Time For Trip Takes a Stand

More or less the same scenario as Timeranger's episode -- an "innocent" monster is befriended by Green and they're on the run from both the villains and the Guardians. I have to say, though...the voice actress for the monster is pretty irritating. I don't understand why there's only two types of voice-actors on Power Rangers for monsters -- it's either a dumb Beavis-sounding voice or a voice-actor trying to sound like a kid. Here, it's the latter. It's one of the things I can't stand about Circuit, too -- the voice actress is trying to sound like a 10 year old boy, like she thinks she's Rika Matsumoto or something. A very strange choice, especially if you're used to Yuusuke Numata's performance in Timeranger, where he gives Tock a wisdom which suits the robotic owl. (Sorta related: I saw on a toy that Circuit was going to be named Digit. Wonder why they changed that. Is it 'cause of the circuits of time, dude?)

There's an air of mystery about Naoto; you can't quite peg him the way Kasahara plays him. For how competitive Naoto can be, the show never holds back from telling you "No! He's a good guy deep down." Eric, on the other hand, is a guy who's been hardened by the circumstances of his life, the road he's put himself on to gain power and acceptance. He's kind of having to rediscover his heart.

Even though Time Fire spends a good portion of the episode beating up the Timeranger for getting in his way of fighting the good-natured monster Shion's befriended, you're not all that surprised when Naoto/Time Fire "misses" his target and just lets the Timeranger deal with him. Again, it's the difference in the way Kasahara plays him. He can be intense, combative, but he still conveys a heroic image. Kasahara's kind of a goofy, quirky guy in real life, and I think some of that seeps into the character; from the start, Naoto is shown to have a bit of dark humor to him. Eric doesn't care if you like him, he has a job to do. And while he reaches the same point as Naoto's footage, er, decision of "missing" the target, the way Eric's been depicted has it take on a different meaning.

While you get the sense that maybe Naoto was kind of convinced by the Timeranger's pleas to not just kill the monster, it doesn't seem like Eric cared about sparing the monster. (He reveals himself to be a hardcore mutant bigot in this episode; he even says "the only good mutant is a destroyed mutant." Remember, Power Rangers isn't allowed to say the D-word. Nobody d's in the Power Rangers universe. The only time the show has actually said the D-word is an earlier episode when Jen says she won't let "Alex's death be in vain." And they were only allowed to say that because Alex ain't dead, spoiler alert.)

So, I think what mostly changed Eric's mind was Trip stepping up and admitting that he was an alien. For someone who respects strength and courage, I think Eric respected Trip in that moment and let him have his victory. When Eric later warns them that this was a one-time thing, and the others flat-out say what a mean dude he is, Trip comes to the conclusion that Eric's a good guy deep down, just lonely. So I think that plays into the idea that the path Eric's put himself on has really cut himself off from not only happiness, but even just emotion.