Power Rangers Samurai Overview
Episode Count: 20 and 2 specials
Air Date: February 11th, 2011-December 10th, 2011
Sigh.....Hard to believe that Power Rangers is still airing to this day after seasons like this! O_O When Saban bought back his franchise from Disney after that nightmarish revision of MMPR's first 32 episodes, you would think that he brought the show back from the dead to improve on it or at least continue to mature the series from such seasons as RPM that followed it. But alas, Power Rangers Samurai was rushed into production at the end of 2010 and while fans were overjoyed by the series returning to our airways, by February 2011......how that genuine excitement was met with the utter disrespect that this show feels like! -_-
I mean even tho Disney HATED having the franchise in their hands, showrunners like Doug Sloan and Bruce Kalish brought refreshing new stories with their adaptions of Sentai during that era; culminating in literally a team of rangers facing off against an endless army of machines led by a computer virus as they are the only hope for the last city on Earth. So clearly this show will return with a killer escalation of threat and new ideas to make Power Rangers it's own thing outside of the franchise like RPM did....right??? Hahahahahahahahah....sigh......... :_( I think the most egregious thing about this adaption of Skinkenger is the fact that, as it has been said MANY times, this was probably the most derivative Sentai for the writers and crew of Power Rangers to take on with HEAVY Japanese lore, mythology and culture engrained in the overarching theme of the show. Yet, Tzachor takes it and makes an almost complete copy/pasta job about a group of descendants of Samurai warriors being the latest in the line of Samurai Power Rangers to defeat the Nighlok. Ummmmm huh???!!! O_O Not one of these characters are Japanese, yet we are suppose to believe their ancestors were ancient Japanese warriors who mastered symbol power that was past down to them. I can't even imagine how infuriating or insulting this must have been not only for Toei but the Japanse viewers who follow Power Rangers as an alternative to Sentai! Not even an Asian lead Red Ranger of Japanese descent that would at least tie things together more coherently instead of five random American teenagers some how being of Japanese descent and knowing all these Japanese customs, iconography and style!!! O_O
I guess I'll talk about our heroes as usual, cause....ummmm ok.... Jayden. :) Who is Jayden??? Seriously, who the hell is this guy??? Besides the Samurai calling, the laughable trendy haircut at the time and apparently everyone on the team treating him like he's the freakin' second coming that must be protected all the time because he's the only one with the sealing power to defeat Xandred for good.......there's nothing else about him. Oh yeah and his childhood friendship with Antonio. You see these are things about or centered around Jayden but nothing that further explores his character in anyway or makes him anymore relatable than the stoic leader we've seen done better sooooo many times before this season! O_O Then there's the whole secret he's hiding from the other rangers which, if I remember, amounts to nothing yet there are a good number of episodes that treats said "secret" as some kind of significant indication of who Jayden is......no....not at all! Not to mention, Jayden is seen constantly brooding and dwelling on said secret when if anything if he actually told the rangers what's up it would actually stop them from stupidly risking their lives for him all the time but...my god, this season is nothing about about making sense. No, it's about Jayden constantly almost killing himself to make a power disc work or abandoning his team because of endangering them. What his relationship with his dad??? What about his vague and bizarre relationship with Mentor Ji??? Anyway, let's go to Kevin, Mr. Disciplined samurai with the vocal delivery of someone trying to tell a secret by whispering but is afraid of being any louder so we can actually hear him clearly. I don't know if it was Najee or the direction but my god, Kevin is painful to watch onscreen! Probably the most grating and annoying blue ranger to grace our screens since Dax, but where Dax is an insufferable idiot with jittery inflections in his mannerism, Kevin is his supposed strict Samurai but comes off more childish and irritating by trying to be the know it all of the group when it comes to Samurai culture. I mean besides that and his swimming career he puts on hold for his calling as a ranger....ummmmm??? O_o Oh, there's the episode where he catches a Fish zord....almost killed himself doing it if a nearby beach dweller didn't help him. Was that episode REALLY suppose to be about determination??? O_o
I'm just gonna go to Mike because he's the most interesting of the bunch with a clear and distinct personality. He's the typical fun loving Green/Black Ranger archetype but at least Hector gives enough of a convincing performance (ehhhh for the most part compared to the others....not by much! o_o) In "The Team Unites" he has issues and reservations about joining the team that are resolved pretty quickly and amount to nothing as well as "Forest for the Trees" when he is mad about being overlooked to be responsible for one of the ancient power discs that he rather steal all the glory from Mia who was. Nice.......moving on! O_o Mia sucks at cooking and Emily is covering for her sick sister. While Mia's bad cooking is running punchline that's NEVER funny to begin with and we know nothing else about her character, "Sticks & Stones" is about Emily being able to take insults like champ after her sister taught her how deal with bullying. Yup! Yeah, at the end of the episode, all that insulting deflection took a toll on her so Mike has to carry her from their fight. Oh Mike and Emily have something going on that is barely hinted at but shown in the TV movie crossover I'll get into soon but not here....ummm when??? Finally the Mayor of FANTASTICO! himself, Antonio....ummmm, he arrives in "Unexpected Arrival" yet I find it hard to believe that such a bumbling fisherman with horrible preschool catchphrases has the mental capable of producing his own self made ranger powers after studying a zord that Jayden gave to him as kid but whatever! Let's just go with it right! "Room For One More" shows the consequences of him jumping in to help the team despite not being a properly trained Samurai and Mentor Who Are You Again? telling him no when he's probably the most useful ranger after Jayden and didn't ask to be a hero, he chose to be unlike the other who were forced into this by destiny. Ha! Mentor Ji is a despicable mentor who lets Jayden almost kill himself ("Day Off"), is a major jerk to Mike without really teaching him a lesson ("Forest for the Trees"), telling Antonio he can't be apart of them team by taking his morpher, I repeat....HIS morpher away! O_O ("Room For One More") and even was as irresponsible to let a young Jayden give him a zord but is mad at Antonio for becoming a ranger because of it. He has no backstory or purpose on this show and the fact his name is literally "Mentor Ji" with no significance is staggering! How did he become a Mentor??? How did he become in charge of Jayden??? Ehhhhhh...whatever!
Onto our villains, out Octoroo and Dayu, the rest suck! Deker is obsessed with "His sword. ROMASSAH!" and fighting Jayden one on one and the build up of it all season is handled like joke. He uses every attempt to fight Jayden....as an excuse to fight Jayden until the finale comes and suddenly, it's time for us to fight despite you being weaker than ever and I wouldn't fight you those other times cause you weren't as weak....my GOD!!!! O_O Xandred....MASTER Xandred, drinks medicine for his constant headaches all season. That's it! No real point to our big bad as of yet in the first season.....and I'm hilariously speechless. Even the Halloween special "Party Monsters" treats him like the biggest joke when we're suppose to be afraid of this guy. WOW!!! Dayu had the best plan and best episode all season ("There Goes the Brides") and the mostly because her character and backstory are the only interesting thing about the villains outside of Octoroo's perfectly timed sarcasm/insults. Why couldn't the writers put this much effort into the rangers' personalities and stories??? Nothing more aggravating when the writers are perfectly capable of making our protagonists more refreshing and exciting than the piss poor one dimensional stand ins when they're not in costume??? -_- Moving onto the suits, the Samurai suits are lovely but are being used for an embarrassing adaptions that literally has no shame in bastardizing a country's ancient culture. The weapons are fine outside of Jayden's HUGE fire smasher that feels beyond silly but that's the Sentai's fault. Outside the Samurai Megazord, the other zords are just there to make the Battle Wing and other formations that range from good to "oh yeah, it can do that too!" I having nothing more to say right now and am saving more to say for Super Samurai. So stay tuned.....-_-
Pros:
- Anything having to do with Dayu and her past.
- "There Goes The Brides"
- .......The Samurai suits are lush and beautiful.....???? o_o
Cons:
- After possibly the strongest season in terms of acting (RPM), Samurai's cast of....."actors".....are some of the worst ever!!! O_O
- The dialogue written here is the worst and insulting even for kids!
- The main villain, Master Xandred, ......is a pathetic useless slob who drinks medicine all day and complains about having a headache more than even Rita ever did.
- Mentor Ji and his completely worthless mentoring; not to mention why is he even the mentor and what is the significance of him being said mentor.
- Bulk returns with Spike, Skull's son and how little interaction they have to do with the rangers. No point to their inclusion whatsoever besides bringing back the beyond embarrassing slapstick duo stuff from the MMPR days.
- Antonio and EVERYTHING that involves his beyond idiotic catchphrases.
- Deker's senseless obsession with his sword (Ro-MASSAH! O_O) and fighting Jayden one on one.
- "The Ultimate Duel" being a terrible finale!
- The horrendous clip shows as holiday specials(s).
- Annoying Jayden worship!!!
Best Episodes:
1. "There Goes The Brides"-Whether a complete fluke or Jonathan Tzachor's team of writers being given one good script to work with, "There Goes the Brides" is actually well written, presented and executed! A star standout in a season FULL of unfortunate necessary garbage.
2. "I've Got A Spell on Blue"-Probably the only other episode that was rich with an actual decent plot and the action was solid throughout.
3. "The Tengen Gate"-Even if the following episode was a massive disappointment in follow-up to the cliffhangers set up in this episode, at least "The Tengen Gate" momentarily made us feel the show was actually going somewhere.
4. .................
5. ....................................
Worst Episodes:
1. "Party Monsters"-A dumb clip show without ANY of the rangers disguised as a holiday special. NEXT!!!
2. "Christmas Together, Friends Forever"-See above but with the rangers here this time; doing the reminiscing for 20 minutes!!! -_-
3. "Unexpected Arrival"-Oh Antonio....even when it came to introducing the usual 6th ranger to the team, this season FAILS!!! Insulting dialogue, the worst 6th ranger to grace our screen and the beginning of "FANTASTICO!" AhhhhhhhhhH!!!!
4. "The Ultimate Duel"-More fillerish than ever being an epic conclusion to the series. Wow the Sentai action is nice, the "story" around it is miserable and just Jayden worshiping rangers in battle as usual.
5. "Boxed In"-A whole episode of Deker and Jayden bonding....then he lets him go! WOW!!! Great villains on deck! -_-
"After reacquiring the glorious kids franchise he created and brought to life nearly 2 decades prior of this series' release, "Power Rangers Samurai" is the franchise on autopilot after the immense progressiveness of the Disney era. The cast are some of the worst actors to grace the series in a long while and kind of compete to be the worst ever in some episodes. The writing is insipid, aggravating and pushes the boundaries of how dumb the network apparently wants the show to be far too well. Even if the toy sales were exponential overall, it feels at the expense of the show's evolution going back to its MMPR days of storytelling that includes Bulk back as comedic relief with Skull's son, Spike. For kids, I'm sure the action and zords were enough to keep them interested, but for long term fans of this action packed, multicolored superhero franchise, it's a return that we didn't deserve!" :(
Season Verdict: D-
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