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The world of fanfilms produces just as many examples of Sturgeon’s Law as fanfics and official media do…and some online communities let them know it. Such is the case with Power Rangers.
Over the course of this decade, a wealth of Power Rangers fanfilms have circulated, each of their own varying quality…but the one ccmmon theme that binds them together is that they’re all…pretty grim.
Which is fine. Perfectly fine. Power Rangers for all it’s cheese-ball presentation is essentially a story about the youth being recruited by higher powers to fight a large-scale war, where the villains know their civilian identity and can target you, your school, your loved ones. It’s pretty scary, and you dwell on the consequences of that a lot more as you get older, when you’re faced to put up with real wars on the news day in day out, sometimes even participating in a few yourself. The reality of Power Rangers makes for a harsher reflection of our own world.
The fandom can’t really take to this though, they just want fun goofy escapism, so any attempt at creating a near-the-knuckle product outside of their conventional perimeters is often met with disdain and dismissal…which sadly doesn’t leave much elbow room for projects like this.
Fortunately, I’m a broad enough chap to be open about the possibilities, and there’s enough of this material out there to put together a nifty little “proof-of-concept” pilot. A friend of mine, DANLAV05, put together a pitch pilot edit for a CW-led Power Rangers spin-off called “Wrath of Zedd”, which I contributed some small suggestions to. The edit is a lot of fun, comprised of various non-official PR material.
My intention, inspired by his edit, was to take it to another level. While he aimed at a teen audience, I’d aim for an older demographic, which meant using the material that included graphic violence and profanity. To this extent, I had to use much of the Power/Rangers fanfilm to stitch together a cohesive narrative.
This means the only Ranger that represents the original character is Jason David Frank as Tommy in the Super Beat Down videos where he tackles Ryu and Scorpion, where as Kimberly, Rocky and Jason are represented by different actors in their respective segments.
I opened the edit with Kimberly being captured on her wedding day from Power/Rangers…for the purpose of this edit, the man she’s married is not meant to be Jason.
Here’s the remainder of the timeline
-“Double Trouble” short from the aborted MMPR fanfilm project
-Back to footage from Power/Rangers showing a derelict city, which transistions us smoothly into
–Footage from the MMPR Fanfilm’s trailer with Lord Zedd
-Cut to footage of Zack taking on the Koreans from Power/Rangers, followed by Kimberly’s interogation
-Have Kimberly’s narration transition us to the Ryu vs Tommy beat down footage
-Briefly cut away from Tommy vs Ryu to more from Kimberly’s interrogation, and some more footage from MMPR
-Back to Ryu vs Tommy
-More from the MMPR fanfilm shorts (the one with the hacker finding the Project_Ranger files)
-Back to Kimberly’s interogation
-Cut to Tommy vs Scorpion
-Cut back to Kimberly’s interogation
-Cut to Red Rising fanfilm to show what Jason’s been up to…and there’s your cliffhanger
There you have it. HBO’S Power Rangers pilot…coming sometime never
The aspect ratios were a particular pain in the ass to sort out. To get the best results I had to stitch the edit together in 4/3
Anyhood, I have this availible, so PM me if curious