Power Rangers: East vs. West season 1

I’m treating this as a spinoff, at least as far as the Spotlight works. I’m putting it under the category “Sentai vs. Saban”, but the actual video series is “East vs. West”.

Many reviewers have been inspired by the Channel Awesome crew (although not all). CinWicked and Joshua the Anarchist (interesting screennames) may or may not have been inspired to put together a series comparing the original Super Sentai series to the Power Rangers series that goes along with it. Usually, Linkara ignores the Sentai to focus solely on Power Ranger story, as I do (outside of a mention and a link) when adding my comments. However, when I saw this episode, which is planned as the first of many, I contacted CinWicked for permission to post this series alongside Linkara’s. (It’s one thing to post to review, and another to use their series as a posting series of my own, so I felt the need to get permission first.)

So let’s watch Cin and Joshua (there’s a comic strip waiting to be born) as they being their quest to see which version is better, Toei’s or Saban/Disney’s.

The first season of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers received most of it’s footage from Dinosaur Sentai Beast Ranger (at least that’s how SuperSentai.com translates Kyoryu Sentai Zyu Ranger). They are very different series, but our hosts have set up a decent set of criteria to figure out which show was ultimately better.

I so want to find that remix they closed the show with.

Like Linkara’s series, I will be introducing my own thoughts on the show, but for the record I haven’t seen more than a few episodes of the original version. (I may get to Zyuranger after I finish Kamen Rider Black, if I don’t start on the RX spin-off.)

First off, get Joshua a morphing sequence. And am I the only one who never noticed or cared about the whole Black/Yellow Ranger thing with Zack and Trini. I never understood the yellow/Asian connection to begin with, so maybe I’m just that dense. I’m also assuming that the “Gremlins” bit is a running gag on Josh’s show. As for not getting Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, I don’t mind. Those are some ugly helmets. Yes, Japanophiles, I know it’s supposed to be kanji, but they’re still ugly, especially compared to the next series.

Anyway, here’s my vote on the various categories Cin and Josh (seriously, start a webcomic!) used.

heroes: Zyuranger

I know enough about the Zyuranger backstory to agree with Cin. (Never thought you’d hear a Christian say that, did you. 😀 ) While the Power Rangers are the ones I’ve come to know, and Billy and Tommy do get some advancement over the course of the series, as a whole the group falls flat compared to the sleeping warriors. If you’ve been watching Linkara’s series either here or on his own blog (where he’s up to Lost Galaxy while I’m still trying to get to Zeo here), he’s noted that Bulk and Skull get the most character advancement.

As he’s also noted, the Power Rangers take on so many activities as to make them unbelievable. For example, take the charity ATV race that opens the second season. I can see Jason, Zack, and Tommy taking part because of who they are and their personalities. You can even make a case for Trini, but (and this isn’t an insult) I don’t see Billy or Kimberly getting involved with that, at least not as racers. It doesn’t seem to be in their character. It’s like if Billy joined the football team because Jason and Tommy were on it. They take on so many activities (usually as a plot device to put them close to Rita’s latest plan) that you wouldn’t think they had time to save the world or get straight A’s in school. It’s tough to connect with them. Odd as the sleeping warriors under an apartment building leads to more believable, albeit otherwise unrealistic, lives for the characters.

(And on a less noble note, Mei has all the cutest aspects of both Kim and Trini. 😉 )

supporting cast: Power Rangers

Unlike the hosts, I actually like Alpha 5. (Alpha 6 during Turbo, however, is another story.) But my preference comes not from the quantity, but the fact that in the PR supporting cast are civilians. I love getting to see some of the citizens that superheroes have to protect, as well as having someone to hang out with during the down times. It’s one of my gripes against DC and Marvel right now, that the big events (even in a group title if not the entire Universe) crowds out the supporting cast and makes connecting with the superheroes a bit difficult.

The Zyurangers may have more backup in the battlefield, but they don’t really live normal lives (and most of the footage I’ve seen of them keeps them in their old clothes) from what I can tell. When they aren’t fighting Bandora, they hang around in their little temple room, although they do “get out of the house” now and then. (At least Burai has a good reason to, seeing as he’d die otherwise.) They don’t seem to interact with anyone outside of fellow warriors unless the story demands it, and only for that episode. (Something I’ve seen in Kamen Rider Black as well. Kotoro doesn’t spend a lot of time with his friends.) Sometimes, quantity is better than quality.

villains: Power Rangers

Well, we had to disagree sometime, I guess. And maybe it’s because I haven’t seen more than the first few episodes of Zyuranger, but while Bandora and her crew have a more thought out back-story and motivations, I just find Rita and the gang more fun. Trying to block out the Zedd years like the hosts are, I still think I find the American version more interesting because there isn’t as much baggage. Maybe I’m just burnt out on villains I’m supposed to feel sorry for that pops up more and more in Hollywood’s offerings or the fact that Rita’s being evil for evil sake leads to more unexplored back-story (which we would get some of later on, but ignore that) and potential, but there’s more to work with and we don’t get evil kids. It’s just a personal preference, but as a would-be writer I find more to work with when it comes to Rita, Goldar, and Finster.

Although I do like the married evil couple. I wonder how well Goldar and Scorpina got along?

equipment: Power Rangers

From a writer’s aspect, I also wanted to give the win to Zyuranger. It was a tough call, since having to earn the weapons rather than be given to them makes for a much better story. Power Rangers, however, gained a slight edge for a few reasons.

1. zords versus gods: The DinoZords (a variation on “dinosaurs”, something forgotten as all the mecha since have been called “zords”) actually qualify as equipment. The Zyuranger gods are…gods. They’re not machines (something that on the Ranger side bugged me about the Galactabeasts in Lost Galaxy, which I was reminded of in Linkara’s recent review…which I will get to here). So I can’t qualify them as “equipment”. They’re closer to “allies” since they’re even more alive than Alpha 5. Also they wanted Geki to kill his brother, and I’m pro-family. 🙂
2. wrist communicators: The communication watches that Billy created connected to the Command Center and allowed the action in the show to move a little faster, than having to take time to get to where the monsters were attacking, plus allowed the Rangers to call for help. The Rangers were able to get where they needed to fast without making us wonder how they got there so quick, while some future Rangers would only have vehicles and yet would still get to the battlefield fast enough that teleporting is the only way it made sense.
3. the one shotters: Billy could crap out new gear in his sleep (not literally, which would be an odd and rather painful ability). There was all sorts of equipment that he would put together to take down a particular monster, like the foam gun. Some of it also comes from Zyuranger, thus begging the question of why their magical tools always resembled technology, although that may well be explained. On the other hand Billy had something of a “command center” in his garage, which he used to build the “RadBug”.

In Zyuranger, that’s supposed to be magical, according to my research. I don’t see it.

But like I said, with the backstory of the Zyuranger gear, it was a tough call from a story perspective.

“Green Ranger” arc example: Zyuranger

While Joshua left out a couple things (most notably that Tommy was chosen because he tied Jason in a martial arts competition earlier), Burai still has the more compelling and emotional drama. Even after both turn good, Burai is stuck in a temple because he’ll die if he goes outside while originally Tommy just wasn’t hanging out with the Rangers as much and the writers would come up with excuses why he didn’t join his friends (usually being delayed by Putties, but in one episode his communicator had been damaged, kept beeping in class, and was taken away by the teacher). Later, when he came back after Rita had kidnapped the Rangers parents (see “History of” season one), his powers were temporary, so he couldn’t hold his Ranger form as long.

Even then, Tommy only came back because of the fanbase he had. Burai died and gave his powers to Geki. Tommy gave his powers to Jason to keep Rita from getting them with her magic candle, but lived to come back and still date Kimberly. Zyuranger just had the better stakes and emotional background.

transformation: Power Rangers

Interestingly, while I’ve seen a few episodes of earlier Sentai with some cool looking transformations, Zyuranger has a boring sequence. Compared to Power Rangers, even more so. It’s just a stronger visual. (By the way, Jason’s grid pattern at the end comes from the first Zyuranger transformation.)

team-ups: I just wanted to note that really nothing is going to be here until at least Lost Galaxy. Power Rangers in Space featured Adam and Justin showing up again, but those weren’t full team team-ups. Lost Galaxy featured the Space Rangers coming in to help the Galaxy Rangers against the Psycho Rangers, but none of the shows before that features a team-up. I don’t know when it started in the Sentai.

intros: Power Rangers

Not just the theme song. As you’ve seen in the “My Favorite (and “Not-So-Favorite”) Intros” section, I look at the visual as well as the audio. I come from the early 80’s (although since I was born in ’73, probably a little before that), but that has no bearing here. Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers has an action packed theme song and major butt kicking that gets me excited for an action show. Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger has some action sequence, but hardly the hardest hits, and a theme song I expect from my clock radio when I get up in the morning, since I prefer to slowly wake up.  It has to go to Saban and “The Mighty Raw” here.

So let’s check their tally versus mine:

Cin & Joshua:

Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger: 4

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: 3

BW Media Spotlight:

Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger: 2

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: 5

Hopefully we can agree to disagree, but there’s one other detail that makes me grade Power Rangers on something of a curve and it has nothing to do with nostalgia. If you go back to the Saturday Night Showcase that prologued “History of the Power Rangers” as posted to this site, I mentioned how I grew up with a few live-action shows on Saturday morning, shows like Shazam!, Jason of Star Command, and PBS’s Read All About It, and how generations before me had plenty of shows before the easier to produce cartoons took over. (No sets, no makeup. Smaller budget.) The only live-action kids shows now were shows like Sesame Street or local hosts that talked to or were sidekicks for puppets introducing cartoons, or educational shows. (You could find a few skit shows on Nickelodeon, but no sci-fi/superhero action shows.)

Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers changed that. After it’s success there were the attempts to copy it (by Saban itself but also DiC, who should have stuck to animation), but soon other shows, like Land of the Lost (a GOOD remake, Will Ferril!), Hypernauts, and Nickelodeon’s remake of the British series The Tomorrow People, Animorphs, and Space Cases starting hitting the airwaves. How many of them were any good is up to you (I will say not all of them), but it was a resurgence in those shows, and while it has sadly waned (and would have waned further if not for Disney XD, so I guess the change from Toon Disney has an upside, unlike Cartoon Network, who should be jumping on only one other station to compete with in the all animation department), there is now something to point to and say “hey, maybe we can give kids their own live-action show since they obviously can’t watch the superhero/sci-fi that’s usually put out, and thus gain fans for the genre when they reach adulthood”. (Entertainment industry, take note of that last line!)

So while overall Zyuranger is the more developed show, there is still another part of that curve to consider, and it’s the biggest part. Toei had been doing these kinds of shows for years! This style of superhero and TV series was new to America at the time, since Saban’s last foray into Sentai was the comedic dubbed Dynaman. Using this much stock footage with American actors (which required finding at least six people who could pass as teenagers, could act relatively well, perform martial arts scenes, AND be decent voice actors to dub over the footage) was a new experience. Therefore, Zyuranger already had an edge going into this comparison. As time goes on in this series, we’ll see Saban adapt and improve. It will probably dip around the time of Ninja Storm, when Disney took over the license and handed it off to a New Zealand, but by the time we get to the end and RPM, it will again have become a fair “fight”.

I want to thank CinWicked and Joshua the Anarchist for allowing me to take all their hard work and put in my own two cents (although they may not have counted on as much as I commented, more like $3.50). They plan to do more, and I plan to comment here like I’ve been doing on Linkara’s “History of the Power Rangers” as long as they allow.