Original Pinky Not In Power Rangers Special… Get Over It

So in case you haven’t heard, they announced the upcoming MMPR 30th anniversary special to be airing on Netflix in April. The special, Once And Always, will feature David Yost, Walter Jones, Steve Cardenas, Johnny Yong Bosch, Karan Ashley, and Catherine Sutherland reprise their roles in a special that we see them don the spandex again and fight off against a new incarnation of Rita Repulsa to be voiced by classic Rita voice actor Barbara Goodson.

One name that won’t be coming back for the special is the one name most folks were hoping for. On a Twitter post shortly after the video teaser was posted, original Pinky Amy Jo Johnson had stated that “For the record, I never said no. I just didn’t say yes to what was being offered.” You can take this so many different ways, but the gist of it was that they made an offer for her to comeback and she wasn’t keen on what they were offering. Is there more to it than that? Probably, but it is what it is.

Naturally, people are going to be upset about AJ not coming back. I’m somewhat disappointed, but on the other hand, I understand and respect her decision. And the people egging on her for not showing up… yeah, get over it. Yeah, the show gave AJ her start and was, by her first admission, a great first job, but acting like she owes this franchise something after all this time makes you come across as one of those creeper fans that gave her nightmares in the first place. Her decision, her choice, get the fuck over yourselves and enjoy the show when it comes out.

Servers Dressed As Power Rangers Save Woman From Getting Choked By Man… No, Really

Even Lord Zedd frowns at this.

Source: https://abc7.com/power-rangers-save-woman-ranger-servers-noka-ramen-oakland/12338959/

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/10/19/power-rangers-ramen-oakland-restaurant/

Imagine a themed day at your new restaurant where you’re all dressed as superheroes and suddenly, you actually have to play the parts and keep some dude from choking one of your customers… all I will say is that I hope that those Rangers got some mighty big tips because they earned it after that showing. Kudos to Noka Ramen; you may have gotten a honorable mention on the Winners List of 2022.

Honestly, this is more newsworthy than what I usually watch on Wednesday nights these days.

An Important Lesson Was Learned This Morning…

Don’t have heroes.

Don’t have role models.
Don’t look up to anyone.
Because sooner or later…
They’ll let you down.
That’s the current generation in a nutshell.
Fortunately, I have no heroes.
Therefore, I have no disappointment.
I do have a migraine.
And a tummy ache.
I need a stiff drink…
Or Twenty.

COMIC REVIEW – Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Pink (2017)

Boom! Studios’ first off-shoot Power Rangers miniseries was surprisingly not focused on TOMMY, but rather on Kimberly, fresh off not being a Ranger anymore. For you see, this takes place after Kim left the team to be a gymnast at the Pan Globals… but things are amiss. People have gone missing in the French village that her dear old mother lives in and she had find out what it is… so how does Kimberly take on the enormous task for solving the mystery of the missing Frenchmen?

Continue reading “COMIC REVIEW – Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Pink (2017)”

COMIC REVIEW – Power Rangers: Soul Of The Dragon (Boom Studios, 2018)

(2023 Update: For some reason, I kept refering to the title as Sins Of The Dragon rather than Soul Of The Dragon. This has since been corrected.)

So anyone who has followed this blog have noted my somewhat “stern” criticism of Kyle Higgins’ obsession with JDF to the degree that his entire run has been all about him. I could say it’s all about “Tommy” and such, but let’s be honest. It’s all about that JDF wankfest. On a similar note, those same people who followed this blog will also have noted that I don’t particularly care for JDF as a personality. Countless posts can be found to further corroborate this point.

With this in mind, I came into Soul Of The Dragon – the first one-shot graphic novel in Boom’s Power Rangers line – with a bit of trepidation, but to my surprise and utter delight, what I got was actually a pretty decent, somewhat low-key story about an aged Dr. Oliver, past his prime, searching for clues as to the whereabouts of his missing son. There are familiar cameos, there are flashbacks and references to past events, there’s some twists and turns that seem somewhat obvious if you’ve been following the main series for a while, but it makes sense within the context of the story.

The whole thing is basically a last hurrah for the Tommy Oliver character before he passes the torch, so to speak. And while it isn’t the Old Man Logan approach that some folks would have wanted, it is nonetheless a satisfying final chapter for the franchise’s most popular character… Finster.

The artwork is interesting, with an attempt to give these characters as close to a resemblance to the actors who portrayed them as possible. In this regard, it’s a mixed bag; sometimes, they nail it and other times, not so much. As a whole, the art tends to be a bit rough, sometimes feeling as though it was drawn on a sketchbook quickly and color was splashed on later before it went straight to print. You see this often with the characters, though the scenery isn’t too bad either.

Soul Of The Dragon is probably Kyle Higgins’ best work. It’s a simple but effectively decent story, a good read, and gives Tommy a good last hurrah that lacks the ballyhoo people would’ve liked and was better for it. A highly recommended read if you want a quick PR comic to read, and that’s the highest praise I’ve levied towards the Boom run thus far.

Power Rangers (Mostly) Leaving Netflix

Source: https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/leaving-soon/power-rangers-library-set-to-leave-netflix-in-february-2021/

So, I made mention of this on the DTM-Cast a couple weeks ago, but for those who missed the news, Netflix is going to be shitcanning most of the Power Rangers seasons from its service come February 1st, with only Mighty Morphin, Beast Morphers, Ninja Steel, and some of the holiday specials will still be up there… Oh yeah, Legendary Farce’s extended edition is also going to be sticking around. Excellent; I need to give that thing a piece of my mind.
Obviously, this sucks. Mind you, I’ve got most of the old seasons on DVD, but when it comes to stuff like Samurai or Dino Charge, I’m going to be shit out of luck in that regard. Honestly, I don’t get the thinking behind this. Maybe it’s rights issues. Maybe Hasbro has their own shitty streaming service nobody is going to buy… or maybe they’ll lose their minds and put this shit on Youtube for free and that will probably cause Haim Saban to go nuts and buy back the franchise. The man wants his money, after all.
Either way, it sucks that most of the series is going to be off a service that is used by millions and we’re all stuck with whatever shitty Netflix original series or Adam Sandler film is posted every once in a while. Fuck me, can we turn back the clock ten years to back when we had Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares on this fucking service?

Boom Studios' Kickstarter… To Sell You The Same Crap They've Sold For Years.

Source: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/boom-studios/mighty-morphin-power-rangers-complete-comic-book-collections/description

Well… that’s something.
The link above will take you to Boom Studios’ Kickstarter campaign in order to fund their (already funded) campaign to produce hardcore editions of their Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comic book. Sounds totally fine… until you realize that these volumes have been available for some time and cost hundreds of dollars per volume for stuff you can already get for far cheaper by purchasing the appropriate trade paperbacks.
I won’t completely poo-poo this off the bat; the hardcovers are a bit of an uncommon find and for those folks with plenty of disposable income who want a nice way of getting six hardcovers of the comic run have a great opportunity to do so here, along with some interesting perks, including your very own Megazord stand to house all these books.
Still, you can’t help but admire Boom Studios for finding new ways to pedal the same crap over and over again over the course of several years. Multiple covers, multiple trades, multiple hardcovers, and whatnots in different shapes and sizes. Not a new thing in comics, mind you; there was a time when such practices was fairly common a couple decades back and it damned near killed the entire industry, but sure, why not bring this practice back to fool the dimwitted masses who can’t help but buy this stuff.
Interested? Click the link and check it out. Campaign ends February 4th.