Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Power Rangers Leaving New Zealand and Cosmic Fury Speculations

UPDATED 7/9/23

 I haven't been writing much on this blog lately I've had it for over 16 years. I am not part of the Power Rangers fandom, given I make Power Rangers TikTok videos practically every day. I wanted to address the discussions on Twitter about Cosmic Fury and with Producer Simon Bennett. Specifically, the negative reception and concerns on how Hasbro is handling the lack of promotion for Cosmic Fury. Now it has been announced officially that Power Rangers will no longer be filming in New Zealand. Fans have speculated this for a while, also given that Simon Bennett recently mentioned he would no longer do Power Rangers after Cosmic Fury.

Fans have been doomsday-ing this as the complete end of Power Rangers, but rumors are Power Rangers will now be filmed in Canada. Hasbro has studios in Canada and it has been known for a while that Jonathan Entwistle and Jenny Klein will be working on a new movie and/or series for Power Rangers. Fans have guessed it will not require Sentai footage. Some fans are speculating it will be a Young Adult series, not aiming for the same audience as usual. In other words, we are pretty much in the dark about what is coming for 2024. But I am not doomsday-ing, I am sure there will be more Power Rangers coming our way, one way or another. And as for the negative response to Cosmic Fury, like lack of promotion, quality of toys, or the suits, I am not going to judge anything until it is released on Netflix and until everything is said and done. 

Regardless of how we feel about speculations and optics (promotion), I believe fans should just keep their opinions to themselves after the show has been released. But that's just my opinion. Naysayers are going to do exactly that, naysay. And I am not above it all. I have been guilty of expressing uncouth opinions before. None of us are perfect. 

So this is what we know for sure now

  • New Zealand out, Canada in?
  • Cosmic Fury will be the last season of Power Rangers for Simon Bennett
  • Cosmic Fury airing internationally on Netflix in  August
  • Fern will be the Orange Ranger
Other little things of curiosity:
Power Rangers stop shooting at the studios they filmed at in New Zealand last year, after the second season of Dino Fury. They began shooting at a new location, rebuilding sets, and making sets for Once and Always. Most likely Hasbro was planning to release something from Joanthan Entwistle and Jenny Klein earlier than sooner and was planning to leave New Zeland in 2022 but because of COVID, costs, and delays, most likely they decided to double-down and do Cosmic Fury to fill the gap. Or maybe, Hasbro saw how much it would cost to continue filming in New Zealand and decided to move to Canada. Hasbro has been letting go of personnel and downsizing and the fact that they are still working on Power Rangers means a lot. I am not too worried about the future of Power Rangers. I am curious and actually looking forward to Cosmic Fury. 


My own zany ideas:
Bandai America would make extra zord toys that weren't on the show and here is my rendition of a beige crab. It is inspired by some Dream AI App simulations I did. The Kyuranger crab kyutama was pink-red but I made it look like the Zenith Ranger. 

Link: https://www.cbr.com/power-rangers-series-leaves-new-zealand/