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A revamp of the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers is coming to cinemas in the not-too-distant future, proving the 90s are well and truly back.

Saban Brands, owners of the multi-coloured, robot-piloting kung-fu heroes, has partnered with Lionsgate, the studio behind


The Hunger Games, to produce a new movie based on the classic Power Rangers line-up.

Rather than matching or running alongside any of the more recent iterations, the planned movie will be a return to the iconic line-up, rebooting the original concept for a new generation. "The new film franchise will re-envision the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," reads the relentlessly serious press release, describing them as "a group of high school kids who are infused with unique and cool super powers but must harness and use those powers as a team if they have any hope of saving the world".

The new cast and plot details are a long way off but at a bare minimum, we'd expect to see Jason, Kimberley, Billy, Trini, and Zack gathered by alien sorcerer Zordon to serve as the Red, Pink, Blue, Yellow, and Black Rangers respectively, and battle against the ancient witch, Rita Repulsa. With the announcement already alluding to franchise plans, we're going to call it now -- the post-credits stinger on the first movie will allude to the arrival of Tommy Oliver, the popular Green Ranger, in the second.

Power Rangers first launched in 1993, when producer Haim Saban meshed the martial arts and mecha-vs-monster footage of Japanese series Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (Dinosaur Squadron Zyuranger) with cheaper, American-shot footage of teens in highschool. Giving a target audience of 8-12-year-old kids a weekly dose of live action robot dinosaurs proved to be a bit popular for some reason, and the series has run continuously ever since. While keeping the original dino-themed motif of the costumes for the first three seasons, from 1996's Power Rangers Zeo onwards, each season would echo the Japanese source series it was adapted from. The current series,


Power Rangers Super Megaforce, is a 20th anniversary special, complete with cameos from earlier Ranger teams.

While they won't be the first time the Power Rangers have had a big budget film (1995's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie brought the team to the screen with half-decent effects and costumes, only for 1997's Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie to return to an embarrassing TV budget), the new movies could be a chance to show that the characters can be taken at least somewhat seriously. At the very least, there are now generations of kids to whom the Power Rangers are as memorable as

Transformers was to their parents. Let's just hope that unlike Optimus Prime, the new Red Ranger doesn't have to show he's serious by ripping enemies' faces off.