Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Power Rangers Writers and Producers

I thought I'd cover writers, producers, directors and stunt coordinators that fans often quote. Some new fans or people interested in learning more about Power Rangers might want to know what fans mean by 'Kalish-era' or 'Kalishplosions' or Chip this or Tzachor that. "Who are these people?" (I'm not saying that, I do know).

Shuki Levy
From Tel Aviv, Israel (at the time the British Mandate of Palestine), Levy is a music composer and television writer, director, and executive producer. Levy's best known work is soundtrack compositions for Inspector Gadget, M.A.S.K., Rainbow Brite, Dinosaucers, He-Man, She-Ra, and Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors. He was Haim Saban's partner and they both founded Saban Entertainment, a production company responsible for Masked Rider, VR Troopers, Big Bad Beetleborgs, and the Power Rangers franchise. I was 11 when MMPR came out and I honestly thought Shuki was a woman's name, my mistake. Levy was married to television actress Deborah Shelton (Dallas) and was also previously engaged to Sarah Brown (VR Troopers). He has a son and two daughters from these relationships. He has lately not made anything in the Entertainment business save for Itty Bitty Heartbeats in 2003 , Imagine This musical in 2007 and Aussie and Ted's Great Adventure in 2009. The last Power Ranger series he executive produced was Time Force, the last one he composed was In Space and the last one he wrote for was Turbo. The last Saban series he composed for was Digimon.

Cheryl Saban
Psychologist and Author, Cheryl has been married to Haim for so long I don't remember. She wrote episodes for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers from Season 1 to 2 and one episode of VR Troopers. She wrote and was executive producer for Au Pair TV Movie that aired on Fox Family.

Douglas Sloan
Doug Sloan started as a writer in the early days of MMPR and became supervising producer by the near end of Season 2. He even did some acting gigs as Kimberly's Uncle Steve and Kimberly's mother's boyfriend. He voiced Prince Gasket and Sloan played the father of the main character Adam Steele in the Cybertron pilot that eventually became VR Troopers. He also wrote for VR Troopers and directed Beetleborgs. He left the show about halfway through Power Rangers: Turbo in 1997. He went on to eventually find himself at Disney, where he worked on several TV movies (the most well-known of which was Johnny Tsunami) and, following Disney's acquisition of the Power Rangers franchise, was later selected for another tour of duty with the series as co-executive producer (with Ann Austen) for 2003's Power Rangers: Ninja Storm. He stayed on for another year (2004's Power Rangers: Dino Thunder) before leaving the show (along with Austen). Sloan stated prior to his departure he would not be returning to Power Rangers. He has communicated with fans online a lot (Rangerboard namely) and he quickly did realize not to take all comments too seriously.


Jonathan Tzachor
(Above right with former Blue Turbo Ranger Blake Foster)
His Wikipedia page is very biased to his quote-end quote 'love for Super Sentai' as most fans seem to like to see him as. But I like to leave things impartial and neutral here on my blog. He started as producer of MMPR but eventually became director of MMPR episodes (starting with 'White Light') then Second-Unit Director for the Turbo movie, he continued being director once and while, even to the last episode of Wild Force. He more or less took over for Doug Sloan during the second half of Turbo, hence the change in storylines. He is now executive producer of Power Rangers Samurai. The reason most fans believe he 'loves Sentai' is because most seasons under his supervision remain very loyal to the source material and rumors are that he likes them to be in the same tone and vain of the original. This caused a rift between fans that believe Power Rangers should have their own independent stories and feel. He has communicated with fans, as much as interviews and conventions.

Judd 'Chip' Lynn
He spent the first few years as Production Manager and directed second unit scenes for Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, before becoming a director on the show. He served as a staff writer during the second season, then became the story editor/head writer for more than five years beginning midway though Power Rangers: Turbo, and Co-Producer beginning with Power Rangers in Space, finally leaving after Power Rangers: Time Force. Lynn returned to the franchise as an Executive Producer and writer for Power Rangers: RPM after Eddie Guzelian left. His wikipedia page is also a bit strange, as fans can write it. Rumors are that he was a 'scab' during the Writer's Strike and wrote for Jungle Fury. He was a writer on VR Troopers and directed episodes from Turbo to Time Force. He has communicated to fans through conventions and some online interviews.

Bruce Kalish
(Above left with the cast of Aaron Stone)
He joined the series in 2005 as executive producer and head writer of Power Rangers for Power Rangers: SPD. Amongst his other credentials include work on Black Hole High, The Fall Guy, Jett Jackson, and The Incredible Hulk. Kalish's style brought a whole new feel to the series, such as more comedic characters, Rangers with specific catchphrases ("Buttery" for Bridge in SPD, "Plan Xander" for Xander in Mystic Force). After Jungle Fury, he left the show to work on Aaron Stone, a new live-action series for Disney XD. He also communicated to fans through Rangerboard but then pulled back after comments became negative. Fans mistakenly dubbed 'Kalishplosions,' overly exaggerated pyrotechnics detonated during the seasons produced by Kalish. However, it has since been revealed at Power Morphicon that Kalish himself had nothing to do with the explosions and, instead, his co-executive producer, Koichi Sakamoto is in control of exploding things. What he did that was unique was have titles by one word or four words: SPD- one word, PRMF- two words, PROO - three words, PRJF - four words.

Jackie Marchand
Jackie Marchand as of Power Rangers RPM, the longest running veteran on the show since Judd Lynn, whom she shared co-writing duties with until he left at the end of Power Rangers: Time Force. Taking a break from the show after Time Force, Marchand was brought back to work on the franchise in 2003 by Disney when they began filming new episodes of PR in New Zealand under the Village Roadshow production team. She contributed to Power Rangers: Ninja Storm and Power Rangers: Dino Thunder. Since then, Marchand has served the current team behind Ranger Productions. She has been promoted several times during the course of the last two seasons, becoming the story editor in Power Rangers: Mystic Force, and serving as co-producer of Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive, Power Rangers: Jungle Fury, Power Rangers: RPM. Marchand also played an uncredited voice role in 1998's Power Rangers in Space, as the voice of the monster named Mamamite. Marchand made an appearance at the Power Morphicon in 2007. She wrote for RPM and started out as writer/story editor in MMPR.

Koichi Sakamoto
A fan of Jackie Chan and Super Sentai, Sakamoto worked to become a stunt performer for Blue Mask on Hikari Sentai Maskman at live stunt shows, performing at Kōrakuen Stadium and Tokyo Dome. He came to the United States in 1989 as a foreign student to learn English and became a stunt actor.Sakamoto had also formed Alpha Stunts Production and was enlisted as 2nd Unit Director for the "battle grid" scenes from VR Troopers. This led him to eventually replacing Jeff Pruitt as stunt director for the third season of MMPR. Sakamoto would then go on to become the 2nd Unit Director for the remainder of the Power Rangers series, eventually filling the roles of Producer, Executive Producer, even completing the final storyboard for "Countdown to Destruction", the two-part series finale episode of Power Rangers in Space (originally drafted to be three episodes). He also made an appearance as Tritor (uncredited) in the 2-part Power Rangers: Zeo episode, "King For a Day" (he only moved his lips, however, while character voice over work was performed by an uncredited Paul St. Peter). He went onto marry stuntwoman and suit actor Motoko Nagino in 2002 (who he asked for the White Wild Force Ranger to resemble his wife in order to match stunts). Sakamoto became one of the few original crew members from MMPR Productions to remain with the production following its move to New Zealand in 2003. He stayed all the way to RPM's last day. He is responsible for the explosions, that are mistakenly referred to as 'Kalishplosions." He returned to Japan and coordinated some stunts for Gokaiger and will be directing the upcoming series Kamen Rider Fourze.

Eddie Guzelian
He wrote for The Penguins of Madagascar, Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Filmore! and Kim Possible. He was writer and executive producer for RPM, taking over for Bruce Kalish and succeeded by Chip Lynn. He is responsible for the look, feel and story for RPM, Post-Apocalypse world.

Other producers include Sally Campbell (SPD, Mystic Force, Jungle Fury, RPM and Samurai), Ann Knapp (Producer for MMPR, Zeo, Turbo, Ninja Storm, and Dino Thunder and Writer for PRNS and PRDT) and Janine Dickins (Ninja Storm, Dino Thunder and Operation). Sally Campbell was production manager for Young Hercules, which Fox Kids blamed Saban's Mystic Knights of Tira Nog for Young Hercules' low ratings. I know I'm missing someone, so tell me!!! (but no so rude)

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