The New ‘Power Rangers’ Trailer Makes Me Want to Go Back to 1995

This article originally appeared on Motherboard. 

I'm less reflexively hateful of cinematic reboots and reinterpretations of old beloved franchises than I used to be. The endless barrage of  Transformers movies, the abominable creature design of  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the new action-heavy  Star Trek have all worn me down to the point that I just accept the inevitability that the popular entertainment of my childhood—no  Masterpiece Theater, mind you—will be forever regurgitated into newer, shinier, more frenetic iterations for the children of today. And that's OK! The cycle of art and commerce continues on.

But I feel the need to speak up about the new trailer for  Power Rangers, the movie reboot of the popular 1990s  Mighty Morphin' TV and toy franchise about spandex-clad color-coded warriors and their animalistic fighting robots (aka Zords). So the quick word on this new movie is that it's darker and angstier than than previous iterations, and stars Bryan Cranston as Zordon and Elizabeth Banks as Rita Repulsa. I'm down for all that. But what I'm NOT down with are the following:

1. Zordon is freed from his bubble tank and appears as some kind of giant pin-face toy now?

2. The Ranger suits look like weird polished alien skeletons?

3. The Zords look like weirdo organic Michael Bay-era  Transformers rather than bulky retro mechs?

Compare to the original trailer for the 1995 movie  Mighty Morphin Power Rangersand mourn the loss of our cheesy innocence:

Full disclosure, like my colleagues at VICE, I will probably see this movie at some point and enjoy it.