Frankie Thirteen dot com.

I watch Power Rangers.

Okay, now that that’s out of the way, I need to clarify.  I don’t watch the show regularly—at least, not as regularly as I did in its early years.  I do, however, keep up here and there with the newer series.  I’ve always had a soft spot for Japanese transforming superheroes, and thanks to the internet, the original Japanese source material, Toei’s Super Sentai series, is pretty readily available. 

I know there’s always the purist mindset that Super Sentai is usually better than its Americanized counterpart, but over the last several years, that’s been subverted, as the quality of certain Power Rangers series seems to trump the originals.  For example, my favorite recent series, Power Rangers S.P.D., actually takes a look at themes such as poverty, civil disobedience, discrimination, and police corruption.  On the other hand, its Japanese predecessor, Dekaranger, is a goofy lark with shitty makeup effects and shoddy sets.  (It also helps that S.P.D. is choreographed by the great Koichi Sakamoto, which means the fights are at minimum absolutely badass.)

So when I saw that this year’s series, the 35th anniversary entry Kaizou Sentai Gokaiger, features a team of pirates with access to the powers of past Rangers, I kind of flipped a little inside.  First off, Gokaiger itself looks pretty cool.  I love the costumes, the ship is pretty neat (even if it and the entire visual scheme is a brazen Captain Harlock knockoff), and come on, transforming pirate superheroes.  It’s probably something I really wanted to see when I was nine.  Hell, it’s something I want to see now.

But what really excited me about it?  When Saban adapts the show as next year’s Power Rangers entry, a show where the powers and costumes of past Ranger teams are revisited can only mean one thing: RANGER CAMEOS GALORE.  At least, I can hope.