Tag Roxy (Power Rangers)

Power Rangers Beast Morphers, “Fossil Frenzy” 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:E19 – “Fossil Frenzy”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Liana Ramirez
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale
DIRECTOR: Oliver Driver
PREMIERE DATE: June 24, 2020 (UK), November 21, 2020 (US)
SYNOPSIS: Zoey takes a big risk to make up for a big mistake.

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

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Jacqueline Scislowski is one of the better actors on Beast Morphers, particularly when it comes to playing vulnerable or distressed. This episode highlights that, as Zoey accidentally destroys a priceless fossil belonging to her brother.

The fossil is burned up with “metachloric acid.” I’m fairly certain that’s not a real thing. There’s a meta-chloroperoxybenzoic acid, but not metachloric acid.

I’m surmising by its use in this episode that metachloric acid is used to move a plot along without burning up any set pieces in the process.

Without the fossil, Zoey’s brother is worried about not having anything to bring to his scholarship meeting. But moments later, Robo-Roxy produces a newspaper that has this new dinosaur species’ discovery as front page news. Couldn’t he have pointed to that, said he was on that expedition, and gotten someone to vouch for him? Seems pretty simple.

Considering Zoey’s brother allegedly discovered a new species of dinosaur with that fossil, she’s able to access the rest of the fossilized remains fairly easily. They basically just put up some flags and string. They didn’t even put a tarp over it. Some scientists…

Seeing Robo-Blaze and Devon get an extended fight sequence was cool. They’ve slowly but surely built up a nice little rivalry over the course of the series.

And so, Robo-Roxy goes down in flames once and for all courtesy of the Beast-X King Ultrazord. Big hat-tip to Liana Ramirez, as she played that evil character perfection. Avatar/Robo-Roxy loved being bad, and it showed.

They went back to the whole “Devon freezes up around dogs because of his cheetah DNA” thing for a gag at the end of the episode. They’ve used that maybe twice in the entire series. Which is for the best. Because, y’know, it’s dumb. Not quite as dumb as a dog putting ketchup on a hot dog. But still dumb.

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

Power Rangers Beast Morphers, “Goin’ Ape” 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:E17 – “Goin’ Ape”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Liana Ramirez
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Johnny Hartmann
DIRECTOR: Oliver Driver
PREMIERE DATE: June 22, 2020 (UK), November 7, 2020 (US)
SYNOPSIS: Robo-Roxy sets out to destroy Ravi once and for all.

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

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

The episode starts off with Ravi and an old lady on a park bench, and the old lady just helps herself to Ravi’s sketchbook. Yes, they had to establish what Ravi had gotten Roxy for their anniversary. But still…rude much?

We also later find out the woman’s name is Stacy. I must admit, I’ve never heard of an old woman character named Stacy. On a kids show like this, you’d think she’d have been named Ethel or Hazel, or something a little more stereotypically mature-sounding.

Indeed, for the first time in many episodes, we see the genuine Roxy as opposed to the robotic version that serves Evox. Roxy was a little too hung up on what she was getting for her anniversary. Apparently in the Power Rangers universe, the thought doesn’t count…

As we’ve seen before with this Ravi/Roxy romance, they lay on the stereotypical lovey dovey imagery. Cast in point, the candles and the rose petals on the date. Even the beach setting when Ravi goes to be alone after the fight. Granted, they subsequent Sentai footage was at a beach, so it was called for. But still…

I noticed during this episode that Roxy’s robot form has the word “escape” printed on her forehead. Turns out Escape is the name of her Sentai counterpart. Conversely, Robo-Blaze’s counterpart is named Enter.

The second fight between Ravi and Robo-Roxy takes place at “Hartmann Nature Park.” Perhaps not coincidentally, Johnny Hartmann does the teleplay for this episode.

Are gorillas notoriously bad-tempered? Part of the premise of this episode is that Ravi, whose DNA has been infused with that of a gorilla, gets so hot-tempered that he turns on his teammates during battle. That’s supposed to be a side effect of the gorilla stuff, right? But is that a thing that gorillas do? Probably not…

Then again, the cheetah DNA-infused Devon freezes up when he sees a dog. Or even just a picture of a dog. Realism isn’t this show’s strong suit.

Ravi goes nuts with anger at the end of the episode, and Roxy is ultimately the one to cool him down. Yet again, a wasted opportunity for a kiss on this show. Just sayin’.

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, “Beast King Rampage” 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!***

Megan, Madeleine Adams, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Beast King RampageSERIES: Power Rangers Beast Morphers
EPISODE: S27:E7 – “Beast King Rampage”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Madeleine Adams
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Tom Furniss
DIRECTOR: Oliver Driver
PREMIERE DATE: April 11, 2020
SYNOPSIS: Evox takes control of the Rangers’ new zord.

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

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Obviously, Megan is back in this episode, her last appearance being in “Sound and Fury.” I was surprised to see her back, though I’m not complaining. Madeleine Adams is a fine actress, and they do a nice little forgiveness story here.

General Burke tells the Rangers about the Beast-X King Zord, which is made with lion DNA. Now that is an animal that puts the beast in Beast Morphers, ladies and gentlemen. None of this jackrabbit, mantis, or beetle crap.

The demonstration of the Beast-X King Zord happens in “Pine Ridge Woods, just outside of Coral Harbor.” I assume that name wasn’t an accident, as Pine Ridge is the setting for the next season, Dino Fury. I imagine production had long since begun on Dino Fury at this point, so they threw that in as a little Easter egg. Fun stuff.

Blaze and Roxy are able to infect the zord with a virus because Megan didn’t install a firewall against malware. You’d think that’d be a pretty basic requirement for a giant battle machine, or for that matter a machine with any kind of military or battle application. I suppose we’ll give Megan the benefit of the doubt, and say they rushed her in finishing the zord.

After Nate and Megan develop the Beast-X King Ultra Bow, the Rangers drive to the battle site so they can use it to cleanse the Beast-X King Zord of malware. Here’s something that’s been bugging me for awhile: Does Grid Battleforce not have a working teleporter? One that’s capable of teleporting humans, that is. We see the Rangers transport their weapons from the base to the battlefield in virtually every episode. So we know they have basic teleportation technology. Why, in urgent situations like this, do they always have to drive to the scene of a battle? It consistently bugs me…

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

Power Rangers Beast Morphers, “The Blame Game” 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!***

Steel, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, The Blame GameSERIES: Power Rangers Beast Morphers
EPISODE: S27:E6 – “The Blame Game”
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 4, 2020
SYNOPSIS: Steel takes lessons in discipline a little too far.

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

The inciting incident for this episode is when Steel sees a father punish his daughter for littering by telling her to pick up extra pieces of trash. His initial instinct is to say that the father is being mean, but the Rangers quickly explain to him what punishment and discipline are.

The funny thing about this is that the way the incident plays off, Steel is actually right the first time. The father does come off disproportionately harsh about his daughter letting a single piece of trash fall to the ground. I say that as a parent myself. And the funny thing? Steel proceeds to act disproportionately harsh about matters of discipline for the rest of the episode. So if the Rangers had been paying attention from the start, a whole big mess could have been avoided.

Steel goes on to punish workers at Grid Battleforce for very minor infractions by having them sweep the parking lot, clean toilets, etc. Do the Rangers really hold rank over grunt workers like that? Do they actually have the authority to tell someone to clean toilets? If so, why? Or are the workers just intimidated by a robot Power Ranger making demands of them like that?

Ben and Betty, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, The Blame Game

Betty says that the leaf blower she and Ben are using “sucks.” She might be the first person in the show’s history to say that something sucks. I’d thought that distinction went to Izzy a couple seasons from now. But Betty may have beaten her to the punch.

Incidentally, if Bulk and Skull had done that Morph-X powered leaf blower bit back in Mighty Morphin, it totally would have ended with Bulk’s pants being vacuumed off his body. Oh, how times have changed.

Controlatron takes control of Cole, and subsequently Nate, using what Blaze refers to as a “virus-infected puppet.” That terms sounds like something you’d call someone when you want to insult them. “Dude, you’re just a virus-infected puppet!”

Abraham Rodriguez, who plays Nate, had a tall task in motivating that “I’m a good little puppet” line. Perhaps note quite as hard as his “I copy that” line in “Real Steel.” But still…

Back in “Save Our Shores,” I wondered how the show would handle the co-existence of Blaze and Roxy with their robot counterparts. Apparently the show’s answer to that dichotomy is to simply not feature the good versions of Blaze and Roxy at all. Have we even seen them since?

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, “Believe It Or Not” 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: S27:E1 – “Believe It Or Not”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Jamie Linehan (Voice)
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale
DIRECTOR: Oliver Driver
PREMIERE DATE: February 22, 2020
SYNOPSIS: The Rangers uncover Scrozzle’s latest plot.

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

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

The opening moments of this episode, with Devon and Blaze sparring, are a nice callback to “Beasts Unleashed,” when they obviously had a very different relationship. It’s a nice indicator of how far they’ve come, and how things have changed since last season.

We see that France now has its own Morph-X tower. Naturally, that begs the question as to what other places around the world opted to get one. Coral Harbor has several, doesn’t it? So if France has one, they’d presumably be getting more.

The first time we see Ravi and Roxy in this episode, they’re on a picnic and she’s literally feeding him a strawberry. Let no one ever accuse Beast Morphers of being subtle with the whole romance thing.

This is the last time we’ll see them, but I like the Gigatronics. I think more villains should have had giant-sized versions of their henchmen. Giant Cogs in Zeo would have been cool, for instance.

This episode plays up the idea that Steel is buying into conspiracy theories. Bigfoot, the Lochness monster, etc. But in the end, we learn he was right all along. Not sure I would have gone with that moral in this particular case. Especially when you consider how many people in this country buy into crazy conspiracy theories. Does Q’Anon exist in the Power Rangers universe? Boy, I hope not…

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

Power Rangers Beast Morphers, “Target: Tower” 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!***

Roxy, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Target TowerSERIES: Power Rangers Beast Morphers
EPISODE: S26:E19 – “Target: Tower”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Liana Ramirez
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Johnny Hartmann
DIRECTOR: Simon Bennett
PREMIERE DATE: November 30, 2019
SYNOPSIS: Evox’s forces enact a plan to steal an entire Morph-X tower.

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

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

The stakes are obviously high in this episode. It’s the penultimate episode of the first season, and we’ve got lots of drama with the transporters and the Morph-X tower, Devon and his father, as well as Ravi and Roxy.

That being said, certain characters act really stupid in “Target: Tower.”

Let’s talk about this van. Ben and Betty are riding around doing their comedy shtick when they happen to stumble upon a van that contains the three “mega transporters” that were stolen in the previous episode. Said van is guarded by a few Tronics. That’s it. No one else is guarding them. No Blaze, no Roxy, no monster.

This whole plan to infiltrate Grid Battleforce, get the transporters, and teleport the Morph-X tower into the Cyber Dimension was Blaze and Roxy’s, right? And yet, they stick the centerpieces to their plan in the middle of…a van? A van, no less, that’s guarded by Tronics, which Blaze even says are “useless.” If I’m Evox, I’m taking Blaze and Roxy off the planning committee for the foreseeable future.

Blue Ranger, van, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Target Tower

(Incidentally, if you look at the above image, you can see the crew in the reflection of the Blue Ranger’s visor. Whoops.)

Then later in the episode, Commander Shaw tells Ravi to drive the van containing the transporters back to Grid Battleforce. Keep in mind, when avatar Blaze and avatar Roxy infiltrated Grid Battleforce in the previous episode, they sabotaged the real Roxy’s stasis pod. They obviously did this as a strike at Ravi, who everyone knows is in love with the real Roxy. It’s common knowledge. The Rangers know it. The bad guys know it. And Commander Shaw, Ravi’s own mother, knows it.

So when the Rangers regain the transporters in this episode, Commander Shaw inexplicably tells Ravi to drive the van to Grid Battleforce. All the while knowing that he’s vulnerable to the bad guys doing exactly what they did, which is using the potential destruction of avatar Roxy, and thus the potential revival of the real Roxy, against him. Oye…

Also, why does Ravi have to drive the van back to Grid Battleforce? Don’t they have some kind of reconnaissance team that can take possession of the transporters to make sure they aren’t booby trapped or something?

On the up side, I like the way the conflict between Devon and his father comes to a head in this episode, with Mayor Daniels thinking Devon abandons him amidst an attack. The scene where Devon’s identity is revealed was great. Nice and dramatic.

Mayor Daniels, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Target Tower

Mayor Daniels even gets in on the action in this episode, which is cool to see. Whenever somebody swings a shovel, you know they mean business…

I also love that none of the posters at Mayor Daniels’ campaign rally have his first name on them. They simply say, “Vote Daniels.” I had to wiki his first name. It’s Adam.

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

Power Rangers Beast Morphers, “Gorilla Art”

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:E16 – “Gorilla Art”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Teuila Blakely
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Johnny Hartmann
DIRECTOR: Oliver Driver
PREMIERE DATE: November 9, 2019
SYNOPSIS: Ravi’s efforts to hide a talent accidentally cause trouble for the Rangers.

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

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Ravi being scared to share his painting hobby with his mom doesn’t necessarily track for me, given what we saw in “Tuba Triumph.” I get that the two situations aren’t necessarily the same. But the moral is more or less the same, isn’t it? Not being ashamed of who you are, what you love, etc.

We’ve seen Ravi look longingly over the comatose body of Roxy (the real one, not the avatar) a few times now. Makes me wonder…is anybody longing over Blaze? I mean, he’s there too, right?

Is there a creep factor to Ravi drawing Roxy while she’s comatose? Is there a creep factor to just generally being drawn without your consent? I was at a sit-down event once, and a pretty well known comic artist was there drawing headshots of people and then giving them the drawings. Is that weird? Not saying yes or no. Just asking.

These Beast Bot centered episodes don’t do as well with me. For my money, things would have been a lot more interesting if one of the other Rangers had discovered Ravi’s hidden talent. Granted, then you wouldn’t have the whole memory erasure thing to get the plot moving. But it might have been a little more relatable.

I can only imagine what it’s like to act alongside a robot gorilla with a steering wheel on its face. You won’t see that on any other show…

Note that when Ben and Betty get messy at the end of the episode, they’re laughing with the Rangers, as opposed to being laughed at. That’s a big difference between modern PR, and what we saw with Bulk and Skull back in the ‘90s.

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

Power Rangers Beast Morphers, “Tuba Triumph” Review

Rob Siebert 3 Comments

*** You know what I am? A multi-tasker. That’s why, as Power Rangers Dino Fury is in full swing, I’ll also be looking back at Power Rangers Beast Morphers. Why? Because I can!!!***

Jazz Baduwalia, Ravi, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Tuba TriumphSERIES: Power Rangers Beast Morphers
EPISODE: S26:E13 – “Tuba Triumph”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Liana Ramierez
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Johnny Hartmann
DIRECTOR: Riccardo Pellizzeri
ORIGINAL AIR DATE: October 12, 2019
SYNOPSIS: Ravi comes to the aid of a young man being bullied.

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

It was cool to see Roxy in a little unmorphed fight sequence. It gives Liana Ramirez a nice chance to get physical.

By Power Rangers kid actor standards, Lukas Maher does awesome as Joey. And the whole “only use martial arts to defend yourself” thing harkens back to the early days of the show.

That opening title sequence tends to come late, doesn’t it? This time, it didn’t come until we were seven minutes deep.

So as Ravi is fixing up his grandpa’s old tuba to give to Joey, Commander Shaw, Ravi’s mother, tells him a Power Ranger can’t afford to have “silly distractions.” Thus, we have the reason that Ravi hides his artistic talents from everyone. I was surprised we didn’t get some kind of resolution between mother and son in this episode. Hopefully that’s coming in a future episode.

So Nate recalibrates the robotron sensors to pick up “tuba sounds” as they search for Tubatron. As in plain ol’ regular tuba sounds apparently, as Joey is able to trip the alarm by playing his instrument. Seems like a pretty silly oversight to me. Especially when Steel says moments later that Tubatron’s blasts are much bigger.

Then again, Joey is subsequently able to counter said blast with a big note from his tuba (shown above). Talk about mixed messages…

As someone who now has two kids, I’ve got mixed feelings about Joey using martial arts to intimidate the bullies at the end of the episode. Yes, I know the bullies started the issue. And yes, I recognize that Joey didn’t actually hurt anybody. And once again yes, I know that’s the sort of thing the Mighty Morphin Rangers did all the time.

But the bullies weren’t trying to physically hurt anyone. And if you introduce something like a big karate kick into a situation, aren’t you escalating it, and opening the door for the bullies to retaliate with more violence?

Not to blow the moment out of proportion, but it does make me wonder if Power Rangers consults with any sort of child psychologists when concocting these moral lessons.

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