It's Morphin' Time
A lot of families experience tragedy in their lives, but everyone tends to feel like theirs is the worst. In know that in the grand scheme of things Raymond's death is insignificant in the eyes of the world, but to my family, it left a gulf a mile wide.
In the early 90s, my cousin Raymond and I lived together. His dad, my uncle, Steven, had just retired from the Army and they'd moved back home to Alabama from North Carolina. Raymond and I were either one or two years apart in school, and we went to the same elementary school.
He and I were like brothers for two years. We'd get up early and rush home from school to watch Mighty Morphing Power Rangers-- it came on twice a day. Rerun or not, we were parked in front of the television to watch what was our favorite show.
There was a concrete path that ran behind the zoo that connected our neighborhood to the school. School let out at 3 pm, but we didn't get to leave until shortly after the buses were loaded. We would race down the path at full tilt trying to get home by 3:30 for the start of the show. At the end of the path was a train track. Every day, to this day, a train is scheduled to come across the tracks at 3:20 in the afternoon. Getting over the tracks before the train was vital. If we had enough time, we'd stop at the meat market and use the juice money we were supposed use at school on junk like Doritos or chocolate-covered doughnuts and enjoy them during Power Rangers.
Raymond and I watched Power Rangers up until it got silly during Turbo. I think a lot of it had to do with us being two years older, but the team changed wholesale and the baddies got stupider and stupider. We didn't like Devatox, nor that a child was a Power Ranger. But the adventures with Zordon and Alpha 5 in their never-ending battle with Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa defined the early 90s for us.
Almost three years ago, Raymond was killed in a motorcycle accident. Admittedly, he and I had grown apart after he moved away. I was in the band and he dated the same girl for almost six years, so it got harder and harder to see each other.
Raymond always had a problem with speed. Even as a kid, he ran faster than me. When he started driving, I told him to slow down. He always rode his motorcycle too recklessly. It got the better of him one night.
I can't in good conscience say that I think about him every day. I don't. Of course, I still miss him.
That gets me to the point. About a year ago, I heard that Disney was going to remake the original Power Rangers. It intrigued me, but I also knew it had the possibility of turning out badly. But I gave it a chance and expected the best. After all, around that time I'd seen Adam's-- the Black Ranger-- new morphing sequence in a special episode. I thought it was a precursor of things to come and it made me excited.
So I waited. Today I got to see it for the first time. The things I expected to be changed, like the morphing and Megazord sequences, weren't touched. What was changed were silly things, like screams were embellished with colored power flourishes flaring out from around them like a fiery aura. And what I feel is the biggest grievance-- Adam West Batman-esque "pows" and "bangs" in the middle of fights. Then, when one of them squares off in the middle of a fight, the screen pauses, then displays their name and the different abilities they can do. It was stupid.
Honestly, I felt betrayed. Not only that, although Disney doesn't have to answer to me, I feel like they betrayed Raymond's memory.
And I don't want to act like I'm one of the 20-somethings who chafe against what's happening to our beloved childhood. It's almost like there's a contingent out there willing to take everything that was pure about the culture of young people my age and trample it. I don't want to act like one of those people, but what was done to Power Rangers is awesomely bad.
The sad thing is, Haim Saban is behind the changes. The benevolent man himself, who brought Power Rangers to the US, is OK'ing these changes.
The bad thing is, the newer Power Ranger shows aren't this bad.
The good thing is, Power Rangers is back on the air for a new generation. I just wish they didn't have to watch this bastardized version.
Raymond, I'm sorry. I really am.
In the early 90s, my cousin Raymond and I lived together. His dad, my uncle, Steven, had just retired from the Army and they'd moved back home to Alabama from North Carolina. Raymond and I were either one or two years apart in school, and we went to the same elementary school.
He and I were like brothers for two years. We'd get up early and rush home from school to watch Mighty Morphing Power Rangers-- it came on twice a day. Rerun or not, we were parked in front of the television to watch what was our favorite show.
There was a concrete path that ran behind the zoo that connected our neighborhood to the school. School let out at 3 pm, but we didn't get to leave until shortly after the buses were loaded. We would race down the path at full tilt trying to get home by 3:30 for the start of the show. At the end of the path was a train track. Every day, to this day, a train is scheduled to come across the tracks at 3:20 in the afternoon. Getting over the tracks before the train was vital. If we had enough time, we'd stop at the meat market and use the juice money we were supposed use at school on junk like Doritos or chocolate-covered doughnuts and enjoy them during Power Rangers.
Raymond and I watched Power Rangers up until it got silly during Turbo. I think a lot of it had to do with us being two years older, but the team changed wholesale and the baddies got stupider and stupider. We didn't like Devatox, nor that a child was a Power Ranger. But the adventures with Zordon and Alpha 5 in their never-ending battle with Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa defined the early 90s for us.
Almost three years ago, Raymond was killed in a motorcycle accident. Admittedly, he and I had grown apart after he moved away. I was in the band and he dated the same girl for almost six years, so it got harder and harder to see each other.
Raymond always had a problem with speed. Even as a kid, he ran faster than me. When he started driving, I told him to slow down. He always rode his motorcycle too recklessly. It got the better of him one night.
I can't in good conscience say that I think about him every day. I don't. Of course, I still miss him.
That gets me to the point. About a year ago, I heard that Disney was going to remake the original Power Rangers. It intrigued me, but I also knew it had the possibility of turning out badly. But I gave it a chance and expected the best. After all, around that time I'd seen Adam's-- the Black Ranger-- new morphing sequence in a special episode. I thought it was a precursor of things to come and it made me excited.
So I waited. Today I got to see it for the first time. The things I expected to be changed, like the morphing and Megazord sequences, weren't touched. What was changed were silly things, like screams were embellished with colored power flourishes flaring out from around them like a fiery aura. And what I feel is the biggest grievance-- Adam West Batman-esque "pows" and "bangs" in the middle of fights. Then, when one of them squares off in the middle of a fight, the screen pauses, then displays their name and the different abilities they can do. It was stupid.
Honestly, I felt betrayed. Not only that, although Disney doesn't have to answer to me, I feel like they betrayed Raymond's memory.
And I don't want to act like I'm one of the 20-somethings who chafe against what's happening to our beloved childhood. It's almost like there's a contingent out there willing to take everything that was pure about the culture of young people my age and trample it. I don't want to act like one of those people, but what was done to Power Rangers is awesomely bad.
The sad thing is, Haim Saban is behind the changes. The benevolent man himself, who brought Power Rangers to the US, is OK'ing these changes.
The bad thing is, the newer Power Ranger shows aren't this bad.
The good thing is, Power Rangers is back on the air for a new generation. I just wish they didn't have to watch this bastardized version.
Raymond, I'm sorry. I really am.