Search This Blog

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Happy 4th of July Special Review: Beetleborgs Metallix

Last time I looked back to one of the Power Rangers clone Saban made. Big Bad Beetleborgs was a series I loved as a child, but going back to it kinda ruined it. There was a second season for it though and this used the suits and footage from B-fighter Kabuto which is a Toku series that has been bashed on. So the second season starts where the first season ended. The new villain Nukus has gotten rid of Vexor and the others and has destroyed the Beetleborgs' powers! Now Nukus searches for his own creator who is the brother of Arthur Fortunes, Lester Fortunes. Lester is in jail, but Nukus frees him and summons two more of his creations to fight by his side. The first thing these villains do is destroy the papers they came from so that they can never be sent back. With new stronger villains and with the heroes' powers gone they have to gain a new power. Art draws the new Beetleborgs and thanks to Flabber they become the new powers. Now the three kids fight as Beetleborgs Metallix as they fight Nukus and Les' creations. Basically it is very similar to the first season where there will be filler episodes full of comedy, but this season does a little more.
Pros- Last time my biggest issue with the first season was the lack of progression. Luckily this season gets that feeling of progression. First it's a little shorter than the first season and yet they actually put a couple of good arcs in. The beginning was very good because the new villains were already being much better than the last ones and the heroes still did things without their strongest powers. What I like about the villains in this series is that they are more serious and their scenes are quite good at times. Les is interesting and seeing him being ordered by his own creations is fun to watch. Also the comedy works somewhat better because there is some build up for some humor at times. There is no strange editing as much because they keep the weapons the same and use the stock footage more. The dub also gets an improvement thanks to new characters being added in like the Astralborgs which was a strong arc for this season. Going to that arc it was great to see the new warriors being summoned and helping the team fight a team of evil borgs. Using the stock footage more helps as well since the effects look better than the American footage and as I said the dubbing ranges with passable to good. The American scenes got an upgrade with some better direction and they added some good effects at times.
Cons- Even with some better humor the series still goes to the same bad humor from the first one, but it's not as much. There are still bad filler episodes and the main characters never get developed which still disappoints me. This season was shorter and near the end they were throwing way too much stuff at the audience. I mean they thrown so many new things that you know they did it for toy sales only. There was even the addition of the Mega Sector armor and wow they're ugly. The only one that was passable was Roland's which is because it kept some of the same color scheme and the added colors actually work with the suit. The other two use colors that don't match at all and all three of them are very bulky. One thing that just ruined this season was the ending. It felt rushed and didn't even feel like an ending which is because there was supposed to be a third season, but that never happened (I remember as a kid and saw a trailer for an episode coming up where the old Beetleborgs powers were restored and as a kid I freaked out, but it was lost in third season).
Overall- Metallix is a big improvement for the series, there were better fights, the villains were greater, and the humor actually worked more than the last season. There was also much more progression thanks to more arcs to make the series have a dynamic feel for once. Sadly the bad humor still exists, there still wasn't much development, and the season ended on a low note. It was more watchable though and I would even recommend it for those who want to look back into their childhood. I give it a C+ for having some improvements that were needed.
Quick Fact: The voice actor for Dragonborg is the same one who voices Valkenhayn in Blazblue.

No comments:

Post a Comment