Man that's a mouthful of a title. It's time once more for Zyuranger to take on its American counterpart Power Rangers, this time with not one episode but two. For those of you who havn't been reading my articles thus far, Zyuranger is the Japanese show that was raided for footage in order to create the first season of Mighty Morhpin' Power Rangers. However, Zyuranger is 50 episodes, and Power Rangers condensed that down into a mere 40 episodes. As such, a number of times through out this series, two episodes of Zyuranger will go up against a single episode of Power Rangers, starting with this week. When last we left the series, a poor episode of Zyuranger left things all tied up.
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Can a two part adventure return Zyuranger to the lead? Or will faster pacing and rock n' roll catapult Power Rangers into the lead? Hit the jump to find out.
First off, the episode titles. It's a little tricky to compare these since there are two of them for Zyuranger, but honestly, either title could take on its MMPR counterpart. I've been complaining about the Zyuranger titles for a while now, meanwhile, in the past, they finally heard me and gave us a pair of good ones. Fight in the Land of Despair is just about perfect. Revive, Legendary Weapons is a little lazier, especially when the last episode was Revival, but they're both way better than Teamwork.
Since we've got two episodes to get through, let's jump right into Zyuranger. The Zyurangers are sparring, but their weapons keep breaking. Mei seems to think there's a Zechs Merquise thing going on and their weapons can't keep up with them, but Geki blames it on them breaking in the last fight, and declares they need new weapons! Cut to Barza, who's returned to his janitor garb and is watering some flowers. A kid named Hiroshi runs up to him on his way home from school, and I have a feeling lots of troubled kids are going to be introduced this way before the series is over.
Hirooshi goes to his apartment, and tells his mom he's going to hang out with his friends. His mom tells him he failed his last test, though, and sentences him to his room to study all day. He wishes his mom would just disappear forever... and Bandora is watching because of course she is. She decides to grant his wish... by sucking his mother into some sort of black hole. Hiroshi tries to save her, but is sucked in as well.
Meanwhile, the Zyurangers and Barza, now back in his wizard gear, are in their underground base, discussing the legendary weapons. According to DM Barza, 1000 years before any of them were born - so 170.001 million years ago - there was a deadly five headed dragon that lived in the Land of Despair. When he was killed, from each of his heads sprouted a legendary weapon. Luckily, these are the same weapons that each of the Zyurangers use! Also, they can totally combine to unleash legendary power. The Zyurangers are appropriately psyched about their DM placing character appropriate treasure for them and ask where the Land of Despair is. It's in the underworld, but luckily, Geki's invincible Tyrano-door from the first episode can take them right there!
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Since we've got two episodes to get through, let's jump right into Zyuranger. The Zyurangers are sparring, but their weapons keep breaking. Mei seems to think there's a Zechs Merquise thing going on and their weapons can't keep up with them, but Geki blames it on them breaking in the last fight, and declares they need new weapons! Cut to Barza, who's returned to his janitor garb and is watering some flowers. A kid named Hiroshi runs up to him on his way home from school, and I have a feeling lots of troubled kids are going to be introduced this way before the series is over.
Hirooshi goes to his apartment, and tells his mom he's going to hang out with his friends. His mom tells him he failed his last test, though, and sentences him to his room to study all day. He wishes his mom would just disappear forever... and Bandora is watching because of course she is. She decides to grant his wish... by sucking his mother into some sort of black hole. Hiroshi tries to save her, but is sucked in as well.
Meanwhile, the Zyurangers and Barza, now back in his wizard gear, are in their underground base, discussing the legendary weapons. According to DM Barza, 1000 years before any of them were born - so 170.001 million years ago - there was a deadly five headed dragon that lived in the Land of Despair. When he was killed, from each of his heads sprouted a legendary weapon. Luckily, these are the same weapons that each of the Zyurangers use! Also, they can totally combine to unleash legendary power. The Zyurangers are appropriately psyched about their DM placing character appropriate treasure for them and ask where the Land of Despair is. It's in the underworld, but luckily, Geki's invincible Tyrano-door from the first episode can take them right there!
Before they can go on a sweet adventure though, Barza warns them that while many warriors have tried to obtain the weapons, none have returned from the Land of Despair. Instead, they were turned to stone. Anyone who gives into despair or gives up in the Land of Despair turns to stone forever! As if this thematic challenge wasn't enough, anyone who spends more than 24 hours there also turns to stone! Rather than go to the shop to stock up on softs, the Zyurangers declare that it's a test to see if they're worthy of the weapons and swear to get them no matter what. Barza tells them the weapons are in the castle, and wishes them good luck.
Before adventure can begin though, Bandora appears in... well... it's like a floating image, like a TV appeared. I feel like there should be a word for that. Anyway, she tells them they'll never get the legendary weapons, and shows them that she's trapped Hiroshi in the Land of Despair, and they must save the boy and get the weapons in just one day. Not wanting to waste any more time, they all jump into the door, Mei and Boi going to save Hiroshi, while Geki, Dan and Goushi go to find the weapons. Bandora is elated, and has her minions get out their evil cuckoo clock so they can track how long the Zyurangers have left, and create a new monster, DoraMinotaur, to "give them a good wallop."
Now that the stakes for the Zyurangers have been established, let's see what the Power Rangers are up to. The first of many changes this episode, we don't open on the YouthCenterGymJuiceBar. In fact, spoiler, the YouthCenterGymJuiceBar doesn't even appear in this episode. Instead we open at Angel Grove High School, where Trini and Kimberlee are out in the halls with a staggering number of visual aids trying to get students to sign a petition.
Rather than wanting to get a working Death Star built though, the girls are trying to shut down a waste dump. Their principal or teacher or... some one comes out to tell them what a good job they're doing, but wants to play devil's advocate and wonders whether the dump site is really as bad as they say. Rather than educating the kids on the complex issue of landfills and what we should do with our non-recyclable goods and how to live a life that produces less waste, they just say yes. "Who could stand to pollute the Earth like that?" asks Kimberlee. We cut immediately to Rita on her moon palace laughing evilly before saying "My pollution will ruin the whole planet!" The person dubbing Rita is so good at so bad it's good.
Kimberlee and Trini are still asking for signatures, when the other Rangers come over and ask what they're doing... apparently the girl's best friends aren't the first people they asked to sign. They ask them to come drop off the petition at the dump with them after school, but the boys all make excuses. At least the music and acting sell it off as them making excuses. They're actually rather reasonable, with the exception of Zach's "I'd love to ladies but um... Alpha! He said there was something super important he wanted to talk about." We actually see Zach talking to Alpha, though, so.. the scene comes off as really odd. Trini says it's ok but they should learn to work as a team. I don't really see how that applies to this situation, since the Rangers have seemed pretty good with team work, but I guess they felt bad about missing the shuttle scene and Zyuranger's aesop last episode.
As soon as the guys leave, Bulk and Skull show up, just like I promised. Bulk, in his pettiest act yet, drops a soda can on the ground in front of them and says "Recycle that." This is a show for five year olds, so the "bitch" is implied. Some kid walks by and in an act of OCD grabs the can and throws it in the recycle. Not wanting their point to be undercut, Bulk and Skull grab him and like the TV bullies they are, dump the recycle bin on top of him.
Kimberlee and Trini call Bulk and Skull out on their shenanigans, and Bulk and Skull's unnamed female friend, who I don't think appears in any other episodes, kicks the recycling bin at them. Kimberlee flips over it, between Bulk and Skull, who both run at her. Kimberlee uses the Ranger's given power of stepping our of the way, and Bulk and Skull hug each other. The powers of homophobia take over, and Bulk and Skull are defeated. Let's go back to Zyuranger, maybe they can tell us what the point of that scene was.
Mei and Boi are looking for Hiroshi, when they're attacked by the putties, which are apparently called Golems in this version. It's a very cool fight scene that involves them using their morphers as weapons since their regular weapons are broken. Grifforzor flies in and we cut back to the other rangers and DoraMinotaur. He uses some sweet flame breath.
The rangers decide to transform. Boi and Mei do the same, and fight more Golems. Mei sees Hiroshi falling into some quick sand and runs to save him, but she's attacked by Grifforzer. It's kind of brutal, but Boi attacks him from behind and holds him off long enough for Mei to save Hiroshi, though he's clearly not able to take Griffy mano-a-winged-lion-o. Bandora's minions show up to throw rocks at Geki and company while they fight the minotaur, and deciding not to let up, Bandora calls on the spirit of the Earth to bestow DoraMinotaur with power. This is the footage that pretty much every episode of Power Rangers uses when Rita screams "Magic Wand... Make my monster.... GROW!" and I wonder if we'll see as much of it in Zyuranger. DoraMinotaur grows giant, meeting the expectations of Power Rangers fans.
DM Barza shouts from their base to call forth their Guradian Beasts, and Tyranozaurus shows up... along with Zyumammoth, Triceratops, Sabertiger and Pteranodon. Man, after the first two they sort of gave up on the names there. Not even a Trizyutops or anything. It's also sort of disappointing that they all just show up when called after the build up. Sure, the Red Ranger is special and his gets to fight on its own first - I wasn't expecting them to be introduced to us one per episode - but there's no fanfare at all here. Let's check in with the Power Rangers. I'm more used to disappointment there.
"Oh, this is sweet. Kimberlee and Trini are about to walk into my waste dump." I'm so tempted to give Power Rangers another point for this but... but how is this Rita's waste dump? Did she take it over some how? Did she build it? How did she get the permits? None of this is ever touched on, so no point for Power Rangers. What we are told is that Rita is going to attack them with putties then send a monster to finish them before the other Rangers can come to help. Given that the Rangers have two way communication and can teleport, this seems like a poor plan, but it's better than what Rita usually comes up with.
We cut to Kimberlee and Trini walking around the "Angel Grove Industrial Waste Site" with ominous music playing in the background.
Having been to my fair share of dumps, it doesn't look that bad. Their aren't even any landfills. In fact, it looks more like a scarp yard with some silos or a lot where they're going to build houses than a dump, but the girls assure us it's gross. They walk around the dump for two minutes before they realize there's no one there to give the petitions to when putties jump out and attack them! Finally something Power Rangers is good at. The fight isn't bad, and it would have been super easy to have the girls be captured and make this about rescuing them, so it's good Power Rangers avoided that. Still, for some reason the putty costumes look a lot cheaper and more like costumes here than in the sentai footage.
As promised earlier, we now cut to the command center, to see what important business Alpha called Zach for. Alpha wants to learn to dance because... I don't know, I still don't know why I typed that sentence at all, and Zach has agreed to teach him his "Hip-Hopkido." As soon as his demonstration is done, the red alert comes on and Zordon tells Zach that Trini and Kimberlee are outnumbered and need help. Alpha helpfully adds "Dudettes in trouble, dudettes in trouble."
It's super-effective. If you don't like that joke, you and I can't be friends and you should probably stop reading these now. We get a show case of the individual Guardian Beast's powers and it's pretty cool. There are a few times you can tell that they're models and there are a lot of laser effects, but they work for the most part. Mei runs away with Hiroshi who demands to know where his mom is and insists she must be dead. Mei tells him not to give up hope but it's too late, and he's turned into a cheap stat... I mean to stone. Will the same fate befall the Zyurangers? Find out next time! Or since Power Rangers didn't bother waiting, you can find out after we revisit the Rangers and see what's going on with them.
Oh, yes, dudet... Kimberlee and Trini are in trouble. Zordon summons Jason and Billy to help who respond with a casual "'sup?" I don't think that's how you're supposed to greet your wizard mentor who's trapped in a time warp, but whatever. Zordon says there's no time to waste... then Rita sends down a monster and he's all like "Wait, nevermind, the girl's are probably fine, go fight him instead." The monster is, of course, "The Menacing Minotaur" as dubbed by Billy. Not nearly as effective as the subtitles the Japanese version gets. How can Power Rangers be worse at marketing than, well... anything. Everything I know is wrong.
The boys morph right into the sentai footage, and start getting their butts kicked. The sentai built up to this much better, so it doesn't work quite as well here. We cut to the girls, who, despite being in deadly danger only seconds ago, have now dealt with all but two of the putties. They remember all the times they've humiliated Bulk and Skull and decide to apply that knowledge practically, stepping out of the way and leading the putties into trash cans, apparently one of their many weaknesses.
Zordon sees that Goldar is in the sentai foot... I mean on the way so he tells the girls to morph and "Try to hook up with the others. Working together as a team is their only hope now." Thanks for those inspiring words Zordon. The Sentai footage of them fighting putties is really good and works quite well here, except for all the shots of Kimberlee looking off in the distance because Hiroshi was there in the original. Still, the Goldar-Trini fight is almost completely unedited and really makes her look like a badass, despite being a girl, which is quite cool.
In the command center, Alpha is still panicking about how bad things are, and Zordon muses that "Perhaps it is time to reveal to them the ancient secrets of the power weapons." Dude, why would you not just give them said power weapons? I mean they're Power Rangers, it seems like it should be their thing. Oh yeah, because in the sentai they had to go on a sweet quest. Man, GM Zordon is starting to seem super lazy. "Yeah, cool, guys, good job beating those putties now here's some treasure. Oh, I rolled a 100 that means you get a Power Sword." Sheesh.
Rita makes her monster grow to finish the Rangers off, and we see the first bit of footage ever shot for Power Rangers that makes use of the costumes. It's not much, just Kimberlee and Trini talking to Jason on the communicator and being told to summon their Zords, but it's something. It stands out if you're watching both series at once, since Trini talks into her wrist where the Ranger's communicators are, but it'd be seamless otherwise. The footage loses some of its luster right after, when everyone but Kimberlee summons their Zords and hers just sort of shows up. The reason is because in the sentai footage, Mei is holding Hiroshi when she summons her Guardian Beast, but... why couldn't they just shoot five seconds of her calling her Zord? Clearly they had the costume, it was in the previous shot. Just lazy.
Speaking of lazy, we're treated to the exact same cockpit scene as in the pilot, since the girls didn't get in their cockpits in the Zyuranger footage. They use the same lines too.... except, mercifully, Kimberlee, who's had her line changed. I'm tempted to give Power Rangers a point just for that, but I want to take one away for them being lazy. Let's call it a wash.
We get the same footage of the Zords fighting the minotaur as in the sentai and it's just as good here, maybe even better with the rock music behind it. They even address the problem of the Rangers having formed the MegaZord before here, having them come together. They do this by recycling footage of the pilot from the MegaZord tank mode and cutting to the Minotaur taking a hit.
Again, it's an obvious cut job if you've watched the original, but it looks just fine if you haven't. Before the Power Rangers can try switching to battle mode, Zordon tells them to come back, an order they don't question at all. Rita says they've obviously surrendered and now nothing can stop them. Apparently they didn't have heroic dramas 10,000 years ago.
We still have another full episode of Zyuranger to work though though, so let's jump over there. Bandora's cuckoo clock of doom reveals the Zyurangers only have 12 hours left before they turn to stone. But first they must survive the night! She continues her revelations with the fact that at night, the Land of Despair becomes bitterly cold and most give in and turn to stone. Even though she's winning, she recalls DoraMinotaur in the hopes that some of them will give up and the fight will be easier in the morning.
Dan suggests they drive their Guardian Beasts over to the castle and take the weapons, but they're thrown out of the cockpits. Goushi says it's because they want the Zyurangers to prove they're worthy of the weapons without them, and Triceratops sort of nods. It starts to snow and the Zyurangers each set up camp. Mei promises the statue of Hiroshi that after getting the weapons, she'll be back to save him... and then it's day again. So much for Bandora's plan.
The boys run off, but find themselves back at their campsite, and realize they're trapped in some sort of illusion. Dan kicks a rock in frustration and it bounces off an invisible wall, showing them the way. Boi and Mei meanwhile are being attacked by lightning.
Like everything in Super Sentai, by lightning they mean explosions. The lightning hits some brick in front of them and reveals a secret door with two knobs. They open one, but fire shoots out, so they very carefully open the other which leads to.... space. They jump in, and fall right in front of the others, as though the DM was tired of the party being split. Geki says it's good timing because they only have an hour left! Luckily they've also reached the cave of the last trial, where their hardest challenge awaits.
The Zyurangers find a sword in a stone. Boi gets excited, thinking it's a legendary weapon, but Goushi tells him to be careful since there are supposed to be five. Mei finds an inscription that says the final trial is to remove the evil sword from its bonds, and Dan decides to just grab it. He's shocked with evil lightning - actual lightning not explosions - and is turned into
I'm pretty sure that's supposed to be an oni, but your guess is as good as mine. Geki grabs him and tries to get him to let go of the sword, which leaves him all sweaty. He says that when he grabbed the sword he was overcome with evil. Boi declares this trial to be BS on the DM's part, but Geki gets a determined look and says he'll do it. He, too, is hit with evil lightning, but pulls it out before he can be oni-ized, swinging it around. Goushi tells him to throw it away, and he does, causing it to explode, because of course. The explosion knocks out a wall, revealing a hidden passage. What could be in there?
Meanwhile, since we can't put off checking in with the Power Rangers forever, they've returned to the command center. This is the first time the Rangers have been morphed inside the command center, proving Saban had all the suits and could have filmed anything they wanted. Sure they probably have budget issues, but shot Kimberlee waving her hand and yelling "Pterodactyl" would have been easy.
Zordon starts handing out weapons to everyone. All of them are "Power (Weapon)" which is boring, but he's sure to say them all, and give each two adjectives. Despite having two episodes of sentai footage to work with, guess they still needed to fill time. They seem way worse than Zords and certainly aren't as cool, but the Power Rangers charge errr... teleport back into battle.
Meanwhile, the Zyurangers have found the legendary weapons they were looking for too! Unfortunately, Bandora has beat them to the stash.
She can't take the weapons because she's evil, but apparently she can just bypass all the trials. She casts hold person on the Zyurangers, and summons her clock, showing them that in just minutes, they'll be turned into statues. Geki says that's cheating, but, being evil, she doesn't care. The Zyurangers start turning to stone, and Bandora taunts them. Believing in the heart of the cards, Geki appeals to the weapons saying they've overcome the trials and are worthy of them. A Kaibaist, Bandora taunts him for this, but he insists he believes they came to the world to smite evil, and that he wants to help them do that, starting with Bandora. The weapons seem to consider this a valid point and fly into the Zyuranger's hands, who unturn to stone. Queue triumphant music.
Bandora jumpcuts in some putties and sends DoraMinotaur to help them and we get a really cool fight scene with the Zyurangers using their new weapons. The legendary weapons seem to be like their old ones, but with more explosions. Bandora, upset her plan didn't work, decides to just grow giant and crush the Land of Despair.
While perhaps a little short sighted, the plan seems like it'll be effective, and the temple the weapons were in starts crumbling around them. Very conveniently, this opens another wall hole, leading to Hiroshi's mother, who they escape with. DoraMinotaur jumps out to block their progress, and the Zyurangers transform. Their new weapons transform along with them, which is cool, and get names. Unlike the Rangers and their lame "Power Sword" here we get "Dragonstrike Sword", "Moth Breaker", "Trice Lance", "Saber Dagger" and "Ptera Arrow". While there's still a pattern, it's a lot more interesting.
Speaking of the Power Rangers, they teleport right into the sentai footage here and we get the same fight scene. There's no reason for the minotaur to be small in Power Rangers, but the reason in Zyuranger isn't much better so I'll give them that. The Weapons transforming are left in, but instead of naming them, we get really lame 90s lines from the Power Rangers that even their theme song can't save. The fight itself is pretty good in both versions, with the new weapons being more than enough to beat DoraMinotaur. Still, Geki/Zordon say they should combine the weapons. Jason says they'll give the beast "a blast of their megapower" which... bleh. Geki on the other hand declares "Form Howling Cannon!"
And the minotaur is destroyed. The Zyurangers, however, still have to deal with Bandora shaking the planetoid they're on. They run to the statue of Hiroshi, and his mother starts crying. Hiroshi is returned to normal, because of course he is, and they remember the whole Bandora shaking everything problem and run off. Just as she decides to stop this shaking and just blast it with her laser wand, the Zyurangers escape arriving on... some random bridge.
Geki tells Hiroshi to study hard and listen to his mom and then says he and his friends must go... though Hiroshi and his mom are the ones who walk off. The moral comes out of nowhere but isn't forced, and the Zyurangers do a sweet weapon high five and pledge once more to defeat Bandora.
Speaking of studying, the Power Rangers end the episode by... going back to school for some reason. I mean, they were all off doing things so school must be over but... I guess the GymJuiceBarYouth is closed for remodeling or something after Bulk pulled the ceiling out last week. They say things work out better when they work as a team but... but they always work as a team. Team work didn't save them, Zordon's fancy new communist weapons that you don't even have to go on a quest for did. What they should be saying is "Things always work better when a giant head in a tube gives you new more powerful Power Weapons, right, guys?"
Even more perplexing, the hall way is still trashed from Bulk and Skull pouring things out earlier... does this school not have a janitor? The teacher from earlier comes by and blames them for things not having been cleaned up yet... even though they're pretty much just walking by. Luckily, the loudspeaker calls him away and he tells them not to go anywhere. Jason says they should use team work to clean up, and we're treated to a fast forward scene of the Power Rangers cleaning up a mess. Clearly it's fast forward because cleaning up trash is boring, but I distinctly remember as a kid thinking that fast forwarding time to do chores was one of the Power Rangers' powers.
The teacher returns, and asks them what happened to the mess. The Power Rangers, being dicks, tell him there never was a mess and he walks off questioning his own sanity. The communicator beeps, and Zordon apologizes, saying that it's Alpha practicing his dancing and bumping the controls. Zach tells him he's a robot and he should stop trying to practice dancing and focus solely on keeping the controls working for his human overlords. So I guess we know who to blame when the robots start killing all of us.
Final Thoughts
Oh boy. After last week, I was thinking Power Rangers and Zyuranger might actually be about even in quality, but this week's showing wasn't even close. Power Rangers was over quick, I'll give it that, but even though Zyuranger had two episodes, they seemed to go quickly as well. It wasn't Shakespeare or anything, but it'd make a pretty good D&D module with some sweet treasure at the end.
Power Rangers however still has the problem of introducing the MegaZord too early, and this week it makes it look like a bunch of weapons Zordon just gave them are way stronger. I give them props for including the MegaZord at all, but watching the two versions side by side, the Zyurangers earn their weapons which make them seem really cool. The Rangers just get theirs in a deus ex machina.
Well, Power Rangers didn't gain any ground this week, and next week we have yet another two parter, and it's one I'm rather excited for for reasons I don't want to spoil. So tune in next time when Scary Riddle Time and Stand!! DaiZyuJin take on A Pressing Engagement.
Before adventure can begin though, Bandora appears in... well... it's like a floating image, like a TV appeared. I feel like there should be a word for that. Anyway, she tells them they'll never get the legendary weapons, and shows them that she's trapped Hiroshi in the Land of Despair, and they must save the boy and get the weapons in just one day. Not wanting to waste any more time, they all jump into the door, Mei and Boi going to save Hiroshi, while Geki, Dan and Goushi go to find the weapons. Bandora is elated, and has her minions get out their evil cuckoo clock so they can track how long the Zyurangers have left, and create a new monster, DoraMinotaur, to "give them a good wallop."
Now that the stakes for the Zyurangers have been established, let's see what the Power Rangers are up to. The first of many changes this episode, we don't open on the YouthCenterGymJuiceBar. In fact, spoiler, the YouthCenterGymJuiceBar doesn't even appear in this episode. Instead we open at Angel Grove High School, where Trini and Kimberlee are out in the halls with a staggering number of visual aids trying to get students to sign a petition.
Rather than wanting to get a working Death Star built though, the girls are trying to shut down a waste dump. Their principal or teacher or... some one comes out to tell them what a good job they're doing, but wants to play devil's advocate and wonders whether the dump site is really as bad as they say. Rather than educating the kids on the complex issue of landfills and what we should do with our non-recyclable goods and how to live a life that produces less waste, they just say yes. "Who could stand to pollute the Earth like that?" asks Kimberlee. We cut immediately to Rita on her moon palace laughing evilly before saying "My pollution will ruin the whole planet!" The person dubbing Rita is so good at so bad it's good.
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Before getting to the logistics of how Rita is responsible for any sort of pollution at all we cut back to the high school.... for a Bulk and Skull scene. So, um, let's see what the Zyurangers are doing instead, ok?
Geki, Goushi and Dan are running to the castle where the legendary weapons are, but stop when they see a number of warriors turned into statues. They climb up a cliff, but find the exact same group of statues. Dan nearly gives up due to thirst, but the others remind him about the whole turning to stone thing and he thinks better of it. Dan sees a waterfall and runs for it, but it's just a mirage and he falls down a cliff. The others go to help him, but are attacked by DoraMinotaur, who is acting like... like um... some sort of land shark?
It's incredibly effective whatever it's doing, and the Zyurangers try to run, only for him to pop out for a more traditional fight scene. The Zyurangers are thrown off yet another cliff, and we're half way through the first episode.... guess we better check on the Power Rangers and... Bulk and Skull.
Kimberlee and Trini are still asking for signatures, when the other Rangers come over and ask what they're doing... apparently the girl's best friends aren't the first people they asked to sign. They ask them to come drop off the petition at the dump with them after school, but the boys all make excuses. At least the music and acting sell it off as them making excuses. They're actually rather reasonable, with the exception of Zach's "I'd love to ladies but um... Alpha! He said there was something super important he wanted to talk about." We actually see Zach talking to Alpha, though, so.. the scene comes off as really odd. Trini says it's ok but they should learn to work as a team. I don't really see how that applies to this situation, since the Rangers have seemed pretty good with team work, but I guess they felt bad about missing the shuttle scene and Zyuranger's aesop last episode.
As soon as the guys leave, Bulk and Skull show up, just like I promised. Bulk, in his pettiest act yet, drops a soda can on the ground in front of them and says "Recycle that." This is a show for five year olds, so the "bitch" is implied. Some kid walks by and in an act of OCD grabs the can and throws it in the recycle. Not wanting their point to be undercut, Bulk and Skull grab him and like the TV bullies they are, dump the recycle bin on top of him.
Kimberlee and Trini call Bulk and Skull out on their shenanigans, and Bulk and Skull's unnamed female friend, who I don't think appears in any other episodes, kicks the recycling bin at them. Kimberlee flips over it, between Bulk and Skull, who both run at her. Kimberlee uses the Ranger's given power of stepping our of the way, and Bulk and Skull hug each other. The powers of homophobia take over, and Bulk and Skull are defeated. Let's go back to Zyuranger, maybe they can tell us what the point of that scene was.Mei and Boi are looking for Hiroshi, when they're attacked by the putties, which are apparently called Golems in this version. It's a very cool fight scene that involves them using their morphers as weapons since their regular weapons are broken. Grifforzor flies in and we cut back to the other rangers and DoraMinotaur. He uses some sweet flame breath.
The rangers decide to transform. Boi and Mei do the same, and fight more Golems. Mei sees Hiroshi falling into some quick sand and runs to save him, but she's attacked by Grifforzer. It's kind of brutal, but Boi attacks him from behind and holds him off long enough for Mei to save Hiroshi, though he's clearly not able to take Griffy mano-a-winged-lion-o. Bandora's minions show up to throw rocks at Geki and company while they fight the minotaur, and deciding not to let up, Bandora calls on the spirit of the Earth to bestow DoraMinotaur with power. This is the footage that pretty much every episode of Power Rangers uses when Rita screams "Magic Wand... Make my monster.... GROW!" and I wonder if we'll see as much of it in Zyuranger. DoraMinotaur grows giant, meeting the expectations of Power Rangers fans.
DM Barza shouts from their base to call forth their Guradian Beasts, and Tyranozaurus shows up... along with Zyumammoth, Triceratops, Sabertiger and Pteranodon. Man, after the first two they sort of gave up on the names there. Not even a Trizyutops or anything. It's also sort of disappointing that they all just show up when called after the build up. Sure, the Red Ranger is special and his gets to fight on its own first - I wasn't expecting them to be introduced to us one per episode - but there's no fanfare at all here. Let's check in with the Power Rangers. I'm more used to disappointment there.
"Oh, this is sweet. Kimberlee and Trini are about to walk into my waste dump." I'm so tempted to give Power Rangers another point for this but... but how is this Rita's waste dump? Did she take it over some how? Did she build it? How did she get the permits? None of this is ever touched on, so no point for Power Rangers. What we are told is that Rita is going to attack them with putties then send a monster to finish them before the other Rangers can come to help. Given that the Rangers have two way communication and can teleport, this seems like a poor plan, but it's better than what Rita usually comes up with.
We cut to Kimberlee and Trini walking around the "Angel Grove Industrial Waste Site" with ominous music playing in the background.
Having been to my fair share of dumps, it doesn't look that bad. Their aren't even any landfills. In fact, it looks more like a scarp yard with some silos or a lot where they're going to build houses than a dump, but the girls assure us it's gross. They walk around the dump for two minutes before they realize there's no one there to give the petitions to when putties jump out and attack them! Finally something Power Rangers is good at. The fight isn't bad, and it would have been super easy to have the girls be captured and make this about rescuing them, so it's good Power Rangers avoided that. Still, for some reason the putty costumes look a lot cheaper and more like costumes here than in the sentai footage.
As promised earlier, we now cut to the command center, to see what important business Alpha called Zach for. Alpha wants to learn to dance because... I don't know, I still don't know why I typed that sentence at all, and Zach has agreed to teach him his "Hip-Hopkido." As soon as his demonstration is done, the red alert comes on and Zordon tells Zach that Trini and Kimberlee are outnumbered and need help. Alpha helpfully adds "Dudettes in trouble, dudettes in trouble."
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Thanks, Alpha. Let's see how the Zyurangers are doing. Geki yells "Time to unite!" and I thought the MegaZord was going to appear with as little fanfare as the other Zords, but it's just the way the Zyurangers refer to piloting their Guardian Beasts since they're sapientish. Boi and Mei are still having trouble with Grifforzer so they call in an air strike.
It's super-effective. If you don't like that joke, you and I can't be friends and you should probably stop reading these now. We get a show case of the individual Guardian Beast's powers and it's pretty cool. There are a few times you can tell that they're models and there are a lot of laser effects, but they work for the most part. Mei runs away with Hiroshi who demands to know where his mom is and insists she must be dead. Mei tells him not to give up hope but it's too late, and he's turned into a cheap stat... I mean to stone. Will the same fate befall the Zyurangers? Find out next time! Or since Power Rangers didn't bother waiting, you can find out after we revisit the Rangers and see what's going on with them.
Oh, yes, dudet... Kimberlee and Trini are in trouble. Zordon summons Jason and Billy to help who respond with a casual "'sup?" I don't think that's how you're supposed to greet your wizard mentor who's trapped in a time warp, but whatever. Zordon says there's no time to waste... then Rita sends down a monster and he's all like "Wait, nevermind, the girl's are probably fine, go fight him instead." The monster is, of course, "The Menacing Minotaur" as dubbed by Billy. Not nearly as effective as the subtitles the Japanese version gets. How can Power Rangers be worse at marketing than, well... anything. Everything I know is wrong.
The boys morph right into the sentai footage, and start getting their butts kicked. The sentai built up to this much better, so it doesn't work quite as well here. We cut to the girls, who, despite being in deadly danger only seconds ago, have now dealt with all but two of the putties. They remember all the times they've humiliated Bulk and Skull and decide to apply that knowledge practically, stepping out of the way and leading the putties into trash cans, apparently one of their many weaknesses.
Zordon sees that Goldar is in the sentai foot... I mean on the way so he tells the girls to morph and "Try to hook up with the others. Working together as a team is their only hope now." Thanks for those inspiring words Zordon. The Sentai footage of them fighting putties is really good and works quite well here, except for all the shots of Kimberlee looking off in the distance because Hiroshi was there in the original. Still, the Goldar-Trini fight is almost completely unedited and really makes her look like a badass, despite being a girl, which is quite cool.
In the command center, Alpha is still panicking about how bad things are, and Zordon muses that "Perhaps it is time to reveal to them the ancient secrets of the power weapons." Dude, why would you not just give them said power weapons? I mean they're Power Rangers, it seems like it should be their thing. Oh yeah, because in the sentai they had to go on a sweet quest. Man, GM Zordon is starting to seem super lazy. "Yeah, cool, guys, good job beating those putties now here's some treasure. Oh, I rolled a 100 that means you get a Power Sword." Sheesh.
Rita makes her monster grow to finish the Rangers off, and we see the first bit of footage ever shot for Power Rangers that makes use of the costumes. It's not much, just Kimberlee and Trini talking to Jason on the communicator and being told to summon their Zords, but it's something. It stands out if you're watching both series at once, since Trini talks into her wrist where the Ranger's communicators are, but it'd be seamless otherwise. The footage loses some of its luster right after, when everyone but Kimberlee summons their Zords and hers just sort of shows up. The reason is because in the sentai footage, Mei is holding Hiroshi when she summons her Guardian Beast, but... why couldn't they just shoot five seconds of her calling her Zord? Clearly they had the costume, it was in the previous shot. Just lazy.
Speaking of lazy, we're treated to the exact same cockpit scene as in the pilot, since the girls didn't get in their cockpits in the Zyuranger footage. They use the same lines too.... except, mercifully, Kimberlee, who's had her line changed. I'm tempted to give Power Rangers a point just for that, but I want to take one away for them being lazy. Let's call it a wash.
We get the same footage of the Zords fighting the minotaur as in the sentai and it's just as good here, maybe even better with the rock music behind it. They even address the problem of the Rangers having formed the MegaZord before here, having them come together. They do this by recycling footage of the pilot from the MegaZord tank mode and cutting to the Minotaur taking a hit.
Again, it's an obvious cut job if you've watched the original, but it looks just fine if you haven't. Before the Power Rangers can try switching to battle mode, Zordon tells them to come back, an order they don't question at all. Rita says they've obviously surrendered and now nothing can stop them. Apparently they didn't have heroic dramas 10,000 years ago.
We still have another full episode of Zyuranger to work though though, so let's jump over there. Bandora's cuckoo clock of doom reveals the Zyurangers only have 12 hours left before they turn to stone. But first they must survive the night! She continues her revelations with the fact that at night, the Land of Despair becomes bitterly cold and most give in and turn to stone. Even though she's winning, she recalls DoraMinotaur in the hopes that some of them will give up and the fight will be easier in the morning.
Dan suggests they drive their Guardian Beasts over to the castle and take the weapons, but they're thrown out of the cockpits. Goushi says it's because they want the Zyurangers to prove they're worthy of the weapons without them, and Triceratops sort of nods. It starts to snow and the Zyurangers each set up camp. Mei promises the statue of Hiroshi that after getting the weapons, she'll be back to save him... and then it's day again. So much for Bandora's plan.
The boys run off, but find themselves back at their campsite, and realize they're trapped in some sort of illusion. Dan kicks a rock in frustration and it bounces off an invisible wall, showing them the way. Boi and Mei meanwhile are being attacked by lightning.
Like everything in Super Sentai, by lightning they mean explosions. The lightning hits some brick in front of them and reveals a secret door with two knobs. They open one, but fire shoots out, so they very carefully open the other which leads to.... space. They jump in, and fall right in front of the others, as though the DM was tired of the party being split. Geki says it's good timing because they only have an hour left! Luckily they've also reached the cave of the last trial, where their hardest challenge awaits.
The Zyurangers find a sword in a stone. Boi gets excited, thinking it's a legendary weapon, but Goushi tells him to be careful since there are supposed to be five. Mei finds an inscription that says the final trial is to remove the evil sword from its bonds, and Dan decides to just grab it. He's shocked with evil lightning - actual lightning not explosions - and is turned into
I'm pretty sure that's supposed to be an oni, but your guess is as good as mine. Geki grabs him and tries to get him to let go of the sword, which leaves him all sweaty. He says that when he grabbed the sword he was overcome with evil. Boi declares this trial to be BS on the DM's part, but Geki gets a determined look and says he'll do it. He, too, is hit with evil lightning, but pulls it out before he can be oni-ized, swinging it around. Goushi tells him to throw it away, and he does, causing it to explode, because of course. The explosion knocks out a wall, revealing a hidden passage. What could be in there?
Meanwhile, since we can't put off checking in with the Power Rangers forever, they've returned to the command center. This is the first time the Rangers have been morphed inside the command center, proving Saban had all the suits and could have filmed anything they wanted. Sure they probably have budget issues, but shot Kimberlee waving her hand and yelling "Pterodactyl" would have been easy.
Zordon starts handing out weapons to everyone. All of them are "Power (Weapon)" which is boring, but he's sure to say them all, and give each two adjectives. Despite having two episodes of sentai footage to work with, guess they still needed to fill time. They seem way worse than Zords and certainly aren't as cool, but the Power Rangers charge errr... teleport back into battle.
Meanwhile, the Zyurangers have found the legendary weapons they were looking for too! Unfortunately, Bandora has beat them to the stash.
She can't take the weapons because she's evil, but apparently she can just bypass all the trials. She casts hold person on the Zyurangers, and summons her clock, showing them that in just minutes, they'll be turned into statues. Geki says that's cheating, but, being evil, she doesn't care. The Zyurangers start turning to stone, and Bandora taunts them. Believing in the heart of the cards, Geki appeals to the weapons saying they've overcome the trials and are worthy of them. A Kaibaist, Bandora taunts him for this, but he insists he believes they came to the world to smite evil, and that he wants to help them do that, starting with Bandora. The weapons seem to consider this a valid point and fly into the Zyuranger's hands, who unturn to stone. Queue triumphant music.
Bandora jumpcuts in some putties and sends DoraMinotaur to help them and we get a really cool fight scene with the Zyurangers using their new weapons. The legendary weapons seem to be like their old ones, but with more explosions. Bandora, upset her plan didn't work, decides to just grow giant and crush the Land of Despair.
While perhaps a little short sighted, the plan seems like it'll be effective, and the temple the weapons were in starts crumbling around them. Very conveniently, this opens another wall hole, leading to Hiroshi's mother, who they escape with. DoraMinotaur jumps out to block their progress, and the Zyurangers transform. Their new weapons transform along with them, which is cool, and get names. Unlike the Rangers and their lame "Power Sword" here we get "Dragonstrike Sword", "Moth Breaker", "Trice Lance", "Saber Dagger" and "Ptera Arrow". While there's still a pattern, it's a lot more interesting.
Speaking of the Power Rangers, they teleport right into the sentai footage here and we get the same fight scene. There's no reason for the minotaur to be small in Power Rangers, but the reason in Zyuranger isn't much better so I'll give them that. The Weapons transforming are left in, but instead of naming them, we get really lame 90s lines from the Power Rangers that even their theme song can't save. The fight itself is pretty good in both versions, with the new weapons being more than enough to beat DoraMinotaur. Still, Geki/Zordon say they should combine the weapons. Jason says they'll give the beast "a blast of their megapower" which... bleh. Geki on the other hand declares "Form Howling Cannon!"
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If I ever stop thinking the phrase "Form Howling Cannon" is awesome I don't want to live with myself. Both sets of Rangers yell the names of their weapons as they combine them, proving that the Zyuranger's names are just way cooler. The Rangers fire their new weapon.
And the minotaur is destroyed. The Zyurangers, however, still have to deal with Bandora shaking the planetoid they're on. They run to the statue of Hiroshi, and his mother starts crying. Hiroshi is returned to normal, because of course he is, and they remember the whole Bandora shaking everything problem and run off. Just as she decides to stop this shaking and just blast it with her laser wand, the Zyurangers escape arriving on... some random bridge.
Geki tells Hiroshi to study hard and listen to his mom and then says he and his friends must go... though Hiroshi and his mom are the ones who walk off. The moral comes out of nowhere but isn't forced, and the Zyurangers do a sweet weapon high five and pledge once more to defeat Bandora.
Speaking of studying, the Power Rangers end the episode by... going back to school for some reason. I mean, they were all off doing things so school must be over but... I guess the GymJuiceBarYouth is closed for remodeling or something after Bulk pulled the ceiling out last week. They say things work out better when they work as a team but... but they always work as a team. Team work didn't save them, Zordon's fancy new communist weapons that you don't even have to go on a quest for did. What they should be saying is "Things always work better when a giant head in a tube gives you new more powerful Power Weapons, right, guys?"
Even more perplexing, the hall way is still trashed from Bulk and Skull pouring things out earlier... does this school not have a janitor? The teacher from earlier comes by and blames them for things not having been cleaned up yet... even though they're pretty much just walking by. Luckily, the loudspeaker calls him away and he tells them not to go anywhere. Jason says they should use team work to clean up, and we're treated to a fast forward scene of the Power Rangers cleaning up a mess. Clearly it's fast forward because cleaning up trash is boring, but I distinctly remember as a kid thinking that fast forwarding time to do chores was one of the Power Rangers' powers.
The teacher returns, and asks them what happened to the mess. The Power Rangers, being dicks, tell him there never was a mess and he walks off questioning his own sanity. The communicator beeps, and Zordon apologizes, saying that it's Alpha practicing his dancing and bumping the controls. Zach tells him he's a robot and he should stop trying to practice dancing and focus solely on keeping the controls working for his human overlords. So I guess we know who to blame when the robots start killing all of us.
Final Thoughts
Oh boy. After last week, I was thinking Power Rangers and Zyuranger might actually be about even in quality, but this week's showing wasn't even close. Power Rangers was over quick, I'll give it that, but even though Zyuranger had two episodes, they seemed to go quickly as well. It wasn't Shakespeare or anything, but it'd make a pretty good D&D module with some sweet treasure at the end.
Power Rangers however still has the problem of introducing the MegaZord too early, and this week it makes it look like a bunch of weapons Zordon just gave them are way stronger. I give them props for including the MegaZord at all, but watching the two versions side by side, the Zyurangers earn their weapons which make them seem really cool. The Rangers just get theirs in a deus ex machina.
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