Back in the mid to late 2010's Power Rangers had this strange habit of making the second season of any of there shows have the word Super in the title regardless of if it made sense or not. While that trend did sadly continue with the season upon which the episode that i'm going to be reviewing today comes from it is also one of the only times where adding the word Super to the title actually made sense and so then join me as I review the episode that gives us more backstory for Koda with the episode in question being called simply just "When Evil Stirs" enjoy.
The plot of this episode whilst there enjoying there time away from each other all of the rangers are suddenly attacked and frozen in blocks of ice and so it's up Tyler and Koda to get all of there friends back and stop this returning ice cold menace once and for all. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad as it was the kind of plot that you'd expect the debut episode of a second season of a kids show to have in that it serves it's purpose of not only setting up the main bad guy for this new season butt also in reintroducing all of the hero characters in a way that makes sense as well but at the same time tho given that the plot of Dino Charge were all mostly really good with there being very few misses it's very easy to notice the sharp decline in quality in this episodes plot as it's clear as day that the writers for this episode just didn't have any ideas on what to do for a plot and so they just went with the most basic and formulaic plot that they could come up with only without adding any all that new to it with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Brennan Mejia as Tyler Navarro , James Davies as Chase Randall and Yoshi Sudarso as Koda. Also starring in this episode is Michael Taber as Riley Griffin , Camille Hyde as Shelby Watkins , Davi Santos as Sir Ivan of Zandar , Jarred Blakiston as Prince Phillip III , Claire Blackwelder as Kendall Morgan , Ryan Carter as Heckyl , Richard Simpson as The Voice Of Keeper , Paul Harrop as The Voice Of Fury , Estevez Gillespie as The Voice Of Wrench and The Voice Of Curio , Jackie Clarke as The Voice Of Poisandra , Campbell Cooley as The Voice Of Mecha Voice and The Voice Of Snide , Gerald Urquhart as The Voice Of Iceage , Emmett Skilton as The Voice Of Professor Strickler , Ross Girven as The Voice Of Badussa , Charlie McDermott as The Voice Of Cloaked Alien , Geoff Snell as The Postman and James Gaylyn as Mr. Watkins.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. As even tho Power Rangers really isn't known for having that great acting in it when the actors in any episode of any season really get it right then they really do get it right as is the case with this episode as all of this episodes actors have had the entire previous season to really work out how best to perform there respective characters and that is something that is applied not only to this episode but to the rest of this season as well and while yes there is still some very dodgy performances in not only this season but also this episode the overall quality of the acting in this episode was really high as you can quite clearly tell then all of this episodes actors are a bunch of talented actors in their own right and that really is something that really did shine through in not only this episode but in both Dino Charge and in Dino Super Charge as a whole as well with the acting that's in this episode not really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so bad as it really doesn't give any of this episodes anything to work interms of what it is that there respective characters personalities are even meant o be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
Doing the CGI for this episode is the legends and the really greats that are currently over at PRPVFX Limited. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I inn all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad for the most part as even tho this show is made really cheaply you can still tell what was done in a computer and what was done for real with alot of the effects in this episode just looking very cheaply done with the above picture being a good example of that as it's clear as day that the effects just told the makers of this episode that they'll fix it in post and heck there's no shadow even being cast from the box either and while alot of the CGI in Power Rangers has always looked cheap and bad here it is something that did stand out a mile as it does take you out of the episode with it's CGI not even being laughably bad and yet while this episode does indeed have some really good CGI in it those most likely came from the shows source material Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger and were most likely not created for this show with the effects that were created for this show looking just OK at best and being down right bad at it's worst and while it is expected that Power Rangers has bad effects given the fact that's a very cheap to make show that doesn't mean that the show has to have bad effects as all you'd need is talented VFX artists and a half decent effects budget to make the effects in this episode be alot better then what they actually are.
One of the things that this episode actually gets right is the fact that it gives more backstory for Koda as we got very little of his backstory in Power Rangers Dino Charge. As here it's revealed that not only does he have a deep fear of ice but the fact it was Kendall and Chase that rescued him from the ice that he was froze in thousands of years ago and that his fear of ice comes from the fear of being trapped again this was a really good as it not only gives Koda who it could be argued was the least developed of the characters in the first season some much needed character development but it also gives him a fear that plays into the plot of this episode in a natural and organic way instead of being something that comes out of nowhere as it would understand for someone to have a fear of something that they've been trapped in for a long period of time and while the episode really does nothing with this information and nothing new is revealed about who Koda is as a person the fact that he was given this backstory does show that the creators of this show and the writers of this episode really did understand that in order to make a good show you need to have characters that you actually care about and they chose not to dumb down the show for there kid audience something that they very easily could have done and yet it still would have been nice if earlier on in the episode we got to see Koda acted scared when Iceage was first attacking him instead of having him act like his normal self as that only means that his fear of ice was only added to the plot just for the sake of having another ranger there to tell Tyler what's happend to the rest of the team and that's really it.
Something that really doesn't make sense not only in this episode but in the rest of this season is the location of the Magna Beam. As during the first it was very firmly located underneath the ship we know thins because of the fact that we saw it in most episodes and yet here for no reason whatsoever it's now located at the top of the ship this normally wouldn't be a huge issue as you could write it off as it being apart of the pretty bad writing that Power Rangers is none for but at the same time tho these two seasons of the show went to great lengths to actually explain alot of things away in a way that made sense and so it's odd to seem them suddenly go back to that old Power Rangers style of writing and not really explain something that we're going to be seeing in every episode and what's worse is that they literally could have one of the monsters explain it away with a throwaway line by saying just by saying that they've done some work to the ship and as such the Magna Beam is now located at the top of the ship and that's it and best part is it wouldn't take that long to record or film as both could have been done in less then a day but as the makers of this show chose not go that rout we are now stuck with something that whilst it does indeed include a pretty cool visual when the monsters do grown to giant size it is also something that can be kind of seen as being a continuity issue as that's not where it was located in the previous season of this show.
This episode does also see the fan favorite villain Heckyl take center stage as the main villain for this season. While the villain was introduced in the second to last episode of Dino Charge it's this episode that sees him become the main villain and that right there is some very good storytelling as they've already established that he exists as a character in this world by having him already fail to defeat the Rangers and yet they still make him look like one of the strongest and certainly one of the more smartest villains that Power Rangers has ever produced as Heckyl's best gift isn't his muscles it's his brain something that we see in not only this episode but also in future episodes as well as he actually outsmarts the Rangers in there civilian forms on several occasions even getting to see the inside of there base with this character coming across as a villain that is always thinking two or perhaps even three steps ahead of everyone else and while the show does slightly slip up on this character in some episodes there's no denying the fact that his debut/return in this episode is not only really awsome and cool to watch but it's also one that sets him as a character that knows what he wants and will do anything to get it and that is something that this show has needed for a long time and because of that it's not that hard to see why the fans of this show liked this character as he was just such a cool and charismatic villain who you were actually glad to see pop up on screen.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty three minuets and thirty four seconds. Which is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show to have with the episode really having more then enough there interms of plot to really cover that amount of running time but at the same time tho some of this episode did feel like filler like the scene with Tyler at the beginning just going over the key events of Dino Charge really wasn't needed it's understandable why they did put it there because it was to catch us the audience on the plot so far but at the same time tho every single episode after this one has a shorter version of it and so there really was no need to have a recap in this episode as all it does is take valuable screen time away from developing the episodes plot and in catching us up on what the rest of the Rangers have been up to as everyone apart from Tyler Shelby don't get alot of screen time to show us what they've been up to since the events of Din Charge and whilst that might not be necessary in the grand scheme of things it does also serve as a way to reintroduce all of the key characters in ways that feel natural and organic as well with the only part of the Tyler scene that should be kept is the part where he mentions that he's still looking for his dad not because of the fact that add's anything to the plot of this episode because it does't but because it adds to the plot of an episode that aired not that long after this one did but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us n this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. As the episode does gave some really cool looking fight scenes in it both from the American side of things and the Japanese side of things as well but at the same time tho none of the other Rangers get a chance to show of what they can do in a fight in this episode heck some of them barely get a line of dialog in this episode which does make there inclusion feel like that they had to do it because of the Sentai footage and not because of the plot but with that being said it is still really cool seeing seven of the ten Dino Charge Rangers not only fighting together but also morphing together for pretty much the first time and while Kendall doesn't have that good fighting skills she still does more then hold her own when she's morphed with there also being alot of really cool moments during this episodes action with it really being helped by the fact that this is the start of a new season and so of course the action in this episode isn't going to be as good as this episodes action really was just used as a way to reintroduce us the audience to the Rangers and that's really it and in that respect it did it's job really well but it's also something that really could have been done alot more better then what it actually was done in this episode in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this was a decent start but at the same time given just awsome Dino Charge really was then that means that this episode was always going to fail as the previous season was just that good both fro an action standpoint and a character standpoint but at the same time tho this episode really did do it's job of reintroducing us the audience to it's a characters in a fun and quite frankly entertaining episode in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as being all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 5.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well the boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally used in this very review from the official Power Rangers fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great the official Power Rangers fandom wiki page really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them being better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on the official Power Rangers fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.