MY OPEN LETTER TO SABAN

SABAN is trying to kill POWER/RANGERS

WHY YOU FIGHTING POWER/RANGERS??

(UPDATE: The Power/Rangers bootleg is back up on YouTube and Vimeo, albeit with an age restriction and some notices, its back up! And its thanks to you all you fans who kept it alive! I'll keep this open letter up here as a reminder for all the fans who fought for creativity, nostalgia and a kickass Power Rangers!)

I am a life long Power Rangers fan... Not that I have watched every ratchet incarnation of the Rangers, but in that I watched the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series as kid and about the next couple of incarnations following that. Im a young man in my mid 20's and my love for MMPR hasn't dwindled in the slightest. Infact having watched some episodes of MMPR on Netflix and seeing it now in all its cheesy, poorly written dialogue and badly driven plots, I still love it! Its nostalgic and part of my most fond childhood memories. 

That being said, I myself am a Indie Filmmaker here in home, South Africa. I have a deep love for filmmaking and story telling. So hearing about a potential reboot to the Power Rangers is something that did excite me, seeing that for the last 6 years or so I have been keeping tabs on various Power Rangers related FanArt as well as Fan Films. One of my favourites was a mash-up trailer someone put up about four years ago, to create a Power Rangers Fan-Trailer for a potential film. Great concept that was well executed. Should all of those fan art and fan-made trailers and fan films be deleted as well?? 

So you can imagine my sheer surprise/delight when POWER/RANGER's (the fan film you fighting) popped up online. I loved it for all that it was, a fan film that was reimagined to the kinds of films that I enjoy now as a adult. Yes Power Rangers has always been kid friendly but you need to realise that the show has been running for over 20 years. A 10 year old kid that watched the show 10 years ago, is a 20 year old person now. In other words, the majority of the Power Rangers fan base, are adults. Yes there are kids who watch the show now, but there are even more adults who watched the show growing up who are NOT watching the show anymore. 


POWER/RANGERS spoke to all those older fans who grew up with the original series, who always hoped to see a MMPR film that took itself a little seriously. The POWER/RANGERS was a great film for us because at 14mins it gave us a little glimpse into a Power Rangers Universe that was mature and yes maybe extreme but it was so REFRESHING. Whether you liked it or not, it got people talking about the Power Rangers, and with a film in development that's the best scenario any studio could want. You guys are being incredibly stupid and silly. in 3 days, the video amassed 12M views... Most Movie Trailers fail to make those numbers. People started talking about the Power Rangers it became relevant again for pop culture.

Look we all smart enough to know that the film will never in a million years, be anything close to that. But that's we love it, because its fantasy and it worked. Fighting a fan film, only diminishes creativity and will set a precedent for any other filmmakers who thought about creating a fan film. A fan film just fuels discussion, and satisfy's the fan base's appetite. It's never going to replace the original. So why fight it?! 

If anything you should be looking at this film and trying to figure out what people really loved about it and how can you utilise those pieces to your advantage. and believe me when I say drugs, sex and violence wasn't what got people excited. 

Personally what I loved about it, was that the characters were older. They weren't teens anymore which I think would be so awesome for the film. Another thing I loved was the fact that Rocky chose the machine empire over the Rangers, betraying them essentially. Which worked well for one reason, Rocky replaced Jason and we loved Jason.. replacing Jason was betrayal to Fans (Jason's Fans I suppose), so Rocky betraying the Rangers felt organic and real. Another thing that worked well was human villains. and How humans factor into the Power Rangers universe, which lets be frank, is non existent aspect of all the Power Ranger shows. The short felt grounded which worked extremely well and is something I hope to see from the film. The best thing about it was the character relationships and how those got turned. Thats what should be taking away from this Fan Film.

So why not make the film with cast thats a little bit older fighting the machine empire for the first film, instead of boring overdone origin story. For the second film you could even bring the second MMPR's cast of characters as the space crusaders who were on a mission on a distant planet. Bring in the Green Ranger (not played by Jason David Frank, I like the guy but no), then have it cause a split between the Rangers with Rocky not trusting him and Jason embracing him. Basically have that film be about Jason's mistakes and Rocky and the crusading rangers losing faith in him and they go off. The third film Rocky's team, meet with some mystique beings who help them find different Ranger crystals, Jason and co still battling the machine empire and now they at odds with Rocky and co. as well which leads to a three way fight or whatever. Just something more interesting. A bit like the Marvel Films, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a great reference for Family Driven yet grounded story full of betrayal etc... 

James Van Der Beek and Katee Sackhoff are Honorary Power Rangers in my book

But if anything this short just fuelled the minds of the fans, got them thinking about the film and what they hoping to see from it, so why kill that? Why kill something thats creating excitement for your brand? 12Miliion Views in 3 Days, when last has anything Power Rangers related managed to do that?? 

The World is watching and all you showing them is that you fear the CREATIVE. You fear that there are people out there who have a fraction of the money you have behind yourself and yet they can create a better product than you can. That they can create something that is more engaging and thought provoking, and creates dialogue between people better than anything you can do.
Instead of fear it, why not embrace, why not see it as a challenge? A challenge to create a Power Rangers Universe that is PG13 but engages audiences better, creates an excitement that far exceeds some fan film. Take up the challenge and give us fans (both young and old) a Power Rangers we can be proud of, but don't cower to some fan film.

The only reason this film is getting made is because of the older fan base, who never stopped supporting the franchise as it laboured on gotten worse. Its the older fan base, who went nuts for it when it went on Netflix, its the older fan-base who kept MMPR alive with various FanArt, FanFilms and Fan-Made Trailers. Its the older fan-base, who go to Con's who wait in lines for 4-5 hours just to meet Jason David Frank and talk about the Rangers. Its the older fan-base who willed this feature film into a reality and its the older Fan-Base who approved the Short Film. The older fan-base deserved this short so let us have it.

What Adi Shankar and Joseph Kahn did is spectacular and should be applauded for what it is. A Fan Film. But there's no reason to fight it.

Sincerely
A Disappointed Power Rangers Fan (Update: A Happy Power Rangers Fan)