Bryan Cranston's interview with Stephen Colbert last night was absolutely hilarious, btw. Also, is there a reason why this site keeps getting reported as hostile on & off the past few weeks?
Anyway, having seen a fair bit of previews, I'm starting to get a vague idea where this movie is going. I don't know if or when I'm going to get a chance to see it, but I kind of had some notes for discussion (especially for when people do see the movie). This has nothing to do with the movie being good or bad, but trying to shift it to be a little more in line with Power Rangers in general. I haven't seen the movie, I'm not bagging on it, & there's some things they've done that I'm sure will be more in the vain of, "lie in the bed you made," regardless, but, all that besides--
Many of the concerns I have are connected to the villains, monsters & (assuming there is a sequel) the Green Ranger.
I kind of get where they are going with both the Putties & Goldar-- in the show, Rita & other villains would usually animate random crap to attack the Rangers-- & I'm on board with the idea of almost using them as tools, or drones. They have no minds or wills of their own & simply operate as commanded. That's a good start. However, the way Goldar appears to have been used is disappointing. He was a main villain, built up as a kind of badass & could've been a major asset to the film(s) in general. To be honest, though, if you'd said it was a less liked main villain, like Baboo, no one would've flinched whatsoever. I don't know if there's any way around that, but if you see a villain in the original show that seems like they were trying to build him/ her up in that way, don't waste them. As to the Putties, I kind of liked the original design from the show. It would be interesting to use something to the effect of that, maybe with a spin like the minions the Enchantress created from "Suicide Squad" thrown on them, in later films.
Going off from that, I kind of see it as a loss if these "drone" monsters don't talk. Not that I prefer what was often done in the show-- where the monster would spout off terrible puns that I don't think kids ever found funny & adults just find annoying. Although, I think if you were to play such a thing off differently, it could come off kind of disturbing & unhinged, which would be pretty cool. Imagine if this thing just spotted you in a room & walked through everyone to get to you, not noticing what all it was doing & saying bizarre, confused, punny things the entire way. It really gives off a vibe that there's no reasoning with it & it's not going to stop until it gets whatever it seems to want, plus comes off as mimicking life, but not truly being alive. Not that the show necessarily had much of a horror aspect, but I think creating things that are elementally creepy without over-the-top violence or gore wouldn't be uncalled for. Although, I think one movie is enough to really play around with the idea to effect, then move on to other things. And never use a monster as a villain, but for traps/ distractions/ etc.
That kind of runs into the villains. Most of the villains Saban created especially for the show-- Lord Zedd, Scorpius, Mesogog-- were well made & kind of creepy. It's really in keeping true to that aspect of the show that I generally think any real villain you use should be just a little disturbing. The image of a real-life Rita I'd had in mind was more like a desiccated corpse-- a threadbare, dirt-brown dress, long, dirty nails, long, tangled, grey hair & a raspy voice who shuffles about & leans heavily on her staff. She doesn't look like much, but, for whatever reason, she's practically untouchable if you come after her. Generally, you shouldn't really be changing that much for main villains at all, just taking what's there a bit more practically. I also figured that, since Lord Zedd appears to be skinned, maybe he ought to be wearing some sort of glass-like, full body armor that would protect him in lieu of skin.
I also have to point out that, while it's been said you shouldn't use multiple villains, most movies that lost that fight tried to have several villains competing for screen time instead of working in unison, on a single plan. The latter is more in line with PR anyway. Just don't overdo it & make sure everyone gets decent screen time. The only exception to the last two rules are evil Rangers. They don't do the best job of showcasing it in MMPR, but every evil Ranger I can remember kind of goes rogue & becomes, more or less, uncontrollable. Feeding back into the Green Ranger mythos, I wouldn't have his usage be part of a legitimate plan by any villain, but you could have them work around his whims & use him to their effect instead-- either that, or use the opportunity to showcase a fatal flaw in Rita's intellect or understanding of Ranger power. She could be pretty dumb & single-minded in the original show. Lord Zedd was supposed to be the real tactician.
Now, on the the armor-- I had said, myself, that the Rangers should wear light armor, but I wasn't thinking full body. My thought was metallic-looking spandex with reinforced areas, like forearms or shins. The reason is there are other characters or weapons which will now have to mean armor over armor if you were to take them literally. All I have to say is this is one of those "Lie in the bed you made," scenarios & if they get to introduce characters like the Green or White Rangers, or Ninjor, they should try to be true to the original design as possible, but err on the conservative side so things don't look silly. If you can manage to do something that is easily recognizable as the Green Ranger & looks really good moving around on screen, you win.
The last thing I have is mainly on the character of Tommy Oliver himself. I don't know exactly how you'd plan to go with him, but I almost feel like you can mess around a lot with the other Rangers, but they'll hunt down the person that decides not to make Tommy, Tommy. That's really one of those unchangeable rules. In terms of updating him, though, (you know they have to) I did kind of want some input from others. The obvious fact- Tommy is Native American- actually gives you a pretty good opportunity altogether for such a thing. I really don't think he needs this extensive backstory or anything, but for the sake of understanding I think I need to bring up what all I know- minding that I'm definitely no expert- on the character.
Particularly in the West & South of the US, these people have almost fractured into factions of Traditionalists, Christians & Atheists & all three of these groups really seem to chafe on one another bad. Not to mention, the only thing that they all seem to agree on is everyone outside of the tribe hates them & wants them to suffer. I don't know why, but you generally seem to get a pretty consistent result of people who are physically tough, emotionally walled off & relatively quiet. There's that general core of a sense of dignity, strength & working hard toward your personal goals, but you also get people who are way to quick to stand up to physical threats & often completely incapable of defending themselves with words or standing up for what they believe in. Not to mention, when people like that reach their limit, they really, really explode. It's a very volatile combination. I would bring up the white name, but I don't think that's particularly weird for the US (as opposed to Canada). A lot of these people, when dealing with outsiders, but hate having their race mis-identified, but also gravely fear being correctly labeled, regardless of whether that would be a good thing, or a bad thing. I guess they just don't feel like they should be the ambassadors for their entire race, or something, so going by a white name, if one is available, honestly makes a fair amount of sense.
Again, I don't think he needs a backstory, but the type of character could be kept in mind. I think someone who wants to do right, but takes wrong turns way too hard while remaining a very clear physical threat & appearing to regularly be a pool of calmness & a rallying point for a team of impressionable teenagers would make sense for the character. And, you absolutely have to keep the karate.
