If you were a child in the 90s, chances are you watched (if not necessarily enjoyed) The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, a TV show that spawned more than a few serious childhood injuries. Well, now you get to relive that pain all over again, when the Power Rangers return in their own movie reboot, set to be scripted by the same team that brought you X-Men: First Class. Be still my beating heart.
X-Men: First Class writers Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz are now set to take on the daunting task, often originated by Michael Bay, of ruining everyone’s collective childhood one product at a time. Assisting them in this endeavor is Robert Orci, who has written for both the Transformers and Star Trek franchises and is coming on board Power Rangers as executive producer.
Power Rangers was based on a Japanese children’s show and featured a group of teenagers who regularly transformed into superheroes in primary colors and fought nasty guys in rubber suits, usually ending the show by becoming a massive, Transformer-like robot that easily defeated whatever baddie they were battling. Sounds like just the thing for a nostalgic reboot, now doesn’t it? While Power Rangers was popular on TV in the 90s, it never quite made the transition to film. There were a few attempts, the latest coming in 1997, but neither made as big an impression on the culture as the initial television show.
Given the current popularity for taking beloved 80s and 90s franchises and turning them into a cash grab, it’s hardly surprising that Power Rangers is coming up for a reboot. It was never a great TV show to begin with, but it does still have a sort of camp value to a lot of people who grew up with it. While X-Men: First Class was a perfectly serviceable superhero movie, I can’t say that I’m overly excited about Miller and Stentz taking on this project, particularly with Robert Orci lurking in the background. In any case, it doesn’t look like we have much of a choice.
We’ll keep an eye on Power Rangers news and let you know as the production begins taking shape.