Fun and serious business: Lost Galaxy 7-9

[akinoame]

"Double Duty" is really...strange to watch in retrospect of what happened in Lost Galaxy to begin with. In the middle of being amused that Carolyn's agent isn't bothered that Kendrix has no acting experience (and judging by Carolyn's playing sick deal, she never had much talent to begin with) and wondering things like "Why are they filming a movie on Terra Venture if they have limited resources and the film wouldn't really gross anything anyway?" or "Why hire Kendrix to fill in for these scenes and not as a stunt double or anything until Carolyn 'recovers'?" I start feeling really uncomfortable watching Kendrix insist on carrying out her obligation to finish the shoot despite her injury. Because eventually, Valerie Vernon would be diagnosed with leukemia, and they'd have to find a way to write Kendrix out of the script because Valerie was so sick. Yet she still managed to make guest appearances and even donned a wig for the finale. What starts out as a pretty bizarre plot takes on way too much meaning in retrospect and seems almost like a premonition.

Otherwise, props to Valerie Vernon for playing the stuck-up Carolyn in contrast to the dedicated Kendrix. It shows a good segment of character development for the shy Pink Ranger. It's also fun watching Kendrix flip that one actor over her shoulder by accident and kicking Kai's ass (according to an interview, Valerie really did punch him in the face at one point when Archie Johnson Kao failed to duck--ETA: Yes, I actually did refer to him by his CSI name by mistake. This is what happens when your character has the same first name as you). I'm also amused by the fact that her idea of "handing a folder to someone" is to throw it. Kendrix comes off as so sweet and shy and rule-following that it's funny to think that this is probably her natural reaction and she probably just throws Kai his folders. The director is also a dick when he just gets pissed and yells "Cut!" when Kendrix is clearly in pain trying to climb up that hill, clutching her leg, limping, and nearly in tears. Kendrix may not be part of an actors' union, but she could seriously sue for that. The tears she's crying when the actor hugs her are most likely real from "Dear GOD, my leg!" Also, if the Lights of Orion have actually been free for all this time, why is it that Scorpius's forces assume they're just going to be somewhere on a recently-built space station? This is the major thing that bugs me throughout the Lights of Orion subplot.

In addition, some plotholes: I thought Kendrix's Transdagger could turn into a bow, not a crossbow-like weapon like Damon's. Also, where the hell did the Quasar Launchers come from?! And do they have awards ceremonies on Terra Venture, or did Carolyn take the Megaship to Earth for that? Because I still fail to see the logic in "We can't return to Earth for anything even though we have a perfectly working faster-than-light spaceship we can always ask the Power Rangers or our mechanic for."

And I don't know, but I think part of me is still shipping Kai/Kendrix, even if I might warm up to the Leo/Kendrix. Something about the way Kendrix kicks Kai's ass and how he gets excited seeing her apparent long-lost twin. They've got a good chemistry together, and Valerie and Archie were good friends on-set, according to that one interview.

"The Blue Crush" makes me think Commander Stanton is an asshole right off the bat. He promises to take his daughter skating, but he can't. Okay, understandable. But he thinks that this will all be rectified by asking one of his loyal cadets, Kai, to do it for him. Okay, understandable--as long as Jodie gets to skate. And Kai has to videotape it for him, and this will make everything okay. Yeah, Father of the Year. I'm with Kai and that look of horror on his face. But I do love Trakeena's whining to her dad that she wants to be trusted to destroy the Rangers: "But I want to go out, conquer, destroy! You know, have a social life?!" It's a great line. About as funny as the dorky grin on Kai's face when he sees the pretty girl, Hannah, and tries to skate over to her (more walking on rollerblades than anything). Though it is lucky for him that he went flying over the wall just as Alpha called, since he can explain his "Can you watch Jodie for me?" as him needing to get some ice. You know, Kai, you probably didn't even need to skate alongside Jodie--you could have filmed from the sidelines. But then, Commander Stanton is an asshole. But Kai's lovesick puppy act is funny, from suddenly videotaping Hannah the entire time to nearly setting the kitchen on fire, etc. They actually had a cute score playing for it too. Though, of course, Hannah turns out to be engaged, and he finds out when he has to save her fiance (and the wedding dress) from a falling electrical tower and an exploding car. Not the best way to get let down. It's cool getting the chance to see Kai's Quasar Saber in Power-Up Mode, but somehow, steam just isn't as awesome as fire in a background. His Galactabeast also had me going "What the HELL?!" a few times, as it appeared to skip into battle, then pull wrestling moves on the monster. A little funnier than the episode was intended to be.

Kai also gets into a deep depression way too easily, as he's in the same mope he had when he blamed himself for Leo's capture in "Rookie in Red." He doesn't eat, he doesn't cook, and he probably calls in sick for work. Get the boy some antidepressants. But Damon is, as always, hilarious in answering Maya's question of where Leo is with "He's right between us, only he's so skinny you can't see him!" More proof that this should be The Damon Show. I'm also shipping Kai/Kendrix harder when she acts as his confidante about Hannah and teasingly looks at the card Hannah sent him after the wedding. They have excellent chemistry, and it's a shame that wasn't followed. And Kai is thrilled to hear that Hannah's sister was the one getting married to Johnny (though why he's picking up his sister-in-law-to-be's dress makes no sense), and Damon responds, "Then you starved us for nothing!" Damon, I so love you.

"The Magna Defender" takes place right at the end of "The Blue Crush," answering the question of "Where's Leo?" He heads to the cave where he'd last seen "Mike," and runs into Furio, who has been kicked out by Scorpius. A nice touch is that Furio acknowledges he and Leo have a rivalry before they get into the asskicking. The other Rangers apparently got very worried and went after him (as there's no mention of anything of the ending from "The Blue Crush," happening at about the same time), and they arrive in time to see Furio grab hold of Leo and self-destruct. It's a nice touch that Leo doesn't get his revenge, setting up for things later. An even nicer touch is that the Magna Defender makes his first appearance here: retrieving a badly injured and unconscious Leo and gently setting him outside the cave, startled into moving away from him by the Rangers' voices. Given what we know about Magna and Mike, it's a good question of which one of them has more control--Mike's sense of mercy tends to win out. All of this happens before the theme, which is a major surprise, along with the fact that it's the first episode not written by Judd Lynn--instead, by Carlton Holder. Once the theme ends, Treacheron is introduced and claims to be Magna's archrival. Where the other heavier episodes were more gradual in their buildup, this one just jumps straight into it, but the pacing works. We also see that while Magna was rescuing Leo, Leo was hallucinating that his brother saved him, which is of course an important setup for Magna's connection to Mike. Oddly, this is also the first instance of Shirtless Leo, which will not go away any time soon. Leo, however, is covered in bandages and Alpha is telling him to stay in bed. Magna also has a cool, gunslinger-like theme that shows he's badass and heroic--not working with them, but a good guy at heart. All the while, the arc is trying to show that he's "a good guy, but not a nice guy"--the inverse. The music gives a sense of his true nature before anything else.

We see that Leo is determined to know who Magna is and why he's there, all the while keeping in the back of his mind the hallucination. I'm glad to see that Leo actually doesn't run in, assuming Magna is Mike. The only evidence he has is a hallucination he had while suffering from head trauma; anyone would think the injury caused it. He gets more proof when he sees that Magna's fighting style is identical to Mike's, and he knows that's impossible. He wants to help Magna, but Magna won't let him, and in any case, they have a giant monster to defeat. He only admits his suspicions at the end, but then confesses he must have been wrong.

Treacheron is revealed to have defeated Magna 3000 years ago, when Magna released the Lights of Orion (which aggravates me in the plothole: they knew they were free, so why did everyone go on such a wild goose chase in "The Lights of Orion"?) Magna was weakened, and he fell into a chasm in the earth, and we will later learn that it was on the planet Mirinoi. I'm not sure if this means he was actually from Mirinoi or the Lights were or what. It just makes for a small galaxy after all. I guess before Earth, Mirinoi was the center of the universe (though where KO-35 and its rotten luck come into play, I have no idea).

The Galactazords actually do something this time, instead of them going for the almost-RPM set up of the last two episodes of "turn into the Megazord and shoot it dead." Also, the unarmed battle between Treacheron and Magna was pointless--I think we can figure out for ourselves why he's called "Treacheron," you know.

Overall, the first two episodes were fun filler (though the first was a little uncomfortable post-series), and the third was the gem of the set again, with a meatier story and good character focus.