By Ned Jordan
Power Rangers RPM takes the PRs in an automotive direction. Their
helmets include headlights and hubcaps, their straps look like seatbelts, and
they wear tire tread flair on their sleeves and pant legs. But this
incarnation is more Road Warrior than NASCAR. These Power Rangers live in
a domed city that's the last refuge of humanity. A powerful AI computer
program named Venjix let loose a virus on the world's computers, unleashed an
army of robotic warriors, and chased the surviving people to their last refuge.
In spite of Venjix's best efforts, the last city remains standing thanks to the
Power Rangers.
The Rangers and villains have changed, but Power Rangers RPM sticks to the
same basic formula with one exception. Power Rangers in the past have come
in threes, but this time out the first three recruit a fourth - a cyborg kung-fu
master who's recruited to bond with the powerful black suit, and the comic
relief in a grifter who's basically a good guy who accidentally bonds with the
green suit. There's a little more depth to the Power Rangers show this
time out, and the post-apocalyptic setting adds a cool Sci-Fi vibe to the usual
POwer Rangers goofiness. That being said, this is still a show that will
be best appreciated by eight year old boys, and they will certainly appreciate
Power Rangers RPM. Each episode follows the same basic formula: Venjix
creates a new robotic monster and unleashes it on the Power Rangers, the Power
Rangers struggle to beat the monster, the monster turns giant, the Power Rangers
merge into a giant robot, giant robot beats giant monster. Each episode
also recycles a number of stock animations, and if you took them all out of each
twenty minute or so episode, you'd realize that there's not all that much story
to each episode. The target audience of eight year old boys won't mind,
but everyone else will wish that there was a little more story to each story.
Also, this DVD contains just six episodes, and these episodes serve as the setup
for the series. So basically once things start getting really good, you've
reached the end of the DVD.
Final Rating:
