MMPR’s Supervising Producer Speaks

Given the length of my thoughts and reactions to the first episodes of the new “re-envisioned” Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, I thought it might be best to give this its own space.

Apparently, the Supervising Producer of these new “re-envisionings” has his own Twitter account, from which he apparently likes to answer questions, joke about some of the series’ admittedly more ridiculous aspects, and of course, say things to cheese off fans who have a tendency to overreact to everything anyway.

What follows is a sampling of some of the things he’s said, which offers a little insight into what has happened and what we can expect:

“Dear Power Ranger Fans: I would like to apologize for what I just did to Eps. 14-18. I like it though. no Disrespect.”

“Man the background sounds soooo loud. I wonder why they married it to the dialog track?”

“Wow I already hate some of the stuff I did to the show, knowing what we can do now.” (That’s promising…)

“Some of this dialog makes me so sad.”

“I also wish they would let me do a Pop Up Video style version of the show.”

“POPUP FACT: When Rita blows up that rock it is super clear that they used totally different people.”

“Yes I resorted to BATMAN efx. But I have a practical reason for it.”

“The first 4 episodes efx are influenced by JH WIlliams and Jim Mahfood. Neither of them will ever talk to me again.”

“I love that the ABC promos use NONE of the new footage.”

“My first Network note argument was about this freeze frame coming up.”

“Please ignore those Comic Frames. they will go away in a few episodes”

“This scene with the shuttle that is coming had to be totally redone. like 30 secs of boredom, seriously.”

@fantasythunder tweeted, “I don’t blame you. I am SURE that you guys were just following orders with the Batman stuff, the captions and the rain above Goldar.”

“No that was me. Sorry. I hate those bland looking shots.”

“the Batman stuff gives me an out for S&P and the direction of the show was to be comic book style.”

@TravTrav87 tweets, “Dear sir, please stop adding Batman inspired pop-up words during fights scenes to my beloved Power Rangers. Thanks.”

“Eh I am always surprised what 5-8 yo like. I will say that the efx are ever evolving.”

“The only thing that hurts is that people think I am trying to ruin it. I have been watching Rangers since it aired. Even the movies”

“I expected the hate. I just don’t want people thinking I am adding bad on purpose. I have some professional Pride.”

“@JohnPGreen oh man I hope you like the green ranger saga changes.”

@JohnPGreen tweets, “It’ll be a couple months before we get to find out :)”

“I think it is just two months. 2 a week and GRS starts at ep 14”

Fortunately, it sounds like the early effects are a sort of “awkward stage” that they may soon grow out of, just as I’d hoped.

Over on RangerBoard, however, they’ve dug even further back and producted the following set of quoted tweets (complete with dates):

“Only on Power Rangers is there 3 minutes of scene with everyone standing in the dark. I should just animate stuff over it.” – Dec. 11 2009

“I was fiddling with Power Rangers but I could play some Modern Warfare if someone was on…” – Nov. 29 2009

“I can’t imagine why I am using a japanese [sic] translator for these episodes of Power Rangers. I hope the fans don’t kill me” – Nov. 24 2009

“Redoing the Green Ranger Main Title for Power Rangers. If there is something you want in it you better speak up now!” – Nov. 20 2009

“Holy crap the black ranger only has 9 fingers?!?” – Nov. 16 2009

“HAHAHA POWER RANGER PIMP!” – Nov. 12 2009

“There is nothing as ridiculous as arguing about your artistic intent for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.” – Oct. 10 2009

“…I might have been drinking wine while working my way thru the Green Ranger Saga.” – Oct. 9 2009

“HAHAHAH THE BLACK RANGER IS WEAR A MALCOM X SHIRT! I hope S&P doesn’t make me blur that…” – Oct. 7 2009

“Yeah, I am working on MMPR so I have to review the episodes, no matter how bad.” – Sept. 30 2009

“…Back to making Power Rangers better for America” – Sept. 16 2009

“Should I feel bad that I just changed the black Ranger’s shot int he opening credits? I think he will thank me.” – Sept. 15 2009

“I am only 5 episodes into Power Rangers and I am already fighting to keep an episode from getting pulled. I love my job!” – Sept. 1 2009

“Well I reviewed my deal memo and W-9. there is no getting out of this Power Rangers thing now.” – Jul. 31 2009

Some people are overreacting, of course. Some feel that he should be fired for doing nothing but tweeting on the job, among other things. Others are relieved that the guy seems to have a genuine enthusiasm, and even fought to keep an episode from being pulled.

Hopefully, things will mellow with time, but I guess we’ll see. It should be interesting to watch the fandom in the meantime.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

David Oxford

David Oxford, or “LBD ‘Nytetrayn’,” as he is sometimes also known, is a freelance writer of many varied interests who resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If you’re interested in hiring him, please drop him a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net.

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