Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue Marathon and My Thoughts

[Dyl]

Hi everybody,
Last month I bought the seasons 8-12 boxset just so I didn't have to wait till the individual releases to appear. I usually make my self go through every disc to ensure that the disc isn't corrupt and everything is working perfectly.

I've started going through the Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue season and it honestly feels like a chore. I can't seem to fully accept the suits mainly due to the helmets. I came off Turbo and Space and I got used to the detailed helmet with a visor and a mouth piece and other details. The visor which covers the face isn't something I'm a fan of atleast not with LR. There isn't too much detail to their visors and it's simplified. It worked with Shinkenger/Samurai because their Kanji visors were detailed so it gave off the impression that there was a lot going on.

The season it self has a slow boring start IMO there isn't too much going on. The only exciting parts are when the rangers are interacting outside of their suits and the Joel and Ms. Fairweather scenes. I also don't understand the mentality of Captain Mitchel. He has a daughter that works along side him in Lightspeed who would be the ideal candidate for the leader in the team but he gives it to some one new. Of course I know the behind the scenes answer with Red always being leader and all that.

The Rangers

Carter
I got reminded why I love carter, that guy doesn't matter what situation he is in he always wants to help even in situations that put him in a great disadvantage. Especially in that Cyborg rangers episode, when they were relieved of their duties and they witnessed a huge explosion, Carter was ready to go and help even in his current state.

Kelsey
I love the energy in this girl she is always positive and ready to get into action. Reminds me the type of people I love being friends with that's free and crazy most of the time. I watched that episode with Nancy and I didn't get any gay vibe like most people say (I was expecting a lot of hugging or touching (arms around the shoulders) going on). However they didn't even interact all that much to even consider Kelsey was acting remotely gay.

Joel
I love his guy, he reminds me a bit of myself. When my mind is fixated on something I sometimes forget the things around me. In his case it was impressing Ms. Fairweather that he sometimes made it late to meetings and his duties. I also love his humor this is what I missed in Samurai and Megaforce. The humor didn't feel forced like it did in those two seasons.

Dana
She appears a bit more reserved than the other rangers but I like how she isn't afriad to stand upto herself. She comes off mysterious but you know she is just as eager to help. There isn't much to her I guess as the episodes progress they'll be alot to say

Chad
I had no opinion of him, he was just there for the most part. I noticed the acting was a little weak compared to the other four.

Mrs. Fairweather:
I like the idea how she is the brains of the operation and how she built most of it. The way she handles Joel and his flurtatious behavior is so funny. She lets him off easy while making sure not to hurt his feelings. It's clear she is one of those people that are more dedicated to their work to spare time for other things.

Captain Mitchel
First thing I noticed about him is his calm demeanor. I also love how Mitchel allows the rangers to figure out the errors of their ways like in that episode with carter. Carter was more concerned in wanting to help the family with the boy not knowing there were gas tanks which could explode causing greater devastation. Then there was that matter of trust episode where Dana thought he was smoothering her when really it was the complete opposite. Although in that case I think he should've used a different situation to show Dana how much he trusted her. Since this capsule needed to be brought to the base ASAP due to it's world destructing powers. We saw Dana acting out by wanting to do her own thing since she believed she wasn't trusted, so mitchel played a risky game although he meant well.

The Villains

At first I thought people were over exageerating Vipra's bad acting but the people in this forum were dead on. Her acting is horrid and that laugh...just no she should not do evil laughs(or atleast get some one to dub her laughs haha). Also knowing what Queen Banshira is like and what she does later, I must say it is sad how to see how loyal Diabolico, Vipra and Lokai are being to her and anticipating her arrival. I love Diabolico and his voice the person did a great job. He comes off calm and patient. I also like Jinxer that accent goes perfectly with the way he looks.

One question, I noticed that the LR rangers in certain scenes when they are beaten to the ground they lay there motionless. I never understood that, are those scenes showing that they've gone unconscious? I must say those scenes always felt awkward.

I'm so tempted to go to time force but I'm forcing my self to sit through lightspeed rescue. Mainly because I need to make sure each episode works fine, and I told my self it gets better just bare with the begining.

Well that is my 2 cents on the first 8 episodes I keep updating this thread as I progress LR on my thoughts.

[PrimoPiccolo]

I think all of your assessments are fair. Lightspeed Rescue will always be one of the polarizing seasons, though mainly I've seen it has to do far more with the surface material, i.e. the look of the Ranger suits or the powers themselves being man-made rather than the actual integrity of the stories themselves, which I always found interesting. Even in the "filler" episodes, the morals being taught felt organic and not hitting the audience over the head with the lesson.

[Twisted Haim Saban]

I need to rewatch this...again. I feel like I should like Lightspeed, and there are a lot of great points like you pointed out (I will argue Carter=badass to my dying days though), but it just seems really boring more often than not. It's not terrible by any stretch of the imagination, but to me it's just...boring a lot of the time.

[Dyl]

I stuck through and watched the next 9 episodes until “The Cobra Strikes”. I’m glad I did, because the show just took an exciting turn. It was nice seeing something different on the show separate from the usual formula.

In "Go Volcanic" the robber having gun and trying to control the situation was a breath of fresh air. It showed a real nice side to Dana, when the robber was hanging off the bus she was the only one who ran to his aid. It showed a real heroic side to her, she knew he was a threat but at the same time knew he did not deserve to die for it. Although he redeemed himself, I liked that he got arrested at the end because it sends a message that wrong actions aren’t erased by simply doing good deeds. Therefore one must still face the consequences.

Up to the challenge made me like Chad more, because it showed him as a level headed calm person. When Brain was egging Chad on, he didn’t let Brain get to him and played it completely cool. Even when Brain kept trying to fight him he only played defense not laying a hand on him. Most people (probably even me) in the moment if they have great fighting skills, they would use it towards a bully. So I respected Chad by a lot for the restraint he showed by being the bigger person. Even towards the end when Brain went as far as to get Vipra’s help to destroy the blue ranger, Chad still was fighting hard to save him. He showed no hatred or any signs of wanting to get revenge. This episode really made Chad shine, and I liked him a lot here.

The titanium ranger arc was just as amazing as how I remembered it to be. I must say holy shit I forgot how good looking Rhett Fisher is especially when he does the evil stare. The only thing about “Truth Discovered” was its inconsistencies. Mitchell tells a story about Diabolico taking Ryan from him stating0 he will only see Ryan on his 20th birthday. However Mitchell says “For 20 years I’ve waited to see him”, erm Ryan wasn’t taken just as he was born, he was clearly like 3-5 when he was taken. Technically it should have been “I’ve waited 15/17 years….”. Not sure how the staff didn’t catch that blunder.

It was awesome how Dana faces Ryan, but what I think would have been better is if Ryan had targeted Dana from the beginning. This way it would play on the mystery more (at least for the characters in the show). The second blunder is when Ryan saved his dad and then takes off his morpher and lays it on the ground. The next scene where he’s confronting Diabolico he has the morpher on his wrist. But I guess those blunders can be excused since the episode itself was amazing.

The next few episodes with the three strongest monsters of Diabolico was quite intense. Those monsters were ruthless and took the rangers down without trying. I loved how the LR rangers never got discouraged when they were beaten, they just kept pushing until they reached their goal. I am just in love with Ryan only a few episodes in and he is already proving how selfless he is by morphing to help the rangers knowing the Cobra will kill him. Yes I said kill instead of destroyed, it is silly how much they over use the word destroyed when you know they mean “kill or death”.

It’s great how they used an existing robot(Solar Zord counter part) from GoGo V and tied it nicely to the Titanium ranger. I remember as a 14 year old not liking the Max Solar Zord, but seeing it in action now made me fall in love with it. Especially how it's able to switch from Rocket or Robot so fast, so not sure why I disliked it as a 14yr old.

The fact that Diabolico can enter Ryan’s dreams and do something that’ll affect him for real is pretty cool, and makes me wonder why he hasn’t done anything similar to the other rangers. Towards the end when Ryan gets rid of the curse seemed quite rushed. It made no sense how he knew exactly what to do and where to go. He claimed Diabolico revealed the place, but I recall no such thing.

Overall there was a huge improvement within these 9 episodes that I watched, I’m glad I kept watching. I’ve noticed that LR is heavily reliant on their side arms, they barely ever use the rescue bird weapons separately. Also the rescue bird weapons are really tiny, does anyone know if they used the toy versions? Because they look just like the miniature role play weapons we usually get from Bandai.

The suits are warming up to me, I guess I just needed to see them in action more.

Without a doubt Ryan is my favourite character his entrance along with all the episodes which followed did the character a great deal of justice.

I look forward for the next few episodes. I’ll post my thoughts once again after the next 8-10 episodes