Power Rangers RPM - Episode 20 - "Heroes Among Us"

Summary:
Flynn is showing Summer and Dillon something under Dillon's car. He scolds Dillon on the dirt in the car and it calls on him. He drops a wrench and Dillon has a flashback of being with a bunch of people on tables and having medical tubes in him and almost catching a glimpse of his sister. The alarm sounds and the Rangers go join Truman fighting Grinders. Truman saves a little girl from a Grinder and encounters a new Attackbot (the one that looks like it has a sewer grate on his head). The bot is about to blast but Gold and Red save Truman, the soldiers and the girl. Gold makes the bot 'blow up.' Truman shakes his head at Gold liking the ka-boom.


Meanwhile, Venjix does upgrades to his body, making new armor. Back at the garage, Truman and two soldiers come in and awards a medal to Gem, making Scott think it was gonna be him. Gem is grateful. Scott is hurt. Gem shows off his medal to everyone. Scott goes to his car, Flynn and Summer (noticing how Scott feels) tells him not to show off. They explain how he feels and tells Gem that Scott is upset because his dad never notices him. Summer tries to talk it over to Scott, Scott says not to make excuses for him and says he doesn't know what to do. Ziggy tells the others to gow ith him to celebrate, that he is 'buying' or borrowing him from Dillon. Scott looks at a picture of his dad and brother and crumbles it, saying he will show his dad a 'hero.'


After the commercial break, Dillon looks at a 'number' that Ziggy gave him but it is just a note that says 'drop dead.' They notice Scott is gone and Gem secretly goes after him. Scott is racing his car through the wasteland and notices a flying chicken above him and stops. Gem says he followed his tire tracks. He says he doesn't get it that he always say 'stick with a team' and 'have a plan.' Scott says it is the only way his dad would notice but gives up and says he screwed up. Gem says he screws up a lot too. He says if the medal upsets it, then it's gone and throws it away. He picks it up and says he deserves it. They then notice human footprints. Scott spots four escaped refuges--Grinders are circling around them. Tenaya is there too. Crunch and Shifter help upgrade Venjix.


The Grinders bring in two 'workers' and Tenaya is giving Gem's medal and puts it on. Back at the lab, Doctor K says they can't go out because they will put everyone in jeopardy, the same speech whenever anyone goes out. One of the older hostages tells Scott and Gem to go off to the city and tries fighting the Grinders, Scott and Gem refuse to fight because he doesn't understand what they are doing and what is their plan. When the old man waits for them to do something, Tenaya is about to blast him. Scott says to stay with the plan but takes off his mask and the two transform and fight off the Grinders and Tenaya. Red takes off the cuffs off the old man. Red fights Tenaya. The mdeal falls down and the two 'power down.' Scott has the hostages go back in the truck. Gem takes his medal back.


In the evil lair, a new makeover for Venjix comes out and he downloads inside and Crunch asks what happened to wireless. Gem drives the hostages in the city, as K brings the gate open and Scott drives the old man in his car. The soldiers and Dillon and the others go to the gate. Venjix is told of the gate opening but he is only at 80% but he doesn't care. Scott and Gem reunite with the crew and the soldiers blow up some Grinders. They let out the prisoners out of the truck. Dillon looks at them and sees a girl, but doesn't remember a thing. He looks at the empty truck and Summer tells him they will find his sister. Truman salutes the commander old man. He says that he was rescued by Scott. Scott gets a call for K, saying it is time to go back to work. Venjix has grown giant and SkyRev is formed.


SkyRev quickly goes down. They go up and bring Venjix down. They bring their weapons to max (the handle blasters). There is an explosion and the nine zords split up and they fall out. Venjix is down to adult size and fights Gold. Gold goes down in a Disney explosion. Scott then fights Venjix, saying he has to go through him. Venjix blasts Red down. Gold gives Red his dagger. Red throws his sword in the air and surfs on it and avoids Venjix's blasts. He strikes the robot and he goes down. The seven celebrate. They run off. Venjix asks to be taken out of the robot. Shifter grabs the head and leaves.


After the commercial break, Scott tells Dillon that Commander Murdoch says that there are hybrids, humans that were infected liek the virus, making Dillon realize that he is not the only one. Truman gives Scott a medal, Scott says he was not heroic, he didn't mean to save anyone. His act was selfish because he risked everyone's lives, he says when he deserves the medal, he will proudly accept it. Truman smiles at him and leaves. Scott smiles back at him.


Review:
I don't think Scott was selfish, I think he was just lucky. Good ep, showed some depth to Gem but still had his childish side (ooh shiny). I think the fighting sequences with Venjix were too quick. And the Rangers should have picked up the Venjix head and given it to Dr. K, that could ahve solved a lot of problems. So another plot hole. But eh, it was good after all. The episode also felt more polished than other ones. Also, good continuity, but I am already tired of Dillon worrying about his sister, I would have rather him and Summer discuss their almost-kiss.

Shared Cockpits

 UPDATED 12/15/13
Just when I thought there would nothing else to cover in the world of Super Sentai but it occurs to me that the robo cockpits have been different and wanted to study them. Sometimes they sat down, sometimes they stood around. I just have pictures of one main robo, not all.

Sit-Down Cockpits
1. Battle Fever J (1979)
The first series to have a robo---the first cockpit was technical and boxy and everyone sat down.

2. Denjiman (1980)
Second sit-down joint cockpit. They had no door in the back.


3. Changeman (1985)
They shared a cockpit for their base but in the robo, they were split, Red in one, one boy and one girl in the other two. Change Phoenix had a capsule-like cockpit like the Bioman. In the shared cockpit, they had a backdoor.

4. Flashman (1986)
They shared a cockpit. Where from 1981 to 1985, they all didn't have shared cockpits. This diamond-front shape was used again for Maskman, Hurricanger and Ohranger.

5. Maskman (1987)
I like the look, with the windows on the side.

6. Liveman (1988)
The first trio shared their cockpit in the first robo. I don't know about the second robo, let me know if you know.

7. Turboranger (1989)
I don't like how generic it looks. They had a rahter big backdoor.

8. Fiveman (1990)
I like the colors.

9. Jetman (1991)
If this cockpit looks like a cockpit, there is a big reason. This is the first time I think they recycled a cockpit, because this cockpit was re-used for Zyuranger. They had a backdoor and their symbol on the back.

10. Zyuranger (1992) / MMPR Season 1 (1993)
The same cockpit was re-used from Jetman and just customized. But this is what Power Ranger fans are used to seeing. They had a backdoor and their symbol on the back. Yes, Dragon Ranger was in the cockpit once but only for Zyuranger, this footage, for some reason, was not used in Power Rangers. Dragon Ranger/Green Ranger only used his own robo's cockpit once.

11. Ohranger (1995) / Zeo (1996)
The first sit-down cockpit since 1992 and it was cramped. Depending on the helmet, the Rangers would switch seats. Once they got in their other robo or the pyramid, they had more space. They always sat down. The sixth hero had his own sit-down cockpit.

12. Carranger (1996) / Turbo (1997)
The Carranger also sat down. For the Turbo: A Power Rangers movie, they had a different looking cockpit.

13. Megaranger (1997) / In Space (1998)
The Megaranger had a fancy-smancy cockpit.

14. Go Go Five (1999) / Lightspeed Rescue (2000)
The team had similar sitting-down cockpits, depending on their robo.

15. Hurricanger (2002) / Ninja Storm (2003)
Even though they did not share cockpits until they merged all six, I wanted to show the cockpit. They really didn't have a backdoor. For those who do not know, that is Gozen, the source of the mecha in Hurricanger.

16. Magiranger (2005) - Magi Shine / Mystic Force (2006) - Solaris Knight
Magi Shine had his own sit-down cockpit in Travelion.

17. Boukenger (2006) / Operation Overdrive (2007)
They always sat down, the shared cockpit changed for DaiVoyager but it was the same method. The sixth hero sat as well.

18. Go-Onger (2008) / RPM (2009)
They sat down in their own cockpits. For their own seperate robos, they didn't have a shared cockpit. But when they combined 6, 9 or 12, they had a big combined cockpit.

 19. Goseiger (2009)/Megaforce (2013)
The Goseiger sat down in their cockpits, Gosei/Robo Knight didn't have one because of course he is a robo/zord.


20. Gokaiger (2011)/Super Megaforce (2014)
Silver of course had his own. The Gokaiger had a cockpit separate from the rest of the ship where they lived at. When they combine the robo of Silver, he does appear with them.


Stand-up Cockpit
1. Dairanger (1993)
This is the first stand-up cockpit, but it looks a like a sit-in cockpit. The blue glow-y thing in the back has been used a lot in Super Sentai, for example, Jetman (I think), GoGo Five, and Hurricanger. The Power Rangers stood up in the Thunder Megazord cockpit as well. The six hero had his own stand-up cockpit. The Dairanger joined the Kibaranger in his cockpit when they joined together their beasts.

2. Timeranger (2000) / Time Force (2001)
You rarely saw them in their individual ships, but they had their own cockpits and they sat. But for the most part, when they were in the joint cockpit, they stood up. The sixth hero had no cockpit.

3. Gaoranger (2001) / Wild Force (2002)
Everyone stood up in their cockpits, even when they had the Soul Bird. The sixth hero stood up as well.

4. Abaranger (2003) / Dino Thunder (2004)
See a pattern? Most teams that stood up were in animal-robos. Rarely happened for White and Black to be in the cockpit but they all stood.

5. Gekiranger (2007) / Jungle Fury (2008)
These were unique as they had no 'consoles' like the balls from Abaranger for example. And the poles would change color depending on who was controling. For example, Geki Violet's poles were purple and Geki Chopper's poles were white. Miki (a civilian) even controlled SaiDaiOh once.

6. Shinkenger (2009)
The seventh team to stand up in their cockpits but fifth to share a cockpit standing up.

 7. Kyoryuger (2013)
They stand in their own cockpit, depending on what dinosaurs are in the main robo but sometimes all five. Sometimes one Kyoryuger runs one giant robo like Silver in Bragigas, Violet in Plezon or Red in SpinDaiOh.

Stay in your dang cockpit (sit-down)
1. Sun Vulcan (1981)
They didn't have a joint cockpit, they stayed in their own cockpits.


2. Goggle Five (1982)
Blue and Black shared one mech and Yellow and Blue shared one. But these pictures are from the movie, where Pink and Black stayed in flying fortress. Let me know if they ever shared a cockpit.

3. Dynaman (1983)
They stayed in their own cockpits and sat. Yellow and Pink shared their mech and Black and Blue shared theirs. Let me know if they ever shared a cockpit.

4. Bioman (1984)
They sort of shared cockpits but it was Red and Pink in one and the others in another. Let me know if they ever shared a cockpit.

5. Go-Busters (2012)
They all stayed in their own cockpit. Well.. not all alone, they had their Buddyroids, save for Beet and Stag since Stag was a Buddyroid and had his own cockpit.


Stay in your dang cockpit (stand-up)
1. Kakuranger (1994)
After ten years, maybe a homage, the Kakuranger stayed in their own cockpits. And like the Dairanger, they got no chairs and had to stand-up. The Ninja and Shogun Megazord cockpits were completely different.


2. Gingaman (1998) / Lost Galaxy (1999)
They mostly stayed in their own cockpits, but once they went into the Red one's. The rotating thingy in the center was probably a homage to Kakuranger.


Unique Cases
1. Dekaranger (2004) / SPD (2005)
The Dekaranger mostly took their own cockpits didn't have a share one except for DekaBaseRobo. But as you can see, Deka Master is sitting while the others are standing, so a unique case.

2. Magiranger (2005) / Mystic Force (2006)
They became their own robos but when they combined, they got their own chess-board cockpit, so its hard to say if they were 'standing' because they had no feet!


Power Rangers-only Cockpits

1. Thunder Megazord (1994)
Similar to the Dairenoh cockpit, the Thunder Megazord cockpit was much more colorful and for the Thunderzords, we didn't get individual cockpits like in Dairanger. Probably becuase of budget.

2. Ninja Mega Falconzord (1995) -- Movie Edition
Pink Ranger is in the middle on the first level. The Rangers got to sit down in their individual ninjazord cockpits much like the Dinozords.

3. Ninja Mega Falconzord/Shogun Megazord (1995)
For some reason, Pink was bumped off and the Red ranger got the middle on the first level. And this time, the Rangers did get their own cockpits for the Ninjazords and Shogunzords. They looked like the Dinozords cockpits but they stood up in them.


4. Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie Megazord (1997)
More spacious and very different looking than the cockpit from the Carranger footage.

5. Titanium Ranger - Solarzord (2000)
In Go Go Five, there was no Titanium Ranger and the Linerboy robo has no pilot. So they made a cockpit for the Titanium Ranger to run the Solarzord. It looked a bit like the Lightspeed cockpits but some additions.

6.  Power Rangers Samurai (2011-2012)
All Power Rangers Samurai cockpits, they go to Mega Mode, probably to not use the very-Japanese looking stage-like cockpits of Shinkenger. This still has them standing up but the cockpit looks more suped-up and futuristic. The zord heads change on the consoles depending on the zord they have. Gold appears next to them when their zords are combined.