Morphin' The Power Rangers Pt. 1

It's the 25th Anniversary of Power Rangers, the long-running, action-packed TV series that I've followed since I was a kid. I love Power Rangers and now is the perfect time to be a fan of it. There are two really great ongoing comics, one of them has an epic event called "Shattered Grid". "Power Rangers Ninja Steel" just had a huge crossover with past Rangers, including Tommy. There's a cool podcast starring Youtube personalities RPG-ing as Power Rangers, there's the next series "Power Rangers Beast Morphers", new action figures of various Rangers, and now that Hasbro owns Power Rangers we can expect even more in the future.

So, in honor of the big 25, I wanted to do a double-pitch. Tomorrow we'll be talking about what I'd do for a live-action Power Rangers movie, but today I wanted to pitch a Power Rangers cartoon. Something akin to "Voltron: Legendary Defender". Animated, story-driven, twelve to fifteen episodes. And this isn't a modern retelling, it's more of an alternate version of the second season of "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers" and it's characters.

Zordon

The alien sorcerer Zordon managed to defeat the evil witch Rita Repulsa from within his dimensional prison by rallying together five teenagers with attitude to be his new Power Rangers. Basically, all of the first season of the show happened, including Tommy being the evil Green Ranger, but turning around and helping The Power Rangers. The big change was when Rita almost killed one of the Ranger's family members and the kids went against Zordon's advice and took the fight to Rita. They managed to destroy her and her minions, but at a cost. Now, three years later, Rita Repulsa is somehow revived alongside her minions. And the Rangers don't live in Angel Grove anymore. Some of them have lives, families, some are down right missing. Zordon has to act fast. So he tasks the now older Billy Cranston and Alpha 5 to recruit a new team of teens. Through Zordon we get new bits of lore for the Power Rangers Universe. Like, how Zordon was a Red Ranger and he had his own cosmic Power Rangers team back in the day. We learn the Ranger's source of power-The Morphin' Grid-can be better utilized by teenagers than adults. Little things like that to flesh out the details. Maybe Zordon even projects a field around Angel Grove every time a monster/robot fight happens and that's why buildings don't collapse? Just a thought.

Rocky DeSantos

Power Rangers isn't a series known for deep, three-dimensional characters. Especially the Season Two recruits. This time around, Rocky is from L.A. and used to be part of a gang called the Rose Boys. Rocky was moved to Angel Grove to live with his Aunt and to begin moving on from his old life of crime. This desire for redemption is what makes Zordon decide he is worthy, and his ability to work in a group setting is what lands him the role of Red Ranger. Rocky takes things very seriously, he wants to do good and escape his old reputation. He doesn't have a great relationship with police, and most people find him threatening, but his friends see his heart and his effort and respect him for what he does. Oh, and since this is animated, Rocky would be voiced by his actor Steve Cardenas. And, hey, since most Power Rangers actors aren't doing much, they could all come back to voice their characters. That'd be a great chance to influence the franchise without worrying about the shape their in or the their time schedules.

Billy Cranston

Billy is the oldest member of the team and the only veteran Ranger, which puts him in the role of the team genius and their on-the-field mentor. A role unbefitting for Billy because while he might make an excellent science teacher, he was the last Ranger to become a master martial artist. What's more is that Billy is twenty-one, still living with his parents, still in Angel Grove, and is kind of seen as a shill by the community. The other Rangers went off to do other things, but not Billy. He's still kind of awkward and hard to understand, but with Rita back and new Rangers to join, Billy has the opportunity to grow up a little and take responsibility. In fact, in the years he's been off-duty he's been helping Alpha spruce up the Command Center and has even started modifying the Zords. However, the big twist for Billy is that he isn't Billy. He's a Putty. Remember that "great cost" I mentioned when I talked about the final attack on Rita Repulsa? Well, Billy was that cost. Stricken with grief and regret, The Rangers agreed to bring Billy back to life using Zordon's powers and the clay Finster uses to create Putties. Billy was successfully revived with no memory of dying. When Billy learns this in the season finale it shakes him to his core. The past three years have been a lie, he hasn't grown or changed because he isn't real. These are all issues Billy will have to face next season.

Adam Park

It's a good thing Johnny Yong Bosch is a successful voice actor now. So Adam was the shy guy in the original show, but Billy is kind of taking that role now. So Adam's new character is the jock stereotype. He's overconfident, stubborn, head-strong, kind of slow, but he is also a team player because he plays on the Angel Grove high school football team, The Saints. At first he comes off as a jerk, but Adam genuinely cares about his fellow Rangers and comes to consider them close friends. His relationship with The Rangers brings out Adam's softer and more creative side. Maybe he's actually a skilled writer or actor and his commitment to football has clouded his real interests. Like being masculine made him afraid to be honest with himself. That way we still get the sensitive character from the show, but hidden behind the armor of a quarterback. His Ranger life and football life can come to a crossroads and Adam has to leave his sport behind to save the world.

Tanya Sloan

So this is a picture of Aisha Campbell as The Yellow Ranger and Aisha actually was the second Yellow Ranger, but I'm going with Tanya Sloan from "Power Rangers Zeo" for a reason. See, Tanya's backstory in the show was that she was from Africa and I kind of liked that about her. From my experiences in high school and at work, I've seen a lot of refugees from oversees and I think viewers might appreciate the realism of having someone like that as a Power Ranger. So, Tanya Sloan is a Nigerian refugee who escaped capture from an African warlord by being adopted by a family in America. She wears clothing accurate to her heritage, has trouble adjusting to American customs, but is otherwise polite, supportive, and very friendly. As for Aisha, she works at Earnie's Juice Bar-the frequent hang out spot for The Rangers. Aisha knows about The Rangers-new and old-and is a sort of supportive bystander who helps cover them when they go off to fight bad guys or give them real world advice that Zordon can't provide them. Aisha is like the big sister of the Rangers and her relationship with Tanya is adorably sisterly.

Katherine "Kat" Hillard

I hope Kira Ford doesn't mind if I swipe her character profile. In the original show Kat didn't have the best backstory. She was an Australian girl kidnapped and brainwashed by Rita and turned into an actual cat to spy on The Rangers. She turned good and took over as the Pink Ranger after Kimberly left. But the pink costume ain't all she got from Kim, because Kat and Tommy later hooked up. I know I was never a fan of Kat, so I wanted to just go totally different with her character and try not to make her Tommy's new pink rebound girl again. This time around Kat moved to Angel Grove from Australia three years ago. She and her mom moved because her father-a police officer-died on duty and the family had to moved for their own protection. The death of her father while on duty left Kat with a detest for law, heroics, and authority. Kat is essentially the "punk chick" archetype. She initially doesn't want to be a Power Ranger, especially the Pink Ranger. However, she finds it fun to fight monsters so she sticks around and eventually comes to love her teammates. She finally feels what it's like to be a hero like her Dad. She even develops feelings for Rocky, despite his past as a criminal. And you can still have episodes where Rita makes her evil or she gets turned into a cat. That'd be one half dramatic and one half hilarious.

Lord Zedd & Rita Repulsa

Rita Repulsa, Goldar, Baboo and Squat were destroyed by The Power Rangers, but Finster was able to bring them back with the help of Lord Zedd and his apprentice Scorpina. In this story, Lord Zedd is a galactic tyrant with a few planets under his belt. He is powerful, merciless, and is concerned more with his reputation than the strength of five human children. He is the former apprentice to Rita's father Master Vile and uses Finster's clay to revive Rita and her minions and offers his assistance. At first he does this in the hopes to get the attention of Master Vile, but eventually he comes to love Rita, much to Scorpina's dismay. At the end of the season, Rita's minions are destroyed again and she is left nearly destroyed, but Zedd and Scorpina help her again. Meanwhile, Master Vile and his son Rito plan their meeting with Zedd and Rita to express their disappointment.

The Old Rangers

In season one we learn Tommy Oliver (former Green Ranger) is still in Angel Grove just keeping to himself. Because Rita gave him his powers, she also cursed him after he turned good. Eventually the Green Ranger powers will run out and Tommy will die, so he's trying to save as much of that power as possible. As for his love interest Kimberly (Pink) she moved on to join the U.S. gymnastics team and travel the world. Trini (Yellow) and Zach (Black) are now married, living in Europe, and expecting a child. And while it sucks to acknowledge Trini's actor passed in the early 2000's, I'm sure there are plenty of Asian-American actresses who'd be honored to voice her. And Jason (Red)? Missing, and not to be found for a couple of seasons. The old Rangers may be referenced, but that's about it. Trini, Zach, Tommy, and Kim may come back in the season finale to help defeat Rita again, but they'd go unseen for a season or two as well. Oh, and Bulk and Skull are The Power Rangers biggest supporters and still don't know who they are.
And that's what I would do with a Power Ranger animated series. More dynamic characters, deeper story arcs, and a wider universe to bounce off of. I've got plenty more of animated Ranger ideas, so if you want to read more comment below and I will see you all tomorrow when we talk about my idea for a Power Rangers movie!
Thanks for reading!