Power Rangers Megaforce: S20E04 - Stranger Ranger.

Sorry this is so late! I hope that with the fact that my other TV reviews this week were so early, you can forgive me.

It's odd because the last two weeks have chosen to focus on singular characters and yet still somehow leave us with nothing coming out the other side. So this week some random douchebag pretends to be the Red Ranger for attention, gets ridiculed by the Rangers, owns up and then gets abandoned by everyone. I felt so fucking sorry for this guy.

What I was happy about is Troy, our Red Ranger, finally gets some focus. Yet oddly, despite him getting more specific focus, I still feel like I know nothing about him and learnt nothing new. I know Red Rangers have never exactly had that much depth, aside from a few examples, but Troy has a lot in place to be really interesting, however Megaforce seems to always find ways to mess it up. This isn't helped by how bored Gray sounds, I never thought I'd meet an actor who doesn't sound enthused to be a friggin' Red Ranger! He is the new kid in town and suddenly he is the Red Ranger, leading a team of people who are already friends and he is plagued by prophetic visions of a giant war and yet they still manage to make him so very bland.

Then out of nowhere they add this whole warrior angle to his character and I'm just left wondering where the hell this has come from. Does that one shot of him kicking a bottle on a rooftop count as exposition in Megaforce? Because I had no idea that was supposed to establish he was some sort of warrior, hell I totally forgot about that scene until suddenly he's doing his whole 'feel the wind', samurai warrior shit. And yes, Troy was badass this episode, his battle with Creepox was awesome but despite what people say, Power Rangers has been able to be badass without being completely superficial about it.

And if you thought it felt out of character for Troy, who at least had a little establishment, then you ain't seen nothing yet when characters like Noah and Emma, who have been established as 'not the fighting type' go full on ninja skills in the middle of the episode. It's just frustrating, because all of this could have been avoided if they spent more time establishing character. Plus, what is with them ridiculing the imposter? Sure, he is a douchebag, but comparing your morphed abilities, especially the one who is most athletic even when unmorphed, to a civilians is just unfair. Given his awesome catch at the end, I hope all this turns him into their greatest enemy.

Honestly unless you have extremely talented writers, editors and are willing to actually spend money, keep your characters simple, there is no point adding complexity to characters if you focus on them so very little. Power Rangers more basic, archetypal characters are normally the best because they can be established and defined quickly and easily and it gives you room to play around and build on their characters when you've got all your world built properly. I don't think I've ever felt so disconnected from a bunch of Rangers before.

Thankfully the action in Megaforce is great, Super Sentai has clearly come a long way and there is a much less noticeable disconnect in terms of film quality as the show switches around. With that distraction gone, it allows you to just enjoy the fighting and something about the Goseiger footage feels bigger and more spectacular than anything that has come before it. On the other hand, it's pretty clear they are using way too much footage already as they are forced to pad their episodes with reused sentai footage, sometimes looped multiple times in a row.

What I think was a genius stroke, was changing Jake and Gia into a potential couple, rather than siblings. Although the show may not make a big deal out of it, it's really nice to know that their powers are interconnected, that they have to work together even closer than with anyone else on their team to get the job done. I know this is just fanwanking, but it's almost like Gosei destined them to be together, Gosei is a shipper! Sadly their zord conversion isn't nearly as cool as Noah's was.

I heard the Legend War was going to be reshot so it only includes the last twenty years of Power Rangers, however judging from Troy's dreams this week, that isn't going to be the case. I know this is 'just a kids show' so they probably don't care much about continuity but I think even as a kid I'd be asking who all these people are.

I want to complain about the cripplingly slow pacing, I want to complain about the awful characterisation, I want to complain about the awful and noticeable looped footage but then the Rangers morph and the sentai footage starts and I'm no longer complaining any more. In any other context, I'd say that it is the mark of a truly awful Power Rangers series when the original footage is what is letting it down but I didn't like the original context of the action so Megaforce translated it into a form I can enjoy. Plus, my complaints of the original footage are more compliments anyway because the original footage isn't bad...I just want more, I want to know my heroes better. And what is so wrong with that?

Pros;

• At least Troy finally gets some focus.
• And Troy didn't disappoint, what a badarse.
• Great action.
• Jake and Gia! 
• The maximum level of fun that comes prepacked with an episode of Megaforce.

Cons;

• Wow...Jordan sure got the shit end of the stick, huh?
• They seem to be trying to avoid just having generic, stock heroes but then spend so little time establishing character, I feel like I have less connection to these guys than the more cardboard cut out heroes of the Power Rangers low points in history.
• Obviously looping footage? Bullshit.
• Gray you're a Red Ranger man, have some fun!

Think About It!

-Locke

What would you rate, 'Stranger Ranger'?