Power Rangers having a culture of cheapness has hurt the franchise so much
 

There is a big culture of, "cheapness" that has hurt Power Rangers. Imagine if the show was unionized a bit earlier. I feel like the franchise could be in a better place.

I'm not sure I agree with the thesis, as PR did quite well for itself, despite its 'cheapness'. In fact that might be one of the things that gave it legs in the early days was how low cost it was. It would have definitely been more attractable to the people pumping money in.

Also regardless, how the money was used was better than how much they got. Look at how Godzilla: Minus One for instance.

I would say that the problem is not cheapness, but stagnation. The approach: “let the Japanese do all the special effects” worked in the 90s and even in the early 2000s. And this is not a fact, given that only PR and the Beetleborgs achieved success. But the mix of the advent of the Internet and the high popularity of Japanese culture required innovation. PR ignored them, trying to ride on the chips of the past and nostalgia. Even Cosmic Fury didn't exactly go too far.

Also: in essence, PR didn’t exactly reinvent the wheel. "Godzilla, King of the Monsters" from 1956 and the American version of Varan are made from the same patterns. Haim Saban simply expanded on this approach and proved that it still works 40 years later. And they treated the Japanese with respect. When Roger Corman released Battle Beyond the Sun and Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet, the Soviet originals were not even mentioned in the credits.

Yeah I do agree with that. What would you have done to prevent said stagnation?

Honestly, it's difficult to give a definite answer here. It all depends on the possibilities. The simplest method: refuse to copy both Sentai plots and the style of early PR. In this regard, RPM is a step in the right direction for me, but precisely in terms of idea, not style.
It would also be possible to take an example from the Sentai trend, but just from the trend, without directly copying the plot and character. I mean adding an older member to the team. PR did this with Tommy and Billy, but the past Rangers played the role of fighting mentors due to their experience. And I mean an older character with no combat experience. It would definitely add an interesting dynamic. Here you can even play continuity by saying that this participant was studying in Angel Grove at the time when the first Power Rangers appeared. The main thing is not to overdo it with nostalgia.
If I imagine that I have more opportunities, then I would try to establish closer relations with Toei. Arrange at least cameos from the original Sentai actors in PR and PR actors in later Sentai. And a full-fledged crossover, at least in anniversary years. It would be very difficult to pull off, but the fans would appreciate the result.
Also, it always bothers me that PR has the rights to the show before the Zyurangers and does nothing with them. It seems to me that, given the remade stories from these shows, they could be used for blockbuster films, like PR 2017. These are roughly my thoughts.

Wait, PR has the rights to everything before Zyu? I always thought it started there (the localising rights that is). Does that go all the way back to the first one?

I agree with the stagnation comment as I think nostalgia has become a crutch for many companies. It is possible we could awe new developments in the future...but I fear that they'll still be based around mmpr

I don`t know for sure, but I made this assumption because on the YouTube channel Toei Tokusatsu the episodes of early Sentai posted there are blocked for the western regions. It seems to me that there are rights, although they are more nominal and most likely their use would require additional discussion with Toei.

I think this is a reference to the fact that Pre-Zyu Rangers were used in Super Megaforce in haphazard fashion. On occasion, they also show up in BOOM! Comics. It could also be seen as a reference to the fact that the license holder for Sentai in the West is the license holder for P.R.

As for the topic at large, it's not necessarily the "cheapness of the franchise" that hurt it, but the "cheapness of the license holder"! If Saban actually cared for his actors more, then things might have turned out much differently. The only time I think he truly came correct was with Lost Galaxy.

Yeah Dissing off Toei was pretty dumb in my view.

Speaking of cameos, I just remembered Yoshi Sudarso was in an episode of Ninninger as a civilian and Yakumo/Aoninger saves him from the monster of the week and then tells him to escape.

It makes sense. It's a lot easier to sign over the rights of all the shows in the franchise rather than negotiate a deal per series.

Anyway, I think Power Rangers only truly began stagnating during the Neo Saban era. The late Saban era was honestly trying new things, and while the Disney era did feature several series that followed the Sentai very closely, they were also willing to put in more money per season (Barring SPD Omega Ranger), letting the seasons feel more distinct.
Neo Saban was too desperate to try and recapture that lightning in a bottle, trying to use a formula that worked in the 90's.

Yes, that's what I'm talking about. With the difference that it would be worth adding a little media attention to this fact, given that the Ninigers are not even in Sudarso?s filmography on Google.

Imagine what this franchise would be if it wasn't for its cheapness. PR could be as popular as TMNT or Transformers.

You could say that but also look at those franchises as they are. It’s just the same characters over and over. Tmnt is the same 4 turtles redone for newer/younger generations. Transformers is just g1 over and over for newer/younger generations. The power ranger equivalent would be a tv show every year but it’s just mmpr over and over. Do we really want that?

Oh yeah I see your point. I'm just frustrated with how the series is being handled at the moment.

We all are. Believe me. I have been for a long time but at the same time I never gave up on it. What we need at hasbro is someone like ?Greg from Bandai.? Someone who loves the franchise and wants to see it flourish and is willing to fight for things. We don?t have that. Heck id argue that the last time the franchise was in a relatively good place was Dino charge. The toys were pretty good for what they were. When it came to the 5in figures, we ate pretty good. Even the mechs. Sure we didn?t get lights and sounds but we got exclusive mechs. The show itself was pretty good for the most part. Ninja steel is where it all went back down hill.

I was very surprised how bad Ninja Steel was. Like Dino Charge had good two seasons and it seemed like the franchise was in a good place and then all of a sudden we get one of the most boring series out there.

Honestly, I didn’t think Ninja Steel the show was all that bad, the toys on the other hand...yeah, BoA cheaped out on then and made odd decisions like the lion mega zord (actual name escapes me at the moment) getting a size increase to double as a playset but ruin a kids chance at having the ultrazord match what was on TV.

Dino Charge was brilliant however.

you know what power rangers is it was suppost to be a flagship brand from bandai.

Not really. Bandai has so many massive brands under their belt, PR/Sentai is far from one of their flagships, especially considering they don't own it

I feel like it could've been better in my view at least.

I feel Power Rangers is dying....

We don't have any new heroes to replace them....

No more Beetleborgs? No more Mystic Knights? No more VR Troopers?

Kamen Rider being adapted wouldn't be acceptable to some. And Ultraman is stuck as a dub.

What'll replace the Power Rangers then....? It's not even grown up & maturing enough...

I blame Saban. If he had unionized the series back in the 90s then maybe the general public/Hollywood would have cared about the series more. There was no way a Non-Union show was going to last this long without changing the way it's been produced.

Which leads to a curious problem. If the show wasn't so cheap to produce, it probably wouldn't have even made it past Time Force. Disney wanted to axe it but was convinced to continue to franchise solely because the NZ move made producing it even cheaper than it was before.

If the show became union, it wouldn't have lasted in the slightest, since despite making record profits, for some reason no one wanted to reinvest that money back into the franchise.

I wonder what the reason is? Maybe lack of sponsors? That is, by selling toys, the show is essentially advertising itself. The Turtles promote pizza, the Transformers promote cars, and the Power Rangers promote, uh, friendship. Without any visible idea of ​​making money, no one wanted to get involved in them.

Going solely by thematic promotion, one could say that Mighty Morphin' insured its own success at the time it came out cause that was also around the same time as Jurassic Park, which promoted dinosaurs and paleontology. In fact, I remember seeing something several years ago that suggested that Zyuranger was intentionally patterned and themed around dinosaurs by Toei in anticipation of the theatrical success of Jurassic Park's international distribution. Yes, I know about the "Saban sings the Jetman Theme in a Japanese Steakhouse" story and how it was a conscious decision to adapt Zyuranger over Jetman, but Saban's savvy enough to see some lucrative possibilities, and if Toei saw the financial benefits of capitalizing on Jurassic Park's potential success before the film was even available, then Saban might have considered the same. Perhaps the discussions regarding adaptation between Saban and Toei Executives were patterned around Jurassic Park, even if the movie made up only a small portion of the negotiations.

This is interesting, but only confirms the idea that PR is a thing of its time, which has lasted longer than anyone expected. Still, for a longer existence, something more stable is needed than a film, whose sequels/remakes/brothers, in theory, received mostly condemnation.

But like I said if it became Union then maybe the reputation of the franchise could've been changed. Those issues could have been addressed.

But then it runs the risk of becoming a show that is different from the one we all remember. MMPR was what it was because of its circumstances, being non-unionised was a patt of that.

So PR should just remain the way it is? Stuff like this is why the franchise is at it's current state.

The non-unionization aspect has always been an issue and one that's inflamed me in the past.

SAG-AFTRA has long been in opposition to the franchise, and in later years, actors who've been offered a return appearance have had to decline because they have gained union membership in those later years and can't risk appearing in a non-union show lest they lose said membership. Ever wonder why RPM Red stayed morphed the entire time he interacted with the Samurai team?

It's why I think SAG-AFTRA needs to adjust their thinking and make some much needed policy changes.

That aside, I do think it's time for unionization cause this isn't 1993 anymore. The non-union aspect is what allowed Saban to shaft his actors and why we had a cast change in Season 2 to begin with!

Speaking on the union issue. I think it’s wild that the show stayed non-union all through the different ownerships. Like the fact that it was still non-union under Disney as well. Yes Haim Saban was a scum bag for doing that to the actors (Even if he did basically own all the 90s kids shows). What I don’t get is why did Disney continue that tradition?

Because they didn’t want to spend any more money on it than they had to. In fact, they woudlve cancelled it right away after they got it, before the New Zealand option came up.

That’s great point actually which brings me to the next question of why Disney gets no shit for it. I mean sure, their uncaring of the property led to probably one of the best seasons of that era if not the whole series (RPM), but they still did employ the same tactics as saban. They didn’t want to spend more money on it so they went as cheap as possible. Saban pretty much did the same thing but “cared” enough to see it survive. One could argue that Disney treated the series worse than Saban and yet Saban gets the shit for it. I’m not praising Saban here. I’m just saying that there’s shit everywhere. lol.

Probably because some people think of the ends justifying the means because they loved the shows in the Disney Era.

And there are shows that are beloved in both Saban eras as well. I mean hell, a MMPR meet and greet literally shutdown the California highways back in the 90s. Point I’m making is that no matter who owned it, it was never treated like the beloved show it actually is. There was hints of it being treated great (certain Bandai employees during Dino charge for example), but it still was treated like a back burner “oh right this show exists” type of show by the execs and the fault doesn’t only belong to Saban. In fact Saban is probably the only guy that tried to make it work, outside of actually paying the actors properly. (I have issues with how unions work being in one myself but that’s not a discussion for this thread)

I suddenly thought of this. All the options I proposed above for correcting the situation are already late and require a greater infusion of labor and money than was done previously. But if PR owners want to keep the same approach, why don't they just change the source for adaptation? That is, for example, Chinese Armored Heroes even have a fansub only for the first two shows. Also, current Chinese culture is much less familiar to the average American viewer than Japanese culture. And she can always be accused of promoting anti-democratic values. Plus, Alpha Animation, a major player in the Chinese tokusatsu market, has connections in the US, working on Ben 10 and other projects. I'm not saying that this approach is ideal and I’m not even sure that the contract with Toei will allow such a transition while preserving the PR name, but this step can be considered as an option for the owner who does not want drastic changes in the American/New Zealand part of the filming.

Putting aside the rampant Sinophobia in the US right now, among other things you're looking at a bunch of logistical issues that'd require a lot more work than staying the course. You'd have to negotiate an entirely new contract with another company to use their IP as a basis, which even if Toei doesn't care much for Power Rangers I would assume they like the idea of that even less; you'd have to shift the entire image of the brand from the overall recognizable silhouette of Sentai suits to whatever else you'd be using.

In short you'd be changing so much of the base formula that makes Power Rangers, Power Rangers, that you'd be better off starting from scratch.

There’s also the Korean tokusatsu which even uses the power ranger name at times.