Pilot review: Power Rangers Samurai

I know, but I’ve shown so many trailers for this show on site already I thought I’d do something different. 🙂 I would have embedded the theme, but since those seem to be unembeddable lately I didn’t even bother to look for it.

Last night Nickelodeon had the premiere of Power Rangers Samurai, the first episode since Saban took his franchise back. So what did I think of it?

Did I miss an episode?

It wasn’t a bad episode, but if you go back to the preview clip, that wasn’t in there. You had a sense that this was the first meeting between the Rangers and the villain of the series. The problem with this episode, which is supposed to be the first episode by the way, is that they’ve already met and started on the “Ranger focus” episode, the one that lets you know the characters in depth. The clip of Bulk and Skull’s nephew is there, but there’s no context for any of it.

This is what most hurts the episode as a pilot. Who are these new bad guys? Why do they need the humans to cry to make a river flow, and how is that even possible? We go into episode one knowing nothing about the characters or the situation. This is what a first episode is supposed to do and it doesn’t. Plus the episode is called “The Team Unites”, but it’s actually a story about Green Ranger Mike. (This would be the second Mike in Ranger history, and the first Ranger if you don’t count Magna Defender.)

In the story Mike is concerned that he isn’t as good as the other Rangers and spends time with his friends. After one of them is hurt in a monster attack Mike is told that he has to give up his friends because they might get hurt more by associating with a Ranger. Mike must also find the samurai skill within him to defeat the monster.

That’s the other problem with the episode. The “avoid his non-Ranger friends to protect them and focus on duty” aspect was actually done better in an episode of Power Rangers Wild Force, when Danny, a character so boring I had to look his name up to remember who he was, was forced to choose between his girlfriend and his duties as a Ranger.

The more interesting story is Mike dealing with a lack of faith in his skills as a Samurai Ranger (not to be confused with the one from Ninja Storm), and that should have been the focus. Besides, Mike’s friend gets hurt because the monster attacked and they happened to be at the cafe or wherever when the monster attacked. He would have gotten hurt whether he was friends with a Ranger (without his knowledge) or not. If anything, the fact that he and the other guys was with Mike may have saved them in the long term, thus killing that message which only distracted from the “lack of faith” storyline. This is the biggest failing of the episode, but not one that really took too much away from the better subplot.

Between the clips we’ve seen prior and this episode, “teamwork” already seems to be the theme of this series, and one that Red Ranger Jayden seems to embrace. That’s a complete reversal from his Japanese counterpart, who prefers to fight alone rather than risk someone being hurt. I find that interesting and I’m curious what Sentai fans think about that.

Finally, let’s discuss the theme song.

We’ll see how long that video remains available. Visually, I like it. It really shows off the characters, even if it doesn’t show off their Samurai powers as well as it could. The part where each Rangers says their name was a nice addition and works with the theme. The song itself, however, just comes off as lazy. Really, the original theme song with the line “Rangers Together, Samurai Forever” tossed in? That’s the best you can come up with? The folks who made the show for Disney came up with better. Heck, Saban came up with better as early as Zeo. I’m really not impressed.

I am, however, impressed with the quality of the show itself, except that while it’s a decent enough “Ranger focus” story it’s terrible as a first episode. This was a mistake on somebody’s part and we better get an idea as to what the slag is going on in the next episode or I see people being turned off of what could be a good Power Rangers series. This is Saban’s first time back behind the wheel and they really should have come out of the gate with a better first episode.