|
Listen to this article here
|
Sign-Up for a free subscription to The Black Wall Street Times‘ daily newsletter, Black Editors’ Edition (BEE) – our curated news selections & opinions by us for you.
The Power Rangers are back in the newest trailer for Netflix’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always, which takes place 30 years after the original show aired on Fox.
For kids of the ’90’s, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers was one of the first daily viewing experiences many collectively shared. With a diverse cast of characters, it immediately ingratiated itself with audiences to record numbers.
The show’s original iteration, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, was a campy mash-up of action footage from a Japanese superhero series called Super Sentai and American-made dramatic scenes, a format the show more or less uses to this day.
Power Rangers generated nearly billion dollars in 1995
TIME reports Mighty Morphin Power Rangers averaged 4.8 million daily viewers in its first season, according to Nielsen, and 6.9 million in its second, making it by far the most popular kids’ show of its era.
Its toys, costumes and merchandise generated about $1 billion in revenue in 1995, according to Fortune. When the Power Rangers actors went to Universal Studios in 1994 for a meet and greet, they attracted 35,000 people and caused an 8-mile-long (13 km) traffic jam in Los Angeles.
Thirty years later, it’s still Morphin’ Time
The trailer introduced new character Minh Kwan (Charlie Kersh), the daughter of Yellow Ranger Trini Kwan. Thuy Trang, who portrayed the Yellow Ranger in the original series, tragically died in 2001 from a car accident.
According to Hollywood Reporter, the creators chose to write in Trini’s death with the villainous Rita Repulsa as the culprit.
The anniversary special features the return of some of the franchise’s earliest castmembers, including David Yost’s Blue Ranger Billy Cranston, Walter E. Jones’ Black Ranger Zack Taylor, Catherine Sutherland’s Pink Ranger Kat Hillard, Steve Cardenas’ Red Ranger Rocky DeSantos, Richard Steven Horvitz’s Alpha 5 and Barbara Goodson’s Rita Repulsa. Karan Ashley’s second Yellow Ranger Aisha Campbell and Johnny Yong Bosch’s second Black Ranger Adam Park also appear in the film.
“Thirty years after the wise and powerful Zordon formed the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the team comes face to face with a familiar threat from the past,” the film’s logline reads.
“In the midst of a global crisis, they are called on once again to be the heroes the world needs. This 30th anniversary special is inspired by the legendary mantra from the franchise ‘Once a Ranger, Always a Ranger,’ meaning once you become part of the Ranger family, you are always welcome back.”
The Power Rangers franchise lost another one of its original members in November 2022 when Jason David Frank, who played the Green-turned-White Ranger, died. It’s unclear how the 30th anniversary special will address the loss — if at all.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always hits Netflix April 19.