Go-Busters Episode 1 Short Review- It's Morphin Time

The episode begins with what appears to be either a flashback or a dream (I'm not sure which one) of a city being destroyed by an army of megazords. The next scene is set in "Neo 2012 A.D." (not sure what that means exactly, perhaps 2012 after the city was destroyed?), and this year's red ranger, Hiromu, is frozen in shock from reading a newspaper. Meanwhile, the other two Go-Busters- Ryuji and Yoko- are fighting this season's mooks (Buglers) disguised as humans. Then one of the season's villains, Enter, is introduced. Later on, Hiromu has to tell his apparently overprotective and ill sister, that he's joining the fight against Vaglass. Vaglass launches a megazord, leading to Hiromu defeating the Megazord with his mecha, CB-01 Go-Buster Ace.

Plot wise the first episode was effective in establishing some plot points to look forward to in later episodes. It didn't answer a whole lot, but as I see it the first episode should be setting up questions instead of answering them too early. Overall I thought it was a really good start, and Go-Busters has a lot of potential. It looks like Gokaiger gave Sentai an upgraded budget. The cinematography was good and for once, it didn't look like the mechas were fighting in a model city. The action and the fights were well choreographed, the special effects good, and the acting seemed pretty good as well for the first episode. The spy/professional motif that this series seems to have is interesting, and it feels like the series has merged a lot of concepts. It feels like a mixture of MMPR (due to shout-outs like "megazords" and "it's morphin time"), RPM (computer virus as a main villain), Go-Onger (robot buddies), and even Keitai Sousakan 7 (again mechanical buddies, professional team of spies/detectives). The story also seems to have a lot of potential as well. The theme song was pretty cool, not surprising since it's by Project R. The ending theme was alright, but I'm happy to see another dancing outro again. However, I do miss the Gokaiger outro. Other than that, I do have a minor pet peeve, this year's Gratuitous English. I don't normally like to sound like a grammar nazi, but even if the actors get the pronunciation wrong, they can at least get the grammar right. "Let's morphin" should be "let's morph" and "let's driving" should be "let's drive" or "drive." Other than that, I think the first episode was a solid start. Overall, I give this first episode 8.5/10.

The Various Running Gags of Bulk and Skull

Here's a look back at all of the running gags given to Bulk and Skull throughout the years.

MMPR S1


In MMPR S1, Bulk and Skull's gag was simplistic. They were the school bullies and bumbling idiots. Often times the humor was over the top but they were still a fun group.

MMPR S2


After being saved by the Power Rangers in the season's first episode, Bulk and Skull spent the rest of season two trying to figure out their true identities. Sometimes they were close (only for Billy to switch the video tape). In the episode When is a Ranger not a Ranger, Bulk and Skull actually do discover the ranger's identity, only to have their memories erased when they tried to save the rangers.

MMPR S3


Season three saw a popular change for Bulk and Skull. They became members of the Angel Grove Jr. Police Department. Most of the time they were nothing more than their stereotypical idiotic selves. In all seriousness, one has to wonder how the heck do these two not end up getting fired after all their constant blundering. However, there was one cool moment in Catch That Cab when they actually did catch a car thief.

Zeo


Along with In Space, Zeo is the season where Bulk and Skull really shined. They had perhaps more development in this season than any other. Initially they were still members of the Jr. Police Department, but quit out of loyalty to Lt. Stone after he got fired. Then they joined Lt. Stone to form their own detective agency. This season, Bulk and Skull had some pretty cool moments, including my all-time favorite Bulk and Skull moment in Instrument of Destruction. There, Skull bravely showed off his musical talents in which Bulk later approved.

Turbo


In Turbo the writers simply ran out of ideas and didn't know what to do with Bulk and Skull. They were initially turned into Chimpanzees because the actors who played them were experimenting with a Bulk and Skull spin-off show. That went nowhere, perhaps due to Turbo's declining ratings. Even in the second half of the season when they were turned back to normal and the writing had improved, it seemed like the writers still didn't know what to do with them. Their running gag for the second half of the season was getting hired and fired from various part time jobs, which became too repetitive.

In Space


Bulk and Skull spent In Space with Professor Phenomenus searching for alien life. Phenomenous added more comedic relief, but Bulk and Skull got a lot less screen time compared to the first five seasons. This is mostly due to the fact that most of In Space's story took place away from earth. However, Bulk and Skull had perhaps their most popular moment during the season's finale, Countdown to Destruction, in which they mimicked the "I am Spartacus" moment.

Lost Galaxy


In Lost Galaxy, Bulk and Professor Phenomenus boarded Terra Venture and accidentally left Skull behind. From what I have heard, this was due to contract issues with Skull's actor. Bulk and Professor Phenomenus ran a coffee shop on Terra Venture called Comet Cafe. However, the two were rarely seen throughout the series.

Wild Force


Bulk and Skull showed up for the 10th Anniversary episode, Forever Red, in Wild Force. Here Bulk had mysteriously gotten back to earth from Mirinoi (bad writing) and ran a juice shop named Bulkmeier. Their appearance was just a little wink to longtime fans of the show.

Samurai


In Samurai, Bulk returned to teach Spike, Skull's son, the way of the samurai. Here the writing just completely fell apart. Bulk and Spike have next to no interaction at all with the Samurai cast, and feel like nothing more than mere add-ons for fanservice.

Announcements

In case not everyone has noticed the declining activity on my blog the last few months I'll explain why. I've recently moved to a place where I don't have internet access at home. Furthermore, I've been busy due to coaching basketball and going to a school that's a three hour drive away from home.

Because of this situation, I haven't been able to keep up on episode reviews for Gokaiger. Now that Gokaiger has ended and GoBusters starts next week, some of you might wonder if I'll be doing episode reviews for GoBusters. I've decided that I will, but only for major episodes. Most likely episodes related to the plot.

As a little heads up, I'll be releasing a couple series reviews within the next month. One for Go-Onger and the other for Gokaiger. I'll do my best and hope everyone likes them. In the mean time, I'll try to keep my blog as active as possible.