Power Rangers Dino Charge Overview

Power Rangers Dino Charge: Season 22

Episode Count: 20 + 2 Specials

Air Date: February 5th, 2015-December 12th, 2015

I think it's safe to say that the first four seasons of the Neo Saban era of the show (2011-2018) were by far some of the worst seasons of the franchise. A absolute new low in how incredibly lazy the show has been produced and the utter lack of accountability on how they truly disrespected fans with the rage inducing catastrophe that was the 20th anniversary "Megaforce/Super Megaforce".  Honestly, Jonathan Tzachor was right to be fired for how horrible he handled the show in such a bizarre way that even got the founder himself, Haim Saban, to step in and have to get rid of him so the show's own budget wouldn't suffer.  Luckily for us, this meant a new showrunner was chosen and it was none other than Judd "Chip" Lynn, the man who wrote the book on the Power Rangers with such seasons like "In Space", "Lost Galaxy", "Time Force", even the second half of "RPM".  I mean who better to clean up the immense mess that Tzachor left behind than ole Chip Lynn himself as his passion for the show was always so apparent during those seasons/moments of the franchise.  Like I said during my review of the overwhelming promising "Powers From the Past", the show seems to have be transported back to a state of actual competency as well as returning to the solid writing, world building and interesting characters that come with a new season of the show.  The backstory with Keeper and the energems grabs your intention, seeing how crafty he is as a character despite looking like ET: the Next Generation. Even the following and unofficial part 2 of the premiere, "Past, Present and Fusion" does a fine job of introducing more characters and elements of the show by establishing a status quo that seems so refreshing with so much to expect from our main villains from this season.  But of course, before I breakdown the villains of the season, let's talk about our team of heroes first as usual.  And all I can say is THANK THE LORD, the rangers are not only all well acted and likeable, but actually have flaws that leads to character centered that even builds on those flaws aka character development.  Dear God, my heart nearly stopped at not only that but the fact the characters actually live in a town/city with a name! Amber Beach! What is going on with making sense this season with even the most basic plot elements of a story???!!! O_O

But seriously, these rangers who will operate in protecting Amber Beach from the villains this season and forming a bond overall are some of the best characters I have ever seen from this show.  I know that's a big compliment given that ANYTHING remotely tolerable would look state of the art after Super MegaFarce -_-, but seriously, these characters, especially Koda and Ivan, are very unique characters that are both entertaining and easy to relate too, not to mention when it comes to our new Red Ranger this season. :)  I absolutely LOVE Tyler! :)  He's very charismatic with this fun sense of adventure and not to mention shows immediate curiosity in only helping Shelby during the premiere but in his quest to track down his missing father.  I like how the mystery of his father is sprinkled out throughout the season so well by not overshadowing the other rangers and actually feeling something to really invest in as he draws closer and closer to the truth about what exactly happened to him.  While we get no resolution from that storyline, the way the eventual finding of his father is handled really builds so much excitement and anxiousness just as much as Tyler himself.  While he hasn't found his father by the end of the first season, he has gained some great new friends as well as a sweet growing romance between him and Shelby hasn't even scratched the service.  Speaking of Shelby, we get our first black female Pink Ranger, which at the time was so new and awesome.  I really like Camille Hyde in the role, as Shelby is a museum waitress eager to prove herself as a real paleontologist despite constantly getting shut down by Ms. Morgan.  And honestly, that's Shelby's arc throughout the first season, proving herself to her team, especially Ms. Morgan, who seems to not think much of her even after the pink energem chose Shelby to bond with.  It's not just in premiere episodes but also in "Let Sleeping Zords Lie" when she must convince Ms. Morgan she can help build a device that can find an energem.  It leads to the E-tracer and shockingly when things go wrong with the device, it's Ms. Morgan, NOT Shelby who turned out to have made the mistake of not encrypting the code of the E Tracer so Sledge's forces couldn't hack into it.

Another storyline for her, while not as big but equally fun is her growing attraction to Tyler as we see in episodes like "The Royal Rangers" when she's so eager to play princess when he looks soooo.....;).  Then there's the Halloween Special where Kendall is questioning her memories and she tries so hard to hide the fact that she wanted to be that princess just be with Tyler.  Hey they even got a nice kiss out of it, on the cheek tho! Darn!  Anyway, Shelby proved to be a strong, spunky character who was full of knowledge and always took the opportunity to show why she was so essential on the team.  I especially like how in "Deep Down Under" after meeting her idol after so long, has to help him rediscover what's really important about digging up dinosaur fossils instead of making himself famous.  It shows Shelby how much she has grown that even she can inspire someone who inspired her to love studying dinosaurs in the first place.  I guess the next ranger to appropriately talk about is Riley, our Green ranger, since he has the third ranger introduction after Tyler and Shelby.  I liked Riley's backstory that was established; a farm boy who loves sword play but is very mathematical and logical when it comes to figuring things out.  When it came to the episodes that explored that, he got two but I can say only one did it right while the other fails rather miserably out of pure illogical writing ironically. "The Tooth Hurts" showed that Riley is very disciplined and constantly training as opposed to Chase's more laid-back approach to his ranger duties.  It causes the two to clash for the majority of the episode before figuring out they both are after the same goal, but doing it differently doesn't mean one method is better than the other.  It just shows how different both characters are and Riley learning to accept Chase for who he is despite not completely getting take on training and monster hunting. :) Then you have "When Logic Fails", which is just a strangely subpar episode that tries to hard to capitalize on Riley's characterization by making him some geometry genius who can lead the rangers out of a magical maze instead....I don't know, the rangers figuring out how to get out themselves by morphing (Still don't get that! O_O) while he makes the REAL logical decision by going after Fury who has the Ptera charger while also outsmarting the Puzzler!  Now that would have been really superb to see and really highlight the absolute best in Riley.  The only other sort of Riley focused episode in "No Matter How You Slice It" when he and Koda are the only rangers left to save the rest of the team from losing their friendships together forever.  While it's nice to see him and Koda working together considering how vastly different they are, it's mostly about Riley's birthday being forgotten by the others but really not! God, that type of plot is one of the most overused in pop culture, especially on this show! Jesus! -_-  But it was nice to be reminded of his family, especially Rubik.  I mean Riley was willing to go head on with Fury to protect him; which led to an awesome debut unmorphed fight and Riley discovering the Green energem to become the Green Ranger.

Before I talk about this team's most inventive and interesting characters, let me talk about our boy Chase from the Aussie place! (What!?? :P) aka out Black Ranger. I liked how they kept him as a New Zealand character who would tie the in story a lot during the New Zealand themed episodes but also making him out to be more than just your typical conceited pretty who is more into his looks, women and skateboarding.  Tho the others on the team don't get Chase, especially when during the opening of "Breaking Black" when he almost burns the museum down due to his negligence and lack of concentration, it takes an old yet odd friend of his, Moana, who shows the others that Chase is dependable when it really matters after telling them the hilarious backstory of how she gave him his energem.  Then there was the aforementioned "The Tooth Hurts" where he and Riley clash because of their different tactics on that week's monster situation.  Not to mention, Chase being in constant pain because of his tooth ache made for some comedy gold like having to miss out on the typical ranger roll call. LOL Seriously, awesome stuff! :)  Chase, of course, even if displaying the vainest of personality traits is a skilled fighter in terms of weaponry as he self proclaimed himself "The Hotshot" considering he's the best when it comes to aiming and using the Dino blasters.  A skill that does repeatedly get shown and needed in episodes like "Double Ranger, Double Danger" to save the team from their evil duplicates as well as stopping Fury from taking the E Tracer.  The only episode i wasn't fond of focusing on the Hotshot was "True Black", a forced empathy story about Chase learning not to tease people since it some how effects him using his new weapon, the Dino Armor X mode.  My god, he was just teasing her, not being some mean creep! The fact his energem became unstable is so utterly ridiculous, especially when it's been show Chase is extremely noble despite how selfish and self involved he may look.  He was chosen for a reason and something as innocent as teasing need to special message to overcome being able to be useful when needed to save the other is......so inauthentic in execution.  An episode that should have been definitely written differently and way more competently. -_- Also, I did enjoy his relationship with his little sister Chloe and the moment he makes it home for Christmas to see his sister is so heartwarming (Race to Rescue Christmas).  It really showed the more natural, softer side of Chase; making it even more believable of why he was chosen by the black energem. :)

Now onto our two distinguished and original characters for this particular season in Koda and Ivan.  Yoshi Sudarso really is a treasure of an actor.  It's not easy playing such type of characters yet he makes Koda so believable, lovable and plays him with such genuine heart.  You truly believe he is in fact a caveman from 100,000 years ago, especially during one of the best episodes of the show in a long while "Return of the Caveman".  Not only due we get an intense and haunting look into Koda's prehistoric life before sacrificing it to save his brother before bonding with his energem, we see how this man out of time is coming to terms with the modern world in both hilarious montages/moments as well as inspired, heroic ones when he must protect a young boy so they can make it safe out of a cave to help get Chase out as well.  He never feels cartoony even when doing some silly tricks like eating a whole burger without anyone knowing or telling the rangers how his grandfather invented the wheel.  It all just fits and makes for such an enduring character.  It's no wonder Prince Phillip immediately gravitates toward Koda when wanting to be the Graphite Ranger (Seriously, GREY!!! or GRAY!!! O_0) by realizing how heroic and noble he was in saving his life in "Breakout".  I just adore Koda, a fierce, strong warrior in battle yet a big ole hungry, family oriented softer around the rangers.  It's no wonder in "No Matter How You Slice It", he reveals he sees the rangers as more than friends but family.  Awwwwwwww tear! :_)  Then you have our very honorable and royal 6th Ranger, Sir Ivan of Zandar, an 800 year old knight who was stuck in one of the villains this season after bonding with his energem to protect the prince during medieval times.  Once again, the casting is so spot on as Davi Santos is too good in the role; getting down those Arthurian mannerisms and persona so well in speech and how he carries himself.  I love when the focus on was on him from his awesome introduction in "Breakout" to his beyond humorous assembly of knights in "Knight After Knights" to even his brief rivalry with Tyler in "Sync of Swim" which also brought in some genuine laughs this season.  In fact, this is definitely one of the funniest written seasons in a while! The comedic bits land numerous times and just gets you so much more invested in the story.

I'll go on next to our mentor/technical expert of the team this year with Ms. Morgan, the museum director and Keeper, the alien being who was the protector of the 10 energems 65 million years ago.  I really enjoyed both characters, even if Ms. Morgan was just there to upgrade the rangers' weapons against their fight and Keeper gave the occassional advice to one of the rangers randomly during an episode before disappearing all together right away.....what the??!!  I think I would have enjoyed more thorough exploring of their characters like how Keeper came to be the....well...keeper of the energems???  How did he survive 65 million years after the dinosaurs were wiped out??? How did Ms. Morgan find him??? How did they both come create this team of rangers???  A lot of it is a mystery despite the rest of the season being very good at explaining the majority of the plot and what the rangers' arcs are in being bonded to the energems.  I love how Kendall (I mean "Ms. Morgan") becomes the new Purple Ranger in the end during the finale.  It's a twist and moment that feels right and earned as Keeper said.  I just hope Season 2 does more that just have them adding the rangers and being well....more fleshed out! I mean, Kendall.... Ms. Morgan! 0_0 is literally the same age as the other teens but is the director of an entire museum and is a tech savvy scientist who created all their weapons and dino chargers, probably their base too!?!? O_o Seriously, that's why we need backstory on these characters!!! O_O LOL

I also really enjoyed how Judd and his writers handled the stranger aspects of Kyoryuger when it came to the male Purple Ranger in "World Famous! (In New Zealand)".  The story with Albert was actually fun and well written, not to mention it was interesting having a ranger on the team who was A LOT older and struggled to be one.  Also, Prince Phillip was a nice addition to the story; first being introduced in "Breakout" before nobly becoming a ranger in rewarding "Rise of A Ranger".  Just all the elements involving finding the energems and how they came to be in possession of these new rangers help carry the story along so well because these characters were given such purpose and priority in moving the overall story along.  But enough about the story elements and auxiliary characters/rangers, let's finally talk about the villains! :)  Sledge was a decent villain, probably the first decent villain in a while since RPM! O_O  Sledge was a bounty hunter, so he was more inclined with facing off with the rangers directly despite his immense status on his ship like in "A Fool's Hour" when he shows he is no force to be taken lightly.  While he most barked orders, his plans to get the rangers' energems were fine and yes, while his minions like Fury and Wrench did most of the work, it made sense, especially when having a ship full of hundreds of monsters he had collect 65 million years ago as his bounties.  I really liked that aspect of Sledge, using the vast number of imprisoned monsters he collected for wealth to fight the rangers.  Gave him a refreshing sense of scope and motives on how he did things.  Poisandra was also so much fun as his girlfriend....well fiancee rather who wants so desperately to get married but has to deal with Sledge's constant mission with getting the energems.  They both gave a classic Rita and Zedd feel from MMPR; while also retaining some new aspects to their own character like Poisandra hating Fury and always wanting to win Sledge's favor in spite of Fury being his top general.  Speaking of Fury, he was a good general.  Always proactive and coming up with most of the plans to get the energems for Sledge.  Tho I have to admit, Poisandra was right about him talking so big for someone who was on Earth for 65 MILLION years and couldn't find an ONE energem in the intermediate time that took Sledge to get back to Earth millions of years later??!!! O_O

Wrench, who was the technical advisor/mechanic of the ship was also a fine addition, able to help Fury with gaining power as well as Sledge with new items and machines in their fight against the rangers.  But I loved how unlike Squatt and Baboo, he often fought the rangers directly as well as proved to be more than a match for them.  Then there's Curio....who was basically used as comic relief as well as Poisandra's playmate...and it worked well in my opinion.  For someone without a brain and looking like some overgrown elf, he fought the rangers directly too and it made for some hilarious interactions (Still love that moment when Shelby attacks him with the Tricera Drill while trying to find her on top of his head! LOL)  Lastly, we teased for one of the main villains for Season 2 in Heckyl and I'm already eager to see what he has in store for the rangers.  He is immediately established as a bigger threat than Sledge as he destroyed a galaxy and his powers being strong enough to fight off the raw power of an energem when Sledge had the purple one in his possession briefly.  All I can say is, bring it on! :)  As for the rangers' zords and arsenal, like I said, wasn't the biggest fan of the suits and the zords are honestly starting to look like a clunky, overly designed mess.  But other than that, this turned out to be such a refined and fantastic season for the show, especially after suffering a creative vacancy with Samurai and Megaforce.  While I know this kind of quality won't last, man was this a fun ride from start to finish and maybe one of the finest seasons of the show for me. period! :)

Pros:

• Immediate sense of story and great direction in introducing the plot of the season. :)
• A wonderfully cast team of rangers with unique, distinct personalities, especially Koda and Ivan.
• A mostly well written gang of decent villains in Sledge and his ship crew as well as their great personalities and hilarious dynamics with each other.
• Actual character development again! WOW! O_O
• The consistent energem story arc with the team tracking them down one by one.
• The ominous and awesome foreshadowing of Heckyl.
• Some of the best episodes of the show in a while like "Return of the Caveman" and "Knight After Knights".

Cons:

• No background and meaningful use of Keeper outside a few moments of advice and usefulness. O_o
• No backstory on Kendall/Ms. Morgan and how she came to meet Keeper to become apart of the mission.
• Some very inconsistent, annoying writing in episodes like "When Logic Fails" and "True Black".
• Not too much of a fan of the Kyoryuger suits and megazord designs.

Best Episodes:

1. "Return of the Caveman"-A most stunning episode that highlights a bit of Koda's past, his heartwarming personality and story that remains so true to his character that is so enduring. :)
2. ."Wishing For a Hero"-From Heckyl's introduction to the entertaining hijinks with the rangers' wishes, this is definitely a season highlight for sure! :)
3. "Rise of A Ranger"-I do love a great superhero origin story and Prince Phillip returning to become the newest ranger on the team was done just right! :)
4. "Breakout"-I adore 6th ranger intros and Sir Ivan's is certainly one of the best and most exciting given we've never seen a character like him on the show before yet it works so well.  TOO well even! O_O
5. "One More Energem"-Just an overall superb finale to such a stellar season of the show that wraps up everything so well while leaving promising cliffhangers for next season! :)

Worst Episodes:

1. "When Logic Fails"-The most illogical of character centered episode with such near aggravating plotholes.
2. "True Black"-Chase teasing Shelby apparently warrants some deep lesson to get his powers to work properly!??? Bah!!!
3. "No Matter How You Slice It"-Not a bad episode, just not one of the season's strongest.
4. "Deep Down Under"-This episode just puzzled me in its set up really. lol O_o
5. ...............seriously, can't think of anymore! WOW! :)

"After Jonathan Tzachor's agonizing tenure on the show for the beginning of the Neo Saban Era, salvation returns for the show in the form of Judd Chip Lynn's glorious return to the franchise he made so much more profound by setting up an incredible staple for a good Power Rangers season.  "Power Rangers Dino Charge" is no exception as even with Nickelodeon executives watching over yet another season of the show, Chip gives us a dino themed season almost as good as the last in "Dino Thunder" with wonderfully realized characters, a solid story arc, good villains for a change, some awesome action/editing with Sentai footage and a theme song that really gets kids as well as long term fans so excited about this beloved show that can be more than just the basic muti-colored martial arts kids show that many think it is.  In the hands of Lynn, he delivers a season that once again goes above and beyond what you'd expect from the show by keeping you so invested in these characters, their story and how they will triumph over their enemies while overcoming their own flaws and hopeful missions. :)"

Final Season Verdict: A-