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Thoughts on Agito and Megaforce
Mar. 9th, 2013 07:33 pmAfter I catch up on Agito, I'm going to take a short break from Kamen Rider. After Kuuga, I think I finished the last Rider series I wasn't going to complain extensively about (I apparently will survive half of Hibiki from what I've heard), and even then I had problems with Yusuke (I'll go into them comes Decade). Agito is the first one that I really dislike. The storyline is fine, but there are exactly two-and-a-half characters I like: Ozawa, Mana (who should have been Agito, as far as I'm concerned), and possibly Ryo, but he's always out of focus so I can't get a good feel for him. Hikawa is a doormat and Shoichi is a house elf, albeit one who desperately needs someone to hold his hand so he can do anything. I've taken to calling him Dobby.
I'm trying to get into Megaforce. But I've got a couple problems, and it comes down to the way Saban handles it. It forgets that it's 20 years after season 1 of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I understand trying to recapture the magic, but...you've got to let the show grow. The kids who all watched it back then are grown up, and many with kids of their own. Sure, the action is still going to appeal to the new kids, but the rest?
Power Rangers under Saban currently has a major problem. It's okay on plot, but horrible on characterization. Normally, one can help make up for lacks in the other. Like the plot of Power Rangers in Space helped make up for the lack of characterization on anybody not named Andros, and the effects of Andros's character arc making up for holes in the plot (...so why didn't Karone remember anything about being kidnapped? Why did they kidnap her in the first place? And what was with the magic tears at the end?). And the biggest offender is Troy.
Saban, sit down. I need you to realize something: The Red Ranger is the most important character of your show. End of story. He has the most toys, he gets the most screentime in-suit, and until the sixth Ranger comes along, he's the one all the kids want to buy the most. In short, he is your star. But what I've seen being done to him in the past two years is a travesty. Jayden and Troy were generic. Jayden at least had the saving grace of his secret, that his older sister was the true Red Ranger and he was just keeping the seat warm to keep her identity safe. Troy, however, could be replaced by a rock, and we wouldn't be able to tell the difference. He has no personality. He has potential, but you do nothing with him. He's got weird dreams, and that's it. He's the new guy, but that really doesn't come into play. He's hardly ever on-screen; you spend much more time building up the relationships between Noah and Jake or Gia and Emma and the lack of relationship between Jake and Gia. All four of them have personalities, even if a bit stereotypical. Troy has nothing to work with--he hardly interacts with anybody and he's rarely seen. He might as well be Gosei, for all we see him.
Let's talk about my three favorite Reds for a second as a contrast: Scott Truman, Carter Grayson, and Wes Collins. All three are, without a doubt, incredibly heroic young men who more than live up to the calling of the Red Ranger powers. Scott is a former fighter pilot, Carter is a firefighter, and despite being an ordinary...millionaire's son, Wes volunteered to help a bunch of time-travelers stop a dangerous criminal, while wondering about the motives behind both the heroes and villains. Despite being incredibly good people, they have complex and flawed personalities to explore. Scott is the younger son of Col. Truman, the head of the city's defense forces, and he's perpetually in the shadow of his older brother, who died in battle in the prologue of the story. He's constantly butting heads with his father and trying to prove that not only is he a good leader, but he's a damn good son and his father needs to appreciate him for that. Carter might seem the most generic of the lot, but it's explained in the third episode that he's serious and hardly ever takes a break because he was saved by a firefighter as a child and was inspired to be the absolute best firefighter he could possibly be and try to be that kind of hero who can run into a burning building, find a missing child, and hold up the burning rafters to ensure the child runs to safety. Wes might not have a motivation for being a good guy, but he's what I call a "Kobayashi Red"--a Red Ranger or Rider in a Yasuko Kobayashi series (Time Force was pretty faithfully adapted from her Timeranger), who are usually characterized by being a rookie who stumbles into the job and has to struggle with how cruel the world can be before coming right back to the unselfishly good person he was at season's start but wiser and more willing to fight for what he believes in--see Shinji in Ryuki, Ryotaro in Den-O, Eiji in OOO, Hiromu in Go-Busters, and Leo in Lost Galaxy. This quality lets him feel pity for someone as evil as Ransik and to continue trying to help Jen overcome her trauma and not fall into darkness.
Troy doesn't get the screentime to build himself up alone as a person or the interaction with the others to build himself up as a leader. You've got a kind of ditzy Sentai Red to deal with when it comes to the suit footage of Alata, but even ditzy would be some kind of trait. Hell, awkward as it was, I could still manage to accept a Sosuke freakout from Scott early in RPM simply because the subject was his precious car, which Dillon had stolen (let's not discuss Scott's derailment in "Clash of the Red Rangers," shall we?). You need to prove to us what makes Troy so special that he can be the Red Ranger. Why can't it be Noah, who's smart enough to be a good leader? He's pretty on the ball when it comes to the others too, and even his self-doubt in the third episode would have been a great addition to a Red. Or Jake, who's too sure of himself and could really stand to get a rude awakening if he can't inspire anybody as leader (sidenote: If you are going to adapt Gokaiger as season two, which still makes no sense to me, how the hell are you going to have Noah suddenly become a badass swordsman and Jake totally lose all pretense of cool and just flail around like Ziggy? You really need to watch the suit footage and write personalities that work with the body language there!) The Red Ranger is the strongest Ranger ever (until the sixth guy, but by the end, it all evens out and Red's back in the lead again), and whoever you put in this spot damn well better deserve it.
And another thing: Your writers seriously need to hang out with some straight women. Once again, you have failed to convince us that the Pink and Yellow Rangers are not dating. And your girl-fights are just as sickening as they were when it was Ashley and Cassie or Maya and Kendrix.
Overall, the sense I've gotten from Megaforce is that if it's trying so hard to be MMMPR season 1 all over again (stereotypical characters, throwbacks to the original, setting, elements of the '90s slipping in), why not go all the way and make it a reboot? Do like RPM and set it in an alternate universe, or use that rejected idea from the end of Gokaiger and have it that the Rangers before them sacrificed themselves from existence and memory, leaving the Mega Rangers as the newest and first team of Rangers on a world without memories of the Power Rangers. It gives meaning to Troy's dreams by making them a mystery rather than just a nonsensical premonition thrown as a bone to fans. It gives them something more to fight for.
Megaforce has potential, but if Power Rangers is going to survive into the next twenty years, it needs to do what it did before and stop slavishly trying to relive the glory days. There will never be another MMPR just like there will never be another PRiS, TF, or RPM. They came together with the perfect mix of writing, acting, directing, executive oversight, and either keeping or tossing the plot of the original Sentai it was inspired by. Each one was a product of the specific combination of factors. Trying to recapture the magic is pointless--you have to make your own. Look at your show, look at your audience, and say, "What is the story I want to tell? Who are the characters that these kids will want to be? Who will I want them to be like?" and grow.
I'm trying to get into Megaforce. But I've got a couple problems, and it comes down to the way Saban handles it. It forgets that it's 20 years after season 1 of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I understand trying to recapture the magic, but...you've got to let the show grow. The kids who all watched it back then are grown up, and many with kids of their own. Sure, the action is still going to appeal to the new kids, but the rest?
Power Rangers under Saban currently has a major problem. It's okay on plot, but horrible on characterization. Normally, one can help make up for lacks in the other. Like the plot of Power Rangers in Space helped make up for the lack of characterization on anybody not named Andros, and the effects of Andros's character arc making up for holes in the plot (...so why didn't Karone remember anything about being kidnapped? Why did they kidnap her in the first place? And what was with the magic tears at the end?). And the biggest offender is Troy.
Saban, sit down. I need you to realize something: The Red Ranger is the most important character of your show. End of story. He has the most toys, he gets the most screentime in-suit, and until the sixth Ranger comes along, he's the one all the kids want to buy the most. In short, he is your star. But what I've seen being done to him in the past two years is a travesty. Jayden and Troy were generic. Jayden at least had the saving grace of his secret, that his older sister was the true Red Ranger and he was just keeping the seat warm to keep her identity safe. Troy, however, could be replaced by a rock, and we wouldn't be able to tell the difference. He has no personality. He has potential, but you do nothing with him. He's got weird dreams, and that's it. He's the new guy, but that really doesn't come into play. He's hardly ever on-screen; you spend much more time building up the relationships between Noah and Jake or Gia and Emma and the lack of relationship between Jake and Gia. All four of them have personalities, even if a bit stereotypical. Troy has nothing to work with--he hardly interacts with anybody and he's rarely seen. He might as well be Gosei, for all we see him.
Let's talk about my three favorite Reds for a second as a contrast: Scott Truman, Carter Grayson, and Wes Collins. All three are, without a doubt, incredibly heroic young men who more than live up to the calling of the Red Ranger powers. Scott is a former fighter pilot, Carter is a firefighter, and despite being an ordinary...millionaire's son, Wes volunteered to help a bunch of time-travelers stop a dangerous criminal, while wondering about the motives behind both the heroes and villains. Despite being incredibly good people, they have complex and flawed personalities to explore. Scott is the younger son of Col. Truman, the head of the city's defense forces, and he's perpetually in the shadow of his older brother, who died in battle in the prologue of the story. He's constantly butting heads with his father and trying to prove that not only is he a good leader, but he's a damn good son and his father needs to appreciate him for that. Carter might seem the most generic of the lot, but it's explained in the third episode that he's serious and hardly ever takes a break because he was saved by a firefighter as a child and was inspired to be the absolute best firefighter he could possibly be and try to be that kind of hero who can run into a burning building, find a missing child, and hold up the burning rafters to ensure the child runs to safety. Wes might not have a motivation for being a good guy, but he's what I call a "Kobayashi Red"--a Red Ranger or Rider in a Yasuko Kobayashi series (Time Force was pretty faithfully adapted from her Timeranger), who are usually characterized by being a rookie who stumbles into the job and has to struggle with how cruel the world can be before coming right back to the unselfishly good person he was at season's start but wiser and more willing to fight for what he believes in--see Shinji in Ryuki, Ryotaro in Den-O, Eiji in OOO, Hiromu in Go-Busters, and Leo in Lost Galaxy. This quality lets him feel pity for someone as evil as Ransik and to continue trying to help Jen overcome her trauma and not fall into darkness.
Troy doesn't get the screentime to build himself up alone as a person or the interaction with the others to build himself up as a leader. You've got a kind of ditzy Sentai Red to deal with when it comes to the suit footage of Alata, but even ditzy would be some kind of trait. Hell, awkward as it was, I could still manage to accept a Sosuke freakout from Scott early in RPM simply because the subject was his precious car, which Dillon had stolen (let's not discuss Scott's derailment in "Clash of the Red Rangers," shall we?). You need to prove to us what makes Troy so special that he can be the Red Ranger. Why can't it be Noah, who's smart enough to be a good leader? He's pretty on the ball when it comes to the others too, and even his self-doubt in the third episode would have been a great addition to a Red. Or Jake, who's too sure of himself and could really stand to get a rude awakening if he can't inspire anybody as leader (sidenote: If you are going to adapt Gokaiger as season two, which still makes no sense to me, how the hell are you going to have Noah suddenly become a badass swordsman and Jake totally lose all pretense of cool and just flail around like Ziggy? You really need to watch the suit footage and write personalities that work with the body language there!) The Red Ranger is the strongest Ranger ever (until the sixth guy, but by the end, it all evens out and Red's back in the lead again), and whoever you put in this spot damn well better deserve it.
And another thing: Your writers seriously need to hang out with some straight women. Once again, you have failed to convince us that the Pink and Yellow Rangers are not dating. And your girl-fights are just as sickening as they were when it was Ashley and Cassie or Maya and Kendrix.
Overall, the sense I've gotten from Megaforce is that if it's trying so hard to be MMMPR season 1 all over again (stereotypical characters, throwbacks to the original, setting, elements of the '90s slipping in), why not go all the way and make it a reboot? Do like RPM and set it in an alternate universe, or use that rejected idea from the end of Gokaiger and have it that the Rangers before them sacrificed themselves from existence and memory, leaving the Mega Rangers as the newest and first team of Rangers on a world without memories of the Power Rangers. It gives meaning to Troy's dreams by making them a mystery rather than just a nonsensical premonition thrown as a bone to fans. It gives them something more to fight for.
Megaforce has potential, but if Power Rangers is going to survive into the next twenty years, it needs to do what it did before and stop slavishly trying to relive the glory days. There will never be another MMPR just like there will never be another PRiS, TF, or RPM. They came together with the perfect mix of writing, acting, directing, executive oversight, and either keeping or tossing the plot of the original Sentai it was inspired by. Each one was a product of the specific combination of factors. Trying to recapture the magic is pointless--you have to make your own. Look at your show, look at your audience, and say, "What is the story I want to tell? Who are the characters that these kids will want to be? Who will I want them to be like?" and grow.