A Mighty Morphin Bargain
Deadpool & Wolverine recently broke box-office records, emboldening Twitter dweebs to dunk on those among them who dare to care about anything that isn’t the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At San Diego Comic Con, Robert Downey Jr. dramatically revealed that he’ll be returning to the MCU as Victor von Doom1, a moment that of course elicited nothing but tame, measured reactions. Were those events not carefully engineered by a multi-billion dollar corporation trying to jolt interest in a declining entertainment asset, one might be tempted to say it was serendipitous that they occurred on the same July weekend.
The multiverse is full of infinite possibilities, yet usually leads us back to those with which we’ve grown comfortably familiar.
Jinsakuu, an oft-informed figure in the online Power Rangers sphere, last month reported that Hasbro’s pitching a “remake” of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to would-be production houses after choosing to turn tail on another reboot concept2. As described in Jin’s report, the show would be set in the present day but be constructed around reimagined versions of popular episodes3. Notably, this show would also be aiming for a kids audience — something the prior reboot concept was widely thought to be avoiding.
For as much reinvention Power Rangers has undergone in 31 years of existence, the one thing it hasn’t tried is completely introducing new versions of existing characters to a TV audience. The 2010 reversion “adapted” old MMPR episodes for the thousands of viewers that happened to see them on a dying ABC broadcast block, but it’s just MMPR with funky curtains. Comics and video games have done varying degrees of characterizing that builds on and departs from what’s in the TV show, but those media are in all likelihood enjoyed mostly by existing fans and, obviously, aren’t moving pictures. The 2017 movie is the only true reimagining of MMPR on screen, and it largely exists as a billboard for why making “Power Rangers but not for kids” might be a fool’s errand.
It’s not a novel idea, but is certainly foreign to Power Rangers. One of the show’s biggest differentiators, for decades, has been the shuffling of suits and the people in them. Every year or two there’s a big reset, a chance to on-board newcomers and push products that are different-but-familiar enough to not confuse the (mostly) parents buying them. But, it’s a double-edged sword: each reset is also a natural jumping-off point for kids swayed by something else, who don’t want to stick around to meet a new cast, or feel like they’ve “grown up” from Power Rangers, whatever that means in a pop-culture landscape over-populated with pablum. Their heroes have moved on, so why shouldn’t they?
So what happens if the heroes keep coming back? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Transformers, older franchises in Club 30-Minute Toy Commercial, have offered up different versions of the same core characters across multiple unique shows since the 1980s. It’s hard not to imagine that, from Hasbro’s POV, it makes sense to do the same with Power Rangers: re-establish the Mighty Morphin team as the Power Rangers and reenforce it ad infinitum. The brand is unique in that its tropes have long been its most recognizable elements, culturally, rather than its characters; continuously marrying those images to consistent faces could unlock a growth track.
Or not. That’s the gamble, and it sucks that, if it gets made, it will largely have been made with efficiency in mind. Right now, a 9-year-old in 2009 who disengaged after RPM has a single mass-market action figure to buy in celebration of the Power Rangers show for which they might harbor the most nostalgia. The 9-year-old in 2027 who disengages with their once-beloved show probably isn’t going to care about the next MMPR re-imagining anymore than the disengaged 9-year-old in 2009 cared about Samurai. But that 9-year-old in 2027 might be interested in picking up a toy or game from the latest re-imagining when they’re 24, have disposable income and are feeling nostalgic for their once-beloved show. It’ll look like the thing they loved, even if it isn’t.
Going all-in on MMPR would homogenize the brand in a way that — despite frequent callbacks to the past and continuous offerings of non-show products — has never really happened. Perhaps it’ll happen and in 10 years an MMPR movie will gross $1 billion at the box office, firmly re-establishing the brand as one with which to be reckoned, casting it into the cultural limelight, and — presumably — granting it some greater form of validation in the eyes of people outside the fandom.
These are all things for which many longtime fans have pined. If at all attainable, the most realistic path to realizing them likely means forever giving up what Power Rangers was. Hasbro’s made a trade in hopes of a future Comic-Con payoff — would you have done the same?
At least, that’s how it was framed in the moment. It remains to be seen whether RDJ will actually play that Doctor Doom or a variant of Tony Stark who adopts the mantle.
The one that had long been in development by Jonathan Entwistle and Jenny Klein for Netflix, whom Jinsakuu says passed on this new Hasbro vision.
The six listed in Jinsakuu’s original tweet: Day of the Dumpster; High Five; A Pressing Engagement; I, Eye Guy; Happy Birthday, Zack; and Foul Play in the Sky (with four others TBD)