A Look At Red #16

And to begin once again...

Character: Nick Russell (Bowen)
Actor: Firass Dirani
Ranger: Red Mystic Ranger, The Light
Picture From: Ranger Central



I've decided to return to my commentary on the Red Rangers with a continuing installment of the men in Red. At first I held no interest whatsoever in the current season. I don't believe the writers really quite knew what to do with the character of Nick. Firass is actually a decent actor but the role was flatter than a steamrolled pancake. There was great angst potential with him and it fell a bit short. Let's break down the angst module:

Heavy hinting from the very first episode (via a red blanket) that he is the long lost child of Udonna (Snow White at 40) when he does find out that Udonna is his mother its so anti-climatic... no grand declarations that "It's not true! That's in impossible" just a simple.. "You're my mom? Hi mom!"

Koragg, turning out to be his dad under a really powerful spell, would certainly be a cause for great angst. And that angle seemed to be the only avenue for his angst to vent. (Being psychically linked to your postal dad that's trying to kill you, tends to do that to a person)

Being the outsider from the big city to the small sleepy town (with a major shopping district for destroying massive amounts of buildings and property) and being the first accused of any deviant behavior (Ala stealing the daily deposit to the record store) was touched on mildly but later repercussions never thoroughly discussed.

All in all... Nick was a pretty bland character who might have been a slightly less mediocre Ranger had it not been for Richard Brancatisano's (Xander) show stealing presence.

A sad season

After watching the 3rd episode of Power Rangers Mystic Force... I think I'm actually going to hang my hat up on this series until next year. The premise this year is just a little bit too much. Usually there's only one maybe two Rangers in a series that I don't like and the plot is campy yet still fun to watch... This year, it's like they combined Tir Na Nog with Power Rangers and then ran with it. If you can, I'd recommend watching Mahou Sentai Majiranger (the Japanese version). There's actually a plot there and the red ranger is cute and I love the green ranger's hair. Yes that's a random reason to like the series but, hey! There's no need for logic when it comes to Sentai :)

First Impressions: Power Rangers Mystic Force

Well, I happened to peak in last week and watch the first two episodes of Power Rangers Mystic Force. I'm not exactly sure what I think. The forced ethnic diversity of the show seemed a lot more muted, as well as the attempt to hide everyone's New Zealand accents. Xander's is especially thick. Watching the episode my mind went: "This is so close to the Japanese version... yet so very very different."

Other thoughts:
The show feels like one of those kids shows like Ocean Girl that aired on the CBC from New Zealand during an after school slot (4:30pm if memory serves) thinking a little bit on it, I guess it would qualify now.

Nick has eyes that make me want to stare at him. His eyes are very captivating, his acting is not.

I love it! A Pink Ranger that doesn't Think Pink.

The world of Power Rangers has a funny way of not saying someone dies or is out to kill them. They say "destroy" instead. So question... Are they machines? Yes I know you can destroy a body, but usually someone says they don't want to be killed... not destroyed. Interesting concept

I think I would have preferred the Japanese version of the non-morphed color coded outfits. There's just something about these that make me go. "Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog... cheap cosplay?"

And last... If the Yellow Ranger is male... must he be a complete ditz?