If you grew up in the 90’s like I did, then the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series was probably a major part of your childhood. I fondly remember the names of the Rangers and the colors that they each wear, along with the dinosaurs they represent on their helmets. At the time, I was enamored with the futuristic design that went into Alpha 5 and Zordon’s characters, along with the layout of their command center, where the team spent most of their time planning their strategy before going into battle. I even loved the purposely corny Megazord battles, which were obviously two people dressed in suits battling over a cardboard Angel Grove, very reminiscent to Godzilla.
The Power Rangers have gone through many changes throughout the years and now Lionsgate is making a movie based on the original series. Unfortunately, the trailer and images that have been released so far for the promotion of this movie haven’t given me the same nostalgic feeling I had hoped for.
Let’s start with the trailer. When the trailer premiered, I instantly got a Transformers vibe from it. It felt like it was a huge influence on this film in terms of its darker tones and action sequences. They introduce the Rangers throughout the trailer and show how they found their ‘Power Coins’ on a late night rendezvous, but that’s about it. We got a small glimpse of Rita Repulsa, played by Elizabeth Banks, who seemed to go from a witch in the original series to an alien ruler in this new film. We did not get any explanation of what kind of threat she poses for the teenage heroes or what motivates her character’s actions, just simply that she has “killed Rangers before.”
One of the most memorable parts of the Power Rangers is their uniforms. The first trailer gives us a glimmer of the Red Ranger suit but not enough to get a full comprehensive look. There were many important elements left out of the trailer including Zordon, Alpha 5, the Megazords and a full look at the Rangers in action suited up. It might have been just a “teaser” trailer but it should have been something to get someone who grew up with the show excited again.
After the initial trailer’s release, fans have been given a few images to fill in some of the missing parts of the trailer. We got a full body image of Elizabeth Banks as Rita, posters hinting at the appearance of the Megazords and most recently we got a preview of the CG design of Alpha 5. I was indifferent with the other aspects that we have been shown so far but when I saw the Alpha 5 design is when it really clicked in my mind that maybe the art direction and costume design in this film is not as true to the source material as fans of the show would like. They seem to just want to make a Power Rangers movie to sell the name instead of catering to the fans that helped make it as big as it is in North America.
One of the first issues I had was the design they gave the uniforms. I love the way Marvel and DC bring cartoony costumes to the big screen for their heroes and give them a real world treatment that makes them believable. For this movie they went with a weird alien like costume that reminds me of the Symbiotes in the Spiderman universe. They decided not to bring any elements from the original uniforms to this reboot. I have read that some of the motives behind the uniform designs were to make them seem like they were a part of the Rangers themselves and connect with their spirits. I do not think this concept fits with the Power Rangers universe. They are supposed to be teenagers who get the granted ancient mystical powers by a powerful being not that they are infused with alien energy. Perhaps we will get a better explanation once the movie is released.
The villain of this movie has been changed completely as I stated earlier. Rita Repulsa has always been portrayed as an evil witch who battled Zordon in the past with the help of her henchmen. In the trailer, she appears by herself with no henchmen and dressed in a style similar to the Power Rangers uniforms. She is classified as a ruler of an alien race but there is no mention of her being a witch in the synopsis of the film. If you look at pictures of the original Rita and the new movie variation, there is no resemblance what so ever.
Next up, we have Zordon’s trusty robotic sidekick, Alpha 5, voiced by Saturday Night Live alumnus, Bill Hader. In recently released images from Lionsgate, fans see that this concept looks the closest to his original counterpart but you will soon see some glaring design decisions that clearly separate the new Alpha 5 from the original. The Mighty Morphing Power Rangers version of Alpha 5 appears as a small humanoid cyborg with some steampunk influences, while this new Alpha 5 honestly looks like a background character from the 90’s cartoon, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters. The elongated limbs and the bulging flashlight like eyes that are coming out of his UFO shaped head really make him look alien instead of a robot, which I suppose seems to be the theme of this movie.
And now for the elephant in the room that must be talked about is the infamous YouTube short film by Adi Shankar. It shows a darker and grittier live-action Power Rangers universe. It was well received among fans of the series during its original release in 2015. It depicted what an adult, futuristic version of a Power Rangers film would look like. This short film also uses a lot of elements from the original series in the right way. You have familiar uniforms, a megazord battle that was very short but epic and Rita Repulsa actually acted and looked like the Rita Repulsa we remember. This is basically the one source the new movie has to beat or at least equal when it comes to quality and nostalgia for the fans, but I don’t feel like right now it even comes close to accomplishing that.
Granted, making Power Rangers cool again for the adults that grew up with the series and at the same time, the new generation being introduced to the universe is a difficult thing to pull off. We have yet to see good action scenes with the Rangers in uniform or even how the Megazords fully look. The biggest void for me is that we still haven’t had a glimpse of Bryan Cranston as Zordon. Zordon is a huge prolific character in the Power Rangers lore and it is discouraging that he was not even included in the teaser trailer. I am an optimist; however, and somehow I am still holding out hope that the action we will get along with the elements we have yet to see will come full circle and actually make the fanboy in me happy. I really hope when this movie comes out in theaters it proves this article wrong but I am genuinely worried with what we have seen so far.
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