Power Rangers Dino Fury: Unexpected Guest Review

PRDF "Unexpected Guest"

The grand tradition of Kelson Henderson in Power Rangers continues, as he reprises his Ninja Steel role of Mick in a meat and potatoes episode that features a brief but compelling peek into Ranger mythology.

New monster Wolfgang has an impressive sonic howl power that can literally dismantle a Megazord. Meanwhile Mick arrives on Earth to search for the lost Nexus Prism. His presence means a team-up of two mentors, as he and Solon attempt to locate the Prism.

The episode's centerpiece moment comes when Zayto telepathically communicates with the Nexus Prism. He sees the Morphin Masters creating the Nexus Prism, part of a general practice of creating magical objects to one day power Ranger teams. (Presumably, the Zeo Crystal is another example.) We also see glimpses the Masters' observations of the Ninja Steel, Beast Morphers, and of course, Dino Fury teams. It's a great fleeting look at the series' wider mythos.

The Rangers coalesce to deal with Wolfgang and the still-empowered Boomtower, occasioning the first time all five zords make a big entrance together. They combine to form the Dino Fury Megazord, Warrior formation, killing Boomtower for good with the Rangers securing his raw sporix to boot.

Other moments of flavor in the episode include a Great British Bake Off parody at Buzzblast, a space taxi, and the reveal of Void Knight going all Mr. Freeze and keeping his great love in suspended animation. "Unexpected Guest" brings back Mick for a fun guest role, expanded into something more by connecting to the wider Power Rangers story for the first time this season. 7/10.

Stray observation:

- Mick says he has selfies with over 40 Power Rangers. So, six Ninja Steel Rangers. Ten legendary Rangers from "Dimensions in Danger". Accounting for the others provides fuel for imagining some off-screen adventures.

Power Rangers Dino Fury: Stego Search Review

PRDF "Stego Search"

Yes. That is Javi playing a keytar in the image above. Thank you and you're welcome.

Of course, the presence of said keytar is no surprise, as that was central to Javi's motivation from his introduction to the show. As he plays it in the park, J-Borg accompanies him with operatic vocals that recall the "Diva Dance" from The Fifth Element. But in a moment of parental authority gone too far, Javi's dad Carlos instantly takes it upon himself to return the instrument and get Javi's money back.

Meanwhile, the other Rangers and Solon attempt to locate Javi's dormant Stegozord. After no joy on the search, Izzy nominates Zayto to tell Javi the bad news, but then leaves Amelia and Ollie to do it. Is that leadership?

In Area 62, Boomtower takes it upon himself to power up with a sporix enhancement. Boomtower, blithely enhancing himself like he's John Walker in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier... The ensuing action sequence benefits from the nicely counterintuitive choice to have the unmorphed foot soldier fight at the end of the action sequence. But after Izzy is injured, "Stego Search" continues to be not a great episode for Carlos, who venomously blames Javi for Izzy's injury even though a) he doesn't understand the situation, and b) everything that's gone before would indicate that Izzy's the "tougher" sibling!

There's an amusing moment when Boomtower grows to kaiju size across town, and Amelia asks, "Am I imagining it, or is he looking right at us?" At this point, it becomes clear that in addition to Zayto and Carlos, Void Knight has to come in for leadership criticism too. Boomower says that Void Knight "let [him] keep" the sporix powers. This, after Void Knight interrupted the attack on an overwhelmed team of Rangers purely because he was annoyed Boomtower used his initiative? Shame, Void Knight. Shame. Inefficiency and incompetence in evil.

Anyways, Javi finds his zord, it comes with the Megazord in a spike formation, and there's a cool sunset zord battle. Aside from multiple instances of characters behaving illogically, the episode nonetheless shines as a solid focus episode for Javi. There's also a decent runner about Zayto needing a teen dictionary to understand slang. Now get back that keytar. 7/10.

Power Rangers Dino Fury: Superstition Strikes Review

PRDF "Superstition Strikes"

"You're even bad at spelling." - Amelia Jones

Amelia gets a focus episode with "Superstition Strikes", which certainly has shaky elements, but comes together as a fun installment that she comes out the other side stronger for.

It all starts after we get a version of the classic mainstay of focus episodes: introducing the family member. In this case, it's Amelia grandfather, whose ladder Amelia accidentally walks under - which means bad luck. Her morpher breaks during a solo sporix fight, so even that button that makes such an ungodly racket on the official morpher toy doesn't work.

However, I have to take issue with one highlighted incident of "bad luck". The monster of the week fires an energy blast at an unmorphed Amelia, who defends herself with the lid of a trash can. The deflected blast happens to hit in front of Izzy and Javi, who are morphed. So instead of Amelia coming out like a rose and looking great for quick thinking saving herself from certain death, the episode considers this some down-the-middle example of her bad luck and clumsiness. Oh please! She cannily saved herself and the people she mildly inconvenienced were morphed. That's not bad luck! It's good reflexes and actually pretty great luck!

In any case, Amelia hangs back in the base while Solon works on a replacement morpher. It turns out to be lucky that Amelia is there to defend the base from Boomtower, who teleports in with Amelia's original morpher. This sequence gives Amelia some triumphant moments, a trend that continues when she combines her Ankylozord to the Megazord for the first time, creating a "Hammer Formation". Uniquely, Amelia uses a semi-accidental Rube Goldberg attack from the Megazord cockpit which helps to win the day.

Elsewhere, Izzy secures the raw sporix blob from Boomtower's clutches and says, "Okay, boomer". I'm... going to allow that because it's not a bad play on words. 

My rant above stands, but otherwise, "Superstition Strikes" gets credit for giving Amelia great moments in her focus episode. If it wasn't for Trashcangate, I would rate the episode higher. 6/10.

Power Rangers Dino Fury: Winning Attitude Review

PRDF "Winning Attitude"

One episode after her introduction, new Ranger Izzy gets a focus episode in "Winning Attitude", as she learns a lesson about selflessness, and is rewarded with the discovery of her zord. This type of genuinely earned power-up is always a welcome development for Power Rangers.

The episode introduces Izzy and Javi's cousin Lily, who seems to have Down syndrome. In a positive piece of representation, the character has a place in the emotional arc of the episode, and reference is made to the Special Olympics, a grounding detail for the show.

Meanwhile, a sporix beast called Brineblast shows up at a park and scares a group of kids, who represent a core test audience for the scariness factor of monsters. Arriving to oppose the monster are the five Rangers, given a full morphing sequence together for the first time.

Percolating in the plot is a hunt for the Green and Black Rangers' zords, engaging both heroes and villains in the chase. Void Knight finds a potential map to them in the archives of Area 62, giving rise to the amusing idea of a monster doing research and shuffling through human paperwork.

After Izzy hangs back in a marathon race to help an injured rival, Izzy discovers her Tigerclaw zord, and combines it with the Megazord to form the Dino Fury Megazord, Claw formation. With a clear and clean focus on Izzy's arc, "Winning Attitude" scores a win. 6/10.

Power Rangers Dino Fury: New Recruits Review

PRDF "New Recruits"

"You humans sure do love zords..." - Zayto

"New Recruits" finds both the heroes and villains' ranks swelling. It's very early in the season for this, but it's nonetheless a familiar pattern. In fact, the two new Rangers are rather spoiled by appearing in the opening title sequence up front.

The two new Rangers are siblings, bringing to mind Gem and Gemma from RPM. Their stepfather is the warden character introduced in the premiere. Izzy is a star high school athlete, seen practicing her javelin throw. Izzy is interviewed by people dressed in red, pink, and blue, who have to abruptly leave. Then Izzy comes upon the Red, Pink and Blue Power Rangers and doesn't make the connection. Izzy's brother Javi is a musician who very quickly establishes his "thing" as a desire to save money for a keytar! 

Meanwhile, the villains get a new general, Boomtower, plus a monster of the week in the form of Dragnarok. There's a recurring bit in the episode where no one can remember Dragnarok's name. But Mucus can remember to put a villainous twist on "It's morphin' time", as she quarterbacks the plan to steal a nephrite orb from the local museum.

In an odd moment where the dramatic stakes have been fastforwarded past, Javi decides to destroy the nephrite orb so as to prevent it from falling in the wrong hands. Inside are two Ranger keys for himself and his sister. Javi is the Black Ranger, Izzy the Green. And then, a revolutionary moment happens. Izzy rips the skirt of her Ranger suit off, saying skirts aren't her style. Indeed, the Green Ranger in Ryusoulger is a man. It's like if Trini in Mighty Morphin had done away with her own skirt.

Another piece of characterization for Izzy is that she's apparently a font of millennial catchphrases. They help to dispatch Dragnarok, and the two new Rangers are introduced to Solon. She introduces herself as "half cyborg, half dinosaur". Surely it would be simply, "a cyborg dinosaur"? In any case, "New Recruits" does a yeoman's job introducing two new Rangers into the fold. 6/10.

Power Rangers Dino Fury: Lost Signal Review

PRDF "Lost Signal"

"Lost Signal" continues the deliberately-paced opening up of Dino Fury's mythology, in a decent episode that nonetheless fails to truly catch fire.

We begin with a pensive Zayto, nostalgic for his mother and homeworld. A possible message is coming in from the quadrant of space that includes his planet, leading the Rangers to a psychic at the local fair. It's a dead end for the Rangers, and for Jane's robot double, J-Borg. J-Borg steps in a cement bucket, a classic bit familiar from I Love Lucy.

But the other problem on the scene is sporix monster Vypeera. She's a gorgon, able to freeze anyone with the eyes on her chest. (Not to be confused with Vypra from Lightspeed Rescue, Vypeera also shares a very similar design to Dayu from Samurai.) The Rangers' adaptation to this tactic takes a couple unique forms, including Amelia and Ollie taking Rangerly insouciance in taking time morphing in front of a monster to another level, by doing so with their backs to Vypeera.

When things escalate, we are treated to the first appearances of the Ankylozord and Tricerazord. And just when one is about to comment on the Tricerazord's absurdly long horn, Ollie says, "Check out that blade!" Amelia and Ollie operate the zords via remote pilot, but do make it into the Dino Fury Megazord cockpit, that combining form also debuting in this episode.

In an unreal moment, the Rangers' strategy is to deliberately demolish an intersection to repurpose the road in covering up Vypeera's eyes. And that's when you realize that the episode's plot revolves around not looking at a woman's chest, and covering it up with a censor bar... in the form of a street.

The episode is meat and potatoes, not elevating into anything special. Although the score has a couple notably emotional moments, and it bears keeping an ear on as it may prove a standout element of this season. 6/10.

Power Rangers Dino Fury: Sporix Unleashed Review

PRDF "Sporix Unleashed"

The worldbuilding of Dino Fury steadily continues in "Sporix Unleashed", a meat and potatoes expository episode that nonetheless throws a few curveballs and, give or take a couple character hiccups, promises solid footing for the season going forward.

Like Beast Morphers before it, Dino Fury is showing that once you become a Ranger, skills don't magically manifest for you. We see the Rangers practicing their morphing motion (cannily giving the audience an opportunity to learn it too). Teleportation is seen to take a little getting used to, like going through the event horizon of a Stargate. There are also light touches of meta comedy, such as Amelia asking who names the zords when told of the T-Rex Champion Zord. Moments like these are welcome and realistic additions to the standard Power Rangers template.

Amelia's boss Jane unveils a robotic duplicate of herself (?), so that looks like a source of comic relief this season. At least when the robot bops all over the place like a cartoon whirlwind, that's because it's a robot - Victory, Monty, Ben, and Betty had no such excuse. (More on the robot in Stray Observation.)

The action quotient is heightened in this second episode. We get a full morphing sequence - which is pretty involved, taking in multiple phrases. Because we're still being introduced to everything, I'll say I really appreciate that Amelia as the Pink Ranger gets an ankylosaurus as her dinosaur, rather than something more "elegant". During the morphed fight, slow motion is liberally used - will that be this season's equivalent of "Kalishsplosions"?

There are more innovations in the zord fight. The monster is rendered in CGI in some shots, and that partial digitization makes for a surprisingly fast-paced zord fight. Usually the zord fights are characterized by lumbering suit performers hitting each other, which is great, but this is quite a change. Add to that Amelia and Ollie fighting a kaiju-size monster without zords, and you have some novel action beats.

As the title sequence telegraphs, Zayto can retract his antennae for public appearances. Which is a positive development, but his personality seems missing in action, retractable or no. Given his stone face and singular focus, I hope we're not in for a Troy-type Red Ranger this season.

The episode is also a little rough for Ollie. He skirts his secret identity in multiple ways, not least when he morphs right next to his mom (good thing she didn't... turn to the right) and then calls her "mom" when morphed. Worst of all for the rookie Ranger, he protests that he's sure his mom is fine, even knowing that she has technology that the villains are actively looking for! But to be fair to the good Dr. Akana, she kind of wipes the floor with new sporix monster Mucus!

With an effective opening up of the show's elements, and unique action moments, "Sporix Unleashed" is a solid second episode of Dino Fury. While I hope Zayto will develop more of a personality, it's nice to see everything set up. And that's one of the fastest-paced zord battles Power Rangers has given us. 7/10.

Stray observation:

-  Jane's robot comes from Hartford Robotics! A nifty easter egg reference to Andrew Hartford and his creations from Operation Overdrive, including his "son" Mack.

Power Rangers Dino Fury: Destination Dinohenge Review

PRDF "Destination Dinohenge"

This new season of Power Rangers, pregnant with possibility as they always are, still opens under the overcast sky of New Zealand playing the United States, a comfortable and unshakable continuity with the past. With a new season comes an opportunity to clear the decks, reset, and introduce a new team. But the first impression comes through a new title sequence.

The theme song is characterized by techno flourishes. It doesn't seem to have much to it. The time allotted to the titles seems shorter, though there's still enough for an obligatory "Go go Power Rangers" quote. I'll leave room for the theme to grow on me, because it isn't there yet. But when the new Rangers first morph later in the episode, that's when the score really makes a case for itself. The techno bits are accentuated by mythic overtones, matching the suit designs reflecting medieval knights.

We are introduced to the world of Dino Fury through the non-Red Rangers, an interesting choice that harks back to In Space (more on that later). Amelia (once and future Pink Ranger) is a TV journalist with an interest in cryptozoology (!), and Ollie (Blue) is the son of a passionate archaeologist. They meet in the forest near Dinohenge, a circle of six dinosaur statues: six for six Rangers.

After Ollie's mother, Dr. Lani Akana, leaves to sort out permit issues with park warden Garcia (who we're instantly clued into as a future comic relief character through the music), a Koragg look-alike villain called Void Knight uncovers a Ranger base underneath Dinohenge. There, a cyborg dinosaur named Solon watches over Red Ranger Zayto. Zayto is an alien, leading new human Rangers Amelia and Ollie, a dynamic, again, out of In Space. (Zayto's antennae, however, land on the wrong side of Guardians of the Galaxy's Mantis and Star Trek's Andorians.)

The Ranger suit design is matched by the foot soldiers, who resemble suits of armor come to life; very Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Zayto also gives his backstory, which involves surprisingly good T-Rex CGI, and an appearance from Morphin Masters. Plotwise, it should be noted that dangerous Sporix are unleashed on the world, each one ready to hatch a monster.

The relatively brief action is decent enough, and features good hero moments for both Amelia and Ollie. (Once morphed, Amelia uses a move reminiscent of Ben Solo in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.) The episode is in the positive tradition of premieres that take it slow. We get a morph, but not a full morphing sequence, and only a tease of monsters and zords. Everything clicks along, not as solidly formed as the Beast Morphers premiere, and with a slightly awkward energy. But this new Ranger team's legend is just beginning. 6/10.

Stray observation:

- The title Dino Fury is a combination of Dino Thunder/Dino Charge and Jungle Fury.

Power Rangers Season 27 Overview (Beast Morphers)

Power Rangers Season 27 (Beast Morphers Season 2)

Average episode rating: 6.4/10 (holding steady from Season 26, Beast Morphers' debut, with 6.3/10)

The Hasbro era of Power Rangers has gotten off to a solid start with two seasons of Beast Morphers. At least some of the goodwill toward this team might be due to where we just came from. The Neo-Saban era is unequivocally the worst in the show's long history; Dino Charge is the only genuinely good incarnation it produced, with the follow-up Ninja Steel slipping on a banana peel week after week. But even divorcing Beast Morphers from the context of looking good by comparison, it still stands out with its attention to detail, mostly solid character development, bursts of creativity, and an on-point cast.

Its second season, Power Rangers' 27th overall, also made the fan-pleasing decision to embrace more continuity. So main villain Evox was revealed to be a mutation of RPM baddie Venjix, Doctor K showed up as a guest mentor a couple times, and of course, a dinosaur-themed team-up event made a huge noise even if it sacrificed some elegance to do so.

At the end of Season 26, the original digital avatars of Roxy and Blaze were defeated, freeing their human selves from comas. Going into Season 27, the potential of these characters seemed limitless. Here were two people who had been intensively trained to be the Yellow and Red Rangers. They could assist the team in any number of ways, including in unmorphed fights or even, if the show felt ambitious, as sixth and seventh Rangers.

But that is not even close to the direction the show took, to its cost. Roxy and Blaze were retained as robot villains in addition to their human bodies. I get it. Colby Strong, and especially Liana Ramirez, give excellent arch-villain performances. But human Blaze, whose spiky personality caused friction at the outset of this team, had a personality lobotomy that made him 100% docile and inoffensive, to the point where Blaze evincing a dissenting opinion meant he must be the robot in disguise. The gaping missed opportunity of using human Roxy and Blaze as secondary team members or Grid Battleforce allies is the single biggest demerit on this season.

But evil or not, Roxy and Blaze are assets in this cast. Ben and Betty were sometimes assets as well, and sometimes victim to the same Wile E. Coyote logic that animated, God help us, Victor and Monty in Ninja Steel.

One area in which this cast excels is roles for women. There is a female Ranger (Zoey), a formidable mentor (Commander Shaw), a deliciously evil villain (Roxy), and broad comic relief (Betty), all appealing. That's all four quadrants! The only other season to match it in all four "quadrants" is Dino Thunder: Ranger (Kira), mentor (Hayley), villain (Elsa), comic relief (Cassidy).

While still prone to wonky Saturday morning logic at times, Season 27 is a success, and Beast Morphers overall is a hopeful sign that the Neo-Saban era's low standards are banished. Next on Power Rangers: Dino Fury. 

Power Rangers Beast Morphers: Evox Unleashed Review

PRBM "Evox Unleashed"

What "Evox Unleashed" nails as a season finale, and finale to a Ranger team's story, is an "end of term" feel, wrapping up a number of small but important threads. In doing this, it touches the emotions to a surprising degree, making up for slight deficiencies with the action portion of the episode.

Yes, Venjix/Evox is gearing up for a final power play, but there are human stories to attend to, even in the midst of a Coral Harbor evacuation. In a touching scene, Zoey reveals that she's the Yellow Ranger to her mother (and now, all three original Rangers are "out" to their parents). Even when the situation is desperate, Ben and Betty resolve to stay and help the team. And this is a wonderful episode for Commander Shaw. She authorizes Zoey's disclosure, and Shaw gets one of her best moments in a pep talk to the team about the power of being human. The speech is blunt, efficient, and composed, and I expect nothing less from her.

And another favorite end-of-season trope: morphed Rangers with their helmets off! 

With Venjix having adapted to Grid Battleforce weapons, the Rangers try using various pieces of legendary Ranger arsenal, but despite their best efforts, Venjix appears to kill Steel. Down a Ranger, the team comes up against Venjix' giant evil mech, appropriately looking like a bastardization of an RPM zord. Zoey tells us this is "50 times bigger" than a gigadrone. That seems like quite an exaggeration. It's maybe twice as big?

In a clever turn, the Rangers figure out a way to literalize their human advantage over Venjix. Using examples from earlier in the past two seasons, they figure out that Venjix' Evox form is incompatible with human DNA, and that animates their final blow to the cyber-villain. Impressive as that is on a storytelling level, the biggest issue with the episode is that the fight with Venjix himself is not dynamic. They shoot at him, it doesn't work, Steel tries to shoot him, it doesn't work, Venjix kills Steel with a wave of his hand, Venjix gets big, Rangers stab him, job done. And as a gift from the Morphin Grid, Steel is reconstituted in totally human form.

But that slack is picked up by the rest of the episode, which even provides an epilogue set one year later. Colonel Truman (!) shows up with the fugitive Scrozzle, who had been hiding in the sewers of Corinth. (That year of Scrozzle on the loose is ripe for untold stories at some point.) Commander Shaw is seen out of uniform for the first time and even attempts painting her son's favorite subject, Roxy (who was seen earlier in the episode helping with the evacuation). Devon is now Commander of Grid Battleforce, and he even tries to "do" Shaw in his delivery of orders.

Steel is a movie star in action films, with Blaze as his stunt double (Dax from Operation Overdrive, much?). The finale sees Devon calling Steel away from set for a surprise birthday party. Surely that could've waited until Steel was done filming that day? But in any case, the ending is happy. And Beast Morphers ends with a poignant episode that makes up for its fairly barebones action with a fond salute to this cast of characters. 8/10.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers: Source Code Review

PRBM "Source Code"

"You've reached the final chapter in your story." - Venjix/Evox

Beast Morphers' penultimate episode, "Source Code", recontextualizes the threat of Evox, tying the storyline inextricably to RPM, one of the best seasons of Power Rangers.

As Evox interacts with a Cell Shift Morpher, it's revealed that Evox is a snake DNA-enhanced offshoot of Venjix, the evil computer virus from RPM! This makes sense, as many fans compared Evox to Venjix when he was first introduced. This is an unprecedented twist, revealing the main villain of a season as truly the main villain of a previous season in a new guise. Given that the same voice actor for Venjix, Andrew Laing, has been performing Evox all along, the pieces all fit into place. Taking a step back, all these developments mean that Beast Morphers has shown an uncommon willingness to incorporate elements from past Ranger seasons set in other dimensions, including Dino Charge.

Nate unwittingly created Evox when he was a child prodigy, leading Evox to taunt him with booming lines like, "How does it feel to be responsible for the destruction of human civilization?!" This element of backstory is reminiscent of Doctor K, who created Venjix, so naturally she arrives to give Nate a pep talk. It's good to see Olivia Tennet again, in an expanded role after her appearance earlier this season, making for a team-up of two Ranger teams' tech geniuses!

The Rangers manage to destroy Robot Blaze for good, who appears powered up the entire time so as not to leave evidence for last episode's Hairgate. After this accomplishment, Steel comes dangerously close to dabbing. Zoey's "It's good to be counted on" feels like a defining line for her. And Doctor K gets a poignant moment where she tells our heroes they have a beautiful world - we know that K's is despoiled. But the ending is hardly happy. Blaze was a diversion, and Scrozzle has delivered the world's morph-X towers to Venjix.

With its outsize developments and Earth-shattering twists, "Source Code" is an excellent lead in to a finale. At its best, Beast Morphers' attention to detail is a big part of its appeal; as in RPM, Venjix' monsters don't speak. Next week, we say goodbye to this incarnation of the show. 8/10.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers: Crunch Time Review

PRBM "Crunch Time"

All this season, I've wanted the human Roxy and Blaze to take on a bigger role. "Crunch Time" features Blaze creating drama within the show and contributing to the fight, but the episode pulls the rug out from under this and reveals it was the Robot Blaze pretending to be the human all along. So "Crunch Time" is an episode that cruelly and annoyingly gives me half of what I want, before revealing it was all a fake-out.

Robot Blaze (apparently having gotten his hair dye reversed by unseen interdimensional stylists) constructively critiques Devon's leadership decisions as the Red Ranger, helps out during a monster fight, and points out that the Ranger team minus Ravi have had it easy, skipping the rigorous cadet training stages. While his abrasiveness should've been toned down if this was the human Blaze, this is exactly what I would want out of that character. But then it all gets undermined, and Zoey says the line:

"No wonder Blaze was acting like such a jerk! It wasn't the real Blaze!"

...

Yes, because human Blaze has been neutered of any personality beyond bland support of the Rangers. This plotline casts a somewhat poor light on Devon too, who's so easily manipulated by an outside agent. Especially because Blaze's more hardline approach to leadership so clearly throws Cruise under the bus. Dial down Blaze's attitude a bit, and this could've been dramatic gold. If only Power Rangers didn't take the possession/imposter route like it so often does.

The climax of the episode is unique, a zord fight inside Grid Battleforce's hangar. From a storytelling standpoint it's chaotic, from a plot standpoint, dangerous. In the end, Evox's personally piloted Omega Gigadrone self-destructs, and Evox is captured in a force field. But maybe, like Loki, Raoul Silva, and so many other villains before him, Evox is exactly where he wants to be.

"Crunch Time" is frustrating because the bones of what it presents have so much potential. It's almost like the writers know that they can't do the drama with Blaze for real, so they couch it in whatever half-measure they can. At least Scrozzle gets a decent joke on the failing Railtron: "I thought trains were supposed to run on time!" 5/10.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers: Fossil Frenzy Review

PRBM "Fossil Frenzy"

While Evox gets to full strength and lays the groundwork for a climactic confrontation in the background, Zoey has a run of the mill, episode-of-the-week focus story in the foreground. Her brother Mike, an amateur paleontologist, has discovered a new species of dinosaur he dubs vulturesaurus (which sounds like a zord naming convention), and Zoey is determined to help him leverage this into a scholarship. Imagine how Mike would react if he knew that Zoey has been to another dimension where dinosaurs never went extinct...

Mike gives a fossil to Zoey so she can use Grid Battleforce resources to comprehensively analyze it. Zoey accidentally melts the fossil down to nothing, so gets a different fossil from the same hard-to-reach site. To reach the site, Zoey free solo climbs up a rock face that looks like it belongs in Wild Force's Animarium. But the episode's logic blows up when Mike's unverified finding, that he was so crestfallen to lose before he could show it off, makes the front page of the newspaper...!?

Elsewhere, Roxy uses the vulturesaurus DNA to upgrade herself yet again, this time to such an extent that she can kaiju herself up to zord size. But her hubris is her downfall. The upgrade process destroys Scrozzle's Robot Maker equipment, meaning that if Robot Roxy or Blaze are destroyed, they're gone for good. (Dramatically speaking, this is a welcome development to add some stakes.) Also, Dino Roxy is doing a fine job kicking the Rangers' asses on the ground, but pushes her luck by taking it into zord scale, where she's outclassed and killed. Robot Blaze, in all his malevolence, has a bit of a moment when he witnesses this and seems to genuinely mourn.

The episode's dialogue is even more on-the-nose than usual. Mike tells Zoey his "entire future" rests on the fossil. Roxy soliloquizes to the camera that she "has to prove herself". It's an episode precariously balanced between a final reckoning with Robot Roxy, and a genuine desire to tie that in emotionally with Zoey's small character story. In the end, Roxy's end feels anticlimactic (after all, we've seen her dispatched so many times), and Zoey's story covers familiar points and the newspaper beat defies all logic. 5/10.

Stray observations:

- When Devon swings to the rescue from Zoey's zord, he cuts a Spider-Man-like figure.

- If Power Rangers was merchandised beyond action figures and the like, they could sell the Grid Battleforce-branded dog onesie featured in this episode.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers: The Silva Switch Review

PRBM "The Silva Switch"

"The Silva Switch" is a body-swap episode, but the hoary old trope is animated by a character reason: to explore the poignancy of Steel's wish to understand the (fully) human experience. The fairly light episode also uniquely features a full-blown musical number (!), indicating a healthy experimental strain late in Beast Morphers' run.

To illustrate the switch, Nate and Steel's voices are switched as well, presumably as a kid-friendly tool to avoid confusion. I idly wonder how it would've gone to have Abraham Rodriguez imitate a Steel voice and Jamie Linehan a Nate. After all, Rodriguez does his usual mugging when venturing outside the Nate characterization.

Steel is a goofy character, albeit one with the classic wistful Pinocchio desire for a rounded human experience, and that goofiness flows into the decision to include a song. The song sequence kicks off at the gym location. A tracking shot makes clear that the show's entire human cast with the exception of Commander Shaw is there (including Roxy and Blaze). Soon it becomes clear why: it's all hands on deck for the production number. And given the Commander's attitude to artistic pursuits, it's clear why she's not there; she wouldn't approve! In Power Rangers' 27 seasons, it's flirted in the direction of a musical episode before, for instance in Zeo's "Another Song and Dance". While the song featured here is a little "elementary school recital", I welcome such a bold step toward the dream of a full musical episode.

Meanwhile, Robot Roxy and Blaze's arch bickering is on particularly fine form this week. Jealous of Roxy's upgrade, Robot Blaze gets one of his own, resulting in villainous accessorizing. A hipster scarf, a cape, and a rapier complete the upgraded Blaze's look. He's even arrogant enough to kill his own Robotron when it gets in his way!

"The Silva Switch" is largely a run of the mill exercise through a standard TV cliche. But the musical number, complete with magical costume changes, does a lot to make the episode stand out. 6/10.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers: Goin' Ape Review

PRBM "Goin' Ape"

The plot of "Goin' Ape" largely falls into that category of Power Rangers plot that has to contort itself into a certain shape to facilitate an arc - people inexplicably not just being upfront and telling the truth, other people getting mad about it, and then eventually the misunderstanding is cleared up. I guess the intention is to illustrate a moral. That aspect of the episode is frustrating (though far from the worst of that type), but what saves "Goin' Ape" is the consistently excellent action.

Finally regular human Roxy comes back to the show, in time for her anniversary with Ravi. A misunderstanding involving Ravi's present for her devolves into a bitter argument, which contributes to a Beast-X-related problem for Ravi: his super strength "overheats" his temper and runs roughshod over everyone, villain and ally alike. It's a bit of an Incredible Hulk type of story for Ravi.

The problem flares up during a one-on-one fight with the upgraded Robot Roxy, during which Ravi gets a rare full solo morphing sequence. The fight (which takes place on a beach, in a perversion of the ecology that human Roxy is passionate about) is particularly well-done, brutal and creative. It easily tops Ravi's fight with the Roxy avatar from the end of Season 1, benefitting from dynamic filming as well.

Later, Robot Blaze gets involved, fighting Devon. There's a pretty weird moment when Devon moves to upgrade to Beast-X mode and Blaze just sighs in resignation, apparently unwilling or narratively unable to attack Devon mid-power-up. It's that old chestnut: why don't the villains attack the Rangers when they're morphing or posing?

I'll keep sounding like a broken record: human Roxy and Blaze are the biggest missed opportunity of this season. While I miss them having an active role in the show, at least we get what little Roxy this episode affords. And while the emotional story is flawed, the action in the episode is so good I have to give it credit. There's even a moment when Ravi uses his Beast-X Saber like Mjolnir, spinning it in order to approximate flying. 7/10.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers: Golden Opportunity Review

PRBM "Golden Opportunity"

Now that the show has to come down from the high of a team-up trilogy, it's back to business as usual. This time, Nate's parents finally reconnect with him and offer him a chance to accompany them on their Peace Corps-esque adventures. As it happens, the episode works fine except for one glaring flaw.

When Nate considers accepting his parents' offer, giving up the Gold Rangership and his post at Grid Battleforce, his absence's effect on the team is explored. Megan would rightly replace him in the lab, for instance. As it turns out, the Rangers fail to pick up Nate's slack and can't even figure out how to transport their morphers and weapons off-site. The point is seemingly clear: they need Nate. But there's one giant problem with this plot: Nate was given one single day (!) to bring everyone up to speed on what to do in his absence. One day?! I'm sure given a reasonable buffer period when Nate could train everyone, things would run fine. But the episode needs to contort its plot into an insanely small timetable, so the points it makes come out looking pretty forced.

Roxy has quite a showcase this episode. After essentially appearing as a jump scare, Roxy upgrades herself into a "super" form that looks like a rancid blooming flower. She even channels Steve Rogers when she says "I can do this all day" during a fight. Minus their morphers, the Rangers show their bravery by fighting an upgraded Roxy and Clawtron while unmorphed. There's a bit of action creativity when Nate rides Devon's cheetah speed power-up.

So the action has its moments beyond the usual (although there's a lot of the usual), and it's definitely amusing and strange seeing Steel vying for affection from his "parents". But the foundational flaw in "Golden Opportunity"'s plot weighs it down. 4/10.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers: Grid Connection Review

PRBM "Grid Connection"

Beast Morphers' three-part team-up event comes to a conclusion with "Grid Connection", bringing Austin St. John as Jason Scott back to the show for the first time since "Forever Red", almost 17 seasons ago. Short on time, the episode only gives his characterization space for standard but effective leader material. And yes, he gets a typically forceful "It's morphin' time!"

With a crisis in the Dino Charge dimension, Devon taps into the Morphin Grid to reconstruct the Tyrannosaurus Power Coin, and call the Mighty Morphin and Dino Thunder Rangers to help the Dino Charge and Beast Morphers Rangers in the other dimension. Keeper tells Devon, "You must trust the Morphin Grid". Substitute Morphin Grid with "the Force" or "the heart of the cards" as you see fit.

After all the buildup for the return of Goldar (now calling himself Goldar Maximus, as a handy way to distinguish himself), he's not much more than a placeholder threat for three combined Dino Ranger teams to vanquish. The climactic sequence where this takes place is your standard big quarry for lots of Rangers to work their magic - see above - but I feel pretty confident in saying this action scene is an exercise in sustained insanity the likes of which hasn't been seen in Power Rangers. The Mighty Morphin, Dino Thunder, and Dino Charge teams use finishers after finishers, rapidly fly around, and combine all their weapons into a Dino Ranger Ultra Blaster. It's wild. In a good way, I suppose. It's almost too much to keep up with, but when it comes to fitting as much as possible in a ten minute period, this episode gives the audience bang for their buck.

The bigger threat comes when Evox, hoarding dinosaur DNA like Dr. Wu from Jurassic Park, cooks up maybe the biggest zord in Power Rangers history. (Since we're in the Dino Charge dimension, dinosaurs are around, but we only see a velociraptor on a TV screen; nothing once we're properly in the location.) It takes the Dino Charge Megazord, the Thundersaurus Megazord, and the original Megazord combined with the Beast-X King Zord to take Evox' Hydra-like Chimerazord down. And when the original Megazord cockpit is shown, prepare for a small frisson of nostalgia as archive footage from Mighty Morphin is used.

As with "Finders Keepers", it's a visible regret that so many past Rangers are only back as anonymous suit actors, especially in the case of Dino Thunder, as no member of that cast returns properly. At the end of the day, however, suit actors are better than nothing. "Grid Connection" packs a lot into the last third, a breakneck climax that keeps endlessly stacking on itself. While lacking the elegance of past team-ups, "Grid Connection" certainly does not lack for bombast. Jason's final words are "Today, tomorrow, or decades from now, there will always be Rangers like you to stand up for what is right". Hopefully he's right, and Power Rangers will continue to live on. 8/10.

Stray observations (aka, the suit actor head canon speculation section):

- Jason calls his fellow Mighty Morphin Rangers, with the exception of Tommy. The Blue Ranger is Billy. Since Kat was last seen using her Turbo powers in Super Ninja Steel, the Pink Ranger is likely Kimberly. But is the Black Ranger Adam or Zack? We've seen Adam use the Mastodon Power Coin in both In Space and Operation Overdrive, so Occam's Razor says it's Adam. Real-life tragedy aside, it's unclear if the Yellow Ranger is Trini or Aisha.

- The Dino Thunder Rangers also show up, minus Tommy and Trent. A non-James Napier ringer voices Conner.

- Same situation as "Finders Keepers", with Shelby and Riley only appearing in the suits. At least Camille Hyde and Michael Taber provide the voices. No sign of Kendall or Phillip.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers: Making Bad Review

PRBM "Making Bad"

In Avengers: Endgame, there's a wonderful and humorous sequence where the Avengers try to piece through the complicated mythology of their previous adventures. The scene, strewn with Chinese take-out containers, turns the superhero team into a writers' room, finding the way forward for the plot. In the Beast Morphers episode "Making Bad", there's a similar funny set up, where Evox' team and the Dino Charge villains argue over which past villain to resurrect, supporting their arguments with clips from past Power Rangers seasons.

Part of the humor from this new twist on a clip show comes from the villains' annoyance at past baddies' heel-face turns (Koragg, Astronema) and propensity to betray fellow evildoers (Lord Zedd). One highlight of the bickering (all the better for being understated) is when Scrozzle tries to be a bit of a showman and Blaze says, "Will you stop? You're not cool."

They eventually settle on a villain of gravitas and subservience, Goldar. The resurrection process, aided by diamonds, brings back a sort of Mega Goldar with upgraded armor and general look. While Goldar is a sound choice, I have my issues and nitpicks with this part of the story. With Goldar given a different look, I would argue that it's more important than ever to bring back Kerrigan Mahan to voice the role, and emphasize a connection with the original Goldar. But the voice is off, more of a generic growl.

Speaking of voices, the clips dub over different voices whenever someone like Andros, Leo, or Jason speaks! Is this a residuals/union issue? Scrozzle refers to Zedd and Rita as King and Queen of Evil. Surely it's Emperor and Empress of Evil. Why would Roxy know about the fate of the Red Psycho Ranger but not Astronema? And Psycho Red is rejected as a choice... because he lost? That's pretty absurd, and setting the standard way too high.

Elsewhere in the episode, Sherlock Ravi is given the spotlight, in a nod to character continuity. While the villains bicker in the most interesting part of the episode, the Rangers are given fairly standard action fare, though there is a decent warehouse fight that sees the end of Poisandra and a couple other Sledge generals. Sledge losing Poisandra is played for a tiny moment of poignancy.

The villain stuff is overall very enjoyable, even if there are flaws in a lot of the details. Some of those I wouldn't mind so much, but the biggest problem of all, the wrong voices in the classic clips, really weirds me out. 6/10.

Stray observation:

- Not the first time Goldar has appeared in a much different form. Recall the mute gold homunculus from the 2017 film, and in the comics, Goldar has been given a Dark Ranger power-up.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers: Finders Keepers Review

PRBM "Finders Keepers"

It's team-up time! That most exciting time for Power Rangers fans, and just in time to promote the new dinosaur-themed season Dino Fury, Beast Morphers is teaming up with all three previous dinosaur-themed teams, starting with Dino Charge. While "Finders Keepers" gets some wonderful mileage from the crossover, it also bears flaws that hold it back from true greatness.

The MacGuffin of the episode is Dino Charge mentor Keeper (who Ravi recognizes from "Ranger History Class"! - shades of Dino Thunder's "Legacy of Power"), who is kept hostage by Evox and the resurrected villain Snide. At first Zoey mistakes Keeper for an alien hostile and slaps him with a compliance collar - that's right, we're repeating the same plot point we just had when Chaku was mistaken for an alien hostile and arrested.

Showing up to help are four Dino Charge Rangers; since there are so many Rangers from that team, that's exactly half of their full roster. It's Tyler, Chase, Koda, and Ivan! And it sure helped to already know their names, because the episode doesn't introduce any of them or even name them...! Shelby and Riley are the only ones namechecked, and that's only because they show up late already morphed. I guess they unfortunately couldn't get Camille Hyde or Michael Taber to appear unmorphed.

The main action centerpiece of the episode is a warehouse fight with Snide featuring decent if unspectacular wirework. But then the fight explodes into another level of quality when (also resurrected) Sledge and his generals show up and there are enough villains to fight each Dino Charge Ranger one on one! This leads Sledge to say, "Who said teaming up is just for Rangers?", which is fantastic.

It is a sign of the episode's need to hold a lot of elements that Ben and Betty are absent. But it is unfortunate that the episode doesn't find time to introduce the Dino Charge Rangers individually, or at least name them, or properly bring in the other Rangers from that team. Time is what militates against pretty much all team-ups; they often desperately need to be longer. But at least we got a pretty good morphing sequence, and the base-level joy of a crossover. Can't wait for what I assume is Dino Thunder's turn next week. 7/10.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers: The Greater Good Review

 

PRBM "The Greater Good"

The latest episode of Power Rangers Beast Morphers acts as something of a part 2 to last week's episode. While bringing closure to Captain Chaku and Ryjack's stories, the episode doesn't really rise above a functional level with anything special to it.

The order of the day is humanizing Chaku, ironically by revealing his work-mandated cyborg enhancements. At first, Chaku is hesitant to remove his helmet while on duty, so I initially thought this was a Sam on SPD situation, where the production can be a little thrifty by only using a non-speaking suit actor and a voice actor. But as it turned out, the show does reveal Chaku's face, and his desire to reunite with his daughter in his home galaxy.

Meanwhile, Ryjack and his cadre of Putties and Viviks are still trying to access the Ranger vault. Until Ryjack has a bit of a bad day. He loses his reanimator gun (recovered by Scrozzle for future episode use) and in short order loses his life after a tag-team of the Beast-X Ultrazord and Chaku's Reptilobeast get through with him.

Speaking of those mechs, the Beast-X Ultrazord is seen already assembled in the Grid Battleforce hangar for I believe the first time. And Chaku's Reptilobeast, with its primary color scheme, presents as "good Serpentera".

Ultimately, Commander Shaw pretty much officially offers Chaku a Sixth Ranger position, which is a nice novelty for this show. At first he dutifully agrees, but ultimately returns to his home galaxy. Commander Shaw's words to Chaku are, "You've been a warrior long enough. If you'd like, you can go back to being a dad." Replace the word "dad" with "mom", and I wonder if this could indicate projection on her part, or even foreshadow her eventually resigning from her post. I hope not, as command suits her well.

Taking or leaving Chaku's purple venus flytrap, there aren't too many distinct decisions that elevate the episode to anything above average. 5/10.