Power Rangers Hyperforce Episode 2 Impressions

Power Rangers Hyperforce returned for its sophomore episode on Tuesday night, and the series continues to build some interesting characters and scenarios for the all-new Rangers.

The full episode will be available next Tuesday on Youtube, but here’s a quick rundown of what happened.

The Time Force cadets (now full Rangers) have hopped on a time ship manufactured in the year 3015. After some disputing of the controls, it takes them to an unknown era, which is revealed to be the 1990s. They also discover an android guide on the ship named Alpha 55, who helps them blend in with occupants of this era.

It just so happens that they landed here in the midst of the Halloween celebrations, but the Rangers don’t have any idea what that is. It seems in the 3016 they don’t celebrate Halloween, though Eddie does his best to describe it as a holiday where “people wear the skins of other creatures.”

That doesn’t set a great precedent, but the other Rangers seem to be adjusting to it okay, save for Chloe and Vesper. Chloe can’t get enough of this time’s mysterious “candy”, and keeps grabbing it whenever possible. In fact, throughout the campaign, she has pockets full of the stuff. As for Vesper, she’s a bit addicted herself, but Marv has to keep her from ordering folks on the street to give up theirs.

The new Rangers eventually face an all-new villain designed just for the spooky holiday, based on the Halloween staple candy corn. Enter Candycornica, giving some yet another reason to avoid the divisive treat. It prompts the Rangers to enter their first morphing sequence, and a full on fight ensues.

Okay, so now that you have the gist of the episode, hit the next slide to see what we loved about episode 2 of Hyperforce! You can also read our episode 1 impressions here.

The Great

The crew assembled in some fantastic Halloween costumes, but the award has to go to Paul Schrier, who was decked out in full Samurai armor. Peter Sudarso was also rocking a Samurai Champloo Mugen costume, though kudos also have to go to Meghan Camarena, who showed up in costume when she had a ridiculously high fever.

Not to be outdone though, episode 2 was a breakout for Andre Meadows’ Eddie. He shined all throughout the show, with great banter with his teammates as well as delightful little character quirks like his love of burritos and his hilarious description of Halloween, not to mention his impromptu use of pineapple smoothies to take down the villain.

The time period also allowed the Rangers to utilize their comedic chops, as the crew finds themselves in the 1990s. In fact, they are in 1990s Angel Grove to be exact and having the Youth Center and Ernie from Mighty Morphin introduced was pretty fantastic.

With it being Halloween, having a Halloween centered session made sense, but they really utilized the theme well to highlight the characters. Chloe and Vesper’s various interactions with it were hilarious, and the adventure benefited from these moments of humor. The same goes for the session’s villain, Candycornica, which as one fan pointed out on twitter, just screams Power Rangers.

One of the best moments of the whole night though was the first official morphing sequence, which showed the Hyperforce Rangers getting their own montage and everything. That energy carried over to the combat sequence itself, resulting in a hilarious impromptu fastball special that featured Jack throwing Chloe into the fray, but unfortunately missing completely.

The show also improved from a U.I. perspective, as the onscreen graphics feature detailed descriptions of what the Supers, Megas, and Ultras do. It’s a great reference point for new viewers and gives those words when used onscreen some necessary context.

Overall there was a lot to like but hit the next slide to see what still needs some improvement.

The Meh

While the ability descriptions were a great addition, the show seemed to stumble out of the gates this time around due to a number of factors.

One of those seems to be how it approaches recap. There were lots of starts and stops, with a bit of story and then sponsors and then switching back to the story and then announcements, it really felt disjointed, and took you out of the story right off the bat.

In the future this needs to be a bit more streamlined, something they are most assuredly already working on. That emphasis on structure will allow viewers to jump right back in, but there still needs to be some kind of summary on the screen to help facilitate that, at least in the first hour.

The only other thing that was a bit low was Chloe’s dice rolls. In addition to having a fever, she kept rolling 1s and 2s all night. It was a difficult night, but she’s a trooper and had fun anyway.

So…What Is Hyperforce?

Power Rangers Hyperforce is an interactive tabletop system that is played live on Twitch TV on Tuesday nights. It is a completely original system and features a talented cast of fans, internet personalities, and actors from the franchise.

The cast includes Peter Sudarso (Power Rangers Ninja Steel Blue Ranger), Andre of Black Nerd Comedy (Power Rangers super fan and Internet personality), Meghan Camarena (social media personality, Strawburry17), Paulie Schrier (Bulk from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers), and Cristina Vee (actress, social media personality).

Power Rangers Hyperforce is set in the year 3016 at Time Force Academy. A team of Time Force Ranger cadets must band together to defeat an ancient evil who is set on unraveling the very fabric of the universe. Under the leadership of their mentor, Jen Scott (Time Force’s Erin Cahill), and with the show’s Game Master, Malika Lim, the newly minted Rangers will cross both time and space to complete their mission while running into many familiar eras (and faces) along the way.

You can tune into Hyperforce on Tuesday nights, and make sure to follow @MattMuellerCB for full coverage of Hyperforce and all things Power Rangers.