REVIEW: Dino Supercharge Special "Here Comes Heximas"
Well, it didn’t end with a bang like I had hoped, but for better or worse, this is the finale to Power Rangers Dino Supercharge. While I’m generally prone to sleepwalking through the holiday specials, at least this one has some memorable moments here and there that set it apart as far as the specials go. It’s Dino Supercharge, so of course there are issues, but at this point, if that’s a problem, you’re not reading this review anyway.
I’m going to give credit where credit is due. Unlike some of the specials we’ve had in the past that are just in anywheresville with relation to the plot, this is explicitly set after the events of End of Extinction. We know this because Keeper randomly brings Koda and Ivan to the present day using the Energems, and there’s some name-checking of Kendall being called Kendall and of course dinosaur zoo antics. Of course, this is my first issue of the episode. First of all, it’s good to see that the space-time-altering power of the Energems is being used for responsible, necessary things like having fun on Christmas. Secondly, if you were hoping they’d undo the bizarre decision they made in the finale to put this series back in continuity, you’re out of luck. But thirdly, haven’t these people learned their lesson about using the power of the Energems willy-nilly? Best-case scenario: you bring back apex predators to the modern day. Worst-case scenario: the world is sucked into a black hole.
Additionally, if this is a world where Keeper didn’t give the Energems to the dinosaurs in order to protect them from Sledge (because the Rangers defeated Sledge 65 million years ago) then how do they have the powers of dinosaurs? I can accept that it would still be possible to find fossils of dinosaurs even if they didn’t go extinct and thus create the zords--it’s even possible that they’re endangered anyway, since blah blah science reasons why dinosaurs wouldn’t be able to thrive even without that specific extinction event--but I’m not entirely sure why the base exists if Sledge isn’t and has never been a threat.
I do appreciate the effort they made to make sure that it was clear that this takes place after the whole shebang. I guess it’s easy enough to do so, since they knew it would be airing after the rest of the episodes, and thus didn’t need to worry about spoiling anything. On the other hand, I feel that Heximas’ story is simultaneously a bit threadbare and a bit of over-exposition. At the point where Heximas explains how he managed to escape Sledge’s ship before it exploded, it feels like both a Forrest Gump moment where they retcon in an event and a further attempt to establish that yes, this episode does in fact take place after Sledge’s destruction. I honestly think that the intro and bringing Koda and Ivan back accomplished this as much as was necessary; everything else was just stuff.
Since this is a Christmas special, it’s still a clip show. I’m mildly impressed that they can keep coming up with various scenarios that require the Rangers to reminisce about past fights for plot reasons. We had a disguised spy the Rangers had to ferret out, a plot by Poisandra to use Santa’s computer to find the Rangers’ base, and the Rangers on trial for their “crimes” against the bounty monsters. Now, Heximas’ evil magic coal allows him to turn the Rangers into his mindslave elves, and their friends have to free them by reminding them of their past as Rangers. Of course this means that Shyler gets a moment when Tyler has to bring Shelby back to herself, and I also like that their morph to end the series bookends their morph to kick things off forty-something episodes ago. Outside of all of this, however, it’s a pretty standard episode. We do get a nice return of Santa again, though as with the other time-travel issues it’s a question of when Santa met these Rangers. I can handwave that Santa is powerful enough to have knowledge of the alternate timeline. That is by far the easiest plothole to fill when it comes to the timeline.
On a positive note, there are a surprising number of little blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments in the present storyline that are really appreciated. These include Shelby and Kendall’s largely positive relationship and musical affinity, Worg reappearing as a server of pies, the ten Rangers fighting together again as one (though no ten-Ranger morph due to timing issues) and Kendall actually getting to drive her own Zord. There’s not much to be said about them, but I did want to point them out as enjoyable reminders of the good parts of the season--or as wistful indicators of what could have been, if you look at it from a more cynical standpoint.
Ultimately, “Here Comes Heximas” wasn’t the redemption Dino Supercharge sorely needed, but it was a nice story, which is both a compliment and a criticism. I enjoyed it well enough, but this cast really brought it for the full series, and I can’t help but think they deserved better. Hard to imagine any way of bridging the gap for next year, so I’m going to go out on a limb and presume that this is the last time we see this team (despite the joke of next year’s Blue Ranger reminding Koda of his brother Taku practically writing itself). So I guess that about wraps it up for Dino Charge; see you next year for Ninja Steel, and I hope you’re not as annoyed as I am that it has the same acronym as Ninja Storm.
