New Thread, More Dino Thunder, but first, some thoughts.

So. The back half of this season has felt... very oddly disjointed. It felt like everything up to the Triassic Ranger episode was very well paced, and very tightly written. Filler worked as plot, and plot worked as filler and there really wasn't much of a difference inbetween.

From what little I know of Abaranger, the White Ranger was VERY antagonistic through most of the series until the very end of it, save for a few odd encounters here and there, I could tell they were having to resort to writing around this footage a lot.

The Whole CLONE ARC felt prolonged after the Triassic takedown. like the clone survived simply because they still had antagonistic White Ranger footage to use.

I've been lampooning on the whole Tommy Oliver vanishes from the story for a good 15 episodes of a 38 episode run, that's almost HALF of the total episode count. The only thing I can figure is that it was something IRL wise that forced the issue.

There have still been solid episodes in this latter half of the season. But I can tell that a lot of the weaker ones inbetween were hastily rewritten, or were done cheaply compared to other episodes. In Your Dreams for example is a pure Sentai Footage Burn episode.

Those happen every now and then, usually to cover the cost of more original footage expensive episodes, such as the Ninja Storm crossover episodes. I don't think there was a stitch of Abaranger anywhere in that entire two parter.

The whole Renegade Zeltrax thing seems like they were expecting more footage of Zeltrax to use, given how silent he's been the last few episodes.

Drawn Into Danger is... a very odd episode. I *think* it's mainly Abaranger footage with the sketchy filter drawn over it, but I haven't seen Abaranger to be sure. Given the mention of Snow Im hesitant to assume it's related to the summer movie with the Blizzardforce megazord.

I THINK the Lavaly episode has Abaranger footage that's sourced from *after* the episode the White Ranger loses control of the Stegozord? IDK why it came beforehand.

Some of the narrative choices made in the back half of this season feels a bit like...

Like Abaranger's back half threw them a curveball of what they were expecting and they had to scramble to work around it? I KNOW from reading some things online they planned on Devin being Triassic as a standalone and that it being a Red Ranger powerup screwed over some things.

You can SEE how close Devin came to uncovering the White Ranger's identity, and from that, probably the other Rangers. There were clearly some abandoned plot threads in the Gamer Episode that seemed to be based around the idea of breaking Devin and Cassidy up as a duo.

Okay, that's enough thought digression. Let's dive back into the rewatch's final four...

Starting with House of Cards.

But seriously. The Semi. That's the elephant in the room of this season. For how long it's been IN the opening, I have to wonder when they were planning on originally using it and how long they were sitting on it to actually use it.

Though clearly it's based on the toy with all the, well. Actual Brand Name Branding on it.

Devin and Ethan are playing cards. Cassidy hangs in background. I think this scene probably survived a few rewrites.

Oh, Kira's back there too.

okay, so, Ethan really should have noticed he had that ruby dragon card well before he played it. the only way i can explain this is if both he and devin were opening cardpacks AS THEY PLAYED.

I thought this was leading into a "Which one's fake?" question, rather than a "what are more from that era?" question given the whole, uh. y'know. mixups that have happened regarding some people swapping neck bones and tail bones and making up fake dinos?

It was about time Randal's morph decisions came back to bite her. Shoulda teleported OUT of the school first, but nah.

NAH.

She just blew her ID.

-o- >o< 0o0

Invisible chair? nah. Just a well paused backflip. Also, no, Kira, Dr. O ISN'T going a little bit far to get the card back.

"it's Elsa!"
"Who? Randal??"
*Elsa Transforms*
*people scream*

"They look exactly the same except one has Glasses!"
"Hey, Clark Kent and Superman look the same."

OH. RIGHT. Trent can still come and go as he pleases and he's JUST as Snarky about it. I guess that part wasn't the Evil side of him after all.

Im a little sad there's only a few more times I can screen shot this.

DINO THUNDER! POWER UP! HA!

Oh wow, they went STRAIGHT into Super Dino Mode.

back to Abaranger footage. Huh. Im curious where in the episode progression this monster calls from?

Dino Thunder without context.

Ruby Dragon Flower Power.

Tommy. You missed. The Key didnt go in the morpher. >_>;

Usually the editors are good at making sure the punch in doesn't *show* that part.

Oh hey it's the full combo!

Triassic in Thundersaurus, and Black in Mezodon with the shield? Okay, weird arrangement, but ok.

Aaaand Elsa's about to play a Psychological power move against Mesogog.

AAAAAAND THERE IT GOES.

The look of disapproval, and the look of someone in way over his head.

MESOGOG IS NOT HAPPY.

Aaaaaaaand he's about to Mad Science himself. AGAIN.

Now WHY didn't you do THAT to BEGIN WITH!!?

oh, flashbacks now. are they stalling for air time?

is this guy a combo of every existing monster from the series or something?

I think the triassic logo was an asset goof.

DINO THUNDER!
POWER UP!

IT GIANT.

and small again.

OH, Summer Movie Tie In Episode Footage. Gotcha.

well that was a... weird half episode of wasted time. pretty huge speed bump, tbh.

Oh well. Onto next episode. Part one of the finale.

Oh, look who's upside down, I'll wager by that hair drift.

what kind of hellish torture device is THIS?!

Trent's doing Proper Recon this time. And poor Elsa's getting power drained. Maaan. things are really heating up in Mesogog's lab.

PROM TALK. Because High School.

Devin wants Connor's advice... on asking a girl out to Prom.

Mesogog's finally let the perpetual storm around his island disappear.

after a whole episode on trust, and Trent's seemingly breaking it by making a deal to get his father in exchange for the Dino Gems. Geeze, writers.

elsa got mind wiped, and dumped, and OH GOD, Zeltrax found her.

This Asteroid Warrior Whatever Movie is a star wars parody isn't it?

Annnnnnnd Devin just saw Ethan talking to Dr. O through the communicator.

Once more with feeling. DINO THUNDER! POWER UP! HA!

(Trent's lipsynch was clearly for White Ranger, Dino Power LOL)

Super Dino Zeltrax!! XPP

he left a hologram decoy to take the battleizer hit. wow. that's smart.

*VERY* Smart. All of this was to find the location of their base.

Fools indeed. Geeze.

All part of the plan...

...So.

How come they didn't make fake dino gems for it? eh, im sure Mesogog would've realized what was going on, but still. Put atleast one real one in there and it's no problem on the energy detection front, right?

ITS TRUCKIN' TIME!!!

"You should know by now I can't be trusted." - Mesogog, fake father of the year, and obvious Power Rangers Villain.

PUSH THE BUTTON!!!

(PORTAL COMMAND CONTROL)

Man, what's this thing do? Open up ALL the portals at once??

BEEP BEEP, DINO-FAKER.

just cause the rangers dont have their gems doesnt mean they dont have their powers. Kira's still got her Ptera Scream. LOL.

Connor, fighting ontop of a Semi-trailer is NOT a smart idea, but hey, a rangers gotta realign some lasers no matter where they are.

This is CRAZY.

Close enough she says. CLOSE ENOUGH AND GET OUT THERE and she IMMEDIATELY FIRES THE THING.

I SAID *BEEP BEEP, DINO-FAKER!!!*

Dino Thunder, No Context.

KNOCK KNOCK. "WHAT'S THE POINT?"

"It's not like they're going to fall out of the sky and land infront of us." - Ethan James, finally catching on to what I've been saying this whole time. And then when Kira calls him on it.
"What? Last time it worked!" And then. "See?"

"What about Mesogog?"
"I don't think he made it-" DOH "-But Just In Case..."

Well, those'll come in handy.

"We'd better get back to the lab. We still have Zeltrax to deal with."
Meanwhile:

I'll be taking a quick break here.

alright. shall we finish this?

Ah, right, yes. Just where we left off. Base in Ruins, signed "Zeltrax wuz hear"

"ZelZord"??

...Zeltrax... Smithy, buddy. That things looks like... well. It looks like something that little girl from Abaranger would pilot. (Am I not far off the point?)

R U SRS, ZELTRAX? Mesogog didn't have an innocent bystander? So you're saying that Anton Mercer was neither Innocent Nor a Bystander?

Devin talks to Cassidy, Ethan hits it up with a girl in movie line.

One of these feels a bit like air time padding.

Its Skirt looks like a Dalek.

WOAH! What'd that mountain ever do to you, Smithy!?

DINO THUNDER, POWER UP! HA!

Trent's soloing the Triptoids. Because they had to get him out of the main spotlight of the camera somehow.

of COURSE there are triptoids inside the giant monster too.

In which Zeltrax takes a tyranodrill to the hallway like Alduin at the beginning of Helgen's tutorial.

Dat Scale Tho.

RIP, Smithy. Buhbye Zeltrax.

"You've got to sacrifice the Zords!"

Tommy. *WHY.*

You remember the hurt of losing THE THUNDERZORDS *AND* THE NINJAZORDS!!! And you're ordering a sacrifice of THE ENTIRE FLEET AT ONCE TO END THIS!?

Good grief, you really did become Zordon, didn't you?

I hate the Zord Sacrifice trope. I hate the destroying of the Zords. I know it's a staple because, y'know... End of the season and all that but...

It's Never Over.

Test. is Twitter working again or did I hit some post limit?

Well anyways, ditching pictures for the moment. Hello Mesogog, and hello Mesomess.

morphed straight into super dino mode.

Oh. Right. Of COURSE the little serum he took to split from Mercer would show up again. Mesomess multiplies. LOL.

GABURINCHO!!!!

(This is not Kyoryuger Foreshadowing, unfortunately.)

also, Tommy. "Use ALL of our power!" I mean, it WORKS. But again, what's with the self sacrifice attitude here?

Its one satisfying boom, though.

Cassidy got it all on tape, but ain't sharin' it with the world.

Why? Because they're her friends. Dawww...

AND NOW TEH EPILOGUE AT TEH PROM!

If THIS was endgame, what was the whole Ethan/Cassidy <3ship tease about!?

Krista DOES show up again! As a cameo in the final episode, sure, but hey! Same actress rather than a random face.

Movie Girl! Ethan's Date.

...Yknow, she kinda does look a little bit like Cassidy in the general hair department and she WAS wearing pink when we saw her last. So...

...I mean it's last minute as hell, but hey, it's payoff to the setup I guess.

Trent, Tommy, and Anton. Okay. Thematically it makes sense to have a friendship scene with these three all together.

Anton and.... Elsa?? Whatever her real name is. We haven't gotten that... yet. Though there's reason to *suspect* we may have it through Beast Morphers given Elsa here shows up as Roxy's Aunt Regina.

It's crossover fodder, at any rate.

You get used to the weight of something long enough, you'll probably find you're wearing something to replace it when it's time to move on. Trent's replaced his silver bracelet with a silver watch.

An Interesting Year is putting it mildly, Tommy.

It's Kira and her band! (Who we've never met. Lost opportunity there, Disney. Could've made the whole Ranger team her bandmates. Now THERE'S a premise for a future season of Power Rangers.)

Farewell, Dino Thunder.

Well, this was a fun experience to do. I... don't think I'll do it again though. Bit TOO much effort there. I hope everyone's enjoyed this livetweet of Power Rangers Dino Thunder. Closing thoughts? A solidly written season, with faults only really showing where Abaranger threw...

-Curveballs at the writers, for sure. There were a few minor stumbles, but overall, they overcame them for the most part. I was surprised by how few filler episodes there were.

To TL;DR: "Victory is Ours, Forevermore!"

One last tweet to this thread, closing it off.