Hall of Fame Inductee 2: Amit Bhaumik

PRangerX · 02/21/11, 02:51 PM

Amit Bhaumik is our second inductee into the Power Rangers Online Hall of Fame. He is going in the Fandom Contributors Wing but has the rare distinction of being a fan that actually ended up working on the Power Rangers writing staff.

Amit Bhaumik's work as a webmaster left a huge impact on the early era of the fandom. Something that is sometimes forgotten in the history of time. In recent years, he contributed to the actual show as Story Editor of Power Rangers Wild Force. Making him the head writer under the supervision of then ( and returning) showrunner Jonathon Tzachor. Where his crowning achievement seems to be the "Forever Red" team up.

Amit was present in the year days of the fandom when the newsgroup was the hub of the fandom. He served as an operator at one point. In a role similar to a message board moderator.

Amit was a student at USC. A school that is known for its film program. Amit had webspace on the campus server. He created the Power Rangers Online Archive Websites. Which became an encyclopedia for Power Rangers information. PROA also housed some fan fics. Amit himself had been known to write some fan fics during these days. PROA was considered one of the big three websites. Them being Morphing Grid, PRC, and PROA itself.

The website never had a domain name in its history. As most PR fan sites didn't during that era. But became popular none the less. The site's signature images is a picture of Dark Spector that appeared on the banner for most of the sites run. There was often a rotating set of pictures. One was of Bulk and Skull as young and old Elvis. Another running gag was a mystery about who "killed" Lt Stone.

Amit was involved in the Scorpion Rain fan hoax. Which was a joke claiming that Austrialia had a special low budget short that wrapped up Power Rangers Zeo ( since the transition from Zeo to the Turbo movie has always been controversal). This sparked a huge debate at the newsgroup. Eventually the hoax was revealed before the people behind it could confessed as originally planned. A short fan film was created that remained unreleased for nearly a decade. Many people incorrectly think that Amit wrote "Scorpion Rain". When in fact he merely provided the voice for Tommy Oliver in the short. Joe Rovang wrote "Scorpion Rain".

In 2000, Amit's graduated from USC. Since he was no longer going to be a student, he no longer was going to have access to his student web space. Amit announced that he was closing PROA. He teased that he could bring it back on another free service like geocities, but that never came to pass. So PROA was closed down soon after. Soon after, Amit's webspace was deleted.

There was some controversy with the original Power Rangers Online. As Mike Wayne was accused of stealing content from the PROA website for his own website. This was a blemish on the orginal PRO. One that Mike Wayne regretted years later ( our version of PRO contains no pirated information).

Amit seemed to disapear from the fandom after his involvement in PROA. But he soon resurfaced in a big way. As in 2001, he was revealed as the Story Editor for Power Rangers Wild Force. This meant Amit had a huge part in the creative direction of the season ( essentially being the head writer). Amit came in with big ideas but a lot of those we're pared down by Jonathon Tzachor who prefered a straight Gaoranger hack. Especially given that Amit was a rookie Story Editor.

Amit is only credited as writing a few episodes. But that is decieving. Since television is a group effort. As Story Editor he oversaw the whole writing staff. So he had to review every script and often rewrote them as needed. Due to union rules, Story Editors can only be credited for writing so many episodes. But the episodes Amit did officially write some of Wild Force's most famous episodes.

One being the two part "Reinforcements From the Future". Which featured the Power Rangers Time Force/Wild Force Team up. Which is often considered a fan favorite among team ups. The villains of the story we're named after Joe Rovang, Jason Takach, and Jesse Herndon. In rewordings of there names. A prision was named after Chris Funaro.

"Forever Red" is probably what Amit and Wild Force itself is most remembered for. Amit gets a lot of credit for getting "Forever Red" done. As new owners, Disney didn't see the value in teams ups involving old toys. Especially when they just had a TF/WF team up. Disney also was concerned about all the production costs associated with Power Rangers at this point. Amit fought for the team up which was only going to be three parts. A compromise was reached when the episode was waded down to one episode. Amit wanted the team up to be about a bunch of clocked figures trying to resurrect Dark Spector. But upper management wanted to use the old Beetleborgs suits. So Amit was forced to shift gears with the Machine Empire revenge plot. Amit used the backstory from the "Scorpion Rain" fan film and worked in Surpenterra being buried on the moon ( which is the reason why people incorrectly think Amit wrote "Scorpion Rain"). Amit orginally planned for a massive Megazord battle to end the episode. But this wasn't possible for budget reasons. Bandai offered to pay for the final sequence if it featured the Wild Force Rider.

Amit began planning the next season of Power Rangers, Ninja Storm. He planned it to be almost like the last season of Power Rangers. With some allusions to the past and a big time storyline involving a fictionalized group called Hexagon ( which would be a led by Tommy Oliver). Involving an apocalyptic war between Tommy's Hexagon and the Phantom Ranger. But Disney decided to cancel the show and laid MMPR Productions off. Meaning that Amit was out of a job. PR was quickly revived with a new production staff and change in filming location to New Zealand. But Amit's involvment with the show was still over.

Amit resurfaced at the news group and the PRC Message Board. He was open to accept fan questions and to discuss his work. He quickly disapeared once again to his private life. A few years later he did do some interviews for the PRN Message Board. But he never fully returned to the fandom. And in a lot of ways can't do to the NDA he signed where it says he can't do fan projects.

In 2004, Snoopswarner decided to acrhive PROA as part of his Ranger Retrocenter website. This was meant with objections when it was aparent that it was against Amit's wishes. And was against Amit's NDA with Disney. Snoopswarner quietly took the site down at Amit's request. PROA is archived by the Way Back Machine Archive. Which archives most websites on the via cache.

Even though Amit has moved on from the fandom and the show... His lasting impact on the fandom can't be denied. Sites like PROA are few and far between these days. He provided a huge service to the fandom. His work on Wild Force is amazing, based om the fact that he is a fan that got to work on the series. Thats very rare. This all makes Amit a worthy addition to the PRO Hall of Fame.

02/21/11, 02:51 PM	#1
PRangerX Administrator Join Date: 12/04/00 Posts: 4,004	Hall of Fame Inductee 2: Amit Bhaumik Amit Bhaumik is our second inductee into the Power Rangers Online Hall of Fame. He is going in the Fandom Contributors Wing but has the rare distinction of being a fan that actually ended up working on the Power Rangers writing staff. Amit Bhaumik's work as a webmaster left a huge impact on the early era of the fandom. Something that is sometimes forgotten in the history of time. In recent years, he contributed to the actual show as Story Editor of Power Rangers Wild Force. Making him the head writer under the supervision of then ( and returning) showrunner Jonathon Tzachor. Where his crowning achievement seems to be the "Forever Red" team up. Amit was present in the year days of the fandom when the newsgroup was the hub of the fandom. He served as an operator at one point. In a role similar to a message board moderator. Amit was a student at USC. A school that is known for its film program. Amit had webspace on the campus server. He created the Power Rangers Online Archive Websites. Which became an encyclopedia for Power Rangers information. PROA also housed some fan fics. Amit himself had been known to write some fan fics during these days. PROA was considered one of the big three websites. Them being Morphing Grid, PRC, and PROA itself. The website never had a domain name in its history. As most PR fan sites didn't during that era. But became popular none the less. The site's signature images is a picture of Dark Spector that appeared on the banner for most of the sites run. There was often a rotating set of pictures. One was of Bulk and Skull as young and old Elvis. Another running gag was a mystery about who "killed" Lt Stone. Amit was involved in the Scorpion Rain fan hoax. Which was a joke claiming that Austrialia had a special low budget short that wrapped up Power Rangers Zeo ( since the transition from Zeo to the Turbo movie has always been controversal). This sparked a huge debate at the newsgroup. Eventually the hoax was revealed before the people behind it could confessed as originally planned. A short fan film was created that remained unreleased for nearly a decade. Many people incorrectly think that Amit wrote "Scorpion Rain". When in fact he merely provided the voice for Tommy Oliver in the short. Joe Rovang wrote "Scorpion Rain". In 2000, Amit's graduated from USC. Since he was no longer going to be a student, he no longer was going to have access to his student web space. Amit announced that he was closing PROA. He teased that he could bring it back on another free service like geocities, but that never came to pass. So PROA was closed down soon after. Soon after, Amit's webspace was deleted. There was some controversy with the original Power Rangers Online. As Mike Wayne was accused of stealing content from the PROA website for his own website. This was a blemish on the orginal PRO. One that Mike Wayne regretted years later ( our version of PRO contains no pirated information). Amit seemed to disapear from the fandom after his involvement in PROA. But he soon resurfaced in a big way. As in 2001, he was revealed as the Story Editor for Power Rangers Wild Force. This meant Amit had a huge part in the creative direction of the season ( essentially being the head writer). Amit came in with big ideas but a lot of those we're pared down by Jonathon Tzachor who prefered a straight Gaoranger hack. Especially given that Amit was a rookie Story Editor. Amit is only credited as writing a few episodes. But that is decieving. Since television is a group effort. As Story Editor he oversaw the whole writing staff. So he had to review every script and often rewrote them as needed. Due to union rules, Story Editors can only be credited for writing so many episodes. But the episodes Amit did officially write some of Wild Force's most famous episodes. One being the two part "Reinforcements From the Future". Which featured the Power Rangers Time Force/Wild Force Team up. Which is often considered a fan favorite among team ups. The villains of the story we're named after Joe Rovang, Jason Takach, and Jesse Herndon. In rewordings of there names. A prision was named after Chris Funaro. "Forever Red" is probably what Amit and Wild Force itself is most remembered for. Amit gets a lot of credit for getting "Forever Red" done. As new owners, Disney didn't see the value in teams ups involving old toys. Especially when they just had a TF/WF team up. Disney also was concerned about all the production costs associated with Power Rangers at this point. Amit fought for the team up which was only going to be three parts. A compromise was reached when the episode was waded down to one episode. Amit wanted the team up to be about a bunch of clocked figures trying to resurrect Dark Spector. But upper management wanted to use the old Beetleborgs suits. So Amit was forced to shift gears with the Machine Empire revenge plot. Amit used the backstory from the "Scorpion Rain" fan film and worked in Surpenterra being buried on the moon ( which is the reason why people incorrectly think Amit wrote "Scorpion Rain"). Amit orginally planned for a massive Megazord battle to end the episode. But this wasn't possible for budget reasons. Bandai offered to pay for the final sequence if it featured the Wild Force Rider. Amit began planning the next season of Power Rangers, Ninja Storm. He planned it to be almost like the last season of Power Rangers. With some allusions to the past and a big time storyline involving a fictionalized group called Hexagon ( which would be a led by Tommy Oliver). Involving an apocalyptic war between Tommy's Hexagon and the Phantom Ranger. But Disney decided to cancel the show and laid MMPR Productions off. Meaning that Amit was out of a job. PR was quickly revived with a new production staff and change in filming location to New Zealand. But Amit's involvment with the show was still over. Amit resurfaced at the news group and the PRC Message Board. He was open to accept fan questions and to discuss his work. He quickly disapeared once again to his private life. A few years later he did do some interviews for the PRN Message Board. But he never fully returned to the fandom. And in a lot of ways can't do to the NDA he signed where it says he can't do fan projects. In 2004, Snoopswarner decided to acrhive PROA as part of his Ranger Retrocenter website. This was meant with objections when it was aparent that it was against Amit's wishes. And was against Amit's NDA with Disney. Snoopswarner quietly took the site down at Amit's request. PROA is archived by the Way Back Machine Archive. Which archives most websites on the via cache. Even though Amit has moved on from the fandom and the show... His lasting impact on the fandom can't be denied. Sites like PROA are few and far between these days. He provided a huge service to the fandom. His work on Wild Force is amazing, based om the fact that he is a fan that got to work on the series. Thats very rare. This all makes Amit a worthy addition to the PRO Hall of Fame.