Tag Simon Bennett

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.

A Detective Comics #1069 Micro-Review – Friends and Comrades

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***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Detective Comics 1069, cover, February 2023, Evan CagleTITLE: Detective Comics #1069
AUTHORS: Ram V, Simon Spurrier
ARTISTS: Dexter Soy, Stefano Raffaele, Miguel Mendonca, Adriano Lucas (Colorist), Ariana Maher (Letterer), Caspar Winjgaard, Steve Wands (Letterer). Cover by Evan Cagle.
RELEASED: February 28, 2023

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

These back-up stories we get in Detective Comics are hit-or-miss for me. This month we start a new one centered around Mr. Freeze. Thankfully, it looks like it’s a hit. Especially when it comes to Caspar Winjgaard’s art.

Meanwhile, Ram V is gradually adding a newish dimension to Batman’s relationship with Jim Gordon, expanding on their relationship as friends and comrades. While his larger story isn’t landing for me, his take on the Batman/Gordon dynamic is interesting.

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 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.

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, “Cruisin’ For a Bruisin'” 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:E5 – “Cruisin’ For a Bruisin’”
STARRING: Rorrie D. Travis, Jazz Baduwalia, Jacqueline Scislowski, Abraham Rodriguez, Kelson Henderson (Voice)
WRITERS: Becca Barnes, Alwyn Dale, Denise Downer
DIRECTOR: Simon Bennett
PREMIERE DATE: March 28, 2020
SYNOPSIS: Devon pushes Cruise beyond his capabilities in battle.

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

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

“Cruisin’ For a Bruisin'” didn’t do much for me. Such is the case with most of these Beast Bot centered episodes. They ring hollow, as there’s little basis for a human/robot relationship in reality. I’d much rather they explore the dynamics between the Rangers.

Apparently Apple doesn’t exist in the PR universe. The laptop that Digitron cobbles up early in the episode is clearly an iMac. But of course, they had to disguise the Apple logo by making it a big black circle.

The Beast-X mode armor is underwhelming to me. Perhaps it’s a matter of it being understated compared to other sets of armor we’ve seen on this show. But it left me feeling “meh” by comparison.

Part and parcel to his Beast-X mode, the Blue Ranger can apparently just pull digitized objects out of thin air. Or perhaps out of the surface they’re derived from? During battle he pulls a big steel beam out of a wall, and then later pulls a big boulder out of the ground (shown above). And yet, both the wall and the ground appeared untouched. How does that even work?

I’m guessing “Shut up and don’t question it!” is how it works.

Okay, we get it. Beast Bots are more than just machines. They’re your friends. They say a variation of that line at least three times in this episode. Again, it all rings hollow…

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, “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 Dino Fury, “The Nemesis” Review (Season Finale!)

Rob Siebert 2 Comments

SERIES: Power Rangers Dino Fury

EPISODE: S29:E22 – “The Nemesis”
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: The Rangers face Void Queen one final time.

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

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Early in the episode, Zayto essentially dismisses the Orria and the other Rafkonians, telling them to evacuate. From a story perspective, I get why that was done. But from an in-universe perspective, it’s a little dumb. They’re about to go up against the most powerful enemy they’ve ever faced. You’d think they could use all the help they could get…

That Nemesis Beast monster that ultimately serves as the final big enemy of the season is pretty damn cool. I appreciate that it’s taller than the Megazords. Heck, I’d have made it even taller. It gives it a hell of an imposing presence.

We knew once they set up the Dino Master Saber’s ultimate attack that they were going to come back to it. Most likely in the finale. Was it predictable? Yes. But I’m just grateful that they set it up a few episodes ago, as opposed to having it be a last minute deus ex machina kind of thing.

Now that we’ve reached the finale of Dino Fury, I feel like I can officially ask this question: What’s with the “battle stance” shot in the opening credits (shown above)? It doesn’t appear in any episode. So was it just put there for the opening montage?

Another question: What’s with Izzy’s fighting stance? It’s like she’s channeling a cat, or something. Now that I have seen again at different points in the series. Did they tell her to do that? Or is that something Tessa Rao made up on her own? I don’t dislike it. I’m just curious as to what she’s doing.

Seeing the Rangers float down from above the Nemesis Beast and then slide down its body was really cool. The kind of thing you rarely, if ever, see on the show. And then the Hengemen coming out to fight on the body was like something out of a video game. Granted, it was all Sentai footage. But it was still great.

After Void Queen reverts back into Santaura (once again via the power of love, etc), the Morphin Masters seal all the Sporix away somewhere. You’d think as all-knowing masters of the Morphin Grid, they’d know that like, half the Power Rangers seasons begin with the discovery and unsealing of some old evil thought locked away forever…

Mucus lives! We see her in her slimey form oozing out from under a rock after the battle. Somehow, that has a feel-good quality to it. I’ve seemingly grown fond of the character.

Six months after Void Queen’s defeat and Zayto’s apparent death, we learn the Rafkonians are staying on Earth. What’s more, their as aliens will be public. That’s unorthodox. But okay, I suppose. What’s more, there are probably lots of aliens hiding in plane sight on Earth. The Rafkonians are simply the newest.

We also learn that Santaura is pregnant. They list off a few paint colors for the baby’s crib: Briarwood green, Corinthian sunset, and Ocean Bluff blue. These are little hat-tips to Mystic Force, RPM, and Jungle Fury, using the names of the cities they all took place in. Interesting that they used Corinth for one. Is the existence of a parrallel dimension common knowledge in the PR universe? Or am I just overthinking a cute little Easter egg? More likely it’s the latter, I think.

On the subject of hat-tips, Jane mentions the creation of Buzz Blast Angel Grove. Which is, of course, a nod to Mighty Morphin.

Jane and J-Borg end Dino Fury by pigging out on some Rafkonian cuisine (shown above). That would have been a fair enough way for them to go out, I suppose. This isn’t the end for them, though. Kira Josephson’s Instagram has indicated they’ll be back for Cosmic Fury in some capacity. I’m glad for that. It wouldn’t have been right for them to bring all the Rangers back, but not the two of them.

The Rangers are called back to Dinohenge, where we learn Zayto is alive (and in a new Ranger suit). What’s more, Lord Zedd has escaped and the Rangers need to go after him. Thus, we have our set-up for Cosmic Fury.

I can only assume Zayto’s new costume (shown above) is going to be the suit they use for him in Cosmic Fury. In which case, that’s an awful lot of silver and not much red, considering it’s a Red Ranger suit. I’ll say this much: It’s different.

Zayto indicates that he was saved by the Morphin Masters, but he isn’t sure how. As I’ve said before, I don’t like the idea of the Rangers having cosmic big brothers that can bail them out of a bad situation. It waters down the stakes in any given every episode. I’m sure we’ll get more info about how and why Zayto was saved when we get to Cosmic Fury. Here’s hoping it’s a good explanation…

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