"Power Rangers Beast Morphers" Season One Talkback (Spoilers)

[Storm Eagle]

I've got no news to report on Beast Moprhers right now, but since this is a Power Rangers thread, it should be all right to report some PR-related news here. Unfortunately, it's sad tidings. Justin Cody Slaton who played Young Bulk in MMPR2's "Rangers Back in Time" and Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers has died. He was 36, and the cause of his death is unknown.

 

[Storm Eagle]

Episode titles for Beast Morphers episodes #15, #16, and #17.

#15: Seeing Red
#16: Gorilla Art
#17: Ranger Reveal

Descriptions can be seen in this link.

http://cabletvt.powerrangermail.net/index.php/topic,6303.0.html#msg16936

 

[Theagames10]

Power Rangers returns to the Saturday morning at 8am EST timeslot on Aug 24th, this is the first time since episode 8 that Power Rangers has been on Saturday morning on Nickelodeon, which indicates that new episodes MIGHT be returning on Aug 24.

Source via The Cable Forum in August Listings article back on July 31: http://cabletvt.powerrangermail.net/index.php/topic,6392.0.html

Will update and post when we get confirmation of Aug 24 return date.

 

[kanc]

With thefutoncritic updated all August premieres, Power Rangers was not listed as among those

 

[Storm Eagle]

Power Rangers Beast Morphers resumes on September 14th.

Shows A-Z - power rangers on netflix | TheFutonCritic.com

www.thefutoncritic.com

 

[Mandouga]

This is ridiculous. They do this every season. They show a few episodes, then take it off the air completely (or just show reruns), hoping people will forget all about it while focusing on Nickelodeon's other shows, but then they see that people are still asking about it, so they delay it as far as they can before showing all the other episodes.

This has got to stop, and no, moving it to a streaming service isn't the answer. Clearly Nickelodeon hates this franchise, and would love to kick it to the curb if they figured that people "technically" weren't warching it anymore, but unfortunately for Nickelodeon, it isn't going away any time soon.

I would say it should move to Universal Kids, but they show reruns too quickly, and they have a bad tendency to do mini-marathons of they episodes they currently have. Oh, yeah, and keep changing when new episodes premiere. Disney wants nothing more to do with it, and I don't want it to air on the Cartoon Network for obvious reasons. It seems like Discovery Family is the only other place this franchise could actually air. In any case, Nickelodeon just isn't the best place for Power Rangers.

(sigh)

Sorry for the rant, everyone, but I just had to get it all out. I'm really tired of how Nickelodeon treats this franchise. I really am...

 

[Storm Eagle]

Aaaaanyway...

The Halloween episode will be called "Hypnotic Halloween". No premiere date or description yet.

http://cabletvt.powerrangermail.net/index.php/topic,6303.0.html?PHPSESSID=,SYqGAtmih7dGMy5QcwQL0

 

[Storm Eagle]

So now there's a description for "Hypnotic Halloween", as well as titles and descriptions of all of the remaining Beast Moprhers episodes for this year.

#18: Rewriting History
#19: Target Tower
#20: Evox Upgraded
Christmas episode: Scrozzle's Revenge

http://cabletvt.powerrangermail.net/index.php/topic,6303.0.html#msg16936

 

[RDG]

Here's the promo

 

[Theagames10]

Rangernation, do not forget that there is a new episode tomorrow morning at 8am:

NEWS – It’s Morphin Time Again – Power Rangers Beast Morphers Returns this Saturday

IT’S MORPHIN TIME – AGAIN! THE INAUGURAL SEASON OF POWER RANGERS BEAST MORPHERS RESUMES WITH NEW EPISODES ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, ON NICKELODEON The Morphinominal Storyline Brings New Action-Pac…

rangercommand.com

 

[veemonjosh]

And we're back! Hope everyone had a good summer. Looks like I'm no longer allowed to edit the opening post, so I can't add any of the episode titles for the second half of the season. Oh well, that's AnimeSuperhero for you!

Episode 9 - "Silver Sacrifice"
Air Date: September 14th, 2019
After General Burke orders Steel to be deactivated to prevent Evox from using his body, the Rangers disobey orders and set out to destroy the Cybergate once and for all.

 

[Fone Bone]

Power Rangers Beast Morphers "Silver Sacrifice"

"Nothing is more powerful than family". If you are a Power Rangers adult fan, and wonder why other adult genre fans make fun of you, that's why.

Also, the overlaughing hysterically at the end over the hand gag is another reason no-one takes this franchise seriously.

I can't believe the bad guys handed Betty and Ben back before they actually got away with Steel. Those are some trusting villains.

Ben's father seems to be wearing a ton of latex make-up on his face. It might have been easier and cheaper to just cast a fat guy.

This show is no good for me. *.

 

[veemonjosh]

Episode 10 - "Thrills and Drills"
Air Date: September 21st, 2019
Ravi must face one of his worst fears when it interferes with his Ranger duties.

 

[Fone Bone]

Power Rangers Beast Morphers "Thrills And Drills"

I laughed at the joke of the guy with the drill in silhouette at the dentist's office turning out to be installing shelves.

I also thought the joke at the end where Steel says they were there for Ravi to make sure he didn't run off again was funny too.

Not bad. ***1/2.

 

[veemonjosh]

Episode 11 - "Tools of the Betrayed"
Air Date: September 28th, 2019
An innocent lie leads to a break in trust between the Power Rangers.

 

[Fone Bone]

Power Rangers Beast Morphers "Tools Of The Betrayed"

I'll give that a positive review. There was nothing too objectionable, and the toddler moral wasn't overwrought this week, so I'll call that a win.

Very nice. ****.

 

[veemonjosh]

Episode 12 - "Real Steel"
Air Date: October 5th, 2019
When Nate and Steel unexpectedly clash, it leads to double trouble for the team.

 

[Fone Bone]

Power Rangers Beast Morphers "Real Steel"

I love Steel being all "I'm the dumbest person you'll ever meet!" upon being told he's dumber than he looks.

But I couldn't help but yell at my screen during the heartwarming hug, "Shoot the bad guy! Now! He's right there! He's asking for it! He'd look great gettin' shot! He's all dressed up and ready to paint the floor with his soon to be shot guts! Women may love diamonds, but that dude wants to get shot in the head! SHOOT! HIM!"

My TV never listens to me. ***1/2.

 

[veemonjosh]

Episode 13 - "Tuba Triumph"
Air Date: October 12th, 2019
After witnessing a boy being bullied for his choice in musical instruments, Ravi takes him under his wing, while Roxy attempts to collect the last beast power by creating a Robotron that will deafen anyone with its sound wave blasts.

 

[Fone Bone]

Power Rangers Beast Morphers "Tuba Triumph"

I said something quite ominous and disturbing during my recent review for the second and third seasons of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power that may have filled someone who reads my reviews, (and hates them) with dread. After She-Ra pulled off a couple of half seasons where the drama landed, the acting was amazing, and I felt good after it was all over, I said knowing that could be done with so little fuss and to-do, meant I was going to be a LOT harder on shows I review. And as I was watching that I was like, "This episode of this show is the first casualty of that. Full stop."

A week ago, I would have aimed a couple of derisive one-liners at the episode, and left it at that. (You want to pick on a kid? Don't make fun of him for playing the tuba, make fun of him for still watching Power Rangers. When the Ravi tells the kid he should only used martial arts for self defense he should have said "I already know how not to hit a guy. When do we break out the nunchucks?"). But now this gets a full deconstruction instead. Power Rangers fans (of which a few definitely read my reviews) will not be pleased.

I need to say at the outset that things in this episode did not go as badly as they could have gone, which is something of a relief. But I also don't think the direction it went was all that healthy either.

But normally, when a show like Power Rangers does an episode like this, where the downtrodden kid defeats the villain using the one thing the villain of the week is coincidentally weakened by, the moral is that the kid becomes famous for being friends with the Power Rangers, and the bullies are impressed, and take back every mean thing they ever said about him. And it is to this episode's credit that when Ravi's like "The only opinion that matters is your own," they actually stuck the landing there at the end, and the bullies still suck, and Joey's heroism is unheralded. I will give it the proper credit for not doing the entire cliche. And the stuff with the kid and Ravi's drawings was a really nice touch too, in a show not overloaded with nice touches.

But what they DID do had problems of its own.

Normally, the worst part of the kid impressing the bullies and them accepting him, is that it is feeding children a moral that doesn't help them. In real life, a kid can't use his buck teeth and retainer to destroy monsters and save the world. Instead of empowering the bullied in the audience, the show is reminding them how powerless they actually are, because nobody is ever going to come calling for their visible (and debatable) flaws. That's a bad message. So good for the show for making sure it's only your own opinion that counts.

But did they though? They had the kid scare off the bullies using recently learned martial arts moves, which is questionable in and of itself. Because most bullied kids do have the physical prowess to physically challenge the bully. Many are not coordinated at ALL, and could never learn the skills. So the episode is STILL giving the bullied kids in the audience a moral that is of no practical use to them. But I will give it credit for not saying that a bullied kid can change the bully's mind. If a kid can't do that, that specific moral is telling the kid the abuse is his fault. But that goes for the kids in the audience being unable to muster up a good fight back too.

Okay, I've stated my main problems with the episode, but I think I'm going to briefly talk about some of the smaller problems.

Why are Ben and Betty scared of the bullies at the end? They are the adults. And as long as we're on the moral of physically being able to stand up for yourself, Ben is five times every kid there's size. I'm not saying he should thump him. But he shouldn't be scared of them either. They are not a threat to a person that big.

I also thought the joke of the vacuum cleaner hooked up to the tuba was so bad it beared mentioning. Normally this is something I just ignore, but I'm not going to be doing that anymore. But this show doesn't understand comedy. Slapstick needs an element of surprise attached to it to be funny. If you show them leaning into the saxophone as the suds are pumping out of the vacuum, you are telling the joke wrong. And after She-Ra I was like "Funny jokes are not hard. Period." This no longer passes muster with me.

And the final thing is something I don't know who to complain to about. The show's fans? They won't care. The producers? Ditto. But it bothered me as a kid who played an instrument. But instruments are super expensive. And he throws it in the garbage? Why isn't he in the doghouse with his parents knowing how much tubas cost? Was is it even his parents' or was it (even worse) on loan from the school? Then why did he feel comfortable throwing away somebody else's property? The show wants me to relate to a kid who is being picked on for his talent, but they can't even believably create a situation where expensive equipment is a factor for the characters, and instead it seems like everyone is actually secretly rich and lazy. Another moral the episode failed to teach is, "You can't buy your way out of your problems." And this show never seems to take into consideration the real-world financial situations of the characters. They all have unending spending money, and that's as problematic to me as any of the baby morals.

But again, who do I go to with this specific complaint? The show routinely does worse things on a weekly basis without a single fan saying boo, and it's clear the writers themselves are too bad at their jobs to be able to write the show any better than they are. The four-year-olds the show is aimed at? That stuff doesn't phase them. It's like this show is a badly written show on every fundamental level and it cannot be changed because every party involved doesn't care enough to change it. One of the common pushbacks I get from my negative reviews is "You don't have to watch it if you don't like it." But is that an actual solution? I am not so sure. Nobody, not the fans, not the writers, are speaking up against the bad messages the show sends. If I stop watching it, that's even one less person speaking up against it.

So yeah, Power Rangers fans, I will be a thorn in your side awhile longer yet. It doesn't make sense for me to stop pushing back against a show that does wrong by the kids in the audience. If the target age were slightly older (like the atrocious Ben 10 reboot's) I might duck out. As it is, as long as the target audience appears to be toddlers, I'm going to speak up for them. But the easy-to-please fans of the show will not like it. Blame She-Ra and the Princesses of Power for that, not me. Or better yet, watch that show instead. *1/2.