This is a hefty tome. With 10 discs and 50 episodes we get more Japanese monster mayhem than you can binge watch in a weekend. Well, unless you really try.
Which I don’t recommend.
At a little over 16 hours this is a fantastic chunk of action for fans of “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” and the various spin-offs and sequels. Why? This is where that show came from. With a series of script changes and the out of costume stuff reshot for American audiences, this series gained a foothold that would last for 20 years.0
“Super Sentai Zyuranger” is a tokusatsu series, a sort of super hero show usually involving monsters in rubber suits, sometimes literally larger than life. Here we have an entry in a long running Japanese franchise which you might think was just reshot for American audiences, but there are so many differences it is difficult to point them all out.
Essentially this series was used as a springboard for the American franchise which would continue to use footage from this franchise over the years. But this was the beginning. Well, in America at least. Sort of.
Was that confusing? Wait until you get a load of the premise for this show. There are humans who have evolved from dinosaurs. Or they worship them. Whatever. Five ancient warriors are summoned to help battle an evil sorceress. These warriors in turn can bring forth prehistoric animal machines to do battle.
The amount of footage from “Super Sentai Zyuranger” that wasn’t used is staggering. It really is a different show. If you thought “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” was crazy, you absolutely need to watch “Super Sentai Zyuranger” – and it isn’t even one of the craziest creations to come from the island nation.
There are other differences, but going into them just won’t matter. Either you’re a fan of the series or you aren’t. Even if you are not a fan of the American version but, like myself, enjoy some Japanese tokusatsu (Ultraman, Spectreman, The Space Giants are what I watched growing up) this will be highly enjoyable. Silly? Ridiculous? Well, yeah. But so what. This is fun.
A half hour panel featuring a few cast members from a convention is the special feature on this set. Remember, this was a “disposable” show from 25 years ago. What do you expect the picture and sound to be like? Frankly it is better than I expected. Also instead of forcing it into a widescreen presentation for modern televisions Shout Factory has preserved the original aspect ratio.
Fans of silly Saturday morning action should definitely think about picking this up.