Turn on the power: Lost Galaxy 13 and 14
May. 4th, 2010 03:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akinoame“Orion Returns” (Judd Lynn and Jackie Marchand) features the return of the Lights of Orion to Terra Venture after having just left Terra Venture only one episode ago. I still say this pretty much makes “Orion Rising” pointless (especially when it turns out Maya has Orion Senses Tingling) but whatever. It’s pretty much every man for himself when Scorpius sends Treacheron out to recover them, Trakeena plans a doublecross, and Magna and the Rangers all want the Lights for themselves. Treacheron’s monster from “Orion Rising,” Destruxo, recovers the Lights, but Trakeena’s monster, Impostra (I love the old Ranger monsters who had such obvious names), poses as Treacheron to trick Destruxo into using the Lights so Trakeena can spin this whole thing into a tale of treachery and get her revenge on Treacheron as well as prevent him from getting the power and control she believes she deserves instead. Trying to describe this plot is giving me a headache. But in any case, after Destruxo basically gets only gold swirls on parts of his costume to indicate he’s got the power, the Rangers manage to defeat him, which is pretty impressive. Magna prevents Impostra from getting the Lights, and it ends up feeling like she was almost a waste of a monster because she vanishes. At least she managed to accomplish what Trakeena wanted, but still, her departure could have been handled better. Magna tries to take the Lights, but they reject him, choosing the Rangers instead. Leo theorizes this means that the Lights will only allow themselves to be used for good and not evil (with vengeance falling under “evil”), but it doesn’t explain how Destruxo was able to use them, even though the Rangers soundly kicked his ass. But I’ve got to admit that the Lights of Orion make for an impressive power-up, especially when they get into Power-up Mode and the Rangers charge into you in the form of blazing light. Yeah, nothing’s going to survive that.
Other details: Magna’s heart condition comes up again when Mike makes sure to let him know exactly what he feels about his revenge quest. I’m feeling like the cycle of vengeance is actually more thoroughly explored in Lost Galaxy than in Time Force, where bits of it seemed tacked on at the end; here, you’ve got the struggle over revenge from the moment Leo loses Mike. Also, apparently all of the Transdaggers can become Beta Bows and Transblasters. Why even bother treating them like they’re specialized weapons if all of them can reach the same modes? And the Megaship has a really poorly designed engine. It really does. You should not be seriously considering a starship that can easily be unplugged if it takes a hit (which it does both here and in PRiS premiere “From Out of Nowhere”). They probably do Andros a favor by blowing it up in “Journey’s End.” At least then he can use the insurance money to get a new one (though we never see if it has the same stupid engine design). And Damon wins for being cranky when Maya wakes him up about her dream of the Lights—”I had a dream too…until you woke me up!”
By the way, you’d think Scorpius would start to notice something’s up when Trakeena keeps pointing out, “Yeah, Dad, these generals who’ve served you loyally for all these years? I think they’re trying to betray you.” The moment he sees this “evidence,” he doesn’t assume, “Wait a second, maybe this stupid monster betrayed Treacheron.” He just goes, “Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal! Take him to the brig!” Though, I’ve got to say, being assumed to be a traitor is one of the dangers you’re going to face if your mom named you “Treacheron.” You should have changed your name to something less threatening. Steve?
“Shark Attack” (Judd Lynn and Jackie Marchand) is actually a really good character episode for Leo, Trakeena, and Treacheron. It starts with the Shark Brothers—two of Treacheron’s henchmen—breaking into the brig to free their leader. They present him his weapon, but when he hears Trakeena approaching, he tells them to hide so he can have his revenge (and here’s that theme again). He pretends to beg for Trakeena’s help in redeeming himself and presents her with a map to a silver goblet—something that makes no sense for him to have for two reasons: one, because why would he have it, and two, because it turns out the goblet is a fake. When Trakeena digs it up and decides to keep the Cup of Bling for herself, Treacheron confronts her on her treachery (I couldn’t help it) and reveals it’s a fake and the goblet disintegrates in her hand. From there, we see Trakeena’s façade crumble. Up until now, we’ve seen her as haughty, but genuinely interested in fighting and claiming a piece of the pie for herself. She does whatever she can to gain the power she craves, betraying people left and right and throwing around her position as Scorpius’s daughter. Here, we see that she’s not as strong as she claims to be. She doesn’t know how to fight, and when she’s in real danger, she’s terrified. Treacheron dispatches the Stingwingers easily, and if it wasn’t for the Rangers showing up, Trakeena would have been killed there. But unfortunately for her, Magna Defender shows up, deciding the perfect revenge would be for Scorpius to feel what it’s like to lose his only child too. If not for Magna’s convenient heart attack, she’d be dead. Only this time, Magna can hear Mike’s voice, pleading with him not to take his revenge and to try to join the light side—and so can Leo. Sadly, Leo’s sudden distraction allows Treacheron to score a devastating blow, and the Rangers have to take him back to the Megaship’s infirmary to heal. Again.
Leo’s injury works in Treacheron’s favor because all five Rangers need to be present in order for the Lights of Orion to activate. How Treacheron knows this is beyond me, given that Magna was apparently the last keeper of the Lights 3000 years ago, but whatever. In any case, the Rangers under Kai can’t activate them, and Leo is having more hallucinations of his brother. This time, he hears Mike telling him that the others need his help (though Mike speaks slowly, like Leo’s stupid, which is only one of the weird moments of line delivery in this season). Leo hauls his ass out of bed and sneaks out before Alpha can come in and have flashbacks to all those timesTJ the Space Rangers ignored doctor’s orders. Of course, once Leo gets there, the Rangers don’t even bother reprimanding him because hey, they’ve got the last key they need to activate their superpowers. Saving all of their lives is more important.
This becomes a really important moment for Treacheron, and fittingly in his last episode. He insists that he wants to reclaim his honor and prove to Scorpius that he has always been loyal. And when the Rangers use the Lights, Treacheron challenges Leo to a one-on-one fight to the death. I’ve got to say that it really impressed me (not necessarily the battle itself, because the Sentai footage was all over the place and as usual, really poor definition). When he makes his last stand—dying and still determined to fight to his last—Treacheron insists to Leo that the Rangers stand for everything he hates: goodness, honesty, and decency. Yet, here’s a warrior who is so dedicated to his honor and loyalty. It’s hard to just tack on this hatred of “honesty and decency” because they’re traits of “good.” It’s what bothered me so much with Ecliptor back in PRiS; there are decent, honorable warriors on the side of evil, but the Dark Side has such a flat characterization that these really rounded individuals don’t seem to match up. But of course, he falls, and the Shark Brothers take on the Rangers in revenge. That’s when the Rangers learn that when they’ve got the Lights of Orion activated, the Galaxy Megazord automatically goes into a Lights of Orion mode. I wish I could say the battle was awesome, but all I saw was the sword powering up and suddenly a monster falling apart. I don’t know if it’s just the quality of the episode I had access to or if it’s the actual footage, but it’s a disappointment when you just see a power-up and the monster dying out of sheer intimidation.
Back on Terra Venture, Leo is moping again when Maya comes in to check on him. He expects her to tell him that he was only imagining Mike’s voice, and the girl who frequently hears strange things agrees that she thought that at first. But she admits that she senses something, and she thinks Mike is still alive. And I’m still wondering how she only senses this stuff at the most opportune moments for plot. At the same time, Trakeena asks her father to let her pick the new general because she hopes that she can find a teacher who will give her the chance to become stronger. Which says a lot about her character--that she's willing to learn--and will prove to be a big problem for the Rangers later.
Other details: Magna’s heart condition comes up again when Mike makes sure to let him know exactly what he feels about his revenge quest. I’m feeling like the cycle of vengeance is actually more thoroughly explored in Lost Galaxy than in Time Force, where bits of it seemed tacked on at the end; here, you’ve got the struggle over revenge from the moment Leo loses Mike. Also, apparently all of the Transdaggers can become Beta Bows and Transblasters. Why even bother treating them like they’re specialized weapons if all of them can reach the same modes? And the Megaship has a really poorly designed engine. It really does. You should not be seriously considering a starship that can easily be unplugged if it takes a hit (which it does both here and in PRiS premiere “From Out of Nowhere”). They probably do Andros a favor by blowing it up in “Journey’s End.” At least then he can use the insurance money to get a new one (though we never see if it has the same stupid engine design). And Damon wins for being cranky when Maya wakes him up about her dream of the Lights—”I had a dream too…until you woke me up!”
By the way, you’d think Scorpius would start to notice something’s up when Trakeena keeps pointing out, “Yeah, Dad, these generals who’ve served you loyally for all these years? I think they’re trying to betray you.” The moment he sees this “evidence,” he doesn’t assume, “Wait a second, maybe this stupid monster betrayed Treacheron.” He just goes, “Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal! Take him to the brig!” Though, I’ve got to say, being assumed to be a traitor is one of the dangers you’re going to face if your mom named you “Treacheron.” You should have changed your name to something less threatening. Steve?
“Shark Attack” (Judd Lynn and Jackie Marchand) is actually a really good character episode for Leo, Trakeena, and Treacheron. It starts with the Shark Brothers—two of Treacheron’s henchmen—breaking into the brig to free their leader. They present him his weapon, but when he hears Trakeena approaching, he tells them to hide so he can have his revenge (and here’s that theme again). He pretends to beg for Trakeena’s help in redeeming himself and presents her with a map to a silver goblet—something that makes no sense for him to have for two reasons: one, because why would he have it, and two, because it turns out the goblet is a fake. When Trakeena digs it up and decides to keep the Cup of Bling for herself, Treacheron confronts her on her treachery (I couldn’t help it) and reveals it’s a fake and the goblet disintegrates in her hand. From there, we see Trakeena’s façade crumble. Up until now, we’ve seen her as haughty, but genuinely interested in fighting and claiming a piece of the pie for herself. She does whatever she can to gain the power she craves, betraying people left and right and throwing around her position as Scorpius’s daughter. Here, we see that she’s not as strong as she claims to be. She doesn’t know how to fight, and when she’s in real danger, she’s terrified. Treacheron dispatches the Stingwingers easily, and if it wasn’t for the Rangers showing up, Trakeena would have been killed there. But unfortunately for her, Magna Defender shows up, deciding the perfect revenge would be for Scorpius to feel what it’s like to lose his only child too. If not for Magna’s convenient heart attack, she’d be dead. Only this time, Magna can hear Mike’s voice, pleading with him not to take his revenge and to try to join the light side—and so can Leo. Sadly, Leo’s sudden distraction allows Treacheron to score a devastating blow, and the Rangers have to take him back to the Megaship’s infirmary to heal. Again.
Leo’s injury works in Treacheron’s favor because all five Rangers need to be present in order for the Lights of Orion to activate. How Treacheron knows this is beyond me, given that Magna was apparently the last keeper of the Lights 3000 years ago, but whatever. In any case, the Rangers under Kai can’t activate them, and Leo is having more hallucinations of his brother. This time, he hears Mike telling him that the others need his help (though Mike speaks slowly, like Leo’s stupid, which is only one of the weird moments of line delivery in this season). Leo hauls his ass out of bed and sneaks out before Alpha can come in and have flashbacks to all those times
This becomes a really important moment for Treacheron, and fittingly in his last episode. He insists that he wants to reclaim his honor and prove to Scorpius that he has always been loyal. And when the Rangers use the Lights, Treacheron challenges Leo to a one-on-one fight to the death. I’ve got to say that it really impressed me (not necessarily the battle itself, because the Sentai footage was all over the place and as usual, really poor definition). When he makes his last stand—dying and still determined to fight to his last—Treacheron insists to Leo that the Rangers stand for everything he hates: goodness, honesty, and decency. Yet, here’s a warrior who is so dedicated to his honor and loyalty. It’s hard to just tack on this hatred of “honesty and decency” because they’re traits of “good.” It’s what bothered me so much with Ecliptor back in PRiS; there are decent, honorable warriors on the side of evil, but the Dark Side has such a flat characterization that these really rounded individuals don’t seem to match up. But of course, he falls, and the Shark Brothers take on the Rangers in revenge. That’s when the Rangers learn that when they’ve got the Lights of Orion activated, the Galaxy Megazord automatically goes into a Lights of Orion mode. I wish I could say the battle was awesome, but all I saw was the sword powering up and suddenly a monster falling apart. I don’t know if it’s just the quality of the episode I had access to or if it’s the actual footage, but it’s a disappointment when you just see a power-up and the monster dying out of sheer intimidation.
Back on Terra Venture, Leo is moping again when Maya comes in to check on him. He expects her to tell him that he was only imagining Mike’s voice, and the girl who frequently hears strange things agrees that she thought that at first. But she admits that she senses something, and she thinks Mike is still alive. And I’m still wondering how she only senses this stuff at the most opportune moments for plot. At the same time, Trakeena asks her father to let her pick the new general because she hopes that she can find a teacher who will give her the chance to become stronger. Which says a lot about her character--that she's willing to learn--and will prove to be a big problem for the Rangers later.