Category: Musings

Random Thoughts On… Season Redos

If there was any one season of Power Rangers you wish you could redo, what would it be?

I suppose the easy answer would be to redo the entirety of Megaforce/Super Megaforce due to how awful the whole things is, but in honesty, the one season I would like to have seen redone is Power Rangers In Space. Mind you, the season itself is pretty solid and was perhaps the beginning of the somewhat deeper storytelling that the franchise would adopt over the course of its existence, but In Space spent more time on Earth than it did in space and that’s probably the one thing that bothered me more than anything.

So in redoing In Space, first couple episodes play out more or less the same; the former Turbo Rangers stumble across the Megaship, they met Andros, they team up and become Space Rangers, they stop by Earth for supplies, and by the end of the third episode, they’re on their merry way seeking out new worlds and new civilizations or something to that extent. From there, they just bounce from world to world in search of clues to Zordon’s whereabouts, all the while doing some world building in terms of showcasing these worlds and giving them back story. For the kids, it’ll be looking at strange alien worlds and their inhabitants, while the older folks get some exposition for their nerd cards. Hell, it could even be an opportunity to revisit classic villains and characters.

You could keep some of the major plotpoints (Andros searching for his sister, the Ecliptor/Darkonda rivalry, Zhane), but retool them to fit the new narrative. And as far as Earth is concerned, that planet should be seen as sparingly as possible. Maybe for “major” events or something to that extent.

Anyway, it’s an idea.

Random Thoughts On… Kevin Owens After Cena

Do you think Kevin Owens tapping out to John Cena killed Kevin Owens?
No. Kevin Owens will be just fine. I didn’t like the finish, mind you, but it kinda makes sense because he started off strong and he got knocked a peg or two and now he has to work his way back up. Honestly, if KO were to have won, then what? You go from beating John Cena for a championship to what? Feuding with Cesaro like it’s another mid-card match? He’d have nowhere to go but down. I mean, nothing against Cesaro; that dude’s a fucking genius in the ring (not the Lanny Poffo kind, but the other kind) and him and KO in a match one-on-one? Shit, I’d go for that. But Cesaro’s no John Cena in terms of value.
So, look, I didn’t like the finish, but after sitting on it for a couple days, I’m like “Okay, makes sense.” Whether they decide to do anything with him is another story and I hope he gets another shot down the line because he’s one of the genuinely freshest characters they got now; a classic loudmouthed asshole that’s easy to hate because contrary to what Jim Ross preaches, you don’t have to cheat constantly to hammer in the point that you’re the bad guy. You gotta be a dick. And KO does a good job of being a dick and getting people to hate him that he doesn’t need to cheat. He probably could if he wanted, but what’s the point?

Some Helpful Codes For SNES Power Rangers

I don’t know why I thought of doing something like this now, but I figured why not. Here are some codes for the three SNES Mighty Morphin video games. The passcodes for the first game are earned when you clear levels (with the final three codes earned when you beat the game) while the cheat codes for the other two games are revealed when you beat said games on Hard difficulty.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (SNES) Passcodes
Area 2: 3847
Area 3: 5113
Area 4: 3904
Area 5: 1970
Area 6: 8624
Area 7: 2596
The following passcodes enable the hidden 2-player Zord battles, where Player 1 controls Megazord while Player 2 controls one of the three bosses:
Mutitis (Area 6 Boss): 0411
Cyclopsis (First Form): 1007
Cyclopsis (Final Form): 1212
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (SNES) Cheat Code
If you press Up, Down, Left, Right, X, B, Y, A while on the title screen, you’ll start each level morphed from the get-go.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Fighting Edition (SNES) Cheat Code
If you press X + Y + Start while on the Fighter Select screen, you’ll be able to play as Ivan Ooze. This only works in Fighting Mode.
Hope these codes help!

Random Thoughts On… Police Squad!

For some strange reason, I’ve decided to pop in my DVD of Police Squad! (In Color) for the first time in a long while. A short-lived television series that would later be adapted into the Naked Gun trilogy of films, the show stars the late, great Leslie Nielsen as Sergeant Captain Frank Drebin, detective-lieutenant at Police Squad, a special division of the police force as he proceeds to solve various crimes. Police Squad! (In Color) is essentially a spoof of the various police dramas of the time, often exaggerating (and sometimes outright mocking in a subtle way) the various tropes that were apparent in shows.

The show lasted six episodes due to low ratings, which is a damn shame because this was a genuinely funny show. In fairness, though, part of my enjoyment stemmed from the Naked Gun films, which I also think highly of, and I had only gotten to see the series when it was released on DVD back in 2006. A lot of the gags and bits used in the films were basically rehashes of Police Squad’s own material, but Police Squad is a little more low-key in terms of tone. It was played straight all throughout whereas with the Naked Gun films, it did feel a little more goofy at times… not at all a bad thing.

Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, I think.

The Updated Spock Actors Reference Post

On July 28, 2007, the following was posted on the original DTM Blog;

For anyone remotely interested, the people behind the new Star Trek movie have revealed two members of its cast: Zackary Quintos (creepy young dude who’s in Heroes) and Leonard Nimoy (creepy old guy who does photography of naked women… and he did some TV show back in the 60s) will both play the character of Spock. That’s right; Spock is so big they need TWO people to play him. Well, it’s better than the 1980s when they need SIX people to play him.

This info came from the OFFICIAL Star Trek site.

A couple days later, this was posted (588)

Contrary to an earlier blog post, you didn’t need SIX actors to portray Spock back in the 1980s. Instead, you needed NINE.

1. Leonard Nimoy – the original Spock

2. Launched Photon Torpedo – dead Spock

3. Photon Torpedo Tube – rotting Spock’s casket

4. Carl Steven – Spock at age 7

5. Vardia Potenza – Preteen Sexmate Spock at age 13

6. Stephen Manley – Teenage Spock at age 17

7. Joe W. Davis – Vulcan-Rage Spock at age 25

8. Director Nimoy – Nimoy-Spock hybrid

9. Baby – Baby Spock in Star Trek V flashback

So yeah, that’s a lot of people/things/stupidities to play one Vulcan. Wonder how many actors Tuvok has:

1. Tim Russ – Tuvok

2. A shitload of stunt doubles.

Okay, so what about the Vulcan chick on Enterprise? Well, see Tuvok but swap Tim Russ for that other chick. Jolene whatsherface.

So yeah, Vulcans are hard for one person to handle…

Or maybe it’s just me.

Good night.

Well then…

“What we’re really trying to do is get to the core of who Superman is. So we’re taking away a lot of his iconic visuals – we took away the spit curl, the cape. We left him with just the “S” and even that’s not the same, it’s more of the Fleischer “S” from the old animation.”

Gene Luen Yang, Superman writer
Well… I guess I need to go back and watch the old Fleischer cartoons and see if they’re as dull and uninspired as the tripe being written now.

Random Thought on AVGN Seaman

That sums it all up, really.

If you want a genuinely funny Seaman video that isn’t pretentious, well… you know where I’m going with this already.

EDIT: I was apparently told that this horrible episode was dedicated to the late Leonard Nimoy, who provided narration for Seaman. I was also told that people on “that blog” consider this a “proper” tribute. Sure, pal. Whatever you say.