Power Rangers Megaforce: S20E03 - Going Viral.

Sorry this is late as well, I may be reviewing a kids show, but I am still an adult. I was out drinking when this was airing in the US and am now reviewing it hungover on a Sunday afternoon, lovely.

Okay so those complaining that Megaforce is a little light on the story, certainly get a let more story this time around. However I don't think it's going to stop anyone complaining, as the story of the week is a by the numbers checklist Power Rangers story. Noah is best friends with Jake, Jake is strong but Noah...Noah is just a nerd. What do smarts matter if you have no muscles? Maybe Noah isn't fit to be a Power Ranger after all... But then he finds that his brains do in fact have a practical use, the battle couldn't have been won without them! If you believe in yourself, there is nothing you can't do! Blahblahblah.... Hey, at least he get some sweet new Zords, he turned the Megazord into a Pirate!

As far as Power Rangers goes, the acting in this iteration is pretty solid...except for probably where it counts the most, the Red Ranger. Andrew Gray has no presence, intensity or emotion at all. He watches people get turned into monsters before his very eyes and then blandly states, 'Oh. No.'. And he spends the whole episode with equal measure bland and disinterest in everything. I never thought I'd complain about under acting in Power Rangers but my God man...you're a red ranger, have some fun! Ciara Hanna however continues to be the best in the cast as Gia, a lesser actress would just make Gia seem stuck up and annoying, but Hanna manages to make Gia all attitude and fun.

Sadly however, there has been very little time outside of the suits yet. Although both Troy and Emma do seem really bland, as said I love Gia and Jake and Noah are a lot of fun as well but we've spent so little time with them. I mean that scene in today's episode where Emma, Gia and Troy are walking somewhere, it feels like the show just assumes Emma and Gia are friends because they are...the same gender, despite not really showing much interest in one another at all and then what the hell is Troy doing? I was laughing so hard, this was the most personality he's had so far. And the show tries its hardest to project their personality through the sentai footage, but it isn't the same as having them out of the suits and in natural environments, doing the teenagery stuff their characters would be doing. And it isn't like the show hasn't set up building blocks to have interesting stuff to focus on for each of the Rangers, so why aren't you focusing on it? You may not think it at first, but the scenes of the teens eating icecream and doing their homework is as important to the development of their characters as the alien insect fighting.

It probably doesn't help that there is some real disconnect between the American and Japanese characterisations. Noah says he is unsure if he's up to the whole superhero business and out of the suit, you can believe that, then they cut to the sentai footage and he handles that bow like a fucking boss and all belief vanishes. About the only character who really seems to gel naturally with his Sentai footage is Jake.

I really liked Virox, it's nice to have a Power Rangers villain that actually provides some kind of threat. Does everyone remember that episode of Wild Force where the censorship left the villain simply turning people invisible...and that was it? Yeah... here however, Virox is technically like a zombie with each sneeze infecting people and turning them into monsters, which makes it feel like there is an actual imperative to take him down before it's too late. Having a villain with actual threat really helped heighten the sense of urgency in the story of the week to, Virox seems a worthy test for Noah to see if he really is fit for this whole superhero business.

However the same problem remains, the action in Megaforce just feels so incredibly rushed. The Sentai Footage is so choppy in places, it feels less like a coherent fight scene and more like the kind of erratic sugar rushed action scenes I'd play with my action figures when I was a kid. And you could argue this isn't a problem, because this sense of speed creates a consistent sense of excitement that the kids are going to love and I would agree to some extent, but it'd be nice if the editing could at least make it coherent.

It creates other problems to, for example two of the head villains were having a similar battle of brain and muscle as our two heroes were. This would have drawn a nice parallel, however each one of their scenes was over so quickly it barely seemed worth cutting to. And the head villains really need some kind of personality so there can be some sense of triumph when they finally get taken down. Right now, I could care less about stopping these guys.

I could complain that we've seen this story done a thousand times...because we have, but how many times does this story lead to a giant robot pirate? Seriously, that alone saved the episode for me. Virox was a decent villain but the poor use of the sentai footage undermined him a little with how rushed the whole battle felt. Right now really, the poor use of the footage is the only thing holding this back from greatness, that and one of the worst Red Rangers ever... Overall though, this was another strong episode and I had a lot of fun.

Pros;

• Well, at least we got a little more story.
• Pirate Megazord (I can't wait for this toy!)
• Gia.
• Jake is probably the most consistent character, in the suit and out of it.
• Virox.

Cons;

• How many times is Power Rangers going to do this story? Is there something in the contract that says we have to have an episode like this every iteration?
• Andrew Gray.
• So little time outside of the suits.
• Emma and Troy have no personality. 
• You can't have a boring Red Ranger, man!
• Awkward transition from the Rangers out of the suits, to them in their suits. 
• The sentai footage isn't very well used.
• I don't care about our lead villains.

Think About It!

-Locke

What would you rate, 'Going Viral'?