No New Episodes of RPM and Dragon Knight until August

UPDATED August 1, 2009

Sorry, repeats once again. Episode 18 does not air until August 1st! So I can not make an episode come out of thin air. Well, to give you a nibble, here you go with some descriptions.

Sat Aug 1 - Belly of the Beast (18)
The rangers must return to the factory and destroy the Venjix Doomsday Bot that is being built. Dillon attempts to find his sister. Dr. K sends Gem & Gemma on a secret mission to reprogram the Doom Bot enabling it to fuse with their zords and create a new Megazord formation, the Mach Megazord.

Sat Aug 8 - Three's A Crowd (19)
Gem & Gemma’s “blow things up and ask questions later” motto is getting quite out of hand. They follow a trail they think might lead to the Venjix Palace and end up walking right into a trap. They learn to work together with the other rangers as a team and in turn form a new megazord configuration.

Sat Aug 15 - Heroes Among Us (20)
In an effort to impress his father, Scott makes a reckless trip out to the wasteland. He and Gem stumble upon human prisoners and their field trip turns into a rescue mission. Venjix test drives his new and improved robotic form. His new body doesn’t hold very well against rangers.

Sat Aug 22 - Not So Simple (21)
For the first time, Gem and Gemma disagree on something. Gemma believes in what Flynn can do and they work together on a wheelzord project. With all their resources used up, Dr. K has to trust the untested technology and they use it to destroy the latest attack bot.

August 29 - Pre-empted
Pre-empted means the show will not even air because of a sporting event.

Sat Sep 5 - The Dome Dolls (22)
No date yet. Summer, Gema, Vasquez, Dr. K, and the rest of the women of the city must step up against Venjix when all the men are put to sleep.

Sat Sep 12 - And... Action (23)
For the first time ever join Ziggy as he takes you behind the scenes of Power Rangers. See how explosions and stunts are really done. As well as the funny moments that don’t make it into the episode, but keep the Power Ranger set a lively place to work as a ranger.

Sat Sep 19 - Ancient History (24)
Untested technology is found in an Alphabet Soup dumping ground. Truman tries to keep the technology from Venjix but instead stumbles upon a video log that pins Dr. K responsible for the start of Venjix. Truman wants to arrest Dr. K. But if he does, she won’t be able to help the rangers with the dangerous Paleomax technology.

Sat Sep 26 - Key to the past (25)
It dawns on Dillon that the two keys to his watch fit together to play another song. It’s the same song that Tenaya 7 sings! Tenaya 7 is hit by memories of her past. She does some investigating on her own and finds out what really happened to her.

UPDATED JULY 26, 2009
Kamen Rider Dragon Knight also starts anew with new episodes in August. These new summaries I got and updated JULY 26, 2009. SPOILERS abound.

Sat Aug 1 - 11:00am EST - The Hero of Gramercy Heights (16)
Kit and Len meet JTC and discover that he is actually Kamen Rider Strike. Meanwhile, Maya tries to get Chris to help Kit and Len in their fight against Xaviax's forces. Kamen Rider Strike appears and fights against Chris. Len and Kit fall into a trap and have to fight a Mirror Monster.

Sat Aug 8 - The Power of Three (17)
Chris fights Kamen Rider Strike but after Kit and Len appear and they stop fighting. Chris joins forces with Kit and Len. Meanwhile, Xaviax recruits Danny and Albert Cho, two brothers who steal bike parts and just want a piece of the 'American dream.'

Sat Aug 15 - The Brothers Cho (18)
Len fights the Cho brothers and wins easily. Kit and Chris fight a Mirror Monster, but Chris wants to fight it alone. Kit goes to the hospital where his father is, and discovers that his father was kidnapped by Kamen Rider Strike.

Sat Aug 22 - Semper Fi (19)
Kit, Len, and Chris are fighting JTC and the Cho brothers, who have Kit's dad hostage. During the battle, Len is almost Vented by Strike.

Sat Aug 29 - Letter from the Front Line (20)
Kit, Len, and Maya read an important letter. Xaviax orders the Cho Brothers to watch for Dragon Knight. JTC tells Kit where his father is.

Dairanger influences in Power Rangers

Gosei Sentai Dairanger (1993) was the series after Zyuranger, the original series that they adapted in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The Dairanger suits were not used, but they were planned to be used for Power Rangers Lost Galaxy as the 'Ancient Rangers' but when Varlie Vernon (Kendrix) fell ill and had to replaced by Melody Perkins (Karone), those plans fell through. I am covering every little thing from Dairanger that was used in Power Rangers.

Chi Beasts and Kibaranger (1993) / Thunderzords and White Ranger (1994)

These things were obviously used in the second season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Also, the monsters of course, except for a choice few... a Birdcage monster, a jug monster, and a Joker (cards) monster.

Aura Changer (1993) / Manga Morpher (1999)
The henshin device of the main five Dairanger was modified for the Mike when he morphed into the Magna Defender in Power Rangers Lost Galaxy. As you can see, they scratched out the red engraving on the flat part and painted over the part that said 'Aurachanger.' As for the toy, they replace the Aurachanger label with the Lost Galaxy logo and kept the red engraving but had it in black.

Gorma Emperor (1993) / Master Org (2002)
Master Org of Power Rangers Wild Force, his outfit came from the main villain who ended up not being the main villain, the Gorma Emperor. The only addition was a horn on his helmet and veins on his face. There were some differences in the costumes as well.

Homoerotism in Super Sentai and Power Rangers

I decided to mention a couple of cases of homoerotism or Hoyay in Super Sentai and Power Rangers. What that means is innuendo or hints at a character being same-sex orientated. I am sure there are a lot of people who pair other same-sex Rangers but these are some that seem more 'out there' than others.

Kazu/Kirinranger of Gosei Sentai Dairanger
Because he was a hairdresser and of his feminine behavior, many thought he was gay. But other than not having a female love interest (nor any type of love interest--if you count Kameo, but I don't) like his other male team members, Kazu didn't really demonstrate proof that he was attracted to men.

Yousuke and Ikkou of Hurricanger
Yousuke was Hurricane Red and Ikkou was Kabutoraijer, no one else mentioned this but if you re-watch Hurricanger carefully, there are gentle hints. I am not suggesting the characters nor the actors were actually gay or that they were written like that, but there is a underlining innuendo between the two. Ikkou had no female love interest and Yousuke's only female interest was a girl in the movie. They were rivals, but slowly their relationship blossomed as Yousuke cared and looked out for Ikkou when he got infected with a life-threatening alien bug. They later had a playful rivalry.

There have been a lot of feminine monsters and feminine villains, but it is not say that they are necessarily gay, it's just that they were feminine. Japanese producers usually do this to make their characters interesting. The majority of these feminine male monsters became female like Carranger's ZZ Zeri became the female Delisha Ennivel. Feminine villains include Gaoranger's Ura (Wild Force's Nayzor), Magiranger's Memmy (Mystic Force's Imperious--whose personality stayed in tact), and Go-Onger's Hiramechimedes (RPM's Venjix) to name a few.



Kelsey and Nancy of Lightspeed Rescue
It has been joked between fans for so many years about the episode "Riding the Edge," where there was chemistry between Kelsey the yellow ranger and Nancy the astronaut. Kelsey saved her dog and then she had to save her from a monster. Kelsey had no male romances, well Dana didn't either, but anyway she was pretty much a tomboy and fans believe it a stereotype for a lesbian. Hence there has not been a female Ranger like her ever again. I like the existence of Kelsey. Taylor of Wild Force could be considered butch, but she had a thing for Eric the Quantum Ranger.

Tyzonn and Mac (Operation Overdrive)
When Tyzonn first appeared in "Face to Face" Part 1 and 2, there was a quite hinted innuendo between the two characters Mac and Tyzonn. It no longer existed after that, but fans noticed. When Mac was later revealed to be an android, fans joked that he was reprogrammed to not have feelings for the alien Tyzonn. Tyzonn was also later revealed to have a fianceé.

UPDATED AUGUST 5, 2009
A lot of other ones have been brought to my attention. Some I agree with and some I don't (Hikaru for instance).

Gunpei and Hanto (Go-Onger)
I totally forgot about these guys! They were thrusted together by fate and didn't really have an established relationship until around Episode 19, that it showed Hanto's concern for Gunpei. And Hanto did cross-dress twice, but I don't believe in stereotypes, just because you crossdress, it doesn't make you gay. But the bathhouse scene in Episode 47 was curious. And also that Gunpei had shackled Hanto with handcuffs in the last episode and never took them off. Hanto was the younger one, childish and flaky but had that gun-ho spirit. He loved flirting with girls and once fell for Kegaleshia. Gunpei, on the other hand, was smart enough not to fall for women's wilds, but did fall for Saki's sister.

Ziggy and Dillon (RPM)
Even though I did not think about them being a 'bromance' before but in the episode "Brother's Keeper," Dillon was taken over by a virus and Ziggy grabs him, Dillon stops and Ziggy thinks it is because of their friendship. With Ziggy and Dillon, the bad boy and the fan boy relationship comes to mind. Ziggy certainly wants Dillon's friendship and searches for it more than Dillon would want to admit. Dillon did ask for Ziggy's freedom when he became Ranger Black, which could indicate something. And even though Ziggy does annoy him, Dillon does trust him. RPM definitely developed their relationship earlier than Hanto and Gunpei's. Actor Daniel Ewing has said in an interview with No Pink Spandex that he didn't like the pairing, and not because he is homophobic but because he would quote 'crush him.' He found a pairing with Scott or Flynn more feasible physically.