The Power Rangers Reboot is underway. After several different incarnations of the famed teenage squad, the original group is coming back once more. The original characters that is, not the original actors. The names and colors of the original crew are being brought back to life in hopes of rekindling that initial spark that set fire to a series that lasted for more than a decade.
Jason, the red ranger, will be returning to lead the group. Kimberley, the pink ranger, will be joining the team as well. After those two mainstays, who used to be love interests, the rest of the team rounds out with Trini, Billy and Zack, as the yellow, blue and black rangers respectively.
The actors that are going to bring these characters to life are still being decided, but there have been some very large names associated with the project. Actors like Liam Neeson and James Vanderbeek have had their names thrown into the mix publicly, just to name a few.
Next, Check out when the filming will start and when the movie will be released!
The Professionals Are Coming
We know the director is Dean Israelite, who is probably best known for his work on "Project Almanac." The script that has been drafted so far has come from Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz, who recently wrote the script for " X-Men: First Class."
We know that the filming will start in Vancouver in January of 2016, and we know that the expected release date has been pushed back about 6 months or so, and it is projected to open in January of 2017.
Power Zord featured the combined might of all of the Power Rangers coming together as one
We know that, HaimSaban, one of the original co-creators, is completely onboard and is one of the producers for the upcoming reboot. This means that the possibility of the Power Rangers movie taking on a darker tone and being much more of an adult film has just become definitively smaller.
After the non-authorized, fan-produced film came out last summer in a bootleg version, Saban has openly criticized the direction that film took and the violence that was portrayed.
Next – The Dark Side of Power Rangers?!
The Dark Side
There was a slapped together and very dark film starring Vanderbeek that was shot last year, portraying the Power Rangers as broken down adults. The idea was that these kids had devoted their teenage years to defending the Earth against the evils of outer space, only to have basically lost in the end.
Technology had taken over, and in a Terminator-esque fashion had determined that it had to wipe out humans for their own good. A huge key to making this happen was to eliminate the defenders of the earth, known as the Power Rangers.
This unauthorized version of the Power Rangers featured graphic deaths and drug use
There are scenes of drug use and some others of scantily clad young women. There are execution scenes where some of the Power Rangers are brutally murdered. There are, of course, plenty of curse words as well.
The illegally produced film is someone's interpretation of the Power Rangers having done it all for nothing, and being left in a shallow world of pity and self-loathing. It certainly is not for younger viewers, and most definitely does not represent what the Power Rangers are all about.
Next – Will Power Rangers Be PG-13?
The Sky Is The Limit!
If nothing else, the bootleg film brought the Power Rangers back into the daily conversation. For quite a while that film was circulating through the comic book websites and being propped up on You Tube.
People who hadn't thought about the Power Rangers in years were suddenly asking their coworkers if they had seen the gritty new Power Ranger short movie. It was public, and it got a lot of attention.
Now, the real movie is being put together, by the real producer. The authorized, sanctioned reboot is on its way and there is a plethora of talent arriving in the studio daily.
No one knows what the new Power Rangers will actually look like. It literally could be anything
They have secured writers from some other big name films and a director that works in the "PG-13" genre very well. All signs are pointing to a PG-13 release of the new reboot and a good quality cast is sure to follow.
Will there be some tongue-in-cheek reminders that harken back to the somewhat cheesy original series? Of course, there will, but it will be done with the proper reverence and historical satire. It won't be done by showing a bullet coming out of the back of a Power Ranger's head.
