Jason David Frank stars in Power Rangers: Shattered Grid Prelude
In a Morphinominal surprise to Power Rangers fans, veteran actor to the franchise Jason David Frank released a digital short/trailer starring himself to promote the upcoming Shattered Grid event. The storyline takes place within the two main Power Rangers comic books and features a corrupted future counterpart of original Green Ranger Tommy Oliver named Lord Drakkon, played by Frank in the original 93 television show, using his massive army to travel the Power Rangers multiverse and conquer their worlds, destroying all Power Rangers in the process, and even attacking them at their power source; the Morphin Grid.
The quality of the video is exceptional, with someone not in the know easily able to mistake it for a promo to a fully funded television movie or mini-series. Jason David Frank’s performance is particularly chilling, invoking his performance from over two decades ago when he first appeared in the multi-part “Green With Evil” storyline. But his acting also has a mature gravitas that comes with the experience Frank has gained through working with the franchise for so long as well as his other acting pursuits.
Frank’s name isn’t the only one familiar to Power Rangers fans. The score for the video is done by Ron Wasserman, who has composed music for multiple iterations of the series and even wrote the original “Go Go Power Rangers” theme song. Another name familiar to fans and current writer of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers ongoing is Kyle Higgins, who wrote and directed the short. Being the mastermind of the storyline means Higgins represents the tone of his world in the trailer, giving the audience an accurate window into what the story is about and hopefully enticing them to buy the books.
But the trailer doesn’t stop at expertly made visuals. The Shattered Grid storyline is part of the franchise’s 25th anniversary and, as such, encompasses every iteration of the franchise up to today. The prelude reflects that, using audio and footage from the different Power Rangers seasons. Clips and dialogue from the original Mighty Morphin are viewed by Drakkon in his throne room, but are accompanied by clips of fan-favorite seasons like RPM, Time Force, S.P.D, and Dino Charge. It’s a great bit of fan-service and shows the monumental scope of the storyline.
How do you feel? Has this trailer enticed you to buy the series? Would you like to see Saban Brands put their efforts to other web-endeavors like this? Let You Don’t Read Comics know in our comment section and social media!