Cover the kids’ eyes for this Power Rangers reboot – it’s strictly for the grownups.

James Van Der Beek, known to 90s and 2000s teens as aspiring filmmaker Dawson Leery on the soapy WB drama Dawson’s Creek, has a starring role in a surprisingly somber short film about another pre-millennial mainstay, the Power Rangers, directed by Joseph Kahn and titled “Power/Rangers.”

The film was made with the help of Adi Shankar, who has produced other gritty film fare such as The Grey and Lone Survivor, and stars Katee Sackhoff from Battlestar Galactica.

For those unfamiliar with the oeuvre, the Power Rangers are a group of teenagers sporting brightly colored helmeted uniforms who utilized various superpowers and martial-arts skills against a variety of supervillains. Shankar (also known for Dredd and A Walk Among the Tombstones) was curious what might have happened to the adult Power Rangers after living through so many battles as impressionable teens.

Eyebrow-raising moments in the film include Van Der Beek wearing a bionic leg and savagely interrogating Sackhoff, who portrays the former Pink Ranger and spends portions of the film tied to a chair. The film is also decidedly NSFW, as narcotics, blood and curse words are plentiful. It’s also not without humor, as Van Der Beek’s character displays surprise at the path the adult Rangers now walk:  “Who would have thought that weaponizing youth and training them to kill could have turned out so ugly for so many of them.”

Although Shankar insists the short is not aimed at getting a feature film made, who knows – it might be high time for the Rangers to suit up again and take their adventures to a darker place this time around.