Time For Clash For Control

Part one's an original story that, again, bests Timeranger by including more time-travel. Ransik sends a monster back to prehistoric times to find the V-Rex, er, Q-Rex, which is actually in the past and not just conveniently in the Rangers' time for them to find. (So many times I've typed "V-Rex" in these posts.) Eric follows him through the portal, as Wes tags along, a three-way race to find the Q-Rex. While I find Eric and Wes just a little too calm considering they're SURROUNDED BY DINOSAURS, it's a mostly fun, action-oriented episode. Special effects aren't the greatest, but they're at least done in a genuine way, which puts it above any Syfy schlock. They're trying hard with the little they have to just make an entertaining, crazy adventure.

Eric's a colossal asshole in this episode, being so combative with Wes and actually initially abandoning him in the past, once the time portal opens back up. He swings back to save Wes, and we don't get any sort of Black Condor "we see Eric's guilty conscience surface that makes him swing back and do the right thing." Naoto's antagonistic, an obstacle for our heroes, but there's something of a desperation in the way Kasahara plays him. He's rough, he has attitude, but I don't think of him as being unlikable or villainous. Eric is a shocking departure for Power Rangers, because he's a guy who's really hardened himself, so he's really harsh and aggressive. What's so un-PR about him is that that's who he is -- back in the day, he'd be brainwashed or whatever. But, nope, that's all Eric.

So while Naoto/Time Fire is just another thing for our heroes to do with, Eric/Quantum Ranger feels almost like a rival, almost like having another villain to deal with. Southworth's performance, the attitude he plays, pushes the character into an almost dastardly "character you love to hate" rather than just a frustrating hindrance the Timeranger have to contend with. Time Fire is basically like...the Timeranger is Batman and Time Fire's the law, they have to navigate around the professional who's official and sanctioned, an overachiever who wants to get the job done, but just kind of pesky. Quantum Ranger is out to prove something, and he doesn't want to settle for being another Ranger, but the best one. (He has a line to Wes in Part 2 that he thinks Wes just can't stand that Eric has more power than he does, which I interpret as a further filling in of the class conflict the two are meant to represent.)

I don't want to call Eric a villain, but he comes closer to that villain-seeming antihero than I think Naoto does. Although pretty much the same character, the difference is in the performers. Kasahara mostly plays Naoto as laser-focused and professional, so he can seem sort of oblivious to the situation or what the Timeranger are out to do. There's kind of a desperation to Naoto, especially in how hard to he tries to be victorious. Eric has issues, and being Quantum feeds into those issues, and he seems much more outwardly cruel than Naoto. He's like one of those pain-in-the-ass Heisei Rider rivals. He's the character Kamen Rider Banana wishes he was.

Too bad they didn't keep the "unmorphed" fight between Tatsuya and Naoto for Wes and Eric; that would have been pretty cool, especially considering what a good fighter Southworth is. But while Wes and Eric are confronting each other, Wes' dad shows up at Nick of Time, trying to buy the four others, recruiting them to the Silver Guardians. For some reason, Eric thinks this has a chance -- that they'll want Mr. Collins' money and resources backing them to help capture Ransik quicker. (The guy doesn't know how superheroes work. And this is before he finds out they're from 3000, otherwise he'd probably try to tempt them with getting back quicker. Although, the Time Force being back in 2001 doesn't seem to have the same importance as in Timeranger; in Timeranger, Kobayashi was trying to repeat what she did with Gingaman, having the heroes being torn away from their home. Time Force Rangers miss their era, but it doesn't hold the same importance as in Timeranger. Maybe because the Time Force are more professional?)

Mr. Collins (does this dude have a first name? geez*) showing up at Nick of Time brings up something I've wondered all series long, and will continue to do so. He owns the building. He hates Wes turning his back on him, what he's doing with his life. He seems like the type of person who would have no problem throwing everyone out and leveling the place, just to make a point, but he continues to let them all stay there? Oh, well, I guess it's more believable than Smart Brain letting those dangerous renegade Orphenoch that they hate and want to murder just stay at that apartment they got for Yuuji. Yeah, you guys have so much trouble getting back the Faiz belt, but you know where those sonsuvbitches live. At least with Mr. Collins, you could go "Oh, well, maybe by letting Wes and his buddies stay there, he's showing he DOES care deep down." What's your excuse, Smart Brain!?

*(Notation: I'm writing this notation after having finished the series and the subsequent reviews; while later episodes show a plaque on his desk saying "A. Collins," the DVD booklet says his name is Albert Collins, but...I don't know where they got that, when it wasn't anywhere in the actual show. Is this an after-the-fact addition, like Uhura and Sulu's first names in Star Trek?)