Legend of the White Dragon: the Green Power Ranger is coming back
Jason David Frank became a 90s icon as the green Ranger. Now he's finally returning. As a white dragon this time. All thanks to the magic of crowdfunding.
It's the newest craze among 90s kids: the Kickstarter project known as «Legend of the White Dragon». The trailer is some sort of weird combination of post-apocalyptic amateur film quality and Power Rangers gear.
A man in a torn-up jacket rips away his hood, and my heart skips a beat: it's Jason David Frank, Power Rangers icon.
In the trailer to «Legend of the White Dragon», Jason David Frank faces a man hidden behind a helmet. As he takes off his headgear, fans are faced with an older Johnny Yong Bosch, known as Adam Park in «Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers».
Now, 16 years after the first of the two Power Rangers legends made their franchise debut, Jason David Frank and Johnny Yong Bosch are united in front of the camera.
Angel Grove becomes Angel Graves
In «Legend of the White Dragon», these two former Power Rangers are ticking every genre cliché in the book. A lonely man with a dead wife – or girlfriend or sister or daughter or whatever – lives as an outcast in a post-apocalyptic city. But when he finds out that «she» is still alive, he accepts the crystal of the White Dragon, a mystical warrior of legend. Helmet and spandex included.
It's Power Rangers, of course it is.
The makers of the film, including director Aaron Schoenke, know exactly who their audience is and what they want. The city through which Jason David Franks' nameless character drifts is called Angel Graves.
As a result of the death and destruction the city became known as Angel Graves.
Angel Graves is an allusion to Angel Grove, the city where «Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers» took place. It goes without saying, but there's a certain... similarity between the White Dragon and a Power Ranger. A little Green Ranger, a bit of Black Dino Thunder Ranger, some Lord Drakkon from the comic arc «Shattered Grid», brought to the small screen in «Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers» by publisher Boom Studios.
If the promotional images from the campaign's website are anything to go off of, then we know that the White Dragon will be joined by other leather-and-helmet-strapped adventurers on-screen. Each in their own colour, of course.
But that's not all: director Aaron Schoenke has some lofty ambitions that he hopes to finance through crowdfunding. Within 30 days he aims on having 500,000 dollars pledged by backers. This amount will confirm a movie, including better special effects and fights between gigantic robots.
The legend of Jason David Frank
In his role as Tommy Oliver, Jason David Frank made every 90s kid want to be a hero. He played the Green Ranger, the first evil Power Ranger ever. That was back in October 1993, when the episode «Green with Envy» appeared on US screens for the first time.
Over the years he has appeared and reappeared in the Power Rangers universe from time to time. After leaving behind his evil powers and the green Power Rangers armour, he became the Tiger-based White Ranger. After that, he was the White Ninja Ranger, followed by the Red Zeo Ranger and the Red Turbo Ranger. On the 24th of November 1999, it seemed as if he'd hung up his helmet and turned his back on the Power Rangers franchise.
Until 2004. Because on February 14, Dr. Tommy Oliver stood in front of a class featuring three former Dino Thunder Rangers. He himself would become a black Dino Thunder Ranger through the course of «Power Rangers Dino Thunder».
Even though he ran his own martial arts school, pursued other acting projects, embodied the White Dragon and has occasionally taken part in professional fights, the Power Rangers are still a part of his life. Even when the evil Green Ranger from another dimension attacks Angel Grove in the comics, he poses as Lord Drakkon in front of the camera, becoming the evil version of Tommy Oliver.
«The Legend of the White Dragon» has 26 days of Crowdfunding to go. So far, 1066 backers have contributed 77,000 Swiss francs to the project.
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