Power Rangers Dino Thunder Overview

Power Rangers Dino Thunder: Season 12
Episode Count: 38
Air Date: February 7th, 2004- November 20th, 2004

Let's me be honest, Ninja Storm as the first all Disney produced and promoted season for the new owners of the franchise wasn't exactly a complete home run.  While the new lighthearted tone, beautiful locations and more realistic approach to the show's heroes outside of their suits work really well for the most part, you could tell not only were the villains an utter nose drive in quality in a while but the move to new Zealand also produced some glaring production that made the show noticeably jarring from what came before when the show was shot in California in the US.  While Dino Thunder carries on some of those flaws like the New Zealand actors not exactly sounding  American, some stock music that feels distracting and the now more noticeable explosion issue, the show itself was certainly an immense important over the first go around with the new status quo of the new era of the show.  I think what worked in this season's favor a lot was the fact that the next Sentai season they were adapting was Dinosaur themed, like the very first 2 seasons of the show which definitely seemed to inspire the writers who seemed to use the back to basics type feel of said theme to make a show that not only paid tribute to the MMPR era by making various references to the original series but also plays like a 2000s revamp of that same concept with a group of teens battling usual high school issues and saving the world at the very same time.  But don't be mistaken, while Dino Thunder heavily draws from the  franchise's origins, it's mostly it's own thing as in it's 12th season, the show finally finds the balance of telling outlandish superhero stories while building on realistic and extremely likable characters who feel so much more 3 dimensional than the stereotypical 2 dimensional high school archetypes/save the world activism theatrics of the original 5 teenagers with attitude.  So why don't we get started on talking about our main trio of teen rangers this season as well as the additional rangers to join them and their various allies....

We'll start of course with our valiant Red Ranger in the form of Connor McKnight aka your typical high school jock with all the good looks, none of the brains and all about getting wit the ladies! ;) Right off the bat, Connor gets some development in the third episode, "Wave Goodbye", when he's more worried about becoming a pro soccer player than his newest responsibility of saving the world....and you can genuinely understand this.  Connor has been playing soccer since he was a child and has always dreamed of making it as a professional athlete.  His ranger calling is something that soooo new and very foreign to him, especially when it comes to caring about people.  But we see even with him seemingly about to quit and ready to just be a normal teenager with dreams of a sports career, we see Connor does in fact care and not only about himself but other people.  The little girl he instantly makes a connection with and ends up saving gives his a new perspective on what his new duties as a ranger means and he proudly tells his fellow teammates he is sorry as well as will be sticking around for good! Very nice! :)  The next episode that not explores Connor's personality as well as the other two rangers on the team, "Leader of the Whack", we find out that Connor actually has the recessive personality traits of a studious and intelligent person but just chooses not because he never saw that in himself.  It's not just a hilarious comedy episode but insightful how the rangers see themselves vs. what they are truly capable of if they just embraced the others' differences.  Then there's "Lost & Found In Translation" where in watching a Japanse superhero series based on the rangers, Connor learns to embrace another's cultures view point on their explorations and adventures as Power Rangers.  Sure he comes around as his over the top emotional reaction at the end of the episode shows but it once again shows a serious flaw in Connor that he must overcome and learn to be more open minded to the differences in cultures when it comes to entertainment by seeing it may not be what someone in the US is use too, but the message of the episode is universal in the end...despite an absurdly dumb looking monster putting ugly wigs on people and making the greedy because of it! :P Now while "Triassic Triumph" is more an episode centered around Connor's new upgrade than character development, it is a rather consequential lead-in into "The Passion of Connor" where we see the greatest development of him all season when Zeltrax returns and sets his sights on a potential new love interest for Connor in Krista as Connor must learn to be more understanding and selfless when it comes to impressing other people by just being genuine instead of playing games to win her heart.  Of course it's Power Rangers and all this amounts to at the end of the episode is another traditional very stupid looking battlizer but we even see by the end of the season that Connor has completely changed his ways and made a 180 as he takes Krista to the prom as she obviously sees him for the changed man he is now. Nice! :)

But it's not just Connor's individual character centered episodes that show his immense progression as a character but we see throughout the White Thunder Saga who determined he is against the rangers' toughest opponent yet but showing signs of care and concern when Trent doesn't look well and out of it.  We see him get Trent's back again in "Burning At Both Ends" and while Trent turned on them again, it was nice to see Connor willing to give him a chance to prove himself as he wouldn't have not to long ago. But I'm gonna take a break from talking about the newest leader of the team that season and go to our Blue Dino Ranger aka Ethan James.  Ethan, of course, was the computer geek of the team who was obsessed with video games and technology but it didn't make him much of a psychical type member of the team...which is very funny and very well explored.  Sure, "Game On" was a pretty filler-ish episode that centered on Ethan being the prime target around Mesagog's plan that week as he seemly wanted to use Ethan's greatest love aka gaming against him.  But episodes that better explore his character is the aforementioned "Leader of the Whack" where Ethan is forced into attacking like an extremely competitive jock due to the effects of the meteorite that fell to Reefside.  Once again, it happens to be a recessive trait in Ethan that he is VERY capable of and we actually get to see how he isn't just a push over because he's a geek when a school bully makes him his next target in "Bully For Ethan".  Not only does he continually stand up for himself but he figures out how to use his intellect to solve the immense animosity between them with a computer simulation that improves his soccer playing.  It's something that you usually don't see in a kid's shows like this as the geek or nerd usually takes the beating or needs someone to stick up for them at the end of the day for the resolution of the episodic dilemma.  It really shows Ethan's character is faaarrr from the 2 dimensional traps of the original 5 rangers by being more complex and realistic than just random made up sci-fi references all the time! -_-  I would also LOVE to mention "Tutenhawken's Curse"....but I'll save that for my worst episodes portion of this overview. O_o  Seriously dumb episode about Ethan's bad luck and a random new toy for the kid's to buy in the form of the Hover Cycle (God, I hate these one off promos for the franchise's toy line!!! -_-)  but it's no wonder that by the end of the season, Ethan finds the courage to actually not only go to the prom but bring a date in the form of that random girl in the line in the movie theater.  Yeah, not even gonna bring up her name, she was just a major conclusion to his character arc and not much of a character herself really. He! :P

Anyway, let's move on to our third and last main ranger of the lead trio in Kira Ford.  Starting out as the atypical musically gifted but rebellious against all things feminine outsider, Kira really came into her own throughout the season by learning to embrace her individuality more than probably any of the other ranger characters this season.  During "Day of The Dino, Part 1", she is the first of the rangers to want to keep herself far away from their new calling but it's funny how she becomes so strong and resolute in her Yellow Ranger duties that we get that awesome moment in "The Missing Bone", where after being possessed Fossilander, she comes riding in own her zord to save the day from her fellow rangers during battle.  She was also definitely the resident little sister/heart of the team, someone who had this great sense of morality unlike the others on the team like in "It's A Mad Mad Mackerel", when it's her convenient intervention that leads the arrogant actor on a path of being more humble to his friend who he's known his entire career.  Sure, the pinnacle of her character development comes in the often unnecessary lesson learned, "A Star Is Torn" where she has to realize her music career will only work on her terms, not on the terms of some obnoxious record producer trying to turn her into the next popstar.  It's just a jarring episode that feels the need to remind of something that's already been in Kira since "Diva In Distress" when her former singing partner/friend Kyle Styles was some record label pop product instead of doing the type of music they had done together.  Kira already knew who she was and didn't need to have an episode that had her look more insecure than actually building what had already been established...so....huh???  Honestly, Kira seemed to be better when she was also the voice of reason on the team, seeing things from a different perspective like throughout the White Ranger saga as Trent was being taken over by the white dino gem.  It was her who always saw the good in him despite the White Ranger's ruthless attacks against them.  In "Truth and Consequences", we see that it's Kira who appeals to Trent's inner humanity buried deep inside him still that forces him to briefly aid the rangers but also retreat from Reefside to stop his evil alter ego's rampage.  It was also Kira's apprehensive attitude toward Trent that led to him being given a second chance as the White Ranger during "A Test of Trust."  Speaking of Trent, let's finally get into talking about the fifth and last member of the team this season.

What I LOVED so much about Trent Mercer was that he seemed like he was just going to be a recurring character at Hayley's Cyberspace who would occasionally interact with the other rangers just cause of Kira's initial attraction to him.  Honestly, usually when a sixth/auxiliary ranger is introduced or going to be introduced, we usually know who he or she will be...yet here, the writers are amazingly unpredictable and there are no obvious red herrings of him eventually getting heavily involved in the conflict between the rangers and the villains this season.  You got to feel really sorry for Trent, more than any other evil ranger story arc thus far in the show.  The only reason Trent gets involved is because of his father Anton Mercer being connected to Mesagog and the unfortunate moment the white dino gem attaches itself to him as its owner.  Of course, the writers give this evil ranger arc most complexity, even though at times it does get kinda of confusing in that we don't know at times if its Trent or the white dino gem's power over him that's in control.  Despite that, the White Ranger provide the most exciting run of episodes this season and made for, as usual, an unpredictably dangerous, powerful foe for the rangers.  I love Trent's inner turmoil through all of this.  You can tell that he is a really good person and wants to do the right thing, but being forced into the newest villain for the Power Rangers is a burden he can't bare. And yet when the white dino gem's hold over him breaks, he finds it within himself to continue his destiny as a ranger on the right side and help the Dino Rangers out in defeating Mesagog once and for all.  This leads us to one of my favorite aspects of the season with Trent having to carry the burden of keeping his father's terrifying secret while aiding the other rangers.  Like I said, I absolutely LOVE moral ambiguity and Trent's journey is full of it in abundance.  Once again, it would have been awesome to see what they would have done with the character if they went with the whole "kicking him off the team and taking his morpher" dilemma they briefly but I digress, what we got was still a very strong and standout character who made the season much deeper and morally tragic thanks to the well written nature of the show.

Of the last rangers and of course, mentor of the season, Jason David Frank's return as veteran ranger Tommy Oliver could have gone south quickly with being some force homage to the original MMPR and just costing off nostalgia only.  But the writers luckily don't go the obvious route and use Tommy's arrival back in the franchise as a chance to explore some aspects of the show never seen before.  For the first time, like I said, we have a former ranger playing mentor to a new team of Power Rangers and it feels more natural than you think.  Tommy never overshadows the new cast of characters but seemly is an inspiring supporting character who has true purpose in these new rangers' lives as well as the main overarching storyline of the season.  While Tommy becoming a paleontologist is a bit of a stretch and the teens calling him "Dr. Oliver" or "Dr. O" for short, the plot surrounding him and the origins of this season's villain feels exciting and nicely plotted for the most part that it makes sense overall why Tommy would get into that type of research, especially considering his dinosaur themed past as one of the original 6 rangers.  If the story with Tommy has any flaws, it definitely came with the middle portion of the show's run when he trapped in ember by the White Ranger as well as trapped in his ranger form for like 15 episodes or so.  Now I know about the deal that Jason and the producers of the show made so he could go back to the US to run his dojo in LA...BUT from a story stand point, it's pretty lackluster seeing someone like Tommy suddenly take more of a backseat because of it and being reduced to simply a voice-over over his in-suit stunt double.  Of course, this rather lukewarm section of the show can be forgiven given possibly one of, if not, THE best episode of the show's history in "Fighting Spirit", which feels like a radically messy idea on paper but quickly becomes a captivating culmination of Tommy's journey throughout the series as a ranger with multiple incarnations of his former ranger forms returning for psychological duels that both reveal more of who this long going hero as well as forces this season's newest generation of heroes to rise above the confines of their ranger powers to become far more than their usual weekly call of duty.  Not surprised that this incarnation of rangers become rather legendary in the not to distant future of next season (coming soon! I know! 0_0 Don't kill me), Now before I go on to FINALLY talk about the villains of the season, I want to talk about Hayley lastly.  She was definitely the Alpha to Tommy's Zordon but honestly, there is a bit of missed opportunity with her to an extent.  Clearly her and Tommy have a past that helped them prepare for this current team of rangers yet Hayley's backstory is never truly explored.  Don't get me wrong, Hayley is an awesome character all things considered.  She was smart, snarky and had a personality that was tough yet soft as well as caring and lovable.  She was the mother of the team to Tommy's paternal instincts and really helped when Tommy was a no show of sorts during the middle of the season but I just wished the writers had used that opportunity to further develop her beyond technical support and the owner of the rangers' new hangout spot.  Anyway, enough about Hayley, let's get to the villains already shall we! :)

I'm gonna get this out of the way, the villains this year felt like a HUGE apology for the utter laughable nature of Lothor and his army of easily disposable generals and teen comedy reject nieces.  There's just something about Mesagog in terms of make up, design and impeccably chilling performance by Lathan Gaines that felt like something straight out of a classic late night horror special instead of a random new baddie for the rangers to faced.  Mesagog wasn't just frightening, he was a very grounded character who had strong connections to the team in Tommy and Trent aka Anton Mercer, a brilliant but menacing millionaire who survived the massive fallout their research we saw at the beginning of the premiere episode.  While Mesagog isn't sympathetic, you can't help but feel for the man he is by day as he tries to fight the ever growing evil inside him while raising his adopted son and regain his humanity again.  Once again, New Zealand actor Lathan Gaines rises above the already great material and makes Anton into a dark but complex character who soon finds redemption in leading Trent to help the other rangers and joining them to stop Mesagog.  While Mesagog's final fight with the aforementioned Dino Rangers is weak in retrospect, his effervescent coldness and horrifying glee in putting free into not only his enemies but his warriors is something that seemed so new and refreshing for the show.  Not to mention, his overall objective wasn't just simply world domination like sooooo many villains before him...at least not in the most cliche, conventional sense.  His ultimate goal of transforming the world back to the dinosaur era is actually quite original and very twisted in it's own way. O_O While we never got many episodes surrounded around his MO but it was nice the writers made Mesagog so distinct in almost every possible way from what came before! Bravo and stand ovation! As for his generals. Elsa was an awesome villainess despite Miriama Smith's constant need to overact the hell out of her fight scenes....YAHHHHH!!! YEEEAAHHHHH!!! o_O Of course, he disguise as Principal Randell was to get closer to Oliver and the rangers but come on!  Even in "House of Cards", Tommy makes it obvious how OBVIOUS both her and Elsa were that they should have figured it out automatically. -_- While I would have loved some more backstory on her too, like how she came into servitude for Mesagog considering she was first human as we see in the finale, she was definitely the smartest and most cunning of his generals.  Zeltrax....was fine outside of his very poorly developed rivalry with Tommy.  I mean seriously, the guy Smitty causes his own death and blames Tommy for it for no reason...I;m sorry huh??? They could have just made it make more sense by having Mesagog mess with his mind and make him think Tommy did it (Especially since we've seen Mesagog have psionic powers! Hello! O_o).  I mean, overall, a very decent baddie but the forced connection to Tommy was very disappointing and weakened his arc on the show as a villain a bit.  But nothing and I mean NOTHING could be as bad the useless and utter pointless White Ranger clone.  Seriously, the guy is just a generic bad guy that takes orders despite looking like a badass cause of the impressive White Ranger suit and powers.  I mean, "Strange Relations" finally seemed like the writers were trying to develop him into a more 3 dimensional character...but in that same episode, the real White Ranger destroys him and takes over his zords so....what was even the reason to start making him interesting in the same damn episode you kill him off in! Ehhwww!! -_-  Anyway, let me wrap this up!

The Dino Thunder zords were...mediocre...I'm sorry!  The Thundersaurus Megazord was bulky and the initial zords combining to make it up just feels too fast and throwaway to impress.  What happened to seeing each individual zord form into a part of the entire megazord instead of this fast forward crap that almost gives the viewers wipe last.  The Dino Stegozord was better but the artillery zords....I mean....it's Power Rangers, so I get the hilarious lack of logic with dinosaur zords with scissors for a tail and...sigh....boxing gloxes...but it was too gimmicky for me.  Even Ninja Storm's zords were better and they had a freakin' Mammoth zord powered by a freakin' electric guitar! How can one love and be slightly embarrassed by this show at the same time??? o_o In conclusion, Dino Thunder wasn't some artistic standout for the show, but it is truly one of it's most exciting and profoundly enjoyable seasons in sometime.  Everything from the characters and dialogue just entertain beyond belief and the dark contrast to the villainous scary nature of our main baddie just puts the absolute icing on the cake. :)

Pros:

• A refreshing return to the Dinosaur theme of MMPR Season 1.
• The effortlessly well realized return of veteran ranger Tommy Oliver as this team's new mentor.
• Fully drawn out and well written group of main characters from Connor and Kira to Trent and Ethan! :)
• A major improvement in villains this year, especially the very frightening and menacing looking Mesagog. O_O
• Smart, charming and clever self aware humor this season! :)
• Creatively strong episodic episodes like "Lost & Found In Translation" and "Drawn Into Danger".

Cons:

• The very jarring and nonsensical rivalry between Tommy and Zeltrax aka Smitty! -_-
• Cassidy and Devon in general and their inconsistent character development.
• The wasted potential of the Evil White Ranger clone and his sorry arc.
•  A decent but ultimately disappointing finale overall ("Thunder Struck, Part 1 and 2)

Best Episodes:

1. "Fighting Spirit"-Like a said, a psychologically mind bending episode with awesome tributes to Tommy's past as well as advancing the overall plot and immense character development of the rangers as a whole.  One of the series' best no doubt! :)
2. "Lost & Found In Translation"-So absurd in the most brilliant and engrossing way.  The rangers commenting on a Japanese adaption of their adventures despite the show itself being the actual adaption to the Sentai original is 4th wall insanity done so absolutely right! :)
3. "Drawn Into Danger"-Once again, we see quite the refreshing idea for an episode's overall narrative come to life in a staggeringly fun episode that sees Trent taking center stage to save the rangers from a comic book stylized world. Awesome!
4.  "Truth and Consequences"-Possibly my favorite and darkest episode the White Ranger arc as the truth about the rangers' greatest foe comes to light and Trent finds himself in deep trouble when Mesagog finally gets his hands on the White Ranger. Stellar stuff!
5. "Legacy of Power"-It's clip show.....yet....the way it interweaves the main storyline of this season while drawing from the overall history of the show from last 11 seasons is nostalgic but immensely meaningful in establishing greater stakes already for this new team of rangers. Not bad at all for the show's 500th episode! ;)

Worst Episodes:

1. "In Your Dreams"-This dream plot was done farrr better in previous seasons that this almost seems like a redundant rehash of what we've already seen.  The dream sequences are so dumb and absurd; clearly there to run through unused Sentai footage! Yuck! 
2. "Isn't It Lava-ly!?"-The prime reason I find Cassidy to be a major pain in my side and NO I'm not talking about them. -_-
3. "It's A Mad Mad Mackerel"-Just a plain looney and cartooney episode that clearly filler despite a shoehorned lesson at the end.  
4. "Ocean Alert"-yes, let's obsess over a Baywatch caricature while the rangers can barely pay attention, especially Connor and Ethan.  That's what the kids want, right! *Headdesk* -_-
5. "Tutenhawken's Curse"-Another showcase of Cassidy's redundant selfishness despite former character development and Ethan gets a new toy for kids to buy!!! YAY!!! -_-

"Returning with a truly adventurous and inspired Dinosaur themed season, "Power Rangers Dino Thunder", the 12th entry in this multi-colored superhero children's franchise, brings a sense of renewed life to the show with remarkably funny dialogue, excellently characterized protagonists, a spot on homecoming of one of the show's original rangers as this team's mentor and an overall thrilling roster of big baddies led by the chillingly, menacing Mesagog that gives this series in particular a vibrantly fun re-watchable factor you can't help but be continuously entertained by again and again!" :) 

Season Verdict: A-