Power Rangers is for kids. Power/Rangers is definitely not. As part of Adi Shankar's "Bootleg Universe"—a series of grim and gritty short films based on family-friendly properties like James Bond and Spider-Man—Power/Rangers casts the Rangers as former child soldiers who fought against the Machine Empire, with decidedly disastrous results.
With a big-name cast (including James Van Der Beek as Rocky, the former Red Ranger, and Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff as the Pink Ranger, Kimberly) and a budget that dwarfs those of most other fan films, Power/Rangers is polished and stylish, and mostly famous for being impenetrably dark.
For example, while Rocky hunts down his former teammates as an enforcer for the Machine Army, the former Black Ranger, Zack, snorts coke and has a threesome with the villains Divatox and Scorpina (played by porn stars Bree Olsen and Amia Miley) and dies. Billy Cranston, the Blue Ranger, makes a fortune as an arms manufacturer—and dies. The first Red Ranger, Jason, dies a few hours after his wedding, while the Yellow Ranger, Trini, dies during negotiations with the Machine Army. Tommy, the Green Ranger, kills Kimberly when it turns out that she's actually Rita Repulsa in disguise—basically, everyone besides Tommy ends up dead. It's a bloodbath.
If that all sounds silly, well, it is. If it sounds awesome, then you're in luck: Shankar says he's working on a dark "retelling of the first three seasons" of Power Rangers, which should air on Netflix sometime in the near future.
