Saturday, April 12, 2008

Power Rangers/Super Sentai Character Conversion: S.P.D. / Dekaranger

Power Rangers S.P.D. (Space Patrol Delta) [2006] / Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger (Investigation Team Dectetive Ranger) [2005]

'Deka' also means 'ten,' they did indeed have Ten rangers in the range of the series. In Dekaranger, SPD stands for Special Police Dekaraner, while in Power Rangers, it was 'Space Patrol Delta.' Both were about police against aliens, except SPD for some reason was set in the year 2025 and on top of that kept going further into the future (2040).

Jack Landors / Ban Akaza (DekaRed)
Ban was the most hated character among fans, mainly because he is an obnoxious self-centered delinquent. Jack was also a bit self-centered but more tolerable, he sometimes was an opportunist but it was mostly because he didn't know what the heck he was doing. He longed for a purpose. Jack could walk through walls and is the second African-American leader of Power Rangers.

Sky Tate / Hoji Tomasu (DekaBlue)
Both Hoji and Sky both didn't tolerate their Red leader, Hoji was formerly the leader and Sky wanted to be the Red Ranger like his father. Hoji was serious and seemed arrogant. Sky was serious, strict, stern and didn't smile much. I guess culturally and acting styles differed. Sky did get to be the Red Ranger at the end when Jack left and once when he let him. Sky could create force-fields.

Bridge Carson / Senichi "Sen-chan" Enari (Deka Green)
Very similar in the respect that they both had the habit of standing on their heads to think better. Sen is absolute in his decisions once his mind is made up, unlike Bridge which was in middle in decisiveness. Sen's eccentricity was accepted as business as usual, while Bridge was not often understood. Sen was claustrophobic, but Bridge wasn't. Sen also loved Umeko. Bridge had gloves like Jasmine, he had a extrasensory power but not psychic, he could read if there was something strange.

Elizabeth "Z" Delgado / Marika "Jasmine" Reimon (DekaYellow)
Jasmine has extrasensory perception, physic abilities that assist her partners and sometimes lead somewhere else. She kept her hands gloved. Jasmine was teased for being psychic, Z was teased for having the ability to multiply herself. Z was a perceptive and emotional individual, while Jasmine sometimes came off as cold and stern.

Sydney 'Syd' Drew / Koume 'Umeko' Kodou (DekaPink)
Umeko is bubbly and cheery, she is infamous of loving bubble baths and bathing with rubber duckies. Umeko can sometimes be ditzy, I personally believe Syd is a parody of Umeko. While Umeko is considered 'cute' and 'fun' by the Japanese, such girly-ness and bubbleness is seen as a negative to Americans, so Syd was portrayed as a spoiled materialistic princess. Syd is rich and doesn't take the job seriously. Syd able to turn her hands into any element that she touches.

Sam (Omega Ranger)/ Tetsu Aira (DekaBreak)
Tetsu, even though appearing seventh, is considered a traditional sixth ranger for Super Sentai. Tetsu was a special detective, higher class than the others. He was originally cold because he was taught to be emotionally-detached. Sam, because the budget was over, they didn't hire a psychical actor, so they only had a voice actor. He was a kid they met in 2025 and he came from 2040, a full fledge ranger. Because of the time flux, he was a ball of light. He originally believed the newest gear was the best. Both were changed by the five.

Anubis 'Doggie' Cruger (Shadow Ranger) / Doggy 'Boss' Kruger (Deka Master)
Doggy was a stern, serious, and caring chief of the team, they called him 'boss.' He is from the planet Anubis. He is furry and had feelings for Swan. Doggie is from the planet Sirius, he is strict, but much more juvenile and prone to spazz attacks. Anubis also had a long-lost wife believed to be dead and he later rescued her.

Kat Manx (S.P.D. Kat Ranger/ Swan-San Shiratori (Deka Swan)
Swan was sweet and was understanding to the five younglings. Kat was tough and often rolled her eyes at the five. Kat was level-headed and intelligent, similar to Swan. Both are the tech girls, in charge of making the weapons, vehicles, etc. Swan wanted to become an officer, she got the promotion to be Deka Swan. She appeared as Deka Swan in two episodes. Her ranger outfit in fact is her jumpsuit she always wears. As for Kat, she never wanted to fight even though she is capable, she was given a morpher that would work only temporarily. She only became a ranger for 1 episode. Fans made a big to-do that Kat is the first character to have the exact name as a past Ranger: Katherine Hillard (MMPR season 3 - Turbo) The ranger outfit looks like a cat and a swan.

Nova Ranger / Lisa (Deka Bright)
Lisa appeared in one episode, she is Tetsu's higher-up and teacher. Lisa believed in being cold and detached, she was upset when Tetsu was not following what she taught him. She wanted to returned him back to their base to re-train. After being saved by him and his friends, she let him stay. Her ranger outfit is counterpart to Deka Break/Omega Ranger. Nova Ranger's true identity was never mentioned, she was simply referred to as 'Nova.' She appeared in the last episode to retrieve Sam the Omega Ranger to take him back to the future. The picture above is of the person they had in her place for a few seconds. Her voice actress was someone else.

Boom (Orange Ranger) / Emri (Abaranger, Abare Pink)
Boom from SPD dreamed of being a ranger, it was a bit based on Emri from Abaranger, which was adapted into Dino Thunder. Emri dreamed of being Abare Pink, she once made her own outfit and dressed up and tried to fight a monster. One time she wished with a wish-granting thing to be AbarePink but said AbarePig and became a pig. Boom made a suit to fight evil too, but he also had his own dream, in which there was a better outfit, the suit was based on the B-Squad uniforms but with a Zero and the helmet was the Yellow Space Ranger helmet. You can play Boom as a playable character in the Nintendo DS version of the Power Rangers: Super Legends game.

The tenth Dekaranger (DekaGold) was not used for SPD, but five other special-made rangers--the A-Squad Rangers (not from the footage but from old ranger costumes) appeared.

No comments: