Power/Rangers

Power/Rangers is an American superhero fan short film directed and co-written by Joseph Kahn, produced by Adi Shankar and Jil Hardin, and co-written by James Van Der Beek and Dutch Southern. It was released on YouTube and Vimeo on February 23, 2015. It is based on the franchise of the same name.

This article is about the 2015 fan short film. For the franchise, see Power Rangers. For the 2017 film, see Power Rangers (film).
Power/Rangers
Official poster
Directed byJoseph Kahn
Produced by
Written by
Starring
Music byBrain and Melissa
CinematographyChristopher Probst
Edited byJoseph Kahn
Production
company
Adi Shankar Productions
Release date
  • February 23, 2015 (2015-02-23) (YouTube)
Running time
14 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

The Machine Empire defeats the Power Rangers in battle, destroying the Megazord. It is revealed that Earth's governments then negotiate a truce with the Machine Empire and the Power Rangers are disbanded.

Years later, Rocky, the second Red Ranger has defected to the Machine Empire, critical of Zordon's use of Power Rangers as child soldiers, and now sports a prosthetic leg. He interrogates a restrained Kimberly, the former Pink Ranger, about the location of Tommy Oliver, the former Green Ranger. He details the fates of the other Rangers in flashback.

Jason, Rocky's predecessor as Red Ranger, was gunned down eight hours after marrying Kimberly, when Bulk and Skull seemingly revealed their location to a police force; Zack, the former Black Ranger, was an insatiable action junkie who became a Machine Empire enforcer (seen taking down the North Korean Kim and his goons personally) before being caught; Billy Cranston, the former Blue Ranger, became an openly-gay trillionaire who ended up buying Lockheed Martin and was found dead of an apparent suicide.

Kimberly rejects Rocky's claim that Tommy is hunting down the Rangers. She tells Rocky that she hasn't seen him since the funeral of Trini, the former Yellow Ranger who died at the treaty negotiations. Rocky acknowledges that he already knew that; she is really being held as bait. Tommy arrives and kills the guards, entering into single combat against Rocky in a sword duel. When Rocky gains the upper hand, Kimberly shoots and kills him. Tommy demands to know who she is, as the real Kimberly died in his arms during the final battle years earlier. The fake Kimberly's façade crumbles to reveal Rita Repulsa, who killed all the others: she injected Jason with poison during the shootout and assassinated Billy and Zack with shots to the back of the head. Rita attempts to lure Tommy into her plan of world domination (noting that she created him) but he denies her, attacking her as the film ends.

Several of the plot points make references to real-life incidents in the original Power Rangers actors' lives: David Yost, who played Billy, came out as gay after the series ended, while Thuy Trang, who played Trini, died in an automobile accident in 2001.

Cast

Power Rangers
  • James Van Der Beek as Rocky, the former Red Ranger
  • Katee Sackhoff as Kimberly, the former Pink Ranger
  • Russ Bain as Tommy, the former Green Ranger and White Ranger
  • Gichi Gamba as Zack, the former Black Ranger
  • Yves Bright as Billy, the former Blue Ranger
  • Stevin Knight as Jason, the former Red Ranger
  • Camilla Lim as Trini, former Yellow Ranger

Others

Perez had previously played Rita Repulsa in the original series. She was the only cast member to reprise her role.

Release

The film was released on February 23, 2015. Two versions of the film were released; the version hosted on Vimeo included brief nudity not present in the YouTube version.

Critical reception

Members of the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers praised it, such as Austin St. John,[1] Amy Jo Johnson[2] and Steve Cardenas.[3] Jason David Frank, the original Green Ranger, criticized the short film, thinking it was too violent and the fact the Power Rangers franchise is still being produced for children. However, he appreciated it on an "inner geek level".[4]

Removal by Saban and restoration

On February 24, 2015, Vimeo chose Power/Rangers as a "Staff Pick".[5] However, a few hours later Vimeo removed the film from its site entirely. On February 25, Vimeo released a statement that the film was removed due to a copyright claim from Saban, the original copyright holders of the Power Rangers franchise.[6] On February 26, Saban had the film removed from YouTube, once again citing copyright claim. On February 27, Power/Rangers was restored to both Vimeo and YouTube.

Possible television follow-up

Adi Shankar has shown interest in making an R-rated re-imagining television series of the original television show.[7][8][9]

References
  1. "Austin St. John Facebook". Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  2. "Amy Jo Johnson Twitter". Retrieved February 25, 2015.
  3. "Steve Cardenas Instagram". Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  4. "The original Green Ranger didn't love that Power/Rangers short film". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  5. "POWER/RANGERS in Vimeo Staff Picks". Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  6. "Power/Rangers video removal". Retrieved February 25, 2015.
  7. "Adi Shankar Developing an R-Rated Power Rangers Animated Series". Slashfilm. February 13, 2017. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  8. "That great Power/Rangers short film is being made into an animated series". AV Club. February 10, 2017. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  9. "'Dark' Power Rangers TV Show in the Works From Adi Shankar". Screen Rant. February 9, 2017. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
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