So yeah, another “This episode of Super Megaforce is making me look back at a better season because of reasons,” in this case, Jungle Fury. And in this case, considering Casey actually did things in that episode, I feel marginally justified. So join me as I travel through one of my favourite seasons in the franchise. I expect this to fail before we get to the Jungle Master Modes. However, in the event I make it to the end, I might conclude with looking at the Supr Megaforce tribute episode.
Welcome to the Jungle, Part 1:
* I just wanna say I adore this theme song. It’s energetic, it’s lively and it gets me pumped for the season to come. It's not Dino Thunder good, but it comes close. That doesn't mean I wanna hear it twice in ten minutes because my Chrome crashed. :076:
* You know, I just noticed that in the bottom right corner of the screen while it's on the Rangers, you can see them doing martial arts while their Zord runs by. The benefits of a re-watch.
* Hey, Lily gets second billing! More than Theo or any other character aside from Casey! Wow.
* I like the backgrounds for the support characters. Not a fan of the green they use, but the bricks for RJ and Fran and the... smokey yellow and green?... for Jarrod and Camille.
* Way to spoil the Strike Rider, Claw Cannon and three backup Zords, show. Sorry, I have a problem with shows using footage or weapons that's not at least introduced in the episode. We don't get the Strike Rider for another four episodes or so!
* Master Mao's narration, combined with the sweeping mountain shots, is giving me serious Ninja Storm flashbacks.
* "We do not exist, but we have been here since the beginning..." I have no words.
* I like the Pai Zhua (Zhuq? I'm still confused by that) Temple set. Shame it's never really used in the season much.
* I feel sorry for the drum guy. His one job is to just hit that drum. He probably gets shit from the newbies when they come in.
* And we get the first "Jetix cluttering up the screen" thing. I'm half tempted to spend a large sum of money buying the SPD-RPM set and have it shipped to Ireland just to never see that damn symbol again.
* Did Lily just ask Theo about the state of her butt? KIDS. SHOW. Seriously, Bruce. Theo's expression is brilliant, though.
* "You... are the six finalists." We would have picked seven, but he called in sick today.
* I want bearded guy to win his fight. He looks like Ranger material.
* Jarrod gives no shits to these people's posing.
* "I am going to see which of you is best at kicking the shit out of each other."
* I quite like this opening fight. Rather well shot, and some cool fighting.
* Woah, did Lily just have her cheetah cut that guy open? Yikes.
* Wow, Theo's fight's even better! More of his face, at least.
* ... Was the Bruce Lee yell REALLY necessary?
* Oh God, Theo just threw a cat at a woman!
* Beard guy looks like he either hasn't slept or is currently high. Maybe he's not such good Ranger material, but then I direct you to Troy as evidence of "ANYONE can become a Red Ranger."
* And Jarrod just straight up tosses a frickin' LION at Beard guy. Poor man was just looking for a fix and a bed.
* Drum guy strikes again!
* Oh God, Jarrod's voice is whiny. Is that Bede Skinner's natural speaking voice? Because he's a lot better in other episodes.
* "That's a direct order from a senior student!" "Fuck you man, you're still wearing the same pyjamas as me!" "... You win this round."
* Well Casey's already proving something: He helps the helpless. Good for him.
* "I DESPISE people who roll their towels up into Cylinders!"
* No-one's gonna, you know, HELP Casey? Jarrod did just rip Beard Guy (RIP) a new asshole, so what gives?
* "I summon the animal spirit of... a two year old with a white marker doodling on my face!"
* "I swear to God, this bow is gonna snap my spine in half."
* Theo has control issues. He also forgets everything, a later episode establishes. Characterization!
* "Where are we?" You're in a damn cave, Lily. Stop being so surprised.
* I like Casey already. "Forbidden? That doesn't sound good."
* "10,000 years ago, there was a great evil-" "Rita?" "No, ANOTHER great evil." "Alpha?" "Shut up and listen." (Look, I just saw Alpha's Magical Christmas :facepalm1: can you blame me?)
* Casey's WTF reaction to being told he's a guardian's pretty priceless. Another thing I like about him: He's humble enough to flat out say "I don't think I'm ready for this."
* That box doesn't look well sealed. It looks like Dai Shi could escape in strong breeze.
* "We Pai Zhua also get nifty tattoos. We have a good deal with the local shop."
* "I've spent ten years training, and my voice hasn't lowered an octave!"
* Wow. Master Mao is having none of Jarrod's shit. And I just saw Casey get ready to fight Jarrod- guy has ten years of experience on him, and he still gets ready to help. Man has balls.
* "The double finger point OF DOOM."
* Well guess what? I called it. Box opened because no-one thought of a frickin' PADLOCK.
* "AT LAST." Oh hi Koragg.
* "I've thought about no-one else for centuries." So was Master Mao there when Dai Shi was first defeated? Or does Dai Shi have some Foe Yay to deal with?
* Jarrod you dirty coward! I'm sure that you'll never be kicked up the ass thanks to karma for this.
* You know Koragg, last time you said some teens with attitude weren't worth your time? You got your ass handed to you by said teens wearing CAPES.
* "My time in this form has ended." I'm secretly a Time Lord.
* "You three are the world's only chance!" So it comes down to a rookie, a control freak and a person who cares more about their ass. Good God, we're screwed.
* Now I'm wondering... WHAT HAPPENED TO DRUM GUY?!
* Jarrod... it's time for some Karma...."
* I also love how Jarrod has the time to change into a new set of clothes. We'll see soon why this annoys me...
* ... Because the Rangers are still wearing their robes. They stick out like the Time Force Rangers.
* Oh Theo. You of little faith.
* Jungle Karma Pizza? I like it. Good set design, and it feels like what an actual pizza place would look like (I don't live near anything but bog-standard Italian places food-wise.)
* You know Theo, just because you say the Asian guy is your master... doesn't mean it's not mildly racist. (OK, the joke is funny, but still)
* And now it's time for two of the greatest characters in Power Rangers: Fran and RJ.
* Stop mocking Fran, Lily, she goes through more character development than you and Theo combined!
* Oh RJ... you can get sticky white stuff on your face ANY day- seriously, David de Lautour is one handsome man. And I'm an ace. :007:
* "Welcome to Jungle Karma Pizza! I only spike 50% of the pizzas with my drug stash!"
* How do Casey and Lily expect to pay for the pizza? Did they bring money, or they expecting RJ to take sex for a bribe? :confused:
* I do not get why we don't see Jarrod's face for the rest of the two parter until the end. It's perfectly clear it's him, but they hold it.
* And Jarrod changed his clothes... again. Must be making up for the fact that he'll be wearing that leather for the entire season.
* Arrival, you say? I may just have some Mass Effect jokes for you. :D
* Oh hey LeeLee- back with the side of evil, I see.
* Camille has always made me scratch my head. Was she just a human who threw her lot in with Dai Shi, or was she a demon who took human form? :confused:
* "It was amazing. By the way, why can I see flying puppies?"
* Oh RJ, you canny bastard. Make them build up so much of a tab that all THREE will have to have sex with you to pay it off! :eyebrows:
* ... And then you had to ruin it by suggesting they work here. :facepalm1:
* Wait... if you hate the robes, why didn't you change? Jarrod had clothes at least.
* For such a short guy, Theo is a big dick.
* This is a better fight than the previous two were. Couldn't say why.
* Casey does pretty well for himself, considering he's only trained for a week.
* Oh now I know why this fight rocks: RJ owns the MOTW and beats him out of his form.
* No, really, David does pretty good in the unmorphed fight.
* Oh Fran. She did all that work by herself. :puppyeyes:
* I really like RJ's Loft. Not much to say on it, I just like it.
* I wonder where they got that pop song that plays in this scene. Or in fact, the music during the scenes in JKP.
* RJ's Chair: Probably the must drug-filled thing since Breaking Bad.
* RJ there's no way you 1250 cable channels legally. Great, now my life isn't complete until I Photoshop RJ's head onto Edward Kenway from Assassin's Creed.
* "I have a pizza store to run." No you don't, you had no customers two seconds ago. Heck, if it wasn't made clear that Dai Shi didn't break out in the morning due to Lily's line, I'd say you should close the place up for the night.
* I made a thread a while back about the Solar Morphers and why they were disliked. I made my case: During the morph sequence, the Rangers do complicated martial arts so they wouldn't want it flying into their hand or catching it on their wrist. That, and sunglasses allow for cheap CSI Miami jokes for when I'm desperate.
* "Overpowered, otherwise known as my way of saying you got ripped a new asshole."
* "Did you ever hear of the Power Rangers?" "Yeah, who hasn't?" "You'd be surprised. I mean, there was a frickin' alien invasion!" In all seriousness, I love Casey's line, and I suspect that when/if Linkara gets to JF in his HOPR, he'll like it too.
* I've seen fics that had Cam or Andros helping RJ with the Solar Morphers. They were on AO3, so they were naturally at least OK.
* So the Rangers essentially cheat by having fighting knowledge entered into their heads.
* Wow, first Kalishplosion and it took 19 minutes. Impressive restraint, Bruce.
* Speaking of the morph sequence, I do like it, especially the fact that the glasses become their helmets. I just like helmets that collapse after Dead Space. :)
* Ah, Lily's Rape Voice. Never chance.
* Really, Casey? It's four words. :facepalm1:
* I don't have much to say on the first morphed fight- cool wirework, and a continuing lack of explosions that make no sense.
* Having Fran be under threat is a good idea- we've gotten to known her and thus we have an idea that this is a real danger, and not just some random person, or in the Sentai's case, a random kid (Jan's still got an awesome fight, though).
Since I can only find this online as a two-parter, I'm gonna assume that this is where the first episode ends just to cut up this thing.
Final thoughts
This was a strong opening for the show (at least the first half). Characters are quickly established (Casey, Fran, RJ) and seeds of development are quickly planted. The lack of obvious Sentai footage and lack of Kalish/Koichisplosions (I know they're called that due to Koichi being in charge of them, but they originated while Kalish was in charge and I've gotten used to calling them that) adds to it. While the idiocy of Dai Shi being in a box a child could have opened is pretty prevalent (And Jarrod's huge wardrobe) it's honestly not the stupidest thing this franchise has had. Hell, it's not even the stupidest thing concerning Jarrod, let alone the Franchise.
Still, there's a lot to like. A good introduction to the core cast and their personalities, some impressive fight scenes and solid acting across the board.
Next: Welcome to the Jungle Part 2
Welcome to the Jungle, Part 1:
* I just wanna say I adore this theme song. It’s energetic, it’s lively and it gets me pumped for the season to come. It's not Dino Thunder good, but it comes close. That doesn't mean I wanna hear it twice in ten minutes because my Chrome crashed. :076:
* You know, I just noticed that in the bottom right corner of the screen while it's on the Rangers, you can see them doing martial arts while their Zord runs by. The benefits of a re-watch.
* Hey, Lily gets second billing! More than Theo or any other character aside from Casey! Wow.
* I like the backgrounds for the support characters. Not a fan of the green they use, but the bricks for RJ and Fran and the... smokey yellow and green?... for Jarrod and Camille.
* Way to spoil the Strike Rider, Claw Cannon and three backup Zords, show. Sorry, I have a problem with shows using footage or weapons that's not at least introduced in the episode. We don't get the Strike Rider for another four episodes or so!
* Master Mao's narration, combined with the sweeping mountain shots, is giving me serious Ninja Storm flashbacks.
* "We do not exist, but we have been here since the beginning..." I have no words.
* I like the Pai Zhua (Zhuq? I'm still confused by that) Temple set. Shame it's never really used in the season much.
* I feel sorry for the drum guy. His one job is to just hit that drum. He probably gets shit from the newbies when they come in.
* And we get the first "Jetix cluttering up the screen" thing. I'm half tempted to spend a large sum of money buying the SPD-RPM set and have it shipped to Ireland just to never see that damn symbol again.
* Did Lily just ask Theo about the state of her butt? KIDS. SHOW. Seriously, Bruce. Theo's expression is brilliant, though.
* "You... are the six finalists." We would have picked seven, but he called in sick today.
* I want bearded guy to win his fight. He looks like Ranger material.
* Jarrod gives no shits to these people's posing.
* "I am going to see which of you is best at kicking the shit out of each other."
* I quite like this opening fight. Rather well shot, and some cool fighting.
* Woah, did Lily just have her cheetah cut that guy open? Yikes.
* Wow, Theo's fight's even better! More of his face, at least.
* ... Was the Bruce Lee yell REALLY necessary?
* Oh God, Theo just threw a cat at a woman!
* Beard guy looks like he either hasn't slept or is currently high. Maybe he's not such good Ranger material, but then I direct you to Troy as evidence of "ANYONE can become a Red Ranger."
* And Jarrod just straight up tosses a frickin' LION at Beard guy. Poor man was just looking for a fix and a bed.
* Drum guy strikes again!
* Oh God, Jarrod's voice is whiny. Is that Bede Skinner's natural speaking voice? Because he's a lot better in other episodes.
* "That's a direct order from a senior student!" "Fuck you man, you're still wearing the same pyjamas as me!" "... You win this round."
* Well Casey's already proving something: He helps the helpless. Good for him.
* "I DESPISE people who roll their towels up into Cylinders!"
* No-one's gonna, you know, HELP Casey? Jarrod did just rip Beard Guy (RIP) a new asshole, so what gives?
* "I summon the animal spirit of... a two year old with a white marker doodling on my face!"
* "I swear to God, this bow is gonna snap my spine in half."
* Theo has control issues. He also forgets everything, a later episode establishes. Characterization!
* "Where are we?" You're in a damn cave, Lily. Stop being so surprised.
* I like Casey already. "Forbidden? That doesn't sound good."
* "10,000 years ago, there was a great evil-" "Rita?" "No, ANOTHER great evil." "Alpha?" "Shut up and listen." (Look, I just saw Alpha's Magical Christmas :facepalm1: can you blame me?)
* Casey's WTF reaction to being told he's a guardian's pretty priceless. Another thing I like about him: He's humble enough to flat out say "I don't think I'm ready for this."
* That box doesn't look well sealed. It looks like Dai Shi could escape in strong breeze.
* "We Pai Zhua also get nifty tattoos. We have a good deal with the local shop."
* "I've spent ten years training, and my voice hasn't lowered an octave!"
* Wow. Master Mao is having none of Jarrod's shit. And I just saw Casey get ready to fight Jarrod- guy has ten years of experience on him, and he still gets ready to help. Man has balls.
* "The double finger point OF DOOM."
* Well guess what? I called it. Box opened because no-one thought of a frickin' PADLOCK.
* "AT LAST." Oh hi Koragg.
* "I've thought about no-one else for centuries." So was Master Mao there when Dai Shi was first defeated? Or does Dai Shi have some Foe Yay to deal with?
* Jarrod you dirty coward! I'm sure that you'll never be kicked up the ass thanks to karma for this.
* You know Koragg, last time you said some teens with attitude weren't worth your time? You got your ass handed to you by said teens wearing CAPES.
* "My time in this form has ended." I'm secretly a Time Lord.
* "You three are the world's only chance!" So it comes down to a rookie, a control freak and a person who cares more about their ass. Good God, we're screwed.
* Now I'm wondering... WHAT HAPPENED TO DRUM GUY?!
* Jarrod... it's time for some Karma...."
* I also love how Jarrod has the time to change into a new set of clothes. We'll see soon why this annoys me...
* ... Because the Rangers are still wearing their robes. They stick out like the Time Force Rangers.
* Oh Theo. You of little faith.
* Jungle Karma Pizza? I like it. Good set design, and it feels like what an actual pizza place would look like (I don't live near anything but bog-standard Italian places food-wise.)
* You know Theo, just because you say the Asian guy is your master... doesn't mean it's not mildly racist. (OK, the joke is funny, but still)
* And now it's time for two of the greatest characters in Power Rangers: Fran and RJ.
* Stop mocking Fran, Lily, she goes through more character development than you and Theo combined!
* Oh RJ... you can get sticky white stuff on your face ANY day- seriously, David de Lautour is one handsome man. And I'm an ace. :007:
* "Welcome to Jungle Karma Pizza! I only spike 50% of the pizzas with my drug stash!"
* How do Casey and Lily expect to pay for the pizza? Did they bring money, or they expecting RJ to take sex for a bribe? :confused:
* I do not get why we don't see Jarrod's face for the rest of the two parter until the end. It's perfectly clear it's him, but they hold it.
* And Jarrod changed his clothes... again. Must be making up for the fact that he'll be wearing that leather for the entire season.
* Arrival, you say? I may just have some Mass Effect jokes for you. :D
* Oh hey LeeLee- back with the side of evil, I see.
* Camille has always made me scratch my head. Was she just a human who threw her lot in with Dai Shi, or was she a demon who took human form? :confused:
* "It was amazing. By the way, why can I see flying puppies?"
* Oh RJ, you canny bastard. Make them build up so much of a tab that all THREE will have to have sex with you to pay it off! :eyebrows:
* ... And then you had to ruin it by suggesting they work here. :facepalm1:
* Wait... if you hate the robes, why didn't you change? Jarrod had clothes at least.
* For such a short guy, Theo is a big dick.
* This is a better fight than the previous two were. Couldn't say why.
* Casey does pretty well for himself, considering he's only trained for a week.
* Oh now I know why this fight rocks: RJ owns the MOTW and beats him out of his form.
* No, really, David does pretty good in the unmorphed fight.
* Oh Fran. She did all that work by herself. :puppyeyes:
* I really like RJ's Loft. Not much to say on it, I just like it.
* I wonder where they got that pop song that plays in this scene. Or in fact, the music during the scenes in JKP.
* RJ's Chair: Probably the must drug-filled thing since Breaking Bad.
* RJ there's no way you 1250 cable channels legally. Great, now my life isn't complete until I Photoshop RJ's head onto Edward Kenway from Assassin's Creed.
* "I have a pizza store to run." No you don't, you had no customers two seconds ago. Heck, if it wasn't made clear that Dai Shi didn't break out in the morning due to Lily's line, I'd say you should close the place up for the night.
* I made a thread a while back about the Solar Morphers and why they were disliked. I made my case: During the morph sequence, the Rangers do complicated martial arts so they wouldn't want it flying into their hand or catching it on their wrist. That, and sunglasses allow for cheap CSI Miami jokes for when I'm desperate.
* "Overpowered, otherwise known as my way of saying you got ripped a new asshole."
* "Did you ever hear of the Power Rangers?" "Yeah, who hasn't?" "You'd be surprised. I mean, there was a frickin' alien invasion!" In all seriousness, I love Casey's line, and I suspect that when/if Linkara gets to JF in his HOPR, he'll like it too.
* I've seen fics that had Cam or Andros helping RJ with the Solar Morphers. They were on AO3, so they were naturally at least OK.
* So the Rangers essentially cheat by having fighting knowledge entered into their heads.
* Wow, first Kalishplosion and it took 19 minutes. Impressive restraint, Bruce.
* Speaking of the morph sequence, I do like it, especially the fact that the glasses become their helmets. I just like helmets that collapse after Dead Space. :)
* Ah, Lily's Rape Voice. Never chance.
* Really, Casey? It's four words. :facepalm1:
* I don't have much to say on the first morphed fight- cool wirework, and a continuing lack of explosions that make no sense.
* Having Fran be under threat is a good idea- we've gotten to known her and thus we have an idea that this is a real danger, and not just some random person, or in the Sentai's case, a random kid (Jan's still got an awesome fight, though).
Since I can only find this online as a two-parter, I'm gonna assume that this is where the first episode ends just to cut up this thing.
Final thoughts
This was a strong opening for the show (at least the first half). Characters are quickly established (Casey, Fran, RJ) and seeds of development are quickly planted. The lack of obvious Sentai footage and lack of Kalish/Koichisplosions (I know they're called that due to Koichi being in charge of them, but they originated while Kalish was in charge and I've gotten used to calling them that) adds to it. While the idiocy of Dai Shi being in a box a child could have opened is pretty prevalent (And Jarrod's huge wardrobe) it's honestly not the stupidest thing this franchise has had. Hell, it's not even the stupidest thing concerning Jarrod, let alone the Franchise.
Still, there's a lot to like. A good introduction to the core cast and their personalities, some impressive fight scenes and solid acting across the board.
Next: Welcome to the Jungle Part 2
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire