Big changes are coming to the waning ‘Power Rangers’ brand. In February, Saban transferred the toy license for the long-running sentai series from Bandai, who had made the toys since the brand’s inception in 1993, to Hasbro. But that was just step one, as in May, Saban sold ‘Power Rangers’ outright to Hasbro for a reported $522 million. Under this new regime, the most famous figure from ‘Power Rangers’, Jason David Frank predicts big changes including a ‘Green Ranger’ series.
Frank portrayed Tommy Oliver, the original Green Ranger, and quickly became the most popular member of the cast. Tommy went on to appear in more iterations of ‘Power Rangers’ than any other character and Frank continues to be the loudest cheerleader of the franchise, making constant convention appearances to connect with the fans. And though Frank admits he isn’t privy to all of Hasbro’s plans, now that they own the rights, he hints that Hasbro plans to more closely adhere to what the fans want and that may just include a solo ‘Green Ranger’ series. In an interview with ComicBook.com, he stated:
“I always wanted the Green Ranger series. Probably going to get it, with all due respect to anyone because I’m not letting the cat out of the bag, but the fanbase is starting to generate what’s going on. Now with the Soul of the Dragon book being released in December, it’s a solo Green Ranger book. It’s the Old Man Logan book that I wanted in the past.
“I don’t want to be paid to go to the Hasbro booth. To be paid to tell the fans ‘well Hasbro’s great!’. I’m telling you from the heart, not from a financial standpoint that I think with what they have planned, which I don’t know everything, I think it’s going to be great. I also think it’s going to be great for the Green Ranger.”
But Frank may not be the only past Ranger going in front of the camera again. Several former Rangers starred in a trailer for an as-yet-unproduced action movie ‘The Order’ directed, written and produced by another ex-Ranger, Karan Ashley who co-starred with Frank on ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’ as Aisha, the second Yellow Ranger. Frank wants to recruit other former spandex warriors for a reunion on camera.
“So if it was up to me and I had a show I would invite a lot of cool people back. Put the invites out for some of the original Rangers. i would see if they can integrate. The only problem is that I have, and this is with all due respect to the superheroes around the world, you have to fit in spandex in order to be a Ranger. That’s the truth! I don’t want to come out with no slow-motion shot, and I’m not saying that to any one, there’s like 100 something Rangers and I don’t follow them actively, but the last thing I want to do is come out in the slow-motion shot and people go ‘oh’. I want to look like a hero, ya know what I mean? I may be old but I might still be able to pull it off.”
Frank recently played Valiant Entertainment comic book character Bloodshot in the web series ‘Ninjak Vs. The Valiant Universe’ and has a role in the upcoming low-budget action movie ‘Underdogs Rising’. He and fellow O.G. Ranger Walter Jones (Zack the original Black Ranger) can be seen in ‘Making Fun: The Story of Funko’, a documentary available on Netflix.
