Power Rangers Dino Super Charge: The Rangers Rock! Review

This Power Rangers Dino Super Charge review contains spoilers.

Power Rangers Dino Super Charge Episode 19

Oh hey, there’s the endgame Dino Super Charge. I wondered when you were going to show up. I mean sure, this feels a little more like an episode… twenty five then a thirty eight but at least we’re finally ramping up to the finale.

Sledge is back and man, I missed him. Sure, he ended up not doing a whole lot in the latter part of Dino Charge but at least he and Poisandra had a fun little dynamic so that was nice to see again. What wasn’t so nice was the reason why Sledge was gone. He found some eggs he already had in his ship and was like, “Aw man, this will make for a great pun about a plan hatching. Heh, I’m hilarious.” Then he went on vacation.

Which hey, I am all about villains going on vacation. I loved when Poisandra and Curio tried to go to Hawaii. But this… It’s easily compareable to James just not telling anyone he was alive for over ten years. There’s no reason Sledge didn’t tell anyone he was alive. He clearly still wants to be around Poisandra, so it’s not like he was hiding from her. The joke’s are cute (especially him singing in Japan) but they just lead to more questions, which kind of kills them in the long run.

My mind instantly goes back to Lothor in Ninja Storm and how yeah, he was a clown shoes of a villain, but at least they retconned it all as him pretending to be a buffoon. Was it kinda weak? Sure, but it’s better than Dino Super Charge asking us to take his endgame seriously when he wasted time vacationing in China.

Speaking of villains… What’s the point of Heckyl/Snide? What does he contribute to the overall plot? With Sledge back in power and Snide now yet another general… Did Sledge EVER need to leave? I don’t think so, especially when Snide wasn’t used in any Kyoryuger footage. Replacing one American original villain with another (yeah yeah, the suit was used in a Kyoryuger movie but you get what I mean) makes no sense unless you’re going to do something with them but after Heckyl was revealed to the team? He functionally became just like Sledge.

Maybe if they had done something with this whole “everything I’ve done since was to restore Sentai Six.” Really, Heckyl? Was it now? Was you attacking the Rangers and putting the Earth in danger REALLY helping to restore Sentai Six? Oh, was that all supposed to be Snide’s influence? Okay, then why did we never see Heckyl struggling against that evil influence? Why did we never once see him try and be good or do anything to restore this planet? If there’s some kind of long game here that they’ve cleverly hidden, I’ll take this all back, but I doubt it.

Heckyl’s character, much like a lot of Dino Super Charge, had so much potential. An alien desperate to restore his home planet ingratiate himself into a villain group to slowly gain access to their technology while wrestling with his evil half. There’s something there! A really deep story about identity and the lengths we go to save those we love. But nope, it’s just a confusing mess. 

Shelby being featured as the main character this week really got me to thinking. She’s one of the only characters to sort of have an arc this season. She’s able to make zords in a few hours (I’ll get back to that). She has some genuine conflict with the mentor character (it’s Kendall, in case you were wondering). She even has a complex relationship with her father.

Readers, I think Shelby should have been the Red Ranger this season or at least designated as the one true leader. Come on, you know I’m right. Tyler hasn’t changed since the season started. Shelby has grown not only as a person but in her skillset working with dinosaurs. She’s earned the respect of Kendall and driven her own romance forward. She’s a proactive character, whereas Tyler is reactive. I mean come on, dude needed help from that Rusty guy in order to really find his dad. #ShelbyForLeader2016

As awesome as Shelby was in making a zord… Wow, that was pretty damn easy. Why don’t they just make a whole fleet of zords to take on Sledge? Yeah, yeah, it’s Power Rangers, I get it. You can’t just escalate the conflict like that from a storytelling perspective. But if it opens up that question, maybe don’t address it at all. We don’t need to know how zords are made. Maybe the new zord was just one that was hidden? Maybe Keeeper would unlock his own energy after being on the sidelines for so long?

Did anyone else feel like the ten Rangers all fighting together should have been a bigger moment? When they all rushed into the civilian fight I was starting to get pumped, but it was quickly cut short with most of the team turning to stone. Come on, guys. Let us bask in the glory for a moment! Same with the team morphing. Come on, do a group morph and roll call. Don’t bother with that useless pavlova sequence at the start. A role call would be really epic to see and it would save on shooting original footage. Seriously, what was the point of that pavlova sequence besides Dino Super Charge’s weird fetish for wacky food scenes?

With only two regular episodes left in this season, I don’t see much chance of Dino Super Charge reclaiming its former glory. The season has devolved into a mess. It’s not terrible by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a lot of wasted potential for a show that started off so strong.

Stray Thoughts

– I like changing up the visuals for the opening. Remember when Dino Thunder did that all the time?

– I love Curio backing Poisandra up on everything. We needed more of that dude this season.

– “If you liked it, you should have put a ring on it!” Oh Poisandra. I can never hate you.

– Kudos for Shelby screaming after Tyler turned to stone. That’s love, yo.

– “I haven’t had this much fun since I destroyed the Kyoryuger galaxy.” That name and Sentai Six are still the worst.

– “Our zords don’t have cockpits.” Oh okay sure you can’t just ride on top of them?

 – “The biggest mistake of all would be not to try.” Very odd to hear that coming from Keeper since he’s done jack shit this season.

– Sledge is so great. Why did he leave?

– “I need a warrior.” So uh, go get anyone else BUT Keeper.

– Okay, Tyler and Shelby holding hands was adorable.

Shamus Kelley would like to see more Pink Ranger leaders. Follow him on Twitter!