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It's clearly the lovechild of those two and the baby of the bunch! I do like Dino Thunder's theme, but of the Dino themes, the OG MMPR theme is the best! (Sorry Dino Charge.) Out of ALL of the themes, I think SPD, In Space, Lost Galaxy, and Ninja Storm have my heart though.
What about you?

But yeah, Dino Fury is a "throwback" because of Power Rangers as a franchise. Technically, it should be a new show, but I decided to put it where I did.

 

Finished The Wheel of Time for the second time on Saturday I believe, this time with my family. I also finished up Superman & Lois soon after that, and Stargirl Seasons 1 after that, leading up to just a few minutes ago when I finished Season 2. I will admit I skimmed a lot of the DC shows, but I still enjoyed what I saw.




Superman & Lois is a really interesting take on Clark Kent as we've never really seen him in media before - the family man. Sure, the Boyscout has always been family-focused, but it's always been as the "son" of two families. Here, Clark is the father who has to deal with two drastically different sons in Jonathan and Jordan as they grow into young ment themselves. (Usually, on the very rare occasions that Clark is a father, it's just to Jonathan Kent, and Jonathan is rarely older than twelve.) I talked a little about it last year, and I'm glad to say that while Jonathan remained powerless and Jordan got powers, the show never delved into jealousy or even remotely hinted at the older brother going full Luthor. Instead, the boys always put their family and bond first, with Jonathan acting as the emotional rock of the family. It was really refreshing to see, and one that made the show really stand out. The visuals (both style and action scenes) resemble Man of Steel in the best ways, so fans of that will be happy here. But how is Tyler as Superman? Honestly...he's probably the best version I've seen on-screen outside of Christopher Reeves. I grew up on the DCAU Superman first and Tom Welling's Superman second, and I love all live action and most animated versions I've seen, but Tyler captures that raw, adorkable home-town nature of Clark Kent in a way that the other versions don't or can't. They're either too caught up in the myth or the message or even the theme of "gods among men," whereas this version is just a good man who happens to have godlike powers.

This show really makes me want to see a more...domesticated version of Batman cross over. Like a hybrid between the comic version and the Wayne Family Adventure version - someone who is burning the candle at both ends to make the city a better place and is making his team into a family while doing so. Someone who cares about the people he's leading but understand the horrors they may face or have faced. Someone who Clark can look to as a peer as both a parent and a superhero. (I also want to see a crossover with Smallville, in which Lois from this show, Clark from Smallville Season 4, Jonathan and Jordan, and a fifth SUPER Spoiler Character (from the final moments of the first season) all are trapped in a different world and must look like a family to make do. I think Smallville Clark being told that the woman who will be acting like his mother is actually destined to be his wife in the future. Also being told about his future in no uncertain terms would be pretty cool Meanwhile, Clark would be a very solid mentor to Jordan, as he's gone through very similar things. Meanwhile, Jonathan and Jordan can update Clark on all the technological changes since 2005.)

This show is recommended if you're a fan of:
Smallville
Man of Steel
Batman: Wayne Family Adventures (if you like the domesticated side of superheroics)
Hawkeye
Dalinar Kholin's family in The Stormlight Archive

Anyways, Implicitly Pretentious has a phenomenal video over the first season, which is the reason I dug back into the show itself. Check it out. Seriously, the guy's videos are amazing.

Stargirl is another show that surprised me. I revisited it in my DC watch-a-thon (which actually started with Young Justice before Superman & Lois) and was happy to watch it without any of the annoying commercial breaks (thank you HBO Max!). This show is pretty good, comparatively speaking. The teenagers feel like teenagers, the theme of legacy is decently handled, and the music is good! The action scenes range from incredibly impressive (Season 2 Episode 7 having the best so far with some really impressive cutting) to laughably bad - particularly when CGI monsters come into play. Solomon Grundy is in this show, and he looks like a bad rip-off of the 2010 Hulk. Later scenes and seasons do NOT help. But the wirework and stunts are all really well done, as is the camera work. I'm just impressed overall. The characters are fine, with shoutouts going to Yolanda for her Season 2 arc, Beth for NOT being a fighter but still being relevant to the team, and Courtney for being a pretty decent team leader. Also, I find it fun that both Owen Wilson and his brother Luke Wilson are in superhero shows, with one for Marvel and the other for DC. But I like Luke Wilson's role and character better than Owen's, if only because he's been given far more to work with. Ultimately, Stargirl hasn't had the best first or second seasons of a superhero show I've seen, but they've done enough to make me want to watch more. If the fight scenes in CW's Kung Fu remake are similar, I think I may have an interesting time trying it out.

I also want to see this show cross over with Superman & Lois and at least one of the Spider-Man properties. I'd just love to see either MCU Peter interact with other teenage heroes and see how his experience would impact their own identities and whatnot. Or Insomniac's Miles Morales, who has been a sidekick up until his own game for all intents and purposes and may not have as much experience in fighting supervillains as the Stargirl heroes, but knows more about the PR and smaller side of things.

This show is recommended if you're a fan of:
Hawkeye
My Hero Academia
Justice League

 

Just finished Peacemaker this morning. What a delightfully weird yet introspective show. It was very much a sequel to The Suicide Squad in terms of its story and character dynamics, which in turn were very much James Gunn's bread and butter.

Peacemaker felt very much in the world of The Suicide Squad, which makes sense since it's a spin-off of that. It also felt very much in the world of Suicide Squad, which makes sense because it's a spin-off of the sequel. But it doesn't make sense to fit in the larger Snyderverse, if that makes sense. Like, the heroes such as Batman (who's supposed to be an urban myth) and Green Arrow and others are too populous and known; the world is too meta. It's not the story of gods and monsters anymore, but the story of internet rumors and broken people. And that's what makes this show feel real and relatable, but it doesn't jive with the rest of the world...or maybe it's the Synder movies that are the odd ones out. Either way, there's enough room to like/love/hate both types of stories, but I can't really wrap my head around them being in the same universe.

The show did do a lot right in terms of action, character development, music, and dimension, so I'm very happy with it. The ending of the show is very bittersweet but also very cathartic. Peacemaker is probably as dark or as graphic as I need my superhero shows to go personally. Still, the ride was fun, and Band-Maid was in the show, so I'm happy. The cameos in the final episode were DOPE though. I loved them!

I saw an article yesterday - a clickbait one no doubt - about Gunn directing a Justice League movie. This goes back to the above and some other aspects of the DCEU and stuff. If someone asked me, I'd say "sure, why not." Gunn would rock the movie, and I think making the League more like a family would work well with the themes of ZSJL. But I'm not sure Gunn's directing style would work as well. Oh, the no doubt movie would be gorgeous, have the just the right music, well shot, and wonderfully acted, but I'm just not sure that Gunn's preferences would make for a good continuation of Snyder's JL. It may feel like a retread of familiar ground in the same way that GOTG 2 felt like it was retreading familiar ground with GOTG 1. THAT BEING SAID, if, somewhere down the line, Gunn wants to work on a JL reboot and feels comfortable telling a unique story (that's not just a dysfunctional group becoming a family while fighting an outer space alien over and over and over again), then I'd be fine with it.

THIS IS NOT A SHOW FOR KIDS. RAMPANT BLOOD AND GORE, VIOLENCE, SWEARING, SLURS, AND OTHER SUCH CONTENT.

 

Abbott Elementary.
My sister discovered this show and had to show it to me and my parents when she visited in January.* As a newly minted teacher (with a certificate this time!) fresh out of Clinical Teaching, the first episode was traumatic. Not because it was bad, but because it was so accurate on so many levels. I didn't watch it again until last week because it was that intense. But the show is good! It's not great, not yet, but it has every chance of getting there. Fans of Modern Family and Parks & Rec will love this show.
Heck, when I was watching it with my mom last week (she insisted, which is why I even sat down to watch it again), comparing the characters from this show to the ones in Parks & Rec is what got me through it. Ironically enough, Parks & Rec is another show my sister got my mom and I to watch, so the pattern fits. (She also recommended American Auto, which isn't nearly as funny or as good IMO.*)




How I Met Your Father.
It's an okay show. The first season has a solid cast, but it doesn't have the magic or charm that the first show did, or at least not yet. It's also weirdly far more adult than the older show too, despite Barney being Barney. It's just, this show feels like it's trying too hard right now. The script is trying too hard, and it's not very funny. That being said, I want to see this show be given a few more seasons, so it can get a little more comfortable with itself and grow into the show it needs to become.
And no, as far as we know, no one in the cast is related to anyone from the first show.

*I've learned that my sister as a type of show that she likes, and one she couldn't really disagree with when pointed out. My sister likes comedy shows where the boss or overlaying structure is incompetent. For Parks & Rec it was Leslie against Pawnee. For the Office it was everyone against Michael. Here, it's Janine against Ava. It doesn't mean that the two hate each other, but rather that the incompetency (either by intent or ignorance) is the true villain of the show, and our overachieving heroes must find a way to combat it while learning life lessons along the way. I'm not sure what that says about her, but it's a thing I noticed about the comedy shows she recommends.