Tag Hengemen

Power Rangers Dino Fury, “Things Unspoken” Review

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

Fern, Green Ranger, Power Rangers Dino Fury, Things UnspokenSERIES: Power Rangers Dino Fury

EPISODE: S29:E17 – “Things Unspoken”
STARRING: Russell Curry, Hunter Deno, Kai Moya, Tessa Rao, Chance Perez, Jordan Fite
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Maiya Thompson
DIRECTOR: Charlie Haskell
PREMIERE DATE: September 29, 2022

SYNOPSIS: Izzy’s Ranger duties jeopardize her relationship with Fern.

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By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

“Things Unspoken” is a really good episode, with Izzy facing some serious secret identity drama. Not just with Fern, which is obviously the center of this episode, but with her choice of college, as well as her father. Power Rangers doesn’t always maximize its potential for drama when it comes to the heart-wrenching “hero life vs. personal life” stuff. But it does with “Things Unspoken,” and it’s the fans that ultimately reap the benefits.

So Izzy doesn’t want to attend her original college of choice, because it would take her away from Pine Ridge, the epicenter of her Ranger duties. This jeopardizes her relationship with Fern, who is attending said college. It also potentially puts her at odds with her father, who’s been working with her toward getting into that school.

The way this episode was assembled made me think of the way the show would write a character off back in the Mighty Morphin days. Jason, Zack, and Trini went away to a peace conference. Kimberly went away to be a competitive gymnast. And if the show were still operating the same way, Izzy would have gone away to college with Fern.

Green Ranger, Power Rangers Dino Fury, Things Unspoken

That entire playground fight sequence with the Green Ranger, Mucus, and the Hengemen was excellent. It looked like at least part of it was Sentai footage from Ryusoulger. If that’s the case, the transition between the Japanese and American footage was pretty seamless. Well done.

As Fern is leaving Pine Ridge on the bus, she calls out to Izzy: “May the power protect you!” That was a nice little moment. It does pose the question, though: Is that phrase public knowledge? I thought it was just a thing for Rangers…?

Oh well.

If we were ever going to get a same-sex kiss on this show, that last scene at the bus station would have been the time. Not that I was expecting one. This show is reticent enough about male-female kisses. Let alone one between two women.

Still, we got an “I love you” from both sides. By Power Rangers standards, that’s pretty good.

I had a thought about Fern as the episode was ending: As we know, the Dino Fury Rangers are sticking around through next year’s Cosmic Fury season. But if they wanted to extend the Dino Fury stuff out even further, they could make Fern into a Ranger in whatever incarnation of PR follows Cosmic Fury. I’m sure Jaqueline Joe, who plays Fern, would be up for it. And Tessa could come back here and there to do cameos. Seems like a win-win scenario to me!

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

Power Rangers Dino Fury, “Crossed Wires” Review

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

SERIES: Power Rangers Dino Fury
TITLE: S28:E18 – “Crossed Wires”
STARRING: Russell Curry, Hunter Deno, Kai Moya, Tessa Rao, Chance Perez, Jordan Fite
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Guy Langford
DIRECTOR: Caroline Bell-Booth
ORIGINAL U.S. AIR DATE: October 15, 2021 (Netflix)
SYNOPSIS: Izzy’s shortcomings in her electronics class leak into her Ranger duties.

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

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Nice to see them use Fern as Izzy’s actual girlfriend. As opposed to a character to be discarded after her big moment earlier this season.

After Izzy messes up with the sleep gas device and teleports away, the civilians in the park wake up. We then have a bit of ADR dialogue where a woman talks about a strange dream where “goblins were turning people into trees.” That in itself actually sounds like the plot of a Power Rangers episode. Possibly better than this one…

The initial fight between the Rangers and the Hengemen takes place at what looks like a heavy duty industrial factory type place. I like that, as for some reason it makes me think of the original Saban era of the show. We had a decent amount of factory fights those first 10 years or so. For whatever reason, it’s a setting that works well.

I like that we sort of have a double lesson going on in this episode. Obviously, Izzy was lying to her friends about being good at electronics. So she gets hers there. But we’ve also got Ollie learning to be patient with Izzy as she learns. Hopefully, by the time Dino Fury is over, we’ll have the sense that Ollie has learned to be a little less pompous in general.

Power Rangers Dino Fury, Crossed Wires, Ollie and Izzy

We get the debut of the Fusion Ultrazord here. It’s…another zord. Meh. I’ll say this much: When I was a kid, Ultrazords were big tank type things. Now we have Ultrazords that can walk, punch, etc. Times change, I guess.

After Mucus escapes with the Sporix, Amelia says, “Oh Fungus!” That is not what I initially thought she said…

An unexpected appearance from Amelia’s Pop-Pop at the end there. Dino Fury has a nicely full supporting cast.

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

Power Rangers Dino Fury, “Destination Dinohenge” Review

Rob Siebert 4 Comments

SERIES: Power Rangers Dino Fury
EPISODE: S28.E1. “Destination Dinohenge”
STARRING: Russell Curry, Hunter Deno, Kai Moya
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale
DIRECTOR: Charlie Haskell
ORIGINAL AIR DATE: February 20, 2021
SYNOPSIS: Two youngsters uncover Dinohenge, a lair containing secrets from 65 million years ago…

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

I like that Amelia, our new Pink Ranger, is a reporter. It creates a cool little Clark Kent/Superman vibe. More importantly, reporters are the often unsung heroes of our society. So it’s nice that Power Rangers is creating that connection for kids. I also like the name of the web site she works for: “Buzz Blast.” It’s a thinly veiled allusion to BuzzFeed.

Apparently Amelia is also a Ghostbuster. That “spook snare” reminded me of the Ninja Steel premiere, when Sarah showed up with an honest-to-God hoverboard.

So Dinohenge is filled with “Hengemen,” who will apparently serve as the henchmen for this season. Get it? Hengemen? Henchmen? Brilliant…

As the Hengemen are preparing to attack, Amelia says she’s taken three years of karate. Ollie, our new Blue Ranger, replies with “Yeah, me too.” Does that mean Ollie has taken three years of karate too? If so, that’s a remarkable coincidence even by kids show standards. I’d like to think it was just a general affirmation that he too knows karate.

After they’ve morphed, and Amelia asks Ollie what else they get with these new powers, he says: “If you watch the news, zords!” I like that line a lot. Not only does it tie into Amelia’s job, but it’s a nice reference to the fact that the Power Rangers get plenty of news coverage in their universe.

Design-wise, those helmets are pretty busy. They’re going to be an acquired taste. But I’ll get there.

The bad guy’s name in this episode is “Void Knight.” I can’t decide if I like that name. Look at a thesaurus, and you’ll see it’s a degree or two away from “Bare Champion.” You don’t want a Bare Champion on Power Rangers. Bear Champion? Maybe. Bare Champion? No.

After we get acquainted with Zayto, our new Red Ranger freshly awakened from a 65 million year hypersleep, he reads Amelia and Ollie’s minds. He calls Ollie “a rational, logical adventurer and scientist.” He refers to Amelia as, an “imaginative, unstoppable truth seeker.”

It’s rare that a show flat out gives you the rundown for some of its characters. It’s contrived, yet amusing.

I wonder what Russell Curry, who plays Zayto, thinks of those tentacles he has to wear. You think they told him that at the audition? Probably not.

Solon, our resident helper (a la Alpha 5 or Redbot) this season, is a cyborg dinosaur. That’s amazing. Have we not had a cyborg dinosaur in two and a half decades of Power Rangers? I’m thinkin’ we haven’t…

We see the Morphing Masters (or is it Morphin Masters?) in this episode. That name dates all the way back to an expository line from season one. But we’ve never seen any characters called the Morphing Masters until now. That level of attention to detail, especially on a show primarily meant for young children, is really cool.

Zayto says the other Knights of Rafkon were “lost” in battle. Which, in Power Rangers speak, means they probably died. So who wants to bet on when one or all of them shows up in an episode? Are we thinking end of season one? Or are we going into season two?

Overall, I dug this premiere. I tend to like it when the show paces itself like it did here. We haven’t had any zords or big city battles yet. The show took its time and allowed us to get to know Amelia and Ollie a little bit. Things felt like they unfolded organically.

A good start to what will hopefully be a good series.

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