Masked Rider (TV series)

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Kamen Rider BLACK RX

Masked Rider is an American adaptation of the Japanese television show Kamen Rider Black RX, one of the many sequels of the popular Kamen Rider franchise. It was produced by Saban and aired in 1995. It was a spin-off of the show Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (which was based on the Super Sentai series).

The main title character of Masked Rider was featured on a 3-part Power Rangers episode before his own series was started. The Rangers themselves were never mentioned in the Masked Rider TV show, however, as Saban reformated the series to sever links with Power Rangers, the popularity for which had been gradually beginning to slide following the first movie, although the Rangers made a guest appearance in Masked Rider's short-lived comic book adaptation.

Plot

The series began with the character of Dex escaping the Plague Patrol with a small group of Edenoi rebels, before leaving for Earth, the next target of his sinsiter uncle Count Dregan, who ruled Edenoi with an iron fist after displacing Dex's grandfather, the king, who also gave Dex the Masked Rider powers (though where the powers came from is a mystery).

Arriving on Earth in a massive crater, Dex finds himself in the care of the Stewart family, a multiracial group with a white father and daughter (Molly), an asian wife, and a black son (Albee). The addition of an extra Stewart was not noticed by anyone in Leawood, the town the series took place in.

Edenoi was mentioned in Power Rangers as the planet where Alpha 5 (and presumably the Alpha line of robots) was created, though not one single building or factory to be seen on the planet surface of Edenoi, it is largly assumed Dregon's domination of the planet was absolute and rendered it a dying husk. Indeed, the original storyline saw Dex being despatched to Earth by his Grandfather King Lexian as Edenoi was prepared to explode, ripping into an aspect of the Superman mythology. The scene in which Dex is given his powers by Lexian (a scene which differs from the telivised version) remains in the title sequence, possibly one of the few remaining aspects of the original pilot.

Dex's Masked Rider armor was also eventually given upgrades to change into "Masked Rider Super Gold" a gold and black variation coming with a powerful laser rifle, and "Masked Rider Suber Blue", a blue and grey variation with the power of liquified teleportation.

The Edenoi race are descended from bugs, not apes. Dex is not aware that humans did not evolve from bugs (as he discovered in an episode where he gives a report about how humans evolved from insects). Edenoi humans also possess telepathic abilities that are focused through a gem in the forehead, which can be hidden telepathically, though in times of stress can become visible. The gem is capable of focusing mental energy, as well as creating mental imagery that can be shared with others.

Dex apparently possesses the knowledge needed to detoxify Leawood's rivers using solar-powered lasers.

Dex had a furry friend named Ferbus, a small bear/duck-like creature that followed him to Earth. Ferbus was kept hidden by Molly and Albee because the father is allergic to fur. Furbus is eventually revealed to the entire family during the course of the series.

Dex is a loquacious individual. In the first episode, Molly and Albee told him to speak like a regular person, and that he could learn how to do that by watching TV. Sadly, Dex misunderstood and speaks like a television show announcer.

Masked Rider ran for just 40 episodes before it was cancelled.

Despite the use of the official English-translated name of "Kamen Rider" in general ("Masked Rider") in the title, at the demands of Toei and creator Shotaro Ishinomori, many American fans of Kamen Rider hated this Americanized adaptation and would rather disavow its existence. Masked Rider, unlike Power Rangers, was not a flawless transistion in adapting the footage for Kamen Rider, and glaring errors would occur time and again, as the team began using footage from completly different Kamen Rider series and movies to the extent not even long distance shots could disguise the fact the Masked Rider costume in such footage did not resemble the costume used in the U.S. version on the most frequent basis.

Rumors

The series has long been a target of unfounded U.S. comeback rumors in the fandoms of Power Rangers, Sentai, and Kamen Rider fans alike, each hoping for a new, more accurate and less sloppy interpretation than the original had offered, but this may never happen. The most notable rumor concerning Kamen Rider coming back to the U.S. was in 2003 with false announcement of "Future Dragon Rider," a new Masked Rider series done by Disney using the footage from 2002's smash hit, Kamen Rider Ryuki. It was supposed to premiere alongside "Power Rangers Reloaded" (which would later to be revealed as 2003's Power Rangers Dino Thunder). Despite being a false rumor, the backlash continues to this day mostly because a majority of those who were being introduced to the henshin hero genre (mostly those from the Power Rangers fandom) watched Kamen Rider Ryuki as their first legit tokusatsu show and greatly accepted by many from the "adapt" community. Many feared another "hack job." Whether or not another Masked Rider series will be made is anyone's guess, but based on the fan following, it wouldn't be surprising if Disney would consider the idea.

Monsters

These are the monsters used by Count Dregon and are destroyed by the Masked Rider:

• Destructosphere
• Beetletron
• Larvatron
• Mandible
• Mothitron
• Crimson Creeper
• Robo Rider
• Edentada
• Termasect
• Slimeasect
• Recyclotron
• Fire Bug
• Hydrasect
• Arachnida
• Robosect
• The Skull Reapers
• Heliotoid
• Tentaclon
• Blue-Fanged Louse
• Cyborsect
• Tripron
• Turtletron
• Water Bug
• Fleazoid
• Twister Bug
• Boulder Beetle
• Reptosect
• Ultivore
• Solarsect
• Dregonator
• Lavasect
• Cyborgator
• Manosect
• Revenator
• Catatron
• Spearavore
• Space Monkey
• Bananatex
• Bruticon
• Ocusect
• Lobstatron
• Predavore
• Brain Mite

Cast

• Ted Jan Roberts (credited as T.J. Roberts): Dex
  • Tetsuo Kurata: Dex (Black RX footage)
• Rheannon J. Slover: Molly
• Ashton McArn: Albee
• David Stenstrom: Hal
• Candace Kita: Barbara
• Libby Letlow: Patsy
• Don Yanan: Chalmers
• Matthew Bates: Herbie
• Verne Troyer: Ferbus
  • Paul Pistore: Ferbus (voice)
• Jason Narvy: Combat Chopper (voice)
• Wendee Lee: Magno (voice)
• Peter Shinkoda: Ferrian
• Ken Merckx (credited as Ken Ring): Count Dregon
  • Toshimichi Takahashi: Count Dregon (Black RX Footage)
• Jennifer Tung: Nefaria
  • Junko Takahata: Nefaria (Black RX footage)
• Takayuki Kitamura: Cyclopter (Black RX Foootage)
  • Steve Kramer: Cyclopter (voice)
• Julie Maddalena: Fact (voice)
• Minoru Watanabe: Gork (Black RX footage)
  • Michael McConnohie: Gork (voice)
• Yoshikazu Fujiki: Doubleface (Black RX footage)
  • Michael Sorich: Double Face (voice)

Trivia

• The series used footage from Kamen Rider Black RX, Kamen Rider ZO, and Kamen Rider J. The ZO footage was used in the pilot episode, "Escape from Edenoi" and the J Footage was used in the episode, "Saturday Morning Invasion."

• The cut editing in Masked Rider was so bad that you could see the face of Japanese Actor, Tetsuo Kurata's character, Minami Kotaro (Kamen Rider Black RX's civilian form). The same goes for the terrible editing between the RX Footage and the ZO and J Footage.

• Note that only Dregon & Nefaria appear in the American footage while the other main villians are provided with the Black RX footage.

• The character of Herbie, the next door neighbor, was portrayed by Matt Bates, who would go on to great acclaim as a successful, out-of-work actor.

• Ferbus was portrayed by Verne Troyer, the actor who would go on to play the Mini-Me character in the Austin Powers movies: "The Spy Who Shagged Me" and "Gold Member." Ironically, Ferbus looks strikingly similar to a Furby toy; which didn't come out until later on in the 90s.

• Wendee Lee & Jason Narvy were well known for their roles in Power Rangers for the roles of Scorpina (in voice) & Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch. In contrast to Kamen Rider Black RX, Ridon (Magno) had an male-voice.

• In the Japanese run, it was common near the end of the series for the heroes of previous Kamen Rider series to team up with the current hero against the leader of his enemies. These characters actually appeared in an episode near the end of Masked Rider as well, supposedly the Edenoi warriors who had wielded the Masked Rider powers before Dex, in the episode "Invasion of Leawood." Their original names are kept, but except for ZX are all ascribed to the wrong Kamen Riders (Skyrider is Amazon, Amazon is Riderman, etc.); meanwhile, some had to be renamed, specifically Stronger became Strongman.

• The Black RX weapon the Riboken, known on Saban's Masked Rider as the Electro Saber, finished off monster by shooting fireballs at the monster; in the Japanese version, the weapon was thrusted into the monster then slowly sawed in half. That was an obvious edit by censors, who probably felt that the original footage was extremely violent in nature to be used in children's programming.

• The Masked Rider/Mighty Morphin Power Rangers team up is the closest thing to a Kamen Rider/Super Sentai Team Up. So far, the only other tokusatsu hero that Kamen Rider (of any incarnation) has teamed up with was Ultraman.