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Let me start by saying I’m not angry. I’m just confused.
Somebody needs to explain what’s going on with this show. First it moves from Nickelodeon, which is still doing Hasbro’s current Transformers show, to Netflix, which apparently is going to lead to LESS new episodes for the Cosmic Fury season. They’re using Zord footage from one show and costume footage from a different show or their own costumes, I’m not sure which. Lord Zedd is back, even though he’s not the same guy who was Z-Waved into a normal human along with Rita Repulsa (and yet they still had a kid that makes Two-Face look more possible). That’s a long story we won’t get into here. Billy’s coming back, my favorite Blue Ranger, but with no sign of his alien wife, though I suspect they’re going to pull a Sulu and make him gay now because the actor is despite the character being shown as straight since early season one (Billy was the one who got the most chicks, not the hip hop dude who pursued one woman and the jock who we didn’t see in a romance until long after high school) and was still involved with Cestria as late as the recent team-up movie I really want to see, and with the tomboy’s girlfriend (because of course the tomboy’s a lesbian in modern US TV…it’s increasingly rare when they aren’t) now joining up for whatever reason. They’re also continuing a team longer, into multiple seasons and name changes not slapping a “Super” into it, like the original Mighty Morphin’. I know the Hasbro period has tied in the previous shows, but they used to build on Ranger lore, not go back to old stuff.
Now Simon Bennett, the executive producer, seems to think that the best way for Power Rangers to return to the mainstream is to get away from its roots. There has been rumors and theories like the franchise going the animated route and dropping the live actors altogether, but nothing official. Someone even wanted to do an adult Ranger show instead of just a Sentai type show for adults, like Bat In The Sun’s Dragon Ranger movie that featured Ranger actors until the passing of Jason David Frank. This is the last season that will be filmed in New Zealand according to the Ranger Wiki, but given the current strike situation isn’t affecting this show they may want to rethink that. However, according to comments collected by Bounding Into Comics it seems that Bennett believes sticking to the tokusatsu/sentai formula that the series is built around is what’s hurting the franchise. It’s like saying keeping Star Trek in outer space is killing the franchise. I mean, how much does he want to change?
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“Why did you take me to this movie?”
Knuckles The Echidna #6
Archie Comics Publications (October, 1997)
“Lost Paradise” part 3
WRITER: Ken Penders
PENCILER: Manny Galan
INKER: Andrew Pepoy
COLORIST: Barry Grossman
LETTERER: Vickie Williams
EDITOR: J. Freddy Gabrie
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It’s the Critical Drinker. There will be swearing and booze…and considering the topic you may not want to be eating during parts of the explanation.
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How accurate is he? I’m not a scientist but I do know that lightsabers used to be more dangerous before the pet characters arrived.
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Chapter By Chapter (usually) features me reading one chapter of the selected book at a time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.
PART 2: KNIGHTQUEST
Over halfway through the book and now only two chapters left in part 2 of 3. Last time we saw how ungrateful Jean Paul is, leaving Bruce on his own to stop Benedict Asp. He really is a jerk.
“Jean Paul or Benedict?”
Technically both. I’m curious if part 3 will allow me to come up with more to talk about. I think I’ve said everything about my opinion of the people involved, so let me show you this. Many of you have seen this moment before.
It may be a different continuity but this is a side of Batman that Jean Paul doesn’t have, even though he too lost out on a childhood. He’s compassionate. He isn’t doing this out of revenge or to make someone suffer and pay for their sins. He does it to keep another child from being him, even for a short while. It’s his heart, not his “pain”, that drives him to be Batman no matter what any of the writers will tell you. Now let’s see what Bruce is going to do with nobody to help him, an injured back, and captured by a madman. Or for Bruce…Thursday.
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“Tony, have you been messing with my shield? It has a picture of me on it.”
Curious who’s going to get the caption gag. It involves toy collecting.
Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1
Marvel Comics Group (May, 1984)
WRITER: Jim Shooter
PENCILER: Michael Zeck
INKER: John Beatty
COLORIST: Christie Scheele
LETTERER: Joe Rosen
EDITOR: Tom DeFalco
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From the Lost Media Wiki:
Spider-Man Safety Series is a line of direct-to-video animated educational tapes by Coronet/MTI Film & Video that were distributed by The Learning Company. Released in 1990, four separate videotapes were produced: Don’t Hide Abuse, Smart Kids Play it Safe, What To Do About Drugs and Where Do You Go for Help. Created to be ran in an elementary classroom setting, each copy came with a lesson plan for teachers to instruct their students with after watching.
The VHS release has long gone out of print, and due to being sold exclusively to schools, copies are difficult to obtain. Two out of the four episodes, Don’t Hide Abuse and What To Do About Drugs, have been uploaded online. No footage exists of the other two episodes. An official re-release is unlikely, as it would have to be cleared by Disney.
Lost Media Wiki user RogueKnite contacted the publisher of these videos and got this message in return
“We received your letter and did some research. It looks like Phoenix distributed these for a while and then withdrew them. These were produced by LCA as the “Spider-man Safety Series” and most LCA titles, including these, were acquired by FOX which then licensed them back to Phoenix. The FOX contract shows that FOX rights were due to expire in 2005, but since we never heard whether FOX renewed those rights, we don’t know the current status. The contract also shows that all distribution is subject to underlying rights belonging to MARVEL. Your letter stated there were 3 episodes when in fact there were 4. You overlooked “Where Do You Go for Help” We have 6,000+ VHS tapes not all of which are fully documented. That is a project I am working on presently. If I come across these I will let you know however I suggest you try Fox first.”
As of this writing only one other episode in this series, “What To Do About Drugs”, is available while “Smart Kids Play It Safe” and “Where Do You Go For Help” have not. I wonder if one of those lost ones explains how these kids knows Spider-Man well enough to call him for help? I’ll probably use the other found one for a future Daily Video.
