Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena (PRLGTROT, or simply entitled The Rise of Trakeena. Also
the 2012 reversion poster.
originally perferred to as Power Rangers Lost Galaxy: The Movie or, entitled as The Rise of Trakeena: A Power Rangers Lost Galaxy Movie) was a 2011 action-adventure fantasy science fiction space opera superhero fan-film based on the television franchise Power Rangers, mostly based on one of the show's older seasons- Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy, Saban's 7th incarnation of Power Rangers that was adapted from the 1998 Japanese Super Sentai series Seijuu Sentai Gingaman.
Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena was co-written, produced, consulted and directed by Anthony Marsh, Jr (while Marsh also appears in the film as Yellow Ranger AJ Weems), produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Tom DeSanto, Meredith Cincone and Koichi Sakamoto and with a penned screenplay by James Vanderbilt , Skip Woods, and David Lindsay-Abaire, which was based on a original 1999 screenplay Marsh had drafted at the age of 7 when he used to do comic books at a very young age. This is the first of a rebooted Power Rangers movie franchise while it is the first of the Power Rangers LG film series. The film is mostly distributed by Marsh Bros. Productions and partally by Paramount Pictures (whose production company holder is Viacom) and Saban Brands, Inc.
This is the first Power Rangers movie, however, NOT related to the TV show, to not feature none of the show's cast members or their original characters involved in this film, instead, this film has an annual cast and story. The film also spawned an annual suit design that initally began with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, along with an annual cast and story.It is part of a planned trilogy set of films, prior to the box-office failure of Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie . Instead of the film picking up where TAPRM left off 14 years ago, the film begins in a different continuity, mainly set in the near but not too distant future.
In 2012, a reversion of the film is currently in production, as the film is being recontructed with a new alternate storyline, and some cast replacements. The reversion of the film is set for a release in Spring 2012 on the video sharing website You Tube, under Anthony Marsh, Jr's YouTube account.
On July 20, 2012, it has been confirmed that The Rise of Trakeena has been canceled from being released and this was the final Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy movie project in planned proposals Marsh has tried to get fully made, therefore, all of the actors from this film and past canceled projects have been laid off.
Plot[]
Main article: Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena Plot
Cast of Characters[]
- Tobey Maguire - Tony Marshall (Red Ranger)
- Charlie Murphy - Curtis "Browne" Jones (Green Ranger)
- Rider Strong - Billy James (Blue Ranger)
- Kristen Bell - Wendy Jane O'Hara (Pink Ranger 1)
- Shannon Spruill- Gwen McQueen (Pink Ranger 2)
- Rachel Dillinger /Annie Wersching - Gwen McQueen (2.0) in reversion. Wersching also plays Gwen's College roomate Kari Walden in the 2012 reversion.
- Anthony Marsh, Jr- AJ Weems (Yellow Ranger)
- Jesse G. James - himself/Magna Defender 3
- Donnie Wahlberg - Jesse James/Magna Defender 3.0 in reversion.
- Ray Park - Jimmy the Panda (suit actor only).
- Amy Rolle - Trakeena/Tracy Turner/Wendy DeVille
- Patricia Heaton in reversion.
- Lani Minella , voice dubs Trakeena in both the original and 2012 reversion cuts.
- Kathleen Delaney voice dubs Trakeena in only the 2012 reversion.
- Meghan Ory portrays a 19-year-old Trakeena in flashback scenes.
- Vernon Wells - Rex Turner Patterson Marshall
- Frank Welker - voice of Deviot/Soundwave/Devistator/Artillicon/Rito ReVolto/others. Monster vocals of Grunchor and Aneekar.
- Tom Kenny - voice of Kegler
- Jason Anthony Griffith in reversion, also the voice of Rito ReVolto.
- Jess Harnell - voice of Barbarax/Rygog.
- Chris Klein - Villamax XXIV/Theodore Johnson
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt in reversion.
- Ryan Reynolds - Christopher Donner, Jr/Shadow Ranger
- Wes Bentley - Waspfly
- Robert Downey, Jr - Commander Chalmers
- Seth Green - Devin Stewart
- Seth Rogen - Bulk, (original cut and reversion)
- Kevin Sorbo - The Guardian
- James Cromwell - General Morshower.
- Scott Page-Pagter - voice of Alphatron (in 2012 reversion)
- Dave Chappelle - voice of Nightmare (from the Soul Calibur series).
- Cassandra Peterson - voice of Cyborg Ninja (the female version, from Metal Gear Solid series).
Arsenal and Zords[]
The Power Rangers []
Zords[]
- Galaxy Megazord, consisting the Lion, Condor, Gorilla, Wolf and Wildcat Galactabeast/zords.
- Defender Torozord
- Centaurus Megazord
- Stratoforce Megazord
- Titanus the Ultrazord (or as aka. Titanus the Carrierzord)
- Battlefleet Ultrazord, in 2012 reversion.
Weapons and Vehicles[]
- Quasar Sabers- The Galaxy Power Rangers' main and primary weapon.
- The Lights of Orion
- Red Capsular Cycle
- GM Tumbler
- GM Night Hawk, the Rangers' modified version of the Night Raven jet, which used for the villains, mainly Chris Donner's terrorist army group the S.T.A.R.K. Corperation. The jet is based on the same Night Raven from G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
- Red Conquering Armor Power Ranger- the Red Ranger's battlized form, only featured in the 2012 reversion. It's based on the same Battlized Red Ranger from Lost Galaxy's first wave of toys by Bandai. this time suited in Live-Action.
- Vector Cycles
- Quasar Launchers
- The original versions.
- Galaxy Quasar Launchers- Enhanced bulkier versions of the originals, modified with the Light of Orion.
- Super Galaxy Quasar Launchers- Bazooka sized versions of the first two models.
- Transdaggers
- Magna Talon- Red Ranger's dagger formation.
- Transblaster- Green Ranger's dagger formation (also the Rangers' secondary dagger mode if need so).
- Cosma Claw- Blue Ranger's dagger formation
- Delta Daggers- Yellow Ranger's dagger formation.
- Beta Bow- Pink Ranger's dagger formation.
- Magna Blaster- Magna Defender's weapon.
- Transmorphers- the Galaxy Power Rangers' primary morphers. When need to morph, they call out "Go Galactic!" in order to transform into the Galaxy Rangers.
- Magna Morpher- Magna Defender's morpher. When need to morph, he calls out "Magna Power!"
- Stratowheel- Magna Defender's vehicle that is a round high-tech wheel cycle. This vehicle is only featured in the 2012 reversion.
Shadow Ranger (Chris Donner)[]
Zords[]
- Dragonzord- the same one from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers season 1
Weapons and Vehicles[]
- The Sword of Darkness
- Wolf Sword
- Shadow HoverCraft Cycle- This vehicle is only featured in the 2012 reversion.
Mechallany[]
- Nanomite Warheads- Same ones from G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, but with the word M.A.R.S. removed.
- The Galaxy Book
- The Ring of Orion
- The Sword of Excelsior/Excalibur
- GSA vehicles and weapons.
Production[]
Development[]
For the past 10-11 years, prior to the box office and critical failure of Power Rangers Turbo's feature film, Saban's rights to Power Rangers being sold to Disney in 2002, Disney giving the show up in mid-2010, and soso, there have been plans to revive the Power Rangers franchise to the big screen once again. In the spring of 2010, Anthony Marsh, Jr, a long-time fan of the show, has been still working on a fan-film based on Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy . Previous attempts of making Lost Galaxy into a feature film by Marsh were extremely unsuccessful during the 2000s, and this was a hint of the project being in "Development Hell" for so long until late 2009. The motion picture rights to PRLG were purchased by Paramount Pictures in 1999 and the studio have waited all this long for Saban and Marsh to make a film based on the season and planned film adapts of other resent Power Rangers seasons.
During the time, unlike the other PRLG "faux"-film titles Marsh made over the past 10 years, Marsh came up with the title of the film called Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena. Unfortunately, according to Marsh's younger brother Austin Marsh (who is also a fan of the show), suggested Marsh, Jr to call the film as entitled Power Rangers: When Worlds Collide -because in the film's first 4 drafts, there were elements from other movie, video game and TV show universes that don't belong in the franchise and has nothing to do with it neither- so Marsh rejected Austin's suggestion and went to go by the title of The Rise of Trakeena instead. According to Marsh, in a interview with Fanfilms.net, Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena is mainly about "Scorpius' daughter making a name for herself and how she would start conquering and destroying universes, including Terra Venture and the Power Rangers". Marsh stated that the film mostly focuses on Trakeena as she "starts her life as a queen all over again". In the TV series, she started off as a "spoiled princess", then until Scorpius' death, she became queen.
Casting[]
The cast collage, with the film's actors featured- Tobey Maguire, Kristen Bell, Charlie Murphy, Rider Strong, Seth Green, Donnie Wahlberg, Annie Wersching, Shad "Bow Wow" Moss, HarleyQuinnPsycho, Patricia Heaton and Anthony Marsh, Jr. The cast collage of actors featured in the film. Tobey Maguire, Charlie Murphy, Kristen Bell, Rider Strong, Donnie Wahlberg, Annie Wercing, HarleyQuinnPsycho, Shad "Bow Wow" Moss, Patricia Heaton, Joesph Gordon-Levitt, Ryan Rey
For the main lead role of new Red Galaxy Ranger Tony Marshall, Marsh mostly attached former Spider-Man actor Tobey Maguire to play the titlar leader of the new Galaxy Rangers. Maguire's casting has been in Marsh's thoughts for 8 years while Marsh was working on the project, despite Maguire's streak of garnering fame from the Sam Raimi-directed Spider Man film trilogy (2002-2007). Spider-Man 4, a proposed future sequel of Raimi's Spider-Man series, was canceled in March 2010 -as Sony currently decided to reboot the series with Marc Webb (the director of 2009's 500 Days of Summer, his debut film) as director of it and Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) as Maguire's former role- albeit Maguire was officially cast as Tony after Marsh wanted him in the film since the initial development of a rough unproduced version of the Power Rangers Lost Galaxy movie in 2002-2003, which also used many story material from the first Spider-Man movie in the same year. Originally, Marsh wanted the character of original Red Galaxy Ranger Leo Corbett (portrayed by former actor-turned-court judge Danny Slavin, who played it on the show) but due to Slavin's retirement from acting, Leo was dropped from the series. Leo's last appearence was, of course, in Power Rangers: Wild Force's Red Ranger teamup episode "Forever Red", which helped celebrate the 10th anniversary of Power Rangers. Before Maguire was cast, the actor's childhood friend Leonardo DiCaprio would be interested in playing the character but Marsh "Hates" DiCaprio, considering him a "fag" (he also claimed him as one of the worst actors ever in his opinion) and said "fuck Leonardo". Other actors who has done an audition for the Red Ranger also included Ian Somerhalder, Zac Efron, Chris Evans, Logan Lerman, Johnny Depp, Corey Culkin (brother of actor Maculuay Culkin), Daniel Radcliffe (who is mostly known for the Harry Potter movies), Robert Pattinson, Elijah Wood, David Faustino, and some others.
Charlie Murphy, of Dave Chappelle's variety sketch show Chappelle's Show, was cast as Browne Jones, the new Green Galaxy Ranger -originally considered for the role of its original Ranger predecessor Damon Henderson (portrayed by Reggie Rolle, who played it on television). Tyrese Gibson, Lance Gross, DMX, Common, and Donnell Rawlings (another co-star of Murphy's from Chappelle's) have done auditions but failed. In the unproduced films, Marsh's main choice was rapper Tone-Loc , as credited Tony Terrell Smith.
Rider Strong, known for the role of Shawn in the ABC sitcom Boy Meets World, was cast as Billy James, the new Blue Galaxy Ranger. Marsh's main choice was originally Will Friedle in the unproduced film projects of the series.
Kristen Bell, who mostly known for playing in such TV dramas as Veronica Mars and Heroes, was cast as Wendy Jane O'Hara, the new Pink Galaxy Ranger. Marsh originally wanted Bell to play the character of WJ's originated Galaxy Ranger predecessor Kendrix Morgan, who was played by Valerie Vernon on the show, but due to Vernon retired from acting, Kendrix was also dropped. In the unproduced films, Marsh had actresses Elizabeth Banks and Leslie Mann to play the character (with a option of having Holly Hunter playing an older Wendy in one of the unproduced films).
Making his first debut role, Marsh plays one of his characters he created in his Power Rangers fan-fiction continuty in the fanfilm, AJ Weems, who is the new Yellow Galaxy Ranger. Maya, the original Yellow Ranger from the same series, portrayed by Cerina Vincent, was dropped since Marsh wanted the Yellow Ranger in this series to be mostly closer to the character's Gingaman counterpart. In Seijuu Sentai Gingaman, Hikaru is a male. He made the character so AJ, "in the film's sake", could match the gender of his Gingaman predecessor, which Maya didn't, though she kept the suit but when Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy is splicing its American footage to its counterpart's footage, the genders don't match.
Trakeena, the main villain of the film and of its Power Rangers TV counterpart, has been worked out numberous times for "perfect casting" as Marsh wanted what actress from other films and television programs should play the latter Power Rangers villainess. She has been worked out twice (or more) for a film but Steven Spielberg, one of the film's executive producers, thought of her as a "sex symbol" despite half of the "dark eroticness of her costume". While still in Development Hell, Marsh had a very long list of actresses considered for Trakeena for his Power Rangers Lost Galaxy film. The actresses (and some other female celebrities of other genres) involved included:
- Wendie Malick (known for playing Nina Van Horn in Just Shoot Me!, now currently known for the role of Victoria Chase in Hot in Cleveland, who was Marsh's first and original choice for the role, but turned it down despite Marsh's obsession with the actress from 2007 to 2008),
- Teri Hatcher
- Emmanuelle Vaugier
- Jennfier Bini-Taylor
- Emma Stone
- Joely Fisher
- Sienna Miller
- Jenny McCarthy
- Angelina Jolie
- Milla Jovovich
- Jennifer Esposito,
- Tricia Helfer
- Jami Gertz
- Rita Wilson
- Gina Gershon
- Elizabeth Banks
- Mo Collins
- Eva Mendes
- Juilette Lewis
- Robin Givens
- Arielle Vandenberg
- Bryce Dallas Howard
- Courtney Cox
- Gwen Stefani
- Jennifer Love Hewitt
- Stephnie Weir
- Mila Kunis
- Ali Larter
- Susan Lucci
- Vanessa Marcil
- Kate Sullivan
- Sean Young
and some others more to name a few.
Kate Sheldon (who played Nadira in Power Rangers: Time Force) would like to play Trakeena in the film but she turned it down.
However, starting with the 2012 reversion, Marsh chose actresses Kate Walsh (Private Practice) and Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond, The Middle) to play it equally. His main #1 choice is Walsh but also turned around and included Heaton to the cast a half month later. According to him, Walsh's Trakeena is more of "Dr. Jekyll" while Heaton's incarnation of Trakeena is more of "Hyde". Altogether, he has a "Jekyll and Hyde" combination with two of his favorite actresses equally to play the villain with a share of 50/50 during screentime.
Daffney (aka. Shannon Spruill), former knockout of TNA Wrestling, was cast to play Gwen McQueen -another Pink Ranger in the film- before her release from TNA in March 2011, in the original cut of Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena (which Marsh filmed from September 2010 to March 2011). Daffney's version of the character was dropped from the new 2012 version as Marsh decided to reboot the character to be more of a "mute' character. This was followed by his casting of the mysterious HarleyQuinnPsycho, a YouTube user. Her real name is Rachel Dillinger. Annie Wersching (24) was cast to play Gwen in some takes of shooting but mainly played a new character Marsh had added- Kari Walden, one of Gwen's roommates from her college years.
The film also stars Robert Downey, Jr as Terra Venture's new field commander in chief Commander George S. Chalmers, originally considered for the role of Commander Stanton, Seth Green and Seth Rogen as Devin Stewart -who insists the Rangers on their missions and designs their weapons- and Bulk, one of the original characters in Power Rangers that was Skull's partner. The character of Professor Phenom is dropped from the film because Jack Banning, the actor who played him in the In Space and Lost Galaxy seasons, died in 2005. Ryan Reynolds plays Christopher Donner, Jr (or perferred by as Chris Donner), a rival of Tony Marshall and later becomes the evil Shadow Ranger, who dons the suit of same one from Power Rangers S.P.D.
Script[]
The screenplay for Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena, though as a fan-film, was penned by film writers James Vanderbilt (who was just at the time writing the script for The Amazing Spider-Man), Skip Woods, and David Lindsay-Abaire. The idea of the film being half an origin story, half a backstory came from Marsh himself. Marsh wanted the film to explore Tony Marshall's view of seeing the bright and dark side of Trakeena, who Tony misses so much and wants to have much time with her. Vanderbilt's script had a Trakeena in her mid-30s, who dwindles an affair with the Red Ranger, as that affair between the both of them end up in a dark and demented turn. Marsh decided to have an 'older" Trakeena, in her 50s, considering her "an evil cougar"(which Woods added "she's a villainous milf").
In one of Marsh`s scripts, the Rex character is corrupted and mutated into Deviot, whom Trakeena needs to lead an army of supersoldiers and a "master race" of aliens and robots, even leading a full-scale insectiod tribe with Trakeena as the leader of that group. In one of Alvin Sargent`s drafts, A lonely dame (who may be Tracy Turner or Wendy DeVille[1]) is married to Rex Turner-Patterson (a 70-something-year old man, who, a military commander and beloved husband of Wendy DeVille) but has lost feelings for Tony, but later winds up killed by Trakeena. Jimmy the Panda speaks, but his vocal cords are slashed during the story, rendering him mute. Mayimbe suggested Sargent to rewrite another script. Fan response to the film following the script review was mixed to negative. In one draft by James Vanderbilt, the film’s midway climax would take place at a Cathedral in New York (to represent an area at Terra Venture’s Central Dome) one villain (which at this point which would either be Villamax or Deviot) to be killed before the film’s end and had Tony Marsh revealing his Ranger identity to Trakeena, who in a long-term memory-loss coma. His main rough draft was also high on violence, had a strong use of profanity, slurs, and other inappropriate remarks and also had the Red Ranger and Trakeena having sex.
Marsh had a well thoughted-out surgation of having a relationship between the Red Ranger and Trakeena to be more interesting. Often word-for-word, Marsh stated on his Facebook page that Amy Rolle's performance as her original incarnation of Trakeena, whose new repraisal, in the movie would only be a 1-time comeback promotion, not for something to keep going on for more years to come.
By the time of filming the movie's second half in December and Christmas 2010, Rewrites of most segments (most notably the "Enter the Dark Galaxy" scenario and the film's climax) pulled much harder strains on Marsh as the film itself, "began to get stale". Despite most of Marsh's inspiration "sinking in ice", He failed to keep his creativity for the project in high stablization but as for him "It kept getting worse".
Production Staff[]
The production staff consisting work on Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena, included Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Tom DeSanto, and Meredith Cincone, who is Marsh's replacement as creative consultant. Bonaventura, DeSanto and Cincone served as producers of the project while Steven Spielberg was the "executive" of the crew. Haim Saban didn't want to consult the film because he is promoting the franchise's 19th season Power Rangers: Samurai, though Saban is still credited as the franchise's creator while it is cojointed with Toei Entertainment.
Bonaventura came on board as executive producer in February 2009. Bonaventura came on board because he wanted to depict the origin story of certain characters (mainly the villains ), and introduced the new character of Rex, to allow an exploration of Tony. Rex's name came from Hasbro, the creator of the G.I. Joe anf Transformers toy brands, and it was also thought out. The name of Rex was used for a character in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Marsh felt, "'What the Power Rangers stand for, and what Tony stands for, specifically in the movie, means so many different things as something that I'd like to think a worldwide audience might connect with.".
Paramount Pictures hired Bryan Spicer to direct the original cut of the film in 2010 after his presentation to CEO Brad Grey and production prexy Brad Weston was well-received. Spicer had been inspired to re-explore the Power Rangers universe after visiting Disney`s now-former headquarters in New Zealand, as of 2009. The project had found the momentum based on the box-office success of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995). Spicer signed on to direct the film based on Anthony Marsh`s take on Power Rangers because the concept for the film reminded him to that of Spider-Man, James Bond and Star Wars and he described the underwater and galactic space battles in the story as tributes to the James Bond film Thunderball. and Star Wars: Episode IV: Return of the Jedi. Marsh also wanted an all-star annual supporting cast for the project as the movie itself lends a more epic feel and credibility to the story and the show`s self-discontiuation. Overall, Marsh wanted Power Rangers: LG to be focused on Tony, Trakeena, Deviot, and Chris Donner- With Tony`s journey being the one of forgiveness.
By the time of the original version of the film was released for only a test screening, Spicer felt that his risk of doing direction on this film "was [much] tougher than in the last Power Rangers movie (which I did with Saban and Fox 17 years ago). There was too much going on behind the scenes. It was very hectic". When Paramount ordered the staff to "reboot" Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena (including the script being rebooted and dropping some of the actors from the cast), Spicer quit the project. Anthony took over the project for only a month and a half as director and in the film, but his personal life was getting exhausting on his part and was pushed to do other things in life, prior to his graduation from Gaithersburg High School in the following June, and having wreckless arguments with his father. By November 2011, Marsh quit the project as Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena was on hiatus in October and mid-November.
On November 19, 2011, Isaac Florentine, who is one of the regular production staff members of Power Rangers, has been hired to direct the reversion of the film. Ryuta Tazaki, who directed most episodes of the Lost Galaxy season, co-produced the movie as well as adding 5 additional storylines, featuring 5 of the following Power Rangers villain favorites- Rito Revolto (MMPR), Rygog (Turbo), Chromite, Brunt (the mutant version of Deviot in the Dark Galaxy) and the monster Speed King (who was one of Divatox's monsters from the first half of Power Rangers: Turbo (In the film, he is now named Psycho Racer).
Themes and Background[]
Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena mostly relied on its dark and dramatic tone of forgiveness and insanity.
Quitely unique in Power Rangers and within past seasons, the franchise began to be independent and self-detained, which initially started with the Lost Galaxy season. The Rise of Trakeena is not related to this or the entire Power Rangers universe in whole, though the film borrows a lot of referrences from it (including any of the seasons' episodes, villians, events, etc.) and creates homages from past shows including its contemporary predecessor within the story and via on screen. Power Rangers LG also carries the themes of "trust", "hatred to one another", "rivalry, love, friendship, and differences between fantasy and reality. The film's main theme is "Destiny". The destiny theme is mostly used to determine how the Power Rangers tend to fulfill their duties to save the universe from whatever force of evil strikes onboard -or in some cases, not- Terra Venture within the film. Tony Marshall uses the theme in order to try (without die trying) and avenge the people he has lost over the years in his life (such as family, friends, etc.).
Trakeena's theme is insanity. Unlike in the TV series with her brutal hatred against the Rangers for destroying her father Scorpius, the film portrayed Trakeena much likely different than she has been on Power Rangers, as Marsh wanted her to express her lost thoughts and feelings of compassion to others rather than of who worships her (such as Deviot and Villamax) within the story. She continues to be evil (like she always was), but never wanted to turn good. When she sees the new Red Galaxy Ranger (Tony Marshall, Tobey Maguire's character in the film), her mind is frizzled and is off track and expresses some of her lost feelings for love. In the script, it was noted that she keeps comparing Tony to the original Red Galaxy Ranger Leo Corbett, as Tony keeps convincing her that he is not him. He may look like him but he is not actually Leo. The number one theme and description for Trakeena that fits her insanity is "obsession". This theme is used when Trakeena becomes completely infatuated with Tony, as she tries to get his attention and brainwash him to join her master race of insectoids.
The film's background is set in the near but not too distant future.
Influences from Popular Culture within the film; Parodies[]
The Rise of Trakeena is the first Power Rangers fanfilm to include homages and referrences from other films, television programs, and video games within the story. It is mostly influenced by the following superhero films Marsh was amired by- Spider-Man (2002) and Batman (1989). Half of the movie parodies and referrences some of the following.
- G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra- most story material from Stephen Sommers' live-action film, based on Hasbro's long-running G.I. Joe toy franchise, has been used to make the film look "more graceful and less dumbed-down". Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena parodied the title of the film, though the G.I. Joe film was poorly recieved with fans of that franchise as fans of Power Rangers would like this film. Certain props and costumes from this film was used in The Rise of Trakeena. The film uses an alternate storyline, similar to in G.I. Joe. This film is also a certral reference, not a parody.
- Spider-Man (2002)- scenes referrenced: The Time Square Battle and Burning Building sequence. Most of Spider-Man's score soundtrack, by Danny Elfman, was mostly used in most scenes in this film, including its traditional music that was cut from its finished product.
- Spider-Man 2- the only scene referrenced: The Train Rescue sequence.
- Spider-Man 3- some story elements and action scenes have been referrenced, excluding the Black Suit Spider-Man story scenario. The film used most of this movie's score soundtrack composed by Christopher Young.
- Batman (1989)- Certain scenes. One scene in the reversion featured the scene where the Yellow Ranger, while wearing a hooded cape, was mugging a Neo-Viper telling him "I'm not gonna kill you. I just want you do me a flavor, I want you to tell all of your friends about me...."-which was the same quote Batman told a thug in the begining. When the viper asked him who he is, AJ says "I'm Batman.... PSYCHE!" and the ending of the theme "Roof Fight" is cued.
- Batman Begins- The Tumbler chase scene.
- The Dark Knight- central referrence.
- Fatal Attraction- central referrence and influence. Only included in Tony and Trakeena's storyline.
- Robot Chicken- slapstick influence.
- Family Guy- One cutaway in the film was featured, which featured an uncut clip from Marsh's short film Beauty and the Brawler, where Marsh was laying on the ground, beaten up, gets kicked in the stomach as the uncredited GHS student yells at him "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!".
- Peter Pan- when AJ calls Trakeena "Tinkerbell".
- Pootie Tang- unknown reasoning.
- Everybody Hates Chris- unknown reasoning.
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen- the Devistator sequence and footage of the scene where the Decepticons get the chance to attack Earth, under the Fallen's command.
- Tropic Thunder- random referrences.
- Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi- referrence of its climax.
- Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back- the scene where the Red Ranger and Villamax XXIII battle at MechaBiocon, while in a saber duel fight. In it, Villamax cuts Tony's left hand and a part of his Quasar Saber and explains to him that he is his lost brother in which Tony didn't even believe to understand.
- Thunderball, a James Bond film, as a tribute to its underwater battle.
Puppet Work and Voice Talents[]
Instead of using actual people to play the characters, The Rise of Trakeena is the first Power Rangers movie and fan-film to use electronically-based cardboard printout paper puppets (with the actors scanned to the puppets) so that way he can make them more realistic for a much CG-like generated feel. He doesn't have any Saban-produced Power Rangers action figures no more to portray the characters (except some villains that never had a toy released during frequent years of the TV series' run) nor any of their Megazords (deluxe-sized). Whatever Saban-produced PR toy he had during his childhood were given away to the Salvation Army so children from other countries can play with the toys. So currently, Marsh is stuck with some toys of the Disney-produced Power Rangers.
"When I was a kid, I had toys based on the first 10 years of Power Rangers, but not anymore. Since my dad shipped them to the Salvation Army (when I was like 11 to 13 yrs of age), they were gone (because I had too many toys growing up when I was a child). So during my later teen years, in order to subsitute them, I made cardboard cutout paper puppet versions of them (but my dad kept arguing with me about me playing with some 'cruddy lookin' paper dolls'. I hated it when he denied my creative talent of making them. I've been working on this Power Rangers movie for ten years, but the previous versions of the puppets (I made during High School since the 9th grade) have been thrown away because of my age limit and kept saying girls play with them. I made these to express my creative talent, not to abuse it." During his personal time, when he was still a student at Gathersburg High School from 2007-2011, he has been making these puppets of the Power Rangers and their respective villains. He have been roaming around during his lunch breaks at school, going to some computer labs printing various (and a bunch) of printout photos of the actors -including himself- he want in his Power Rangers movie. he has made non-stop copies of the photos in case he wants to make similar puppets for future appearences if need so. During the last three years, Marsh had made over a bunch and countless versions of Trakeena. In 2009, when he ressurrected the villain for his planned PRLG film (when, during the longest time, during Development Hell), He had some frequent versions of Trakeena baring her insectile headgear with most versions of her sporting long black messy hair and overlarged breasts, with her being akin to a party-girl like cougar in New Jersey.
After finishing filming Power Rangers LG, and graduated from High School, he currently stores the puppets in various shoe boxes located at his home basement, in order to prevent his father from throwing all of them in the recycle can (for paper and cardboard) outside his backyard also in order to save them for future sequels.
On behalf of the actors' likenesses, Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena had 4 people doing voice dubs.
During voice work, Marsh was the main person to voice dub almost every character in the film. He has voice dubbed Browne Jones/Green Ranger, Billy James/Blue Ranger, Villamax XXIV, Christopher Donner, Jr/Evil Shadow Ranger, the Neo Vipers, and most of the rest, expecially dubbing the voice of Red Ranger Tony Marshall. For example, while voicing the Red Ranger, Marsh mimmicked Tobey Maguire's voice. As the Green Ranger, he mimmicked Charlie Murphy's voice. As Chris Donner, he mimmicked Ryan Reynolds' voice. Actress Ashley Eckstein voiced dubbed Pink Rangers Wendy Jane O'Hara and Gwen McQueen. Voice actresses Kari Wahlgren and Jennifer Hale were additional voices of the two. When Trakeena have been involved from time to time, it pulled a much stronger strain on Marsh it really disappointed him during production. When he shot the film at school (when he doing the film part-time during his time at lunch, but not during his Video Production class), the first person he chose to voice Trakeena was Susan Frishman, the school's assistant principal. She later quit the film, after 2 scenes, due to Marsh not doing his work at school because he was "too focused" on doing PRLGTROT. However, she is not a fan of the show. When Marsh brought on Amy Miller -Rolle to return as Trakeena in the original cut, voice actress Lani Minella took over. Marsh later voiced Trakeena only for the climatic finale but his voice of her, as a result, didn't sound like a real female. It sounded more like his voice doing it but it was poorly performed.
As a result of making the puppets, Marsh's influence to make this Power Rangers fanfilm a half-puppet show, half action figure film came from the concept inspired by the 2004 action parody movie Team America: World Poilce.
Effects[]
Visual effects work began during filming. Scott Stokdyk is visual effects supervisor , leading 200 animators for Sony Pictures Imageworks. Digital Domain and ILM are additional animation studios. Chromia Key work was mainly used to represent the film's sci-fi/fantasy lands with the actors behind green screen. Stop-Motion chores for Devistator were done by the animators of the Cartoon Network/ Adult Swim parody show Robot Chicken .
Music[]
The score for Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena is composed by Danny Elfman.
Elfman, who composed music for the first two Spider-Man movies (in which Marsh was fond of), composed the Power Rangers LG theme, which combined electronic elements and ethnic percussions. Elfman described the theme as "Electricifyingly powerful". He also partially used music elements from the Spider-Man movie to make this theme. Elfman also composed a theme for Trakeena , entitled "The Queen of Darkness", which is also the name of her campaign in the movie, and her theme combined mainly D-minor organ touches. The theme used some these cues from Batman (1989, a cue from the theme "Up the Cathedral"), Batman Returns (1992, with cues from "Birth of the Penquin")), and Spider-Man 2 (2004)(with a piece of one of Doc Ock's themes). The suite is 6 minutes and 50 seconds long. Elfman also composed and adapted new music to the score, which he mainly included recycled music from Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 and even partially used music from Michael Giacchino with his score for the first three titles of Electronic Arts ' Medal of Honor series of WWII video games. Also, after EA had ended the WWII era of the Medal of Honor games, Marsh asked permission from Giacchino if it was okay to use soundtracks for Medal of Honor,Medal of Honor: Underground, and Medal of Honor: Frontline for the score of Power Rangers LG, with Elfman doing cover versions of the games' BGM themes. Elfman, though he hadn't thought of writing original music for the film, has created a custom soundtrack for Power Rangers LG with music themes from his past works, mostly notably his work for the two Tim Burton Batman films and the first two installments of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man movies while also creating new music arrangements of the two exclusively for Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena as Marsh noted to "Try and not confuse music listeners over the old actual stuff".
Most of the film's score was composed by Glenn Scott Lacey, who previously composed BGM music for older Power Rangers seasons Turbo , In Space and Time Force . Lacey's score for Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena is very traditional. It even included some theme music that was never featured on the show and music that was on the show. Lacey even included music that was recycled from the first three episodes of Power Rangers: Time Force but those themes included traditional music never featured throughout its soundtracks for those following episodes. Marsh even described the film's score by Lacey as "Something out of a cartoon [mainly something for a Anime like Gundam, a Manga like Dragonball or any 4Kids-produced show like Pokemon}. But still, it's worth it when you hear his music for TV shows like this but, if only there was a full BGM soundtrack albums for Power Rangers in Space or Time Force for example, I would have the entire set of music he composed for those Power Rangers seasons."
Another composer that has worked on Power Rangers was Inon Zur , who resently composed music for In Space, Lost Galaxy, Lightspeed Rescue, Time Force and Wild Force and in the Playstation 2/Gamecube versions of the Power Rangers: Dino Thunder video game. Some of his music from the Dino Thunder video game was included in the film's score as well but was left rejected after post-production on The Rise of Trakeena was ceased.
Composers who have contributed additional music included Graeme Revell, Christopher Young, Hans Zimmer, Michael McCuistion, Deborah Lurie, John Debney, and James Horner.
Release and Marketing Edit[]
Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena was suppose to be set for a release on June 29, 2011 (unfortunately, Transformers: Dark of the Moon took that date). With the film's promotional campaign still shunned and declined, it is now set for a June 10, 2011 release (one week after Marsh graduated from Gaithersburg High School on June 3, 2011) worldwide in regular and IMAX theatre locations. It was released on the same day as Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer- which Marsh said " that film is going to be a box office and critical flop. I rather have everyone go see a film that's worth buying popcorn for and it's a hell of a action-packed ride!"
It was announced that Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena is the first Power Rangers movie to be rated PG-13 for its mild intense stylized action fantasy violence, disturbing images, mid-range profanity, intense peril, thematic sci-fi elements and sexual innuendo (including some sexual referrences). Product placement deals are made with Wendy's, LG, Sony, Dr. Pepper, and Wal-Mart. A small teaser trailer resently appeared at PowerMorphicon 2010. It was also announced that the film's premiere was held at the Tribecca Film Festival and film critics are invited. However, despite a newly produced 19th season, Haim Saban had stopped Marsh from promoting his Power Rangers film (despite it was noted that it was "Way too late" to make Lost Galaxy into a movie, because critics, audiences, and fans may find the film "stale and boring") and have its promotion declined immediately because Saban Brands and Nickelodeon will be, all year long, promoting Power Rangers: Samurai . Samurai, however, will have a very aggressive promotional campaign than this movie.
A Facebook page for the film has been created to keep the fans posted on June 15, 2011.
Press Release []
A press release for the film began on May 13, 2011. The film's premiere (although, promotion rates for the film was shut down)and its first private screening took place at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC while Marsh's school, Gaithersburg High School were having the prom that night at 7 PM. In a interview with IGN.com about the film's premise, " For people who never liked the Lost Galaxy season of Power Rangers, it will make sense. For those who will think the movie will be bad, you don't have to see it. But for [some] of the fans who liked the season 10 years ago, you'll see where all of my characters (that I created to be the new Galaxy Rangers) come from"
Bandai Toyline and Other Toy tie-ins[]
The Film's actors are scanned for Bandai's toyline, which began in December 2010 and was released in May 2011 with the release of 10 inch figures (since Bandai decided to make the Power Rangers toys now down to a 4 inch scale since late 2009). The Rise of Trakeena toyline also includes 3 3/4 inch figures and vehicles including the return of the 5 1/2 inch Talking Power Rangers figures since Lost Galaxy's toyline according from the Spring 1999 toy guide.
In addition to this, Bandai worked with Mattel (toy manufacturer behind the Hot Wheels and Barbie brands) to release a limited edition Trakeena Barbie doll. However, when the doll was released, Amy Rolle, who is Trakeena's former actress, commented that her facial likeness on the doll resembled a drag-queen, "with big boobs and messy makeup. This is probably something girls may not find this to be played with for nothing. It made her, as a playdoll, look like a slutty toy".
Radioshack will release two XMod remote control cars of two resent vehicles seen in the film.
In January 2012, Bandai will cease the film's toyline, since it wasn't faring well in the market.
'Video Game '(canceled)[]
Electronic Arts were developing and planned to release a video game adaptation, also called Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena. The game was supposed to be released on the same day the film came. It was said that, by EA themselves, the game is a beat em'up/fighting/free-roaming game and the game is released only on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (the Wii, PlayStation 2, PC, and Nintendo DS versions of the movie's game tie-in has been canceled). The game's developer at this point is EA Montreal and the it has been confirmed that it is the first Power Rangers game to be rated T for Teen by the ESRB (the Entertainment Software Ratings Board). The only ESRB content the game features is "Fantasy Violence".A PS3-port sequel of the game will be released sometime in Fall 2011.
Following the release of the game's Xbox 360 version, it was reported by IGN that the game had some glitches in certain portions of the missions featured and in some Megazord levels.
Reception[]
Criticism and Backlashes[]
Power Rangers LG The Rise of Trakeena initially had an overall universal panning rate of negative reviews since its test release. The original cut of film was universally panned by fans because it "Lacked realism" and "also lacked cinematography and location and a realistic story". Amy Rolle and Shannon Spruill's performances were also slammed down by Marsh during the test screening, though both actresses (who he and his dad considered "black magic worshiping women") have already been fired, most notably Rolle.
Anthony Marsh, Jr was also the strongest weak point in the film as he was attacked by everyone's opinion about his Power Rangers fanfilm. Marsh's performance was mostly panned, because of the rough and harshness his dad said (including some of his former counselors at GHS) about him being "obsessed" about the project. One random person said that "This kid can't act, produce, or direct a stupid pointless movie. He has no experience. He needs to go to college and get a fucking degree or Bachelor's degree for it. You don't starting doing a fucking film right away." Another said "[Marsh] is probably the next Ed Wood." Fans of the Power Rangers franchise hated the fanfilm, as it was widely panned, because it seemed so tedious and misleading. Fans also didn't like the film because "Marsh used cardboard paper-cutouts of each character to make the film sound and look fake! Why can't he use action figures or something other than cardboard dolls that look so cruddy and poorly computer-generated. It's like a crossover combination of South Park and Robot Chicken, along with some action elements out of Teen Titans." Several other reasons why fans criticized Marsh's Power Rangers Lost Galaxy fan-film was because the film had entirely nothing to do with the actual Power Rangers series (or the Power Rangers season the fan-film is inspired by) and the film failed to relate to Lost Galaxy.
Fans also attacked the film for Trakeena's new repraisal (plus the villainess bearing an enlarged cleavage and undergoing cosmic/plastic surgery throughout the film, and "for being such a Divatox wannabe"), the Blue and Yellow Rangers in different ethnic races (the Blue Ranger being a Caucasian, rather than Asian -- like Kai Chen -- and the Yellow Ranger being an African-American male, rather than a female Caucasian--- like Maya, who is a female), the campy and slow script, "crappy punchlines", overstuffed storylines, and the bad editing. Editing was one of the few issues fans complained about the most about the film. They said that "Marsh did a terrible job splicing Sentai footage with his PRLG film footage. There are so many sluggish fight scenes recreated from the show being transfered to the movie, it made the movie look like a fucking mess. There was no need to make Power Rangers Lost Galaxy into a film because Saban is making a [possible] Power Rangers Samurai film (obviously, the Samurai-RPM teamup episode special Clash of the Red Rangers: The Movie). It is definately too late to make PRLG into a film". Fans also gave Shannon Spruill's performance as Gwen McQueen in the film a very negative interest, plus fans of the former TNA knockout followed their reception about her character. "Daff[ney] can wrestle but who said [anything] about her being an actress?" Another PR-fan said that "The character should be Karone and not a second-hand Pink Ranger who is more satanic and less heroic.
Andrew Vandenberg (A.V.), of the Washington Post (movie critic for the Style and Weekend pages), said "This film makes a better G.I. Joe The Rise of Cobra movie than the one we've seen two summers ago. At least this film was not as messy, cruddy, dumb, dopey, or stupid [don't forget senseless] as that piece of revamped and often-misleaded garbage [based on a toy and cartoon you loved as a child]." Vandenberg's review was mixed, at least it was a bit favorable. He gave the film 3 1/2 out of 4 stars. Every critic around the world (both online and print) have compared Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena to Stephen Sommers' critically panned film adaptation of G.I. Joe (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) within their reviews because PRLGTROT reenacted some story elements from that film during certain scenes but one critic, who gave The Rise of Trakeena a negative review (with a harsh 1 out of 4 star rating), said that the film is "Nothing but copyright infringement to Sommers' G.I. Joe movie. You can tell what costumes, sets, and storylines that film had. The next time Anthony Marsh, Jr makes another Power Rangers fan-film [like this], he needs to come up something original and NOT reperform something that's already been done by someone else. he should be sued." Roger Ebert didn't want to rave the film or give a rating, he said the film was "trash". Before Ebert became disabled, he also said the movie was "barely unrealistic".
Marsh, Jr's father Anthony Marsh, Sr. gave a mostly negative opinion about his son's film beacuse the main issue was his son had photos of his face on various puppets of his character in the film, so Marsh, Sr Hated the film and so did Austin Marsh, who didn't like the footage use nor his older brother playing a Power Ranger but his facial likeness on any of the puppets was used..
Critical Apology[]
5 months after the fanfilm's test release, Marsh released a 2-part webisode about Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena on YouTube, in which he explained that the film was "a failure" and all. Marsh's apology on screen was similar to how director Joel Schumacher apologized to the public for making Batman & Robin (1997) a "failure", in which he wanted his 2nd installment of the Batman films to be entertaining for people to watch, but that film had a poorly written script.
Anthony Marsh, Jr explains to the public about his Power Rangers Lost Galaxy fanfilm.
Marsh said:
"I apologized that I made my Power Rangers fanfilm into a bad...well the movie was...a failure and the fanfilm I created was a....combination of all the Rangers but it was mostly a Lost Galaxy film."
Offscreen, he told the fans on a blog that:
" I feel like I lost interest in the franchise (actually the show in general). The reason why I'm saying this is because I just totally lost it. The new series Power Rangers: Samurai made me feel unexcited for the my future of liking the show for the rest of my life. I lost interest in the show because of this new series. Samurai is nothing but a ripoff of the original Mighty Morphin team in my opinion. Of course I was glad Saban has returned to produce new future seasons of Power Rangers but this new show sucked all the joy and fun of watching Saban's past shows (including Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) out of me. Its really annoying. To me, the new series is more for the new generation of children who may love Power Rangers and less for us older fans. During my final year in High School last year, I was too caught up working on my Power Rangers Lost Galaxy fan-film (you know what it is, which should have been left unmade and shut down becuase of that) rather than my school work and the rest of my personal life. My dad and everyone else knew I was too "obsessed" with the show and my fanfilm project(s). I'm 19 years old, and still forced to grow out of the show's loyal fanbase and move on to something less kiddy and more mature. I've been a diehard Power Rangers fan for years and in my whole entire life and look what got me, being busy and the harder stuff of life and moving on for something else. I don't think I can do the show (and the franchise) justice anymore for my future. It's just that, it's just no fun to me anymore. "