The Operation Overdrive creative staff seem intent on adapting only the worst possible episodes of Boukenger.
I feel that, before we get into this, I really should point out just how much I liked Bouken #24 -26, in fact #25 and #26 are, in my opinion two of the best episodes since the arrival of BoukenSilver. It is thus with great disappointment that I must sit here and write about the mediocre episode #27 and the corresponding OO episode #18.
Between these two episodes, there must be less than 30 seconds of actually quality footage – 15 seconds for Rose in a cute t-shirt with a painted on tie and 15 for Natsuki in a lucky straw hat. The rest is just a complete mess…no, it’s not even that, the rest is exemplary of everything that is wrong with episodes of Go-onger.
It’s that whole ‘playful silliness’ that fails on many levels to be funny that lets down this episode in both interpretations of its weak storyline. I honestly can’t for the life of me think why Disney chose this story above others to adapt when it offers nothing of merit to the development of OO’s storyline or the characters.
I also don’t understand why the footage of BoukenRed dressed in his lucky items was re-shot for OO with the Red Overdrive Ranger in similar items. Surely the staff didn’t think that re-shooting the suit material to feature a character in a ‘lucky shirt’ as opposed to a ‘happy happi’ was a worthwhile use of time and money? What happened to the old days when Power Rangers simply failed to explain the presence of obviously Japanese writing or simply passed off the item in question as an utterly unrelated object?
All in all, these were two episodes that I feel I should have skipped…in both series.
17 October, 2008 at 8:06 am |
I have to disagree with your evaluation of the Boukenger episode. It was one of my favorites. While obviously not as rich in story or overall quality as many of the others it was still a good episode. True it was just a filler episode filled with random sillyness, but that dosen’t make it bad, because the episode still had heart. The line at the end battle, where Boukenred explains that the lucky items were not keeping him safe because they were lucky items, but because they were lucky items given to him by his friends with their feelings and honest desire to help him behind them. Corney sentiment as it may be, it still made the entire episode worthwhile
17 October, 2008 at 10:36 pm |
Disagreement is totally encouraged, April, don’t worry. I think it’s awesome that you got something out of it and you should totally hang onto that – in fact, I can think of episodes of “Gaoranger” and “Megaranger” that have the exact same resonance for me but sadly it doesn’t change how I feel about *this* episode.
But, as always, it’s great to hear from people who are getting something out of it so keep on fighting for the sentiment. ^^
(also: thank you for commenting!!)