‘Power Rangers’ Details Connect the Reboot to the Original Series in Wacky Ways

Although we were previously promised a film that would be “mature but playful,” the new details about the Power Rangers reboot make this film sound downright silly. It may be a reboot, but it definitely still features heroes, villains and specifics that you’re familiar with from the series. Basically, that fun Hollywood cliche applies: it’s different, but, you know, the same.

Heroic Hollywood appears to have gotten their hands on the Power Rangers screenplay, written by Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz (X-Men: First Class). The site has a whole bunch of details, but here are some of the more notable ones:

• The film opens in the Cretaceous period as Zordon fights off Rita Repulsa, opening a black hole in the process.
• The main characters are Zack, Jason, Billy, Kimberly and Trini (described as a loner who does yoga in the desert), and they live in Angel Grove — just like the original series.
• The kids head out to a decommissioned military base in the desert, where they uncover a dinosaur fossil and a power coin, as seen in the possession of the Power Rangers in the opening scene.
• Rita Repulsa ends up in Russia following an unprecedented meteor shower, and begins her quest to make something called “Goldar” by stealing gold.
• Zordon and Alpha 5 are involved, and it’s their job to train the new rangers, who have been chosen by the power coins.

If that sounds familiar, that’s because this is not much different from the original series. And it sounds totally wacky — Goldar? Anyway, these details are reportedly from the screenplay, and given director Dean Israelite’s previous involvement with the better-than-expected Project Almanac, the tone could be a bit better on screen than on paper.

Then again, no matter how you cut it, this is a new Power Rangers movie, the idea of which is inherently ridiculous.