Power Rangers Dino Charge: Breakout, the third volume of the season’s DVD releases, hits stores on July 12.
Before we get to the review, here is Lionsgate’s press release with details on what the DVD contains.
Saban’s Powers Rangers are back in action with Power Rangers Dino Charge: Breakout, arriving on DVD (plus Digital), Digital HD, and On Demand July 12 from Lionsgate. The Red, Black, Blue, Green, and Pink Rangers must once again rely on each other and their new dino-charged powers as they battle to defend the Earth from the villainous Sledge. This all-new Power Rangers series ranked #1 in its time period across all TV with kids 2-11. With an ever-growing fan base, Power Rangers Dino Charge: Breakout will be the biggest, and most shocking, Power Rangers adventure yet when it arrives on DVD for the suggested retail price of $14.98.
The Power Rangers will have to outsmart a puzzling villain, save a prince, and try to defeat Sledge’s monsters. When the evil Fury unleashes the powerful Ptera Zord, only the Power Rangers can regain control with the help of their newest ally – the Gold Ranger!
PROGRAM INFORMATION
Year of Production: 2015
Title Copyright: ™ and © 2015 SCG Power Rangers LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Type: TV on DVD
Rating: TV-Y7
Genre: Action/Adventure, TV Series, Children, Superhero
Closed-Captioned: English
Subtitles: None
Run Time: 92 minutes
DVD Format: 16×9 Widescreen (1.78:1)
DVD Audio Status: English 5.1 Dolby Digital; French and Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital
On to the review…
The Episodes: This volume contains episodes 9-12 of Power Rangers Dino Charge, which aired last summer. Because these volumes are slicing up the season by four episodes each, we only get a section of the Ptera Zord/Gold Ranger arc. In fact, bookending with the previous set’s episode “Double Ranger, Double Danger” and the next episode “Sync or Swim” would have been perfect.
That said, these episodes do flow into each other very well. “When Logic Fails” aired after a long hiatus, and as such recaps the previous story threads (in humorous fashion, in fact, as they reference how convoluted their artifact plot got in a mere eight episodes). But the highlights of the set are “The Royal Rangers” and the titular “Break Out,” which are also two of the strongest episodes of the whole season. The addition of the Gold Ranger is handled adeptly, but the real strength is the bait-and-switch mystery that leads up to it, which even ties into Red Ranger Tyler’s larger arc. The episodes also introduce Prince Phillip, one of the season’s most intriguing characters, while elaborating greatly on the season’s mythology. “The Royal Rangers” even gets in some lessons about privilege and the true beginning of a major romance. The final episode, “Knight After Knights,” is pure comedic gold, one of the funniest episodes of all Power Rangers. It’s an odd episode to end the set on, but it’s one of the few times that Power Rangers’ goofy humor style works perfectly, and has laughs for both child and adult viewers.
The Packaging: The cover artwork is in line with previous Lionsgate Power Rangers sets dating back to Samurai, with eye-catching colors and lots of explosions. Kids are always excited by new super special Rangers — especially gold ones — so the packaging smartly makes the newest ally the centerpiece. A nice detail is the subtle approach taken with Fury reflecting in the Gold Ranger’s visor, given his importance to the featured arc. The menus use the cover’s artwork with clips set alongside the theme song, pretty much what we expect from this kind of set.
The Extras: Unfortunately, like many kids show DVD releases these days, all we get is the episodes themselves (and not even proper subtitles!) There are trailers, but they’re re-cut versions of trailers we’ve seen before, specifically for the previous Dino Charge DVD, and complete releases of Super Megaforce, Megaforce, and Super Samurai. The upside is that these trailers make even lackluster seasons like Megaforce look way more epic than they actually are, and the way the trailers play chronologically backwards functions as an unintentional retrospective on the franchise’s current era.
Is It Worth It? Though “When Logic Fails” is a middling affair, the one-two punch of “The Royal Rangers” and “Break Out” followed by the hilarity of “Knight After Knights” is a good sampling of Dino Charge at both its best and silliest. The lack of extras and short runtime means there isn’t much to justify this set if you’re interested in a full season release. But if you’re a Power Rangers completionist, or want to show a friend a sampling of the show firing on all cylinders, it’s a nice option.
Final Thoughts: This isn’t a DVD release to call home about, but it’s certainly a quality collection of episodes.
Power Rangers Dino Charge: Breakout hits stores July 12, but you can pre-order it on Amazon now for a special price — and support KSiteTV!
