Power Rangers Dino Super Charge: Worgworld Review

This Power Rangers Dino Super Charge review contains spoilers.

Power Rangers Dino Super Charge Episode 18

Uh… We’re three episodes away from the finale of Dino Super Charge. Could you tell? I can’t ignore it like I did last week, I’ve got to address how poorly plotted Dino Super Charge is. To do so, let’s compare what Chip Lynn had done three episodes before the finale in his other seasons he had the most control over (so that means skipping Turbo and RPM). 

The Impenetrable Web in Power Rangers in Space. Ecliptor destroys the Delta Megazord, leaving the Rangers without one of their main lines of defense.

Escape the Lost Galaxy in Power Rangers Lost Galaxy. Mike sacrifices the Torozord to help Terra Venture return to normal space, losing his powers.

Wrath of the Queen in Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue. Carter faces off with Queen Bansheera in the Skull Cavern, along with a tearful end to Loki.

A Calm Before the Storm in Power Rangers Time Force. Ransik has run out of mutants, Wes desperately tries to get his dad to halt development on the Trizyrium Crystals, and the Rangers receive a devastating message from Alex.

See what all of those have in common? They’re setting up the finales. They’re starting to pay off the plots the whole season had been building up to. They’re raising the stakes. They let you know that shit is about to go down and the Rangers aren’t going to be able to get out of it as easily as they have before.

(The face you see in your nightares. OR. Koda learns to love.)

What does Dino Super Charge’s Worgworld do? Well… Koda has a robotic caveman friend! The city is turned into zombies for a hot second but they’re quickly cured. The only stakes raising moment comes at the very end when Sledge returns and destroys Lord Arcanon and Singe. I guess that’s supposed to be our “oh shit” moment but it just feels hollow. What was the point of Arcanon? What purpose did he serve that impacted the overall story? What did we really know about him as a character? He was solely a vehicle for the plot… A plot that he barely featured in.

How is this good set up for the endgame? How is THIS the endgame of Dino Super Charge? We’re still messing around with wacky plots of the day. Nothing feels like it’s coming to a resolution. There’s no end for these characters in sight besides the general goal of ‘defeat evil’. Maybe this episode could have addressed what Koda might do after the villains are defeated. What is his purpose in the world? The lesson at the end sort of was supposed to be everyone has a purpose, which would have been great for a Koda focus episode.

But instead it’s just another wacky episode that feels like it should have been episode twelve instead of episode thirty seven (yes, I’m counting Dino Charge and Dino Super Charge as one big season.) It lacks a real emotional hook for Koda until about a third of the way in when its established Koda thinks of Worg as a friend… Which promptly goes nowhere. This aspect may have had room to breathe if it wasn’t for the somewhat random zombie element.

(In which Kendall personifies the audience.)

Seriously, Dino Super Charge just loves sticking two to three episode ideas into one. It did have the best moment of the episode, when Tyler and the team are about to actively attack civilians. It’s played totally straight and with the color washed out, this could have been a big “oh shit” moment. But it’s all good, the wacky robot saves them! Can you imagine if by the episodes end Lord Arcanon or Sledge or whoever still had all the people zombiefied? Now that would be some good set up for a finale but nope, it’s all fixed and we get a wacky caveman fitness class! It was cute and Yoshi Sudarso once again proves he’s one of the best parts of this season as Koda but… Why? 

Why are we still spending time on useless filler style plots that don’t seriously develop the characters? Why aren’t we setting up some character stuff for the finale? Why is Zenowing nearly useless not two episodes after he joins the team? You know the old joke that sixth Rangers would show up, totally dominate, and then become just one of the team? Zenowing is the ultimate embodiment of that. Yeah, yeah, he’s like the tenth Ranger or whatever, but you get what I mean. Why wasn’t Zenowing the mentor this season instead of Keeper? At least then him becoming a Ranger would have had some emotional weight.

God, finale endgames used to be Chip Lynn’s thing. It was his calling card with Power Rangers fans. He would do the Sentai finale and then stage his own original finale that would usually involve the Rangers base getting destroyed.

Instead of that, we get wig jokes and more food humor. Yay. Come on, Power Rangers. Give me a reason to care about these characters and their world.

Stray Thoughts

– Whoa, Spikeballs having voices is weird.

– Who invents a robot caveman before a robot dinosaur?

-“It isn’t Halloween, is it?” This feels like a more appropriate Halloween episode then the one we got a few weeks back.

– #Where’sKendallInUSOriginalFights2016

– Composers of cruelty! Alliteration + Power Rangers = Love.

Shamus Kelley would like to retitle this episode, ‘Koda and the Real Robot’. Follow him on Twitter!