I miss Pudgy

About 15 years ago, we all loved to hate "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers" (MMPR) with its stereotyped teenagers, ridiculous monsters and gratuitous food fights. Not to mention Bill & Bull (or was it Hogan & Skull?).

"Power Rangers Dino Thunder" (PRDT) is a later incarnation of the same concept. It almost makes me miss the MMPR version. While the MMPR was a real turkey, PRDT is just bad.

For starters, the stereotypes are gone. The cool Black dude aint dancin' no more. Instead, he's a computer hacker. The White hunk isn't a karate fighter or football quarter back, but a (wait for it) soccer player. Soccer??? In America??? You gotta by kiddin' my tyrannozord! What's next, I wonder? A petanque champion? A curling player? Lacrosse, or what? And the girl ranger isn't an accomplished gymnast, but a rock singer.

Next, the "Monster of the Week" has been abolished (well, almost). No more Pudgy Pig or Chunky Chicken monster. Instead, we are treated to a couple of guys who look almost scary. I mean, they have the voices of Darth Vader. And almost the same masks, too.

Even the dialogue has improved. Somebody actually taught the actors to crack one-liners. Here's one: "Your teacher doesn't intimidate us" (said in a Darth Vader voice). The Rangers respond: "That's because you never taken his pop quizzes".

And, worst of all for us turkey-lovers, EVEN THE DINOZORDS ARE MORE COOL!!! Tommy the Multicoloured Ranger actually taps the power of a big black brachiosaurus...

And yes, I'm being sarcastic...

I also wonder about the villain in this version, Megatron. Sorry, I mean Mesogog. He seems to have some kind of identity problem, being split into bad and good halves. (Also like Darth Vader! Come on, it's a George Lucas rip-off!) The goal of the bad half is to exterminate humanity and bring back the time of the dinosaurs.

Sounds like an excellent idea... Where do I sign up???

When Tommy the Everlasting Ranger tells Mesagog "The good guys always win", the villainous creature responds (like a Socratic philosopher): "That depends on who you think the good guys are"...

Precisely.

Two stars. For just being bad.