When it was announced that Lionsgate would be developing a new Power Rangers movie, everyone jumped to the conclusion that it would be a reboot of the original Mighty Morphin Power Ranger TV series. Not so fast! According to new intel, we have learned that director Dean Israelite‘s action picture won’t be focused on mining old property at all, but rather continuing the story told in the long-running television show. In fact, it’s looking like the movie will be wholly set after the events of the current TV iteration, Power Rangers Dino Charge. And since we’re hearing that Dino Charge characters factor into the movie’s opening, perhaps it will serve as a hand-off of the franchise to the new super-suited team.

We’ve also learned that Power Rangers is expected to shoot in Vancouver from January to April of next year, which is the earliest that fans will be able to get a glimpse of what the final film might just look like. Keep in mind that whatever set photos inevitably leak, we’ve learned that Power Rangers will mix location work with quite a bit of green screen, so the fully polished version is going to differ significantly from any amateur long-lens shots.

But enough of the boring stuff! We’ve also learned that the movie will open with a huge battle scene. This has been referenced at various places across the Web before, but we have some new details as to the villains involved and just what they’re fighting over. It seems that in Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz‘s script, Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd will not be the main antagonists. As loyal fans of the series know (and this could be considered a spoiler here), both of those villains were among the evil forces purified by Zordon’s energy wave (or Z-wave) that spread peace throughout the universe. However, not all adversaries were neutralized. There’s even one major villain from the early days of the series who promised she would return, but never did, prompting people to assume that she was destroyed or turned good by the Z-wave.

Yes, I’m talking about Scorpina, of course! Sources tell us the ruthless and dangerous minion of Rita has returned to plague the Rangers once more. And it seems she’s brought an army, which she uses to battle the Power Rangers and their robot Megazords in the epic opening battle scene. From what we’re hearing, the Rangers (presumably the Dino Charge team at this point) are protecting the Morphin Grid, an energy field that provides power to every generation of Rangers. This energy grid not only lets the Rangers borrow its power to morph into their super versions, it gives them access to past, present, and future Ranger memories so that they can glimpse other Rangers and glean strategies from battles. The instruction manual on the Morphin Grid is probably pretty extensive, but certain glitches like not being able to sustain two of the same Rangers for long will give the Power Rangers writers plenty of plot options to work with.

Here’s where I take a second to speculate. I haven’t been keeping up with the Power Rangers TV series for a number of years, so feel free to correct me or add your own thoughts. It sounds like the current Dino Charge team will be able to glimpse the future team, ie. the team which will take over in the movie, but it remains to be seen whether or not the Morphin Grid will survive Scorpina’s attack. If not, then it will probably fall to the new team to restore their portion of it somehow, especially since it’s supposed to represent the balance that is maintained between the forces of good and evil.

At this point, I can honestly say I’m a bit more interested in checking out the new movie version of Power Rangers, especially since it sounds like Lionsgate and the filmmakers are keeping the fans’ considerations and loyalties in mind rather than just rebooting a popular property. What about you? Whether you’re a long-time MMPR fan or just someone who is vaguely familiar with it, we want to hear from you! Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

For more on the new Power Rangers movie, check out some of our recent coverage provided at the links below: