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.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian - The Passenger Review

MND "The Passenger"

"The Passenger" is the most overtly comedic episode of the show so far, which is unsurprising given that Peyton Reed (Bring it on, Ant-Man) is in the director's chair this week. While leavened with horror and adventure elements, the episode also approaches the feel of a hangout episode at times, from Din Djarin's awkward interactions with his passenger (a character the subtitles literally refer to as "Frog Lady") to the Child's insatiable appetite for incubating life-forms. We even get a quiet moment that reveals Din and his Child's nighttime routine and sleeping arrangements on the Razor Crest.

If last week's chapter was a sequel to Season 1's "The Gunslinger", this week's episode is a sequel to "The Prisoner". Din's entanglement with the New Republic prison facility from that episode has consequences. Richard Ayoade briefly returns as the voice of the dismantled droid Q9-0. And most notoriously of all, series co-creator Dave Filoni returns as X-Wing pilot Trapper Wolf - but this time, he leaves most of the talking to his wingman Carson Teva, played by actual actor Paul Sun-Hyung Lee.

In a way, "The Passenger" is like Din's very bad day. He falls into a trap and crashes his speeder bike, which puts the Child in imminent danger. He's a little uncomfortable ferrying Frog Lady, but things take a turn for the worse when he crashes the Razor Crest to avoid New Republic X-Wings... only to find a nest of ice spiders that exist somewhere between George R.R. Martin's wight spiders and Peter Jackson's repulsive worms from King Kong. He's saved by Wolf and Teva, who basically say they watched "The Prisoner" and saw that Din isn't such a bad guy. The episode plays into the subjectivity we're used to from the show; Reed fades to black whenever Din loses consciousness. And in a nice touch, when Din looks to his New Republic saviors, the X-Wings' blinding headlights feel like those of cop cars.

The ice spider portion of the episode is quite well done. The problem is, we're in monster movie territory again, so soon after the krayt dragon last week. While each episode's take on it is effective, it feels slightly redundant to go back to that well so soon.

The last two episodes have been sequels to specific Season 1 installments, and from my perspective, the two weakest episodes of the debut season at that. Connecting back to them gives the series' tapestry a richer sheen. The episode's humorous slant is also good for some amusing moments. But playing the monster card two weeks in a row dilutes the impact a bit. 6/10.

Star Trek: Discovery - Forget Me Not Review

DIS "Forget Me Not"

While last week's installment of Discovery took a standard "zippy space conflict" Trek pattern and updated it, "Forget Me Not" takes a more internal character-focused Trek pattern and updates it to emotionally resonant effect. The Adira character gives the show an opportunity to further explore the Trill host/symbiont concept for the first time since Deep Space Nine, this time with a fresh take and with 21st Century resources.

We've been on Trill with Jadzia Dax, we've had previous Dax hosts manifest dramatically in episodes like "Facets", and we've been to these sacred caves before. But in the 90s, those caves never looked like this. Constellation patterns on the walls, an otherworldly atmosphere, and a visceral spiritual journey into the very synapses of a Trill symbiont feature here, making the most of the science fiction elements. The icing on the cake is Jeff Russo's almost transcendent score, helping to accentuate this aspect of Trill culture - even if Adira herself is a human host.

In the subplot, Saru and Culber try to improve crew morale, with peaks and valleys of success. I don't mean this as damning with faint praise, but what I appreciate in both plots this episode is a clear structure, and that is not nothing. Even given the episode's nearly hour-long runtime, the scenes are tight, each one accomplishing something very specific, with no wasted space.

This subplot has a classic thesis-antithesis-synthesis structure. Thesis: Saru and Culber offer emotional support, in the form of a bridge crew dinner and informal one-on-one counseling respectively. Antithesis: a haiku contest at the dinner takes a dark turn, the product of frayed nerves. Synthesis: the crew acknowledges their trauma and comes together, united by common pain and purpose, and the daredevil stunt work of Buster Keaton.

The main plot also hits hard emotionally, as it's revealed that Adira took the Tal symbiont from her lover Gray after an asteroid accident, thus preserving something of the late Gray inside Adira's very being. This repressed memory, once confronted, unlocks the knowledge and memory of the Tal symbiont, which includes possible coordinates to 32nd Century Federation headquarters.

Both plots in "Forget Me Not" hit their mark in the emotional stakes, and the episode has a compact structure that facilitates that payoff. The subplot also gives Culber good material outside the context of his relationship with Stamets. Hopefully the show continues its solid run with a return to what's left of Federation bureaucracy. 7/10.

Stray observations:

- "No one has seen a human host" to a Trill symbiont. Except for William Riker, in The Next Generation episode "The Host"! Granted, that probably doesn't count as a "successful" blending.

- Detmer's acidic words to Stamets have something of the feel of a lower deck perspective vs. senior staff, but more specifically, secondary character vs. primary character.

- It's distressing that the contours of a cinema screen have been all but erased, but it's not unexpected, as I believe the Short Trek "Calypso" also featured this form of film viewing.

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.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian - The Marshal Review

MND "The Marshal"

Last season's fifth chapter, "The Gunslinger", gets a veritable sequel in "The Marshal". Amy Sedaris' Peli returns, and the small but impactful scene of Din Djarin communicating with the Tuskens on their terms essentially gets an episode-length expansion. And as a small spot of krayt dragon infestation comes to an explosive head, Jon Favreau (series co-creator directing for the show for the first time) presents a setpiece  without peer even in his garlanded cinematic filmography.

It feels redundant to say it, but "The Marshal" leans hard into tropes of the western genre. A ramshackle town, defended by a lone marshal, must come together with their Tusken Raider territorial rivals to take down a massive krayt dragon that threatens both camps. Indeed, Favreau himself has been here before - see Cowboys & Aliens, where white townsfolk and Apaches must come together to battle aliens.

What that high-concept, relatively low-payoff film doesn't feature, is its sheriff counterpart (Harrison Ford, for your Star Wars connection) wearing Boba Fett's salvaged armor. The Tatooinian town's marshal is Cobb Vanth, played by Timothy Olyphant. As an actor, Olyphant is so associated with westerns that he voiced "the Spirit of the West" in Rango. And here he plays... a Star Wars novel character making the pioneering jump to live-action! Introduced in the Aftermath trilogy, Vanth uses Boba's arsenal to defend the town from miscellaneous threats, but Din's Mandalorian Creed looks down on cultural appropriation.

In exchange for the armor, Vanth needs Din's help to kill the huge krayt dragon threatening the town. The dragon resembles an Arrakeen sandworm from Dune, which is appropriate given how much Dune influenced George Lucas in creating Star Wars. It's here that it becomes clear that in Season 2, the scale of the show has become bigger: the scale of the dragon, the longer episode runtime, and the expansion to an IMAX aspect ratio for the climax.

Still, the show remains the same deeply nerdy artifact it was in Season 1. The much-talked about womp rats appear, Vanth's speeder bike is customized from a podracer engine, we find out what Boba Fett's helmet antenna is for, and we basically see the townsfolk watching Return of the Jedi on the holo net. Also, regarding Peli's pit droid comedy routine, it shows a lot of confidence to include such a blatantly prequel-y bit of humor.

At the end of Season 1's premiere, we were all blindsided by the Child. The reveal at the end of this premiere is not nearly as unexpected, but it's still a big deal: Boba Fett's story did not come to a sarlacc-shaped end in the Great Pit of Carkoon. "The Marshal" is an assured self-contained story featuring maybe the most impressive setpiece Jon Favreau has ever directed, and with a sting in the tail. 7/10.

Stray observations:

- The pulse rifle is back?! After disappearing halfway through last season, all of a sudden it returns when it could have come in handy in multiple situations during the interim. During George Lucas' set visit in Season 1, as captured for all eternity in the Disney Gallery docuseries, Favreau brags about including the pulse rifle that Lucas created, at which point Lucas shoots him down and says he didn't! Of course, that's because the pulse rifle is a relic of the Star Wars Holiday Special, which Lucas has violently disavowed.

- A few words about Temuera Morrison's long road to this moment bringing Boba Fett to life. First Morrison played Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones, which established that Boba (played by Daniel Logan) was a clone of "father" Jango. So logically, Boba would grow up to look like Morrison, who went on to overdub Jeremy Bulloch's Boba line readings on the 2004 DVD release of the original trilogy. But it's not until now that Morrison has truly brought Boba Fett to live-action.

Star Trek: Discovery - People of Earth Review

DIS "People of Earth"

"Dialogue is an effective strategy." - Saru

"People of Earth" finds Star Trek: Discovery flexing its muscles, balancing heart and humor as it takes a standard Trek plot pattern and elevates it with movie-quality production values and elegant enough plotting. After the slightly poky drama of last week's installment, this is a solid register for the show to play in.

The first order of business in "People of Earth" is reuniting Burnham with the Discovery crew. Hugs all around, except for Georgiou, who's not the hugging type. And in another example of the poignant value of standing on Starfleet ceremony, Burnham slowly turns the big chair to offer the captainship to Saru, like she's Jaime Lannister knighting Brienne. Mirror Gabriel Lorca and Christopher Pike were Captains of the year. Saru is here to stay.

Next it's off to 32nd Century Earth, which doesn't exactly roll out the welcome mat and is no longer part of a Federation, notional or otherwise. (I smell a bit of a Brexit allegory.) The Earth Defense Force boards Discovery and insists the vintage ship leave the isolationist planet to its own devices. To prepare for the official "inspection", non-Starfleet personnel have to suit up to avoid questions, so cue Book chafing at wearing the form-fitting uniform. And after a couple years, it's good to see Georgiou back in a Starfleet uniform, although I suppose we've never seen the Mirror version in one before. It makes her unvarnished advice feel more authoritative, like Discovery has its own resident eccentric Admiral.

Earth Defense has been tangling with raiders led by someone called Wen, who intimidates folk with his Black Manta from Aquaman mask and grumbly vocoder. But Discovery being Starfleet, they get the two sides talking face to face, and it turns out the scary bug dude is really just Stargate Atlantis' Christopher Heyerdahl underneath.

Meanwhile, Discovery gains a new crewmember: Earth Defense whiz kid Adira (Blu del Barrio), who's actually a human host to a Trill symbiont. That big physiological development aside, one of the episode's rare missteps comes during their big scene with Stamets, as Jeff Russo's score goes over the line yelling, "This scene is light-hearted!" (The actor is non-binary, hence the pronoun at this point.)

In the end, Tilly and the rest of the bridge crew visit a favorite studying tree at what was Starfleet Academy. For a post-apocalyptic universe, Earth still looks pretty good. "People of Earth" is the show firing on all cylinders when it comes to doing TV Trek in the 21st Century, so the space chess and themes of negotiation over violence get a nice modern sheen. 7/10.

Stray observation:

- We see Discovery repair drones outside the ship, familiar from the animated Short Trek "Ephraim and Dot".

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.