'Power Rangers' Director Explains Goldar's Big, Goopy Mess

In the second trailer for Saban’s Power Rangers, which hits theaters later this month, we caught an imposing glimpse of the massive villain Goldar fighting the Rangers’ colossal combat machine, the Megazord. But Goldar looks way, way, way different than he did back in the original 1993 TV show. Instead of a distinguished general who looked like a flying monkey — a sly reference to The Wizard of Oz — Goldar in 2017 looks like a drippy, golden golem. In a recent interview, the filmmakers said it’s because they fundamentally changed Goldar.

“Dean [Israelite] and I talked about him being faceless and intimidating and characterless,” production designer Andrew Menzies told Entertainment Weekly. “He’s an extension of Rita that’s unstoppable.”

The filmmakers wanted to change Goldar from a bumbling fool who led Rita Repulsa’s alien army to a faceless entity to personify Rita’s evil core. Think something like the blind, evil rage of Batman v Superman’s Doomsday or any number of final CGI baddies.

They also thought that a flowing, changing entity who didn’t have a proper form would be eerie. “I think as humans we always search for character in a face, and if it’s always shifting and changing, it becomes scary,” said Menzies. “If it moved like chocolate and kept flowing, you could never put your finger on it.”

But the filmmakers didn’t consult Godiva on their monster design. Rather, they looked at ferrofluid, a magnetized liquid that mimics gold in its liquid state. “There’s something very beautiful about him,” said director Dean Israelite. “All of the negative space that’s constantly in Goldar’s design feels very eerie, but on the other hand, he’s a kinetic sculpture.”

It’s somewhat sad, since Goldar’s mug was a big thing in the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and consequently, a big part of the nostalgia. Maybe, though, a faceless Goldar will scare kids just as the red-eyed ape did 25 years ago.

Saban’s Power Rangers will be released on March 24.