As the world waits to see what’s next for Power Rangers, the superhero franchise may return to its past with the help of generative AI.
During this weekend’s New York Toy Fair, attendees learned Playmates, which has the franchise’s toy license, was teaming with Hasbro to re-release Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on YouTube and Netflix in July, with the age-old goal of trying to bring new audiences into the morphin fold. That’s nothing terribly new, as MMPR got a rebroadcast on ABC back in 2010 with updated visual effects and a new intro sequence. What’s different with this new version—subtitled Re-Ignition—is that it’ll employ the controversial technology to remaster the series, and it may be used for later seasons of the series going down the line.
Playmates in association with Hasbro is using AI to digitally enhance Season 1 of “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” to be released on YouTube and Netflix.
“Now even MORPH-Enominal with the power of AI”
Season 1 will start dropping in July with more to follow.
The goal of… pic.twitter.com/VEdvMU5tnA
— The MontyVerse (@TheMontyVerse) March 1, 2025
Generative AI has been divisive ever since it started taking off. In the past year, eagle-eyed viewers have called out studios for using genAI on remasters of films like True Lies and Aliens, or creating cover art for classic films. (This goes well beyond movies: any company in any visual medium that’s used the technology, or employed someone who used it but failed to disclose that, tends to get harsh backlash.) At time of writing, Hasbro and Playmates haven’t shown off anything for MMPR: Re-Ignition. But if true, this is another blow longtime Power Rangers fans, who’ve wanted the frequent returns to Mighty Morphin to end for some time now, and are still burned by last year’s unceremonious auctioning off of decades worth of props and costumes.
io9 has reached out to Playmates for confirmation on Re-Ignition’s use of generative AI, and will update when a response is given.
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