What I would give the Dino Thunder characters this holiday season
Posted by TimJohnson on
December 24, 2004 @ 11:14 PM

Conner: A weight set and an American accent

Ethan: GameFAQS.com

Kira: An attitude

Tommy Oliver: A time machine turned back to 1993

Zeltrax: Same as Tommy, but to the first episode of
Dino Thunder so he isn't getting his butt kicked every episode

Trent: An appointment with a psychologist

Anton Mercer: A personality

Cassidy: Some time with Paris Hylton

Devin: A haircut

Hayley: Some employees to work at her cyber cafe

1994 vs. 2004
Posted by tpwiz4 on
December 2, 2004 @ 9:58 PM

1994 vs. 2004, the title explains it all.

1994 - Billy makes the Angel Grove High football team
2004 - Conner is cut from a soccer team

1994 - Tommy struggles to hold onto his Green Ranger powers
2004 - Tommy struggles to demorph with his Black Ranger powers

1994 - Billy uses his "computer geek" knowledge for the benefit of his team
2004 - Ethan James uses his "computer geek" knowledge to perform pranks and play computer games

1994 - Tommy Oliver sits in detention in Ms. Applebee's class
2004 - Tommy Oliver babysits detention class

1994 - Bulk and Skull fail in finding the identity of the Power Rangers
2004 - Cassidy and Devin succeed in finding the identity of the Power Rangers

1994 - Tommy struggles to fight Goldar
2004 - Tommy struggles to finish off Zeltrax (until the finale)

1994 - The small TV on the counter in Ernie's juice bar
2004 - The plasma TV in Hayley's Cyberspace

1994 - Tommy Oliver teaches children the art of karate
2004 - Tommy Oliver teaches high school students about the Mesozoic Era

1994 - Tommy Oliver performs amazing moves fighting putties
2004 - Tommy Oliver performs amazing key strokes on his computer

1994 - Tommy Oliver misses 4 episodes within context of the storyline for losing his powers completely
2004 - Tommy Oliver misses 14 episodes because the writers can't think of anything else

1994 - Billy solves his bullying issues by learning karate
2004 - Ethan solves his bullying issues by teaching how to kick the ball better

1994 - Tommy Oliver gets hair cut off by putties
2004 - Tommy Oliver gets a haircut

1994 - Tommy Oliver wears a bandana in the opening credits
2004 - Tommy Oliver wears glasses in the opening credits

1994 - Kira listens to Cyndi Lauper
2004 - Kira dresses likle Cyndi Lauper

1994 - Goldar and Scorpina beat up the Rangers
2004 - Zeltrax and Elsa get beat up by the Rangers

1994 - Long-term planning for the show
2004 - Planning for the show on the fly

1994 - The Rangers hand Goldar their "gold-foiled chocolate" Power Coins
2004 - Trent hands Mesogog the real Dino Gems

1994 - Ritchie tells Curtis he has a job at the Angel Grove Youth Center
2004 - Trent tells Ethan he has a job at Hayley's Cyberspace

1994 - Kimberly blushes at first sight of Tommy and they would have a relationship later
2004 - Kira blushes at first sight of Trent but it leads to nothing

1994 - Ernie is the only one identified as a worker in "The Juice Bar"
2004 - Hayley and Trent are the only ones identified as workers in "Hayley's Cyberspace"

1994 - Tommy is forgetful in an episode
2004 - Tommy forgets to include the identities of some Rangers in his video diary

1994 - Power Rangers airs alongside Animaniacs and Tiny Toon Adventures on Fox Kids
2004 - Power Rangers airs alongside Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! and Dragon Boosters on ABC FAMILY

1994 - Tommy is known as the "sixth" member of the Power Rangers
2004 - Tommy is known as not the "oldest", but "Best Living Power Ranger"

1994 - Fox Kids gets lawsuits from everywhere over the violence of the show
2004 - The FTC fines ABC Family $500,000 for airing Power Ranger toy commercials during the show

1994 - Fast-paced action for the battle scenes from Sentai footage
2004 - Slow-paced action for the battle scenes from Disney-shot footage

1994 - Professional reporters covering the Power Rangers
2004 - Amateur reporters trying to find the Power Rangers

1994 - Haim Saban strikes it rich with the success of Power Rangers
2004 - Haim Saban reeps in the billions of dollars with the sale of Power Rangers (along with other franchises) in 2002

1994 - Scorpina becomes a human-in-disguise named Sabrina to attract Adam
2004 - Elsa becomes a human-in-disguise Principal Randall to attract Tommy Oliver

1994 - Power Rangers airs three times on primetime TV in July & August and never airs again in primetime, until...
2004 - Power Rangers airs six days a week on primetime TV on Toon Disney

1994 - Doug Sloan writes an episode about the Rangers thinking they're fighting monsters they had already defeated
2004 - Doug Sloan writes episodes with the Rangers fighting a villain that we all thought had been defeated at least 50 times (Zeltrax)

And finally...

1994 - Tommy gets new powers
2004 - Tommy gets new powers

POWER RANGER Black Friday Items
Posted by TimJohnson on
November 26, 2004 @ 4:31 AM

Hope all of you had a safe and happy Thanksgiving. Sorry the weekly update wasn't up, I didn't feel good for the beginning of the week. It will be up next week.

If you don't know what "Black Friday" is, it's the day after Thanksgiving where retailers open up early and have "big" sales, which starts the holiday season. Hopefully this post isn't too late. There aren't much in the way of Power Ranger items.

For Power Ranger items:

KBToys is opening at 5 am and has Power Rangers Walkie Talkies for $4.99, I believe they're from Dino Thunder and they're "Ranger-shaped". The Rangers are Red and Blue.

Toys R Us has the same walkie talkies but they're $6.97. They open at 6 am.

Opening at 6 am and going for two days I believe, Target has Power Ranger Raptor Ryders (listed as Cycles in the ad but probably both are on sale) for $8 with the Ranger. They have Power Ranger "Dino Zord Morphin" figures on sale as well for $4.88.

Also, Target has 10% off "selected" Power Ranger toys.

LOOKING AT THE FINALE OF DINO THUNDER
Posted by TimJohnson on
November 20, 2004 @ 10:13 PM

Sigh, what I feared the finale to be last week came to life this morning. The episode was okay, but the elements were no way to end a series, and you could tell there were plenty of recycled elements from past series finales. The finale in my opinion symbolized the whole production of this Dino Thunder series, EVERYTHING was rushed. This series had more potential but for whatever reason they slugged through getting across the storyline. The writing of the show really took the ball and fell down a steep hill with this series. At the end of a series, you want the viewers to wish the series WAS NOT over. They did NOTHING to get the characters over and make us feel passionate about them and never had them struggle through any hardships like in past seasons. I'll write about the entire series tommorow in the weekly newsletter; there were some very good spots in the series, but I don't think this will be a series to remember.

ON TARGET

To be honest, everything was predictable. On that note, at least Zeltrax made an appearance and tried to make in impact.

It's nice Tommy Oliver is going to live "the quiet life" after all he's been through. I just wish he was used a lot better in the series.

Cassidy handing over the tape to the Rangers was a nice touch, even if it did seem so sudden, although it may have upset fans who for the entire series wanted her to find the identify of the Rangers and become famous. It was also nice to have Devin be the one to tell Cassidy not to use it.

It's nice they had the prom and all the main characters were together and went on with their lives. Everyone looked nice (except Conner's hair).

OFF TARGET

Oh great, the Rangers spent a lot of time in Dr. Oliver's basement and soon find it's destroyed. No sense of shock or anything. Conner just stood there and probably was like, "Who cares". I felt the same way, it's been done in EVERY finale.

This was the most rushed episode of Power Rangers I may ever watch. They crammed so much into one episode that the viewer can't get a chance to emotionally attach themselves to the storyline. The Zord battle with Zeltrax could have meant so much more. They hinted at a Mesogog transformation back when he had the White Dino Gem, but they never followed up on that. They gave about 20 seconds for the Rangers' reactions to the destruction of the Dino Zords.

The battle with Zeltrax just ended like any other battle, with him losing, but at least this time he didn't escape. They really missed the boat with that villain.

There were lots of recycled elements from past finales which was just so predicatble for long time Ranger fans. The destruction of the Zords by self-destructing (Turbo), losing their powers after using them to defeat an enemy (Ninja Storm), combining their powers to defeat the enemy (Ninja Storm), clip show at the end (Wild Force, although it was more of a "What happened after" scene).

After the Megazords were destroyed, they should have just shown Ethan and Conner flying out because no one didn't think they would survive. Worse, they only showed Kira showing any emotion in wondering if they surprised, while everyone else just said one word. Tommy saying, "Guys!"?

This "losing your powers" at the end of a series is a good way to signify the end of a series, but the way it was done just left me saying to myself, "Who freaking cares?" I don't think I even would have been wondering about it even if they didn't mention that.

They missed the boat big time with the Mesogog battle. First of all, they didn't need him to transform, because his second form was just laughable. Second, everything was so rushed that you never could get the sense of, "When are they going to get the final strike?" The Rangers threw a lot at Mesogog, but I never had any doubt the Rangers would win, which is really bad for a series finale. Worse, they did the whole combining of powers which is just so lame. At least give the kids who have Dino Ranger toys some satisfaction that it was their weapon that defeated Mesogog. How can Bandai sell that product? Even worse, instead of celebrating after defeating the enemy that they have been fighting forever, they worry about their powers being gone?

STUFF TO THINK ABOUT

For a destruction of a headquarters, the Rangers and Hayley sure looked like they didn't care it was destroyed.

Why didn't Zeltrax just destroy the rest of Dr. Oliver's home since he hates him so much?

Wow, they mentioned Smitty!

The Elsa and Zeltrax talk sure did a lot. Wasn't Elsa right when she told Zeltrax, "You can't defeat the Power Rangers!"

Who was working Hayley's Cyberspace when Devin and Cassidy were meeting, since Hayley was gone?

Wasn't it nice that the girl saved Ethan's palce in line?

When you saw the invisiportal in the sky, weren't you thinking of Time Force's finale?

Couldn't the "Zelzord" be any more goofy looking?

Wasn't the mountain range blowing up a really cool video effect?

Isn't it nice that Trent is relegated to fighting Triptoids in the finale, then again when he takes Elsa to safety while Kira and Dr. Oliver fight Zeltrax?

When all the Dino Zords were together firing at the Zelzord, weren't you thinking of Wild Force and wondering if more undiscovered Dino Zords would come down and help?

Why did Tommy yell out, "Guys!" after the Zords were self-destructed?

Is there bigger news in Reefside City? Why was there no press for this?

Isn't it nice that for a finale, no cars were damaged during the filming process?

The only shocking thing to me the whole episode was Cassidy deciding not to give up the identify of the Power Rangers.

So did Cassidy lose her job at the TV station?

Wow, Cassidy sure did look nice at the prom!

Doesn't Ethan have a lot of guts standing in the middle of the room playing his portable video game?

Did you notice Ethan had his ear pierced?

Did Conner claim that, "It's what's on the inside that counts", because he couldn't find anyone else?

Did Conner have the worst looking hairdo ever?

What the heck was Dr. Oliver talking about when he said, "We've been through alot, more than any other school has to go through", because what the heck happened at that school besides him and Elsa fighting?

Was anyone hoping the band would be someone OTHER than Kira?

Did they HAVE to use a clip show at the end?

Did anyone remember that Trent did art?
Wasn't it glad

DINO MARATHON THIS WEEKEND, RUNNING ALL WEEK
Posted by TimJohnson on
November 16, 2004 @ 4:58 PM

From the Muellers

The weekend after the final episode is aired on ABC Family, they are having a Super Dino Mode Thunder Marathon. It starts at 7 am and runs for five hours, then during the weekdays they will be airring three episodes a day until the next Sunday where they will have another five hours of Dino Thunder. During the weekday, the three episode begins on half hour earlier than normal, at 7:30 am P/EST For other locations consult your local listings. If you don't have any of the episodes now is the time to tape them.

Note: The episode titles and air dates are available in the weekly update

1RANGER WEEKLY UPDATE
Posted by TimJohnson on
November 15, 2004 @ 6:29 AM

[cover story] Why I feel the Dino Thunder finale is lacking, a LOT

For the past few years for a final episode of a Ranger series, it's usually the same old story. The Rangers' base gets trashed, lots of fighting, lots of explosions, villain fights the Rangers, and the Rangers triumph in the end. I feel this year's finale is a tad bit different. Usually when you have a finale, the heroes always have their backs against the wall, not the other way around. Last Saturday's episode proved that. There were plenty of storylines that could have been saved for Part II. Instead, the episode ended with Zeltrax taking Elsa out. Problems here. Does anyone care?

Up to that point, Elsa has been portrayed as an evil villianess who had her own agenda opposite of Mesogog's. Even when she was Principal Randall, she was still portrayed as "evil". So why should viewers care about her? What is Zeltrax going to do to her, tie her up in the warehouse again? Sure, she has became good as a result of Mesogog draining her energy, but the transition was all too sudden and definitely got lost in the shuffle of the finale. It could have been written as a separate episode. The "good" Elsa did nothing for the episode, and I'm quite surprised how the Rangers didn't hesitate at all to help her when they just bashed & questioned Trent before when they knew he was on their side. They should have ended the episode with Trent and his Dad trying to escape, which at least could have made viewers want to see if they could escape since they probably care more about that then Elsa.

The shooting down of Mesogog's laser was far too easy and looked like it could have been an episode early on in the series. Yeah, Hayley made a nice looking truck, but I felt that this scene could have been used for any ordinary episode and wasn't special at all, which brings me to my next point.

Series finales usually are the buildups to storylines built up all year. Here, nothing was built up, except maybe Mesogog finally fighting the Rangers, but they did nothing to even build that up. I see Mesogog as the guy who just sends monsters and gets angry at his generals. And why does Zeltrax pop out of nowhere? Personally for me, I see Zeltrax as the warrior who cowardly ran away from a gazillion fights from Tommy early on in the series. If they wanted to make Zeltrax a tough villain at the end, they should have written in more for his character. Even at the first episode of the finale he was nearly defeated.

In Power Rangers In Space, you had Darkonda unleash his plan on Dark Specter and Astronema to try and take them out, with buildup from the second season of that series. With Time Force, Frax was eliminated and Ransik became a lunatic bound to destroy the Power Rangers. If you were a casual viewer of this series, could you have noticed that this episode was the finale? Gosh I hope the second episode has more impact. Not that the last episode was bad, but it was not worthy of a finale from past episodes. It's a darn shame because Doug Sloan did a good job in the episodes he wrote during Zeo on keeping the suspense level up with bringing Jason into the series and the nice finale at the end with Jason and Tommy talking to each other. Who knows, maybe Dino Thunder will end with a bang! (For reference I didn't mean a big explosion that takes place during the episode)

Airing schedule for 11/15/04:
All times Eastern Standard Time

ABC FAMILY
---------------
8 AM MON-SUN
8:30 AM SAT-SUN
11 AM & 11:30 AM SUN

Week of 11/15/04

MONDAY:_____DT#32....Thunder Storm, Part II
TUESDAY:____DT#33....In Your Dreams
WEDNESDAY:_DT#34....Drawn Into Danger
THURSDAY:___DT#35....House of Cards
FRIDAY:______DT#36....A Test of Trust
SATURDAY:___DT#37....Thunder Struck, Part I
_____________DT#38....Thunder Struck, Part II (NEW, series finale)
Dino Thunder Marathon (all episodes being aired)
SUNDAY:_____DT#01....Day of the Dino, Part I
_____________DT#02....Day of the Dino, Part II
_____________DT#03....Wave Goodbye
_____________DT#04....Legacy of Power
_____________DT#05....Back in Black
_____________DT#08....Golden Boy
_____________DT#09....Beneath the Surface
_____________DT#10....Ocean Alert
_____________DT#11....White Thunder, Part I
_____________DT#12....White Thunder, Part II


ABC KIDS
---------------
12:30 PM SAT
(check local listings)

11/20/04

SATURDAY:___DT#29.....Isn't It Lava-Ly

TOON DISNEY
---------------
7:30 & 8:00 PM MON-THURS & SAT-SUN

Week of 10/08/04

MONDAY:______DT#27....Fighting Spirit
TUESDAY:_____DT#28....The Passion Of Conner
_____________ DT#29....Isn't It Lava-Ly
WEDNESDAY:__DT#30.....Strange Relations
_____________ DT#31....Thunder Storm, Part I
THURSDAY:____DT#32...Thunder Storm, Part II
SATURDAY:____DT#37....Thunder Struck, Part I
______________DT#14....Truth And Consequences
SUNDAY:______DT#38.....Thunder Struck, Part II

CANADA FAMILY CHANNEL
---------------
7 AM- SAT, 6:30 AM-7:30 AM- SUN

11/20/04 & 11/21/04

SATURDAY:.___NS#11.....Return Of Thunder, Part II
______________DT#35......House of Cards
SUNDAY:______NS#12....Return of Thunder, Part III
_____________DT#36......A Test of Trust

The series finale of Dino Thunder is this Saturday.

Matt Hawkins, a comic book writer from Top Cow, has said he has written two episodes of "the new Power Rangers series airing on ABC FAMILY." It's just a little blurb on the Comics Continuum site. To see it you have to scroll down (after viewing the NICE pictures of Jennifer Garner in the "Elektra" movie info.

There are already signs of SPD promos on ABC FAMILY.

Co-webmaster of this site (who has been slacking on his duties the past month, j/k tp) tpwiz4 is auctioning off some of his Power Ranger Megazords and weapons, which are located HERE. The items are, Deluxe Lightspeed Megazord, Deluxe Rescue Bird, Deluxe Centaurus Megazord, Deluxe Max Solarzord, and Deluxe INTERACT Megazord.

Rhett Fisher (Ryan Mitchell in Lightspeed Rescue) is in an independent film, "Cup 'O Joe". It's an industry screening so I don't believe it's available for public viewing. The screening takes place in Culver Studios/INCE Theater in Culver City, CA. Rhett's Power Rangers credits are "Power Rangers Time Force" and "Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue: The Queen's Wrath" (home video release of three Lightspeed Rescue videos).

Interesting news note, JC Penney celebrated their 10 year anniversary of selling online in 1994, which they say concided with Power Rangers (not the case). They say the first item they had available was a Power Rangers Action Figures set which included the "rare" White Ranger for $24.99. Wonder how much shipping was. You can view the whole press release HERE.

I don't know if this goes here but here's an article from "The Daily Northwestern" about a man named Stephen Schaffer which says he got a job as a production assistant for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers through his sister.

If you live on the Virgin Islands, Quality Family Entertainment will hold "Spider-Man in Paradise" at Antilles School on November 27 and 28th. "The Power Rangers will display martial arts techniques" it says. For more information, click here.

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