TV Flashback… Power Rangers Zeo

Originally published on Set The Tape

In the third part of our ongoing series to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Power Rangers franchise, we take a look at Power Rangers Zeo.

Immediately following on from the events of the final season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers, Power Rangers Zeo saw a huge change to the Power Rangers franchise.

Despite the success of Power Rangers: The Movie, and the show continuing to maintain the number one ratings in it’s time slot, Saban were concerned that the franchise was close to losing its popularity, in part due to a decline in merchandise sales. The company knew that a change was needed.

With the added difficulty of trying to adapt new Super Sentai shows around the original costumes, something that had caused issues during the second and third seasons of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Saban decided that cosmetic changes would help, by abandoning the original costumes and using those of the next Super Sentai series. This would both negate a lot of the production issues that had plagued the series, as well as allowing them to release a whole new range of merchandise.

As such, Power Rangers Zeo was devised. Adapting Choriki Sentai Ohranger, the show would introduce new costumes, new Zords, and for the first time, new villains.

With the previous show ending with the apparent destruction of the Command Centre, Power Rangers Zeo sees the de-powered Rangers getting a new base of operations, the Power Chamber, as well as a whole new set of powers from the Zeo Crystal. The crystal turns Kat (Catherine Sutherland) into Zeo Ranger 1 Pink, newcomer Tanya (Nakia Burisse) into Zeo Ranger 2 Yellow, Rocky (Steve Cardenas) into Zeo Ranger 3 Blue, Adam (Johnny Yong Bosch) into Zeo Ranger 4 Green, and Tommy (Jason David Frank) into Zeo Ranger 5 Red.

Bearing geometric shapes on their helmets that related to their numbers, the Zeo Rangers felt more cohesive than they had in previous seasons, where their dinosaur costumes bore little resemblance to their animal Zords. Here, however, their number and shape motifs would be repeated throughout the season.

As well as changes to the Rangers, the first story also saw a major shift in the shows villains, with Rita Repulsa (Carla Perez) and Lord Zedd (Robert Axelrod) being driven off their base on the moon by a larger, more powerful force. The Machine Empire, a race of mechanical beings, set their sights on Earth after conquering a whole series of galaxies.

These new villains not only up the ante on previous seasons, with a huge empire backing the main villains, but also give a coherent theme to the monsters of the week, as they are all robots. Whilst there were never many serious complaints about the violence in the show in the past, it was a lot easier for Saban to justify the Rangers destroying robots than organic monsters.

The Machine Empire were also a lot more complex than Rita and Zedd, bringing with them a history that seemed to be lacking from the previous shows. There was King Mondo (David Stenstrom), Queen Machina (Alex Borstein), and their son Prince Sprocket (Barbara Goodson); but over the course of the season this dynamic would shift as Mondo would be destroyed, replaced by a usurper called Louie Kaboom (Lex Lang) who took over the Empire.

Later episodes would then bring in Prince Gasket (Douglas Sloan), the elder son of Mondo who returned to the Machine Empire after giving up his title in order to dethrone Kaboom and take his fathers place. It was very much like a Game of Thrones for kinds, with double dealings, secret pacts, and political intrigue.

Over the course of the season a sixth Ranger would be introduced, the mysterious Gold Zeo Ranger, whose identity would be teased across several episodes. Eventually, the original Red Ranger, Jason (Austin St. John) would be brought back into the show to take on the powers of the Gold Ranger, a decision that excited numerous fans of the original series and helped to increase ratings a lot.

The series would also introduce Tommy’s brother, played by his real life brother Erik Frank, revealing that Tommy was adopted as a child. Whilst Erik would appear across a handful of episodes, and would be one of the red herrings for the identity of the Gold Ranger, he wouldn’t return to later incarnations of the show due to his untimely death.

Power Rangers Zeo would also mark the last appearance of Billy Cranston (David Yost) the last remaining original Power Ranger. Despite not receiving new Zeo Ranger powers Billy stayed a part of the show, worming at the Command Centre as the Rangers support and tech person, helping them to complete their missions and even developing their new Zords.

Unfortunately, Yost would leave the show abruptly, meaning that stock footage and a voice actor would be used in his final episode. Despite claims from Saban that he quit the show over pay disputes, it would later emerge that he left due to intense homophobic bullying on the set from members of the crew, something that had been going on for years.

The first time that the show would undergo a major cosmetic shift, changing the costumes, Zords, and villains, this move not only helped to secure the popularity of the franchise, but created a formula that would continue on for decades. Whilst this may not be cited as a favourite show of every single Power Rangers fan, it was immensely important in securing a lasting legacy.


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Marvel’s Runaways – The Comics

Originally published on Set The Tape

Marvel’s Runaways is the latest television offering drawn from the pages of Marvel Comics. Despite being a book that many people will not have heard of, Runaways has been around for over a decade, debuting in early 2003 to critical acclaim.

Created by Brian K. Vaughan, best known for comic series such as Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, and Saga, with art by the talented Adrian Alphona, the book tells the story of a group of teenagers who discover that their parents are more than they appear, being part of the super villain group ‘The Pride’.

Alex Wilder is the son of Geoffrey and Catherine Wilder, and the first member of the group introduced in the book. He’s the one that suggests the kids spy on their parents, which leads to them discovering their bad guys after witnessing them sacrificing a girl, and organises their runaway. Over the course of the books Alex becomes obsessed with the Abstract, a mysterious book belonging to their parents, and doesn’t really integrate into the team. Over the course of the series Alex is revealed to have his own sinister plan for the Runaways.

Chase Stein is the son of Victor and Janet Stein, the scientific members of The Pride. Brash and rebellious, Chase went against his parents even before he found out that they were villains. Failing to get the grades his father wanted in his studies, and rejecting their desire for him to go into the sciences, Chase was often physically abused by his father. As a part of the Runaways he’s often the most reckless of the group, charging into danger using his parents tech as his weapons.

Gertrude Yorkes is the daughter of Dale and Stacey Yorkes, who are revealed to both be time travellers. Already disliking her parents even before discovering their true identities, she quickly accepts the life as a Runaway. Whilst she doesn’t have any physical attributes or powers herself, she does possess a psychic bond with a velociraptor called Old Lace, which she can command to attack people.

Karolina Dean is the daughter of famous Hollywood actors Frank and Leslie Dean, who the Runaways discover are actually members of the alien Majesdanian race. Discovering that she herself is alien, and the medic alert bracelet she wears actually hides her powers, she removes it and unlocks the ability to absorb and radiate solar energy. Over the course of the series it is revealed that Karolina is a lesbian, and even enters into a number of relationships with other heroes.

Molly Hayes is the youngest member of the Runaways at just 11 years old, and is the daughter of Gene and Alice Hayes, who she discovers are mutants with powerful psychic abilities. Having inherited her parents mutant genes, her powers manifest, giving her super strength and invulnerability. Despite being the youngest member of the team she often displays emotional maturity, and is always willing to put herself in danger for her friends. She’s so strong that she was named the fourth toughest female character in the Marvel universe behind She Hulk, Rogue, and Miss Marvel.

Nico Minoru is the daughter of Robert and Tina Minoru, who were dark sorcerers. Using the Staff of One, stolen from her parents, Nico begins to practice magic, and eventually becomes the leader of the Runaways. Standing out in her ornate Gothic wardrobe, Nico is one of only a few Japanese-American super hero team leaders.

Over the course of Runaways the team have to deal with betrayal from within, time travel villains, their future selves, vampires, and alien engagements, as well as all the stress and difficulty of being a teenager.

The series forces the Runaways to not only confront the sins of their parents, but also to look at the kind of people they are, and who they want to be. Personal and romantic relationships shift, outlooks change, and some are even lost to death.

Runaways might seem like a book for teens, focusing on a group of kids, but it has a lot more layers than that. It displays surprising maturity and complexity, and connects to numerous parts of the Marvel Universe.

It’s not clear how closely the series is going to remain to the books, there have already been some big changes within the backstories and personalities of the team itself, so if you do enjoy the show but want to see some different stories with the characters, and to see them interact with people like Wolverine, definitely go and check out the books.


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Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Omnibus, Vol. 1 – Book Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

Dive deep into the Turtle’s expanded universe with this collection of stories from the original Mirage Comics. Short, one-issue stories are presented in the Tales of the TMNT series that gave readers an in-depth look at Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, Casey Jones, and Splinter, but also spent time delving into the stories of background characters like Nobody, Rat King, and Savanti Romero.

Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writers: Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Jim Lawson, Ryan Brown, Steve Murphy, Rick Remender, Eric Talbot, Dan Berger
Artists: Jim Lawson, Dario Brizuela, Rick Remender, Chris Allan, Dan Berger
Pages: 508
Price: £26.99

With over five hundred pages, the Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Omnibus Volume One is a hefty book, and one that gives readers a broad experience. Collecting together all of the original run of the series, published from 1987 to 1989, and the first eight issues of the second run that started in 2004; which would go on to have 70 issues. Having the original volume, plus the start of the second, provides readers with very different content, from the original works of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, to the series as it would evolve over the next sixteen years.

Fortunately, despite this huge jump in the middle of the book, it doesn’t feel like a huge change, and still reads as one cohesive style. The main indicator that things have progressed to the second volume is the modernisation of the art styles. Both volumes of the title have the same opening splash page, the same one-shot style, and the line ‘let me tell you a story’ in the introduction. It shows that despite the writers and artists having changed, despite the comic industry having evolved, the people behind the title share the same love, passion, and dedication as the original creators.

The book itself doesn’t have a connective narrative between the issues, other than one story that is told across two parts all of them are single issue stories. Whilst this may not be to everyone’s taste, it does mean that we get lots of different looks into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles universe, with different characters getting the spotlight, crazy adventures, and some drastically different art styles.

Many of the stories in the book are fairly standard tales, grounded much more in the more normal reality and tone of early TMNT. The first story, ‘A Tale of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ sidelines the Turtles themselves, instead giving readers a look into the family history and personal life of their long time ally Casey Jones; ‘Nobody’s Fool’ has the Turtles team up with an vigilante cop who has gone outside of the law to track down a gun runner; and `Leatherhead’ shows the introduction to the mutant crocodile Leatherhead, who would go on to be a staple in the TMNT universe.

The book does, however, also showcase some of the more bizarre elements of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics. ‘Complete Carnage and Radical’ tells the story of the super villain Complete Carnage, a gargoyle like creature, and his mission to destroy the super hero Radical, a story that barely features the Turtles; ‘The Return of Savanti Romero’ has the Turtles travel back to the Cretaceous period to stop history from being altered; and ‘Darkness Weaves’ tells the story of a pop star that is using her music to enchant her fans in order to make them drink her cursed blood in order to turn them into werewolves (yes, that one is particularly strange).

Whilst most of the stories collected within this massive volume are fun little stories that make a nice distraction, there are a couple that stand out as particularly brilliant.

‘Blind Faith’ tells the story of Leonardo having to fight against a blind ninja who holds a vendetta against him. Being blinded by a poison early on in the fight, Leo is forced to rely on his other senses to do battle. The issue depicts this brilliantly, with the panels being all black, and the action in stark white silhouettes. The issue immediately stands out, it’s art style vastly different from anything else within the book. Coupled with a devastating conclusion that ends on a complete down note, it’s easily one of the best issues of the book.

There’s also ‘Scars’, which tells the tragic story of a man whose life is brutally torn apart, and the lengths that he is willing to go in search of justice, which eventually becomes a warped quest for revenge.

The art styles of the early issues remain relatively similar, though they do begin to vary as the book enters the second volume. One thing that remains constant throughout all the stories, however, is that all of the turtles are wearing red bananas. I know this is how the characters began, and have seen a number of images of them all in red, but this is the first time that I’ve actually read a book with them without their iconic mixture of colours. Whilst it if fun to see the older style, unfortunately, it did lead to some confusion as to which turtle was which on more than one occasion.

Collecting together a large number of issues that tell a huge variety of stories, the Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Omnibus Volume One is a great read, one that is sure to appeal to both long time fans of the franchise, and to new readers alike.


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Marvel’s Runaways – What Could Be Adapted Next?

Originally published on Set The Tape

The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand, adding more television shows to its roster with the addition of Marvel’s Runaways, based upon the popular series created by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona.

With television proving to be one of the more popular mediums for telling superhero stories, what comics could Marvel adapt next?

Young Avengers

Comics are often about legacy, with heroes changing and evolving over the decades that they’re produced,  with new characters coming in to take on the mantles of older heroes, or to carry on their legacy in some form. Young Avengers is a book all about this.

Originally a 12 issue limited series, it proved so popular that the characters have been features across multiple titles ever since. The most popular version of the team consists of Patriot/Elijah Bradley, a descendent of a super soldier from World War 2 who carries a shield similar to Captain America’s first one, and dresses in a costume reminiscent of Bucky Barnes; Hawkeye/Kate Bishop, a young woman with incredible archery skills that took on the mantle of Hawkeye following the death of Clint Barton.

There is also Stature/Cassie Lang, the daughter of Scott Lang/Ant-Man, she has the ability to shrink and make herself larger at will; Wiccan/Billy Kaplan, a magic user that is also the son of Scarlet Witch; Speed/Tommy Shepherd, a speedster and twin brother of Billy; and Hulkling/Teddy Altman, the son of the original Captain Marvel, he is a shape-shifter with enhanced strength and healing.

The Young Avengers are essentially a teenage version of the Avengers, and whilst this might put some people off, it would be an interesting area to explore. As the Marvel Cinematic Universe gets older and certain actors want to leave having legacy characters that can take over similar roles is a good way of both continuing the universe and having it evolve naturally. The fact that many of the characters have connections to existing heroes within the MCU it would be interesting to see.

Blade

Ever since Marvel had the rights to Blade return to them fans of the vampire hunter have been wanting to see him back on the screens. Whilst the previous Blade series was less than successful, introducing him into the Marvel Universe as it stands now would allow the MCU to explore the mystical side further, an area that has only briefly been touched upon with Doctor Strange and the appearance of Ghost Rider in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..

Blade could easily be introduced through Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in a similar way to Ghost Rider, before moving off into his own series. Then again, the universe has been established enough now that he could star in his own series without an introduction. Thanks to the success of the Wesley Snipes films he’s become a popular and recognised character that many people would already be familiar with him, and those who are not could have his backstory easily explained over a few episodes.

Putting Blade on television as a series would also allow the series to be a lot closer to the darker, more adult source material, embracing more of an R-rated horror vibe than it could as a motion picture.

X-Factor

The X-Men have fallen back under Marvel’s control, and whilst this may one day mean that we can see characters like Beast and Wolverine serving in the Avengers, mutants need to be introduced into the MCU first. Rather than jumping straight into an X-Men film, why not bring mutants in using television first instead?

X-Factor would be ideal for TV. Whilst a lot of other X-Men teams are regular super hero teams, X-Factor are, instead, a detective agency. Run by Jamie Madrox, who has the ability to duplicate himself, the team consisted of several ‘lower tier’ X-Men.

With the potential to connect into a larger X-Universe, a cast of characters that could evolve and change, and a format that lends itself well to a story-of-the week style series of investigations, X-Factor could be the perfect way of bringing the mutants into the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Isaiah Bradley

A darker side of the Marvel Universe, taking inspiration on a very real and shameful aspect of American history, Isaiah Bradley was one of a group of black soldiers that was experimented upon during World War 2 in an attempt to recreate the Super Soldier Serum that created Captain America.

Bradley was the only survivor of the experiments, and went on to steal a duplicate of the costume worn by Captain America, leading an unsanctioned mission to destroy German research into creating their own super soldiers, a mission that would take him into a concentration camp.

Adapting Bradley’s story into a series would allow Marvel to cash in on the popularity of Captain America, without having to step on the toes of any of the films. The series could be set entirely during World War 2, could utilise the war setting to make itself stand out, and it could also make some very important and valid commentary on both the racism of the time, and that of today.

With the popularity of Black Panther in film, and Black Lightning on television, another black led superhero franchise could only be a good thing.

Fantastic Four

The ‘First Family of Marvel’, the Fantastic Four are a huge part of the Marvel Universe in the comics, and now that their film rights are back with Marvel Studios it’s only a matter of time before we see them again. But with two fairly lacklustre films, and one really awful one, bearing the name, is film the best place for them to make their return?

I would say that television would be better. It would allow them to spend the time establishing the characters and their interpersonal relationships, it could take longer to explore the results of their accident and subsequent transformation, and it could allow them to become a team more naturally over time rather than in a rush at the end of a two hour film.

More importantly too, it would allow Marvel to reintroduce Doctor Doom, and to do so in a good way. Spend a whole season setting him up, working behind the scenes as an unseen ‘big bad’, or even over more than one season. Give him the room to become what he really is, one of the biggest and most powerful villains in Marvel, rather than the two previous poor incarnations we’ve already been subjected to.


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Dungeons and Dragons: Evil At Baldur’s Gate #1 – Comic Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

I’ve played some casual Dungeons & Dragons in the past with some friends, but never delved deep into the lore of the universe, and despite being familiar with the name Baldur’s Gate have never played any of the video games. As such, I was very excited to begin reading the comics.

Sadly, the first issue of Dungeons & Dragons: Evil At Baldur’s Gate is fairly light on the world building, and as such I still don’t have a great deal of a sense of what the world or characters are like.

We’re briefly introduced to a group of adventurers, though we only get to spend any real-time with one of them, Minsc the Mighty. There’s little to compare him against in terms of the rest of his group, as each character quickly splits off to do their own thing after entering the city of Baldur’s Gate; but I do get a sense that he’s the fighter of the team, but is somewhat lacking in the brains department.

I don’t know if Dungeon & Dragons: Evil At Baldur’s Gate is supposed to be comedic, as some of the things that Minsc says are clearly supposed to generate humour, but something about the delivery fails to actually entertain. Rather than being funny, lines such as “I like making ugly people make ugly angry faces”, comes across more annoying and childish than anything else.

However, the people around Minsc appear to be written fairly straight, which could indicate that Minsc himself is just an idiot, rather than the book trying to have ‘silly’ humour. It’s something that I’m more curious to learn in the second issue.

The action in the issue is competent enough, though little stands out as particularly spectacular or noteworthy, though the design of the Oni creature that Minsc fights is interesting. Whilst the monster gets to show off some of his moves against the group of bandits that he fights, some of which is pretty good, the fight against Minsc himself is a little disappointing. They throw each other through a window, performs one ice spell, and then the Oni gets stabbed. It’s very short and anticlimactic more than anything else.

With the second issue set to focus on a pair of thieves, hopefully the story will have a bit more excitement and variety to it over a large man wandering around talking like a fool. The second issue needs something more, some kind of story or character development, more engaging dialogue, or some flashier action, in order to keep interest.

A fairly disappointing start to the story, Minsc the Mighty may not have been the best character to focus on first, but fingers crossed the story will get better.


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