As despised as Bruce Kalish is as a producer of Power Rangers (not without goodreason), I feel with Jungle Fury, he did something right. I believe that a combination of Kalish's appalling record on the show, and Jungle Fury being succeeded by RPM leads to this factor, but anyway.
Jungle Fury's plot deals with a number of characters, and I found each major character interesting in their own way. Casey, as a deconstruction of the Rookie Red Ranger, works well and his development leads into a true Crowning Moment Of Awesome. Lily was probably the least well-defined main (at least to me), but even so she felt like a strong character who stood on par with the other Rangers. While I regret that the show didn't follow up too much on Theo's implied Ascended Fanboy status, he was a good character, albeit slightly egotistic at times. RJ was hands-down my favorite main character of the season, sheerly for his eccentric and quirky nature as a mentor, but also the utter prowess that quirkiness often masked. While Dominic seemed less developed than the other characters, I did find his introduction intriguing, and the character was at the least interesting. Jarrod, though the villain, carried an element of complexity to his character beneath the Demonic Possession of Dai Shi and his initial characterization as an Arrogant Kung Fu Guy, allowing me to take him as a much more interesting villain than the likes of The Master.
The series' musical score is excellent. The opening theme is a great breath of fresh air compared to the nightmare which was Operation Overdrive's, and the BGM was generally very good.
I particularly enjoyed that Dai Shi was not necessarily accepted right away by his former supporters. The Enemy Civil War subplot with Grizzaka added a nice aspect to Dai Shi where he had to struggle to gain the respect of his own forces once again. The episode where Whiger and Casey become (grudging) allies was also interesting to me, showing that although the villains are evil, they can bear similarities to the heroes and work beside them if necessary.
Overall, my feelings towards Jungle Fury are simply that it Needs More Love. It's not as good as the likes of RPM and In Space, but it is superior to Kalish's last two series, and works for his final series.
Needs More Love
As despised as Bruce Kalish is as a producer of Power Rangers (not without good reason), I feel with Jungle Fury, he did something right. I believe that a combination of Kalish's appalling record on the show, and Jungle Fury being succeeded by RPM leads to this factor, but anyway.
Jungle Fury's plot deals with a number of characters, and I found each major character interesting in their own way. Casey, as a deconstruction of the Rookie Red Ranger, works well and his development leads into a true Crowning Moment Of Awesome. Lily was probably the least well-defined main (at least to me), but even so she felt like a strong character who stood on par with the other Rangers. While I regret that the show didn't follow up too much on Theo's implied Ascended Fanboy status, he was a good character, albeit slightly egotistic at times. RJ was hands-down my favorite main character of the season, sheerly for his eccentric and quirky nature as a mentor, but also the utter prowess that quirkiness often masked. While Dominic seemed less developed than the other characters, I did find his introduction intriguing, and the character was at the least interesting. Jarrod, though the villain, carried an element of complexity to his character beneath the Demonic Possession of Dai Shi and his initial characterization as an Arrogant Kung Fu Guy, allowing me to take him as a much more interesting villain than the likes of The Master.
The series' musical score is excellent. The opening theme is a great breath of fresh air compared to the nightmare which was Operation Overdrive's, and the BGM was generally very good.
I particularly enjoyed that Dai Shi was not necessarily accepted right away by his former supporters. The Enemy Civil War subplot with Grizzaka added a nice aspect to Dai Shi where he had to struggle to gain the respect of his own forces once again. The episode where Whiger and Casey become (grudging) allies was also interesting to me, showing that although the villains are evil, they can bear similarities to the heroes and work beside them if necessary.
Overall, my feelings towards Jungle Fury are simply that it Needs More Love. It's not as good as the likes of RPM and In Space, but it is superior to Kalish's last two series, and works for his final series.