I've Finished Watching Metalder And I'm Given More Reasons Not To Like VR Troopers


After watching Metalder and I personally enjoyed it, I wished it had more episodes because of its unique style of doing Tokusatsu. It's pretty much apples and oranges and I haven't seen Spielban yet (but I have certainly seen Shaider to comment) but I could talk about what VR Troopers lacked. It was also that time when Saban and Toei attempted to localize a lot of shows but had to stop. So what's with VR Troopers against Metalder? It proved that quantity doesn't always make quality. Metalder only had 39 episodes but it certainly was worth it. I guess Toei got too ambitious with Metalder and ran out of budget as a result. After all, they had Maskman and later Kamen Rider Black to handle that year. Metalder was aired first followed by Maskman and Kamen Rider Black which were did special effects and action scenes ahead of their time.


Emperor God Neros was truly terrifying over that stupid Grimlord. I think God Neros' transformation was truly more terrifying for a 1987 flick than VR Troopers which took place in 1994. The actor Shinji Todo aka the Japanese Spiderman does a terrific job as the evil CEO. He doesn't have to show that frightening covering in darkness transformation every episode unlike Grimlord. I didn't feel that the late Gardner Baldwin was that convincing in acting out the role of an evil CEO. As Grimlord, the late Takeshi Watabe makes the evil tyrant really look menacing. Grimlord seemed like a joke (when he wasn't meant to be one) because of bad acting or two soccer moms would just complain about how scary he was. Then again you can't have Emperor God Neros' personality ported into TV-Y7-FV shows. Emperor God Neros' terrifying personality is something that U.S. moms might think would "scar their children for life".

What Metalder has done better over VR Troopers is a solid storyline. The storyline explores Metalder's struggle to learn about the world as an android, how God Neros views life in such a cheap way even towards his own subordinates and the plot development behind the history of the main characters! Metalder also has fought some human opponents and led them to reform like Ben-K who was unfortunately murdered for betrayal. Top Gunder starts befriending Metalder only to die towards the end. There's a lot of character development especially when Metalder makes his ultimate decision at the end of the series for the greater good of the world. It was just 39 episodes yet the whole show made VR Troopers' long run look really pale. The contrast isn't like two actors where one is better but both get the job required of them done at the end of the day. The contrast is already between a superior product matched up against a really inferior product. I still view VR Troopers as a super inferior product like Saban's Masked Rider. I never liked VR Troopers to start with - with or without Metalder and Spielban. Heck, when Shaider footage was used the more I shied away.
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If you think about it, I may not like Power Rangers but I could name a few or more things that Power Rangers has done much better over Saban's Masked Rider, Beetleborgs and VR Troopers during the 90s. One could see how Power Rangers during the post-Zordon era tried to innovate for the better. I don't think it matched up to Super Sentai but hey I can give it all the credit it deserves like good acting and better action scenes. So maybe I just dislike Power Rangers but I've hated VR Troopers even before seeing Metalder saying its quality is way below Power Rangers. I still can't stop bashing VR Troopers and still bash it until now. Power Rangers? I can't really bring myself to hate it but I just don't it due to the Disney and Neo Saban disasters. Dino Charge was somewhat watchable but Judd Lynn was already wearing out. But at least Lynn didn't work with Toei's Takahito Oomori. In my case, I usually choose to avoid Power Rangers unless I want to make a fair comparison but there's just certain times that comparison becomes all too unnecessary. GoGoFive is a family-themed Super Sentai while Lightspeed Rescue isn't. Lost Galaxy and Gingaman are too different in terms of implementation.

It just reminds me of this statement from Shogo B'Stard on Toei reaching the American market through Power Rangers and how it succeeded over other stuff:

So, basically, I think I'd maybe like to reclaim the title "Sentai Snob" to apply to those who, like me, think Super Sentai is awesome and the best of the toku franchises. Because, what the hey, maybe a Sentai Snob can look at Power Rangers like this -- Ultraman has tried more than once to make it in the States. He failed. Kamen Rider has tried twice now to make it in the States. He failed. Metal Heroes failed as quickly as they arrived. Power Rangers may be watered down, but it is, in a way, Sentai succeeding where all of the other franchises failed, so...

GO, GO SUPER SENTAI!

Comments

  1. Originally the pilot for the Metalder american production was called Cybertron and was gonna star Jason David Frank as the hero. Well jason got hired back as the white ranger so Saban in his "genius" thought it better to combine Metalder, Shaider, and Spielban into a series! DUMBEST IDEA EVER!!!!
    He could've just used Metalder as season 1 of VR Trooper, Shaider as Seaaon 2 and then Spielban for season 3

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  2. Yes it's the dumbest idea ever. But the 90s was basically where Toei and Saban were trying to figure out what to do with their joint collaborations.

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  3. I personally like vr troopers and think is not as bad as people say, it's part of my childhood and I enjoyed seeing it although I agree that some plots were stupid (specially every single episode opening with Ryan's childhood flashbacks) but 90s right?, besides there were some good story arcs like dark heart who turned out to be Ryan's father and quest for power (my favorite) which makes the transition from metalder footage to shaider and also the grimlord dark secret where they almost find his secret identity as ziktor. I agree also that grimlord's American design is a bit dumb but I' ve seen worse (elgar footage from carranger used in pr turbo). As for the transformation is possibly the series most memorable scene "forces of darkness empower me take me back to my virtual reality". The series had a good rating it was canceled only because they burned all the footage. As for metalder I saw the last episodes yesterday and although I liked it it pales in comparison to zyuranger or ohranger, it has an interesting story (and yes I like God neros transformation sequence too) but the finale is a bit lackluster but yes it's captivating and I absolutely love the end song "time limit". Conclusion: American series may or may not be good but tokusatsu or super sentai are (sans Kakuranger) and deserve to be seen and appreciated so... Go SENTAI!

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