Power Rangers 'Bootleg' Satirises Dark Reboots Of Childhood Favourites

Anyone with even a passing interest in sci-fi fantasy who’s been online the last few days will surely have caught wind of a new short film based on much-loved 1990s TV series ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,’ which has the internet all in a flurry.

In case you need reminding, the Power Rangers were a wholesome bunch of all-American sporty teenagers who morph into super-powered martial arts experts in command of giant robot dinosaurs, in order to combat evil aliens (with much of this content re-appropriated from existing Japanese action show ‘Super Sentai’).

A huge hit with kids worldwide, ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’ launched a multimedia empire including two spin-off movies and a massive ongoing series of ‘Power Rangers’ shows which continues to this day - on top of which, a new movie adaptation is currently in the works at Lionsgate.

- Orci Quits Power Rangers Movie
- Marvel Fan Fears Over New Sony Boss
- Gunn Defends Superhero Genre

However, this new short film ‘Power/Rangers’ is something altogether different. Dubbed a ‘bootleg’ film by producer Adi Shankhar (responsible for similar shorts featuring Marvel characters The Punisher and Venom), it’s 100% unofficial and made with the express intention of being released online free of charge.

Nonetheless it’s a slick, professional production featuring two well-known lead actors in Katee Sackhoff (‘Battlestar Galactica’) as the Pink Ranger Kimberley, and James Van Der Beek (‘Dawson’s Creek’) as the second Red Ranger, Rocky.

But what really has tongues wagging is how radically different in tone ‘Power/Rangers’ is from the source material. Dark and brooding, it seems to take an utterly serious approach to the show’s bizarre concept - and above all else, it’s totally unsuitable for children, with graphic violence, frequent strong language, and moments of drug use. There was also some nudity in a harder version released on Vimeo, but even the (very) slightly censored Youtube version - which at the time of publication sits at over 8.5 million views in less than three days - is far from family friendly.

See the film below (assuming it hasn’t been pulled from Youtube yet, as there are fears it may be) - but again be warned, it is not suitable for children.

Reactions have been widely split. Some are horrified, including the owners of the ‘Power Rangers’ franchise Saban, who are reportedly doing their utmost to have the film pulled from the internet (thus far successfully persuading Vimeo to remove the uncensored cut). However, many more viewers are delighted, a good portion of them grown-up fans of the original series who say this is just what they’ve been wanting to see.

However, what comparatively few commentators seem to have realised is that - while outwardly played straight - ‘Power/Rangers’ is a smart, thinly veiled parody of the current trend for overly grim, adult-oriented reboots of properties which were originally intended first and foremost for children.

- Schwarzenegger Already Confirmed For Terminator Genisys 2
- Bryan Cranston Wanted For Star Trek 3?
- Jurassic World’s Indominus Rex Revealed

'Power/Rangers' director Joseph Kahn - previously responsible for offbeat biker movie 'Torque,' and even more offbeat comedy horror 'Detention' - explained to Hitfix, “I think the trick that I really wanted to do with this was to make that dark and gritty version that everybody keeps talking about, but really do it. Really see if I could totally accomplish it with essentially a really incredible incredibly silly property.”

While producer Shankhar has professed (in a rather eccentric on camera-interview) to have loved ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’ growing up, Kahn says he was not a fan of the series, and took this short not so much as an opportunity to mock the Power Rangers franchise itself or the film in the works at Lionsgate, but to critique the “the dark and gritty reboot thing,” which he argues has become “such a cliché.”

Kahn elaborates, “It’s not just Lionsgate but all of Hollywood, they all keep toying around with this ‘dark and gritty’ concept, and they’re all PG-13. I mean…. look at the gunshots. You have a guy going in there shooting a bunch of people and it’s just like puffs of smoke. There’s no repercussions to these gunshots, which to me is even more dangerous than when you actually show some blood. You’re teaching kids that you can shoot a gun and there’s no repercussions to it.  It just looks like you fall down.

"So when I did the dark and gritty version of this, I mean, we go full out. There’s blood, there’s brains, there’s gunshots, there’s sex, there’s violence… If I had to watch the ‘dark and gritty’ reboot, then this is the way I would want it. This is the version I would personally want to see, but I also know this is the version that could never, ever be made in Hollywood."

'Dark and gritty' do seem to have been the buzzwords for most of the past decade's blockbusters, arguably beginning with 2005's 'Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith,' whose uncharacteristically downbeat tone and grim scenes of violence pushed that franchise into the 12A category for the first time.

Since then we’ve seen Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ films, Michael Bay’s ‘Transformers’ films, Zack Snyder’s ‘Man of Steel,’ Marc Webb’s ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ and its sequel and Peter Jackson’s ‘The Hobbit’ trilogy - all of which took hitherto child-oriented properties, largely stripped them of their bright colours and cartoonish sensibilities, and (while remaining within the confines of the 12A) geared them toward older viewers.

20th Century Fox’s upcoming reboot of ‘The Fantastic Four’ looks set to do likewise, with its recent trailer (embedded below) suggesting something very moody - some might say uncharacteristically so, given the source material. And the word is that the upcoming ‘Man of Steel’ follow-up ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’ won’t be lightening up much either - which would imply a similarly bleak path for the DC Universe movies to follow.

Now, there are without a doubt plenty of sci-fi fantasy and comic book properties that are geared specifically toward adults, and keeping these adult-oriented seems appropriate, hence many were rattled by ‘RoboCop’ being remade as a 12A - and many also hope the upcoming ‘Deadpool’ movie, adapted from a comic for mature readers, will shoot for a higher rating.

There are also plenty of other recent 12A superhero movies - most notably, the output of Marvel Studios - that have managed to toe the line between kid-friendly and adult-friendly, exploring some mature themes and sophisticated storylines without losing the colour, humour and childlike sense of fun.

However, when properties that were always intended for kids are played so dark and straight that kids are completely alienated, this is surely misguided in the extreme - regardless of whether the property’s original audience is now grown up.

'Power/Rangers' plays that approach out to its logical extreme. If you find the result jarring, inappropriate, and all the more absurd for its po-faced solemnity, then I think you've got the point. If, on the other hand, you adore it and think it's exactly how Lionsgate's 'Power Rangers' movie should be done, then - if you'll pardon me for saying so - you might have some questions to ask yourself.

- 10-Year Contract For Harley Quinn Actress
- Bautista Joins Highlander Reboot
- Godzilla Hotel Opening In Tokyo

Picture Credit: Adi Shankhar/Youtube, Warner Bros