Power Rangers (Super) Samurai, Episode (2) 25 – Shell Game

Emily, Mike and Kevin are home training while Jayden and Mia go out grocery shopping. While Jayden insults Mia under his breath, Antonio tries to enjoy a day off and goes fishing, but drops his Samuraizer in the process.

And who finds the Samuraizer but Bulk and Spike. The gap sensor goes off and Mentor/Ji/Him sends the three training off while he calls the other three. He calls Antonio’s Samuraizer, but Bulk answers it and tells Spike they can meet the owner of the phone at the location given by whoever was on the other end of the line.

Jayden and Mia meet Armordevel/Armordillo (-ah with a twang?)/Mr. Shell. The others arrive, but Mr. Shell’s armor protects him from anything the Rangers throw at him. Bulk & Spike distract them when they arrive and Mr. Shell manages to roll away.

They head back home and try to figure out a way to defeat Mr. Shell. Kevin somehow knows exactly what to do; the right Ranger with the right attack in the right order.

Mentor/Ji/Yeah tries calling Antonio’s Samuraizer again, but Bulk & Spike bumble around with it. After freshening up with Sanzu, the Nighlok heads back above ground and the Rangers head out. Antonio continues to be oblivious to everything around him as the city is burning and people run for their lives.

Meeting Mr. Shell, the Rangers enact their three phase plan: soften his shell with Mike and Emily’s powers, raise its temperature with Jayden and Mia’s powers and cool it with Kevin’s water to make it brittle. It cracks and the Rangers attack. But it isn’t enough.

Jayden gives Kevin the Black Box and he asks Emily to help him. While the others distract Mr. Shell, Emily makes a hole for Kevin to jump into and pop back up the other way to sneak up and finish Mr. Shell’s first life for good.

Now it’s Mega Mode time.

“Man, I make this suit look good.”

The Rangers fight Mr. Shell and use their three phase plan again. But it isn’t enough. They say they don’t need Antonio so they use the Super Samurai Union Disc to finally finish Mr. Shell off.

Back at the pier, Bulk & Spike are tired of looking for the phone owner so they drop the Samuraizer on the ground, which Emily and Mike find as they come looking for Antonio who they welcome back into the world of the aware.

On the Sanzu, Xandred can’t believe he’s surrounded by incompetence and soft-shell crabs. OOH-AH-OOH, Xandred insults Octoroo saying he’s too soft in the head and proceeds to drink his troubles away.

Episode Thoughts
How Much Better Was Sentai Than Power Rangers?
Corresponding Shinkenger Episode: Act 16 – The Power of the Kuroko

Finally an episode where comparison between Power Rangers and Sentai actually makes sense. This Samurai episode was an adaptation (keyword there) of Act 16 of Shinkenger, which takes place before a couple of episodes that Samurai has already translated (another keyword).

Power Rangers Samurai actually adapted the original Shinkenger episode and used the footage to craft their own story. Shinkenger Act 16 was all about Chiaki, Ryunosuke, and Kotoha learning about the important jobs the Kuroko have and how much they support them, not only in everyday life, but in battle as well.

That, of course, couldn’t be translated directly. And neither could the fact that Dayuu was still around in Shinkenger at this time, that Genta/Antonio would arrive the episode after this, and that they didn’t have their SUPER!!! coats yet.

So they actually put in quite a bit of effort in this episode. They completely changed the personality of the monster of the week. Marigomori in Shinkenger was actually shy and timid as opposed to Mr. Shell being a standard Nighlok.

They replaced all the scenes of Chiaki, Ryunosuke and Kotoha running around town (unsuccessfully) trying to help people like the Kuroko do with less funny scenes of Bulk and Spike. They then had to add fresh scenes of Kevin in the SUPER! coat, edit out any trace of Dayuu and splicetogether “Samurai Artillery” scenes (and a scene from earlier in the Shinkenger episode) into the Megazord battle with Mr. Shell (not as clean as they could have though).

So I give them an ‘A’ for effort for actually, FINALLY, adapting a Shinkenger episode instead of the usual Google Translate-sponsored scripts. Shinkenger’s episode was sort of a filler episode too, but it was a fun outing. Samurai’s episode was pretty average with bonus points only because of the fresh, original material.

If they continue adapting instead of translating, then Samurai has a shot at finishing its run with dignity yet.


Power Rangers is on DVD!
Want to own Power Rangers Samurai? The entire season available at
.

And you can finally own the first seven seasons of Power Rangers, from Mighty Morphin to Lost Galaxy by ordering now:

0 thoughts on “Power Rangers (Super) Samurai, Episode (2) 25 – Shell Game

  1. hey Alex Heartman that was awesome. I really want to meet you one day.because everyone talks about you very much.everyone, my class friends all wants to meet you please come someday in Guyana

Share your thoughts!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top