News

In its 30-year run, the Power Rangers have only had two live-action crossover events with franchises outside their own. The first one came as early as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, when the team crossed paths with Masked Rider, while also serving as a backdoor pilot for that character as well. But it was the second and final crossover that crystallized what most '90s kids had only dreamed of to that point: bringing together the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchises.

Kamen Rider is a popular franchise in Japan, with the series being one of the premiere names in the tokusatsu genre. Combining costumed, motorcycle-riding heroes with monsters and mayhem, the series and the heroes who bear its name have remained steadfast staples in Japanese pop culture. That success hasn't been matched in the West, though one TV series certainly tried to make that happen.

Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight was the second attempt to bring the masked motorcycle heroes to Western viewers. Made somewhat in the same vein as the Power Rangers, it sadly didn't do much to make the property mainstream outside Japan. However, was still far better than an infamous predecessor, and it likely could have succeeded with a few changes.

Related: Power Rangers TV Series Departs Production in New Zealand

Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight Was the Second (and Last) American Kamen Rider Series

Running from 2008 to 2009, Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight...

The first Kamen Rider series premiered in 1971, and since then there have been dozens of series with different characters, but the best leave lasting impressions on the audience. The Japanese term "Tokusatsu" refers to films or TV series that make use of a lot of special effects, and they tend to deal with monsters and various sci-fi elements. A prime example of this is the earlier Godzilla films and the Japanese Super Sentai shows that Power Rangers is based on. Besides Super Sentai, there is also the long-running Kamen Rider series.

Going strong for over 50 years and 30 seasons, the cultural influence of Kamen Rider is undeniable. Two minor planets have been named in honor of the series, one of them being "12796 Kamenrider." The cream of the crop from Kamen Rider's franchise range from the early days of the franchise to modern retellings of those original stories and everything in between.

From director Hideaki Anno (Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman), live action reboot Shin Kamen Rider recently opened in Japanese theaters, and is finally poised to make its North American premiere thanks to Japan Society.

Japan Society’s North American premiere event for Shin Kamen Rider will take place on May 23, in partnership with Fathom Events and Toei Co. Ltd., who will bring the film to over 700 theaters around the U.S. for one night only on May 31.

Judging by the action-filled trailer, this sounds like an event you won’t want to miss.

In the film, “Hongo Takeshi awakens to discover he has been transformed into a grasshopper-hybrid cyborg. Becoming the Masked Rider, he must fight the mysterious evil organization Shocker to protect all of mankind. Shin Kamen Rider is Anno Hideaki’s ode to the legendary tokusatsu franchise, Japan’s biggest hero, and his dearest childhood icon. Go! Go! Let’s go!

It was a time of myth and legend. A time of ancient gods. It was the ‘90s and some of the biggest shows on TV were Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, starring Kevin Sorbo, and its spinoff Xena: Warrior Princess, starring Lucy Lawless. Following the exploits of heroes loosely inspired by Greco-Roman mythology, both series ran for six seasons in syndication and were so popular that other companies in the entertainment industry were looking to cash in.

One of them was Saban Entertainment, most famous for creating the mega hit Power Rangers. According to longtime Saban Entertainment producer Robert Hughes, who spoke to this author in 2013 about his time working at Saban, the company was intrigued by the idea of doing a “juvenile version” of Hercules and Xena. The hope was that a series could be developed that was different enough but strongly reminiscent of those shows. The problem was that...

If there’s any show that took a heavy dose of inspiration from Power Rangers back in the ‘90s and still brings back fond(ish) memories, it’s without question Big Bad Beetleborgs. Premiering in 1996 on Fox Kids and running two seasons, the show was another hybrid of stock Japanese action footage and original American shot scenes. The series memorably featured not only a cast of kid heroes who’d transform into the titular Beetleborgs but also a gang of horror movie monsters that provided comic relief. This included the character of Flabber, who can only be described as the ghost of Jay Leno if he was turned into a Blue Meanie from Yellow Submarine. Even if people don’t remember the Beetleborgs themselves, they always remember that strange character … perhaps have nightmares of him.

But there was very nearly a different version of Beetleborgs, one that featured some stark...

Major Japanese film producer and distributor Toei has announced new three entries for its “Kamen Rider 50th Anniversary” project.

The biggest is “Shin Kamen Rider,” a sci-fi actioner being scripted and directed by Anno Hideaki, the creator of the “Evangelion” sci-fi/fantasy franchise and the co-director of the 2016 box office smash “Shin Godzilla.” The live-action film is scheduled to open in March 2023 with international releases to be date-and-date. Casting, story and other information on the film was not forthcoming though in a statement Anno said that he wants to make an “entertainment that even those who don’t know the original show can enjoy.”

Also announced was “Kamen Rider Black Sun,” a reboot of an iconic tokusatsu (“special effects”) TV series originally broadcast in 1987-88. The new series will be directed by Shiraishi Kazuya (“Blood of Wolves”) for a Summer 2022 start.

Toei will also make its first Kamen Rider anime series,...

Haim Saban's Saban Capital Group has launched Saban Films, a distribution company with plans to acquire 8 to 10 feature films per year for North American distribution. Rlj Entertainment vet Bill Bromiley has been tapped as president of the new company. Bromiley will begin in Cannes this month, looking to acquire commercial, talent-driven films in various states of production. Story: Nab: Haim Saban Urges Creation of a New Broadcast Standard for All Platforms Saban, the billionaire producer behind Power Rangers, Masked Rider and Vr Troopers, has plans to partner on the films with a major studio distribution partner and

read more...

Shamus Kelley Mar 3, 2019

The explosion of Ameri-Toku in the wake of Power Rangers' success met with mixed results. We rank 'em all.

When Power Rangers exploded onto the scene in 1993 it became a global phenomenon. Sold out toy shelves, live appearances, and merchandising galore. It was the hottest property since Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the '80s. It’s no surprise Saban, the creators of the series, wanted to ride the bandwagon they created and in turn they (and others) developed several shows to ride the coattails of Power Rangers, referred to by fans as “Ameri-Toku” series. That's short for American Tokusatsu, Tokusatsu being the Japanese word for these subgenre of superhero shows.

There was a lot of these shows so we decided to rank them all from worst to best!

7. Kamen Rider Dragon Knight

The second adaption of the popular Japanese franchise on our native soil had a ton of ambition.