Nostalgia Hits Limit as Power Rangers Found Too Expensive for Disney+

My brothers and I were all-in on Power Rangers. We watched the show constantly, couldn’t get enough of the first movie, and would pretend to be the colorful heroes all around the apartment complex we lived in. I have fond memories of going to a Toys R’ Us early one Saturday to make sure we could get our hands on special movie figures as soon as they were released. That memory feels enormous, like a Megazord in my head, and the Rangers feel shiny and new. Looking at that show or movie now? Real rough!

I rewatched the movie with my kids at one point, because they’ve become obsessed with the Rangers as well, and it was pretty eye-opening. I’m not saying anything new when it comes to a piece of media not living up to your memory of it, and I’ve certainly revisited things that feel just as, if not more, special upon revisiting them. While Power Rangers may not be my speed anymore, my kids are having a blast with it, which unfortunately led to me breaking some bad news to them this morning.

Most mornings start with me working on these articles while I wait for them to wake up (or find one has already come downstairs, opened the blinds, and is reading a book on the couch). More often than not, they’ll see my computer screen and move on. Today, one of them saw Power Rangers and said, “Dada, there’s Power Rangers on your screen!” I said, “Yes, because Disney+ was supposed to make a new Power Rangers show.” My kid yelled and pumped his fist with excitement, which would be short-lived.

Disney+ was working on a Power Rangers show, but according to Deadline, the show is no longer moving forward, allegedly because the company found it to be too expensive. It’s a pretty funny problem to run into, because the original show is cheap as hell. It’s a combination of footage from an older Japanese show mixed with footage shot in LA with underpaid actors, and there are copious horror stories about what those people went through.

The show was set to be made by the same folks who do Percy Jackson, and they likely wanted to bring the same quality to a new Power Rangers. That would likely involve giant CGI monsters, robots, and property destruction. You couldn’t do that with guys in suits and giant toy houses anymore (unless you were being… very intentional). And it seems like Disney didn’t think that such a property would be worth a high price tag, which is wild, because the brand is certainly still popular.

While my nostalgia button may not be massaged by watching these old episodes, it still has its fans, many of whom continued with the show through its many iterations over the years. A good friend of mine is currently co-writing a comic book called Power Rangers Unlimited, and seeing fans react to that has been wild. And it’s not just old fans, either. My kids will devour anything Power Rangers. They’re five. A new show on Disney+ would have been appointment viewing for them. But the streamer probably has enough Spidey Kids merch in the tank to cover that demographic for some time.