The thing that has made Power Rangers popular is that the core concept is quite cheesy and action packed, basically harmless fun mixed with some impressive music and some imaginative stories (well not all of them, some are just stupid). For 20 years the Rangers have used this format to varying levels of success, though Samurai was just filler with awful acting and a failed attempt at nostalgia. Just a note: Whilst I like many aspects of Power Rangers, I have not seen many episodes, I just go by what I've read or heard.
With that out of the way, is it possible for the Power Rangers to be adapted into a more serious format. In Space came close according to Linkara, but again its Power Rangers, Cheese is guaranteed! But if they did become more serious, armour that fits more into the current theme (Sci fi: Mass Effect style armour. Magic and Fantasy: Plate, Leather and Maile armour. Modern: Kevlar bullet proof vests, more natural looking foes (humans, humanoid aliens, streamlined armour, competent and ruthless foot soldiers ect), complex personalties on both sides, the Power Rangers being part of a military organisation and/or (shock!) not teenagers but adults trained for years for this rank and position. Just a thought, could this group be sucessfully adapted into a serious setting (not without comedy mind you) or are they fine as a fun kids show?

Well, it would be cool to see something like that. All the seasons from the Zordon and Post-Zordon Era were pretty serious in some aspects. Then came Disney and changed the proportions between comedy and seriousness (plus stock-background-music). The filler+awful acting came before Samurai with RPM, which pretty much kicked the previous lore of futuristic cities in the sack too. And Saban did little to no effort when they took the rights back. Such a shame. From RPM forward, Power Rangers died to me.

Though about the costumes and weird villain designs, the footage comes from japan, what did you expect (no offense to any asian readers, just being honest).

Given that Rangers exist on other planets i always thought of them as a group similar to the Green Lantern Corps: Intergalactic Police/Military tasked with keeping order in the universe. One thing I would like to see done is to have a Rangers series actually set in a different time period, such as Medieval Europe, Medieval Japan, the Wild West, Colonial America, the French Revolution, or the Italian Renessance or a prequel series about the First Power Rangers

3554387 Oh yeah. I'd forgotten Power Rangers took a lot of its footage from Sentai, ok fair enough, I'm just saying if Power Rangers became its own show outside of Sentai, where they actually made their own footage then I think that's the way to go. Forgive my ignorance but I'm not well versed in Japanese customs and ideas, I just saw weird costumes rather than believable creatures. No offence to anyone who likes them, that's just my opinion, as ignorant as it is.

3556652 That's certainly an interesting idea, though I'd like to know what connects all these Rangers together as a single group, none of them coming into contact with each other for more then a couple of episodes and having no central control, nothing seemingly unifying them against a single, powerful threat. I do like the idea of a Power Rangers series set in the past, it would be a great opportunity to go creative with their armour and weapons, no longer plastic and spandex, but functional and fitting with the time period they live in. (Actually that reminds me of Assassins Creed. A group of people who watch over mankind throughout its history) I just hope there are actually people other than the Power Rangers who can help with threats, not making them the only group to turn to in a crisis, and thus making them part of a larger universe.

3551010 It would be nice, but we have gotten some darker series every now and then. There were various parts of MMPR, especially in Season 3, parts of Zeo, the later half of Turbo (including the infamous downer ending), In Space, Lost Galaxy (the series with the highest death total), Lightspeed Rescue, Time Force, Wild Force as time went on, parts of Dino Thunder, parts of Jungle Fury, and R.P.M. In the end, however, Power Rangers will always be a kid's show.

3554387 The problem lies in the fact that Disney was looking for a reason to scrap Power Rangers after the end of Toon Disney, and unfortunately, Saban's contract with Nick is not very favorable. Nick doesn't truly care about the franchise, and is letting it rot. Even Cartoon Network would probably give Saban a little more freedom.

3556652 We got some of that in "Wild West Rangers", and Time Force was originally planned to travel, according to a trailer on The Digimon Movie "Forward and backward through the ages." I assume they decided against it because it would've been too expensive to constantly change settings and backgrounds.

3557623
The budget probably was the reason it was changed but I would love to see that concept resurrected. Another thing that might be intresting is set a Power Rangers series in a world where compitent enemy manages to acctually occupy the Earth and the Rangers must liberate the planet.

In terms of creating a 100% serious verson of Power Rangers (in the veins of say MARVEL or DC) people still remember a little show called Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills.....you know that show that makes Manos the Hands of Fate and Birdemic worthy of the Oscar for Best Picture.....so it's not likely to happen

3560004 That would be rather interesting, but we kind of already got that with the Venjix Virus in R.P.M.

3557273
Something I was thinking of that would help connect them is that between In Space and Lost Galaxy the US Military siezed the remains of the Dark Fortress as well as the remains of the old Command Center/Power Chamber, and began reverse engineering the Rangers technology and powers.

3602148 (Warning! All that follows is a joke mixed with some valid points. Please don't take everything seriously) The power rangers universe has a MILITARY!? Well they're certainly lazy and irresponsible, where were they during every single alien and monster invasion? Jeez, everyone is always relying on the heroes these days. Where's the 'other' defensive forces? I can probably guess where.......

cut to army base somewhere in America....

"Err Sargent, there's reports of a giant monster rampaging through Angel Grove again"

"Oh let the Power Rangers handle it Private, we've got more important matters to attend to!"

"Sir.....are you still watching MLP after 5 hours?!"

"MORE IMPORTANT MATTERS DAMN IT!"

3602205
Same questions can be raised in well pretty much any of Japan's Tokusatsu shows, including Super Sentai: with all those evil organizations running around with access to the supernatural, pre-historic monsters, nuclear weapons, and mad science one has to wonder where the hell are the Self Defense Forces

3602148 That would explain Lightspeed, and why Tommy was associated with them. As well as how he had information about them.

Here's an idea for the Reboot movie

For centuries, the Galaxy has been at peace, a peace protected by an elite peacekeeping force drawn from all corners of the Galaxy known as the Power Rangers. For Centuries the Rangers were able to keep peace and order, until the order was betrayed from within by a Green Ranger and destroyed, forcing Zordon, the last Grand Master of the Power Rangers to flee into exile on a distant planet known only as Earth. Centuries later the Galaxy is in a state of civil war between various factions. When Rita, a feared sorceress and General in the army of Zedd, Warlord of the sector that includes Earth, begins laying plans for an invasion of Earth to annex the planet to Zedd's vast empire for use as a supply base and slave labor camp. Zordon is forced to recruit a new generation of Power Rangers to defeat the invasion and begin the process of restoring peace and order to the Galaxy

3551010
This is something that has always bothered me, why don't the Power Rangers/Sentai Teams actually wear some sort of armor instead of just spandex, you know to make them look more like what they're suppose to be: a group of intergalactic knights and police

4158347 I guess its partially nostalgia and image. Remember that this is a tv franchise, and the makers will want audiences who remember the Power Rangers to recognize them, as well as throwing in a bit of slight design differences to be different. In a fictional universe you can invent whatever metal, fabrics, animals, plants, races, civilizations you want, and come up with all sorts of excuses why a character wears a spandex over heavy armor. But one big factor in universe could be flexibility. The Power Rangers are famed for rapid and over the top martial arts along with their various weapons. Many types of Heavy armour may not be as heavy or as inflexible as common belief would suggest, but its still heavy, and still restricts movement to a degree (believe me, I've worn replica medieval armour myself.), which could be problematic if you rely more on speed and dexterity than raw firepower. When a person wears certain types of armour or wields certain types of weapons, don't focus on how it fails, instead focus on how it could work, and hopefully if the writers have done their jobs right, you'll find a reason.

Besides, I'd rather have a good show with questionable armour then a bad show with state of the art armour designs. One has to take priority.

4158471
Good point

Thoughts about what the Rangers could be in a more serious reboot (keep in mind this is just my opinion)

Jason Scott, Tommy Oliver, and Zach Taylor: ex US Army Rangers and veterans of the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
William "Billy" Cranston: a robotics and computer expert, and well known hacker and conspiracy theorist
Trini Kwan: a well known peace, social and environmental activist
Kimberly Hart: an aspiring reporter and former Olympic gymnast until an injury ended her career.
Bulk and Skull: Two bumbling, yet ambitious conspiracy theorists and paranormal investigators