Henshin Grid: 3/11/12

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Power Rangers Samurai for St. Patrick's Day 2012

In ABC local of Chicago, Power Rangers appeared for St. Patrick's Day.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=resources&id=8584124

Power Rangers Super Samurai - The Rescue - Episode Review

Because of my DVD-R problems, the pictures below are from SamuraiCast.com!

http://www.samuraicast.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=390

Antonio and Jii are kidnapped by Nighlok in a valley when Mike played around with Antonio and cat food. Antonio leaves a spool for them to follow. The team enters a dark tube area and fight Moogers. Lightzord flies on its own. Jii tells Antonio he thought he was trouble but glad he came back. Mike gets to the Lightzord and pops out the Shark Disc from the Lightzord. Jayden uses the Shark Disc and Shark Mode in the tunnel. When they get out, they face a massive army. Bulk and Spike make Samurai Symbols for themselves, both imitating what they both look like, Spike is a twig and Spike draws a hamburger for Bulk.

The Nighlok threatens Antonio. Jayden flies in with the Samurai Battlewing taking out Moogers. The other Rangers come in and Mia saves Jii and Antonio. The Four Rangers surround the Nighlok. Antonio morphs to Gold. Jayden confronts the monster with Shark Mode. They fight the Moogers. Lightzord flies in and serves as a shield. Gold fights the monster and pushes him down. Jayden uses Shark Mode against the monster.

They form the Samurai Megazord and Jayden enters with Mega Shark Mode. Gold uses Clawzord and its various modes. Monster holds down Clawzord and the Rangers ' blindside' him with Shark Zord and it attacks the monster. Monster lets go Clawzord. Sharkzord makes Samurai Shark Megazord. They destroy the monster. Later Mike feeds a cat. Jii congrats the team. Antonio talks about the Shark Disc. Kevin says he will be full of himself. Mike puts cat food in a bowl and gives it to Antonio. Antonio takes it and Jii says he will warm up food in the kitchen. Everyone laughs.

Review:

Mike's prank side has been dormant, I hope it comes out more. It was an interesting focus on Jii and Antonio but seem sort of 'on the surface' and didn't delve into too much. I LOVED the Bulk and Spike scenes, they reminded me more of Bulk and Skull more than anything else in the past episodes. Everyone is still complaining that this episodes doesn't explain much more about the Shark Zord but the Shinkenger episode this comes from didn't either.

And I feel both the Light Zord and Shark Zords had lackluster explanations. And the Lightzord seems to only move in Japanese footage. And the matching of the tunnels wasn't great because it was too bright in the new footage. They needed 'Light' but it barely 'Lit' anything. I remember how 'dark' it was in MMPR The Movie and this was no where near it. I love the Rainbow cockpit of the Shark Megazord.

Go-Busters 4

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Stunt Guy: Kefi Abrikh

UPDATED 12/29/12
Pictures of him in the suit without helmet was removed per request of Toei and other companies.

Kefi Abrikh, a young French lover of action movies and martial arts, studied and practised kung fu jeet kune do and freestyle acrobatic martial arts in Paris for 7 years. He later decided to go into action movies.

Fascinated since childhood by animation, the Japanese culture and live Sentai series, he studied the language and went to Japan at the age of 21. In Tokyo, he was really fortunate to be trained by Takanori Shibahara and his team of stunt performers.

He made his debut as a stunt performer in the entertainment industry and particularly in Japanese Characters shows, a genre of entertainment very popular in Japan. He also acted in television dramas and series of super-heroes. He stood out and was integrated the circle of Japanese cinema. He has become the first French stunt performer who still works in Japan today.

He was in stageshows for Magiranger, Shinkenger, Kamen Rider (as Shadow Moon), Kamen Rider Hibiki and Kamen Rider Den-O. More here.

He embodies the character Ultraman Xenon, super heroes ally. Tokusatsu TV series produced by Tsuburaya Productions and Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting Co., Ltd.. Broadcast on Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting from July 7th, 2005 to March 25th, 2006 in Japan..

A major role in the movie Kamen Rider Hibiki and the Seven War Demons (The Movie), he was wearing the costume of the character Toki rider of Hokkaido. Feature film produced by Toei Company.

Photographer: Lucie Vales

Photographer: Kanako Okada

Website:

http://wild-europe.com/kefi_abrikh-fr

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Legacy War WILL be shot for Power Rangers by Toei

Zeo Ranger V of TokuNation posted this:

Earlier this year rumors began to circulate that an interview with TOEI executive Takeyuki Suzuki for Hyper Hobby magazine mentioned the possibility of filming brand new Legend war footage for Power Rangers' 20th anniversary, with all pre-Zyuranger teams removed. Now, courtesy of Henshin Justice Unlimited user Nerefir the interview has been translated, and does indeed suggest that TOEI will be filming new footage for the anniversary. The translated portion of the interview has been included below.

HH: 2012 is also the 20th anniversary of Power Rangers, isn't it.

Suzuki: At first we got an offer from America to do something like "199 Heroes," but of course Power Rangers started with Zyuranger, so the characters before that don't exist. "So just get rid of those parts." (laughs) We can't do that either, so the discussion became "Let's just film new footage with the 20 years' worth that we do need."

HH: Power Rangers has already been reimported and dubbed with the voices of the actors that played in the Japanese original. That's very interesting.

Suzuki: Yes, once you get used to it, it's very interesting. But there's a cost to getting the actors to dub, so we can't really do it much.

HH: Lately they have events even in Taiwan. In Asia, it's not really "Power Rangers," is it?

Suzuki: I suppose. Originally they would just broadcast the Japanese version in east Asia. They've been doing that in Taiwan for 7 years now. It's not really profitable, but they wanted to try it out, so they did it. It's gotten an unusually good reaction.

HH: So then, what are the prospects for sentai, including Power Rangers, in 2012?
Suzuki: In America it will be the 20th anniversary of Power Rangers, so they have to put forth a lot of work. In preparation for that, they asked us to "film the parts with the sentai (from Zyuranger on) in Japan." We're currently setting up for that.

Lavender Ranger says: They say 2012 but they must mean 2013. So they haven't filmed the Legend War. It says 199 heroes but they probably mean Legend War. I hope they remember to exclude Dairanger and add Titanium Ranger, Phantom Ranger, Shark Ranger, Bat Ranger and Elephant Ranger (Spirit Rangers). In an interview with a Sentai producer, he said Bandai America has input and given that Japanese artists from Plex designed Titanium Ranger and the others, I am hoping someone tells Toei to add them.

http://www.tokunation.com/showthread.php?t=2709

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Poll Results: Go-Busters Suit actors/Next PR to Adapt/Super Samurai

Do you like Go-Busters so far?

Yes	227 (94%)
No	13 (5%)

Which Season you like more so far?

Samurai	33 (15%)
Super Samurai	175 (84%)

Which season do you think realistically Saban will adapt next?

Goseiger	139 (51%)
Gokaiger	110 (40%)
Go-Busters	20 (7%)

Which Season you want to adapted next?

Goseiger	129 (51%)
Gokaiger	107 (40%)
Go-Busters	25 (7%)

Do you think it strange that Yoshifumi Oshikawa who usually does Blue Rangers is now Red Buster?

Yes	56 (27%)
No	84 (40%)
Happy for him	125 (60%)

Do you like that the only female in Go-Busters is played by a stuntman?

Yes	66 (34%)
No	62 (32%)
Maybe	87 (46%)

Monday, March 12, 2012

Shout! Factory to release Power Rangers on DVD

Above picture from http://www.homemediamagazine.com/tv-dvd/shout-factory-distribute-power-rangers-other-saban-titles-26645
(Left to Right): Shout! Factory founders Garson Foos and Bob Emmer with Saban Brands President Elie Dekel and VP of Distribution Frederic Soulie.

This posted this on their Power Rangers Facebook, Sabans Power Rangers on Youtube and Power Rangers News on Twitter:

We are excited to announce that Shout! Factory will be releasing classic episodes and seasons of Power Rangers on DVD starting this year, most of them previously unavailable on home entertainment shelves! Get ready to relive those awesome moments from your past, check out episodes you may have missed, share your love for the show with a new generation of fans, and stay tuned for more info!

We are excited to announce that @ShoutFactory will be releasing classic episodes and seasons of #PowerRangers on DVD starting this year!

Shout! Factory has released My Little Pony: The Power of Friendship and Transformers Prime, which are the newest incarnations of those franchises. As for older shows, they have released Captain N, Rocko's Modern Life, Reboot, Puca, Dinosaur King, Ahh! Real Monsters, G.I.Joe and Jem. They are also releasing Tennessee Tuxedo on DVD, which was highlighted on Entertainment Weekly magazine. I didn't like what they did for the Jem complete series box set because the quality was bad but maybe they will do better because judging by the quality from Netflix and Powerrangers.com, the quality is good.

The multi-year alliance provides Shout! Factory with exclusive home entertainment packaged media (DVD/Blu-ray) and select digital rights to Saban Brands’ extensive catalog of properties including more than 700 episodes of Power Rangers (1993- 2009), 92 episodes of VR Troopers, 26 episodes of Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, and 88 episodes of Beetleborgs for home entertainment releases and digital distribution across select entertainment platforms in North America.

“We are incredibly excited about this new relationship with Saban Brands. Power Rangers continues to stand as a global pop culture phenomenon to this day. We look forward to bringing these highly entertaining series with great packaging and extras to fans and on family home entertainment shelves,” state Shout! Factory’s founding partners in a joint statement. “Our partnership with Shout! Factory is important and exciting news for our fans. Shout! Factory will provide unequaled access to archived content from Saban Brands,” said Elie Dekel, President of Saban Brands. “Fans can enjoy past episodes they haven’t seen, relive some of the exciting entertainment in these episodes, or even share them with a new generation of fans.”
http://www.deadline.com/2012/03/power-rangers-owner-saban-brands-sets-home-entertainment-pact-with-shout-factory/

The deal reportedly does NOT include the current incarnation of the show, Power Rangers Samurai, nor does it include the theatrical films spun off from the program (Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie and Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, whose rights have been retained all along by Fox Home Entertainment). he HMM story by John Latchem reports that the "Initial rollout plans for the Saban are slated to begin in summer 2012, according to Shout! Factory, with single-season sets to start and potentially complete-series sets in the future."
Taken from: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Mighty-Morphin-Power-Rangers-DVDs-Planned/16646#ixzz1owji2TGm

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Power Rangers Super Samurai Episodes and Shinkenger sources

UPDATED 10/3/12

BE AWARE OF SPOILERS!

1. "Super Samurai" (Aired 2/18/12)
Adapted from Shinkenger 24: True Samurai Combination

Super Red and Super Mega Red

2. "Shell Game" (Aired 2/25/12)
Adapted from Shinkenger 16: "Kuroko Power"

Super Blue and Super Mega Blue

3. "Trading Places" (Aired 3/3/12)

Adapted from Shinkenger 27: "Switched Lives"
Super Green and Super Mega Green

4. "Something Fishy" (Aired 3/10/12)

Adapted from Shinkenger 28: "The Lantern Samurai"
Serrator/Light Zord

5. "The Rescue" (Aired 3/17/12)

Possibly Adapted from Shinkenger 31: "The Kyoryu Origami"

Jii and Antonio are kidnapped by Octoroo and a new monster.
Shark Zord, Shark Mode and Shark Attack Mode

6. "The Bullzord" (Aired 3/24/12)
Possibly Adapted from Shinkenger 32 and 33: "The Ushi Orgami" and "The Great Bull King"
A young boy's actions release a powerful Zord who damages the city, so the Rangers set out to capture and train the creature.

Bull Zord and Shogun Mode

7. "He Ain't Heavy Metal, He's My Brother" (Aired 3/31/12)
Adapted from Shinkenger 34: "Fatherly Love, Girlish Innocence"

Mia's brother visits and asks her to sing in his band. Meanwhile, Serrator invades the city again.
Super Pink and Super Mega Pink

8. "Kevin's Choice" (Aired 4/7/12)

Adapted from Shinkenger 35: "The Eleven Origami, The Complete Combination"
Kevin's old team visits and his Samuraizer is eaten by a Nighlok.
Gigazord

9. "Runaway Spike" (Aired 4/14/12)

Adapted Shinkenger 29 "Runaway Lantern"
The Rangers battle a Nighlok that creates mirror images confusing them; Spike looks for a job to help Uncle Bulk.
Pink Shogun Mode

10."The Strange Case Of The Munchies" (Aired 4/21/12)
Adapted from Shinkenger 41: "Sent Words"
Emily loses confidence; a Nighlok's black sand causes desperate hunger and thirst in the Rangers.
(Word is that the episode 36 that introduces Super Shinken Yellow is skipped and uses 41 instead. And the shot of her using the Bullzooka was reshot with her holding her Super Spin Sword instead.)

Super Yellow and Super Mega Yello

11. "A Sticky Situation" (Aired 4/28/12)

Adapted from Shinkenger 37: "The Big Glue Battle"
(Kevin and Mike episode, they get stuck together)

Blue Shogun Mode

12. "Trust Me" (Aired 5/5/12)

Possibly adapted from Shinkenger 38: "Showdown with the Rifle Squad"
Bullzooka

13. "The Master Returns" (Aired 5/12/12)

Possibly adapted from Shinkenger 40: "The General goes into battle."
This the last episode title that was released with the first titles so most likely this will air before the summer or hopefully during the summer so it is spaced out a bit.

Bullzooka/Mega Blade combo