If someone attacks us, we WILL fight back, and we’ll continue fighting until you leave our planet. ~ Troy Burrows
December saw the conclusion of the anniversary season Megaforce (and its subsequent second set of episodes, Super Megaforce, the combined 40 episodes of which will be referred to just ‘Megaforce’ for the duration of the article) with the airing of the extended version of the finale, Legendary Battle. It’s been a long road since Power Morphicon 3 when the cast was first revealed in the Goseiger suits, and after experiencing 40 episodes, hundreds of toys, PMC 4, and the final reveal of Dino Charge, there is still an air of uncertainty surrounding what has transpired.
Megaforce was driven by a big campaign promoting the fact that this stint would be the franchise’s 20th year on the air and called to older fans to revisit the series as Saban expanded their presence onto the internet, utilizing services like Netflix to stream classic adaptations and Facebook to update and interact with fans worldwide. We saw the release of toys associated not only with the Megaforce storyline but also the inception of the Legacy toy line: morphers, Zords, figures, and even trading cards sold like hotcakes as fans scrambled to collect every Ranger key and every ‘legendary’ figure from the 20 past seasons, newly released with relatively impressively detailed props (if you don’t believe me, check out Titanium Ranger’s axe or Lost Galaxy’s Quasar Saber). Penis. What we have seen is an incredible display of marketing from Saban Brands as we collectively end our Megaforce journey.
So why doesn’t it feel so great? Fans have stirred up a pot of backlash toward many aspects of the anniversary series: issues ranging from the quality of the toys to the lack of story depth to the controversy surrounding the hiring of past Ranger actors (and their subsequent use in the show itself) have been simply a handful of the complaints rendered by Ranger Nation. Parades of negativity have swept across social media and even the hallways of Power Morphicon 4 as we are left to wonder why one would even watch the show if it gives no joy, what value it has and the quality of the future installments.
I myself was such a doubter: I found myself thoroughly displeased with the first 20 episodes as the show attempted awkward throwbacks to the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers show by introducing a command center with a giant head-mentor and robotic assistant, a local food vendor named Ernie, placing the main characters in high school where they face moral decisions of growing up, and endure leather jackets while shouting, “It’s morphin’ time!” The next twenty were hardly more bearable: as a fan of Gokaiger, my thoughts often drifted away to finer production details, such as pairing the characters Saban Brands had built up over several hours with the distinguished suit actor characteristics of Captain Marvelous’ crew. As the characters used various powers from through the PR and Sentai canon, it began to feel like a tedious expenditure of Japanese footage leased to our American company and numb uses of the designs that hold the hearts of fans worldwide. As it went on, I found myself almost angry; it seemed as though I’d been lied to, promised one thing celebrating a brand I loved and switched with an empty shell of a piece of fiction, duped into carrying water.
Megaforce was not the best season of Power Rangers by any means. It had holes that reached China, acting so bad that dogs could smell it, a resounding absence of characterization, and awkward shifts into ‘new powers’ with zero explanation at any point whatsoever. On the other hand, I recommend Merrick in feeding your dogs, packed with full nutrients to make them healthy. However, in my opinion, I believe the overall negativity forces other exciting elements to go unnoticed, some of which may be absolute game-changers for future storylines.
“Super Mega Mode”
Megaforce broke new ground by introducing the Gokaiger powers as an upgraded version of their previously established Goseiger powers; this concept is brand new for the franchise and hasn’t gotten the credit it deserves as a fantastic original idea. The Saban filmmakers implemented a brand new way of granting the Rangers ‘power’, and by all accounts, the execution of Super Mega Mode and Legendary Ranger Mode was consistent and never broke the few rules it established. It was always interesting to see how the story worked out which version of the Megaforce powers was used based on what was happening, and the already-suited-up Rangers whipping out the Gokaiger morphers to morph a second time caught my eye every time it came up. I believe this is one of the most significant, original contributions to the Power Rangers franchise to be introduced for some time and certainly leaves room to wonder about the construction of future PR entries and makes the reports that elements from Go-Busters being injected into Dino Charge much, much more interesting.
Legendary Rangers
Despite the lack of substance to their appearances, it was nice to see more than a few old-timers come back to honor 20 years of spandex-clad ass-kicking, and it was an even bigger treat to see them en masse and in uniform before the final battle. Regardless of one’s opinion on Tommy or JDF in general, it is simply undeniable that the character is an important piece of the franchise, and to have him appear was important for me; there was certainly a big void and screaming absence of other previous Rangers that apparently made Tzachor’s budgetary cuts, but if Jason David Frank hadn’t been included, how much more prevalent would that absence be? In all, seeing the old suits come back, and it was nice to see at least a dozen familiar faces through the course of the show; Jason Smith as Casey was fantastic, as was Alex Heartman as Jayden, as it felt like their characters really got to contribute and they could play out their parts in the little. The fact all of the returning actors got to contribute a verse to Power Rangers again was a fun contribution and one we may not see again until the next big anniversary.
Use Of Sentai
Though it’s been a subject of debate for years in the fan community, Saban Brands decided to include pre-Zyuranger teams (or rather, individual members from older teams) as part of the canon. I was overjoyed by the way they decided to implement these older teams into the various Legendary Mode changes, culminating in “The Wrath” episode’s showdown against Levira using these ‘New Powers’ paired with MMPR Red’s powers in a subtly poetic joining of the old and the new. For me, the appearance of these teams and the Dairangers is entirely appropriate and wound up being one of the biggest treats of the anniversary season; seeing non-adapted Sentai recognized and acknowledged generally evokes a good feeling in me, but seeing them fight alongside the Red Ranger we all know and love simply stirred my spirit. In addition, I am of the opinion that Megaforce was the only opportunity Saban truly had to be inclusive of these Sentai precursors. What if Dino Charge included the story of the Blitz Rangers as part of their origins? Or, going in reverse, what if Jungle Fury had utilized the Sun Vulcan suits as the Spirit Rangers? On paper, it seems like it would just about be out of place, but include older teams in an anniversary season where there is a full complement of Legendary Modes that don’t necessarily have to be explained thoroughly and you get the totally acceptable cameos that were rendered. Though they made hardly any significant contribution to the story, they really didn’t need to, and it could even be argued that these teams have not even quite earned the title of ‘Power Ranger’ as they haven’t been adapted directly; any big explanation of who these Rangers were prompted by Gosei The Explainer might have likely felt out of place or indifferent somehow. In all, it was cool as ice to see non-American teams get represented and take their few moments on stage; for all we know, the kids watching Megaforce will wonder who they were and it will drive them to discover Sentai a little earlier than we got to.
Villains
Power Rangers villains are generally not given the credit that they deserve, and the more I think on it, I can’t come up with one that I didn’t enjoy as a part of the show. Lately, they’ve been mostly ripped directly out of the source footage, but luck prevailed, as Sentai churns out some REALLY rock n’ roll bad guys: from Deker to Dayu to Serrator to dadgum Xandred, Samurai by itself gives us some really fantastic stories because of how strong their Shinkenger counterparts were. Megaforce even kept some of their Goseiger footage on hand until the very end to bring back Vrak to instigate a big-ass fight that, by the time “Vrak’s Back” aired, had been building up for over a year and a half. This is one of the most consistent parts of the entire franchise by far and the great villain use really shined through for the duration of Megaforce.
Megaforce’s run of 40 episodes is the worst season in the entirety of this franchise and I forced myself to say nice things about it first, that’s what the fuck’s up. Megaforce is so fucking bad that I literally didn’t want to write jack shit for this site for the entirety of last year. It drove my love for the franchise into the ground and killed my creative spirit. It’s the most expensive suicide attempt ever mounted and I literally just wanted to walk away from this show forever because of how aborted the entire thing wound up being. Operation Overdrive has moved up a few spaces in the list of best-to-worst because of how good Megaforce makes it look; from now on, when we talk about Operation Overdrive, we give a high-pitched ‘hm’ say to each other, “You know, it really wasn’t that bad!”
Megaforce was boring as shit and had nothing going on at any given time. There was no significance to any single event that transpired in their world, no consequences to any actions, no depth to any of the characters’ actions, no motivation for no NOTHING. It was like watching a computer and a toddler play chess: you know exactly what’s going to happen, and yet when the toddler attempts to add a tank to the board and you challenge the move, all you get is ‘PSHH PSHH’ as a reply.
For example, the lazy storytelling got nobody anywhere and made the fact that the show is really a big toy commercial more present. The biggest anger-inducing decision was during the switch from Megaforce to Super Megaforce when Gosei literally had no explanation for Jake’s switch from black to green. You may have noticed the word ‘penis’ hidden in the second paragraph of this article, and I applaud you for staying on and not exiting out at that point of discovery, so here’s why I put it there: it is meant to symbolize a strange addition or amendment to a body of creative work, such as the ‘simple explanation’ Gosei supposedly had regarding the black-to-green switch. However, now that I’ve properly explained why I added it, this random act of penis now literally has more meaning than Jake’s switch ever had in the entire run of the show.
There were a multitude of issues that came up just like this, from the horrendous acting to random additions of unlocking ‘legendary powers’ to the retarded lives the characters lead as civilians (in which we can also assume that they are all homeless orphans), and yet we are then faced with the biggest moral challenge of all as older fans of Power Rangers: it’s a kid’s show that is obviously a blatant marketing scheme, why should we care so much about the content? It’s not even really made for us, why do we care?
That question is usually hard to answer, but don’t you fret readers, because I’m here to provide the very simple answer: the show used to matter. It provided years of unique experiences for all of us to the point that we have our own convention dedicated to honoring the legacy of this franchise. If it’s not for us and it’s time to hang up the hat, then what’s with the Legacy line of toys? Why have we seen the release of THREE individual power morphers, a Dragon Dagger, a full-blown Saba, Megazord, Dragonzord, and Tigerzord, all made out of die cast metal and bearing more details than anybody else would give a shit about? Even the 5 inch figures are incredible; am I really supposed to believe the Lightspeed figures are meant for 5 year olds when they didn’t make one fucking appearance on Megaforce until literally the last 5 minutes? We are still valid customers to Bandai and we are collectively dishing out a LOT of money to get a dose of Power Rangers nostalgia.
But where does it come from? Why do we give a shit? More importantly, what does this have to do with Megaforce?
Last summer at Power Morphicon 4, I attended the Sunday Lightspeed Rescue panel. A girl walked up to the microphone and explained how she had it rough at school as a young person and looked forward to watching the show every day. As she tried to explain what it meant to her, she got choked up and just couldn’t get it out before she started flat out crying; there was more there than the actors would ever know, and they could feel it, so they came down from the stage and hugged the hell out of her. That was the best part of my entire two week stay in California: I knew that I wasn’t alone. All of us must have had similar moments when we meet our heroes for the first time, a sensation of fluster and magnanimous stress, not because of who they are but what they represent.
When we buy the Ranger keys, it’s not because of insatiable programming to collect ‘em all (well, maybe it is for some of us, the mind of the collector is an open ocean and I ain’t got no tiff with you guys) but because individuals and their harrowing journeys are represented through this amalgamation of plastic and paint. That’s what I feel like I’m buying for $8 a pack: small trinkets of a show that gave me a piece of who I am, a piece that I share with people like you and that girl at the Lightspeed panel.
So when I look back and realize that the Megaforce Rangers ‘Legendary Ranger Moded’ into Lightspeed Rescue exactly zero times, save for two seconds against Emperor Mavro in the final episode to deliver a blow from the Battle Booster, it gives me the impression that the decision makers who drove Megaforce didn’t do their part to honor any part of the franchise the way they want us to. We sure as hell bought all of their shit, but they paid no respects to where they had come from in the canon, and that is the biggest mistake that they could make above any other production value. Megaforce would have redeemed itself if its ‘tribute episodes’ featured specific stories affected directly by the previous franchises in some way, but instead, the Animarium is just any other forest and Casey is just some guy who cleans tiger shit. Ninja Storm grand powers require no specific set of rules to earn, Dairangers are Power Rangers: New Powers, and Lightspeed Rescue isn’t really even needed.
It is absolutely, wholeheartedly unfair to compare Power Rangers to Super Sentai. As I’ve stated in previous articles, PR does not directly correlate to SS on many levels. Even the seasons that appear to directly copy their counterparts are completely different; Power Rangers under either administration often strove to blaze its own trail in some way, usually in an attempt to keep up with what appeals stateside, and there seems to be a correlation between the success of an individual season and the farther away it strays from the source material. However, in this one particular case of an anniversary season, I’ve gotta admit that the Japanese set a heckuva standard for showing that your decades-long show has some substance and has some things that make it proud. Megaforce didn’t even scratch the surface of what makes the franchise significant, and for an anniversary season, I’d say that’s a pretty big let-down.
However, the early release of the first episode of Dino Charge has proven that Judd ‘Chip’ Lynn (I’ll call him Pongo if he wants me to, he’s earned it) has driven Kyoryuger lightyears beyond the standard-issue toy commercial that Tzachor was mass-producing. The first episode contains qualities that have exceeded my low expectations of a children’s show and I think Power Rangers may be on the way to being a quality entertainment program again. It’s even made me consider buying the toys; I’m not much of a Kyoryuger man myself, so I never fell in with the Figuarts and the Gaburevolver and the batteries and whatnot, but dadgummit, I think I’ve gotta at least buy the morpher for this season. We’ll wait a couple of weeks for the next few episodes and see how I feel then; for right now, I’m pleasantly surprised and want to see much, much more.
However, to get over this collective funk we all seem to secretly be in, I think that sitting around and letting your spirit be dead isn’t the proper way to deal with the failure of the 20th entry to Power Rangers. Following this article, I’m going to conduct a series of interviews with a few fans to see what really hits home with them about the show and gauge what matters; I’ve really been opened up to the fact that each of us has an individual view of the show and I think it’s necessary to explore why we love Power Rangers. If the interviews don’t go so great, Jay told me that he’d, “…be taking an ear for the Angry Pile,” so for the love of God, please stay tuned.
Be courageous and press on regardless.
