With the Disney Era coming to a close, Linkara takes a look at Power Rangers RPM, a season that had everything going against it from the Sentai footage, a change in producers, and a lack of faith from the Mickey Mouse overlords.
Tropes:
- Aborted Arc: Notes that with the change in showrunner and writer during the show's production, a few plot points didn't go anywhere or went different places than they would have under the original crew.
- Actually Pretty Funny: While not taken with "Power/Rangers" spoof film overall, he did laugh his ass off at its take on Hip-hopkido.
- Adapted Out: Points out that in Engine Sentai Go-onger the giant robots were fully sentient and could talk (which explains the big googly eyes), which was removed from RPM almost entirely (Dr. K explains while there is some living matter inside the Zords, there was not enough for them to be considered truly 'alive'). As a result, only the bare minimum of the Zord Super Sentai footage could be used.
- Alternate Character Interpretation: When Jungle Pizza is shown being shaken down, Lewis speculates that either a) Jungle Pizza is a chain restaurant, and this isn't the one RJ works at, or b) the RJ of this universe never became a Pai Shao.
- Alternate Universe: Goes into detail at the start of the review about how he personally dislikes alternate universes in franchises, as he prefers a serial continuity (partly in regards to the fact RPM is officially an alternate universe as of Samurai). He does, however, lament that making RPM take place in another reality was about the only way to have any future Power Ranger seasons (since it took place After the End of the Robot Apocalypse).
- Anti-Climax: In his opinion, the final fight with Venjix was a letdown, especially since the Rangers had destroyed Venjix's bodies before and there was nothing in the show that insinuated this time was any different ... although he does like that it was Dr. K who ultimately led to his downfall, as he enjoyed her getting that critical act of atonement for creating Venjix in the first place.
- He also disliked the ending to Summer's episode with her parents, mostly because it had such a token ending for being a (in his opinion, unnecessary) two-parter.
- Arc Welding: Whist Lewis notes that Power Rangers Samurai firmly placed RPM into its own separate universe, he notes that the destruction caused by Venjix could be quickly undone by some of the alien species seen over the course of the previous seasons heading to Earth & helping humanity rebuild, which would subsequently mean that they would be seen as humanity's friends whilst cybernetics would be persecuted due to Venjix's actions, which would explain their places in society as seen in Power Rangers S.P.D..
- The Bad Guy Wins: Discusses that Venjix came the closest out of any Power Ranger villain to pull this off due to pretty much taking over Earth.
- Body Horror: Points out Tenaya was pretty much the victim of this by Venjix, since by the time it's revealed she is Dillon's sister it's been shown at least one of her legs and hands have been removed and replaced with cybernetics (her hand now detachable, by the way) and her eyes had also been replaced to remedy her blindness.
- Broken Base: Despite that popular opinion online seems to treat RPM as the fan favorite season of the Disney Era, Linkara points out during his research of the season he found fans were a lot more divisive. He cites that many fans he talked to not liking the Darker and Edgier story mixed with the levity and Lampshade Hanging of Power Rangers tropes. He also notes that the reason the season was much more positively viewed after the fact was likely due to it no longer being the final season as it was originally intended to be. With that in mind, fans no longer had to look at RPM with the knowledge that this would be the last season of the show.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: He found the "Believe it will work" method of using the ranger powers to be much better implemented here than in Mystic Force thanks to Dr. K's more logic rooted explanations for it and because it actually played a role in Dillon's development. Since he was a cynic so used to not having hope, it would make sense for him to need to learn to have faith in something.
- Darker and Edgier: Linkara notes that this season was particularly dark in response to Disney wanting to appeal to older audiences instead of just little kids. At one point after a pretty heavy and emotional backstory episode for Dr. K Linkara says he's finally ready for some levity ... only for the next episode to feature a rather gruesome nightmare involving Dillon losing his blind sister in one of Venjix's factories.
- Executive Meddling: Again discusses that by this point Disney had long since stopped caring about the series and would've stopped at Jungle Fury if a clause from their European Jetix branch didn't state they had to a least make one more Power Rangers series. Luckily they decided to give free rein to the producers and let them do whatever they wanted since they figured it was the last season anyway. But for some odd reason fired Eddie Guzelian in the middle of the season with no explanation, forcing Judd Lynn to take over for the rest of the series. It thankfully didn't affect too much as Judd managed to play catch up and work with what they had, but it did alter some intended plot points.
- Establishing Character Moment: Praises the show for doing this well with Dillon. To get into specifics, in his first scene Dillon sacrifices the last of his water to a flower in the desert, which Linkara points out was a great way to establish him as an ultimately compassionate and human character, despite his dark and brooding attitude.
- Fan Film: He spends some time talking about Power/Rangers (Bootleg Universe), which was released within a few weeks of this installment. He stated outright he was not a fan, especially that the satire was not made by a fan but someone making a statement about the Darker and Edgier reboots Hollywood does. Among many things he listed Poe's Law and
Shallow Parody in how so many people were saying it was actually the Power Rangers "fans wanted." "Yeah, Zack doing drugs, sleeping with prostitutes and violently murdering enemies is what we always wanted to see." He does admit he laughed hysterically at the "Hip Hop Kido Dance Video." In the conclusion, he compares how the two handle similar ideas, listing RPM as actually being enjoyable while being darker and okay for kids to watch. - Filler: Points out the behind-the-scenes episode was this due to Judd Lynn taking over and needing something to stall for time while he got caught up with the series.
- Fridge Logic:
- Is baffled at how Summer's parents (and by extension, the rich family they wanted Summer to marry into) were able to survive in the post-apocalyptic city since they weren't skilled or smart, they were just rude, snooty rich people (in a time where, logically, the money from before the end of the world would really have little to no value anymore).
- Linkara also muses on RPM's status as being in an Alternate Universe, whether that its just an Alternate Timeline where previous Ranger teams did exist but were destroyed by Venjix's forces, or if this is a completely self-contained reality where the RPM team is the first Power Rangers team to ever be formed on Earth.
- Grand Finale: While this was long released after it was known that RPM isn't the grand finale, and, by extension, this isn't the finale of Linkara's series, it's still treated as such (with Linkara even adding a music video at the end with that sort of effect).
- Jitter Cam: While the series does lessen the Kalishplosions, its biggest weakness in the action scenes is the infamous Shaky Cam.
- Manchild: Theorizes that Gem and Gemma were intended to be this, as a counterpoint to Dr. K being socially awkward and introverted from being locked away in the government think tank, Gem and Gemma due to having each other in the same environment grew up socially awkward but very extroverted. This is also the reason for them never seeming to think about the consequences of their actions: they simply don't know any better.
- Misaimed Fandom: Discussed when he talks about the Power Rangers fan film that had come out since the last vid. He notes the maker of that vid intended it as a parody of Power Rangers, noting that if Hollywood rebooted it as a movie, they would probably try to play it seriously and make it Darker and Edgier at the cost of the cheesy charm and humor that makes Power Rangers what it is. However, Lewis also says that a lot of news articles and viewers missed that point, took the film seriously, and actually thought it was a good idea.
- Necessarily Evil: Describes Fresno Bob and his mafia as this in Corinth, and praises the show for giving a nod to the fact criminal organizations actually would be useful in a post-apocalyptic society (unlike, say, Summer's parents just because they were rich) since they could get much-needed supplies and materials using unscrupulous means that the government themselves couldn't use (although Linkara does point out the mafia's presence does show possible corruption in the governing forces in Corinth).
- Nightmare Fuel: Admits that the scene with Tenaya casually cornering Ziggy all while whistling a happy melody was pretty terrifying.
- Non-Indicative Name: Lewis points out how the name RPM suggests a car theme but has very little to do with a show set After the End due to the robot apocalypse.
- "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: Lewis gives one before he reads Eddie Guzelian's profanity-laden rant when he saw the incredibly goofy Go-onger footage he had to adapt into a show that would appeal to an older audience. To quote Guzelian below:Holy sh**! I just promised Disney I could turn this into a show that would appeal to an OLDER audience! I must be out of my f***ing mind! Holy sh**! Wait, what's on the front of that Zord? Are those motherf***ing eyeballs?!
- Obliviously Evil: While more anti-heroes than evil, Lewis comments that Gem and Gemma's problem with not considering the consequences of their actions is that due to how they grew up, they simply don't know any better and are mentally children.
- Out of Focus: Notes that it's one of the seasons where the Red Ranger isn't the show's focal point.
- Pragmatic Adaptation: Lewis comments on how different the source footage from Engine Sentai Go-onger was from RPM. He also points out that Eddie Guzelian was unfamiliar with the series, he did watch some episodes beforehand. This combined with the vastly different original footage led to script delays. This is actually rather ironic compared to Power Rangers Turbo which did something similar.
- Recycled Script: Notes the similarities of the brother-sister storyline from Power Rangers in Space
- Romance on the Set: Makes a typical "Aww, they should get married" joke about Ziggy & Dr. K's relationship, but expands it to note that the actors playing the characters actually did.note
- Running Gag: Is (jokingly) bewildered that this is now the third Power Rangers season in a row to have the mentor messing with their team's DNA (after Operation Overdrive and Jungle Fury).
- Sequel Hook: Talks about the fact that Venjix's AI was hiding in the Red Ranger morpher as this, as the production team were holding out hope that Disney would change their mind about the series (they didn't).
- Shallow Parody: Discusses the mean-spirited and superficial way the Power/Rangers short film treated the subject material with how RPM had an intimate understanding of Power Rangers tropes and made it self-aware but also something of a reconstruction by being self-aware and explaining how it all works.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: Discussed. Linkara believes that they went with the (much crappier) theme rather than what he felt to be the better theme due to said track not matching with the Darker and Edgier tone of the season. He points to Blake's 7 as an argument against that since it's one of the darkest Si-Fi ever yet has a very upbeat theme. Not to mention he judges it based on how pleasing it is to listen to and not whether it matches the show's tone.
- Take a Third Option: Most fans are split as to whether Summer is either a badass and one of the best characters of the season or a
Mary Sue who inserts herself where she's not needed/wanted and gets in the way of other Rangers development. Linkara thinks she's... Underdeveloped. He argues that most of her Character Development happens in her backstory episodes and barring that she's just sort of there. - Troubled Production: Coming off the writers strike, with producer Bruce Kalish leaving to do his own things, Disney always looking for ways to get rid of the show and hiring an untested producer Eddie Guzelian who promised to make an especially goofy Super Sentai series into a mature show that would appeal to older audiences. The said producer was replaced midseason over undisclosed reasons and veteran Judd Lynn took over. Linkara notes that, while it does show up in a shift in writing, the series is exceptionally strong regardless. If anything, he considers the fact that this season was finished at all as evidence that miracles exist.
- Vindicated by History: Discussed at the beginning. Linkara received confusion when he said that the season was divisive since many fans consider it to be one of the best. He states that he received loads of people on both sides hoping for praise or hatred. One of the reasons he believes that the backlash went down was due to Power Rangers continuing afterward, so people didn't have to worry about this season being the last.
- What Could Have Been: Claims that despite the obvious conclusion of Tenaya being Dillon's sister, he had heard ultimately this was going to be a Red Herring in the original script and she was not going to be. Although Linkara does seem quite a bit dubious of this.
- As mentioned above under Sequel Hook, The Stinger of Venjix hiding in the Red Ranger morpher was done in hopes of Disney changing their mind about cancelling Power Rangers.
- When Things Spin, Science Happens: Why is Dillon spinning on a turntable while the exposition on the ranger suits is given? Science.
