Category: Written Features

So,, here we are… after what seemed like a long, agonizing wait, it is the return of the Reflections… for a couple months, at least.

In any event, what better way to relaunch this new batch of Reflections than to look at a four-part epic meant to serve as the stand-in for what you just saw in movie theaters. Long story short; MMPR: The Movie was a thing, introduced new Ninja suits and Ninja Zords, but also didn’t fit into the overall style of the TV show… and hence we got Ninja Quest, which featured the same overall premise but moved things forward and used stuff from the Sentai that Saban could rip off… simple enough.

We’ll be blowing through this one fairly quickly since the arc is four episodes long and, really, outside of some introductions and some occasional hazards, a whole lot of nothing happens in these episodes.

Continue reading “Power Rangers Reflections #24 – Ninja Quest (MMPR Season 3 – Four Parter)”

Yes, I’m going to talk about that episode of Beast Morphers that features a crossover between the Dino Charge, Dino Thunder, and original Mighty Morphin brand of Power Rangers that hasn’t aired yet.

How is this possible?

Well, someone uploaded the big crossover episode of Beast Morphers onto Facebook and I was able to watch it because it aired in the UK while we have to wait until Nick feels like airing them and I’d have to wait another year before they show up on Netflix. By the way, because this hasn’t aired around these parts as of yet, there’s a good chance people haven’t seen the episode and it goes without saying that there be some spoilers, even if I’m not really going to touch on the plot of the episode all that much for reasons that will evident after the break.

SPOILERS AFTER THE BREAK…

Continue reading “Power Rangers Reflections #23 – Grid Connection (Bite-Sized Edition)”

Wasn’t planning on this… but figured it’d be both a worthy tribute of sorts and a way to kick off the series.

So this past weekend, voice actor Robert Axelrod passed away. And in a tribute of sorts, I want to muse on the three-part episode that introduced his most famous portrayal: Lord Zedd.

Axelrod wasn’t a stranger to Power Rangers: he had voiced the character of Finster during the show’s first season. But most people know him best as the voice of Zedd, the villain introduced in the second season premiere as a replacement for Rita Repulsa in order to change things up.

Even though this is a three-parter, we’ll be blowing through these episodes pretty quickly with some bullet points and other bits of observation. This aired in prime time, you know. And it was a pretty big deal at the time to have Prime Time Power Rangers… I have no idea what that meant, but it was indeed a big deal and you knew shit was going down.

Continue reading “Power Rangers Reflections #22 – The Mutiny (3-Part Episode)”

It’s A Friend In Need… indeed! It’s the Season 3 premiere of Mighty Morphin! It’s a 3-parter! It’s the first time we’re introduced to The Masked Rider before his eventual short-lived television show! It’s the first crossover between Power Rangers and Masked Rider, long before Super Sentai and Kamen Rider would do such a thing decades later! It’s… not worthy of a full write-up.

So we’re doing the points system here… but a bit differently, because this multi-part episode has three different plotlines going on and the points system is the way to go since we can focus on each of these plotpoints separately.

Continue reading “Power Rangers Reflections #21 – A Friend In Need”

And so here we are; a new set of Power Rangers Reflections and with it, a new approach.

So this is the new format; a basic plot summary and a couple points of observation. I’m fairly sure that somewhere down the line, we’ll do the old-school format for certain episodes, but for the moment, this is what we’re doing going forward. That way, I’ll be able to manage entries more quickly and perhaps even more frequently.

So today’s subject matter is the Power Rangers Zeo episode known as “A Mystery To Me,” where everyone participates in a “Who Done It” costume party. This also happens to be the two-hundredth overall episode of Power Rangers ever… and this is how they’re celebrating that monumental occasion… with a costume party.

Continue reading “Power Rangers Reflections #20 – A Mystery To Me”

The annual tradition of the current season’s Ranger team teaming up with the previous season’s Ranger team was something of a regular staple in Super Sentai shows starring with xxx/xxx. Once Power Rangers opted for an approach more akin to Super Sentai – individual seasons would breed new teams and powers based on an appropriate Sentai – it was only a matter of time

Time For Lightspeed, the Time Force/Lightspeed Rescue crossover, isn’t quite the memorable episode as what came before, nor is it as good as it could’ve been. The big issue with this crossover is that it only lasts a single episode, which already cripples whatever storytelling you have and forces you to cram in as much as possible. Even the tenth anniversary episode Forever Red, as good and gratifying as it was, was hampered by a single episode run.

But let’s not dwaddle…

Continue reading “Power Rangers Reflections Redux #19 – Time For Lightspeed”