Ever wonder what happened to the "Jack" crew?

[august]

Turns out they're all working on "Power Rangers Ninja Storm!"

Seriously!

Who knew it was filmed in NZ? Not me!

Its producer is Jack of All Trades producer Janine Dickens, the film editor is B2B film editor Chris Plummer, plus long time B2B and Young Herc 2nd unit director Quentin Whitwell, and longtime Xena assistant directors Simon Ambridge and Paul Grinder (who directed Lifeblood and Married w/ Fish Sticks) are in those same roles on this new show.

Episode directors include Charlie Haskell (JoAT eps Once You Go Jack, One Wedding and an Execution, Raging Bully, Sex & the Single Spy, XWP eps The Xena Scrolls, Forget Me Not, Send in the Clones, plus many Young Herc and HTLJ eps going all the way back to being asst. director on two of the Herc TV movies) and Wayne Rose (asst. director on Jack and Cleo, directed JoAT ep Croque for a Day and Cleo ep Double.)

Kim Michaelis (Jefferson's niece Nicole) plays "Thunder's Mother," and both Michael Hurst and the ubiquitous Bruce Hopkins have done voice work!

[Melody]

[august]

I watched about 5 minutes of this last night. Ok.... umm.... the background scenery is good. The actual photography - shots, editing, camera angles, composition, etc. is pretty decent. But rather than using miniature models of the various things the rangers can turn into, which can then be copied as toys and sold to the masses.... it looks like they're actually using the toys themselves! Low low low budget. And the monsters? Well, basically big cheap halloween costumes like with other Power Ranger shows. Lots of muttering in alien-gibberish.

Well, a gig is a gig.....

[Davesnothome]

Well even Renaissance Pictures' shows had their moments of cheap looking effects (styrofoam boulders appear unreal in several scenes of various shows), that showed they didn't have a limitless budget.

I will say the kiwi actors playing the villains in this version of the Power Rangers appear to be having fun and don't look like they are taking this too seriously. They play it more like Dr. Evil, than Dr. No. Less Shakespearean overacting, more Rocky and Bullwinkle villainy! (g)

Dave

[Azn Dragoon]

Datz pretty low tho.
And I used to watch dat crap wen i wuz in Pre-K and stuff.

Oh how much fun for it wuz me to be da Yellow Ranger wen it wuz Recess...

[august]

LOL! Cracking up, picturing Anna as the Yellow Ranger! Awwwwwwwwwww.......

[Azn Dragoon]

Well I wuz da only Azn in Pre-K.

[august]

LOL! So who had to play all the big shambling, gibberish-mumbling monsters?

BTW, Anna, did you know that the actress, Thuy Trang, was killed in a car accident? Very sad. :( She had graduated to film roles, and had done a couple including the second Crow film. Everyone said she actually had a lot of potential.

[Azn Dragoon]

We pretended da playgrounds were da "monsters".
Like I remember once dis guy pretended to be tangled up on da swing set and stuff.
Such big imagines we had back in those innocent non-corrupted days.
----------
Dat sux...
Why does it always gotta be da azns datz in a car wreck.

[august]

A friend of mine is a big Joel Tobeck fan - he was never on "Jack" but he was the evil clown Creegan on Cleo. Anyway, apparently he too did some voice work for "Ninja Storm."

This is what she said:

... it's true, it's horribly, shamefully true. I sat through half an hour of acting school rejects and a talking CGI guinea pig just to see five minutes of goofy voice work for Slob Goblin, a giant tongue monster. Yeah, as in a monster with giant, pierced pink tongues...


To save you the horror I dug up some screencaps:

Joel voiced Slob Goblin and Footzilla which appeared in Japanese episodes 27 and 29:

http://www.supersentai.com/database/...monsters1.html

and American episodes 481 and 482: http://www.rangercentral.com/eps-prns.htm

More pics from the Slob Goblin episode: http://www.will-powered.com/storm/Gallery-23-A.shtml

[august]

Thinking Eric might be amused by this as well....

[Melody]

Hehehe Forgot about this thread. Also "Dino Rangers" is filmed there. Only know that cuz I watched "The Tribe" and one of the actors on that is in it.

[august]

Hey guess what?

Stuart Devenie apparently also did a couple of Power Rangers voices, just recently!

He's credited with the voices for "Imperious" and "Black Tribunal" - I'll have to see if I can dig up some photos....

[august]

OK, some details on "Imperious" from assorted sites -

Referring to himself as the Dark Wizard of the Underworld, Imperious sees magic as a way to grant his own selfish desires. He was formerly a friend of Udonna's named Calindor, who appears to be a Mystic Wizard who could also take on a human form. He was corrupted by dark magic and betrayed the other Mystic Wizards in the Great Battle, and when Daggeron found out the two fought a vicious battle. Upon being turned into a frog, Daggeron sealed himself, Jenji and the mummified Calindor within a cave. Years later, Necrolai tricked the Rangers into breaking the seal and retrieved the mummified Calindor. Octomus brought him back to life as the mummy-like Imperious to serve as the new leader of the Underworld, a role Imperious took an immediate liking to.

In Long Ago, Imperious briefly reassumed his previous identity as Calindor to gain Udonna and the other Rangers' trust, intending to poison Udonna, frame Daggeron as the traitor and steal the Xenotome. Luckily, Clare worked out his true nature and found out from Phineas he was the traitor just in time to stop Imperious from poisoning Udonna, and Daggeron prevented him from stealing the Xenotome and rendering the Rangers powerless.

Imperious is a skilled fighter and extremely powerful, as well as supremely arrogant. He balances out his physical strength with magical powers, which are the same kind of magic as the Mystic Rangers' only to a higher degree, and can grow to a size more than one hundred times the size of the Titan Megazord, making him one of largest monsters in Power Rangers history. In his first encounter, he easily defeated the Rangers, and only Jenji's surprise attack and the fact his magic hadn't yet returned to full strength (due to being stuck in the cave) drove him back. Imperious also has the ability to summon & free monsters from the Underworld. As a result, Imperious isn't hindered by a focus on escaping the Underworld like Morticon was, and focuses more on direct attacks on the civilians of Briarwood.

In Ranger Down, he dared Koragg to fight without magic, relying on only his physical strength. Koragg agreed, and his magic was turned into a purple Mystic Morpher that was given to Necrolai.

This seems to be running pretty regularly on ABC Family - after the holidays, I'll see if I can't figure out a schedule for appearances by people we know!

[august]

Aha - the details on "Imperious" can be found here - just scroll down.

Stuart has actually appeared in 11 eps now, or more accurately, his voice has been heard in:

Scaredy Cat (5 June 2006)
Inner Strength (12 June 2006)
Long Ago (12 June 2006)
Soul Specter (19 June 2006)
Ranger Down (26 June 2006)
Dark Wish: Part 1 (10 July 2006)
Dark Wish: Part 2 (10 July 2006)
Dark Wish: Part 3 (10 July 2006)
Koragg's Trial (22 July 2006)
Heir Apparent: Part 1 (29 July 2006)
Heir Apparent: Part 2 (11 August 2006)

Here's the stunt man in the costume, apparently one Will Hall:

[august]

Not one of the most well-known "Jack" crew members, but according to this article, Adele Lim is a Malaysian-born, US-educated writer who at one point worked as a "writers' assistant" and "script coordinator" on "Jack." She currently works as a writer for "One Tree Hill,” a teen drama in its fourth season. Interesting story about her big break:

Lim’s big break came when she answered an advertisement in a trade magazine asking for assistants for TV scriptwriting staff.

“My resume was non-existent, so it was a miracle that I was hired. I later learned that the man who hired me might have had a thing for Asian girls – he had this weird obsession with Asian exotic dancers and (Thai-Chinese violinist) Vanessa Mae – but he never behaved inappropriately around me so I didn’t care.

“In this business, you take whatever you can get,” she said frankly.

After getting the assistant’s job, a writer for whom Lim worked read one of her “test” scripts – “I wrote a raunchy Sex and the City script,” – and introduced her to his manager. This led to her first TV scriptwriting job: as staff writer for the sci-fi series John Doe.

It may sound like Lim got that first job quickly, but it actually took four long years for her to land it.

“Television writing is insanely competitive. There are tens of thousands of writers trying to break into the industry,” she said.

......

It’s a long, frustrating process to become a successful television scriptwriter, and there are no clear paths to that career either, Lim warned. And in the rocky, volatile world of Hollywood television, one must also be prepared for any eventuality, such as when John Doe was cancelled.

“John Doe was cancelled after a full season (22 episodes), but that was all right, most new shows don’t even get that far,” she said pragmatically.

Other credits include "Pepper Dennis, "Digimon: Digital Monsters," "Las Vegas," and "State of Grace."

[august]

Canadian-born Wayne Rose, long-time 2nd unit director on Jack, Cleo, Hercules, even movies like Stuart's film "Her Majesty," "Return to Cabin by the Lake," and the network series "Smallville," and main-unit director of "Hamnesia" and "Croque for a Day" (plus 2 Cleo eps, "Double" and "Perceptions") is now working on Battlestar Galactica, after doing many eps of "Power Rangers Ninja Storm." He directed the episode last spring where the fuel refinery workers staged a strike, "Dirty Hands," and did 2nd unit on a number of others. Plus he directed all ten "webisodes" of the "Resistance" storyline in between seasons 2 and 3.

Charlie Haskell, mentioned above, continues to work on the various Power Rangers shows (Mystic Force, Space Patrol Delta, Dino Thunder, Ninja Storm) plus directed three eps of "Maddigan's Quest" (with Michael Hurst.)

[august]

Eric Gruendeman, the series co-producer, and director of both "Shark Bait" and "X Marquis the Spot," is writing and producing a tongue-in-cheek homage to 60's exploitation movies, co-starring Capt. Nardo actor Michael Hurst. Details here.

Josh Becker, the director of the first 2 Jack eps filmed ("Return of the Dragoon" and "The People's Dragoon," although the latter was actually aired fourth) is continuing his domination of all media. Having conquered movies, television and publishing, he's now moving behind the scenes and starting a film equipment rental company in Michigan. The state is benefitting from a new film production incentive passed by the state, but as he says, "MI is sadly lacking in film infrastructure at the moment."

These were some details from his site:

...my new project is Motion Picture Radios of Michigan. I'm going to rent walkie talkies, cell phones, bullhorns, director's chairs, and director's viewfinders to the multitude of productions that are presently coming through Michigan, now that we have a 40% rebate incentive program here. Actually, since my office will be located in Pontiac, considered a "Core" community, meaning "poor," whoever rents from me will get an extra 2% on the rebate, bring it up to 42%.

John Laing, who directed "Love Potion #10" and "Dead Woman Walking" plus eps of XWP, Cleo and HTLJ, likewise wernt on to do eps of Power Rangers Mystic Force, Space Patrol Delta, and Power Rangers Ninja Storm, as well as a local NZ series called "Orange Roughies." But he hit the big time with a Disney movie shot in NZ called "Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior," which starred "Zack and Cody" babe Brenda Song, and did very well in the ratings, setting a new record for Disney viewership (later broken by "High School Musical" and other films.) He's currently directing its sequel; both are produced by Young Herc/Jack/Cleo/Power Rangers/Riverworld producer Janine Dickens!

[august]

We have a new answer to the question posed in the thread title: now they're all back working for Rob and Sam on Legend of the Seeker!

Jack episode director Charlie Haskell, film editor Nicola Spencer, props designer Roger Murray, and director of photography Kevin Riley are all involved in the show - details here.

[august]

Josh's new business is up and running - check out his subsite for Motion Picture Radios of Michigan! And then go make a movie in Michigan and rent something from him!