Earlier this week, producer Adi Shankar and director Joseph Kahn’s Power Rangers bootleg, Power/Rangers exploded on YouTube and Vimeo before going viral. But today, Saban the owners of the Power Rangers franchise have struck back.
Citing a copyright complaint by SCG Power Rangers LLC, YouTube has pulled Power/Rangers. Vimeo took down the more explicit and unrated version of Power/Rangers a few days prior to that.
Power/Rangers stood out from the rest of the fan films on Youtube because of its high production values, and a cast that included Katee Sackhoff and James Van Der Beek.
“I think it’s a huge blow for fandom,” explained Kahn while speaking to Deadline. “I think they’re hurting themselves. I think with this short they’ve gotten more attention than ever before. How do you break the Internet with the Power Rangers? I think it gave them a lot of publicity and revived its pop culture awareness. Instead of supporting the good will of the fans, they’ve turned it into a legal issue. It doesn’t sound like they’re thinking of the fandom at all.”
Related: Katee Sackhoff & James Van Der Beek Star In The Ultimate Power Rangers Fan Film
While Power/Rangers is currently gone, it was viewed over 12 million times on YouTube and it will inevitably find its way back online. Whether Saban intends to take any legal action against Shankar and Kahn is unclear. Power/Rangers was essentially a dark parody of the franchise and would therefore be protected under fair use. However, the argument can be made that Shankar and Kahn co-opted characters and concepts that they do not own for what is essentially a long form demo reel.
Before the courts potentially get involved, share your opinion about the legality of Power/Rangers in the comment section below!
