‘Power Rangers': Rumored Plot Details Introduce the New Team

[Just Crouton]

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With The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 premiering in the fall and thereby concluding the extremely lucrative book-to-film series, Lionsgate will need another mega-successful franchise to fill the gap. And the odds (read: nostalgia) may be ever in its favor with the planned Power Rangers reboot. The project is expected to begin production later this year and bow in early 2017, with Dean Israelite (Project Almanac) directing and Robert Orci (Star Trek) executive producing.

 

Although the project has yet to hit any major speed bumps so far – aside from a release date change – the primary challenge yet to come will be its ability to excite a new generation of children with the reconfigured intergalactic heroes, while still pleasing longtime, die hard fans. While the actors attached to the project will most likely be unknowns, the rumored storyline (set to feature iconic Mighty Morphin mythology and reimagined key characters) is anything but unfamiliar.

 

On the back of recent plot leaks, Umberto Gonzalez of Heroic Hollywood now has further details pertaining to the film’s supposed prologue scene, as well as part of the first act. Be advised, though, that this information should be taken with a grain heaping of salt, as no official announcement from Lionsgate or Saban has been made – and no official source has been confirmed.

Below is a breakdown of the Power Ranger reboot’s opening act (for much more, read the original report by HH):

• As previously revealed, the story will begin during the cretaceous period on Earth, where Zordon–the original Red Ranger–and his team of Power Rangers are fighting Rita Repulsa and Goldar. Zordon detonates a black hole, in order to defeat Rita.
• Fast forward 65 million years to Angel’s Grove, California where we meet 16 year old Jason at Hart Automotive.
• Next, we meet Zack at a Dave & Busters. Zack is athletically gifted but does not play any sports for his high school–he’s not exactly a team player.
• Meanwhile, back at Hart Automotive we meet Kimberly, a perfectionist on every level (and romantically involved with Jason).
• We are then in a bedroom where we meet Billy who is brilliant in his own way.
• Finally, we meet Trini, the loner and free spirit of the group. She is out in the desert doing yoga.
• Jason and Billy investigate a T-rex fossil at a military base, which leads them to discover the five power coins that belonged to the first Power Rangers.
• Zack, Billy, Trini, Jason & Kimberly meet up & work as a team together for the first time when a meteor shower that struck the moon cause massive waves on Earth to surge inland – threatening the residents of Angel Grove.

• Elsewhere, in a mysterious portal room, Zordon reappears. An ethereal version of his entire body hovers in a glass tube. He meets the robot, Alpha 5.
• Alpha 5 informs Zordon that when he detonated the black hole in the opening scene, it tore the fabric of time around the solar system, transporting them years into the future.
• Zordon realizes that Rita Repulsa is also alive and that her starship landed in Russia.
• Rita Repulsa awakens in Russia and begins her quest to find gold, as a means of reviving Goldar (whose molecular presence scattered around the globe in the form of gold after the black hole opened up).
• Back at the command center on Zordon’s ship, Zordon and Alpha 5 discover Rita’s plan.
• Zordon and Alpha 5 discover the power coins have already bonded with five teenage humans on Earth and fears they are not ready to be Power Rangers, let alone save the world.

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If you managed to follow and digest all that, it seems the beginning of the film serves to introduce the initial team dynamic. That includes, showing what each member can contribute individually (in terms of personality and skill), while sewing the seeds for potential conflict among the group. Not to mention, having them face their first Earth-threatening crisis, as a test-run for their eventual showdown against Rita.

Essentially, this alleged Power Rangers storyline follows the same formula used for the Avengers, or more appropriately, X-Men: First Class (penned by the same screenwriters attached to Power Rangers, Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz), both of which balanced an unsteady team dynamic with global catastrophe. And if the success of those films is any indication, Power Rangers could be on the right track – emphasis on could.

 

Still, if you read the full Power Rangers plot rundown from HH, you’ll note that it’s riddled with gaps, plot holes, and unanswered questions. It goes without saying that most of these questions – if these details are valid – will be answered within the movie’s first act; that said, one can’t help but sense some of the described events feel a bit random and erratic. Of course, this is only a leaked, rumored, unconfirmed plot synopsis, so the resultant storyline could be entirely different.

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Power Rangers opens in U.S. theaters on January 13th, 2017.

 

 

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Sounds great so far.