Space Outlaws Deathgalien: My First Impression On These Intergalactic Bounty Hunters!

After watching the first few episodes of Zyuohger and fortunately, it doesn't give me that, "Oh my! I'm so not gonna like this! That's it! I quit on this series!" impression which I had with Kyoryuger (and even the first quarter can be painful for me), ToQGer (just boring, plain boring) and Ninninger (after which, I can't really like it after watching it from start to finish)... now it's time to talk about my first impression on the Deathgalien. In case you didn't notice- you can see that the name is a combination and play on the words "death", "game" and "alien". So what's my thoughts on these guys for the first few episodes?

My first impressions on the Space Outlaws Deathgalien were the similarities to Space Mafia Makuu of Gavan and Space Crime Syndicate Madou of Sharivan which are both space criminal organizations or more recently, Power Rangers Dino Charge's Sledge's Crew - all part of Toei's inventory of characters. I can't deny how both villain crews seem to be inspired by classic alien bounty hunter aliens in other media that preceded before them. One may think of the R-rated Predator film series where Sledge freaking looks like he's the ruler of the Yaujta or space mafia plots in American comics such as Marvel. DC, Image or one may think of various sci-fi series. Though as of late, I feel like making some comparison between Sledge's Crew and Deathgalien as bounty hunters riding some space fortress. Both groups feel like the producers took a lot of ideas from Western sci-fi classics like Star Trek and Star Wars. Tokusatsu as a genre really has been taking a lot of ideas from every genre they could both past and present then give their own twist.

What's their big deal with these guys as a space syndicate? So we're back to the destroying planets and Earth happens to be X in place. Didn't we get those ideas from Changeman, Fiveman, Carranger and Gingaman? Changeman had the Great Star League Gozma trying to destroy Earth. Fiveman had Silver Imperial Army Zone targeting Earth as the 1000th planet. Reckless Gang Exhaus had the idiotic bikergang wanting to blow up Earth so a space express highway can be built. Gingaman has the Space Pirates Balban destroying planets by robbing them of their resources and turning them into jewels. In their case, they're playing the deadly "Blood Game" which some 99 unidentified planets were destroyed. We might soon get the names of some of these planets as Zyuohger goes on like how some victims of the villains appeared in previous shows like Changeman, Flashman and Fiveman. 

The idea of a "Blood Game" feels like that deadly (and scary) game from the Grongi Tribe in Kamen Rider Kuuga though it may also be yet another reference to the Yaujta in the Predator franchise. The Yaujta always had their hunting games disregarding lives though they refused to kill any weakened prey. Deathgalien may not be so honorable. But unlike Kuuga I feel like the series lacks some nightmare fuel. I always found it amazing how Kamen Rider for time time after its revival ended up having more serious story lines for some time (from Kuuga to Decade) while Super Sentai ended up taking a direction for lesser serious, closer to TV-YY-FV scripts starting with Gaoranger up to present with Gekiranger and Go-Busters as the exception. 

While I may not expect to see that the Deathgaliens will have the same level of scary as Makuu, Madou or Grongi but they may provide generous servings of ham. Only time will tell how these guys will be in Zyuohger's long run. Just a note... just make sure that Sledge and Ginis don't meet and team up or we're all doomed, okay?