Series Re-Watch: My 'PR Megaforce' Review

Power Rangers Megaforce (Season 20)

Well, I finally made it through my re-watch of all 20 seasons...but it's a shame that Megaforce doesn't save the best for last. I am officially over Saban's attempts to make these new seasons tributes to the original MMPR. It's already a tired formula and the reusing of the MMPR's theme song is just getting worse by each season. The Megaforce theme song is just same theme with lyric alterations and it's starting to get annoying, not to mention once again, the actors are shouting out their character's name during the opening credits!! Seriously, they need to stop with that! Also, this cast seems more generic and bland than Samurai/Super Samurai's cast. "Mega Mission" feels like a clip notes version of "Day of the Dumpster" and with it being the 20th anniversary season, it's understandable, but these group of teenagers with attitude are charisma free and the acting, my God! I think the casting director is really dropping the ball with these actors! Sure, Power Rangers is NEVER gonna win any Emmys for acting but come on we knew from various other seasons the acting can be good (Time Force and RPM, for example) The actors are getting worse and worse with each season.

I might have to take back my comment about Alex Heartman's acting because Andrew Gray's Troy is even worse! My goodness, from his first line of dialogue you could tell this guy couldn't act! The rest of cast just feel so generic and boring. Noah is just a Billy clone for this generation, Jake is the funny guy...only not really, Gia is the most popular girl in school and Emma is all about photography as well as loving nature...Zzzzzz. There's just nothing interesting about these characters and the chemistry isn't there that makes them a memorable team. The character development is just non-existent and the majority of the season just feels like filler. Also, why is it that their Command Center looks so cheap?? The original Command Center from 1993 looks more high tech than the rangers' Command Center in 2013!!! Wow...

Once again, the show looks great in HD and the Megaforce suits look fine, it's just the plot is so poorly written and the villains even more so! They are just so generic and boring that talking about them would be a waste of time. We've seen better representations of an alien invasion, so these Warstar insects feel so one dimensional in comparison. Yeah...nothing to say. I just feel like Megaforce just goes in circles with little to no plot movement and the biggest thing that happens is the introduction of Robo Knight. Put in the 6th ranger role, Robo Knight is also too bland and his backstory is nothing special. His reasons for not working with rangers grew tired and was stretched out too long or maybe this season is so painful that everything felt longer than it really was. Also his rap skills were something terrible to watch! If Skinkenger didn't translate well with Samurai, then Goseiger's translation in Megaforce felt even worse. The only interesting thing going on is Troy's recurring dreams for obvious reason but in actuality it's a poorly executed tease. "End Game" should have been the Legend War, with the rangers losing their Mega powers after such a huge battle and them having to get new powers next season. But alas, what I've seen from the current season Super Megaforce, it makes Megaforce seem more like a waste of time. I mean this is the 20th anniversary season yet it's Power Rangers at it's worst. Also, Gosei and Tensou are just poor imitations of Zordon and Alpha, especially Tensou being so annoying and not to mention unhelpful. At least Alpha was a technical genius, but all Tensou does is whine and gets scared during every scene he's in. I honestly don't know what to say anymore. I'm glad I managed to watch the first 20 seasons on Netflix. The Saban Era brought back so many awesome memories, the Disney Era was surprisingly solid (sans Operation Overdrive ) but 3 seasons into this new Neo-Saban/Saban Brands era, I don't like where the franchise is going and from what I've seen from Super Megaforce (God, does that title suck something fierce!), things don't look like they are gonna get any better. I am looking forward to Dino Charge next year as Judd Lynn will be returning as Executive producer/show runner. Hopefully, it will be some of his best work as his history with the franchise gave us some of the best seasons of PR (In Space, Lost Galaxy and Time Force) But for right now, my interest with PR ends here and it's too bad the 20th anniversary didn't have more going for it. Oh well...

Best Episodes

1. End Game

2. Mega Mission

3. The Messenger

4. Stranger Ranger

5. The Human Condition


Final Morph: D-


Ranking all 20 Seasons:

1. RPM (A+)-The darkest and most mature season as well as the funniest and most self aware. The characters and their thought provoking backstories were written remarkably, the villains were strong and the serialization of the season deserves merit even if the main plot derives from iconic sci-fi franchises. It's a daring deconstruction of the franchise as well as being suspenseful and hilarious. As close to perfection a PR season has gotten!

2. In Space (A)-An exceptionally epic season that concludes 6 seasons worth of continuity. Andros is one of the best red rangers/leaders of the franchise and the four former Turbo rangers turned Space rangers really come into their own here. Throw in some morally ambitious episodes, refreshingly complex villains, a stunning space war story and you have one of the best seasons ever!

3. Time Force (A-)-A terrific time travel season with an awesome team of rangers, strong villains and some of the best acting of any season before it. It's faithful to it's Sentai counterpart and features another memorable anti-hero with Eric as the Quantum Ranger.

4. Lost Galaxy (B+)-A dark space odyssey with another team of well rounded rangers. The death rate is high as a good number of characters are seen killed off, with the Pink Ranger's demise being the most powerful. The Magna Defender is the first and finest example of an anti-hero the franchise ever did and the quantity of great episodes is stellar.

5. Dino Thunder (B+)-Playing as a 2000s version of MMPR, the 3 dino rangers and veteran former ranger Tommy make for a great team. The writing this season is filled with witty banter and Mesogag is one of the most intimidating villains of the franchise.

6. S.P.D. (B)- At first thinking this was a horrible hybrid of Lightspeed Rescue and Time Force, the season really comes to it's own mid-way. I like the idea of a secondary underdog group of rangers, who by season's end prove they are the best of the best. Grumm is a good villain and Mora/Morgana is one of the most disturbing, even twisted characters.

7. Zeo (B) -An early and sometimes underrated season, Zeo takes the MMPR episodic structure and mixes it with the first year of the annual suit change. This is a solid team of rangers with a power source that does make them feel like they really are stronger than before and the Machine Empire are refreshing villains after 3 years of Rita and Zedd.

8. MMPR Season 1 (B-)-The most iconic and beloved, the first season of the franchise was a phenomenon in the 1990s. The episodes are full of nostalgia and entertaining campiness. The original rangers are walking stereotypes but have strong chemistry. Then of course, there's Tommy's arrival and the Evil Green Ranger which make for a great arc that's still classic to this day.

9. Lightspeed Rescue (B-)-Another underrated season as the introduction of the man made powers were effective, leading to an impressive arsenal of weapons and zords (The Super Train Megazord being the best!) This team of rangers starts off weak as well as the villains, but eventually both sides are better written. Also enjoyed the Titanium Ranger arc as the first American made ranger made for a cool villain and a proactive ally.

10. MMPR Season 3/MMAR(C+/C-)-Arguably the best of the 3 seasons of MMPR. Season 3 is more arc heavy than it's episodic predecessors. The ninja powers were a nice evolution of power for the rangers and Kimberly's exit from the series is written very well. Kat's succession of the Pink Ranger is handled nicely too. The MMAR mini-series is pretty meh though with the Zeo quest being the only highlight as well as the 2 part finale, "Hog Day Afternoon".

11. Jungle Fury (C+)-A great season for characterization, especially the 3 core rangers, the main villain Dai Shi and his trusted general Camille. RJ's a cool mentor and I also liked seeing both sides training to beat the other. Now if only the rangers' suits, pose and morphing sequence wasn't so bad.

12. Turbo (C)-If you can get past the horrible movie and the piss poor first half, Turbo 2.0 aka the Next Generation is a surprisingly solid second half with a very consistent run of episodes ranging from character centric episodes to story arcs. "Chase Into Space" Part 1 and 2 are probably the most chilling finale of the franchise. Overall an okay season.

13. Mystic Force (C)-A fantasy driven PR season full of magic and mysticism. There are some epic moments and good episodes, but the villains are a mixed bag and some promising stories just don't follow through like Nick being the Light for example. The rangers themselves are also pretty under developed and play secondary to most of the supporting characters. It's average at best!

14. Wild Force (C-)-This season is either incredibly awesome or painfully bad! The cast are some of the worst actors in the franchise and the Animus/kit arc is horrendous. Master Org and Zen-Aku are stellar villains though, keeping this season above bad and into mediocre territory!

15. Ninja Storm (D+)-This cast of rangers is pretty great. The Thunder Rangers were cool villains and the only villains that posed a threat to the rangers. It's pathetic as Lother has an impressive group of generals who in the end are a waste of time as well as Lothor himself. CGI guinea pig?? My word!

16. Super Samurai (C-)-The better of the 2 seasons, Super Samurai moves the plot along surprisingly well during it's second half, but the first has too many silly fillers.

17. MMPR Season 2 (D+)-The first half was good, but then we get bad editing, horrible voice overs and 3 original rangers replaced with charisma free rangers (well except Aisha). Just sloppy and cheap!

18. Samurai (D)-The first season of a new era of PR, Samurai failed in both nostalgia for long time fans and reinvention for a new generation of kids. The acting is weak, outside Mike and the Samurai concept felt a bit forced given the rangers' backstories for being Samurai. The Nighlok don't come off as much of a threat until the following season.

19. MegaForce (D-)-A lousy 20th anniversary season that just teases and doesn't move forward in terms of story until the very end of the season. This cast of rangers are bad, Gosei and Tensou are lackluster versions of Zordon and Alpha. A filler season that should have at least utilized it's Sentai counterpart MUCH better.

20. Operation Overdrive (F) -The epitome of the bottom of the barrel, Overdrive is literally painful to watch. This team of rangers are poorly casted, the multiple factions of villains is just messy, we get all these stupid cameos like Thor and the Mack's bulter who randomly appears with alternate disguises and then there's the big twist with Mack.... Kill it with fire!