Today I read an article vilifying 'Sentai purists' for not recognizing Toei's involvement in Power Rangers, and calling the general Sentai fandom a few choice adjectives for the ignorant actions of some who had threatened the well being of Haim Saban. There also seemed to be an underlying tone that Saban Brands can have a pass for the interpretation they offer of the Sentai series and unapologetically half-commit to their work.
Here is the article mentioned: http://www.jefusion.com/2014/03/why-sentai-purists-dont-often-blame.html
My response, though straying a bit away from the intended message of the initial post, is presented here:
While it's true that the implied threats to the well-being
of Haim Saban are those of ignorance within the Sentai fandom, that does not
mean that Power Rangers is necessarily a good show or doing well by its
progenitor, Super Sentai.
The reasons many thoughtful Sentai fans
have issue with PR are not wholly superficial.
If I hand you two films with the same premise, let's say the
classic Jurassic Park and a Sci-Fi (now SyFy) Original interpretation of said
film, it would not be unjustified to believe the latter might have poorer
writing, lower production values, less talented actors, less inspired
score/soundtrack, and so on. This is the same mindset the healthy Sentai fan
has between something like Gokaiger versus Super Megaforce.
While the demographic is roughly the same between the two
series, a focus on young children (with a further focus on males in the US),
the messages laid forth for American audiences are often sub-par generalized
themes that offer no substance, where the Sentai predecessor using the flavor
of the year can often offer great messages and opportunities for the children's
(and often the adults watching beside them) growth as individuals. The
importance of discipline, family, imagination, justice, and a slew of any
number of lessons are more aptly displayed with Sentai episodes and series than
the generic 'good guys do good thing/Goofus and Gallant' stories that are
offered by PR.
And note the depth of villain characters and stories in
Sentai, how they have evolved as time has gone on to offer personality and
story arcs. The US equivalent is often no more than a caricature by comparison.
I'll use the example of Bandora of Zyuranger vs. Rita Repulsa of MMPR: while
the early Bandora may have herself seemed a caricature, the series slowly
releases that the reason behind her wanted to harm children
then control Earth is her grieving at her son being killed
by dinosaurs and not forgiving others for having their children still. Rita
Repulsa was just 'Conquer Earth, Conquer Earth, Conquer Earth", never
having more reason than that. Even though the intended audience for these shows
are young children, that doesn't mean they have to be stunted by poor
characterization and a missed opportunity at understanding the working of people
and the world.
So yes, Toei does have its hand in PR and has since before
MMPR. But it also relies on Saban and other North American staff to decide on
how to adapt their shows. Until Toei sees the currency not coming as steadily
as they'd like or a dramatic drop in viewership, they have no reason to truly
meddle in the outcome.
And just to further support that Saban's hands are
strangling the potential of the show, the Disney years of PR, though not wholly
better, at least attempted to work storylines that offered more growth than
Saban had done before or since, actually offered developed characters (we don't
talk about OO), and made regular acknowledgement of their Sentai equivalent
with attempts to bring them into viewers' knowledge or using similar episodes
or overall arcing storylines of the series. Examples to note: Dino Thunder's
romantic tension between Dino Black and Elsa or the 'Lost and Found in
Translation' episode are blatant examples, but the bulk of episodes in the
aforementioned era often adapted Sentai episodes into PR
ones.
The point I guess I'm trying to make is that no one should
be threatening the life of Haim Saban or the people involved in any iteration
of the Power Rangers franchise. That's ignorant and cruel. And Sentai fans need
to recognize that Toei gave Saban Brands the okay to use Sentai for PR, whether
we may be happy with the outcome or not. But that doesn't mean the opinion that
PR is a weaker series to Sentai is invalid, and is as much an opinion with
points to be made as the preference toward PR.
~TokuMaster
~TokuMaster
Here's my reaction:
ReplyDeleteWhy I Stopped Being a Super Sentai Purist