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Old 08/27/11, 01:36 AM   #1
Remus Lupin
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Default Your Favorite PR Series

I started a version of this thread on another forum I frequent, but it hasn't really caught on like I had hoped. I also searched to see if there was a similar thread here, but there wasn't ... at least not that I could find.

As most of you know, back in May (if I remember correctly), Netflix started streaming every episode of Power Rangers from MMPR s1 through the "re-version. So, I decided to do an entire series rewatch from start to finish and watch all the episodes again (even those I HATED with a passion the first time through). As I started to notice my old opinions changing, I started a thread to rate and rank the series.

I finished the rewatch through RPM last night. I will not watch the MMPR Re-version as that is simply the original series with "newer" effects. I will include it in my rankings, though, since Saban has stated that it was Season 18.

So, here is how I rank each series of Power Rangers from best (1) to worst (19):

1. MMPR s1
1. Time Force
1. RPM
4. Dino Thunder
5. Ninja Storm
6. Jungle Fury
7. Lightspeed Rescue
8. Lost Galaxy
9. SPD
10. Zeo
11. in Space
12. MMPR s2
13. MMPR s3
14. Mystic Force
15. Wild Force
16. Turbo
17. Samurai
18. Operation Overdrive
19. MMPR Re-Version

For the top three right now ... I cannot decide which is my favorite because they are all up there for different reasons. They are listed in Chronological order -- and, for now, that's how they'll stay. After completing the rewatch ... I still can't decide.

My thoughts changed on pretty much everything from Zeo through Lightspeed Rescue except for Turbo. I still really dislike Turbo. But Zeo/in Space were not as good as I remembered them being. in Space really fell because of the terrible acting from Christopher Khayman Lee and Melody Perkins. Melody Perkins was better as Karone and was even better in Lost Galaxy. I used to also not like Lost Galaxy and was complacent about Lightspeed Rescue. However, now I love both of those series. They had some of the best writing and acting and production in the entire franchise.

Now, while MMPR s1 has pretty low production value ... it was still a fantastic show. The acting did get better as time went on. The writing was usually pretty great. My only gripe would just have been the acting.

Then, the reason I put MMPR s2 and 3 so low would be just because they did a lot of things that took away from the production value. First off, when Austin St. John, Thuy Trang and Walter Jones started having the contract disputes, before the characters were gone to the conference, they had other people do ALL the ADR for Jason, Trini and Zack. They were also hardly ever seen on screen. And not only did the ADR voice actors do a terrible job of imitating the three ... but they also were not mixed into the show audio well. They were too low and also felt kinda tinny compared to the other ADR voices. Also, since they did not change the suits like Toei did in the source material, that led to a lot of visual problems and unnecessary story lines ... like when the Rangers are turned into kids. Now, I will admit that having the kids search for the Zeo Crystal parts was a great idea. But, they didn't have to be children for that storyline to happen.

However, Zeo fell a bit for me just based on the writing on the show, as well as some of the acting. Now, Catherine Sutherland, Johnny Yong Bosch and David Yost were fantastic and Austin St. John did a great job when he came back. Even Jason David Frank was decent. However, he kinda pissed me off because he never worked hard enough to learn the correct arm movements for the morph sequences like the rest of the team. Go watch the Henshin sequence for Ohranger and then watch one of the single rangers morph in Zeo ... and you'll see they're the same. However, if Tommy was involved in the morph, they did a simplified version that took a few seconds longer where they only move one arm at a time. So that showed laziness on his part ... for me.

Turbo ... was just terrible for me. One of the biggest gripes I had ... and most would agree ... Justin. Terrible ranger ... terrible character ... terrible actor. The writing was also starting to go down the hole with the series too.

I'm already on record about in Space. But I want to add that there was a lot of bad acting going on in this series. I think the writing was okay and the story with Andros and Astronema was a great idea ... if it had better actors to portray it. I will also admit that the Psychos were AMAZING! They were definitely done right!

Now, originally I stopped watching during Lost Galaxy. I don't remember if it was because I didn't like it or if it was just because that Fall I forgot to start watching it again. That's the problem with a kids show taking the summer off. Take off 3-4 months and you might lose your audience. But I digress. On this rewatch of Lost Galaxy ... I found myself constantly enjoying it. The acting was the best I'd seen in the series before Lost Galaxy and the writing was just as good. I honestly don't think I had a single gripe about this series.

Lightspeed Rescue was not as good as Lost Galaxy, but it was still pretty damn close. I found myself loving so much about this series on this rewatch for the same reasons that I loved Lost Galaxy. It was like they were on a mission to keep stepping up the production value and get rid of the stigma that Power Rangers had garnered in the industry. It was like they really wanted to ascend out of the realm of Children's Television. And they were on the right track!

The proof in the pudding of this fact comes in the form of Time Force ... the last true Saban series as PR was bought by Disney halfway through the airing of this series. Time Force was the most mature season of Power Rangers for the entire run of the franchise ... up until RPM. The acting was top notch and the writing was stellar. The production value was probably the highest of any children's television show I'd ever seen. I think they really made a legit Action Series that would be just as enjoyable for adults as it would be for the target audience. Plus, I just really loved the relationship between Jen and Wes ... even if it never really did get to happen. I may have to write a fic that brings Jen back to the past so they can be together.
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Old 08/27/11, 01:37 AM   #2
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Default Re: Your Favorite PR Series

Double Posting because it would not let me post the entire post in one.

Then ... an almost tragedy. Wild Force. I attempted a rewatch of this series a few years ago and could not get past episode 5. I just finished a new rewatch where I was able to get through the entire series. When the series started, the acting and writing were probably the worst in the entire franchise. The only Ranger I could stand, at first, was Taylor and she was not even that fantastic. She's just passable. She's gotten slightly worse as the episodes went on ... but not much. Then, somehow, the series started actually getting slightly better. The writing never did improve much, but the acting (for the most part) did. Cole's acting in Forever Red was still terrible. Danny never did improve, but the rest of the cast did improve a bit. Forever Red was a decent Anniversary special. Despite Cole being in it, having every other past Red Ranger (except the original actor who played Aurico) made that episode is a decent episode. Except for the fact that a frickin' motorcycle destroyed what was supposed to be the most incredible evil Zord ever made -- Serpentera. Also, it seems like the director of the episode just didn't care about acting because this was a "fanwank" episode. Guess he thought that all that mattered was just making the episode. Even the editing was off. Sometimes there would be way too much space between character's exchanges or awkward looks/stances. Anyway, I made it through the rewatch and the series did rise above even Turbo.

Thankfully, it seems Disney learned a lesson with Wild Force. Ninja Storm was VASTLY better in every single way. I don't remember having any gripes about this series. The characters were completely believable and the actors did a fantastic job portraying them. This was, in my opinion, one of the three best Disney produced series. It had it all ... comedy, drama, a love story (Tori/Blake) and the internal conflict of knowing you have to fight your own family to save the world. Even if they didn't consider Lothor part of their family anymore ... he still was. The weirdest part, for me, with my rewatch was hearing Sally Martin (Tori) speaking with an American Accent instead of her native New Zealand accent. I haven't watched Ninja Storm in years ... but over the past 3 years, I've watched the entirety of Welcome to Paradise (a New Zealand show starting PR Alums Sally Martin and Holly Shanahan) probably at least 20 times. It's only 13 episodes and easy to just put on and listen to while you're working. There was no change in my ranking of the series, as it stayed right below Dino Thunder.

The second best, in my opinion, would be Dino Thunder. And a big part of that, honestly, was having Jason David Frank back and seeing that he is a much better actor now than he was before. I do have a problem with the fact that he was crystalized and then stuck in Ranger Form and then made invisible. I just don't know why they decided to do all that. It made absolutely no story sense to me. If it was just so they could do the Fighting Spirit episode, then they could've had Tommy lose in a battle really bad ... have him attacked so hard that he ends up in a coma. Anyway, I digress. I also have to give it props for something that other fans seem to give it hell for ... Lost and Found in Translation. I loved seeing the Abaranger episode ... even if it was horribly translated. I'm basically just giving it props for seeing Asuka-kun-tachi! Abaranger is one of my favorite series in Sentai. I just wish it had been an episode with Nakadai-sensei ... the best character EVER in the entirety of Sentai! That's my only real gripe with DinoThunder -- Trent. I don't think that Trent lived up to the level of evil that Nakadai-sensei reached. They made him good again too quickly. in Abaranger, Nakadai Mikoto was evil, but eventually started struggling with it and didn't fully decide to help the other Abarangers until around episode 47. So, I just think Trent was mishandled.

SPD was a bit of a step back for a couple reasons. My biggest problem was Sam. I mean, come ON! A ranger is a frickin' ball of light? Really? Fail! He is really the only big problem that I remembered when I originally wrote this. I thought the acting and writing were decent and the production value was pretty good as well. However, after watching it again, the acting was mostly decent, for the most part, when they were NOT morphed. However, the ADR was really terribly written and acted. In fact, Rene Naufahu was even a better actor than he is in Samurai! Weird! He's TERRIBLE in Samurai ... but as Grumm and his human counterpart (the one time we saw it), I really loved his acting. I don't know what it is. Even when he was in the Matrix movies ... he did a great job with his incredibly small role. Maybe it's the new production team. I don't know. Now, I will add one thing. While I think SPD was a step back for Disney ... they still gave us one of my all-time Favorite characters ... Bridge Carson! He's probably my favorite ranger comic relief ever! Also ... Matt Austin is one of the best actors in the entire franchise ... so he brought a lot to the role that someone else probably wouldn't have. Plus ... "it's **wiggles fingers** buttery." Now, I think this was the last PR series I saw before I saw it's Sentai Counterpart. In fact, I may have watched them almost at the same time. Still, I miss DekaBright. I know she kinda shows up in the finale ... but only briefly. Then again, she's not around much in Dekaranger, but she's at least around for one episode, but it was still an entire episode instead of like Nova Ranger -- just showing up at the end to help in the final fight (a bit) and then take Sam "back to the future." Then, let's not forget the incredible Ms. Kat Manx! She was an amazing second in command to Kruger and often kept him grounded. Then, you can't forget about the fact that she was drop dead gorgeous! At least, that was my opinion. Also, her acting was, like Matt Austin's, some of the best in the entire franchise. Another problem I have is that this was the beginning of the much lamented "wire-fu." I'm sure it was used a bit in Ninja Storm and Dino Thunder, but it was not as obvious nor did it feel as out of place as it did starting with SPD.

Speaking of comic relief ... I find it hilarious that they go from having the best comic relief ranger to probably the worst ever in the very next series. Among it's many problems ... Mystic Force's Chip was unbearable! Also, the production value of the entire series dropped for me here. Most of the actors were terrible. The only one I really liked was Melanie Vallejo. After the rewatch ... that still stands true. However, I do think that Barnie Duncan (Toby) and Holly Shanahan were very good in their roles as well. Now, there was one episode where Nick and Xander were arguing and during that argument ... I actually believed what they were putting out there. But that was the only time that I believed those two. There was not much to update here ... everything pretty much stayed the same. While the whole series was not a failure ... I don't think it was the worst that was under Disney's umbrella.

That title would fall to Operation Overdrive! I've just finished my rewatch, as painful as it was, and I can definitely say that it is the worst series under Disney's umbrella. As I remember, it was everything I could do to keep watching this show through to the end the first time and it was the same this time. There was so much fail in that show. The writing was the worst it's ever been and the acting was just as terrible. I HATED that they squeezed the 16:9 source footage into 4:3! I honestly just hated the characters and didn't really care anything for the show. If I remember correctly ... the only thing that really kept me watching the first time was Spencer ... the butler! Now, on the rewatch, I noticed that there were some other decent characters/actors. The woman who played Tyzonn's girlfriend ... she was pretty decent. Kelson Henderson was fantastic as Zorg and Flurious was pretty decent too. Then, there's also the fact that Operation Overdrive gave us "Once A Ranger" bringing back four of my favorite rangers of all time! I'd have preferred someone else from Mystic Force ... perhaps Madison and then change out Tori for Cam or Dustin if they were dead set on just two female legendary rangers. But ... Adam was back and he was fantastic! Bridge was back as Red and explained things in his typical way AND got some **wiggles fingers** buttery toast! But, Alpha 6 was terribly done. They put so many effects on the ADR voice that you could barely understand what he was saying! But other than those very few good things about the series ... Operation Overdrive was, in my opinion, a colossal failure!
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Old 08/27/11, 01:38 AM   #3
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Default Re: Your Favorite PR Series

Triple posting to finish out my reviews. I apologize.

Then, somehow, I think that Disney learned their lesson again because Jungle Fury was so much better than Operation Overdrive! The writing and acting were some of the best in the entire franchise! I really felt that each actor really became their character. It's funny, because in Operation Overdrive, Rose was giving Dax a pep talk about acting and she said something to the effect of "the object of acting is to make sure you look like you're not acting." Well, all of the Operation Overdrive cast (except those mentioned earlier) really did look like they were acting. This cast, however, were like Shakespearian trained actors in comparison! One of my favorite male characters was RJ. He is probably the coolest mentor a team has ever had. I also really loved Fran ... and, am not ashamed to say that I had a small crush on both her and Lily. So much about this show was great, but there were bad things, though. Take for example the Spirit Rangers. The show was already toyetic enough as it was without adding in extra rangers that really served no purpose other than just to sell toys. Then, they got rid of the morphers and had the Core 3 use Sunglasses and almost completely changed the motions for the other two. Small things, sure, but they meant something to me. I also kinda wish we could've had a true American adaptation of Ron/Lon. That character in Gekiranger with all his scheming would've been better than Scorch, in my opinion. But they didn't really have the time in 32 episodes, really, to pull that off right. Another bad thing ... only 32 episodes!!! That was a blessing with Operation Overdrive, but it was not acceptable here. I really wish they'd done at least 40 episodes. It's so weird, though. When Disney got it right, they got it RIGHT! Four of my top 6 series came from the Disney era -- Jungle Fury, Ninja Storm, Dino Thunder and one other.

Then ... Disney made the best decision they've ever made in regards to Power Rangers: canning Bruce Kalish and hiring Eddie Guzelian! Even better ... they let him take the franchise in a direction more in keeping with the last few Original Saban-era shows. This show was, by far, the best produced series in franchise history. It was darker, more mature, more realistic and just better in every way. They also noticeably tried to NOT squeeze the original 16:9 Source Footage into 4:3 as much as possible. Sometimes, when they did, it was only just as little as they needed to squeeze it to get what was important. Plus, I think this is probably the only series that completely threw out any part of the original Sentai story and created their own. I think all they kept was starting with the Core 3 and adding Black and Green (in reverse number order) a couple episodes later and then adding in Gold and Silver later ... and having Gold and Silver be siblings. I don't think anything else made it. Also, they were the only one to come up with a creative way to get around seeing the Sentai name in the series. They had to use Ginjiro from Go-Onger ... and the problem is that it has Go-Onger in big letters on the side. So, the production team came up with a way to turn that into an acronym ... and it worked, for me at least. They were just so much more creative with this show than with others. And the acting, all around, was the best in the entire franchise. The only other team that had better acting, all around as a team, would be Time Force. Gem and Gemma ruined it for RPM because they were not all that ... as I will get into later. I also loved the way they approached the relationship with Dr. K and Ziggy. After you've watched it, it's obvious the second time around that Dr. K is crushing on Ziggy really early on and she's just afraid of it because she's never had these feelings before. Like when she's talking to Summer about Scott and Dillon being a 9 and a 10 and Summer asks Dr. K who she thinks is a 10 ... Dr. K freezes up. I also loved the entire story with Dillon and Tenaya. Then, of course, the relationship between Dillon and Summer was also a good choice. I think they were trying to start something between Flynn and Gemma ... but I don't think it ever panned out ... and that's sad. It's funny that it happened this way. Honestly, I HATED most of Go-Onger for the same reasons I hated Operation Overdrive. The only thing that kept me watching Go-Onger were the amazing Go-On Wings! That is probably my only problem with RPM -- their adaptation of Go-On Wings. Gem and Gemma were not terrible ... but they were a little too goofy to fit in with the show and their acting was not always believable and could become "over-the-top" when getting goofier. Ziggy was fantastic ... but we didn't need twins finishing each other's sentences. I just don't think that the characters fit into the show as well as they could have if they had been more serious. I'm not trying to say that humor didn't belong in the show, because I did just say I loved Ziggy, but Ziggy was enough. Plus, Milo Cawthorne knew how to keep his goofiness from going "over-the-top." He knew how to keep it in balance.

Then ... Saban eventually buys the franchise back from Disney and re-releases the first 30 or so episodes of MMPR s1 with "updated effects." I'm sorry ... but this is not 1960's Batman! They took a great show and ruined the episodes with those terrible effects. I refuse to watch the re-version -- ever. To me, that would be like taking the original Star Wars Trilogy and putting in pre 1950's VFX. It would ruin the trilogy! Had they updated the effects with better effects than the original, it might have been okay. I know the updated Star Wars looked good to me -- especially substituting Hayden Christensen in for Anakin at the end of Episode VI. That was very appropriate, in my opinion.

Next ... Saban starts working on an adaptation of Shinkenger with the goal of bringing the fun of MMPR back to Power Rangers. Well -- they're failing. I'm already well on record on another forum of my extreme distaste of Samurai. They try to bring back the comedy by bringing back Bulk with Skull's son, Spike. Well, the problem is that all of the scenes with Bulk and Skull 2.0 seem forced! It's like they just sit down with the script and figure out where to put in a comedy break and just throw something in there. Bulk and Skull 2.0 don't even know the rangers! In the original, their comedy was organic and always had something to do with the plot. It never felt forced! The only things, right now, that are keeping me from NOT watching this show anymore are Deker (because, oddly enough, Rick Medina is actually performing well on this show compared to Wild Force) and the hopes of a Samurai/RPM teamup! I really hope that happens. Perhaps the RPM rangers can show these Samurai fools how it's done!

So, those are mine. I know it's long, but I had to say what was on my mind about each series.

I'm anxious to see how everyone else ranks these series! But, for the sake of discussion, when you put your rankings in, I'd request that you also state your reasoning for placing seasons where you place them in your ranking.

Discuss!
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Old 08/28/11, 11:12 AM   #4
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Default Re: Your Favorite PR Series

Good thread.

The reason they had Tommy stuck in suit was because JDF only agreed to come back for like 20 episodes. He had it in his contract that he got a break in the middle of filming. He needed to fly home to America to be with his family and take care of his business. It was unavoidable.

The acting in Wild Force was odd because they had them trying to emulate how the Sentai Actors act. Which doesn't translate well in America. Samurai shows that Medina isn't a bad actor. It was just the way he was told to deliver his lines as Cole.

Its hard for me to rate every season in order.

But some of my favorites are:

Time Force
Space
Lost Galaxy
Ninja Storm
DinoThunder
RPM
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Old 09/26/11, 01:41 PM   #5
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Default Re: Your Favorite PR Series

MMPR s1
Zeo
Lightspeed Rescue
Lost Galaxy
RPM
in Space
SPD
Time Force
MMPR s2
MMPR s3
Mystic Force
Wild Force
MMAR
Turbo
Samurai
Jungle Fury
Dino Thunder
Ninja Strom
Operation Overdrive
MMPR Re-Version
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Old 09/29/11, 04:53 PM   #6
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Default Re: Your Favorite PR Series

Quote:
Originally Posted by PRangerX View Post
It was unavoidable.
It was 100% avoidable. Tommy was not needed, he added nothing but fanwank to the show. Any actor would have better than Tommy once again proving what a complete moron he is and having to deal with the stupid stuck in suit gimmick.
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Old 10/01/11, 08:10 PM   #7
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Default Re: Your Favorite PR Series

pr timeforce
pr spd
pr samurai
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Old 08/19/12, 10:06 PM   #8
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Default Re: Your Favorite PR Series

MMPR S1
Lightspeed Rescue
Zeo
In Space
TimeForce
MMPR S3
MMPR S2
Mystic Force
Wildforce
Ninja Storm
SPD
Dino Thunder
Lost Galaxy
Turbo
Jungle Fury
Operation Overdrive
MMAR
MMPR Remake
I didn't include Samurai because I haven't watch it yet
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