POWER/RANGERS

[schild]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw5vcUPyL90

This desperately needs to be a thing.

[HaemishM]

I fucking hate Power Rangers... but goddamn. That needs to be a thing yesterday. That was better than anything the Waschowskis have done since the Matrix 1, or most of Hollywood for that matter.

[Ironwood]

Whoa.

[shiznitz]

Look for the NSFW version. It used to be up at Vimeo.

[Ironwood]

That seemed pretty unsafe for work to me.

[Surlyboi]

NSFW is less safe. Vanderfivehead helped write it, apparently.

[Segoris]

Can't find the even more NSFW version, but the regular version is still amazing and needs to be a full movie asap. Holy shitballs

[Malakili]

Am I the only one who was thinking... is that James Van Der Beek?  Yeah, it was James Van Der Beek.

[Threash]

Made me wish i had ever watched power rangers so i knew wtf was going on.

[Merusk]

Have a son. You'll get to watch all 22 seasons some month and a half. 

[Paelos]

Well that was Van der Dark.

[Surlyboi]

I watched maybe half an episode of power rangers, you don't need to watch much to get the gist.

[MediumHigh]

Unfortunately the guy isn't interested in a longer movie even if they handed him 100 mill to do it.

[Ironwood]

Why would they hand it to you ?

[MediumHigh]

Why would they hand it to you ?

Auto-correct its a hell of a drug.

[Ironwood]

Hey, just while we're here :  Can anyone tell me what or who the fuck the Power Rangers were actually fighting against ?

I never really understood that from the seizure inducing minutes that I watched of the original show.

[lamaros]

Am I going to be the only one to point out that was really crap?

[Sir T]

Hey, just while we're here :  Can anyone tell me what or who the fuck the Power Rangers were actually fighting against ?

It changed quite a bit over the years, as there was over 20 odd seasons of the thing. The one shown in the film was the first villian of the series, Rita Repulsa.



http://powerrangers.wikia.com/wiki/Rita_Repulsa

Rita Repulsa was a female humanoid sorceress bent on intergalactic domination. Having conquered many worlds in the service of Lord Zedd, Rita was defeated by Zordon of Eltar during her failed invasion of Earth. Imprisoned in a space dumpster by the sage, Rita was cast into space where she would float for ten thousand years before arcing back to the moon. Once freed, she and her minions reclaimed their headquarters and started a second campaign on Earth to defeat Zordon and take the planet for Lord Zedd.

[Ironwood]

A Space Dumpster.

ok.

Forget I asked.

[Sir T]

Be thankful I only quoted the first paragraph. 

[Margalis]

Am I going to be the only one to point out that was really crap?

An oasis appears in the desert!

Seriously...they took Power Rangers, stripped out everything about Power Rangers that is fun and endearing and replaced it with generic grimdark shit.

This is exactly like how DC approaches their properties - with embarrassment for the source material. The people who are like "this needs to be a real move" - let's just say our tastes differ!

[Sir T]

I thought it was ok for what it was. I Think the beginning parts where they were running about facing a huge invasion of badness was what a power reanger movie really should go for, but the rest was kung fu crap. I thought it WAS very nicely done and very well acted by everyone involved, but I would have no intention of going to see something like that.

I think something that had the charm of the TV series and its toung jammed firmly in its cheek mixed with a little more of the grit would do very well and be very enjoyable to watch, but this thing would be a "Hitman" style forgettable movie.

[Ironwood]

I think that was pretty much the point Margalis.  The Director dude even said so.

It was funny.  I laughed.  It took a really stupid kids show where there's never any danger and applied some reality to it. 

I think you either missed the point a little or didn't care for the point.  I'm really, really not sure you're meant to take it that seriously.

For Fucks Sake, it had Starbuck and Mr 90210 in it. 

And don't even be comparing it to DC who do that shit without any irony whatsoever...

[MediumHigh]

I liked it because its dystopian view of the power rangers. Sure it "could" have fun with the property but I was a kid when I watched the power rangers. Barely able to color within the lines and there's a reason why most people who watched it as kids promptly dropped it after they turned 10-11 years old (while continuing to watch anime, western cartoons like batman and jlu, etc). Besides I saw the potential for a lot of subjects that I don't find preachy, which is rare in my syfi.

My only complaint is that this type of work tends to go the easy way and kill everybody. I'm afraid that if made longer the movie wouldn't have much room to showcase the adult version of said characters or even have them live long enough for additional stories. Which is a complaint the director of this short kinda sorta touched, he doesn't feel like he has the creative juice to extend this past 14 minutes because it may ultimately go nowhere.

Also the comparison to DC isn't apt. You can make something "darker" as long as your not
A. Coming from the perspective of someone who doesn't like the source material
B. Coming from the perspective of someone who doesn't like the genre
C. Coming from the perspective of someone who given a mandate to imitate another properties success

[Margalis]

It took a really stupid kids show where there's never any danger and applied some reality to it. 

That's certainly an opinion.

[Ironwood]

What, you're gonna argue they spoiled the high art that was Power Rangers with a short film ?

Hey, you know more than me about it, so I'll take your word for it.  Seriously.

[Velorath]

It's a neat idea that's fun to watch for just about 15 minutes because nobody (likely including the people who made it) actually gives enough of a shit about Power Rangers lore to want to see it extended any longer than that.

[Margalis]

What, you're gonna argue they spoiled the high art that was Power Rangers with a short film ?

Hey, you know more than me about it, so I'll take your word for it.  Seriously.

I'm saying that what they did is the equivalent of making a grimdark version of Scooby Doo.

[MediumHigh]

What, you're gonna argue they spoiled the high art that was Power Rangers with a short film ?

Hey, you know more than me about it, so I'll take your word for it.  Seriously.

I'm saying that what they did is the equivalent of making a grimdark version of Scooby Doo.

I really don't think that would be a bad thing.

[Nebu]

Watched the whole thing and don't get the appeal.  This brought me to two conclusions:

1) Anyone younger than me is fascinated by gratuitous gore and violence more than they ought to be.

2) I'm old. 

My son adored the Power Rangers and I didn't get that either.  All it did was make him want to kick EVERYTHING or hit it with a plastic sword.

[grebo]

That whole interrogation scene was beyond cringeawful.

Why would anyone want to watch the sparkly twilight boys club kill each other?  Oh wait.. Never mind.

But you still can't call it good unless there is something actually good in it.

[MediumHigh]

Watched the whole thing and don't get the appeal.  This brought me to two conclusions:

1) Anyone younger than me is fascinated by gratuitous gore and violence more than they ought to be.

Aren't you the generation that invented the blood squibs? Rambo? Terminator? Robocop? Nightmare on elm street, Jason, Halloween, Evil Dead, Arnold Schwarzenegger? Am I missing anything?

[Margalis]

My son adored the Power Rangers and I didn't get that either.  All it did was make him want to kick EVERYTHING or hit it with a plastic sword.

It has a catchy theme song, colorful villains and they form a huge robot. What else do you need? Also the black ranger was basically Protoman.

I really don't think that would be a bad thing.

I suspect that imagining that in your head is more satisfying than how it would play out on film. It's a one-joke premise. Maybe it could work as 10 minute Adult Swim short.

Aren't you the generation that invented the blood squibs? Rambo? Terminator? Robocop? Nightmare on elm street, Jason, Halloween, Evil Dead, Arnold Schwarzenegger? Am I missing anything?

These are all good things though. (Well - except for Friday the 13th) I'll gladly go to bat for the insane violence in Robocop because Robocop is a good movie. I'm no prude - I love violence if the violence serves any kind of point and doesn't exist purely for it's own sake. And even then I'm down if it's just so outrageous that that becomes the point.

But this was none of those things.

[Ironwood]

Apparently the original green ranger agrees with you.

[Sir T]

Its also probably better the LESS you know about the original lore

I mean "Machine Empire" I mean, fuck, that sounds awsome its like massive computers and Skynet robots and Terminators and...



Um... nevermind.  

To be honest shorts like this are like short stories. They set up things in your head about the before and after scenarios that are probably better than any film would convey. So, enjoy that.