Rambo Christmas Special: When S.A.V.A.G.E. Stole Santa.

As far as the history books are likely to remember it this Christmas seems like a bit of a late-bloomer. I've seen people in my neighborhood, folks on the internet, all over really, mention that they just aren't feeling the spirit this year. I counted myself among them until just recently. What changed you asked? Well there's finally some gifts under the tree, I started shopping as well despite my poor finances, and while I was avoiding Rise of Skywalker spoilers I dove into some weird holiday specials and found something wonderfully absurd. Throughout the years I've wondered why no one has had the good sense to turn The Night the Reindeer Died or KISS Saves Santa into real specials. While not quite as spectacular as those I may have found the next best thing with a Christmas carton staring America's favorite emotionally crippled killing machine, Rambo.

Rambo: Force of Freedom was the result of producers looking to turn a purely adult action/thriller film series into the latest cartoon and toy line for kiddies. The idea garnered some controversy and the show itself wasn't popular enough to last more than a season, though 80s cartoon seasons are pretty massive which means there are plenty of episodes. The show found PTSD addled murder monster John Rambo leading a crack team of commandos against the forces of S.A.V.A.G.E. Basically it's just G.I. Joe with emotional instability. As expected this animated format required Rambo to forgo his usual killing sprees and utilize less lethal methods of combat. I'd never really watched the show before this episode so that low violence policy had me frightened but the writers still manage to come up with badass crazy stunts for our man to do. What's better are the musical cues pulled straight from the films which makes for one of the coolest sounding cartoons ever.

The story begins on Christmas Eve at an orphanage in the mountains of Colorado where children apparently exist without adult supervision of any kind. Isn't a nun supposed to be beating them with a ruler? There's a new kid this year named, bobby or Johnny or some generic ass name. Fuck it, we're going with Ricky. Who's gonna correct us? Not his parents, that's for sure. In case you think I'm being too cruel about orphans, Ricky himself has got some downright grim views on the subject. When one of the girls tries to comfort him with the knowledge that Santa brings them gifts every year he savagely reminds her that nobody cares about orphans before storming off.

Ricky walks by Santa's village where he witnesses someone in a Santa suit loading up gifts in a sack. For any rational person this would be reason enough to return and apologize to the little girl, but not this kid. He scoffs at this lame excuse for a Santa before opting to wander off into the wilderness during a blizzard. Sorta makes ya wonder what happened to his parents. Wow... just realized this may be the first holiday special to ever allow the option of victim blaming an orphan.

Whereas most children stuck in a rocky mountain snowstorm would simply die of exposure, Ricky just so happens to know the best way to signal for help. By this point in the 80s parents groups had started to demand educational content in shows so this series went with a theme of survival tips meaning Ricky knows how to signal S.O.S. With a flashlight. Who else should spot this call for aid but Rambo himself riding the outside of a helicopter in a sleeveless hoodie. The pilot is another Force of Freedom member voiced by the late great James Avery of Shredder and Uncle Phil fame who unfortunately departs the episode after dropping off Rambo and the kid back at the village.

You might be wondering why Rambo of all people just happened to be hanging out on a helicopter in the rocky mountains. Cause he's coming to see his old buddy Santa of course. Err. I mean Kris Kaufman. This Santa lookalike used to be a weapons engineer for some faraway country until Rambo freed him. Now they spend every Christmas, at least the ones where John isn't in military prison or Burma, together delivering handmade toys to orphans. Their reunion is quickly interrupted by the forces of S.A.V.A.G.E. Who wish to kidnap Kris and force him to build rockets for their cause. This is where one of the shows weaknesses makes itself clear. Any toy-shilling cartoon worth it's weight has instantly recognizable characters like Skeletor or Slimer. The two primary goons that show up for this seasonal snatch and grab are powerfully generic. One's just a big vaguely Russian guy whereas his partner has both a robot hook hand and an eye-patch, pick a novelty buddy.

The initial kidnapping is a bust so the villains make off with Ricky as their hostage prompting a pile-up of action sequences. Upon witnessing the boy... oh my god, it's Brian, that's his name! Anyhow Brian/Ricky is carried off on snowmobile which leads to the first in a series of close-ups on Rambo as his anger builds. Then we're treated to a snowmobile chase where the kid is saved before the pair are forced to walk back to Santa's village. When they arrive Kris has been properly santanapped and Rambo suddenly has a bow and arrow combo. Now it's time to rescue his old friend with the only transportation available... Santa's sleigh. Despite being told to stay put Brian hops in the backseat somehow without Rambo noticing.

What follows is a sequence of events involving Santa's sleigh taking rocket fire from a crop duster followed a fistfight on the wing of the plane that caps off with a dramatic crash. It's all about as hurried & senseless as it sounds and god is it ever silly fun. Ruskies are shooting rockets at Reindeer for christsake! The only way it could be capped off is by having Rambo cross a river on floating logs while defeating his enemies through feats of balance and buoyancy. Apparently one of Rambo's other traditions must be the Paul Bonyon challenge.

While the action so far has been fun, the audience is about to be treated with two of the most badass moments in any Christmas episode. The first of these majestic feats comes whil Rambo is approaching the enemy who are held up in a log camp. He slides down the log chute when two guards toss a grenade his way. Our hero punches said explosive out of the sky and right into the villains' trucks parked nearby. Realizing they're dealing with a man who punches explosive ordinance for fun, the guards flee in terror.

The following scene is one of those standard bits where the hero almost saves the day before being trapped under something, in this case a pile of logs, allowing the bad guys to escape with Kris in tow. Then something major happens, the moment in every 80s action story when all bets are off. Beginning with yet another slow zoom on Rambo's enraged face we're treated to a gear-up montage. Knives are put in holsters, bandanas are wrapped around heads, and shirts are torn away as our hero needs zero wind-resistance for his next move. He grabs a hubcap from a flaming truck, throws it on the ground, and uses it to surf down a mountain in order to jump on the enemy transport. The whole thing ranks among the top five Christmas miracles.

Everything after that point wraps up as expected. S.A.V.A.G.E. Flees the scene While Rambo, Santa (Kaufman), and Brian (Ricky) all head back to the orphanage to hand out gifts, share the joys of the season, and have a hearty laugh or two. Seriously, this ends with Rambo joyfully laughing it up.

Much like a fine wine this special has only gotten stranger with time. Consider that when it was made the world was still fresh off the success of First Blood Part II. While that film still contained plenty of violence and dark aspects it is easily the most traditional crowd-pleasing entry of the entire franchise which makes it a little easier to imagine that John might make a few new friends and begin to sort his life out. Watching this fresh off the grim ultraviolence of Last Blood is akin to whiplash. Sure Rambo was still bringing presents in that film, only the gifts were things like a claw-hammer slammed into someones testicles.

When S.A.V.A.G.E Stole Santa is weird, wonderful Christmas fun. There's no reason for it to exist and more intellectual types might claim it to be downright irresponsible to make a kids show from such violent subject matter. Basically it's the perfect kind of oft-forgotten vintage entertainment that people would like to emulate but are too damn self-aware to ever pull-off. As excited as I am to share this special with you all, it can easily be found online, there's even better news. There's a goddamn Halloween episode. Guess we know how to start next years Holiday content.

I sincerely hope everyone out there is feeling some of the Christmas spirit, or Kwanzaa if you're revving up for that. If not then please look up odd shows like this to bring a spark of something different to your celebrations. With any luck I'll have one more piece of Christmas material in time for the big day, but in case I get too busy, have a wonderful holiday no matter which one you celebrate.

Friday the 13th The Series. Best Episodes of Season 3.

Sleighbells are ringing and carolers are singing but that doesn't change the wonderful fact that it's Friday the 13^th. Always a reliable night for good fun, and possibly bad luck, this night could be just the thing to jostle everyone into a brighter mood. And what better way to reach such emotional heights than through scary stories? At last it is time to wrap-up an article series that began way back in August as we look at the five (kinda six) best episodes from the third and final season of Friday the 13^th the series.

This third season marked a major transition early on with the depature of Ryan as played by and the full time replacement by Johnny Ventura (). I'd heard a lot about this switch over the years with most people coming down harshly on the new male lead but I found Johnny provides an action hero vibe that wasn't possible with the original trio while still getting in a few good dramatic bits. A few story elements were also clipped short in this third year with Micki's witchy powers from the second season finale vanishing along with all mentions of Rashid since the show wasn't able to establish him as a supporting character. The overall flow of stroytelling shifts as well beginning with a truly epic premier before shifting back to stories of the week with a noted absence of Uncle Lewis or the devil. Perhaps they would have returned had the season reached a proper end but for some damn reason the series was canceled with the nineteenth episode being almost completely stand-alone save for a final scene that vaguely acknowledges the shows departure. That leaves the vast majority of this season adrift in the typical case of the week structure with no major developments past the premier. It's an absolute shame cause while the season in total isn't quite up to the level of the second the highlights that are here rank among the best.

Before we start the countdown I should note why this is kind of six episodes rather than the usual five. One of the below picks is double length and after its initial airing was split into two parts. For the sake of this countdown it will count it as one installment

My Wife as a Dog:

While this episode follows the case of the week structure so closely that it nearly casts the main cast aside in favor of a more darkly comic tale. The focus is on a firefighter whose personal life is just a mess. His wife has left which he refuses to believe and his dog is dying which he'll do anything to prevent. In a twist of fate he obtains an antique dog leash that helps cure his dog with every life taken by strangulation. Furthermore the dog begins to gain intelligence during the recovery process as it slowly becomes the perfect companion. What then is to be done with the wife? I'll leave that part for you to discover on your own.

Lacking for scare or atmosphere, My Wife as a Dog makes for worthwhile viewing simply by being so damn weird and miserable. The main character is a pathetic excuse for a man yet you can't help but feel a little sympathy for him as his world falls apart. This makes watching the results of quest to restore love to his life all the more fun since you'd be entertained to see him punished or rewarded for his actions. It may not be up to the exact same level as the other episodes in this list but mearly having the guts to do something different keeps it fresh.

Crippled Inside:

Just a couple weeks after joining the team full time we get a Johnny focused episode, and I mean focused since Jack and Miki are essentially M.I.A. For this adventure. Thankfully for us viewers, Johnny's first time at solo curse fighting comes with a truckload of moral ambiguity.

In the opening scene we're introduced to a girl who is sexually assaulted by a group of young men. While running from her attackers she is hit by a car and paralyzed. Some time later we find her a sad shell of a girl, confined to a wheelchair with little to live for until an elderly neighbor provides her with an antique wheelchair that had previously helped him to recover from his injuries. The chair allows a person to astral project which the girl uses to seek vengeance upon her attackers. With each strike against them she recovers a little more of her body movement. Johnny soon tracks the chair down and has to consider whether the benefits of this girl regaining her life outweigh the loss of life, a question that only deepens when her tormentors get wind of what she's been up too.

I'm not gonna lie to you, this is one mean and depressing installment. Every character is basically place in a no-win situation and some of them come out worse than would seem possible. It's dark, nasty, and a perfect trial by fire for the new guy.

Hate on Your Dial:

Every so often when viewing these old syndicated shows you encounter an episode that just leaves you staring in astonishment that it ever made it past censors to the airwaves. Sometines this wonderment comes from the amount of gore, other times from how strange the story is, or in this case the sheer quantity of adult content. The short list includes the likes of child-murder/abuse, spousal abuse, lynching, people burning alive, and so forth. What sort of subject matter could possibly provide so much filth? Time-traveling racists of course.

So there's a modern day, for the early 90s anyway, racist who idolizes his dead KKK daddy. This dude spends his time fixing cars, mistreating his mentally stunted brother, and being a straight-up piece of shit. One day he gets the proper radio for his classic car which allows him to travel through time and space to befriend his dad back in the segregation era south. This eventually leads to Jack and Johnny following the villain back through time.

This one is just wow all over. I mean they don't sugarcoat the racist aspect at all, save for certain words that television wont allow. And for as distasful as that all may seem there's the wonderful flipside of watching Johnny Ventura kick klan ass. Oh, and what happens to the main baddie is a thing of pure beauty. Honestly the only thing holding this one back from ranking higher is that it's not so much of a traditional horror tale and by focusing on real-world terror I can see it hitting a few people too close to home. If you're not easily offended however than this is such a blast.

The Prophecies:

The season premier has some detractors due to its wildly different tone and the... shall we say unique way it writes out Ryan from the series. And while some complaints have a bit of merit the sheer scope and style of this premier reach an epic level that the series had never seen before, or since for that matter. That size and scope mostly comes down to the feature-length running time and direction by tom McLoughlin of Jason Lives fame.

Our story begins by introducing a sub-plot with the appearance of Ryan's mother who wishes to mend the broken relationship with her son. The pair have relatively little time before he and Micki must leave for France in order to help Jack with a case involving a miracle healer nun who is under siege from strange supernatural forces. Turns out there's a servant of Satan who seeks to bring about the birth of the anti-Christ. This acolyte of evil begins to exert his influence over Ryan, forcing him to become a kind of possessed goon which then prompts Micki to call up Johnny for some added help, oh and there's a sick little girl in search of a miracle, a massive funeral service, demonic gang members, madhouse crucifixions, and an appearance from mother Mary herself. It's the only episode to feature all four core characters working on the same case with there being plenty of crazy shit for them to deal with.

Two common complaints I hear regarding this episode are that the larger mythology elements like the plan to raise the anti-Christ aren't touched on again but that's the fault of the show being canceled rather than the episode itself. Many people complain about the manner in which Ryan leaves the show, and while it is weird, the writers only had so many options given John D. LeMay was leaving no matter what. At least they left some wiggle room for the character to be brought back should the actor wish to return. If anything I'd say the biggest weakness of this premier serves double-duty as one of its strengths, which is how it doesn't feel like the rest of the series. From European village setting. to the heavier dramatic beats, and let's not forget the downright crazy cameos from biblical figures. I'd love to glimpse the alternate reality where the show continued and periodically revisited these themes but for this plane of existence The Prophecies will have to suffice.

Midnight Riders:

It's been mentioned a few times in the past that one of my absolute favorite horror films is John Carpenter's The Fog. That unabashed love is largely due to the perfect campfire story vibe of the whole thing. Now take that same vibe, and similar story beats. Then insert the Curios Goods team and replace leprous sailors with a vengeful biker gang. That pitch alone should make you all tingly in the neither regions.

Our trio is out in the countryside one night viewing a rare planetary alignment. Who would have thought this heavenly phenomenon would resurrect a biker gang that was murdered in a nearby town. There are plenty of feuds, secrets, and even a pair of star-crossed lovers within this tale. What makes it all the more interesting is the unexpected prescience of Jack's father whom he hasn't seen in years along with the gangs plans to revive their headless leader.

Every episode I've highlighted tonight reaches the top thanks to one specialty or another. Some of them feature thought-provoking moral dilemmas or real-world issues but this one, it's just pure fun the whole way through. There's already a solid enough story just with the towns secrets but when you add Jack's dad to the mix it touches on the recurring theme of his shattered family. Likewise the threat of the bikers is only amplified as time goes on, culminating in a moment that walked the line between awesome and hilariously absurd. Like many of the all-time great installments to this series it makes a great introduction to the world and style of the show for newbies and serves as pure comfort food for established fans.

With that we have wrapped this article series though you will likely see a piece or two about this show in the future in the form of individual episode spotlights. Having finished the show right after Halloween I already miss ot as part of my weekly ritual. It may not have the pop-cultural clout of the big guy with the hockey mask but this show is just as deserving of a little love every Friday the 13^th. And so I leave you enjoy this special day, prideful that I actually managed to finish this post in time. Gonna hit the showers. Pray I'm not attacked by a large man in sports attire.

Swayze Christmas Barstool, Partridge in a Pair Tree, and Christmas Tidbits 2019.

Crazy as it may be we're well on our way towards Christmas, with celebrations begin even closer for some of the other holidays. Maybe it's because I seem to have a slump after turkey day, or maybe it's because it took far too long to decorate, but I'm just not ready for Santa to wiggle his fat butt down the chimney. Reality dictates that there's only two weeks left before presents and eggnog flow freely so if we want to enjoy this season while it's here we may need to step things up. That's the plan for today, sharing as many festive odds and ends as possible with you all and maybe inspire a little celebrating.

One excellent way to boost the holiday spirit is to come up with something new, possibly even a new tradition. Back to when I was taking down Halloween decorations, which feels like an eternity ago, an idea occurred that was just cheeky enough to work. In the continuing battle to improve the Christmas display something just had to be done with our pear tree. I mean it's in the song, right? A partridge in a pear tree, so why not Keith Partridge? In an odd twist this particular notion didn't simply fade away. Instead it took a decent printer, some lamination, along with a paper punch and zip-ties have yielded the perfect melding of festive decoration and embodiment of bad puns. It's just big enough to be seen from the street but I've yet to hear any comments from the neighborhood. Wouldn't be surprised if some poor sap who doesn't know any better mistakes it for a memorial to some family member. Or maybe that's just me hoping for the chance to giggle at someone while they express sympathy for our loss. Even if nobody says a thing the best part is I can do this for years to come with different Partridge folks. Maybe next year will be Danny Bonaduce or Susan Dey.

Another way to lift our collective holiday mood is indulging in traditions which means it's time to show off the annual Patrick Swayze Christmas Barstool. Those who recall the written rules should know that any chair is acceptable for this task which turned out to be a godsend as the usual stool has up and vanished. With the change in seating I thought it best to alter the mood a bit for this edition. Instead of trying to replicate a seedy roadhouse I thought maybe Swayze could bounce for a more feminine environment, the sort of place with specials on mimosas. Given the sudden rush of this month that was about all the inspiration I could muster which resulted in a largely freeballed display. Gotta say I still like the results. The tree provides decent accompaniment without overshadowing the chair while the big plastic noel candle serves as a focal point. Those who remember this years Halloween mood table might recognize Clancy Brown Bear, this time sporting a Krampus mask. On one hand I know that if given more supplies I could have done a better job yet this seems to match the season perfectly.

One tradition I've never had much luck with is advent calendars. Up until a few years ago I'd never even had one of the things, and even then it wasn't all that great. That changed a little this month when my sister brought back something strange from Canada. This big ole slab of cardboard is a rather adult Abtey Chocolates advent-calendar Inside each compartment is a chocolate filled with hooch. There's an interesting variety here with some fruity and a few more traditional drinks on offer be it Cointreau, Kirsch, or some fine Camus Cognac. The actual flavor and eating experience can change wildly. For instance I've had two Cointreau chocolates so far that were far removed from each-other. The first surprised me by popping in my mouth like an orange liqueur zit to the point that I nearly spat some out. The second however either had less filling to begin with or had simply absorbed more of it which lent a nice alcoholic burn to a solid orange chocolate. Even with such variances there are still clear favorites and one type to be dreaded. The absolute winners thus far are Label 5 whisky and Camus Cognac whereas the Saint James Rum is pretty awful. There's yet another Camus offering that I've yet to encounter though, given an educated guess, it seems like they are likely in the two large compartments for the 23^rd and 24^th. While this certainly isn't a holiday tradition for everyone, wet alcoholic chocolate can be a bit off-putting after all, it's still a fun way to mix things up and make this Christmas a little different.

It just wouldn't be Santa season without the stash of yuletide horror movies. This year I decided to continue displaying items on the corner shelf with all the xmas terror tales placed in levels of importance. On top are most of the essentials like Christmas Evil, P2, the original Black Christmas, the stuff that just has to be viewed each and every December. Level two is for the really good but not always necessary films like The Box, Better Watch Out, and Krampus, Three gets into trashier territory along the lines of Jack Frost, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (bet you forgot that was a festive flick), and the Black Christmas remake. Actually we have to start calling that the first remake, don't we? That's gonna be a problem in casual conversation. The final level is is a grab bag of weaker or extra trashy fare, Don't Open till Christmas, combined with a pile of films that only barely include the holiday, Blue Sunshine. Streaming services have offered some extra experiences this month, first with Blood Beat. If you ever had a weirdly specific wish for a samurai possession film set in rural Wisconsin for the holidays then this is for you. Seriously though this movie is absolutely nuts and occasionally hilarious yet it never makes a bit of damn sense. On the opposite end of the spectrum is I Trapped the Devil which is too slow for its own good only to mostly make up for it with a solid final act. Of the two the latter is the more festive... then again it totally lacks psychic samurai action.

For those of you who are extra brave there's always the risks and rewards of digging up old forgotten holiday specials on physical media or by scouring the halls of streaming services. Just this very night I settled in for A Very Merry Cricket. Like so many of these things there's a rather sizable history to this special but the short version is there was a popular book called The Cricket in Times Square which then had an animated special directed by Chuck Jones. Both the book and special would have their own sequels with this being the second of an animated trilogy that would later cap off with Yankee Doodle Cricket.

The story for this holiday special revolves around how hectic, noisy, and downright awful New York City is during the holidays, and during the 70s in general. Harry the cat and Tucker the mouse are upset by the horrific hustle and bustle created by people who've obviously forgotten the meaning of Christmas. The duo quickly recap the previous special where they made a friend named Chester the Cricket who was a musical genius that once managed to make New York quiet down and listen for the first time in history. Deciding Chester is the answer the pair set out for Connecticut in order to retrieve their buggy friend. The journey two and fro isn't all that exciting and then the group fails in their plan as the city is simply too loud for Chester to be heard. Eventually the demands of the public exhaust the power grid allowing Chester to play and once again bring peace to New York as people join hands and light the city with candles. Despite having not seen the previous tale this one still stunk of sequelitis. The trio even has a song about how they're going to do this again. There's nothing all that spectacular here, don't come at it expecting a forgotten Grinch level gem, the message is solid enough though. Lord knows many of the best holiday memories are formed in those quiet moments like sitting with a pet and some jolly drink by the light of the Christmas tree. Actually that sounds quite nice. Think I'm gonna get drunk with the cat.

. That's all for this sampling of holiday cheer. Would love to hear some new and old holiday practices from everyone out there, maybe even a hot tip on weird specials and movies. Got a good amount to work on today but n case you though this update was two small, worry not. I've got a special Friday the 13^th update for you all tomorrow. See you then.

Ryusoulger Episodes 28-33 Review

It's no secret that the Super Sentai recaps have fallen way behind of late with this update still leaving things a month behind schedule. For once there's a better reason than the usual excuse of holidays and laziness. Yours truly has gotten some great news regarding the return to school which will result in far less debt when all is said and done. While I look ahead at a full-scale barrage of coursework that will have me entering the coming decade with a fresh bachelor's degree I finally carved out some time to sit back and play catch-up with Ryusoulger. And while the first few episodes we're gonna talk about maintain the usual quality of the series thus far it is a double whammy of episodes 32 and 33 that mark what is likely to be the definitive moment in this show's run. Settle in with your comfort blanket folks cause shit's about to get heavy.

Story:

For the 28^th installment of the show we're given something almost like body-horror. This unsettling development occurs when Asuna's body is invaded by a minusaur who wraps his saw-like tail around her heart which makes it so any pain delivered onto him immediately transfers into her. Worse still, and far more gross, is the threat of what will happen once he grows to giant-size. This puts the whole team on the clock as some rush off to try and prevent the minusaur host from letting it grow while Koh attempts to learn a special punching technique that will expel the beast from Asuna at the risk of exploding her heart.

This is a solid adventure with some good emotions from the crew. The best part is easilly when Bamba lets his concern for Asuna's welfare become obvious, guy may have even shed a tear. The teams new friend, Nada tries to help Koh with his training only to end up feeding the red rangers fears of failure. It becomes very obvious here that something is up with Nada, and that is what forms the backbone of each episode to come.

Next up the focus shifts to Canelo and his continuing quest to find a bride. It would seem he's finally found the woman of his dreams though she has one demand for marriage, that he not do anything dangerous. Nada encourages Canelo to follow his goal and leave the superhero lifestyle behind but in the end Canelo chooses to continue the fight against Druidons. In the process we see a beginning to some kind of rivalry between him and Gachireus which I'll come back to later in the article. The biggest revelation of the episode comes near the end when Bamba and Towa are fighting Gaisorg and discover Nada is the one who's been under the armor this whole time.

thirty is largely based on the fall-out of the revelation that Nada and Gaisorg are one and the same. This is played out against another Canelo storyline that... yeah... we didn't need two Canelo episodes in a row did we? Thankfully it's sort of the b-plot as the group tries to work out the whole Nada thing. We learn that the Gaisorg armor slowly learns the emotional weakness of its host in order to gain control over them. In this case once it seems like Nada might have enough control his great need to be a Ryusoulger becomes his undoing and he injures Koh. Otherwise this is a fairly standard tale which is a bit disappointing given that it features a guest role from Nao Nagasawa of Hurricanger fame.

We continue to move on with the team deciding how to deal with Nada which is further complicated by a flying musical minusaur that makes people focus on fun to the determent of all other things, they'd rather starve than not have fun. Frankly I don't see how one can have fun on an empty stomach but that's an argument for another time. Only three people are left unaffected by this beast, Canelo and his sister as they have altered hearing from living underwater, and Koh due to the pain of his injury. The big push here is getting the newest dinoknight, Piitan into the mix allowing for airborne giant-robot antics. Ok episode, nothing amazing.

At last we reach the two-part story that marks the high-point for this show, and possibly the primary narrative it may be remembered for in the future. There is still some disagreement over whether Nada can be saved from the Gaisorg armor or if it is even possible to do so, a debate that is all the more relevent when an extra dangerous minusaur enters the picture. Our heroes hope to focus on the monster that absorbs hatred from human hearts only to concentrate and convert it into rain that causes hatred and violence wherever it falls. Unfortunately their battle with this critter is interrupted by Gaisorg who is even more violent than usual.

There's so much going on of note in this episode. The direction is mostly somber with some very slow and emotional scenes that are played out with some excellent cinematography. Each character does their part in the fight to free Nada, and even some of the dinokights go off together to handle the minusaur while our main heroes tackle this problem, but the big moment where it all comes together is something special. Towa beats Nada enough to encourage Gaisorg to seek a new host which is when Koh offers himself to the armor and absorbs all the hatred absorbed within it. The others must keep the entire armor from overcoming their friend, spurring Nada to hold onto a little of it himself, and have the minusaur absorb Gaisorg's hatred sort of like an exorcism.

Everything culminates in a seminal installment of the show, one of the best episodes of Sentai I've been blessed to see during a currently running series. It begins with everyone together having a good time as they play ping-pong for an afternoon away from battle. Little do they know another Druidon named Uden has appeared. He's the quest and deadly sort who quickly makes his prescience known by defeating and capturing both Towa and Canelo. His trick is to capture warriors inside a pocket dimension where copies of himself attack them. Anyone stranded in this situation is essentially doomed as the copies can kill them but fighting back only allows Uden to absorbs their fighting moves and lifeforce.

Eventually the core team are all captured, leaving their new man Nada to try and save the day. At first he enjoys the theatrics of posing and doing the role-call but it becomes clear is his up against a much stronger opponent. The fight is rough and dirty but Nada provides an opening for Koh to escape though the effort costs him his life. He dies having saved the friends who gave his life new meaning and focus but before passing he entrust his soul to Koh as a new powerful armor that allows the red ranger to destroy Uden and free the rest of the team.

The final scene is an absolute beauty with Ui revealing a video Nada had filmed as a goodbye. He had planned to leave for training rather than slow the team down but he wanted each of them to know how skilled unique each of them was while thanking them for changing his life. It's a great big gut-punch of a scene with these actors pulling their weight.

Heroes:

By this point in the series it's only natural to see how much the performances have improved across the board and that two-part with the salvation and death of Nada make it all the more clear this show has some real talent in its roster, namely Ichika Osaki (Asuna) and Tatsuya Kishida (Bamba) who are knocking their parts out of the park lately. Osaki has also become quite the ace at those tear-jerking scenes. Even Hayate Ichinose (Koh) who has generally been towards the pack of the pack makes some excellent gains here which is becoming all the more important as the series has been paying more attention to him. The core five heroes have proven to be a solid group and I can't wait to see where they go now that the severity of their battle has been made more obvious. On that note I want to see a wider variety of character focused episodes and some different pairings before the eventual endgame rush occurs.

One issue I do have is Canelo. While his initial introduction was rather entertaining he has quickly begun to suffer from a common problem among sixth rangers which is a lack of reason for being around. He provides very little to the overall story and though his theme of finding a bride should tie into the greater theme of connecting souls it often plays out as a simple gag on constant repeat. The writers are obviously trying to push him into the spotlight whenever possible, even going so far as to pair him off in battle with Gachireus in one fight after another. When you consider these two have no real beef with each-other that feud becomes empty window-dressing.

Then we have the matter of Oto. Honestly she's sort of fun to have around with how she plays off of characters like Melto but once again the question must be asked, what is the point of her being around? When the show began Ui was the person who discovered the Ryusoul tribe and brought them into her home, she earned their friendship and has served as a helper in the past but it seems like she's getting phased out in favor of Oto who has less thematic ties to the greater whole of this series.

Villains:

Much in the same way that the heroes seem to have excess members that aren't pulling their weight, the villains need to trim some weight before long. Wyzul is tremendously fun and has proven to be a threat multiple times over. Kreon has become something more than the generic mascot baddie he was early on. And that Uden guy, despite only being in one episode, was one nasty piece of work. He was the sort of quiet and vicious villain that doesn't appear often enough in modern Sentai.

The problem here is Gachireus. The guy's a poor threat who needs to go. His personality is only occasionally fun, there's zero depth to him, he's just a strong guy who's evil purely for the sake of being evil. As mentioned previously his newfound rivalry with Canelo came out of the blue has provided nothing of dramatic worth. I know another Druidon General is on the way so can we please give this dude the boot?

Action:

The fight scenes seem to have evened out of late with the series finding a groove in how much gimmicky toys to mix in with proper martial-arts. Giant-Robot sequences are still ranking among the best the franchise has to offer. Nothing hiuge to report in this department though major props are due to the crazy looking cloud set used for flying robot fights.

Overall:

While I haven't always been able to recommend this show wholeheartedly to everyone out there the double-feature of episodes 32 and 33 is something for the history books. The Nada story-arc, though short and rushed in some areas, delivered on the themes of human connection in a way that's rare for this franchise, to say nothing of imitators. If you have the means and the interest this is an ideal way to discover how excellent tokusatsu programming can be.

Moving forward it's hard not to wonder how this arc will effect the remainder of the series. From this point there are maybe twenty episodes left to go and no clear direction for what needs to be accomplished. There are more Druidon generals out there for certain, which only adds to the argument that some of them need to be trimmed out, but that's about it. Anything is possible from this point onward and I can't help be be a little excited when I consider how Sentai usually takes this point in each show to optimize toy sales rather than push emotional content. With that I will redouble efforts to get on top of things and keep you all in the know on whether this show builds to something wonderful or wastes this remarkable dramatic push.

Holiday Snacks and Thanksgiving Horror

Gobble, Gobble, everyone. I return from a small hiatus to bring you festive Thanksgiving tidings. Frankly yours truly has been all over the place as of late with some major success involving my pending return to classes alongside days of just being a slug. Of course I couldn't let the creamy center of the holiday season pass without spreading a little cheer on here. After all, there's plenty of little oddities to be thankful for whether it be the newest fattening chemical concoction on the shelves or the surprise beginning of what is sure to become a new tradition in this household.

We'll begin our tour of holiday goodies with the latest in cheery drinks as this year finds multiple soda/cola brands adding a festive spin to their offerings. Likely the biggest release of them must be Cinnamon Coke. Upon first news of this release I automatically recoiled in horror with memories of the horrific swill that was Pepsi Fire. If you suffer from the same worries let me put you at ease with the good news that Cinnamon Coke is actually pretty tasty, not an absolute knockout, but good enough to spice up your celebrations.

The key difference between this Coke versus the previous Pepsi attempt is the approach each company took towards the flavor. Where Pepsi Fire sought to emulate hot cinnamon candy, Coke decided to go with the classic winter warmer method as if a cinnamon stick had been placed in your glass. This means the flavor is much more balanced and tolerable though there's still a bit of artificial taste to it that may bother some folks. I'd wager it's worth a try for most anyone however as even with my slight reservations I've really enjoyed my time sipping this stuff down, and my nephew is over the moon for it. The packaging isn't all that seasonal, save for the brands self-imposed connection to Christmas, but if you're one of the coke at Christmas families then the little cinnamon sticks on the side will spice up your display ever so slightly. It seems like the sort of item that only few will really love but nobody will outright hate which is practically a holiday miracle in itself and deserving of a hopeful re-release in years to come. Plus I'd imagine it must be wonderful when paired with rum.

Mtn. Dew decided to reissue their previous Christmas brew by bringing Merry Mash-Up back to shelves. If I didn't know any better I'd swear this stuff was laced with some kind of elf produced amnesia dust. Not only could I barely recall the drink upon seeing it in stores but even now, after gleefully consuming a fair share, I can't really remember enough to describe the experience. It's some sort of Christmas punch attempt and it is tasty yet for whatever reason it slips the mind in a way uncharacteristic of most Dews. Thankfully the color and packaging a bold enough to help to maintain the illusion that this is some magical holiday cocktail. So yea... it's bright, cheery, and will make you feel revved up like Rudolph on Christmas Eve. Just don't expect it to stay with you the same way as something like Pitch Black.

Not one to be left out in the cold, Sprite has introduced Winter Spiced Cranberry as their new seasonal treat which actually puts them in competition with more of the ginger-ale brands that their lemon/lime peers. Gonna admit right off the bat I needed to experiment with this one to make it truly worthwhile. Which isn't to say this is a bad soda... just underwhelming. The packaging is a far cry better than Cinnamon Coke thanks to snowflakes and berries along with a nice green and red color combo that makes this look perfect for any holiday gathering. The problem comes when you open the can. The smell isn't that far off from regular Sprite with just a hint of additional elements. The flavor however comes across as very weak, almost like fountain pop with too much seltzer. It's not gross but the promise of spiced cranberry doesn't come to fruition with it being more of a light dankness added to traditional sprite. Granted this may make for a more appealing soda for those who like extra subtle flavors but I can't imagine this one finding a major foothold.

Something occurred a few nights after my first can of this new Sprite. All by its lonesome this wasn't what I craved from a holiday drink but then the notion took hold that this new formulation was intended to be used in a classic party dish. Quickly enough I busted out a tub of rainbow sherbet, tossed a few scoops into a big glass, and let pour with the soda. Success! A cheap and easy take on classic punch. Sure a proper version would involve frozen condensed juice mix and all that jazz but all that aside it's clear that Winter Spice Cranberry Sprite is at its best when used for sugary mixed-drinks. If you aim to have some foamy punch this year than I'd definitely commandeered this new Sprite for your mix, just not so much as a solo drink.

Understandably you're going to want something to eat with all these fluids and I'm happy to say there's a bit more variety than the usual winter flavors (gingerbread, peppermint, etc) this year. Case in point is the strange sounding Roasted Turkey Pringles. Presumably the same flavor found in the Friendsgiving Fest kit, that was available online for all of an hour, this variety is made to taste like a properly herb and spice coated roast turkey though the end result is a bit different than expected. Instead of tasting like the juicy turkey meat with hints of spices woven into it, the flavor is more like the roasted skin with all the herby goodness front and center and just a touch of meatiness backing it all up. While I enjoyed that taste there is one issue we must address which is the smell. These straight-up stink and I'm not even sure what it is that makes the can smell so bad but the problem dissipates along with the quantity of chips meaning your last dive into the can will be relatively lovely whereas the first serving has an almost b.o. quality without the sulfur aspect.

The candy aisle also has different flavors on offer this season thanks to the likes of new Sweet Cinnamon Kit-Kats. After the disappointment of the brands take on Pumpkin Spice, which tasted more than a bit like scented candles, I was naturally weary of how these might fare. All suspicions proved to be pointless cause man oh man are these ever delicious. Individually wrapped in festive packaging that will undoubtedly look lovely as a stocking stuffer these offer just enough lite cinnamon twinge to the normal Kit-Kat formula to be different without dipping into weird novelty territory. In fact the final result has a bit of a hot cocoa vibe allowing for perfect winter comfort food. So far this is my top pick of seasonal goodies for the year so I highly advise grabbing a bag or two should you find yourself at Target where these are currently exclusive.

One new food item in my life that technically has nothing to do with the holidays popped into my life in rather unexpected fashion. My father received some “thank you for your service” package having to do with high-school volunteers around Veteran's Day. Thing was done up like a care package with all kinds of weird stuff, including a decent hand lotion that I managed to obscond with. What's important for our discussion however was the package of Cheddar Cheese Bacon Combos. Somehow these originally came out early this year as a Walgreens exclusive and flew completely under my radar. Since dad isn't huge on stunt food he permitted me to indulge in these with the results being, well... not that great. Keep in mind I am not a fan of Pretzel Combos, it's cracker or tortilla for this guy, so that drags these down a few points already. That being said the bacon and cheese combo wasn't strong enough to be all that thrilling though it was still balanced enough to be decently tasty. They're not bad, not good, not all that interesting or unique, but I did eat the whole bag over a few nights so it's not like this is a total failure, just basic unremarkable snacking material.

Frequent visitors to this site know how important horror movies are at the CosmicSparky compound which counts all the more when celebrating Halloween and Christmas. Thanksgiving on the other hand has a downright anemic selection of terror tales to choose from. This past Saturday revolved around a binge of Turkey Day horror ranging from those that only pay slight homage to the holiday, The Boneyard, The Boogeyman, alongside more aptly themed but absolutely awful entries like Thankskilling. There was one film among the lot that was so trashy, so violent, and so utterly bonkers as to quickly worm its way into my heart ensuring a place alongside other low-class holiday treats like Silent Night, Deadly Night. The little cinematic miracle in question is Blood Rage.

thanks to I-Mockery for this wondrous gif. 

Filmed in 1983 and finally released in 1987, Blood Rage goes under a couple other titles like the dramatic Nightmare at Shadow Woods or the more generic Slasher. The story concerns twin brothers, one of which is murderous and was able to pin an early crime on his in-shock brother. A decade later on Thanksgiving night the innocent one escapes from mental facility prompting the other to go on a killing spree in order to take care of folks he doesn't care for such as his mothers new fiance. That's about as deep as things go with the rest of the film providing entertainment with gory kills, strange behavior, nudity, ludicrous dialogue, and a pumpkin pie based temper tantrum. For lovers of trashy cinema and lover of so bad it's good cinema this is a rare treat and I'm a little embarrassed it took so long for me to finally watch it. If you're planning to watch a Turkey this Thursday this is available to stream on prime. My point is Blood Rage is the dumb Thanksgiving slasherflick I always wanted which makes me a very thankful pilgrim this year.

And with that it's back to holiday preparation. This house is actually going to have guests on Thursday meaning there's plenty of cleaning to be done and dishes to be planned. Should time allow I might even get started on the Christmas lights. For now I wish you all a fine and dandy Thanksgiving. With luck you'll hear from me again before December since I've still got a truckload of sentai episodes to review.

A Tribute to Cinematic Turkeys

Back in the early years of this decade I had started to make strides towards improving my household Thanksgiving traditions. This push on my part was to counteract the slow slide in quality the holiday had been on since the late 1990s. Over time I created all manner of practices like indulging in booze gift sets, cooking a debilitating batch of mac and cheese, and treating the family to cinematic turkeys. Can't recall the exact start of that last tradition though I can trace it back to at least 2013. With this Thanksgiving marking the last for the decade I decided to use every Thursday to go back and revisit some golden turds. And in preparation I have constructed a tower of terrible, or turkey totem if you will, to guide future viewing habits. So today I thought it best to share some tips and highlight some of the finest bad movies ever filmed so that any of you out there could start your own take on this tradition on solid footing.

It's the damnedest thing but it seems like every other day I remember another title that belongs on this shelf. While taking these photos it occurred that Ninja III was missing and the Andy Sidaris collection is still downstairs. Then there are such deep questions one asks such as why the hell do I not own Cool as Ice? Part of that forgetfulness comes from how much this small collection has grown over the years. Searching out these titles comes with a price however as for every Miami Connection there's at least a dozen Creatures From the Abyss to make you question your life choices. Still; much like a deep-sea diver I return to these dark depths again and again in search of treasure because the rewards are so worth it.

On the top level are some key offerings from two of the greatest bad movie stars known to man, Reb Brown and Lou Ferrigno who stand guard over this years double-feature. The plan to disrupt my holiday digestion this time around includes the cheap action flick, Hollywood Cop along with a terrifically terrible looking dance film with the unfortunate title Dancin' It's On! Both of these have been on my radar for years now and it felt like the closing of a decade was the perfect opportunity to tie up loose ends. Plus the double-feature model offers safety should one film prove underwhelming. As for the featured oldies, let's tackle them one shelf at a time.

The right side of this level belongs to Reb Brown with two of his finest stinkers. Howling 2: Your Sister is a Werewolf (aka Stirba, Werewolf Bitch) is perfect four a rowdy crowd who live for boobs and blood. Honestly the movie has a few spots that are a bit annoying but it always returns to the charm of Reb and Christopher Lee and has some bizarre editing to keep it all it all lively. Barely having anything to do with the original film, this follows the brother of Dee Wallace's character from part one as he teams with an old monster hunter and a spunky reporter only to travel to eastern Europe and battle the queen of werewolves. Along the way we're treated to new wave club scenes and confusing werewolf porn.

Reb Brown also stars in a more crowd-pleasing effort called Yor, The Hunter From the Future. And yes that title is a spoiler in itself as this is a futuristic caveman flick cut down from an Italian mini-series. While it's only occasionally laugh-out-loud funny the overall atmosphere is so utterly silly as to leave the audience with a constant smile. Throw in the occasional highlights like dinosaur hang-gliding and action-figure stuntmen and the whole experience is pure bad movie bliss. I still remember the discovery of this one as I was trying to sleep only for it come on TV and keep me glued to the screen till the wee hours of the morning.

The left side swerves into Ferrigno territory starting with Hercules which, my god, it's just everything right in this world. No matter what you like to laugh at be it lousy special-effects, poor acting, sloppy dubbing, nonsensical storytelling, ludicrous costumes, it's all here in a psychedelic sci-fi/fantasy mash-up of the classic Hercules legend. On the flip side the musical score from Pino Donaggio is actually pretty awesome. This is another outstanding pick for damn near any crowd but don't expect that same level of fun from the sequel, Adventures of Hercules, as it suffers from long dull stretches.

Finally we have one of the hidden gems of my horde featuring both actors in their prime, Cage. In it the two star as Vietnam war buddies who live together ever since Ferrigno was rendered mentally handicapped due to being shot in the head while protecting Reb. The pair live together until two down on their luck gangsters kidnap Lou and, I shit you not, trick him into fighting in underground cage matches. From a sappy opening to a crazy ending with so many wondrous scenes in-between this is a true treat. Personal favorite sequence is when Reb goes after a local gang armed with a shotgun and his patterned rage scream.

Level 2 belongs to manly deeds which means action and sports films along with a free-spirit life on the road sort of flick.

Beginning on the left we have Hulk Hogan's WWF produced wrestling classic, No Holds Barred with the hulkamaniac staring as Rip. Rip is at the top of his game when a crude new television executive, who loves calling him “jock-ass”, starts to mess with his life culminating in a rivalry with a crazed wrestling monster named Zeus. The general feel of this one is that of a hyperactive movie for children that just so happens to be too sleazy for the intended audience which is what makes it such a prime turkey. One moment Rip is encouraging kids to stay in school and then he's literally scaring the shit out of people.

Samurai Cop is a true gem for any bad movie buff. In it a cop who is an expert in the world of Japanese crime is brought into a California police force to help them battle the yakuza whose biggest badass is played by Robert Z'Dar. From production quality and acting, to piss poor action and cheap wigs, every moment of this film is something baffling to behold. Plus it never ceases to amaze that this Japanese expert can't speak a word of the language to save his life.

George Romaro's Knightriders is objectively probably the best film on this whole display though that honor doesn't save it from being a gonzo turkey. The story concerns the leader of a traveling motorcycle jousting troop (Ed Harris) who must contend with a challenge to his leadership from a fellow jouster (Tom Savini) who wants to commercialize their act. Tangled up in this battle of wills are a magic Indian, corrupt southern cops, and even Stephen & Tabitha King. It's so terribly earnest while being ridiculous and goes on for two-and-a-half hours. I'd recommend this one for the hardcore crowd who crave something deeper but still want that edge of stupidity.

Deadly Prey is yet another titan of celluloid garbage in the great tradition of action classics like Rambo or Commando. Ted Prior stars as a Vietnam vet who's captured by a former commander and hunted for sport, all of which is just an excuse for a steady stream of sloppy action sequences. This is just pure distilled fun with a massive body-count that will entertain even the most stoic of viewers.

Level 3 is home to epics. Not so much in size or scale so much as the overwhelming results of viewing them. These are the sort of bad movies that either leave you feeling battered & bruised or totally energized.

Never Too Young to Die isn't what one would traditionally call fun entertainment. If anything the film is pure excrement scarped from the inside of a truck-stop toilet. The core outline is about college gymnast Lance Stargrove, played by John Stamos, who must avenge the death of his father who turns out to be a secret agent. The one responsible for this family tragedy is Velvet Von Ragnar, a hermaphroditic underground shock rocker terrorist, played by KISS member Gene Simmons, who leads an army of whacked out Road Warrior rejects. This attempt at a young and hip James Bond is profoundly trashy and more than a little socially backwards making it a potentially poor choice for viewing with your more woke friends. The laughs in this film aren't really all that frequent but it's the sheer dumpster fire absurdity of the whole thing that washes over you and either sends you into giggles or drives you mad. The best possible outcome is getting the giggles from watching someone else go mad.

Birdemic as a franchise is something of a miracle. The first film easily ranks alongside the likes of The Room for that perfect combination of utter incompetence and pure enthusiasm. A romantic thriller about birds attacking mankind as revenge for environmental issues offers the worst special-effects and technical merits around. When combined with a terrible script and dizzying performances from every member of the cast this becomes something quite special. Under normal circumstances the sequel would fail to live up to the original cocktail yet somehow the director manages to overshoot the mark at recreating his sucess so far that he loops back around and actually succeeds through failure.

Miami Connection may in fact be the greatest bad movie of all time. Let's just consider the plotline for a moment. A group of tae-kwan-do practicing orphan friends/bandmates in college run afoul of several threats like a competing band and a gang lead by one of their girlfriends brothers which all lead back to a drug-dealing gang of ninja and one friends search for his absent father. Did I manage to make any sense out of that? There are musical numbers, beach hangout montages, and scores of dead ninja. The dialogue is rubbish, the tunes are silly, the acting unbelievable, it's all pure gold. If you could only ever watch one turkey, this is a damn fine choice.

Easily the biggest name feature in this tribute, Showgirls doesn't fail to live up to its reputation. It's like the Rocky series mixed with the bible and blended with pure trash to produce a utterly captivating bad movie milkshake. I've only view it a single time but that experience was so memorable and enduring that Showgirls might be one of my favorite films ever made. No expense was spared in creating this perfect gleaming turd and I urge anyone with an interest to add it to their collection.

The bottom floor is home to goofy genre fare along with a growing pile of titles that are slowly remembered over time. Speaking of which; I forgot Black Belt Jones and Troll 2!

Night Train to Terror embodies the saying of when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When producers had several unfinished or unreasonable horror flicks laying around they decided to film a couple new scenes and turn everything into a horror anthology framed by god, the devil, and a bunch of dancers looking for their big break. It's exactly as good you'd expect from a film made entirely of leftovers.

Roar is nearly a snuff film that just so happened to be made with the best intentions in mind. With the concept of making a movie to showcase how big wild cats aren't really dangerous, Tippi Hedren and her family get mauled on camera for close to two-hours. If you ever wanted family viewing with real life head injuries this is the turkey for you.

Despite the expansion of bad movie fandom Starcrash seems be frequently forgotten. It's a crying shame quite honestly as this is another one of those well-balanced crowd-pleasers that offers something for everyone to laugh at. Directed by the same wonderful nut as Ferrigno's Hercules, Starcrash is a brightly colored Star Wars knockoff that bounces from one wild set-piece to another. There are cavemen, amazon warriors, cowboy robots, and David Hasslehoff, it's all here! Revisited this one the other night and it won over everyone in the room.

I've covered Flesheater in the past and as you can see in the photo there's fine stash of flicks like Breakin 2, American Ninja, and many other to choose from but there is a hidden treasure on this shelf. Behind Starcrash is a four-film collection featuring one of the unsung achievements of poor filmmaking. I'm talking about Norman Mailer's crime drama, and unintentional comedy classic, Tough Guys Don't Dance. I won't even bother to describe the story but merely offer the promise that those with the bravery to watch, and endure the slow opening half-hour, will be rewarded with something magically delicious.

And there is my brief guide to the world of shit cinema along with my tribute to this fine holiday tradition. I will continue to hunt down these movies for years to come, and may have found a new one tonight with the discovery of Karate Christmas Miracle. I'd love to hear about other outstanding bad film experiences from all of you out there and I hope you've found something during this article to fuel your next social gathering.

Ryusoulger Episodes 23-27

For everything there is a season and for my lazy butt that means every November brings forth a mad dash to catch up with Super Sentai content, save for that year when I chose to ignore the awfulness of Kyuranger. After months of Halloween goodness I was gearing up for a couple rounds of recaps before realizing it's already the 12 of this month, how is that possible? So without further ado let us march along and discuss how Ryusoulger has been faring before I get sidelined by holiday sodas.

Story:

Sadly my first venture into this batch of episodes was victim of one of the most dreaded phenomenon in television. Yea, it was time for a clip show though much like last year the writers almost managed to make this one count for something. The theme for all the flashbacks were the various dino souls the heroes use as nifty tools in their adventures, oddly enough these things can actually fizzle out after so many uses. The group meets to trade when they find a soul that grants wishes that the villains, disguised as Canelo's sister, run off with. Evil is defeated and the soul that has its own wish for peace is hidden away so no one will fight over the power it can bestow.

After that we're given another one-off adventure with Canelo trying to impress a girls martial artist father in order to win her hand in marriage, or so he thinks. It's a fairly basic outing though the monster, a karate master with pastry skills, is fairly neat. Also of note is the training sequence where Canelo tries to master a new move to overcome the monster. This whole section of the show reminded me of Ultraman Leo only without the ludicrous abuse of our lead.

For episode 25 things switch towards Melto and Ui and you all know I consider her to be the best representation for the series message of connection and friendship as she struggles with such notions. Stranger still is how this one serves as an explanation for the ending-credits dance sequence. Suppose I should explain.

Ui has roped her friends into creating a dance video for her channel and the project isn't going very well as Melto just can't get the moves right. He snaps at Ui, refusing to continue the project and inquiring why she isn't in the video herself. It's not long after that a viral video staring Kreon begins to steal peoples souls, including Ui and Canelo's Sister, Oto. The team must figure out how to defeat a monster that hides in the internet, but also doesn't harm its host as the removal of negative thoughts and current life situation leaves the man feeling wonderful. This one might have been lost if not for some unexpected actions on Kreon's part (more on that later) but in the end everyone is able to help with Ui's video, otherwise known as the ending credits.

With a few small-scale stories concluded the show moves into a new arc by introducing another Ryusoul tribe member named Nada. He was actually in training to be the red ranger years ago before his master decided on Koh to inherit those powers. Nada just wants to help out however he can which is important given the return of Gachireus (who faked his death), Gaisorg, and a new monster that can remove kindness for human hearts, which makes for a fine revelation about Koh.

Episodes 26 and 27 are a rough two-parter with how they share the same monster along with introducing Nada to the group. Each installment is distinctly different however with the first revolving around Koh's darker nature while the latter involves reuniting a father/son pair of Dino Knights. Both are solid stories with some excellent character development and the new guy offers a fun personality for the other heroes to work with. Speaking of which...

Heroes:

More than anyone the original trio gets the biggest share of growth during this batch of episodes. In the case of Koh we learn during the clipshow that he is actually capable of hearing the voices of dino souls. Whether or not this will serves as an important detail later on is up in the air but it still merits a mention. Of more potential importance is what happens when Koh gets blasted by the critter that takes kindness away from people. Not only does this turn him into a psychotic badass but the audience learns this is his default mode from childhood. It wasn't until Asuna came to their village that he began to watch over her and mellow out. Later he admits he learned kindness from watching Melto help Asuna with her swordwork and that he was able to overcome his current problem by focusing on the group of friends he has now.

Melto has also improved recently first blowing up at and then mending fences with Ui, spending far more time with Oto, and becoming more resilient in battle. Seeing how the boys looked after Asuna growing up makes her current role as the strongman of the group more meaningful as she now has the power to look out for them.

Lastly we've got Nada who obviously has a deep dark secret, one I already know from future episodes. As of right now he's a very entertaining addition to the cast with the actor being both funny and charming. Given his background as a warrior who was deemed unworthy of being a Ryusoulger he could fill the mostly absent role of a mentor to the group, especially since the village elder hasn't been seen in about twenty episodes.

Villains:

The return of Gachireus means my struggle to remember the spelling of his name is back in full-force. It also means his former tenure on the show feels like less of a red-herring. Still can't quite figure if this guy is worthwhile or not. He's more interesting than Tankjoh and his arguments with Wyzul can be fun bur I'm sorta hopping he gets swapped out for a more unique baddie.

Kreon is proving to be more interesting than previous content let on. During the viral video adventure we learned quite a bit about this little snot slinger. Not only does he enjoy creating things like videos for fun, before Wyzul hijacks them for evil, but he actually made friends with a human and worried about their fate as a host to a Minosaur. Beyond that he deleted the video that allowed the creature to spread despite it meaning defeat for his side. Since the show has slowed the shuffle of villains down significantly it's less likely this little guy will be an endgame threat so much as a goofy mascot or possibly sob story.

Action:

While there were no absolute standout action scenes during these installments the overall quality of fight scenes is holding up quite well. Of note are the instances when the stunt team mixes wirework into tracking shots. Also have to give some major points to the suit actors for green and gold. In an already excellent stunt-crew these two manage to pull off some of the most impressive and fluid maneuvers in each battle.

Overall:

So these weren't the brightest moments of the series so far given the presence of clipshows, cutesy kid robots (don't ask) and and lighthearted karate romance. Deeper revelations about our characters and their relationships are helping to push the series theme plus the actors keep getting better with each installment. With a new character in place and hints of new villains there's a lot of potential for the upcoming slate of episodes. I still have a lot to catch up on and once I do you expect these recaps to become less vague, getting my Sentai legs back after all. This show is at it's best when it focuses on the inner lives of the heroes and the lengths to which the villains will go to spread havoc so my fingers are crossed that the story is moving back in that direction for the foreseeable future.

That's all for tonight, Santai fans. I've got appointments to set-up and stuff to watch from the corporate overlords at the house of mouse. I shall return with further Ryusoulger antics soon, give or take a break to discuss festive food and horrible films for Thanksgiving. As is so often asked by these tokusatsu shows, please look forward to it.