(I know that this tidbit has already been shared before, so please forgive the oblivious nature of this article which was originally meant for my Deviant Art blog)
Well, 2010 has been a pretty good year for giant monsters in entertainment, which I hope to make a list of which in a 'year-in-review' type way come December, but here's the latest batch of good news related to Power Rangers, especially for someone like me, who still holds a secret crush for Itassis of the Ten Terrors...
http://www.variety.com/article/VR111801 ... id=14&cs=1
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2 ... decodernyt
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/enterta ... odeon.html
http://www.sabanbrands.com/brands.html
Now, I'm not too sure about theme parks and new feature films, BUT Nickelodeon is a good home for the franchise, especially after how infuriating Disney's treatment of
Power Rangers RMP was. And no, I'm not talking about the series itself, but the fact that it was a miracle to even catch an episode once every month on ABC's sports centric schedules.
Yes, for a while Jetix was basically the Power Ranger Channel, but the fact that all the seasons were done in a syndication package way, meant that a vast number of episodes were left in un-aired storage, with those 700 episodes ending up more like 80 or less. How many damn times can
I, Eye Guy be played in a single month? Than Jetix became Disney XD and, well it all went south for practically anything that wasn't reruns of some idiotic
Zack and Cody-style sitcom, of which is a far greater evil to children's mind than Power Rangers was...
...Sorry Brenda Song, you're gorgeous and all, not to mention one of the few Asian actress to continuous work in American television, in rather positive roles (somewhat) that don't have you becoming a North Korean spy or dead by episode's end, but you're still apart of the Laugh-Track Crisis. But if it makes you feel any better, you rank slightly above Itassis
Perhaps more thankful, is that
Power Rangers steered clear of Cartoon Network, where only
Ben 10 related programing is allowed to air without any major compilations. Even the high-profile
Star Wars: The Clone Wars rarely being seen on a regular basis outside obscure weekends. And with that said, maybe its ultimately a good thing that Gamera never got his animated series back in 2005 on Cartoon Network, or we'd be tracking down episodes like
Megas XLR thorough the 'gray-market' today.
But you want to know what the best thing about Power Rangers coming back on the air in late 2010 and newer episodes in 2011 is for me at least?
Forget the possibility of a new American Godzilla movie, its the fact that I'll be getting my weekly fix of bizarre but colorful non-human super villain monster-people (or Kaijin) back from this daft franchise is what truly makes 2010 a great year for giant monsters PERIOD!
Yes, there was a lot of dumb Super Sentai / Power Ranger baddies in both their designs and character that even I hated with a vengeance, most notably the overly silly crap from that insidious double act which was
Abaranger / Power Rangers Dino-Thunder, but truth be told the recent batch of monster designs have been mostly strong and consentingly so...in their own daft rights of course.
Magiranger / Mystic Force had some beautifully designed villains based on mythical beings and monsters from across the world (Itassis too); I enjoyed the competing but otherwise unrelated multiple villain factions of
Bokenrangers / Operation Overdrive; the Chinese influenced, animal-based martial artist demons of
Gekiranger / Jungel Fury were surprisingly opposing threats; and even the junkyard robots of
Go-Onger / RPM were most welcomed, though the said automatons had a lot more character dignity in the US version than the overly silly Japanese original...proving that not all Super Sentai is instantly superior to its American counterparts (not counting
Abaranger / Power Rangers Dino-Thunder of course)
The monsters and villains in the next two seasons are worth looking forward too, with
Shinkenger being based on Yokai legends, not to mention the Nanashi Company; catfish-like samurai troops who are among the more impressive cannon-fodder in Super Sentai history, with them going giant size on many occasions. And the fearsome alien invaders of
Goseiger whom are all loosely based on American sci-fi, fantasy, horror and monster movies, complete with the current lead villains being a homage to King Kong and the Blob of all things!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Cond ... p_Yuumajuu
http://supersentaiimages.blogspot.com/2 ... akuin.html
http://supersentaiimages.blogspot.com/2 ... nggon.html
Oh my God, I'm such a hopeless nerd!!!
