We all know Power Rangers, right? That kids' show where goody two-shoes teens fought the Monster of the Week every Saturday morning and was always on the idealistic side of the Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism? Well, this isn't that kind of fan film. This fan film chooses instead to be a Satire of Hollywood blockbusters that adapt kid-friendly franchises, but make things Darker and Edgier to attract an older audience, taking it to a logical extreme by presenting a vision of what an R-rated version of Power Rangers might look like.
In this Alternate Continuity, the timeline diverged from the events of Power Rangers Zeo when the Machine Empire actually defeated the Power Rangers. With nothing left to stand in their way, the governments of the Earth agreed to permanently disband the team as part of a peace treaty, as the surviving members are left to adjust to a life under their occupation. Years later, many of the former Power Rangers have been killed under mysterious circumstances, and Rocky DeSantos, now working for the Machine Empire, has to interrogate Kimberly Ann Hart in order to find the whereabouts of Tommy Oliver.
The film stars James Van Der Beek, Katee Sackhoff, and Will Yun Lee.
This film provides examples of:
- Adaptational Sexuality: Billy comes out as gay in this universe, almost certainly a reference to the harassment faced by his equally-gay actor David Yost on the set of the original series.
- Adaptational Villainy: A lot.
- The most upfront case comes with Rocky DeSantos, who betrays the Rangers in favor of the Machine Empire, seeing the team as nothing more than Child Soldiers.
- Zack goes from an upbeat guy with a fighting style called "Hip-Hop Kido" to a sadistic Blood Knight who turned to the Machine Empire to satisfy his bloodlust.
- In the original series, Bulk and Skull were comic relief bullies that received a copious amount of Character Development and eventually became heroes. In this film they kill Jason and join up with the Machine Empire because they had better Meth.
- Ambiguously Gay: The North Korean leader mentions watching Zack's workout videos and comments on Zack having a beautiful body when they meet face to face.
- Any Last Words?: The leader of a North Korean base asks this to Zack when he has Zack surrounded by armed soldiers. He answers, "It's morphing time!"
- Art Evolution: As the movie is made
over two decades after the source material and a dedicated team looking to avoid the No Budget look of the show, with some sharp cinematography and special effects. The Red Ranger’s original actor even compared it to Star Trek. - Artificial Limbs: Rocky is now sporting a robotic leg.
- The Bad Guy Wins: The start of this story is that the Machine Empire won, and many of the Power Rangers are dead. It gets even worse by the end, as Rita has successfully killed off all of the survivors except Tommy.
- Boom, Headshot!: How Zack and Billy are killed. The fake Kimberly kills Rocky this way at the end.
- Bowdlerise: The version on Vimeo has Divatox and Scorpina naked for all of their screen time. The version on YouTube has them in lingerie.
- Child Soldiers: The bread and butter of any Power Rangers Dark Fic, Rocky points out that Zordon made them Rangers because of the fact that five teenagers were easy to manipulate.
- Cliffhanger: Rita is alive! And she wants Tommy back.
- Dark Fic: The film is a large-scale Deconstructor Fleet of Power Rangers, with themes of drugs, murder, and Child Soldiers just to name a few.
- Dead All Along: The ending reveals Kimberly died before the start of the film. The person being interrogated by Rocky is really Rita in disguise.
- Death by Adaptation:
- Bulk and Skull kill Jason to get meth from the Machine Empire. Bulk dies of an overdose and Skull drowns in his bathtub.
- Zack is assassinated.
- Billy commits suicide for unknown reasons.
- In a Flashback, the Rangers attend Trini's funeral.
- Kimberly died in Tommy’s arms, the Kimberly seen in the film is Rita in disguise.
- Get It Over With: Zack's last words to Rita when she executes him: "Get on with it."
- Flipping the Bird: Zack flips off some North Korean soldiers. Their leader flips off Zack when he dies.
- Hotter and Sexier: Among other things, a flashback shows that Zack is sleeping with Divatox and Scorpina. When Zack leaves the bed, the two make out and start having sex.
- How We Got Here: The film is mostly told in flashback, as Rocky interrogates Kimberly about their history together and Tommy's whereabouts.
- Indecisive Parody: The film is not sure if it is a satire of Power Rangers with a Darker and Edgier approach, or a parody of Darker and Edgier Hollywood remakes while using Power Rangers imagery and terminology. The Framing Device with fragmented Flashbacks and slick cinematography means it never quite settles on one angle (which may have been part of the joke).
- Last of His Kind: By the end of the film, Tommy is the only surviving Power Ranger.
- Les Collaborateurs: Rocky was the first to join the Machine Empire for the purpose of self-preservation and is actively hunting down Tommy. Zack also willingly joined them to fight against their enemies.
- Psychic-Assisted Suicide: Rita reveals that she compelled Bulk, Skull, and Billy to kill themselves and made Zack fall asleep so she could kill him without resistance.
- Race Lift:
- Rocky was Latino in the original show, but played by the very white James Van Der Beek (Steve Cardenas was Mexican-American).
- Rita was played by a Japanese woman in the original series, and the Latina Carla Perez fills the role here — though it is in keeping with the Zordon era from MMPR season 2 onward and this is a case of Role Reprise, Perez having previously been the suit actress for Rita in the American footage from said time.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: The North Korean leader puts up a better fight against Zack than all his men.
- Ruder and Cruder: This movie uses language the actual franchise wouldn’t go near with "fuck"s and "shit"s being common and bordering on Cluster F-Bomb.
- Satire: It's intended to be one of Darker and Edgier film adaptations of franchises
primarily aimed at children such as Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy and Michael Bay's Transformers. However, the demographics of those movies have enjoyed it unironically. - Use Their Own Weapon Against Them: Zack kills several North Korean soldiers with their own guns and knives.
- Villain World: The Machine Empire won and the Power Rangers are disbanded. Everything gets a whole lot worse and the short is under no illusion that the surviving Power Rangers will be able to fix things.
- We Can Rule Together: When Rita reveals herself, she asks Tommy to join her, but he attacks her as the film ends.
- You Have Failed Me: When Zack slaughters a bunch of North Korean soldiers, the last one cowers and backs away. Annoyed, the leader kills him with a knife before taking Zack on himself.
