The last couple years, I’ve become quite the aficionado on topics I never thought I would be. For example, I now know more about Winnie the Pooh than I’d ever care to. A lot of this is due to the fact that I am the parent of young children.

Another area of expertise I am finding myself more and more in is the subject of the Power Rangers. Those young children I just mentioned... well, they’re both boys. And Power Rangers are aimed precisely at young boys. Add to the fact that I do frequent DVD reviews, and you have the recipe for a Power Ranger expert. I’m awaiting my seat on a high-profile criminal trial that has a need for an expert witness on the Power Rangers.

But even with as much as I know about Power Rangers, morphers and zords, there’s a lot of back-story I haven’t covered. After all, this series has been on the air in one form or another since I was in college in the early 1990s. The last few incarnations I’m familiar with, and I have to say that S.P.D. is easily my favorite. Even the dinosaur-based Power Rangers from last year don’t hold up.

The next two installments of Power Rangers S.P.D. are available on DVD. Volume 2 (known as “Stakeout”) and Volume 3 (known as “Wired”) each contain five episodes from the ABC Family morning show.

S.P.D. stands for “Space Patrol Delta” and takes place in a future Earth where aliens are common in the big cities. An elite police force of Power Rangers, run by a blue-toned Marmaduke named Anubis “Doggie” Cruger, protects the Earth from evil aliens. The A squad of Power Rangers have gone missing, and a group of young cadets are given the chance to take over their job.

This new Power Rangers universe opens up some interesting doors to stories and characters I haven’t seen before. My personal favorite character is a trash alien named Piggy. He’s your standard informant for both the bad guys and the good guys. What’s nice about him is that he gives us a look at a gray character in an otherwise black-and-white show.

These ten episodes of “Power Rangers S.P.D.” take the rangers to different places, both physically and emotionally. With Emperor Gruum bearing down on Earth and sending his evil robots to do his dirty work, there’s a chance for the Power Rangers to destroy things without guilt. After all, what’s wrong with zapping a robotic thug with a laser gun when it’s really not alive?

We also get to see some additional character development with Cruger, who has a chance to face his arch enemy that destroyed his home planet. In confronting this alien general, Cruger gets a chance to morph into the Shadow Ranger himself and seek justice for his lost race. A pretty heavy story for such a young age, but it’s pulled off rather well.

The DVD volumes each comes with a short behind-the-scenes of Power Ranger living, hosted by a different ranger. This time around, we have hosts Syd (the really cute blonde) and Sky (the frustrated leader wannabe) to host the shorts. There’s also a virtual flight simulator, which looks like it would be a lot of fun. However, just like the same game on Volume 1, every time I get to the end, my pod blows up. Maybe it’s my adult incompetence creeping in, but I haven’t been able to figure it out completely.

Sure, each 22-minute episode really has about 10 minutes or less of plot. The rest is a lot of frenetic martial arts and badly dubbed lines from the lead actors. But it kept my attention for ten episodes better than other Power Rangers have in the past.



Specifications: Dolby Digital Surround Sound. Fullscreen (1.33:1). English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.