Power Rangers Director Reveals Why Mastadon Zord Has Eight Legs

The Power Rangers reboot has been heavily scrutinized all through its production process, as the Internet reacted to each new costume, character, or vehicle that’s been revealed. Some of the new designs have been well received, and others (read: Goldar) have been heavily criticized.

In a recent interview, Power Rangers director Dean Israelite discussed what led him to make of one of the more controversial decisions: to give the Black Ranger’s Zord, the Mastodon, eight legs instead of the animal’s traditional four-legged form.

Talking with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Israelite was asked specifically about the Zords, and why certain creatures (like the mastodon) are so radically different than their organic inspirations. According to the director, while an organic aesthetic was the overall philosophy (read more on that HERE), they didn’t let it smother their sci-fi creativity:

“The idea is the Zords are machines that take on the form of the most powerful organisms of the planet they’re on. When these Zords came to Earth, dinosaurs reigned supreme and so they took on the image and the spirit of these dinosaurs – that’s the mythology that we’ve put into the movie. But in the concept that we’ve created they’re meant to be inspired by those animals – not an actual, literal, version of it, and so we decided we wanted to take certain liberties, too.

The other component of it is almost more of a practical component. We look at these renderings and we create a 3D space and we look at how they should move, and you learn a lot from that. And the mastodon is so big that we realized that with added legs it would just move better in a CG environment, and we’d be able to make it a more nimble machine. So it felt kind of like practical; if you were an alien creating this machine, you would want those added limbs.”

If you say so, Dean! Alien desires aside, the Power Rangers fan base (and general audience of moviegoers) has been split on this new approach to the material. Currently, the movie has a respectable 3.51/5 rating in our Comicbook.com user rankings for Non-Comic book movies, which tells us that even with some questionable design choices (like eight-legged mastodon and all-gold Goldar), there’s still a general sense of excitement for this flashy superhero action origin story.

Are you excited for Power Rangers? Let us know by rating your anticipation in our rankings below!

Power Rangers is scheduled for release on March 24, 2017.

MORE POWER RANGERS NEWS

• Why the Costumes Are Different
• Original Power Rangers to Cameo in New Movie
• Power Rangers Post-Credits Scene Confirmed
• Filmmakers Explain Goldar’s Design

Saban’s Power Rangers follows five ordinary teens who must become something extraordinary when they learn that their small town of Angel Grove – and the world – is on the verge of being obliterated by an alien threat. Chosen by destiny, our heroes quickly discover they are the only ones who can save the planet. But to do so, they will have to overcome their real-life issues and before it’s too late, band together as the Power Rangers.

Saban’s Power Rangers stars Dacre Montgomery as Jason Lee Scott/the Red Ranger, RJ Cyler as Billy Cranston/the Blue Ranger, Becky G as Trini Kwan/the Yellow Ranger, Ludi Lin as Zack Taylor/the Black Ranger, Naomi Scott as Kimberly Hart/the Pink Ranger, Elizabeth Banks as Rita Repulsa, Bill Hader as Alpha 5, and Bryan Cranston as Zordon.

The film is being directed by Project Almanac-helmer Dean Israelite and was written by Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz.

Are you excited for the Power Rangers to hit the silver screen once again?Let us know how much you’re looking forward to movie in the ComicBook anticipation rankings below!