It's a good time to be a 90's kid. With the trend of nostalgia dominating the world of TV and movie production, it seems like you can't turn a corner without one of your favorite childhood properties making a reboot or sequel. Case in point: Power Rangers, the modern live-action adaptation of campy 90's children's show Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Power Rangers will feature new version of classic Mighty Morphin iconography, including Goldar, the Zords, and even Alpha 5. The latter character is being voiced by Saturday Night Live alum Bill Hader, who will undoubtedly bring his fantastic comedic timing to Zordon's sidekick. And a new teaser shows Alpha shouting his signature catch phrase.
Any self-respecting 90's kids will known Alpha 5 all too well. He bumbling robot assisted the Power Rangers from the Command Center, but he'd often become stressed out about the job at hand, leading him to exclaim, "Ai yi yi!". And the newest Power Rangers teaser features that iconic line of dialogue. Check it out.
If that doesn't make you feel like a kid again, I'm not sure what else will.
Hearing Bill Hader's take on Alpha 5 is sure to be delightful for those of us who grew up on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. In the original series, Alpha probably exclaimed the phrase once an episode, when things were really heating up for the teenagers with attitude. So diehard fans were waiting with bated breath to find out if the new Alpha would get to use the signature phrase.
But Bill Hader's version of Alpha sounds very different from the source material. As a reminder, check out the original Alpha's "ai, yi yi".
While Mighty Morphin Power Rangers' Alpha usually sounded like he was about to have an anxiety attack, the new Power Rangers version is far more aloof. Rather than panicked, he says "ai yi yi" when he's annoyed by the Rangers' apparent incompetence. He's been on the job for a long time, and he's probably sick of teenagers being such piss poor Rangers.
I think it's safe to assume that the new Alpha 5 will likely be very different than the original. While Power Rangers is using characters and settings from the original series, director Dean Israelite is clearly using his creative freedom to make major changes to the characters. Rita is now a green clad warrior, Goldar is a giant (mindless?) monster, and the Zords are packing some serious firepower. So Alpha's change of character really shouldn't come as much of a surprise at this point.
That being said, I'm sure Bill Hader is going to do a fantastic job voicing Alpha. After contributing to BB-8 in The Force Awakens, it's exciting that he'll have a more meaty robotic role to sink his teeth into. And with voice over experience under his belt through The Angry Birds Movie and Inside Out, he's got the experience and comedy to make the character a standout.
Power Rangers will fly into theaters on March 24, 2017.
