Tag: Red Ranger

The Red Ranger Is Back to Action at Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade 2015

by Eric Francisco

At this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Red Ranger is getting back to action.

On the 89th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday, November 26, the Red Ranger will be a part of the march up and down Manhattan for the second year in a row. The special will air live on NBC from 9am until 12pm, all time zones.

The Red Ranger joins Ronald McDonald, the Good Dinosaur from The Good Dinosaur (I don’t know his name), the main Angry Bird, two elves from something I don’t know, Santa Claus, and Scrat from Ice Age for some reason. This is a pretty shitty Avengers, if you ask me.

2015 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade poster

As a kid, I had always dreamt that my beloved Power Rangers would be at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I spent my childhood near the Natural History Museum near Central Park on Thanksgiving eve to see the balloons get inflated, from Spider-Man to Cat in the Hat to Rugrats. The Power Rangers have been a staple since 2010, but since last year the Red Ranger had his own balloon.

Original Red Ranger, Austin St. John, Announces Return to Acting in New Film Role

by Eric Francisco

For the original leader of the Power Rangers, it’s back to action.

Austin St. John, who portrayed the heroic, square-jawed Jason the Red Ranger in the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers and the Gold Ranger in Power Rangers Zeo has announced his first cinematic role in nearly two decades on Facebook.

The film is titled Survival’s End, a post-apocalyptic movie that Austin describes as “insane” with a “betrayal.” Vague, but OK. Crowdfunding has just begun and is on schedule to begin production later this year. (Indiegogo link here.)

From Austin St. John’s Facebook page:

“You guys know me as Austin St. John, who led the Power Rangers from the 1990s. You don’t know what I’ve been doing since then. I’ve been a medic. I’ve been overseas. I have led teams, I have worked with some of the greatest leaders in the military and non-military emergency medical communities. I have learned so much.”

He should have added “AND NOT ADULT FILMS,” because that needs to stop circulating. He dodged bullets overseas, stop thinking he boffed dudes on camera. (Which is not a bad thing, but he didn’t do it!)

Austin St. John has been growing a hunky beard these last few weeks, which I’m sure has tickled the fancy of anybody into the recent lumbersexual phenomenon. When he originally hinted at it, he clarified that it wasn’t for a return to Power Rangers so I expected it was a kind of apocalyptic, The Walking Dead/Book of Eli/I Am Legend kind of project. I was right! I should play the lottery this week.

In fact, I was watching last night’s phenomenal The Walking Dead season premiere and thought Austin specifically would be a great addition to the cast. He could go beard-to-beard with Andrew Lincoln then morph and stomp on walkers with the Tyrannozord.

It’s been a weird, sometimes unfortunate time recently for Power Rangers alumni. Jason David Frank, the original Green/White/Red/Red again/Black Ranger challenged WWE exile-turned-UFC fighter CM Punk. Rick Medina, another former Red Ranger, was arrested and released of all charges. And Amy Jo Johnson, the original Pink Ranger who kickstarted your puberty, busked on a street in Canada in costume. All of these have been strange and kind of depressing (but that last one was awesome!). So it’s nice to hear some nice, good news coming from a former teenager with attitude.

Austin St. John has become something of a friend to Geekscape. I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing him on camera at this past Power MorphiCon…

…and he shared my article about his response to Rick Medina’s arrest on his Instagram page.

http://instagram.com/p/ypbHSvA66y/?modal=true

Stay tuned with Geekscape and we’ll let you know about Austin St. John’s epic return as soon as we know more. You can donate to the film on Indiegogo and you can like Austin St. John’s Facebook. And ours too. All of that works.

Even the Former Green/White Ranger Doesn’t Know Much About the ‘Power Rangers’ Movie

by Eric Francisco

Every so often I’ll write a small throwaway line about the upcoming Power Rangers movie in any given news I post here. Because with every film that announces a release date in late 2016 or after, by then I will have seen a fully-realized, big-budget Power Rangers movie. A film that, I personally hope, stands to compete against DC, Marvel, and the big, noisy nostalgic tentpoles like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. (It won’t, but just let me hope.)

It’s still so bizarre to me that the movie is happening. The way the franchise was handled by Saban and Disney past its heyday, it looked like Power Rangers could never have a place in the larger pop culture zeitgeist again, even when the nostalgia wave first hit with Transformers. It’s proof that I can never work as a psychic, because now you’ll see former Power Rangers stars in nearly every comic book convention, you can buy expensive, fully-articulated figures, the complete series on DVD, fanfilms, and now the looming big-budget movie.

As far as us peasant consumers go, we know nothing about the movie. It has two well-known writers, it had a well-known (and hate magnet) executive producer, and that’s it. No cast. No director. Who else doesn’t know much about the movie? Former Power Rangers star Jason David Frank, aka “Tommy,” the Green/White/Red/Red again/Black Ranger.

From a recent interview with comicbook.com:

The movie is definitely set for this year. Everything is in place. They won’t give me specific details because it’s all like hush-hush. Even me, I try. I email Saban and ask them kind of what you’re asking me, but they do feel that I’m going to be part of it, because they feel there’s no movie, at least, without me. The funny thing is, one way or another, whether it happens or it doesn’t, I’ve been great to Lionsgate and I’ve been loyal to Saban. It’s not like they owe me, but if I want to ask for a personal favor, I’ve invested into their emotional bank account. I feel like it’s fair to have that withdrawal with them, because I’ve done nothing but support them for the last 10 years, 20 years in fact.

 

So when that happens, I don’t need to cash in any favors. I believe it’s going to happen anyway, but when it does, I’ll keep my fans involved, but I will tell you it is being filmed this year.

 

I know that for a fact. It’s going to be great when it is.

Jason David Frank has become a polarizing figure amongst the Power Rangers fandom in recent years. Whether it’s because he blows up his Instagram so much or what he’s actually saying in those posts that creates his enemies. His effort to ride CM Punk’s coattail a few months ago didn’t help his image much either.

I still don’t know what to think about the movie. Am I excited? Yes. Do I hate being left out? Yes. I will work as the director’s towel boy if it means I can participate, but if I can’t then I’m more green with envy than Jason David Frank’s spandex.

We have nothing else to report about the movie, but we will for sure when we learn more. Believe me.

If you’re hungry for more Jason David Frank, you can follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can even see him in Bat in the Sun’s Super Power Beat Down. After all that you should be like the gluttony victim in Seven.