In the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers TV series, Goldar was one of Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd's main henchmen, even though he was beaten by the teenagers with attitude on a regular basis. However, the upcoming Power Rangers reboot will be taking a different approach with Goldar. Not only was it recently rumored that Goldar will be more integral to Rita Repulsa's plan in the movie, now it's confirmed that he won't look anything like his TV predecessor, as the 'gold' part of his name is literal this time.
Much like how the first look at the new Megazord arrived, our first inkling of what Power Rangers' version of Goldar will look like comes from a new toy, specifically one shown off in a commercial first posted on the Neo-Saban Power Rangers YouTube channel. Rather than make him look like a space ape donned in gold armor again, Power Rangers opted to make Goldar into a being made entirely out of gold. The wings are still intact, but visually, it looks like someone took a skinnier version, dragon-like version of Goldar, submerged him into liquid gold and left him to dry. Oh well, at least he's armed with a sword and caveman club. Watch out, Rangers!
Turning Goldar into literally golden monster is a radical departure from the TV series, but it also doesn't completely out of the blue. A little over a week ago, it was reported that in Power Rangers, Goldar is the only creature capable of breaking through the energy force field protecting the Zeo crystal, the artifact that allows the Rangers to tap into the Morphing Grid. The movie's opening sequence, which takes place thousands of years ago, will supposedly see Goldar vaporized into a cloud of microscopic gold particles, but in the present day, Rita Repulsa will steal gold to reform his "molecular essence," and the Rangers will only have 71 hours to stop her. Since Goldar is prominent enough to receive his own toy, one can surmise Rita will be successful, and the Rangers will need to use their weapons and Zords to destroy him once and for all before he can break through to the Zeo crystal.
Change is to be expected with reboots, but with Goldar, it looks like the veered too far off course. Other than the name and the fact that he has wings and a sword, Power Rangers' Goldar doesn't resemble the TV version in the slightest, especially if the above plot information is true. That could be rectified somewhat if the actor cast to voice Goldar sounds similar to the original Goldar, but this is still an unusual direction to take the character. Let's hope that the concept art or first official look at him is more impressive than the simple toy above.
Power Rangers morphs into action on March 24, 2017.
