Fanboys Anonymous

The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers are scheduled for a big-budget blockbuster reboot coming to theaters March 24, 2017. Recently, Lionsgate has released the first official trailer for the upcoming film for New York Comic Con, resulting in a much-renewed interest in the beloved '90s franchise not seen since the Joseph Kahn and Adi Shankar R-rated short film Power/Rangers from early 2015.

After an initial viewing, it presented a much different tone compared to the bombastic children's television show. The general consensus being that it's "The Breakfast Club meets Chronicle."

It's Morphin' Time!

Set to "I Walk the Line" by Halsey, we see glimpses of all the soon-to-be Rangers and their lives before they are granted their powers. According to the marketing website Angel Grove High School, Jason Lee Scott (Dacre Montgomery) was a dedicated student and star athlete on and off the field; a leader among teammates and peers. This isn't much different from the previous interpretation of the character played by Austin St. John in the original series. However, as the trailer shows, Jason was involved in some sort of joyriding accident that has gotten him into trouble with the police, resulting in him wearing an ankle monitor.

Next, we see Kimberly Hart (Naomi Scott). While Amy Jo Johnson's original Pink Ranger was a gymnast, this version of Kimberly seems to be former cheerleader royalty, but something has happened to take that away from her. She decides to take a different direction in her life, abandoning her uniform, cutting her hair, and transitioning to a much more rebellious phase.

For both Kimberly and Jason, it will be interesting to see what caused their respective arcs to go this route. Even more interesting is the implied romance between the two, as fans of the series are more familiar with Kimberly instead being in a relationship with Tommy Oliver. Both the Twilight and The Hunger Games franchises prominently featured love triangles, so will we see #TeamJason and #TeamTommy when the sequel comes around?

And Power Rangers joins the bunch?

RJ Cyler plays the Blue Ranger Billy Cranston, taking over for David Yost. He is depicted as "whip-smart and sweet" as well as "the most pure-hearted of the group" yet again, keeping in tune with what we expected. Sources say Billy's side-hobby is fossil hunting, which explains why he would carry around dynamite as seen in the trailer. He is also depicted as the one getting bullied in school before having one of the two moments that echo Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man film's "budding powers" scenes. While Jason's is the mysterious addition of abs, Billy's is the comeuppance of the bully when he's being picked on. He gets what's coming to him. It seems like a good amount of the movie's humor will be coming from Billy.

Not much is shown of Ludi Lin—the new Black Ranger, Zack Taylor. The TV counterpart played by Walter Jones was always the cool kid in Angel Grove, which may be the case here, albeit tweaked. Official character descriptions depict him as "filled with bravado and swagger. He is tough and cool on the exterior, but has many layers beyond his fearless appearance. Zack advertises everything about himself except the truth, which makes him feel deeply inferior to all his peers."

The new girl to Angel Grove is Trini Kwan (Becky G, previously portrayed by Thuy Trang). One of her primary hardships is that her parents constantly move for work, making her somewhat of a loner who can never truly form any friendships. She's been described as "self-sufficient, contemplative, but always observant." It was a rather neat Easter egg to see her wearing a t-shirt bearing the same year Thuy Trang was born.

Easter Eggs!

The trailer also offers a quick look at our new Rita Repulsa, played by Elizabeth Banks. In just one line of her saying she's "killed Rangers before," her version of the classic villain is presented as much more of a genuine threat instead of the cartoonish one from the television series. It also indicates there is a much bigger universe where possibly the team's mentor Zordon (Bryan Cranston) was a Ranger once before.

This never happened in the TV show!

Unfortunately, we did not get a look at the Zords, the suits in action, or even Zordon and Bill Hader's take on Alpha 5 just yet. Perhaps another trailer will be released closer to the holidays where merchandise can play a factor.