Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Tokusatsu in review Short: Power Rangers Dino Charge "Powers From The Past"

Power rangers has a new season...and it doesn't SUCK?!? Rejoice, as Shinta gives his thoughts on this astounding turn of events revealed from the sneak peak of the show's premiere episode made available by Nickelodeon.



Tokusatsu in review Short: Power Ranger Dino... by ShintaReviews


Two corrections/clarifications I should address as I did not have the time to put them in the video.
1: Yes, Asteroids can get into smaller ranges of size, closer to that depicted. However, more people who see this are likely to look at them and think 'meteor/meteoroid', as for a long time, Meteoroids were considered to be counted as space rocks whose higher range was around 10-30 meters in size. That's what I was taught Through Grade School and College. But apparently that range has been reclassified and shrunk in recent years--Not unlike Pluto no longer being considered a planet. So while many could now technically be considered Asteroids, their sheer number is still a problem due to what has been discovered about that age, and inconsistencies in scaling through their showcasing IN the episode.
Plus, Y'know, it's been proven to have been a Single asteroid by archeological survey. Possibly some fragments of the main mass scattering to hit elsewhere, but still a primary impact.
2: Scientific inaccuracies are more significant in fictional/fantastical settings when there is no critical reason for diverging from what is known. Being accurate or synergistic to History--or Even the show's prior mythos--and our understanding of the universe Helps add grounding and realism that makes the content more accessible and interesting to re-watch again and again.
Sledge caused the event that would then kill the dinosaurs? We have no significant problem with that, adding a new context to the cause. But how it was showcased and framed is the more annoying and critique-causing part of the narrative, as there's too much of a divergence without justification for it to be taken seriously.
Kyoryuger actually sidesteps this, as Deboth's war with the Dinosaurs left no major evidence; and the actions of their legion, in specific the Zetsumates (Nagareboshi, Viruson and Hyogakki) actually DO sync up with historical accuracy, just with a new Factor behind the central cause in a similar vein to what was being done with Sledge. Nagareboshi brought the asteroid Down that did the most significant damage, the impact allowing toxins into the Atmopshere and blotted out the sun, which made all the easier for Viruson spreading disease and Hyogakki creating an Ice-age. It works there, because it plays into History, it doesn't straight-up rewrite what we know for something that in the long run, will likely not matter to the show. And such was being done by The visuals of the episode.

9 comments:

  1. Yeah, this episode showed massive improvement over Samurai and Megaforce. Now if they can just change the music I could honestly give this a thumbs up, hell I'll do it regardless. To me, as long as the story and writing is good, I don't mind a lame score as long as it isn't too intrusive. And regarding the scientific inaccuracies. Even in a universe that has a breathable atmosphere on the moon, people can travel through worm holes with little to no problems and someone can change an entire beings physiology and size just by someone throwing a stick at the earth or firing Torpedoes at them, even taking all of that into account you should still try to be more accurate then Marville! At least when Keeper was talking to the Dinos one of them didn't reply; Mishbuka. As for Sledge and his faction, yeah I will admit that Sledge does look weak design wise but then again this isn't the first time Power Rangers cut some corners in costumes. Astronima and the Solders of Terra Venture anyone? As for the whole bounty Hunter thing, I think it's just a means to an end. He does want to conquer but the bounty hunting does two things for him, one, giving him a source of capital to fund his operations and two, exercise. He doesn't seem to know allot about magic so getting exercise from the bounty hunting is the next best bet. I mean; a conquer should at least be able to kick someones ass right? As for his prisoners/ monsters, the catch is simple, he'll set them free in exchange for helping him get the Energems and destroy the rangers. I mean he captured them before so we know that he's already beaten everyone of them before and he could do it again or just kill them if he's desperate enough, and stranded on a back water planet for so long and out of fuel to get back to his home galaxy? Yeah he might just do it, lost bounty be damned. And the minions thing, he has a big ass ship that needs constant maintenance, he's going to need someone who has an actual brain between their ears to maintain the ship, and I doubt these foot-solders have two to rub together, much less fix a leak in the fuel cell. I mean why does Spike have Jet or Jean have Jim? I'm just more concerned how the show is going to adapt Luckyrou, Chaos, Endolf and Deboss. if they decide to do so at all. I think the reason why Nick is doing the two year thing is just to give more breathing room for the current Sentai to finish. Because if they are going to skip Toquger (which I pray to Zordon they do) they'll need some time for Ninninger to breathe. Here's hoping for the best.

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    1. No, see; The one-season-over-two-years thing is CONTRACTUAL. This is not so Saban can see how the next sentai in succession pans out; because Toei will mandate they use the next one in the order anyways. The only reason there isn't an adaptation of Gobusters, was because Bandai intervened on that and declared that show financially unviable. It's part of why Goseiger had to be adapted as part of Megaforce, instead of going straight to Gokaiger, and then WHY that season didn't do more with the related stock footage. This is part of their deal with nickelodeon: Nickelodeon only WANTS around 20 episodes a year, so Saban will only PRODUCE 20 episodes a year. And it is caustic and strangling to a reasonable rate of production and release, as there's less that actually gets done, which makes all of these screwups even less justifyiable, as they had MORE time to fix them.
      Both Astronema and the Terra venture soldier costumes are excusable, in that both outfits had been purchased from another company and were not made themselves. Nor did either actually look cheap. And they were done so as cost-saving, when the show was on a bare-bones budget in In Space's case--because Turbo's failings had ridiculously slashed in space's budget--and lost galaxy had reserved a lot for original footage shots. But their villains actually looked appropriate. My point there was...This is your main villain. You main villain looks less like a monster, but more like a costume, when he is surrounded by monsters and minions that are less obviously costumes than he is. He is out of place, and one of if not the worst appearing original villains in the series.
      Also: both of your cited 'why does he need minions' defenses are examples of partnerships, not actually being subservient to a master as it is in Dino charge so far.
      Your point of them working for him also doesn't quite work for me and why I brought it up; as if one gets an energem...why would it give it to Sledge, when it could use the power in it alongside it's own to beat sledge down, and TAKE the ship and the other prisoners away. Or hell, stage a prison break. I doubt sledge and his minions are that much stronger than all of them, that they would all fail against him en mass.
      If they clarify this in the coming episodes, I will be happy; as I said, this was just predicated from what was given in the first episode.

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    2. Fair enough, that was just what I got out of it. Also I didn't say the costumes I sited were cheep I was just using them as examples of saving money on costumes, probably should have clarified that better, but yes Sledge does look cheep and stick out like a sore thumb, no denying that. Couldn't they have just gone with a humanoid main bad guy? It's not like Power Rangers hasn't done so before.

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    3. Also, about the monster subservience thing, maybe the show will explain that Sledge has some sort of bomb or something attached to their bodies (maybe an explanation for the masks?) to keep them from rebelling like in Battle Royal or something.

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    4. And as for why Fury and Wrench are working for Sledge, maybe they're old comrades, or he saved their lives, or they're in his debt or something. As for the "why does he need minions" examples I was just using them as examples of large ships that require more then one person to maintain. I really need to phrase my train of thought more clearly, otherwise I could be coming up with Superbowl commercials.

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  2. I loved this episode but Yeah I dont have the issue with the soundtrack or the opening theme(Better than reversions on original theme). Effects were issue and yeah did you notice Monkivi in poster Sledge was holding. And Keeper was annoying but the opening scene was really stupid like you said Kyoryuger had done this correctly. Also I asked a few guys about how Dinosaurs are shown here...When Jurassic World gave their first look it got negative reception from all paleontologists due to the major inconsistency is had with modern theories I find the same thing here....Why are Dinosaur not covered with feathers? I hope ToQger is not adapted at all because its really not worth it But I am getting a uneasy thought on ninninger since one their posts regarding the show's concept and all.

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  3. My first thought upon seeing Sledge:

    Why does this guy look like a fully-armored Predator?

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  4. Underneath his armour, it looks like Sledge is a scaley dragon so if the green around his stomach and legs had scales then it would have been better. I heard he won Fury in a card game and I hope thats true. Also, maybe they should have made Keeper telepathic to make up for the poor mouth movements.
    Now that 8 episodes have aired, how does it compare to Kyoruger. Any further thoughts?

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  5. Well, I'm currently watching Dino Charge/Dino "Supercharge"...yeah, I know. I hate those stupid-ass "Super" titles, as well. But, I will say that although it is vastly an improvement over Samurai and Megaforce, it's still kind of a bit lacklustering over the character dynamics and story-telling elements. I mean, don't get me wrong! I love Judd Lynn, and yeah, he is doing a lot better at giving this series its' own identity and has succeeded Jonathan Tzachor as a show runner. But, it's just that the way he handles this series doesn't seem to have that right spark when he was working past shows like In Space, RPM, and Time Force. But, despite of all that, it's quite watchable. But, not as good as Dino Thunder or SPD, in my opinion.

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