Carranger's Fresh Start VS. Power Rangers Turbo's Narrative Clutter (Some Spoilers)

 

Some time ago, I wrote about why I prefer Choriki Sentai Ohranger over Power Rangers Zeo. As this year is Gekisou Sentai Carranger's 30th anniversary (and sadly, Yuka Motohashi has joined Thuy Trang so soon after she lost her battle to cancer) -- I wanted to write this one. Sure, I wrote about how Power Rangers is better than Super Sentai for the American audience. Now, I thought about revisiting Carranger and Turbo on one aspect: the LATTER'S NARRATIVE CLUTTER.

One of the many reasons why I don't like Power Rangers is the NARRATIVE CLUTTER. Some people may remember how Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers actually had three seasons; Zeo was just a continuation of Mighty Morphin' Season 3 (and it made the teenagers look like they would never graduate until Turbo). Then of course, there's the really atrocious Power Rangers Turbo movie, which would connect into the TV series. I remember watching that film back in 1998 before I learned about Carranger's existence. The Turbo film had Amy Jo Johnson and Austin St. John (who got into a similar offense like Junya Ikeda) resume their roles. It was also hinted that Jason and Kimberly are a couple now.

Now, we think of how Carranger started with its plot

Every Super Sentai seems to get mandated to get a breath of fresh air. It's probably because Kamen Rider BLACK RX's hero recycling just didn't work. Sure, Toei had a few "direct sequels," but every direct sequel usually featured a new hero. For example, Tokkyu Shirei Solbrain was a direct sequel to Tokkei Winspector but we had a new cast despite having Chief Shunsuke still calling the shots. B-Fighter Kabuto was a direct sequel to B-Fighter but used a new cast, unlike BeetleborgsMetallix. However, it seems Super Sentai's mandate is usually to start almost every series (except for a few) self-contained from each other. For example, Ohranger was in 1995, but the show's setting is in 1999, and the finale has the plot where Baranoia took over the Earth for six months.

Carranger's cast is 100% fresh. The story starts with a new cast of characters. Sure, it's not a masterpiece, but the fresh start AND definite end is what makes Carranger more easily replayable to me than Turbo. I don't need to watch Ohranger to understand Carranger -- even if hypothetically they take place in the same Universe. However, the way Carranger vs. Ohranger unfolded showed that the VS. Movies are meant to be NON-CANON. The contradictions aren't a bug but a feature that keeps them as purely WHAT IF scenarios. Several of the plots in the Super Sentai VS. Films just couldn't be sustained in canon, and some of the crossover-only villains are merely explorations of, like, "What if Baranoia had a surviving MOTW?" It's meant to explore a fun possibility without ruining the actual canon. 

The cast of characters isn't all like, "Huh?" Instead, they were never people who survived Baranoia's attack. Kyousuke, Naoki, Minoru, Natsumi, and Yoko enter the scene OBLIVIOUS of Ohranger's events. The reason is that the heroes aren't like, "Remember Baranoia?" or a group of civilians with PTSD. Instead, the whole show 

It should be interesting how the show actually ended. On its own, the finale can be viewed as rather rushed as Carranger only had 48 episodes. It's like the show had to cancel soon at 48 because the ratings barely rose up! I find it funny because Kosoku Sentai Turboranger still reached 51 episodes! The series had a definite ending. The show had the heroes exit stage right as intended.

However, it wasn't the same with Turbo

As mentioned earlier, we had that REALLY DULL MOVIE that got connected into the series. The narrative clutter exists because there wasn't really a reason to change to the Turbo powers. If I must admit, as much as BLACK RX had that clutter (but the series managed to actually minimize it), there was a GOOD REASON behind the upgrade. BLACK RX IMHO was an experimental entry for the Kamen Rider series and it was meant to close the Showa Era for good. Now, the Comics Book Resources even talks about 10 questions Power Rangers left unanswered, which can become loads of clutter. Here's something about Turbo and I agree with it:

The first few seasons of Power Rangers, which followed the same team with members individually switching out as the series progressed, there was always a natural explanation as to why the Rangers were given new powers. The Rangers losing their powers at the end of Mighty Morphin' in order for the series to switch to Power Rangers Zeo was very well handled, but the next power upgrade left a lot of questions unanswered.

In Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, the Rangers are given the Turbo powers from Zordon for no reason at all. The team never lost their Zeo powers, so many fans wondered why they switched to the new suits at all. From a production standpoint, it was done so that the series could move on to the next Super Sentai adaptation, but from a narrative perspective, there was no explanation given for why the Rangers stopped using the Zeo powers.

That was just one point. The big problem was that Turbo had the clutter. Well, even Zeo had so much narrative clutter from Mighty Morphin' Season 1-Season 3! For a bit of a review, we need to think about how the Super Sentai counterparts, flawed as they may be, actually had an edge by FINISHING THE SHOW:

• Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger ended with a resolution. We got to see Bandora's forces resealed again in a jar and as much as I found it among the questions Super Sentai may never answer, is what happened to Bandora and her gang? However, because most Super Sentai are self-contained, there's really no reason to think too much about some of Zyuranger's craziest plots at the ending like giving a child the dinosaurs that just hatched. Yeah, Zyuranger is a show that I felt like I'd probably never appreciate if I didn't like Power Rangers!
• Gosei Sentai Dairanger probably has the strangest ending of all. I felt Shadam's status as a mud puppet was never given an official explanation. I feel it's best left unanswered for fans to decide. Dairanger had an ending that even had a 50-year-later plot where the grandchildren of the original team fought the new Gorma 50 years later.
• Ninja Sentai Kakuranger's plot makes it impossible for Daimaou and Prince Junior to be part of Bandora's family tree, unlike in Mighty Morphin with Rita Repulsa being Master Vile's daughter and Rito Revolto's sister. Kakuranger ended with the rangers finally sealing Daimaou. They even had a bizarre reunion film 30 years later.
• Ohranger was also a show that had its own fresh start and final end. The show didn't have Zeo's clutter. Zeo was infamous for cramming in the old group where Lord Zedd's band of Evil Space Aliens became narrative clutter. I even felt the plot where Goldar and Rito Revolto became amnesiac to be a real problem. Ohranger may be a flawed series, but it had a definite start and end. 

The clutter from Mighty Morphin' Season 1 up to Zeo carried over to Turbo is something. The show still had four out of five of the Zeo cast. Justin Stewart was an interesting concept that went nowhere. I even felt like Justin was a mishandled concept after watching Dairanger. Kou was given character development vs. Justin. The clutter meant like one could get lost on, "So really, how did this happen?" unless one watched every single predecessor in order. 

The midseason had a cast change -- except for Justin. Kat, Tommy, Tanya, and Adam were replaced by Cassie, TJ, Ashley, and Carlos. It was stepping away from the familiarity zone, BUT the clutter was still there. In fact, the finale revealed that there was still HUGE CLUTTER to carry over to Power Rangers in Space. Turbo's finale was actually a precursor to Space. Justin was left behind and the others had to don the Space powers to fight the rather cluttered United Alliance of Evil.

That clutter makes me think Carranger gets the better replay value than Turbo.