How much imput does Saban really have?

[darkshadowranger]

I seem to notice that Saban himself gets a lot of the blame for SMF and how PR has been over the last 4 years since the revival of the show and not Saban as a brand. So what I would love to know is how much input and involvement do you think Saban actually has on the show?

Is he the one to blame or is it on the producers and directors/writers etc?


I personally think Saban has very little involvement outside budget and important things. He would be running the company from his offices in LA while the show is filmed half way across the world in NZ.

[Crazy Davey2]

Considering Tzachor f'd everything up and got fired for it, I'm not sure his eye isn't always on the show. He probably gives a few notes at what he wants in it, though.

[Varia]

I think he's probably on the board for most of the big meetings and decisions, like choosing which seasons to skip or keep, and I imagine he has a decent bit of say in the new season once a year, but I don't imagine much more than that.

[Oceanblue]

Saban is a business man. I think Varia described it well above.

He probably keeps his eye on things, but from a distance. He's not directly involved in the production, though he probably does give a few notes here and there. He owns the brand, but he's not a showrunner. I think Saban himself is more concerned with budget, profit, marketing, etc.

At least, that's how I perceive it. I could be way off. I'm sure he has an influence on the show itself, but as with most things in this world, it's kind of a bureaucracy.

[johnboy34]

As chairman of Saban Capital Group, Haim Saban has as much or as little input as he damn well pleases. Like most rich people, he has the good sense to delegate those responsibilities to other people, only stepping in if he feels the matter warrants his direct involvement.

[PrimoPiccolo]

Roberto Orci pointed out in an interview pretty much what goes on. Haim Saban has clear messages that he wants Power Rangers to convey (friendship, teamwork fitness), which is why Orci went to him personally to sign off on what the plan is for the new feature film, so that it doesn't betray any of the vision that the series was founded on (no dark and gritty, fanboys).

But Haim Saban has no bearing at all on how exactly that story is delivered. He's left those tasks to the people he's aligned himself with over the years, from Shuki Levy to Jonathan Tzachor.

[ASpice92]

I remember reading somewhere that Karan Ashley during the filming of season 2 said hi to Haim Saban and he didn't even recognize her, this was when the show was at its hottest.

The man is not directly involved with the show, he just throws money, makes business arrangements, and tells the people in charge he wants the show to promote good social messages like take care of the environment, teamwork, eat healthy, all that good stuff for kids.

From what I understand, Shuki Levy was the actual showrunner for the first 9 years and then you had the story editors who plotted out the seasonal arcs: Tony Oliver, Doug Sloan, and Judd Lynn. Like it was Shuki Levy's idea that the show needed a kid Ranger for Turbo or that Megaranger should be adapted into a space series or that Lost Galaxy should continue to be a space series despite the source material because In Space did so well.

And now you have Jonathan Tzachor whose modus oprendi seems to be "adapt the Sentai as closely as possible because it's cheap and easy"

Whatever you feel about the modern seasons that's Tzachor and his story editor(s).

Maybe Elie Dekel but I think he's just in charge of marketing. I believe he's the guy who thinks the show needs to emulate MMPR, but going on Super Megaforce, they're not really following that ideal.

[Titanium321]

Today? Very little. His role from back in the day has been taken over by Ellie Dekel. Now Haim is just a guy in an office collecting a check for being there and signing papers.

[AkibaGold90]

You know, I think that's a pretty damaging piece of input. At least, in the hands it's been in. Yeah, teamwork's a good thing to teach, don't get me wrong, but it feels that to push that message the show has shot itself in the foot so many goddamn times.

Take for instance Mike in Forest for the Trees. The show treats it like he's always rebellious when in fact it comes across as out-of-character. Makes sense for Chiaki in Shinkenger but the required elements were tossed out to make way for teamwork messages. There's when Emma breaks a promise to Gia by sending the photo to the newspaper. Shows Emma can be a real jerk but it's not called out because her and Gia are such "good friends." Insert Psycho Emma joke here. Or Troy in Spirit of the Tiger. He's all like "Don't find another way to fight, follow my orders" and never apologizes to Noah after praising Emma/Jake for finding a new way to beat the enemy. Sure he says something to the effect of "I should listen to you guys more" but that really highlights Troy's weaknesses as a leader considering he'd been a ranger for over a year at that point..

To me, characters having distinct personalities which come into conflict work better for a teamwork message. Like, they can put aside their differences to accomplish their goals rather. It's more realistic, makes for better characters and so fourth.

Again, this is most likely more Tzachor's handling of the moral, but here's my other big issue here. Kids don't watch for the morals. Kids watch because it's fun. It's like, kids didn't watch the Magic Schoolbus primarily to learn. Have a good message, I'm not saying you can't, but don't shoehorn it into where it doesn't belong. It's not the main draw to the show, so don't put it into the spotlight.

Now, before anyone tries to rebut that the show isn't putting the moral into the spotlight check out the main PR website and the PR section on Bandai's website. The former has a section dedicated to expressing the morals PR teaches, the latter has a "For Parents" section that uses the same thing as to why PR is right for their child. I don't know, but that seems to me like Saban Brands is more concerned about how much parents like the show rather than their kids.

Sorry, just wanted to get this off my chest for awhile

[ASpice92]

You know, I think that's a pretty damaging piece of input. At least, in the hands it's been in. Yeah, teamwork's a good thing to teach, don't get me wrong, but it feels that to push that message the show has shot itself in the foot so many goddamn times.

Take for instance Mike in Forest for the Trees. The show treats it like he's always rebellious when in fact it comes across as out-of-character. Makes sense for Chiaki in Shinkenger but the required elements were tossed out to make way for teamwork messages. There's when Emma breaks a promise to Gia by sending the photo to the newspaper. Shows Emma can be a real jerk but it's not called out because her and Gia are such "good friends." Insert Psycho Emma joke here. Or Troy in Spirit of the Tiger. He's all like "Don't find another way to fight, follow my orders" and never apologizes to Noah after praising Emma/Jake for finding a new way to beat the enemy. Sure he says something to the effect of "I should listen to you guys more" but that really highlights Troy's weaknesses as a leader considering he'd been a ranger for over a year at that point..

To me, characters having distinct personalities which come into conflict work better for a teamwork message. Like, they can put aside their differences to accomplish their goals rather. It's more realistic, makes for better characters and so fourth.

Again, this is most likely more Tzachor's handling of the moral, but here's my other big issue here. Kids don't watch for the morals. Kids watch because it's fun. It's like, kids didn't watch the Magic Schoolbus primarily to learn. Have a good message, I'm not saying you can't, but don't shoehorn it into where it doesn't belong. It's not the main draw to the show, so don't put it into the spotlight.

Now, before anyone tries to rebut that the show isn't putting the moral into the spotlight check out the main PR website and the PR section on Bandai's website. The former has a section dedicated to expressing the morals PR teaches, the latter has a "For Parents" section that uses the same thing as to why PR is right for their child. I don't know, but that seems to me like Saban Brands is more concerned about how much parents like the show rather than their kids.

Sorry, just wanted to get this off my chest for awhile

All that sounds entirely the fault of Tzachor. There are ways of doing it. Mighty Morphin may have been kitschy but it did really well. In my season 1 rewatch one of my favorite little moments was when Jason charged at the two-headed parrot monster and got shot down and the monster called him out on being a hypocrite for preaching about teamwork and then doing that. And they do use teamwork to win. Mighty Morphin is preachy as hell but it sticks to its convictions...usually.

It's a violent show aimed at really young kids, of course it's going to go out of its way to tell parents that it has good morals for kids. It's also why I'm assuming the Rangers never really got violent with characters like Bulk and Skull outside of the unaired pilot. The Rangers defended themselves but never actually thew punches and kicks at Bulk and Skull, and by the latter end of season 1 they dropped Bulk and Skull's aggressive behavior entirely. Fighting against fantastical creatures and aliens=okay .Imitable behavior teaching kids to solve their bully problems with violence=Not okay.

Heck look at how the violence in general, even at monsters, was toned down as the show progressed.

[AkibaGold90]

All that sounds entirely the fault of Tzachor. There are ways of doing it. Mighty Morphin may have been kitschy but it did really well. In my season 1 rewatch one of my favorite little moments was when Jason charged at the two-headed parrot monster and got shot down and the monster called him out on being a hypocrite for preaching about teamwork and then doing that. And they do use teamwork to win. Mighty Morphin is preachy as hell but it sticks to its convictions...usually.

It's a violent show aimed at really young kids, of course it's going to go out of its way to tell parents that it has good morals for kids. It's also why I'm assuming the Rangers never really got violent with characters like Bulk and Skull outside of the unaired pilot. The Rangers defended themselves but never actually thew punches and kicks at Bulk and Skull, and by the latter end of season 1 they dropped Bulk and Skull's aggressive behavior entirely. Fighting against fantastical creatures and aliens=okay .Imitable behavior teaching kids to solve their bully problems with violence=Not okay.

Heck look at how the violence in general, even at monsters, was toned down as the show progressed.

I did say "in the hands it's been in." Saban may have wanted the show to teach those morals, but their execution is all on Tzachor.


Disney claimed mom's hated Power Rangers because of the violence. That was their reason for axing the franchise. It just feels like Saban Brands wants to recreate the massive success of MMPR but without the public outcry over the violence.

Now this might just be me but I think that if a parent were concerned about what their kid is watching, they would care more about the violent content of the show rather than any moral. Especially when the show is trying to court children as young as two. FFS, the show is an instant Y-7 because of the violence yet they're aiming for preschoolers.


And yet they called Creepox a bully, thus teaching it's alright to kill bullies. Just kidding but that was some shit writing right there.


Think that's more reliant on the sentai footage and how it's adapted. Jungle Fury and Samurai were very violen

[MattEmily]

I do believe Saban does have some blame for the issues with Megaforce and especially Super Megaforce since he put his faith in his team that things would be fine for an anniversary season and decided not to pay much attention to it which I personally believe was a mistake on his part but I don't believe he actually handles much in the day-to-day operation of the Power Rangers process.

[ASpice92]

I did say "in the hands it's been in." Saban may have wanted the show to teach those morals, but their execution is all on Tzachor.


Disney claimed mom's hated Power Rangers because of the violence. That was their reason for axing the franchise. It just feels like Saban Brands wants to recreate the massive success of MMPR but without the public outcry over the violence.

Now this might just be me but I think that if a parent were concerned about what their kid is watching, they would care more about the violent content of the show rather than any moral. Especially when the show is trying to court children as young as two. FFS, the show is an instant Y-7 because of the violence yet they're aiming for preschoolers.


And yet they called Creepox a bully, thus teaching it's alright to kill bullies. Just kidding but that was some shit writing right there.


Think that's more reliant on the sentai footage and how it's adapted. Jungle Fury and Samurai were very violen


Then Disney went and bought Marvel, go figure.

They probably do want to recreate Mighty Morphin Power Ranger's success but good luck with that with Avengers characters airing on Disney's outlets and then Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers seeing a resurgence in popularity where in 1993 those shows had died in popularity just in time for MMPR Mania to take over. MMPR benefited from little to no competition in 1993. You had the boring as tar X-men show on Fox Kids and Batman:The Animated Series, which was great but lacks the kind of appeal to spawns like Power Rangers does.


"My kid really likes this violent show but at least it teaches good morals in between punching that monster that is made of eyeballs"- Parents of Power Rangers fans or at least what Saban hopes for.

I knew some parents who flat out wouldn't let their kids watch Power Rangers because of the violence. I can't recall my parents taking too much issue with Power Rangers but they did like Sailor Moon's Sailor Says PSA's because of the "morals"

And I would call it really irresponsible of Saban Brands to court kids younger than 6 since about 4 and younger kids really don't understand the difference between fantasy and reality. Even MMPR seems more like it leaned toward 6-10, and it came out before the Y7-FV rating

Haven't seen most of Regular Megaforce, no comment.

Mmm I was thinking more MMPR. The show slowly starts phasing out the weapons and blade blasters after they relied less on Sentai footage (despite obviously having them for American footage) the unmorphed fights got replaced in season 3 with ninja fights which were a lot more fantastical; rangers zapping Tengas with finger blast or growing bigger or multiplying etc

Zeo, as I recall, removed the unmorphed fighting completely. Even when they reintroduced unmorphed fights in Turbo they were a lot less prominent than say season 2.

I know enough about the Disney seasons to know that they introduced civilian powers which seemed like Disney's own way to downplay the violence. Kids can imitate "Black Canary like scream" or turning invisible without punching their little sister.

[AkibaGold90]

Then Disney went and bought Marvel, go figure.

They probably do want to recreate Mighty Morphin Power Ranger's success but good luck with that with Avengers characters airing on Disney's outlets and then Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers seeing a resurgence in popularity where in 1993 those shows had died in popularity just in time for MMPR Mania to take over. MMPR benefited from little to no competition in 1993. You had the boring as tar X-men show on Fox Kids and Batman:The Animated Series, which was great but lacks the kind of appeal to spawns like Power Rangers does.


"My kid really likes this violent show but at least it teaches good morals in between punching that monster that is made of eyeballs"- Parents of Power Rangers fans or at least what Saban hopes for.

I knew some parents who flat out wouldn't let their kids watch Power Rangers because of the violence. I can't recall my parents taking too much issue with Power Rangers but they did like Sailor Moon's Sailor Says PSA's because of the "morals"

And I would call it really irresponsible of Saban Brands to court kids younger than 6 since about 4 and younger kids really don't understand the difference between fantasy and reality. Even MMPR seems more like it leaned toward 6-10, and it came out before the Y7-FV rating

Haven't seen most of Regular Megaforce, no comment.

Mmm I was thinking more MMPR. The show slowly starts phasing out the weapons and blade blasters after they relied less on Sentai footage (despite obviously having them for American footage) the unmorphed fights got replaced in season 3 with ninja fights which were a lot more fantastical; rangers zapping Tengas with finger blast or growing bigger or multiplying etc

Zeo, as I recall, removed the unmorphed fighting completely. Even when they reintroduced unmorphed fights in Turbo they were a lot less prominent than say season 2.

I know enough about the Disney seasons to know that they introduced civilian powers which seemed like Disney's own way to downplay the violence. Kids can imitate "Black Canary like scream" or turning invisible without punching their little .

Marvel brings in far more money than PR does, so fuck ethics.


Pretty much.


I had a classmate in college whose parents wouldn't let her watch. She told me the first time she got to actually watch it was, from what I can deduce, Wild Force.

And if you really want a kicker, here in Canada YTV dropped Mighty Morphin' after the first season due to parents complaining. They didn't air PR again until Samurai. Sure, Disney eras got put on Family, but through Time Force they never brought PR back. They aired Beetleborgs no problem. VR Troopers (which was more violent) and Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future (darker than PR has ever been), but never Power Rangers.



The reason they use the age of 7 is because that's when kids' minds, on average, gain the ability to differentiate between fantasy and reality. Also, I remember PR doing PSA's back in the day and disclaimers on FOX Kids about this.



And it wasn't a Monster of the Week either, it was an enemy general with a supposed rivalry with Troy.



They ran out of sentai footage for the suits, tried to make their own, found out how expensive it is and then said screw it. Toned down fights were a consequence of continuing with the Zyuranger suits, which turned out to be more expensive than they thought.



That's pretty much it. For all the crap people give civilian powers, I liked them as they added something to unmorphed fights...and that we got unmorphed.

[ASpice92]

Marvel brings in far more money than PR does, so fuck ethics.


Pretty much.

I had a classmate in college whose parents wouldn't let her watch. She told me the first time she got to actually watch it was, from what I can deduce, Wild Force.

And if you really want a kicker, here in Canada YTV dropped Mighty Morphin' after the first season due to parents complaining. They didn't air PR again until Samurai. Sure, Disney eras got put on Family, but through Time Force they never brought PR back. They aired Beetleborgs no problem. VR Troopers (which was more violent) and Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future (darker than PR has ever been), but never Power Rangers.


The reason they use the age of 7 is because that's when kids' minds, on average, gain the ability to differentiate between fantasy and reality. Also, I remember PR doing PSA's back in the day and disclaimers on FOX Kids about this.

And it wasn't a Monster of the Week either, it was an enemy general with a supposed rivalry with Troy.

They ran out of sentai footage for the suits, tried to make their own, found out how expensive it is and then said screw it. Toned down fights were a consequence of continuing with the Zyuranger suits, which turned out to be more expensive than they thought.

That's pretty much it. For all the crap people give civilian powers, I liked them as they added something to unmorphed fights...and that we got unmorphed.

It's just interesting, to me, from everything I heard, that Disney thought Power Rangers didn't really fit with them but then they bought Star Wars and Marvel because they really weren't hitting the boy market like they wanted.

Power Rangers was more popular, more attention paid to it. Well, I think Beetleborgs actually beat Zeo in the ratings, but Beetleborgs never was the breakout hit that MMPR was.


I thought it was "Crap we need to keep the suits because the show is so damn popular!" and then "Our money factory is growing tired of MMPR.oooooh we like what the Sentai does...rebranding the show every year now!

It's not just that. The Rangers blade blasters, the things they had in their holsters in every episodes all the way through Rangers in Reverse, were never pulled out after the Sentai footage ran out, except maybe like twice (once wasn't even against a monster) despite theoretically being useable for American footage. The Ninja tricks downplays the unmorphed violence...the stuff that was American footage since day one. The weapons appeared in American footage a couple of times, so they COULD have used them but they pretty much never do.