Started by Nightmare Asylum, Sep 30, 2021, 11:55:24 AM
Quote from: Immortan Jonesy on Sep 30, 2021, 09:09:31 PMI've never seen this original Tokusatsu TV Show. Is it better than Pacific Rim or the Power Rangers? I remember seeing Ultraman as a child.
Quote from: StreamOfKaijuness post_id=1808690 time=1615172975 user_id=10731I have watched 79 episodes of the original Kamen Rider on Tubi since Shout! Factory made it available last Spring. Only 19 to go!This show is trashy, no two ways about it, but I dig it. This show is to the Ultra franchise what Gamera vs. Viras is to Destroy All Monsters, a demonstration that cheap production values and minimal creativity can produce something that resonates with kids as much as or moreso than its more expensive and ambitious competition.The Ultraman shows have plenty of formula to them but they clearly try to introduce as many varied story ideas, locations, characters and concepts as they can, whereas Kamen Rider makes about a tenth of that effort to present different things from one episode to the next. Nearly every episode is just Shocker sending out a new cyborg monster, which proceeds to kill and/or kidnap some helpless victims until the Kamen Rider and his FBI pal Taki show up and the music kicks in as they do battle with the cyborg and Shocker's masked goons, then they regroup and discuss what to do next as Shocker makes their next sinister move, usually kidnapping one or more of the Rider's acquaintances to lure him out for the final showdown, which ends when a well-placed "RIDER KICK!" sends the cyborg reeling and it explodes.There aren't many fights that take place on sets and those that do are usually in the Shocker base. Most of the fights are shot on location around the Japanese countryside in quarries, at houses, on bridges and on hillsides. The very sparse special effects shots are poorly edited and often bizarre, like an unraveling necklace meant to represent a melting person. Shocker's cyborg monsters look like Halloween costumes and every single one of them had its voice actor record sound bytes of themselves going "AGH-AGH-AGH!" or "EEE-EEE-EEE! or other vocalizations that get stuttered and repeated endlessly with an echo whenever the cyborg is in action onscreen. Shocker's goons also all have the same high-pitched "EEEEEEEE!" dubbed over them constantly.It may be pure junk food but it's a fun show to watch. Akiji Kobayashi, who played SSSP Captain Muramatsu in the original Ultraman, is also part of the main cast here as Tobei Tachibana, head of the Tachibana Racing Club and a mentor to the Kamen Rider. Hideyo Amamoto shows up midway through the series as a new Shocker general named Doctor Death and he hams it up in the role. Shunsuke Kikuchi provides the music and it sounds similar in style to his score for Gamera vs. Zigra.I watched all 49 episodes of Kamen Rider Kuuga last Summer. It's awesome! Even though it's from the year 2000, the episodes are heavily serialized and it was shot in widescreen so it seems like a show that was made in the streaming era. It's a very inspired series that reimagines the Kamen Rider concept from the ground up while staying true to the classic aesthetics, even featuring adaptations of a few of the original show's monsters. The characters are delightful and it's fun to see them unravel the mystery of everything that's happening as Japan is plagued by unidentified lifeforms. I really like how organically Kuuga's various powers and upgrades are incorporated into the proceedings. While watching the show, it struck me that this was the series that TPC was trying to emulate when they forced Ultraman Nexus to revamp midway through its run.
QuoteShout! Factory TV website: Kamen Rider (1971-1973) - 98 episodes Kamen Rider Kuuga (2000-2001) - 49 episodes Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Forever (2018)Tubi website: Kamen Rider (1971-1973) - 98 episodes Kamen Rider Kuuga (2000-2001) - 49 episodes Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Forever (2018)
