I’m resolutely not going to declare that these four episodes were a mixed bag, because they weren’t. What they were however was pretty awful. Perhaps that’s too strong to say as an opening statement so let me elaborate.
Operation Overdrive #14 was by far the worst of the bunch, being a random recreation of plot from Bouken #18 stapled to an overly long, uninteresting fight sequence utilising all the toys and ultimately proving nothing except that Tyzonn’s special power is to be able to use a metal detector.
The problem with pacing continues in OO and, by this point, I’m finding it hard to remain forgiving. #13 raced through events in such quick succession that it left in its wake not even the faintest trace of atmosphere, whilst #14 hurried along upon the lines set by the sentai storyline, pausing only for some melodramatic hijacking of Akashi’s back story in an attempt to make Tyzonn more likeable (it doesn’t) before preceding into a car crash of pointless special effects.
"We found this ancient writing in a tree in Portugal!" (actual quote)
One of the few redeeming features about this two-part Tyzonn showcase is the presence of the Fearcats, who are classic Power Rangers villains in both speech and mannerism. Sadly, the same cannot be said for Boukenger’s Ashu Tribe, who are adequate Dekaranger villains but nothing more.
איך בין אַ קלײנער דרײדל
The trend for simply replacing Gajah’s role with Flurious also continues without really changing the world. I want to pretend that I don’t know all the silly reasons why Disney chose to replace Gajah but I think I can guess and it’s kind of frustrating, especially as, after a strong introduction, we see so little of him. Considering the amount of material removed or re-filmed to fit in with OO and considering that they specifically made a Flurious suit, I would have thought they might have used him in a more interesting way.
Apparently not.
Tyzonn's urine sample looked a little off colour.
Another significant gripe of mine (and don’t pretend you didn’t see this coming) is the character of Tyzonn/Takaoka Eiji. One of my problems with the first half of the storyline is that it is no longer the show I signed up for. I had watched episode #17 without any of the preceding episodes, I never would have given it a chance. Takaoka works as a character in this two part arc but he dominates #17 without really having any reason to. The balance is restored in #18 when the story reverts to Akashi and his personal triumph over a grief from the past, but the next episode trailer leaves me in no doubt that Boukenger is no longer heading in a direction I feel comfortable with.
