GoGo Sentai Boukenger (and Daikenjin Zubaan) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Yesterday was the pilot, a microcosm for what went wrong with Operation Overdrive. Today we get into the heart of the story…and find no real heart to it.
http://blip.tv/at4w/hopr-power-rangers-operation-overdrive-part-2-7015420
- It says something that I have nothing to say until the Fearcats. The way the story continues between episodes is nice, but as Linkara said, there are too many red herrings the Overdrive Rangers go through before finding the first Jewel. Had the show been about finding artifacts in general like the Sentai that would be fine. However, this is about specific artifacts, the jewels of the Corona Aurora, and there are too many red herrings that don’t even serve the story in other ways. Otherwise, the most I have to say about the characters at this point are best saved at the end for the character profiles.
- Back to the Fearcats. In Bokenger, the Silver Ranger also has a history with their Sentai counterparts. In that case, his clan fought the Clan who became the Fearcats. Here it’s more like vengeance for his rescue squad. I don’t mind when elements sneak over. I DO mind when it’s just a copy/paste of the Sentai, which was an issue I had with Samurai once I found that out. However, there are four races vying with the SGS to get the Precious so it makes sense to have four groups here.
- I have to agree about the Mercury Ranger costume. It’s not very good. I like the staff, though.
- Thrax does not have a Sentai counterpart and again I envy them. Honestly, his costume is just as bad as Linkara said it was and he doesn’t look menacing, he looks silly. I understand wanting a big “retro Ranger” team-up for the anniversary (this was also Sentai’s 30th so if you see a monster that resembles a Zord, that was why) and why not have a nod to the original enemies (Zedd and Rita turned human by Zordon’s “Z-Wave” back in Power Rangers In Space) but there had to be a better way to make this combination. I also wanted to see good human Zedd and Rita actually show up and punish their son in some goofy but fun scene.
Tomorrow we have the questionable team-up, my theories about the Morphing Grid continue, and more of the Overdrive team looking less than stellar. You know, it’s fine to not have your team start out as the best ever. That was part of the charm of the Wind Ninjas from Ninja Storm and B-Squad from SPD. Here, it doesn’t really work because they don’t seem to improve as Rangers or as characters. We’ll see more of that in the final two installments.
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