Himitsu Sentai GoRanger Movie (1975)
Production: Toei Corporation
Duration: 25 Minutes
By Jeffrey Couto

Introduction

Born of Kamen Rider's success and several cinematic influences, GoRanger took Japan by storm when it first made its debut on television. By taking the formula that had been established by Kamen Rider and adding its own unique spin, it heralded the dawn of the Super Sentai hero genre and one of the world's most successful TV series, which has now been on the air for over 25 consecutive years.

Taking advantage of its popularity Toei released this movie (a blown up version of TV episode 6) as part of its 1975 Manga Matsuri alongside other popular properties of its day such as Robocon, Great Mazinger, and Getta Robo.

The Story

"Tetsurin Kamen and Black Cross steal microfilm information that will help them to attack the Eagle Organization and it’s up to the Go-Ranger Team to stop them while at the same time save the lives of a family whom Black Cross has kidnapped and are holding hostage." -- Jmaruyama's GoRanger Movie-1 Profile

Review

Even though it's nothing more than a blown up version of episode six from the GoRanger TV series run, this is a fun movie that perfectly encapsulates what made early henshin hero programs so entertaining to watch.

Being filmed early on in the series it shows what a long way the genre has come, even within the span of time in which GoRanger ran for. While not highly defined or anywhere near perfected a lot of what would go on to become vital components of the Sentai show formula are present here, albeit in a rougher fashion. Examples of this include the team’s battle entrance, the support mecha, and ultimate combination attack, which at this stage in the series still consisted of our heroes using a silver-colored volleyball (it would be a couple of more episodes until the ball started taking on the color of the GoRanger that kicked it last).

One area where this episode/film stands out even by modern standards are its action scenes, which for the most part give even today’s most seasoned tokusatsu veterans a run for their money. From motorcycle and boat chases, to fast paced martial arts fights & showdowns, this was a really fun movie.

Another aspect of it that I think is worthy of mentioning is the FX, which despite being somewhat primitive by today’s standards (and admittedly they are), convey a sense of imagination, pseudo-realism and fun unequaled by today’s best CGI efforts. There really isn’t anything that to me, personally, could match the magic of seeing what is a very obvious cardboard building get blown up in a dramatic fashion or highly visible strings during a flying mecha sequence. In my view these effects conveyed a sense of reality all of their own and truly make these older shows the classics that they are.

The movie’s video transfer to DVD does suffer somewhat from noise and some blurriness here and there, but nothing that detracts too much from the story’s narration. The sounds and BGM/song tracks are good and still hold up quite well today. All in all I would say that Toei did a nice job transferring the original print to DVD, especially in view of how old the source material is.

Conclusion

Himitsu Sentai GoRanger movie 1 is a great piece of Super Sentai history that should be checked out by all tokusatsu buffs. Not the best entry of the GoRanger movies, but a prime sample of where the series evolved from.

Jeffrey Couto