So a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, there was the infamous Power Rangers Operation Overdrive. It started with a really high debut for the Disney era before fizzling out. I enjoyed the show, but there were a lot of critics. A lot of people hated this series for some odd reason. Some stuff was bad: acting, directing, having less than 40 episodes, etc.. not to mention the lack of concentration of this being an anniversary season compared to its Japanese counterpart, Go Go Sentai Boukenger was a problem. Imagine if the baddie had created bad guys out of former Rangers zords, the inspiration for Toei in Japan.
However, that was the problem: it was a Power Ranger series so people were biased. As I will note, rewatching the series, a lot of the stuff taken while watching the show without watching Boukenger makes the show quite enjoyable. Whether it's a masterpiece, is.. well probably isn't debatable at all, but I think 10 years later, this show may have been underestimated the entertainment, lore and overall payoff of the show.
MY ORIGINAL THOUGHTS: I thought the Android storyline was dumb and out of nowhere.
Well, a couple days ago, revisited the reveal, it was just sorta dumb. They allowed it in the beginning with hints that Mack considered him an object, although it was a bit forced as he treated like a human, his son even.
Spencer and Andrew later hint that they only met Mack two years ago.
However, some rewatching has some payoff, although I do suspect that the Netflix edit may have been tinkered with like to some extent although not as much with Mystic Force in my opinion.
The series is also too short and they mention it so briefly that it doesn't come off as really strong.
It's not good sci fi, which I'll get into when Mack has his speech about fighting Moltor in the second to last episode, episode 31. There's not a lot of technobabble as to how Mack's sci fi works, and it's not really that philosophical in terms of where they go on where he goes with the realization that he's an android and that his memories are fake, etc.. If they were going to go with that storyline and then that route, they should've went a lot more philosophical.
They did that with RPM and I think it worked really well. I think Operation Overdrive may have even inspired it a bit hence they have the whole Mack helmet there.
However, it wasn't like the Matrix or Inception had just come out and fans were wondering about things about which of Mack's memories were real or not. I felt like because they were under the Disney mandate, they couldn't write a storyline with that.
And it definitely could've since going to different locations itself is very Nolan/Wachowski-esque. They go to a television show on this television show. They go to all these locations on your television show, which aren't really the locations they claim and is really just New Zealand to have Wachowski/Matrix-esque fights.
The Corona Aurora and Jewels are very video game-Matrix-esque MacGuffins themselves.
Heck, Master Mao in the next series, is from the Matrix, even if it is a sequel, Matrix Revolutions.
And although RPM didn't quite go that far itself, it did so much that Disney would blame the show on that, even though it was because about the horrible 6 AM SATURDAY timeslot.
However, what they did with it was very good character wise in the end product, (although Power Rangers fans as usual, gave up before giving the storyline a chance, including myself admittedly)
Mack wanted his humanity: Moltor gave up his, although I don't recall that he gave it up so there's like a missing scene there, so there seems to be something strong about their beef against each other whether retconned in or not. But I really dig that. They're characters that compare and contrast with each other. I don't know the last time since the Neo Saban era where they happened.
Florious destroys his brother. The ending Andrew can't give up Mack to Flourious. Norg opposes Flourious in the end.
Mack doesn't understand why the jewels were given away. Same with the Operation Overdrive. So the element of family is there.
Tyzonne is back with his girlfriend.
That's probably a really powerful pay off for a Disney era storyline. Mystic Force last season didn't have it.
And it's also a bit darker: Mack is willing to commit suicide because he realizes he's a robot and considers himself replaceable. Andrew doesn't, so Mack eventually takes effort to take value in his own life.
Not to mention, Moltor who I consider the true baddie of the whole series, or at least does the most dies very slowly. He then has his body frozen, the worst possible death for a man who lives on a volcanic celestial being. prior to getting exploded by his own brother, all while not sounding tough and very human much like God Neros' final words in Choujinki Metalder.
The not being able to die thing ended up being a strength of Mack's I don't know why he would want to be turned into a human afterward. Feel pain, hunger. That's a lot of stuff that wasn't covered. Heck, that may even be a plothole, although sci fi androids can do those things.
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