Time For Force From the Future

They try to cover a surprising amount of ground in these two episodes -- and don't entirely rely on Timeranger as you'd expect. I honestly like a lot of Time Force's tweaks to this premiere concept. I know Timeranger fans or Yasuko Kobayashi fans would gripe that Time Force is "simplifying" her work, but the truth is a lot of Kobayashi's work is sloppy. She feigns depth or intricacy, but is more often just messy or inconsistent. She doesn't really care if something makes sense within the story, as long as it makes a good scene or is cool; this is the cause of all of the problems with the Captain Ryuuya character. Kobayashi is one of those writers who employs time-travel without adhering to any of the rules; its use is just for the sake of "cool" twists or dancing around plotholes. (If you're a Star Trek fan, I compare her to Brannon Braga. She's capable of doing good work, but she'll trip herself up trying to go for high-concepts or coolness.) She leaves mysteries to fester series-long, and then forgets the point or changes her mind when it's time to wrap things up.

Time Force jettisons a lot of the unnecessary stuff. Timeranger's first episode is muddled and rushed; we're introduced to the idea of Red's doppelganger, Captain Ryuuya, who purposely selects newb recruits to go back in time and stop the Londarz. (Undercover Yuuri volunteers, resulting in being the only pro on the team.) But...the Londarz are counting on the time-traveling Timeranger to help bump their ship through the Stargate. If they haven't gone back yet, what's the panic? What are the Timeranger moving out for? Yeah, yeah, it's all a ploy of the Londarz -- Lila's disguised as Ryuuya, and from what we learn later in the show, Ryuuya's a shady bastard willing to alter history at his own whim. But we don't know that yet, and it's unnecessary confusion, and I think it's this muddled introduction to the character that colors where the writers go. (And, whoo-wee, is Ryuuya a mess.)

In Time Force, the Red doppelganger, Alex, exists, and is an elite member of the patrol. Confident, good at his job. Not a slimeball. He's a higher rank than the others, but not the leader of it all. The other four are official members, too -- young, maybe inexperienced, but not the lazy, rookie newbs that the Timeranger were. They all answer to another guy, a Captain Logan. Time Force depicts a more well-organized, functional, believable police force than Timeranger. When they're transporting head villain Ransik, his cronies help break him out, and the four Time Force go rogue attempting to bring him back. Alex ends up critically injured -- presumed to be killed in action, actually -- before Ransik makes his escape into the past, and he gives the four the go ahead to pursue him. (They're still rogue; the higher-ups warn them to not go in the past, but they do so, anyway. I like this motivation and set up far more than Lila's meant-to-be-random-selection-of-newbs-yet-they're-later-revealed-to-be-important-to-history.)

I also like that we're not shown the four of them instantly downloading 20th century information before they travel the way they do in Timeranger. This leaves open the fish-out-of-water possibilities and gives our one 20th century hero, Wes/Red, another function in the series. The Time Force are a police force who guard time, yes, but they also use technology to create a crime-free society. In Timeranger, their force seems to be hilariously incompetent. "We take pride in protecting time!" Cut to: letting the bad guys travel back in time & making the head of the entire thing a guy with no qualms about rewriting history. What we're shown in Time Force almost reminds me more of Dekaranger -- a proto Space Police -- than the useless fools we're shown in Timeranger.

The Time Force feels more like a fully formed organization than in Timeranger. With Timeranger, you basically get no sense that they're law enforcement; with the rookie heroes and corrupt Ryuya, it just feels more like he's a mad scientist and they're in an experiment of his. Timeranger wasn't interested in getting the backbone of their premise -- time traveling cops -- to work. Timeranger had no interest at all in the superhero side of the story. It pretended to devote itself to the characters but didn't even bother to focus on what made the characters unique, which was the situation they were in. So Timeranger just kind of flutters around, and when it does come time to remember its premise or that it's a superhero show, it's for tedious "big event" episodes revolving around mecha.

Not only does the Time Force seem more competent, but they show that it's a fully functional organization. While Jen-tachi went rogue by following Ransik in the past after they were dismissed, we're shown that their superior -- thankfully not just the Red doppelganger as in Timeranger -- comes around and sanctions what they're doing to stop Ransik. They're reinstated and their battle becomes official. What I'm trying to say is: I feel like Time Force better conveys cops after robbers, and that Timeranger plays things so fast, loose and unofficially that even a lawyer as shitty as Jerry Horne could get all of the Londarz off. There's no way anything the Timeranger do can hold up in court. (No wonder things get so bonkers by Dekaranger that the courts just rule to execute everyone they come across.)

As for the villains, their motivations are not all *that* different from the Londarz, at least initially, at least in this premiere. But for me, it works slightly more than the Londarz. All the Londarz cared about was money. Ransik talks about actually wanting to rule the world, seeing the past as an easy opportunity (especially since there's not a Time Force in that era). He's just a plain old criminal. Maybe the big difference is in Ransik being played by a face actor and Don Dolnero being a rubber suit. (And an ugly one. I hate to admit, but I kinda like the character of Don Dolnero and the way voice-actor Ryusaburo Ohtomo plays him. But the design is offensive in its stupidity. He looks like one of Bowser's idiot sons from Mario 3 and not some cool monstrous mobster. I find it hilarious that Time Force turns Dornero into a dumb sidekick; that goofball voice he's given fits that design.) The Lila Xerox, Nadira, is the one who stays truest to the Londarz -- she's all about vanity and greed. Her being Ransik's spoiled daughter is also more believable than Lila being Dolnero's moll.

Time Force's first two episodes adhere closely to the format of Timeranger's first, but it takes its time, makes better story choices and actually feels bigger than Timeranger. Like, I love how Ransik's arrest and subsequent escape is all presented; night shoots, with his escape being one of those classic prisoner-escapes-while-being-transported scenarios.

I have to say this about the costumes, though -- the material of the Ranger suits in the American footage just can't be the same that the Japanese use. The Timeranger suits all look shiny, the suit actors look slim. In the American footage, the colors are muted, they really cling to the stunt guys and make 'em all look kind of chubby.