Henshin Grid

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Toei: When filming Legend War for Power Rangers 注意東映株式会社パワーレンジャーレジェンド大戦

Now that we know that Toei will be shooting the Legend War of Gokaiger (ゴーカイジャー) again for Power Rangers excluding teams before Zyuranger (ジュウレンジャー), I decided to modify this post I did for 'Saban Brands.' I do not know many Japanese or Kanji but I am going to copy and paste some key words. Toei will probably not read this but I just thought I'd do it anyway. I wrote this in simple language to be easy to translate.

Power Rangers: パワーレンジャー

Legend War: レジェンド大戦

Toei: 東映株式会社

In the Gokaiger's Legacy War, the past 34 Super Sentai (teams) fight foot soldiers of the main villain of the Gokaiger series. They loose their powers in order to back away the villains. Toei said they would not be filming the Pre-Zyuranger teams and I suppose Dairanger will not included either. Here are some things to keep in mind...

1. Excluding Teams
Dairanger was not a Power Rangers team. Only Kiba Ranger was adapted to White Ranger. Kakuranger was indeed the Aquitar Rangers. 忍者戦隊カクレンジャー (Kakuranger) = エイリアンレンジャー (Alien Rangers). キバレンジャー (Kibaranger) = ホワイトレンジャー

2. Additional Rangers
Toei don't forget there are some extra Power Rangers that were not in Sentai.
Titanium Ranger: タイタニアムレンジャー
Phantom Ranger: ファントムレンジャー (VRV Master of Carranger ＶＲＶマスター)
Elephant Ranger: エレファントレンジャー
Shark Ranger: シャークレンジャー
Bat Ranger: バットレンジャー

THE FOLLOWING, EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO USE ACTORS, AND JUST SUITS, TAKE THIS INTO CONSIDERATION:

3. Mighty Morphin Powers
The Mighty Morphin Powers themselves were said to be destroyed but we did see them be reused in the episodes"Always a Chance", "Forever Red" and "Once A Ranger." Jason and Rocky were the Red Ranger, but it can be said Jason would be the Red Ranger. Rocky could take the place of a Zeo Ranger. Zack and Adam were the Black Ranger. But it can be said Zack would be the Black Ranger. So Adam could be a Zeo Ranger. Billy is always Blue Ranger and was only the Blue Ranger. Trini and Aisha were the Yellow Rangers, We can say Trini is Yellow even though her actress Thuy Trang passed away more than a decade ago. Kim and Kat were the Pink Ranger. But it could be said Kim to be the original Pink Ranger and Kat can be a Zeo Ranger.

4. Zeo Powers
Zeo Powers were abandoned and still active as seen in the episode "Forever Red." If Zack takes place of the Black Ranger. Adam can be the Green Ranger for Zeo. If Jason takes spot of Red Ranger, Rocky can be Blue Ranger for Zeo. Tanya can be Yellow Ranger, Kat can be Pink Ranger if it is supposed that Kim was Mighty Morphin Pink Ranger. And even though Jason was the Gold Ranger, the powers are now with Trey. This is assumed in "Countdown to Destruction" finale for "Power Rangers in Space" even though we don't see his face.

5. Space Powers
Andros was Red, Carlos was Black, TJ was Blue, Ashley was Yellow, Cassie was Pink and Zhane was Silver. But Carlos, TJ, Ashley and Cassie were also the Turbo Rangers. Adam, Tommy, Tanya and Kat were Turbo Rangers too but if they are busy being Zeo Rangers, then who are being the Turbo Rangers if the other four will be Space Rangers.

6. Turbo Powers Dilemma
Tommy, Adam, Tanya, and Kat were Turbo Rangers but if they are busy being Zeo Rangers, then they can't be Turbo Rangers. TJ, Carlos, Ashley and Cassie were Turbo Rangers but if TJ, Carlos, Ashley and Cassie are busy being Space Rangers, then they can't be Turbo Rangers. The only Ranger you can have with Turbo Ranger is Justin. Even if you are not using actors and just suits, you have to take this in consideration when shooting a scene that has a lot of past teams and suits. Then you would just have the Blue Turbo Ranger by himself.

-OR-

ロボットレンジャー
Writing loophole: In the episode "Robot Rangers" of Turbo, it had been established that Zordon was making robot duplicates of the Turbo team, namely Justin, Cassie, Carlos, TJ and Ashley. So we can say they are being used.

7. Tommy's Powers
Even if Turbo Rangers and Space Rangers are excused by new members, Power Rangers still limits how many Ranger suits can appear because Tommy has been many Ranger. Tommy has been five in fact. Only one of them that was used by someone else and can be replaced. Above we see the back of four Rangers, using the terms of Power Rangers: Red Turbo Ranger, Zeo Ranger I Red, Black Dino Ranger, White Ranger, and Green Ranger.

トミーオリバー
Tommy had five powers: Red Turbo Ranger, Zeo Ranger I Red, Black Dino Ranger, White Ranger, and Green Ranger. Even if they have the helmets on, it wouldn't make sense for them to exist. Above photo is from the episode "Fighting Spirit" of Dino Thunder, where Tommy is in a coma and has to fight his past selves but it was their spirits in a dream realm. So Saban producers, if I had to do it, I would just choose one suit for Tommy. What I was thinking is that Tommy can call upon the powers of his other forms. Or they can say they got Tommys from other timelines or friends in place. My guess is that Toei will just have those five Rangers and then the Saban writers have to come up with excuses for it.

Easy to Use
The following Ranger suits you can't use without a explanation and then there will be fan complaints....

ドラゴンレンジャー (Dragonranger) = グリーンレンジャー (Green Ranger)
キバレンジャー (Kibaranger) = ホワイトレンジャー (White Ranger)
オーレッド (Oh Red) = レッドジオレンジャー5 (Zeo Ranger V)
アバレブラック (AbareBlack) = ブラックレンジャー (Black Dino Ranger)

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Saban's other properties 'back in the day.'

We all know the live-action franchises Saban had in the 1990's like VR Troopers, Beetleborgs, Mystic Knights of Tira Nog, and Ninja Turtles; but he also adapted Anime like Hello Kitty, Samurai Pizza Cats, Dragonball Z, Little Mermaid, X-Men, and Digimon. There were several other collaborations like Camp Candy, Ulysses 31, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, and The Mysterious Cities of Gold. Samurai Pizza Cats, Dragonball Z, Eagle Riders and Masked Rider reruns were part of a syndicated block called something like "Saban Hour" or "Saban Block" from 1996-1997. (Does anyone know?)

Samurai Pizza Cats

The series first aired in Japan from February 1990 to 1991, containing a total of 54 episodes. Saban introduced the show to western audiences in 1996 and held the license to the series until 2002. The theme song for the English dub differs from the origina. In keeping with the parodic nature of the show, the lyrics of the new theme song make a number of references to American pop culture. For example, the lyrics "they've got more fur than any turtle ever had" imply that the Samurai Pizza Cats are better than the Ninja Turtles, while the lyrics "they're stronger than old cheese, tougher than dirt" refer to an advertising slogan once used for the cleaner Ajax.

The theme song also contains the line "As soon as someone finds the script, we might begin the show", which can be interpreted as a reference to the lack of transcripts. Michael Airington under the name of "Googie Gomez", one of the show's writers, sang the theme song. According to Andy Thomas, Airington had a few drinks before the recording session for the song started, and as a result, accidentally repeated some of the lyrics (i.e., "this cat gets down down with a love hang over"). As of 2012, Discotek Media currently holds the license to the series. It aired on weekdays and weekends for the Saban block.

The promo had the kids and background images similar to the Saban Block commercial bumpers/eye catchers.

Saban's Eagle Riders

The original Anime series, produced in 1972, was eponymously named Kagaku Ninja Tai Gatchaman and is most well known to the English-speaking world as the adaptation titled Battle of the Planets. There was a 1980s English-language adaptation called G-Force: Guardians of Space. The two sequel series, Gatchaman II and Gatchaman Fighter were combined into one and translated as Eagle Riders in 1996, with yet more changes to audio and character names.

The rights to the English language version of Eagle Riders is owned by Saban Entertainment. All 65 episodes aired in Australia, but in the United States only 13 episodes were aired. Both series were heavily edited when it came to the adaptation process, with controversial elements removed, as well as the entire soundtrack being replaced. As with previous English adaptations of Gatchaman, character names and terms were also changed in the localization. This was also part of the Saban block, airing on weekends. The 1991 Super Sentai Jetman was a homage to Gatchaman.

Dragonball Z

They contracted Saban Entertainment to help finance and distribute the 1989-1996 Anime series to television, Pioneer Entertainment to handle home video distribution, Ocean Productions to dub the anime, and Shuki Levy to compose an alternate musical score. This dub of Dragon Ball Z was heavily edited for content, as well as length; reducing the first 67 episodes into 53. The series premiered in the U.S. on September 13, 1996, in first-run syndication to broadcast networks, but was cancelled after two seasons due to low ratings. This along with Masked Rider reruns was part of the syndicated Saban block.

Gregg Bullock (Lt. Stone) and some kids announce Dragonball Z for bumpers/eye catchers.

Saban's Masked Rider

This was part of the syndicated Saban block. The Saban block only lasted Fall 1996 to September of 1997.

X-Men

Saban and Marvel produced the 1992 animated series X-Men. Soon after, ABC Family and Toon Disney began airing reruns, due to Disney's buyout of all Saban Entertainment programs.

Digimon

The first Digimon television series, which began airing on March 7, 1999 in Japan on Fuji TV and Kids Station and on August 14, 1999 in the United States on Fox Kids dubbed by Saban Entertainment for the North American English version. It was dubbed by Saban Entertainment (later Sensation Animation), and was initially broadcasted through Fox Network's Fox Kids and Fox Family. The first four series were collectively retitled Digimon: Digital Monsters. Some scenes from the original version were omitted from the Saban dub, or were modified, in order to comply with Fox's Standards and practices which considered several scenes to be inappropriate for the target age group. After Disney acquired Saban during the third series, the first three series moved to the cable network ABC Family, while the fourth (Frontier) premiered on UPN.

This was due to a deal between Disney and UPN which concluded with Digimon Frontier. Frontier was syndicated on ABC Family shortly after that. Digimon continues to run in syndication on the new channel after Toon Disney, Disney XD. Digimon Data Squad had started to air on Disney XD. Digimon is no longer on Disney XD's website nor Bandai's, leaving an unknown future of Digimon in America.

Saban's Adventures of the Little Mermaid

Adventures of the Little Mermaid (人魚姫マリーナの冒険?) is an animated series produced by Fuji Television in the 1991. This 26-episode TV series was originally a Japanese/French co-production created by Jean Chalopin and directed by Takehiro Miyano. The title of the series in Japan was Ningyo Hime Marina no Boken (The Adventures of Mermaid Princess Marina), and the series was broadcast on Japan's Fuji TV network from February to July 1991.

It also added a new ingredient to the story: a magic potion given to the prince with which he could use to breathe underwater and be with Marina. Released in America for Saturday-morning and weekday afternoon syndication by Saban Entertainment in the summer of 1991, the series wasn't nearly as popular as Disney's version and faded quickly. This was all before Power Rangers.

Disney's reasons for leaving Power Rangers

I know Disney Era is over and done with, but for some reason, I can't get over it. I miss seeing Power Rangers in Disney Stores and at Disney World. If only Nick had a store or still were omnipresent in Universal Studios. The official reason Disney gave for leaving Power Rangers was that parents found it 'too violent.' NY Times says, "Mothers, the research showed, disliked the violence — particularly the hand-to-hand combat — that is part of the franchise’s D.N.A. Ultimately, Disney decided not to brand the Power Rangers as a Disney product, which made the franchise something of a black sheep at the company." It seems hypocritical as Disney made a deal with Marvel and now Disney Stores carry toys of Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor and the Avengers. And all those movies are way more violent than Power Rangers.

VengeanceGOD of Rangerboard went on a Disney Cruise in 2009 and spoke to the Head of Marketing for Disney's Live Action Films Division.

One of the things he covered in the talk is things they look for when merchandising things to boys. The best things to have were: Transforming vehicles, Signature Weapons, Superheroes, Martial Arts, Spaceships, and Race Cars. Since PR has had all of that at one point or another, I asked him why Power Rangers had been canceled when it hit all those points. I'll try and quote his response as closely as I can, so stuff in parenthesis is stuff where I don't remember exactly what he said.

"We picked up Power Rangers when we purchased ABC Family and (we had a few good years with the property). I think we hit a plateau with Power Rangers, and we had a few good ideas (to bring the franchise into the future). But Power Rangers' parent company (Toei), which has a stake in it, didn't like them." I asked if he was talking about the animated series, and he laughed and said he had no idea what I was talking about. Then he said, "We had a few ideas, and animated may have been one of them."

As I, Lavender Ranger, said before.... That I believe Disney wanted creative control over Power Rangers and Toei wouldn't let them or how the Head of Marketing said, they didn't like them. But with Marvel, I don't think they have much control either but I think they mostly wanted their ideas to go through like the cartoons that will premiere on Disney XD. Disney really wants the boys' market and Marvel had multiple properties to do so with. Disney CEO Bob Iger said, "For instance, we just rebranded and renamed a channel, Disney XD, which is basically a Disney channel with more boys in mind, which is off to a great start. And they had licensed about 10 hours a week of Marvel television already when we made the deal."

The following is from Tommy Lawson of Rangercrew:

More importantly, this is a quote from the 1996 SEC Filing for Fox Kids Worldwide:
In general, the Company pays Toei a fee per episode for all rights to exploit the applicable property throughout the world (other than certain parts of Asia) in all media and pays Toei a royalty based on merchandising royalties and/or certain distribution revenues. Disney chose to respond to the dispute with Toei over Power Rangers in this way - by making sure Toei collects as little royalty money as possible from the merchandising sales of Power Rangers. The first move was clear - the move to airing Power Rangers only on ABC Kids, a very lowly promoted block, pre-empted many times over the course of a year. It is the second move that may not be as clear, but should make perfect sense once I explain it - the "18th season" of Power Rangers being the reversioned Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Toei obviously had enough money to do the Legend War and all of Gokaiger, so it seems they don't need Power Ranger money that much, but Bandai does count Sentai and Power Rangers international sales as one. But now with Power Rangers Samurai, Toei must be collecting a lot of royalty. Some fans don't think Toei has much say in PR but since they collect royalties, they do. They have said before that in that they give the footage and Saban/Disney do whatever they want with it. So Toei doesn't have creative control over what happens in the episodes of Power Rangers but they do have control of the property in what theme it will be and if it will animated or not like it was rumored Disney was working on. I think Disney wanted to choose the next theme and control what toys they make. One rumor was that they wanted their people to design the toys and not Bandai/Plex.

Anyways, we might never get a straight answer, but the reason this is important is that we have a better understanding of the contracts between Toei and Saban. Now that Saban is back, Toei are probably more open to Saban's ideas like having two years of a Shinkenger adaption. While not as radical as saying an animated idea, Toei probably knows Saban respects the brand and understands the rules. Rules being Toei controls what weapons and themes the team gets and Saban can add new stuff to PR (like Mega Mode, etc.) and it remains in live-action.