Power Rangers Beast Morphers - Beast King Rampage - Episode Review

Pictures from Pictures from @powerrangersfun

Summary:

Evox brainwashed Nate to create malware and Scrozzle put it in a dart for Blaze and Roxy to put in a new weapon. General Burke has a new weapon. He is about to show a video, but it was Betty and Ben in an embarrassing karate video. Burke reveals they made a new zord Beast-X King which makes the commander and the rangers upset. They plan to make a bunch of them to guard the Morph-X around the planet. The mayor brings in Megan, who the Rangers have bad blood with. Megan created the Beast-X King Zord and the majestic zord comes out of mountains. Megan apologizes to the Rangers because of her past actions. 

Blaze and Roxy are next to it and throw the dart that makes it go wild. Beast-X King shoots fire. Nate asks if the zord has a firewall against viruses. Nate says it is Evox. Commander tells Devon to go in his zord. The mayor smirks. Cheetah is deployed against the lion and they tackle. Cheetah goes to battle mode and climbs on top while the lion runs off. Devon and the zord is dropped down. Nate tries to take care of the virus. He shows footage from earlier, the dart. His guess is the dart with from Evox. He blames Megan from not installing a firewall.

Megan offers help but Nate doesn't want it. Megan gives Zoey the morpher and controller. Megan wants tot alk to Zoey. Steel and Ravi go in a van with a satelite dish. Megan tells Zoey that Nate's plan will backfire and apologizes. She wants her to believe she has changed. She wanted a second chance after showing them she wants to help. Zoey leaves regardless. Ravi and Steel arrive with the satellite and laptop. Nate sends the reprogramming signal. Devon tries to give them a clear shot by jumping on the new zord. The zord tries knocking them off.

Nate sends the data and the lion flips Cheetah off. Beast-X King changes modes to a battle mode. The two robots fight. Nate sees he gave it a battle mode. Zoey calls the duo back. Devon fights the zord within his zord. Zoey brings up Megan to Nate. She convinces him to get her to help. He runs to her and tells her what happened. She says something has to shoot into the zord. He shows her the Ultra Bow, which has Gorilla and Rabbit DNA. She suggests adding Lion DNA so it is compatible. They initiate the lion dna and it changes with a lion head. Beast-X King Ultra Bow is now the name. Nate congratulates and thanks Megan. The Rangers leave to the site. 

Blaze and Roxy arrive and fight the Rangers. Nate asks for a clear shot. Cheetah punches the lion and Nate shoots the power bolt. Beast-X King turns into a lion and is tamed. The Rangers celebrate. Evox/Mayor is upset and leaves. Cheetah gets on the lion and goes back to base. The Rangers fight the Tronics and Roxy. Blaze leaves to fight Devon. The Rangers morph. Blaze arrives in his rebuilt zord. It blasts at the Racer zord on top of Beast-X King. Beast-X King becomes a motorcycle. Nate destroys Robo-Roxy with his bow. Blaze's zord falls down. Cruise tells Devon they are out of Morph-X. He enters the Beast-X King Zord. He changes it to battle mode. Blaze brings his zord up. The two fight. Beast-X King destroys the zord/Gigadrone. Blaze is destroyed too, seemingly. In the base, Ravi has Evox's dart and says they will destroy it. Megan gives Devon the key and morpher. The General apologies for not informing them. Nate and Megan hug. Megan thanks them. Ben and Betty come in with the camera fixed. Ben grabs the evox dart and throws it at Steel and it goes wild. He detaches his legs. His legs go wild. Ben and Betty take Steel on a cart to get the legs. Everyone laughs. 

Review:

If more episodes were like the first act of this episode, bringing in together the plot threads and characters back from other episodes and not just being standalone. The first act ties in Nate being brainwashed last episode, the Mayor being taken over by Evox which has been in all season 2, and Megan from a past episode. It creates conflict between the Rangers. The look on their faces when they find out a zord was created without them was priceless. This episode tries to redeem Megan and the Rangers are understandably hesitant to trust her. This is a good episode with layers that are rarely done in recent Power Ranger seasons. Evox is still affably evil, just for the evulz. It would be better if he had a drive with more depth than just being 'an evil virus.' Venjix of RPM at least had a creator in the mentor. I am not saying Nate should've created Evox but at least having some sort of connection to Evox. 

The majority of the story is from Go-Busters but the Beast-X King Ultra Bow is new. But it was clever to add it to the plot as the Go-Busters threw a cure dart on the zord. So it is unknown if the bow idea came from the story or it was just a coincidence. Anyway one of the better "Introduce new toys" episodes. 

Power Rangers Beast Morphers - Blame Game - Episode Review

Pictures from @powerrangershype

Episode Summary:

The Rangers are playing at the park. A little girl drops trash on the ground and her father reprimands her. Steel observes this and the Rangers teach him about discipline. Blaze and Roxy give a puppet to Scrozzle. Evox wants the Gold Ranger. Scorzzle makes Controlatron. Blaze and Roxy takes them to Grid Battleforce. Ben and Betty struggle with a leaf blower and Betty adds Morph-X to it. They end up sucking up a tree from its roots. Back inside, Cole is the security check guy. He was about to let a worker go without scanning a package. Steel reprimands Cole. They clarify the worker had her lunch. Steel punishes Cole by sweeping outside. Zoey tells him he is being harsh. Ravi agrees. Cole says working at GB is a dream so he goes to sweep. Devon doesn't think it was necessary. 

Controlatron gives Blaze two puppets. Blaze runs over and drops a package with a puppet of Cole. Cole spots the puppet, thinks it is cute and picks it up. He is instantly controlled like a puppet by Controlatron. Controlatron sends Cole to Nate to deliver the package. Nate is practicing with a new bow weapon. Nate opens it and touches the puppet and becomes controlled. Back at Riptide Gym, the Rangers group up. Steel tells of all the reprimanding he did at the base. The server brings them smoothies and Steel has him spit out gum. He wants to punish him but Devon stops him. Zoey thinks he is overboard. The Rangers get called. Nate is not answering. 

They find the Controlatron and Gold Ranger being controlled by him. "I'm a good little puppet," Nate says. Nate fights the unmorphed Rangers.  Controlatron shows he controls Nate. The Rangers morph. Nate calls Tronics. The two groups battle. Steel tries to stop Nate but fails. Zoey uses a broom to fight. Ravi and Steel are knocked down by Nate. Nate and Controlatron teleport away. In the dark dimension, Nate completes the programming for Evox's secret project. Evox tells Blaze and Roxy reasons why they suck. 

Nate is done. Evox says Nate can help battle the Rangers. Scrozzle sends two Gigadrones. Ben and Betty send Devon outside, saying they spotted Nate outside. Steel and Ravi show the commander Cole handing a package to Nate that controls him. Cole says he doesn't remember, everything was a fog. Steel wants to fire him. Commander Shaw concurs, after Zoey's protests. Cole leaves the building. The Rangers go with their zords to fight a Gigadrone. Nate pops up behind Devon about to attack him but Cole saves him.  Cole ducks behind a car and Nate and Devon fight. Nate and Devon morph and battle some more. The Zords are deployed. They fight one Gigadrone. 

Gorilla punches the first one down. Gold and Red continue to fight. Another Gigadrone comes up behind Gorilla and uses it as a puppet. Steel and his megazord are attacked by the gorilla. Devon sees Controllatron, aims for Nate but throws his saber at Drillatron's puppet. Devon snaps back to normal. Devon uses Beast-X Mode. Controlatron kicks them with a blast. Red destroys the monster with his Cheetah Charge. Zoey blasts the puppet of the Gigadrone and Gorilla is freed from its control. Cheetah Zord arrives and they form the Megazord. Gold joins Silver. The two Megazords destroy the two Gigadrones. At the base, Nate mentions a fog. Steel remembers what Cole said and admits he messed up. Betty uses one drop of Nate's tree growing solution on a seed and makes a sapling. But in saying hello to the commander, she accidentally drops the solution. Steel apologizes to Cole and he is rehired. The tree grows huge with Ben and Betty hanging from it.

Episode Review:

Commander Shaw firing Cole gets me mad because they could've seen the security footage of the parking lot where Cole was controlled like a puppet. Even worse, they could've waited for more explanations. Also, Cole is played by the same actor that played Levi's superfan in Ninja Steel. 

Power Rangers Beast Morphers - Cruisin for a Bruisin - Episode Review

Episode Summary:

Devon says whoever misses target practice has to pay for smoothies. Steel says he can't drink a smoothie. They all fire on their targets. Cruise has the remote control and calls a real Tronic that moves. It moves too fast and everyone misses. Cruise shows them and manages to hit the Tronic. making Devon believe he is an awesome shot to use on the team. Nate says Beast Bots were not built for ground fights. Devon convinces him to make him blasters. The Tronic stumbles upon Ben and Betty and they think its real and rope it but it keeps moving and takes them for a ride. They decide to use it as a mopping machine. Back in the dark dimension, Scrozzle made a new Robotron that absorbs tech. 

Nate makes Cruise some wheel blasters. Commander sends them to a disturbance. Nate and Devon talk again about Nate's concerns for Cruise. Digitron absorbs tech all over the city. The Rangers morph. They fight Tronics. Digitron targets Cruise. Cruise asks for help and Devon can't make it. Digitron absorbs Cruise. Devon manages to get the Tronics off but it is too late. He speeds up to fight the monster but he knocks Devon down. Zoey and Ravi are also knocked down as Digitron is stronger. Nate and Steel return. Devon tries cable strike but Digitron teleports away. Devon falls to his knees.

The other Beastbots miss him. Devon blames himself and says he didn't listen to Nate. Ravi says if it wasn't Cruise, it would have been Steel. Devon has an idea using Smash and Jax, they could combine with their Beast Bots and power up. Nate agrees to it. He says he can reverse what happened to Cruise. Back at the dark dimension, Blaze and Roxy tell Scrozzle he did a good job but not get too cocky. Nate gives the Rangers keys to digitize the Beast Bots. Ravi and Zoey digitize Smash and Jax. Nate gives Devon a key to get Cruise out. They are given visors to attach to their morphers to call upon Beast-X Mode. The Beast Bots will become their armor. 

 The Rangers morph and fight the bots. Digitron knocks down the main trio. Devon stands up and gets the Beast-X Visor. He gets the key and runs toward the monster. Nate and Steel hold down Digitron and Devon pulls out Cruise. He digitizes Cruise and activates Beast-X Mode. Ravi and Zoey also don Beast-X Mode. Digitron feels weaker. Tronics fight the newly powered-up Rangers, who have new tricks. Steel and Nate just watch. Devon destroys the monster. 

The Beast Bots return. In the Dark Dimension, the mayor becomes Evox. Scrozzle tries to distract him but Evox knows he failed. Blaze and Roxy told him. Evox wants the Gold Ranger. Cruise returns the Wheel Blasters, saying he likes the Beast-X Mode. Cruise apologizes to Devon but Devon does reverse and says he is his best friend. Ben and Betty have their Tronic clean up but as always, it becomes messy when the Tronic goes after the gang. Cruise destroys it with his Wheel Blasters.

Episode Review:

As an adult, the slow way they explain pretty simple Sci-Fi tropes as digitization reminds me of "Technology Marches on" trope because this tech or sci-fi might be outdated in ten years. What I mean is they explain digitizing the Beast Bots in a simple and slow way for kids. Digitizing in real life only works for paperwork and data, not solid objects or living things. Now this notion of Digitizing might be outdated soon so the sci-fi notion of digitizing robots and people might be old news soon too. As for Devon and Cruise, fans say the Beast Bots don't get as much attention as they did in Go-Busters and the impact of losing Cruise is not there. I think Steel represents the Beast Bots in many ways. I think fans would have been more devastated if Steel was digitized. 

Power Rangers and other Toku Cast and Crew who died

Robert V. Barron 

December 26, 1932 – December 1, 2000; 67 years old

Cause of death: unknown  - Was an ADR writer for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episodes from “Day of the Dumpster” to “Doomsday – part II”.   He was Abraham Lincoln in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

Roger Olkowski 

April 12, 1952 – June 18, 2001; 49 years old

Cause of death: brain cancer  - Was the 2nd Unit Director of Photography for Power Rangers Zeo episodes “A Zeo Beginning (both parts), “The Shooting Star”, and “Target Rangers”.  - Was also the camera operator for Power Rangers in Space episodes “A Line in the Sand” and both parts of “Countdown to Destruction”.  

 Lawrence L. Simeone 

April 30, 1953 – February 3, 2002; 48 years old

Cause of death: complications following open heart surgery  - Directed Power Rangers Turbo episodes “The Curve Ball” and “Carlos and the Count”.   


Hal England 
(October 2, 1932 – November 6, 2003; 71 years old)  Cause of death: heart attack  - Played Earl in the Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue episode “A Test of Trust”.     

George “Buck” Flower 

October 28, 1937 – June 18, 2004; 66 years old

Cause of death: cancer  - Played a civilian in the Power Rangers in Space episode “Countdown to Destruction – part 2”.  - Played a homeless man in the Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue episode “The Great Egg Caper”.  - Played a bartender in the Power Rangers Time Force episode “Movie Madness pt. 2”. He was in Back to the Future as the neighborhood bud. 

Kerry James Casey
November 9, 1954 – November 25, 2015; 61 years old)\

Cause of death: cancer

- Suit actor for Goldar in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie.

Gary Glasberg 

July 15, 1966 – September 27, 2016; 50 years old 

Cause of death: unknown (died in sleep) - Wrote the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episodes “Big Sisters” (w/Shuki Levy), “Green with Evil – part I: Out of Control” (w/Stewart St. John), “Green with Evil – part V: Breaking the Spell” (w/Shuki Levy), and “The Green Candle – part II” (w/Stewart St. John)”.

Allison Ivy Shearmur (née Brecker)
October 23, 1963 – January 19, 2018; 54 years old

Cause of death: lung cancer

- Executive producer for Power Rangers (the movie).

Other AmeriToku actors who have passed on

Here is a list of actors from other American Tokusatsu (AmeriToku) who have passed on. Special thanks to Khal F.

Gardner Winston Baldwin
March 22, 1951 – September 7, 2011; 60 years old

Cause of death: heart attack

- Played Karl Ziktor and voiced Grimlord in VR Troopers.

- Voiced monster Mandible in the Masked Rider episode “Pet Nappers”.

Richard L. Rabago 

August 14, 1943 – May 18, 2012; 68 years old

Cause of death: unknown

- Played Tao Chong in VR Troopers.

- Played Master Lee in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episode “Plague of the Mantis”.

John Finbar Cassin (a.k.a. Barry Cassin)
November 23, 1924 – January 14, 2017; 92 years old
Cause of death: unknown - Played Cathbad in Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog.

Vivian Lee Smallwood 
June 18, 1933 – July 22, 2017; 84 years old
Cause of death: natural causes - Played Nano Williams in Big Bad BeetleBorgs and BeetleBorgs Metallix.

Peadar Lamb 
1930 – September 1, 2017; 86-87 years old
 Cause of death: unknown (died in sleep)
Played King Fin Varra in Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog.

\Verne Jay Troyer 

January 1, 1969 – April 21, 2018; 49 years old

Cause of death: suicide by alcohol

- Played Ferbus in Masked Rider.

Joseph Pilato (a.k.a. Joey Pal) 

March 16, 1949 – March 24, 2019; 70 years old

Cause of death: unknown (died in sleep)

- Voiced Vexor in Big Bad BeetleBorgs.
- Best known for his performance as Captain Rhodes in the 1985 film Day of the Dead.  

Power Rangers actors who have passed away

UPDATED 3/26/20 Thanks to Khal F for the help!

Robert Lawrence Manahan 

August 23, 1956 – June 30, 2000

Cause of death: heart aneurysm

He voiced Zordon from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to Power Rangers in Space. The Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue episode “The Fifth Crystal” was dedicated to his memory. He was 43. 

Thuy Trang

December 14, 1973 - September 3, 2001
She was born Saigon, South Vietnam. She graduated from Banning High School and earned a scholarship to study civil engineering at the University of California, Irvine. Trang died in a car accident at the age of 27 on September 3, 2001. She was 27.

Erik Frank
October 14, 1971 - April 16, 2001
Jason David Frank's (Tommy) older brother died of an unspecified illness around the same time Thuy Trang died, five months apart but Jason couldn't go to Thuy's funeral. He played Tommy's brother David Trueheart, in several episodes of Power Rangers Zeo. He was 29.

Jacob Becker (a.k.a. Jack Banning) 

August 21, 1931 – July 10, 2005

Cause of death: complications from pneumonia

He played Professor Elliot Phenomenus in Power Rangers in Space and in Power Rangers Lost Galaxy. He was 73.

Robert DeWayne Pappenbrook 

(September 18, 1955 – March 17, 2006; 50 years old)

Cause of death: chronic lung complications

- Voiced Rito Revolto in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Power Rangers Zeo. 

- Voiced monsters Saliguana and Snizard in “The Wedding – part III”.

- Voiced monsters Sting King, Lunartick, and a plant monster in Power Rangers in Space.

- Voiced Deviot, and monster Radster in Power Rangers Lost Galaxy.

- Voiced monsters Fireor and Thunderclaw in Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue.

- Voiced monsters Univolt and Artillacon in Power Rangers Time Force.

- Voiced monster Bell Org in Power Rangers Wild Force, and also played Mike/store clerk on-screen.

- Voiced monsters Spitbot, Footbot, a van monster, and Serpentoid in VR Troopers.

- Voiced monsters Edentada, Cyborgator, and Bruticon in Masked Rider.

- Voiced Shadow Borg and monsters Amp Head, Hammerhands, and Borgslayer in Big Bad BeetleBorgs.

- Voiced Scorpix, and monster Aqualung in BeetleBorgs Metallix.

Machiko Soga
March 18, 1938 - May 7, 2006

The legendary Machiko Soga, best known to Americans as Rita Repulsa, she played Queen Hedrian in Denshi Sentai Denziman and Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan, witch Bandora in Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, Queen Pandora in Jikuu Senshi Spielban, Raraba in Episode 30 of Maskman, and Magiel the Queen of the Sky Saints in Mahou Sentai Magiranger. She was fighting pancreatic cancer for almost two years. She was 68.

Edward Laurence Heimberger 
February 20, 1951 – September 22, 2006

He played Albert Collins (Wes' dad) in Power Rangers Time Force. He was 55 years old and died of lung cancer. His real name was Edward Laurence Albert.

Richard Genelle
October 12, 1961 - December 30, 2008
He played Ernie from 1993-1997, Genelle died following a heart attack in 2008. He was 47.

Franklin Fernando “Grey Wolf” Salsedo May 20, 1929 – July 3, 2009; 80 years old

Cause of death: unknown

- Played Sam True-of-Heart in the Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers episode “Sowing the Seas of Evil”.

- Played Sam Trueheart in Power Rangers Zeo episodes “Inner Spirit”, “Challenges”, “Found and Lost”, and “Brother, Can You Spare an Arrowhead?”.

Peta Rutter
1959 – July 20, 2010
She passed away in July 2010, after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. She portrayed the mentor Udonna/White Mystic Ranger.

Robert Douglas von Fliss
June 28, 1925 – November 22, 2010; 85 years old

Cause of death: unknown

- Played Santa Claus in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episode “I’m Dreaming of a White Ranger”, the VR Troopers episode “Santa’s Secret Trooper”, the Masked Rider episode “Ferbus’ First Christmas”, and the Big Bad BeetleBorgs episode “Christmas Bells and Phasm’s Spells”.

Richard L. Rabago 

August 14, 1943 – May 18, 2012; 68 years old

Cause of death: unknown

- Played Tao Chong in VR Troopers.

- Played Master Lee in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episode “Plague of the Mantis”.

Mauricio Damian Mendoza 

July 26, 1974 – August 13, 2013; 39 years old

Cause of death: unknown

- Played Richie in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episodes “The Beetle Invasion”, “Welcome to Venus Island”, “The Song of Guitardo”, “Green No More – part I”, “Green No More – part II”, “Missing Green”, “Orchestral Maneuvers in the Park”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “White Light – part I”, “White Light – part II”, “Two for One”, and “Opposites Attract”.

Jonathan Martin Simanton 

September 4, 1970 – February 17, 2015; 44 years old

Cause of death: unknown

- Played Lerigot of Lairia in Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie and possibly in the Power Rangers Turbo episodes “Shift into Turbo – part II” and “Shift into Turbo – part III”.

Winston Dean Richard November 12, 1940 – April 25, 2016; 75 years old

Cause of death: unknown

- Was the supervising producer for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episodes from “Day of the Dumpster” to “Doomsday – part II”.

- Played Zordon of Eltar in Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie.

- Wrote the VR Troopers episode “Good Trooper, Bad Trooper”.

Ralph Votrian
May 16, 1934 – April 13, 2017; 82 years old

Cause of death: unknown

- Played King Lexian in Masked Rider, and in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episode “A Friend in Need – part III”.

Grant McFarland
1947 – November 20, 2018; 71 years old

Cause of death: unknown

- Played Sensei Kanoi Watanabe and Kiya Watanabe/Lothor in Power Rangers Ninja Storm.

- Played Daisuke in the Power Rangers Samurai episode “The Tengen Gate”.

Pua Magasiva 
 August 10, 1980 – May 11, 2019
He was a New Zealand actor of Samoan descent, best known for his roles as Shane Clarke, the Red Ranger from Power Rangers Ninja Storm. He passed away in 2019. He was 38. For more information, see here.

Alistair Browning
February 8, 1954 – June 2, 2019; 65 years old

Cause of death: cancer

- Played Jake Brooks in the Power Rangers Ninja Storm episode “Sensei Switcheroo”.

- Voiced Pollinator in the Power Rangers Dino Thunder episode “Back in Black”.

- Voiced Green Monster in the Power Rangers S.P.D. episode “Wormhole”.

- Voiced Zenowing/Silver Dino Charge Ranger in Power Rangers Dino Super Charge.

Justin Cody Slaton (a.k.a. Cody Slaton)
July 9, 1983 – July 24, 2019; 36 years old

Cause of death: unknown

- Played Young Bulk in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers two-parter “Rangers Back in Time” and in Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers. A Bakersfield-area public safety dispatcher died Wednesday in his home, according to the California Highway Patrol. The CHP says the death of Justin Cody Slaton, 36, was "unexpected." Slaton is survived by his wife Veronica, daughters Chloe, 11, and London, 8, and son Maverick, 6.

Robert Axelrod
 May 29, 1949 – September 7, 2019
Robert Axelrod also credited as Axel Roberts and Myron Mensah, was an American actor. Axelrod died in Los Angeles on September 7, 2019 at the age of 70. He had been suffering from problems caused by spinal surgery. He was survived by his sister. He is best known as Lord Zedd but also voiced Finster and other monsters.