Zyuranger Episodes 17-22

(We start off today's episode with Linkara dressed as the Green Ranger)

Linkara: Hello and welcome to Atop the Fourth Wall. You know, a little known fact about me is that I am a fan of Power Rangers. I'll give you a moment to recover from that shocking revelation.

Linkara (vo): On the off chance you know nothing about Power Rangers, other than it features a bunch of multi-colored spandex heroes...

(Clip from Power Rangers RPM)

Doctor K: That... is not... spandex! The material is a self-assembling nano--

Linkara (vo): Whatever. The point is if all you know about it is that, the thing to note about all of its various seasons is that the majority of its action sequences come from a long running list of shows (clip of Power Rangers: Dino Thunder where the group watches the Japanese version, Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger) all classified as Super Sentai. It's kind of ingenious, really. While work still needs to be done to refoley and redub these sequences, you save a bunch of money on effects but don't have the awkwardness of dubbing that can make it look like a poorly recorded Godzilla movie.

Linkara: But since they started first and have been going on longer and have different quality standards than America, Super Sentai often has radically different plots than Power Rangers. Fortunately, hitting rubber suited monsters is a universal constant.

Linkara (vo): Now me personally, I'm just not interested in Super Sentai because it was Power Rangers that I grew up with. I don't doubt the quality of those shows, and I might even check them out later for funsies, but it's the American series with their puns and dangerous pink energy, and evil pizzas that are no match for a simple stoplight that will always be the thing I choose to behold.

Linkara: But then we have Patreon sponsored reviews so people can make me watch or read something against my will and here we are now. I am your obedient review puppet.

Linkara (vo): And thus we have this particular string of episodes for Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger (pronounced Joo-ranger)...

Linkara: Hey don't look at me like that. It's how it's pronounced.

Linkara (vo): ...a series about a group of warriors from an ancient human society that coexisted with dinosaurs until the evil witch Bandora waged war on the dinosaurs and wiped them out.

Linkara: Still a more accurate dinosaur history than Marville.

Linkara (vo): The five warriors were placed in suspended animation, because in fiction, ancient civilizations are more advanced than us, hence why they're all so easily destroyed. Before being awakened by the wizard Barza to contend with Bandora. Bandora herself had been exiled to another planet by Guardian Beasts. Said Guardian Beasts then lent their power to the five warriors so they could become multicolored fighters.

Linkara: But today's review gives us the sixth member of the ensemble, and the one that on American TV ended up becoming quite possibly the most popular Power Ranger of all time. Let's dig into Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger episodes 17 through 22 and see what I make of this stuff.

(We go to the opening sequence and the title card, which uses the Zyuranger theme)

Linkara (vo): The theme song of the show introduces us to our five heroes as well as a bunch of stop motion puppets resembling their ancient animals. Eat your heart out, Spielberg. The first thing that I notice about the song, especially in comparison to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is how much more mellow this theme song is.

Theme song: The legendary warriors/Zyuranger, Zyuranger/The hope that crosses time

Linkara (vo): Sure it has its exciting bits, but it's like "Yeah we got cool weapons, but it's not all that big a deal." So anyway, let's jump into the first scene of this children's show.

Bandora (Machiko Soga): Satan of hell!

Linkara: Damn it! Why didn't we have the Power Rangers fighting Satan and not just the Sentai? The Power Rangers could have stopped One More Day!

Linkara (vo): So after Bandora finishes pledging her allegiance to Spencer's Gifts, the Longbox of the Damned skull transmits a message to her crystal ball.

(Clip from Mystery Science Theater 3000)

Tom Servo: You've got mail.

Linkara (vo): The crystal ball shows a little boy who will apparently be important for her wish to destroy the Zyurangers. Said boy, in tiny shorts, because Japan, realizes that today is a special day and looks under the floorboards of his home. There, he discovers a chest and a green key within it that starts glowing. Enjoy the radiation, kid. And then smash cut to a dude surrounded by candles and covered in wax? Gotta say, this cemetery has a crappy maintenance staff for cleaning the crypts. However the kid's big nosed, and I mean obviously fake big nose even by low budget standards, grandpa arrives to try to get the key back from him. Naturally since this was of vital importance, he went home in his slow moving construction vehicle.

Gnome (Rikiya Iwaki): You took the key out, didn't you, Ryota?! Give me back the key!

Ryota (Hiroki Uemura): No! Stop Grandpa!

Linkara (vo): (singing) This is the song written for the kid chase. His grandpa will get back the key. He tried to kill him with a forklift. (normal) However it's not Gamera who comes to this child's aid, but the Zyurangers, who I guess have child danger sense or something. Also, two of our brave ancient guardians are smacked off the forklift by an octogenarian with a fake nose and sunglasses. Apparently the old guy is named Gnome who had previously helped the Zyurangers defeat whatever the hell they called Pudgy Pig in Japanese*. They try again to stop Gnome from killing his grandson, but Barza the wizard shows up in his very wizardly...white truck. He tells the five not to interfere. Linkara: Satan, child murder and tiny shorts. Thanks, Japan!
 * Pudgy Pig is called Dora Circe in Zyuranger