Joseph Kahn, director of the "Power/Rangers" short film, is claiming that Saban has been harassing him since the online release. Saban holds the rights to the Power Rangers franchise, and most recently managed to pressure Vimeo into removing the NSFW version of the film. An alternate, work-safe cut can still be
viewed on YouTube.
“Saban is trying to shut ‘Power/Rangers’ down,” Kahn tweeted on Tuesday. “If you’d like to keep watching, tell them to stop harassing me.”
The 14-minute short film has been circulating the internet since Monday, depicting a decidedly violent and mature spin on the franchise, and stars Katee Sackhoff as Pink Ranger Kimberly and James Van Der Beek as Red Ranger-turned-traitor Rocky. The film was produced by Adi Shankar, known for his work on "The Grey" and "Dredd", as well as gritty, violent "bootleg" fan films such as "The Punisher: Dirty Laundry" and "Venom: The Truth in Journalism". Saban and Lionsgate will be producing their own Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers reboot, currently due for release in 2016.
Kahn maintains in later posts that his work is technically protected under fair use. “Every image in ‘Power/Rangers” is original footage,” he wrote. “Nothing was pre-existing. There is no copyrighted footage in the short. I am not making any money on it and I refuse to accept any from anyone. It was not even kickstarted, I paid for it myself. This was made to be given away for free. It is just as if I drew a pic of Power Rangers on a napkin and I gave it to my friend.”
What did you guys think of the film? Should Saban back off or is it fair for them to claim copyright infringement? Sound off below!
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