Power Rangers fans the day that we have all been waiting for is now finally with the special that has had so much hype behind it that it's unreal. As such I just had to check out this special the very first chance that I got and well to say that I loved it would be a huge understatement and so then join me as I give you my SPOILER FULLED review of the special that gives us a more mature take on the franchise with the special in question being called simply just "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always" enjoy.
The plot of this special is when Rita Repulsa somehow returns it's up to Billy , Zack , Kat and Rocky to stop her latest and her most evil scheme to date. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special was in all honesty really cool with it being true to the original Power Rangers but also modern and epic enough to be more then worthy of being an anniversary special in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this special is Walter Jones as Zack Taylor , David Yost as Billy Cranston and Steve Cardenas as Rocky DeSantos. Also starring in this special is Catherine Sutherland as Katherine "Kat" Hillard , Johnny Yong Bosch as Adam Park , Karan Ashley as Aisha Campbell , Charlie Kersh as Minh Kwan , Richard Steven Horvitz as The Voice Of Alpha 9 , Barbara Goodson -as The Voice Of Rita Repulsa , Ryan Cooper as The Voice Of Robo-Mighty Minotaur and Daniel Watterson as The Voice Of Robo-Snizzard.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special was in all honesty alot better then what I thought that it would be. As this is Power Rangers and this show isn't known for having great acting in it and so I really wasn't expecting good or even OK acting in this special and yet I was blown away just by how good the acting in this special was with Barbara Goodson really turning in a bone chilling performance as the voice of Rita Repulsa and Charlie Kersh really turning in a great performance as Minh Kwan.
Try as I might I cannot for the absolutely life of me find out anywhere who did the CGI effects for this special. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very very special was in all honesty not that bad altho at the same time tho it didn't really blow me away either.
SPOILERS START HERE!!!!!!!!!!
As this was an anniversary special of the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers there are quite alot of nods and winks to that show even by having actors Austin St. John as Jason Lee Scott , Thuy Trang as Trini Kwan , Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly Ann Hart , Jason David Frank as Tommy Oliver , Machiko Soga as Rita Repulsa and Ami Kawai as Scorpina all appearing via archive recordings. However there was also nods and winks to episodes and other shows as well with Benny Joy Smith as Annie from Dino Fury making a very brief appearance which to me gives the impression that this special was a celebration of Power Rangers as a whole and not just Mighty Morphin Power Rangers which was something that I was OK with as it shows that the makers of this show love Power Rangers as a whole and not just one particualr era of the franchise.
This is a reunion not only infront of the camera but also behind the camera as for the first time in decades Ron Wasserman provided the score for the special Power Ranger original writer Jackie Marchand returns as story consultant for this special. Which to me makes this special feel even more special as you have two of the countless people who helped to make Power Rangers as special as it was back in the nineties being back to celebrate something that they helped to play a huge part in making special.
While it was great that not only mentioned the character of Trini Kwan for the first time sine Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. To me they just kept on hitting home that her character has now died which is something that they didn't really need to do as the first few scenes in the special would have hit that point home perfectly but at the same time tho it would have been a disservice to the character of Minh Kwan as her whole character arc is about coming to terms with the death of her mother and not seeking revenge on Rita Repulsa for the death of her mother which was a character arc that I really liked as it was something that was a really dark subject matter for Power Rangers to handle.
Now then this special has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly fifty eight minuets and eight seconds. Which i'm in two minds about as on the one half giving this special thew length of two or three episodes of the show is a great way to make it feel all the more special but at the same time this special doesn't have alot there interms of either plot or story to cover that large amount of running time and as such you get alot of pointless scenes with Minh Kwan and Zack very early on in the special and later on in the special as well that just feel like padding and nothing more then that but tho I will admit that this special does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then since this is an action special that means that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special was in all honesty alot better then what I thought that it was going to be. As this special uses no Japanese footage at all and so the team making this special had to come up with their action scenes and they did a really good job with this specials action being very thrilling and thanks to the new Rita really very exciting and scary as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!!
Overall this anniversary special is so much better then Dimensions In Danger as this special doesn't feel like The Tommy Oliver Show and it puts alot of focus on the Power Rangers which is something that Dimensions In Danger just didn't do and I can very highly recommend this special to both fans and none fans alike as its that good of a special in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all pf the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very special in this very review and as such that means that this very special earns itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Power Rangers fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website that I personally preferred to use to get the images that I personally used in this very review being the wonderful the official Power Rangers fandom wiki page since all of the images that are currently up and and featured / presented to us on the official Power Rangers fandom wiki page are all fairly high in quality and as well as being fairly freaking high in definition.