How I View Timeranger's Very Unusual Plot and Execution

So I confess I watched Timeranger before in bits and pieces and later, watched them on Youtube. So I did only get SPANISH subs but fortunately some words in Tagalog are similar to Spanish, even if I don't speak Spanish (heck I'm even a stranger to my ethnic language of Mandarin). For a similar entry, you may read here.

For one, Timeranger was mostly written by Yasuko Kobayashi for 40 episodes though she also had help with Toshiki Inoue who wrote two episodes and Ryota Yamaguchi who wrote 8 episodes. Yasuko Kobayash has her writing ostyle which while she tends to recycle plots from Soda and Inoue, she also adds her own unique flavor. Timeranger is one season for me that was very unusual but in a good way. Warning spoilers ahead!

I. Timerangers and Destiny

The beginning of Timeranger in itself is unusual. Normally, most rangers are FROM the present, not from the future. Zyuranger had its rangers from the dinosaur era... something unusual. In Timeranger, four rangers from the year 3000 meet a guy from the year 2000. While the rangers usually execute their "must save the city" cliche for Tokusatsu, but there's more than that with the Timerangers. The more the series goes on, the more it's about choosing one's DESTINY which Tatsuya is that type of character.

Yes Tatsuya's destiny. In this one, the Asami Group had the mentality of that the son must always be like the father, which explains why Wataru is very screwed up. Tatsuya fortunately learned to live on his meager allowance he earned himself. The whole battle of Tatsuya was with being who he has. His father always thought it was inescapable to follow the Asami path, he wanted to once but failed to do so. Not much was changed for Time Force.

Compared to Lucas in Time Force, his Timeranger counterpart Ayase has a MUCH BIGGER problem to deal with. Lucas faces life everyday with the threat he could die from the Osiris Syndrome, a disease that he must deal with one way or another. Sometimes I'm even thinking that Kobayashi may have secretly co-written most of her episodes in Timeranger because of these kinds of plot!

Yuuri saw her family brutally killed by an alien assassin hired by Dolnero because her parents were law enforcers. What Yuuri faces in Timeranger is why she became a cop and that man, she is one VENGEANCE-CRAZED chick. This one where she tries to get her revenge on Dolnero nearly cost her life. In fact, she even wanted to personally deal with Dolnero herself because... she was vengeance-crazed.

Naoto is one who battles with destiny. Unlike Tatsuya, he is born to a poor family and he seeks to change his fate, even joining the City Guardians. For some reason, I kind of view him like Gai Yuki in Jetman and in a way, X-1 Mask from Maskman (who only appeared in episode 39). He is some sort of anti-hero who leads the City Guardians. He is at odds with the Timerangers because of his attitude, but he is a jerk with a heart of gold. Later on, we realize that Ryuya set him up to die in the latter's place. To be honest, while his death was plot-driven but I found it to be one incredibly lame way to kill him but at least it wasn't all so random like Gai Yuki. But still, Gai Yuki and Naoto might not be happy with how they died.

Yet another battle with destiny is this. Since Yuuri is 1,000 years from the future, how can Tatsuya and Yuuri be together? Simple, they can't! I mean, Yuuri can sing Aqua's "Turn Back Time" all she wants but after that, she must return back to the future eventually. Tatsuya gains feelings for Yuuri and vice-versa. Okay Yuuri is originally cold with Tatsuya but she warms up. Then it becomes too late because after they defeat the now-insanely genocidal Gien, they must return. And I really admit it's a real tear-jerker.

A similar plot happens also to Domon. Domon falls for Honami in spite of the fact that he has an ancestor there (shown in the finale) and that they are 1,000 years apart. So I wonder where did they find space to procreate before he returned to the future in the finale?! Seriously, Kobayashi has a habit of putting weird shock value (like the existence of Mirai, Domon's child in the 21st Century) which was later seen in Gokaiger.

II. The Questionable Ryuya

To be honest, I'm not really having a hard time believing that Captain Ryuya IS Tatsuya's descendant. I mean, Tatsuya's dad is really annoying for most of his tenure. But what happened in between 2,000 and 3,000 that led to an Asami becoming a captain? Captain Ryuya can be debatable if he is really Timeranger's main villain. If he is a villain, he is a secondary villain or two, more of the anti-hero type which is again, for me, debatable.

So Ryuya at first said that manipulation of history is a crime but DID HE NOT just manipulate time in Timeranger? So he allowed Dolnero to escape, a crime that should dismiss him for neglect and endangering others but he reveals his purposes. With Dolnero dead in the past, things changed although Sion's planet remains destroyed. Yuuri's parents are alive, Domon's suspension was placed to one year instead of a permanent ban and Ayase gets a cure. But I still CANNOT get over the fact that he used Naoto Takizawa to die in his place. In the end, we only learn he only wanted to live... though I hate why he even wanted to mind-wipe the others against their will. In the end, he only changed the way he died.

III. Londarz Family

Gluto ahem Don Dolnero. None of his background is known except he is a whale-like alien who resides on Earth. The 30th century was space age after all which makes sense. Unlike the other big bads who want to conquer the world through destructive means, he is a mafia leader. Unlike Abrella who doesn't really care about anyone, he cares about his subordinates especially Gien who saved his life and later, he turned Gien into a cyborg to save his friend. He doesn't show signs he wants to take over the world, just wants to earn more money though he may cross that path considering how greedy he is while not condoning Gien's habits.

Another one is Gien. Gien battles with destiny and loses. At first, he was a human who saved Dolnero's life. Later he meets an accident and Dolnero turns him into a cyborg. However his insanity grows into epic proportions, which converts him into the final villain for the show. His actions in his insane state nearly costs millions of lives. Upon his destruction, his former self resurfaced for awhile before he dissolved into dust.

IV. Other Very Unique Concepts Rarely Used or Never Repeated

Timeranger's primary mecha does not only merge into a giant plane (shades of Jetman's Ikarus Haken) but also, it can become two robot modes. Now I guess this was done for toy sales per se. I wonder what producers Ken Fukoyoshi, Jun Hikasa and Koichi Yada had in their heads when these concepts were placed. Timeranger's mecha concept was not used again. V-Rex's type of mecha going from dinosaur to humanoid was later re-used in Gokaiger. Not to mention ALL mecha comes from the future.

While Timeranger's criminal of the week concept was later re-used in Dekaranger, but it DID NOT kill any of the monsters of the week. I guess it had to do with the rules that they weren't allowed to kill anybody in the future, in the past, which Ryuya violated. In Timeranger, the Londarz Prisoners were released one at a time (typical idiocy of Sentai villains or is there a reason for that) and had to be recaptured. The monsters here self-enlarged whenever the depression seal was hit. When they are defeated, they are merely recaptured and packed back for the future. Apparently, death penalty is no longer around in the year 31st Century... and freeze-compressing is a fate worse than death.

The V-Rex in Timeranger unlike Burai's Dragon Caesar (which had a cockpit), Time Fire only commanded it via voice and it had no cockpit. It is semi-self sentient but it does not have a cockpit. The concept of dinosaur going humanoid was used in Gokaiger, except Gai Ikari piloted it inside a cockpit.