Tag Ollie Akana (Power Rangers)

Power Rangers Dino Fury, “The Truth” Review

Rob Siebert 2 Comments

Amelia antennae, Power Rangers Dino Fury, The TruthSERIES: Power Rangers Dino Fury

EPISODE: S29:E21 – “The Truth”
STARRING: Russell Curry, Hunter Deno, Kai Moya, Tessa Rao, Chance Perez, Jordan Fite
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale
DIRECTOR: Simon Bennett
PREMIERE DATE: September 29, 2022

SYNOPSIS: Amelia learns the truth about her parents…and herself.

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

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

In viewing Pop-Pop’s memories, Amelia learns that her parents were from Rafkon, and gave her up to save her from the destruction of Area 62. Thus, Amelia is able to sprout antennae like Zayto and Aiyon.

This was out of left field for me. But not in a bad way. It was a genuine surprise, and a nice way to connect Amelia’s family drama to the Rafkon story.

My only big complaint about the reveal of Amelia as a Rafkonian is that they didn’t give us a scene, or even a single line of dialogue, where Ollie is shocked and has come to grips with the fact that his girlfriend is…y’know, an alien. I’m assuming there just wasn’t time to do it. But it would have been fun.

One more minor complaint: Amelia’s subsequent line, “Guys, I think my parents were from Rafkon.” It comes off a little air-headed. I mean…duh? You’re standing there with antennae jutting out of your head just like the Rafkonians. Where else would they have been from? Aquitar?

Amelia, Rafkon reveal, Power Rangers Dino Fury, the Truth

Seeing Void Queen and Mucus on the Buzzblast set was cool. Sort of a “worlds colliding” type thing.”

Low and behold, Void Queen destroys Mucus to further empower herself in her cocooned form. Great villain moment for her.  Only a true heel would sacrifice her comic relief minion…

One thing I loved about this episode: It set up very specific, concrete stakes. We learn that if Void Queen’s cocoon explodes as she intends it to, “everything in a 30-mile radius will be vaporized.” We even get a little visual via the computer simulation. They could easily have gone with a much more vague, generic set-up. Something like, “Void Queen will become so powerful she’ll take over the world!” This was better. Much, much better.

Amelia gives Ollie a kiss on the cheek just before the other Rangers spring into action. If they were going to give those two a proper kiss this season, that might have been a good place to put it. Oh well. There’s always Cosmic Fury…

As if it’s not obvious, Amelia gets a lot of emphasis in this penultimate episode of the series. I can appreciate that. She’s been one of the better developed characters in Dino Fury. She and Izzy might be the top two. Dino Fury has definitely been one of the strongest shows on the female side of things that PR has ever done.

The Rangers whipped up a new morpher for Amelia pretty fast. A little too convenient, don’t you think?

When Amelia opens the safe from Pop-Pop’s memories and finds it empty, Izzy says, “I’m sorry Amelia. That really sucks.”Is that the first time someone has said that something “sucks” on Power Rangers? As far as I can remember, it is. Yet another memorable line for Izzy, I suppose.

The music during the flashback sequences was pretty effective. Kudos to Bert Selen.

Amelia learns that Santaura (Void Queen) is her mother and Tarrick (Void King) is her father. Also, they are all Rafkonians.

The revelation of Santaura and Tarrick as Amelia’s parents wasn’t a surprise, based simply on the flashback we saw in “The Invasion.” It was clearly them. Also, Amelia’s been talking about her parents for two seasons now. So you knew there had to be some kind of big reveal involving them. And the idea that it would been Void Queen and Void King made sense from a story and drama perspective. So it wasn’t entirely out of left field.

That being said, it’s a cool moment and a nice pay-off to all the build-up. Also, I didn’t expect them to be from Rafkon. That was a neat way to weave this family drama into the larger story of the series.

Once Void King realizes Amelia is his daughter, he reverts back to Tarrick. So Void King was defeated by…wait for it…love. Very cheesy. But not to the point that I don’t buy it.

There is, however, a giant plothole here. So two decades ago, Tarrick placed Santaura in suspended animation after she’s hurt in Area 62’s explosion. He then uses the Dino Knight morpher to become Void Knight. And then…nothing for 20 years? So what was he doing for all that time while Amelia was growing up? Did he also go into suspended animation for some reason? Was he off on some kind of quest? Could he have encountered other Power Ranger teams along the way? That’s a pretty frustrating plothole, and one uncharacteristic of Dino Fury. Unless I’m forgetting something…?

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Power Rangers Dino Fury, “Guilt Trip” Review

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

SERIES: Power Rangers Dino Fury

EPISODE: S29:E18 – “Guilt Trip”
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: Void Queen’s forces try and divide the Rangers’ attention across the globe.

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

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Ollie and Amelia are looking to book a stay at the Stine Hotel, which is supposedly haunted. I can only assumed that’s named after famed kids horror author R.L. Stine.

I wonder how much mileage they got out of that gag with the “bird poop” on Ollie’s mom. You think the little kids laughed at that? Hmm…

It’s always nice to see the actors on different sets and in different environments, i.e. something other than the usual locations. Dinohenge, Buzzblast, etc. The set they came up with for Osaka, Japan, seems a little on-the-nose as far as the look of the little buildings, the paper lanterns, etc. But I suppose they have to get the point across to the little kids, right? I appreciated the lab set too.

Sugarhit, the monster in this episode, throws pies and tries to lure the Rangers into a trap using a giant meringue shell. That’s not quite as cheesy as the Rangers getting baked into a giant pizza back in Turbo. But it’s close.

Either way, this show is gloriously ridiculous.

Javi before a fight with Sugarhit: “Let’s pound this cake!” That…is not a line I would have used. Let’s just say that. Let’s just say the double entendres aren’t fit for a young audience.

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Power Rangers Dino Fury, “Love Hate” Review

Rob Siebert 2 Comments

SERIES: Power Rangers Dino Fury

EPISODE: S29:E13 – “Love Hate”
STARRING: Russell Curry, Hunter Deno, Kai Moya, Tessa Rao, Chance Perez, Jordan Fite
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Maiya Thompson
DIRECTOR: Robyn Grace
PREMIERE DATE: September 29, 2022

SYNOPSIS: Lord Zedd takes control of Ollie on Valentine’s Day.

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

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Campbell Cooley once again voices Scrozzle. Cooley also voices Slyther. At some point, Scrozzle and Slyther need to have some sort of dialogue together, just so I can hear Cooley’s two voices rub against one another.

Lord Zedd says Scrozzle “retrieved my staff from the Crystal Dimension.” Apparently that’s a thing from Beast Morphers that I haven’t gotten to yet. I’m assuming its some kind of place where villainous items from the past can be retrieved. I recall seeing Zedd’s staff in a clip from a Beast Morphers episode. So it must have been in this Crystal Dimension for some reason…

Tessa Rao, who plays Izzy, was really good in the Dinohenge scene where she learns about Ollie and Amelia’s feelings for each other. She came off genuinely happy and sympathetic.

Zedd to Ollie: “This is what you get for calling me radiator face!” That line is a callback to another callback.

Zedd and Scrozzle resurrect Boomtower as Boomblaster and give him some upgrades to take on the Rangers. Or rather…he’s a monster built with data from Boomtower? Eh. Let’s not split hairs. It’s Boomtower.

They finally leaned into the Ollie/Amelia romance for this episode. That’s obviously something the show had been building toward and teasing for a long while. In that sense, this episode is really satisfying.

I was pleasantly surprised that they ended up together at the end. I thought they’d draw the whole thing out a little longer by having Ollie lose his memory or something. But nope, they’re a couple!

But of course, they’re a couple who can’t kiss. (At least not until the end of the season…) That’s why Amelia wakes Ollie up at the end not by kissing him, but by telling him she likes him. Hokey, but perhaps a necessary concession on a show meant for young children.

At the end of the episode, we find out Zedd has the missing part of the Rangers’ Rafkon message. But it must be asked: Where did he get it?

The only potential hint for longtime PR fans is the fact that Rafkon is revealed to be “in the crux of the Onyx nebula.” A reference to the Onyx Tavern from in Space and Lost Galaxy, perhaps? I mean, probably not. But you never know.

I like that we now have two factions of villains: Void Queen’s group and Zedd’s group. It gives the show the feeling of having a rogues gallery, akin to a Batman or Spider-Man story.

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

Power Rangers Dino Fury, “Losers Weepers” Review

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

Aiyon, Izzy, Power Rangers Dino Fury, Losers WeepersSERIES: Power Rangers Dino Fury
EPISODE: S29:E10 – “Losers Weepers”
STARRING: Russell Curry, Hunter Deno, Kai Moya, Tessa Rao, Chance Perez, Jordan Fite
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Guy Langford
DIRECTOR: Catherine Bell-Booth
PREMIERE DATE: March 3, 2022
SYNOPSIS: A briefcase full of cash comes between Izzy and Aiyon.

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

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

We’re halfway through the second season, and we still don’t know much about what Area 62 was used for back in the day. We know it was shut down about 20 years ago, and we know Amelia’s grandfather used to work there. You’ve got to believe the latter leads to something.

Speak of the devil! Amelia’s Pop-Pop pops up in this episode!

Shortly after Mucus puts the collar on and grows gigantic, she backs into some power lines and gets electrocuted. I’m fairly certain that’s the first time such a thing has happened to a monster in almost 30 years of Power Rangers.

So Void Queen keeps Tarrick captured in her old resuscitation chamber? Yeesh, she really is evil. Hope he’s not claustrophobic.

Tarrick, Power Rangers Dino Fury, Losers Weepers

Void Queen says Flapnarok “had a brother. I forget his name.” Nice little continuity nod, though I had to look up what she was talking about. Apparently she’s referring to Dragnarok from way back in “New Recruits.”

They’re doing a nice job of slow-burning the build-up to Ollie and Amelia’s romance. This episode clearly isn’t about them, but they squeezed that little moment in where they’re polishing the swords.

But here’s the real question: Will they get to kiss?

So we have a giant monster attacking one half of the city, and then we have Aiyon be completely unaware of it on the other half. Only on Power Rangers, folks!

What really surprised me about this episode is that the Rangers make no mention of who the money in the briefcase really belonged to. That feels like a slam dunk Power Rangers lesson.

Flapnarok going splat on the moon was pretty cool. She made a satisfying “thud” sound.

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Power Rangers Dino Fury, “New Leaf” Review

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

Ollie, Amelia, Power Rangers Dino Fury, New LeafSERIES: Power Rangers Dino Fury
EPISODE: S29:E7 – “New Leaf”
STARRING: Russell Curry, Hunter Deno, Kai Moya, Tessa Rao, Chance Perez, Jordan Fite
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Maiya Thompson
DIRECTOR: Robyn Grace
PREMIERE DATE: March 3, 2022
SYNOPSIS: Ollie’s ego gets put in check, as Void Queen’s forces threaten the city’s water supply.

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

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

It became pretty clear early in this episode that we were going to get some development here in the potential Ollie/Amelia romance. “New Leaf” doesn’t disappoint. It also delivers on some easily predicted, yet no less satisfying character development for Ollie.

I’m always on the look-out for former PR cast members when it comes to one-off characters like this Dr. Drake Flloyd. No such luck here. Though the actor, Jamie Irvine, has been on Shortland Street before. It feels like if you’re going to be in the New Zealand acting pool, you have to pass through Shortland Street at some point.

You don’t come to Power Rangers looking for quality CGI. That’s rarely been more evident than at the sight of that CGI octopus tentacle. Woof.

So now that Santaura and Tarrick have officially turned on each other, does that mean Void Knight is about to become a good guy? Or perhaps a sort of antihero, like Ecliptor was way back in Power Rangers in Space?

As Squashblight creates a storm cloud filled with his venom, Izzy says: “He’s gonna make it rain!” You just know that Maiya Thompson, who did the teleplay for this episode, smirked when she wrote that.

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

Power Rangers Dino Fury, “Secret Santa” Review

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

SERIES: Power Rangers Dino Fury
TITLE: S28:E22 – “Secret Santa”
STARRING: Russell Curry, Hunter Deno, Kai Moya, Tessa Rao, Chance Perez, Jordan Fite
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Guy Langford, Maiya Thompson, Johnny Hartmann
DIRECTOR: Catherine Bell-Booth
ORIGINAL U.S. AIR DATE: October 15, 2021 (Netflix)
SYNOPSIS: Javi and Solon must stop an explosive in Dinohenge.

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

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

I keep wanting to refer to Javi as Chance, as that’s his actor’s first name. It also happens to be a more interesting name. So if that accidentally happens here, you know why.

These Christmas episodes have been par for the course since Nickelodeon purchased the brand. They’re almost entirely skippable. But occasionally they’ll deliver something cool. Bulk and Spike meeting the Samurai Rangers, Peter and Yoshi Sedarso working together in an episode, etc. I don’t know that I’d necessarily put this one in the cool category, mostly because “Secret Santa” doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be. It’s got elements of a clip show, obviously. But it also kind of does its own thing. It’s an anomaly that way.

Of Amelia and Ollie, Javi says “She knows just how to push his buttons.” We’ve reached the point where if those two don’t get together next season, I’m going to be pretty disappointed. It’s a Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield in Spider-Man: No Way Home type situation.

So Santa has a direct line to the Power Rangers, eh? Considering how often we’ve seen Santa on this show over the years, that’s actually pretty believable…

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Power Rangers Dino Fury, “Void Trap” Review

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

Power Rangers Dino Fury, Void Trap, Dr. AkanaSERIES: Power Rangers Dino Fury
TITLE: S28:E21 – “Void Trap”
STARRING: Russell Curry, Hunter Deno, Kai Moya, Tessa Rao, Chance Perez, Jordan Fite
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Maiya Thompson
DIRECTOR: Michael Hurst
ORIGINAL U.S. AIR DATE: October 15, 2021 (Netflix)
SYNOPSIS: The Rangers use Ollie’s mother to set a trap for Void Knight.

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

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Now seems like a good time to talk about Shavaughn Ruakere, who plays Dr. Akana. Like a lot of Power Rangers actors, she’s appeared on the New Zealand soap opera Shorthand Street. She also made it to the finals of New Zealand’s incarnation of Dancing with the Stars. She’s a fine addition to the cast, and takes center stage in this episode.

When the plan goes awry and Dr. Akana is lost in another dimension, Ollie almost immediately blames Zayto. I liked that. A very natural and human reaction. It seems extremely obvious (and it is), but that kind of thing might have been absent in past seasons. And it was Zayto’s idea, after all.

Actually, considering this is essentially the season finale (Does the Christmas episode count?), it’s interesting how Ollie-centric “Void Trap” is. Historically, finales are typically the Red Ranger’s time to shine. That’s a little shake up I’m glad to see.

Zayto destroys Reaghoul using the T-Rex Cosmic Megazord. I’d be down about that, if Reghoul’s whole thing wasn’t resurrecting the dead. Plus, this was an episode where Boomtower got yet another go-around. And this is the season that brought friggin’ Lord Zedd back. If they want to bring Reaghoul back, they can bring him back. Even if it’s down the road in another series.

After Void Knight’s machine is destroyed, the Rangers lose their connection to the Morphin Grid and demorph. Thus, Dr. Akana sees that Ollie is the Blue Ranger. I really wish she’d have said something like, “I knew it was you!” It’s not like there was a shortage of clues. There was no subtlety in Ollie’s Ranger game…

The fight that the unmorphed Rangers have with Void Knight and his forces is short but sweet. When they get the actors mixed in with the fantastical Sentai elements, it’s generally a plus. And doing much of their own choreography too.

Seeing Amelia briefly cross swords with Void Knight (shown below) was cool. She might be the best developed character on the show. So it’s nice to see her get a moment like that.

“Void Trap” goes to the trouble of severing the Rangers’ connection to the Morphin Grid, only to give it back to them moments later. Not to mention the dinosaur statues being magically rebuilt after Ollie destroyed them. That all feels a little clumsy. But it justified the unmorphed fight sequence. So I’ll give it to them.

The Green Morphin Master is the one who restores the Rangers’ powers. Again I must ask, why the green one, specifically?

One of our closing shots is of Santaura, Void Knight’s…wife? Girlfriend? It would have been really awesome if her eyes had popped open at the end there. Then again, that implies she’ll be the villain next season. I doubt that’s the case.

“Void Trap” is atypical as far as season finales, or perhaps mid-season finales go. That’s not a bad thing, however. The fight between our heroes and our villain is smaller in scale, yet more personal.

Still no sign of Lord Zedd. But there’s still plenty of time…

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

Power Rangers Dino Fury, “The Makeover” Review

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

Power Rangers Dino Fury, the Makeover, Pop-Pop, AmeliaSERIES: Power Rangers Dino Fury
TITLE: S28:E19 – “The Makeover”
STARRING: Russell Curry, Hunter Deno, Kai Moya, Tessa Rao, Chance Perez, Jordan Fite
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Maiya Thompson, Guy Langford
DIRECTOR: Michael Hurst
ORIGINAL U.S. AIR DATE: October 15, 2021 (Netflix)
SYNOPSIS: As Amelia gets Pop-Pop ready for a date, the Power Rangers face a body-swapping monster.

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

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

In the Power Rangers universe, there’s a legendary pirate named “Purple Beard.” That sounds about right.

J-Borg is a host at Buzz Blast? I thought she was just an assistant for Jane. And yet, I love how the woman she’s interviewing doesn’t bat an eye at being interviewed by a cyborg.

Our monster for the episode is Boneswitch, a monster that can swap people’s bodies. He demonstrates his powers on Slyther and Mucus, and then later swaps Zayto and Amelia, as well as Ollie and Javi.

I think they missed a cool acting opportunity in this episode. They could have had Campbell Cooley and Torum Heng, the voices of Slyther and Mucus respectively, impersonate one another’s characters, and then had the Ranger actors impersonate one another. It would have made for a lot of fun. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers did an episode like that in its first season.

Power Rangers Dino Fury, The Matchmaker, Group Shot

Instead, they had Slyther speak with Mucus’ voice, Zayto speak with Amelia’s voice, etc. Lame. Even lamer? Pop-Pop apparently doesn’t realize that Amelia has a different voice. A male voice.

 

 

I did chuckle a bit when Aiyon got body-swapped with a pigeon. Corny, but amusing.

When the Rangers are body swapped, they can’t link to the Morphin Grid. At least not with their own powers. So they have to swap powers along with their bodies. I scratched my head at that one a little bit. But I suppose it’s fair enough.

Seeing the Mosa Razor Zord leap out of the water and grab Boneswitch was one of the cooler zord moments I’ve seen in the show’s recent history. Certainly the coolest one in Dino Fury thus far. 

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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, “Our Hero” Review

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

SERIES: Power Rangers Dino Fury
TITLE: S28:E17 – “Our Hero”
STARRING: Russell Curry, Hunter Deno, Kai Moya, Tessa Rao, Chance Perez, Jordan Fite
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Guy Langford, Maiya Thompson
DIRECTOR: Caroline Bell-Booth
ORIGINAL U.S. AIR DATE: October 15, 2021 (Netflix)
SYNOPSIS: Aiyon lets the praise for his heroism go to his head.

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

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Watch how close Ollie and Amelia are a little before the three minute mark. By Power Rangers standards, that’s a fairly subtle way of building their romance. Which is happening. Mark my words…

Also, note that Amelia is reading a book about haunted Egyptian pyramids. Nice continuity there, as it relates to her interest in the paranormal.

The bit with the Rangers going into changing rooms to morph feels like something right out of the ’60s Batman TV show, which I’ve always said has more in common with Power Rangers than one might think.

When they cut from Buzz Blast to the party for the Rangers, there are a couple of ADR lines about the Gold Ranger. One of them is a male voice saying, “I bet he’s cute too.” That’s a nice little bit of inclusive verbage.

Power Rangers Dino Fury, Our Hero, Gold Ranger party

I can’t decide whether Jane pointing to the monster fight and exclaiming, “It’s newwwwwwws!” was funny or cringeworthy. I guess I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt and say funny.

Slyther’s scheme is to hypnotize the Mosa Razor Zord. So are these zords the semi-alive kind, as opposed to the strictly mechanical kind? I don’t recall that being established. But maybe I’m wrong.

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