It’s hard to talk about the history of the Power Rangers without getting a little sad. Power Rangers: Once & Always is a distinct reminder, a Netflix special reuniting some of the original cast of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers for a 30th anniversary celebration.
The video promoting Once & Always doesn’t give many details, just a few select quotes about what it’s like to get the band back together. It’s both exciting in its sincerity and bittersweet between the lines, because it’s hard to talk about a reunion for a franchise as closely followed as Power Rangers and not think about who’s not there and who, sadly, can’t be.
The cast consists of a variety of actors who appeared on the show during the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers era: David Yost and Walter Emanuel Jones, the original Blue and Black Rangers, along with Steve Cardenas, Johnny Yong Bosch, Karan Ashley and Catherine Sutherland – who played second-in-command Red, Black, Yellow and Pink Rangers, respectively. According to Entertainment Weekly, a new face is also joining the crew: actor Charlie Kersh, who plays Minh, daughter of Trini, the original Yellow Ranger. Kersh’s character is likely a tribute to the late Thuy Trang, who played Trini and died in a car accident in 2001.
In the short teaser there’s footage of Yost and Jones in costume, as well as Ranger group shots that notably include the Green Ranger – a character only played by the late Jason David Frank, who in many ways was the face of Power Rangers up to his death by suicide last November. The video leaves Frank’s involvement to speculation, but when a tweet from 2018 by David Yost is an indication that the idea of a Netflix reunion special has been floated before, and it’s possible, but not guaranteed, that Frank will show up posthumously.
As successful as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers would be, spawning a mega-franchise that regularly reinvents itself for 29 seasons – the 30th, Power Rangers: Cosmic Fury debuts on Netflix this fall (its first season streaming exclusively) – young Cast it all began long after they left the series, still haunted by a touch of tragedy. Adding to the tragic deaths of other cast members, Yost himself only recently began embracing his Ranger legacy after revealing in 2010 that he had left the franchise after dealing with the onset of constant homophobic harassment.
This dichotomy of triumph and tragedy makes Power Rangers a uniquely charged theme for nostalgic replays. Any adult perspective on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers must grapple with the darkness at its edges, as well as its wild and unlikely success. The special’s name, Once & Always, is a nod to a Power Ranger mantra: Once a Ranger, always a Ranger. It’s the perfect summary of the franchise, a bittersweet piece of comic book storytelling made reality – and the gift that’s also a curse.