You Should Watch - Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger

Remember back in the early nineties, there was this show about teens with complicated feelings that got recruited by an interdimensional alien to wear dinosaur pajamas and punch monsters? Sometimes there were giant robots that combined into a "gianter" robot? What was that show called?

Oh right. Well, you may not know that the basic premise (and the action/monster scenes) were adapted from a long running Japanese tokusatsu series called Super Sentai. Mighty Morphing Power rangers’ first season specifically used footage and costumes from the 16th show in the series, Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. 

Zyuranger was a landmark show in the Sentai franchise. It was the first show based on prehistoric animals, the first to have a Megazord composed entirely of animal mecha, the first to feature a sixth ranger, and the first to incorporate fantasy elements in place of the standard sci-fi fare. Oh, and it was the first to be adapted for international release. You know, as that one show. 

When I say adapted, I mean they dubbed over the scenes of the rangers in costume and fight scenes, and then spliced that with original footage. This is the key difference between all Sentai series and their Power Ranger counterparts: the American shows are a little more kid friendly, and the Japanese originals are completely insane. 

In Mighty Morphin’, the Power Rangers are 5 adolescents with agreeable outlooks are summoned by an ancient alien named Zordon and given superpowers and dinosaur robots to fight Rita Repulsa, the self-proclaimed Empress of the universe. This is, of course, awesome. 

The Zyurangers, however, are not high school students. They are the champions of the 5 tribes of dinosaur-evolved humans  who lived in peace alongside the regular dinosaurs. After 170 million years of suspended animation, they are awakened when their ancient nemesis, Bandora the witch, plops her palace/skyscraper down in Tokyo, and rides a flying pennyfarthing bicycle around the city to inform all the citizens that she hates them. 

Oh, also, Bandora got her powers from a deal she made with Satan. Not a satan allegory, not a character that just happens the look like Satan, but actual Satan. But that’s understandable, she just wanted revenge on the dinosaurs for the death of her son. 

In Mighty Morphin’, Rita is accompanied by an entourage of yes-monsters, including Goldar, a griffon-ish thing that looks scary, but is hilariously inept and mostly harmless.

In Zyuranger, however, Bandora is assisted by a mostly goofy team of comic relief monsters, with the notable exception of the commander of her armies, Grifforzer. He is incredibly strong, a brilliant tactician, and is one of the few monsters to withstand the Megazord’s finishing move. Goldar is a joke, Grifforzer is a big deal. 

In Mighty Morphin’, the rangers given the zords, powerful mecha based on prehistoric creatures, that combine Voltron-style into a mighty robot known as the Megazord. 

In Zyuranger, however, the champions combine the five guardian beasts to form Daizyuzin, the physical manifestation of the ruling god of the original tribes. He first appears to Tyrannoranger in a vision of the apocalyptic future Bandora will bring about if victorious. He instructs Tyranno to on how to summon his physical form which from then on they do all the time to finish off the bad guys with a sword slash that cuts lightning into monsters. Somehow. Who cares, they explode. 

Daizyuzin is also his own sentient entity, unlike his american counterpart. He often challenges and advises the Zyurangers to push them to their ultimate potential. Let me tell you a crazy story…

In Mighty Morphin’, Tommy Oliver becomes the green ranger after being kidnapped and brainwashed by Rita. The rangers clash with him over the course of a couple episodes, he beats them all up so easily, but eventually they’re able to destroy Tommy’s sword and free him from Rita’s mind control. 

In Zyuranger, however, Burai, the brother of Tyrannoranger, willingly joins Bandora to fight against his brother and the other zyurangers. He still gets a sword, but instead of brainwashing him to serve Bandora, it just drives him hideously insane. 

Tyranno tries to befriend him, but he’s insane now, so he says no. With a laserblast.

Daizyuzin steps in and orders Tyranno to kill Burai, Tyranno doesn’t want to, Daizyuzin says “Tough, I’m God, you have to,” and “punishes” Tyranno for his insolence. Meanwhile, Bandora traps the guardian beasts in lava and has a party on the moon. Burai gets rowdy at the party and is forcibly ejected through space and lands on Earth. He is met by a tiny person in white who drags him into a cave where time stands still, tells him he’s going to die in 32 hours, and gives him a magical flute-dagger that summons mecha-godzilla. 

Long story short, Burai joins the Zyuranger’s after a neat fight and half a season of opposition.

In Mighty Morphin’, the Power Rangers were doing this:

In the last episode of the first season of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, Bulk and Skull help Zack kiss Angela.

In the last episode of Zyuranger, They blow up the Devil and kill Bandora’s son. Again. And Daizyuzin captures Bandora and her crew in a vase and launches it into space. 

The series is the perfect introduction to the Super Sentai series, and if you can get your hands on it, call up some friends, and just let the sparks and spandex wash over you. 

Power Rangers - Boom! Studios Shows Us More Of Their Power Regime

We’ve never talked about the Power Rangers series from Boom! Studios, and Ranger Month seems like a good time to start, since it's actually really good.

The first issue picked up shortly after Tommy joined the original team after being freed from Rita Repulsa’s mind control. It explores Tommy adjusting to his new role as a hero, as well as a free man, while being haunted by the remains of Rita’s brainwashing. But none of that is news. What’s news is the designs recently released by Boom! showing off the designs for the additional “Sentries”.

 I’ll be vague to avoid spoilers, but Tommy and Billy have been transported to an alternate future where Rita, aided by the mysterious Lord Drakkon, has succeeded in conquering the world and established your typical evil Dictatorship, complete with statues of herself all over the dang place.

Oh, and Lord Drakkon looks like this:

Can you guess his theme?

Anywho, in issue #11, we were introduced to these guys.

There are a few of them, all dressed in the same Black Ranger armor, carrying guns reminiscent of Zach’s Axe. They are the Sentries, a kind of militarized police force that seem to patrol the streets and enforce the curfew that all dictators put in place after taking power.  

They’re super cool, and apparently there are more of them.

It looks like Rita got really into Destiny, but man, how cool! I’m really into the idea of there being a “corps” of each color.

Speaking of colors, Writer Kyle Higgins addressed why there were no blue sentry designs released

“All I’ll say is, there’s a reason there AREN’T Triceratops Sentries in our story at this point…"  

New issues are released monthly, with the debut of the new Sentries out now.

Love it? Hate it? Miss Billy? Me too, let’s talk about it in the comments.

'Power Rangers' - 3rd Trailer and Several New Posters Released!

Well here was another surprise this week! We got a new 'Power Rangers' trailer out of no where and of course with a new comes new posters. Take a look at all the goodies!

Man these last 2 trailers have really put the fun back into this movie! There are some cool new shots in here including Jason activating his power sword. Can't wait till March 24th!

These two posters are really cool and probably the best ones we have gotten so far. Too bad they are international posters and won't be seen anywhere in the US. Man why are the international posters always so much cooler than the US...

Lastly we got some new individual ranger posters which I prefer over the weird white background ones we got before.

What do think of all the new goodies? Did these new things get you more excited for the film?

'Power Rangers' - New Trailer And Posters Show It May Very Well Be Morphin' Time

I gotta say I didn’t think much of all this 'Power Rangers' dark-and-gritty-and-none-too-witty reboot business. I mean, only an article ago I was making fun of the baffling “zords” we were treated to on the first official posters. But New York Comic Con brought us our first teaser trailer.

It’s not bad! I even switched my Mighty Morphin’ Mood Board from “Purest Apathy” to “Cautious Optimism”. Let’s get into this, shall we?

The first thing we see is the gloomy, blue color that should surprise no one. It’s a standard feature on dark reboots after all. We are briefly (in Zach’s case, very briefly) introduced to the cast. Angel Grove is now a sort of school for delinquents rather than being the whole town (they’re teens with attitude. Get it?) Jason is the strong willed leader-ish figure, Billy the lovable nerd, Kim, a former popular girl entering a rebellious stage. Zach and Trini we barely see. Trini at least has some lines, but we don’t really know much about their characters yet. They stumble across some alien tech in the desert, Billy rigs up a demolition charge (???!!?!?) and everybody gets a pretty translucent disc, which I assume are the power coins.

The next day the all wake up with super powers. Jason breaks his sink and Billy no-sells a headbut from a bully which as a long time Billy fan, is just beautiful to see. They go back to the desert and jump over a canyon. It’s my favorite scene in the trailer, and a nice callback to the countless shots of power rangers leaping from the ground to the top of their zords. The rest of the trailer is just a bunch of images and we get a teaser of them morphing for the first time. That’s it, nothing else of interest, show's over, go home.

Oh, well, we do get what I think is a good sign that I was right about Elizabeth Banks as Rita. She has a nice menacing feeling about her, and apparently she can just show up, in your room, while your sleeping.

So the good news is the trailer looks pretty good. I’d say there’s enough reason to believe the movie might be not terrible. But there’s a little bit of bad news. Lionsgate released a new series of posters with the actors, displayed in their colors, in front of lightening bolts. That’s cool and all, but the tweeted an image of Trini’s poster with a caption saying “Driver’s ed not required,” in reference to the characters age. I’m sure it was just an oversight, but some fans have gotten upset over the caption, it being a little distasteful considering the original Trini, Thuy Trang, was killed in a car accident in 2001. Maybe do a little research next time team. The posters are solid though.

The more interesting posters come from New York Comic Con as well and include a super detailed look at the individual Ranger suits. The coolest thing to note is the glowy dinosaur heads inside of the power coins on their waists.  

Well, I’ve been hurt before in remakes (lookin’ at you, Michael Bay), but I might be getting a little hyped for this.  Power Rangers are a big piece of nostalgia for a lot of people, and the world could always use more color-coded heroes.

Excited? Enraged? Feeling left out because you were a Beetleborg kid? Leave some comments, let's talk about these feelings.

(Editors note: Sorry it took so long for this article to be put up onto the site. Life kept intervening)

First Look At 'Power Rangers' Suits On Set, Future Franchise Plans

If you saw the news that there would be a new 'Power Rangers' reboot and thought to yourself: "One is fine, but it'd be nice if we could get six or seven films," then you're going to love what Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said this week. 

We've also finally gotten our first look at these shiny new costumes in broad daylight, and I think you'll be surprised how much better they look. Check those out and exactly what Feltheimer was quoted saying below. 

First off, the pictures:

While I still think the suits have some very odd design elements, they already look much better off the pages of Entertainment Weekly. They really nailed that iconic fighting pose in the last shot. Hopefully they don't go overboard with the CGI aspects of the costumes. 

On to the quote from Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer: 

 “We are really, really excited about the ‘Power Rangers’ movie. We could see doing five or six or seven.”  

This was said over a conference call with industry analysts, so you could chalk it up to enthusiastic business talk. Feltheimer was apparently encouraged by positive fan reactions to the costume reveal which prompted this optimismistic outlook.

Of course, future sequels will actually be greenlit by wallets and general audience's reception to this hard reboot of the classic 90's children's show. We're eagerly anticipating the first trailer, and hope that it reveals a smart, action-packed film that we'll want to rush out to on opening day.

'Power Rangers' opens on March 24, 2017. 

Coming Next Week - Episode 8: Road To Godzilla Resurgence

This is an episode of the podcast that you absolutely don't want to miss! We had a whole line-up of topics ready to go for the next few episodes, but we couldn't help ourselves in inserting an entire episode dedicated to Toho Picture's upcoming 'Godzilla Resurgence.' We go through the history of Godzilla films focusing on past breaks and reboots of the iconic giant monster, before diving into the new directors Shinji Higuchi and Hideaki Anno and their influential impact on Japanese entertainment.

This episode marks a turning point with the podcast where hosts Coleman and Kyle hope to give insight and behind the scenes details into the company and filmmakers who created the upcoming new Godzilla film. Besides covering that in the main topic, they also go into recent news concerning Gareth Edwards leaving 'Godzilla 2,' the new Power Rangers reboot costume reveal, and IDW's new Godzilla comic written by Jeremy Robinson.

You will not be disappointed if you, like us, are incredibly excited to see what Toho does with their incredibly divergent new inclusion to the Godzilla franchise. Keep a look out for the episode to drop early next week.

Dean Israelite's 'Power Rangers' Suits Revealed, Analyzing The New Look

If you've been following the news for the upcoming 'Power Rangers' reboot, this is the unveiling you've been waiting for. Teasing us with Rita Repulsa and a shot of the main cast in street clothes was just a lead-up for the main event, and Entertainment Weekly brings us our first look at the 2017 feature film's heroes post-morphin' time. Check them out below, along with my personal analysis.

Here's what the director of the reboot, Dean Israelite, had to say about the new designs:

"The show was about kids coming of age, about metamorphosis. These suits needed to feel like they were catalyzed by these kids and their energy, their spirit."

I agree with him about the coming of age aspect to the show, but I don't see where he's coming from with that last sentence. Nothing about these suits seems to be directly relatable to the human teenage experience, but maybe he's hinting at something revealed in the film itself. His production designer, Andrew Menzies, also talked about the immense pressure involved in trying to please everyone:

"It’s tricky finding a new language for a superhero costume. Ours is an alien costume that grows on them, that’s not man-made. You can’t win everyone over, but we are trying to appeal to a more mature audience and gain new fans."

He's right of course, fans are already finding things to nitpick about with these new costumes. I can admit that Kyle and I had similar reactions, but I wanted to break it down a little more and maybe shed some light on what might have inspired these designs.

The image at the top of this article comes straight from the 1995 'Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie.' Just like we spoke briefly about on the podcast this week, these costumes were mind-blowing to my much younger self, as spandex was replaced by flexible armor that produced gadgets and cool new weapons, I couldn't help be impressed. They kept pretty close to the original show's design while updating them at the same time to compensate for a much larger budget. I think they did a fairly good job in retrospect.

These new suits are similar to the recently revealed Rita Repulsa design in my opinion; they just don't stand out at all. There's nothing inherently unique about them or specifically tied to what the filmmakers have described in the press. There are multiple quotes where they've said that the costumes would reflect the fact that they morph onto the Rangers instead of being suits that you change into. Many people took this to mean that they might have a kind of organic quality to them and I think Elizabeth Bank's character has a feel that conforms to that concept. The Ranger's armor, on the other hand, looks like it stands alongside the standard Hollywood overly-designed "power suit" look. So much so, in fact, that I couldn't shake the feeling that I had seen a similar design to these before.

The first that came to mind actually has a loose connection to this reboot. Production designer Andrew Menzies worked on another film franchise that shares many of the elements seen in these new designs: the modern G.I. Joe reboot. I called it a loose connection because he actually only worked on 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation.' I do think the normal costumes that characters wear in both of those films share some DNA with the new Ranger's suits, but in particular, the "accelerator suits" in the first film were the most apparent to me immediately. Here's a reference if you've forgotten that film as much as the rest of the public has:

You can really see it in the helmets and the spaces between pieces of heavier armor. The designs are so busy it's hard to tell what's really going on.

The second image I thought of was 2009's 'Robocop' costume. This is actually closer in the way that it has a more streamlined look to it that's more fitted to the body, but is still trying way too hard to look cool and stand up to an original iconic design.  

At the end of the day, it's the story and characters who are going to make this reboot successful or not. They'll most likely get a decent opening weekend just out of the curiosity and nostalgia of the fanbase, but if they want this to turn into a franchise and bring in new audiences, they're going to have to make something truly worthwhile. I really hope that's the case and we're seeing these designs wildly removed from the context of a good film, but I am definitely starting to have my doubts.

I think with everything they've said about these costumes, they really could have gone for a more organic, skin-adhering type of suit that would have been unique. If you haven't seen it, there was a sizzle reel type fan film that had some b-list (but awesome) actors attached that actually got fans pretty excited for a modern interpretation of this universe. It found a way to update the suits in some really interesting ways. They're actually what I imagined when director of the new film first started teasing what the suits might look like. Below are some shots from that, as well as an embed of the full film if you want to check them out in action (Warning, graphic content and language).

So, what do you think? Let us know in the comments if you think the film is on track, or at least interesting, and whether or not you'll be there on day one of the release.