Time For Bodyguard in Blue

The Timeranger original had some nice moments, mostly wasted on Yuuji Kido. The purpose of that episode was to get Ayase to show a lighter side. The purpose of this is to try to give Lucas something more than checking out his own reflection.

Since Lucas is the cool womanizer, and is given this episode in which he's put in frustrating and uncool situations as a result of being the bodyguard of the little girl, it KINDA reminds me of Changeman episode 4. In that episode, the other Changeman members get angry and judge womanizer Hayate for shirking duty to help a girl, not realizing he's not looking out for himself, but doing a kindness for a kid, not a potential date.

Some of the sentiment from the Timeranger episode is mirrored here -- the girl's attachment to her teddy bear which the monster "kills" is cute and understandable, but doesn't have the punch of the family "treasure" the girl hands over to save the day in Timeranger.

One great touch Time Force makes is having the girl's kidnapped dad tie into the Ranger action -- he's hired by Bio-Lab to analyze everything there is about Quantum Ranger, so he's targeted by Ransik, who's still interested in the Quantum power. (This character actually goes on to be recurring.) This leads to the Time Force Rangers doing most of the work to save the guy, while the Silver Guardians show up at the last minute and steal the glory. When Mr. Collins shows a complete lack of interest in whether or not the kidnapped scientist was uninjured, it gives Eric pause. For what a pain Eric has been, for how fixated he is on getting power and besting everyone, he's not soulless or unfeeling, and this is something that makes him begin to ask questions about just who he's allying himself with.

One other thing in the Time Force's favor is that the little girl is tolerable. In Timeranger, they go way overboard trying to make her this "adorably" mischievous brat, and she really comes across as a hellspawn.