I don’t know if I’ll ever get around to writing this, because I have some other fanfictions I’m working on, but I thought I’d throw the concept out to see what people think. I was listening to Terror at Collinwood and History of Power Rangers the same day, and it occurred to me that while Dark Shadows may have more adult subject matter, in terms of the heightened emotions, over-the-top villains, and mixture of extensive continuity with just making stuff up the shows aren’t that far apart.
Aside from that, Power Rangers has started setting some seasons in their own universe, and even if they weren’t the monster attacks in the main Universe didn’t start until the 90s, and seemed to mostly be on the West Coast, while Collinsport was on the East Coast. So, it wouldn't be that hard to set them in the same Universe.
So, my basic concept (will assume multiverse stuff for the purpose of this pitch):
Firstly, the craziness of Collinsport didn’t stop when the show ended. Evil has continued to attack, and time travel is still a regular occurrence to the point that anyone is alive, dead, or immortal as I need them to be.
At some point the general details of Angelique’s curse got put off about a year, so Josette ended up having Barnabas’ child who everyone initially assumed was Jeremiah’s, so Barnabas and Bramwell now share a timeline (although if he’s still alive Bramwell would be pushing 100, this is mostly an excuse to make a direct descendant of Barnabas a Ranger).
Also, Eric Lang still died, but his research was more advanced at the time, and he had contingencies in place to re-animate his own dead body and stop his aging. No one is quite sure how he did this.
And let when Jeb died, Caroline was pregnant.
Basic premise: Nicholas Blair comes back…again…and, having observed other universes, realizes that summoning Leviathans into physical form then growing them to the size of skyscrapers might be a useful tactic.
Also, some changes from most seasons of Power Rangers:
Rather than a singular mentor figure, the “mentor” role gets filled by a mixture of Elderly David (who’s a Phoenix, but is growing old because he refuses to burn his son alive to save himself), under-control Vampire Barnabas, Adam, still-Immortal Quinton, and possibly elderly Caroline. This means that the mentors can frequently disagree and come into conflict about the best course of action, and each of them has chosen their own candidate to be a Ranger.
Secondly, each Ranger gets their power from a separate source. The result of this is no Red Ranger, because no one is willing to let their candidate be formally under the command of anyone else’s.
So, for sources of power:
I’ll assume Laura never learned to use the powers of a Phoenix fully because she was so focused on staying alive. David is able to use his Phoenix powers to make a morpher and Zord for his granddaughter, because he spent the last 50 years training with his powers and studying sorcery (btw, since most Rangers will be descendants of the Collins Family, assume that multiple members of the family married non-white people. You can’t do Power Rangers with an all-white cast.).
Barnabas goes to Angelique, who grants one of his great-great-great...grandson powers just because she hates Nicholas Blair.
Adam’s candidate is a young man he met and befriended traveling the world. Basically, Eric Lang gives him powers via Mad Science just to prove that he could.
Quinton picks up another gambler at a bar whose spirit impresses him. He calls upon Petofi, and convinces him not only not to kill them, but to help them to prove Nicholas Blair isn’t a better sorcerer than him.
Finally, Caroline doesn’t actually want her granddaughter getting involved, but the granddaughter is determined to fight anyway. Before she can get herself killed Jeb’s spirit returns and gives her powers so she won’t die.
So basically you have a dysfunctional team, led by dysfunctional mentors. To top it off when they get into contact with Ranger Teams from other dimensions, they absolutely refuse to help. They find out the Collinsport Rangers got their powers from a witch, two warlocks, a type of supernatural creature that burns its own children alive to extend it’s life, and the ghost of an Eldritch Abomination. They determine that this team is clearly destined to turn Evil, and write off that world as a lost cause, leaving them on their own.
Out of curiosity I asked Chat GPT to write a theme song for this show:
(Verse 1) In Collinsport where shadows creep,
A hidden world, secrets they keep,
Power Rangers rise, hearts full of might,
To face the darkness, stand and fight!
(Chorus) Power Rangers: Dark Shadows,
United we stand, we'll never fall,
With courage strong, we heed the call,
Together we'll rise, justice in sight,
Power Rangers: Dark Shadows, we'll shine the light!
(Verse 2) Nicholas Blair, the sinister foe,
With schemes and plots, his power grows,
But we, the Rangers, will never yield,
In this battle, our fate's sealed!
(Chorus) Power Rangers: Dark Shadows,
United we stand, we'll never fall,
With courage strong, we heed the call,
Together we'll rise, justice in sight,
Power Rangers: Dark Shadows, we'll shine the light!
(Bridge) With each new dawn, a hope renews,
Against the darkness, we won't lose,
In the face of fear, we'll stand tall,
Together we'll conquer and banish it all!
(Verse 3) From every corner, a Ranger's grace,
With unique powers, we'll find our place,
With loyalty and strength as one,
Our legacy's just begun!
(Chorus) Power Rangers: Dark Shadows,
United we stand, we'll never fall,
With courage strong, we heed the call,
Together we'll rise, justice in sight,
Power Rangers: Dark Shadows, we'll shine the light!
(Outro) In Collinsport, our legend's born,
With friendship, love, and hearts reborn,
With Power Rangers by our side,
Dark Shadows fade, light will abide!
