We are back to the regular schedule for airing new episodes of Power Rangers Dino Fury on Nickelodeon. However, following the one-week hiatus due to the Kids’ Choice Awards, I was a little delayed in providing this review. Nevertheless, let us jump right into our newest episode, “New Recruits” where we will meet our Green and Black Rangers!
We begin with an updated opening credit sequence feature our newest Rangers. Now, normally television series wait an episode before add new characters to the credits, but here is not the case. Then the episode officially begins with Void Knight finalizing the construction of his newest general, Boomtower. Rather than being a Sporix Beast, Boomtower is a robotic weapon of destruction. Also, thanks the powers that be, Boomtower has an appropriate sounding voice than the standard gravelly ones we usually hear. Whereas, the new Sporix Beast that Mucus found, Dragnarok, has that voice nailed down. So, Void Knight orders his forces to steal the Nephrite Orb from the museum which is a dormant energy source. Void Knight intends to use the orb as an amplifier to give Boomtower limitless power.
Then, we transition to BuzzBlast where Amelia and Ollie are trying to get Zayto a job there as a reporter. I think their intent is to help Zayto become apart of society, or so he can afford supplies like food. Come to think of it, where does Zayto sleep on the ship and what does he have for food? I do not think everything Zayto requires is on the ship, though there has to be living arrangements in it. Anyway, here we learn Ollie has been giving Zayto bad advice like his new catchphrase, “Cool, cool, coolio!” In addition, Zayto will have to compete for the job as BuzzBlast’s newest reporter through assignments. Zayto’s opponent is a young musician, Javi Garcia who is trying to earn money for a keytar. Zayto is required to interview local athlete Izzy Garcia, and Javi must do an exposé on the Nephrite Orb.
Zayto and the others head to the local high school, meeting Izzy on the field as she practices. However, Izzy tells Zayto she does not do interviews, so Zayto comes up with a compromise to obtain his goal. Zayto suggests that if he can help Izzy improve her throwing technique, then she has to give him the interview. Izzy agrees to the bet and Zayto’s knight training comes into play, allowing Izzy to break her previous records. Whereas, Javi is beginning his tour at the museum, and Void Knight’s forces appear to steal the Nephrite Orb. So, Javi calls the Ranger Hotline to report the incident, which I love how the hotline is an important element. This results in the Rangers calling off the interview with Izzy, so they can go protect the museum.
Before the Rangers arrive at the museum, Warden Garcia appears to try to apprehend the monsters. Yet, Warden Garcia gets blasted for his troubles, and Boomtower even mentions “How about I put you down.” Boomtower’s statement is pretty ballsy by the way, as its expressing the intent to kill. Also, following the premiere, Simon Bennet explained on social media Warden Garcia was originally intended to be the city’s sheriff. So, this partially explains why a park warden is responding to this emergency call. Anyway, the Rangers appear and a battle ensues for the possession of the Nephrite Orb. Eventually, Javi obtains the orb and steals the warden’s SUV to protect the orb. However, Mucus hitches a ride by turning to slime, and attaching herself to the vehicle. Also, Mucus shouts “It’s Morphin’ Slime,” during the whole thing. The Rangers notice the injured Warden Garcia, and teleports him away to get him medical attention. This is a great thing to see, as Rangers are rarely shown evacuating citizens amidst an active battle.
Following the battle, J-Borg is sent by Jane to do a live report at the museum. The scene is rather harmless, as fits the show’s mandate to include slapstick comedy. Here the scene features Jane messing up the teleprompter from her office, as J-Borg reads the script. It is all in good fun, and I like how the show manages to play around with comedy. Jane and J-Borg are meant for slapstick, and the Rangers’ dialog has a lot of witty humor. Meanwhile Warden Garica leaves the hospital and is met by the Rangers, as well as his daughter Izzy. Here the Rangers learn, Javi is also the Warden’s son, and Izzy’s stepbrother. During the conversation, Izzy mentions how she can help the Rangers in locating Javi, as to recover the Nephrite Orb. So, the Rangers accept her offer, and Izzy explains how their dad does not support Javi’s love for music. Hearing this fact pisses me off because the series is making a troupe out of unsupportive parents. I get it can be common in actual families, but this is just getting out of hand following Beast Morphers.
Now, Mucus leads Boomtower and Dragnarok to Javi’s location to reobtain the Nephrite Orb. Yet, it is very strange seeing Dragnarok in human-scale, especially when his Ryusoulger counterpart stayed giant. Before Void Knight’s forces can retreat with the orb, the Rangers and Izzy appear to stop them. In the skirmish, Javi gets the orb again, and decides to destroy it rather than let Boomtower obtain it. However, its destruction releases the lost Green and Black Dino Fury Keys that instantly morphs the siblings into Rangers. Also, Bert Selen provides another epic track to complement their transformation. Then we move onto the fandom induced controversy of the Green Ranger’s skirt. The flashback showed the original Dino Fury Green Ranger was female like Izzy, and she wore a skirt. Whereas, presently Izzy quickly tears it off because of the practicality in combat and her athletic training. Furthermore, the removal of the skirt is to coincide with the Super Sentai footage, as Ryusoul Green was male. Overall, the in-and-out universe explanations for the skirt’s use is surprising and it ultimately pleases me.
Anyway, the battle continues with Izzy and Javi doing crazy stuff like Javi dual-wielding Chroma Sabers. Izzy even manages to intimidate and creep out Boomtower causing him to retreat. Whereas, Dragnarok decides to enlarge himself in hopes to defeat the Dino Fury team. What is great too is that one of the Rangers jokes “It’s not like he was going to shrink.” This line easily got me to laugh and remember all of the self-aware and fourth-wall level jokes from Ninja Storm. I love witty humor and references like these, as it allows the show to make fun of itself. So, with the monster growing big, Zayto summons the zords, and Izzy immediately falls in love them. Tessa Rao’s voice acting shows the excitement and wonder in the scene, as Izzy states “My own console! Can it play music?” Yet, the line could be a modern reference to when Kimberly first piloted her zord in MMPR episode 1. Furthermore, this episode’s zord battle was the first mecha battle within Ryusoulger’s premiere. It always interesting to see Super Sentai footage being swapped around in Power Rangers, as it makes adaptations more unpredictable.
Finally, after making quick work of Dragnarok, the Rangers recover its Sporix Egg before Void Knight. They then retreat to their base for the to properly introduce themselves as well as to Dino-Mama, Solon. During the reveal the Garcia siblings are surprised that the Rangers were Zayto, Amelia and Ollie the entire time. Izzy also mentions how she cannot wait to get her zord, and Zayto responds “You humans sure do love zords.” I assume Zayto is not aware of the other Earth teams, so I guess the appeal is lost on him. So, if maybe Zayto was up to date on Earth’s history, he would immediately see why people dig giant robots. Anyway, the team then goes to BuzzBlast to find out who will be its newest reporter. Ironically, instead of a swerve with Jane selecting a nobody or neither man, she picks Javi. Jane’s reasoning for hiring Javi is for the immediate action he showed when protecting the Nephrite Orb at the museum.
So, this is where the episode ends, and it was pretty good. The episode featured several things like the introduction to Boomtower, Javi and Izzy. In addition, it brought back the unsupportive parent trope with Warden Garcia towards Javi’s music. Furthermore, I like how Izzy is going to be very athletic, and probably an energetic tomboy in the series. As previously mention, the skirt debacle had a reason to exist as it was a prop to establish Izzy’s personality. Also, it could be intended as a lesson that not all girls will want wear dresses or skirts. If that is the case, I think it is a wonderful message to teach to kids. Whereas, the only bad thing about the episode would be J-Borg’s scenes, as comedy was not that appealing.
Nevertheless, Dino Fury is running strong with each episode extending the story and developing its characters. Eventually, I am going to be sad when this show goes on its Summer hiatus due to the Nickelodeon mandate. However, we as the fans have no control over the airing schedule. Anyway, stay tuned for this Saturday’s new episode “Winning Attitude,” and my review on it next week!
