Ungoliantschilde

the Power Rangers, by Dan Mora.

My boys are really into the Power Rangers right now, and it got me thinking. There are a LOT of power rangers tv shows. Power Rangers Dino Fury, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers Zeo, Ninja Storm… and it just keeps fucking going.

I had a thought. What if… what if Zordon isn’t a loving father figure. He’s a general fighting a losing war. (Zordon is the floating head Professor X guy that guides the power rangers).

The reason there are so many different versions of the power rangers is that they die. The rangers are cannon fodder for Zordon’s Alamo. Zordon calls himself many different names. He’s always the guiding force for the Rangers. The red ranger is the field leader. Zordon is the general. And Zordon has lost ground steadily on every world except Earth. Angel Grove is his Alamo. And Zordon has been through 10 generations of Rangers.

Each and every Ranger team has died fighting. So Zordon has had to continually recruit new rangers. Young, impressionable kids with specific intellectual and athletic abilities. To keep it going, Zordon has had to continually reinvent himself, rename the rangers, and rebrand the mission. But for Zordon, it’s just one mission. Save the universe from the forces of evil.

I had this mental image of the Red Ranger punching a monster, but it was like a kaleidoscope of every iteration of the Red Ranger. That’s the morphing matrix. It’s not about the teenager inside the costume. It’s the mission. It’s the annihilation of life as we know it, weighed against the lives of a few kids. There’s no math in denying it.

So let’s go.

Zordon is the last general in a war that has destroyed every world it has touched. He’s digging in on Earth, and Angel Grove is his last command post. The team can call him heartless, evil, cruel, or manipulative if it brings them together.

The Rangers need to stop Rita. Stop Ivan. Save Angel Grove. Save Earth. Save the Universe.

Whatever the Rangers need as motivation is fine, so long as they Go.

Go.

“the Firing Range”, by Harvey T. Dunn.