Power Rangers RPM - Episode 12 - "Blitz"

Episode Summary:

Dillon is walking down the stairs and into his car, he drops his morpher and has his pocket watch in his other hand. He stops in his tracks as Dr. K's door opens and we hear the watch music play. Dillon checks the end of his chain and there is nothing there. He walks toward the room and he groans as he gets a flashback as he twirls around. Suddenly he is elsewhere and sees a man with his pocket watch. He takes it out of the man's hands. The man turns around and it is Dillon and he asks "Who am I?" Dillon puts his hand in the air and then becomes the Dillon in the gown. A woman with a walking cane comes towards him and is attacked by Grinders. Dillon tries to save her but she falls and he grabs her hand and tries to pull her up. He is pulled away from her and she slips and falls. A bot with a satellite (Go-Onger Episode 11 Antana Banki) comes up to him and asks Venjix if he should do the upload on Subject D44. It is take his memories.

Dillon wakes up in a cold sweat, the Rangers are after two signals, one is trying to destroy the city's dome shield. Dr. K tracks the signal. Summer asks Dillon about his dreams and he lies. They race off and morph. At the evil lair, Venjix shows the generals what is going on. They fight the red Go-Onger Episode 13 monster Hikigane Banki (a water gun). Black and Green fight the monster and Black tells Green that he needs a bath. They get washed out by the monster, Yellow and Red try to fight him but he is hard to defeat. Dr. K tells Blue to conduct 'Wishbone Alpha,' which has nothing to do with a wishbone. Blue uses his time stop to beat up the red monster and they use the RPM Enforcer (5 weapons in one) to defeat him, he then becomes bigger because bigger is better. Zenith Megazord plays tag with the monster and then destroys it. Crunch says something against the monster and Venjix blasts him. Tenaya is to go to bed but Venjix wants her to stay, she says it is his fault since he gave her human body and emotions. Venjix's plan is to keep sending down attack bots while the shield is disrupted by his most reliable bot.


The Rangers then fight Kama Banki of Go-Onger Episode 14 in the forest, it is a big vat with teeth, which bites Ziggy. Dr. K has pinpointed the moving signal finally. The Rangers fight the monster with their individual weapons and then finish him off with the RPM Enforcer. The team then splits, Ziggy and Dillon go to the signal and the other three go to the 'alarms.' With all the cars are screeching, I wonder if they are using fuel-efficient cars. Ziggy and Dillon find the monster on top of a building. Dillon faces it and recognizes it from his dream/flashback. The bot says he still holds his memories and shows it to Dillon, he now knows it was not a dream. Dillon morphs and fights the bot.


The bot says his modifications are incomplete and he can fix that, he zaps his arm. He then zaps up in the air, effecting the climate controls. Ziggy jumps in as Dillon is capped from above, falls down the building and Ziggy saves him by teleporting mid-air. Their helmets come off and they stand up. K and the colonel track the monster. The trio says they are finished at the docks, we didn't see who they fought. The trio meet the SatBot and fight him. K tells them to destroy it. Red is about to but Black stops him, telling him it has his memories. The bot runs off. Dr. K wants it destroyed. Summer is for not destroying it, Scott says they have no choice and tells Ziggy to 'get him.' Ziggy teleports and fights the Satbot. Black is against it. K says she has no choice but to put him offline. Black fights it and sends a big signal of energy pouring through the other three, bringing them down.


The Satbot attacks upward and the blasts come down, blasting the five. Black gets up, saying about his memories, K tries shutting him down again, he says he doesn't shut down so easily and fights it again and then fights the bot. Black wants the memories back and now the Bot's hits don't phase him anymore. Black says it is over for him and beats him up. He then wants to destroy it. They form the RPM Enforcer, the Satbot says the old memories are all he has, Dillon says he has something else.. new ones and destroys the monster, not before him saying he'll never know the truth. The shields are then at 100%. Venjix is not happy. Tenaya goes to bed. Dillon is being analyzed by Summer and Dr. K. Dr. K says that SatBot activated a dormant virus inside him, meaning that the machinery inside him has restarted self-generation process that is growing. It will grow until it takes Dillon over entirely, there is no cure.

Episode Review:
It seems that the showrunner Eddie finally realized he had to get cracking with the footage and skip some monsters, and this case squeeze in a couple of monsters. They didn't use Episode 12 robot, which switched minds with the red ranger, so maybe they will use that for next week. Anyhoo, interesting they went back to the Dillon backstory, of course we are not going to find out everything so early, so they are going to spread it throughout the series. And the Dillon/Summer relationship hits a snag as Dillon isn't exactly letting Summer in. Also, I think it is a bit curious that Dillon switches his mind rather quickly to destroy the monster. This is another rushed episode and could have been a 2-parter.

This episode has no watermarks.

Queer Eye for the Rider Guy: Decade Complete Form and Kuuga new form

I decided it might be fun to critique the new uniforms in Kamen Rider Decade. The reason I call this "Queer Eye for the Rider Guy," as a reference to "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy"--I know that show is old, but I thought it would be cool to have a perspective of a gay person.

Kamen Rider Decade Complete Form
First off, they almost completely discarded pink from the outfit and went to black and silver, still keeping the barcode look and bulkiness of the last one. He gets a 4-pack abs like the last one had abs. What people don't' like are the cards on the front, of all the past Riders, it looks like a display case. I think it is distracting when he will fight. It looks so awkward. There could have been a better way to show the past Riders, like symbols on the chest and back or something like that. I like the Pink eyes, I like the shiny look. What is curious is the card on the top of his helmet, it is a picture of this helmet, meaning there is a mirror-like repetition of the same image, an endless paradox. Meaning the picture has the card as well and then in the card of the card, there he is again in a endless cycle. I am not loving the silver shoes, they are so boxy, they look a bit tasteless. The belt buckle looks like a PSP!

Kuuga

I think it doesn't have an official name yet. It is more gold than black. It has more horns and more details, it reminds me of the new rider Goldra in Cho Kamen Rider Den-O & Decade NEO Generations The Movie: The Onigashima Battleship. The helmet looks like a bit like Kamen Rider Another Agito but it is black and the mouth is more normal. I think it looks good, I would love if it had some red in it, maybe on the belt. I don't like how the eyes go black though. I hope Norihito Itou plays this form, like he played Kuuga in an early episode of Kamen Rider Decade.

The Song Dr.K plays in Power Rangers RPM Episode "Doctor K"

My friend says the song Dr. K plays on her violin is from the baroque period, but doesn't know the name. And the other classic music in the episode in this is Chopin.

UPDATE MAY 17, 2009
Thanks to Ballerinafairy, it is not baroque, it does sound like Paganini's Caprice.

Power Rangers RPM - Episode 11 - "Doctor K"

Episode Summary:
Dr. K is playing her violin and trying to configure the Zenith Megazord with no avail. She breaks the strings on her violin when Summer walks in. Meanwhile, Venjix presents the Reflex Bot and it opens up its mirror and the two dumb generals say how ugly they are, without realizing it is them. Venjix releases another one for Tenaya, saying she is his wisest and most trusted general. She says it is not saying much as the others continue being dumb. Back at the garage, Dr. K explains to the Rangers and Colonel that the Venjix hardware has gotten better and they can't match up. She needs a new flux overthruster for the Zenith Megazord, she doesn't have the answers and everyone is full of questions. Ziggy asks his question once again, "Are we or are we not the good guys?" Dr. K asks him what it is like. Ziggy is "like what?"


She asks what is it like being stupid your whole life, she wants to know if it is wonderful as it seems. Flashback to Dr. K as a child and playing with chalk making circles around one girl's pretty little house with equations. A mysterious man and woman, walk up to her, we do not see their faces. Dr. K offers them a chalk. Fade to black, no title as most origin episodes had titles. Dr. K blows the candles on her birthday cake and she wants to go outside but she is told her skin is sensitive to the sun and she is very sick. She has been taken in by this man and woman in the government corporation Alphabet Soup for her whole life. The man and woman tell her over and over again to do work, equations, and make a computer program. They ask her what is her wish on her birthday (she is probably a teenager by now), she says she wishes she could remember her name. Back to reality, the rangers go fight the monster.


The two megazords are formed and the bot can replicate a solid object and it does so with the Shark and Wolf and splits ValveMax apart. The bot replicates their saber and attacks the High Octane Megazord and the other three go down. Dr. K is distressed. The Rangers are at the mercy of the robot but it slows down and has a system failure. It shuts down and shrinks to adult size. Back at the lab, the soldiers bring in the robot, Colonel wants to destroy it but Dr. K wants to study it. She asked by Corporal Hicks how she created the Ranger Stuff. She says she had help. Flashback to her playing with her musical keyboard. The Man and Woman of Alphabet Soup bring her two test pilots for the Ranger hardware project... twins Gem and Gema who complete each other's sentences. They were raised in 'The Soup' as well.


They wish her happy birthday and give her a present... a big pencil of two colors (green and yellow). They say they are her friends. The present was wrapped with a gold ribbon and silver ribbon. She says she doesn't even like them. They say they still like her anyway. She worked that pencil to a nub working on the Ranger hardware on her computer. She spots a butterfly on her keyboard and follows it. The butterfly reaches a window and Dr. K is shocked to find out that the sunlight does not effect or harm her. Back to the present, the Rangers fight the drones and Tenaya surprises K again in her lab. K blasts her with her cannon and Tenaya blasts the lasers.


Tenaya makes it so Red can't control his zord. K puts a tub over Tenaya so she can't escape but of course her hand does. K tries to get things working again. Tenaya says she is getting out of there. K remembers when she wanted to escape 'The Soup' and take Gem and Gema with her. She explains they aren't allergic to the sun. It was all a lie. K planned to blind the security servers for a few minutes so the three could escape... with the Venjix virus they told her to create. She detonates it and then security comes to take Gem and Gema. So K tries to stop the virus but soldiers come and get her but she says she has to stop it or it will infect the entire world. She says all she wanted was to go outside. Present time, the Rangers gain control of the zords. The monster becomes big and K fight Tenaya. High Octane fights the suped-up robot with new additions. Tenaya whistles the 'Farmer in the Dell' again and mentions how K 'royally messed up.' K blasts at her angrily.


We see K do the message we heard in the first message and pack up the five Ranger morpher and cells. The Man and Woman want the computer back and don't want anyone to know Venjix started at the Soup. She tells them the world needs the Ranger technology. The two point guns at her. Gem and Gema beat them up for her. Gema says they are going back for the Gold and Silver series. K tells them they have no time. They run anyway and there are blasts and she thinks they are dead. K cries for her friends in a mini-freak out, Dr. K points the mirror of the fake bot at her and the flux thingy she needed is duplicated so they can make Zenith, which they do. They destroy the monster, Tenaya is kicked out by K's violin/sound blaster and she then looks sadly at the gold and silver ribbons of her only friends in the whole world.


REVIEW: (SPOILERS!)
BEST EPISODE OF POWER RANGERS EVER!!!!
One of the best! With the classical music and a few twists and turns, some expected (K asking Ziggy how it is being stupid) and unexpected (the reveal on Venjix). And a mega big other surprise! Gem and Gema! Yes, Gem and Gema are the Gold and Silver Ranger, not Scott's dead brother and Tenaya how some have theorized. This episode has so much backstory that the monster being destroyed was reduced to the end. And now we can theorize on why the two generals of Venjix are so dumb, the virus was created by a super genius teenager! This explains a lot and I am glad it was not all reduced to the day the virus hit. OOOOhhh, and K is keeping a secret from the Rangers! I couldn't count the candles on her cake, it's hard because the cake is white, the candles are white and almost the whole room was white!!! So does the 'K' stand for Katherine or Kim? We may never know! K doesn't even know.

American Footsoldiers

UPDATED JULY 15, 2009 9:00 PM EST

For those who do not know, some of the footsoldiers for the Power Rangers were not from the direct Japanese source. I also refer to the footsoldiers as grunts. Also wonder why some of them didn't get toys?

Z-Putties / Cotpotros
In Season Two of "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," Lord Zedd made his own putties. These were based on the Golem Hei from "Zyuranger" a.k.a. the Putties of Season One. They were referred to as 'Putties' but fans have dubbed them as 'Z-Putties.' The original Putties would teleport away once exhausted. But the Z-Putties went away when hit on the 'Z', which fans consider way too easier than the first ones. In Zyuranger, there was no getting rid of them, many grunts in Super Sentai don't disappear, they are just beaten or exhausted. Maybe the reason the Z-Putties were created was to go with familiarity. The Z-Putties are the only one of two American-made grunts to have their own toys.

Tengas / Dorodoros
Tengas first appeared in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, but they were called Tengu, based on Japanese folklore. But because of 20th Century Fox copyright, they couldn't use the same name so they changed one letter. The Tengus were created by Ivan Ooze, but the Tengas hatched from eggs, brought by Rito. The Dorodoros were the grunts from Kakuranger, maybe because of their look they were not chosen for Power Rangers. I suppose they used the Tengu costumes because they still had them. The Tengas are one of the few footsoldiers in PR history that can talk. I think the Cogs and Pirnatrons did. The Dorodoros did slip into some footage and were referred to as fans as 'Blue Putties.' The Tengus are the second and last American-made grunts to have toys, probably because there was enough time to make time, while other series lasted a year and with the rush the show people couldn't get to the toy people the designs.

Piranhatrons / Wumpers
Wonder why Robot Warriors got a toy and Piranhatrons did not? Piranhatrons were first seen in Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, but some had human faces and spoke, this disappeared in the show. Other American-created grunts were the Putra Pods. They were created to go along with the pirate theme of Divatox. The Wumpers were the grunts of the Bowsock in Carranger, they were called Robot Warriors, they were brought by General Havoc. They were probably brought on because they had no choice but to use the footage. The Robot Warriors were first seen as as Shadow Rangers. Robot Warriors got called Chromites in the toy lines.

Quantrons / Kunekunes
Wonder why the Craterites got toys and the Quantrons did not? Because the Kunekunes were from the footage and I suppose the American toy company thought the show would use it. Quantrons were Astronema's footsoldiers, looked more 'space,' so I guess it is why the Kunekunes were not used. Kunekunes were seen once in one episode called Craterites, because there was no choice to use the footage since the Megazord fought them. The Craterite toy also included the Megaranger villain Bibidibi, which I suppose the toy company thought they would use. Bandai America also did this again in Ninja Storm, by adding a small villain from the original series that was not used in the American series with a grunt.

Stingwingers / Yaatotto
Stingwingers were obviously created to go with the insect theme for the Lost Galaxy villains. Yaatottos of Gingaman were used for the Swabbies later on, just like the Craterites/Kunekune and Wumpers/Robot Warriors. Neither one got action figures, probably because the Yaatotto did not look appropriate for toy form. The Power Ranger-exclusive footsoldiers were not done again... until Dino Thunder.

Tyrannodrones / Barmia Hei
So five years later, in the 'Disney Era', the Tyrannodrones were created to match with the Mesogog theme. The Barmia Hei are Abaranger came in two colors, which was rare for Super Sentai at once. Some grunts have come in different colors but rarely at the same time for a whole footage. Once again like Craterites/Kunekune, Wumpers/Robot Warriors, and Swabbies/Yaatotto, the original grunts were used once again. The Barmia came in as the Triptoids. They came from a computer game and were used repeatedly again but came out for no reason, mainly because they had to use the footage.

Maggots / Chaps
Believe it or not, the Skugs and Ultra-Skugs from VR Troopers were from the original footage. The only other grunts from Saban's shows that were not from the original footage was the Maggots from Saban's Masked Rider. The Chaps from Kamen Rider RX were used occasionally but the Maggots were the main footsoldiers in that series.


Grunts to get action figures:
MMPR - Putties (8" figure), Z-Putties (5.5" figure), Tengu (5.5" figure), Putties (5" figure)
Zeo - Cogs
Turbo - 'Chromite'
Space - Craterite
Time Force - Cyclobot
Wild Force - Putrid
Ninja Storm - Kelzak (5.5" and 12" figure that came with Ninja Storm Warrior Pack), Kelzak Fury
Dino Thunder - Triptoid (green, white, black)
SPD - Krybots, Orangehead Troobian
Mystic Force - 'Evil Space Alien' (Hidac)
Operation Overdrive - 'Evil Space Alien' (Chiller: grey, green)
RPM - Grinder

Grunts not to get action figures:
Turbo - Piranhatron
Space - Quantron
Lost Galaxy - Stingwingers, Swabbies
Lightspeed Rescue - Batlings
Dino Thunder - Tyrannodrones
Mystic Force - Styxoids
Jungle Fury - Rinshi

Red-colored special class Grunts
I am not sure if this happened more in Sentai (even though the Zorors of Flashman were red already), but the Cotportos of Dairanger and the Orgettes of Gaoranger had special red suits but strangest thing (since Toei seems to name everything!), they had no special name. While the Maggareppa of Hurricanger had no red suits, Ninja Storm had the Kelzak Fury. I don't recall if the Kelzak Fury toys or Kelzak Fury soldiers in the series appeared first. My own personal opinion is that the Kelzak Fury are based on the Red Orgettes. But who knows the real reason?

Kamen Rider Decade, Cho Den-O, and Sentai 2010 rumors

UPDATED MAY 28, 2009
Okay, this has been an unique year for Kamen Rider because Kamen Rider Decade and the English adaption. Kamen Rider Decade has shown suits from all the shows of this past decade. Instead of having the actors from their respective shows, perhaps because it is hard to get the same actors, they re-casted the actors and/or gave the characters new names and origins. Two episodes of Kamen Rider Decade spends in one dimensional world.

1. Decade's World (Rider War)
2-3. Kuuga's World (Kuuga's World, Transcendence)
4-5. Kiva's World (Second Movement Prince Kiva, The Biting King's Qualifications)
6-7. Ryuki's World (Battle Judgement: Ryuki World, Super Trick of the Real Criminal)
8-9. Blade's World (Welcome to the Blade Restaurant, Blade Blade)
10-11. Faiz's World (Faiz High School's Phantom Thief, 555 Faces, 1 Treasure)
12-13. Agito's World (Reunion: Project Agito, Awakening: Tornado of Souls)
14-15. Den-O's World (Cho Den-O Beginning, Here Comes Cho Momotaros!)
16-17. Kabuto's World (Warning: Kabuto Running Amok, The Grandma Way of Taste)
18-19. Hibiki's World (Idle Hibiki, Journey's End)

Rumors are that Kamen Rider Decade will end in August and Cho Den-O will begin then. Now there is a new rumor on a new show coming in February Kamen Rider W (Zwei). Now, I am one of those who do believe Decade will end early (most likely 25 to 26 episodes). I believe Decade will enter eitherthe Rider War in June or July. It is rumored a famous actor will play Hibiki. Now, about Cho Den-O and W, it could be that Cho Den-O ends in February or it will continue with W also airing in February.

Cho Kamen Rider Den-O & Decade NEO Generations The Movie: The Onigashima Battleship is now showing in theaters in Japan, having debuted May 1st and August 8, Decade The Movie: All Riders vs. Great Shocker will be released along with the Shinkenger Movie. This will feature Riders from the Heisei Era: Decade, Blade, Den-O, etc. and those from Show Era: Stronger, Black RX, ZX, and others. It is also rumored that the movie will have a new Movie-exclusive Rider, which I doubt but we will see.

The Super Sentai 2010 series is rumored to be called "Toukon Sentai Resurinjya" (Fighting Spirit Taskforce Resurinjya). Resurinjya means Wrestling Ranger, making everyone believe it will be wrestling fighting based but it might be more Sumo Wrestling and Masked Wrestling than American WWE. This is of course subjected to change. Dukemon22, who have supplied in rumors and spoilers since 2004, says this may have come because of Decade and Cho Den-O. But curiously, the Samurai theme rumor remained last year from August until the show aired. As for the Shinkenger movie, there will be special Origami, KuwagataOriGami, a remodel of the Kabuto. It is said to be a Kugawata but it looks like a hermit crab to me. Update: It turns out to EbiOrigami, Ebi means shrimp but it is suppose to be a lobster.