Milestone

First of all, this is a big moment for me. I never would have guessed that I could possibly post seven times in one month. I mean, during both January and February I almost got all the way up to seven, but for some reason I could not push beyond that six-post barrier. This is a magical event for me, kind of The Brave Little Tailor-ish.

But what would I possibly discuss in this monumental post? Well, none other than the Power Rangers! I can say quite honestly that what caused me to watch Power Rangers for the first time those many years ago was a nostalgia for a favorite cartoon of mine from my early childhood, Voltron: Defender of the Universe. Voltron was great; you had five humans who were faced with crisis after crisis, and in dire circumstances, they would pilot five giant robot lions. These lions were all hidden in some location surrounding the castle where the humans were based, and they usually could only access the lions from within this castle. Once within the lions, they would continue to battle the attacking evil, but would almost always have to unite to form one more powerful robot: Voltron. (And yes, I do know that there were other forms of Voltron as well - I can remember seeing the cartoon for the vehicle Voltron on occasion as well - but the lion Voltron was shown on television far more regularly.) And once Voltron was formed, there seemed to be no beast who could withstand its powerful sword. Oh, that was great stuff, but let's revisit the Power Rangers now.

The Power Rangers suck. I'm sorry, I just cannot possibly speak eloquently about this crappy show, or make that, these crappy shows. It is most disturbing to me that this show (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers), which apparently first premiered in the United States in 1993, just recently started its fifteenth series. Yes, that's right; we are now on the fifteenth entirely different series. If you have seen one episode of any of these Power Rangers series you are probably wondering just as I am how this is possible. Check that, if you have seen two episodes of any of these Power Rangers series you are certainly wondering how this is possible. If you have seen one episode, you are probably saying to yourself, "this is stupid," but if you have seen two episodes, you are probably thinking that you could write for the show but you would have to use a pseudonym because you would be ashamed to let anyone know whom you respect, and likewise respects you, that you are responsible for producing any of this crap.

Now, it is not because each of these episodes is essentially the same that this show is crap (although it certainly does not help matters), it is rather that the plot of this episode(s) and the acting within are so atrocious that one has little incentive to actually tune in again. One actually has a greater incentive to hit his or her television with a baseball bat (or some similar blunt object) so as not to have to watch the program again. But in reality, the plot did have similarities with Voltron's plots, but the presentation was horribly different. In Power Rangers, in every episode, there is some hand-to-hand combat. This is not necessarily bad except for the fact that there is a lot more choreographed dance-like nonsense that takes place leading up to the fight. There is also a lot of talking going on during these circumstances. If you're going to have a fight, then have a fight. If you're going to have do a lot of talking leading up to the fight, with a lot a dancing included, just commission someone to write some music and let's just turn this into West Side Story. Finally, the Power Rangers do end up defeating the monsters (as the Rangers wear tights in the process - another strike against the show), only to be forced to face one of the monsters who has grown to a size that dwarfs the city. (And yes, this happens in virtually every episode.) What are the Power Rangers to do? Well, they just say they need "Megazord Power" and summon their Zord robots who just happen to appear barreling down the landscape toward where the battle is taking place. Now, they don't actually fight with the individual Zords, they just immediately merge to form the Megazord. This begs the questions: what is the purpose of ever having the Megazord split up into individual Zords, and why would the creators possibly want the actors to fight these beasts while wearing tights?

But the larger question is who is possibly watching Power Rangers now that has allowed them to create fifteen series? I mean as children's entertainment goes, this is far less damaging to a parent financially than such things as Hannah Montana (which I talked about at length previously), but it is even more damaging because this is far, far stupider. So parents, stick with C-SPAN.