I'm kind of torn, I don't mind the look overall (this is the first official picture of the actual fantasy style of the film) but it doesn't quite evoke enough of the classic Rita design. The green in particular, rather than black/purple. The asymmetrical design is not bad, neither is the nails or the head ridges. But she reminds me more of the sexy female minions almost every season has had since In Space.
Astronema wasn't a minion though. She was the main villain throughout most of it(in fact, outside of her temporarily turning good, we had no main villain besides her. We had a Bigger Bad otherwise). Time Force is the first time where the sexy villain was an actual minion through and through. Trakeena became the big bad eventually in Lost Galaxy.
That's part of my issue with it. She doesn't feel like a big bad either. Not in the way Power Rangers did it. Not even Astronema looked this ridiculous(even after her evil makeover near the end of the season). All the big bads were dressed semi-well if female. Only actual full-out minions were this bad(Trakeena came close, but still had more tact). Male varied.
Shadow?Technically, Astronema was a minion of Dark Specter. In a general sense she was the Big Bad, though.
Although I got to thinking that one advantage this movie has compared to all other movies is that the term "Looks like a Power Rangers villain" is a compliment.
She doesn't really scream "space witch" either to me. As goofy as classic Rita's look was, she did look like a witch at least. She also kind of looks more like Scorpina than Rita here.
I guess that I'm kind of disappointed that they felt the need to go so overtly/blatantly "oh sexy alien chic" with it. And I kind of get that because a. It's Elizabeth Banks (she's attractive enough anyway), b. it's kind of the opposite of what Rita is meant to be, and c. it's just really typical/cliche in general.
Let's be fair, once Rita got dolled up to get married to Zedd, she looked hot. I mean, not super sexy or anything, but it made quite a difference. It wasn't surprising that even without the potion's influence, Zedd still loved her.
Astronema being the Queen of Evil kind of put her out of minion territory. She was introduced as one at first, but they took off the minion label early. Intentionally too. There's no question she was both, though. What I meant was that those who are full sexy female minions and not big bads didn't really start till Time Force more or less. Lightspeed Rescue somewhat too. But that one's a little subjective. Not as blatant as Time Force.
Shadow?Eh, I like it. Like I said, the probable reason for why she doesn't look much like the original design is that they want to distance her from Witch Bandora and have her be her own character.
Loosely adapting Super Sentai by changing all the character names, the overall plot, and filming new footage with American actors to go between the redubbed Sentai footage worked for the show, but Hollywood films are expected to have multinational audiences. Some audiences are going to watch this movie that have actually seen Super Sentai and know who Witch Bandora is.
That they basically reinvented the character from the ground up instead of presenting her as a cheap Bandora knock-off gives me hope that the film might actually have a heart of its own.
edited 19th Apr '16 10:49:46 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.It definitely looks like something out of Power Rangers. Like Scorpina and Tenaya 7 combined and became green. I just don't get "Rita Repulsa" from it.
I do get that they're trying to do their own thing and I appreciate that even though I've always had a soft spot for Rita's evil space witch look.
The Blog The ArtThere's also They Changed It, Now It Sucks! but that also does not go on Works pages. Both are YMMV tropes documenting audience reaction rather than factual elements of the film.
Since literally the only thing we have about the film is a costume, I would say it is absolutely too early to make a page.
edited 19th Apr '16 1:02:20 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.

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