Is Bioman really all THAT great?

[Kouji Kabuto]

Being the former webmaster of Biomic-soldier.com I feel obliged to say my thoughts.

While I agree that time and enthusiasm would make Bioman seem greater than it is, I wouldn't go as far as to say that it is the Gekiranger of the 80s.

I think what makes Bioman special are the following:

a) the upgrade in costumes and SFX from Dynaman were huge. And I know I'll get flak for this but I feel the SFX got a little weaker with Changeman.

b) Four of five of them (excepting Green) had personalities that clicked with me. Green had strong eps as a loner but wasn't the dour green of Denziman...

c) I enjoyed the story arc of the Bioman having to develop the New Super Bio Electron. It showed the emphasis on training, overcoming personal monkeys-on-the-back (I won't spoil) in order to get stronger. Much better than the later "find a new mecha" nonsense.

d) It tried to be different, with the Beastnoids and Mechagigans. Mason, Farrah and Monster were bland personalitywide, admittedly, but they made up for it with sheer over the top ness.

e) Yukari Ohshima as Farrahcat. Nuff said.

f) I loved the Bio Robo design - looking at it from the front you really couldn't tell how it separated into the two jets. Then again this can also be said about Change Robo and Flash King.

g) I know Shougo will disagree with me on this, but I loved Bioman's BGM. Then again many of the BGM from this period was awesome.

h) Bio Hunter Silver. Lame by today's standards, but he SCARED me as a kid.

i) and let's admit it, a lot of us had huge crushes on Michiko Makino as kids. I know I did.

j) don't forget that it was not just in the Philippines where it was a hit. It was a big thing in France as well. So big that Maskman was titled Bioman 2 and Liveman was Bioman 3!


Now to answer some of the criticisms

They never intended to kill off yellow four. There was a contractual problem with the actress. Therefore, this whole killing her off should be neither be used to support the show nor to bash it. It was just circumstance.

"nothing really happened after yellow died" - huh? Well the whole Peebo's alien friend two parter was a farce, but how can the character of Prince, learning Doctorman's true origins, Doctorman's surviving assasination attempt, the coming of Bio Hunter Silver, the development of the New Super Bio Electron, Bio Robo developing a new Super Mazer attack... how can these be "nothing really happened?"

So... I wouldn't say it's the best sentai ever, but I can say it is probably one of my all time favorites.

 

[JFC]

Being the former webmaster of Biomic-soldier.com I feel obliged to say my thoughts.

I loved that site.

 

[Shougo B'Stard]

c) I enjoyed the story arc of the Bioman having to develop the New Super Bio Electron. It showed the emphasis on training, overcoming personal monkeys-on-the-back (I won't spoil) in order to get stronger. Much better than the later "find a new mecha" nonsense.

I was just thinking recently about how Bio, Change, and Flash had a multi-episodes arc where the villains gain a power-up and become stronger, and the heroes were creamed, having to train or prove their worth, and acquiring their own power-up. They acquire new moves, and that's it. It's completely for the sake of the story. Bio, Change, and Flash don't get armor, new Bandai-approved weapons or several mecha, there was no merchandise to be gained from these story-arcs, it's something that naturally came from the progression of the story and the battle escalating. So, eat that, people who say "Sentai was always about the toys."

Mason, Farrah and Monster were bland personalitywide, admittedly, but they made up for it with sheer over the top ness.

I feel like, on paper, they had distinct personalities, but it seemed to me that, after Dr. Man reprograms them, they're just pushed into the background and become interchangeable. But Mason was always the weakest of the three, IMO. Farrah and Monster were distinct, and had good performers playing them. I know Hirohisa Nakata is a fan-favorite actor, having been Captain Ultra and Kamen Rider villains, but he didn't seem to fit the role, IMO. My main problem is that I don't find robot villains very interesting, especially when entire villain organizations are made up with nothing but robot characters.

But, like I said, Dr. Man stole the show for me. Munemaru Kouda's great in the part, and the character being half human makes a big difference.

g) I know Shougo will disagree with me on this, but I loved Bioman's BGM. Then again many of the BGM from this period was awesome.

Why would you say that I'd disagree with you? Tatsumi Yano is my favorite tokusatsu composer. His sentai work with Bio, Change, and Live is awesome.

h) Bio Hunter Silver. Lame by today's standards, but he SCARED me as a kid.

I wouldn't call him lame. He's a much more dangerous presence than most recent tokusatsu villains. And Silver really spices the show up.

i) and let's admit it, a lot of us had huge crushes on Michiko Makino as kids. I know I did.

I'll admit it. :sweat: But then Kanako Maeda came along...

Well the whole Peebo's alien friend two parter was a farce...

I actually thought that that was a good villain plan. The problem was that the kid was a little annoying.

In addition to all of the stories you brought up, there's also the arc involving Professor Shibata. That scene where he makes one last attempt to contact Gou through a Mecha Clone's pretty strong.

And I'll add this -- Bioman's one of the few tokusatsu shows that has a pretty cool movie. The villains are trying to find the Bio Base (they plant a kid Mecha Clone suicide bomber among the group of kids Bioman saves!), and there's huge action scenes. Sumiko Tanaka does a lot of cool stuff.

 

[Sage Shinigami]

While I agree that time and enthusiasm would make Bioman seem greater than it is, I wouldn't go as far as to say that it is the Gekiranger of the 80s.

Nah, that's Liveman. Bioman's earned its reputation.

I was just thinking recently about how Bio, Change, and Flash had a multi-episodes arc where the villains gain a power-up and become stronger, and the heroes were creamed, having to train or prove their worth, and acquiring their own power-up. They acquire new moves, and that's it. It's completely for the sake of the story. Bio, Change, and Flash don't get armor, new Bandai-approved weapons or several mecha, there was no merchandise to be gained from these story-arcs, it's something that naturally came from the progression of the story and the battle escalating. So, eat that, people who say "Sentai was always about the toys."

It was still about the toys. Only, with so few of them to promote we could have episodes where...STUFF HAPPENED. Must have been nice back in the 80's.

 

[Black Fang]

Nah, that's Liveman. Bioman's earned its reputation.

And Liveman hasn't?

It was still about the toys. Only, with so few of them to promote we could have episodes where...STUFF HAPPENED. Must have been nice back in the 80's.

Well you just admitted it yourself. There weren't so many toys to promote back then. So logically we can assume that the shows in fact weren't so toy-focused.

 

[Dr Kain]

Yeah, heaven forbid Liveman did nothing. It was only the first series to have animal mecha. -_-

 

[Sage Shinigami]

And Liveman hasn't?

Depends on who you ask, same as with Gekiranger.

Well you just admitted it yourself. There weren't so many toys to promote back then. So logically we can assume that the shows in fact weren't so toy-focused.

Its escalation. They've been slowly adding toys with each new season, so each new season becomes slowly more toy focused. I'm perfectly willing to admit 2000-2009 took things to a completely different level though. Giving GaoSilver his own robot? Now people basically expect "extra" Senshi to have an entire SET of mecha all to themselves. I miss when extra Rangers basically served as replacements for Reds in the mech combination. (Dragon Ranger and Kibaranger.)

 

[Black Fang]

Or how about the simple main robo-extra robo combination? That only came back one year with Deka.

Incidentally, Deka and Magi are the only post-Timeranger Sentais that didn't have a mecha/mecha arsenal zoo to be marketed every few weeks. With Gao and Aba it was still somewhat novel. Hurricanger had a nice idea with the large arsenal but the result was absurd. But by the time Boukenger rolled out the 'mecha zoo' concept was getting ridiculous. And that was when the 'cluster combos' that Hurri originated started to become a yearly thing, getting uglier and uglier as it went.

 

[Dr Kain]

Depends on who you ask, same as with Gekiranger.

Okay dude, we get that you hate GekiRanger. You don't have to bring it up every other post.

 

[Kouji Kabuto]

I feel like, on paper, they had distinct personalities, but it seemed to me that, after Dr. Man reprograms them, they're just pushed into the background and become interchangeable.

Distinct Personalities yet, but I guess Doctorman just made them look feeble in comparison. Thinking about it, I always looked forward to Monster and Juu-Oh (Beastking).

But, like I said, Dr. Man stole the show for me. Munemaru Kouda's great in the part, and the character being half human makes a big difference.

Heck yes.

Why would you say that I'd disagree with you? Tatsumi Yano is my favorite tokusatsu composer. His sentai work with Bio, Change, and Live is awesome.

If memory serves me right, you once said Bio was okay but Live was much better, and I disagreed, saying Live was okay but Bio was much better... but that was years ago

I wouldn't call him lame. He's a much more dangerous presence than most recent tokusatsu villains. And Silver really spices the show up.

I never called him lame, some fans whose first exposure to sentai was in the late 90s have, though.

In addition to all of the stories you brought up, there's also the arc involving Professor Shibata. That scene where he makes one last attempt to contact Gou through a Mecha Clone's pretty strong.

Can't believe I forgot him.