Saban’s Power Rangers movie is now out on home video – on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD.
And among the film’s many re-imaginings, one that particularly struck a chord with fans was the newly designed Goldar.
Goldar was best known as being the tough, but also bumbling general, to Rita Repulsa on the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV show. Strong with his sword, Goldar was a beast ape who wrestled many ferocious duels with the Power Rangers.
But in Saban’s Power Rangers movie, Goldar became a massive gold creature with no face or voice – just a gigantic endgame beast hellbent on destroying Angel Grove.
In the home video’s Audio Commentary featuring Director Dean Israelite and Writer John Gatkins, the duo explained their thinking behind re-imagining Goldar like never seen before.
“I love how massive we made Goldar. And Goldar is the one thing that’s being re-imagined the most from the original show. He’s the biggest departure from the original show…Why did we do that? The honest answer is we’ve seen monsters like the original Goldar over and over in movies like this. And we needed to fill this with something that we felt was original and taking the idea that [Rita Repulsa] manipulates matter and he’s made of gold – he should be pure gold, and not a demon as well. He should be a gold creature, this flowing chocolate fountain almost of gold with all this negative space so he feels almost soulless in a way that makes him really eerie.” – Director Dean Israelite
Israelite didn’t offer any examples of a modern-day superhero villain that he felt bared too strong of a resemblance to the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’ Goldar. But still, in a world currently over-saturated with superhero movies, the villains of Power Rangers were always in an originality competition with the evildoers from Marvel, DC, and beyond.
Israelite also went on to note that the team put an incredible amount of focus on Goldar’s relationship with Rita Repulsa, and the idea that the character would be the sick creation of the former Green Ranger.
“But what I love is that Rita loves [Goldar]. It’s almost as if he’s her child. And they have this symbiotic relationship where they each save each other, and she ultimately goes inside him. And for a long time I remember, we hadn’t figured this moment out – we didn’t know what Rita would be doing while Goldar and the Megazord were fighting each other. And then we came to this idea that she’ll be able to enter him in this very sensual and sexual way, which I like. Obviously that’s a part of the movie, this kind of sensuality that Rita brings. Because the movie is about teenagers, and adolescence, and puberty. And that’s a big part of it.” – Director Dean Israelite
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Goldar really could/should have been done better. I get keeping the fight intimate, between Rita (former Ranger) and the current Ranger team, but Goldar as a mindless lump of CG was a let down. He’s got one of the most striking designs in Sentai/PR history, and modern special effects could bring it to life like never before. My hope is that if there’s a sequel, the real Goldar shows up (blue winged monkey lion warrior in gold armor), maybe working in the service of Lord Zedd, and it’s reveal that Rita is just so obsessed with him that she created the type of Goldar scene in the first film as a sort of crudley-rendered homage to the real one.
I guess that’ll work. Hopefully, this movie might actually get a sequel, someday. But, the director does make a valid point about Goldar’s departure from the show after Zeo ended, and the fact that the majority of villains from Power Rangers, most particularly Mighty Morphin’ are in a huge competition of originality with a lot of iconic noteable villains from DC and Marvel Comics. As well as some villains from Star Wars and Disney.
That’s not a bad idea 🤔
Anything’s better than that babbling baboon from the TV show. There were many cringe-inducing elements to the original Power Rangers seasons, and Goldar was among the biggest. He wasn’t the least bit threatening or credible.
This new movie’s Goldar didn’t have to utter a single word; it’s presence alone was enough of an intimidation factor. No face, no eyes, just a hollow golden husk, almost like a giant mummy.
Actually, Goldar wasn’t much of a bumbling baffoon until we got to season three of MMPR, and Zeo. He was actually kind of a bad-ass in both seasons one and two. But, I blame those soccer moms and stupid-ass parents complaining about how the villains from Power Rangers were too scary for the little kids back in the 90’s. They’re the reasons why Goldar and Lord Zedd were watered down in season three of MMPR and in Zeo.
Wow