Television Power Rangers: Once & Always | Netflix

Havak

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Was anyone a fan of the original "Mighty Morphin'" Power Rangers show in the early 90's? Came out in the Summer of '93, so it's almost 30-years old and Netflix have bagged this special as a celebration.

Written by long-running writers of the numerous iterations of the show, it will feature returning cast members of the original series' first three seasons. Original actors for the Blue & Black Rangers, along with the second actors who replaced the Red & Pink Rangers eventually (contract disputes going into season 2 iirc).

For those unaware, the original actors for the Yellow and Green Rangers have since passed away in a traffic accident and unfortunately reported suicide respectfully. It looks as though they are planning to honour the life of the Yellow Ranger in this roughly hour long special.

Was mad on this as a kid and the trailer looks great. Still as corny as ever, but the nostalgia is strong. The original Red & Pink Rangers aren't as big on appearances and reunions as the others are/were it seems, but hopefully they're involved.

Sounds like original voice actors for the masked characters and I'm sure there's more to come!
 
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Smores

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The five-year-old in me would be mad giddy for this but unfortunately he is dead and resurrection is not looking likely.
It's morphing time!

Agree it'll probably be shite. Think producers have seen the likes of Cobra Kai get several seasons and think bringing back old actors has some captivating novelty. Like Cobra Kai it'll just be old people who can't actually do the fight scenes.
 

SparkedIntoLife

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I hope Goldar is in this. The original. Not the drivel that was in the recent Power Rangers movie. The "YEEEEEEASSSS MY QUEEN" version.
 

jasT1981

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I hope Goldar is in this. The original. Not the drivel that was in the recent Power Rangers movie. The "YEEEEEEASSSS MY QUEEN" version.
He was brought back in 'Beast Morphers' a few years ago as 'Goldar Maximis' and it was terrible. At least they got Lord Zedd almost right in the most recent series.

 

Sylar

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My childhood from the 90s. Was mad about this, and can't remember when I stopped (probably when all the originals left).
Was always a fan of green/white ranger though.

At least Tommy/Kimberly had a cameo /guest appearance in the 2017 movie.

Will defo be watching this :D
 

jasT1981

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The original Red & Pink Rangers aren't as big on appearances and reunions as the others are/were it seems, but hopefully they're involved.
Austin St John (Jason - MMPR Red) has appeared on the show as recent as a few years ago, however could not do this as he is not allowed to leave America right now due to fraud charges against him over Covid money. Amy Jo Johnson (Kim - MMPR Pink) was approached for this special however turned it down as she apparently wanted involved in the directing and they only offered her on screen role.

Kim, Jason & Tommy are captured in this special apparently, explaining their absence, though we will see them in suit only as per the trailer. You can see in one of the clips behind Rita is a figure of each Ranger she has captured.
 

Havak

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Austin St John (Jason - MMPR Red) has appeared on the show as recent as a few years ago, however could not do this as he is not allowed to leave America right now due to fraud charges against him over Covid money. Amy Jo Johnson (Kim - MMPR Pink) was approached for this special however turned it down as she apparently wanted involved in the directing and they only offered her on screen role.

Kim, Jason & Tommy are captured in this special apparently, explaining their absence, though we will see them in suit only as per the trailer. You can see in one of the clips behind Rita is a figure of each Ranger she has captured.
Yeah, I remember seeing clips of Austin in an episode, but I haven't actually watched a complete season of anything other than Mighty Morphin' (watched it right until the end). I heard about Austin's legal issues, but I wasn't sure what they were related to.

I did pick up on that as well, I spent ages trying to get a screenshot to show my mate the little models on that machine behind Rita :lol:

We can take a lot from the trailer - Trini sacrifices herself to save Billy I imagine. This goes back to the beginning as she was a bit of a guardian to Billy in a few episodes IIRC (first episode when he's on a cliff and the fish episode come to mind). This is a great touch.

I'm guessing that the other Rangers are then captured bar Zack and Billy as you mentioned. They try to recruit Rocky, Kat, Aisha and Adam, but the latter two can't do it due to whatever they are doing in the Space Team (it looks like). They don't have a replacement for Tommy as no one else wore Green/White in MMPR. Trini's daughter will then become the Yellow Ranger so we have our team.

Unfortunately, I think it's most likely that the roster will not include a Green Ranger for the remainder of the special. But hopefully they've found a way to do it as I'd love to see the Dragonzord and Green Ranger theme song help save the day near the end.
 

Yagami

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This was my life as a kid until Toonami gave me Dragon Ball Z.

Anyone remember when they did the Power Rangers vs the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? That blew my mind when I first saw it
 

jasT1981

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So, it was good but it wasn't amazing. It was what it needed to be and a fitting tribute to 30 years of the show and the legacy of the MMPR team.

It was clear some of the lines were written with the OG five returning and didn't get changed when Amy Johnson and Jason David Frank declined, and Austin St John had his legal issues preventing him from leaving America to film in New Zealand.. Though all 3 were heard in the episode using old audio for when they were in suits to make it seem they were there.

CGI megazord was bad. Story was good but they should have done the time travel back to the 90s like Rita was planning.

My main issue is this should have come AFTER Cosmic Fury airs. Power Rangers is being rebooted and no longer using the Japanese 'Super Sentai' footage, so this would have been a fitting way to end the entire show as its currently known.
 

Tiber

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I remember really liking Power Rangers and having lots of toys where if you pressed a button their head switched from helmet to non-helmet. But the only thing I remember about the show (aside from the robot helper) was that it was really cool when the white ranger turned up, is he in this?
 

Havak

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I remember really liking Power Rangers and having lots of toys where if you pressed a button their head switched from helmet to non-helmet. But the only thing I remember about the show (aside from the robot helper) was that it was really cool when the white ranger turned up, is he in this?
There is a bit of voice work (likely ripped from old episodes or AI enhanced) and there is a moment where the original cast are on-screen, but it is footage from an old episode. Unfortunately, I don't think he could make it at the time this was filmed (I'm unsure of the actual scheduling and timing of events). Even more unfortunate, the actor (Jason David Frank) sadly committed suicide late last year.

I'm in agreement with @jasT1981 for the most part. It was largely what it needed to be. Some scenes felt slightly rushed, the CGI was bad but that was probably to be expected somewhat. The budget for this wouldn't have been huge anyway, but I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to use that standard in an ironic way as homage to the terrible costumes way back when.

As much as it has to be cheesey and should be cheesey, it wasn't done to the quality of something like Cobra Kai IMO. That was the standard I was hoping for, but some moments in particular like when they were morphing just didn't feel right to me I guess? They didn't seem to have as much enthusiasm and over the top shouting etc. Maybe all of these factors are purely down to it being a one-off.

Still, enjoyed it for what it was! Didn't feel like an hour of my life wasted. I definitely felt rewarded for researching a bit more MMPR history to catch some of the references etc.
 

Sylar

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So, it was good but it wasn't amazing. It was what it needed to be and a fitting tribute to 30 years of the show and the legacy of the MMPR team.

It was clear some of the lines were written with the OG five returning and didn't get changed when Amy Johnson and Jason David Frank declined, and Austin St John had his legal issues preventing him from leaving America to film in New Zealand.. Though all 3 were heard in the episode using old audio for when they were in suits to make it seem they were there.

CGI megazord was bad. Story was good but they should have done the time travel back to the 90s like Rita was planning.

My main issue is this should have come AFTER Cosmic Fury airs. Power Rangers is being rebooted and no longer using the Japanese 'Super Sentai' footage, so this would have been a fitting way to end the entire show as its currently known.
Shame about the bits with the original cast.

As you said,it was what it needed to be and they got around things beyond their control which was nice.

Cool mentions of old stuff like bulk / skull or Ernie etc. Really enjoyed it and one hour was a good length for it too