He's got the power
Martin is fascinated with the Power Rangers, illustrated here in the poses he staged in a recent pre-bedtime photo shoot:
I'm not entirely comfortable with shows like Power Rangers. Like any show we watch with the kids, I'm very aware of the kind of impression it might make on them. There is an awful lot of fighting on that show, even if the Rangers fighting for the greater good. Not only that, but some of the bad guys on the show are kind of scary. Martin tells me that he knows they aren't real, that people can't really shoot fireballs out of their eyes.
If you have had children in the past fifteen years and allow them to do things like watching fightin' guys on TV, then you will have surely noticed the following about Power Rangers:
1) The action scenes are actually funny, mostly because you can tell that the special effects are super low budget. Whenever the Power Rangers activate, they transform in a flash and always have a different background than the area in which they were standing. For example, say the Power Ranger is standing in a parking lot and must transform. The transformation takes place on a black background that appears out of nowhere as they get into their uniform, then back on over to the parking lot fully dressed. Interesting.
2) There are more variations on Power Rangers than there are Law & Orders. Depending on the night you could find yourself watching Power Ranger S.P.D (which sounds an awful lot like a Law & Order version), Power Rangers Mystic Force (this one is definitely the worst of all), Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive, Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue, Power Rangers: Wild Force, and many, many more.
3) If you're watching the show with a boy like, say, Martin, when the action starts to happen you'll be alerted by the elevation of his own excitement. This is often exhibited by running in place, even when laying down in bed.
4) When not watching the show, boys (again, like Martin) will talk into any small object to "activate" themselves. Once activated, they will start karate kicking and punching everything in front of them, even air.
So, for now, we're watching Power Rangers. It certainly isn't my favorite show and I'm not convinced that it provides the kind of influence I'd call positive. But its certainly not the worst influence in children's programming. That honor is reserved for Calliou. I'd like to give that whiny little boy a time out. Maybe the ideal in children's programming would be a combination of the two. Something like this, for example:
If you have had children in the past fifteen years and allow them to do things like watching fightin' guys on TV, then you will have surely noticed the following about Power Rangers:
1) The action scenes are actually funny, mostly because you can tell that the special effects are super low budget. Whenever the Power Rangers activate, they transform in a flash and always have a different background than the area in which they were standing. For example, say the Power Ranger is standing in a parking lot and must transform. The transformation takes place on a black background that appears out of nowhere as they get into their uniform, then back on over to the parking lot fully dressed. Interesting.
2) There are more variations on Power Rangers than there are Law & Orders. Depending on the night you could find yourself watching Power Ranger S.P.D (which sounds an awful lot like a Law & Order version), Power Rangers Mystic Force (this one is definitely the worst of all), Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive, Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue, Power Rangers: Wild Force, and many, many more.
3) If you're watching the show with a boy like, say, Martin, when the action starts to happen you'll be alerted by the elevation of his own excitement. This is often exhibited by running in place, even when laying down in bed.
4) When not watching the show, boys (again, like Martin) will talk into any small object to "activate" themselves. Once activated, they will start karate kicking and punching everything in front of them, even air.
So, for now, we're watching Power Rangers. It certainly isn't my favorite show and I'm not convinced that it provides the kind of influence I'd call positive. But its certainly not the worst influence in children's programming. That honor is reserved for Calliou. I'd like to give that whiny little boy a time out. Maybe the ideal in children's programming would be a combination of the two. Something like this, for example:
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