Prior to this year’s Power Rangers movie, I had written a couple of acts for a film treatment of my own for it. I thought I’d share them with you. I might adapt this into a novel or something later.
Here’s Act One:
POWER RANGERS
A FILM TREATMENT
BY ZAREDIT
ACT ONE
ANGEL GROVE-a town brimming with ideas, but only renowned for the one idea that stuck-the Mad Mackerel franchise. It dominates everything. T-Shirts, syndicated television, consoles, apps, it’s even the brand label for the town’s once prosperous hold on the fishing trade.
This idea has seen better days though. Once a phenomenon in the 1990s, many feel the franchise has run it’s course as the town’s grip on the fish market is gradually slipping as bigger, bolder competitors from STONE CANYON have expanded.
JASON SCOTT is a teenager with ideas, but also issues. His father, MICHAEL, is acting president of the Mackerel franchise and is swamped with the mounting pressures of coming up with ways to spin the town’s declining flagship brand with new energy. He’s hired STONE, a former police officer turned entrepreneur, to give him some concepts. Stone proposes a focus group consisting of the teenage demographic, particularly ones with some ‘attitude’
Michael sees this an idealistic opportunity to get his son Jason more involved in the family business, and to get closer to him. He hopes his ideas, combined with that of other kids, will give a fresh face to a decaying body of work.
Jason has no interest, and he and Michael have a tense argument regarding the focus group. Jason would rather work on breaking a bench-press record, a lifelong obsession since seeing the record first set by ERNIE, who, now at the age of 40-45, runs the local JUICE BAR. Jason lets it slip in the argument he considers Ernie more of a mentor and friend than his father has ever proven to be. Michael.
This stings, and Michael casts his son out of the house. Jason storms off and crashes at the home of his best friend KIMBERLY HART, who is fresh off her latest break-up with TOMMY OLIVER and losing her social standing with the ruling female student body at ANGEL GROVE HIGH, as Tommy, the popular kid, is sought as a prize by them . Jason comforts Kimberly, but lets his own feelings for her accidentally rise to the surface. The two are surprised by Kimberly’s father, who is reluctant to let Jason stay for the night, but Kimberly stands up for him. Her father reluctantly agrees.
The following morning, the two head out to Angel Grove High. Kimberly tries to avoid the attention of the School bullies, FRANCENE and EUGENE. Eugene, nicknamed SKULL, reminds Kimberly that prom is coming up and that she can’t ‘trade up’ anymore now that she has lost her place. Kimberly says the one place she’ll never be is last, or dead last, which is where he is. His female friend Francine, a rather rounded but pudgy female, nicknamed BULK, stands up for Skull and pursues Kimberly through the corridors, ultimately forcing her to hide in the bathroom.
Jason learns of Kimberly’s plight and races to the bathroom with other students, including Kimberly’s former friends, and Tommy. Jason coaxes Kimberly out of the toilets. Tommy tries to get a word in with Kimberly, but Jason decks him with a punch. The two are separated by the crowd as PRINCIPLE KAPLIN arrives and demands both spend the day in detention.
The students assemble for a special meeting. A powerful family, ocean marine science pioneers THE CRANSTONS, BILLY (15), and BRAD (45), who reveal they have discovered that the fish in the Angel Grove lagoon are unique in that their bodies carry a rare elemental mineral known as KO-35. This mineral can enhance physical and mental attributes a hundred fold, which Billy explains is why the town’s community, generation after generation, are able to do so well in schools and in businesses. Jason does not like to hear this, and is about to raise his hand to ask a question when the lecture is over when his concerns are fielded by another student, TRINI, a feisty and hot-blooded journalist who is far from impartial, as she works for CASSIDY CORNELL’s network of biased reporters. Trini is out to expose the Cranstons as the ‘crankstons’ and reveal they are trying to hoodwink the community as well as downplay their intelligence. The assembly hall becomes unruly as sides are taken and an anxious Billy is overwhelmed and flees. Kimberly goes after him. She catches up with him outside the school and they bond over meeting the expectations of the world and difficult parents.
We cut to the lagoon,, where a team of scuba divers working for the Cranstons are examining the fish native to a lagoon separate from the main coastline. One of the divers pursues a unique looking fish and dives further down, stumbling on an abnormally large jewel embedded within the surface of the seabed.
He tries to pick up the jewel, only to be struck hard with fierce electricity. Some maddening notion to clutch onto the jewel gets the better of his need for survival and he tugs at the crystal, tearing it from the seabed before the powerful current of energy overtakes him. His friends dive down to reach him and they get him to safety as the whole seabed violently shakes, setting off a series of tremors.
On the surface, the school is in turmoil as the tremors reach it. Jason interrupts a HIP-HOP KIDDO CLASS to help them out of the area. The class leader, ZACK TAYLOR, tags along to help Jason look for any more teens and teachers trapped in the building as the tremors begin to gradually dismantle the place.
Kimberly and Billy return to the school, where Brad greets them, he suddenly throws himself into danger when Trini is in the path of some falling debris, Brad is struck down in the effort. After some tender words exchanged between father and son, Brad slips into unconsciousness. Billy, Kimberly, and a guilt-ridden Trini try to get him clear of the school. They meet up with Jason and Zack
Back at the beach, the seabed caves in and a beautiful woman clad in brown rags shoots out of the tear like an agile dolphin, and washes up on the far right of the Angel Grove cove, she is brought the rest of the way by Tommy, who was nearby. He asks her who she is, she is barely able to talk, she lets out a couple of letters, “re…re…re…”. Tommy decides to just call her Rita and spare her any extra effort, and hauls her away to his home nearby.
On their way back to his house, the two are confronted by members of an unsavory local biker gang. Tommy fends them off with martial art skills, which does not go unnoticed by ‘Rita’. ‘Rita’’s eyes flicker and glow a decaying red, unbeknownst to Tommy.
In a cavern close to the cove, a series of loud echoes can be heard. People exploring the cavern are illuminated by a pulsating bright blue light that compels them, in a semi-trance, to come closer, they begin muttering something incomprehensible, a different language, before they regain control of their senses and depart.
We look deeper into the cave to find several boulders lighting up. Binary code begins appearing on the boulders. Vivid images of events dating back to the unearthing of the jewel play on the cavern walls. Inside one ruby-like stone, a shimmering face is ignited. A disembodied echo begins speaking in the same strange language as the tourists affected by the light emitting from the caverns. We learn through specific SUBTITLES what it translates to:
The light house is open.
The light house is open.
zaredit 
You must be logged in to post a comment.