Before Power Rangers Lost Galaxy -- There Was Choshinsei Flashman!

I usually don't feel like saying or even agreeing with statements like "Lost Galaxy is better than Gingaman." or even "Gingaman is better than Lost Galaxy." -- I just felt like wanting to write this ramble regarding Flashman and Lost Galaxy out after some time. I did remember getting fascinated by Lost Galaxy's actually daring direction (before I decided to drop Power Rangers off my leisure list due to circumstances behind it, especially with the Disney and Neo-Saban fiascos) as the series doesn't take place on Earth. Then I thought one series that took place in 1986 actually started to get my attention more namely Choshinsei Flashman. I still remembered my Old Shame fanfiction where I just kept writing stupid stuff while relying on some synopsis and summaries over the Internet (which many of them contain factual errors). Boy did I get a lot of stuff wrong about Flashman too!

Lost Galaxy on its own can be a fun series for some viewers. Talk about Power Rangers actually getting a bigger budget from Mr. Krabs for better special effects and casting. The technology of the late 90s (Lost Galaxy aired in 1999) and the late 80s are vastly different so again comparing Flashman with Lost Galaxy might be an unfair comparison in some way. I can watch Gingaman without even thinking much about Lost Galaxy. However, I can't stop thinking of Lost Galaxy while watching Flashman. Trakeena herself was a daring step for Power Rangers -- she's a villain that makes the lives of the heroes as miserable as possible! I can't even stop thinking of Trakeena whenever I see a Changeman episode with Ahames carrying out her cruel schemes. Lost Galaxy had potential but ended up getting stuck mostly in Terra Venture. Then another series had potential, it started in space, ended in space but was stuck on events on Earth instead of space. That series is Flashman!

So how does Flashman fit with the Ginga better than Gingaman IMHO? The series starts with five humans who grew up in a lost galaxy for 20 years straight. A galaxy where the Planet Flash and its four moons belong. They grew up in a lost galaxy without having any idea of what their birth planet was like. They were kidnapped as children and grew up without any faint idea about Earth. They got rescued by the people of the Planet Flash and raised to be warriors. One day, they realized that their planet was under attack and they decide to go to Earth to fight off Mess.

They arrived on Earth as strangers to the place of their origins. Time spent in the lost galaxy of Flashman started to alter them for better or for worse. They learned civilian superpowers at the cost of their biology. They would later discover that they only have less than a year before the Anti-Flash phenomenon would kick in and possibly kill them. Talk about their shattered dreams while they battle the Reconstructive Empire Mess. They struggle with the fact that they must leave the birth planet that they so wanted to return to! They just don't feel at home either considering they've grown up in a lost galaxy -- a galaxy that they don't belong to! Planet Flash may make one think of Planet Mirinoi if one saw Lost Galaxy first. 

Mag has been more utilized than Alpha Six

Mag starts off as a typical security droid but kicks in as the Flashmen's mentor in the second episode. He does seem to suffer from the same limitation as Peebo from Chodenshi Bioman -- both of them think like children. I think Mag is also an improved version of Peebo. He's calmer and he gets more involved in the episodes where the Flashmen are at their most critical. I like how he got used by Dr. Tokimura to figure out why the Flashmen lost their abilities or how he saved them from the Anti-Flash Phenomenon in the finale.

When a comedic scientist actually has more use

Professor Tokimura is somewhat of a kooky scientist. I'd probably even compare him to Professor Phenomenus due to his eccentric behavior. I'd probably laugh at him if he was making a time machine considering that it kept failing to get his answers. He's a guy who has lost his memory or can't even remember the gender of his oldest child. He first assumes it's a son then it's a daughter. It's hinted throughout the series that he could the father of either one of the Flashmen. He becomes their occasional ally along the way. He may be a kooky scientist but he really gets written into the plot one way or another.

Professor Phenomenus as a comic relief character (also in Power Rangers in Space) had a four-episode appearance in Lost Galaxy. IMHO, Professor Phenomeus' four-episode appearance was a serious waste of space. We don't have Tokimura just being obsessed with aliens and time travel -- all that is linked to wanting to find his missing child. It can be frustrating for some but I'd rather take that than him just getting obsessed with aliens (and becoming wasted), or later getting fired and ending up working in a local cafe. He does also end up doing something good for the finale such as creating the Gene Synthesizer that would allow Kaura to weaken Lar Deus. He also turns out to be Sarah's father. He doesn't just walk out and you can forget about him. Good thing that when he appears -- something really important happens than just him getting caught up in whatever eccentric plans he has.

I felt the villains were truly terrifying

The Reconstructive Empire Mess is what I'd call an upgrade from Changeman's Gozma Empire. Granted, I got more familiar with Lost Galaxy first so I don't find it easy not to compare Mess to Scorpius' troops. I could imagine Lar Deus as the 1980s version of Emperor Scorpius. Nope, Lar Deus doesn't have a daughter causing havoc to the Flashmen. Instead, he's got the evil scientist Dr. Lee Keflen who takes pride in genetic engineering. Many abominations are born from his wicked experiments. Among them are the main generals namely Ley Wanda, Ley Garul, and Ley Nefel with her cat allies Wolk and Kit. This abomination of a space empire has been responsible for causing untold suffering across the Universe. Experimentations on life have become the main key to the series. Should we mention that their footsoldiers known as the Zorors are insectoid-based soldiers too? The Stingwingers in Lost Galaxy (which are U.S. original footsoldiers) would also be insectoid but they had wings.

Lar Deus is actually THAT horrifyingly evil. One can comment Scorpius is just as destructive and that's true. Scorpius is also no easy foe and the Flashmen may still perish if they fight him unprepared. I think Lar Deus was actually better utilized than Scorpius in the area of plots. Scorpius did have some badass scenes against the Lost Galaxy Rangers but was unfortunately written off before the finale could've taken place. Lar Deus himself shows himself to be what I'd call better-written than Scorpius. Lar Deus survives a direct affront by Sir Kaura and Bo Gardan. He also manages to become the second to the last opponent as Dr. Lee Keflen finally succeeds in getting rid of him. I think he had his potential better written in than Javious I from Megaranger -- then again Javious I didn't make much of an impact like Lar Deus ever did! I also wanted to imagine it if Scorpius from Lost Galaxy had Dr. Hinelar as his right-hand man. It wouldn't sit too well with Scorpius if that happened!

Lee Keflen himself is no walk in the park and would totally mess with just ANYONE in his own twisted way. He's cunning and I'd say even more dreadful than Dr. Hinelar. Lost Galaxy did use Hinelar's rather wasted monster form as Furio. I wish the show made a Dr. Hinelar type of villain as Scorpius' second-in-command instead! Scorpius is just lucky somehow that he didn't hire Lee Keflen to be his second-in-command. I thought some areas of Lost Galaxy could've used the lesson against manipulating life such as the Galactabeasts and the Lost Galactabeasts arc. Just imagine if a mad scientist wanted to experiment on the Galactabeasts and was responsible for forcibly converting the Lost Galactabeasts into cyborgs before the show even began. It was also interesting for him to pathetically beg for his life and offer the Flashmen a chance to stay on Earth. His death was oh-so-satisfying to watch because of just how many lives he's ruined in the process. A Lee Keflen type of villain in Lost Galaxy may have mutated Scorpius into the second to the last boss for the finale.

Sir Kaura himself is also one bad enemy. His Alien Hunters were also partly responsible for why the Flashmen ended up in the lost galaxy in the first place. He arrives midseason as a bounty hunter with his Alien Hunters team and his sidekick known as Bo Galdan. He arrives as a ruthless foe who would be that crazy to kill. I really feel like saying, "Eat your heart out Biznella (Gingaman) and Deviot (Lost Galaxy)." because of this badass villain! Should I mention he took BLOW AFTER BLOW from Red Flash and didn't die after that said heavy combat? I did make the mistake of thinking that he died there but he managed to retreat after being so fatally injured. He even led a kamikaze attack against Mess only for it to fail. He did have a noble side like Villamax getting disgusted by Trakeena's unbridled cruelty (who got warped further after merging with Deviot) in the finale arc. 

Closing notes

Why I ended up not caring too much about Lost Galaxy after seeing more of Flashman is just a weird trip to me. Lost Galaxy did have some potential such as the space plot deviates much from Gingaman's nature theme -- hence that's why I even don't feel like comparing them too much. The only things in common with Flashman and Lost Galaxy are the spandex heroes who face off villains and the space theme. I would also admit Lost Galaxy has a budget and ambition to jump that far with the space plot after Power Rangers in Space ended. So why am I even no longer caring about Lost Galaxy after Flashman? Not that I'd discredit the show as a whole though!

One of the many reasons why I prefer Super Sentai to Power Rangers is the use of self-contained continuities. I really should've seen it coming when Gosei's plot of him just waking up when aliens land is WTF -- didn't MANY aliens land on Earth prior to Power Rangers Megafail? Super Sentai usually tries to operate independently and the crossovers are usually non-canon (as evidenced by events that contradict series proper). They take place as movies outside the series. True, Gokaiger did try to blend it in but Super Sentai usually has many events that just don't blend in with the previous series. I remembered how Bioman's Bio Robo or Changeman's Earth Force only awakened if the Earth was in greater peril -- yet neither event happened in 1975 during the Black Cross crisis! It's all because almost every show before is self-contained save Goranger to JAKQ and Denziman to Sun Vulcan. Flashman's self-contained continuity allowed more creative room during its time. Lost Galaxy was somehow pressured to try and link everything back to PR in Space.

Still, I can't dismiss how Lost Galaxy does have some really good original footage considering that Power Rangers relies on Super Sentai fight footage. The finale has a lot of original footage used. You can imagine how the stakes are high especially she sends a squadron of suicide bombers to her dirty work. She even goes as far as to kill her former mentor Villamax because she got so irritated by his words. Just that I felt Trakeena herself was handled rather poorly in how she was written off. She could've had a more badass battle considering she got upgraded. I still felt Ahames' death in Changeman was better written than how Trakeena was defeated. I thought Lee Keflen's dramatic moment before his death was better-written than how Red Galaxy Ranger did a near-kamikaze attack on Trakeena. I thought all the rangers should've destroyed her together instead. I felt that Trakeena's upgrade was just as unnecessarily inserted as Dr. Hinelar's temporal monster form in Megaranger IMHO. Like why was powered-up Trakeena powered-up only to get defeated like that with a Battlizer kamikaze? Judd Lynn (like Toshiki Inoue and Yasuko Kobayashi) isn't very known for writing good finales too.

I'd still admit that Flashman isn't perfect even if it's one of the greatest Super Sentai series ever conceived -- though new schoolers may end up not watching it due to generation gap differences! I thought more family drama could've been added with the other Flashmen discovering their families only for them to leave them. Like, I wanted the parents of the others to show up too and not just Dr. Tokimura to add more impact. I felt like an episode where Jin finds his parents only for them to die at the hands of Mess could've been done. Maybe, give Jin an older brother who'd REALLY DIE, unlike Ryoma's and Leo's older brothers who eventually returned to become the sixth member! I even felt like that maybe Bun himself should've been the scientific guy having a similar role as Kai in Lost Galaxy. I still keep in mind that no Super Sentai is perfect, there's still going to be errors but there are also lessons coming from those errors too!

On the other hand, Lost Galaxy reminds me of the way back then when I was still able to enjoy Power Rangers to a certain extent. Then again even the 90s had some stuff that helps justify why I dislike Power Rangers. Many decisions regarding Power Rangers haven't sat well with me. These decisions such as Mighty Morphin' getting overextended, Zeo up to PR in Space being merely continuations of Mighty Morphin' (in contrast to the Super Sentai counterparts), the 40 episode format just doesn't work well (where I think Lightspeed Rescue and Time Force deserved 10 more episodes to get more development space for their otherwise good cast), Disney's rushed seasons, and currently, Nickelodeon's two-season split contributed to my walkout and personal biases getting worse. I guess it's just like my relationship with Disney, DC, Marvel, and Nickelodeon now (and maybe Capcom too) -- I used to follow them a lot in the 1990s but stupid decisions caused me to say, "Screw it! I'm out!" while remembering some stuff I did enjoy from them but it was long, long ago.