Season 24, Episode 2: Forged In Steel

"Forged In Steel"

Episode 2

Air Date: January 28th, 2017

Definitely a step up from the first half as the status quo this season is more established and we are properly introduced to more characters this episode like Hayley and Calvin who hilarious run into Mick when Calvin kicks him; thinking he's random trash that fell on the road in front of their car.  After a humorous bit where mick tries to explain what the hell is going on, the foot soldiers of the season arrive to capture him.  They're called Kudabots, which meaning they are armored Samurai looking robots.  Once again, it makes it feel like this would have made more sense if the villains were Earth based instead of aliens again but whatchu gonna do??? O_o Anyway, while Hayley and Calvin do their best to fight them off, they are clearly too much for the two teenagers with random fighting objects! So they head back to the car and drive off with Mick in the back.  Back at Brody's old home, he has a moment of despair and disbelief when his brother doesn't live there and his home has looked abandoned for years.  Which makes sense but you do gotta feel bad for Brody being away 10 years and wanting desperately to come home to only find out...well....there's no home to come back too. :_(  Luckily, Sarah cheers him up enough so that they continue looking for the Ninja Steel that leads to him digging up something in his dad's shed.  We once again get some heavy exposition of the origin of the Ninja Nexus Prism and Ninja Steel itself as Brody tells the two about it before Redbot finds the buried box.  Only to Brody's shock and disbelief again, the Ninja Steel is nowhere to be found. Luckily, Sarah notices that the picture that Aidan left behind is a clue she knows as she remembers the Dane Romero statue from school.

Back at said school, Hayley and Calvin bring Mick there to....blend in...but only ends up being hired as the new mechanic for the high school autoshop class.  Because hiring random people as a new teacher instead of knowing what the real one is suppose to look like makes so much sense! O_o  Oh god and more Victory and Monty shenanigans in the same vein as Bulk and Skull.  Moving on! -_- After Mick manages to fix his communicator, he is able to get a single out to Brody so they get meet there and get the Ninja Steel.  Too bad Galvanx is watching via his buzzing camera thingys which are apart of his reality show.  Turns out that now these pesky teenagers stand in his way of getting the power stars he will award any monster the Galaxy Warrior champion title if they manage to defeat the rangers in battle and get them back; giving us our usual monster of the day plot set up.  And like I said, I like the whole game show aspect of the series that makes things more entertaining and not done before on this franchise.  Anyway, the first warrior chosen to face off against the rangers is Ripperat, who is a chainsaw themed monster.  And I'm all for it, especially when Hayley and Calvin try to fight him but he just crushes their weapons.  Seriously, those two REALLY love fighting together with random objects.  Then again they are a couple and it's kind of cute seeing that dynamic in two rangers already instead of it having to be built up. :)

Anyway, with Ripperat about to destroy Mick for the Ninja Steel, the Ninja Nexus Prism soon arrives to casual knock him out of the way.  Seriously, that Nexus Prism is hilarious crafty!  As Mick and the other two recover, he notices the two power stars glowing in the Prism and tell them to grab one.  As Hayley and Calvin grab a power star, the Nexus Prism soon flies off as the other rangers arrive to greet them and stop Galvanax from getting the Ninja Steel.  With all 5 rangers now together, Redbot and Mick stand back as they morph together for the first time and the morph sequence is.....ok(ish).  I like the Ninja suits they wear that will be under their ranger suits (Which must get hot as hell! O_o) but the sequence itself is just their power star spinning around them until they completely transform into the Ninja Steel Rangers so...meh.  The suit themselves tho, I will finally mention are actually a HUGE step up from Dino Charge/Kyrouranger suits.  They definitely look a lot more legit and designed with more detail as well as care as the previous.  I like the various Ninja insignia on the sashes over the chest as well as their helmets.  Very authentic to the Ninja theme.

What is NOT as much...or at all is when after defeating Ripperat and he is GIGANTIFYED by the monster growing method of the season, the Nexus Prism conveniently returns to reveal their zords via a vision from within it.  A giant Redbot, a commuter rail train, a dragon, a bulldozer and.....a Dog zord.......  These have got to be the most random zords EVER on this show and the names they give them are even worse.  Zoom Zord???  Kodiac Zord after Hayley's dog??? O_O  My goodness, the Sentai really knows how to make nonsense with these themes!!! But it gets the job done in destroying the monster for good when all 5 zords combine blasts.  So now with Mick working at the school, the rangers will be creating their own secret base there as they fend off Galvanax from getting the power stars as well as Brody wanting to find his brother.  But one thing that Sarah notices is that while 5 power stars were taken by them, the Gold power star seems to be missing.  Turns out, Madame Odius some how has it!??? How??? When!??? Guess we'll have to find out.  Overall, a good second half and not a bad premiere overall.  Still a lot to get use to with the new cast, villains and what not like every season, but at least the show has a clear vision of what it wants to be unlike Megaforce.  *SHIVERS*

Final Morph: B