Fanfics-R-Us

My fanfic took a lot of time, a lot of patience, and a lot of editing. The original fanfic was more geared towards a "cartoony" episode that was fit for television. I was currently a freshman at Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia, when I decided to write about my new ranger. Actually, I had started it at Moss Point High School a few months earlier.

So here I was starting college and writing a fanfiction. I was determined to make this the largest literary work I had ever done. In fact, it is the second largest literary work I've done. I spent countless hours working, editing, changing, re-arranging - I truly tried to make this the best fanfic on the web...And I was trying to see if I might get a job on the writing staff of Saban, if possible. My dream were dashed on October 17, 1995.

I sent my fanfic off in the hopes that Haim Saban or Shuki Levy would see it and say something like "Hey, this kid's got talent. We could use another staff writer." Yep, I just prayed that they would say that. All I got was my fanfic back with a letter from the middle-man of Saban. It said, and I paraphrase, "Shove it, little man." I was truly horrified and disappointed, but I was also angry. The letter stated that they hadn't looked at it, but something that happened later made me suspicious, but I will discuss that later on. I called up to Saban in Los Angeles and asked to speak with this middle man. He spoke with me and we talked for fifteen minutes or so. He explained that all Power Ranger episodes have to be written around pre-existing Japanese footage - that the full time writing staff of Saban had to watch countless hours of footage and then create an episode from it. Of course, at the time, I agreed, but then I got to thinking. Exactly how hard it is to put some stuntmen in a plastic, velcro, spandex, metal costume and have sparks flying off their chest? We are the biggest nation in the world. We are the only remaining superpower, yet we (as in Saban) rely on Japanese footage to keep our attention. Come on, Saban! Spend some of that $1 billion on toys, retail, and merchandise on doing some of the stunts yourselves instead of relying on old sentai footage.

But that's not the end of my tirade, my friends. No way. I took some steps to ensure that none of my ideas could be used in the show without giving me proper credit. When I mailed off my fanfic to Saban, I also took the liberty of mailing my home a copy and asking my mother to make sure that it is sealed and hidden. I also printed myself a copy and kept it with me at all times. According to laws regarding patents and copyrights, this fanfic is officially copyrighted to me as long as the envelope stays sealed, which is has for two years. But it doesn't end here, fellow Power Rangers. I began to notice some startling events take place on Power Rangers which were somewhat flagrant. My title character of my fanfic is Sean(shawn) Morissette, a Black French-Canadian who is one of the most athletically gifted humans on Earth. He is also in love with Aisha Campbell, the Yellow Ranger. The Rangers receive the NinjaTech Battle Armor, metallicized armor which increases their power, durability, and strength to combat the stronger forces of Putties. Well with that being said, let's look at events that happen on Power Rangers. When Master Vile arrives, he brings a STRONGER FORCE of TENGAS. To combat the Tengas, Zordon gives the Rangers new METALLIC ARMOR which increases their DURABILITY, STRENGTH, and POWER. Aisha is replaced with Tanya at the start of Power Rangers ZEO, but she is still, more or less, the Yellow Ranger. Tanya starts to go out with SHAWN, an ATHLETICALLY GIFTED individual in baseball and the martial arts.

Coincidence? You have a large, internationally known entertainment company against someone who wrote and sent a fanfic to them. There are elements that just don't seem to be accidental. I, for one, have never believed in coincidences, just conviniences. :-)