For those of you who have not heard or watched yet, Adi Shanker recently released a fan film based on the original Mighty Morphing Power Rangers we are all familiar with. In cast you haven't seen it, I'll embed the video below. It may not be there forever though, and I'll explain that in a bit.
For those of you who don't know, Power Rangers is a long running series created originally by Saban Entertainment. Half of the show's footage is taken from an even longer series of TV shows called Super Sentai. Power Rangers has one of the biggest and most dedicated fan bases of a children's television show. I would even go so far as to take a guess that the fan base is bigger than Bronies, although I could be wrong on that since there hasn't been any data collected on it.
Anyway, Saban has a bit of a bad habit that's been popping up lately. If you have ever followed Square Enix before, it will sound very similar. You see, Saban is VERY invested in it's brand. Especially after buying it back from Disney. Ever since, they have been doing everything they can to keep the image of their show squeaky clean. Last year, Saban Entertainment went after a recent Kickstarter game called Chroma Squad. The game is a turn based tactical game making fun of/paying homage to both Super Sentai and Power Rangers. Saban Entertainment gave them an ultimatum, either Saban would buy their company and the rights to the game or they would bury them in court cases so that the game never comes out. The company choose the first option.
Now Saban Entertainment is going after Power/Rangers, most likely due to it's highly graphic language and gore. You can find the original story at the following link. Many of you are probably already saying, "Big deal. They own the rights to it. They can tell him to knock it off." Here is the thing though, this video technically doesn't break any copyright laws.
In order to break the law, the film would have had to use previously used footage from Power Rangers or would have to be making money off of the brand name without the permission of Saban Entertainment. If you actually watched the video, you would see that while the costumes do resemble the original Power Ranger's, they are different enough that you could claim that they aren't using the original image. Also, Shanker didn't recieve any sort of funding or profit from this film. It was all paid out of his own pocket in order to pay homage to a series that has been enjoyed by millions.
I find it also funny that Saban is working so hard to keep this image of purity when if you look over seas at the original footage, you'll see they aren't afraid to make fun of themselves. Enter Hikōnin Sentai Akibarenjā. Roughly translating to Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger, the show was a spin off series made to make fun of Super Sentai's tropes and appeal to older fans of Super Sentai. The show is filled with alcoholic references, dirty humor and over the top slap stick.
I don't think what Saban Entertainment is doing is right. Trying to limit the creativity of a fan base is a very fast way to alienate it. While I hate to talk about Bronies in any positive light, I will admit that the creators embraced their fan base and let them basically do whatever they wanted. The return was immense and now you can't take five steps through the internet without stepping into Pony shit. If Saban's actions will cause a lot more harm then good. I personally have sent a tweet to the official Power Rangers twitter asking them to stop this nonsense. I would suggest that you do the same.
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