Yup, you read that correctly - a young adult watching Power Rangers. Rest assured I'm not a fan of the series, but I just wanted to see how far it has come since the first season more than 10 years ago. The verdict: It's still as corny as ever. The acting sucks and while the special effects have come a long way, it cannot help the lacklustre story.
This is the 14th version of Power Rangers, and many elements of the story have remained unchanged. It is usually a group of 5 teenagers (3 guys and 2 girls) who discover their morphin' abilities through a wise mentor. In fact, Wikipedia's article on the Power Rangers have basically broken down their episode plots into:
- Rangers are seen in everyday life with a dispute to resolve.
- Rangers are attacked by evil enemy's minions/footsoldiers.
- Rangers fight minions/footsoldiers.
- Rangers morph.
- Rangers defeat minions/footsoldiers.
- Evil enemy revives minion and makes minion grow to gigantic proportions, followed by Rangers summoning giant machines known as Zords and/or their combined form, the Megazord.
- Optional: Rangers find that their current powers are insufficient to defeat monster and discover a new power, such as a Battlizer armor for the Red Ranger, a sixth Ranger, or a new Megazord.
- Rangers fight and defeat said giant minion, usually using a flashy trademark move.
- Rangers are shown back in everyday life, having learned a life lesson which solves the earlier dispute.
And that, my friends, is Power Rangers for you. 14 years ago, 5 years ago, and 5 years from now, it will always be the same. Though I wonder, do they have to make them take so long to transform? Not to mention amateurish?
6 comments:
It is time for the so-called "Power Rangers" series to be cancelled indefinitely given how irritably ill-prepared the production of most of its sequels has been in terms of storylines, setups of cast of characters, scripts, acting, certain special effects, etc. Somehow, the latest one dubbed "Power Rangers Mystic Force," is one of the most lackluster sequels even though it's not the worst. At least the Japanese versions of the "Power Rangers" series otherwise known as "Sentai" are far better in terms of the aspects described above since they are true originals and are much more elaborate in execution. Disney have had made the show even worse ever since it took over the franchise from Saban in 2002, which sometimes I wish they would do a complete voiceover of all the Japanese version characters instead of hiring any actor for the production of the show. Besides, what Disney is doing is simply wasting a lot of money on the show that they've poured way too many stupid ideas into that resulted in the show's poor quality. Even most people including many younger viewers prefer the "Sentai" over "Power Rangers" based on what is said above. So here is the ultimatum: Either start doing complete voiceover of the show with certain editions (i.e., delete scenes that are deemed too violent) and stop hiring any actor for it, or cancel it altogether.
On the previous comment above, where it says "...voiceover of the show with certain editions...," I meant "certain editings."
Hi!
Thanks for your interesting commentary.
Seems you are more of a Power Rangers fan than a fan of my blog :)
How did you bump into this post, Anonymous?
ZemieN
Zemien:
I used to be a Power Rangers fan long time ago, and I am now one of the critics of such show who would like to get my message across any way I possibly could in order to dramatically change the presentation of the show as described in my earlier comment or to end it altogether. By the way, I bumped into this blogger when I was searching for some critical comment(s) about the Power Rangers series in nowadays via the "Yahoo" search engine, in which I was so eager to elaborate and/or express my views on such matter. Some people would disagree with me on this, but based on what I see as an anomaly, I just couldn't help it but to state my criticism(s) about it.
Anonymous from Comments #1 and #2
well, thanks for sharing your opinion. I do agree with your view, that Disney must make it better, or even the gullible kids will move away.
I have not watched any of the original Sentai series though, but I don't plan to anyway.
Power Rangers... I on the other grew up with Gaban and Masked Rider Black. 4:30pm, cook up some instant noodles and watch BM-dubbed series on RTM. Perfect.
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