Producer Adi Shankar has fought the fight and it looks like he may have, for the time being, won the war. A month ago his bootleg short Power/Rangers: Unauthorized & Hardcore was pulled from YouTube for copyright issues only to be later reinstated after an agreement was reached with Saban Entertainment. Now, similarly, his latest bootleg production James Bond: In Service of Nothing has also seemingly conquered its YouTube copyright disputes and, after being pulled earlier this month, has thus reappeared on the popular video streaming site.
James Bond: In Service of Nothing, which now goes by just In Service of Nothing, was uploaded at the beginning of the month, receiving generally good word of mouth due to its gritty feel and stylistic reshaping of the iconic character we’ve come to love over the years. But, according to Deadline, after only 12 hours of life on the internet, the Tyler Gibb-directed short animated film was taken down from the streaming service after MGM made claims that it broke copyright of their property.
The film’s producer, Shankar, weighed in on the situation, moments after the video was pulled. “I have the utmost respect for MGM and the iconic character of James Bond, and although I believe my video is clearly a parody of James Bond, I will refrain from reposting it online out of respect.”
Now, only a few weeks after the short animated film was initially removed, In Service of Nothing has been reposted and the Google/YouTube copyright strike against Shankar has been removed. The short has reportedly removed some of the original artwork used in the presentation and James Bond is no longer included in the title, but other than that it appears to be intact. If you haven’t yet seen it, check it out below.
In Service of Nothing is a throwback homage of sorts to the ‘60s-era Bond played by Sean Connery and explores what it might be like if the aging secret agent were still around today. Feeling beaten down by the modern world, and his license revoked, Bond decides to come out of retirement to take on one last job in an attempt to prove his relevance.
William Fanelli is a regular contributor to Flickering Myth – You can follow him on Twitter
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