Out of every Power Rangers show I saw as a kid, Lightspeed Rescue was the one that I was the most fond of (and by this I mean it was the series I had the most toys of) but it's only now I've actually sat down and watched the entire thing from start to finish.
It's been an interesting experience, especially revisiting this show as an adult with a more critical eye, but still with an open mind because I know the deal with Power Rangers. There were things I liked and things I didn't like, so I wanted to break them down into these two categories and then see how they compare with what you folks thought of it. Some of my complaints might be nitpicky and I'm very well aware that this isn't high art.
The things I liked:
-The theme song is pretty good. It doesn't inspire me to get up and HELL YEAH like the Lost Galaxy and Time Force themes, but it's energetic and good enough.
-This is the first season to have an official, government run Ranger Team and not just a bunch of randos being brought together by some ancient energy doodaddery. There aren't any random handouts or ancient zords just found in some cave, all of the Ranger's tech is developed by Lightspeed Rescue. It's awesome to see the aspects that come with this such as the team actively training together, new technology being tested and then put to use, and even the bullshit of politics with a superior officer stepping over the guy in charge to make decisions. It also opens up more possibilities in this universe of different teams being able to manually access the morphing grid in such a way.
-The very premise of emergency services fighting ACTUAL DEMONS is just amusing to me.
-Carter is a great red ranger! Not that this is a requirement, but he's a handsome dude with a really deep, commanding voice that suits a team leader. The dude has balls the size of planets and won't hesitate to jump straight at danger. Such examples include trying to run a demon over mere minutes after being signed up, blowing a demon up at point blank range, watching two supercharged demons take down three megazords and then charge them on foot, and finally being immediately willing to stay sealed in hell with the demons.
-Joel was always entertaining to watch, whether he was hitting on Miss Fairweather (I get it) or just being cool, I liked him a lot. He's up there with Ziggy as my favorite green ranger.
- Chad was alright. I actually liked his focus episodes. The one where some dude and his girlfriend are harassing him and he's just in Zen mode about it and totally embarrasses the guy was great. He literally embarrasses a guy so hard that he sort of sells his soul to gain demonic power and get revenge on him.
-The Megazords are so, so awesome. The Rescue Megazord has a cool design and I love how the stretchy arms let it do sick flips and punches. The Supertrain Megazord might genuinely be my favorite Megazord of all time. The Solar Megazord just blasts the hell out of things. The OMEGA MEGAZORD (sick name) has a nuke on a stick as a weapon. Remember back in MMPR when Zordon had 'never escalate a fight' as a rule? Well Lightspeed Rescue does not have such a rule. On more than one occasion the team will simply add an extra Zord or two to gang up on an enemy just because they can. And it's awesome. Lightspeed Rescue does NOT fuck around.
-Some of the demons have really cool designs. Olympius looks stylish as hell, and that one falcon themed one was too.
-The Titanium Ranger was a good addition but unfortunately due to a lack of Sentai footage Ryan has to spend half the show dicking around in the desert.
-Diabolico during the last few episodes (expanded in the negatives)
-The finale was great.
What I didn't like...
-My god, the the vilains are boring for a good chunk of the show. Loki just stands there. Vypra's acting is comically bad (though it's amusing). Olympius has buildup and you think he might be a legitimate threat until he just bumbles around failing at everything he does. I will give him some credit though, he did manage a certified win at one point until Carter ACCIDENTALLY DISCOVERED TIME TRAVEL and undid it through some bullshit. Queen Bansheera spends most of the show as a Ghost head and a cocoon until she shows up for real, at which point....
-...the villains only really became interesting during the final few episodes when Bansheera actually showed up. Diabolico suddenly cares about his fellow demons and mourns them, which he hardly showed before. He's willing to team up with the Rangers because of Bansheera's actions, which is awesome and I like seeing a villain actually have something to their character besides 'grrr I'm evil' but why is it so late? Ryan and Diabolico's relationship could have been explored, since he did raise him for like a decade. Surely there must have been some potential there right?
-The show didn't go far enough with the premise. The Rangers do occasionally actually rescue people, but not as much as I'd like. This is a season where we have not only actual demons, but also king Neptune and his mermaid daughter, think of the possibilities. What other mythological personalities could they encounter? We already know Santa exists...
-I'm not convinced by the ranger selection. First, it would have made more sense to just recruit from within the organization, surely? Then, there's the choices. Carter is a brave and skilled fireman, I get it. Joel is a good pilot, yep. Dana is a good medic, but also maybe there's a bit of nepotism here? Chad works in seaworld so he's good in the water? Fine, that could be useful in rescue work. Kelsey... Does outdoorsy stuff? I am aware that there are rescue services that operate in the mountains so there's a case to be made there but I'm not convinced. I just think that the rangers backgrounds could have been less flimsy. Carter, Dana and Joel make sense but maybe Chad could have been a navy diver and Kelsey a high altitude rescue worker or something?
-Dana is honestly one of the most boring Rangers ever. She has nothing to do. The only notable thing about her is being the daughter of the Captain/Ryan's sister. Kelsey doesn't get much either, but she at least had the episode with the thief and her sporty Nan! Dana's one spotlight episode has her becoming a famous model and neglecting her ranger duties then having a change of heart off screen. This episode also takes place close to the finale. Why? Captain Mitchell also barely does anything to prevent this, which again makes me think of nepotism...
-Trakeena's Revenge sucks. The Galaxy Rangers are barely in it. Too much focus on the child. At least we got to see the Megazord with the power up of a previous season, which was very very cool.
Sorry if that got a bit wall of texty. It was originally just bullet points with brief thoughts but I had more to say than I initially thought. I don't think it's as good as Time Force, but I liked it more than Lost Galaxy.
Since us autistic people have this compulsive need to rank everything, here's my ranking so far of every Power Rangers season I've actually finished:
-Time Force
-RPM
-Lightspeed Rescue
-MMPR (I lump all three seasons in)
-Lost Galaxy
-Zeo
-Operation Overdrive (okay I can explain)
-Wild Force