Pen Densham | A Blankbook with Information

Space Rangers is a show that has lasted for one season in 1993, and only six episodes while co-staring one of my favorite actors (Clint Howard). This show is nothing special compared to all the other space adventures that came before and after, but I still wanted to own this. I am a nut about space movies/TV shows.

Image 1. The Space Ranger logo from TV Share.

Time Line

1993

Ranger Productions, Trilogy Entertainment Group, RHI Entertainment produced the TV show and in CBS broadcast the show for only six episodes. Space Rangers was released not only in the United States but also Australia, Sweden, Germany, and Finland (IMDB).

1995

In 1995 three volumes were sold in the VHS format through RHI and Cabin Fever Entertainment.

1997

Released in Japan, under the distributor NHK (IMDB). At this time a DVD was released as well under Region 2 (Japan, Europe, South Africa, and the Middle East, including Egypt) (Amazon) (Movie and TV Showing Devices: Part 2: By Region).

Image 2. An image captured from Amazon.com under the listing Space Rangers.

2013

Then on October 15, 2013 a region 1 DVD was released by the distributor Mill Creek Entertainment (Amazon). The current version that is being hold has two discs. The first disc is all six episodes, and the second are all six episodes grouped together to make three movies.

Production & Distributors

Production Companies
Ranger Productions Inc. (Defunct)
RHI Entertainment (Name Change and Mergers)
Trilogy Entertainment Group

Distributors
Cabin Fever Entertainment (Defunct)
CBS
Mill Creek Entertainment
NHK (Japan)

Above is the list of production and distribution companies that have worked on Space Rangers according to IMDB. Take into account that each company is linked to the IMDB page. The problem with using only IMDB is that they list each episode separately, so for the Space Rangers, that would be six individual listings.

Image 3.

Ranger Productions

Ranger Productions is a defunct company without an official website. Ranger Productions was formed to develop Space Rangers.

Cabin Fever, RHI, and Sonar Entertainment?

Cabin Fever Entertainment is both defunct and no website. Cabin Fever Entertainment did distribute movies and television shows (on VHS), but mysteriously became null and void. When one types “Cabin Fever Entertainment” into the search engine Wikipedia is one of the top results, but the link is for Sonar Entertainment. This claims that RHI Entertainment and Cabin Fever Entertainment are both part of Hallmark Entertainment.

A Yahoo Answers from 2007, that someone asked how to contact Cabin Fever Entertainment. The only reply said that Cabin Fever Entertainment did not exist, but Hallmark Entertainment has the rights to some of the properties.

I have not seen evidence of the ownership of Sonar Entertainment (at one-point Sonar Entertainment was Hallmark and before that it was RHI Entertainment) owns Cabin Fever Entertainment. It is true that RHI Entertainment was bought by Hallmark Cards (for the sappy programing), and then changed the name to Hallmark Entertainment (ADWEEK Eastern Edition 1994, May), then after a bankruptcy between 2010 through 2012 the name changed to Sonar Entertainment (Screen International 2012, April). A distribution deal was made with RHI back in 1992, but only a deal (Billboard, 1992 Feb). There is evidence of a distribution deal, which means they only held the rights to certain prints, but not the actual copyrights.

Part of piecing all the information together Cabin Fever Entertainment disbanded in 1997 or 98. There is an article from Video Business states that Cabin Fever Entertainment paid their debts in 1998 after being disbanded a year ago (Video Business 1998).

UPDATE (7/24/2014)

There as something that I missed, and I had a funky feeling that I could not throw away. But I found it. On March 2, 1998 Cabin Fever Entertainment sold all the rights to RHI/Hallmark. The official date that Cabin Fever Entertainment kicked the bucket was on March 2, 1998 (Goldstein, S. 1998) (Reed V. Freebird Film Productions 2009). This was not a merger, but just the rights sold.

Trilogy Entertainment Group

Trilogy Entertainment Group is an independent film company that has been around since 1984 founded by John Watson and Pen Densham (Trilogy Entertainment Group Website).

CBS

We all know about CBS. I will be saving CBS for a later time.

Mill Creek Entertainment

They were founded in 2002 from Golden Valley, Minnesota. This is the company that sells old seasons of TV programing for cheap, and pack deals that are partially or mostly in public domain for a decent cost.

Video Lists (Official Websites)

Reviews, Memories, Reflections, etc…

References

(1992, Feb.). Cabin Fever signs distribution deal with RHI. Billboard, 104(5), 54. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA11862383&v=2.1&u=drexel_main&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=44d585f112b89505e62561e6f128d862

(1994, May). Hallmark buys RHI. ADWEEK Eastern Edition, 35(18), 12. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA15424329&v=2.1&u=drexel_main&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=c1c8683dbcf77a4c1009b45ffce51d58

(1998). Despite disbanding, cabin fever gave promised $100,000 to retailers. Video Business, 18(28), 32. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/223923635?accountid=10559

(2012, April). Stewart Till named CEO of Sonar Entertainment. Screen International, Retrieved from http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic

fin73, A.Ryan (2007), How can i contact cabin fever Entertainment?, Yahoo Answers, retrieved from https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070921164257AAGZLpy

Goldstein, S. (1998). Handleman loses handle on video; hallmark gets a case of cabin fever. Billboard, 110(12), 93. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/227085135?accountid=10559

Reed V. Freebird Film Productions, 1:08-cv-01761-CAB Doc #: 96 (09/22/09)

Space Rangers: Release dates. IMDB, retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106144/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_dt_dt

Space Rangers: Company details. IMDB, retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106144/companycredits?ref_=tt_dt_co

Notes

Image 1 is the Space Ranger logo from TV Share.
Image 2 was a captured shot from Amazon.
Image 3 is a creation by me, and it is mine.
I have 7 sources that I have created in the reference section.
I have reference one actor and and one TV show with the help form IMDB.
I have referenced 6 to 8 (depending on which ones you count) movie/TV (production/distributing) companies.
Some links are to IMDB, and some are to the corporations official site.