Ranger Command Power Hour Episode 177

Simon Bennett

It’s time to Ranger Up with @trekkieb47, @secretrangerfan & @ZachLaVoy as they talk all things Power Rangers on the Four Eyed Radio Network with RANGER COMMAND POWER HOUR!

In this episode we interview Simon Bennett, best known in Ranger Nation as the current Showrunner and Executive Producer for Power Rangers Dino Fury.

He started directing for Power Rangers during Ninja Steel and continued through Beast Morphers. Aside from Rangers, he is an accomplished television director and producer which includes the long-running “Shortland Street”, “The Almighty Johnsons”, “Outrageous Fortune”, “Maddigan’s Quest” and more.

We discuss how his career prepared him for producing Dino Fury, influences in media, directing the 25th Anniversary team up “Dimensions in Danger”, directing the premiere and finale of Power Rangers Beast Morphers and interacting with fans.

Listen now: Ranger Command Power Hour Episode 177 – “Ranger Nation Interview: Simon Bennett”

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Links mentioned in show:

NEWS – Exclusive Variant Cover Reveal of Power Rangers Unlimited: Heir to Darkness #1

Fan-Favorite Artist Jenny Frison Covers POWER RANGERS UNLIMITED: HEIR TO DARKNESS #1
Discover the Dark Hidden Truth Behind Everyone’s Favorite Power Rangers Villain in March 2021

LOS ANGELES, CA (March 11, 2021) – BOOM! Studios, under license by Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS), today revealed the variant cover by acclaimed artist Jenny Frison (Wonder Woman) of the brand new oversized special issue, POWER RANGERS UNLIMITED: HEIR TO DARKNESS #1, as acclaimed author L.L. McKinney (A Blade So Black), artist Simone Ragazzoni (Power Rangers: Drakkon New Dawn), colorist Igor Monti (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers), and letterer Ed Dukeshire (Once & Future) present a powerful new story that no Power Rangers fan can miss in March 2021.

Astronema is one of the most popular Power Rangers villains ever and her true origin is revealed for the first time in a one-shot directly connected to the events of Mighty Morphin and Power Rangers! Before she became a Power Ranger, a young girl named Karone was kidnapped by bounty hunters and brainwashed into the assassin known as Astronema by two of the greatest threats in the galaxy—Dark Specter and Ecliptor. But what is Dark Specter’s true plan. . . and what does it mean for the new Mighty Morphin & Power Rangers teams?

POWER RANGERS UNLIMITED: HEIR TO DARKNESS #1 features main cover art by Dan Mora (Once & Future) and variant cover art by illustrators Junggeun Yoon (Spider-woman), Vincenzo Riccardi (Something is Killing the Children), and Jenny Frison.  

Currently, Power Rangers is celebrating 28 continuous years on the air, making it one of the longest running kids’ live-action series in television history with nearly 900 episodes aired to date. Created by Haim Saban and launched in 1993 with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the franchise celebrates its 28th season, with “Power Rangers Dino Fury”, currently airing Saturdays at 8 a.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon in the U.S.

Print copies of POWER RANGERS UNLIMITED: HEIR TO DARKNESS #1 will be available on March 31, 2021 exclusively at local comic book shops (use comicshoplocator.com to find the nearest one), or at the BOOM! Studios webstore. Digital copies can be purchased from content providers like comiXology, iBooks, Google Play, and Madefire.

Softcover collections of MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS, and other Power Rangers releases from BOOM! Studios are available now, everywhere books are sold.

For continuing news on the MIGHTY MORPHIN and POWER RANGERS series and more from BOOM! Studios, stay tuned to boom-studios.com and follow @boomstudios on Twitter.

For more on Power Rangers, please visit www.powerrangers.com and follow Power Rangers on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Ranger Command Power Hour Episode 176

Ranger Command Power Hour Episode 176

It’s time to Ranger Up with @trekkieb47, @secretrangerfan & @ZachLaVoy as they talk all things Power Rangers on the Four Eyed Radio Network with RANGER COMMAND POWER HOUR!

Mere is back on a new Ranger Nation Spotlight episode of Ranger Command Power Hour! She was one of our first spotlights seven years ago and has been on occasionally for Ranger Roundtable episodes, but it’s time for a refresher course on all things The Power Scoop! We discuss what the Power Scoop is, how it has evolved over the years as a behind the scenes resource, changes in the fandom and being a woman contributor in Ranger Nation.

We also talk about the news including tearing down “Power Rangers Live!”, Battle for the Grid opening their Content Creator Program, and former writer for Power Rangers, Jackie Marchand’s tweets about being passed over for Executive Producer on RPM.

She’s on the scoop…

Listen now: Ranger Command Power Hour Episode 176 – “Ranger Nation Spotlight: NightMere10 & The Power Scoop… 7 years later”

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Links mentioned in show:

NEWS – Power Rangers Dino Fury Episode 3 “Lost Signal” Stills

Tune-in TOMORROW to Power Rangers Dino Fury Episode 3 “Lost Signal” airing at 8 a.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon!

Catch a preview clip of “Lost Signal”  below as well as episode summary and stills from the episode!

The Rangers intercept a mysterious message from outer space and Zayto is desperate to know if it was sent from his home planet. Unable to decipher it and losing hope, he remembers another important message from the past.

Episode stills:

COMIC REVIEW – Mighty Morphin Issue 5

On Wednesday, March 10th, Mighty Morphin Issue 5 will be released from Boom Studios. A first look of this issue was shown earlier this week.

The New Green Ranger’s identity has been revealed. Now, for the first time ever, discover their top secret origin… and what comes next.

Host Eric (@trekkieb47) had a chance to read the issue in advance and shares his review:

“For months Power Rangers fans have speculated, wondered, and even been spoiled on the identity of the new Green Ranger. Now we know it’s Matthew Cook, a former friend of the Power Rangers who figured out their secret. Matt was a character created by writer Ryan Parrott during the start of Go Go Power Rangers and has had as much of a journey and focus as some of the other Rangers in the past. Ex-boyfriend to Pink Ranger Kimberly Hart, Matt has popped in and out of the story since the end of Go Go Power Rangers, but is now back in full force.

As seen in the preview, Mighty Morphin Issue 5 fills in the gaps of the story of the new Green Ranger from his debut to his reveal to the citizens of Angel Grove in that month time span.  This issue feels like a break from the main story to focus solely on Matt and him handling being a Power Ranger. This technique to fill in the gaps was seen in the earlier issues of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers run from former series writer Kyle Higgins and is picked up again by Ryan Parrott.

I feel like I learned more about Matt as well as Grace from this one issue than in the past couple of years. This starts to turn the new Green Ranger from less of a gimmick into a fully realized Power Ranger.

Matthew Cook has always been writer Ryan Parrott’s creation and with this issue we get to see Matt’s personal life in a way that wasn’t focused on before, giving him new dimension. Artist Marco Renna continues his solid line work and impressive character detail, displaying some flashbacks with new flourish. The colors absolutely pop from Walter Baiamonte, Sara Antonellini and Katia Ranalli. I love the use of orange throughout the issue as a complementary color to green, simple but effective.

For new readers, this issue will give more insight into the character of Matt, turning him from a background character to main focus pretty quickly. I can’t recommend enough that newer readers who are interested, to dive into the trade paperback collections for Go Go Power Rangers. Now, the gloves are off. The secret is out and it’s time to watch the sparks fly…”

MIGHTY MORPHIN #5
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Writer: Ryan Parrott
Artist: Marco Renna
Colorist: Walter Baiamonte with Color Assistance by Sara Antonellini and Katia Ranalli
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire
Cover Artists:
Main Cover: In-Hyuk Lee
Legacy Cover: Eleonora Carlini
Variant Covers: Goñi Montes
Price: $3.99

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NEWS – First Look at Mighty Morphin #5

Secret Origins of Mysterious New Green Ranger Revealed in MIGHTY MORPHIN #5
Discover a Mighty Morphin Origin Like No Other in March 2021

LOS ANGELES, CA (March 4, 2021) – BOOM! Studios, under license by Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS), revealed a first look at  MIGHTY MORPHIN #5, from writer Ryan Parrott (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), artist Marco Renna, colorist Walter Baiamonte with assistance by Katia Ranalli and Sara Antonellini, and letterer Ed Dukeshire, the exciting next issue in the ERA OF UNLIMITED POWER.

The New Green Ranger’s identity has been revealed. Now, for the first time ever, discover their top secret origin…and what comes next.

MIGHTY MORPHIN #5 features main cover art by acclaimed illustrator InHyuk Lee (Seven Secrets), and variant cover art by Eleonora Carlini (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and Goñi Montes (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers).

Currently, Power Rangers is celebrating 28 continuous years on the air, making it one of the longest running kids’ live-action series in television history with nearly 900 episodes aired to date. Created by Haim Saban and launched in 1993 with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the franchise celebrates its 28th season, with “Power Rangers Dino Fury”, currently airing Saturdays at 8 a.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon in the U.S.

MIGHTY MORPHIN is the newest release from BOOM! Studios’ eponymous imprint, home to critically acclaimed original series, including BRZRKR by Keanu Reeves, Matt Kindt, and Ron Garney; We Only Find Them When They’re Dead by Al Ewing and Simone Di Meo; Seven Secrets by Tom Taylor and Daniele Di Nicuolo; Something is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera; Once & Future by Kieron Gillen and Dan Mora; Faithless by Brian Azzarello and Maria Llovet; and Abbott from Saladin Ahmed and Sami Kivelä. The imprint also publishes popular licensed properties including Magic from Jed McKay and Ig Guara; Dune: House Atreides by Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, and Dev Pramanik;  Buffy the Vampire Slayer from Jordie Bellaire and David López, and Firefly from Greg Pak, Lalit Kumar Sharma & Daniel Bayliss.

Print copies of MIGHTY MORPHIN #5 will be available on March 10, 2021 exclusively at local comic book shops (use comicshoplocator.com to find the nearest one), or at the BOOM! Studios webstore. Digital copies can be purchased from content providers like comiXology, iBooks, Google Play, and Madefire.

Softcover collections of MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS, and other Power Rangers releases from BOOM! Studios are available now, everywhere books are sold.

For continuing news on the MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS series and more from BOOM! Studios, stay tuned to boom-studios.com and follow @boomstudios on Twitter.

For more on Power Rangers, please visit www.powerrangers.com and follow Power Rangers on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Ranger Command Power Hour Extra Episode 072

Power Rangers Dino Fury - Destination Dinohenge

It’s time to Ranger Up with @trekkieb47 @secretrangerfan@ZachLaVoy as they talk all things Power Rangers on the Four Eyed Radio Network with RANGER COMMAND POWER HOUR!

In our Extra Episode for February 2021, brought to you by our supporters on Patreon, Eric, A.P. and Zach discuss the premiere episode of Power Rangers Dino Fury, “Destination Dinohenge”.

It’s not all Dino Fury as we first talk about the latest news including a new RCPH Guest Editorial from Mike for the Dino Charge toy line, new BOOM! Studios comic solicitations for May 2021, Mezco 1/12th scale Green Ranger, ThreeZero’s MMPR Red Ranger Dragon Shield figure, a new episode title for Dino Fury and interviews featuring new Executive Producer, Simon Bennett.

Then we break down the exciting premiere of Power Rangers Dino Fury. What comparisons and connections are from other seasons of the show? Who was the standout character in this episode? We talk about all aspects of “Destination Dinohenge”!

Finally, we open up comments from our listeners in a new Ranger Nation Answers segment where things get a little too Dino-Tastic.

Listen now: Ranger Command Power Hour Extra Episode 072 – Rangers Review Dino Fury Episode 1 – Destination Dinohenge

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Timestamps:

  • 0:04:22 – News
  • 0:14:48 – Discussion on Dino Fury cast and Simon Bennett’s recent interviews
  • 0:36:36 – “Destination Dinohenge” discussion
  • 1:26:00 – Ranger Nation Answers – listener’s thoughts on the first episode, our thoughts on the episode’s music, skirts and more…
  • 1:46:07 – Final thoughts

Links mentioned in show:

NEWS – Power Rangers Dino Fury Episode 2 “Sporix Unleashed” Stills

Tune-in TOMORROW to Power Rangers Dino Fury Episode 2 “Sporix Unleashed” airing at 8 a.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon!

Catch a preview clip of “Sporix Unleashed”  below as well as episode summary and stills from the episode!

Ollie carries out a plan to catch Sporix without his teammates’ knowledge. When monsters take advantage of his idea, Ollie realizes the benefit of working as a team.

 

Episode stills:

GUEST EDITORIAL – Dino Charged: The Greatest Toy Line of The Last 10 Years?

Dino Charged: The Greatest Toy Line of The Last 10 Years?

Guest Editorial by Mike (@BigMike8109 on Twitter)

A few weekends ago, my son came up to me and told me he was ready to go through his boxes of toys – five huge bins to be exact. I did what any sane person would do, I told him “next weekend”. Ha!

Well that weekend finally happened and I took a few pics of the chaos and posted them on my Twitter feed. Some were quick to point out that I had a lot of figures, but in the vast sea that was five bins worth of toys I came to the realization that Power Rangers Dino Charge and Dino Super Charge had the greatest toy line over the last 10 years. I don’t know if anyone could change my mind on it, even if they tried to argue the point. Let’s talk about what came before and after the toy line for a moment that made me realize this.

2011 brought the return of Power Rangers fresh off of Saban’s re-purchase of the brand from Disney with Power Rangers Samurai. Samurai and Super Samurai were… well, they were a show and they had toys to sell. I can’t even think of anything that stands out toy wise except a Japanese import of the Bandai Japan Samurai Megazord. There was also a Rita Repulsa figure…

Then came Power Rangers Megaforce which brought us a whole wide range of Power Cards to collect. Power Rangers Super Megaforce is what a lot of people were wanting and waiting on, and it delivered with the Ranger Keys! They were the first of many gimmick items to collect. The Ranger Keys were based on the Power Rangers themselves. This meant that we couldn’t get random Ranger Keys unless you were a ranger. Super Megaforce had a big disadvantage over any of these toy lines in the last 10 years: it was technically only one season, so they had a lot of work to do to get the toys out for a show that only lasted a year. To the credit of Bandai America, when they realized (after a lot of fans speaking up) they didn’t produce every Ranger in the Ranger Key line, they went and completed them. These extra keys released concurrent with the Dino Charge toys.

After Dino Charge/Dino Super Charge we have Samurai... I mean Ninjas! We had Ninjas. Power Rangers Ninja Steel was odd to say the least. They tried to replicate the Ranger Key concept with Ninja Throwing Stars that could be shot out of a small launcher that came packaged with some of the Ninja Star packs. Those didn’t land too well, but I think what they did with the Zords was equally weird. During Ninja Steel the auxiliary Zords got full on Megazord modes for no real reason at all except to sell you different color Zords. While this worked well with the previous season, this approach fell flat for Ninja Steel.

With Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Hasbro took over the toy license from Bandai America. The toy line was decent, but it’s also the only toy line that didn’t complete the show’s Zords. We never got a toy of the final Megazord. They upped the height of the basic figures to 6 inches, but it made them look stretched a bit or maybe that’s just a me thing. Hasbro added keys with the Morpher, which after about five different phrases it would just repeat. This differed from the Super Megaforce Gosei Morpher which would call out the seasons or Ranger if it was a Super Megaforce Ranger Key.

With all that said, it’s about to get wild! Power Rangers Dino Charge/Super Dino Charge ran from 2015 – 2016 and those two years brought with them a MASSIVE amount of things to collect and buy.  And boy, it was really wild.

Let me start with the figures first because there is quite a bit of them! The first wave was all 5 core Rangers, Vivix, and Fury. Then, I thought, “Ok, they’ll add in Sledge and the remaining five Rangers next year!” I was very wrong! Dino Charge introduced something called Dino Drive Mode. They mode was activated in the Megazord cockpit and would grant them Dino Drive powers.  This wasn’t in the Sentai footage and was completely American made for the show. Those crazy people at Bandai America made figures of them, but that’s not all they made!

Super Charge had a mode on top of that mode, Dino Super Drive! And I didn’t even mention the Dino Steel mode, which granted the rangers an armor to one of their arms and different weapons to combine into the Dino Spike! So just off Rangers alone we’re at: 10 regular figures, 5 Dino Steel figures, 9 Dino Drive figures (Silver never got a Dino Drive figure), 10 Dino Super Drive figures and  a few extra figures. These included the T-Rex Super Charged Red Ranger figure, Black Dino Armor X figure (exclusive to a Toys”R”Us 6-pack), Male Purple Ranger, and 5 translucent Dino Ranger figures (the core 5). They even released figures of the Megazords; Dino, Plesio, and Ptera!

Just from the Ranger figures alone we got 42 Dino Charge figures! But here’s the kicker. This is where I think, figure-wise, the line shined: Villains. We got a lot of villain figures… ALL of Sledge’s crew and yes, that even means Poisandra! This included most of the Super Charge villain crew as well. In total, all figures included, we are well over 60 figures. That’s wild.

Then they got even wilder when it came to the Dino Chargers. If you know the season then you know what these were. Powered by the Power Ranger’s Energems to morph, they were also used to summon their Zords and auxiliary Zords into battle. Dino Changers upped what Super Megaforce did with the keys, and boy did they! Each Dino Charger pack came with 2 Chargers and 1 mini-dino figure. There were so many packs of them! In the middle of the line they released an Ultimate Charge Pack which came with all 22 Chargers in 1 pack. Talk about making people double dip if they wanted to! Bandai America didn’t actually have to release this set as no Dino Charger in that pack was ever exclusive.

There were exclusive Dino Chargers though, and those mainly came from San Diego Comic Con and Toys”R”Us. The exclusives included basic Dino Chargers, Chargers with fossil silhouettes, some with eggs, and some translucent ones with glowing dinos inside. Bandai America made Legendary Ranger Chargers, but sadly the line was never completed and four teams still remain missing. At this time there is no chance that they will ever be finished. Those Chargers came in a gold color matte/translucent finish, legendary season’s logo, red ranger, sixth ranger, and Megazord inside the Charger’s art. These Chargers were packed with a black mini dino figure.

Who wouldn’t want to roleplay as a Power Ranger? Power Rangers Dino Charge/Dino Super Charge’s toy line let you and then some. Released were the Deluxe Morpher, Dino Saber, T-Rex Super Charger Morpher, Dino Com, and Dino Spike. On top of all of that we got Zenowing’s Morpher and matching Dino Saber. It doesn’t end there, since we also got recolored versions of the Deluxe Morpher and T-Rex Super Charge Morpher in Green and White respectively.

Let’s make a Megazord or should I say, let’s make several!

This toy line had the greatest Zord line that I can remember. Here are the list of Zords listed individually: T-Rex, Tricera, Stego, Raptor, Para, Pachy, Ptera, Plesio, Titano, Ankylo, Spino. All of these could combine to form Megazords with lots of different combinations. Those Zords were just for the 10 Rangers, but Bandai also made auxiliary Zords just for Dino Charge that weren’t even in the show! These Zords were: Ammonite, Deinosuchus, Oviraptor and Archelon.

It doesn’t even end there. Repaints of 85% of these Zords were also released! This is the thing I think Ninja Steel’s toy line took too far, but Dino Charge got right.

  • Black versions of T-Rex, Tricera, and Stego
  • Green T-Rex
  • Yellow T-Rex
  • Red Ptera
  • Green Para
  • Red Raptor
  • Green/Yellow Ankylo
  • Purple Pachy
  • Black/Orange Deinosuchus
  • Blue Ammonite

There were so many different combinations and color variants to mix and match with. It truly was Zord heaven for collectors. Let’s not forget to mention the random Purple Tricera that was shown at a trade show which had people up in arms about (it was never released)!

That’s a lot of Dino Charge toy goodness. Going through all those toys again brought back so many memories of that toy line; a toy line that I’m saying now is the greatest in the last 10 years.

Just a few little Dino-eggs to toss at you before I wrap this up: The first wave of Dino Chargers came in a Dino Egg shaped plastic packaging versus the “teeth” style that most remember. Dino Charge Graphite when first released came with clear versions of the Dino Morpher and Dino Saber, which would later get fixed in his Super Charge re-release to include solid green color weapons.

Here’s hoping Dino Fury’s toy line can live up to Dino Charges and more! Dino Chargers ready?

Credit:

Written/Pictures by Mike (@BigMike8109 on Twitter)
Edited by Eric Berry (@trekkieb47)