Ameritoku that could've been the next Green Ranger/Tommy Oliver: Part 1

Jason David Frank is a legend in American Tokusatsu. He was the member of Power Rangers that was the the first, and more importantly, was the most popular and he had his own arc. The line for his table is endless at conventions.

So in order to come up with other "legendary" actors that can be as popular as Tommy, I have decided to compose a list of popular and/or influential characters in American tokusatsu history.

• Jason Lee Scott/Austin St. John/Jason Geiger

The Red Senshi was the symbol of the main character of Super Sentai, whereas the Red Ranger is the symbol of leader of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Jason Lee Scott's helmet face was on all the merchandise. 

People recognize him. He was the one who stopped Tommy from being evil. He was the one who teamed up with Tommy against many evil situations. He was the one who stood in for Tommy when he was powered down or out. He was the one who intially fought Goldar and Lord Zedd. He gains the power of the Green Ranger after Tommy loses his powers. He's also the Sixth Ranger after him in Power Rangers: Zeo, so why not him?

• All the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

They were the first cast. They were legends. They were friends in real life. They were friends in the show. Few Power Rangers cast had the same chemistry as them. I recall that story of how Austin St. John and crew went to Universal Studios and how crowded the line was to see them. They were big! Have them show up throughout series. Heck, Bulk and Skull showed up without the original Rangers. Even in Samurai.

• Dragonzord, Saba and White Tiger

Have Tommy's zords come back, but not him. You don't have to pay him and while still having elements of him around.

• Katherine Hillard/Catherine Sutherland

She's basically the female Tommy Oliver, evil Ranger sent to destroy someone who she eventually replaces. She falls in love with her male counterpart. She brought a sense of real teenage romance to the Power Rangers series as the cast grew in Power Rangers: Zeo. 

Only problem is the Kim-Tom fans...

• Sam Collins, Superhuman Samurai Cyber Squad

Matthew Lawrence was one of the most hyped stars in the 90s. His entire family was. And there he was on a Saved by the Bell-ish show with Japanese tokusatsu footage. It was syndicated. It had faster . The story quality could've been better, but heck. I did not notice.

• KiloKhan, Tim Curry

I could gloat about how Tim Curry's the best talent ever. I could.

• The Steeles, VR Troopers

I love Defending Dark Heart. Love it. I don't care if it's not original footage. I don't care if Metalder and Spielban were a better series. The crew did a great job with that episode. For me, it was what many people's Green With Evil was for them. I mark out at how cheesy it was for Ryan Steele to be teaming up with his younger self and his father against Skugs in Trooper in Time. It would've been awesome to have him in Power Rangers: ZEO

Most popular Toei franchises

Toei did a great job establishing not only annual teams, but possibly life teams with tendy series such as:

• Kamen Rider: From henshins to Rider Kicks to BatMan, like Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, a key figure in Tokusatsu.
• Hakaider: One of the most memorable turns in Tokusatsu history.
• Himitsu Sentai Goranger: Another classic Shotaro Ishinomori classic, with a tale of 5 human survivors against a dark terrorist force.
• Big One: Saved the unpopular JAKQ franchise from extinction in Gaoranger vs Super Sentai.
• Space Sheriff Gavan: The original Metal Hero, which started the Space Sheriffs Trilogy as well as the Metal Heroes franchise
• Kamen Rider Black: The return of the Kamen Rider
• Chojuu Sentai Liveman: Classic animal motif Super Sentai
• Gai/Black Condor of Choujin Sentai Jetman: His anti-hero persona is still acclaimed to this day.
• Burai of Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger: His death is probably the most memorable of all Sentai history as the first sixth Ranger.
• Gekisou Sentai Carranger: Saved Super Sentai, with laughter!
• TimeFire: A man who did not trust the good guy, because he was rich.
• Ninpuu Sentai Hurricanger to GoGo Sentai Boukenger: Great casting. Memorable writing. Internet at its peak.
• Kamen Rider Den-O: Comical, due to its split personality fighting Rider.
• Kamen Rider Decade: He/It can turn into any Rider.
• Samurai Sentai Shinkenger: Super Sentai celebrating Japan.
• GokaiBlue/Joe Gibken: The coolest, strongest out of Decade Sentai Gokaiger
• Akared: A 35th Anniversary figure that became a 40th Anniversary legend

Every comical Toku should learn from Kamen Rider Fourze

I do not like most toku nowadays. Now some of you fans may go, "Then don't watch it. It's not for you. Don't ruin it for us."
But what can I say. Some people want video games to be art? I want Toku to be art: a certain standard, memorable.

I cringe every time I see that scene where Gekired hits himself in the face with nunchaku and ponder, "This is the main character of the series? What a low bar..."

Sorta like how Power Rangers RPM did, Kamen Rider Fourze takes risks wisely:
This show is a little stupid, but it does not think the audience is that stupid.
Gentaro is a fighter, and a lover not a thinker.
Kengo is a thinker, too traumatized to be a lover and forced to not be a fighter. He breaks a girl's heart in the first episode without a know reason. There is a preview of it in the first episode to get us interested in the second episode: Good writing and marketing!
Yuki fixes the quarrels between them.
The rest of them form a Scooby Gang.
Every character is unique and has a flaw that the other character compliments with. It is very feng shui and brings harmony to the group.

Furthermore...

Everybody is stupid on this show:
A little explanation of franchises nowadays:
Most things nowadays have terrible screenplays, because make the villain seem really smart, whereas the heroes were dumb to begin with, lowering the standard of the villain and the screenplay.
In Star Trek: Kirk is dumb, John Harrison is dumb, superhuman but friggin dumb and is only accredited as smart because he is given the name Khan. Why 72 torpedoes? Why let the Ms. RoboCop onto the ship for no reason or explanation? Why let Scotty off the ship when he did everything right? How many times did he let Kirk live, despite really having nothing against Kirk? Nothing made sense in that show for either side.
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, no one could predict what Loki did, because he did not have a plan:
I said it: Loki and the entire Thor franchise sucks.
Instead of regurgitating what other people said I will link you to my favorite article regarding the subject: http://kristenstewartwantsit.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/thor-sucked-the-movie-review/
Everything is made up for a bad production thanks to good marketing strategies. The Marvel and Star Trek brand are topical and exciting now, so pretty much no matter what happens everybody will watch them.

Kamen Rider Fourze counters that by making everybody dumb:
Why the heck did the bad guy put his secret base in a private school that is not exactly magicially hidden like Hogwarts is, where people can fight back against the Zodiarts? What was his plan on conquering the school that he already owns and people are forced to go to? You never saw Hitler invade Germany or Genghis Khan invade Mongolia!
Why is it a rule that nerds have to sit with nerds? How realistic is that? Is not everybody a nerd now? What about that guy from episode 2? Aren't there adults watching Tokusatsu now in Japan?
The answer to that is this: It is not a realistic series, yet it does tropes, not stereotypes. Simple effective that kids can understand, hopefully parents can correct.
In the second episode, someone goes Zodiart to play American football. American football! He wants a freaking concussion!
Just because the Kengo's father died, does not mean Kengo would be a good astronaut, especially at a high schooler's age! (What do they teach at that school anyway?)

Shows do not have to follow logic. Show have to follow a logic.
Twin Peaks follows dream logic. Stanley Kubrick follows whatever the heck he wants to follow. That's what makes them auteurs.
More on this in a future article.

Good Lazy Ideas For Power Rangers Movies That Were Never Used

1. Countdown to Destruction with all the original Mighty Morphin cast members
2. The Green Ranger Saga (Saban recently did not want to hire Tommy to do a movie. Was this the idea?)
3. Lightspeed Rescue Episode 8: What happened to that robber? Did he get sentenced to life or was he pardoned? It was one of the darkest tales, having no crime forgiveness, even if you saved people's lives. that could be told in a Power Rangers setting.
4. Power Rangers SPD, "Endings" It's only 2025. You're telling me an "Alternate Reality" Jason Lee Scott can't show up? Have him not morph and dub over him. It'll make its own money.
5. Masked Rider Decade vs Power Rangers Samurai. No matter how terrible teamups are, fans eat them up. Why not give fans this epic teamup?
6. Power Rangers Mystic Force vs SPD: Just use the original story sans the family stuff. It was lots of fun.
7. Lightspeed Rescue vs Lost Galaxy. Bring back Amy Miller. Use the damn stock footage properly and "adapt" the movie into a feature.
8. The Pink Ranger Saga: People cried when Kim left Tommy, so there must have been something Saban did right with that romance there. Give her a proper send off! With a pay bonus!
9. Power Rangers Ninja Storm vs Power Rangers Wild Force: Just use the same footage and plot. Saban vs Disney. Ninjas vs Animals. A comedy masterpiece. Everybody will enjoy!
10. Adventurers/Boukenger vs Operation Overdrive: Have them write off the iMack Rangers and use characters from the original stock footage to create new better Rangers than what the US ended up getting. Saban basically did that with Shinkenger. Do it with Overdrive and you'll have a better series!

The Beginning of Kamen Rider Gaim is more Fast more Furious than Fight Club

I sort of understand what they were going for in the beginning of Gaim.
Japanese culture is very hierarchical. Big on corporations and becoming rich and powerful, much like America. Japanese students fight very hard to get into colleges, much like most of Eastern culture, while in Western Culture, the dumb are very dumb so it is a cake walk for someone with a decent average to get to a decent college.
You have to be the smartest, fastest, most innovative, etc..
You have to be the best engineer, athlete, competitor, etc..

That gets me to my point.
I do not know about the first two Fast and the Furiouses, but I hated Tokyo Drift. Hated it. The main character gets everyone killed, on purpose, for no reason, just because he likes driving?
I'm 27.
Maybe if I was 14 again that would make sense to me, but it just sounds ridiculous to me now.
Tokyo Drift was written at such a stupidly written plot, I do not want to discuss it.
And while, Gaim is not quite on that level, you still have:
Micchy still not backing down from a fight just because Kouta and/or Mai are looking,
Kouta screws up all his jobs with the power of his Warring Lock,
Gaim just has to fight, because their dance stage is just that important to them.

I dunno. Maybe the subs are wrong, but it just seemed to be so badly written, it sort of embarrasses fans who enjoy the genre.

You see? It just gets on that level of ridiculous machismo that probably got out of enjoying Go-onger, because it looked like Pokemon (but did not have that many episodes!) mentality.

I hear episode 11 it gets better and that Rider that scared the crap out of Kouta seemed pretty cool, but gosh. If you don't believe me, fine. I am probably going into this Rider with the wrong mentality and need a reset.
Happy New Year.