Power Rangers Samurai: The Premiere

So is this the first episode or not? It sure doesn't feel like one since it is adapted from Shinkenger Act 3. Plus, Nick is known for airing shows out of episode order, so this is really confusing.



"THE TEAM UNITES"

First things first, Power Rangers in High Definition (HD)! AWESOMEZ! It's about time that America catch up with Japan and Super Sentai!

Saban is really pushing aggressively through every media channel in order to make the series successful again. I like the spirit! Hopefully, it will be a success.

Main Theme

Essentially, a remix of the original MMPR theme that older fans are very familiar with. Not too fond of the name calling at the beginning, it sounds dumb and kinda ruin the song. Otherwise, an updated classic.

Story

There is no establishment to the show's Samurai premise and we all see the rangers already gotten their powers and training. The focus is entirely on the Green Ranger, Mike who has a hard time fitting in. They are probably going to cover the origins at a later episode.

Having seen Shinkenger, there's no element of surprise at all since the whole show is exactly a carbon copy. They really went all the way out to copy and reshoot every plot detail! I went back to rewatch some parts of Shinkenger and noticed that some dialogues were copied as well.

The only random part was Bulk and Spike. Oh yes, the good old Bulk is reunited with the show but this time with Skull's son! I wasn't a fan of the slap stick comedy but Spike's high pitch laughter was rather funny.

Acting

I was really impressed with RPM's acting so Samurai was lacking in this aspect. The wooden acting was very obvious in some delivery of lines especially Mike and Jayden since they have the most lines in the episode... Not complaining since it's just a kids show and not some Oscar film. Haha.

Production

The HD cameras alone make up more than enough of the production value. The set was nicely done as well, and I welcome the return of rock music absent in Disney's seasons.

So far, Saban has not disappoint in the aspect of naming. There's proper names for weapons, attacks and Zords which Disney was quite lazy and inconsistent with. I totally hate the generic "fire!" and "full power!" that plagued Disney's season. Also glad that Zords once again have their unique identities as "Folding Zords" this season instead of the generic "insert name Zord".

Interestingly, they also kept quite a number of names from Shinkenger as well, e.g. the Sanzu River and Dayu.

The Mega-Mode Powers

Of course, the highlight of the episode was the summoning of the Zords and the Mega-Mode Powers which are American creations. Quite the MMPR Movie feel there with the modified design and I think the Mega Blade looks cool as well.

The new American cockpit was more modern and sleek looking so it would relate to kids better in the department of cool factors.

Go Go Samurai!