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matt_zimmerAlso reviews for the latest episodes of MAD, The Office, and Parks And Recreation.
Upcoming reviews on this journal include Haven: Season 2, Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation Volume 1, The Pirates! Band Of Misfits, Get A Life: The Complete Series, TRON: Legacy (Blu-Ray), The Adventures Of Young Indiana Jones Volume 2: Thw War Years, The Adventures Of Young Indiana Jones Volume 3: The Years Of Change, and Heathcliff: Season 1 - Vol 1.
MAD "Men In Black To The Future / Pokemon Of Interest"
The Men In Black parody sucked and the Superman curl thing was nauseating but the episode gets a passing grade for the Person Of Interest parody. I've never seen the show but I HAVE noticed that critics and fanboys have been giving recent J.J. Abrams series a LOT of slack that they haven't earned. Alcatraz was a SERIOUS mixed bag and Revolution looks to be even dicier. Just because Abrams is a ComicCon God doesn't mean he should just coast on his reputation especially if he isn't even involved with the creation of the shows. And yes, Jorge Garcia, Hurley and Doc Soto ARE THE EXACT SAME CHARACTER. Somebody needed to say it. ***.
The Office "The New Guys"
I was worried to hear Greg Daniels was returning as showrunner and my fears were well-founded. Yes, he oversaw the Office when it was still Must-See TV. But frankly, when I HAD to watch the Office every week to see what happened next I never found myself actually enjoying it. It was a dismally depressing show with mostly unlikable characters being horrible to each other. The last few seasons under Paul Lieberstein (Scott's Tots not-withstanding) were like comfort food. Frankly the show doesn't really have THAT revolionary of a premise to warrant putting the audience on pins and needles every week. I LIKE seeing Jim and Pam as a couple. I don't want to see them in crisis mode every week.
I really resented the implication that the camera crew (which spoke on camera for the first time ever) has only continued filming because they are waiting for Jim and Pam to implode. That is just SO freaking unlikely and was merely said to jar the audience. It's horsecrap.
Greg Daniels has also taken the easy way out by making Andy the new Micheal. Last year I was ROOTING for Andy and now I don't even recognize the character.
And Oscar is having an affair with Angela's husband? I call bullcrap on that too. Despite the temptation last year it is TOTALLY out of character for Oscar to do that to Angela. Yes, she treats him like crap. But they have still developed a friendship of sorts over the years which Daniels just demolished for the sake of salaciousness. Not cool.
The Dwight stuff was just embarrassing. And how could they POSSIBLY not make the baby Dwight's? What were they thinking?
The two new characters didn't make much of an impression.
Were there any things I liked? Yes, but unfortunately it was the Ryan and Kelly stuff and they're both leaving. I am REALLY happy with the idea that Ryan picked up and moved (and became a hobo) just to be nearer to Kelly. That just brings their relationship full circle a bit. I hope they both return for the finale and we learn they've finally gotten together for good.
Oh, one other good thing: Creed's monologue at the end. Yes, Daniels sucks. But at least he isn't breaking the rule about never featuring Creed too heavily to make his scenes extra special.
I am not looking forward to this season. *.
Parks And Recreation "Ms. Knope Goes To Washington"
Yes, Ron Swanson is funny. I say this as someone who watches him on television for a half-hour every week. But a person like that would be a NIGHTMARE in real life and this episode actually tackled that issue for once with Chris having to pull rank on his nonsense.
Tom and Ann were funny but they're funnier as a couple.
Andy and April are just plain awesome. Best characters on the show.
I call BS on the John McCain cameo. He was a LOT less grumpy in that situation than he would have been in real life.
Leslie and Ben are television's most boring couple. Yes, they're cute. But so what? They aren't actually funny.
Funniest scene was when Jerry asks Ron if they can at least have corn on the cob and Ron takes several beats to SERIOUSLY think about it and then firmly and angrily says "No." Pitch-perfect timing and delivery.
WAAAAAYYYY better than The Office. I actually enjoyed this one. ****.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 1, Vol. 1
I had both been dreading and looking forward to rewatching this awful series on DVD. I watched it as a teenager as a guilty pleasure and I had the same love-hate relationship with it that I have with the Ernest movies. Other kids my age were into 90210. I still think I had less to be ashamed of for liking this.
First off, I would like to say for people who claim that the early nineties was the golden age of kids' television: this show proves it wasn't. Sure, you had Batman: The Animated Series, Gargoyles and TaleSpin which were all really high quality but THIS is the show kids actually gravitated towards and was the monster hit. Each successsive generation believes that kids shows are inherently inferior to when they were kids but I think that it's more likely that they just grew out of cartoons and are blaming their changing tastes on everybody else but themselves. Kids who grew up in the 80's believed their half hour long toy commercials were the height of quality and 90's kids believe the era of weak shows like Tiny Toons and Darkwing Duck were part of the Golden Age of animation and think Pokemon and all later animation is crap. I'm willing to bet kids that grew up in the 2000's are gonna say cartoons went downhill after they canceled The Batman and Loonatics Unleashed. Trust me. It doesn't matter WHAT era you live in. The badly written crappy stuff is what kids love. Look towards the popularity of Disney Channel and Nickelodeon sitcoms to see what I mean about kids TV today.
So yes, this show is awful. But it's a GOOD kind of awful and one of those things that is so bad it's good. The first season and a half of the show with the original six Rangers was the best. It hadn't started recasting all of the roles every season and I had grown to care about the characters especially alpha male rivals Jason and Tommy and the ditzy Kimberly. Once they had all left I had no reason to watch the show anymore. Dick Wolf can claim all he wants that Law & Order never needed to have a steady cast to keep popular but it's a matter of fact that the ratings didn't start going downhill until after Jerry Orbach was gone. I feel the same way about this show without Jason, Trini, Zack, Kimberly, Billy, and Tommy. Once all of them were gone I had no more reason to watch.
Speaking of Kimberly, I am floored at what an amazing actress Amy Jo Johnson is. If there had been any justice in the world she would have won a daytime Emmy. Why? Because Kimberly is the WORST written character, gets the unfunniest lines and lamest dialogue, and she doesn't seem embarrassed in the slightest to be playing her. I often get the sense that David Yost as Billy wishes he was on any other show but this one but Johnson plays the h*** out of Kimberly and plays her with total conviction. It's because of Johnson that instead of the Pink Ranger being my least favorite character she's my favortie after Tommy (Jason is number three).
And speaking of Tommy. introducing him in episode 16 reinvigorated the show which had already started to grow stale after a few weeks. He also started the Kimberly/Tommy ship and I will forever be grateful for that.
For the record the special effects on this show are terrible, even for the era they were created in. But surprisingly they are STILL better than Star Trek: The Original Series. If that show can still have a loyal following after all these years, I understand why this one can too.
Best episodes on the 30 episode set are the one with the funniest monster ever (Food Fight) and the five parter that introduced the Green Ranger (Green With Evil). Not going to bother doing a "worst of" list because technically every single episode on the set is terrible. For the Quality: *. For the Experience: ****. Set Overall: ***.
Day Of The Dumpster:
Power Rangers got one of the worst openings in Fox Kids history. You'd think they'd want to start out of the gate with something memorable and easy to explain but this is a total mess. It's biggest mistake was opening the episode on Rita Repulsa and her bizarre monsters escaping rather than the kids at Angel Grove. It also doesn't help that they tried to compress an episode that SHOULD have been a two or three parter into 20 minutes making it incomprehensible to people who didn't keep watching the show after this. It's almost as confusing as Pokemon. A swing and a miss. Considering the high quality of Batman: The Animated Series' "On Leather Wings" and Spider-Man: The Animated Series' "Night Of The Lizard" this Fox Kids pilot was a total bomb. *.
High Five:
Boring and forgettable episode. *.
Teamwork:
Those new Power Weapons are beyond awesome. The fight scenes (complete with faux metal music) are a lot of fun. I love seeing giant robots slug it out with giant rubbery monsters. To quote Hobbes from Calvin and Hobbes: "And they say foreign film is inaccessible." ***1/2.
A Pressing Engagement:
Kind of a silly episode (am I really supposed to believe Bulk held the bench-pressing record before Jason?) but all right. **1/2.
Different Drum:
Good episode for the kiddies to show that deaf people are normal and not scary. Believe it or not, with the exception of Sesame Street not many kids shows of that era sent that message and it's an important one. ***.
Food Fight:
Pudgy Pig is the greatest monster ever! He's a giant pig head with feet sticking out of his neck and arms for cheeks. And people wonder why I used to enjoy this show. Total cheese fest and absolutely hilarious. ****1/2.
Big Sisters:
This episode started a REALLY noticable habit of having different actors dub in human guest characters voices. It's beyond distracting. The actors on this show need a better union. *.
I, Eye Guy:
Good monster, silly episode. **1/2.
For Whom The Bell Trolls:
Weird, weird, WEIRD episode and I'm uncertain why they hit the Total Reset Button at the end by making it a dream sequence. That troll doll would NOT be something I'd want to snuggle with and it would give ME nightmares too. It's ironic that the monster version of the troll was cuter. **.
Happy Birthday Zack:
Predictable but fun. ***.
No Clowning Around:
Great concept (scary clowns!), terrible execution. Watch out for another badly dubbed kid voice. **1/2.
Power Ranger Punks:
Amy Jo Johnson seems to be having fun even though David Yost looks mortified. Sort of hard to portray a hardcore punker slut on a weekday afternoon kids show but they got the point across as best they could. ***1/2.
Peace, Love, And Woe:
Billy's got game. He's definitely luckier with women than Zack is at any rate. ***.
Foul Play In The Sky:
Probably Bulk and Skull's best showing of the year. Those two clowns are sort of majorly unfunny but so over-the-top that that somehow DOES make them funny. ***1/2.
Dark Warrior:
If that invisibility formula was so dangerous why was Uncle Howard able to use it at the end with no ill effects? **.
Switching Places:
David Yost seems SO embarrassed in this episode that I wound up feeling bad for him. Johnson does a pretty good Billy though. Biggest beef: When the characters Morphed Billy and Kimberly didn't seem to have ANY real problems using each others Morphers and Zords. I think they should have addressed that better. Billy shouldn't have been able to shout "Pterodactyl!" and Kimberly "Triceratops!" with such conviction. ***.
Green With Evil, Part I: Out Of Control:
This was one of those Fox Kids "Weeklong Events" that like X-Men's "Pheonix Saga" made its line-up a must-watch. Jason Frank makes a GREAT first impression as Tommy here. I was like "That's so WRONG!" when the Green Ranger invaded Rangers headquarters and destroyed Zordon and most of the computers. Greatness. *****.
Green With Evil, Part II: Jason's Battle:
The multiple part episodes of Power Rangers seem to be the best because the cliffhangers and act breaks tend to be boarded like more traditional genre shows and cartoons. And how cool is it Tommy is in the theme song in only his second episode? ****1/2.
Green With Evil, Part III: The Rescue:
Wish the Green Ranger had more to do here but he seemed to drop out of sight a bit for this episode and the next. Still great though. ****1/2.
Green With Evil, Part IV: Eclipsing Megazord:
Not gonna lie. This episode and the previous one could have been condensed into one part easily and this should have been a four-parter instead of a five-parter. This is still great though too. ****1/2.
Green With Evil, Part V: Breaking The Spell:
Wicked fun conclusion. If I had been younger when I first watched this I would have been cheering at the end. *****. Five Parter Overall: ****1/2.
The Trouble With Shellshock:
This is NOT the Ninja Turtles crossover (That happened in the Power Rangers In Space season) although there IS a Ninja Turtles joke in the episode. ***.
Itsy Bitsy Spider:
Loved Zach screaming at the tarantula like a little girl. I question the wisdom of emasculating a black male like that but it WAS a geniune laugh, especially the way Walter Jones played it. ***1/2.
The Spit Flower:
Probably the best monster after Pudgy Pig. Those biting flowers were a scream and made me laugh out loud. I loved how when they were "attacking" Bulk and Skull the characters seemed to simply be writhing around with brightly colored origami paper taped all over them. Very Bela Legosi in Ed Wood's "Bride Of The Monster". ***1/2.
Life's A Masqerade:
Passable but not great. That Frankenstein Monster was dorky. **1/2.
Gung Ho!:
Fun to see the first Jason / Tommy team-up and how the two alpha male rivals will wind up being the best of friends. ***1/2.
Wheel Of Misfortune:
I had the luck to watch this episode featuring a play of Rumpelstilkskin immediately following me devouring the Once Upon A Time first season set so I REALLY appreciated it. Bulk is the worst Rumpelstilskin EVER and VERY funny. ***.
Island Of Illusion, Part I:
A rare multi-part misfire. I imagine the show could have done a better fear-based episode with less bland characters and a bigger visual effects budget. But it is what it is. **.
Island Of Illusion, Part II:
Dumb. I have to hand it to this show in the casting department: Walter Jones is a great dancer, Amy Jo Johnson is a great gymnast, and Jason Frank and Austin St. John are great martial artists. This episode showcased Zack's dancing and the kid is talented. **. Two Parter Average: **.
The Rockstar:
I know it's just a dumb kids show, but Jason taking those three giant boulders in the chest? He should be dead, not merely pinned down. Another annoying kid voice dub too. **1/2.
DVD Menus: Animated with the Power Rangers Theme song. *****.
Upcoming reviews on this journal include Haven: Season 2, Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation Volume 1, The Pirates! Band Of Misfits, Get A Life: The Complete Series, TRON: Legacy (Blu-Ray), The Adventures Of Young Indiana Jones Volume 2: Thw War Years, The Adventures Of Young Indiana Jones Volume 3: The Years Of Change, and Heathcliff: Season 1 - Vol 1.
MAD "Men In Black To The Future / Pokemon Of Interest"
The Men In Black parody sucked and the Superman curl thing was nauseating but the episode gets a passing grade for the Person Of Interest parody. I've never seen the show but I HAVE noticed that critics and fanboys have been giving recent J.J. Abrams series a LOT of slack that they haven't earned. Alcatraz was a SERIOUS mixed bag and Revolution looks to be even dicier. Just because Abrams is a ComicCon God doesn't mean he should just coast on his reputation especially if he isn't even involved with the creation of the shows. And yes, Jorge Garcia, Hurley and Doc Soto ARE THE EXACT SAME CHARACTER. Somebody needed to say it. ***.
The Office "The New Guys"
I was worried to hear Greg Daniels was returning as showrunner and my fears were well-founded. Yes, he oversaw the Office when it was still Must-See TV. But frankly, when I HAD to watch the Office every week to see what happened next I never found myself actually enjoying it. It was a dismally depressing show with mostly unlikable characters being horrible to each other. The last few seasons under Paul Lieberstein (Scott's Tots not-withstanding) were like comfort food. Frankly the show doesn't really have THAT revolionary of a premise to warrant putting the audience on pins and needles every week. I LIKE seeing Jim and Pam as a couple. I don't want to see them in crisis mode every week.
I really resented the implication that the camera crew (which spoke on camera for the first time ever) has only continued filming because they are waiting for Jim and Pam to implode. That is just SO freaking unlikely and was merely said to jar the audience. It's horsecrap.
Greg Daniels has also taken the easy way out by making Andy the new Micheal. Last year I was ROOTING for Andy and now I don't even recognize the character.
And Oscar is having an affair with Angela's husband? I call bullcrap on that too. Despite the temptation last year it is TOTALLY out of character for Oscar to do that to Angela. Yes, she treats him like crap. But they have still developed a friendship of sorts over the years which Daniels just demolished for the sake of salaciousness. Not cool.
The Dwight stuff was just embarrassing. And how could they POSSIBLY not make the baby Dwight's? What were they thinking?
The two new characters didn't make much of an impression.
Were there any things I liked? Yes, but unfortunately it was the Ryan and Kelly stuff and they're both leaving. I am REALLY happy with the idea that Ryan picked up and moved (and became a hobo) just to be nearer to Kelly. That just brings their relationship full circle a bit. I hope they both return for the finale and we learn they've finally gotten together for good.
Oh, one other good thing: Creed's monologue at the end. Yes, Daniels sucks. But at least he isn't breaking the rule about never featuring Creed too heavily to make his scenes extra special.
I am not looking forward to this season. *.
Parks And Recreation "Ms. Knope Goes To Washington"
Yes, Ron Swanson is funny. I say this as someone who watches him on television for a half-hour every week. But a person like that would be a NIGHTMARE in real life and this episode actually tackled that issue for once with Chris having to pull rank on his nonsense.
Tom and Ann were funny but they're funnier as a couple.
Andy and April are just plain awesome. Best characters on the show.
I call BS on the John McCain cameo. He was a LOT less grumpy in that situation than he would have been in real life.
Leslie and Ben are television's most boring couple. Yes, they're cute. But so what? They aren't actually funny.
Funniest scene was when Jerry asks Ron if they can at least have corn on the cob and Ron takes several beats to SERIOUSLY think about it and then firmly and angrily says "No." Pitch-perfect timing and delivery.
WAAAAAYYYY better than The Office. I actually enjoyed this one. ****.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 1, Vol. 1
I had both been dreading and looking forward to rewatching this awful series on DVD. I watched it as a teenager as a guilty pleasure and I had the same love-hate relationship with it that I have with the Ernest movies. Other kids my age were into 90210. I still think I had less to be ashamed of for liking this.
First off, I would like to say for people who claim that the early nineties was the golden age of kids' television: this show proves it wasn't. Sure, you had Batman: The Animated Series, Gargoyles and TaleSpin which were all really high quality but THIS is the show kids actually gravitated towards and was the monster hit. Each successsive generation believes that kids shows are inherently inferior to when they were kids but I think that it's more likely that they just grew out of cartoons and are blaming their changing tastes on everybody else but themselves. Kids who grew up in the 80's believed their half hour long toy commercials were the height of quality and 90's kids believe the era of weak shows like Tiny Toons and Darkwing Duck were part of the Golden Age of animation and think Pokemon and all later animation is crap. I'm willing to bet kids that grew up in the 2000's are gonna say cartoons went downhill after they canceled The Batman and Loonatics Unleashed. Trust me. It doesn't matter WHAT era you live in. The badly written crappy stuff is what kids love. Look towards the popularity of Disney Channel and Nickelodeon sitcoms to see what I mean about kids TV today.
So yes, this show is awful. But it's a GOOD kind of awful and one of those things that is so bad it's good. The first season and a half of the show with the original six Rangers was the best. It hadn't started recasting all of the roles every season and I had grown to care about the characters especially alpha male rivals Jason and Tommy and the ditzy Kimberly. Once they had all left I had no reason to watch the show anymore. Dick Wolf can claim all he wants that Law & Order never needed to have a steady cast to keep popular but it's a matter of fact that the ratings didn't start going downhill until after Jerry Orbach was gone. I feel the same way about this show without Jason, Trini, Zack, Kimberly, Billy, and Tommy. Once all of them were gone I had no more reason to watch.
Speaking of Kimberly, I am floored at what an amazing actress Amy Jo Johnson is. If there had been any justice in the world she would have won a daytime Emmy. Why? Because Kimberly is the WORST written character, gets the unfunniest lines and lamest dialogue, and she doesn't seem embarrassed in the slightest to be playing her. I often get the sense that David Yost as Billy wishes he was on any other show but this one but Johnson plays the h*** out of Kimberly and plays her with total conviction. It's because of Johnson that instead of the Pink Ranger being my least favorite character she's my favortie after Tommy (Jason is number three).
And speaking of Tommy. introducing him in episode 16 reinvigorated the show which had already started to grow stale after a few weeks. He also started the Kimberly/Tommy ship and I will forever be grateful for that.
For the record the special effects on this show are terrible, even for the era they were created in. But surprisingly they are STILL better than Star Trek: The Original Series. If that show can still have a loyal following after all these years, I understand why this one can too.
Best episodes on the 30 episode set are the one with the funniest monster ever (Food Fight) and the five parter that introduced the Green Ranger (Green With Evil). Not going to bother doing a "worst of" list because technically every single episode on the set is terrible. For the Quality: *. For the Experience: ****. Set Overall: ***.
Day Of The Dumpster:
Power Rangers got one of the worst openings in Fox Kids history. You'd think they'd want to start out of the gate with something memorable and easy to explain but this is a total mess. It's biggest mistake was opening the episode on Rita Repulsa and her bizarre monsters escaping rather than the kids at Angel Grove. It also doesn't help that they tried to compress an episode that SHOULD have been a two or three parter into 20 minutes making it incomprehensible to people who didn't keep watching the show after this. It's almost as confusing as Pokemon. A swing and a miss. Considering the high quality of Batman: The Animated Series' "On Leather Wings" and Spider-Man: The Animated Series' "Night Of The Lizard" this Fox Kids pilot was a total bomb. *.
High Five:
Boring and forgettable episode. *.
Teamwork:
Those new Power Weapons are beyond awesome. The fight scenes (complete with faux metal music) are a lot of fun. I love seeing giant robots slug it out with giant rubbery monsters. To quote Hobbes from Calvin and Hobbes: "And they say foreign film is inaccessible." ***1/2.
A Pressing Engagement:
Kind of a silly episode (am I really supposed to believe Bulk held the bench-pressing record before Jason?) but all right. **1/2.
Different Drum:
Good episode for the kiddies to show that deaf people are normal and not scary. Believe it or not, with the exception of Sesame Street not many kids shows of that era sent that message and it's an important one. ***.
Food Fight:
Pudgy Pig is the greatest monster ever! He's a giant pig head with feet sticking out of his neck and arms for cheeks. And people wonder why I used to enjoy this show. Total cheese fest and absolutely hilarious. ****1/2.
Big Sisters:
This episode started a REALLY noticable habit of having different actors dub in human guest characters voices. It's beyond distracting. The actors on this show need a better union. *.
I, Eye Guy:
Good monster, silly episode. **1/2.
For Whom The Bell Trolls:
Weird, weird, WEIRD episode and I'm uncertain why they hit the Total Reset Button at the end by making it a dream sequence. That troll doll would NOT be something I'd want to snuggle with and it would give ME nightmares too. It's ironic that the monster version of the troll was cuter. **.
Happy Birthday Zack:
Predictable but fun. ***.
No Clowning Around:
Great concept (scary clowns!), terrible execution. Watch out for another badly dubbed kid voice. **1/2.
Power Ranger Punks:
Amy Jo Johnson seems to be having fun even though David Yost looks mortified. Sort of hard to portray a hardcore punker slut on a weekday afternoon kids show but they got the point across as best they could. ***1/2.
Peace, Love, And Woe:
Billy's got game. He's definitely luckier with women than Zack is at any rate. ***.
Foul Play In The Sky:
Probably Bulk and Skull's best showing of the year. Those two clowns are sort of majorly unfunny but so over-the-top that that somehow DOES make them funny. ***1/2.
Dark Warrior:
If that invisibility formula was so dangerous why was Uncle Howard able to use it at the end with no ill effects? **.
Switching Places:
David Yost seems SO embarrassed in this episode that I wound up feeling bad for him. Johnson does a pretty good Billy though. Biggest beef: When the characters Morphed Billy and Kimberly didn't seem to have ANY real problems using each others Morphers and Zords. I think they should have addressed that better. Billy shouldn't have been able to shout "Pterodactyl!" and Kimberly "Triceratops!" with such conviction. ***.
Green With Evil, Part I: Out Of Control:
This was one of those Fox Kids "Weeklong Events" that like X-Men's "Pheonix Saga" made its line-up a must-watch. Jason Frank makes a GREAT first impression as Tommy here. I was like "That's so WRONG!" when the Green Ranger invaded Rangers headquarters and destroyed Zordon and most of the computers. Greatness. *****.
Green With Evil, Part II: Jason's Battle:
The multiple part episodes of Power Rangers seem to be the best because the cliffhangers and act breaks tend to be boarded like more traditional genre shows and cartoons. And how cool is it Tommy is in the theme song in only his second episode? ****1/2.
Green With Evil, Part III: The Rescue:
Wish the Green Ranger had more to do here but he seemed to drop out of sight a bit for this episode and the next. Still great though. ****1/2.
Green With Evil, Part IV: Eclipsing Megazord:
Not gonna lie. This episode and the previous one could have been condensed into one part easily and this should have been a four-parter instead of a five-parter. This is still great though too. ****1/2.
Green With Evil, Part V: Breaking The Spell:
Wicked fun conclusion. If I had been younger when I first watched this I would have been cheering at the end. *****. Five Parter Overall: ****1/2.
The Trouble With Shellshock:
This is NOT the Ninja Turtles crossover (That happened in the Power Rangers In Space season) although there IS a Ninja Turtles joke in the episode. ***.
Itsy Bitsy Spider:
Loved Zach screaming at the tarantula like a little girl. I question the wisdom of emasculating a black male like that but it WAS a geniune laugh, especially the way Walter Jones played it. ***1/2.
The Spit Flower:
Probably the best monster after Pudgy Pig. Those biting flowers were a scream and made me laugh out loud. I loved how when they were "attacking" Bulk and Skull the characters seemed to simply be writhing around with brightly colored origami paper taped all over them. Very Bela Legosi in Ed Wood's "Bride Of The Monster". ***1/2.
Life's A Masqerade:
Passable but not great. That Frankenstein Monster was dorky. **1/2.
Gung Ho!:
Fun to see the first Jason / Tommy team-up and how the two alpha male rivals will wind up being the best of friends. ***1/2.
Wheel Of Misfortune:
I had the luck to watch this episode featuring a play of Rumpelstilkskin immediately following me devouring the Once Upon A Time first season set so I REALLY appreciated it. Bulk is the worst Rumpelstilskin EVER and VERY funny. ***.
Island Of Illusion, Part I:
A rare multi-part misfire. I imagine the show could have done a better fear-based episode with less bland characters and a bigger visual effects budget. But it is what it is. **.
Island Of Illusion, Part II:
Dumb. I have to hand it to this show in the casting department: Walter Jones is a great dancer, Amy Jo Johnson is a great gymnast, and Jason Frank and Austin St. John are great martial artists. This episode showcased Zack's dancing and the kid is talented. **. Two Parter Average: **.
The Rockstar:
I know it's just a dumb kids show, but Jason taking those three giant boulders in the chest? He should be dead, not merely pinned down. Another annoying kid voice dub too. **1/2.
DVD Menus: Animated with the Power Rangers Theme song. *****.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2012-09-21 11:32 am (UTC)The Spit Flower: Oh, God, I forgot about the Flower Power monster. Weren't the flowers he shot just coloured paper with dollar-store vampire fangs in the middle?
Life's A Masqerade: This episode's ingrained in my memory due to the rather gruesome death of the Frankenstein monster; I'm surprised they got away with showing him being drilled through the gut on kids' TV like that. And then the Green Ranger making some lame quip about indigestion - what a psychopath.
One thing about the series I always wondered: where Bulk and Skull named in reference to the 80s Welsh cartoon Superted, where the villain had two henchmen named Bulk and Skeleton?
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Date: 2012-09-27 05:48 am (UTC)Parks And Recreation "Ms. Knope Goes To Washington" - Ron being a government official is scary, but it's fun to watch (loved his note). I thought Leslie and Ben were funny when Ben was new to Pawnee and Leslie was explaining everything to him. I do like them together, though. As for John McCain...chill, it was just for a comedy bit.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 1, Vol. 1 - I disagree about 90's and animation. It really was a renaissance. Okay, you didn't like Tiny Toons, but Warner Brothers, Disney, NickToons, Cartoon Network, and adult cartoons...look at all that happened in just ten years! For the record, I think the 00's were phenomenal too, what with the likes of Samurai Jack, Avatar the Last Airbender, and of course, Justice League.
Amy Jo Johnson was great, I loved when she had to pretend to be Rita. And David Yost...didn't he last longer than any original Ranger (not counting Tommy leaving and coming back)?
Food Fight: Much like MODOK, I can't look at the Pudgy Pig and not smile.
Big Sisters: I didn't notice that when I was a kid...weird.
Gung Ho!: Was that the one where Jason wore Tommy's shield briefly?
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