DVD Review – Power Rangers Fox Double Feature Set (2001)

One of my first DVD purchases was this Power Rangers Fox Double Feature, which collects the two movies; Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie from 1995 and Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie from 1997. Released as a double-sided DVD, both films include subtitles, a theatrical trailer, and a short behind the scenes video originally seen on older Fox VHS tapes. This DVD was released in 2001 and was the only semblance of Power Rangers on DVD until that Best Of compilation that was released a couple years after.

THE GOOD: You’re getting the two Power Rangers movies for the price of one, which is a pretty sweet deal from the get-go. And depending on your point of view, the films either held up extremely well or they were never good to begin with. The picture quality, for the most part, is pretty good and are presented in widescreen, which may or may not be a good thing depending on your point of view.

THE BAD: It’s a single, double-sided disc, which means you need to flip the disc in order to watch the desired film. I’ve always hated this idea because while it is cheap, it just means both sides are susceptible to scratching and easy damage. Not surprisingly, both movies skimp on extras, with only one theatrical trailer and a short making of vignette for each film. Quite disappointing since both had longer BTS specials that would’ve been a cool bonus. There’s also some weird cropping issues where there’s significantly less picture than the VHS releases, which seems odd. Oh, and the first movie is missing “Mighty Morphin” from its title, implying a UK cut or something to that extent.

OVERALL: It doesn’t take much to see that this is a pretty lazy package that’s assembled here with little care put to the final product. Still, both movies on DVD is still a pretty sweet deal, but here’s hoping that somewhere down the line, these films will either get individual releases or possibly released as a two-disc set, which would be preferable.

REVISITING… The Super Mario Bros. Super Show

Contrary to what many claim, Mario’s first initial cartoon appearance was NOT the Super Mario Bros. Super Show. Rather, it was in an obscure Donkey Kong cartoon that aired as part of Saturday Supercade during the early-1980s, before Nintendo rose into prominence. You wouldn’t have noticed, because in that cartoon, Mario was a generic guy who pursued the big dumb ape. But that’s irrelevant, because before 85, Mario wasn’t a big deal. After ’85, he practically salvaged the video gaming industry and got a cartoon out of it.

Every Mario cartoon had the same basic plot; evil King Koopa (Bowser, although he never goes by that name in the cartoon) wrecks havoc in various worlds of the Mushroom Kingdom and it’s up to Mario, faithful brother Luigi, loyal Mushroom Retainer Toad, and the Princess (when she isn’t kidnapped) to spoil his nefarious plans. Rinse, lather, and repeat.

Odd thing was that this had more in common with Super Mario Bros. 2 (Mario USA to Japanese folk – the less said, the better) than it did the original game, but I’m not complaining.

The way I see it, the cartoon (and even the Captain Lou Albano live skits) was what truly defined Mario as an Italian plumber from Brooklyn who enjoyed eating pasta rather than this fat plumber who ate mushrooms, something that the games depicted. The cartoon stayed true to the original games, as opposed to the later movie which was a bastardization of what was good and wholesome. The stories are rather cheesy, crude, and cheap parodies of certain series and movies, but who cares? They were fun and back then, that’s all you really needed.

The animation was decent for its time. You have some minor technical errors here and there (sometimes Mario would be speaking with Luigi’s voice, or his hat would be the wrong color), but these things happens in all the old cartoons (see the old Ninja Turtles as a good example – yes, you know who you are!) The voices were pretty good; nothing great, but alright nonetheless. Characterizations were pretty good (even though it’s based off a video game and you actually had no frame of reference as far as characterization goes).

Of course, the cartoon is only part of the show. Bookending the cartoon are live-action skits featuring Captain Lou as Mario and this other guy as Luigi, in their Brooklyn basement, where they have to deal with these guest stars’ problems. I’m not just talking nameless hacks looking for a quick buck, but actual stars whom were popular at the time. Like the cartoons, the skits were cheesy but fun. And it’s always a welcome sight to see Captain Lou make an idiot out of himself by doing the Mario. (Now, if the REAL Mario were to have done that in any of the modern Mario games, it would have actually prompted me to buy a modern Nintendo system.)

Every Friday, they’d throw in a little Zelda cartoon. Back then, when I first saw them, I never touched the original game, but still enjoyed them nonetheless… although these days, hearing Link whine “Excuse Me, Princess” every fifth minute irritates me to no end.

After some time, the Super Mario Bros. Super Show changed its format and became Club Mario. While you had the same IL’ good cartoons, instead of live Mario and Luigi, you had two ‘hip’ guys in a messed-up apartment with lots of stuff that boggles the mind. Every once in a while, they have actual ‘storylines’ such as one guy’s evil twin trying to take over the show. Sometimes, I wish good IL’ Koopa showed up during the Mario Bros’ off-day and took over the show so he could cancel it, because even back then, it was bad.

Even today, it’s still a good wholesome cartoon that’s good for a few laughs and maybe can be genuinely enjoyed. I think you can find them on Yahoo somewhere, who airs the shows online. Check ’em out if you have the chance.

Is Dino Thunder An Apology For Ninja Storm?

I woke up one morning and waited in anticipation of Ninja Storm, the newest incarnation of Power Rangers and the first one under the belt of Village Roadshow productions. The usual questions comes up, the usual spoiler info is leaked, but all in all, that wouldn’t stop me from having high hopes for this thing.

At eleven thirty, the show begins and I watch with an interested eye.

An hour later, I’m asking myself what the fuck that was.

After about ten episodes of Ninja Storm, I completely shut out on the show. I’ve glanced on a couple of eps late in the series and the quality seemed to have improved somewhat, but not enough for me to stick with it.

For the first time since following the Power Rangers franchise in the very beginning, I’ve turned away from the show, not watching a majority of the episodes and quite frankly not caring. Didn’t even stick around for the finale. That had the makings of being a shitty product in comparison to those before and after. Yes, this show sucked more than Turbo and I’ve seen enough Turbo to know it.

I don’t blame the actors; they played their roles well considering what they had to work with.

I don’t blame the Jap footage; it’s blends nicely with the U.S. footage, even moreso than Wild Force.

I blame it on crappy writing.

It’s a kid show; I know that. On the other hand, you watch some other kids shows and realize that there’s more sophistication than what Ninja Storm had to offer. When an episode of a cheap-ass cartoon such as Superfriends is more sophisticated and provides more entertainment than Ninja Storm, you know something is wrong.

Apparently, Doug saw something wrong and decided to fix it.

DinoThunder seems to be Doug Sloan’s way of apologizing for the crapfest that is Ninja Storm. From the initial episodes, the show looks very promising. The addition of Jason Frank (who reprises his role as Doctor Tommy… how did that happen?) is an interesting move and the current cast of Rangers seem watchable and bearable.

Apology accepted, Doug. Don’t fuck THIS show up.

Classic Bite Commentary #46 – January 13th, 2004

Another year, another Bite commentary, more headaches for all those involve; me and my two middle fingers that do all the typing in order to resume my projects after a 2-week hiatus that involved playing my new Final Fantasy Origins game and keeping my new Klingon action figure company. Brace yourselves; this will be a long pisser tonight. (2013 Dave Says: No, it won’t.)

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Classic Bite Commentary #45 – December 23th, 2003

First off, a Happy Holidays to all. Enjoy your two-weeks of days offs, losers. I know I will. heh heh heh. The actual commentary today will be short; instead what’s beefing this thing up are all the extra stuff that precede it.

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Classic Bite Commentary #44 – November 23rd, 2003

Sorry for not writing soon, folks, but I’ve been a little worn out the past couple of weeks. It happens and I’m not making any excuses. As a result, I hadn’t had time to do most of the stuff I was hoping to get up by now. This seemed to be a recurring trend during this time in my life. As you may have noticed, the majority part of the site is down. Only the fanfiction and this commentary is up. This, of course, usually indicates that the site is undergoing a refit (that or a shutdown, but in this case, it’s a minor refit). This shouldn’t take me long, as I have been working on the majority part of my time.

(2014 Dave Says: Unfortunately, the DTM Webstation website was more often than not in a state of shutdown as I tinkered around with Frontpage and Photoshop, fiddling around with web designs that seemed cool at the time, but would look rather ghastly today.)

So all the announced projects have been sidetracked, due to the dedication of renovating this site (that and my creative juices hasn’t flowed much these days). However, any and all updates planned will be up (slowly) by the end of the year (2003 or 2004? Who knows?).

(Who knows indeed? I had lots of planned projects and only a few of them came to fruition… doesn’t that sound familiar?)

By the way, do you like the Sailor Moon gif at the opening page? It’s a quick fix that took me five minutes to put together… and I mean that quite literally.

(I assume I was talking about a two-frame Laughing Minako GIF that would see the rest of its days on the Webstation update page… don’t remember if I still have THAT laying around somewhere, but it’s due for a comeback of sorts.)

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EGOTISM – The Old Credo

2020 Update: The Old Credo was posted a couple years on the DTM Webstation as an “unknown” page. To this day, nobody knows what the point of the Credo was… in fact, nobody even knew it was a credo. It was originally titled “DTM666 Wisdom” despite the fact that no wisdom was found therein. In any case, here’s the Old Credo as it was originally written in 2003. If your head isn’t spinning by the end, be sure to check out the New Credo.

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Classic Bite Commentary #43 – October 31st, 2003

Did you really believe that the Ultimate Warrior (real name: Warrior) was really returning to “actual” wrestling? HA! From the words of Mr. Warrior himself:

Hello Warriors. Those of you who have continued to follow my career going-ons know Ultimate Warrior has long been waiting for the perfect (and principled) time to unleash a ring return. Amidst the never-ending rumors and mistruths spread by others, the time to return has come and is now and it is with Acclaim! An entertainment promotion with class, pride and integrity. After many years of absence, I am thrilled to be working again with Acclaim’s talented, creative and professional staff on the new, next-level of their Legends of Wrestling: SHOWDOWN video game! Acclaim has assured me that Ultimate Warrior rises and soars and rules, shakes ropes, shatters hopes and awakens the Gods of Parts Unknown in this incredible opportunity to settle ALL SCORES, unfinished business and even new beefs!, in the ULTIMATE place to do battle — THE SHOWDOWN RING! The intensity of Ultimate Warrior lives on.

Fine, so Warrior (aka Ultimate Warrior) is a playable character in the latest Acclaim wrestling offering. Whoopee. What does this have to do with a wrestling return? And why would anyone demand a return of Ultimate Warrior (real name: Warrior)? Always Believe… My Ass.

Other than that, things have been pretty smooth these days. Nothing of note has happened that isn’t commonplace in my wacky world. It’s Halloween, but you knew that already.

(2013 Dave Says: Oh, 2003 Dave. So much of a missed opportunity.)

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Classic Bite Commentary #42 – October 27th, 2003

Good morning, citizens. How are we today? Man, I never thought printing classes would be so exhausting, even when learning something as complex as tracing on Adobe Illustrator. But I digress. This is one of the best things that could ever happen to me. Just several months ago, I was under a cloud of depression I thought would never be lifted and while I’m still a depressed bastard, the oppurtunity to learn printing preses is a thrilling experience, one that I hope to make the most of. Then again, I could always be a film director. Kevin Smith said it best: when in Hollywood, you only fail upwards… ugh, never again will I seek out Silent Bob for quotes.

This could be an alibi for not updating the site or even posting a good commentary in past weeks, but then I’d be fooling myself. I’ve written bits and pieces of this thing many times, but never got the chance to post it, so rather than make it up to date, I figure just post it as is, since nothing is time specific anyway. So here you go. Maybe some time down the road, I’ll sit down and write out a decent commentary that is smooth… the best smoothness I could muster anyway.

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MOVIE REVIEW – From Justin To Kelly (2003)

Alert the medical profession – the cure for insomnia has been found!

Everyone knows Kelly Clarkson, right? That chick who won that American Idol ages ago and made a career for herself with a couple decent-selling albums? She seemed to do fine as far as I know. Don’t really follow her all that much (not my kind of music), but she’s making a career out of it, at least.

Lucky for her too, because Justin has been off the radar somewhat as of late.

In 2003, Kelly (the first Idol winner) and Justin (the first Idol runnerup) were shoehorned into a movie called From Justin to Kelly, without a doubt the best movie that ever put me to sleep… I’m not joking. I have rarely seen a movie which bored me to tears, but this takes the cake.

Maybe it’s because I’m not a big fan of the movie type where every one breaks into song for no apparent reason, but I’ve seen Grease and that didn’t put me to sleep. It probably wouldn’t help the movie’s cause any way, as it has a cliché plot, uninteresting characters, and acting that makes pre-school make-believe sessions seem like Shakespeare in comparison.

The only thing that could have saved this movie is Simon Cowell showing up after every song and berating the cast and crew for such a dreadful number. Oh well.

Moral of the story: when starring in rubbish like this, having a rack helps. Someone should have clued that Justin fellow in on that trade secret.

Please don’t watch this movie. It’s not worth your time.