Hello my fellow movie goers from around the globe. Today’s Flashback Review is about a show I used to watch back when I was a kid. I loved Power Rangers as kid. I was first exposed when they used to air on Fox Kids, they’re currently airing on Nickelodeon. The selected show from the series is “Power Rangers In Space.”
Powers Rangers In Space aired in 1998. (same year The Big Lebowski came out). Professional critics never ranked it as a good series, due to the fact it’s a cheesy yet hokey show next to a dozen seasons.
Oh boy! Power Rangers is a long story. I mean they’ve been around since I was born. If you want to learn history about Power Rangers, I highly recommend Linkara’s (a YouTube Critic) videos about the mythology and storylines. Linkara is a massive fan of Power Rangers.
The sole reason why I’m reviewing Power Rangers In Space, is because Saban sold the rights to Hasbro. The latter company gained full access to all rangers from every era. I’ll assume it’ll reboot the 2017 film after it was a stinker.
Today’s review contains massive SPOILERS. If you haven’t seen Power Rangers In Space or never grew up in The 90’s, read at your own risk.
The Entire Show
Positive: The Main Cast such as Christopher Khayman Lee, Selwyn Ward, Roger Velasco, Tracy Lynn Cruz, Patricia Ja Lee, Justin Nimmo & Melody Perkins all did a stable job for their respective performances.
Paul Schrier & Jason Narvy reprise their roles as lovable bumbling duo Bulk & Skull,
The series takes place immediately after Power Rangers Turbo.
The main storyline centers around The Rangers’ attempting to locate Zordon & defeat Astronema.
Action Sequences were adequate.
The Megazords were pretty cool.
The morphing sequence was awesome. I gotta love the phrase, “Let’s Rocket!”
Andros, a red ranger leads his fellow comrades to battle evil. He learns to trust his new friends.
Besides searching for Zordon, Andros tries to find Karone, his long-lost sister.
Villains including Rita, Lord Zedd, Goldar, Divatox & Elgar return.
Ecliptor is my favorite villain on the show other than The Psycho Rangers.
Veteran Rangers such as Justin (Power Rangers Turbo) & Adam (2nd original Black Ranger) make guest appearances.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles make a guest appearance in the 4th episode.
Before Green Arrow’s crossover with Supergirl, Power Rangers was perhaps the first televised live action shared universe before CW’s Arrowverse existed.
Andros’ best friend Zhane, helps the team during half of the show’s duration. Zhane is the first silver ranger in Power Rangers history.
Alpha no longer speaks with a Brooklyn accent, his accent is reprogram to retain the original Alpha’s voice, but less annoying.
As the show progresses, The Rangers acquire “new toys.”
TJ is my favorite power ranger. Tommy (the original green ranger) is my all time favorite ranger. My other favorites are Andros & Leo from Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy.
My favorite episodes are linked to The Psycho Rangers. I used to have a VHS tape of The Rangers going head to head with The Psycho Rangers.
Bulk & Skull factor in with the help of an eccentric scientist named Professor Phenomanous (that’s really his name) to find alien activity existing in our world.
Each episode contains outtakes shown during The End Credits. You can tell that The Cast & Crew are having a good time filming.
Negative: The acting is extremely hokey yet over-the-top in a cringeworthy atmosphere.
Astronama’s outfits & hair looked ridiculous. Her appearance resembles a generic version of any Madonna music video from The 80’s.
A wire can be seen on a monster’s back in some scenes.
Elgar (who looks like a rejected Conehead) doesn’t do anything other than trying to deliver lame jokes.
Astronema is so stupid she keeps sparing The Rangers for a special event to kill them soon.
Frame Rate alternates between smooth (like a Soap Opera filled) and slow. Smooth frame rate is used in The Astro Megaship & the slow frame rate is used outside The Astro Megaship. It’s as if the camera lost had an identity crisis on what to choose on a specific frame rate.
The scenes are inconsistent. Every time a Megazord shows up, the scenery changes from a desert or local park, to an urban city resembling Tokyo.
Special Effects are obviously fake. I know this was before “Game Of Thrones” made highly detailed Computer Animation in a television series, but Power Rangers’ effects never hold up. When I was a youngster, I used to think the effects were cool, now that I’m older, they’re cheesy as heck.
Like every Power Rangers series, the basic outline of an episode is repetitive. It starts with a monster wrecking havoc. The Rangers gear up to fight and defeat a certain enemy. At first it was killed, the monster becomes a Godzilla sized Kaiju. The Rangers summon their zords to combine them into a Voltron like robot. The Rangers become the victor, while the monster is the loser. There’s no variation or different recipes to concoct a new item on the menu.
The Ending made me completely angry. If you want to know more, scroll down on to episodes 42-43.
Each episode always end with a cheesy freeze-frame. I tend to make fun of freeze-frames as I pretend to be a narrator of a soap opera. Freeze-Frames are one of my pet peeves.
Episodes 1-2 – From Out Of Nowhere Parts 1-2
Gold: The series takes place immediately after Power Rangers Turbo with the four rangers leaving Earth and their fellow comrade Justin.
The group befriends Andros, a lone red ranger who’s on a mission to rescue Zordon.
Every villain from previous shows come back for a social feast to meet with Dark Specter.
Divatox said, “It’s good to be the queen.” A reference to History Of The World Part I’s line, “It’s good to be the king.”
Bronze: Poor editing when The Rangers escape to their ship, the scene cuts to Astronema’s ship, a second later, we cut back to The Rangers.
When The Rangers acquire their new morphers, they automatically know the name of their own weapons. They just earned a new morpher and they somehow gain knowledge of their “new toys.”
Special Effects are laughably fake.
Divatox is so annoying than Rita & Elgar.
Episode 3 – Save Our Ship
Fast: The Rangers have to recuse their ship to prevent Astronema from destroying it.
The Rangers battle Ecliptor, who’s Astronema’s henchman. He’s my favorite bad guy of the show besides The Psycho Rangers.
Bulk & Skull return to provide comic relief. They meet Professor Phenomanous to find alien activity in our world.
Episode 3 ends with The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles showing up before Astronema arrives.
Slow: Elgar shows up, but all he does throughout the show is to make lame jokes.
Episode 4 – Shell Shocked
High: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles make a crossover appearance. This was back when Fox Kids were promoting their ill-fated show, “The Next Mutation” which lasted only one season.
Andros becomes suspicious of The Turtles’s presence.
Low: How the actual heck are The Turtles able to breath in space?
Lip Sync is somewhat off key for The Turtles.
Episode 5 – Never Stop Searching
Yay: Andros searches for his long lost sister.
Nay: Andros acts like a moron ignoring advice from comrades.
The kids who played young Andros & Karone, were terrible.
Who recorded Andros & Karone’s childhood videos?
Episode 6 – Satellite Search
Competent: The Rangers are given a request to retrieve satellite discs carrying important information.
Alpha has a heroic moment.
Incompetent: Astronama makes a stupid decision over the fate of The Rangers.
Episode 7 – A Ranger Among Thieves
Bright: Episode 7’s title is play on word of the phrase, “No Honor Among Thieves.”
Andros makes friends with three people, unaware they are car thieves.
Like most after school programs, this episode teaches the viewer that stealing parked cars is wrong and it’ll lead to consequences like going to prison.
Dark: Andros is way too naive in this episode.
Episode 8 – When Push Comes To Shove
Success :Cassie is blackmailed to go on a date, unless she retrieves her personal journal.
Two characters are named Lenny & George. A reference to the main characters from “Of Mice & Men.”
The Rangers must prevent Astronema from destroying plutonium.
Failure: Editing Errors alternating between Angel Grove’s outside environment & a skyscraper looked obviously fake.
Episode 9 – The Craterite Invasion
Up: A malfunction in the simudeck causes enemies to show up in the real world & wreck havoc in Angel Grove.
A little boy learns a moral lesson.
Down: A Plot Hole involving numerous enemies landing on Angel Grove. Why aren’t there any witnesses besides Bulk?
Episode 10 – The Wasp With A Heart
Nice: Alpha quotes a line from Star Wars.
Mean: A wasp like monster refuses to terrorize people. I find this episode very stupid to see a monster acting like a big baby.
A continuity error cutting between space in a black background & a blue background which is supposed to be in space.
How did that wasp managed to retrieve all the balloons in the air? In real life, they should’ve popped when they reached the highest altitude.
Episode 11 – The Delta Discovery
Found: The Phantom Ranger learns about Zordon’s whereabouts.
Divatox returns as she’s working for Dark Spector.
Andross seeks for extra “firepower” against two monsters. In addition to an zord, he also equips a “battlizer.” A device known to boost extra damage.
Lost: Divatox’s behavior is irritating since her debut in Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie.
Episode 12 – The Great Evilyzer
Professor Phenomenus invents a ray to transform random objects into an evil fiend. Seeking the attention of Astronema.
Professor Phenomenus’ first invention is played for laughs.
The Rangers combine both zords in an ultimate form with maximum firepower.
Episode 13 – Grandma Matchmaker
Match: Ashley’s grandmother pays a visit, who thinks Ashley is engaged. Ashley is forced keep her her grandma safe in order to avoid giving away her identity as the yellow ranger.
Mismatch: The Termites are obviously fake. They resemble toys.
I swear to god I’m not making this up, Ashley Grandma somehow saved The Rangers by running over (not fatally) a Termite monster. The grandma (inside the police car) should’ve been killed by the Termite monster’s energy blast. Why didn’t the police car explode?! It doesn’t make any gosh darn sense! Gonna have to Double Down Points for witnessing how stupid that scene really was in front of my own eyes!
Episode 14 – The Barillian Sting
Healed: Astronema collaborates with a bounty hunter named, Darkonda whom Ecliptor doesn’t trust.
After Carlos was bitten by a bug, he becomes a humanoid insect similar to Seth Brundle becoming Brundlefly In David Croenberg’s “The Fly.”
Besides The Fly, this episode also pays homage to the “Alien” franchise, especially Ridley Scott’s film.
Injured: A “Barillian Bug” looked absolutely cheesy. It’s basically a prop toy found at Dollar General.
A continuity error involving Andross’ home planet at first, shows a grassy environment, but when the Megazord shows up, it quickly turns into an urban city.
Episode 15 – TJ’s Identity Crisis
Intelligent: This episode is named after The Blue Ranger’s memory loss.
TJ looses his memory after a critical hit on the head.
Ecliptor is betrayed by a double crosser.
Two bad guys’ bodies are combined as one entity.
Unintelligent: The episode lacked TJ’s dilemma about his memory loss.
Episode 16-17 – Flashes Of Darkonda & The Mega Voyager
Light: Andros learns the identity of his sister’s kidnapper. He goes undercover to gather information.
Andros enters a saloon filled with aliens is a reference to Star Wars: A New Hope.
Episode 16’s ending subverts the Giant monster battle, feels like a breath of fresh air deconstructing a basic formula by adding an interesting take on the repetitive structure.
The Rangers must acquire a new Megazord in order to rescue Alpha who’s inside The Astro Megaship.
Dark: Oh golly! The Effects are cheesy as fudge!
Episode 18- True Blue To The Rescue.
True: Blake Foster reprises his role as Justin.
The cars in a desert planet reminded me of the Max Max series.
False: Correct me if I’m wrong, how the actual fudge is a blue car capable of flying? Why didn’t the cars from Power Rangers Turbo fly in their debut in Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie?
Episode 19 – Invasion Of The Body Switcher
New: Astronema infiltrates The Astro Megaship disguised as one of the rangers.
Astronema impersonating a power ranger predicts her future.
Andross has a deep secret revealed at the end of Episode 19. He has a man frozen inside a chamber.
Expired: Setting remains inconsistent with The Mega Voyager & giant monster keeps taking place in an urban city.
Episode 20 – Survival Of The Silver
Silver: Episode 20 is named after the titular Silver Ranger known as Zhane.
Zhane is introduced in this episode.
A flashback reveals the sole reason why Andross had to keep Zhane frozen in the first place.
Bronze: I’m surprised I couldn’t find nothing wrong with this episode.
Episode 21 – Red With Envy
High: Zhane discovers he’s having a hard time with his morphing ability.
Ecliptor confronts Darkona about their trust issues.
Zhane battles with Ecliptor.
Low: The subplot with Andros becoming jealous thinking Zhane is smitten on Ashley, felt one sided.
Episode 22 – The Silver Secret
Silver: Zhane continues to struggle with his difficulty to morph into The Silver Ranger.
Zhane must find a way to restore his morpher if he wants to help his allies.
Bronze: As Zhane recharges his morpher, the green screen seemed pretty fake.
Episode 23 – A Date With Danger
Safe: Astronema slowly has a soft side for Zhane.
Hazardous: Zhane is oblivious to the fact he’s in love with Astronema who attempted to murder his best friend Andros. To put salt in the wound, Zhane ditched his friends in favor of going on a date.
Episode 24 – Zhane’s Destiny
Yay: The Rangers are captured by a group of people who belong in something from “Dune.”
Dark Specter’s spy infiltrates a band soldiers.
The spy turns out to be Darkonda disguised as a human.
Zhane battles Darkonda.
Zhane decides to assist the soldiers to relocate to another base.
Nay: A Continuity Error with The Astro Megazord changed to a rocky environment, instead of keeping a the sandy environment intact.
Episode 25 – Always A Chance
Rise: Johnny Yong Bosch makes a guest appearance as Adam. The second Black Ranger from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
Carlos expresses guilt after he accidentally injured Cassie while trying to defeat a monster. Because the accident, he loses his confidence as a fighter.
Adam helps train Carlos to regain is self-esteem. Wait a tic! That’s the plot from “Rocky III?”
Fall: Having a Megazord changing the scenery is becoming a habit.
Episode 26 – The Secret Of The Locket
Unlocked: Andros encounters his missing sister since childhood.
Darkonda sets a trap for Andros. Unfortunately, the former hoisted his petard.
Even though Astronema is a villain, she does have a soft side.
Astronema is actually Andros’ long lost sister.
Locked: No con was spotted.
Episode 27 – Astronema Thinks Twice
True: Ecliptor & Darkonda engage in battle. I was rooting for Ecliptor.
It’s revealed that Darkonda has lives. After he dies, he respawns.
Astronema has a crisis about morality as a villain.
Andros & Astronema confront each other.
False: A Continuity Error with Andross’ home planet suddenly changed into an urban city.
Episode 28 – The Rangers’ Leap Of Faith
Top: Astronema assists The Rangers to find Zordon’s location.
Andros & Astronema have a eye to eye conversation together as brother & sister, not duking it out mono e mono.
The Rangers fight their way through to find Zordon.
Low: I’m surprised I couldn’t find no single con.
Episodes 29-30 – Dark Specter’s Revenge Parts 1-2
Pros: Karone, formerly known as Astronema, becomes a good person and an honorary power ranger. Unfortunately, she becomes Astronema again when a brainwashed Ecliptor implanted cybernetics on her.
Darkonda brainwashes Ecliptor with cybernetic implants under Dark Specter’s orders.
The Rangers attempt to destroy an oncoming asteroid heading towards Earth. Coincidentally, “Armageddon” & “Deep Impact” both came out the same year Power Ranger In Space aired and have have a plot involving an oncoming meteor making its way to Earth.
Zhane comes out back to help his allies stop the asteroid.
Zhane tells Andros the truth he went on a botched date with Astronema, before he knew she was Karone.
Zhane’s zord “Mega Winger” actually does come in handy.
Professor Phenomanous, Bulk & Skull evacuate Earth via rocketship. Turns out they’re still on Earth.
Cons: Enemy spacecraft are cheesy as heck.
How many times do I have to mentioned the fact a Megazord’s presence changes the scenery?
Episode 31 – Rangers Gone Psycho
Sane: The Psycho Rangers are officially introduced.
A tablet predicts future real life tablets such as IPad, Kindle & anything you can text. Keep in mind, Power Rangers In Space is set in 1998.
Zhane is kidnapped by Psycho Rangers in order to get The Rangers’ attention.
Insane: As The Rangers fight a giant owl monster, you can see a wire on the back if you pause at the 1:03 mark.
Astronema makes an incompetent decision to spare The Rangers in favor of a special day.
Episode 32 – Carlos On Call
Well: Carlos is forced to accept a little girl’s demand, or else she’ll give away his identity as The Black Ranger.
The little girl had a brother who died, no specific cause of death was mentioned.
Sick: It’s Carlos’ own vault for morphing in a photo booth when the girl looked through photos of him suiting up. Why didn’t he go outside or go inside a janitor’s closet full of equipment? To quote Redd Foxx’s character Fred Sanford, (from Sanford & Son) “You Big Dummy!”
A Megazord showing up in a city resembling Tokyo is getting on my nerves!
What the actual fudge is the little girl able to breath in outer space when as she’s on The Black Ranger’s hoverboard? In real life, her head would’ve exploded like in “Total Recall!” Not the remake, the original! I’m Doubling Down Point for damaging my brain cells!
Episode 33 – A Rift In The Rangers
Open: Cassie & Ashley’s friendship begins to crumble due to their frustration over coordinating the ship.
Psychos Pink & Yellow set a trap to capture one of The Rangers.
Psychos Pink & Yellow’s partnership parallels the arguments between Cassie & Ashley.
Cassie expresses guilt for being a jerkstore (Jerry Seinfeld & Larry David please don’t sue) towards Ashley.
Cassie & Ashley learn a moral lesson about respecting each other, rather than bickering like spoiled princesses.
Closed: Good Lord! The scenery has gone from a local park to a city. Megazords in a nutshell!
Episode 34 – Five Of A Kind
Even: TJ comes up with a strategy to defeat The Psycho Rangers.
After being injured, TJ comes up with yet another strategy to win.
Zhane has a clever disguise posing as Psycho Silver. A Psycho Ranger he made up.
Oddball: How did TJ find a recording of The Rangers battling The Psycho Rangers? There’s never an explanation or no mentioned of drones.
Ugh! I hate it when the scenery changes based on a Megazord’s involvement!
Episode 35 – Silence Is Golden
Soft: The Psycho Rangers encode a voice analyzer to find a ranger’s location.
The Psycho Rangers disguise themselves as humans. (a la T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgement Day)
Cassie is forced to keep her mouth shut in order to avoid The Psycho Rangers. Thus, raising The Stakes.
The Psycho Rangers won the battle, but The Rangers escaped & The Mega Voyager is taken.
Zhane wears a clown outfit to buy The Rangers some time to meet up with Cassie.
Astronema comes up with a plan to properly defeat The Rangers.
Loud: The scenery with The Megazords fighting The Psycho Rangers in monster form had continuity errors.
Episode 36 – The Enemy Within
Big: The Rangers track down The Mega Voyager’s whereabouts.
Psycho Yellow hacks into The Mega Voyager.
Red Ranger & Psycho Red have a one one one battle.
Four Megazords finally unite to combat The Psycho Rangers.
Carlos delivers the best pre-kill liner, “Back at you psychos!” That line deserves Bonus Points.
Small: A Green Screen seemed pretty fake.
Psycho Red acts like a selfish nimrod ignoring orders from his comrades.
Episode 37 – Andros And The Lost Stowaway
Found: Astronema said, “I like it a lot.” Perhaps a reference to “Dumb & Dumber.”
A creature named, Seymour factors in this episode.
Lost: There’s no explanation on how Seymour, a creature found by Andros, managed to enter and leave The Astro Megaship.
Episode 38-39 Mission To Secret City & Ghosts In The Machine
Huge: Andros & Carlos are captured by a monster working for Astronema.
After being defeated by The Rangers, The Psycho Rangers are ghosts.
Andros unleashes his full potential armed with a heavy dose of arsenal.
Astronema’s plan is to turn civilians into her data cards.
The Psycho Rangers resurrected themselves when the hack into Astronema’s mainframe.
Tiny: Andros somehow managed to save both Cassie & TJ at the same. In real life, he would’ve only rescued one and the other eventually splat on the ground like an egg.
The grass is nowhere to be found when it comes to Megazords.
Astronema’s secret base is underwater. Foreshadowing the secret base from Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue.
A Green Screen is so fake looking.
Episode 40 – The Impenetrable Web
Free: Astronema lures The Rangers to a cheap knockoff of Tattooine in an attempt to strike em’ down.
Alpha encounters Ecliptor as The Rangers are demorphed forcing Alpha to evade Ecliptor without help.
Zhane rescues The Rangers. He’s basically a good luck charm.
Zhane fights a fully powered Ecliptor while Andros used his ultimate form to break Astronema’s barrier.
Ecliptor destroys The Delta Megazord.
The Rangers beat Ecliptor, but he’ reverted back to his regular form.
Trapped: At the 14:48 mark, you can see wires behind Ecliptor.
Special Effects are fake yet again.
Episode 41 – A Line In The Stand
Fast: The Rangers face off against a sinister vehicle, kinda like the evil car from Stephen King’s “Christine.”
The car alongside The Mega Voyager are destroyed and The Rangers are alive.
Slow: The scenery changes from a desert to a city if giant Megazords are present.
Episodes 42-43 – Countdown To Destruction Parts 1-2.
Defused: The Grand Finale finishes the show and ends The Power Rangers’ “Golden Age” since 1993.
The Citizens Of Angel Grove shout “I’m a ranger!” An homage to Stanley Kubrick’s “Spartacus” when everybody shouts “I’m Spartacus!”
Bulk & Skull encourage The Citizens Of Angel Grove to revolt against Astronema’s henchmen.
Astronema reverts back into Karone. No longer under cybernetic influence.
Explosion: Dark Specter dies like a wussy. I can’t believe this show wasted a golden opportunity to build up the ultimate villain powerful than every hero & villain combined. How does he die? From Darkonda’s missile & kamikaze attack inside Dark Specter’s mouth.
Zordon never had a funeral. What a missed opportunity to see current and former rangers attending his funeral, but it never happened. I would’ve loved to see Tommy, Kimberly, Jason, Billy, Zack & Trini reuniting at Zordon’s funeral to pay their respects.
Ecliptor’s death is never earned. He never lived, but he had redeeming qualities.
Rita, Zedd & Divatox are spared, but never turned into dust. They all lack redeeming qualities and they attempted to murder The Rangers.
The Final Verdict: C-
Power Rangers In Space is a colossal disappointment. When I was a kid, I absolutely enjoyed the show. Now that I’m older, I fully realized there are major problems with this show. Despite mixed feelings, the good parts tried to save the show. If you want to introduce your kids to Power Rangers, go back to the very beginning with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, after Zeo & Turbo, you can finally get them into Power Rangers In Space.
Nickthemoviecritic.com 