Review: Power Rangers Turbo

Favourite Ranger: Tanya Sloan, The Yellow Turbo Ranger I

Favourite Villain: Divatox

Favourite Episode: "Chase Into Space," Parts I & II

Least Favourite Ranger: Justin Stewart, The Blue Turbo Ranger

Least Favourite Villain: Crash & The Creeps

Least Favourite Episode: "Trouble by the Slice"

After the fall of the Machine Empire, space pirate Divatox sets her sights on Earth. There's just one problem - the would-be conquerer must contend with the super-powered teen heroes known as the Power Rangers. 

With the assistance of their new mentor Dimitria and a brand-new set of powers, these rainbow-coloured heroes are more than ready to take on Divatox.

Immediately proceeding the events of Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, this season sees pre-teen Ranger Justin settling into his new role as a superhero and the villainous Divatox regrouping after her humiliating defeat at the hands of the Power Rangers. 

From the onset, there is a notable shift in the tone of the series and it's clear that the producers were looking to cater to younger audiences once more. Unfortunately, this creates a problem as it gives the overall narrative a regressive quality.

Having matured over the course of the past four seasons, Bulk and Skull are returned to the role of bumbling idiots. First, through a subplot where they are turned into chimps and then through a recurring gag about their inability to hold onto a job for more than one episode.

The inclusion of Justin as a Power Ranger is equally as problematic. Though he may be mature for his age, the dynamic he creates throws off the balance amongst the team. He's shoehorned into just about every story, which means that it becomes increasingly more difficult for the writers to provide more sophisticated storytelling. This means that we see a lot of oddly themed episodes, such as one where the Rangers are shrunk and another where they're essentially baked into a giant pizza.

In many ways, Turbo represents a major shift in the Power Rangers franchise. Old characters are written off, while an onslaught of new ones are seemingly introduced in every other episode. Sadly, this isn't always for the better. 

Zordon and Alpha 5 are immediately replaced by Dimitria and Alpha 6, the latter being incredibly irritating due to the odd voice work and dated slang. Mainstays Tommy, Kat, Adam and Tanya are also written out midway through the season, bringing in a crop of younger and less experienced Rangers into the fray.

This near-complete makeover of the Rangers is quite unfortunate since the new batch of actors they hired are nowhere near as good as the old guard. Patricia Ja Lee is particularly difficult to watch at times, as she appears to phone in most of her performances using gestures you'd expect from elementary school kids. 

That said, there's still a lot of untapped potential among the new Rangers. Ashley, the new Yellow Ranger, had the opportunity to be the second coming of Kimberly due to their similar personalities and interests. However, she was swiftly relegated to the background in favour of highlighting Cassie and the boys.

Despite the steep drop in the quality of the series, Turbo isn't all bad. In fact, it would be easy to argue that the season isn't really about the Rangers at all and that the true star is Divatox. This scene-stealing villain outshines just about every bad guy that preceded her and her zany antics create the most memorable moments from the season. This is a true testament to the combined talents of Carol Hoyt and Hilary Shepard, whose turns as the campy femme fatale helped make the season watchable.

What is so disappointing about Power Rangers Turbo isn't how formulaic it is or how poor the acting can be, but rather how much squandered potential there was. The costuming was great, the automotive theme was clear and the producers had a fantastic villain at their disposal, yet they opted to focus most of their energies on disposable filler episodes, introducing new characters and developing the nearly universally despised Blue Turbo Ranger more than the others. Obviously not every season of Power Rangers is going to be great, but the tragedy with Turbo was that it could have been so much better.

Review: Justice League - Trinity War

When Superman seemingly murders one of the members of the Justice League of America,  a war is incited amongst Earth's finest heroes. His closest allies seek to prove his innocence, while the government uses the opportunity to devalue the Justice League's authority. At the centre of it all is the mysterious woman known as Pandora, whose actions may have led to the fall of Superman.

Justice League: Trinity War collects Justice League #22-23, Justice League Dark #22-23, Justice League of America #6-7, Trinity of Sin: Pandora #1-3, Constantine #5, Trinity of Sin: The Phantom Stranger #11 and The New 52 Free Comic Book Day Special 2012. It features writing by Geoff Johns, Jeff Lemire and Ray Fawkes, with art by Ivan Reis, Doug Mahnke and Mikel Janin.

At its core, Trinity War is a story of loyalty and friendship. Despite Superman's apparent guilt, Batman and Wonder Woman refuse to believe that their closest friend could truly be capable of murder. Their leadership unites the Justice Leagues, but fractures them as well. Under Batman's guidance, his group looks to the victim for answers. Wonder Woman leads her team on a crusade to find Pandora and learn the truth about the mysterious box that may have infected Superman with great evil. 

The tensions between Batman and Wonder Woman are palpable. While both have the same goal, their approach is entirely different and it's exciting to watch them butting heads. It's equally as thrilling to see Wonder Woman be given such a prominent role during a rather important event, since DC Comics' rival company is rather infamous for diminishing the role of its female characters during their events.

As far as crossovers go, this one is pretty epic. We see the clash of all three of DC Comics' Justice Leagues, giving fans a whole lot of hero versus hero action. This also means getting to see many of your favourite heroes interacting with one another when they otherwise wouldn't be. Though she has very little in the way of dialogue, Catwoman is one of the sassier characters in this crossover. Other standouts include Element Woman and Katana, as well as the aforementioned Wonder Woman. Batman is also written extremely well. Lesser writers will depict him as arrogant, always right and annoyingly flawless in battle. Here, he's sensitive and caring. His willingness to do whatever it takes to prove Superman's innocence is touching.

On top of that, a couple Wonder Woman villains get some rather impressive panel time. Giganta and Doctor Psycho's appearances within this crossover is a nice touch that any Wonder Woman fan should appreciate. At the same time, it would have been nicer to see the involvement of the villains bumped up a bit. If there was one thing Trinity War was missing in the way of its narrative, it was villainy.

While Trinity War is near flawless in theory, the execution is off. Not all issues collected in this trade are equal, with the quality varying from issue to issue. It's evident that there wasn't a lot of cohesion between the writers and artists, as the story doesn't progress as organically as it could have. The biggest problem with this particular collection is how meandering it feels due to the inclusion of Pandora's solo issues, as well as an issue of Constantine. Though Pandora's background is elaborated upon in her series, it adds very little to the ongoing story and it feels like an inconvenient interruption. The crossover is better read without these issues.

Beyond the poor pacing, there's another glaring issue with Trinity War and that is its lack of payoff. The crossover builds towards a rather impressive all-out battle between the heroes as Pandora's Box infects them with its evil, but rather than receiving a neat little resolution, the story ends with a cliffhanger. Ultimately, this diminishes the impact the story has since it means that Trinity War is little more than a lead-in for another crossover event. Despite this, the revelations made during the concluding moments of the story are pretty damn cool. There's a rather unexpected betrayal and the reveal of Pandora's Box's true origins is very creative.

There are a lot of pros and cons to Trinity War. The pacing is haphazard, the execution is a bit messy and the payoff is missing. However, characterization is strong and the action is intense. While all characters may not get to shine, those that do shine brightly. This is a testament to the strong writing from Johns and Lemire. Beyond all of that, Trinity War is just plain gorgeous! The superstar artistic talents of Ivan Reis, Doug Mahnke and Mikel Janin really elevate the story, turning each page into a masterpiece. If anything, Trinity War should be read just to see the great work these talented artists have contributed.

RATING: B