One Real Good Scare: Grand B*tch Grandienne In GoGoV
It's the silver anniversary of GoGoV and I feel I haven't given the series enough appreciation. GoGoFive has one of the most evil villains to ever exist known as Grand Witch Grandienne. I purposely wrote her as Grand B*tch Grandienne because her actions are way too evil. I feel Super Sentai nightmare fuel today isn't as good. Grandienne wasn't always there but when she's there -- she's one of the most evil villains in the franchise. Grandienne's actions prove that she's one selfish, self-centered MOFO. Grandienne would even pit her own children against each other just to accomplish her goals.
GoGoV had more freedom to make Grandienne as evil as she could get. Earlier scenes of Grandienne showing up (and some of these scenes were spliced into Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue) reminded me of Meadow's apparition in Chikyu Sentai Fiveman. The difference was Fiveman ended up writing off Meadow as merely an illusion set by Galactic Beast Vulgyre. Meanwhile, GoGoV figured out how to deal with Grandienne. Grandienne was the mother of the Saima clan siblings namely Zylpheeza, Cobolda, Denus, and the youngest Salamandes. Lightspeed Rescue only had Olympius as Bansheera's child.
GoGoFive featured the Grand Cross Arc -- the episodes that slowly introduced Grandienne into the picture. Real Life Writes Plot? Cool! Grandienne's failure to complete her descent turned her into a cocoon-like form. That means Grandienne can't unleash her full power in bodily form. However, it's already shown that she was willing to turn her youngest son Drop into Salamandes just to spite the others. Salamandes would later discover his own mother Grandienne never cared about him either. I'm amazed that Toei allowed Saban to borrow Grandienne's incomplete form. Wasn't that too scary for the children? Not to mention, Bansheera absorbed Vypra INTO HERSELF to complete her body. Not any different than how Grandienne treated her own children. The incomplete form might remind one of the Penanggalan from Malaysian folklore or Manananggal from Filipino folklore. Grandienne's incomplete form is really Body Horror. Grandienne's incomplete body is scarier than her completed body!
The final episode goes as far as to have Grandienne ENVELOPE THE EARTH. It's like taking Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger's nightmarish finale Up to Eleven! Sure, Dai Satan was scary and I wonder why Fox Kids even approved of that footage in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. Grandienne is revealed to be the Negative Energy of the Universe personified. Grandienne is exponentially scarier than Don Armage was in Ucchu Sentai Kyuranger. Grandienne drowns the world into darkness. The GoGoFive team is left in a pickle. The only way Grandienne can be defeated is with the last-minute Megazord called the Max Victory Robo Black Version -- a robot that was pretty life-threatening for the Tatsumi siblings! It's only fair enough that Lightspeed Rescue renamed it Lifeforce Megazord for American audiences.
However, Super Sentai would start to decrease Nightmare Fuel. Villains like Grandienne may no longer be feasible for today!
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