POWER RANGERS MEGAFORCE Returns Too Much to Its Roots
Well, I’ve completed my watch of Power Rangers Megaforce and Power Rangers Super Megaforce. Honestly, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Maybe my expectations were just better tempered after watching Samurai or I was really buying into some of the hate I’ve seen about it, but by the end I wasn’t vomiting, so that’s something, right? Don’t get me wrong, these seasons were not great by any means, but they could’ve been worse.
Megaforce is based on Tensou Sentai Goseiger while Super Megaforce uses both Goseiger and Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. This was definitely an interesting choice in my opinion as Samurai had stuck with the same Sentai for both seasons. I imagine the main reason for the change has to do with the fact that Super Megaforce was a celebration season that would conclude with “Legendary Battle.” The seasons also see an attempt to return to a feel more akin to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The Rangers are once again teenagers attending high school, called on by a mentor that’s essentially just a floating head and helped by a robot, and they hang out at a spot run by a guy named Ernie. Our Rangers include Troy Burrows (Andrew Gray) as Red, Emma Goodall (Christina Masterson) as Pink, Jake Holling (Azim Rizk) as Black/Green, Gia Moran (Ciara Hanna) as Yellow, and Noah Carver (John Mark Loudermilk) as Blue with Robo Knight (Chris Auer) and Orion (Cameron Jebo) later joining as the sixth Rangers.
In all honesty, this return to form is refreshing to a point. I missed seeing average teenagers who live average lives be Power Rangers. We were kind of close to this with Jungle Fury and Mystic Force, but really Dino Thunder was the last time we got this. That being said, we didn’t have to copy so much from the Mighty Morphin days. I mean, did the guy who runs the frozen yogurt place have to be called Ernie? Also, the whole setup with Gosei (Geoff Dolan) and Tensou (Estevez Gillespie) is a bit much, especially with Gosei saying that he was placed on Earth by Zordon. It feels a bit much.
In terms of story, I personally felt like Megaforce and Super Megaforce are greatly lacking. For Megaforce, it just feels like the same thing that we’ve gotten for the last several seasons of some aliens wanting to take over Earth with nothing to really make it special. Then, when we get to Super Megaforce, the plot points seem a little less focused. What’s more is that I felt like none of the characters really changed or grew in any way. The closest things would be that Jake was marginally less of a show off by the end and Gia gave him less of a hard time by the end. But that’s it. There was an episode of two focusing on Noah in an attempt to have him grow, but it felt out of left field with no real consequence either. It’s definitely not the most interesting season to watch. The less than stellar acting doesn’t help either. To their credit though, I did feel like the acting did improve between Megaforce and Super Megaforce.
Let’s take a minute to talk about gear. I don’t know why, but I do not like the Megaforce suits. I think it’s because the white comes above the belt creating a look similar to a short jacket and I just personally don’t like that look. However, I do really like the Super Megaforce suits. Those look fantastic. The Gosei Morpher in Megaforce is interesting to me because of the use of Power Cards to morph and summon weapons. However, it’s massive and how much of an ego does Gosei have to make the morphers look like himself? Meanwhile, the Legendary Morphers feel less unique as they’re just cellphones, but they do use keys for morphing and accessing the Legendary Ranger powers. One thing that does give points to Megaforce over Super Megaforce is the fact that the Rangers in Megaforce have individual weapons like the Dragon Sword and Snake Axe. Super Megaforce doesn’t really have this although the Rangers do get access to the weapons of the Legendary Rangers whose powers they access. However, in Super Mega mode, they don’t have unique weapons.
Honestly, the Zords and Megazords didn’t really stand out to me except for one thing: the Q-Rex. If you’re a fan of Power Rangers, you may think about the Quantasaurus Rex used by Eric Myers in Time Force when Orion calls on the Q-Rex in Super Megaforce, especially after mentioning Time Force. Nope! The Q-Rex is another Zord that I guess was supposed to be based on Eric’s Zord. I don’t know why, but this really made me upset.
I want to talk a bit more about Super Megaforce and the Legendary Rangers. I really think this was a cool way to celebrate the franchise. It’s a little weird at times since they utilize forms that we never got in Power Rangers such as the Dairanger powers, but overall I really like it. “Legendary Battle” is a pretty solid tribute to the legacy of Power Rangers bringing in so many classic Rangers including Tommy Oliver (Jason David Frank) among many others. It’s a fun tribute and I especially like seeing so many help out in civilian forms before the final battle.
One final complaint I have is related to the very end of Super Megaforce. After defeating the Mavro (that fight is actually pretty cool), the Rangers celebrate by going to a concert. So far, not a problem. The concert they go to is from Samurai when Mia and Antonio sing together. This is frustrating because it messes with the timeline. Supposedly, Super Megaforce happens after Super Samurai and so this can’t happen then. What’s more, we know that Antonio and Mia went to do other things after Super Samurai. I guess they could have regrouped and started touring or something, but it really is just the production team trying to save money by using old footage even if it makes no sense.
Megaforce and Super Megaforce tried a return to form and while some of that is appreciated, they maybe overdid it. I think it’s a little better than the Samurai seasons, but not by much. Now it’s time to rush into Power Rangers Dino Charge.
Current Power Rangers Ranking:
Power Rangers In Space
Power Rangers Zeo
Power Rangers RPM
Power Rangers Time Force
Power Rangers Beast Morphers Season 1
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 3
Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue
Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 2
Power Rangers Ninja Storm
Power Rangers Jungle Fury
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 1
Power Rangers Wild Force
Power Rangers S.P.D.
Power Rangers Turbo
Power Rangers Lost Galaxy
Power Rangers Beast Morphers Season 2
Power Rangers Mystic Force
Power Rangers (Super) Megaforce
Power Rangers Operation Overdrive
Power Rangers (Super) Samurai