WHy would they go with V3 and not do the original first? Or at all?

Because V3 is the one that aired in Hawaii in the 70s. Generation Kikaida's releases (Kikaider, Kikaider 01, V3, and Inazuman) all somehow ended up on Hawaiian TV back then. The V3 release has nothing to do with it being part of the Kamen Rider franchise and is all about it being one of the cool Japanese shows that some Hawaiian adults look back on with nostalgic fondness.

There were also licensing costs as well. If I remember correctly Generation Kikaida/JN Productions had considered bringing over the original series after their success bringing back Kikaider, but the costs for such a large series were too much for them as they're a rather small company, and since their agreement with Toei is technically limited to Hawaii, the small print runs on these sets makes it even harder on them.

Things have been stagnate with GenerationKiakida for quite a while. I'm sure because fan support has waned over the years. They did renew their license for V3 a couple years ago though to do a new print run. However their last new DVD set was Inazuman back in 2008. And whether or not they will ever release the sequel Inazuman Flash or any other additional Tokusatsu is still up in the air.

The only reason I watched these two films was only to see the redesigns of 1,2, and V3 fighting Shocker.

The first and the next both had some amazing fight scenes in it. The one were they fight on the bikes in the NExt being one of my favrioutes

I want want want a Next or 2 helmet sooo damn bad...

Today I saw the clip of The Next when Hongo/Rider 1 was teaching his demonic students and one of them flashed him on YouTube. At that point I felt I saw enough and went back to the Google mainpage.

Toshiki Inoue needs to just give up writing for toku series and go directly to soaps. They may be a BETTER use of his time.

Having only read the first post, I wanted to agree that I ended up liking The Next more than The First. I, too, didn't know much about it compared to The First, but I also didn't hear anything bad of it. I do want to state though, that BECAUSE of these movies, I have a huge appreciation of Ichigo and Nigo. Unfortunately for fans of Ichigo/Nigo out there, I prefer their Heisei/movie versions more than the originals.