Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always is set to drop on Netflix just in time for the 30th anniversary of the beloved 1990s series. The film not only brings back iconic Power Rangers characters like Rita Repulsa, but even features the return of two original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers actors. Billy and Zack, the Blue and Black Rangers from the original series, are back, played by original actors David Yost and Walter Jones, respectively. While the full crew hasn’t returned (Amy Jo Johnson will notably be absent), it’s impactful to see Yost and Jones reprising their beloved roles.
Another Power Rangers icon returning to the fold with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always is legendary composer Ron Wasserman. Wasserman is the man who wrote, performed, and sang the original Power Rangers theme; many adults who grew up in the 1990s will have no trouble imagining his voice yelling “Go go Power Rangers” on top of frenetic metal guitar. For Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always, Wasserman excitedly lent darker, more adult tones to the score in keeping with the more mature nature of the film’s story.
Ron Wasserman spoke with Screen Rant about returning to the world of Power Rangers, blending metal guitar and orchestra, and his hopes for the future.
Ron Wasserman on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always
Screen Rant: You created the sound of Power Rangers and so many other beloved shows, but then went on to work on things like Deal or No Deal and even Real Housewives. Do you feel like you’ve changed as a composer over the years, and was there any challenge in coming back to this?
Ron Wasserman: I’ve always been very versatile with everything I’ve ever done. I started playing when I was three, and [started] writing when I was five, and whenever I would play piano, I would switch from playing some Gershwin to trying to figure out and playing Black Sabbath stuff, so I’ve always kind of been all over the map with things. Even my time at Saban was very diverse, from X-Men, to Power Rangers, to Sweet Valley High, to Dragonball Z. Then, [I was] going into gaming, and getting a record deal with my ex-wife, and [did] animation and commercials. It’s been great, because I’m all over the map with stuff.
Coming back to this would have been weird had it been in the same style of storytelling that the original series was, but this is a more complicated movie-like episode, [or] short movie. It kind of felt like an entirely new thing that just happened to have the Power Rangers in it, so it didn’t feel strange at all.
Who do you expect to be watching this, and does that affect how you compose as well?
Ron Wasserman: Although the current audience and kids could still watch it, it’s a much deeper, more dramatic story. It was pretty easy to walk that fine line. What this show doesn’t have is all the cheesy comic comedy moments that the original series had. It’s all very heavy and serious for the most part.
It didn’t change that much of what I’m doing. I just approached it more, as I always have, as scoring for adults, which always translates well to younger people. Even the original songs, I wrote for adults; to show respect instead of playing down to kids. I never liked that, and in this case, it was easy because it is for a slightly older audience. But it will also capture a new audience.
The original main theme you wrote, performed, and sang is iconic. Is there a similar theme montage this time around, and did you revisit it in some way for this project?
Ron Wasserman: They’re using the original theme, but they’re using the version that I re-cut in 2012. [It] was great that I did that, because they wanted all the tracks separated to mix in Dolby Atmos, and I just had to cut it down to 45 seconds, which luckily also worked out perfectly.
Everything I scored around it was more mature. There’s a lot of orchestral stuff in this that wasn’t ever in the original, and when the rock stuff kicks in, that’s pretty much the same. It’s just high-speed metal, which is the most fun to do. To hit all that stuff, it’s the most difficult to do, but I love it.
Do you mean you’re making sure you’re hitting specific frames in the context of a metal song?
Ron Wasserman: Yeah, and then there’s a lot of twists and turns, so [I’m] backing right out of a rock groove and going into an orchestral part of a score. Then, [I’m] paying attention because this is so dialogue heavy, and ducking under the dialogue when necessary, then [going] back to action for the fight. It was pretty intense. It took me a little over five weeks of working on it seven days a week to get it to where I loved it.
This is in the weeds, but because you mentioned that, is this a question of tempo mapping when it comes to the electric guitar? How do you physically make that work?
Ron Wasserman: Most people use a measure, if it’s [four-four time], of four beats. I only use one beat per measure; that also helps with the tempo mapping. If I’m in the middle of a fight scene and everything’s hitting perfectly at, let’s say, 180 beats per minute, and then all of a sudden there’s a section where I’m getting there a little bit soon, I can just ever so slightly drop that tempo, maybe from 180 to 175, over 10 or 15 seconds and hit everything that’s coming. It’s such a slow decay in tempo that you don’t really notice, plus I’ve learned how to cover it up in other ways, through the years of scoring things, where it still feels like it’s going the same speed, but it’s not.
So, working out that click and the tempo maps is a huge part of the work, definitely. What you fear most when you’re in that situation is that they’re going to come back with a note and say, “Hey, for this 15 seconds, could you change it?” but the tempo that you originally had doesn’t work, so you have to be very mindful not to throw everything else out of sync after it. Luckily, that only happened a few times.
Not only are a lot of characters coming back, but you also have some of the actors coming back in David Yost and Walter Jones. Did you have themes that you got to revisit for their characters?
Ron Wasserman: Other than the theme coming in melodically here and there, nothing was really revisited. There’s one two-second comedic thing that was definitely a throwback, and I used as much of the original sound [as] I could have, but it’s only two seconds, maybe three. Other than that, it was all new.
The actors never really had their themes. Rita had a theme, but that didn’t apply here. She has a new theme here, and the other characters that had them in the past didn’t apply here. Plus, the themes back then for Rita or whatnot were a bit sillier, [and] a little bit lighter. This is much, much heavier. I don’t think anybody’s going to go back if they see Rita and say “Wow, the old theme for Rita really would have worked well here.” It wouldn’t have worked well at all. It’s much, much darker. Which I loved.
Your work on X-Men has also shown up recently in big Marvel projects like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. On top of Power Rangers, how has it been for you to see your music have this resurgence in recent projects?
Ron Wasserman: It is incredibly flattering, and how lucky am I that this stuff has lasted for so incredibly long? I’ve done a couple thousand episodes of other shows, and video games, and all sorts of stuff, but this original stuff just really, really hangs on. I’m really, really happy about that. It’s incredibly flattering. I didn’t catch it, but as soon as the stuff with X-Men would air [and] somebody could grab a clip, I got 100 messages about it. It kind of gives me the chills to know that something I wrote, a new composer was playing with an orchestra. It’s really great.
I’ve noticed that you have worked on even a couple of fan-made Power Rangers shorts. It seems like you’ve kind of just been involved in this very passionate fan base on some level for years.
Ron Wasserman: Always, always. Ever since I signed up to America Online when Power Rangers was first [airing]. Somebody said, “Hey, there’s a message board about you,” so I signed up. It was my introduction to anything online, as it was that year for about everybody. And I have gotten emails, or messages on Instagram or, Twitter, or whatever, every day since that day. [I’ve gotten] well over about 105,000 emails alone pertaining to Power Rangers; there’s something every day.
I answer every single one, because when I was young, I wrote a letter with a friend of mine to a keyboard player [in] a band called Chicago, and the guy wrote us back. I thought, “If anybody ever wants my time, or to ask me a question, I will always be available.” So I’ve stuck to that.
Is there anywhere you would love to see Power Rangers go after this film is released?
Ron Wasserman: I’m hoping, and I think there is plenty of room for this to become its own series, where they touch on the past, but bring in some new things. They can be a little bit like this; [they can be] more complicated and have more depth emotionally. I think it’s also a way to keep the franchise alive. I realize they’re still doing the other stuff, but I think it could be a whole new market for Hasbro. It feels like it.
About Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always
Just in time for the 30th anniversary of the original series, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always brings back two of the original Power Rangers, Billy (David Yost) and Zack (Walter Jones) in their fight against the newly resurrected Rita Repulsa to stop her plot to go back in time and stop the Power Rangers from ever forming.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always releases on Netflix on April 19.
