Saturday, February 15, 2014

Power Rangers Super Megaforce - Episode Review - Super Megaforce

 
After a recap of "End Game," in Vekar's ship, we see Prince Veker, Vrak's brother and his crew which include Damaras, a red face goon; Argus, a silver robot and Levira, a green female alien. Levira wish she could scan for Vrak, Vekar thinks he is dead. A general lands on Earth and is confident. Emma the Pink Ranger fights X-Borgs in the mall and encounters Ernie. Noah the Blue Ranger fights X-Borgs in the high school and rallies the students to fix the school and find teachers. Jake the Black Ranger and Gia the Yellow Ranger return to the Command Center tired. 


Gia assumes communications are down and Gosei says nothing. Noah arrives, they all hug, Tensou is glad they are all okay. The trio wonder where the others are, Emma arrives, reporting there is still a threat. Gosei then goes on to tell them that the Warstar aliens they fought in the last year was just the tip of the iceberg... I mean the spear. He says the Earth hasn't seen an invasion like this (even though fan Razzle brings up the good point that in Space they did have a big armada attacking). 
 
They hear footsteps and wonder if Emma was followed, it turns out to be Troy, who has been searching for Robo Knight. Troy asks Gosei if he can scan for him but he says he can't. Gosei tells them that it is finally time to use Super Mega Mode. Gosei gives them Ranger Keys and Legendary Morphers, telling them they can also access the powers of Legendary Rangers but for a limited time using the Ranger Keys that line the walls of the Command Center. Jake brings up the fact that he has a Green key and not Black. Gosei says there is a simple explanation for that but oh Squirrel! There is an attack.
 

The Rangers face the general. They go to Super Mega Mode and fight the X-Borgs. Each Ranger is equipped with a Super Mega Blaster and Super Mega Sword. Blue and Yellow give Green and Pink their blasters and they get their swords. Then they face the monster and change into Samurai by saying "Go Go Samurai" and inserting the keys.


Then they quickly change into Mystic Force by saying "Magical Source, Mystic Force!" They introduce themselves like "Blue Mystic Ranger," etc. They are blasted and go back to Super Mega Mode. Gosei tells them to put their keys in their swords and they conduct the Final Strike and destroy it.

Vekar is mad. Argus presents Vekar with another general and he is sent. The Rangers fight X-Borgs again in Super Mega form. Then turn to SPD and Ninja Storm. The five Super Megaforce Rangers then yell "Legendary Red Ranger Mode."

Troy goes from Red Ninja Storm to Red Samurai Ranger, Noah goes from Blue Ninja Storm to Red Wild Force Ranger, Gia goes from Yellow Ninja Storm to Red Mystic Force, Jake goes from Crimson Ranger to Red Operation Overdrive, and Emma goes from Navy Ranger to Red Jungle Fury Ranger. They defeat the monster. Levira uses a new device from the ship to Earth, making not only the monster big but some blue X-Borgs (or Bruisers?) big too. 

Gosei sends down the Super mega Sky Ship and other zords pop out. They fight with their zords and then form Legendary Megazord. The monster tries turning the wheel on their back and it unleashing a cannon. They destroy the monsters. Back at school, Noah asks the girl he encounter before how it is going, she says they need a teacher.


He goes to Mr. Burley's office and recruits him. Everyone cheers when Mr. Burley enters his class, quoting his first class with them and mentions Troy (not by name) and he is not there. They all cheer that humans can outlast everybody. Troy is at a beach and wonders where Robo Knight is.

Review:
Lots of fans are complaining that Gosei just brings out the Super Mega powers out of nowhere and they had to earn Ultra Mode and the Samurai Rangers took three eps to get their Super Mode. I understand there is very little time and with the footage and episode constraints but it would had been nice if they said Gosei and Tensou were working on it. I mean, they worked on Gosei Ultimate. Anyways, I liked they did explain Green/Black for Jake, I had a feeling they had to say something but this was funny. One fanon (Fan canon) reason I can think of is Gosei could have said: "With the past Rangers, most teams except rare occasions had Black or Green Rangers, you represent that Jake."


Also causally mentioning Vrak and Robo Knight was not enough, it would have been nice to see them for a short cameo at least. Hopefully they aren't forgotten later in the season. As for the use of two episodes, I am not fond of how they did it, it seems clunky without the Rangers unmorphing and having some scene of them out of suit. Having them fight X-Borgs twice as Super Mega was a bit tiring to watch. Also I couldn't stand the Rangers constantly saying "I love these new powers."  It was clever to replace GoseiRed with Red Operation Overdrive Ranger in the all-red change since they couldn't have Jake as Troy's form I suppose.


I also like Levira's voice (sounds like Candence Bergen of Murphy Brown to me) and Vekar's voice (he seems to be more commanding and brave than his Japanese counterpart). Also, no mention on them being pirates, I hope it is mentioned some other time.  Overall, not a bad episode, but not a great one either. The Gokaiger footage is just great. I have high hopes for this half of Megaforce.

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