That story about Saban and Gene Simmons is the best thing I have read in ages.

As the world turns-on ones. Thanks, that is an interesting revelation.

That Simmons bit is classic.

He deserves to rot in jail for the rest of his life.

For Power Rangers, obviously.

Were you guys aware that a Power Rangers cartoon was in the works a couple years ago? Not sure if it’ll ever see the light of day though.

Funny how some people can’t stay out of the news for long. ^_^

Apart from the aforementioned Power Rangers cartoon thing that’s probably in the toilet now, a lot of us are glad this never happened…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B4_VCeHfjo

Bwahahaha! In addition to the totally random Power Rangers/Israeli espionage angle (which is just hilarious), Harman and Saban are also fierce proponents of the same illegal warrantless wiretapping program that busted them. Oh, the irony.

Go, go, Power Rangers, indeed.

Isaac,

Oh, you have no idea. Before POWER RANGERS happened along, I was already familiar with the Super Sentai Series (the first show I saw in that series was DYNAMAN, which I’m still a big fan of!). Remember, I happen to be a lifelong fan of Japanese sci-fi. POWER RANGERS was an embarrassment and insult to not only Super Sentai, but the J-Hero genre in general. All Japanese superheroes, from Ultraman to Masked Rider, have been identified with this series (and even costumed American superheroes, to a point).

The rumored POWER RANGERS animated series fell through. Toei/Bandai owns the format. I doubt even Disney would be able to do something wholly exclusive to the US market. It has to come from Japan, and, unfortunately, be localized here. (Heard about the recent lawsuit between Toei and World Events over VOLTRON?)

I deeply hated Saban for ruining Japanese sci-fi in the US, but to find from this news that he was even shadier than I thought really turns my stomach. He’s basically the Ozymandias of the tokusatsu (SPFX) world.

Nick Jr’s “The Littl’ Bits”…ALF The Animated Series…Inspector Gadget…

Opening and closing to Littl’ Bits; music credited to Haim Saban and Shuki Levy

Anthrocoon,

Yeah, he and Shuki Levy contributing music to cartoon shows was the best thing they’ve done, aside from bringing tokusatsu and anime shows to Europe (mostly Italy and France).

To be fair to Saban, though, Margaret Loesch is another one responsible for how POWER RANGERS turned out.

Haim Saban
Suki Levi

Burned into my brain from watching that show….

Saban and Levy’s music, while leaving a lasting impression upon many an 80’s generation’s mind, it’s quite fascinating finding out the dirty dealings that went into the music itself. After finding out the reasons behind the music credits alone, I was never the same again!

Course Levy had more talent in the end, he was a 70’s Euro-Superstar!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_JZURBkZ1I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq87KXPEXjY