963. The stunned Sentai issues 01-02 review!

This is a fun zine that should have lasted longer than it did.  Many factors were in play, I am sure.

VOTW- Bandora the Witch

From Ranger Wiki- 170 million years ago, Bandora was originally the Queen of the Dahl Tribe, but tragedy struck when her son Kai smashed some Tyrannosaurus eggs. In retaliation, the dinosaur chased Kai until he fell off a cliff, causing his death. Swearing revenge against all dinosaurs for taking her son away from her, Bandora sold her soul to Dai-Satan for great magical powers, but in doing so lost all memory of Kai. With her newfound power, Bandora waged war on the other tribes and the dinosaurs they worshipped. Although she almost drove the dinosaurs into extinction, she was stopped by the Guardian Beasts. As punishment for her crimes, Bandora and her followers Grifforzer, Totpat, Bookback, and Pleprechaun were exiled on the planet Nemesis, sealed away in an enchanted urn. In the event that Bandora may one day get free, the five tribes selected their greatest warriors to enter a state of suspended animation. These warriors included: Yamato Tribe Prince Geki, Sharma Tribe Knight Goushi, Etoffe Tribe Knight Dan, Dime Tribe Knight Boi, and Lithia Tribe Princess Mei. Their tombs were left in the care of Mysterious Sage Barza. Back to me:

Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai 2001

From Wiki- Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai (百獣戦隊ガオレンジャーＶＳスーパー戦隊, Hyakujū Sentai Gaorenjā tai Sūpā Sentai) is a Super Sentai Series V-Cinema movie which celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Super Sentai Series, released August 10, 2001.^[1] It features a team up of the protagonists of Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger with previous heroes of the Super Sentai Series over its twenty-five year history. This movie would be the inspiration for the Power Rangers Wild Force episode Forever Red.  Back to me:

733. Android of Justice, Kikaider 33-35 plus the movie review!

             I know, it is a second version of the Kikaida 3D movie, but it IS different this time.  And shorter!

603. Kikaida and JAKQ together again!

                      Fun movies from Toei!  I would have loved these as a kid even more than I do now.

Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger

From Wiki- Five young warriors from an ancient civilization of dinosaur-evolved humans (恐竜人類, Kyōryū Jinrui) are awakened during the present day after 170 million years of suspended animation when their sworn enemy, Bandora the Witch, is inadvertently released from her magical container on Planet Nemesis by two astronauts. The five warriors, the Zyurangers, must summon the power of mechanical-looking deities known as Guardian Beasts, each modeled after a different prehistoric beast, in order to protect mankind from Bandora's evil forces. A sixth warrior, Burai the Dragon Ranger, later becomes involved with the conflict between the Zyurangers and Bandora's forces.  Now back to me!

Xenorama #35 is on sale!

All that extra time during this unusual part of the century have paid off in being able to write a lot for the book.  Between the first Kamen Rider series and the first Sentai series I watched nearly 200 episodes of those first two runs alone.  None of the other series went beyond 52 episodes or so, thank goodness.  This issue does feature the proto-Sentai Strada 5 which I had never heard of before.  It features five members, four men and one woman, all of whom have a particular gift.  They do wear matching outfits and drive cool vehicles.  It's a short run, only 13 episodes, so it wasn't really successful, but it set the stage for Gorangers.  I really like the first two series, which is before the robots started showing up.  Jetman was a very pleasant surprise.  It really changed things for the genre, and for the better.

Alien?

 This is a monster from Chojin Sentai Jetman (1991).  I think they might have been inspired by some other movie, though it's not nearly as detailed.

Xenorama #34 Rider Punch!

 

The newest issue of Xenorama is being readied for publication (i.e. it's under review) and is a load of Kamen Rider goodness!  It covers the first five series, then several more after that.  The various movies that have been produced from other countries are also in here.  It's taken over two years to finish, but dang, it's a lot of episodes to watch.  In previous years it was a lot easier to watch these shows, but now it takes a lot longer.  Dang jobs always getting in the way!  Still, I am happy to have this one done.  I think the Super Sentai issue will be the next one up, which should wrap up the year.  I am pretty happy with the cover, though perhaps a class on how to use photoshop is in order now.  Maybe next year.

Chojin Jetman (1991)

 

I've heard a lot about this 15th Super Sentai series over the last 30 years (how did that happen, again?) and am now getting around to watching the series.  Shout Factory has all the episodes available to watch here and they look great.  I am really enjoying the show.  It is the first one that actually had a love triangle in it, which I am sure made viewers want to see how that would turn out.  This was the first Sentai show to be directed by Keita Amemiya, and his influence shows.  They don't even have a giant robot battle in every episode, which I am happy about.

Battle Robo

 

Battle Fever J was the first Sentai that featured a giant robot.  It's a cool looking mecha, and the first six episodes it's not even featured in the show.  It's mentioned as a secret weapon, and when it finally debuts it's pretty cool.  It's need to battle Egos giant versions of their monster of the week.

Pachycephalosaurus

 

This is an image from a project I am working on now.  It's more of a long term thing, so it won't be out any time soon, but I'm having a great deal of fun writing about it.  It's about the various dinosaur parks I have visited, plus a few more parks I want to visit.  The history of the parks is one of the most interesting things I am learning about.  There are so many of these things in nearly every state (except perhaps Hawaii, since the islands are only about six million years old and thus wouldn't have fossils at this point in time.

GekiRanger Opening

Since I saw a clip of DaiRanger where one of them used some drunken style kung fu I began thinking of GekiRanger and how much I loved that show. Guess what I'm watching now? And danged if it doesn't hold up quite well. It's hard to believe it has been almost ten years since it aired. So this is the opening of the show, though it comes from later in the series, since it started out with only three Gekis, and there's five in this opening.

Abaranger

 These screen captures are from the fansubbed Abaranger movie.  I'm sure I have it somewhere on my hard drive, and I'm sure I've watched it, but I don't remember much about it other than it had something to do with ice.  I'm sure it was entertaining, since the whole series kept me watching all the way through.  Though now that I've finished that one I don't remember that much about it, other than the thousands of toys they could make with all the robot dinosaurs and various combination robots said robot dinosaurs make.  There's at least five different kind of super mega robots involved here.

Five Venoms fighting styles

I love this movie. I've never watched it in any Chinese language though, interestingly enough. It's pretty close in English as it is. I remember exactly where I was when I first saw this movie, in WV, watching it with my cousin Tuck. The wonderful Channel 20, WDCA, of course. While they had fallen off the cool cartoon bandwagon, they still came through with some great movies.

Abaranger opening

I got the subbed DVDs several years ago, and am just now getting around to watching them. Sentai works well with dinosaurs, doesn't it? Much better than lame old cars or trains, I gotta say. It's been a fun series, though I didn't quite remember when I left off.

superheroes!

Just a sampling of some of the great heroes from Japan in the 1970s.  How I wish I had been able to see them in their heyday.  I loved the action of the Batman show, but after that most of the US superhero shows were rather anemic.

almost the end of Magiranger

I'm on episode 45 of this fun show, and it's getting close to the end.  It's been a pretty good run, despite the stupid cell phone "wands" they have to use.  And of course, all the obligatory robots.  I've lost count at all the different combinations that have gone in the show, and with five more episodes, I'm willing to bet there will be at least one more mega power permutation of all of them together.

Gokaiger Episode 1 [Subbed]

started watching this series again from the beginning. Not going to review all the previous episodes, since you can just click and find them if you want. I really like it still, though. It's hard to believe it's been over for two years now. I'll have to check out the newer dinosaur themed sentai also.

MagiRanger episode 19 "The Magic Lamp"

Only in the world of Super Sentai do you get talking, singing magical cats from a genie bottle.  And it all makes perfect sense in that world.  Mahō Sentai Magiranger is a pretty fun show.  Five siblings battle the forces of Infershia to save the world.  Pretty standard sentai fair, but these are magicians.