What Are You Watching? (American Toku Edition)

Locke · 08-07-2013, 01:51 PM

This is what head writer Nathan Long said on the inception of the show,

Quote:

Part of the reason had to do with the US market. You can’t have straight up murder on kid shows in the US, and so the concept of the Rider War seemed a little too harsh. But I think a bigger reason was that we wanted to make something original – something that came out of our heads rather than just a carbon copy of an old show.

Believe me, if someone had come to us and asked us to make a completely new Toku show from the ground up, without adapting some previous property, we would have jumped at the chance. That would have been so cool! The decision to use the Ryuki footage was the producers’, and it was primarily budgetary. They didn’t have a lot of money, and re-using existing action scenes was a lot cheaper than shooting new ones. Also, Kamen Rider has world wide name recognition, where as ‘Steve and Nathan’s Super Cool Hero Show’ does not.

So, given the task to make an American show out of Ryuki, we decided that we would do something completely different. If we’d tried a straight adaptation we would have only ended up making a watered down “child safe” version of the original, and we didn’t want that. That would be lame. If people want the old show, its available, and better than any US adaptation could ever be. We made a completely new show that can be watched as something entirely separate, and which stands on its own two power-armored feet.

Quote:

Our goal from the beginning was to give Kamen Rider Dragon Knight the weight and drama of the original series. The last thing we wanted to do was to infantilize it. Kamen Rider has never been the kind of bouncy super sentai show Power Rangers was. It has always been a superhero drama, and that’s how we pitched it. We didn’t get it without a fight. Our bosses got cold feet a couple times and would come and say, “Can you put more humor in it?” and “Does it have to be so dark?” but eventually I think they realized that we knew what we were doing and left us alone.

The funny thing was, at the beginning, I think they wanted us to do a goofy “monster of the week” show with all the Kamen Riders going out and fighting as a team, just like Power Rangers, but… well, look at the action footage from Ryuki. It just doesn’t support that kind of story at all. The Kamen Riders fight the occasional monster, but most of the time they’re pounding the living crap out of each other. There was just no way we could make it look like they all lived in a big club house and went surfing together. When the bosses finally realized that, things went a lot smoother.

And his feelings on Ryuki

Quote:

Some of it was incredibly cool, and the basic story line of a madman pitting these poor saps against each other so that one could win his fondest dream was cool, and we took some of that for Dragon Knight too.

There were other parts that I wasn’t so hot on. I didn’t care for the comedy relief at the TV station. I didn’t think we needed to have Len and Kit wearing aprons and working in a tea shop either. There was a fair amount of girly soap opera stuff that I thought we could do without. But the fights and the infighting between the riders was terrific stuff, and it’s that feeling of never knowing who your friends are that we borrowed most heavily from Ryuki.

ZeoRangerV · 08-07-2013, 01:54 PM

And they did a magnificent job of it. Like I said before, while there may be Power Rangers series out there that I enjoyed more, if someone asked me for the best example of a well-adapted American toku this would probably be what I give them.

Well, this or RPM.

Dr Kain · 08-07-2013, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZeoRangerV

The bad:
- 3 clip shows is way too much. The last episode is a clip show? No wonder your show got cancelled before it ended.

The worst was having the final episode be half of a clip show. THE FINAL EPISODE!!!!!

ZeoRangerV · 08-07-2013, 01:56 PM

It wasn't even half, the epilogue was literally about 6 minutes

losondro · 08-07-2013, 02:22 PM

Question is: if we did continue Kamen rider in america, would it have gone over well from 555 to what ever series we adapt to now?

algo448 · 08-07-2013, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by losondro

Question is: if we did continue Kamen rider in america, would it have gone over well from 555 to what ever series we adapt to now?

I think that the producers of Dragon Knight mentioned that they were interested in Kabuto not Faiz.

So nope, we wouldn't have got adaptations of all Rider shows that follow Ryuki.

Sentai · 08-07-2013, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by algo448

I think that the porducers of Dragon Knight mentioned that they were interested in Kabuto not Faiz.

So nope, we wouldn't have got adaptations of all Rider shows that follow Ryuki.

Faiz... Saban did trademark Power Rider. You dont think maybe?

algo448 · 08-07-2013, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sentai

Faiz... Saban did trademark Power Rider. You dont think maybe?

I guess, but most likely they would try to go for a more recent series.

Then again no news have surfaced about Power Rider in a long time, so anything (or nothing) can happen.

Locke · 08-07-2013, 04:52 PM

You know the one thing that makes me wonder why Ryuki was chosen? The number of Riders, it seems obvious, but hear me out. I'm fairly new to Super Sentai but of the Super Sentai I have seen, it's VERY action heavy and very drama light with a lot of the drama being squashed into the suit fighting, that isn't a criticism, it's just how I see it.

Kamen Rider on the other hand is much more of a drama...with superheroes in it, Kamen Rider has about one fight for about about four in Super Sentai (more if you count the mech battles as a separate thing) and as suit footage is all you can use, you may as well get your bang for your buck, so I'm assuming they'll want a show like say Fourze since he has loads of switches or a show like OOO with his thousands of forms to make up for how little footage they could use in relation to Super Sentai.

Of course this is all speculation and has no bearing on real life.

Matrixbeast · 08-07-2013, 04:54 PM

No, you're right on the money for why Ryuki was chosen, and why Kabuto was rumored for the next series.
A large number of riders means a large number of toys to market.

08-07-2013, 01:51 PM	#831
Locke Big Bad Wolf. Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Raiding tombs. Posts: 9,529	This is what head writer Nathan Long said on the inception of the show, Quote: Part of the reason had to do with the US market. You can’t have straight up murder on kid shows in the US, and so the concept of the Rider War seemed a little too harsh. But I think a bigger reason was that we wanted to make something original – something that came out of our heads rather than just a carbon copy of an old show. Believe me, if someone had come to us and asked us to make a completely new Toku show from the ground up, without adapting some previous property, we would have jumped at the chance. That would have been so cool! The decision to use the Ryuki footage was the producers’, and it was primarily budgetary. They didn’t have a lot of money, and re-using existing action scenes was a lot cheaper than shooting new ones. Also, Kamen Rider has world wide name recognition, where as ‘Steve and Nathan’s Super Cool Hero Show’ does not. So, given the task to make an American show out of Ryuki, we decided that we would do something completely different. If we’d tried a straight adaptation we would have only ended up making a watered down “child safe” version of the original, and we didn’t want that. That would be lame. If people want the old show, its available, and better than any US adaptation could ever be. We made a completely new show that can be watched as something entirely separate, and which stands on its own two power-armored feet. Quote: Our goal from the beginning was to give Kamen Rider Dragon Knight the weight and drama of the original series. The last thing we wanted to do was to infantilize it. Kamen Rider has never been the kind of bouncy super sentai show Power Rangers was. It has always been a superhero drama, and that’s how we pitched it. We didn’t get it without a fight. Our bosses got cold feet a couple times and would come and say, “Can you put more humor in it?” and “Does it have to be so dark?” but eventually I think they realized that we knew what we were doing and left us alone. The funny thing was, at the beginning, I think they wanted us to do a goofy “monster of the week” show with all the Kamen Riders going out and fighting as a team, just like Power Rangers, but… well, look at the action footage from Ryuki. It just doesn’t support that kind of story at all. The Kamen Riders fight the occasional monster, but most of the time they’re pounding the living crap out of each other. There was just no way we could make it look like they all lived in a big club house and went surfing together. When the bosses finally realized that, things went a lot smoother. And his feelings on Ryuki Quote: Some of it was incredibly cool, and the basic story line of a madman pitting these poor saps against each other so that one could win his fondest dream was cool, and we took some of that for Dragon Knight too. There were other parts that I wasn’t so hot on. I didn’t care for the comedy relief at the TV station. I didn’t think we needed to have Len and Kit wearing aprons and working in a tea shop either. There was a fair amount of girly soap opera stuff that I thought we could do without. But the fights and the infighting between the riders was terrific stuff, and it’s that feeling of never knowing who your friends are that we borrowed most heavily from Ryuki. __________________ Last edited by Locke; 08-07-2013 at 01:55 PM..

08-07-2013, 01:54 PM	#832
ZeoRangerV Kawaii 5-0 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Cardiff, United Kingdom Posts: 12,851	And they did a magnificent job of it. Like I said before, while there may be Power Rangers series out there that I enjoyed more, if someone asked me for the best example of a well-adapted American toku this would probably be what I give them. Well, this or RPM. __________________ My Shiny Toy Robots: Toku, Anime & Toy Reviews

08-07-2013, 01:56 PM	#834
ZeoRangerV Kawaii 5-0 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Cardiff, United Kingdom Posts: 12,851	It wasn't even half, the epilogue was literally about 6 minutes __________________ My Shiny Toy Robots: Toku, Anime & Toy Reviews

08-07-2013, 02:22 PM	#835
losondro Resident priest of Godoka Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,176	Question is: if we did continue Kamen rider in america, would it have gone over well from 555 to what ever series we adapt to now? __________________ Necrozma, thirsts for your light!

08-07-2013, 04:14 PM	#836
algo448 Amateur Procrastinator Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Colombia Posts: 7,491	Quote: Originally Posted by losondro Question is: if we did continue Kamen rider in america, would it have gone over well from 555 to what ever series we adapt to now? I think that the producers of Dragon Knight mentioned that they were interested in Kabuto not Faiz. So nope, we wouldn't have got adaptations of all Rider shows that follow Ryuki. __________________ *DA // Tumblr // Youtube* Last edited by algo448; 08-07-2013 at 04:42 PM..