Power Rangers Jungle Fury: A Year In Review

Let me start off by just saying that I’m new to this whole blog thing, so bear with me and I’ll try to write something worth while.

Power Rangers Jungle Fury has been wrapped up for about a week or so now, and I thought it should be about time that someone did a Year-end Review for it and see where it fits into the Saban – Kalish Scale of Awesome. Jungle Fury is the first Power Rangers season that I watched as a Toku fan, having finished Gekiranger shortly before Jungle Fury premiered. For those of you who don’t know what Gekiranger or Toku is: why the hell are you reading this? Get your asses over to Wikipedia or something and look it up. We’ll wait…

..Done? Ok good. So how does Jungle Fury compare to Gekiranger? Well that’s not what I’m here to do. The two shows are great and awesome in there own ways. I’ll let the fanboys argue over syntax. What I’m here to do is review Jungle Fury on it’s own merits.

Let’s start with the heart and soul of Jungle Fury: The core three rangers, starting with the red of course (Why would we start with anyone else?). This year’s red is Casey Rhodes (played by Jason Smith), who is, in my honest opinion, one of the best reds since…hell since Lightspeed Rescue. We get to watch his evolution into a hero and a leader. And it felt real, unlike those other reds who become leaders by hording all the powerups. No, you actually feel like this guy is gaining knowledge and experience. And his argument with Master Mao is probably one of the most dramatic scenes in Power Rangers in a long time. Sure he had his problems: Jason Smith’s suit acting wasn’t exactly the best, but he more than makes up for it in his suit-less performances.

He is backed up this year by two very strong Rangers: Lily Chilman (Played by Anne Hutchinson), a bright, funny, character who can also be just as tough as her boy counterparts. She exudes warmth and compassion, and at the same time could kick your ass in a heartbeat.

Theo Martin (Played by Aljin Abella) is a tempered and dedicated blue ranger, always in control of his own body and emotions. There is even a nice little side romance between him and Lily which evolves quite nicely.

The core rangers are joined later in the series by Robert “RJ” James, as the Wolf Ranger (Played by David Le Hayter). Starting out as the Ranger’s master, RJ quickly became an internet superstar. Some people even began calling him the greatest ranger of all time, which makes a lot of sense. David plays a very fun loving, almost stoner-ish mentor, sorta a cross between Captain Jack Sparrow and…well…a stoner. Though he doesn’t seem much like a fighter at the beginning, he definantly comes into his own by the time he gets his morpher. We suddenly realize that his bite is definitely as bad as his bark. He definitely made Gou proud.

A little later in the series, we get a new ranger in Dominique Hargan (played by Nikolai Nikolaeff). In all the 16 years of watching Power Rangers, I have never felt such a connection to a Ranger like I did with Dom. He starts off as a clumsy, somewhat awkward young Pai Zhua student who no one really seems to understand, or even like. However, he soon proves his usefulness with the Rhino spirit and his willingness to help the rangers, and the Rangers eventually welcome him as a friend and ally.

We get a surprise later in the season with the addition of 3 American rangers: the Elephant, Bat, and Shark Spirit Rangers. Though not rangers in the sense of men in suits, they are in fact extensions of the 3 core rangers spirit energy and work independently. There was a huge source of debate within the PR community as to if we were even going to get these spirit rangers. Unfortunately, the spirit rangers have a sort of luck warm showing. The suits aren’t of the best quality, but the helmets looked really good and honestly these are the first American rangers we have had since the Titanium Ranger in Lightspeed Rescue. Even though he was cool, I think we can cut these guys some slack.

The rangers also have a friend named Fran (played by Sarah Johnson) who has more or less become a geek goddess in her own right. Starting out as a gawky and much abused worker at Jungle Karma Pizza, Fran ends the show as a…Gawky and much abused worker at the Jungle Karma Pizza. But at least she gets a love interest in Dominic!

But as good as the rangers are, they are only as good as their enemies, and what enemies they have! I’m going to ignore the generals here, who have about as much personality as a wet shoe, and talk about the true villains of the show: Jarrod/Daishi (played by Bede Skinner) and Camille (played by Holly Shannon).

I originally had my doubts about how Bede Skinner would portray Jarroshi, but my fears were quickly squelched, and he quickly became one of my favorite characters in the show, and definitely one of my favorite villains in a long time. Jungle Fury is just as much Jarrod’s story as it is the Ranger’s, as Jarrod tries to gain more and more power. We definitely see the struggle as Jarrod tries to retain his own humanity, while also fighting for control of his own army with the other beast generals (who, as I said before, have the personality of a wet shoe).

He is joined by his loyal servant and assassin Camille. Though she starts out as a merciless assassin, she slowly begins to change. By the end of the series, she realizes that the path she is on is the path of destruction. It is a wonderful and very natural feeling change.

So, overall, how does Jungle Fury stack up with the last few seasons of Power Rangers? Pretty damn good in my opinion, especially considering the debacle that was Operation Overdrive. The story flows quite naturally, and the characters are very well fleshed out by the end. It has its faults, such as the beast generals and the horrible sunglasses morphers, but the problems are small and inconsequential to the overall story and characters. Basically, we got a fun season with expressive and dramatic characters, good fast paced action with much less explosions, and even some custom American stuff. Its not perfect, but it’s the closest thing we’ve gotten in quite a long while.

I give this season a 8/10, Right under Saban on the Saban – Kalish Scale of Awesome.

Now with Bruce Kalish leaving this year, I can’t wait to see the changes that are in store for RPM. Until next time dear readers, Henshin!