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REVIEW: Dino Super Charge 1 "When Evil Stirs"


And we’re back! This has been a weird hiatus; it’s odd to really be excited for this show returning. For me, toku in general has been very uneven these past few years. It’s not as if I’ve disliked everything I’ve seen, but after Megaforce and Drive kind of sapped my interest in live action transforming superheroes, Dino Charge was the shot in the arm I needed to really enjoy toku again. I’ve been looking forward to see all my favorite characters, like Tyler, Kendall, Phillip, Heckyl and of course my girl Shelby. So let’s get wild, grab our shovels, and dig into this year’s premiere, “When Evil Stirs.”

The very first thing I have to say is that Ryan Carter is doing amazing work as Heckyl. He brings just the right proportions of casual menace, self-satisfied scheming, and genial affability to the role. Last year I found him genuinely amazing, and this year it was a fist-pump moment to see his name in the opening credits. As for the character, everything he does in this episode is perfect. The way he plays the good cop to both Sledge’s and Snide’s bad cops while actually being worse than both is so entertaining. He successfully manipulates the group of technically freed prisoners into being his personal servants on pain of death. He insinuates himself into the group at the Dino Bite Cafe through groundwork he laid last year, while also successfully gathering intel on the absent Rangers. And his friendly nature, while hiding a greedy and selfish interior, contrasts nicely with Snide’s brutish and straightforward demeanor. If Sledge left a hole in the show in his wake, Heckyl fills and exceeds it.

Speaking of Sledge, it’s interesting to note that all four of the main henchmen seem to have survived, though somehow not Sledge himself as Wrench mentions that they can’t resurrect him without a piece of him. This is sci-fi, kind of, so you can bet that without a body around Sledge must be still kicking somewhere. I’m not sure if the transition is as smooth as it could have been; the events of this episode from the villains’ side outright state that the episode is set a few weeks after Dino Charge, but for some reason it feels much longer when we finally check in with the heroes. I find it funny in the same vein as Super Megaforce's “There’s a very simple explanation for that” when Tyler mentions that it feels both like yesterday and forever ago depending on how he looks at it. A very subtle lampshade hanging and I like it.

On that note, humor plays into a lot of the episode. In addition to the moment above, Poisandra's reactions to Sledge's demise are hilarious. Just that whole sequence is golden. While the plot is serious for the most part--it's a pretty standard "capture/disable almost all of the team while the other Rangers have to come up with a plan" mixed with a clip show--we still get some good cheeky moments like those that have characterized this story thus far. From Heckyl offering the newly freed aliens some snacks to a few grin-worthy quips during the final fight, this episode definitely brings the funny. There are also a few shipworthy moments, like when Shelby tries to play it off when she tells Tyler she missed him, or the great big bear hug Koda gives Kendall near the end of the episode. Koda-Kendall-Heckyl triangle incoming? I'd say so.

Keeper’s briefly in this episode, which helps the sense that this mission requires all hands on deck. On the subject of people I haven’t seen in a bit, I’m delightfully surprised to see James Gaylyn playing Shelby’s father, which plays pretty well in the scene where he’s getting her started on her undergrad degree in business. From the way he goes on about it, I assume he’s excited to get her into the family business. It just gives me that sort of vibe when I see the two of them interacting. As for Chase and Riley, they’re both pretty much where one would expect: flirting with girls and shoveling on a farm. I’ll let you figure out which is which. Tyler’s journaling works as a device again. And now I’m curious to see if he takes out that journal every time there’s been a hiatus, because its entire function is to catch the audience up on what they missed in the interim and what they may have forgotten since last year.

And speaking of last year, I’m mildly worried about Iceage’s reappearance. The last place we saw this monster was in New Zealand under Albert’s supervision. I’m not sure why they didn’t destroy him then, other than needing him for this episode, but the fact that he escaped doesn’t give me a whole lot of great feelings about Albert’s current state. Part of me is a little miffed that he’s been taken out a third time, no take-backsies, but I do like both the danger of all the Rangers being incapacitated and the opportunity to delve into Koda’s backstory and his fear of being frozen again. When I first watched the episode I thought that was weird given “When Logic Fails,” but it’s clear that it’s not the cold sensation that scares him--in fact, he barely notices it because he’s already been frozen--but the paralysis that accompanies it. Presumably the Blue Energem also preserved his sanity as well as his physical form, because hey, thousands of years frozen in a block of ice.

In addition to this familiar face, we get a bunch of little moments throughout that really cement the history these characters have. Another funny moment was the point where Ivan and Koda marvel over Shelby's academic path before both admitting that they have no idea what it means or refers to, reminding the audience of their bond as the temporally displaced team members. Of course Kendall remembers Heckyl as the man who saved her life and potentially could have been the new Purple Ranger. As Tyler's driving his jeep along, we hear him singing along to the N-Zed Boys song we heard last year, probably because Shelby left it in his car after she headed to college. Heck, we even see the Necrolai and Beevil costumes we saw in the cells before too. This is what we call "worldbuilding."

As for the Ranger combat interactions, I find them both stellar and mildly disappointing. The disappointment comes from the return of chatty fights and the rushed feeling to the Ranger action. I really feel like a lot of stuff happens at the end of the episode and it is positively CRAMMED IN. We don’t get enough time to really appreciate some of the nicer touches, like Kendall taking the lead with a hardcore boast. Seriously, she says that it’s the last time Iceage will ever hear the words “It’s Morphin’ Time.” Kendall is out to kick butt and chew bubblegum, and she’s maybe got half a stick of gum left. And on the other side, Snide has a great line of his own about how Tyler’s racing heart soon won’t be beating any longer. If it weren’t for the constant stream of blah-blahing during the all too short fight, we could have a chance to really appreciate the things that really crackle with excellence. A little bit goes a long way. Unless of course, it’s Prince Phillip III, who really needed to be in more of this episode.

“When Evil Stirs” is not without its issues; most notably, the pacing issues, the “cute” fight banter and the criminal underuse of Phillip made it so that it wasn’t an absolutely perfect viewing experience. Still, there were a lot of elements that I really enjoyed here, and a lot of the episode really gives Power Rangers Dino Super Charge that great new car smell. From the new opening credits (new font and everything) to new characters and possibly even new locations (?), the new season has been kicked into high gear. There are cool bits of foreshadowing and threads set for stories to come, which is the best way to open up a season. Thus far, there’s Sledge’s “death,” Heckyl’s subterfuge in the Ranger camp, the search for the Aqua Ranger, a bit more Shyler shipping, and the search for the Silver Energem. I can’t wait to see where Chip takes us for the second part of the Rangers’ story.

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