Power Rangers alum Jason David Frank (Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers) is starring in the upcoming fan project Legend of the White Dragon, a Power Rangers-inspired film produced by Bat in the Sun (Super Power Beat Down) and directed by Aaron Schoenke and Sean Schoenke. The project began as a Kickstarter campaign in 2019, with a short teaser released to promote the campaign. By April 2020, the Kickstarter reached its initial goal of $100,000 to produce Legend of the White Dragon as a mini-series. Later in May, the campaign reached its ultimate stretch goal of $500,000, solidifying Legend of the White Dragon for a feature film release.
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The story of Legend of the White Dragon follows the titular White Dragon, played by Jason David Frank. He isn’t the only Power Rangers alum making a morphenominal return with Johnny Yong Bosch (Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers), Jason Faunt (Power Rangers Time Force) and Ciara Hanna (Power Rangers Megaforce) all starring in the project as well. David Frank’s daughter, Jenna Frank, will also star in the film, possibly as Frank’s in-movie daughter who has been captured by the enemy.
Character names and plot details are scarce at the moment. The only confirmed character name/title is the “White Dragon,” a disgraced hero who seems to have gone into hiding following a horrific event known as “The Aftermath.” The destroyed city was renamed Angel Graves while the White Dragon and his allies (supposedly played by Frank’s fellow Power Rangers actors) were stripped of their titles and hunted. The teaser trailer shows Bosch, Faunt and Hanna’s characters dressed in Power Rangers-meets-Metroid armor while chasing down Frank’s White Dragon. After a brief skirmish, Bosch hands Frank a white crystal, which Frank uses to transform into the White Dragon before flying off to find his daughter.
Dragon Prime is the villain of the story, though not much is known about the character other than that. This is not the first time a Power Rangers story (official or fan-made) has explored evil doppelgangers of heroes. The BOOM! Studios comic event Power Rangers: Shattered Grid explored an evil version of Tommy Oliver named ‘Lord Drakkon‘ who waged war against the many Power Rangers teams of different times and universes. Dragon Prime may draw influence from this as an evil, alternate version of the White Dragon who wants to spread his control to other dimensions.
It is unknown where Legend of the White Dragon falls into the Power Rangers multiverse. With no character names being officially announced, it’s difficult to say if Jason David Frank is playing an alternate Tommy Oliver that lost to Lord Zedd or some other villain, or if he is playing a brand new character loosely inspired by Tommy and the Power Rangers franchise. Jason David Frank has returned to play Tommy Oliver on numerous occasions, the most recent being in Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel, Season 1, Episode 10, “Dimensions in Danger.” In this episode, it’s revealed that Tommy has a son named J.J. but not a daughter, meaning if Jason David Frank is playing Tommy Oliver in Legends of the White Dragon, it’s not a version of Tommy seen before.
Legend of the White Dragon may tie into a Power Rangers project in the future, but the chances of that happening are slim due to it being a fan project and having no real tie to the Power Rangers franchise other than its actors. With the growth of the Power Rangers multiverse, however, anything is possible. At the very least, Legend of the White Dragon includes plenty of its own nods and references to Power Rangers just in the four-minute teaser trailer, meaning the full-length film is bound to have references for all manner of Power Rangers fans.
No release date has been announced as of writing this, though Jason David Frank and his co-stars continue to promote the film on their social media pages. Bat in the Sun recently released its new Batman fan film titled Batman: Dying is Easy, meaning there’s a chance the independent film company’s attention will focus back on promoting Legend of the White Dragon. Only time will tell how the White Dragon and his fellow heroes morph into action and save the day.
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