Saban’s highly-anticipated Power Rangers movie reboot is set to release in theaters early next year. The new film is expected to revive the franchise for a new generation of fans, even though the TV series has remained on the air for much of the past 23 years. Five new actors will play Mighty Morphin characters Jason (Dacre Montgomery), Kimberly (Naomi Scott), Billy (RJ Cyler), Trini (Becky G) and Zack (Ludi Lin) in an edgier, more grounded take from Project Almanac director Dean Israelite. Fan-favorite characters like Zordon, Alpha 5, Rita Repulsa, Goldar and the Putty Patrol will also appear in the film.
Yet the look and feel of Power Rangers isn’t the only thing that has changed in the transition to the big screen. There have been rumors for months now that different parts of the Rangers’ story will be altered from the TV series. The first trailer features a few of these changes when the Rangers were shown to have enhanced strength out of their suits. The suits themselves and the morphing effects also looked notably different – and there was even a kiss between Jason and Kimberly in the trailer that had fans buzzing.
Those readily apparent differences, however, are just the start. Now The Wrap is asserting that some of the rumors we’ve been hearing are true. The site has also divulged some new background on the Rangers, as well as more on what we can expect from the story itself. Let’s go through some of the most interesting tidbits below:
The first detail has actually been evident for a while if you noticed that Rita Repulsa’s costume looks a lot like the ones of the other Rangers. The Wrap states that Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks) is 65 million years old and is indeed a former Green Ranger gone rogue.
Similarly, the second reported detail was also to be expected: Zordon (Bryan Cranston) was the original Red Ranger millions of years ago, long before he transformed into a state of pure energy.
As for the rest of the Rangers themselves, new details disclose that they are called to action from the free planets. They’re the best and most disciplined, having been chosen from billions and taught from the time they were children. The situation must be dire in the movie for the new Rangers to be called without prior training.
Alpha 5 (Bill Hader) has also been changed a bit from his lovable, robot self in the TV series. He will now have a supple metallic body that is able to mutate into different designs in order to maximize his role in the movie.
The Zords themselves will be a lot larger than they were in the TV series. In recent movie posters, they appear to be double the size of the originals.
The Wrap has also presented us with our first run down of the plot of the movie. Surprisingly, it involves the powerful Zeo Crystal first seen in the third season of the Power Rangers TV series.
The Putty Patrol will make an appearance in the movie when Rita Repulsa is trying to steal gold bullion from the Central Bank of Russia. Later, five Putties made of stone challenge the Rangers.
Rita Repulsa is collecting the gold to resurrect Goldar, and the Rangers have only 71 hours to stop her. Turns out, Goldar was vaporized into a cloud of microscopic gold particles in an opening action sequence on Ancient Earth, so now his molecular essence is scattered around the globe.
In the movie, the Zeo Crystal is an artifact that channels the Morphing Grid — a dimension that weaves through all things and what gives the Rangers their power. The crystal was hidden on Earth to keep it out of the hands of those who would use it as a weapon.
The Zeo Crystal is protected by a force field. Anything that comes in contact with it is vaporized. However, Goldar was created to penetrate that force field and steal the crystal.
Rita Repulsa has been trying to deliver the Zeo Crystal to her master, Lord Zedd, for a long time. And true to the TV series, Lord Zedd once burned half his face off trying to steal the Crystal for himself, which has only made him even more desperate to have it once and for all.
If all this new information turns out to be true, then fans should be pretty excited for the movie. It seems like the writers have decided to take a lot of material from the original TV series but add their own spin on things. Adding in the darker tone, too, Power Rangers should be able to appeal not only younger fans looking for a new kind of superhero but alsoto older fans who grew up on the franchise. There’s a reason that Power Rangers has lasted as long as it has, and Saban may have just found a way to make their hit property relevant again.
