Power Rangers Reflections Redux #10 – The Ninja Encounter

So we’re dipping back into reposts for the next couple entries before the eventual new entry comes along. This is being done to not only keep up with entries, but also I want to get all the “old stuff” out of the day before we eventually start going into new material. We’ve got a couple big episodes down the pipe line to touch on and I rather have the wiggle room to get those looking nice before posting.

In any event, here’s a repost on the 3-part Ninja Encounter episode that introduced the world to the first set of replacement Power Rangers. It’s a rather long ramble that will cover all three parts, but don’t expect it to dig into great detail, as I’ll be passing over certain bits in the episode, including a sizable chunk in the middle for reasons I shall explain.

The second season of MMPR was notable because it had a ton of multi-parters. The season premiere episode was a 3-parter, the Green Ranger’s last hurrah was a 2-parter, the Wedding was a 3-parter. Even episodes that were irrelevant and pointless in the grand scheme of things were 2-parters… like Storybook Rangers or the one where the Rangers were turned into kids.

Today’s multipart extravaganza is not an insignificant storyline, but rather a pretty heavy storyline. It’s the one that introduced the world to three would-be nobodies who were brought in because half the Ranger cast held up for more money and were unceremoniously released, not even getting the benefit of best wishes on their future endeavors… wait, was I saying a whole lot?

A bit of backstory here; at some point during production of the second season, the Ranger trio of Austin St. John, Thuy Trang, and Walter Jones had left MMPR due to monetary conflicts… or some kind of conflict. In any case, half the Power Rangers had gone AWOL and the result was a series of episodes that would place more focus on the other half of the cast who stuck around, while the other half would be portrayed as either recycled footage, body doubles, bad ADR dubbers, or just ignored altogether. I think it was around the time the Green Ranger left that we started getting bad dub jobs for the guys who left and by the time we got to the obligatory Halloween episode (Zedd’s Monster Mash or something), the other three was getting less focus and more focus was placed on Tommy, Kimberly, and Billy… because they were still around.

Which brings us to the Ninja Encounter, a three-parter that really should have been less than that.

Continue reading “Power Rangers Reflections Redux #10 – The Ninja Encounter”

And Then They Wonder Why Everyone Treats Wrestling Like A Joke…

You know, I was browsing through the WWE Youtube channel and I just saw a clip of Kevin Owens trapping himself in a portapotty that Brown Strawman eventually tipped over. And then KO came out and was covered in blue paint. The only thing I’m thinking watching this is that whoever is in charge of Wellness Policy is doing a piss poor job because it’s not normal for a human being to being taking blue liquidous dumplings.

Also…

 

WWF King Of The Ring 2000

You know… I never got around to doing write-ups for the last few King Of The Ring PPVs, so we may as well get those out of the way. And what better way to celebrate the Fourth of July than give people a King Of The Ring 2000 musings… and then the next couple weeks will see the last two KOTR PPVs finally checked off the list. Who knows where we’ll go from there?

While 1999 might have been successful, 2000 was when the WWF product started to get really good as the stories told began to make more sense and you had more guys who were capable of wrestling more compelling matches that were longer yet enthralling.

Unfortunately, none of those positives can be found in this show, which probably explains why I held off watching these even when I had access to the VOD part of the WWE Network. Nonetheless, we move forwards onto the breach… and instantly regret it.

Continue reading “WWF King Of The Ring 2000”

The Future Of Physical Media is Bold… Minimalist… WTF…

From this Reddit thread comes this picture of the interior of the recently-released Crash Bandicoot N-Sane Trilogy release for Nintendo Switch. If this is the future of physical media going forward, then that all-digital future can’t come soon enough.

Go ahead, collectors. Defend this shit. I dare you.

Ataribox Nearing $3 Million… For The Realz, Yo.

So despite the fact that the Indiegogo campaign has since terminated, funds are still being counted and raised over at the IndieGoGo page itself. And from the looks of things, Ataribox may very well break the three million dollar mark before the end of this week… so it took them FIVE WEEKS to get to THREE MILLION…

Goodness gracious, I need a stiff drink or twenty… but then again, I’ll settle for really strong coffee so that I can stay up late tonight and whip up a couple audio tracks and eventually, I’ll put together a quick script to read off of regarding Ataribox that will assemble my thoughts on this thing in a more concise manner… allegedly.
In any event, this was a thing that took place. Now whether it becomes a thing that happens is another story, but like a bad sportz-entertainment angle, we may have to just let it play out and see where it goes.

Boom Studios Has Fucked Up The MMPR Archives

Longtime fans of Power Rangers will recall a series of comics produced by Marvel in the series heyday that focused on the Ninja Ranger portion of MMPR Season 3. One issue in particular features a story called Dark Thunder, where Lord Zedd seemingly creates Dark Rangers from old powers and had them pilot old Thunderzords to confront the Ninjazords, only for said Rangers to go away and never to be seen again. It is a popular story among the fandom, despite being the usual poorly-crafted drivel that comprised the majority of that Marvel run.

As of late, there have been reports that MMPR Archive is missing a page from this story, specifically the concluding page of this Dark Thunder storyline that ultimately went nowhere, but its omission is noticeable. At first, I thought this was just an issue with the printed versions, but turns out even the digital version on Comixology is missing this vital page that concludes the story.
Yeah, so this is a pretty major fuck-up. And I am quite frankly amazed that Boom hasn’t taken the time to address or even fix the issue. Too bad, because aside from that one major omission (for the sake of completion more than anything,) this is a nice comprehensive collection of the early comics from Hamilton and Marvel. But I would be extremely weary of purchasing a physical book until this particular snafu has been fixed.