The End of a Power Rangers Era
November 16, 2002, marks the end of an era for Power Rangers. The MMPR Productions, the production company responsible for the past ten seasons, made its bow as Wild Force's finale, "The End of the Power Rangers", halted to an end. A lot of great series and episodes have been produced from this fantastic group of people, so the name of the finale is only fitting. As Village Roadshow Company takes the reigns with just about an entirely new group of people, we can only hope they will do as fantastic a job as MMPR Prod.
The end of an era will be focused on later, but now on to my opinions and thoughts about "The End of the Power Rangers". Zord focus has been both the blessing and curse of Wild Force; their CGI models are very cool, but they steal the focus a majority of the time, leaving basic building blocks like character development and story behind. I was hoping MMPR Productions would be putting out a bigger bang than what we saw today, something like Power Ranger in Space's "Countdown to Destruction". What we got was drastically different; a shallow episode with an easy ending and too much Sentai footage. Usually, Power Ranger finales are mostly void of the Japanese's counterpart show's footage, but "End of Power Rangers" was littered with it. The Master Org we all came to know and enjoy was replaced with a pretty average monster costume; and Ilia Volok's great acting of Master Org, the sole reason I have enjoyed Wild Force in the slightest, was not shown at all! Wild Zords stole the spotlight with the story spotlight put almost solely on them, as all the rest of the episodes of Wild Force have fallen victim to. I don' want to be all negative, because some parts of the episode were actually pretty good. The unmorphed fighting was superb and the end showing all of the Rangers back to their normal lives was heartwarming in Cole's scene, funny in Max and Danny's, and surprising in Merrick's case. But it wasn't enough to save the episode.
As for the season as a whole, it was mostly hit and miss the entire time. This was the first season with Disney calling the shots; and with Judd Lynn and Jackie Merchand leaving at the end of Time Force, a new group of writers were brought in, including Derek Rydall, William Winkler, Suzi Shimoyama, Jill Donellan (also a PRLG writer), Katie Torpey, and Amit Bhaumik. The season started off pretty dull, but did get better as time progressed. Jindrax and Toxica were a great reason to watch with their witty remarks and being over all a great comedic duo. The Master Org saga was also pretty good, offering some unexpected plot turns along the way; I don't think there has been a character with such a grim intentions and past. Most of the acting was very good, but the writing made out the characters to be somewhat bland.
And of course, the greatest part of this season was the teamups, thanks to Amit Bhaumik. "Reinforcements From The Future" was one of the best teamups in terms of tying up loose ends and giving an overall great story. All of the Time Force characters were exactly like we had left them, and the Mut-Org's backstory was very inventive and explained alot of the questions left by Ransik. But of course, "Forever Red" was the pinnacle of the season and was indisputably the best teamup of all time. The amount of nostalgia left by this episode was enormous; the return of ten Red Rangers, Bulk, Skull, NASADA, Megaship, Machine Empire, and Serpenterra (just to name a few) brought back so many memories of past episodes, and wasn't rushed despite being one episode.
"The End of the Power Rangers" actually was the end, in some senses; it was the end of an era. Most fans divide the shows we have seen into two groups - MMPR through PRIS, and PRLG through PRWF. Ninja Storm will begin a new one. With only a few confirmed people returning to work on the show (including Koichi Sakamoto and former PRZ writer Doug Sloan), the Power Rangers we see will be drastically different that what we are accustomed to. The torch is being passed to Village Roadshow Company LTD, a well established company who has worked on many large scale movies and television shows, most notable the blockbuster movie "The Matrix". But what has been done in the past ten seasons cannot be ignored, and my hat is off to the great people who worked so hard at Saban and MMPR Productions to make the number one kids show of the 90's.
Story: When evil villains rise up to pollute and destroy the earth, only five young heroes can stand in their way. With amazing super powers and a virtual zoo of zords, these five young heroes transform to become the Power Rangers Wild Force. Faced by villains who sto at nothing to destroy the planet, the rangers will need all the help they can get. Luckily, gigantic mechanical beasts that are just as determined as the Rangers to save the planet from the forces of evil are there to aid the Power Rangers. When humans and aimals come together to save the planet, it's time to take a walk on the wild side! Looking for the schedule? Head on over to Upcoming Events!
Picure Taking:Please do not use any pictures on this site without permission. I will be happy to help you if you ask.
Disclaimer:Power Rangers Wild Force and all related likenesses are copyright 2002 BVS Entertainment. Gaorangers and Sentai are copyright Toei Entertainment. I am not a part of Power Rangers, nor do I receive profits from this site.
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