What I Would’ve Done With Megaforce/Super Megaforce

So, a few days ago, I ranted a lot about everything that was wrong with Power Rangers Super Megaforce. However, while I did touch base briefly on various things I would’ve done with the season, as well as Megaforce in general, I thought I’d save the majority of it for its own article. Now, some of these might not add up with one another correctly. They aren’t necessarily supposed to, though. They’re just various ideas I’ve had about how the past two seasons could’ve been done differently. So, let’s start off with an idea I had about what they could’ve done with the Rangers before I learned their back-stories and such…

#1 – The Megaforce Rangers Come From Eltar

For those not in the know, in Tensou Sentai Goseiger, the season of Super Sentai adapted into Megaforce’s first season, the Rangers were actually angels. Well, kinda angels, anyway. They’re called Gosei Angels, come from a place called Gosei World, and blend in with humanity to generally guide and protect them. And given Jonathan Tzachor’s love of directly translating the Sentai, I thought that it would actually be an interesting twist on that (and would also fit with Super Megaforce, which was adapted from a season where the Rangers weren’t from Earth) if the Megaforce Rangers were actually from Eltar, having to blend in with humanity while defending them from Warstar forces, and meet up with Zordon’s apprentice, who grants them their Megaforce powers. Granted, you’d wanna make sure they didn’t go full-blown on reusing the stories from Goseiger, and do NOT show them with wings at any time. Also, doing this would make Troy’s Super Saiyan “I AM A MAN!” punch to Robo Knight make a lot more sense, since he could’ve been channeling power from Eltar, which we’ve established was enough to fuel the Turbo Zords and powers.

#2 – Bulk and Skull

One thing that has made me scratch my head a LOT is the presence of Bulk and Spike in Power Rangers Samurai. It just seems completely out of left field for Bulk to want to be a samurai, and you REALLY need to make some serious assumptions with the timeline of Power Rangers to figure out how Skull has a teenage son (and I swear, if I hear one more person suggest that Kimberly is Spike’s mother…). What would’ve been much better use of Bulk, and hopefully Skull, would be for them to run the hangout for the Megaforce team. Why? Well, because having them run a juice bar or the like would be a great way to follow up on their development as characters. Plus, imagine some of the stories that can be told if Bulk and Skull found out about Troy and the others being Power Rangers, and being able to relay stories of the Zordon Era Rangers to them. And as a personal plus to me? We wouldn’t have the most literal retread of Ernie’s possible, even having a whole new character who has the same name…which is HIGHLY UNCOMFORTABLE TO ME. Look, maybe it was meant as a tribute or homage to the character and the actor who played him, but it still comes off as uncomfortable to me that we now have a character who more or less replaces him, especially considering that the actor passed away several years ago! Admit it, if the Yellow Ranger was named Trini, people would be more than a little uncomfortable. And speaking of stuff that should’ve been held back for Megaforce…

#3 – The Opening Theme and Morphing Call

Look, I have no problems with them reusing Go Go Power Rangers for Megaforce (although I would’ve gotten Ron Wasserman to produce and sing the remix), nor do I have a problem with their morphing call being “Go Go Megaforce!”…Or rather, I WOULDN’T mind them doing those two things if it was JUST for Megaforce. However, these are both carry-overs from Samurai, which had no business using either of those things. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Samurai should’ve had its own unique theme with a Japanese tone to it, and the only reason it didn’t was so Saban could continue the theme of “Power Rangers is back!”. It would’ve been far more meaningful and make more sense if Go Go Power Rangers was saved for Megaforce. And if I may be allowed to go on a tangent (too late, lol), I know that there was originally going to be a different theme done for it, but this was vetoed by interference from Nick, and that the theme for Dino Charge is another remake of Go Go Power Rangers, all because Nickelodeon insists on using the old theme. Again, I don’t mind the song being used for Megaforce, since it’s the 20th Anniversary season. However, I DO mind it on the grounds for why it’s ACTUALLY being used. That said, at least Dino Charge is an ACTUAL remake, and very energetically…well, for a lack of a better term, CHARGED. And in terms of “It’s Morphin Time!” being used as a pre-morphing call order of sorts…Meh, I don’t really mind, honestly. As someone who’s used it myself in that same manner for my own Power Rangers story, I can tell you it works a hell of a lot better than the oftentimes used “READY?!”. I guess “Let’s Ranger Up!” is decent enough, but I just prefer “It’s Morphin Time!”. Just personal preference, really.

#4 – Don’t Use The Gokaiger Costumes

Now, I know a lot of people who love the Gokaiger suits and equipment are gonna hate this idea, and I’d be lying if I didn’t get why: They ARE really cool. However, here’s the reason why I wouldn’t use them: They kinda clash in more ways than one with the Megaforce Rangers. Why DOES Jake go from Black to Green? Now, the obvious explanation is because there was no Black Ranger in Gokaiger, but there were Red, Blue, Yellow, and Pink Rangers, so Jake was the odd one out. But beyond a production reason, another explanation is the fact that a lot of Ranger teams use similar colour-schemes, with several teams having a Black or Green Ranger, and few having both without one being the Sixth Ranger (notable exceptions including RPM, hence why Emma uses Dillon’s Ranger Key, to the point where now I’ve gotten way too used to seeing RPM Black’s costume have a skirt). But still, it’s odd to see a Super Mode change a Ranger’s colour, and the use of GokaiGreen footage is the reason why Jake had to be made a clumsy oaf, as to fit such footage. Instead, I would just have the Rangers go Legendary Ranger Mode using new Power Cards…which, honest to God, I thought they were gonna do at first, when the card game and Morpher sold in stores had cards for various Rangers both in and out of PR canon. Plus, I’m sorry, but it bugs the heck outta me that Super Mega Mode makes them look like pirates. Gokaiger makes the pirate motif work for them (especially since their enemies are a giant space fleet with a old-school navy feel to them, and pirates are the natural antagonists to naval fleets), but it doesn’t make any sense for these kids, especially since there’s no explanation for the motif, nor does anyone bring it up. And hell, why take focus off of the Goseiger suits? They work perfect for the 20th Anniversary. Seriously, look at the Megaforce Rangers and tell me they don’t heavily resemble the Mighty Morphin Rangers. And in terms of Orion, there WAS a Green Ranger costume made for Goseiger for a single scene. Really, the only thing I would do is add a golden shield to it, akin to Tommy’s shield when he was the Green Ranger. That said, there IS one other way they could use the Gokaiger suits…

#5 – Have The Gokaigers Used Initially As Villains

Basically, among the Armada would be a group of space pirates who got mind controlled into becoming evil Rangers and wind up stealing the Legendary Keys from the Command Center. The two teams get into a massive battle until a monster from the Armada takes the keys when it looks like the evil Rangers might lose. The pirates are freed from their mind control and team up with the Megaforce Rangers to take on clones of the Rangers created from the Legendary Ranger Keys, and reclaim said keys. The pirates would then either give their Legendary Morphers to the Megaforce Rangers, thus justifying them having pirate-themed weapons, equipment, and Zords, or become a secondary group to supplement the team, making use of their ability to morph into previous Rangers. Hell, if they went with the former, it would be a better way to give Orion his own Ranger Key and Morpher: The pirates made them and gave them to him to go assist the Megaforce team. And yeah, in case you’re wondering, this WOULD make use of footage from the Gokaiger/Goseiger team-up movie, though with some additionally filmed footage…which brings me to my next point.

#6 – Proper Use Of Stock Footage

I’m sorry, but one the bigger issues with Super Megaforce is the overuse of Gokaiger footage. Now, in some cases, it’s perfectly fine to use the Gokaiger footage, since it’s plenty action-packed with badass action scenes. However, some of these scenes definitely needed to be left out or edited better than they were. Specifically, stuff like Jake and Orion’s mannerisms not matching the footage used for them (and Noah to a lesser extent), and certain Legendary Ranger Modes that really shouldn’t have been included (seriously, that battle with Levira should’ve had them use different Legendary Rangers, though at least they had Troy go MMPR Red). Now, on the flip side, there’s some moments in Gokaiger that weren’t used in Super Megaforce that I wish they HAD used. Time Force and Lightspeed Rescue were barely used at all in Super Megaforce, with I think only Jen and Chad’s keys being used to go Legendary Mode, and Quantum Ranger’s key used to summon the Q-Rex (which I assume is either a brand new version of the Q-Rex built by Time Force, or an upgrade of the original. Personally, I hope it’s the former, since otherwise, it means Eric doesn’t have a Zord anymore). Plus, I would’ve loved to see certain Legendary Ranger Modes used, like Yellow Ranger Mode, Silver Ranger Mode, Sixth Ranger Mode, and so on. So, I suppose it’s really about having a better balance of old and new footage.

#7 – Megaforce and Samurai Team-Up

What I thought would’ve been a lot better than what we got for the Samurai homage episode would be a made-for-TV movie set in Megaforce, where Vrak takes control of the remaining Nylok forces for his own purposes. And yeah, I know that the last made-for-TV PR movie didn’t work out so well, but considering how they got most of the Samurai cast to make cameos in Super Megaforce, I’m sure they could get the whole cast back for this, and if it was more or less an adaptation of Goseiger vs Shinkenger, trust me, the story would’ve been a lot better than Clash of the Red Rangers. It’d have awesome stuff like…well…Well, just look!

Hell, they coulda then made use of the episode of Gokaiger where they go back in time to the final battle of that movie (hence the Gokaiger debut being in that movie, which was set before the Great Legend War, when the Ranger Keys were created), where the Super Megaforce team has to do the same. Woulda been kickass.

#8 – Legendary Rangers Minisodes

This is basically the best way I could think of to excuse the use of the Legendary Rangers who were Sentai teams that weren’t used for Power Rangers. In a nutshell, they would be short 5-15 minute episodes telling about the Rangers’ stories, their battles, who they were, and who some of their enemies were. They coulda been exclusives shown on Netflix, or the show’s website. Granted, this is supplemental material to explain something in the main series, which can be considered a failure in storytelling, but at least we’d have SOMETHING. They’d also be super-easy to make, too. And hey, after you’re done explaining the various Ranger teams used for Legendary Mode, they could then tell some more of the back-story for Megaforce, where the keys come from, and what the Legendary Rangers are doing in the middle of the battle with the Armada.

So yeah, other than stuff I’ve already discussed (Jake’s stalker nature, the need for stuff to be properly explained, additional cameos) and little details that they got wrong about previous seasons (the island of the Wild Zords is called the Animarium, while the kingdom it once belonged to is called Animaria, and it wasn’t pronounced like you had people do in Super Megaforce), that’s all I got for now. Lemme know in the comments section below if there are any you’d add. Next time I talk PR, I think I’d like to discuss the future, which is honestly looking a bit brighter than the past four years have. So, feel free to check back in then, as we unleash the power of Power Rangers Dino Charge. Ja né!