An unasked for and continued review of every Power Rangers Episode E can get a hold of Pt. 2

The following is a non-professional review of the Power Rangers Series starting from Mighty Morphin and working our way forward. This review Covers Episode 6-10. Note there will be spoilers.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 1 Episode 6: Food Fight.

Our intrepid young goody goodies are running a cultural food fair. Which gets quickly ruined by Bulk and Skull and their antics.How these two don’t get suspended or expelled is beyond me. Might be a weird luck stat? Regardless. Rita is not feeling so well and decides to use one of Finsters not so stellar monsters for the job of eating everything.

Things look like they’re going to Rita’s benefit until the rangers figure out that porky can’t handle a bit of heat. Rangers get their weapons back and bacon out of the nefarious ham.

Fun: 5 out of 5

Weird monster design: 3 out of 5

Now I’m hungry: 4 out of 5.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 1 Episode 7: Big Sisters.

Trini and Kimberly Volunteered to be Big Sisters for the Rambunctious Maria for a day. Meanwhile Aunt Rita Repulsa needs a child like Maria for her own plans. To get passed a barrier and get a couple of Power Eggs to gain the power to defeat the power rangers...

*Looks at the script.* 

No....that’s what it says... I mean Eggs are full of protein so it tracks but the barrier requiring the touch of an innocent child to open it and the definition of innocent child make little sense to me. Who designs this magic?

Anyway putty patrollers kidnap Maria and get her to open the box while also probably traumatizing the kid with the ugly chicken monster of the week.

 Rangers can’t reach communication with alpha and Zordon or even teleport so they instead take Billy’s RADBUG which is an acronym but we’re not going to go into that because it is a supped up Volkswagon beetle. So they take the car and go to the command center and go to save Maria using the radbug. They fight funky chicken for a bit before frying him once and for all with the Megazord.

Maria is saved and Rita has a headache, and the episode ends with Bulk getting doused in Veggie Chilli. Hold up, why is he getting slapsticked on? He’s been on good behaviour. Bulk was just minding his own business for this entire episode....what? Oh, karma for last episode. That makes sense, anyways.

Fun: 3 out of 5

Bad kid voice acting: 4 out of 5.

Com and teleportation outages: 0 out of 5 because they suck.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 1 Episode 8: I, eye guy.

This is another episode featuring a kid of the week, Willy and his VR game he made, which really just looks like face mounted displays showing video footage of a roller coaster ride. Anyway with the help of billy the kid is entering the science fair competition. Meanwhile ol’ Aunt Rita Repulsa has a new evil plan to kidnap the kid and steal his intelligence for her own?

*Looks at notes.* 

So what is she going to use him to create games to win the hearts of the masses and then take over the world legally? Oh nope the monster just saps the kid after absorbing them.

*Looks at notes again.* Hold on I think I need to call the FBI on Rita Repulsa.

Anyway before getting the monster out, Rita has some putties sent down to try and take the kid, worked last time. Well this time it didn’t and the rangers beat the clay faced goons and got Willy to the science fair.

Look before I continue can I just say that whoever wrote the script has no idea about computer electronics. I feel the urge to lambaste them for the term Quasitronic circuitry. I’m willing to let the Radbug slide and all the other ranger tech, but now I’m drawing the line.

And bring in another round of bulk and skull antics as they come to cause havoc and because of these bozos and their antics, WIlly gets disqualified.. Okay so this is what I call plot contrived BS. Willy didn’t even touch those 2 yet the professor decided that since Willy was one of the many people laughing as Bulk and Skull ran after their fashion makeover that he must have been the culprit?

Okay a distraction.before I unleash a world breaker move but can we say that the lady with the funky fashion makeover machine has a brilliant concept going? A machine that can help you change your clothes would be very useful for the disabled or people with limited mobility.

So after the idiot professor denies Willy what he deserves, he’s kidnapped by eye guy and...

jeepers creepers where’d you get those peepers, jeepers creepers where’d you get those eyes... where’d you get those eyes.Sorry had to.

Anyway inside the eyes of eye guy Willy is stuck on a gyroscope and to protect himself eye guy keeps his main separate so the rangers team finisher has no effect on him.

Billy goes to save Willy, Rita super sizes eye guy making him more of an eye sore than he was before, Megazord finishes the monster and Willy is saved and the professor gives Willy’s invention first prize. Thus ends another episode.

Fun: 4 out of 5

Eyes: Too many

Strict professor: Only 1.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 1 Episode 9: For Whom the Bell Trolls.

Hmmm.....a episode with a bunch of dolls....don’t like that. One of them is going to get possessed by Rita’s machinations isn’t it? Don’t like any of this.

So it’s Hobby Week at Angel Grove High and the main five showcase their hobbies/interests. Trini it’s dolls, Jason it’s martial arts, Zack it’s surfing, Kimberly Gymnasitcs, and Billy it’s a Model.....volcano? Anyway afterwards Bulk and Skull because clearly these two never got enough attention as kids try to pick on Trini and her dolls doing the whole keep away thing only for Bulk to get gooped by the Volcano.

I’m certain it’s non-toxic, right Billy?.... Billy?

Anyway we see Trini’s house and her room.... and all the pretty dolls she has.

Look, I’ll be Frank and I’m not Frank I’m E...but I find something unnerving about some dolls. I like them better than Horses but still.

So Rita sends....what’s his name....squatt? Yep, that’s him. Sends him down to turn Ticklesneezer into the monster of the week. This is a kids show so i’m going to let this plan slide to see where it’s going here.

Oh so she’s going to have him collect things....like a motorcycle, tokyo tower, Trini and BIlly in a car. Okay this plan is already pretty effective I’m surprised.

Meanwhile the others are at the youth center doing a bit of sparring before Jason showcases his martial arts skills by the age old trick of breaking wood.

We also get more bulk and skull antics...with bulk hurting his hand on a cake.

The squad get called in by Zordon to go save Trini and Billy fighting their way through the ever novel Putty squad and Baboo, Squat, and Goldar.

Kimberly saves Mini Trini and Billy from their bottle and from a Train. Hold on giving Kimberly another gold star for good work. And Rita Repulsa makes Ticklesneezer grow as she does with all her monsters.

And we see a Giant asian kid with the Megazord as the rangers attempt to bottle rita and her group. Errors in stock footage....and it turns out it was all a dream....oh okay so it makes more sense for their to be a giant kid there.

We close out the episode with one more instance of Bulk and Skull and their.....flea circus? Okay that’s actually kind of wholesome for a couple bullies....and the teacher ends up getting flea bitten...... instead of those two getting the slapstick over the head...well surprising.

Fun:5 out of 5

Dolls: Creepy

Reality: Questionable.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 1 Episode 10: Happy Birthday Zack.

*Puts on a party hat.*

Cake-o-matic, looks like an old toaster oven mixed with a couple filters and two blenders. But who am I to question genius. *Watches Ernie get covered with blue cake foam.* Who am I to question Gremlins.

So the rangers are preparing a surprise party for Zack and Rita is preparing a “Killer” surprise for Zack as well. Ernie is also pretty close to the truth regarding the rangers.....except obviously the Rangers are interdimensional beings....OBVIOUSLY, didn’t hear it from me though.

And Bulk and Skull show up. What are they doing out so late? Also shouldn’t the door be locked, isn’t this trespassing? Ernie gave the kids permission but not them. I’m terribly confused.

Anyway Bulk and Skull make complete fools of themselves while Rita is demanding progress reports regarding the monster of the week. Finster seems kind of annoyed. Already has the monster decided and everything. Dude needs a night off, go have some drinks. Look I know a place near the pits of evil. Nastiest drinks and nastier company but it’s a good time. Call me Finster we’ll hang.

Anyway the kids finish prep and work on keeping Zack in the dark, and in the dark of night we see Finster and Baboo proving that they could really go into the renfaire business as they work on a nasty sword that can cut through just about anything in the known universe. Well except the bonds of friendship and love but those don’t count. Rita summons her nasty knight on this nasty night and the games afoot.

Anyway the kids are trying to act cool for the surprise party, to mixed results which will obviously just make Zack hurt and distracted him from his fight against the Nasty Knight as Zack loses and dies and the Rangers are defeated and Rita wins. Game Over.......

....NAH! The rangers get to Zack and they’re still not beating this guy...huh....not even the Megazord is doing anything...well until they figure out the schict of the situation and break the nasty sword and the knight with the power sword thus ending plan.....10 of Rita’s. The kids then go to the youth center and celebrate Zack’s birthday.

Fun: 5 out of 5

Knights: Out.

Cake: 0 out of 5 it’s undercooked and way to foamy.

Anyway this concludes part 2 of this long and grueling review of every power rangers episode I can get a hold of and affront to professional reviews to the series as a whole. Bah I’m having fun and that’s all that matters.

Anyway stay tuned to more of this nonsense.

Tonight I got to watch 2 Netflix original films. Okja is an original film that I had been very excited for and was fairly confident that I would enjoy. Death Note, an American adaptation of my favorite manga series of all time and a popular anime, was a piece of work I was far more on the fence about. After all Hollywood doesn't necessarily have the best record in adapting Japanese works of fiction. [Verdict] Okja - A wonderful story about a girl's journey to save her pet super pig from being slaughtered in a factory and served on the mass market alongside its kin. Crawling with overarching themes of animal cruelty, corporate greed and activism, though the film chooses to make a focus of them at times overall I felt the director Bong Joon Ho was deftly able to keep the focus primarily on the relationship between Mija and the titular Okja [also the aforementioned super pig]. Joon Ho also has a great sense of comedy, often sneaking in incredible amounts of laugh worthy moments during the most dire of situations through the mannerisms of the characters or the framing of a certain shot. There's also often many little things going throughout a shot so if you lose focus of the main players of a scene you still won't be bored by a scene. This adds to its rewatchability status as there is so much to discover just based off of the background interactions alone. Finally, the actors characters all did wonderful with their characters. Being deftly over the top when necessary or calmly subdued for the same reason. Tilda Swinton is great as the evil Mirando, Seo-Hyeon Ahn who plays Mija portrays being a kid in stellar fashion. Often not completely understanding a situation, or jumping into a dire situation because she is a kid and will do what she wants. Overall, Okja is an incredible fantasy piece wrapped in real world issues and as long as that doesn't bother you I highly recommend it. ------ [Verdict] Death Note - Guys, listen. It's no secret Hollywood sucks at adapting Japanese stories. Usually it's under the assumption that these stories can't work as American films because they're told through a Japanese lens. Fictionalizing an Asian experience or culture. However, if there is one story that can bridge that gap quite clearly based on the very idea of what it is it's Death Note. A very smart high schooler receives a notebook that kills people, he likes it, and a very smart detective uses logic to go after him. There is a whole thing about Death Gods but their lore is very rarely explored in this story that is at its core about greedy humans and the battle of Light vs. Darkness. Geniunely, you can't get more American than that. Or at the very least multi-culturally transcendent. And yet director Adam Wingard and the execs of Netflix still manage to screw it up. Somehow believing they had to make functionary changes to the story and the characters in a way that ultimately makes them very unrealistic (and by proxy unAmerican) based on how plain generic and cliche they are. Instead there's focus placed on the Japanese thing in the entire series, Ryuk the death god, and even that is only used in an okay manner. Truthfully though, Ryuk was my favorite thing in this movie. Light is no longer a sociopath (Americans won't root for those in a show because there's just no way to make them nuanced enough to give them any empathy. Not like someone successfully wrote 108 chapters based off the very idea.) willing to use the Death Note for what he twistedly perceives to be the greater good. Literally he's frightened into doing it by Ryuk the first time, the second time he does it for emotional revenge, and all the other times after that he does it to impress a girl who gives him nookie in exchange for lives. It's disgusting. And the less said about Mia, the bettet. L, the subtle and logical super detective who successfullh deduces that Light is Kira mostly does so on a forced hunch and retains his persona of L in name only. Though L's mannerism in the original series are present they are only there to showcase L as a quirky character whom we couldn't possibly relate to. Completely glossing over why L developed those mannerisms in the first place, like how he sits in chairs, or eats sweets constantly, or the fact that he is a purely logical creature that doesn't allow himself to succumb to emotion. The last of which in that list is never present as we get an L that runs strictly on emotion which eventually causes him to compromise his own operation and often undercuts his admitedly amateur deduction skills. This movie is a not a game of cat and mouse. L and Light are never given the chance to bond truly interact with one another causing their friction as adversaries to fall flat. Neither of these characters are smart and painfully shows in the latter half of this film. The more I think about it this film has no story. A guy gets a notebook, his girlfriend uses it better than he does, he pisses off a cop, and just as the story begins what should have been the third act it cuts out. Rolling credits as two characters are in the middle of a conversation and one character who is not Light struggles with the idea of using the Death Note to get his revenge. There is literally no resolution to the story. Only Mia has an end to her arc and that's because it's really contrived in a painfully laughable way towards the end. I am all for thematic endings that leave the viewers with morally ambiguous questions to mull over as their journey comes to an end, the original manga ending to Death Note does that. But it has an end. Some stories get resolved in some fashion. Not all, but enough. I have never experienced a film like the American Death Note that literally cuts out in the very middle of the third act reaching no climax what-so-ever. Finally, the actors. Willem Dafoe as Ryuk is literally the best thing this movie achieves. I would watch an entire movie if Dafoe as Ryuk. Lakeith Stanfield who plays L does a good job with what he is given, but he never feels like L because he was directed to act like a weirdo while we never once get to know the weirdo. Margaret Qualley I would also does a pretty decent job as Mia. Mia's just a terrible character like the rest of them. Manipulative but never in a truly evil way, just in a cliche "I'm doing what's best for you but only because it ultimately serves me kind of way." Nat Wolff who plays Light is just plain awful in the role. Watch the scene where he meets Ryuk for the first time, or any of the scenes where he's trying to impress Mia. That first option literally made me think this movie was a comedy at first. Death Note is one of the worst American adaptations of a Japanese property I have ever seen. Not as bad as Dragon Ball Evolution, but Ghost in the Shell was definitely better. And that movie literally made whitewashing the central focus of its story.