Everything about Saban Entertainment totally explained
Saban Entertainment was an independent television production company formed in
1983 by music and television producers
Haim Saban and
Shuki Levy (who also reached the bottom line with the edition of "
Nippon Animation Grimm's Fairy Tales") as "Saban Records", a U.S. subsidiary of "Saban International Paris" (now
SIP Animation) who provided music soundtracks to shows made by other companies (most notably
DiC). In 1984, the company expanded in television production of its own, and was renamed "Saban Productions". Several years later, the company also established "Saban International" (now
Buena Vista International Television), for international distribution of its shows (note: though used interchangeably with "Saban International Paris", they were technically two different entities). Finally, in the early 1990s the company renamed itself "Saban Entertainment".
This company is known for importing,
dubbing, and adapting several
Japanese series such as,
Maple Town (...Stories),
Noozles (Fushigi na Koala Blinky and Printy),
Samurai Pizza Cats (Kyatto Ninden Teyande),
Dragon Ball Z and the first three
Digimon series to
North America and international markets for syndication, including both
animation and
live action shows.
Before moving to the United States, Haim Saban lived a decade in
France, where he founded the aforementioned Saban International Paris, and participated in the
importation of the first Japanese anime and sentai series which started in 1978, by producing the adaptations' score and opening theme. The successful importation of Japanese licenses in France gave him a solid experience and the idea to apply the same principles in a bigger market, the United States, where he moved in 1983.
Saban was involved in the co-production of French/American
anime shows created by
Jean Chalopin for DIC. Some of these early 1980s co-productions were
Ulysses 31,
Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, and
The Mysterious Cities of Gold (the third of which actually was a Japanese anime).
Saban is also notable for their various
toku adapts, which include
Power Rangers (based on the
Super Sentai series),
Beetleborgs (based on Juukou B-Fighters),
VR Troopers (featuring elements of
Metal Heroes series Shaider, Spielban and Metalder), and
Masked Rider (an original interpretation using scenes from the Japanese
Kamen Rider Black RX).
Early operation
Several original animated series were produced for
Marvel Comics, and the company's dubbed products began to rapidly increase as the anime boom began. Through a merger with Fox Children's Entertainment in 1996,
Fox Kids was born (with "Fox Kids Worldwide" as the holding company), although the Fox Kids block had actually been promoting itself officially as "Fox Kids" since 1993; prior to that, they were just simply the "
Fox Kids Network", and all shows at that time had been promoted as airing "on Fox"
During the
anime boom of the 1980s/early-1990s, Saban decided to take a risk and introduce the
Henshin Hero genre to America. In Japan, the
Henshin Hero genre gained a lot of popularity led by manga writer
Shotaro Ishinomori (creator of
Kamen Rider, and co-producer of Toei) who is considered to be the "Father of Henshin Heroes." Meanwhile, in America, the only forms of
tokusatsu that Americans were familiar with were mainly
Godzilla,
Gamera, and
Ultraman.
Shuki Levy decided to adapt a show from the
Super Sentai genre, his first choices being
Sun Vulcan, Bioman and Jetman which became Saban's first choice for the first season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Finally, 1992's Zyuranger was accepted and used for footage in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers' first season in
1993, in conjunction to the release of
Jurassic Park.
There were many doubts about how the series would turn out; surprisingly, the series became a hit. After the success of
Power Rangers, Saban would go on to introduce other genres in Tokusatsu. The
Metal Hero adaptations,
VR Troopers, and
Beetleborgs became hits as well, but ended prematurely due to lack of footage. Ishinomori's
Kamen Rider character was introduced as a Power Rangers spin-off series, but compared to the other adaptations, it didn't fare well in ratings.
Renaming
In October 2001, the group was sold to
Disney as part of the sale of Fox Family Worldwide (now ABC Family) by Haim Saban and the
News Corporation, and renamed
BVS Entertainment. Concurrently, Fox Kids was replaced with the Fox Box (now known as
4Kids TV), featuring a line of shows from 4Kids Entertainment. Disney gained ownership of all Saban's products, and began to air many of them on
ABC Family, and later on
Toon Disney in a programming block called
Jetix. The European Fox Kids channel continued to run under that name until the beginning of 2005, when it was also rebranded as "Jetix", as is the former Fox Kids channel in Latin America.
List of television shows and films
(This list also includes shows made by
DIC Entertainment, which Saban provided the music for. Also, with the exception of Pinocchio, shows produced by "Saban International Paris" feature "Saban's" in their title. This list also includes live-action movies they provided music for.)
1960s
Acquired from
New World Communications. Originally produced by
Grantray-Lawrence Animation.
1970s
Acquired from
New World Communications. Originally produced by
DePatie-Freleng Enterprises (later became
Marvel Productions).
The New Fantastic Four
Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew)|Spider Woman
1980s
The Marvel Comics-based series were acquired from New World Communications. They were originally produced by Marvel Productions.
Adventures of the Little Koala (provided music; show was distributed by Viacom)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
AlfTales
Bumpety Boo
Camp Candy
Dennis the Menace (1986 animated series)
Diplodo
Dungeons and Dragons (distributed rebroadcast version which features an edited version of the original opening with original music)
Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (music for 1983 Filmation series)
Inspector Gadget
I'm Telling!
Kidd Video
Kissyfur
Lazer Tag Academy (produced by Ruby-Spears)
The Legend of Zelda (aired as part of the Super Mario Bros. Super Show)
Macron 1 (adaptation of GoShogun and Srungle)
Maple Town
My Favorite Fairy Tales
The New Archies
Noozles
Ox Tales
Rescue Me
(Filmation)
Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea ("Les Mondes Engloutis")
Spider-Man (1981 TV series)
Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
Super Mario Brothers Super Show!
Treasure Mall
Voltron (music for 1984 WEP English dub)
Wowser
1990s
The Marvel Comics-based series were acquired from New World Communications. They were originally produced by Marvel Productions.
Addams Family Reunion
Adventures of Oliver Twist
Adventures of Pinocchio
All New Captain Kangaroo
Saban's Around the World in 80 Dreams
Bad Dog
Battletech
Beetleborgs
Blind Vision
Bureau of Alien Detectors
The Bots Master (provided music; produced by "Creativite et Developpement", later absorbed by SIP)
Casper Meets Wendy
Christmas Reunion
Creepy Crawlers
Croentin
Diabolik
Digimon
Dragon Ball Z (distributor of English dub produced by Funimation and dubbed by Ocean Studios)
Dragon Warrior
Eagle Riders (adaptation of second Gatchaman series)
Fantastic Four
Flint the Time Detective (Jikuu Tantei Genshi-kun)
Funky Fables
Saban's Gulliver's Travels
Guns of Honor
Heidi
The Incredible Hulk
Iron Man
The Littl' Bits (originally made in 1980)
Little Shop
Mad Jack the Pirate
Masked Rider (Kamen Rider Black RX, ZO, J and Dragon Knight(from Kamen Rider Ryuki)
Maya the Bee (originally made in 1975)
Men of Means
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
(co-production with and distributed by 20th Century Fox)
Monster Rancher (provided music; dubbed by Ocean Studios for BKN)
The Mouse and the Monster
The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog
Power Rangers in Space
Prey of the Chameleon
Saban's Princess Sissi
Revenge on the Highway
Round Trip to Heaven
Saban's Adventures of the Little Mermaid
Samurai Cowboy
Samurai Pizza Cats
Scorch
Silver Surfer
The Secret Files of the Spy Dogs
Space Strikers
Spider-Man Unlimited
Sugar and Spice
Super Pig
Sweet Valley High
Teknoman (adaptation of Tekkaman Blade)
Tenko and the Guardians of the Magic
Till Death Us Do Part
(distributed by 20th Century Fox)
Under Investigation
VR Troopers
Walter Melon
The Why Why Family
WildC.A.T.S.
X-Men (last six episodes)
2000s
Cybersix
Dinozaurs
Escaflowne (edited TV broadcast version with altered music; originally distributed by Bandai Entertainment)
Los Luchadores
Mon Colle Knights (final new series from Saban to be broadcast on Fox Kids)
Pigs Next Door
NASCAR Racers
Shinzo
Media releases
Most Saban owned media from the early 1990s made its way to VHS in most regions. However, from the late nineties on, almost all Saban owned entities were only released as Region 4 (Australia). According to current rights holders in the US, Buena Vista Entertainment, which acquired it through their buyout of the Fox Family Channel, they've no plans to release these films on to DVD, instead, some of it's seen on their daughter networks, Disney Channel, and ABC Family.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Saban Entertainment'.
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