YouTube Yanks Power Rangers Fan Film

Following copyright complains from Saban Entertainment, YouTube has now yanked the Power/Rangers fan-film by producer Adi Shankar and director Joseph Khan.

Last I checked, the Power/Ranger fan-film had well over 2 million views. The video was also up at Vimeo for a bit, but taken down after around 300K views.

The Power/Rangers YouTube video now reads: “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by SCG Power Rangers LLC.”

Joseph Khan reacted to the the news on Twitter: “Saban just pulled POWER/RANGERS off Youtube. Bad day for free speech, fair use, and Fandom in general.”

Khan also seemingly suggests people that have downloaded it to share it: “Everyone who bothered to download POWER/RANGERS, you rock. I would never tell you to share it. You didn’t hear it from me. Nope.”

It also seems that Khan has no plans to fight the copyright complaint: “I’m a filmmaker who plows all his money into his films vs entities worth billions. Going legal is not really a fair fight for me.”

“Internet, have at it,” Khan also tweeted. You can’t shut down the internet.”

The Power/Rangers fan-film starred Katee Sackhoff and James Van Der Beek.

Recently, the original Green Ranger, Jason David Frank, was also against the fan-film as he posted video sharing his thoughts.

Saban currently has two Power Rangers shows airing on Nickelodeon and plans for a Power Rangers movie for Summer 2016.

The Power/Rangers fan-film can currently be found on Daily Motion as well as the Chinese Youtube site Youku.

Update: Adi Shankar has released a statement noting the Power/Rangers movie is available to view on Facebook.

To Whom It May Concern:

Today, I was deeply disappointed to learn that Saban Brands decided to attack my Power/Rangers “Bootleg Universe One-Shot” film.  To all the viewers that enjoyed this film, I consider this an outright infringement on freedom of expression and individualism. I set out to make this film because I am a childhood fan of the Power Rangers. As children our retinas are burned with iconic images and as we grow older these images come to represent crucial moments within the trajectories of our own lives.  This film is a homage to the original creators of the Power Rangers, and a parody of a television series we all grew up loving. Films like my Power/Rangers “Bootleg” are vital expressions of creativity in our troubled world. If we suppress this creativity and become passive participants in the consumption of the culture we live in, we implicitly allow a dangerous precedent to be set for the future of the internet.

Warm Regards,

Adi Shankar

P.S. Thank you Mark Zuckerberg for hosting Power/Rangers and taking a stand https://www.facebook.com/theadishankarbrand