All Rise...

Judge David Johnson got totally wasted at the Monster Bash.

Editor's Note

Our reviews of Power Rangers Samurai: A Team Divided (published February 3rd, 2013), Power Rangers Samurai: Christmas Together, Friends Forever (published November 30th, 2012), and Power Rangers Samurai: The Sixth Ranger (published May 31st, 2013) are also available.

The Charge

Trick or Treat! Here's the DVD equivalent of a fistful of pennies.

The Case

Just in time for Halloween, Lionsgate gives Power Rangers fans a solid boot to the groin. Though packaged as Power Rangers Samurai: Monster Bash, we only get three episodes, one of which is a clip show, the other two being antiquated Halloween episodes from the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.

•  "Party Monsters"—A collection of brief monster fights from Power Rangers Samurai strung together with a Halloween Part plot device. You see, a bunch of monsters defeated by the Rangers get together to drink punch and dwell on past losses. Cut to footage. The End.

•  "Life's a Masquerade"—From the very first season of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, our heroes take a break from their Masquerade Ball to battle a terrifying version of Frankenstein's monster, cooked up by the diabolical Rita. Turns out, Frankenstein is a formidable foe, even though he looks like a dink, forcing the Green Ranger's Dragonzord to copulate with the rest of the Zords in some sort of unsettling The Human Centipede-esque ritual. The treat here is that our weekly internet radio show, The Friday Filibuster, recorded an audio commentary for this episode, which you can find in the sidebar under "Accomplices."

•  "Trick or Treat"—Another episode from the Power Rangers first season. Rita sends down a rapping pumpkin monster. Yes, a monster with a giant pumpkin on its head that raps. Meanwhile, Kimberly competes on a Halloween game show.

That's it, a straight up attempt to capitalize on the holiday with a cheap episode dump. What's worse is these episodes aren't very good. The early shows are woefully outdated and the Power Rangers Samurai "special" is lame at best.

The DVD: standard def 1.33:1 full frame, Dolby 2.0 Stereo, English closed captioned subtitles, and a Halloween Safety PSA featuring the stars of the Power Rangers Samurai.

The Verdict

Consider yourselves tricked.

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