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Lost & Found in Translation

Revision as of 19:38, 18 March 2021 by Lord drayvon (Message Wall | contribs) (→‎Notes)
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Icon-abarangerThis article is about an episode in Power Rangers Dino Thunder.

Lost & Found in Translation is the ninteenth episode of Power Rangers: Dino Thunder. It is a tribute to Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger, as well as the Super Sentai franchise in general.

Synopsis

When Conner, Ethan, and Kira find a show about Power Rangers in Japan, Conner is appalled at its portrayal of them. Meanwhile, the Japanese Power Rangers must go up against a money hungry monster named Ka-Ching.

Plot

Late at night, at the Cyberspace, Conner and Kira arrive following the sound of the TV turned on, and find Ethan watching it. He explains that, thanks to the new satellite antenna bought by Hayley, they now have access to over 900 different channels from the entire world. Conner, not as enthusiastic as him, reminds Ethan they have a social studies assignment to do. As he starts to leave, Ethan, surfing through the channels, finds a Japanese show depicting the Power Rangers. While Kira is enthusiastic and Ethan, curious, Conner is skeptical about it because, as it is not an American program, they would portray the Rangers very inaccurately. Even so, he stays when Kira convinces him to keep watching so as to back up his claim.

The first scene shows the Japanese Rangers, in their civilian forms, cooking some curry, when Kenny, the Blue Ranger comes in and reads in a newspaper of baseball player Whacker Wilson's visit to Japan. He complains about American athletes being greedy, then offers to make curry for his teammates when Red Ranger  complains about Yellow Ranger's curry being too spicy.

At this point, Conner, outraged, turns off the TV, complaining that the Rangers on the TV look nothing like they do, even when Ethan reminds him that no one really knows who the Rangers are. Kira points out that different things don't necessarily amount to bad work, and Ethan, who states to have liked his counterpart despite the glaring difference, turns the TV back on.

At the villains' lair, they plot against the Power Rangers with a plan revolving around bad hair - specifically mushroom heads which, while old-fashioned, is stated to be evil. Though Conner is visibly annoyed by this, Kira finds herself amused.

In the next scene, Kenny's curry is ready - an odd dish with a pineapple in the middle. The other Rangers try to dodge it by giving it to a friend of their, Mr. O'Shaughnessey, to eat it, but he soon passes it on to Mikey, the Black Ranger, who eagerly and unsuspectingly eats it. He soon gets sick, as the emergency alarm flashes. Due to his sickness, Mikey is unavailable to fight, so the other three Rangers go on to fight, asking their friend to "clean up after him" when he is done.

In the next scene, the monster - an improbable combination of "mushroom, bear and ATM machine", as Conner points out - is wreaking havoc on the city. While Conner comments on the absurdity of the creature, Kira is quick to shoot him down by reminding him of the monsters they've been fighting themselves. The monster, called Ka-Ching, uses his mushrooms to grow mushroom head wigs on people and make them greedy. The Power Rangers soon show up to stop the monster, morphing into action, surprising Ethan and Kira as to the morph's accuracy. Conner meanwhile comments they will finally get some action. Ka-Ching has plans for the Rangers involving turning them into the Wig Rangers, complete with an imagine spot. Conner, outraged, thinks they are making fun of them and decides to leave. Even though the others try to convince him to stay, he goes, but Ethan knows he will return because he forgot his backpack.

On the TV, the Rangers are saved by a bystander, who uses a baseball bat to rebound one of Ka-Ching's mushrooms back at him, growing a mushroom head on him as the Triptoids laugh at him. After the monster leaves with the Triptoids, Kenny recognizes the bystander as Whacker Wilson, the baseball player. Whacker, who has an injury on his back that prevents him from playing, is searching for a famous chiropractor who lives in Japan, called Kenny Yukito, who happens to be the Blue Ranger. 

Sure enough, Conner comes back, and decides to get back to watching it, as Kenny is fixing Whacker's back. Red and Yellow Rangers are nearby, commenting whether Whacker plays only for the money or he likes the sport. After Kenny is done with his job, Whacker is so grateful that he tries to convince him to use his talents to become wealthy, but he turns him off, explaining that being Blue Ranger is what's most important to him. When Ka-Ching shows up and fools Whacker into getting autograph from baseball player and then infecting Wilson with a wig, Conner gets enraged with the writers making American sports heroes appear gullible and self centered, going so far as to block the TV from Ethan and Kira's view. Kira says he is overreacting because it's just a TV show, and he doesn't even know if the entire series is like this, and Ethan suggests he watches it to the end and only form a concrete opinion then. Begrudgingly, Conner accepts. 

Back to the show, Whacker Wilson tries to push a lot of money onto Kenny, who steadfastly refuses, until he notices there's a mushroom wig on Whacker, who reveals he won lots of money in a home-run derby by bribing the pitcher, and keeps trying to state the point that only money can make one happy, something which disgusts Kenny further as he throws Whacker's money away. And it appears that Whacker's not the only one being affected: the wigs are making everyone money hungry. Kenny tries to make Whacker come to his senses, but Ka-Ching punches him away and shoots enough coins to bury him. At this point, Conner's interest seems to get piqued, and it grows steadily when Kenny transforms into the Blue Ranger and breaks out of his predicament as the other Rangers join him. 

As the Power Rangers face off against Ka-Ching's money attack, Red Ranger makes an inappropriate joke about getting paid by the monster, something Conner actually finds funny. Mikey shows up to help, bringing giant piggy banks to catch the money with. However, Ka-Ching's attack proves to be too much for them and they are struck down. Just then, Whacker comes by again offering his money bags. Remembering how Whacker batted Ka-Ching's mushroom before, Kenny pitches his piggy bank to Whacker, in hopes that he really does love baseball more than money. Suddenly, Whacker whips out his bat and bats his piggy bank back, straight into Ka-Ching, who gets knocked unconscious. He soon wakes up and strikes the Rangers viciously, prompting them to use the Z-Rex Blaster to destroy Ka-Ching. Conner gets caught up in the excitement of the Power Rangers' victory, admitting that it was "cool" after all and thus changing his opinion about the Japanese Rangers, with Kira making the point that they are not much different from themselves - it's just a matter of perspective.

The next day, Conner gets to write his social studies paper: he has written about the proximity between Japanese and American cultures, having caught a rerun of the episode as he explains to Ethan and Kira that he did so from his standpoint as a spectator: starting out skeptical, but getting into it later ("without getting too specific", as Ethan adds). The adventures of the Power Rangers continue in Japan, as other youngsters at Cyberspace come to watch them.

Cast

Notes

  • The most likely reason that Abaranger episode 10 was never properly adapted into an episode of Dino Thunder aside from whatever one describes “Lost and Found in Translation” as was most likely because it was way too silly for Dino Thunder’s somewhat more serious tone.
    • Given Abaranger is a Power Rangers rip-off in the show itself, with a tone similar to the first season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, they probably felt it appropriate for the tribute.
      • Alternatively, it may have been because his defeat involved the use of a Maneki-neko by Kenny to absorb Ka-Ching’s coins. A Maneki-neko is a very popular Japanese toy that had appeared in a lot of Japanese media, most infamously Paper Mario Sticker Star as a Sticker Thing.
        • An equally likely reason is just that Ka-Ching’s counterpart spent A LOT of time around the unmorphed Abarangers and Japanese people.
  • Despite being major characters, the Red and Yellow Abarangers never actually get a name.
  • Despite literally copying and pasting a Japanese episode with the Rangers reacting to it, a lot was cut and/or changed for various reasons.
    • A lot of shots involving Japanese text which were replaced with textless versions.
      • Why they did this though isn’t clear because they decide to keep other shots with text (most notably the original shot of Ka-Ching appearing).
    • Almost all footage of Ka-Ching in the amphitheatre since he had a gun and only very careful editing disguised that.
    • Almost the entire opening sequence (with the exception of one shot) with the potential editing errors that would result from that being covered up by cutting to Conner reacting.
      • This was almost certainly cut for time given it would be superfluous in the grand scheme of things.
    • Several shots of Mikey in the bathroom since he was pooing.
    • A sequence of a Japanese cop dancing in glee about the massive amounts of money due to him holding a pistol.
    • The follow-up of Red, Kenny, and Yellow eating copious amounts of mushrooms due to mushroom eating being associated with taking drugs in the US.
    • When Red and Yellow were in the amphitheatre watching Whacker get his cryotherapy, it cuts out them running forward and leaving.
      • There is no actual reason in Abaranger so it was most likely cut for time.
    • Ka-Ching giving Kenny a big kiss on the lips due to homosexual undertones.
    • The kiss being followed up by another big wall of Japanese text which was cut for no apparent reason.
    • Kenny daydreaming about paying for multiple women to be around him due to both the implication of “paid services” and skimpy clothing.
    • Kenny, Red, and Yellow having a big debate about whether they should take the bribe due to both time and it ultimately being a waste of time.
    • Whacker Wilson about to club Ka-Ching to death with a baseball bat and then not doing so.
    • The Abaranger Zords talking because it just amounted to “don’t be greedy, bye.”
    • Some Monopoly playing due to that just being filler.to pad out the Abaranger episode.
    • Mikey daydreaming while hugging the toilet from the earlier cut section due to Disney not wanting to teach kids to hug unsanitary toilets.
    • The cop from earlier pulling his gun on a random citizen and mugging them (since Ka-Ching’s counterpart caused copious amounts of greed in people).
      • This was cut due to both how brutal it was and the afore-mentioned gun.
    • Unmorphed Kenny being elbowed in the face by Ka-Ching after he tried to snap Whacker out of his money obsessed craze.
      • This was covered up by cutting to Conner for a second.
    • The Abarangers using Super Dino Mode on Ka-Ching.
      • No-one is quite sure this was cut although some believe that it was because Tommy hadn’t unlocked his own Super Dino Mode by that point in Dino Thunder.
    • An entire Megazord fight against Ka-Ching where he was killed by the equivalent of the Cephalazord/Thundersaurs Megazord combination.
      • The fight was cut for time since Sentai episodes are twenty five minutes whereas Power Rangers are twenty one since Japan has much shorter commercial breaks.
    • A shot of the Japanese flag near the end.
    • Whacker offering Kenny lunch and Kenny accepting since Disney wouldn’t be able to include said scene for the interest of time.
  • All shots from Abaranger had to be stretched out to be 16;9 to fit American TVs whereas Abaranger in both TV and DVD form was 1080 by 750.
    • This is why, if one watches the episode’s, much of the footage on the TV is warped and looks terrible since it’s massive stretched out.
  • When Ka-Ching wakes up after being knocked out by the Matenki-neko, he can be heard cussing at the Abarangers.
  • Jason David Frank (Tommy), Jeffrey Parazzo (Trent), Latham Gaines (Mesogog) and Miriama Smith (Elsa) do not appear in this episode.
    • Unless Jannu and Lije or Dezumozorlya are counted as counterparts for Elsa or Mesogog, Tommy's counterpart is the only one who appears in this episode.
  • None of the regular Rangers appear morphed in this episode.
  • The episode Conner, Ethan, and Kira were watching was Episode 10 of Dino Thunder's Super Sentai equivalent Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger, Abare Leaguer Bind. The Abaranger episode had several minutes of footage cut (some of the more significant scenes cut were of Asuka in the bathroom after the eating the Curry Fruit, a policeman attacked by the monster having a gun in hand at all times, Super Dino Mode battle, and the entire Zord sequence) and replaced with the Dino Thunder Rangers making comments. Most of Abare Leaguer Bind's dialogue was completely changed, part of which included all of the original names for the weapons and attacks being changed to the Dino Thunder names (including calling the Abarangers "Dino Power Rangers"). Many Sentai fans criticized Disney for the dub, stating that it was a mockery of the Sentai franchise and made it seem like Sentai was based off of Power Rangers (in truth, it is the exact opposite). On the other hand, some Sentai fans actually compliment the episode, seeing it as an amusing nod toward PR's source material.
    • Only Yukito, Bucky Bonds, and Asuka are named in the dub (Kenny, Whacker Wilson, and Mikey, respectively). The Barmia Soldiers are called Triptoids, but that would likely be considered a term akin to the names for the weapons (ex. Dino Bomber = Z-Rex Blaster). Yukito is the only one to retain his original name, with his given name Yukito becoming Kenny's family name.
    • This parody dub of Abaranger is reminiscent of the real-life parody dub of Kagaku Sentai Dynaman shown on USA Network's Night Flight and alternately Nickelodeon's Special Delivery in 1987-88.
  • Kenny Yukito (the Blue Ranger) was voiced by Jorgito Vargas, Jr who played Blake in Power Rangers Ninja Storm, while the Japanese Yellow Ranger was voiced by Morgan Reese Fairhead, who played Kylee Styles (coincidentally, a friend of Kira's) from Diva in Distress. Jamie Linehan, known for various voices in the Power Rangers series (his most notable being the later role of Steel), provided the voice of the Japanese Red Ranger.
  • None of the Abaranger actors are credited in the episode.
  • In the beginning of the episode, when Ethan is surfing the channels on the TV, there is an image of the planet Onyx on the screen.
  • This episode was the first that two of the major minion characters, Creative Messenger Mikela and Visionary Messenger Voffa, appears in Dino Thunder. The next episode they appear in was during the "Thunder Storm" two-parter, where they are the servants of the space ninja Lothor (where Douglas Sloan called these servants "Izzy" and "Pupperazi" respectively).
  • Due to the nature of this episode, this is the first time music from Super Sentai is heard in Power Rangers. The next time would be a little less than 11 years later (coincidentally, during the next dinosaur themed season) in A Fool's Hour, albeit hummed by Koda instead of the actual music.
  • In a way, Abaranger would probably be as accurate a television show about the Dino Rangers could be (disregarding both being television shows and Abaranger coming first): while the Dino Rangers and the viewers know the Japanese television was not entirely accurate, someone in Dino Thunder's universe outside the Rangers and villains' circle would only know about the battles and what was said during the battles. Everything else, including the unmorphed Rangers' names and the Blue Ranger's occupation, would be conjecture, especially to someone not even in Reefside. Even the TV Dino Rangers' use of "Dino Thunder, Power Up" could've been overheard (hence Kira and Ethan's shock) or just a good guess.
  • While Dino Thunder adapts the Abaranger episodes in order, this episode replaces the crossover episode that features the characters from Tsuribaka Nisshi, the anime that wasn't dubbed in the United States. The second part of the crossover, however, would be partly adapted into the following episode.

Errors

Notes; Since the Japanese show in this episode was intentionally terrible, some of these errors could be intentional by the Dino Thunder protection crew.

  • Kenny is standing behind the curry cake in one shot and is suddenly right where it was in the next.
  • The cake curry surprise was sitting on a baking tray which then vanished when Mr. O’Shaughnessey and then re-appeared when Yellow took it.
  • When Ka-Ching confronted Whacker Wilson, he called him an “American tourist” when a dub would pretend that this was actually taking place in America.
  • The producers of the Japanese Power Ranger show somehow knew the “Dino Thunder power up” morph despite the fact that the Dino Rangers’ identities were never publicly known.
  • When Yellow did her pose, she had her fist to her neck in the close-up but the wideshot zoom-in had both arms outstretched in an eagle pose.
  • The Abarangers suddenly gained wigs on their helmets for no reason and a montage of their Zords showed the same somehow.
    • Also, in the follow-ups, the Rangers suddenly lost their wigs in the follow-ups.
  • When Kenny realised that Whacker Wilson wasn’t in Japan to play baseball but to see a chiropractor, he is standing to the right of Red and far away from Yellow. When the next shot happened, he was suddenly in between the two.
    • Also, Whacker clearly wasn’t in front of them in the first shot and then magically appeared in front of them in the second.
  • 5 million is treated like a lot for a baseball star.
  • Part of Whacker’s spine literally pops out of place and moves to an entirely different spot.
  • When excited about the money Kenny could make, Kenny leaned in very close but then leaned in again the follow-up.
  • Whacker Wilson had two money bags when he met Kenny to pay him but then only had one right after.
  • Ka-Ching’s hairdos make people obsessed with money irregardless of money so why would Whacker then want to give Kenny money?
  • When the Abarangers use their Z-Rex Blaster on Ka-Ching, he gets up after not being hit by anything.
    • In Abaranger, this was because the Z-Rex Blaster was immediately preceded by the cut Super Dino Mode bit.

See Also

References

Power nav icon List of Power Rangers Dino Thunder episodes Icon-abaranger

1 & 2: Day of the Dino • 3: Wave Goodbye • 4: Legacy of Power • 5: Back in Black • 6: Diva in Distress • 7: Game On • 8: Golden Boy • 9: Beneath the Surface • 10: Ocean Alert • 11-13: White Thunder • 14: Truth and Consequences • 15: Leader of the Whack • 16: Burning at Both Ends • 17: The Missing Bone • 18: Bully for Ethan • 19: Lost & Found in Translation • 20: It's a Mad Mad Mackerel • 21: Copy That • 22: Triassic Triumph • 23: A Star Is Torn • 24: A Ranger Exclusive • 25: Tutenhawken's Curse • 26: Disappearing Act • 27: Fighting Spirit • 28: The Passion of Connor • 29: Isn't it Lava-ly • 30: Strange Relations • 31 & 32: Thunder Storm • 33: In Your Dreams • 34: Drawn into Danger • 35: House of Cards • 36: A Test of Trust • 37 & 38: Thunder Struck

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