Power Ranger Hottie: Daniel Ewing

23 year-old Australian actor, who plays Dillon in "Power Rangers RPM."

He played Representative Basketball for Manly-Warringah for nine years.

He played Reuben Humphries in "Home and Away."

Power Rangers RPM Episode 1 & 2 "The Road to Corinth" and "Fade to Black" Review

I woke up at 5am and was pleasantly surprised there was no infomercial on WPLG 10 but the premiere episode of Power Rangers RPM. I doubt anyone else in Miami is up at this time to watch it, unless a diehard fan like me still exists. I am an Elementary school substitute teacher and I didn't hear any of the kids talking about this, most Power Ranger fans I have seen in Elementary school are in Pre-K to 1st Grade. Anyone else wouldn't be caught dead admitting they like it. Sidenote: Power Rangers has been at 5am in Miami since Mystic Force (2006).

It looks like they had no support from the font department because they use a generic font. The Black Ranger but not the Green Ranger is in the opening credits.

1st Episode Road to Corinth Summary
Three years ago the Venjix computer system (ala Skynet of Terminator) has taken over the world and has made it a wasteland. A signal has been sent out about the city of Corinth, the last hope in safety and everyone rushes into it before the dome closes, seemingly forever. Flynn, who happens to be Scottish, arrives on a bus FULL of people and he calls one of the footsoldiers (Grinders) a "worthless crap." Scott (Eagle 2) and Summer report to Colonel Truman that Eagle 1 is dead, Truman is upset and doesn't want to discuss it to his wounded son Eagle 2. One year later, the dome is closed and a mysterious man (with a pocket watch) protects a flower from footsoldiers and beats the 'crap' out of them.

He has a car and is assaulted by Ziggy, a talkative individual, claiming to shoot him in order to steal the car and go to Coronith. It seems there has been radiation because the compasses don't work. Anyhoo, Ziggy and the mysterious individual, who at first claims to not know his name or anything except for cars and then says to call him Dillon, they fight off robots and explosions as they zip into the dome. They must keep running because the car is almost out of gas and if Dillon shuts off the car... he won't be able to restart it again. Venjix releases a monster robot and the RPM team is sent, we are reminded of the three individuals we meet before. The bus driver Flynn is Blue, the pilot Eagle 2 is Red, and Summer is Yellow.

Second Episode "Fade to Black" Summary
Where we last left off, Dillon asks Ziggy what Power Rangers are. The 'drones' are sent, in other words, Bandoma from Go-Onger. Ziggy is scared of them but Dillon is not. The three activate their zords---which match their toy names (Bear Crawler, etc.). The putting the chip inside the zords is new footage instead of the Go-Onger footage. The grunts set a cannon that will waste Dillon's car, so he tries to gas it but can't... until he hits it and goes off. Unfortunately, he skids and luckily for him, he gets the cannon shot at the bad guys instead of at the Yellow Ranger. The Rangers form High Octane Megazord and destroy the giant monster.

Summer takes off her helmet and thanks Dillon. The guards take in Ziggy and Dillon, while Ziggy pretends he is a citizen and doesn't know who Dillon is. The two are in jail. Wow, two future Power Rangers in orange jumpsuits. Dillon has hardware inside him and he doesn't know why he does. Basically, he is a Bionic man. Summer asks to speak to him privately, he comments on how Yellow isn't her color (maybe a comment on how some Rangers don't look good in their color) and then she counters back if he practices the bad boy/brooding persona in the mirror.

She ends the conversation with that she doesn't care where he is from but where he is going, returning him his musical pocket watch. Meanwhile, Ziggy charms the guards and then the guards multiply... Ziggy doesn't shut up to the point that the guards are gone. We don't know if his stories are tall tales or not. Later, Venjix reveals the other two generals a scary new creation... the human-looking Tenaya 7. With the Rangers, Flynn and Scott are not all thrilled with Dillon, believing he is all machine and shouldn't be trusted. The mysterious Dr. K explains he is like Wolverine, just implants.

Ziggy is not loved in the jail, having enemies already. He tries to convince Dillon that they are a team and to bust him out. The convicts pin Ziggy down and give him a bulling speech. This gets on Dillon's nerves and he defies the leader of the crooks. Dillon beats them all up. The other Rangers are then impressed by what Dillon can do, via surveillance video. The Rangers come and offer him to join the team, he asks if he can choose his own color.

Review:
And it looks like the FCC did not review this because the Blue Ranger says 'Crap' in the first few minutes. What a way to go, Power Rangers!! The plot has been well thought out with the car's gas and the radiation effecting compasses. My favorite line: "Go shoot or something." Even though this series is more serious than any other, unfortunately it still has one Power Ranger tradition I wish was forgotten... the goofy voiced villain. Kitaneidas/General Crunch is now dumb and goofy, voiced by Charlie McDermott. Yogostein/General Shifter is delightfully British. It is also nice to see that RPM keeps Go-Onger motif of having the Rangers in suit but without helmet.

Funny how there is a jail in the city, seems they didn't want their convicts to perish, they still believe in justice and humanity even in the face of an apocalypse. Some fans may say that the series has shadows of Terraventure with its dome and faux-blue sky but it has its own spirit. The series has a good start, great effort, and promising start. The new writer/show runner Eddie Guzelian was real ambitious, around episode 15 or 18 was fired because of 'creative differences' with Disney. So they got Judd Lynn. So It might change in tone.

Related Topic: Road to Corinth Video | Fade to Black Video

Power Rangers comes to a End

Well, it has finally happened. Disney has decided to stop shooting on Power Rangers. Executive Producer Sally Campbell says, "at this stage we will not be shooting another season." My heart goes out to the hardworking cameramen, crew, editors, suit actors, etc. My insider says that they had announced the end in the pre-production of Power Rangers RPM and this season was not even gonna happen. There is a rumor the Animated series may still be in the works. I have closed the polls about Shinkenger and Power Rangers. It humbles me that Shinkenger will not become victim of American butchering. But who knows? Kamen Rider Ryuki took 6 years to be adapted.

THERE WILL BE NO LIVE-ACTION POWER RANGERS FOR 2010.

New Zealand Herald


Updated April 4, 2009
Here is an interesting post from Namihei Koshige, the suit actor for most of the female Power Rangers for the past 15 years. This picture includes him (in middle), Adelaide Kane (Tenaya 7) and some of the crew, I do not know who exactly. The post is about the wrap-up party for Power Rangers.

This is picture has Koichi Sakamoto, stunt director and producer of Power Rangers recieving a card and flowers at the wrap-up party for Power Rangers RPM. This was posted March 30, 2009, Namihei reflects on his 14 years being on the show since 1995. I can not translate it, but I got most of this from a google translator, which isn't 100%.
AAC Stunts Blog (Japanese)

UPDATED NOVEMBER 25, 2009
A revision a.k.a. supplement to Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia, has been made by Disney's head archivist Dave Smith notes that "production on new episodes ceased in 2009." Other than a CEO or public relations person producing an actual statement, this is probably will be as official as it gets. Most of the fandom still denies the franchise ending and want an 'official' statement.

Orange and Periwinkle... pattern?

Maybe this has been said before, but I notice an pattern with the additional mecha since Gaoranger. Of course, Gaoranger is the first sentai to have additional mecha. Whatever color you consider the light blue, I consider it periwinkle. The pattern is that in most Sentai that has many mecha, that the first additional mecha is traditional orange and periwinkle.

2001 - Gaoranger
Light Teal-Blue Gao Elephant and Orange Gao Giraffe

2003 - Abaranger
Now with Abaranger, the first of the additional mecha was the periwinkle Dimekodon but instead of orange, we got the purple Bakyceloknuckles.

The fifth to come out was Ankyloveilus, which was orange.

2006 - Boukenger
The first two, just like Gaoranger, Boukenger had the orange Gogo Drill and the light aqua Gogo Shovel.

2008 - Shinkenger
Now, with the trdition of Gaoranger and Boukenger, orange Kabuto OriGami and periwinkle Kajiki OriGami are the first of the additional mecha.

Gekiranger is the only one that had perwinkle in the additional mecha but no orange. Of course, Dekaranger and Magiranger had no extravagant amount of additional mecha.

Kamen Rider Decade: A special Girl Kamen Rider?

On Kamen Rider Decade, there will be Kamen Rider Diend, that covers other riders, but I wonder if there will be a third original (not counting Abyss) Rider in Kamen Rider Decade representing the females. It is highly unlikely since there are so few female riders. The show is now in the Ryuuki world, we have seen Kamen Rider Femme in newspapers and posters in Episode 6 but is it possible we will see her in Episode 7? We have yet to go to the Blade or Hibiki World, so we don't know yet if they will be saved for later. I think it could be possible for one episode only, maybe Natsumi Hikari will become a rider and she will have the power of the three female riders. But a Kamen Rider 'dasmel in distress' has never become a Rider before. I think it is taboo or a rule that they are never allowed to be a Rider. Anyhoo, if there is a female 'Decade' rider, what color she would be since pink and blue have been used? Yellow? Green? White? I am hoping green.

UPDATED 03/31/09

Okay, now they are in Faiz world, having left Blade World and the Riders from the Blade movie, including Kamen Rider Larc was not covered. Kamen Rider Femme didn't psychically appear, just in print, so maybe there is a chance the three female riders will be covered. Also, interesting to mention Kamen Rider Diend will first become 3 Riders exclusively, but maybe some more later, but does give some chance there could be one female rider that turns into only 3 riders. I am still crossing my fingers!!! And if by the off chance someone translates this to Japanese, I just want to say thank you for visiting my blog and that I hope there will be a female Kamen Rider! If this series is covering the last 10 years, having had female Riders is a big landmark that should be acknowledged!

UPDATED 06/03/09
Now that they have visited all the worlds pertaining to the shows and are on their way to the Evil Riders world, we have no seen Kamen Rider Femme or Shuki in physical form. We did get new rider Kamen Rider Amaki, who is female but looks exactly like Kamen Rider Ibuki. The newest news is that Yoko Mitsuya will reprise her role on Kamen Rider Decade as Kamen Rider Larc with the other two from Kamen Rider Blade: The Missing Ace. Kamen Rider Decade is set to end by the end of August.

Discovering the Hanaranger's Suit Actors

On the sentai series "Ninja Sentai Kakuranger" in 1994, there were five villains known as the Hana no Kunoichi Gumi, also known as the Hanarangers. Well, in 2005 I started researching the suit actors for my site SuperSentai.com and more extensively through Kamen Rider and other toku a couple of months ago. I never dared look for who played the Hanaranger because I thought it would be hopeless, even though I did find out who played the Nejiranger.

I found out that Sakura (Cherry Blossom, pink) was played by no other than Naoko Kamio, who played MegaPink and most recently Master Shafu and RoboTough in Gekiranger. Ayame (Iris, blue) was played by Kiyohito Nakagawa, who played Pteraranger (the original 'Mighty Morphin' Pink Ranger) and OhYellow. The other three, I am not sure about their names nor who they are, but I have them as Tie Tanabe, Yumiko Kuratsune, and Ritsuko Noguti. I got the names off Japanese Wiki on Kakuranger and suit/stunt actors.


Check out the Hanaranger on my suit actor section on SuperSentai.com
Check out my suit actor section