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

[Scrappy-Fan92]

I feel like the return of the song was done specifically to punish you, Fone Bone.

Well, we finally approached the end of Power Rangers Beast Morphers. No December holiday epilogue for this show either, so this is how we end things.

Assorted thoughts:

-Pulling up old Ranger weapons (including that one cockpit-exclusive(?) blaster from Ninja Steel) was a clever way to get around Venjix screwing with their tech and an appropriate way of making use of the Ranger Vault. Well done.
-The secret identity reveal moment with Zoey and her mom was sweet. Muriel didn't show up much in this show, but it was a heartwarming moment.
-Roxy, Mayor Daniels, glad they remembered you existed.
-"Being human is what makes you strong." Kind words, Commander Shaw, but maybe don't say it in the presence of the Beast Bots and after Nate's half-robot brother got killed in the line of duty.
-I do like the Rangers standing behind Commander Shaw and Mayor Daniels during the press briefing like they're actual public servants.
-The means to destroy Venjix is basically "humanity is infectious." Yes, Nate, yes it is.
-Speaking of humanity, hello new Steel. I'm going to echo what Fone Bone said and say that they should've probably just let the new human actor speak with their natural voice.
-Steel kind of just disappeared upon his "death," his Morphin' essence (for lack of a better term) just becoming one with the Grid. I do wonder if that's a backdoor of sorts for Rangers (and the Ranger-adjacent allies) to cheat death.
-Also, hoping Grid Battleforce installed stronger firewalls and security systems in the event Venjix isn't dealt with for good.
-Was anyone else expecting Steel's stunt double to be Dax from Operation Overdrive for a moment? I know he said he moved on to directing, but gosh it would've been hilarious for one more moment of impromptu fanservice.
-I was expecting Megan to appear in the montage of supportive Grid Battleforce employees. Feels weird to just leave her out of it.
-Devon as the new Commander of Grid Battleforce...hmm, I have mixed feelings on that. Just taking a year for that promotion? Not too outlandish, this is the universe where Tommy became a paleontologist in about five years, it just feels like more of a Ravi thing.
-Speaking of Ravi, glad to see he and his mom are bonding outside of work. Kind of weird she didn't go to Steel's birthday party, though.
-Scrozzle, I was expecting you to get destroyed quickly. Leaving you merely in GB custody could lead to some later appearances which is fine, though. Happy for Ben and Betty's seeming promotion to field agents.
-Colonel Truman, nice to see you again.

Overall, a mostly competent finale with some weird spots. This could've probably been more of a three-parter than a two-parter, would've given the writers some breathing room. Was also hoping Devon would bust out a retooled Red Fury Mode one more time because that powerup is too cool to not use again, but alas. I'll provide write-ups for the Rangers and their friends later.

 

[kanc]

Don't know where to post this but most Power Rangers library before Ninja Steel leaves netflix on Feb 1

 

[Storm Eagle]

Don't know where to post this but most Power Rangers library before Ninja Steel leaves netflix on Feb 1

There's already a thread for that.

The Power Ranger Netflix Purge

Reportedly, at the end of this month/the start of February, most Power Rangers seasons, as well as their TV specials, will be leaving Netflix, as well as VR Troopers, BeetleBorgs and Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation. As if Nickelodeon/Nicktoons' apathy towards Power Rangers these last few years...

animesuperhero.com

 

[Scrappy-Fan92]

Alright, I said I'd do the writeups for the Rangers and their friends, and I literally let this slip until the eleventh hour so now I have to do it the night before Dino Fury premieres tomorrow.

Devon - He's alright. I liked his origin as a somewhat aimless young adult who lucked his way into the Red Ranger's suit by virtue of shenanigans, and his elevation to leader was handled well enough. He generally settled into the leader role quickly enough, though still maintaining some irresponsible traits (His sideplot in "Grid Connection" would've probably fared better in the first season). His rapport with his father was generally nice as well, and we at least mostly avoided the geographically distant father tropes of the prior two series by virtue of having an emotionally distant father instead.
Ravi - I ping-pong with my thoughts on this character. On the one hand, I like his arc from the first season where he's trying to revive Roxy and make amends for breaking things off with her. That's weighty and it gives him some personal stakes. On the other hand, we don't hear much from him and Roxy once she's actually revived outside of one very questionable episode. For someone possessing a lot of the marks of the designated rule-follower of the group, he sure did a lot of shady stuff, reprogramming Smash most notably.
Zoey - She's nice. That's what the writers designated her as, and that's what I'm calling her. That is her
thing. The other Rangers are often defined by vices, she's defined by niceness. I don't even consider that an inherent problem. Most seasons with only female Ranger tend to make said female Ranger among the sassier members, so it's an interesting contrast at least. Zoey's no doormat, but she trends more toward Lily than Kira as far as Yellow Rangers go. Her handful of focus episodes were generally good, but I would've liked to seen her get challenged more. Show how optimistic go-getters "solve problems" when easy solutions aren't always available. And have her mom show up more. She's like the only one of the five who doesn't seem to have some known parental issues and holy smokes that explains so much about her disposition.
Nate - I like it when civilian allies get to step into the boots of a Ranger, so Nate's promotion was deserved. Not sure how I feel about him and Zoey. The writers seemed a bit unsure on how much younger Nate was supposed to be compared to the others so it threw me off at first on whether he was supposed to just have a precocious crush or something else. Also, since "Source Code" puts a few things into perspective, I suppose also have to mention that Nate has a few missed opportunities for characterization. Much like Dr. K, he was seemingly kind of raised in a lab. While I can absolutely trust that Grid Battleforce is nowhere near as bad as Alphabet Soup was, it's incredibly shady (even by the standards of this franchise) that a child was basically experimenting with Morphers and animal DNA, seemingly unsupervised. Nate's definitely got episodes dedicated to his isolation (a lot), but Grid Battleforce isn't really taken to task for causing a good portion of it (Commander Shaw suspending the no dating rule aside). I do like his moments with Dr. K, and him ultimately building a family (quite literally, in Steel's case) out of his Ranger comrades, Commander Shaw, and the Burkes is sweet.
Steel - He's amazing. He walks that fine line of hyper-indulgent narcissism and childlike naivete and it somehow works. I'm not sure if I was howling with laughter at every thing he did, but his drier humor worked well as a complement to Ben and Betty's slapstick. He's perfect. So perfect, that I'm actually confused that he wanted to become fully human. You were already amazing, Steel. You didn't have to change for us.

Gosh, I only have five actual Rangers to talk about. Again, I stare at Dark Buster and Escape's suits and weep that Roxy and Blaze didn't get their moments to join the team fulltime. Would've been neat to see Ben and Betty suit up as the Green and Black Rangers of Go-Busters if only for an episode. This show had a decent supporting cast, they just didn't use them all that often. Ben and Betty were improvements over Victor and Monty and better justified their presence by being the weapons testers at Grid Battleforce, but (as loathe as some fans are to even consider this) they could've probably done with an actual focus episode. For the faults of the Kalish seasons, they did do a decent job fleshing out their supporting casts (sometimes at the expense of the actual Rangers. There's a balance to be struck). I would love if Ben and Betty got to be like Boom or Phineas or Clare and had a real moment to shine. They can still be comic relief, but they don't necessarily have to solely be jokes, if you get what I mean.

...And if there's one true overriding gripe I have with these seasons, it's the weird one-foot-out-the-door relationship they have with technology. I'm not even talking about the liberal application of MTS3K Mantra needed to explain the DNA usage (though that is weird). I just mean how...anti-robot it is at points. The Rangers have their woefully underutilized Beast Bots and later Steel to assist them and the show just kind of keeps on hammering how great humans are. How being human is the way to truly be just. It's off-putting, and it leads to weird moments like Steel becoming human at the end even if he already loved himself at the start.

Villains were great, though. Avatar Roxy, Avatar Blaze, and Scrozzle sniping at each other was fun. Gave the villain faction some much needed levity given the nature of who they were truly working for. Gosh, I hope Scrozzle comes back in Dino Fury.

Speaking of villains and other seasons, I do appreciate how Beast Morphers tries to commit to being a part of a larger universe and not just doing that stuff for team-ups. The little namedrops in the premiere and Ravi mentioning N.A.S.A.D.A. were cute in their own right, but then we get stuff like Chaku being a part of the Space Police, the Rangers utilizing the tech from Dino Supercharge to separate Evox from Mayor Daniels, the Ranger Vault of Continuity-Related Plot Convenience, and of course, the revelation that Evox is in fact the Venjix Virus, providing closure to an eleven-year-old cliffhanger from R.P.M. We wanted more interconnectivity between series and we got it. Wasn't always handled well, but there was an effort. Just makes me sad that the pandemic has pretty much definitively dashed the chances for a proper Beast Morphers/Dino Fury team-up, but the production crew has at least promised we'll get some general franchise nods in the latter show.

There were ups and downs with these two seasons, but I was always happy to watch and I definitely saw improvements from Ninja Steel. I wish the crew at Hasbro the best of luck with Dino Fury.