OPINION -- Adi Shankar Presents: POWER/RANGERS

Unless you have been hiding underneath a rock for the past 24 hours, then you have heard of this fan-made "bootleg" reboot of the beloved Power Rangers franchise. It has caused a lot of buzz on social media and I have heard a lot of mixed reactions to it. A lot of you know me personally as I still geek out to Power Rangers in my old age, so I want to weigh in on my thoughts on this film as well. 

First of all, if you haven't seen the film I have the full video linked below if it hasn't been taken down by YouTube or Saban yet. 

Secondly, why does this fan-made film exists? Simple, listen to the man behind this project himself below.

My Thoughts

If you have 14 minutes to spare and you consider yourself a fan of Power Rangers' original iteration, you should definitely take the time to check this short film out.

I can totally understand why Saban is going out of their way to remove this footage from online, as it could potentially damage the perception of how they want to continue market Power Rangers in America as a family friendly product.

I'm currently watching Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger in Japanese out of my own curiosity of the differences between that series and its English adaptation, Power Rangers Super Megaforce, and the mature tone here is very similar. Gokaiger doesn't take the violence up to this level but there's a lot more mature themes as it's evident that minds behind Super Sentai don't want to shelter their children from the truths of the world. Villains openly attack innocent bystanders and people get killed - a LOT, in their iteration. Characters have a lot more depth and more believable instead of the campiness that we have come accustomed to in their American counterpart.

The fight sequences in this were stylishly choreographed. I guess everyone is taking lessons and ideas from the choreographers from Raid: The Redemption nowadays. I'm not saying that's a bad thing either. If I had any complain during the action scenes, it was that I wish the Rangers' outfits didn't look so cheaply made. It's apparent they have a decent budget for special effects - let alone hiring Katee Sackhoff and James Van Der Beek to do something like this, so it wouldn't have killed them to dump some cash into the pot for some decent looking outfits. How do you end up getting costumes looking worse than the original Power Rangers movie costumes is a mystery to me. The costumes here looked like cosplay gone horribly wrong.

I understand this is the director's own unique vision and take on the Power Rangers lore, but at least get the source material right please. Otherwise, you're ruining mine and many others' childhood in the process. Depending on how you feel about this film, he might have already done that already...

Continuity Issues

Clearly, this guy hasn't see an episode of Power Rangers outside of the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and maybe an episode or two of Power Rangers Zeo (the English adaptation of  Japan's Chouriki Sentai Ohranger) as there's a TON of continuity issues with this that don't add up at ALL.

• Tommy and Kimberly were married? Since when? After Kimberly (Amy Jo Johnson) left shortly into the third season of MMPR, she was replaced by Katherine Hillard (Catherine Sutherland) who filled in as Tommy's new love interest. Katee Sackhoff looks more like Katherine than Kimberly if they was trying to cast this properly. Even during the events of Power Rangers Dino Thunder, where Tommy Oliver returned as an adult to aid this generation of Rangers, he still wasn't married.

• The opening sequence was reminiscent of the Legendary War from Super Megaforce or the opening battle between the residents of Terra Venture and the evil forces of Scorpicus from Power Rangers Lost Galaxy. 

• Bulk and Skull are villains and meth addicts? After high school, they both joined the police force to do good (Power Rangers Zeo and Turbo for proof of that...) In one of the newer seasons (Power Rangers Samurai - English adaptation of Samurai Sentai Shinkenger), Skull is a wealthy businessman while Bulk is training Skull's son in the noble ways of the samurai.
  
  If you don't believe Bulk and Skull to be good guys, watch this clip. 

• Zack, Trini, and Jason all left for an opportunity to do humanitarian work on the UN as part of their write-off from the 3rd season. They were replaced by Rocky DeSantos (Steve Cardenas), Adam Park (Johnny Young Bosch), and Alisha Campbell (Karan Ashley) for the duration of MMPR's run. I literally busted a gut laughing that Zack was reduced to selling cheap Tae-Bo knock-offs called "Hip Hop Kido" in his adult years. 

• Trini Kwan's death has NEVER been referenced within the continuity. While her character has never been referenced in the continuity after MMPR, her actress' (Thuy Trang) death has been acknowledged publicly by her former co-stars. 

• During the end of Power Rangers Zeo, Billy Cranston left Earth to stay on the planet Aquitar after falling in love with one of the aliens there, Cestria. According to the continuity, he has not returned to Earth since other than to aid the Megaforce Rangers against the remnants of Emperor Malvo's forces in the finale of Power Rangers Super Megaforce. 

• James Van Der Beek portrays Rocky DeSantos (played by Steve Cardenas, who ends up replacing Jason/Austin St. John in the third season of MMPR) but I see no way how he could have turned out this warped and demented over the years. If he aligned himself with the Machine Empire then why he was aiding the other Zeo Rangers against them?

• While it was cool to see Carla Perez don the old Rita Repulsa outfit again since she somehow still manages to look gorgeous in her old age, but anyone who has seen the finale to Power Rangers In Space can tell you that EVERY Ranger and villain either lost their powers or was destroyed after the defeat of Dark Specter and the death of Zordon.

• While remnants of the Machine Empire have continued to pop up in future seasons of Power Rangers (namely Power Rangers Wild Force's beloved "Forever Red" special, that brought back EVERY Red Ranger to that point in history for a special team-up) after the death of Zordon supposedly wiped out all evil from the universe from that time, it makes sense that Rita Repulsa was behind this charade all along since her and Lord Zedd had a hand in bringing a downfall to their Empire during the finale of Power Rangers Zeo.

The Verdict?

Not bad at all, but I don't think America is ready for a "mature" version of Power Rangers - yet. If you want that, watch the Super Sentai seasons before Saban butchers them to hell in editing and Americanizing them.