Well, we're four episodes into a quite short season, and I must say that I've been quite impressed by what's been served up so far. The 20th Anniversary for PR looks like it's going to be an interesting one, and now that we've gotten over the initial hump, there are a few thoughts I have about the season so far.
It's Much Better Than Samurai
Despite my earlier defence of the season, I do admit that Samurai was subpar. My point in that article is that its flaws have been overstated by a fandom that it a little too nitpicky for its own good. With that said, Megaforce is turning out to be an enjoyable season. With one exception that I'll get into below, the acting is of a good standard for the show, the writing is less sloppy (bar a few dodgy moments, like the freeing the civilians scene wedged into "Going Viral") and it's an overall much more enjoyable season to watch. There are some small problems, but I'm more willing to overlook them when as a whole I'm not taken out of the viewing experience by stupidity.
Troy is Disappointing
I put this down to two factors- his actor and the sort of character he portrays. Andrew Gray doesn't emote very well, and it's led to his character being constantly described as 'the pouty one'. This isn't helped by the script, which hasn't given his character much focus. This of course makes sense from an adaptation point of view- the team is really three tribes working together, so having a leader in this setup would imply one tribe is superior to the others, which of course isn't true. This has led to some more spread out focus, though so far it's primarily on Gia, Noah and Jake. I'm not complaining though, their actors are great. Getting back to Troy though, what's with his hate of plastic bottles? He hasn't actually mentioned his Legendary War dreams to Gosei yet... why?
This Season is Incredibly Compressed
Cramming a Sentai season's worth of toys into 22 episodes means that we're going to get a squeezed in season. So far we've already had two sets of aux zords introduced, and I imagine that we'll have the same pace of arsenal introduction through the whole season. I haven't watched Goseiger so I don't know how many zords that are left to introduced, but I imagine that it would be a lot. It also means compressing the story a lot, which could be a good thing, or it could result in some characterisation being underdone (Emma is pushed aside a lot, for example).
Gosei is Useless. And His Little Robot Too
When the rangers first arrived in Gosie's cave, I was disappointed with the set because it's... well, shit. However, they so rarely visit that it's not a problem really. His advice, though, is not very helpful. "Oh rangers, civilians have been turned into Loogies. Be... careful, I guess. Don't hurt them?" It's possible that Gosei will suffer from "Samurai Bulk Syndrome"- a character crammed in for nostalgic purposes, but due to story reasons (and I would argue in PRM time would be a factor... those are packed episodes) become sidelined and become an afterthought. His biggest role so far has been... to yell out the name of the weapons. Tensou is a little silly looking, but I kinda like the little guy. He reminds me a bit of Johnny 5 which isn't that bad, because I like those movies. His motion is a lottle *too* smooth, making it look a little unreal, but that doesn't really bother me.
The Producers are Getting Better at Switching Between Sentai and Original Footage
Several fights have been a blending of Sentai and original footage, and the producers have been getting better at finding locations that look very similar to the ones used in the Sentai. This makes everything a lot more seamless, and is less jarring than some of the transitions seen in Samurai. There are a few bad moments, such as in "Going Viral", when the woman trying to avoid getting hurt in the fight suddenly becomes an unconscious Japanese woman, that the use of Sentai footage is a detriment, but overall they're doing a good job. "Stranger Ranger does a reasonable job of blending different footage to incorporate the 'impostor' ranger.
This is the First Season I've Followed an Actor I've Liked
Samurai was the first PR season where I followed the actors in social media- hell, it's the reason why I got a Twitter account. However, the reasons weren't all that positive- I wanted to follow Najee because his tweets were hilariously stupid. This season is different because of one person- Ciara Hanna. The actor who plays Gia is an awesome person, who is a lot of fun. I follow her Twitter account and her Youtube account and she just seems like a really sweet, nice person. It makes me slightly hesitant to be critical of her because I have seen the person behind the character. With that said... I quite like Gia. She's not a typical yellow ranger which is kinda refreshing. She's still an archetype, but Ciara does it well. Or am I biased?
Sonically, the Episodes are a Mess
Technically the episodes look really good, but they don't sound very good. Firstly, a lot of the ADR sounds very fake. This has been largely fixed, but there are times when it just feels like the actors are too close to the microphones. The biggest problem, though, is over compression. This was a bit of an issue in Samurai, but it's become a big problem here. The music is very compressed, and it just creates a wall of noise that's really difficult to listen to. Add on top of that the sound effects and ADR, and it just sounds very messy. There hasn't been time to carve out sonic notches for each element of the soundtrack, so each part steps on every other part's toes. It's almost like they decided to combat the problem of overcompressed commercials by making the show overcompressed as well. Not a good idea.
Overall
I like what they've done so far. Now that the excitement of having a season that's not shit has died down, I'm coming to enjoy it for what it is- a fun season that's somewhere in the upper levels when it comes to quality. There is no doubt that the season is not perfect- no season is- but I like to stand back and approach the show as a whole rather than something made up of individual parts. Does this season entertain me? Well... yes. It's fun and embodies that incredibly difficult to pin down essence of PR, which for me is all about making half an hour of escapism with great fights and cool robots. Yeah, it's a pretty loose definition, but hey, it means that PR can be whatever it wants to be. And that's why it's such an interesting show- it reinvents itself with every incarnation.
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