Power Rangers Samurai Special Reivew: Battle of the Reds

Well I know I said I wouldnt do as many Samurai reviews, but this episode is somewhat different from the original Shinkenger series, so lets see if I can get through this. The episode starts off with showing us a fight between a new villian in RPM's dimension, Professor Cog fighting Scott in the RPM Ultrazord. They have a duel as Scott seems to get the hit, but Cog fakes him out as he takes down the zord as he laughs saying he will never be defeated. Scott says he will follow him no matter what, as Cog says he will go to a different dimension (dont give yourself away). After the opening we see an empty subway with a train coming as Professor Cog steps out of it with his grunts (I guess trains can go between dimensions). Soon we cut to the Samurai rangers fighting off a new monster as he mostly beats them up until he runs out of water. Cog was watching in the background as he sees how to get to Master Xandred. We see the monster back in the ship where..... Akomaru what is he doing there?! Well Cog soon enters into the Sanzu River as he makes a deal with Xandred to destory the rangers so he can get the water from the river to kill off his planet. Next we see Ranger Red step out of the same train (maybe letting him know where you go wasnt that smart Cog).

Well after the fight the rangers go for some treats as a car almost falls on them (so close). The team soon find that robots are attacking construction workers. They have some issues though because their swords seem to be weak facing robots since "they are armor." Soon Ranger Red helps out our hero as Scott acts a little differently than he usually does with this fight (blame the use of the original footage). Well Scott mostly does the rest of the work as he finishes off the grunts. The team talk to him wondering who he is as he says his name, but Jayden wants to see his face. Scott says there are some issues with that though as the three guys are not trusting him. Jayden asks a question that I have as well of how Scott got here from another dimension, but Emily and Mia says he can talk later as they take him to their dojo. When entering in the dojo Scott still doesnt seem to act like himself as he wonders how they live here without tv and video games. Scott soons start to talk about him wanting to take down Cog because he is trying to find out how to kill off his world. He also reveals that he cannot de-morph because he doesnt feel safe breathing the air in this world because of his life in a dome city. The team soon start to feel bad about him then as Mike is still doubtful.

Xandred helps Cog with his plan by giving him a monster to command. He even has one ranger in his sights as we see Antonio well the back of him fishing as Grinders are ready to attack him. For some reason we cant see Antonio as he morphs and fights them off with..... Daigoyou when did he get that?! Well the team soon find out about a disturbance going on as Scott takes Mentor's bike to help Antonio. At first he thinks it was Jayden in a different suit, but his brain kicks in quickly as he can tell it wasnt him. Scott easily takes down the Grinders easily as Cog shows himself. For some reason he even knows about Xandred as he will stop their plan. Everyone else comes in as Antonio still wonders who he is, but they just go into the fights. He takes down both reds with bullets as he uses an attack to send them to Scott's dimension, but the rest of the team block the hit as they are transported to another dimension. Oh yea I forgot to mention about Xandred's army he has been preparing where a monster named General Gut I think as he is ready to fight. Soon Cog starts to laugh because his bullets will make the two reds go after each other's throats. The two start to bicker at each other when they find out where Cog is as the two race to get there.

Jayden gets to the fight first as Scott starts to complain how this is his fight. Cog is happy to see his plan is working as the two reds fight each other. Soon they both get fatal blows on each other as Cog thinks he has won, but nope Scott and Jayden were already free from the poison from the bullets. Jii found the symbol power to do so as the two just came here to trick Cog. So wait you were already free from the poison and yet you still pretended to fight each other. You didnt even attack Cog in anyway so what was the point! Sorry there that is a pretty bad flaw there I must say, but oh well the two start to fight the troops in a car as they take the grunts out and knock the monster down. Cog gets in the fight though as Jayden gives him the Shark disc? I thought that was a dino not a shark. I'm sorry again, and Scott gets a power up from the disc as Jayden enters Super Mode..... nope I think you know what I'm going to say. The rest of team return somehow and they finish off cog and the monster. There is another fight though as they face a whole army of monsters. The team go on horses while Scott and Antonio take the car. Jayden goes straight to Gut, but he has some issues fighting him, until he uses the Shark disc to enter Shark mode. Soon Jayden and the other four take down the monster as they fight in the zords, but they have some issues because he uses a sneak attack on them. Scott and Antonio cant join because the car is broken.......... well the team use the Shark zord and oh yea the Mega Mode gets a new look with the Shark Mode and it looks a little better I must say. The team finish off Gut with Shark Samurai Megazord as they say goodbye to Scott as he goes back on the train to his dimension.

Well there are some flaws with this episode, but overall its a pretty good episode. The interaction between Scott and the Samurai team is pretty good as they feel sad for him. Scott didnt seem he was acting like himself, but I blame how they used the Shinkenger vs Go-onger footage. If this was just a person impersonating Scott its pretty good as it sounds like Scott at least. I did like how they actually thought of a reasonable reason why he couldnt de-morph it was actually sort of smart because he was outside at times, but hey give them some credit for trying. The dubbing was on and off as they are some good lines I liked. For example when Jayden was counting down the number of monsters he took down, with him going "Wait wasn't there four!" The acting seemed to be a little better than usual. No Bulk or Spike, but oh well they never do anything. I did hear there were some money issues and thats why they couldnt show Antonio as the character was voiced by someone else which also shows who voices Scott, but it could be a fake name. Just using the footage from two of the Shinkenger movies probably took a big chunk of the money so Saban had to cut some corners. The Shark zord isnt a shark first of all, it's a dinosaur! There is also the fact that we see Akomaru, Daigoyo, and the Super Mode, but the series never shown them so what the hell is up with that. Then there are some dumb moments where you will comment on, but in the end its a pretty good team up with one member of the team which is also disapointing. I will give it a C though because they did do something different for once even if they used episode 29 of Shinkenger somewhat and the two movies and combined them and it isnt a big mess thank goodness for that.

At least new fans of the show will know of RPM now. Also I will probably be watching that series again so get ready for a review in the next couple of months.