"Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel" Season Two Talkback (Spoilers)

veemonjosh

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Super Ninja Steel heads towards its climax with the penultimate episode!

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Episode 19 (42) - "Doom Signal"
Air Date: November 3rd, 2018

Madame Odius hosts auditions for a new Galaxy Warriors TV show that will manipulate the minds of its audience worldwide.
 

Fone Bone

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Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel "Doom Signal"

When Victor and Monty are kidnapped, the Rangers are immediately on the mission to rescue them. See, if it were me, I would have raised the question of whether or not they were worth bothering to rescue. I would have probably done it anyways. But the question would have been raised. For sure.

If that's all the hyno-ray did why did they need Victor and Monty in the first place? If it was going to be broadcast on every channel anyways why did the monsters actually need a human act?

Hayley is wrong in her fight with Calvin because her performance was actually bad? Part of me feels uncomfortable with that. Because it suggests to me that she wasn't actually interested in honest feedback if she didn't believe him. And apparently that's the case. But I think Calvin was acting like a doof. It feels weird to me to say someone that thoughtless actually held the high ground in their fight. But if Hayley is mad simply because she thought he was making her bad performance up, then he does.

Wish we had seen more of Evil Mick. Last week suggested that would be something his actor would really be able to sink his teeth into, and he was barely in the episode. And when he was, he was monotonous rather than evil. It's my own fault for getting my hopes up I think.

Decent week. ****.
 

Scrappy-Fan92

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I have been missing for several weeks, and I apologize for that. I will say that I find that Super Ninja Steel has kind of found a groove since it returned from its hiatus. I'm kind of sad to see it going now.

Decent episode on the 3rd, Rangers actually breaking up (or just taking a break from each other) is surprising. I could see both sides of Calvin and Hayley's argument, good on Sarah for sticking up for Calvin. Less good on Calvin for not sucking it up long enough to focus on the mission at hand. And oh yeah, we got to see Dane Romero again after what feels like forever. I think it's time to get "Earth's greatest ninja" back in the fold for the final battle. Badonna and Brax (we have many villains whose names rhyme with this guy's name) seemingly did care for each other, which is actually kind of sweet.

I will see you all for the finale.

And yes, I just admitted out loud that I am emotionally invested in these actors. There is no you and me. You don't tell anyone about this. You've lost your LA privileges.
Daww.
 

veemonjosh

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And now, the finale to (Super) Ninja Steel.

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Episode 20 (43) - "Reaching the Nexus"
Air Date: November 10th, 2018

After merging with the Ninja Nexus Prism, Madame Odius reaches her ultimate form, and presents the Rangers with their final test.

But, per usual, we're not quite done here. Come back in three weeks (12/1) for this year's Christmas special, "The Poisy Show". Also don't forget to tune in to the Macy's Parade for the annual appearance of the Red Ranger balloon!
 

Scrappy-Fan92

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I'm kind of mixed on the whole thing. It felt like there was simultaneously not enough and too much going on. I'll just provide my pros and cons for the episode.

Pros:

-Redbot does a good job filling in for Mick for the three minutes he has to fill in for Mick.
-Calvin and Hayley are still cute.
-Odious got to usurp Galvanax all the way to the end without him coming back to steal her thunder.
-Preston put his magic to good use for the finale (he really should've used his wand more for battles).
-All of those formerly brainwashed citizens helping Sarah.
-Victor and Monty actually got to be useful in a non-humiliating way for once. Props to them for being some of the few civilians in this franchise to take down monsters.
-Mick faking his own exit to bring things full circle.
-Brody saying "Game's over, Ninjas win" instead of "Show's over, Ninjas win" after destroying Odious.

Cons:

-Preston apparently can merge the Power Stars to provide a power boost with no problems. Doing that earlier would've saved the Rangers a lot of trouble this season.
-Oh hi, Dane. Cool fight scene you had with your kids, shame you didn't do anything else.
-While amusing and cathartic, Badonna probably deserved a better way to go then getting blown up by the comic relief. Although in all fairness, she didn't really do much this season.
-We sadly don't get to see Mick and Dane suit up one more time.
-The Rangers' final battle with Odious felt oddly short.

Also, I may have missed it in an earlier episode or supplementary material, but Odious is implied to be over 1000 years old. That's neat, I guess. And Victor and Monty may have gotten a whole ship of (admittedly evil) audience members killed when they detonated their bombs.

It's an odd finale. Super Ninja Steel wasn't the most plot-heavy season so most of the drama had to be introduced in this episode or the prior episode (Calvin and Hayley braking up; Dane showing up brainwashed). I may need some more time to ruminate on this.
 

Fone Bone

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Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel "Reaching The Nexus"

That was a total mess, but all in all, it kind of worked anyways.

But it did start off in a rather appalling fashion. It was SO bad I was a bit shocked. I was like "They must be putting us on." But no, the hammy, angry-talking, trailer-voice Announcer actually says, "Meanwhile, Hayley and Calvin got into a fight... They broke up... Hayley regretted it," in the same voice he would announce a potential apocalypse. That kind of thing is what Family Guy or SNL does with trailer voices to make fun of them, but the show was being serious. I was like "Either it's all downhill from here, or it simply can't get any worse."

It was fortunately the latter. But honestly, I wish I wrote for the show, or at least was able to polish the terrible scripts. I know I could make them work.

I really liked the notion that Victor and Monty saved the day. I admittedly thought it was ridiculous that the writers thought that anybody could juggle, and that it's not an actual skill, and that Victor and Monty were stupid enough to catch the exploding balls in their pants, risking their junk being blown off. But then they used the balls to defeat the bad guys. So that's okay. But here is what I would have changed: At the end when Victor and Monty get the trophy, Victor cluelessly brags, "My 50th trophy!" I would have simply added, "But this is the first one that matters to me, because it's the first one I've actually earned." That strikes me as a no-brainer lesson, and it bothers me that the show doesn't have the decent script editors who can give us the no-brainer moments like that. That's why they should call me. I couldn't fix the mess of the formula of the franchise. But I could help with that specific kind of thing.

I also would have changed Hayley saving Calvin. It could have been a beautiful act of Calvin's love being stronger than the mind control, but Hayley destroys the machine instead, and he snaps out of it. One of the biggest problems with mind control is that everything is outside of the hero's hands. For mind control to work, usually the franchise will give the hero the strength to break free on their own, or at least with the proper nudge from a loved one. The fact that Hayley technically just clinically finished the mission makes it seem like Calvin really WOULD have killed her if she hadn't done that. And that's not a moment to leave us on for the last episode.

Speaking of which, I was confused why Mick was leaving. Until it's revealed: He's not. He doesn't actually have to. I haven't been faithfully watching the franchise over the decades, but it is normal for every iteration of the Rangers to stop being Rangers in the season finale? Because I seem to remember that for Dino Charge, but I don't remember that for Megaforce. Although to be brutal to Megaforce, the last episode was not actually ABOUT Megaforce, so there might have been less wrap-up than usual that season.

Very cool that the Big Bad of the season was killed without using the mechas / Zords. Gave her defeat a very personal feel and I think the season was better for it.

God bless Ranger fans who have stuck through the ups and downs of this franchise for 25 years. I can only do it casually, and only on a season-by-season basis. But I admire that the show has the rabid fans it does. But I think it should definitely be better than it is 25 years later. ***1/2.
 

Storm Eagle

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Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel "Reaching The Nexus"

Speaking of which, I was confused why Mick was leaving. Until it's revealed: He's not. He doesn't actually have to. I haven't been faithfully watching the franchise over the decades, but it is normal for every iteration of the Rangers to stop being Rangers in the season finale? Because I seem to remember that for Dino Charge, but I don't remember that for Megaforce. Although to be brutal to Megaforce, the last episode was not actually ABOUT Megaforce, so there might have been less wrap-up than usual that season.


Mick only told the rangers he was leaving because he was under Odius' spell. He wasn't really leaving. He was going to be helping Odius, albeit under the influence of a spell.

Not every season has the rangers giving up their powers after their victory over their arch enemy. The rangers in Megaforce didn't give up their powers, but just simply went on with their lives instead.
 

Scrappy-Fan92

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Most Ranger teams at the end of their respective seasons are usually implied to be just handing their powers back to their mentor/caretaker, Time Force and S.P.D. being general exceptions due to those seasons having their Rangers be part of greater law enforcement agencies.
 
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veemonjosh

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Christmas arrives as we revisit some faces from Rangers past, and the Saban Brands era of Power Rangers comes to an close, with the true final episode of Super Ninja Steel!

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Christmas 2018 (44) - "The Poisy Show"
Air Date: December 1st, 2018

The Rangers look to celebrate Christmas, but find their holiday cheer interrupted by Sledge.

And that's all for this incarnation of Power Rangers. These past two years have been, to be honest, mediocre at best and terrible at worst, a notable disappointment after how great Dino Charge overall was. The good news, however, is that we're about to enter a new era of Power Rangers. Hasbro now has control over the franchise, and while we don't know what that'll mean in terms of the direction the show takes, it'll be a much needed breath of fresh air after The Victor & Monty Show.

So now we bid Saban Brands and Ninja Steel adeu, and we'll welcome Hasbro this February with Power Rangers: Beast Morphers!

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Mandouga

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Personally, I think the next show might have a co-production credit. I mean, I think they were still making it when Saban Brands became part Hasbro, but admittedly, I'm not completely sure.
 

Scrappy-Fan92

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Beast Morphers has Haim Saban on a credited adviser position and retains most of (Super) Ninja Steel's production crew, so I'm not expecting much of a sea-change. Not immediately anyway.

As for the episode at hand, it was quite nice. We at last have closure to Sledge's trans-dimensional shenanigans. And how awesome is it that we get a Christmas clip-show, and a team-up at the same time? Wasn't expecting Wes to make a cameo at the start, but that's more than okay with me. We finally get Koda and Preston sharing significant screen time together, which was sorely lacking in "Dimensions in Danger." The show actually lampshading that Calvin and Sledge are both kind of screw-ups in their relationships (Sledge obviously more so) is more amusing than I thought it would be. I'm actually kind of sorry for Poisandra for wasting literal millions of years of her life with Sledge. All in all, a fun special and a nice coda to the Saban Brands era of Power Rangers.

...We still don't know what happened to Fury, Curio, or the Dino Charge Rangers' original Earth, do we?
 

Fone Bone

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Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel “The Poisy Show”

A lot of that did NOT sit right with me.

Poissandra is SO freaking harmless. And the Rangers mailed her a bomb by tricking her into thinking it was a Christmas present? Where did the Rangers even GET a bomb? Are these the Power Rangers or Al Qaeda? Not on board.

Similarly, how do cavemen even have Christmas? They were before Christ. Grrr.

And Santa saving the day rankles me as well. Did not love that idea.

On the plus side it’s cool the Rangers got their powers again, and it was nice seeing Koda again. But a great deal of the episode left a bad taste in my mouth.

Underwhelming season finale. **1/2.
 

Scrappy-Fan92

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Hey, guys (and Happy New Year). I'm back to provide the end of series character breakdown like I did for Megaforce and Dino Charge (especially given Beast Morphers is less than a month away, I am so sorry for delaying this). Let's get down to business, shall we?

Brody- He's an odd duck. There are definitely comparisons one can draw between him and Tyler from last series, both being Red Rangers who have are looking for family and have a personal grudge against one of the villains (and both fathers returning unharmed but being kind of perfunctory after that). Brody definitely more childlike than most Red Rangers, which contrasts with his frankly disturbing upbringing as a prisoner on Galvanax's ship. I wish the show had touched on the potential culture shock Brody would feel after being Earth for the first time in a decade, but outside of episode 3, it generally wasn't. A competent leader otherwise, but not an exceedingly interesting one.

Preston- Poor Preston, half his lines were just providing exposition to things that were happening on-screen. It's a shame, because divorced from that, he had some of the most interesting episodes: trying to help his father cope with the loss of his mother, and his attempt to ask Sandy to the dance, which I do consider to be one of the best-written episodes of (Super) Ninja Steel. His magic wasn't used as much as it could've been either. A character who needed more time in the oven to go from "hmm" to great.

Calvin- I don't know about Calvin. His relationship with Hayley is novel and welcome for having them be together and openly affectionate towards one another from the start instead of a slow burn of unresolved romantic tension (which in some seasons is literally unresolved). With that said, I sometimes wonder how he and Hayley stay together when his forgetful nature tends to put a strain on things. I suppose that's a testament to Hayley being lovingly forgiving. Find someone with patience like Hayley, friends...but don't forget your anniversary either.

Hayley- Now that I think about it, Hayley and Calvin really were a package deal. Most of the episodes focusing on one usually involved the other. You could make an argument for her being sort of a surrogate mom to the team (and arguably Calvin at times, as well) and she fulfilled that role well enough. Hayley was perfectly fine, and probably had the best performing actress on the show.

Sarah- Rarely do we get a female Ranger who's also a techie, so points for that. She probably was the Ranger most consistently prone to vices outside of Calvin, having a bit of a perfectionist streak and being perhaps overconfident in her abilities. She was also compassionate, though, offering her friendship to Viera and getting herself Brody and epic (TM) Battilizer.

Levi/Aiden- The fact that he's the formerly missing brother of the Red Ranger gives me flashbacks to Mike from Lost Galaxy, so that's always a plus. Levi himself is quite kind, he might actually be the kindest Sixth Ranger in the franchise. His celebrity status just seemed to come and go as the writers saw fit, but I personally saw that as more amusing than deal-breaking. He didn't really develop much after his full episode on the team where he learned to put his musical career on hold, but he was largely fine and I don't really have any glaring issues with him.

What we have here is a largely inoffensive team of Rangers. Admittedly, they may also be one of the more vanilla teams in the franchise, largely serving as vessels for whatever character lesson the writers wanted grafted onto them at any given time. Such a thing is a Power Rangers staple mind you, but there are points where it feels like the Rangers in these past two seasons don't get to differentiate from one another as much as they could have.

And that's not even getting into the gradually shifting style of humor in these seasons. The ground was already beginning to be laid with Dino Charge (and Dino Supercharge more so) relying more on fart jokes in a franchise that traditionally didn't outside of carried-over Sentai footage, and then it was ramped up here. This is perhaps best exemplified by Victor and Monty, who can range from legitimately funny, to tolerably intrusive, to downright non sequitur in their presence. I do wonder if the shamelessly wacky nature of Ninninger played a part in Saban's writers going for a more overtly wacky style of writing in general. And I don't have a particular disdain for wackiness in my Power Rangers either, I'm just admittedly particular with how it's implemented and perhaps more importantly, when it's implemented. Various people in and out of the production crew will point figures at different people, and I'm curious on how the show's writing in general will look like going forward when Beast Morphers finally airs.

...That was rather lengthy. Overall, Ninja Steel and Super Ninja Steel represent a strange era of Power Rangers. Say what you will about the duologies of Samurai, Megaforce, and Dino Charge, but they were generally more consistent with tone and episode-to-episode quality. These past two seasons were all over the place, and it's still kind of difficult for me to get a pulse on how I truly feel about them. I wish the production crew under Hasbro the best of luck with this franchise going forward, and hope that they're bringing back the good of these seasons while learning from the bad.

Thank you for reading this post, and may the Power protect us as we head on to Beast Morphers.
 

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