Gold Rush
04-16-2007, 11:14 AM
I would be surprised if anyone knew this actress on these boards, but I feel the need to mark her passing, even though I just found out that she died last year.
Somewhat long explanation : Machiko Sago mostly played the villianess in in many notable Japanese Live-Action Sentai shows of the 80's. Her style was "over-the-top" but it had some charm that most kids-at-heart would tend to enjoy. Most of her work I mostly know from sight and not by name, since I tended to scour for tapes of these shows from Japan even before "Power Rangers" came to the states.
Many of these things were silly, had a bit of action melodrama/violence to spice things up, then had some more silliness. They work better in Japanese, since you mostly can't understand what is being said. To put a parallel in American-terms, I guess she would be sort of like Phyllis Diller. I can't quite think of European equivalent, since I am not as knowledgable about European Sci-Fi as I should be. She seemed like a neat lady who enjoyed her roles and enjoyed her fan base.
One of her major appearances in America was as Bandora in the original Power Rangers brought over by Saban. They renamed the character "Rita Repulsa", so you may know of her if you ever glimpsed the show back then. The american effort eventually replaced her parts as the series went beyond it's Japanese time frame with an american actress an explained her slightly different look to "having a facial" or some such. These shows/teams/actors mostly last only a year before they are replaced with a whole new cast and series in Japan. During the last episode, they "surprised" the actress with a script change : two of the villians, known as "Goldar" (a dog-faced villian with wings in Gold Armor) and "Scorpina" (a cute japanese girl in gold-colored armor themed as a Scorpion) got together (or married) and had a baby. The baby was dressed up slightly resembling the parents. Then the two villians declared Bandora/Rita to be the chil's godmother. This was the TV Production Crew's tribute to all the hard work Machiko had put in. Humorous, but sweet in its way.
I eventually found out she played one last role, again for the Japanese ranger market, that eventually came over to these shores as "Power Rangers : Mystic Force". There she played her only "good guy" role as the all-in-white Queen of Magic. She had been ill for awhile before this in real life, but kept her illness hidden. I am unsure if someone knew this and gave her this role.
Some of you may be chuckling to yourselves, which is alright, you didn't quite grow up with this and know about this genre. I would only ask that while you view these links, suspend your disbelief and gaze at the it. It is alright to laugh, but enjoy her work and think about what sort of person would choose to play such over-the-top roles in this day and age, where so many are concerned with typecasting.
There are no more Clayton Moore's or Adam West's or even Christopher Reeve's and William Shatner's. Perhaps some would say this is a good thing, but sometimes I wonder about the magic going away from such televised/movie ventures.
"Nobody did it better" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Yn04G7x6A)
Slightly more detailed tribute (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_a8Mcn7Jmc&mode=related&search=)
Ending Credits in an earlier, lighter, series showing some of her silly villiany (this show was meant for even younger kids) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yfYEKhryvM&mode=related&search=)
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Gold Rush
Somewhat long explanation : Machiko Sago mostly played the villianess in in many notable Japanese Live-Action Sentai shows of the 80's. Her style was "over-the-top" but it had some charm that most kids-at-heart would tend to enjoy. Most of her work I mostly know from sight and not by name, since I tended to scour for tapes of these shows from Japan even before "Power Rangers" came to the states.
Many of these things were silly, had a bit of action melodrama/violence to spice things up, then had some more silliness. They work better in Japanese, since you mostly can't understand what is being said. To put a parallel in American-terms, I guess she would be sort of like Phyllis Diller. I can't quite think of European equivalent, since I am not as knowledgable about European Sci-Fi as I should be. She seemed like a neat lady who enjoyed her roles and enjoyed her fan base.
One of her major appearances in America was as Bandora in the original Power Rangers brought over by Saban. They renamed the character "Rita Repulsa", so you may know of her if you ever glimpsed the show back then. The american effort eventually replaced her parts as the series went beyond it's Japanese time frame with an american actress an explained her slightly different look to "having a facial" or some such. These shows/teams/actors mostly last only a year before they are replaced with a whole new cast and series in Japan. During the last episode, they "surprised" the actress with a script change : two of the villians, known as "Goldar" (a dog-faced villian with wings in Gold Armor) and "Scorpina" (a cute japanese girl in gold-colored armor themed as a Scorpion) got together (or married) and had a baby. The baby was dressed up slightly resembling the parents. Then the two villians declared Bandora/Rita to be the chil's godmother. This was the TV Production Crew's tribute to all the hard work Machiko had put in. Humorous, but sweet in its way.
I eventually found out she played one last role, again for the Japanese ranger market, that eventually came over to these shores as "Power Rangers : Mystic Force". There she played her only "good guy" role as the all-in-white Queen of Magic. She had been ill for awhile before this in real life, but kept her illness hidden. I am unsure if someone knew this and gave her this role.
Some of you may be chuckling to yourselves, which is alright, you didn't quite grow up with this and know about this genre. I would only ask that while you view these links, suspend your disbelief and gaze at the it. It is alright to laugh, but enjoy her work and think about what sort of person would choose to play such over-the-top roles in this day and age, where so many are concerned with typecasting.
There are no more Clayton Moore's or Adam West's or even Christopher Reeve's and William Shatner's. Perhaps some would say this is a good thing, but sometimes I wonder about the magic going away from such televised/movie ventures.
"Nobody did it better" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Yn04G7x6A)
Slightly more detailed tribute (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_a8Mcn7Jmc&mode=related&search=)
Ending Credits in an earlier, lighter, series showing some of her silly villiany (this show was meant for even younger kids) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yfYEKhryvM&mode=related&search=)
================================================== ==
Gold Rush