Jack Red reviews Big Bad Beetleborgs & Beetleborgs Metallix (1996-1998)

Hi everyone I'm Jack Red, there was a time I used to be into Power Rangers. I didn't think they still be making shows every year since the early 90s. But there was a show made by the same people bringing these Japanese shows to the United States with major changes. This was back from Saban didn't just focus on Power Rangers but a few similar shows during the late 90s.

I am here to talk about Beetleborgs. Oh man, not a lot of people talk about this show anymore. There are many reasons why including Power Rangers being more popular. I figured why not talk about one of the few live action shows I was into growing up on Fox Kids portion of Fox. Now there are many differences from Power Rangers that I will go into for this review.

Big Bad Beetleborgs aka Season 1


This started by three kids that wondered into an abandoned house. They end up meeting an phantom named Flabber who grants a wish. The good news is them become their favorite comic book heroes in the real world, the Beetleborgs. The bad news is Flabber had to open a portal to Beetleborgs comic universe letting the Magnavors free into their world.

I should mention, this particular house had an all stars of classic horror movie monsters living there. It seems like more original footage was made for this than Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers or some of it's shows that followed. Power Rangers was more of the concept of a different villain they would face a week.

Although in some way that does follow suit here, this is more about these kids solving problems. Sometimes on the fly no pun intended. They had to deal with a lot of Beetleborgs villains. At one point, the Magnavors chose to combine majority of them into one being. Which opened the door for the worse that I will explain later.

I also liked how sometimes we see these classic monsters interacts with those from the comics. Some of these encounters are quite unusual like this show wasn't already that lol. Each kid gets a different super power that can be used outside their suits. Jo is super strength, Andrew gets telekinesis & Roland becomes a speedster.

Now how it differs from Power Rangers is quite interesting. They aren't fighting aliens, they are actually fighting creatures from a particular comic book universe. No it's not Marvel, DC or even Image for that matter. Also like Power Rangers, they do get their own weaponry to use against enemies.

But they also get their own mechs as well. Yet how they go about this is vastly different. They don't combine together into a bigger robot. Although, they do get a station that's hidden meant to keep their vehicles. One of these is a flying beetle with around that can tunnel through the ground. Power Rangers do have a long history of flying robots.

They don't have a lot of robots that tunnel into the ground. Then again, Power Rangers does often change their overall themes. One of my biggest problems that took me away from it. Not including that, they do gain a form unique to Andrew that can deal more power to whoever it's fired at. Of course, they do get to face a doppelganger of themselves too.

I should point out, most of them time these classic monsters are selfish. There are surprising times they do something nice. They mixed a few things that shouldn't work but does more so than well Power Rangers. Another critical difference is Beetleborgs is actually kids defending their own town from all kind of threats.

Usually Power Rangers are for the most teenagers to adults doing the same exact thing. I actually felt parts of the humor works better in Beetleborgs. Not only that, they do a better job explaining the villains better. I also liked they do bring in the very guy who created the Beetleborgs into their show. No not Saban himself, I meant the comic book artist within the show that created them.

There's some uniqueness to this lost classic among those shows. It does a better job at being a sitcom while being something you aren't expecting or can't fully prepare yourself for. Let's be honest, Power Rangers quickly becomes too predictable for it's own good. Even the big Power Rangers fans have to agree with that.

Beetleborgs Metallix aka Season 2


Now this is where the show is at it's best. This is focused on Metal Hero's second season with a beetle theme. I do need to point out, despite being made from a long line of shows itself. They only focused on a short lived take on beetle theme heroes for this show. Honestly, if most people talk about this show, Beetleborgs Metallix is very likely what they will be talking about.

It turns out the artist that created them had a evil brother whose also an artist. The Magnavors left one of this guy's creations out. Nukus quickly came up with a plan that ultimately changed everything. He suddenly appeared outside that abandoned house to challenge the Beetleborgs. He knew he how easily he was going to win.

Trust me, this was one of the biggest ownage in history of this show. They do get an upgrade from the same guy who helped them in the past. Thus. everything about them is getting a major improvement. Yes I know, this sorta followed the zords of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers Season 2 becoming more powerful than their original zords.

At the same time, it was virtually all of that at once. The Crustaceans were all created by the evil artist. But only Nukus, Horribelle & Vilor no longer have drawings to return to among their defeat. I should mention for some odd reason, both season's villain groups shared the same headquarter place. Which so happens to be a graveyard yes I'm not kidding.

We go from fighting comic book villains to drawings. To me, that artist looks strangely like Doug Walker lol. Over the course of this season, you could even say this kids becomes too much for versus debates. They get control of a powerful giant robot similar to Titanus on Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.

Nukus wasn't happy so he created his own making a similar giant robot. Guess what, Beetleborgs now also got control over that too. From production side of things, they weren't paying attention how they were using the footage. This resulted in an unsolved cliffhanger since there was no way of stopping Nukus for good.

Nukus' group was smarter, more aggressive & more unpredictable. Let's be honest, the first villain group was a bunch of idiots. I felt the way they went to making this more epic was done just right. They even got to fought characters created by both artists from their child hoods. Except for the way it ended, this was a solid season worth rewatching.



Now I can talk about stuff that relates to both seasons. Flabber always been my favorite character in this show. He looked like Jay Leno mixed with Elvis. He sorta fits the Zordon role not simply because he also has blue skin. Both of them can use magic to a degree with Flabber's being more ridiculous.

Jo was actually played by two young actresses during this show's run. You can easily tell they're not the same person. It would be different if there were twin sisters but they aren't related. The ghoul character is only in Season 2 but quickly ends up being my second favorite monster in that house. She often sends mixed messages yet she is clever in her own way.

I love this show reminds me of The Munsters & The Addams Family respectively. It kinda feels like a new version of both. Oh wait let's pretend we don't know about The New Addams Family show moving on. Beetleborgs clearly spent more time into creating original material while more footage was used for Power Rangers.

They make it clear that they love to test different ideas. At times, the classic monsters gets a role in how some things played out. Sometimes, relatives of theirs actually shows up in a couple episodes. I kinda like they did that since in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, Bulk & Skull often get pushed to the side.

Also majority of enemies the Beetleborgs doesn't get more ridiculous than they need to be. I felt the overall balance of them was done way better here. The actual stories works a lot better too. When you watch an episode of Power Rangers back in the day. You can easily get confused with how things play out sometimes.

I am not saying they are rushing them out which in a sense they are. I meant, majority of them are simply better written for this particular show. Keep in mind, all of them are pulled from Metal Hero series. I think because it wasn't the more popular show, it sorta kept things more true to itself. I kinda liked the Shadowborg character, easily one of my favorite villains of this show.

I also liked one of these kids helped out with his dad's comic book store from time to time. The fact this was running as Fox was also airing a few Power Rangers show & Goosebumps. I got to give them respect. It is likely some of those shows could've taken away views from Beetleborgs. Just imagine this at one point went head to head with Goosebumps on the same channel.

Now for me that's still kinda mind blowing. Both of those shows were in my child hood to a degree. I am still a huge fan of them both as well. Beetleborgs took more time to explain things is one key reason why I like it so much. I also liked they went into a more mixed direction that ultimately benefits from their editing.

I do recommend this show if you grew up with it or need something similar to Power Rangers in some way. Personally, I like this a hell lot more in comparison. The first season was all about comic books. The second & final season literately brought drawings to life. I felt that by itself was more ambitious to pull off.