Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Giving dorky PR titles to Showa Sentai shows

So, the latest thing to rattle fans of Sentai and Power Rangers is the way that they're leaving in Showa/non-PR Gokai Change footage in Power Rangers Super Megaforce. (Super Megadumb name for a show.) I can't say I'm surprised, really. The folks at Saban have never really given a crap about the content of the source footage. (I remember when people thought Gingaman was "too weird" for Power Rangers to use, but I knew they'd use it, because Saban don't care. People also would argue with me that Shinkenger was "too Japanese" to ever be usable for Power Rangers, but I knew they'd use it. Saban's shameless -- look at how they thought it was perfectly OK to try to edit three dated, different Metal Hero shows into one terrible thing called VR Troopers. So, I figured they'd lazily use some non-PR suits and brush it off with some lame explanation like "these are Power Ranger powers from super mega other dimensions!")

I watched the episode which had the Super Megaforce Rangers change into Ryuu Ranger, Yellow Mask and Pink Flash. While it kind of sucks to hear Pink Flash get reduced to one of Power Rangers' lame-o mid-fight bad jokes (Prism Boots "will give you the boot, HIYAAAAAAAA!"), I was kind of disappointed that the writers couldn't bother to give the old teams names. They were just "Legend powers, hiyaaaaaaaaaaa!" Like, I've always wondered what god-awful names the PR folks would come up with for Showa teams. I imagine it would be something like this...

Goranger: "Power Rangers Mighty Spies, HIYAAAAAAAAAAA!"
JAKQ: "Power Rangers Poker Strike, HIYAAAAAAAA!"
Battle Fever J: "Power Rangers Salute, HIYAAAAA!"
Denjiman: "Power Rangers Digi Dash, HIYAAAAAAAA!"
Sunvulcan: "Power Rangers Safari Musketeers, HIYAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Goggle V: "Power Rangers Gymnast Force, HIYAAAAAAAAA!"
Dynaman: "Power Rangers Science Bang, HIYAAAAAAAAA!"
Bioman: "Power Rangers Bio Blitz, HIYAAAAAAAAA!"
Changeman: "Power Rangers Spaceship Rollers, HIYAAAAAA!"
Flashman: "Power Rangers Crystal Force, HIYAAAAAAA!"
Maskman: "Power Rangers Lazer Lightning, HIYAAAAAAA!"
Liveman: "Power Rangers Animal Lifeguard, HIYAAAAAAAAA!"
Turboranger: "Power Rangers Gear Grind, HIYAAAAA!"
Fiveman: "Power Rangers Space Camp, HIYAAAAAAAA!"
Jetman: "Power Rangers Techno Bird, HIYAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Dairanger: "Power Rangers Hiyaaa, HIYAAAAAAAA!"

And I expect Go-busters would have been something like "Power Rangers Special Spy Force," which would become "Power Rangers Super Special Spy Force" when they got the upgrades for season two. Wait a minute, that's not right. It would be "Power Rangers Super Special Spy Force, HIYAAAAAAAAA!"