When it comes to the Power Rangers franchise, we have to admit that the TV series isn’t exactly known for its intricate plot or stellar performances. That’s perfectly acceptable when you consider that the show’s target audience is kids and pre-teens. However, as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always leans heavily on nostalgia to draw fully-grown viewers in, you’d think they would at least amp up the special’s elements for the adult fans. You’d be wrong.
Working as a follow-up of sorts to the show’s original run and as a “homage” to its numerous spin-offs (more on those quote marks later), the story centers around Billy Cranston/Blue Ranger (David Yost) and Zack Taylor/Black Ranger (Walter Jones), who reunite other veteran Rangers when Robo Rita (Barbara Goodson) returns to Angel Grove. After seeing the Yellow Ranger killed and the Pink and White Rangers entrapped, Billy and Zack ask for the help of Rocky (Steve Cardenas) and Kat (Catherine Sutherland) in order to rescue their friends.
It’s not that Power Rangers: Once & Always isn’t aware of the older audiences. The special does try to put some serious themes up for discussion, especially when it comes to the death of the Yellow Ranger during a mission. The problem is, this is done artificially and through the use of the most basic clichés ever; the way that Minh (Charlie Kersh) discovers how her mother died, her relationship with her guardian, and her closure is a story arc you can easily map out from the start. The arc pales even more when you consider that Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy dealt with the death of a Ranger a lot better and with surprisingly higher stakes.
Speaking of Lost Galaxy, Power Rangers: Once & Always also doesn’t seem to know how to honor the legacy of the series. The special decides to tell a story that involves every Power Ranger ever, which is pretty ambitious and suggests the story will play out along the lines of the iconic episode “Forever Red.” The thing is… the special brings none of the dozens of Rangers back except the (kind of) original five into the mix. The other Rangers’ incarnations get celebrated on screen the same way millennials do on their shelves: with action figures.
So, this means that the special would rather focus on the five Rangers at hand and give them some substance, right? Unfortunately, no. You come out of Power Rangers: Once & Always knowing next to nothing about Zack, Kat, Billy, and Rocky. Billy’s company has evolved. Kat has a kid. Rocky is worried about his snack (really). And Zack… does break-dance moves. What’s left for fans during the special is to have fun with fight sequences, which are not that many and sometimes badly choreographed. True, it’s nice to see the ramped-up production values. Robo Rita has an impressive design, and the monster villains' suits look better than the foam costumes from the original show. There's also more ambitious camerawork, which back in the '90s was virtually impossible due to time and budget constraints, but that’s about it.
Power Rangers: Once & Always is able to deliver fun moments when it doesn’t care about being silly. Rita transforming Rangers into models that are clearly action figures? Sure. Megazords fighting in space to the blast of overwhelming explosions that echo through the void? Why not! The only bad thing is that the special doesn’t go full camp as often as it could, and ends up feeling like a lackluster yet extended regular season episode. It also may be a cheap shot to point out the main cast’s acting skills without mentioning they are given such weak material to work with. The Becca Barnes and Alwyn Dale script is chock-full of embarrassing lines and moments. The worst of them is the rescue of a same-sex couple, which feels like it was written and directed by people who read one page of a queerbaiting manual and decided they had learned enough.
Power Rangers: Once & Always sort of undermines its own dramatic core when it introduces a story element that would allow Rangers to go back in time (not a spoiler, since it's in the trailer). It’s perfectly understandable that the special is committed to preserving Thuy Trang’s memory, but the possibility of saving the Yellow Ranger and, you know, giving a teenage girl her mother back is never even contemplated by the surviving Rangers. There’s only so much you can do on a 55-minute, one-time event, but there certainly was enough time to work this arc a lot better.
Power Rangers: Once & Always doesn’t make the same mistake as the 2017 feature film Power Rangers, which took itself way too seriously when it didn’t need to. At the same time, the special is too aware that it should be a little serious, which prevents viewers from having fun with the truly campy moments that, although rare, fire up the screen when they pop. When it comes to adult men and women fighting aliens while wearing multicolored spandex, sometimes you have to just give in and run with it — but Once & Always never wields this to its fullest potential.
Rating: C+
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always is available to stream on Netflix starting April 19.