Eiga Sentai Scanranger: Difference between revisions

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Written by Vince Jones, who was outraged at how [[Tokusatsu]] programming was watered down into the ''[[Power Rangers]]'' before making it to American airwaves. Ran from 1997-2006, releasing 39 “episodes,” a Christmas special and a crossover “movie” with ''[[Choujin Sentai Jetman]]''. The last two episodes finished were basically revisiting the crossover movie.

Poorly written, ill-conceived and all with only the occasional shred of irony, ''Scanranger'' was a shining example of [[So Bad ~~Its~~ Good]].

Poorly written, ill-conceived and all with only the occasional shred of irony, ''Scanranger'' was a shining example of [[So Bad It's Good]].

The story is archived [http://www.reocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/5514/scanranger.html here], with the writer also posting it on [http://www.fanfiction.net/u/681863/redscanner FF.net] after Geocities went down.

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=== They're opposed by MAYHEM ([[Fun With Acronyms|Mechanical Androids Yoked Hither to Eliminate Mankind]]) ===

* Blackorg: [[Card Carrying Villain]], [[Dark Lord]], [[Large Ham]]. [[The Big Bad]] as well as the [[Bad Boss]]. An evil alien [[Powers Via Possession|usurping the body]] of a former member of the rangers' support group. Killer of Alex's husband.

* Blackorg: [[Card-Carrying Villain]], [[Dark Lord]], [[Large Ham]]. [[The Big Bad]] as well as the [[Bad Boss]]. An evil alien [[Powers Via Possession|usurping the body]] of a former member of the rangers' support group. Killer of Alex's husband.

* General Ug: [[The Brute]], [[Dumb Muscle]].

* Vixen: [[The Vamp]].

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* [[Monster of the Week]]: Cybercreatures.

* [[On the Next Episode of Catchphrase]]: “Roll that film!”

* [[The Psycho Rangers]]: The story has ''two'' groups seemingly meant to be the anti-Scanrangers, Benedict’s Brigade (led by Arno Benedict and made up of several [[Monster of the Week|Monsters Of The Week]]) and Team Nightmare (made up of cyborg parodies of [[A Nightmare On Elm Street (Film)|Freddy Krueger]], [[Friday the ~~13 th~~ (Film)|Jason Voorhees]], [[Candyman (Film)|Candyman]], [[The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Film)|Leatherface]] and [[Scream (Film)|Ghostface]]) after Benedict's Brigade goes down once and for all.

* [[The Psycho Rangers]]: The story has ''two'' groups seemingly meant to be the anti-Scanrangers, Benedict’s Brigade (led by Arno Benedict and made up of several [[Monster of the Week|Monsters Of The Week]]) and Team Nightmare (made up of cyborg parodies of [[A Nightmare On Elm Street (Film)|Freddy Krueger]], [[Friday the 13th (Film)|Jason Voorhees]], [[Candyman (Film)|Candyman]], [[The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Film)|Leatherface]] and [[Scream (Film)|Ghostface]]) after Benedict's Brigade goes down once and for all.

* [[Transformation Trinket]]: The rangers start out by using VHS-themed changer bracelets, then later get DVD-themed ones for some reason.

* [[Weapon of Choice]]

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** [[Hand Cannon]]: Green and Yellow. Green's shoots DVD's, Yellow's is based on a ''[[Macross]]'' missile launcher.

** [[Simple Staff]]: Blue.

** [[Luckily My Shield Will Protect Me]]: Pink.

** [[Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me]]: Pink.

** [[Swiss Army Weapon]]: Silver's gun/sword jobber.

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* [[Clueless Aesop]]: The [[Christmas Episode]] had a guest hero praise the Scanrangers for not destroying a [[Monster of the Week]] created from a Christmas tree. Because apparently, “Trees are an important part of the world’s energy source! It was reasonable the Scanrangers didn’t want it destroyed. That villain-created tree, however, is not real!” Even if it were real we’d still be talking about an evil, heavily-armed monster tree. Just how important to the ecosystem is a tree that’s already been cut down and in the process of dying, anyway?

** Another such aesop, regarding a girl named Sarin who's mocked for being differently-abled, also crops up in the Christmas ep. It starts out looking like the message is going to be your standard "Respect others' differences" Aesop but the thing is none of Sarin's classmates learn the lesson, and indeed it's completely forgotten about halfway through the episode. When her predicament's lightly mentioned again just before the end it seems to have mutated into "You're special, so ignore anyone who treats you like you're weird."

** In the [[Mid Season Upgrade]] arc, Kunio has the last reference book he needs for a term paper and gives it away to Carmen, his unrequited love, who doesn't even thank him. This sounds like "You should be generous even if people aren't grateful," but he tells us it's team policy that if any of them bomb a class they're out of the Scanrangers until they make it up. Meaning that act of generosity reduced their ability to save the world by 20%.

** In the [[Mid-Season Upgrade]] arc, Kunio has the last reference book he needs for a term paper and gives it away to Carmen, his unrequited love, who doesn't even thank him. This sounds like "You should be generous even if people aren't grateful," but he tells us it's team policy that if any of them bomb a class they're out of the Scanrangers until they make it up. Meaning that act of generosity reduced their ability to save the world by 20%.

* [[Comically Missing the Point]]: In one episode Toni meets an interesting guy and her friends immediately start acting all overprotective of her. Toni compares her friends' attitude to Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston's relationship in, um....''[[The Bodyguard]]''.

* [[Defrosting Ice Queen]]: Carmen. Despite this Kunio’s affection seems to dissolve along with it, and by the time she starts reciprocating his feelings he’s said to be interested in another girl.

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** According to this story crocodiles and alligators are only differentiated by where they're found in the wild.

** The end of one of the early episodes refers the reader to the eighth episode of ''Jetman''. However, since it also refers to Raita being lucky it probably meant the ''ninth'' episode (the one where Raita's visited by a female childhood friend {{spoiler|who he ends up marrying}}).

* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu]]: Blackorg is the most powerful force of evil in the story. He not only can but has steamrollered all the Scanrangers by himself on two occasions, the second including Silverscanner and after the team got a power-up. But in "Scanranger vs. Jetman", Red Hawk takes him out with one Wing Gauntlet-assisted punch.

* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: Blackorg is the most powerful force of evil in the story. He not only can but has steamrollered all the Scanrangers by himself on two occasions, the second including Silverscanner and after the team got a power-up. But in "Scanranger vs. Jetman", Red Hawk takes him out with one Wing Gauntlet-assisted punch.

* [[Don't Explain the Joke]]: Almost every time the story [[Shout Out|makes a reference to some other media]] (which is several times an episode at the very least), the source is pointed out. Usually by the characters but sometimes by a parenthetical note from the writer. Of course there are times when this is fine, like when they’re adapting it into an attack, but the writer couldn’t do a scene transition to the dark side of the moon without mentioning [[Pink Floyd]].

* [[Fake Defector]]: In the episode after Carmen joins, she pretends to sell out the team.

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** There's also the fact that monsters' names all start with the Japanese word for "black".

* [[Green Lantern Ring]]: Not only do Greenscanner’s powers derive from special effects, letting him do theoretically anything, but the way Film Energy works is compared to [[Green Lantern]]’s powers.

* [[Heroes R Us]]: Project Paramount exists to "to keep aliens and other hostile extraterrestials from conquering this planet.." which it does by equipping a team of superheroes and cleaning up after them once the dust settles.

* [[Heroes-R-Us]]: Project Paramount exists to "to keep aliens and other hostile extraterrestials from conquering this planet.." which it does by equipping a team of superheroes and cleaning up after them once the dust settles.

* [[Hollywood Voodoo]]: Personified in a [[Monster of the Week]]. Bonus points for the monster also having [[Tarot Motifs|Tarot]] powers.

* [[Infinite Supplies]]: The people who supply the rangers also repair the property damage resulting from their battles.

** Although part of the [[Mid Season Upgrade]] involves enabling their [[Humongous Mecha]] to transport itself and its opponent to another dimension to avoid fighting in inhabited areas in the first place.

** Although part of the [[Mid-Season Upgrade]] involves enabling their [[Humongous Mecha]] to transport itself and its opponent to another dimension to avoid fighting in inhabited areas in the first place.

* [[Insult Backfire]]: In a meta sense. ''Scanranger'' was written as a [[Take That]] to ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' (when it started), but borrows enough elements from it you'd almost think it was an [[Affectionate Parody]].

* [[Intercontinuity Crossover]]: Maybe. Two with ''[[Choujin Sentai Jetman]]''. Maybe, because the story wavers back and forth between ''Jetman'' really happening, and just being a TV show, with the "real" Jetman characters living in an alternate dimension.

* [[Laser Guided Amnesia]]: Before he rejoins the team, Takeshi remembered everything about his life except serving as a member of the top-secret anti-alien organization. Which makes it kind of hard to believe his buddies never found him.

* [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]]: Before he rejoins the team, Takeshi remembered everything about his life except serving as a member of the top-secret anti-alien organization. Which makes it kind of hard to believe his buddies never found him.

* [[Left Hanging]]: Work stopped just a little before they were due to hit the home stretch.

* [[Limited Social Circle]]: Toni's friend Monisha is the only friend outside the team we see when the friend didn't [[Victim of the Week|show up for the sole purpose]] of getting mixed up in that episode's [[Evil Plan]], and even she stops appearing after the tenth episode. The rangers go to their secret base or Alex's office to hang out, and Toni and Alex went away on summer break together.

* [[Magic a Is Magic A]]: How the characters' powers worked could be inconsistent. Vin needed to be extremely specific about which ''Zorro'' movie he wants to use in one episode, but in the next Takeshi was getting away with basing an attack on the ''[[Metal Heroes|Space Sheriff]]'' series in general. Ug's genre is war movies but he used his powers to whip up the spider-mech from ''[[Wild Wild West (Film)|Wild Wild West]]'', which most viewers would probably not call a "war movie". At one time Nick, using his special effects powers, taps into ''[[Rocky III]]'' to use Hulk Hogan's wrestling moves.

* [[Magic A Is Magic A]]: How the characters' powers worked could be inconsistent. Vin needed to be extremely specific about which ''Zorro'' movie he wants to use in one episode, but in the next Takeshi was getting away with basing an attack on the ''[[Metal Heroes|Space Sheriff]]'' series in general. Ug's genre is war movies but he used his powers to whip up the spider-mech from ''[[Wild Wild West (Film)|Wild Wild West]]'', which most viewers would probably not call a "war movie". At one time Nick, using his special effects powers, taps into ''[[Rocky III]]'' to use Hulk Hogan's wrestling moves.

* [[Magic Meteor]]: Film Energy (and Blackorg) came to Earth in meteors.

* [[Mid Season Upgrade]]: The “Power Upgrade” arc, naturally. Pretty standard, except Thunder Dolby, the Scanrangers’ original robot, is completely destroyed, and then not only do they get a brand new never-before-seen robot, Blockbuster, but {{spoiler|a new and improved Thunder Dolby is rebuilt an episode and a half after its destruction}}.

* [[Mid-Season Upgrade]]: The “Power Upgrade” arc, naturally. Pretty standard, except Thunder Dolby, the Scanrangers’ original robot, is completely destroyed, and then not only do they get a brand new never-before-seen robot, Blockbuster, but {{spoiler|a new and improved Thunder Dolby is rebuilt an episode and a half after its destruction}}.

* [[Missing Episode]]: Abduction of the college president.

* [[Mood Whiplash]]: "There's Something About Toni" goes from the rangers fighting hate with love (hugging the monster's victims to break the spell over them) to the villains attempting to mass-murder the attendees of the school's Valentine's Day dance.

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** Likewise Alex isn't just a film professor, she's got a military background, she's a former ballet dancer, she was a lanaguage teacher with Jetman's support team, she knows martial arts, and can pilot mecha if necessary. If she needs to be good at something or the writer thinks it would make her cooler, she's good at it.

* [[One Steve Limit]]: Averted, though one doubts it was deliberate. B.C. and scientist helper Dr. Markby have the same first name (Ben), a [[Red Shirt]] astronaut '''in the first episode''' is named Nick, and Vin’s martial arts teacher from back in the 'hood is named Tony (in all fairness the story almost exclusively uses his full first name). There's also a throwaway character in "The Good, The Bad and General Ug" named Mike.

* [[Paper Thin Disguise]]: Vixen gets a job teaching at the Scanrangers’ school as Professor Vivian Fox. During the interview the story basically comes out and says it’s a disguise the audience would see through automatically.

* [[Paper-Thin Disguise]]: Vixen gets a job teaching at the Scanrangers’ school as Professor Vivian Fox. During the interview the story basically comes out and says it’s a disguise the audience would see through automatically.

** The time Anark Key masquerades as TV pitchman Eric [[Sdrawkcab Name|Meyham]].

* [[Parody Failure]]: One episodes involves the rangers impersonating the characters in a story B.C.’s writing parodying superspy movies such as ''[[James Bond]]'', ''[[XXX (Film)|xXx]]'' (no points for guessing which ranger’s character came from that one), ''[[Dark Angel]]'', ''[[Mission Impossible]]'' and ''[[Tomb Raider]]''. It's pretty much just lame until you get to Nick’s character, [[Austin Powers|Boston Powered, New England Man of Mystery]].

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* [[The Starscream]]: Guest villain Arno Benedict.

* [[Sue Donym]]: When going undercover as girls, Vin becomes Victoria, Nick becomes Nicole, and Kunio becomes (wait for it) Annie May.

* [[Super Not Drowning Skills]]: During the [[Mid Season Upgrade]] Takeshi spends at least three weeks buried alive, and survives.

* [[Super Not-Drowning Skills]]: During the [[Mid-Season Upgrade]] Takeshi spends at least three weeks buried alive, and survives.

* [[Surrounded By Idiots]]: What’s usually coming out Blackorg’s mouth when talking to his underlings.

* [[Swiss Cheese Security]]: After disappearing for three years, Silverscanner's able to enter the rangers' secret base without alerting anyone until he wants to, meaning they didn't change their security codes or who the retinal scanners recognize in all that time. More to the point in the [[All Your Base Are Belong to Us]] story the villains magically discover where the base is and are able to infiltrate it with tiny spy/suicide bomber robots. Literally, the plot just says they know where it is so they do. In "Carmen's Baptism of Fire" Key's able to hack their communication channel because that makes things easier on the writer.

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** As has been noted, one episode is about the rangers impersonating a group of singers. During the concert put on toward the end the narration constantly reminds the reader that (X band member whose name and likeness they probably don't remember) is really (Y Scanranger). Despite reading about the Scanrangers agreeing to impersonate the band, training to impersonate the band, and then coming up with a plan to go on stage and impersonate the band to smoke out MAYHEM.

* [[Weaksauce Weakness]]: B.C.’s Film Energy is shorted out by the presence of swear words. This includes impressions of the [[Looney Tunes|Tasmanian Devil]].

* [[Who Writes This Crap]]: “Last Temptation of Kunio Mikimoto”.

* [[Who Writes This Crap?]]: “Last Temptation of Kunio Mikimoto”.

* [[Will They or Won't They]]: Probably supposed to be going on with Nick and Toni, but it was explicitly set to “just friends” after the [[Mid Season Upgrade]].

* [[Will They or Won't They?]]: Probably supposed to be going on with Nick and Toni, but it was explicitly set to “just friends” after the [[Mid-Season Upgrade]].

* [[The Worf Effect]]: When the Scanrangers get their new robot, Blockbuster, it fights the villains' own [[Humongous Mecha]] which up until that point had been invincible, and completely owns it. In the next episode it's getting thrown around by a [[Monster of the Week]] so Silverscanner can show off ''his'' awesome new robot powerup.

* [[Worst News Judgment Ever]]: In an early episode a years-old murder is front page news, for no other reason than because the plot’s contriving to the have killer (the [[Monster of the Week]]) face the Scanrangers. It doesn’t even go into why the death is considered a murder rather than an accident (the victim fell off a catwalk), or for that matter how and why a MAYHEM monster would’ve been terrorizing the Scanrangers’ school three years before the villains arrived from deep space.