Power Rangers Ninja Storm

[Devidramon]

So, what did you think of it?

I like the characters, and having only three lets you develop them better. They?re not your usual Ranger team, either. Past Rangers were A-students and humanitarians, or the best Time Force officers, or something like that. The best of the best, handpicked by the mentor-person (except for the Galaxy Rangers, but if the Quasar Sabers selected them, then they must?ve been pretty durn good before becoming Rangers.) Meanwhile, the Wind Rangers are slackers, and only became Rangers because they were late to the Ninja Academy [i]yet again[/i], thus not being around when Lothor and company trashed it. They didn't even get their attacks right that time (Dustin winding up half-buried, Tory falling in the water.) They're also more easygoing than most past Rangers. They're fun people (with actual personalities and enough acting ability to be believable, unlike the Wild Farce... uh, I mean Force.) They make monster-fighting look like fun.

Most of the old production company is gone, except for Koichi Sakamoto, Ann Austen, and Douglas Sloan. We haven't seen Sloan or Austen in ages. As I've said before, I'll miss the MMPR Productions folks, but the show's in the best of hands with Village Roadshow behind the wheel. ([i]The Matrix[/i], anyone?) I just wish they'd kept Worth Keeter and Amit Bhaumik, too.

Though it is a new team, new situation, etc, there's some tie to the past for once: Shane or Dustin compared their group to "the Power Rangers." (No mention of which ones.) Tori said the Rangers were just comic books. And Lothor, upon seeing the new Rangers, said "No one told me there'd be Power Rangers." So, there are other Rangers out there. It'll be interesting to see how the universe expands.

There's also a few parallels with the series of the original universe, in that Sensei is a bit Zordon-ish. His assigning of the powers is a lot like Zordon's way back in Day of the Dumpster. Also, the Sensei's being turned into a guinea pig by Lothor is like Zordon's being trapped in a time warp by Rita: After battling the main villain, the mentor is trapped in a much-less-potent form, able to use his knowledge to help the Rangers but has no power to directly interact. Also, Grant McFarland is both Lothor and the voice of the Sensei, just as Carol Hoyt was both Divatox and the voice of Dimitria. (For the first half of Turbo, and then Hillary Shepard Turner, the original Divatox from the movie, took back over.)

One problem: we rarely ever see punches or kicks connect in the ninja battles. When the other ninja students face the three Rangers-to-be, they show a lot of [i]Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon[/i]-esque effects, but how many actual blows do we see? Not a lot. Ditto with the Calzak fights. Now that it's being produced in New Zealand, it walks a narrower path: PR was banned in New Zealand from the beginning. Ninja Storm is the first PR season they've seen. So the Rangers in human form battling it out with sword-wielding evil ninjas won't fly, they use various tricks to show that a fight's going on without showing actual "violence." Until New Zealand wakes up one day and realizes "Hey, we've had PR for a while now and all the kids in the country didn't turn into raging, murderous savages after all!" don't expect any slugfests on the level of PRZ or PRTF, or dark stuff like death or spirits or Trakeena's descent into madness.

We still get death cover-ups. Kapri or Marah says "Trash them all!" Different production company in a different country and they still refuse to use the word 'die.' It's not that big a deal, but it's not like kids don't know what death is, and saying 'destroy' all the time gets hokey reeeal quickly. I figured Village Roadshow might do it differently, because Digimon, also from TOEI and adapted for the US by Saban, always said "Destroy" too, but when Disney took over in late season three, die-related words stopped being treated like curse words. I figured the same would happen to PR, but apparently it's not to be. Oh, well.

Lothor's reminiscent of Lord Zedd. He might turn out to be a pretty good villain. Marah and Kapri are funny (though I can never remember which is which.) and we don't find out much about Zurgane from the first ep. He's the only one with a title (General Zurgane) so he's probably the second in command.

The bad guy designs are similar to PRLG's feudal Japan monsters (Most of the ones used during Treacheron's era. And Deviot's two goons Teksa and Kubak from the ep they showed Sunday. They'd fit right in in Lothor's army.)

And we get better music. No songs with words like the early series had, but still a huge improvement over the cheesy 50s B-Movie wannabe-heroic-sounding music from PRTF and PRWF. It's great to hear those guitars again.

I can't wait to meet the Thunder Rangers.

[MarkM]

Power Rangers are still on TV, geeezzz i havent watched that show since i was four. How many seires are there. Huh what a surprize

[Nerdsy]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by hot head [/i]
[B]Power Rangers are still on TV, geeezzz i havent watched that show since i was four. How many seires are there. Huh what a surprize [/B][/QUOTE]


[COLOR=deeppink]11 in America, 25 or 26 in Japan.



I really liked the first few episodes. I think the the new characters are a lot better then I expected. When I first saw Shane, I thought he was going to be an excrutiatingly bad actor. But I was wrong, and I'm glad for it. Tori seems to be different from the original sound bytes of hers I had heard, which gives me some relief. Dustin... well, he has good facial expressions, but I don't think his acting is great.

Well, at least all of their acting is better then Ann Marie Crouch.


What I don't like about the show is the overuse of slang. And it's not very good slang either, it is very awkward. And some of those words sound like they were thought up by a 65-year old hermit who said the word when he stubbed his toe.

I like most of the villains at this point except Lothor. He's a bit to comedic for me, but that might change. All though he did kind of remind me of Rita. "And they wonder why I have acid reflux."

Some of the one-liners are great, some are okay, and some I can live without. My favorite by far is "What's wrong? Never seen a girl wearing spandex walk acroos water?"

The Zords are awesome. ^_^


(Dang it, I was going to post this! *kicks Devidramon*[/COLOR]

[DuoMax]

Weren't they already ninjas way back in the day?

[Manic Webb]

Strange. I only count 10.
Might Morphin, Alien, Zeo, Turbo, Space, Lost Galaxy, Lightspeed Rescue, Time Force, Wild Force, Ninja Storm.

Of course, I stopped watching Power Rangers sometime after Space and didn't start watching again until Time Force. I could've forgotten or missed a series.

I had to stop watching Power Rangers after "Space" because of the whole "they killed Zordon, all evil in the galaxy is now good" ending. With Zordon dead and all of the evil in the galaxy erased, I didn't see the point in watching a Power Rangers series that ruined all of that continuity. That is, until I saw Time Force. I used to watch Time Force every morning on ABC Family before school. I didn't like Wild Force, though. But I did like the all-Red Ranger episode (how Jason suddenly got his morpher back and his power coin is no longer destroy is beyond me).

While there's something about the Wind Rangers' personalities I don't like (especially the yellow ranger's acting), I like their powers a lot more than some of the past Power Rangers series. It was interesting that each ranger has their own unique ability (one can use wire-fu, one can wire-fu over water, and the other can burrow underground). Nice.

[Devidramon]

Endymion: In some places a season is called a series. There have only been 10 titles, but this marks the beginning of year 11.

As for the death of Zordon wiping out all evil in the galaxy, I think it was just the invading force. There were Piranhatrons in Lost Galaxy, remember? And Lost Galaxy is the best PR series ever. Even if it messes up continuity (which Space does as well, I might add. In Morphin, it was explained that Zordon was trapped in a time warp and the tube was how he communicated with Earth. So breaking it shouldn't have done anything to Zordon himself. Notice the complete absence of any purifying light when the Command Center was wrecked in the Alien finale?) it's worth a watch. They show old episodes sometimes on ABC Family, and you can get the Magna Defender arc at any Blockbuster. Watch it, watch it, watch it.

Nerdsy: Who's acting [i]isn't[/i] better than Shayla?

And in Japan, Gaoranger (PRWF) was the 25th, and after that was Hurricanger (PRNS) and what's on now is Abaranger, so they're up to 27.

I loved the zords. (Another hint at knowledge of past Rangers: "All right! A Megazord!") I wonder what you call their Megazord, they just called it "the Megazord." Since "Ninja Megazord" is taken already, they'll probably call it the Wind Megazord, but that makes the Thunder Rangers' zord the Thunder Megazord, which is taken.

The plane was parked, but what happened to the people on the ferris wheel or cruise ship?

And does the city have a name? The opening tells us the Academy is "deep in the mountains," but we don't know where. Where are they? The Rockies, the Appalachians, Mt. Olympus? (The characters, that is. I know where the production company is.)

Though if the Thunder Rangers' Megazord is that big black zord on the opening, then when the Wind Rangers' zord goes up against that big bruiser, I can think of three ninja animals going on the endangered species list.

I hope the monsters each have different tricks, like Mad Magnet did. Too many monsters yell the same ol' bad-guy cliches and swing swords. It'll be great if all PRNS monsters have their own power that the Rangers don't know about until it's coming at them.

[Nerdsy]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Devidramon [/i]
[B]Endymion: In some places a season is called a series. There have only been 10 titles, but this marks the beginning of year 11.



Nerdsy: Who's acting [i]isn't[/i] better than Shayla?

[/B][/QUOTE]

[COLOR=deeppink]I was thinking in terms of seasons. >.<

And thankfully, everyone.



I just have to talk about the Mad Magnet fight... They have so much trouble with this guy, until they finally notice a weakness in the monsters chest. So what do they do? Do they shoot him in the chest? No! They drop a 100 ton weight on him.

o.O[/COLOR]

[Nightwing]

The first MMPR went on for two season. The only one that did. But this ninja storm is pretty cool. There acting is a lot better now. Dustin is one funny dude. He be saying some stupid stuff every one in a while. I think the Thunder Rangers are cool too. I like the idea three bad and two good thing. It's something new.

[Nerdsy]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Nightwing [/i]
[B]The first MMPR went on for two season. [/B][/QUOTE]


[COLOR=deeppink]It was on for three. ;)


EDIT: And by the way, Devidramon, the new Megazord is apparently called the Storm Megazord.[/COLOR]

[Manic Webb]

There's something I just don't get about the first few Power Ranger series' (up 'til Space). Why did they change to Turbo and Space, story-wise? I barely watched those shows, so I don't know why. Help me out, here.

I remember the first real title-change was from "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers" was to "Power Rangers Zeo." I remember that Rita's father used the Zeo Crystal to reverse time, making everyone on Earth maybe 10 years younger. Kid Billy created a machine that would restore the rangers back to their normal ages, using the power coins to energize it. Before anyone but Billy could turn back to normal, Goldar destroyed the machine and all of the power coins, leaving the rangers powerless.
Later, the kid rangers spread out across the Earth to find the 5 pieces of the Zeo Crystal. they restored everyone to their normal ages, and they decided to use the Zeo Crystal pieces to transform into the Zeo Rangers.

That part I get.

Problem is, I never saw the beginning of the "Turbo" movie, so I have absolutely no idea why they switched from the Zeo Crystal (presumably the most powerful jewel around) to some new Turbo power. And then why did they switch to [i]another[/i] Ranger power when they became "Power Rangers in Space"?

[DKsAngel]

sheesh...power rangers is so old, I have a pic of me and my brother and cousin playing with them when I was only 7! ..sheesh >.< i dont really watch it though, usually skip the channel so I wouldnt know much about it >.<

[Nerdsy]

[COLOR=deeppink]They changed to Turbo because "they needed a more powerful source". I guess Maligore was too powerful for normal Zeo powers. That, and to incorporate Carranger footage from Japan.

And they switched to In Space because Divatox and some Piranhatrons stormed and destroyed the command center, and then she fled into space. The Rangers, powerless, had to go to NASADA to find a shuttle to go follow them into Space and save Zordon (because he was captured). They left Justin behind (Woo-hoo!), so they were down one ranger. They ran into the Astro Megaship, and Andross. After a little convincing, Andross gave them new powers, and voila! In Space. And, once again, to incorporatethe Japanese Megaranger footage.[/COLOR]

[Devidramon]

The reason for the change from the Zeo Crystal to the Turbo tech was never explained. As for why they changed, it?s probably because the sentai series changed. The sentai series PR is based on has always done what PR does now, new season=new universe (except for during the teamup.) Zeo was based on Ohranger. So, when Ohranger ends, there?s no more footage to use. They could have done what they did for MMPR S2 and S3, only using sentai footage for Zord battles, but the Carranger monsters weren?t robots. So, new villains had to come in. Enter Divatox.

For the switch to Space, as far as the story?s concerned, the planet Eltar was under attack, and Dimitria and the Blue Centurion went there to back up Zordon. While they were gone, Divatox found the Power Chamber and led an attack on it. Five Rangers versus so many Piranhatrons the whole mountain looks gray is a mismatch, of course. Elgar and Rygog planted some detonators around the command center and made a quick exit. KABLOOEY. No more Power Chamber, no more Turbo technology. Just as Divatox and company are about to finish off the Rangers, a messenger from the Dark Specter (who looks exactly like Maligore but isn?t connected with him. *coughlazyproductioncomapanycough.*) tells Divatox her presence is requested. She tells him where to stuff it (not really, gotta stay under Y7, but you get the idea.) until he tells her he's from Dark Specter. That changes her tune on the spot. She shouts the standard you-haven't-seen-the-last-of-me speech and she and her whole army disappear. Then we find out that just about ever major villian in PR history has been gathered together by the D.S. At the meeting requested by the DS, we find Rita, Zedd, Mondo and Machina, General Havoc, Master Vile, Divatox of course... all the big names in villainry and a few of their favorite minions, as well as a woman with blue hair and a guy in a cloak. Turns out the DS has captured Zordon and is slowly draining his energy. They're planning on combining forces and cementing their hold on the universe. I forgot what made everyone suspect the guy in the cloak, but they do, and he makes a break for it, and Goldar pulls his hood off to reveal... a red Ranger. He gets away, of course. Divatox and Rita battle for who has the rights to go after him in the Dark Fortress, but D.S. sends the blue-haired woman, Astronema, instead.

To make a long story short, the Rangers, sans Justin (his father came back for good and Justin wanted to stay with him) go after Divatox, but instead run into the Red Ranger, Andros,? ship. It takes a little convincing (and they save his butt by getting his engines working again) but Andros takes them on as his crew, and gives them the other four Astro Morphers. They kick Quantron butt, and the rest is history.

Production-wise... probably laziness. They wanted to use sentai footage instead of having to shoot almost all original footage. Quicker, easier, cheaper. I'm glad they did, though. Turbo was the worst series ever (at the time. Wild Force makes Turbo's worst look like sheer brilliance.)

I thought the same thing about the Mad Magnet fight. Especially since it looked like they were about to use the same weapon from the first episode. I guess Ninja Storm?s supposed to be lighter than the other series. (The Rangers already remind me of the Ninja Turtles a bit.)

EDIT: Argh, beaten! But after typing all that, there?s no way I?m deleting it.:p

[Nerdsy]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Devidramon [/i]
[B]

EDIT: Argh, beaten! But after typing all that, there?s no way I?m deleting it.:p [/B][/QUOTE]


[COLOR=deeppink]That's what you get for being long-winded. ^_^

And I agree with you about Turbo being the second worst series, save Wild Force... First, I didn't really like the zords. I like having individual zords battle with the enemy, not just "Let's form the Megazord the second we call them!" I was really glad when the Rescue Megazord came, and changed that, if not for only a little bit.

I don't think the characters really came out very well in Turbo either. The all ready established characters were good, but when they switched to TJ, Carlos, Ashly, and Cassie... ug. They didn't have any sort of worthwhile character development until In Space. And don't get me started on Justin.

And I didn't really like the battle with Goldgoyle either. I don't know why, I just don't.

And I will forever hate Turbo for it being the season that took Tommy off the show. *huggles his Jason David Frank plushie*[/COLOR]

[Manic Webb]

Tommy was always my favorite ranger. He was always given the best Zords (White Tiger was the first zord to have a decent kick) and he was the best fighter on the team (Jason-who?). I hated how turbo just decided to drop every last character we knew for some strangers who were made into rangers for no real reason. "We're all out of high school now. Let's pass our powers on to the next 5 people we meet."

*shudder* Wild Force
Is it me, or did the story behind Wild Force (assuming there was one) go [i]nowhere[/i]? Sure, every season of Power Rangers has a "monster of the day" theme around it that makes most episodes interchangable, but you could show me the first and last episodes of Wild Force and I wouldn't be able to tell which came first. The episodes were poorly written and there were no turning points in the series.

[SapphireKumamon]

I haven't watched Power Rangers in ages. I think I stopped watching since Space or Lost Galaxy, don't remember. I used to his this one friend who was a power Rangers fanatic, but I have friends that say people without a brain watch power rangers.

I did watch the Ninja Storm premiere, and it looks okay. But I may not watch every episode.

[Devidramon]

Tommy ruled. He was a devastating foe in Green With Evil, and the episode where he lost his powers was sad. Up until the end, we were [i]so sure[/i] that they'd stop the monster in time, get back, get the candle, and all returns to normal. My mouth hung open the entire time during that final scene. Then he gets his powers back and there's the whole powers-giving-out arc, which was really tense. Then there's the way virtually every villian had his or her sights set on poor Tommy, and the whole Indian thing and his brother and the arrowhead, and Sam directing him in the Red Battle Zord. Tommy had developed quite a story before it was all over. That's one thing I hate about the changing every year. With only a year in which to develop a character, and with certain things that must happen every [i]season[/i] as well as every episode, there will never again be a character with such a tale.

I can?t make myself watch Passing The Torch, it?s too sad. I think the reason they did it is because Turbo was going downhill and they figured new characters would raise interest. Of course, the real problem was that it was boring: Every episode had the same plot, the detonator of the day. I mean, every episode of every series has certain things that are going to happen. There's going to be a monster, there's going to be a fight with the grunts, there's going to be a Zord battle. But there was always a different purpose. Elephantitan's going to knock the building over, and with a nuclear reactor in the top floor, it's going to cause an explosion like a nuke was dropped. Crocotox (or was it Crocovile? I forget which was which.) is part of Darkonda's plan to overthrow Astronema. In the better series, there was always more to it, always something that was going on, it was always bigger than "Here's another monster." And even if nothing so big was going on, it was like MMPR S1 and S2, in which the monster attack was based on whatever the Rangers were doing, so though there was no huge, complex plot, each episode at least managed to not be exactly like the one before it. Turbo eps didn't. The plot was always "We've got to stop the monster so we can get to the detonator." On top of that, Zord fights were mostly stock footage. I hate the Spinout! On top of the fact that every fight ends the same way. Other series, there's always a bit of strategy, they had to get through the monster's tricks, get him open for that final blow. Turbo? Thirty seconds of fighting and then straight to Spinout. Even the explosion is stock footage of fire erupting behind the Megazord. Unfortunately, they changed the characters at the same time they changed all that, so whoever made the decision to change the characters got to think that changing the characters worked. Which could possibly be why, a season and a half later, they went to the sentai formula of new year, new universe. And even with really good series, there's something about it that just doesn't have the same magic anymore.

But what was so bad about Justin?

Wild Force is like Turbo only worse. While Turbo had the same plot over and over, Wild Force had [i]no[/i] plot over and over. Most villians had plans. The Orgs were more like, "a random Org spirit finds a random object to merge with to become a monster and randomly attack something." Master Org was just there, he didn't do much of anything. And there was no rhyme or reason to any of it. Random Org attacks, Rangers stop it with the help of new zord of the day, the end. There were virtually no supporting characters or other locations, no 'outside world.' There was also no character development. Each character got his or her one episode and it's back to personality-lessness. Master Org finally goes down (going out with a bang, too. The Master's Last Stand was in the top ten eps of all time, IMO.) but they replace him with Mandilok, who cares only about what he'll eat next and is extremely annoying. The episodes weren't about anything, the characters weren't about anything, the acting was attrocious. Wild Force is what you get when the writers don't even try. It's like someone thought all it took to make a Power Rangers series was karate and zords. It had no substance whatsoever, it was only half a show, not a whole one. On top of that, Princess Shayla was so hideously annoying. I thought post-memory-loss Goldar was bad. I thought Elgar was bad. I thought Nadira was bad. Then we meet Shayla and learn what bad really is. Everything about her was overdone to the extreme. She's not just surprised, her mouth is open wide enough for birds to nest in as she gasps in badly acted shock. Every time a new monster shows up, you'd think that those 3000 years were finally catching up to her and she's having a massive coronary. She's never just pleased, she's dog-trapped-in-a-Milk-Bone-factory [i]ecstatic.[/i] She's never just angry, she turns into a petulant five-year-old. She's like the woman that a lot of PBS toddler shows will have. "HI, kids, we've got something AMAZING for you today, we'll be working with FRACTIONS! Two halves make a WHOLE, isn't this EXCITING!" By the end of the second episode I wanted to go find that flying turtle island of hers and shove her off the edge. Yeah, the Wild Zords would probably blast me into the next zip code but it'd be worth it. Shayla could have been good if they'd actually made a point about her. Maybe Taylor could have said to Cole, "Before you meet PRincess Shayla, there's something you oughta know." (Cole: "Yeah?") "You know how some people are weird when they first wake up? The Princess was dormant for three thousand years, so she's not out of that stage yet. Don't mind some of her more... interesting personality traits." And maybe actually had people have realistic reactions to her antics, and have her actually know what she's talking about sometimes. Instead, she acts like she's off her rocker, and we're supposed to take her seriously. And instead of giving advice or telling them anything useful, all she does is gasp in badly acted shock and say "Rangers!" [Dramatic pause] "You MUST stop this Org!" Shayla belonged in some show like Teletubbies. In all ten seasons and counting, no one ever to walk across the screen is nearly as annoying. Two things I will say for PRWF, though: Reinforcements From The Future and Forever Red were the best teamup eps ever, and the Animarium Armor was the only enhancement that actually wasn?t ugly.

I wonder whatever became of Toxica and Jindrax.

[Nerdsy]

[COLOR=seagreen]NO! You will not die, topic! *smacks it*


I'm not really going to say anything about Tommy, because I think what I think of him is obvious. *proudly shows his Jason David Frank Fan Club membership card to everyone*


Did anyone catch Satruday's episode?

It was pretty good. We finally see some character development in the Thunder Rangers! They seem to be very confrontational, and that could be very interesting to watch.

I didn't really like the Hammer that they gave to the Storm Megazord. It seemed too... [i]spring-ey[/i] to me. It looked like all the impact was absorbed. This doesn't take away from the Megazord, though. The Storm Megazord is shaping up to be one of my favorite Megazords.[/COLOR]

[Manic Webb]

I have to admit that I am [i]very[/i] impressed with Ninja Storm. After Wild Force, I thought Ninja Storm would only get worse. Actually, I'm beginning to like Ninja Storm's endless list of ranger equipment and fighting techniques. I was surprised with the whole "jump behind a paper wall, fight, wall disappears, bad guys suddenly fall down" thing that went on.

And Ninja Storm does Wire-Fu better than any other season of Power Rangers. I'm a small fan of Wire-Fu (wire-fights, like Matrix or Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon), but only on one condition. Wire-Fu cannot be done half-arsed. I don't want a character to have trouble reaching a high shelf one second, and then do a mid-air bicycle kick the next. Ninja Storm uses Wire-Fu to its full advantage, but doesn't shove their hang-time in your face.

What really surprised me is the current character developement. With Wild Force, the writers proved that they cannot handle a full 5 ranger team. I mean, why do I only remember one female wild force ranger?
Using a team of only 3 rangers was a good idea. Considering that Ninja Storm will only be around for one season, using a smaller team should help the writers focus better on character developement. The show's premise is already inane, so there's no point in even [i]trying[/i] to explain the Ninja Academy. They might as well work on the characters.

[Yu Law]

um....is Tommy still on there....haven't watchedsince 5th grade.....isn't he like 31 now?

[Nerdsy]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Yu Law [/i]
[B]um....is Tommy still on there....haven't watchedsince 5th grade.....isn't he like 31 now? [/B][/QUOTE]

[COLOR=deeppink]29. ;) He was born on September 4, 1973.

And no, he isn't on the show anymore. He left on "Passing the Torch", an episode of Turbo (like I said, the main reason I despise Turbo). He did make a guest appearance on "Forever Red", and episode of Wild Force, though. But that's a given. What's a Red Ranger reunion without the greatest ranger of all time?

Nothing, that's what.[/COLOR]

[Sara]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Nerdsy [/i]
[B][COLOR=deeppink]29. ;) He was born on September 4, 1973.

And no, he isn't on the show anymore. He left on "Passing the Torch", an episode of Turbo (like I said, the main reason I despise Turbo). He did make a guest appearance on "Forever Red", and episode of Wild Force, though. But that's a given. What's a Red Ranger reunion without the greatest ranger of all time?

Nothing, that's what.[/COLOR] [/B][/QUOTE] [SIZE=1]You are such a...such a....*stops, helplessly*

You're such a [i]nerd.[/i][/SIZE]