Interview with John Tellegen

John Tellegen, a longtime writer for Power Rangers, agreed to do an e-mail interview with us, since timing and whatnot wouldn't allow him to actually have a phone chat on the show. Tellegen started out on the show as a writer's assistant with Ninja Storm, started writing episodes with the widely-enjoyed "Shane's Karma" two-parter and the rest from there was history. Tellegen stayed with the show for seven seasons. Enjoy!

How did you first end up writing for Power Rangers?

I wrote a feature film that Doug Sloan read. From there he hired me as the writer's assistant for Ninja Storm. I pitched the story for "Shane's Karma" and the rest is history. Doug is still a good friend of mine, and a great guy. He launched my career.

As someone with one of the longest tenures on the writing staff, what appealed to you about writing it?

As any writer will tell you, your first paid writing gig is the hardest to land. I was very excited for the opportunity. I think the best thing about Rangers is the fact that almost anything can happen - it's fantasy. A format like Rangers opens all the doors of possibility.

Inversely, what do you think about the show and its writing appeals to others?

I can only guess, but it seems to me that Rangers in some way helped spark the "superhero" craze that we are living in now. For many kids, Power Rangers is their entry point. Beyond that, who knows what makes anything a hit.

Jackie and Greg had mentioned the production staff weren't allowed furniture during the Kalish years, to encourage activity rather than sitting around. Did the writer's room finally get chairs after Bruce left?

Not sure - I never heard that. But I can say that I always had a chair of some sort. Did Bruce ever confirm this? Funny.

What was your favorite episode to write?

Jeez, I wrote close to 50 and helped (as we all did) on countless others. Over the years, the tone changed because of different showrunners and notes from Disney (make it funnier, now it's too funny, make it scarier, now make it more exciting, wait, why isn't it funny anymore?)... Even though it wasn't well received by many on RB, the first draft of Ocean Alert was hilarious and a blast to write. I even stuck a review on my refrigerator that referred to me as "Craptacular" -- It's become part of my lexicon.

What was your favorite episode you didn't write?

I wrote an episode of RPM that never made it to camera. It was a heartfelt Flynn story. There were a few reasons why it was hijacked - I don't want to get into specifics - but it's unfortunate. You guys would have liked it.

Saban PR would often continue a cast or seasonal premise and adapt the next Sentai as a continuation. If you could have continued a cast or seasonal premise beyond its source footage, which one would you have picked?

Interesting question. When you do a new season every year with new characters etc., you run over some of the same ground - the first episodes are spent meeting the characters, getting them powers, setting up the premise, etc. It's hard though to bridge seasons because the source footage could go from dinosaurs to space - not impossible, but tricky. I think my favorite cast was the Ninja Storm crew - though I liked SPD a lot as well. I thought it would be cool to do a whole season using our favorite actors/characters from the previous seasons. Almost like a dream team season. Never happened.

Were there even discussions about adapting Shinkenger, or was the
writing always on the wall for the entire year?

The writing was on the wall every year! Then we would get the word that we were doing another season. We never knew until the last hour. Always remember that the fate of our favorite shows on any network rests on a spreadsheet on the desk of a businessman or woman in an office we will never see. You just keep working until the axe falls.