It hit the Internet like a tornado last week and was gone just as quickly, but the Adi Shankar produced fan movie Power/Rangers has split opinions of the fans of the Power Rangers franchise. Even the original cast members have waded in their thoughts with Jason David Frank (Green Ranger) saying it wasn’t for him while Amy Jo Johnson (Pink Ranger) and Tommy Yung Bosch (second Black Ranger) praised it.
But, what might surprise fans is that its director Joseph Khan (Detention) was not a fan of the series at all.
“Most people when they do projects always say they’re fans but 90% are lying just to please the fans,” he said during an AMA Reddit. “I was already shaving in 1993 when Power Rangers came out. It was aimed at 12 year olds. I would have been weird as fuck if I was going into clubs raving about a reappropriated Sentai show for kids. I would have never gotten laid (which I didn’t anyway so what did it matter). It was an interesting experiment to play with reboot culture and tone control. When I finally made it I was fully invested in the characters and the property but I didn’t come into it to please a fan base, per se, but to experiment with pop culture.”
“I was going to a sci fi short anyway with Russ Bain (who plays Tommy Oliver) and Adi Shankar convinced me to make it about Power Rangers,” the director explained of the film’s origins. “I self funded it and shot it over 7 days. It was taken down because it was awesome.”
Many fans of the series took offense to the short as it was a lot darker than the original series. Jason David Frank said that the short was inappropriate for younger viewers, who are the target audience for Power Rangers.
“It’s not necessarily made for Power Ranger fans NOW, especially kids,” Kahn wrote. “It was made for Power Rangers fans in the 90’s who grew up and out of it. I’m making a piece of nostalgia for adults in their late 20’s and 30’s, who haven’t thought about them in a minute. And I think that is the vast majority of people in the world. If you’re 30 and still into Power Rangers and dress up in the costumes and all that, then more power to you, but this is not for you.”
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL18yMRIfoszH_jfuJoo8HCG1-lGjvfH2F
Originally published March 2, 2015. Updated November 29, 2022.
