Amph Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers

A movie would kick ass if done right. Use the DinoRanger idea, sense that's the one everyone will regonize.

 

I will throw as much money as possible to watch it if they could get Austin, Yost and Amy Jo Johnson back to play a role.

 

They're all too old now, unless their characters were turned into consultants for a new generation. I'd really prefer a straight-up, much more serious reboot, though; the franchise got way too hokey after the first three years were done.

 

Will they go with original villains? Because I'm not sure Rita would really work anymore.

Lord Zedd would be great though if they made him ruthless like he was when he first appeared on the show

 

I'm not saying let them play the rangers, they could play mentor roles and pass the torch.

 

Well, speculate no more. A Power Rangers movie is officially a go, go.

Lionsgate has set the Power Rangers movie release date for July 22, 2016, officially scheduling morphin’ time for just over two years from now. The film doesn’t yet have a director let alone a cast, but X-Men: First Class screenwriters Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz were tasked with penning the script a month ago, and Roberto Orci (Star Trek) boarded the project as executive producer. Story details are non-existent at this point, but Orci recently revealed that Power Rangers is not a “leave it behind reboot”, adding that the film will exist in continuity with the TV series. The question then is, which TV series? Power Rangers began in 1993 on Fox and has aired a total of 20 seasons thus far, going through a number of different incarnations of the core Rangers...

...Here’s the official synopsis for Power Rangers, per Lionsgate and Saban:

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From a story by Executive Producer Roberto Orci (TRANSFORMERS, STAR TREK, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2) and screenwriters Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller (X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, THOR) comes a modern reinvention of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, a group of ordinary high school kids who find themselves infused with extraterrestrial powers and must harness those powers as a team to save the world.​

Full article here.

I was 19 at the time and never got swept up in the Power Rangers phenomenon, but I caught a few minutes of the original incarnation here and there. I thought it was pretty awful, but it was easy to understand why kids loved it. I also thought the Pink Ranger was hot.

So fans, what are your thoughts? Excited? Nervous about Robert Orci's involvement? Can they take this material more seriously, yet maintain a sense of fun? Will the new Pink Ranger be hot?

 

NGL, Orci's involvment does significantly dampen my enthusiasm for a Power Rangers reboot (and I don't like most reboots to begin with).

 

You know that fine print fast talker at the end of every radio ad that's a total buzz-kill for what sounded like a good product or promotion--"Notvalidinthe50statesCanadaortherestoftheworld"--? That's what reading that Robert Orci is somehow attached to a project is like.

 

Well it's really gonna be interesting to see how Orci will pull off not ruining the present franchise continuty, while at the same time using the Zyuranger template.

I mean, I put money on it, that you can expect there to be Dinozords and Dinorangers on the big screen. IT's the most profitable version. The one that made the most money. The one with the most nostalgia to get us old @#%!ers in the seats. If I'm wrong then apparently in order to stay with continuity we'll be getting a high dollar version of this....



I'm sure a PR movie with robot trains is going to make all the money.

I could care less about he continuity of the thing. If Saban was smart he'd use this as an attempt to open the franchise up. Right now its just the TV show. Open it up with a comic book(not that papercuts bull), video game, or maybe even a cartoon show.

The images of a bad ass PR video game are zooming through my mind.

 

With Orci involved, I'll just pretend it's an alternate universe either way and leave it at that.

 

That group looks................ I don't know.

 

Even though this isn't technically a total reboot, it's not unlike the recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in a number of ways. It certainly faces many of the same challenges, namely that of competing interests. On the one hand, you have the kids--now adults--who grew up with the show and want some nostalgia. On the other hand, there are the kids of today that you have to appeal to.

Since I didn't really grow up with the Power Rangers, I'm curious to know what sorts of things fans consider to be important or essential. I know they switched up the cast and the story/setting every few years, but I'm sure there are some things that were hallmarks for the series. Is "It's Morphin' time!" as essential as "Cowabunga!" is to the Turtles (The recent movie TMNT movie found a pretty clever compromise to work it in)? Do you think it's critical for them to include an updated version of the "Go (Go!) Power Rangers!" theme? etc.

 

Hm, not sure how much they can borrow from that team, guess it depends on how much they incorporate from whatever the theme of that year's Super Sentai is. Sometimes they manage (I hear RPM was pretty good, despite being based on a particularly kiddy Sentai team), sometimes they don't. Guess it also depends on how literal a reboot this is or not. Its not like they'll have to rely on existing Sentai footage for a movie. Heck, the original MMPR movie was using costumes that were two, three years out of date by then (though they did use the sorta current mecha).

As for what's important or essential... yeah, everyone has their own answer. The action, the giant robots, the moral lessons (probably not that, especially for the old time fans, but still), the attractive people ( ) , the fantasy element (aliens are attacking!), the robot assistant (probably not that ), none or all of the above, who knows. I glance at the current season (at least I think its the current season), Super Megaforce and they're really trying to follow the original closely with a talking head and a robot assistant. Though I miss the old "guy in a suit" approach compared to the current bad CG approach.

Hopefully no one travels back in time to MMPR days and causes a new timeline to form. Otherwise, not entirely sure, but thought most of the seasons didn't step on each others' toes too much. Different cities, different villains, occasionally different centuries (I think SPD and RPM were in the future?).

Did they air that anniversary special yet? I have a hard time keeping track of when Nick airs their episodes (and which channel its on, and I don't even get all the Nick channels either, making it more confusing).

 

Well the cast changes didn't start until season 5. It was mostly the same cast for those 5 seasons, then switched entirely 10 episodes into Turbo. That group of rangers lasted until "IN SPACE," which is considered the grand finale of the Mighty Morphin era. After that finally morphed into the same concept used by Japan with Super Sentai. Meaning each season being a new cast, new story ,and new PR concept. By the time this came into effect Power Ranger was nowhere near as popular as it was. Now obviously the show still has it's fans, and apparently still does well. Lets just say it's no longer in the public eye.

Which means any attempt, in my mind, to make up a new PR concept with a new idea revolving around new kids will ultimately not make the huge amount of money. There'll be nothing to really get the parents of the kids, or those wanting to see a high quality PR movie into the seats. That's why, and I could end up being wrong, I'm pretty sure that the template they'll use will be that of the first season. Which again is the Might Morphin Power Rangers, Zyuranger concept. It's the only version that would make the most money. If you notice any time an article about the movie is posted, it has a picture of the original rangers, or talks about the first season. It's the immediate visual you get when you talk about a Power Rangers movie. Anybody who was around when it was popular is in their late 20's(my self) or early 30's, so I doubt anybody who hears about a Power Rangers movie is expecting a "Wild Force," movie. What they expect is the MMPR movie. That means, Zordon, Alpha, Dinozords, etc.

Now if Orci wants to keep the continuity, and or have original cast members make appearances, fine. The question is how he's going to pull it off? All the sereis are still canon even though it's a new concept each time. That's a lot of baggage. No doubt there are ways, but I can't see the original cast members coming back to be the Rangers atleast entirely. I expect a new cast.

 

mighty morphin power rangers... got "too" hokey... after three years...

 

i dunno man, 5 year olds love them some trains

 

Which former PR actor would you want to see and what roles do you want them to play in the movie?

 

Jason would come back easily I think but would the others really come back?

 

Jason David Frank should play Zordon's head.

 

Others have shown up occasionally over the years, so they can still get at least half a dozen or more if they wanted. Jason David Frank was mostly ok as a mentor during Dino Thunder (though sadly I don't think DT had much references to the original, despite also having a dinosaur theme). Others have shown up for the occasional anniversary team-ups. Operation Overdrive had a bunch show up, and Super Megaforce has an anniversary episode too (appropriate as Gokaiger was the Super Sentai anniversary series).

There's still enough interest to keep the series on the air (though it was on break for a year or so, I think), so that's something, but I'm not sure about a movie. There are still a few diehard fans, but I doubt enough to make a movie a success. And when they added sound effects to season 1 when they reaired those episodes... yeah, that's not a good thing. I know the original was campy, and whole concept is campy, but adding sound effects (or something like that) does not help.

 

DT had an episode that showed a good amount of history of the series so far. We saw a picture of the original 6 or the Jason/Trini/Zack replacements. We then saw the Red Zeo/White MMPR and Green MMPR in a vision. An episode with some of the original rangers would have been awesome.

 

Actually I think Yost would be a better "mentor" and backbone role.

Amy Jo Johnson might also fit.

 

Would Yost come back?
Amy could work.