Examining the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always” Trailer

Good morning, Heroes, and all of those who are within the Ranger Nation! It is ZeltraxMillennium here with my own reaction editorial for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always Trailer. For those unaware, Once & Always is a 30th anniversary special coming to Netflix on April 19th. The special feature casts members from all three Mighty Morphin seasons uniting to fight a robotic incarnation of Rita Repulsa. Whereas, for this editorial, I will be giving my thought and opinions on the trailer for the upcoming special. In addition, I am going to thoroughly examine it for all possible Easter Eggs, and clues regarding its plot. Nevertheless, for those wanting to avoid spoilers, I suggest returning to this article later to compare what I got right!

 

So, the trailer begins with Billy morphed, and staring down Putties alongside a Terminator-like Rita Repulsa, who is seeking revenge. Currently, no one knows how Robo Rita was created, leaving it to be a mystery for the special. Many theories are already being thrown around online, and I am leaning into someone else created this robot. With how Lord Zedd was resurrected in Dino Fury, I do not think Rita had this copy developed in secret. Although, crazy things have happened in Power Rangers, so maybe Rita had some mechanic hidden away to copy her brain.

 

Now, many returning fans might be shocked that Trini has a daughter, but Minh was created for this special. In the special, Minh will be portrayed by Charlie Kersh, and she is aware that her mother is a Ranger. Especially, since the trailer shows how Minh wants to join the Rangers to defeat Robo Rita to avenge Trini. Surprisingly, Billy and Zack refuse her plea, but I can understand why they are apprehensive toward the idea. Specifically, Billy and Zack know a mourning teenage with an attitude may cause issues when battling Robo Rita. In addition, I think both of them want to protect Minh, rather than her possibly throwing away her own life. Furthermore, later into the trailer, there is a scene featuring a childhood drawing by Minh alongside a photo of Thuy. Whereas, it is accompanied by Zack saying how they need to stop Rita, and it really tugged on my heartstrings. 

Then throughout the trailer, we get to see glimpses of the new sets that recreate Rita’s Moon Palace. Whereas, these sets appear to be in ruined either due to age, or the Machine Empire attack. Originally, I assumed it would have been completely destroyed, but Rita and Zedd were in it for the Turbo movie. Also, besides the palace, Billy and Alpha-5 have seemingly constructed a new seaside Command Center, which sports the HypeForce logo. So, it is insane that the live-action series will officially acknowledge the HyperForce team moving forward with Once & Always.

 

However, HyperForce’s involvement makes more sense as computers show that Alpha can communicate with the other teams in the franchise. Specifically, the screens feature locations like the Astro Megaship, Terra Venture, Turtle Cove, Reefside and Coral Harbor. Although, I assume Terra Ventura refers to the surviving city dome used by the colonizers on Miranoi. Anyway, these locations are accompanied by the Bandora Protocol, which signifies the imperativeness of Rita Repulsa’s return. Additionally, calling it the Bandora Protocol is a great callback to Rita’s Zyuranger counterpart, played by Machiko Soga.

So, it seems the Robo Rita plans to create a time portal to stop Zordon from creating the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Specifically, Rita intends to kill the original team before they are ever selected, which should spite the Space-Time Continuum. Yet, Billy and Zack plan to stop Robo Rita, as Alpha calls in Rocky and Kat as their reinforcements. Especially, since it seems that Jason, Kimberly, and Tommy are going to be explained away in story as being captured. Also, as expected they spout the iconic phrase, “Once a Ranger, always a Ranger,” upon their reunion. Interestingly, Alpha seemingly teleported Rocky away from work, as a fireman, and during his lunch break. Additionally, it seems that Billy and Zack may interchangeably switch between being the leader, as Zack leads a morph sequence. Furthermore, since behind-the-scene photos indicate that a new sequence was made, I cannot wait to actually see it be used.

 

Coincidentally, as earlier reports claimed, Mighty Minotaur and Snizzard are returning in the special as Robo Monsters. However, Robo Minotaur appears to be more like a cyborg by its suit design when compared to Robo Snizzard. Whereas, since there is going to be time travel, it seems everyone is going to be visiting Ernie’s Juice Bar. As a result, the production team built a new set that is very similar to the original but slightly smaller. So, at this point I feel like Hasbro is spoiling us to make up some of their past mistakes. Yet, the team is probably trying to bring back the casual audience, and I cannot really complain about that either.

 

Finally, for the last scenes within the trailer, fans are presented with new and original Zord footage. Whereas, since the special is dealing with time travel, the Zords being used are specifically the Dinozords. Also, the Megazord even appears, and seemingly might be traveling into space due to the accompanying background. Although, all of the Zord footage is CGI, and it has become a topic for discussion within the fandom.

 

Currently, many fans are upset that CGI is being used when Toei possibly has a functioning Daizyujin suit to borrow. However, I am guessing that the suit is damaged as it has been used since Kyoryuger. Yet, these CGI Dinozords and Megazord do appear to be based on the Lightning Collection ZAP toy’s digital files. Albeit, these files have been modified to have elements from the suits and props, which seems fine for budget costs. So, I can expect that there will be new cockpit scenes, which I want to see the interior of.

Overall, I cannot wait for April 19th to get here, and I somewhat wish its premiere could be sooner. Whereas, many readers by now should expect that I am going to be reviewing the special, as soon as possible. Although, I am unsure if Hero-Club is planning to do another group review as seen previously with Shin Ultraman. So, that might be a possibility for our staff too, even though a Hero-Club Weekly reaction stream has been planned. Anyway, the trailer is great, and “Once & Always” has people talking about Power Rangers fondly again. Nevertheless, we have less than a month to see this epic special, so Heroes make sure to promote the release!

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