Turboranger Episode 3 & The Terror of Ragon

The Turboranger race to find Holy Beast Rakia, guardian beast of the fairy race, as the Bouma are on the hunt for the creature, as it's the one who currently holds in place the seal on the Bouma Castle. The Turboranger blow it, as Rakia -- weakened by the decline in nature -- is discovered and loses his grip on the seal. (If you notice, there's a marked plate on all of the Bouma seals that bears Rakia's image, which I think is a nice detail. Since the Bouma castle is massive and flies, it's kept imprisoned within a dark nebula, with Rakia using stars shaped in his image to seal it.)

The Turboranger take a further beating in this episode, being drained of power until their suits are all white. (Kinda like Kuuga's Growing Form.) Again, I like that they're struggling. While Riki gives them a speech that they need to stick together and keep their faith for this power they've been entrusted with, it gives them the strength to fight a decent fight against some Uras and this episode's Bouma-Beast. This episode re-enforces what's said in the first about the mystical and magical elements in the world being snuffed out by modern civilization, and the power of belief, in magic and in youth. (Dazai has this line: "Trust in that youth! Age 18 is the best, most beautiful time in one's life. Show them that the power of your youth is the strongest force!" I'm noting this, mainly, because it comes up in the finale.)

The seal on the Bouma Castle is broken and with it comes the Emperor, Ragon. We gotta talk about Ragon, because he's an impressive achievement for the show. There have been a ton of immobile head villains in toku; some are awesome (X's King Dark, Changeman's Bazuu, Flashman's La Deus to name a few) and some are lame (see: Uchuu Keiji main villains, Megaranger's Javius the Eyeball). But Ragon stands above most. This guy is creepy and intimidating as hell. And the design is a bit of a marvel -- it's a huge, ambitious endeavor, one that I'm surprised they attempted AND pulled off. (Especially when you take into account the budget of toku shows, ESPECIALLY one that had a visibly lower budget like Turboranger.) This isn't just a suit actor in a chair, Ragon's practically a full set piece -- a fully functioning set piece.

This was the first of many, many Super Sentai and toku shows that designer Tamotsu Shinohara worked on, and I think Turboranger houses a lot of his best, creepiest designs. (It's said that Keita Amemiya was supposed to design Turboranger's Bouma, but he declined since he was already designing the villains of RX and Jiban at the same time. Good thing, because I don't think he would have done Turboranger justice since he would have been spreading himself thin, although the Bouma would have been right up his alley. Amemiya gave Shinohara some rough sketches to work off of, though, with Shinohara saying that Zuruten is pretty much completely Amemiya's design.)

Ragon's terrifying, he looks like a pile of snakes with fangs and claws coming out all over the place, with that horrifying, evil, demonic face, and that massive mane, those lengthy tentacles oozing all over the place. The stroke of genius was leaving eye-holes in the rubber mask, so that you could see suit actor Hideaki Kusaka's eyes and performance; Kusaka had long mastered the wide Creepy Eyes as La Deus and Maskman's Emperor Zeba, so you get more of a performance and it ups the creep factor, rather than if it had just colored, rubber eyes with holes poked into it.

The next thing to notice is...Ragon appears to be seated, but it's not quite a traditional chair or throne. It appears to be...a pile of other living creatures! There's faces and limbs all over the place! And this is where one of my favorite parts of the design comes into play -- a lot of the limbs are either rigged to wires or will have stage-hands behind them to give them movement. It really elevates the whole piece into being something pretty unique and special, as well as crazy and terrifying. There's just constant movement. On top of that, the way they film the scenes -- the angles, lighting, smoke -- further adds an unsettling atmosphere. They go a long way to make Ragon seem imposing.

I have to wonder if they took inspiration from the way they brought Jabba the Hutt to life in Return of the Jedi, having two guys in the suit, and numerous puppeteers working it on the outside. I feel like Ragon was a really detailed, elaborate, and dedicated take on this type of villain.

Not only is the design scary and impressive, with Hideaki Kusaka doing great work, but you also have a great voice performance by Takeshi Watabe. Watabe's probably my favorite villain voice actor in tokusatsu -- it's kind of sad he was used in Changeman for just Gyodai! -- he could do all types of villains, from the straightforward villains to those goofy ones to cutesy ones to really menacing villains. I always thought he sounded especially menacing and vile as Ragon. His voice is really guttural, like Ragon's pulling his voice from the deep bowels of Hell. But he also gives Ragon a real anger, appropriate for the character who's in a rage over being sealed up for so long, and appropriate for a character who's supposed to be in charge of the group that calls themselves the Violent Demon Tribe.

Turboranger's also ambitious in the way it tries to bring Rakia to life; despite a big presence in advertising and being included in the eyecatch and so prominently in the ending credits, this episode marks Rakia's one big appearance in the series; he's so weakened, that he ends the episode by becoming a constellation of stars to watch over the planet. I have to wonder if Rakia's time is cut short due to the unique way they tried to bring the creature to life, which was by having the suit actor on their hands and knees. It's something Sentai would do again to bring to life other Seijuus -- the Star Beasts of Gingaman -- and the technique has been mocked by viewers, but I appreciate these attempts at making what's meant to be unique creatures truly stand-out. The Rakia suit is well made and has a good design and he's voiced by Banjo Ginga, who Sentai fans might best recognize as Abaranger's Brachio or Boukenger's Maboroshi no Gekkou; the voice he gives these characters is just such an old-sounding, all-knowingness which really suits them.

The Turboranger end their mission with a determination to do Rakia proud. How will they fit in school? We'll find out, but they're certain to have interesting essays to write!