“….I’ve got a lot of stuff to do with my karate school. And, I dunno, I think the Power’s in good hands.” – Rocky DeSantos
I’ve been struggling with some recent bullshittery in the franchise. As those of us who care know, information has surfaced as to the business dealings of the casting department at Saban Brands; Steve Cardenas, who played Rocky DeSantos in the original series, reportedly turned down a role in Super Megaforce as he felt the cameo did not do his character justice and, according to him, would have made him a glorified extra for what would have been unacceptable wages. This upset several fans, but understanding is had and, in my opinion, Steve will always have a place of honor within the fandom.
This seemed to be an isolated incident until Rhett Fisher, the actor who played Ryan Mitchell in Lightspeed Rescue, reported via twitter that he was also offered a cameo role in Super Megaforce and the offer was redacted one week later by Saban Brands on account of budgetary issues. This served only to stir the pot; it seemed as though the fresh wound of Steve Cardenas was ripped open wider, but in a new direction. The revered Amit Bhaumik, who wrote the fan-favorite episodes Reinforcements From The Future and Forever Red (as well as some work in Power Rangers Samurai), even spoke out against this on his twitter; according to him, Rhett Fisher isn’t the first to be stood up.
Now, it’s no big secret that Saban is cheap, or that Haim Saban’s net worth is $4.3 billion (last time I checked). The production was moved from California to New Zealand for the very fact that film companies get tax incentives, a very greedy move that was first implemented by Disney (who, as we all know, are also out to get into wallets worldwide). Seeing as Saban didn’t bother to move it back, despite casting American cast and crews, this is one way that they get to save money while things happen to the show we all love so much.
The contrast in the production of RPM to Samurai is stark; in fact, Samurai, compared to much of the rest of the franchise, makes it nearly embarrassing to claim as official production. Yes, this comes from a writer and a site that has an article entitled “Why Samurai DIDN’T Suck”, and there are elements that are to be appreciated within Samurai. It wasn’t completely horrible, and many of its problems can go back to the fact that Shinkenger, the source footage, is so distinctly Japanese that it can’t be much else besides the story of the heir to the Shiba clan. Plus, Shinkenger was cool, and Saban handled the carbon copy pretty well, and in some cases exceeded Shinkenger (read the article for more information).
However, Megaforce (worst name in PR) has no excuses. It’s nearly halfway through the first 20 episodes and it appears to be disappointing and generic; this is not something that seemed to be advertised during Morphicon 3 when Saban made a big hurrah to get older fans excited about their control of the franchise. The persistent, non-story issues with Samurai are now present in Megaforce, and it’s unmistakable. This leaves most of us with a bad taste in our mouths as the second 20 episodes, called Super Megaforce (holy fucking shit I hate this name) continues production. The fear abides that the same sub-par production quality will be prevalent into a season that’s being advertised as both for the older fans and the newer fans. Here are the issues as I see them:
Bad Acting
This isn’t your average, everyday, had-to-use-the-gardener quality acting. The acting in Samurai (and Megaforce) is noticeably rigid and forced, a side-effect of directly translating Shinkenger’s dialogue, which I regard as a truly shit move. Can’t even make original dialogue? Does Mike REALLY need to make a snarky comment about becoming impatient right when Chiaki does? Good acting is all about reacting to a scene. This is why I find most of the suit footage to be more sensible; I feel the suit actors, whether in foreign or domestic footage, are doing a better job of functional reacting to action than the main casts. Troy will stand as an infamous example of crap acting as long as people follow Power Rangers; whoever described him as a cardboard box deserves credit, as that is exactly how I see him. I don’t know if any of this is the result of intentional dumbing-down coaching or a far less attentive reason, but dadgummit, there are some higher standards than this in Power Rangers; the show is in the lexicon of “shit for adults to laugh at for bad production quality,” but these seasons are framed and mortared with strangely low usage of talent, and it really dampens my ability to stand behind the franchise anymore.
Bad Acting Part Deux
The casting department is relying on mostly people with no known talents besides acting and modeling; before, it was comprised of people with physical skills and agilities that usually didn’t even require stunt doubles during the unmorphed action. Now, we have entire episodes that go on without a single unmorphed fight, which is probably because the current cast can’t do anything physical that doesn’t involve working abs or glutes, or because stunt doubles cost too much (hell, if Rhett Fisher costs too much, I’m sure Hirofumi Fukuzawa and fake breasts are out of the question, too). This doesn’t mean the actors themselves are terrible; in fact, there was a lot of buzz over Christina Masterson, who plays Emma in Megaforce, and her audition videos on YouTube that impressed more than a few of us. Her abilities are surely being suppressed to suit more Saban-issued dumbassery.
Overusing The Source Footage
It makes sense for Samurai, so that gets a pass (even when the less intelligent motives are sure to exist), but for Megaforce, which was thought to be pretty independent from Goseiger, it all turns into a big fat lie. On average, more than half of the Megaforce episodes use Goseiger footage, and it’s getting annoying. The Rangers themselves now have little to no personalities other than what the Japanese suit actors are doing for them an ocean away, and this appears to be another shitty way to save money for the executive holiday bonuses; original footage costs money, and the money people apparently have no stomach for a nice, intelligent sit-down potluck to come up with something not so laughable.
Names
Mia/Gia, Emma/Emily, Moogers/Loogies. LOOGIES. There were really no other options on the table? There was nothing else? No other brainstorming sessions? I am literally speechless on this topic. Whoever was in charge of this: fuck you. Also, Megaforce. Mega (descriptive adjective being used as a noun) Force (an everyday noun). And even though we were promised the second half of the season wouldn’t be called this, they are airing the last 20 episodes under the name SUPER (another goddamn descriptive adjective being used as a noun) MEGA (descriptive adjective)-Force (AN ACTUAL NOUN). Holy virgin mother, I can’t stand seeing this all over the social media outlets. This will live forever as the worst team name until Saban decides to adapt Go-Busters as Power Rangers: Secret Missions. For the first 20 episodes, at least; then we get the revered Super Secret Missions season.
False Positives
Tensou and Gosei (the characters, not the words) are major time-wasters. Tensou does nothing to help Gosei; the dude can’t even operate a control panel like his spiritual reference, Alpha 5. Gosei doesn’t do shit but communicate to the Rangers from time to time about attacks and to tell them what’s written on the cards they use, usually during Zord altercations. Plus, the first episode of Megaforce was some kind of insane retelling of Day Of The Dumpster to try and draw older fans in while determining whether or not 2013 kids will buy into the same old shit; I suspect that if the master plan goes correctly, they will be able to use scripts from the old days instead of hiring a writer. All of this sits on top of a bad use of Lauren Shiba, an oft-confusing RPM-Samurai team-up, and Bulk’s degeneration into a child abuser (actually, this seems like a natural progression, but it’s a little too predictable for Saban). ‘Ernie’ is now a bad stereotype, and so is Mr. Burley; by appealing to our nostalgic senses, it doesn’t seem so bad. But it is. And they get ‘new’ material for the new viewers by doing it. They’ve been working us up with flares and wound up giving us sparklers, and frankly, I’m sick of it.
Assuming Things
Not only does Saban assume the die-hard older fans will continue to follow them if they plug their previous works in the franchise, but they also assume that 2013 kids are stupid, which some of them probably are contrasted to 90s children, 80s children, 60s children, or any children born before then. This is the only reason I can surmise for any of the above is that they are trying to appeal to dumber kids and turn them onto a franchise that is slowly being perverted. They assume that they can work less because the franchise is gold no matter what; the Disney era taught everyone a lot of things, including no matter how bad you make a season (Operation Overdrive), you will still draw in an audience and maintain your older audience (massive gains as usual) as long as you bring back Johnny Yong Bosch every five years (Once A Ranger). Hell, they show no more than 10 seconds of the Sentai Legend War, put fuzzy Ranger Keys in the Command Center, and reference Zordon once, and they assume it’ll keep us for 20 episodes AND we’ll even buy a $60 Legacy Morpher en masse. “By the way, tell them to hurry up with that new Go Go Power Rangers cover; we need Secret Missions ready before Christmas.”
Things That Feel Misplaced
Gia nodding to her teammates to go fight was fucking retarded. Troy doing a kata on a rooftop is fucking retarded. Jayden talking about how special the team is while their Megazord gets smashed in the middle of their final battle is fucking retarded. I feel like some of these awkward scenes are put into Power Rangers just because it has no other place anywhere else but Elie Dekel, after slapping around a few interns, says it MUST wind up in the episode because he saw it on an NYPD Blue rerun.
The assimilation of the older seasons into these categories is the brunt of the fear that is Super Ultra Megaforce. Imagine Andros delivering lines as dry as a Pop-Tart; consider Danny only showing up to use up the Gokaiger/GaoRanger footage, say something about flowers, and then walk away; gauge your reaction if they intended to follow through with Steve Cardenas and make Rocky a butler, or if Rick Medina shows up as Cole and is forced to say, “What’s a Deker?”. The bullshit isn’t just on our televisions; the former Rangers can smell it, too, and they’re on OUR side. Let’s face it: Power Rangers is changing, and unless we do something as a fandom, Saban’s going to put it in our butts.
Great Saban documentary name right here: There Will Be Butts.
However, there are certain aspects to the whole Megaforce phenomenon that are going underneath our radars. Those of us involved in the heavily-involved fan community are losing sight of certain anomalies that lie within the Power Rangers ‘experience’, if you will. Most of us have gotten so stirred up and around based on our love of what has already been that we cannot see past the immediacy of what we do not like. We must keep the bad elements, as fleshed out as they may be listed above, in perspective with the good elements that the future holds, whether or not it lies within Saban’s hands. Let’s do some digging and have a positive attitude as we go into this next list of way-too-detailed details:
Gokaiger Spoiled Audiences Worldwide
Toei Company has resources that can sometimes seem to border on black magic. They brought us a season of Super Sentai that is going to be remembered as long as people watch tokusatsu; Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger was a work of art that went in with every gun blazing, every phone call being made, every resource being used up, and every opportunity being made available to them. As a matter of fact, the production of Gokaiger is a polar converse of the production of Megaforce: according to Orends: Range, the Gokaiger team did not originally intend for as many ‘tribute’ episodes as there were. It was only shortly after earthquakes struck Japan when a Tokusatsu Hero twitter account, sending messages of hope to the Japanese people, linked actors who were involved with Gokaiger with those who were not. After a bit of talking between actors and the Gokaiger staff, they began work on more tribute episodes and opening up more slots in more episodes for former actors to show up and do some work for Gokaiger. This is why there was a lot of dream-esque footage of past Sentai heroes talking with the Gokaigers and a lack of tribute episodes for pre-Liveman teams. So, in a way, they started out with a smaller range of ideas and then expanded as much as they could in the amount of time they had left before shit had to be edited and aired, while Megaforce seems to have started big (inviting everybody) and becoming smaller and smaller (uninviting en masse). (Full article here: http://www.orendsrange.com/2012/10/kaizoku-sentai-gokaiger-originally.html)
Gokaiger Spoiled The US Especially Rotten (Part Deux)
Basically, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Gokaiger, and all of Sentai, is a different show than Power Rangers, and is meant to be made the way it was. We can’t rightly expect the same anniversary-blowout conditions that Toei had, especially considering all of their actors were on the same landmass as the production (we’ll get to that later). Basically, in our limited western minds, we saw the greatness of Gokaiger, the historical link of adaptation from Sentai to Power Rangers, and immediately upturned any expectations or judgments based on PR: Samurai that we may have had, and now that Megaforce is here and the anniversary news continues to roll in, the more we become disappointed in what we haven’t seen yet. The more that we American fans invested in Gokaiger, the more we wrongly superimposed those stories, concepts, and especially cameos into the ideal of a Power Rangers season catered completely to the older fans, specifically to (your name here). It became a fan-wide….grand delusion. Let’s just say it here:
Power Rangers And Sentai Are Different Shows
Let’s review: Wild Force is not GaoRanger (Akibaranger sometimes begs to differ, but we’re not here to laugh). Boukenger is not Operation Overdrive. Mighty Morphin’ is not ZyuRanger. Go-Onger is not RPM. Samurai is pretty close to Shinkenger, but it’s not really Shinkenger. Under that mode of logic, Megaforce is definitely not Goseiger. Why should we expect Super Megaforce to be Gokaiger? The franchises are vastly different and only connected via Ranger footage. Toei treats Sentai is a vastly different way, as the Japanese are different artists than the artists at Saban Brands. I use the term ‘artist’ in a general sense, because what is art, what isn’t art, yadda yadda, there are a lot of creative jobs on the Megaforce team and all of them should be considered artists, and the same goes for Toei. Sentai in general is a much flashier, cartoony-serious show than Power Rangers usually is, which is owed to how the artists at Toei see the show and the contrasted perspective at Saban. Imagine two painters from different countries being told to paint an image of a warrior, they will paint their own version of what their cultures define as a warrior, whether it be a knight, a samurai, Ice Cube, all the black guys in Zulu, Soap MacTavish from Call Of Duty, or the Red Ranger himself, people from different countries and cultures see and interpret things differently. This makes for an invisible filter when Saban Brands buys the Sentai footage and attempts to adapt it into something relatable to American children; the perspectives at Saban are already skewed based on the culture they belong to and the morals and values their culture’s heroes hold to, and as they attempt to process a show with heroes that may have different morals and values than their own and don’t know it, things can not only get lost in translation, but battles and equipment (specifically in the Shinkenger/Samurai adaptation) may not have the same effect or meaning to an American audience than it would to Japanese children. The idea of the Samurai Sentai that carries a sword at their side, taught to schoolchildren as the greatest possession of a samurai, is much more meaningful and already established as a big deal to the Japanese audience. To the American audience, it’s just the primary weapon of the Samurai Rangers, no thoughtful meaning or dialogue to necessitate it’s presence or the true power it holds; it’s simply the sword that goes well with the Samurai Ranger theme.
Power Rangers Isn’t Super Sentai (Part Deux)
Let’s review the idea that one show isn’t another show, no matter how hard Saban may try or how much we may want it to be (Jason and Geki bro-fisting erry day). They are as different as night and day and are only related through the morphed footage and some of the sets and props. When it comes to the story, we shouldn’t hold any reservations pertaining to expectations or projections made from any Sentai series, especially Gokaiger; Power Rangers has a penchant for being familiar enough to the source footage that we can become desensitized to the realistic capabilities of Saban Brands and expect more than is usually doable when these effects combine and take over with hopes of the future. For example: expecting a Gokaiger-style anniversary season in Power Rangers (although a wonderful notion and an exciting thought) is a less realistic expectation than, say, turning the future Go-Busters adaptation into an RPM sequel. Consider this: Saban has never brought back more than 10 former Rangers back at one time for any reunion; the most I can think of is Forever Red (7 former Rangers physically there for shooting, one added in digitally later on, 4 with a voiceover cameo, and Bulk and Skull) and Reinforcements From The Future (6 former Rangers, Nadira and Ransik). It’s also a hassle from a production standpoint, but we’ll talk about that in a bit. If you look at the storylines, however, the Power Rangers creative teams are known for going outside of their comfort zones and attempting to make something that completely wasn’t in Sentai, which creates the great creative divide I’m talking about. From the very beginning, we’ve seen intrepid ventures into non-Sentai risks that have resulted in fan-favorites: Mighty Morphin, Zeo, Turbo, In Space, Lost Galaxy, all the way out to Disney-era shows like Jungle Fury and RPM tells us that Sentai is little more than a series of footage-based dots that Saban must connect to create the shows we love most. Why expect a Gokaiger-type show when it exists in a storyline where ZyuRanger and CarRanger took place, when in Power Rangers, we have so many specific changes and deliberate liberties taken that we’re already looking at a different show in the firstplace? Instead of a copy-and-paste, imagine this situation like a math equation: GoRanger + JAKQ + Battle Fever + everything in the 35 years through Goseiger = Gokaiger. However, Mighty Morphin’ + Zeo + Turbo + 20 years ≠ Power Rangers: Gokai Force. We have different variables and values; expect a different show.
A Budget Is A Terrible Thing To Waste
If I could contact Saban Brands to find out anything about Super Megaforce, I’d want to talk to one of the accountants about what their budget is, where it comes from, and how over-budget they are right now. I may be going out on a limb here, but I doubt anyone who reads this article is a Certified Public Accountant, and an even slimmer chance that any of them has ever worked for a professional film production. If you are the one accountant from Saban reading this, you’ll agree with me when I say that the budget thing is being blown out of proportion. We must accept that Saban Brands is probably not as well-funded as Toei Company, or have as much money to spare for making Power Rangers. We are all saddened by the fact that we won’t be seeing many of our favorite former Rangers return, but shouldn’t that be sending a message about the budget itself? How low is it that there are only 10 Rangers confirmed to return out of nearly 100? Unless we want to assert that Saban Brands is full of liars and fakes who only wished to get hopes up, the original invitation email was sent to dozens of our favorite Power Rangers actors and redacted under budgetary circumstances. Could it be plausible that everyone once contacted were originally in the budget, and due to unknown financial issues (which could be anything from a price spike in getting Sentai footage or sets, unforeseeable costs within production and construction, low returns in toy sales, all against the backdrop of a struggling worldwide economy) had to churn out the ‘un-invites’? And not one of us stops to think that the people at Saban Brands, who have been pushing Power Rangers 20 and Megaforce since Morphicon 3, don’t feel embarrassed that they have let down the legions of fans that made the franchise what it is? All of you who read this, if you take nothing else away from this article, please realize that Saban Brands is NOT out to get us; they have no master plan to piss off actors and fans alike for no apparent reason, or to wreck the foundations of a show that makes them lots of money. I won’t go into how the reduction down to 10 former Rangers rather than 50 also makes a larger sum on average to offer them, or how expensive plane tickets and lodging are to a production that is in a completely different country than most of the former Rangers on their list, but this is one long-ass paragraph, and probably the most important.
Power Rangers Is A Children’s Show
We all have to face it from time to time, and sometimes it’s hard to accept the idea. It makes a hard pill to swallow when paparazzi outlets like TMZ tells us to ‘get a life, nerds’. The juvenile nature of the show is apparent in every single season and will be eternal as long as the franchise survives. So long as someone owns the Power Rangers name, the target demographic will be boys and girls 6-11 years of age. It is very easy as an older fan to misconstrue so many little details in how ‘bad’ the show seems to be, while in perspective, we’re not viewing it in pre-pubescent eyes. I’ve covered this a little bit in my article THE GREAT DUEL: Why Samurai DIDN’T Suck, but people just aren’t getting the message that, although you liked it 10-20 years ago, people change and some things stay the same. It’s the same argument as the Toei/Saban issue: perspectives differ, and no one realizes it. We, as an older contingent of fans that is relatively smaller than other fandoms, cannot see through the eyes of a child anymore, especially when times are a-changin’ so drastically. How can we come from a generation that honors and promotes the ideals of a childhood set in the 1990’s, alternatively bashing the children that grow up today who seem to be spoiled and whiny and pregnant, while expecting a 20 year-old show to stay true to our standards? It is a selfish notion that demands understanding and a widened perspective from us so that we won’t be continually disappointed as we are.
We mustn’t lose hope. My biggest point, which will fill out the article, is this:
¡THE ACTORS ARE ON OUR SIDE!
Super Hyper Manic Megaforce is meant to be OUR season; screwing up contemporary Sentai is one thing, but bringing in the most popular Rangers ever (OUR Rangers, I do not always claim Antonio) to the equation of madness is scary. We know for a fact that at least 10 Power Rangers alumni will be making guest appearances, but the capacity that they are to be used is yet to be known. Therefore, I ask you to put your faith in that holy bastion of resistance from the old days (and the new that have learned of the importance and intensity of the fanbase) still involved with the show that represents the shit we give: the former actors. Imagine the bigger Ranger personalities and their respective involvement with the fandom; a lot of former Rangers continue to attend conventions and meet with fans despite 5 years, 10 years, 20 years passing since their respective shows aired. This is the type of very special, symbiotic loyalty that is passed between the creators and audiences of fiction that makes something be considered culturally significant. Power Rangers is a big deal to many Americans, young and old, and it has a science behind it that makes it that way. If Saban had attempted to make a show this poorly with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, it would not have made it to Zeo.
Back on topic: if we can trust the 10 former actors we know of to represent us in New Zealand as they reprise their roles, we have a pretty good shot at getting a Super Jumbo Extreme Awesome Megaforce that we can all sit on with comfort. The returning Rangers can provide the leverage that Saban avoided with the Power Force (did I say that?), and create a chance to Inception some ideas and standards back into a story that we are in danger of losing. This also saves us from the frightening thought that the cameos will just be suckers to get us in on their ratings instead of actually serving a purpose within the story or having meaning besides being a cheap trick, AKA going against the Gokaiger/anniversary concept altogether.
Also consider this: we have already established the fact that Sentai is not Power Rangers. We must also acknowledge the antipodal statement that Power Rangers is not Sentai. Therefore, let’s consider the idea that if we had gotten 90 out of 100 Rangers back for Super Megaforce, would we receive the same experience that Gokaiger got with so many cameos spread out among 50 episodes? If we do the math, one might assert that a stronger presence of former Rangers might be overwhelming and, in some capacity, disappointingly inadequate or overused to the point of boredom. In the case of bringing 10 former Rangers back, can it be reasonable to believe that, in whatever form they come back and knowing that they will be the only ones, their presence will be that much sweeter and we, as older fans, will savor their returns that much more? THAT is why I’m not giving up on Super Megaforce.
We need a Turbo to get an In Space. An Operation Overdrive for an RPM. A Phantom Menace for a Revenge Of The Sith. We must endure hardship to earn victory; everything in existence is balanced. Quoth LOST: “The universe has a way of course-correcting.” But we have to work for it and make it known that we want Super Megaforce to be great.
The best case scenario is that Saban will learn from the past 60 episodes and decide that older fans mean a little bit more than Butler Rocky. I can see it happening, but we must be VIGILANT, my friends. I urge you to write to Saban or to a previous Ranger confirmed to be in Super Dandy Yadda Megaforce and tell them what kind of content you want from Power Rangers as a fan; Saban isn’t utilizing the Power Force like they implied they would (who is saying this?) and we need to make our voice be heard in some other way, and confirm that we want a great usage of the Rangers they were able to hire. The 20th anniversary season is a rare moment when elements are introduced aimed at US; let’s do something besides bitch about it on here and the message boards. This is the essence of the Power Rangers 20 experience.
Let me end by saying that I enjoy writing for this site because of the name. CupOfWater03 is really on to something with the motto, “We Are A Legacy!”. The older fans are what has made this franchise run on so long and helped forge the position the franchise has in present-day America; the legacy of Power Rangers is in the fan community, and I like to think that I help represent a slice of it by writing for Morphin’ Legacy. I have recently been more upset with the show than I’ve ever been in 20 years of watching to the point where I’ve considered resigning from writing about it; knowing I write for Morphin’ Legacy helps bring things back into focus. I owe a lot to the show for imposing good teachings on my impressionable young mind and I have to give back to it somehow; it is a good-guy trait to pay it forward, and I feel I haven’t yet earned my keep to my readers, to this community, or to the genre yet. That’s why I am so upset: we’ve all lost our way and we must remember what brought us together in the firstplace, and Saban Brands must honor the legacy that brought them their biggest success. If not, we may find other shows (Battle Hero Absolute, Gun Caliber, Exo Hero Exceed, France Five, the MMPR fan series, Supernova Cyber Knights, Task Force Operator) that are worth our money and attention.
However, there IS a part two to this thought process; speaking of the MMPR project, my next article will be about its development and the place it has in the future of the Power Rangers fandom, and why we should all see it as incredibly important.
Until next time: have courage and press on regardless.
QC by thebubbledragon
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