Power Rangers S.P.D. Volume 2 - Stakeout

Rating NR Formats DVD Genre television series Starring Brandon Jay McLaren, Chris Violette, Matt Austin, Monica May, Alycia Purrott Directed by Greg Aronowitz Publisher Buena Vista Home External Links Buena Vista

Power Rangers S.P.D. steams forward in this second volume of the latest incarnation of the series. The show started off rather slow at points, as stated in the first review. A lot of the similar mistakes were expected in this second installment and even though there are bugs to be worked out, this set of episodes had a lot of surprising improvements.

Picking up from the first major plot twist, the A Squad Power Rangers (on steroids) are officially declared 'Missing In Action' and the fate of Earth falls slowly on the young but fully qualified S.P.D. Academy B Squad. From here on, they will be responsible for fending off Emperor Grumm and the Trubian Empire.

As all good kid shows do, there remains a large amount of emphasis on the benefits of teamwork and individual strengths by giving each character their moments in the sun. Unlike older Power Rangers series, it's not always about the head Ranger making the final blows anymore. Each Ranger here gets a chance to shine and prove that they are completely capable of handling their own.

Major points are given for the vast improvement of story ideas and plot lines in comparison with the first volume. Someone must have started paying the writers a little better because it really shows. The two-parter episode "Sam" is very touching and brings up the age-old problem of people being treated badly because they are different. There are also hints of serious backstory during this episode that deal with why the B Squad Rangers have special powers. Unfortunately, there is still a bit of suffering when it comes to dealing with the story elements in such a limited space of time.

Total lack of surprise proves to be a serious fallback here. Plot twists and hidden secrets are revealed either too quickly or too bluntly, and that weakens the overall story. It's a great set of story elements that suffer from a poor execution. Even if it's a kid's show, it shouldn't be difficult for children to get the concept without spoiling everything so quickly. It's like they're trying to simplify the show for a specific age group, but it seems more like a "dumbing down." Paraphrasing a part of the review for "Joining Forces", they're not giving children enough credit to put 2 and 2 together.

On the DVD side of things, there is a continuation of the "Power Rangers Want You" recruitment series. The first installment was a brief walkthrough with Bridge, the Green Ranger. The second featurette is hosted with Sydney, the Pink Ranger. Each Ranger will probably go through small portions of the various "ins and outs" of the S.P.D. Academy. During the other in-betweens are breakdowns of the various Ranger equipment produced by Dr. Katherine Manx (Meow!). Sadly, even these featurettes suffer from P.R.S.F.S. - Power Ranger Stock Footage Syndrome. Parts of the speeches from Cruger and Manx are the exact same in both segments. Perhaps if the editors weren't concerned with filling the episodes with vast amounts of stock footage to eat up time, they could make a few more improvements, such as doing something about the unimaginative ADR dialogue. On the positive end, the Delta Runner simulation game improved. Since it went one level up, the reaction times are actually a little quicker than on the first DVD and the questions require a little more thought.

So long as things continue to improve with age, Power Rangers S.P.D. may actually turn out to be a decent series. From Vol. 1 to Vol. 2 there were some major changes in the style and tone of the series and it was for the better. If these improvements continue, it would definitely add up to a successful first season.