Originally Posted by Bandaiman (Post 864581)

Another major issue that PR has had is that the show in shot in new Zealand. Don't get me wrong I love the country and the people but the place is way too far from the US. Canada is closer and cheaper than filming the show in the US. I think some of the major problems that the show has had since 2003 could've been fixed if they had moved to Canada.

Originally Posted by SPLIT LIP (Post 864607)

Like Matrixbeast said, NZ was cheaper. Cheaper than Canada. When trying to reduce costs of a show by the utmost, you don't choose the relatively cheaper location, you go for the cheapest (whilst still allowing to film what's necessary) full stop.


What major problems specifically would have been solved by filming in Canada?

When I think of the main faults of the Disney era, the location is not one that springs to mind.

Originally Posted by Matrixbeast (Post 864622)

While I do agree that being cheap hasn't been the best of choices for the franchise, it's also the only reason the franchise even survived post Wild Force.
As for why Saban and Hasbro didn't make use of the momentum Samurai had, beefing up the budget (Beyond just for the Legend War), I don't know.

Concerning the crossovers, while they weren't as consistent with them, Disney did still do them often.

Originally Posted by Bandaiman (Post 864616)

For me it comes to crossovers. And like I said in a previous post. Being cheap has hurt the franchise so much It's not gonna grow with that type of mindset.

Originally Posted by EpsilonX (Post 864625)

If the show wasn't as cheap to produce, it would need to make a ton more money to justify the increased costs. Hollywood isn't a good place for risk-taking - any movie or film investment is already a risk, so they have to be very strict and justify that the cost will be worth it. So my guess is that they're not willing to put extra money into it because they think it might help - the money has to come first. They know how it generally performs and set the budget based on that.

Originally Posted by Mesnick (Post 864635)

Because I think they need a sponsor. Yes, this makes the brand even more commercialized and even harmful, but at the same time, many other brands are guilty of the same thing.

Originally Posted by TokuKnight89 (Post 864640)

Harmful in what way specifically?

Originally Posted by Matrixbeast (Post 864633)

It's strange how the money plays such a large factor. It was a juggernaut during it's heyday, being the best selling boys toy brand for a bit in the 90's. Even when sales declined, it still maintained a steady level to justify it's continued production.

But the only time they tried to pump more money back into the franchise, it was through the films, rather than bolstering the TV series...

Originally Posted by Bandaiman (Post 864649)

Would've like to seen how WB would have dealt with the Power Rangers brand if they bought FOX Family in 2001.

Originally Posted by Matrixbeast (Post 864633)

It's strange how the money plays such a large factor. It was a juggernaut during it's heyday, being the best selling boys toy brand for a bit in the 90's. Even when sales declined, it still maintained a steady level to justify it's continued production.

But the only time they tried to pump more money back into the franchise, it was through the films, rather than bolstering the TV series...

Originally Posted by Talisman (Post 864663)

There's a lot of overlap between the methods of Saban Entertainment and the Cannon Group. I'd advise looking into the documentary Electric Boogaloo: the Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films for more, but basically the idea was that they were always moving forward with another project, putting in just enough money into a given project to get a good return on it so they could make the next, and eventually they'd land a huge hit.

Which Saban did. Power Rangers was never intended to be Saban's flagship, end product, it was just the one that did well enough to allow them to do the others. Putting more money into it would mean less to put into the rest.

Originally Posted by Matrixbeast (Post 864672)

PR was an overnight sensation, and Saban should've used that opportunity to really bring the brand to newer heights, rather than shoddily attempt to recapture that lightning in a bottle. The fact that, even after becoming a billion dollar brand, the show's budget remained absolutely microscopic astounds me.

Originally Posted by Sunred (Post 864655)

We probably would've gotten Eldar, a look into the life of young Zordon, or Greg Berlanti's Angel Grove. :lolol

Originally Posted by ZeroWolf (Post 864697)

There's also the possibility, however, of the show not surviving as the higher ups might have saw no value in it and just cancelled it. For every positive outcome there's sadly a hundred negative one.

There's also the chance that even if WB bought it back then, that things actually progressed as they did in our timeline given the same mindsets. Though given what kind of company WB is now, it might have been for the best otherwise PR may have been written off for the Tax like Bat Girl and Scoob 2!

Originally Posted by Matrixbeast (Post 864672)

That seems like such a backwards way of going about things. While making multiple projects is common sense for a production company, the idea to let a successful franchise simply coast along on bare minimum to hope to get another hit is just risky gambling.

PR was an overnight sensation, and Saban should've used that opportunity to really bring the brand to newer heights, rather than shoddily attempt to recapture that lightning in a bottle. The fact that, even after becoming a billion dollar brand, the show's budget remained absolutely microscopic astounds me.

Originally Posted by TokuKnight89 (Post 864675)

Remember...this is a guy who freely shafted his actors to the point that some of them left voluntarily cause he wasn't willing to budge in terms of payouts!

He was never willing to put in too much cause he was solely focused on the returns. I give him credit in one thing, and that's the Valerie Vernon thing cause I think he did come correct there.

Originally Posted by Talisman (Post 864721)

There's a saying about messengers and the shooting thereof. I think it goes, "Don't". :lol

I didn't say it was a good method, I just said that's the method they went with and against all odds it paid off. I guess "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" ultimately applies here.

Again, not an endorsement, just the facts of the matter.



Exactly all of this. Haim was a notorious cheapskate to the point where he tried to screw Gene Simmons out of a deal, literally across the table from the guy. There's a reason why so much of Saban's output before and after PR was dub production; it's dirt cheap and usually nets a pretty good return. The man and his production company by extension would not spend a single cent if they could find any way to avoid it, and they worked hard in that regard.

And that, unfortunately, set the standard for which all of Power Rangers would be made under going forward, plain and simple. It worked when it did because it was in that perfect storm that was the Early 90s. It faltered as time went on because it was no longer as unique because the Anime Boom was in full boom and fulfilled much of its niche, including low costs. And as stated elsewhere in the thread, while moving production to Canada would've been cheaper - think about just how many shows at the turn of the millennium, BIG shows no less, were and even now are filmed in Canada - Moving to New Zealand was cheapest, and that's the Saban and thus Power Rangers way since day one.

Originally Posted by Talisman (Post 864721)

There's a saying about messengers and the shooting thereof. I think it goes, "Don't". :lol

I didn't say it was a good method, I just said that's the method they went with and against all odds it paid off. I guess "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" ultimately applies here.

Again, not an endorsement, just the facts of the matter.



Exactly all of this. Haim was a notorious cheapskate to the point where he tried to screw Gene Simmons out of a deal, literally across the table from the guy. There's a reason why so much of Saban's output before and after PR was dub production; it's dirt cheap and usually nets a pretty good return. The man and his production company by extension would not spend a single cent if they could find any way to avoid it, and they worked hard in that regard.

And that, unfortunately, set the standard for which all of Power Rangers would be made under going forward, plain and simple. It worked when it did because it was in that perfect storm that was the Early 90s. It faltered as time went on because it was no longer as unique because the Anime Boom was in full boom and fulfilled much of its niche, including low costs. And as stated elsewhere in the thread, while moving production to Canada would've been cheaper - think about just how many shows at the turn of the millennium, BIG shows no less, were and even now are filmed in Canada - Moving to New Zealand was cheapest, and that's the Saban and thus Power Rangers way since day one.

Originally Posted by Bandaiman (Post 864735)

But at the same time this type of mentality has put PR in its current state. I think some people in the fanbase have been complicit with how these companies have been treating this brand. If PR dies we as a fanbase should blame ourselves for not doing more tbh.

Originally Posted by Talisman (Post 864738)

And yelling at producers on social media produces... questionable outcomes at best.

Originally Posted by Talisman (Post 864721)

There's a saying about messengers and the shooting thereof. I think it goes, "Don't". :lol

I didn't say it was a good method, I just said that's the method they went with and against all odds it paid off. I guess "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" ultimately applies here.

Again, not an endorsement, just the facts of the matter.



Exactly all of this. Haim was a notorious cheapskate to the point where he tried to screw Gene Simmons out of a deal, literally across the table from the guy. There's a reason why so much of Saban's output before and after PR was dub production; it's dirt cheap and usually nets a pretty good return. The man and his production company by extension would not spend a single cent if they could find any way to avoid it, and they worked hard in that regard.

And that, unfortunately, set the standard for which all of Power Rangers would be made under going forward, plain and simple. It worked when it did because it was in that perfect storm that was the Early 90s. It faltered as time went on because it was no longer as unique because the Anime Boom was in full boom and fulfilled much of its niche, including low costs. And as stated elsewhere in the thread, while moving production to Canada would've been cheaper - think about just how many shows at the turn of the millennium, BIG shows no less, were and even now are filmed in Canada - Moving to New Zealand was cheapest, and that's the Saban and thus Power Rangers way since day one.

Originally Posted by ZeroWolf (Post 864755)

Well said, especially the perfect storm of the 90s part, I'm not sure that if the earlier attempt at adapting super sentai would have worked as well because of those factors.

Originally Posted by ZeroWolf (Post 864755)

Also what was the deal with Gene Simmons? Was Haim after a KISS deal?

Originally Posted by Bandaiman (Post 864781)

@tailsman so pretty much what you're saying is Power Rangers was going to fail regardless?

Originally Posted by Matrixbeast (Post 864782)

Power Rangers wasn't set to fail, it's that Saban's desire to pinch as many pennies as possible led to it's failure.

Originally Posted by Talisman (Post 864786)

Pretty much that. From the perspective of an executive, why should we pay more and try harder when we've already been this successful operating on the slimmest budget possible? And the fact that at no point in the 30 years did anyone with the power to make a change see fit to argue otherwise meant that Power Rangers was ultimately living on borrowed time, that it had a built-in expiration date. It managed to cling to life from around Wild Force onward as the kids who grew up with it at its start and height aged out of the franchise, and got a boost with Samurai and Megaforce/Super Megaforce, but after Dino Charge things died down considerably.

Running a piece of media is no different from caring for a plant. You have to actually nurture it, feed it, allow it room to grow, or it will inevitably die, even the ones that are sold as low-maintenance. Nobody who owned Power Rangers was really interested in doing that, and that's why we're here having this discussion.

Originally Posted by Bandaiman (Post 864788)

Okay what if Saban sold Power Rangers to Newscorp/FOX instead of Disney. Do you think the franchise would be in a bettter place? I know Murdoch did want to buy Saban a few times.

Originally Posted by Talisman (Post 864794)

I really don't. You're missing the forest for the trees; it's not a matter of who owned the show. It changed hands multiple times and the only significant change to production was moving to New Zealand to make it even cheaper to produce.

Giving it to another big, or bigger, company wouldn't have equated to a higher budget because, and I cannot stress this enough: Why fix what ain't broke?

Originally Posted by Bandaiman (Post 864807)

Ok so then what happens now? The franchise dies out and we don't discuss about it anymore.