Category: Power Rangers

All posts relating to the ever-present Power Rangers franchise and all incarnations within.

Screen Rant Is Worthless…

Why is it that whenever I look up news for a specific franchise – let’s say Power Rangers, for example – most of the search results are glorified opinion pieces from Screen Rant. If there’s an article that has the brilliant clickbait headline of “30 Year Mystery Solved” or whatever the case may be, they’re usually referencing something from the comics… which generally exist in their own little world independent of the TV continuity.

Screen Rant has a lot of these pointless articles that feel like I’m actually getting dumber with each passing word I read from that site. I get that it’s a site called Screen Rant, but none of these articles come across as “ranting.” They’re just rambling nonsense. I know quite a bit about that. I’ve done that myself. It’s not something that you should be paying for as either a consumer or an employer.

Please, do me a favor. If you want to reference something my way, please don’t let it be from Screen Rant. I will just ignore you. Thanks.

About Prime…

I haven’t made mention of it as of late because I really didn’t want to say anything until I had anything substantial to say, but for those wondering, I have been reading the Power Rangers Prime reboot comic book thing. As a matter of fact, I’m still reading the book, which should tell you volumes about where I’m at with this book. Is it as good as people say? Not sure I want to go that far, but it is good enough to keep my attention and readership for the foreseeable future… which, again, speaks volumes.

Right now, I’m holding off actually saying anything until I’m fairly confident that we’re done with what’s essentially the “first chapter” of this new series. I’ve written some notes here and there, but I don’t want to jump too deep into this until I’ve read more story and who knows how long that’s going to be. Once that’s done, I’ll probably sum my feelings in the form of a PR Reflections post somewhere down the line.

Anyway, this is a post to let you know that I’m reading Prime. I’m been reading Prime since it started. While I have some thoughts on Prime, I’m not quite ready to articulate those thoughts to printed word… not yet anyway…

The Myth Of The White Dragon

So… any word on Legend Of The White Dragon?

For those who don’t know, this was the Jason David Frank passion project that was originally pitched to be a “Green Ranger solo” film before opting for something similar but with the serial number filed off. There was a crowdfunding campaign (well, there were two; one failed, but the other succeeded). There was some mild hype among the JDF fans… and then JDF passed away and this was being touted as a tribute to the man.

They had announced a couple release dates before postponing. This was months ago. Since then, radio silence. What the hell is going on with this film?

Listen, I’ll be honest. Having seen a couple of the trailers… I wasn’t particularly impressed with what they had shown off in terms of footage and stuff, but if it’s good enough to appease the JDF fans who wanted to see his final film, that’s a win regardless of what I think. However, the fact that nobody seems to have any clue as to what’s going on does concern me somewhat. I’ve seen a bunch of former Power Ranger actors get together to make a movie that also got crowdfunded and never saw the light of day. It seems to have been mostly forgotten, but I didn’t forget because I’m mentioning it here. Anyone willing to ask Karan Ashley what’s going on with that film since she’s had a hand in it or is that considered to be as taboo as bringing up a tasteless Rangerboard running gag to Tracy Lynn about how she ate the skulls of children or something like that?

I wasn’t a fan of JDF when he was alive – mostly due to his online antics that rubbed me the wrong way. But the last thing I want is for his final work to never see the light of day due to negligence or incompetence. The longer the people behind this film stay silent on its status, the more people you’re eventually going to burn and turn off on the whole thing together. Is that what you want JDF’s final legacy to be? A thing that he put his heart and soul into that’s never going to see the light of day because of… reasons?

People want answers on what’s going on with this thing. Hopefully, they get them sooner than later.

Across The Grid: The Other PR Comic Written By PR Actors

Source: https://morphinlegacy.com/2024/07/power-rangers-across-the-morphin-grid-1-announced/

So BOOM! Studios announced a one-shot Power Rangers comic called Across The Grid, which will be an anthology of stories written by various Power Rangers actors, including David Yost, Walter Jones, Steve Cardenas, Nakia Burrise, and Meghan Camarena (the Strawburry person of Hyperforce fame.) The issue will see release in late-October and who knows? Maybe if it goes well, it could invite other actors to come in and share their own stories if they have any to share.

Now that I think about it, considering David Yost is one of the contributors to this thing, what are the odds he decides to take his Quantum Continuum thing and turn it into a comic book series? I know some would prefer it to be a television project, but honestly, you could do so much more with the comic book medium and not have to worry about budgetary limitations or the like. Amy Jo Johnson proved such a thing is possible and can turn out great. Maybe Yost could consider the same avenue?

For what it’s worth, I’ve read the two scripts that he put out… I have no qualms about saying that it’s not my sort of story, but there is some potential for a compelling series here should he want to develop it further. All I’m saying is that if TV isn’t a viable option, then maybe consider the comic route because I feel it might work best there.

COMIC REVIEW – MMPR: The Return (2024 Miniseries)

So while a bunch of old-timers were revisiting past glory in New Zealand – resulting in the 30th anniversary special, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once And Always – OG Pinky Amy Jo Johnson was busy crafting her own anniversary story… out of beeswax. The kind that’s none of ours.

Nobody is going to get that.

Continue reading “COMIC REVIEW – MMPR: The Return (2024 Miniseries)”

Netflix Power Rangers Reboot Cancelled – Hasbro Going In Another Direction?

Source: https://www.ign.com/articles/power-rangers-series-isnt-moving-forward-at-netflix-but-its-not-dead-yet-report

So, according to IGN and its sources, Hasbro is dumping the Netflix Power Rangers reboot series in favor of someone else’s reboot project. I’m guessing it wasn’t emo enough or whatever the case may be. I’m not sure whether I should be concerned or ambivalent, but considering that we’re nearing the end of the current run of comics from Boom Studios, who knows what’s going on over at Hasbro?

It also doesn’t inspire much confidence when the only other major thing to look forward to is a retro throwback beat-em-up title that’s supposedly rehashing the old Mighty Morphin series instead of, you know, mining the other 30 years worth of Power Rangers lore.

Then again, considering how many other childhood favorites have been rebooted into something less than stellar or aimed at the lowest commonly diverse denominator, maybe no news would be good news, after all…

Rita’s Rewind… Or Mega Battle Mark 2?

Digital Eclipse is putting out a new MMPR beat-em-up, which sees Robo-Rita team up with not-robo Rita to defeat the MMPR because… sure, why not?

On the one hand, it’s a beat-em-up. It looks pretty slick. And the five-player (maybe six?) multiplayer should make things lots of fun. On the other hand, the on-rail shooter and driving segments are red flags that have me concerned. Certainly not sold on first-person Megazord.

Other than that, I’d say that I’m… cautiously optimistic. Though whether it’ll be a fun little game or the second coming of that Mega Battles game from years ago is something we’ll find out later this year.

The Return Is In The Can…

For anyone curious parties out there, the final issue of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return – the four-issue miniseries penned by OG Pinky Amy Jo Johnson and Matt Hotson – recently came out and concluded that run. And yes, I did read the series… and I have mixed feelings on it.

I’m going to save my thoughts on the whole deal for a later time, but I will say this. The Return is probably one of the better Power Rangers comic projects that I’ve read in a good long while – I’d go so far to say that it might be the best of the bunch. An alternate take on the original team thirty years later that is not tied to any continuity or canon, so it is totally self-contained and requires only the most cursory familiarity with the Power Rangers lore. The characters are well written and true to form, the artwork is tremendous and captures the look and feel of the show it’s based upon, but obviously updated to the present day, and most of all, it’s just a really good story that feels like a genuine, mature take on the material that doesn’t feel too grim and gritty for the sake of feeling grim and gritty.

Do I have issues with The Return? A few, but none that detract from my overall enjoyment of the series. It did leave me with some unanswered questions and there are a couple moments that had me shaking my head, wondering why they’d go in that direction unless… well, I’m saying more than I should.

Like I said, I have mixed feelings on this thing… but on a whole, I enjoyed The Return. Is it a better anniversary celebration than Once And Always? I’m not sure that’s a fair question as both do their own thing and are different enough to be distinct. If you’re going to read one Power Rangers comic series, make it this one. It’s totally worth checking out.

About Adrian Carr’s “Day Of The Dumpster” Director’s Cut

Source: https://morphinlegacy.com/2024/05/mighty-morphin-power-rangers-day-of-the-dumpster-original-cut-released/

For those who missed it, Adrian Carr – director of a number of early Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episodes, including the first – had recently released his original cut of “Day Of The Dumpster.” And it’s an interesting curiosity piece if nothing else that includes a new Youth Center scene (that was only seen once ages ago at one of the very first Power Morphicons), a different morphing sequence, and even a different Megazord battle featuring a monster that wouldn’t make a “proper” appearance on the show until one of the later episodes.

It’s an interesting piece of business that serves as that middle step between the original pilot episode and the eventual final product… and if nothing else, any time there is new footage released that hasn’t been seen before is always something to be cherished. The bit in question may have been seen at a convention ages ago, but now many more can check this out. It’s worth a look to see what could have been.