I myself am doing this review because of the hits the site has been getting over Mystic Force. Toys R Us advertisements of the toys 10 years after it came out is a factor as well.
I'd like to divide this review into three parts:
- The opening
- The main characters
- The ending, especially why you shouldn't believe in magic
"Broken Spell" uses a great number of extras, and at least seemingly number of extras through CGI, compared to the Mighty Morphin days of just 10 people being on screen at a time. Technology is always a factor in these types of series, and modernizing despite having ancient characters is always interesting.
It also makes the story feel bigger and audiences get to know more characters and more stories.
Some woman who isn't Kimberly, but looks like her is in a CGI field. A dragon appears.
Interestingly the ancient ones in mystic force have armor but it isn't Power Rangers spandex
Irony of every day kids. A Juxtaposition.
Also, oddly enough, the Great War only takes place a few years ago, although you'd assume a long time ago, since there were talks of Ancients and it having magic. It's not really often addressed, which I will in a future article.
Having a young woman with red hair wear purple was a nice touch, I didn't notice till 10 years later.
However, a lot of stuff is wasted this episode, especially in the expensive Rockporium set scene.
They establish that Toby is the boss of the Rockporium, but spend way too much time doing so. He acts bossy, which is never part of his character later on, whereas they could've emphasized the fact.
And the true Toby of the series, (being misused that is) is Xander. He's represented as being the bossy one early on and later on, has nothing to do the rest of the series. A shame, considering he does such a good job later on in the Operation Overdrive crossover, albeit they needed a magician and having any would've done. They don't overstate how sort of bland and mishandled his character is making it seem even more of a waste and afterthought.
Chip I also have problems with. As a teenager/college kid I enjoyed his original take on superheroes, but he sorta has no sense or reality, still portraying a character rather than acting as one. He campily reacts to an earthquake and mortal danger pretending he's this type of nerdy superhero type. It'll probably really work now, since Power Rangers, DC and Marvel pretty much work in a , but with critical anti-Power Ranger eyes, I can really see people turned off by this character.
Vida is sort of short and to the point. She's a rocker and doesn't like pink. I'm not looking for anything A-list. However, you can debate how much she has to do in the show prior to those extents being eliminated from the show. The same applies to Madison, where her romance with Nick isn't really implied this episode and isn't properly executed in the end though.
Nick sorta yells too much like a coward, opposed too looking really tough like he should. Him not believing in magic.
Udonna is well acted by Peta Rutter, Rest in Peace. She plays a tropey old lady Obi-Wan character. They could've played more thematically with being a witch, but it's only a 20 minute episode and they have like 20 characters to introduce.
So, they go into the Woods, because some random old man who isn't a pedophile requests help. Teenagers in the 90s at least would've done it possibly to help the old man, but more realistically to challenge themselves and act tough. It's a kid's show about morality, so they do it, cuz it's the right thing to do.
Also, no map? No guide? Why would you live near haunted woods? Real haunted woods? And believe that they're haunted without moving?
This may sound a bit of criticism, and the direction does hurt.
However, it does add a bit of lore and mythos to the story, although a bit too tropey and honed in. It does gets itself across in the story, and it's a hero's journey thing, so why not?
SPOILER ALERT
So the old man who isn't a pedophile is an old lady who isn't a pedophile.
They get shot off away in a fairly decent amount of CG for its time and just straight out not being Mighty Morphin Remastered excusable. They shoot what looks like footage of them being rewound going into Rootcore, because of them screwing up the original footage or not having a good take or something going into Rootcore.
They get out of Rootcore, because they don't want to get Princess Amidalaed.
Why would a tough guy believe in magic? I dunno. Is Nick a tough guy? I dunno.
Nick believes in superheroes or something sorta bsed and mishandled. Let him believe in magic. Nope.
These are teenagers, not kids. Why would the believe in magic. My last point.
Believing in magic should work really well in this show, because of the large amount of CGI used in this episode in both the US and Japanese footage, however it doesn't.
So, they see magic and don't believe in it.
Then they sorta do magic, because they're about to die. If you're any Rob Ager fan like I am, you'd believe this would be an even lesser reason for audiences to believe in magic, and more like just believe in anything so that you can live getting beat up by a gang and a lady who could be in cahoot with them.
Nick's a tough guy supposedly, isn't tough and doesn't believe in magic. We don't know anything about his character, despite him being such a vital part of it, especially later on in the series, making us ponder why he doesn't know about magic? If this was something worth of Ager analysis, it'd be because he's the sane one and wants to fight his way out, being a tough 80s action type. It isn't the case. They could've made a bit of an effort, campier or darker.
So SPOILER ALERT,
Old lady, who's actually his mother tortures her son, and makes him believe in magic, Brian De Palma Carrie style. He gives in. Happily ever after. No more show.
The Star Wars franchise excels and not only believing in magic, but space magic to handle stuff even crazily.
Overall, this episode executed the important stuff. Establishing the lore. It's critical results may be mixed, but I felt that they did a good job with what they wanted to do. Also kudos to them for making a show, I didn't hate as much as I should at an age that was way beyond the average of which people enjoyed the show.
Here's to hoping it's not completely lost by 40.
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