(Where Wraithstrike Watches) The Toku Thread
- Thread starter Wraithstrike
- Start date
Wraithstrike
Resident Precureologist
I understand that RPM is more grounded in sci-fi. But at the very least, they could have cut out Ziggy's insistence on mind control and given us a scene where Doctor K and several doctors in Corinth try to save Scott after he flatlines. Run that scene concurrently with the empty chair scene, and it's got the impact back.
Wraithstrike
Resident Precureologist
Power Rangers RPM Episode 28: Run Ziggy Run
This is a fun episode, if a bit cluttered.
This is a fun episode, if a bit cluttered.
Wraithstrike
Resident Precureologist
Power Rangers RPM Final 4
This finale is awesome. But there are two nitpicks.
Tenaya triggered a magnetic pulse. That should have shut down the hybrids as well. All electronics fail in an EMP situation.
The final scene with the Venjix Glow coming from Scott's Morpher doesn't matter. Doctor K is meticulous. She will bring out the Morphers every so often to run a diagnostic on them, and she will find the virus code and delete it.
I don't care if it ties into the Clash of the Red Rangers in Samurai. Samurai is a fail season coming off of this.
Final review coming soon.
This finale is awesome. But there are two nitpicks.
Tenaya triggered a magnetic pulse. That should have shut down the hybrids as well. All electronics fail in an EMP situation.
The final scene with the Venjix Glow coming from Scott's Morpher doesn't matter. Doctor K is meticulous. She will bring out the Morphers every so often to run a diagnostic on them, and she will find the virus code and delete it.
I don't care if it ties into the Clash of the Red Rangers in Samurai. Samurai is a fail season coming off of this.
Final review coming soon.
I remember reading somewhere that there were originally plans for Dillon to be Venjix's final body and Scott would be forced to kill him, and if that really was something on the table, I'm glad they took it off. And yeah, Dr. K would not let the infected morpher stay infected for long.
As to the Hybrid's not shutting down from the EMP, one could say between the fleshy exteriors and the bio fields, the electronic parts were protected; probably wouldn't stand up to scrutiny but lots of stuff in Power Rangers doesn't.
As to the Hybrid's not shutting down from the EMP, one could say between the fleshy exteriors and the bio fields, the electronic parts were protected; probably wouldn't stand up to scrutiny but lots of stuff in Power Rangers doesn't.
Wraithstrike
Resident Precureologist
Final Rating For Power Rangers RPM On A Scale of 1-5 Engine Cells
Characters, Heroic:
One of the strengths of this show is in the characters. We can see through the “Ranger *Insert color*” and “Doctor K” episodes exactly the path that their lives took to this point, but they never stop evolving. And with the idea of Dillon’s identity being an overarching plot, they really get you engrossed in the character.
Scott is a military man, seeking approval from the one person that never seems willing to give it. Some of his most poignant scenes come in dealing with his father.
Flynn is a good person, through and through. Always willing to stand up for the little guy, but also willing to call others on their bull, he’s easily one of my favorite blue rangers.
Ziggy is fun to watch, if a bit creepy when discussing mind control and his criminal dealings. He’s just awesome.
Summer’s story is one of the more amazing ones. In a time of warfare, she grows from being a spoiled brat to a good person, and successfully defends that choice to her parents when they arrive.
Dillon’s arc spreads through the entire series. And I find it to be a bold storytelling decision that by the end of the series, we’re still no closer to knowing who he and his sister are. It’s just going to remain a mystery.
Gem and Gemma are glorious characters. Super-intelligent, pyromaniac twins acting as heroes. What’s not to love?
Rating: 5 Engine Cells
Characters, Villainous:
Venjix is HAL 9000 merged with Ultron, and it shows. He’s fully capable of pure, devious villainy that makes other power rangers villains look like chumps, but he still can’t resist a good monologue moment.
Tenaya 7/15 is just a fun villain to watch. She’s creepy when she’s stalking the heroes, effective in combat and also prone to monologues. But she’s also frighteningly genre savvy.
Kilobye is a sexist gloryhound with a metal pompadour. Probably one of the more fun villain designs I’ve seen.
Shifter and what’s his face are kind of pointless, until you take on the interpretation that they were created not to be tactically significant, but to make Venjix laugh.
Rating: 4.1 Engine Cells
Characters, Supporting:
I will just say it. Bar none, RPM has the single best supporting cast in any power rangers series. Doctor K is always fun to watch, Colonel Truman is amazing, and I want to see him in more roles.Tenaya as a supporting heroine is also a really strong character. Even the Butler Andrews and Scott’s Brother are amazing, fully realized personalities and one of the best decisions they make regarding them is to make their deaths matter.
Rating: 5 Engine Cells.
Writing:
Oh yes, the writing here is tight. You get the sense of the scale of the threat, you feel for the characters, you cheer when they bring out a newly designed weapon. Barring the Behind the Scenes and Clipshow episodes, you could marathon through this in a whole day, and enjoy every step of it.
Rating: 4.5 Engine Cells
Worldbuilding:
When I first heard that they were using Go-onger footage for a post-apocalyptic story, my reaction was similar to the reaction I had when Patamon first digivolved to Angemon. Namely, “How do you get THAT from THAT?”
However, the concept won me over when I first saw “Ranger Blue.”
The idea of a single city being all that’s left of human civilization doesn’t seem right to me, but I realize that Corinth can’t be the only city left. There have to be similar domes around the world. Corinth is the focal point of the attacks because Doctor K is there, and Venjix just wants to meet his creator again.
There’s two general locales here, Corinth and the Wastes, and they’re both used very well. Inside Corinth, you have all the stories about protecting people, and humanity’s last hope. In the Wastes, you have the stories of “hey, there’s still people out here. We can help them!” And these tie together very well.
Rating: 4.5 Engine Cells
Cinematography:
There’s still an overabundance of Kalish-splosions in this series, with masive fireballs behind the team that throw them forward. However, this is a minor quibble, because the stuntwork and fight scenes are amazing to watch. Every episode tops the previous one in the quality of the choreography. I didn’t mention it, but there was an exceptionally good fight in the clip show, where Doctor K has grabbed a section of pipe at the same time Ziggy has, and they fight in unison. They also tie in the special suit powers with the combat really well.
Rating: 4 Engine Cells
Special Effects:
The Special Effects in this show are really well done, but they’re not why I watch.
Rating: 4 Engine Cells.
Music:
Music seems to be a failing in this show, as scenes in the Garage are populated mostly by elevator pop. But the music for the fight scenes and Venjix’s lair is well done.
Rating: 3 Engine Cells
Final Rating: 4.3 Engine Cells
Final Notes: RPM is Power Rangers as it should be. It’s an amazing example of retooling something meant to be a comedy and making it a drama. If you grew up watching Power Rangers, RPM is the perfect series for you. Unfortunately, unless something amazing happens with the 20th anniversary and the Gokaiger footage, it will probably be the last great series in the franchise.
Characters, Heroic:
One of the strengths of this show is in the characters. We can see through the “Ranger *Insert color*” and “Doctor K” episodes exactly the path that their lives took to this point, but they never stop evolving. And with the idea of Dillon’s identity being an overarching plot, they really get you engrossed in the character.
Scott is a military man, seeking approval from the one person that never seems willing to give it. Some of his most poignant scenes come in dealing with his father.
Flynn is a good person, through and through. Always willing to stand up for the little guy, but also willing to call others on their bull, he’s easily one of my favorite blue rangers.
Ziggy is fun to watch, if a bit creepy when discussing mind control and his criminal dealings. He’s just awesome.
Summer’s story is one of the more amazing ones. In a time of warfare, she grows from being a spoiled brat to a good person, and successfully defends that choice to her parents when they arrive.
Dillon’s arc spreads through the entire series. And I find it to be a bold storytelling decision that by the end of the series, we’re still no closer to knowing who he and his sister are. It’s just going to remain a mystery.
Gem and Gemma are glorious characters. Super-intelligent, pyromaniac twins acting as heroes. What’s not to love?
Rating: 5 Engine Cells
Characters, Villainous:
Venjix is HAL 9000 merged with Ultron, and it shows. He’s fully capable of pure, devious villainy that makes other power rangers villains look like chumps, but he still can’t resist a good monologue moment.
Tenaya 7/15 is just a fun villain to watch. She’s creepy when she’s stalking the heroes, effective in combat and also prone to monologues. But she’s also frighteningly genre savvy.
Kilobye is a sexist gloryhound with a metal pompadour. Probably one of the more fun villain designs I’ve seen.
Shifter and what’s his face are kind of pointless, until you take on the interpretation that they were created not to be tactically significant, but to make Venjix laugh.
Rating: 4.1 Engine Cells
Characters, Supporting:
I will just say it. Bar none, RPM has the single best supporting cast in any power rangers series. Doctor K is always fun to watch, Colonel Truman is amazing, and I want to see him in more roles.Tenaya as a supporting heroine is also a really strong character. Even the Butler Andrews and Scott’s Brother are amazing, fully realized personalities and one of the best decisions they make regarding them is to make their deaths matter.
Rating: 5 Engine Cells.
Writing:
Oh yes, the writing here is tight. You get the sense of the scale of the threat, you feel for the characters, you cheer when they bring out a newly designed weapon. Barring the Behind the Scenes and Clipshow episodes, you could marathon through this in a whole day, and enjoy every step of it.
Rating: 4.5 Engine Cells
Worldbuilding:
When I first heard that they were using Go-onger footage for a post-apocalyptic story, my reaction was similar to the reaction I had when Patamon first digivolved to Angemon. Namely, “How do you get THAT from THAT?”
However, the concept won me over when I first saw “Ranger Blue.”
The idea of a single city being all that’s left of human civilization doesn’t seem right to me, but I realize that Corinth can’t be the only city left. There have to be similar domes around the world. Corinth is the focal point of the attacks because Doctor K is there, and Venjix just wants to meet his creator again.
There’s two general locales here, Corinth and the Wastes, and they’re both used very well. Inside Corinth, you have all the stories about protecting people, and humanity’s last hope. In the Wastes, you have the stories of “hey, there’s still people out here. We can help them!” And these tie together very well.
Rating: 4.5 Engine Cells
Cinematography:
There’s still an overabundance of Kalish-splosions in this series, with masive fireballs behind the team that throw them forward. However, this is a minor quibble, because the stuntwork and fight scenes are amazing to watch. Every episode tops the previous one in the quality of the choreography. I didn’t mention it, but there was an exceptionally good fight in the clip show, where Doctor K has grabbed a section of pipe at the same time Ziggy has, and they fight in unison. They also tie in the special suit powers with the combat really well.
Rating: 4 Engine Cells
Special Effects:
The Special Effects in this show are really well done, but they’re not why I watch.
Rating: 4 Engine Cells.
Music:
Music seems to be a failing in this show, as scenes in the Garage are populated mostly by elevator pop. But the music for the fight scenes and Venjix’s lair is well done.
Rating: 3 Engine Cells
Final Rating: 4.3 Engine Cells
Final Notes: RPM is Power Rangers as it should be. It’s an amazing example of retooling something meant to be a comedy and making it a drama. If you grew up watching Power Rangers, RPM is the perfect series for you. Unfortunately, unless something amazing happens with the 20th anniversary and the Gokaiger footage, it will probably be the last great series in the franchise.
Wraithstrike
Resident Precureologist
Next up on the toku review docket:
GAVAN!
GAVAN!
Similar threads
