“pullin’ weeds and pickin’ stones / we are made of dreams and bones / need a place to call my own”

[larryhammer]

Over the past year, I've seen or listened to episodes from 13* different Power Rangers series, in some cases most of the series. Some are better than others:

1. Mighty Morphin (starting 1995) -- Did enough right to become popular; wears its cheese on its sleeve.


2. Power Rangers in Space (1998) -- Weak shadow of the original … in SPACE!


3. Lightspeed Rescue (2000) -- Just plain bad.


4. Wild Force (2002) -- Puts several of the original's cheesier elements on crack. Flying island lol whut?


5. Ninja Storm (2003) -- Does have ninjas, but also a lot of badly applied camp. +1 for the beetle-themed costumes.


6. Dino Thunder (2004) -- I have no idea what the heck I was watching, the one episode TBD accidentally chose while looking for Dino Charge.


7. Mystic Force (2006) -- Interesting concept (Rangers x Harry Potter) marred by a low budget.


8. Jungle Fury (2008) -- Interesting concept (Rangers x Kung Fu) marred by inexpert camp.


9. RPM (2009) -- Takes its low-budget 80s-era-post-apocalyptic vibe and runs with it. Have to admire that.


10. Samurai (2010) -- Surprisingly good, with a surprisingly good production budget. Plays the premise straight, using as much heart as the actors can emote.


11. Megaforce (2013) -- Almost as good, with almost as much heart. The buccaneer-themed costumes are a hoot.


12. Dino Charge (2015) -- Throwback to the original's dinosaur themes, only with actual dinosaurs. Better than average.


13. Ninja Steel (2017) -- Despite the name, no ninjas, and therefore not quite as good. The villainous game-show of the first season works surprisingly well, though.

Octonauts is much better.

Any recs for shows available on Netflix/Prime/PBS Kids to steer a going-on-6-year-old towards?


*Depending on how you count -- I consider Power Rangers Super Samurai a second season of, rather than separate series from, Power Rangers Samurai. If you don't, my last four series are really eight.

---L.

Subject quote from Garden Song, Dave Mallett.