And while the program’s current iteration probably doesn’t politicize this point, there’s no denying the timeliness of a saga about a multi-racial squad of high schoolers who can only achieve their true power and transform into a giant robot (Megazord!!) by “putting down their masks” and working together to defeat an ancient evil.
Moviegoers old enough to buy their own ticket may not know this, but “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” - a kitschy, brilliantly resourceful kids TV series that debuted in 1993 by wrapping an original story about a fresh-faced team of American superheroes around the oodles of colorful, exaggeratedly dubbed battle footage that it borrowed from a popular Japanese show - is still on the air. But “Power Rangers,” which feels so distant from the zeitgeist that it seems like NASA should be forced to hold a press conference every time it comes into view, admittedly makes a certain amount of sense. And yes, the studios are starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel, throwing money at anything that boasts even the faintest glimmer of brand recognition (the next few months alone will see big screen versions of “CHiPS,” “Ghost in the Shell,” and “Baywatch”). Yes, Hollywood is growing desperate for previously established properties it can exhume, refurbish, and sell back to the public as mega-budget franchises with international appeal. Yes, we live in an an infantilizing age of blockbuster cinema that sustains itself by selling people overpriced echoes of the songs they sang as kids. What’s weird is that someone spent $105 million on a “Power Rangers” movie in 2017, and then decided that it should open with a gag about a teenage boy inadvertently masturbating a bull. It really isn’t that weird that someone spent $105 million on a “ Power Rangers” movie in 2017.
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