#simon bennett

Look for the helpers.

Look for the fans who see somebody being dogpiled and stepping in, enmass even, to declare that this is not okay. Join them in their collective, "Bro, not cool," if you can muster the courage.

It's so easy to see the fallout of another fandom controversy and be dishearted but one need not get too tangled in the weeds to find the helpers.

Fact is that there needs to be a more proactive movement that addresses harassment in Internet Space. How many see themselves as the heroes in spewing the vile bile. How there seems to be a rush to misinterpret every tweet in the worst light possible.

Yes, assholes exist. Maybe we can figure out when they do and what we can do to cull their numbers. Less harassers, more helpers.

This interview with Simon Bennett, the showrunner for Dino Fury, is worth a read.

Here’s my favorite question and answer re: Saban’s strict guidelines for writers, since it confirms something we heard from Chip Lynn:

Are there any specific parameters or rules in which you guys have to operate while making the show?

There are, yes, ones that I've sort of inherited [from Power Rangers creator] Haim Saban. When he came back to the franchise halfway through a series he felt the show wasn't hitting the right notes in order to capture the younger audience. The requirements became very specific. It had to tick a number of boxes. There had to be a strong moral core, a lesson, there had to be a moving scene full of heart, and there had to be two ground fights and a Megazord fight every episode. And there could be no serial threads. He believed very strongly that every episode had to work as a standalone. The only linked episodes that were allowed were two-part finales or maybe an Episode 1 and 2 of a season.

The other thing he was keen on was the idea of the comedy duo, which harked back to Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. It's why both Ninja Steel and Beast Morphers had the comedy duo characters. They had to use a big pinch of slapstick because that sort of broad physical comedy appeals to younger viewers. So those are some of the rules to which the writers had to write. I felt that, quite unfairly amongst the adult online community, the writers — who are very clever people and very passionate about what they do — became blamed for stuff that was outside of their control.