While we've all assumed that Lionsgate's Power Rangers movie will be a reboot, it seems like fans of the TV series won't actually have anything to worry about when it comes to that being completely ignored or overlooked. In fact, Collider is reporting that the current team from Power Rangers Dino Charge will factor into the movie's opening sequence (which, if I had to hazard a guess, will see them killed off in order to set the stage for this new group taking over). I loved Power Rangers as a kid, but can remember nothing about the show - or the two movies which seemed pretty good at the time - so here are all the new details directly from the site:
"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."
A surprising choice of villain then, but this sounds like a cool way to tie into the TV series in a way which will keep fans happy and shouldn't alienate those new to the franchise. It certainly sounds like the studio has big plans for the franchise anyway, and with production set to begin next year - and casting currently ongoing - we should see something official from Power Rangers soon...