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Katee Sackhoff Stars in R-Rated 14-Minute 'Power Rangers' Short

by Ethan Anderton
February 24, 2015

Previously we've seen a couple of impressive short films from producer Ari Shankar from the comic book universe. Joe Lynch directed Truth in Journalism, a take off on the Spider-Man character Venom, and Mike Pecci directed The Dead Can't Be Distracted, which was a bootleg version of The Punisher. Now Shankar is back with Power/Rangers, a gritty, R-rated, 14-minute short film directed by Joseph Kahn (Torque) that adapts "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers." The film certainly puts an interesting twist on the mythology of the Japanese imported action adventure, and it's much different from the eventual big screen take on the way. Plus, it stars James Van Der Beek and Katie Sackhoff, which is just completely surreal. Watch!

Here's Joseph Kahn & Adi Shankar's short film Power/Rangers (via HitFix):

And if you're wondering just why Shankar decided to make this movie, here you go:

Interestingly enough, Kahn wasn't even a fan of Power Rangers in the least, but he was intrigued by doing a completely different version of something he viewed as a silly property. He says, "“I think the trick that I really wanted to do with this was to make that dark and gritty version that everybody keeps talking about, but really do it. Really see if I could totally accomplish it with essentially a really incredible incredibly silly property.” So it's pretty self-indulgent, but that doesn't make it any less of an impressive short film and something fans may have been anxious to see realized.

However, if you're hoping Lionsgate will hire Kahn for the developing big screen version, don't count on it. First of all, Lionsgate would never go in this direction for a tentpole adaptation of Power Rangers. Second of all, Kahn just isn't interested now that he's done this short, "The irony here is that I wouldn’t even want to make Power Rangers: The Movie for real. Like if I had to make a ‘Power Rangers’ movie, this is it. It’s 14 minutes long and it’s violent and this is what I have in me. If they offered me the 200 million version, the PG-13 version, I literally wouldn’t do it. It’s just not interesting to me.” But at least we got this short. Cool?

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Reader Feedback - 20 Comments

Michael Bay presents...

HarryFiddleSticks on Feb 24, 2015

am I the only one who found this kind of hilarious

me on Feb 24, 2015

Woah! I didn't expect it to be this good!

A5J4DX on Feb 24, 2015

wasn't impressed by it but certainly well made!

ari smulders on Feb 24, 2015

Not bad, good action and Van Der Beek was surprisingly believeable.

Jon Odishaw on Feb 24, 2015

I'm still waiting for live action Voltron

TheOct8pus on Feb 24, 2015

what? ugh.

Angry Lester on Feb 24, 2015

he get geghghe he. His interview was good. The HUD designs on the prison were so crazy you'd have to do a dance workout to use them.

Carpola on Feb 24, 2015

A few corrections, his name is Adi, not Ari, and the Punisher short he produced was Dirty Laundry starring Thomas Jane, not The Dead Can't Be Distracted.

Jeffrey Robertson on Feb 24, 2015

Damn, amazing visuals for a project like this, I'm really impressed! I would totally watch a full movie with a grown-up version of Power Rangers

Ricardo_PT on Feb 24, 2015

It was ok. Impressive visuals.

ragethorn on Feb 24, 2015

That guy is really in love with himself, pretty pathetic. The short was really good though, can't fault his work

Richie G on Feb 24, 2015

"Who are you?!!!" Hahahaha Entertaining

redskulllives on Feb 24, 2015

Visuals were impressive, don't really recall much from Power Rangers as a kid, but wasn't too bad a short.

Justin R on Feb 24, 2015

Nice, he should have asked Jason David Frank to play Tommy, I'm sure he would have done it for free!

mooreworthy on Feb 24, 2015

First thing I though too. Would have been bad ass to have him show up. Really enjoyed it though. Loved the twist ending.

David Diaz on Feb 26, 2015

Works as a short. But probably not a feature. DIG it though.

DAVIDPD on Feb 25, 2015

I understand the need for most comics and past IPs to be made realistic, but really?? Movies like Dredd work because of the character. It's origin is dark and so it should be dark. Power Rangers can be grounded without it being a dark, gory and violent remake. I was more thinking along the lines of Guardians of the Galaxy. That style would be way better. Power Rangers has a fun and over the top story. I am glad that this guy isn't directing. I mean the short was impressive but I wouldn't want the guy who made Torque and Detention to be behind the camera of this remake.

TK on Feb 25, 2015

DAM, that was a lot better than i was expecting

Liam Knurtsis on Feb 25, 2015

One word: wow!

Rock n Rollllll on Feb 26, 2015

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