Power Rangers Samurai/Fridge

Fridge Brilliance

• Scott/RPM Red says he can't demorph because he isn't sure if he can breath the atmosphere. Now Flashback to the first 5 minutes of RPM where Dillon is in a full gass mask and screens the area for Toxicicity before getting a clean bill and removing his helmet...
• The Sanzu river may be a concept alien to Western viewers, but as Xandred put it, there is the phrase "cry me a river".
• The new transformation for the Rangers includes an undersuit and mask materializing first which is covered by a mask. While many have written this off as 'ninja suits', Samurai armor often included a face mask to hold the helmet to the head, as well as having a neck covering for additional protection. While less fancy than most, some such masks do resemble the ones the Samurai Rangers have.
  • Which is also along the lines of the balaclava that race car drivers wear beneath their helmets (which have the added utility to protect against fire and smoke).
• All the Call Backs and Mythology Gags to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers seem a bit odd, given that it was something like 17 years ago now. But, what was the last Power Rangers on TV? The Recut of the original, with the uncut original playing online since September. So it's fairly fresh in the kids' minds, and brings with it certain other potential benefits.
• There may be no kuroko but the concept hasn't been completely ignored - notice how Kevin gets to ride in a big black SUV in "Fish out of Water". Adding to that is the fact that we never see the driver's face, similar to how the kuroko never showed their faces.
• Mia mentioning that "every girl wants to get married" becomes less cliched and more Medium Awareness if you were able to catch the two actress' names on the wedding list (see Freeze-Frame Bonus).
• The "long lost Tigerzord" line in "I've Got a Spell on Blue" takes on new meaning if you're familiar with the original Tigerzord, which got stiffed after the reversioning of MMPR never covered the second season.
• The kanji used by the Rangers are refered to as Symbols of Power and the rangers shout 'Symbol Power' when they use it. While this may seem like a case of downplaying their Japanese nature, the power channeled through them in Shinkenger was called mojikara, which roughly translated means 'Word Power'. Taken in that context, it makes a lot more sense.
• Why does it make a little more sense for Mike to have the Beetle Zord? Because as this article points out, beetles can hide in soil or bark, or under wood; in other words, the type of things you'd find in a forest.
  • Likewise for White Tigerzord. The first user of that type of Zord became a Red Ranger later on.
  • The Blue Ranger one is mostly obvious, however, his Dragon Folding Zord is not. His element is Water, but why a Dragon? Because the "dragon" of the "seas" happens to be a Leviathan. Notably, just like his zord, they've got a very long body. It also makes more sense when one remembers that dragons are commonly associated with water in Japanese folklore.
• One flashback from "Test Of A Leader" clearly shows the Red Ranger before Jayden using Shinkenger's Shodophone instead of a Samuraizer. This may seem jarring at first, but then remember how the first generation Shodophones (such as the one seen in the introduction) were made of wood. Given that, it wouldn't be that big a stretch to imagine that each generation of Samurai Rangers get morphers more advanced than the previous generation's. In this case, going from an actual brush to a laser pointer.
  • This is true even in the larger Power Rangers universe, the first morphers were big, bulky, belt-buckle things but later models are smaller, slimmer, and more advanced, incorporating multiple functions such as communications.
• Also from the same flashback from above, the Shiba House shown in the flashback is different from the one the Rangers live in. Again, there is a possible explanation for this: the house was shown to be under attack and on fire, so it's possible that it had to be rebuilt after Xandred was sealed away.
• New episodes of Power Rangers Samurai air on Sundays, the same day that Super Hero Time is aired in Japan!
  • Well, now Saturdays, which still qualifies, as Sunday morning in Japan is Saturday afternoon/evening in the US.
• Antonio made himself the Gold Ranger. Given his Large Ham personality and love for being the center of attention, this is the perfect color for him.
  • Also, his morph call is different from the other Rangers. This isn't uncommon in the series, but there's a good reason why here: he built his morpher by himself, and was never in contact with the other Rangers immediately prior to his introduction, so naturally he would think up his own morph call.
• As mentioned under Pac-Man Fever in the main article, the arcade game that Mike was playing in "The Team Unites" looks at least a decade out of date (being comparable to Tekken 2 and/or 3), while a character in the original Sentai plays Tekken 6. But, while arcades in Japan are still very much alive, the arcade in America died a rather unfortunate death during the Playstation era, around the time of Tekken 2 or Tekken 3. So if Mike is going to play an arcade game, it would more likely be an older game, as newer games likely got at most a limited release in the United States.
  • Speaking of which, the game looks like Tekken primarily because of the bear character - which Mike was battling. Gee, d'you think controlling the bear character would make the whole game feel like work?^[1]
• In the current Super Sentai season Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger which is a Milestone Celebration of the past seasons the rangers can us the red lion zord from Power Rangers Wild Force's Super Sentai original Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger and they can use to form they own version of the Megazord from Samurai's Super Sentai counterpart Samurai Sentai Shinkenger. This is ironic since the red ranger and user of the lion zord in Wild Force appears on the show as Deker.
• They may have thrown out the sushi angle from Antonio's Sentai counterpart, but the way he prepares his Barbecued Baby Barracuda brings to mind teppanyaki chefs instead, which are known for bartop flairs much more than sushi chefs are. Which would better suit the character, of course.
• Sticking with the plot of Shinkenger has resulted in an interesting case - not only are the current Samurai Rangers the 18th generation, but Power Rangers Samurai itself is also the 18th season!
  • You could say that extending PRS into a 19th season with Super Samurai acknowleges the Samurai Rangers as the unofficial 19th generation after the Shinkengers.
• Turning Sake into "Medicine" seems very typical of a "Mature-to-kid friendly" adaptation, but it could be slang for an alcoholic drink, as in "Xandred needs his 'Medicine'".
• Another case of censorship being used as an opportunity to do something cool: in the backgrounds of several scenes in Shinkenger there's a pattern that includes manji symbols, which resemble swastikas. These had to be removed in the adaptation of course, and what they were replaced with might seem to some to be a sloppy edit... but actually, it's the kanji for "five"! (Which doesn't quite work as well when the Sixth Ranger appears, but the thought was there.)
• The Megazord's head, under its helmet, has a strange black protrusion coming up from the back. Unexplained, maybe, but traditionally, samurai wore a topknot hair style.

Fridge Horror

• The reveal of the character Spike to be Skull's son raises uncomfortable questions as to when he was conceived (looks to be in his late teens) and why he wasn't even acknowledged by his dad during the time when he should have been alive. Could also be Getting Crap Past the Radar due to the strong implication of a teen pregnancy.
  • And that's why we have the wonderful concept of Dawson Casting.
  • Even more Fridge Horror: Spike's actor has confirmed that Spike is 15 years old. If Samurai does take place in 2011, that means he was born/conceived around 1996, aka Zeo. I can't remember if it was official or not, but the writer of "Forever Red" originally planned for Skull, Spike's father, to be married to Kimberly. And Kimberly sent a "Dear John" letter to Tommy in Zeo...
    • The timeline may not be accurate there. Around Dino Thunder, we start losing track of how many years are taking place between seasons. Remember the 'a few years later' in Day of the Dino? Assuming Samurai is in the same canon, Spike would have been born later than Zeo.
    • According to Spike's actor, Bulk is Spike's literal uncle which means Skull got together with Bulk's sister. (Unless the emoticon "}8^)" he used is one that is meant to convey sarcasm, or something similar)
      • This is arguably just as bad; that would mean Skull knocked up his best friend's sister. While he was in high school. And Skull clearly didn't make an honest woman out of her for several years. Why the hell are they still friends?
        • Or Bulk married Skull's sister.
          • ...Well, in hindsight, we should have thought of that from the beginning.
            • This explains why they remained friends, but does nothing to exonerate Skull. The issue remains that he knocked a girl up in the mid-'90s while he was in or just out of high school, and provided little to no parental care, support, or spousal assistance for several years.
              • Well not necessarily, we never heard of Bulk and/or Skull graduating and we stooped seeing them in school during season 3 and he went from junior police to an actual cop (maybe) to a detective to a string off odd jobs. Perhaps when Skull found out he was going to be a dad (and Bulk an uncle honorary or otherwise) he dropped out of school and started working to support the mother of his child.
        • There is also an indeterminate time between 'In Space' and 'Lost Galaxy'. The later was supposed to take place 'in the not to distant future'. Likely, a few years passed between the two seasons, given the existence of Terra Venture, which was more advanced than technology today and certainly could not have been built in the few months between the seasons. Add to that the indeterminate time between 'Wild Force' and 'Ninja Storm', and the few years that seem to pass before 'Dino Thunder' (enough needed for Tommy to get a doctorate in paleontology and begin research that leads to Dino Thunder), and you get enough time to explain Spike's age.
          • The time between In Space and Lost Galaxy couldn't have been more than a year. Remember, Time Force is definitely in 2001, and that season had to have happened after Lightspeed Rescue because of the crossover. Likewise, Lightspeed had to have happened after Lost Galaxy" to have crossed over with it. So, Lost Galaxy probably took place in 1999. I'm not sure about Ninja Storm and Dino Thunder.
            • Dino Thunder's last episode has a high school prom confirming the rangers to be the Class of 2004 (the year that season aired).
  • Here's an important question, how old were Bulk and Skull when they were in school? And most police academies have age limits of 21-45...
    • Some high schools have an upper age limit of 22. Given Bulk and Skull's relative intelligence, it's possible that they graduated at age 21 and joined the police academy.
    • You are forgetting the fact that Bulk and Skull where part of some Junior police academy, I always took that to mean they joined a program for teens who want to become police later proof at 8:00 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi GJ 4597 C 5 c&feature=related, you have just been lawyered.
      • It could have been an academy for high school students, which they still were.
      • Yeah, I'm going to go with the idea that the two were held back one or two years whilst in high school, and because they were still high school students in season 3, they had to attend the Junior Police Academy, before graduating from high school off-screen at the start of Zeo.
  • A calendar in "The Team Unites" states that Samurai takes place in 2012. That means that Spike was conceived during Turbo.
    • Wait, Turbo? The same season Skull spent mostly as a chimp and INVISIBLE!? That makes things worse!
  • There's the far less controversal idea, but somewhat complex, idea that somewhere along the lines Bulk and Skull's parents got married, making them litteral brothers. Yes, unlikely but possible and it'd make this entire thing a heck of a lot less disturbing. Still leaves the issue of when Spike was conceive, but it makes the facts far less wierd and that Kimberly could still be the mother and its still completely possible.
  • Why is Spike with Bulk? What happened to Skull and the mother?
    • Second Honeymoon? Spend some time with "Uncle" Bulk? Skull wants Spike to learn stuff from Bulk? Payback for leaving Skull behind when Bulk went on the Terra Venture?
  • Actually, I can easily see Spike's mother not telling Skull about him for some time. Would you want Skull around your young son?
• Negatron's ability to bring up painful truths is explained (at least in Shinkenger) by the three red eyes on his back granting him a form of sight beyond sight. Basically he's the embodiment of privacy invasion gone mad, albeit played in a Goldfish Poop Gang context, but Western viewers would certainly find this more unsettling than the original Japanese audience.
• We know that Serrator was the one who cursed Dayu and Deker and turned them both into Nighlok and has few powerful Nighlok himself. How do we know that Dayu and Deker were not the only ones to be turned from humans into Nighloks? And when Samurai Rangers destroyed tbose Nighloks, they may unwittingly became killers.

Fridge Logic

• When the Rangers pilot any of the auxillery Zords, they use that Zord's specific disc; yet when piloting the Megazord and its individual components, they use the basic Power Disc.

1. ↑ Cos Mike drives the Bear zord, geddit?