Tag Ryjack (Power Rangers)

Power Rangers Beast Morphers, “Finders Keepers” Review (Dino Charge Team-Up!)

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!***

Devon, Tyler, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Finders KeepersSERIES: Power Rangers Beast Morphers
EPISODE: S27:E13 – “Finders Keepers”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Jamie Linehan (Voice)
GUEST-STARRING: Brennan Mejia, James Davies, Yoshi Sudarso, Davi Santos, Camille Hyde (Voice), Michael Taber (Voice)
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Denise Downer
DIRECTOR: Oliver Driver
PREMIERE DATE: June 16, 2020 (UK), October 10, 2020 (US)
SYNOPSIS: A scramble ensues for possession of Ryjack’s villainous artifacts.

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

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Keeper (who we know from Dino Charge) arrives to search for Ryjack’s villainous artifacts amid the wreckage of his ship, and Ravi remarks that he recognizes him from “Ranger History Class.” They have to take a class?!? Who teaches said class? Presumably a Ranger alum, right?

Actually, you know who’d be a really fitting teacher? Alpha 6. Or if they really wanted to go old school, Alpha 5.

This episode doesn’t do Zoey any favors. Granted, part of the story is her learning a lesson about rushing into things. But she still looks pretty stupid running headlong into a strange spaceship. Then you’ve got her slapping Keeper with the compliance collar. Didn’t she take Ranger History Class too? Wouldn’t she know who Keeper is, what he looks like, etc?

Among the objects in Ryjack’s collection are: Lord Zedd’s staff, Goldar’s sword, and Sledge’s blaster. Mind you, those are merely the items I immediately recognized. How Ryjack got these various items is a question for fanfiction. For instance, one could reasonably make the point that Zedd’s staff and Goldar’s sword were destroyed by the Zordon wave at the end of “Countdown to Destruction.” But one could just as easily assume that Zedd had more than one staff, Goldar had more than one sword, etc. Remember, a lot of these guys had been around for millions of years…

This episode leaves something to be desired as far as telling us who the Dino Charge Rangers are. It more or less assumes the viewer knows them coming in. As someone who, as of this writing, has not seen Dino Charge, that kind of sucks. It does a disservice to the characters. I had no idea, for instance, that the Dino Charge Gold Ranger is apparently a knight from the 13th century. I can only imagine certain people’s confusion as to why the Blue Ranger is talking like a cave man…

Though in all fairness, “Finders Keepers” has a lot to accomplish for one episode. So there’s not necessarily time to explore character dynamics with the Dino Charge team. However, it would have been nice to at least formally get their names. I’ve had to do a little bit of background research just to get them myself.

On the subject of returning Rangers, Camille Hyde (who plays Shelby, Dino Charge Pink) and Michael Taber (Riley, Dino Charge Green) were apparently unable to return in person for this episode, but did do voice cameos. That’s really nice, and not something to be taken for granted. As we’ll see in the next couple of episodes, it’s a luxury we won’t always have.

During the truck chase sequence, which consists mostly (if not entirely) of Sentai footage, we briefly see a street sign in Japanese (shown above). That isn’t a big deal to me. But that kind of thing is usually edited out of Power Rangers episodes. I’d be curious to know why they didn’t do it here.

This episode also features the unheralded, and not even acknowledged return of the Triptoids from Dino Thunder. They’re simply there for no apparent reason during the fight scene when the Dino Charge Rangers show up. A line or two introducing them would have been nice. But again, there isn’t necessarily time in this episode. 

“Finders Keepers” sees the Reanimizer revive Sledge, Snide, and a few other villains from Dino Charge. And they’re still around at the end of the episode. And yet, after the immediate threat has passed, Keeper and the Dino Charge Rangers hightail it back to their dimension, saying they’re needed there. From an in-story standpoint, I call BS on that. Keeper, Tyler, or somebody from the Dino Charge side of things could have stayed behind to help or advise the Beast Morphers team. Thanks for the help, ya jerks…

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

Power Rangers Beast Morphers, “The Greater Good” 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:E12 – “The Greater Good”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Jack Buchanan
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Johnny Hartmann
DIRECTOR: Simon Bennett
PREMIERE DATE: June 16, 2020 (UK), October 3, 2020 (US)
SYNOPSIS: The Rangers learn more about Captain Chaku as Ryjack continues to threaten the city.

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

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Ah, so the Putties and the Vivix are sticking around until…er…well, for the foreseeable future. I know what’s coming in a few episodes. But I won’t go into it yet…

For those of us who remember the old VR Troopers TV show, it’s not necessarily an accident that Chaku looks like he could be one of them. Like Chaku, the Troopers were adapted from a season of the tokusatsu show Metal Hero Series.

Ryjack grows himself giant-sized using a gizmo he says he found “in the ruins of Andresia.” Andresia was the decimated home planet of the Silver Ranger, Orion, back in Super Megaforce. Nice reference. These episodes are pretty well-versed in PR lore. I’m digging it.

I know this is the Sentai footage, but Chaku looked awesome in the night shots during the zord battle, specifically right before boarding Reptillobeast (shown below). It was almost like his armor was shining in the moonlight.

What’s the N on Nate’s sweater supposed to stand for? Surely it can’t be his name…can it?

Nate uses a plot convenience machine to change Chaku from a cyborg back into a human. I assume he still has his powers, though. So the Rangers could conceivably call him back from the G5 galaxy to help them. They won’t do that, of course. But in theory, they could.

From a moral standpoint, I’m finding myself wishing Chaku had stayed a cyborg. Make it a “your daughter will love you no matter what” type thing. Granted, they touched on that idea earlier in the episode. But I’d have ended with it too.

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

Power Rangers Beast Morphers, “Intruder Alert!” 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!***

Captain Chaku, Red Ranger, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Intruder Alert!SERIES: Power Rangers Beast Morphers
EPISODE: S27:E11 – “Intruder Alert!”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Jack Buchanan
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Johnny Hartmann
DIRECTOR: Simon Bennett
PREMIERE DATE: June 12, 2020 (UK), September 19, 2020 (US)
SYNOPSIS: The Rangers are quick to judge a mysterious newcomer.

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

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

First thing’s first: The Captain Chaku character is adapted from the Space Sheriff Gavan character from Metal Hero Series, another tokusatsu show much like Super Sentai. In Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters, the show which Beast Morphers is adapted from, the Gavan character teamed up with the titular heroes. Thus, the footage we see here.

Captain Chaku is voiced by Jack Buchanan. Maybe it’s the old school Power Rangers fan in me, but I could have sworn he was voiced by Sean CW Johnson. Johnson, of course, played Carter back in Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue. Maybe they both just have that authoritative quality to their voices.

One little trivia note about Chaku: He was at one point going to be called the “Silver Senturion,” as a nod to the Blue Centurion character from Power Rangers Turbo. So said Jason Bischoff, the former Global Director for the Power Rangers franchise, on Twitter.

Ryjack, Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Intruder Alert!

This episode introduces us to Ryjack, a big blue Rhino-looking guy who for some reason has a thick Austrailian accent (provided by Kevin Keys).  He’s an intergalactic criminal who wants all the Ranger take from Nate’s vault, which we saw in “The Evox Snare.”

But here’s my question: Why the Austrailian accent? I mean, the things we see on this show are so silly that I guess you could counter with, “Why not an Austrailian accent?” But for whatever reason, every time Ryjack speaks it yanks me right out of the show. Not a fan.

Incidentally, a Rhino is yet another animal that’d be more fitting for a Ranger to have than a jackrabbit, much less a mantis or a beetle. Just sayin’.

Ryjack uses a “Reanimizer” to resurrect Vargoyle. He does so by using the device on Vargoyle’s old blaster. Ryjack is then able to control Vargoyle using an inhibitor collar.

So where does one get a Reanimizer, per se? I don’t care what universe you’re in, that kind of thing would be pretty highly sought after.

Keep an eye on that Reanimizer. I get the sense it’ll be important for certain developments later in the season…

Also, make note of that inhibitor collar. We’ll later see that technology used on a much more high-profile villain.

Ryjack summoning the Vivix from Dino Charge, and especially the Putty Patrollers from Mighty Morphin (shown above), with the Reanimizer was a very pleasant surprise. As an old school PR fan, seeing the Beast Morphers team fight off Putties was a trip.

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