Abominable life duties such as finishing my tertiary education have kept me from paying you much attention as of late. We have much to catch up on.
That said, let's talk about Power Rangers.
For those of you not in the know, Power Rangers as we know it in the West was actually adapted from a Japanese series called Super Sentai. As if the giant robots weren't something of a clue.
It was brought to English-speaking countries as the Power Rangers we all know and love (or just know...), 'brought to' here meaning 'shamelessly ripped off'.
The show must've been an absolute cakewalk to make. Sure, they had to film the various scenes with the normal teenagers- all of whom looked around 25- going about their business, but as soon as they suited up, it was stock footage galore. Entire fight scenes and plot lines were simply yanked straight from Japan and dubbed over with English dialogue, producing a mixed bag of results. A typical scene might have gone something like this:
Ranger 1: Look, that bus full of children is about to go over the cliff!
*inexplicable pause*
Ranger 2: Oh no!
*Ranger 2 places their hands on their head/helmet in a contrived fashion*
Ranger 3: (pointing at some vague point off-screen) The bus is about to fall!
Ranger 1: You're right!
*apropros of nothing, the entire team erupts into a series of intricate poses that perfectly resemble a choreographed dance sequence. There are fireworks. No one knows why*
And a bunch of sane, professional adults working in the television industry in the 90s all stood around a screen, with their multicoloured overalls and criminally boofy hair and said 'yes, this is a thing that kids will love.' And then they cranked up the Spice Girls and celebrated with a round of slap bracelets. Because it was the 90s.
Oh, and love it we did. Using the magic of the internet to look back upon what was, I can scarcely believe that I adored Power Rangers as much as I did. The dubbing was awful, the plots repetitive, the special effects nonexistent. Yet even now, as my relatively-adult brain registers the opening strains of the main theme (the greatest part of the show), I'm struck by not just nostalgia, but also respect. This show was a crucial part of my childhood. Some of the love still remains, even if I'm a tad more critical at age 21 than I was at age six.
It's the same with a lot of TV programs I watched as a kid; Digimon, Animorphs, Teen Titans...all of which I look upon in retrospect and feel a swell of fondness for the quality productions they were.
I still enjoy kids shows, as long as they're done well. I have not yet fallen down the rabbit hole that is Adventure Time, but I might be willing to give it a go. Because in the end, what really defines a 'kid's show'? Colour? Simplicity? A lot of unnecessary yelling?
Sure, there are plenty of shows that I can no longer watch. But a sure way to tell which ones were truly great are those for whom your loyalty never really dies. Adult society might tell me that Big Brother and American Idol are proper shows for grown-up people, but a cursory glance will tell you otherwise. The themes of some of the shows I watched as a child were more mature than most mature programming. The morals are certainly more beneficial.
And so I salute you, Power Rangers. Your spandex was hideous, your monsters piecemeal, your acting abysmal. But you, and so many other TV programs, taught me about friendship, teamwork, and the value in not taking yourself too seriously. And these are lessons I shall never forget.
Meanwhile, what do you learn from Big Brother?
Being an awful human being = popularity?
Ha. Checkmate, maturity.
