When we first heard the great Bryan Cranston compare the forthcoming Power Rangers movie, a big screen reboot of the bright and zany ‘90s action series, to Christopher Nolan’s famously nihilistic The Dark Knight, we were… well, intrigued for sure. But also a bit vexed. How on Earth could the Mighty Morphin’ teens of yore take proper form in such a dark ambiance? Would they still sport their after school-friendly positive attitudes and delightfully corny dialogue? Would they still ride with pride within the sort of Zords whose animal shapes delighted us as preteens? And, most importantly, would they still hang out with he who was perhaps the least grimdark character in pop culture history: Alpha Five?
Such was the big question that Nerdist brought to San Diego Comic-Con, where we caught up with the Power Rangers movie’s director, Dean Israelite, as well as with his metal-suited stars. Ranking high in importance among the handful of Qs we asked the filmmaker and cast was whether or not we’d be seeing the nasal voiced, UFO-headed, well-meaning goofball of a robot sidekick take form in the new movie.
The answer? Well, you’ll find out definitively in today’s Nerdist News!
Of course, Alpha Five was only one (admittedly severely important) topic of conversation between our own Dan Casey and the Power Rangers gang. They also discussed the presence of Zords in the new film, the significantly harder science fiction vibe the movie will be adopting, and whether or not the series’ impossibly catchy theme song would be gracing the reboot’s soundtrack.
As it turns out, there will be plenty of what we loved from the old Power Rangers show, but there will indeed also be a good deal of changes. Watch Nerdist News to get a better feel of how that balance will form, and catch Power Rangers in theaters on March 24, 2017.
