Star Trek Randomized Rewatch: Demons

 

ENT "Demons"

(Not to be confused with the Voyager episode "Demon".)

"Demons" comes as Enterprise wraps up its metastory of the origin of the Federation, casting as its villains an organized Terran supremacist Make Earth Great Again asshole group. These Terra Prime domestic terrorists have in their charge a baby of pioneering significance, a half-human, half-Vulcan child.  Terra Prime's leader, John Frederick Paxton (Peter Weller), considers the child an abomination and rejects what it represents. As an audience, we know what it represents: the future of Star Trek. *Cough* Spock *cough*. The episode clearly has the advantage of depressingly timely villains, but significant storytelling blunders sabotage it.

Weller in some ways is playing a similar character to his villain Admiral Marcus from Star Trek Into Darkness. Both, totally convinced of their ironclad ideology, turn their xenophobia into terrible action. But while Marcus wants to reclaim a level of militarism that Starfleet lost, Paxton is a hardcore isolationist. Paxton's right-hand man literally says of their bigotry, "We're right", to which Paxton responds, "You're a wise man" - which doesn't speak much to nuance. (This right-hand man happens to be Black, which of course is an intentional touch, similar to Brock Peters as Admiral Cartwright expressing blunt racism against Klingons in Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country.)

The theme of the episode is legacy, with attention to who writes history, who will be remembered, and how. Paxton muses how history will remember him, which is appropriate since Weller has a PhD in Art History.

But the aforementioned baby (which is often referred to as simply "the Child" - Baby Yoda, much?) is the center of a major revelation: it is the child of T'Pol and Trip Tucker. Everyone in the episode proves to be incredibly dense in the face of this DNA evidence. There's all this hemming and hawing about whether T'Pol was ever secretly pregnant, which she denies, and who takes her at her word with that, and if so, how could this possibly be? This is science fiction! If these people can't figure out how this seemingly impossible child could exist in the 22nd Century, I don't know what to say. And the episode plays as if it's ahead of the audience on this too. It's not.

Worst of all is the disastrous romantic subplot for Travis Mayweather and a reporter named Gannet Brooks. "Demons" is the episode that finally confirms that Anthony Montgomery is a bad actor. The characters, who are supposed to be old flames who eventually rekindle their passion, have awful chemistry, all down to Montgomery, who gives his scene partner nothing in their scenes together. His answer for how to attempt familiar banter is not to attempt at all.

The editing is also off. As the episode has it, Travis' sex scene is interrupted by him putting Enterprise in touch with a contact who can smuggle Trip and T'Pol onto Terra Prime's mining colony. Travis, who already has an old friend character in the episode, is given another one off-screen. Why couldn't it be Hoshi's contact at the mining colony?

Stray observations:

- That's the Mayor from Buffy (Harry Groener) giving the fancy speeches.

- The Coridan ambassador looks like he has a face-hugger from Alien permanently affixed on him.

"Demons" has the right themes in place, and its villains are unfortunately timely, but the twin sins of not respecting the audience's intelligence with the baby twist, and Anthony Montgomery's terrible performance, take the wind out of its solar sails. 4/10.

Star Trek Randomized Rewatch: A Simple Investigation

DS9 "A Simple Investigation"

 "Somebody stop me!" - Jadzia Dax, maybe referencing The Mask?

Of all the Deep Space Nine characters to get a romance of the week episode, Odo is one of the least likely, and "A Simple Investigation' uses that to drive the story, particularly how the rest of the cast minus Worf bemusedly encourage his romance along for his sake. As a setup I guess it's supposed to be vaguely noir - one issue with the episode may be a slightly unmoored tone. Is it space noir? Is it more of an espionage plot? Are the thugs supposed to be comic relief or not?

A woman named Arissa (Dey Young) sparks with Odo in Quark's against the backdrop of trying to get out from under a notorious Orion Syndicate gangster called Draim, who she's been working for as a hacker. Eventually, after Arissa and Odo develop an intense bond, the rug is pulled from under them as it's revealed that the version of Arissa we've been following is a sleeper agent whose memories were voluntarily patched and rewritten for a sting operation on the Orion crime boss.

"A Simple Investigation" is a sexually frank episode, especially for Star Trek. In Arissa's implanted backstory, she was a "net-girl", or remote sex worker. Odo loses his virginity to Arissa (not counting an experience on the Founders' homeworld he describes as ambiguously sexual - that changeling bit of turning to goo with each other that seemingly goes a little beyond the standard "joining"). And in the "morning after" scene, the episode gives us the extraordinary sight of... lovey-dovey flirty Odo?

Part of what contributes to the undercurrent of confusion are the plot revelations. Arissa turns out to be a surgically-altered member of a race we've never heard of called the Idanians, who used her to infiltrate the Draim's organization. Her handler shows up and brags about how he's going to indict Draim. But this is space. Who has jurisdiction? Is the Idanian homeworld part of the Orion Syndicate? Maybe these Idanians are sort of like the Fenris Rangers from Picard.

The b-plot of the episode is a brief, low-budget return to Doctor Bashir's James Bond-esque holosuite program from "Our Man Bashir", which provides a couple laughs. "A Simple Investigation" is a decent if not hugely engaging episode, though the central romance between Arissa and Odo (and the chemistry between Young and Rene Auberjonois) works well enough. 6/10.

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.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers: Intruder Alert! Review

PRBM "Intruder Alert!"

In the latest episode of Beast Morphers, Earth is host to two visitors from SPAAACE. One is the notorious criminal Ryjack, he of the Cockney accent and technology able to clone someone from an object they owned. Cue Ryjack cloning fallen villain Vargoyle, in a long tradition of the Power Rangers/Super Sentai trope where dead villains are brought back as clones - just look at the robot Blaze and Roxy.

The other is the VR Trooper-looking space cop Captain Chaku, who teams up with the Rangers after a misunderstanding. Chaku's role as interstellar law enforcement and unofficial sixth Ranger gives major Turbo Blue Senturion vibes. Chaku's sense of justice is pretty space cadet: his idea of resolution is to "destroy" Ryjack. But hey, it's Power Rangers, where monsters are rubber-suit monsters.

Ryjack wants to burgle the newly introduced past Ranger tech vault, in a neat nod to continuity. Another one is Ryjack summoning Putties and Viviks to fight the Rangers! The unmorphed fight against the Putties, taking place as it does in a construction site full of parkour opportunities, strongly recalls similar fights in the Mighty Morphin days.

If there's any higher messaging at work, it's that of a parable about communication. At first the Rangers arrest Chaku because he's an unknown quantity and they can't understand what he's saying. But it doesn't take too long for the good guys to all coalesce, and Chaku looks to be sticking around for a bit. And he must partake in the one, singularly important initiation ritual at Grid Battleforce: chuckling at Ben and Betty hijinks.

That's right, Ben and Betty are given their usual slapstick pratfalls, because of course they are. Their main setpiece involves slipping on a bunch of marbles. That's fine, but it's the CGI triple flip that's objectionable.

Benefitting from decently intriguing new characters and a soupçon of the same fanservice from last week, "Intruder Alert!" is an above average entry. 6/10.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers: The Evox Snare Review

PRBM "The Evox Snare"

The Power Rangers Beast Morphers team has returned for the final stretch of its second season, with an episode that compensates for fairly generic action by feeling like the better version of the continuity episodes from the Super Megaforce anniversary season. Plotwise, it features a mini-war of attrition on Evox and his need for Morph-X, and resolves the Mayor Daniels/Evox thread that has run throughout the season.

The macguffin of a juiced-up arrow from the lab that the Rangers need to fire at a specific target is familiar from the previous episode "Beast King Rampage". The difference here, I suppose, is its strangely literal interpretation of "freezing" someone in cryonic suspension - in a ruddy great block of ice. While Nate and Devon are at the base working on technical matters, the remaining team take on the Bulldozer Gigadrone, with Steel oddly taking on a leadership role. Shouldn't Ravi or Zoey be leading in Devon's absence? The action in the episode is most concerned with introducing toyetic arsenal developments, like the Beast-X Ultra Cannon and the Beast-X King Megazord.

The true headline from this episode is the shockingly on-point fanservice. Olivia Tennet appears as RPM's Doctor K (!), giving advice on how to split the Mayor from Evox... based on tech established in Dino Super Charge. It's notable that Beast Morphers is connecting to RPM and Dino Charge, as those are particularly siloed off seasons in their own dimensions. But the episode casually and efficiently bridges those gaps.

It's also revealed that Nate has been basing Grid Battleforce Ranger tech on past Ranger teams' equipment, which is a fantastic reveal. A humble closet holds some exciting and tantalizing props from the past, most notably Mystic Morphers.

Ben and Betty are up to their usual cartoony hijinks, but still prove useful to Devon, which is an important endearing detail. The episode as a whole is operating from a basic framework, but what spices it up are the rewarding continuity connections. 7/10.

I watched 12 Super Sentai Season Premieres. Here's what I found.

As a near-lifelong fan of Power Rangers, I've known for years that the show is built around footage from the Japanese tokusatsu show Super Sentai. But until recently, I'd never seen any of that footage in its original context. I watched the season premieres of twelve consecutive incarnations of Super Sentai, and found a wild and colorful world in its own right, fascinating in similarity and contrast to its western counterpart.

Choujin Sentai Jetman

Title: "Seek the Warrior"
Season Theme: Aviation

This episode is amazing. After a peppy, catchy theme song, a full-blown, operatic alien invasion commences. There's a nice balance of darkness and genuinely amusing humor. But the best part of the show so far is the Commander/mentor character, a magnetic woman in uniform who punches and slaps her Red Ranger when he's having a strop! Granted, his emotional instability is understandable; his girlfriend was just blown into the vacuum of space!

Episode Rating: 8/10.

Kyouryu Sentai Zyuranger

Title: "The Birth"
Season Theme: Sword and Sorcery
Adapted as: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

"Humanity is garbage! You believe in love or whatever." So speaks Witch Bandora, American alias Rita Repulsa. It is so weird to have Bandora's lips match her lines... Yes, this is the season adapted as by far the most famous incarnation of Power Rangers. But the shows have key differences on a story level. For one thing, the Zyurangers are waken up from a millennia-long slumber to fight Bandora, making them a whole team of Kodas. (Koda being the Dino Charge Blue Ranger who comes from more primeval times.)

Episode Rating: 6/10
Similarity to Mighty Morphin: 3/10

Gosei Sentai Dairanger

Title: "Transform"
Season Theme: Not sure, to be honest
Adapted as: The White Ranger in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

Things take a decided turn for the generic here. Dull drama, settings, and characters handicap this effort, although I like the design of the suits. And one of the changers would later become the Magna Defender morpher in Power Rangers Lost Galaxy. One of the only highlights is a spirited bike chase.

Episode Rating: 4/10

Ninja Sentai Kakuranger

Title: "We are Ninja"
Season Theme: Ninja
Adapted as: Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers

Oof. This attempt at a more humorous tone falls flat on its face, hard. There's bizarre attempts at levity throughout, and a demented, perverted narrator character on hand for inane cutaways. During action scenes, prepare for 1960s Batman-style "POW"s filling the screen. The end credits feature the foot soldiers apparently forming a flash mob? Embarrassing all around. The only successful joke in the episode comes when the Rangers take their time posturing and transforming, and one of the villains says, "Such a show off!"

Episode Rating: 3/10
Similarity to Alien Rangers: 1/10

Chouriki Sentai Ohranger

Title: "Invasion!! 1999"
Season Theme: Aviation/Air Force
Adapted as: Power Rangers Zeo

Finally. Finally something on the general quality level of Jetman. Finally more than one female Ranger. Finally. The foot soldiers are actually powerful and intimidating. There's a really effective one-on-one fight between the Red Ranger and the monster. Aside from quality, this has a clear similarity to Jetman in its Air Force theming. Even though the season was adapted to Zeo, the episode looks to be a clear influence on Power Rangers In Space's premiere, "From Out of Nowhere". In both episodes, the Red Rangers saves the other four Rangers from being shelled in a quarry.

Episode Rating: 7/10
Similarity to Zeo: 6/10

Gekisou Sentai Carranger

Title: "Fighting for Traffic Safety"
Season Theme: Cars
Adapted as: Power Rangers Turbo

I'd heard dire things about this season, as almost a self-parody of Super Sentai. While certainly comedic, I don't see this as farcical on the level of something like Kakuranger. The mentor character, Dappu, is irritating though, always saying his own name as a catchphrase with "Car Car Magic!" But there's some fun stuff here, including a trip to Super Sentai's version of Chalmun's Cantina from Star Wars. The foot soldiers are the stuff of nightmares.

Episode Rating: 6/10
Similarity to Turbo: 3/10

Denji Sentai Megaranger

Title: "Don't Let them! The Twisted Invaders"
Season Theme: Virtual Reality/Video Games
Adapted as: Power Rangers In Space

This premiere is an all right if disorienting introduction to Megaranger. The video game theme takes fights back and forth across multiple substrates of reality, making it unclear what's "real" and what's "digital". I swear there's a Doctor Who TARDIS sound effect when an alien ship crashes into the Nasada control room.

Episode Rating: 6/10
Similarity to In Space: 3/10

Seijuu Sentai Gingaman

Title: "The Legendary Blades"
Season Theme: Nature
Adapted as: Power Rangers Lost Galaxy

Now we're talking. For one thing, the death of this Red Ranger's brother goes to a dramatic place that the other premieres haven't. Yes, the Red Ranger's girlfriend died in Jetman, but that was just a bump on the roller coaster. Here, the death is mourned and lingered on... even though I suspect the brother will be back. (Unusually as well, the Rangers have unmorphed powers before becoming Rangers.) "The Legendary Blades" just goes through the beats of a premiere better. A timely heroic transformation leads to a truly impressive display of awesomely animalistic powers.

There are also key plot and character similarities to its Power Rangers counterpart for the first time. This Red Ranger, like Leo, is also the backup option not chosen like his brother was. And the brother dies in much the same way, falling in a crack in the earth. But there's one even more key difference between the two shows: Lost Galaxy is a space show, and Gingaman is not!

Episode Rating: 8/10
Similarity to Lost Galaxy: 7/10

Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGoFive

Title: "Rescue Soldiers! Rise Up"
Season Theme: Emergency Response
Adapted as: Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue

Definitely the closest to its Power Rangers adaptation yet, this premiere has an almost plausible documentary feel in the beginning... until a lava kaiju shows up. Uniquely, these Rangers are all siblings, children of the mentor/genius scientist. Japan's national fascination with trains also comes into play, and the Rangers' fantastical train even speeds past a bullet train. These idealistic Rangers make an action-movie one-liner out of "Human life is the Earth's future!"

This premiere is more efficient in introducing things than others. For one thing it gets to the Megazord for the first time, partially facilitated by making all the Rangers siblings, and by holding off on introducing the ongoing villains in favor of a random monster. But the show is called Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGoFive? That translates to "Nine Nine Warriors Five Five Five"!

Episode Rating: 5/10
Similarity to Lightspeed Rescue: 8/10

Mirai Sentai Timeranger

Title: "The Time Fugitives"
Season Theme: Time Travel
Adapted as: Power Rangers Time Force

Timeranger is a group of time-traveling underdogs, a b-team of sorts with a de facto leader in the form of a take-charge Pink Ranger. They're up against a grotesque frog gangster who can fly through fart propulsion, and who in Power Rangers became a shmo underling called Bluto. And they have the power of having just seen The Matrix, as they use bullet time to dodge laser attacks.

There are some one-to-one aesthetic similarities with Time Force. Both Green Rangers have green hair. The original Red Ranger has slicked-back hair, although this episode threw me for a loop by making that character a disguise for the pink-haired Nadira analogue.

Episode Rating: 7/10
Similarity to Time Force: 8/10

Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger

Title: "The Lion Roars!!"
Season Theme: Nature
Adapted as: Power Rangers Wild Force

The gao in Gaoranger stands for "growl", as this is another nature-themed season. With their exploits again commented on by a narrator, and with CGI zords and phone changers for the first time, this team actually starts the episode already formed and functional. But, they're missing a Red Ranger, so that character can still be the audience identification figure as he's introduced to the world of Gaoranger. Believe it or not, the Red Ranger is punched out, mafia style, by the other Rangers and brought to their base!

There are a few callbacks to previous seasons. The have wings on their suits as in Jetman, 1960s Batman "POW" effects as in Kakuranger, and animalistic attacks as in Gingaman, albeit, not as cool. The episode features the most elaborate Ranger introductions yet, and the end credits show the Rangers... naked in contemplation while a power ballad plays?

Episode Rating: 5/10
Similarity to Wild Force: 8/10

Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger

Title: "Wind and Ninja"
Season Theme: Ninja
Adapted as: Power Rangers Ninja Storm

As in Kakuranger, the season has a ninja theme, but to mercifully better results. After the best, catchiest theme outside of Jetman, a pretty good if standard premiere plays out. The monster of the week makes an impression. He uses his "Space Ninja Art: Flying Face" technique to throw his disembodied head at the Rangers and shoot lasers at them! (It's similar to the Cybermen heads shooting lasers in Doctor Who's recent "Ascension of the Cybermen".) The monster can also take the Rangers to an Illusion Dimension where his head gets bigger, a la the head in Zardoz.

The end credits feature hang-gliding footage featuring the Rangers. There's something about the juxtaposition of Rangers in realistic aerial photography that's really pleasing.

Episode Rating: 6/10
Similarity to Ninja Storm: 7/10

So that's my first foray into Super Sentai. I was spoiled by starting with the excellent Jetman. I wondered if it all could be as deliriously entertaining. While there are lows like Kakuranger, there is great promise in seasons like Ohranger and Gingaman. It's also interesting to find that starting with Gingaman/Lost Galaxy, Power Rangers starts to take way more specific elements from the Super Sentai storylines and humanoid character designs. So I'm officially expanding the tent of my Power Rangers fandom to include Super Sentai, even though the Americanized variety will always be my first love.