Saban’s Power Rangers movie is now out on home video – on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD.
And while the film largely stays true to its roots – the storyline of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV show – it does change a few elements that weren’t necessarily incorporated into the TV show’s lore.
Among those changed elements includes making Rita Repulsa the original Green Ranger – a hero who goes rogue when she betrays Zordon and her Power Rangers teammates.
In an interview with ComicBook.com, Director Dean Israelite explained his decision to turn Rita green, in a move that figures to have major implications across the Power Rangers’ film universe.
“When I first came up, that is what we started to talk about – is that she was going to be the Green Ranger? We were trying to figure out a mythology for her, and it felt like there was real evidence in the cannon because she ultimately ends up giving Tommy the coin. That there was evidence in a way that she could be the Green Ranger. So it fits really organically into the mythology that is already there, and when we came up with that idea, it was very exciting, because we felt like we had kind of opened up this whole new prologue in a way.” – Director Dean Israelite
Rita has always been connected to the Green Power Ranger by virtue of introducing the iconic superhero, with perhaps the most recognizable Power Ranger in show history beginning his tenure as one of Rita’s evil servants.
With Tommy Oliver, the Green Ranger, figuring to enter the franchise next in a potential sequel to Saban’s Power Rangers movie, one can only question what role Elizabeth Banks’ Rita Repulsa will continue to play moving forward.
Rumors first suggested that Rita would be the original Green Ranger long before Saban’s Power Rangers movie released. Those rumors also suggested that Rita went rogue serving her master, Lord Zedd. With Israelite claiming that Lord Zedd would be the obvious choice for a sequel’s villain (recap here), only time will tell if that backstory sticks around.
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Great movie ! I’m 29 years old and I watched that show as a kid. My kids, age 9 and 3 along with other kids have watched the POWER RANGERS movie 5-7 times in the same week. Awesome MOVIE
I disagree with the idea of making Rita the original Green Ranger. Although it has been years since I had seen any episodes of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, I am pretty certain that Rita has never been the Green Ranger, and she acquired the Green Power Coin by stealing it from Zordon before he could use it against her. Also, she is depicted in the original series as being much older than the version of her that appears in this movie. Also, the timeline for the events of this movie, specifically the prologue, are all wrong. According to the original series, it had only been approximately 10,000 years ago when Zordon had previously defeated Rita and imprisoned her in a space dumpster, which also resulted in Zordon becoming trapped in another dimension. HE DID NOT DIE! And, finally, that leads me to another thing that I have a problem with. As I had said before, Zordon did not die when he defeated before. He was very much alive when the original series started, even though he was trapped in another dimension. But he was never the original Red Ranger. If he had ever been a Power Ranger prior to his interdimensional entrapment, he would have been the original White Ranger.
I still like the movie itself, but I think that all of the changes that the writers made to the established canon of the original series is why I think that this movie didn’t do as well as it could have done in the worldwide box office.
I agree they changed way too much stuff mostly in a bad way.