'Power Rangers': Your First Look at the Team's New Suits
By Shirley Li, Entertainment Weekly
Later, Lycra!
When the Power Rangers revival morphs into theaters, the five teenagers with attitude won’t be wearing the original series’ campy costumes to battle Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks). Instead, the new cast — singer Becky G as Yellow Ranger Trini, Ludi Lin as Black Ranger Zack, Dacre Montgomery as Red Ranger Jason, Naomi Scott as Pink Ranger Kimberly, and RJ Cyler as Blue Ranger Billy — will don translucent extraterrestrial armor that crystallizes around their bodies.
The sartorial update may look radical, but the outfits are visual throwbacks to the franchise’s long-running mythology. “The show was about kids coming of age, about metamorphosis,” director Dean Israelite (Project Almanac) says. “These suits needed to feel like they were catalyzed by these kids and their energy, their spirit.”
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The spandex-free makeover also helps set the film apart from other big-screen franchises. “It’s tricky finding a new language for a superhero costume,” production designer Andrew Menzies (G.I. Joe: Retaliation) admits. “Ours is an alien costume that grows on them, that’s not man-made. You can’t win everyone over, but we are trying to appeal to a more mature audience and gain new fans.” Fans like the Yellow Ranger herself. “It’s the coolest costume ever,” Becky G says. “I’m gonna wear it for Halloween for, like, five years.”
For a closer look at the new suits, pick up Entertainment Weekly issue #1414, on newsstands Friday or available here.
Power Rangers hits theaters March 24, 2017.
The original Power Rangers from the TV series (AP Photo/Saban Brands)
