SABAN'S POWER RANGERS Now In Theatres

I've been a POWER RANGERS fan since the very beginning. The last thing I really wanted was a big theatrical "reboot" of the original series, I'd have much rather seen something in the existing canon, preferably tied into SUPER MEGAFORCE, which had so much potential, but failed to deliver. But here we are. Saban and Lionsgate has chosen to reboot the original MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS as the first in what they're hoping will be a series of films. Hopefully so, because there's missing backstory and other details that need explaining.

I saw the movie tonight at the local AMC Theatre at 7pm. There was pretty good-sized crowd; Some adults with Power Rangers shirts, and a little kid dressed as the Red Dino Charge Ranger. I wore my newest Power Morphicon shirt.

It's best going into the movie dropping what you already know about all of the characters from the series. They're vaguely similar, but their personalities, backstories, and such are quite different. You will spend a decent amount of time learning about them and their problems. My "review" here will mostly go over what I liked and didn't like as a Power Rangers fan, I'm certainly no film critic. Spoilers ahead.

The movie begins with an ancient battle on Earth, with a dying Zordon (Bryan Cranston, as the original Red Power Ranger) battling Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks). There seems to be an awful lot going on, such as attacking spaceships, but no real explanation is given, so hopefully that will be expanded upon in prospective sequels. The Zeo Crystal is quick to be mentioned, and becomes an important element of the plot, but from the sound of it, it's role, power, and design are much different than that of the series.

The title screen is a simple plain text in the lower right hand corner. Personally, I like flashy title logos. Gone is the Command Center as a building; it's replaced with a spaceship of some type (like the one at the beginning?) buried underground. Alpha 5 has a new, unique design, I would compare it slightly to the Millennian from GODZILLA 2000. Voiced by Bill Hader, he provides some dry humor; Personally I was surprised, as I thought they'd be pushing him as some sort of goofy, idiot comic relief character to get a few laughs from the kids. At one point we get his classic "Aye yai yai" line.

That said, while this IS a film kids can watch, it is rated PG-13, and definitely goes far beyond anything the show has ever done. Numerous references to killing, actual deaths, several uses of "ass" and "shit", and an almost-use of the f-bomb. Sexting and drug use are also alluded to, as well as the (off-screen) unintentional pleasuring of a bull (seriously).

 

Zordon is presented in a way quite different from the series; While he was a "floating head" trapped in a time warp before, here his spirit is part of the wall of the ship, reawakened only when the five new Rangers arrive with the Power Coins. The Coins appear to be some sort of rock, with a circular center piece bearing each ranger's color (the toys show dino emblems, but I don't recall if they were apparently in the movie). They grant them superhuman strength and abilities when not morphed, unlike the series (although some later seasons had Rangers who could access special abilities unmorphed). No actual Morphers are used, though they were made by Bandai into toys (but don't worry, we do get the obligatory "It's morphin' time").

The suits look a bit better in action than the initial images that were released. I think they could have done a better job with making the helmets each look a bit more unique. The only weapon shown is the Red Ranger's sword, no other weapons, even the Blade Blasters, seem to be present.



As a huge fan of Power Rangers villains, I was reasonably disappointed in the villain designs. Rita bears little resemblance to her original counterpart, sporting a largely green-armored design, and with good reason, she's the original Green Ranger (though appears only briefly with the helmet early in the film). Her staff, bearing only the vaguest of similarities to the original, is made of the gold she collects, with the Green Power Coin held within the crescent portion. Rita is portrayed effectively scary, many of her scenes have a good horror vibe to them, and she kills and/or seriously wounds several people. There's one scene that was extremely similar to one from LEPRECHAUN 2 where she does a little gold digging from a homeless guy.

Her quest for gold is to create the giant Goldar, who is said to have the power to retrieve the hidden Zeo Crystal, which in effect would destroy the Earth. In the original series, Goldar gained his name and popularity as the gold-armored, snarky, ape/griffin-like top warrior to Rita and Lord Zedd. Here, he's a giant, faceless, ever-melting humanoid mass of literal gold with no personality whatsoever. He bears the vaguest of similarity to the original, with slight horns on his head, functionless wings, and later on he gains a sword. When Rita first creates Goldar, we get the classic "Make my monster grow!" as he forms. No "headache" comments, interestingly. Rita operates entirely on Earth, no Moon Palace to be seen. Rounding out the villains are the Putties, which are much more beastly and rocky golem-types than the original footsoldiers. They're not as much humanoid anymore, but with extra appendages here and there, and some appear to have items built into them from the surroundings of the rock they're formed from. Half the time they appear are actually as battle simulations on Zordon's ship. Again, something that could have made the Putty battles more interesting are a variety of weapons, which the Rangers did not have.

The Dinozords have a decent overhaul of their designs from the series. They don't look that bad in action, but in my opinion, the Megazord is pretty poor. It hardly resembles the original Dino Megazord at all, very humanoid in bodily design. One key difference is, instead of serving as the chest armor, the Pterodactyl appears as a set of wings, and then can become the Megazord's swords. The Mastodon, which appears to have some spider traits, never gets that aspect explained. For that matter, I don't recall any of the zords, or the Rangers' respective dinosaur spirits, referenced by name as all. And if you enjoy a good mecha combining sequence, you'd be disappointed, as it happens largely off-screen (it's basically used as a surprise moment).

In the film itself, the "Go Go Power Rangers" theme is briefly used when the zords go on the march. The version used is the one from the original movie, interestingly (they also appear to drown out the "Mighty Morphin" part). A new, instrumental version is included as part of the credits. There's also a godawful new cover of Snap!'s song "The Power" at the first of the credits.

The movie ends with Rita being defeated in a fashion where they could either decare her dead, or easily bring her back. Interesting the whole space dumpster aspect is never used, she simply spent millions of years in dormancy under the sea (and conveniently recovered by fishermen at the same time the Rangers find the Coins...).

With all of the redesigns and personality changes, there ARE a couple references for the longtime fans. Jason David Frank and Amy Jo Johnson get cameos at the end of the movie, in the crowd celebrating the Megazord's victory, everyone taking selfies. If one wanted to assume they're a couple, this is good vindication for fans who were pro Tommy x Kimberly, that's at least in some alternate continuity they ended up together. And when Jason's dad is driving around looking for his son, he mentions the locations of Mariner Bay and Reefside. This will go unnoticed to the casual viewer, but these were also names of the cities in POWER RANGERS LIGHTSPEED RESCUE and DINOTHUNDER, respectively.

I went into the movie expecting to be disappointed, but I can't say I was. They took many liberties with the source material, but in a way made it something new entirely. The mid-credits scene gives a set-up for a possible (and intended) sequel, but I won't ruin it (and sadly, it doesn't involve Lord Zedd). I guess we'll just see how well it does, though there have been plenty of sequels to films that were essentially flops.

It will never beat the original, but I think it was fair.

Power Rangers official website

Power Morphicon 5 (2016)

Last weekend I attended Power Morphicon in Pasadena, California. It was the fourth one I've attended of the five held; I wasn't able to go to the first one. I flew out Thursday evening (on Spirit airlines, which was a new experience for me). Fortunately I'd found some good people to stay with at the Sheraton Pasadena, which is right next to the convention center where PMC is held.

Me and Latham Gaines (as Mesogog).

The next morning I was up in time to pick up my badge and other goodies. I'd pre-registered a whole year ago, to get one of the coveted higher-level memberships, in this case Gold Ranger status. This entitled me to extra items and early access to the exhibition hall, and so forth. For lunch I stopped by a nearby (and apparently relatively-new) restaurant called CaliBurger, which was pretty good. I'd go again the next day.

The con opened at 4pm, but for the Gold and Platinum members, we got in at 3, and I made my way right to the guest booths. The first person I got to meet was Justin Nimmo, who played Zhane the Silver Ranger in POWER RANGERS IN SPACE. I am an avid collector of Power Rangers, kaiju, and anime autographs, so meeting the guests and getting signed photos is the highlight of the con for me. As a huge fan of the villains, I was very happy to finally meet Latham Gaines (Mesogog/Anton Mercer), Paul Freeman (Ivan Ooze), Kate Sheldon (Nadira), and Carla Perez (Rita Repulsa in the American footage). I surprised Valerie Landon (Kendrix the Pink Galaxy Ranger) with a photo of a monster she voiced, Contemptra, and she said she'd never been asked to sign one before. That evening, I attended the villains panel, which seemed better moderated than last time, though a few attending villain-actors weren't present. It was still very enjoyable. Later on there was a trivia contest, which somehow I managed to emerge as the first place winner, if not only only for my knowledge of the villains and monsters.

Zyuranger henshin.

The next day I was up early to ensure I got a wristband that entitled me to attend the POWER RANGERS DINO CHARGE cast signing. I attended the DINO CHARGE panel, where they (as hoped by many) revealed the cast for next year's NINJA STEEL, followed by the ZYURANGER panel, which was also informative and entertaining. It was great to see the (partial) cast of this Sentai do their henshin and battle poses.

The DINO CHARGE signing was then held, and everyone got an exclusive poster to be signed by the seven attending Dino Charge Rangers; However, with permission, I also got individual photos I brought from home signed as well, a two for one deal! After meeting more guests, I went to the cosplay contest. There were some pretty impressive costumes, winners included the Dino Megazord, Dragonzord, and Claw Battlezord. To finish off the evening in a very non-Power Rangers way, I went to the nearby theatre to see SAUSAGE PARTY (it was hilarious).

Claw Battlezord, Dino Megazord, and Blue Senturion cosplayers.

Sunday morning, I walked (argh!) all the way to the Westin Hotel, where the Gold/Platinum breakfast was being held. You had to pay extra for this and could only get it as a Gold/Platinum member. Each table got a random guest to eat with, the one at our table was Jack Guzman (Danny the Black Wild Force Ranger) who was entertaining to talk to.

After breakfast, I returned to the convention center, where I would finally get the chance to meet the Japanese guests from ZYURANGER and DAIRANGER. I also got to meet Tsutomu Kitagawa again, who I previously met at G-FEST. He's best known for his work as Godzilla in five of the Millennium series films, as well as Super Sentai stunt-work. However, I was after a signed photo of him as Cretaceous King Ghidorah this time, as I already have a few signed Godzilla items. All of the Japanese guests were awesome and an honor to meet.

Tsutomu Kitagawa (Godzilla, stunt Shishi Ranger), me, and Keiichi Wada (Ryuu Ranger).

I finally got to meet voice actor Lex Lang, who, due to unfortunate circumstances, couldn't make it to the con until Sunday. He was the voice of Ecliptor, Rygog, Louie Kaboom, Zen-Aku, and Lerigot,  the former four of whom I got signed photos of.

I then spent a while stalking the silent auctions. They had two figured of the DINO CHARGE villain Curio, who is difficult to find in stores. They had two of them as one auction lot, one being the US version, and the other the (for some reason) differently named UK version. They sold for an amazingly low $20. I had no cash left, and very little money to speak of. I waited until the winning bidder showed up. I started to haggle, saying if he wanted to sell one, I could offer a very small amount if he took Paypal... He GAVE the US one to me. Turns out he only really wanted the UK one... THANK YOU, SIR. I was so grateful. Wanting to end the con on a high note, I headed back to the hotel to finish packing my stuff, and made my way to the airport. I didn't want another debacle like last time.... but that's a whole other, unfortunate story.

Dino Charge Rangers at the Bandai booth.

Overall, another GREAT Power Morphicon, and I hope they'll be having it again in two years. I can almost assure you I'll be there.