one nitpick I have.

We flash back to see that a young Nate accidentally created Evox by attempting to incorporate snake DNA into a the red Cell Shift Morpher (shown above). Incidentally, also seen in the flashback are (checks Ranger Wiki to make sure…) a Rev Morpher and from RPM, a Sky Morpher from RPM, a pair of Mystic Morphers from Mystic Force, a pair of Overdrive Trackers from Operation Overdrive, and a Gosei Morpher from Megaforce. Great little Easter eggs for PR geeks.

We’ll chalk it up to youthful naïveté that our young prodigy was doing something as overtly evil-sounding as experimenting with snake DNA. Using what appears to be, of all things, a big jelly jar filled with the stuff in liquid form, complete with a picture of a venomous snake on it.

It’s, of course, great to see more of Doctor K. She and Nate obviously have a lot in common in terms of unleashing the Venjix virus on their respective worlds. The show takes full advantage of that, and it’s tremendous to see.

Before she returns home, Doctor K mentions the possibility that there are traces of the Venjix virus in her dimension. There’s a potential story there, somewhere…

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers, “Crunch Time” Review

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

***As big a Power Rangers fan as I am, I must admit: I’m a little behind on modern PR. Here’s where I attempt to fix that, as I check out episodes of Power Rangers Beast Morphers!***

SERIES: Power Rangers Beast Morphers
EPISODE: S27:E20 – “Crunch Time”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Colby Strong
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale
DIRECTOR: Simon Bennett
PREMIERE DATE: June 25, 2020 (UK), November 28, 2020 (US)
SYNOPSIS: Devon faces pressure to change up his leadership style.

New around here? Check out the Power Rangers review archive!

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

I hated this episode. Absolutely hated it. Almost everybody in it looks like an idiot. The Rangers? Idiots. Commander Shaw? Idiot. Grid Battleforce at large? Idiots. Robo-Blaze? Idiot. It’s my least favorite episode of Beast Morphers, by far. And maybe, just maybe, one of my least favorite episodes the series has produced in almost 30 years.

Let’s talk about it, shall we?

The plot of this episode centers around Robo-Blaze impersonating the real Blaze to infiltrate Grid Battleforce and influence the Rangers, Devon in particular. Conceptually, there’s nothing wrong with that. And the way they play it, the audience knows from the start that it’s Robo-Blaze. They don’t flat out say it until the end. But I would think it’s rather obvious, even to little children. That doesn’t exactly make it a thrilling watch. But it’s a way to go.

The jig is up at the end of the episode when the real Blaze calls the Rangers from a karate tournament in Japan. And if you think about that with even a shred of logic or reason, you see there’s a giant hole in Robo-Blaze and Evox’s plan to get into Grid Battleforce. Blaze is friends with the Rangers. He could have, theoretically, called them any time. Blaze and Evox left themselves totally exposed.

What’s more, it’s common knowledge at Grid Battleforce that Blaze has an evil doppleganger running around. And you’ve got this guy acting uncharacteristically uptight, mean, and critical, especially toward Cruise. And yet nobody, not the Rangers, not Commander Shaw, not anybody at Grid Battleforce, thought to run a precautionary scan on him? Especially before letting him into their damn base?!?

I understand that Power Rangers is, first and foremost, a kids show. And sometimes, you’ve got to simplify the writing for the sake of that young audience. But at the same time, kids aren’t stupid. They don’t necessarily need to be written down to. Unfortunately, that’s what this episode did, to the extent that it was pretty much ruined.

Also, if I hear one of the Rangers say one more time, as Devon does in this episode, that one of the Beast Bots is “more than just a Beast Bot. He’s my friend.”, I’m gonna snap. I don’t know how much that line has actually been said over the course of Beast Morphers. But it feels like it’s been about 20 times. We get it. Enough.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers, “Making Bad” Review (Goldar Returns…sort of)

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

***As big a Power Rangers fan as I am, I must admit: I’m a little behind on modern PR. Here’s where I attempt to fix that, as I check out episodes of Power Rangers Beast Morphers!***

Goldar Maximus, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Making BadSERIES: Power Rangers Beast Morphers
EPISODE: S27:E14 – “Making Bad”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Campbell Cooley (Voice)
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Maiya Thompson, James Collins, Cameron Dixon
DIRECTOR: Simon Bennett
PREMIERE DATE: June 17, 2020 (UK), October 17, 2020 (US)
SYNOPSIS: Evox’s forces debate which villain to revive to take on the Rangers.

New around here? Check out the Power Rangers review archive!

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

“Making Bad” is a strange episode. Not necessarily strange in a bad way. But strange nonetheless.

The premise is that Scrozzle, Robo-Blaze, Robo-Roxy, and the other villains are debating about which villains to bring back next with the Reanimizer. They watch old footage of villains like Koragg, Astronema, Lord Zedd, and Psycho Red before finally settling on their choice. As a long-time fan that’s really cool to see, even if the footage is “watered down” (more on that in a bit).

But from a storytelling perspective, it’s odd that the episode spends so much time teaching us about villains we ultimately won’t end up seeing.  The four villains mentioned above have no impact on Beast Morphers whatsoever. So what’s the point in talking about them? Simple fanservice?

Lord Zedd footage, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Making Bad

Incidentally, seeing how much Lord Zedd is emphasized in this episode and the previous one, I can’t help but wonder if at this point they already knew what they were going to do with Zedd in Dino Fury…

Most of the retro footage we see in this episode has a “watered down” feel to it, as it’s all been re-dubbed by different voice actors. It’s not limited to actors inside suits, either. The “conventional” performances, where you can see the actors’ faces, are dubbed as well. For instance, in the footage we see from Power Rangers in Space, Melody Perkins (Astronema) and Christopher Kayman Lee (Andros) are dubbed over by new actors. And for the most part the original actors, like Perkins and Lee, weren’t used for the dubbing. (The only major exception is Koragg/Leonbow, whose actor Geoff Dolan does return).

According to research done by Linkara, this may have something to do with voice-only tracks for those old episodes not being available. Whether that’s actually the case or not, the effect is the same: It sucks. It really takes the punch out of seeing characters like Zedd and Astronema referenced in modern PR.

Trivia note: The actress who dubs for Rita’s voice, Susan Brady, also voiced the character during her brief appearance in Mystic Force.

After Robo-Roxy suggests Astronema be revived, Robo-Blaze says she should remember Astronema became a good guy from Ranger History Class. So wait, Blaze and Roxy took the class too?!? Who’s in this class, anyway? Did Nate take it too? Are Devon, Ravi, and Zoey still taking it as the series continues? I want to know!!!

Robo-Roxy, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Making Bad

Robo-Roxy is batting a thousand in this episode, as she refers to King Mondo from Zeo as “King Mondu.” Whoops.

While the villains are debating about who to bring back, the Rangers spend some time hunting for a jewel thief who picks his targets in alphabetical order. It ultimately turns out to be a Robotron, who may very well be the stupidest jewel thief of all time.

Evox’s forces ultimately choose to revive Goldar, albeit an “upgraded” and enhanced version of Goldar. He’ll ultimately be referred to as Goldar Maximus, so that’s what we’ll call him here. Once again, Goldar’s original voice actor, Kerrigan Mahan, is not used. I’m not sure if it was a union issue (which Power Rangers has run into historically), an issue of not wanting to pay a certain amount to get him, or something else. Even more than the dubbed retro footage, that hurts the final product. No disrespect to Adrian Smith, who was ultimately picked to voice Goldar Maximus. But as a kid, a huge part of why Goldar had such an imposing presence, especially in season one, was because of the beastly and animalistic voice Mahan used. It just doesn’t feel like Goldar without him doing the voice.

Behind the scenes, the decision to use Goldar was dictated by the Sentai source material they’d been using for “Finders Keepers,” this episode, and the next episode, the movie Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger vs. Go-Busters: The Great Dinosaur Battle! Farewell, Our Eternal Friends. (Yeesh. That’s a title…) The film sees Goldar’s Sentai counterpart, Grifforzer, return in the altered form we see here. So to a large extent, if they wanted to use Kyoryuger vs. Go-Busters, they had to use Goldar…

Goldar Maximus, image 2, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Making Bad

Or did they? Would it have been too lame to make the altered Grifforzer suit Goldar’s son, or some kind of relative? That would solve the Kerrigan Mahan issue.

On Evox’s order, Goldar kills Sledge for his insolence. That’s a nice little feather in Goldar’s cap, as Sledge was, of course, a lead villain. And I have no doubt Sledge will be back somewhere down the line. Beast Morphers was the third consecutive series he’d appeared in, after Dino Charge and Ninja Steel. The guy is hard to keep down, that’s all I’m sayin’.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers, “The Evox Snare” Review (Doctor K Returns!)

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

***As big a Power Rangers fan as I am, I must admit: I’m a little behind on modern PR. Here’s where I attempt to fix that, as I check out episodes of Power Rangers Beast Morphers!***

SERIES: Power Rangers Beast Morphers
EPISODE: S27:E10 – “The Evox Snare”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Kevin Copeland
GUEST-STARRING: Olivia Tennet
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Chip Lynn
DIRECTOR: Simon Bennett
PREMIERE DATE: June 11, 2020 (UK), September 19, 2020 (US)
SYNOPSIS: Devon desperately tries to save his father before it’s too late.

New around here? Check out the Power Rangers review archive!

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Judd “Chip” Lynn co-wrote this episode, and also did the teleplay. It’s is first writing credit on the show since the premiere. Fitting and likely not an accident he came back for this episode, as he was the showrunner for the second half of RPM. In addition to the various other PR seasons he lead and/or worked on, of course.

I appreciate that Devon seems to be the only one concerned about safely separating his father from Evox. Meanwhile, Commander Shaw and the others are more fixated on simply stopping Evox. It makes sense, and would naturally prompt Devon to go looking for alternative solutions.

Devon reaches out to Doctor K, who we know from 2009’s Power Rangers RPM, played once again by Olivia Tennet. It’s just a little cameo. But it’s still really cool. And it does raise some questions…

In doing his research into past Ranger teams, Devon apparently had Cruise go looking through “Ranger records.” That’s just an arbitrary phrase of course. The Beast Morphers team isn’t the first to have data on previous Ranger teams. Especially in recent seasons. The Megaforce Rangers had one. Next season we’ll see that Mick has one, and subsequently the Dino Fury Rangers have one. So are these databases all independently assembled? Or are is there an archivist out there somewhere that’s collecting this information? Could it be Gosei and Tensou from Megaforce?

What’s more, “Dimensions in Danger,” the 25th anniversary episode aired during Ninja Steel, reaffirmed that RPM and Dino Charge both took place in alternate dimensions. Is the existence of this multiverse going to be known to all teams going forward?

Incidentally, my own little headcanon has always been that SPD takes place in an alternate dimension. But more on that another day.

Doctor K points Devon in the direction of the Split-Emitters from Dino Charge. Later, Devon, Ben, and Betty go into said vault, where we see a lot of props from past seasons. Ben and Betty reference items from Dino Thunder, Mystic Force, and Operation Overdrive. And there were Blade Blasters from Mighty Morphin front and center. It’s surprising that the show took the time to revel in its own retro geekery. Not something it should be doing often, but really neat when it does.

Nate says that he used said Ranger tech as the basis for developing their team’s tech. Again, this begs the question of where he got all this old tech. Particularly tech from another dimension. Grid Battleforce must have some kind of transdimensional partnership with the RPM and Dino Charge universes. It would explain why Commander Shaw didn’t seem to bat an eye when Devon got a call from another dimension.

Steel uses his blaster to blow up a tanker truck filled with Morph-X so the bad guys don’t get away with it. Considering Morph-X is supposed to be flammable, the resulting explosion doesn’t seem like it was nearly big enough.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers, “Secret Struggle” Review

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

***As big a Power Rangers fan as I am, I must admit: I’m a little behind on modern PR. Here’s where I attempt to fix that, as I check out episodes of Power Rangers Beast Morphers!***

Zoey, Nate, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Secret StruggleSERIES: Power Rangers Beast Morphers
EPISODE: S27:E9 – “Secret Struggle”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Jamie Linehan (Voice)
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Johnny Hartmann
DIRECTOR: Oliver Driver
PREMIERE DATE: April 25, 2020
SYNOPSIS: Steel tries to play matchmaker with Nate and Zoey.

New around here? Check out the Power Rangers review archive!

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Here we have the latest in what I’ll refer to as Beast Morphers‘ sequel episodes, i.e. episodes that follow up on plot threads from the first season. “Artist Anonymous” was, of course, a sequel to “Gorilla Art.” “Sound and Fury” got a sequel episode with “Beast King Rampage.” Now, this episode once again follows up on “Sound and Fury” by forwarding the Nate and Zoey romance.

After Steel finds out Nate and Zoey like each other, he flat out asks: “What’s the harm in dating?” Kind of an obvious question, isn’t it? Especially if you’re versed in your superhero media. Having romantic feelings for one of your teammates can impair your judgment in the field.

It makes me wonder: Are police officers and firefighters allowed to date one another? Assuming they work closely, of course. I imagine that, much like in the fantasy world of Power Rangers, it’s something that’s not necessarily encouraged. But what can you really do to stop it?

Zoey, Nate, image 2, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Secret Struggle

I visibly cringed when they had Nate and Zoey recreate the famous pasta moment from Lady and the Tramp. Between that, and the picnic bit with Ravi and Roxy back in “Believe It Or Not,” Power Rangers is embracing romance at its most stereotypical and superficial. It’s not the worst thing for a kids show to do. But it’s disappointing. If you go back at look at the more memorable romances in the show’s history (Tommy and Kimberly, Andros and Ashley, Wes and Jen, or even Ollie and Amelia in Dino Fury) they rarely if ever had to do any of that. You can do romance on a kids show without diving into that kind of thing. That approach almost seems lazy, truth be told.

I came into Beast Morphers under the mistaken impression that Nate and Zoey were going to get to kiss at some point. Obviously, I was mistaken. Are Tommy and Kimberly the only couple in the history of this show to get a proper kiss? If not, they definitely have the most notable one. And that was almost 30 years ago. It was the early ’90s, man. A different time.

I love how, in an attempt to prevent himself from overheating, the Blue Ranger uses a little hand-held fan. It’s hokey, and of course would never work. But it’s a funny visual.

Also funny? In the closing moments of the episode, as Evox/Mayor Daniels is running out of the building, all the good guys get briefly trapped behind the revolving door. Was that intentional? It must have been. Though in the Rangers’ defense, revolving doors do suck like that…

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers, “Artist Anonymous” Review

Rob Siebert 2 Comments

***As big a Power Rangers fan as I am, I must admit: I’m a little behind on modern PR. Here’s where I attempt to fix that, as I check out episodes of Power Rangers Beast Morphers!***

Ravi, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Artist AnonymousSERIES: Power Rangers Beast Morphers
EPISODE: S27:E4. “Artist Anonymous”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Teuila Blakely
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Johnny Hartmann
DIRECTOR: Simon Bennett
PREMIERE DATE: March 14, 2020
SYNOPSIS: Ravi is forced to come clean to his mother about his artistic interests.

New around here? Check out the Power Rangers review archive!

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

This whole “Ravi hides his artistic talents from his mother” story probably could have gotten its point across in a single episode. We didn’t really need to come back to it again this season. But at the same time, I can appreciate them drawing it out for the sake of character depth and development. You take the good with the bad in this instance.

I’ve talked before about how nice it’s been to explore the relationships the Rangers have with their parents, as we do with Ravi and Commander Shaw in this episode. But one character we haven’t had that luxury with is Nate. They weren’t mentioned in the Christmas episode, when all the Rangers talked about their holiday plans with their families. Have we established where they are? If we have, it must have been in a throwaway line or something, as I can’t recall it…

On the subject of parents, one thing I realized when watching this episode: Commander Shaw doesn’t have a first name. She apparently never gets one, either. Whoops.

Commander Shaw, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Artists Anonymous

Evox/Mayor Daniels approves the painting of a mural on the Grid Battleforce building. So…is Grid Battleforce supposed to be a secret organization? They must not be, considering they’re drawing attention to the building they operate in. Not to mention the previously alluded to campaign to use Morph-X across the globe.

Scrozzle mentions upgrading this episode’s Gigadrone with Gamertron’s “dome projection technology” from the previous episode. In essence, that means we get the big black bubble again for this episode’s zord fight. Is that going to become a regular thing? I wouldn’t necessarily complain…

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers, “Game On” Review

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

***As big a Power Rangers fan as I am, I must admit: I’m a little behind on modern PR. Here’s where I attempt to fix that, as I check out episodes of Power Rangers Beast Morphers!***

Kerry, Devon, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Game OnSERIES: Power Rangers Beast Morphers
EPISODE: S27:E3 – “Game On”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Molly Leishman
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Johnny Hartmann
DIRECTOR: Oliver Driver
PREMIERE DATE: March 7, 2020
SYNOPSIS: A new Robotron creates evil clones of the Rangers.

New around here? Check out the Power Rangers review archive!

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

When we open the episode, Devon is in the finals of a video game competition against a new character, Kerry. But it’s unlike any video game we have in the real world. Nate says the game uses augmented reality and hard-light constructs. So the effect is basically that Devon and Kerry are controlling two real human beings fighting one another.

Mainstream tech is pretty different in the PR universe, isn’t it? Not only do we have this video game stuff, but it wasn’t long ago that Sarah had a hoverboard in Ninja Steel.

Kerry reveals that she needs the prize money from the competition to pay for surgery for her little brother, who we see is on crutches. How’s this for an episode: The Power Rangers take on the American healthcare system.

The subplot with Betty falling for a video game character was silly, of course. But the moment it got us to between her and Ben was pretty sweet. So it was worth it.

Ultrazord, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Game On

This episode’s zord fight takes place in a big black bubble that cuts of the Rangers’ Morph-X supply. I can’t say I mind that. It’s different, and the red sky look is cool.

Something I do mind? The Beast-X Ultrazord being the Rangers’ go-to zord formation. Its design is awkward and cluttered. Not sleek in the least.

We get confirmation in this episode that Evox is, indeed, inhabiting Mayor Daniels’ body. We already knew that based on what we saw in “Evox: Upgraded.” But now it’s official.

If they were going to have Kevin Copeland pull double-duty as both Evox and Devon’s dad, I might have ditched the suit they ultimately used for Evox’s body. Why not put some make-up on Copeland and fashion a similar-looking outfit for him? Might have looked cool.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers, “Save Our Shores” Review

Rob Siebert 2 Comments

***As big a Power Rangers fan as I am, I must admit: I’m a little behind on modern PR. Here’s where I attempt to fix that, as I check out episodes of Power Rangers Beast Morphers!***

SERIES: Power Rangers Beast Morphers
EPISODE: S27:E2 – “Save Our Shores”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Liana Ramirez
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale
DIRECTOR: Simon Bennett
PREMIERE DATE: February 29, 2020
SYNOPSIS: Scrozzle creates robot duplicates of Blaze and Roxy.

New around here? Check out the Power Rangers review archive!

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

As Power Rangers is a kids show, using kids humor, I seldom like to say that something is “stupid.” But that bit where Ben and Betty mistake glue for sunscreen, and then proceed to go around picking up trash with their exposed skin? Stupid. Like, objectively stupid.

Based on the amount of crystals we see, I’m guessing Evox’s base is now located in the Crystal Dimension that I’ve heard about elsewhen. Aesthetically, it looks like it’s pretty much the same as the Cyber Dimension, only with a yellow sky instead of red, and a bunch of crystals everywhere. Fair enough, I suppose.

Roxy says her aunt “put me in charge of everything,” presumably as it relates to the beach clean-up. Question: How old are our Rangers supposed to be? College-aged? Post-college? They must be. We’ve never seen them in high school or anything. Either way, that’s a lot of responsibility for somebody so young…

Longtime Power Rangers fans may recognize Roxy’s Aunt Regina as Miriama Smith, who played Elsa way back in Dino Thunder. She does well, as expected. But they did her no favors with the grammar-butchering line: “A bunch of salty sea creatures is not our problem.” Seriously? How’d that get left in there?

Incidentally, Roxy’s aunt works for a company called Collins Industries. Way back in Time Force, Wes and his greedy corporate mogul father had the last name Collins. Are they connected? Probably not. But it’s fun to think about.

Trappertron causes a huge explosion right after trapping Blaze and Roxy in his cage. Maybe a little too big. Blaze, Roxy, and Zoey should probably all be dead and burnt to a crisp. Or at least injured.

After scanning Blaze and Roxy, Scrozzle is able to create robot duplicates of them. This essentially ushers in the return of the evil avatars. It’ll be interesting to see how the good and evil counterparts co-exist throughout the season.

It’s interesting to me that Blaze and Roxy, the real versions as opposed to the evil robots, are in the friends group with Devon and the others. As such, they feel like they should be Rangers, even though they’re not. I’m curious to see how they’re used going forward.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers, “Evox: Upgraded” Review

Rob Siebert 3 Comments

***As big a Power Rangers fan as I am, I must admit: I’m a little behind on modern PR. Here’s where I attempt to fix that, as I check out episodes of Power Rangers Beast Morphers!***

SERIES: Power Rangers Beast Morphers
EPISODE: S26:E20 – “Evox: Upgraded”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Colby Strong
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Johnny Hartmann
DIRECTOR: Simon Bennett
PREMIERE DATE: December 7, 2019
SYNOPSIS: The Rangers journey into the Cyber Dimension to save Devon and defeat Evox.

New around here? Check out the Power Rangers review archive!

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

This episode squeezes a lot into 22 minutes. We get the Rangers traveling into the Cyber Dimension for the first time. We get resolution to the conflict between Devon and his father. Blaze gets his own zord and battles the Red Ranger in the Beast Racer Zord. There’s also the apparent defeat of Evox and his forces. If this were the end of Beast Morphers, I’d actually call it rushed. But as it’s only our first season finale, and this is all a fakeout ending, “Evox: Upgraded” gets a pass as simply fast-paced.

It’s funny what little things you notice, and when. That “GB” logo has been on the Rangers’ suits, and all over the show since the first episode. But I never really noticed it until early in this episode, when we see the Rangers without their helmets on. It stands for Grid Battleforce, obviously. But naturally, I suspect that in Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters, the GB in question stood for Go-Busters.

This episode marks the first time we see Evox in his physical body (shown above), as opposed to being a CGI snake. Question: Are they allowed to show skulls on Super Sentai and/or Power Rangers? Or are they deemed too scary? They’ve done it in the past. But that was then, this is now. I ask because it really feels like whoever designed this suit for Go-Busters wanted the head to be a metallic skull of sorts. It looks fine the way it is. But a skull might have made him look more formidable and intimidating.

Is this episode the first time we see the Steel robot head on top of the Silver Ranger’s body, indicating that the Silver Ranger has removed his helmet? Either way I kind of like that look, even though strictly speaking, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. The Silver Ranger is just an alternate, powered up form of Steel’s robot form, right? So why would he need to take the helmet off?

Cruise really came through in this episode, didn’t he? He piloted the Beast Racer Zord in Devon’s absence, and then helped Devon escape from the Cyber Dimension before the gate closed. Hopefully somebody gave him an oil bath or something…

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.