Amit Bhaumik's Original Power Rangers Samurai Proposal
 

In 2010, Saban Brands purchased back the rights of the Power Rangers franchise from Disney, signaling a rebirth of the franchise right as it began to approach it's 20th anniversary. The returning executive producer of many seasons of the franchise, Jonathan Tzachor, reached out to former Power Rangers scribe Amit Bhaumik (writer of the fan-favorite "Forever Red" anniversary episode of Power Rangers Wild Force) to help adapt the Japanese series Samurai Sentai Shinkenger to Power Rangers Samurai.

Working for free and as a favor, Amit wrote character biographies and a base storyline for the series and how it could be adapted. Citing "creative differences" and a "different plan or lack thereof", we got the Power Rangers Samurai series that we know today - one that kids loved and older fans seemed to dislike.

We see a return to Power Rangers lore with the action happening in Stone Canyon, the rival city and school to Angel Grove, where the original Power Rangers hailed from.

There are some similarities though - Bulk is listed as a character, though instead of being totally inept and dim, he not only knows of Power Rangers but works FOR the Power Rangers - and "Spike" appeared as "Junior", the son of Bulk, not Skull. And on top of that, "Junior" would create the Gold Samurai Ranger powers and be the traditional "shows up to save the day" 6th Ranger until his identity is revealed.

It's an interesting read and we invite you to take a look at Amit's blog.

Click here to read Amit Bhaumik's original proposal for "Power Rangers Samurai"!

Many cite that the downfall of Power Rangers could eventually happen because of Jonathan Tzachor - it has been whispered among various circles that the marketing department had to step in for Power Rangers Super Megaforce to have an anniversary episode, as Tzachor had no plans for one, hence the "last minute" invites and the fact that it shoves 10 previous Rangers in to one 22 minute episode.

What do you think of this proposal? As an older fan would you have enjoyed this more, or is this just "fanfiction" in your eyes, and wouldn't make for a good show? Chime in and give us your thoughts!!

That Bulk's son being a Power ranger idea sounds like it could have been pretty cool.

I like that they actually explained them being part Japanese, rather then having them be inconspicuously un-Asian (except Mia, but even then...) and yet all having Japanese heritage.
But a lot of it sounds unlikely. Changing the Yamato Ship into a castle would mean every single scene with the bad-guys would be re-shot, but Dayu giving the monsters their second life is sort of interesting. Having one of the main characters be a sealed Master Xandred is a neat idea too.

To be honest, it does sound a lot better then Samurai and not an extremely watereddown Shinkenger like it was, but instead it's own thing, but it also sounds a lot more costly, which we know Saban hates.

Now that Samurai I would've loved to watch. That Samurai isn't a lazy peice of direct-adaptation garbage.

Wtf.

That actually sounds like it had potential as a series.
Oh well. What ifs and all that...

the Power Rangers Samurai that could have been.

I had expected it to be fanfiction-y and unrealistic, but that actually read like a practical, and interesting approach to the adaptation. Get some of the best parts and yet keep it different enough to BE Power Rangers. I loved it and I think if this was what we got, it would have been a whole lot better.

Since the premiere of Samurai, I ALWAYS thought Spike should have ended up being the Gold Ranger.. Im happy to know i wasnt alone in the idea

Shame. Could have been great.

Yeah... Why didn't we get this?

I literally can't concentrate on a full episode of samurai. It's so bad.

I guess the choices they made were done for a reason, but I'd have enjoyed a series like this

That sounds really good, shame it isn't what we got :(

This outline would've been a vast improvement. While the Shinkenger story elements are certainly present, there's significant new details in character models that would've meant having actual interesting Samurai Rangers and (ideally) less copy-paste dialogue in each fight.

Damn Tzachor. (somebody had to say it)

Honestly, Tzachor probably thinks young kids are stupid, and don't care about the old rangers. The fact the thought never occurred to him to bring in past rangers in the show that uses nearly all of the past rangers, seems to indicate that train of thought.

So wait. We missed out on a great series, and Txachor didnt even want to do an anniversary episode? The hell? I think Im just gonna give up on this until someone else comes in. Glad Ive got Riders to give my money to. :lol

Wow so we could have gotten an explanation to the Samurai Rangers' Japanese heritage and blatant lack thereof with the exception of Mia Watanabe?

Yeah, that's my main issue with the initial concept of Samurai: no explanation as to how 4 of these people are descended from ancient samurai. The rest of Samurai's problems I just Riff on, like Emily's odd "A beetle came out of that disk!" and "He's so shiny!"

It's just a rumor based on some whispers from the inner circle productions of Power Rangers.

Tzachor was ordered to bring in new writers after the negative backlash from the first half of Power Rangers Samurai. Thus, we got better stories in Power Rangers Super Samurai, and that staff was kept on for Power Rangers Megaforce. But with the Gokaiger adaption coming for Super Megaforce, the writers that were brought on were let go, and the original Samurai (aka "lolz re-write Shinkenger with American names!") writing crew was brought back for Super Megaforce.

Apparently, again through word of mouth, Tzachor had no intentions of writing an anniversary episode. It took the marketing team of Saban Brands, after heavily promoting Power Rangers 20, to step in and more or less demand an anniversary episode. So with absolutely little to no budget remaining, Tzachor's crew sent out invites to the non-Disney seasons with more or less an "idea" of who they wanted to bring back (ie: Tzachor's more favorite actors/actresses) ... and we have "Legendary Battle", a 22 minute, "your favorite Power Ranger has 3 lines" episode.

Once again, a brilliant story idea by Amit Bhaumik gets shitcanned in favor of something more subpar.

I.
Hate.
Jonathan.
TZACHOR.

Dear Haim Saban: REHIRE AMIT BHAUMIK AND MAKE HIM THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER!

Yeah, Amit's storyline would only have been like A MILLION times better than the $#!% we got.

You know what's the most disappointing?
As long as the toys sell even "Decently", the series will be called a huge success, and Tzachor will be brought back again, and again, and again.

Do NOT speak such evil, Brother Matrixbeast! :lol

*Laughs evilly*

Figures that they went the easy way and we lost out on what sounds like an awesome show. I'm giving up on PR until JT goes down. Or gets fired. Whichever comes first.

This actually has a lot of depth to the setting which I like. As well, Bulk and "Junior" taking place of the Kuroko sounds fantastic - Imagine the hilarity!

A shame it never came to be. I would've probably watched more than one episode.

its a truly sad state of affairs that tzachor has zero concept of the legacy these shows have. even toylines have legacies. his attitude seems to be once a show is finished, screw it, move on to the next age band they want to target.

its not just the lack of awareness, or caring, its the disrespect to the people that made this show a success for 20 years, the fans.

ah whats the point, we all more or less agree, and tzachor doesnt give a shit.

Is this the same guy who came up with the story for Ninja Storm with the previous Rangers being mentors and a Ranger War? Cause if it is, this guy's story for Samurai is fucking genius compared to what we got .

My problem with that Ninja Storm pitch was that it was impractical. Granted, we got that premise of returning Rangers in Gokaiger and Super Megaforce but Hurricanger was just about.... the Hurricangers and it would expensive to create new footage for those fights over creating an original good story for Ninja Storm.

This at least sounds practical.

I feel really bad for PR fans. :(

Rest in Peace, Power Rangers Super Megaforce

There's more to celebrating a television show's and toyline's legacy than adding a "nod" here and there. I don't look at Megaforce and say, "Oh hey, five teenagers with attitude who hang out at a store called Ernie's while they're in high school, THAT'S TOTALLY A MMPR THROW-BACK!".

I mean, I know it is, but my reaction isn't above - my reaction is more of "....this is all their going to give the fans?"

I swear, if they don't use the old shows theme songs in Super Megaforce during the morphs, the season will have no nostalgic effect on me.

One of the best parts of Once a Ranger was the use of the old theme songs. Granted, Xander's was just the mystic-y opening riff and Adam's was generic because Copyright, but at least we got something that was trying!

And damn it, that new MMPR morph was a decent worthwhile effort. Something Tzachor apparently doesn't get.

These threads containing anything revolving around Tzachor tend to eventually devolve into "Jonathan Tzachor Sucks & Here's Why" don't they?

Because sadly, there's not much mor eto it.

The guy stinks as a Power Rangers dude.

So I just came back from a mountain to find this.

You know what, Tzachor? You've just moved up to the No. 1 spot on my list...