Why do you guys think Dragon Knight didn't catch on?

[Keith Justice]

For its target demographic it never had a sense of whimsy or fun. It's seriousness was ALWAYS cranked to 11 and it's continuing story going week to week would shake off viewers.

Also, didn't it take breaks?

I don't think that helped the show.

I LOVED it, but could see why it wouldn't catch on for kids.

 

[MMPR]

For its target demographic it never had a sense of whimsy or fun. It's seriousness was ALWAYS cranked to 11 and it's continuing story going week to week would shake off viewers.

Also, didn't it take breaks?

I don't think that helped the show.

I LOVED it, but could see why it wouldn't catch on for kids.

This is my theory too. There was no sense of fun in the show, everything was really serious. I would have loved to see the show be successful and spawn more KR adaptations but the chances of that happening again are slim

 

[Amon]

Since Nick Toons played re-runs of GT, Digimon Season 1-2 and Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Monsters then it would be cool if they played re-runs of Dragon Knight. I think the show needs a second chance.

 

[Arkvoodle]

Aside from the obvious answer of not being a very good show, I don't think it had very much support.

There was seemingly very little promotion or advertising for the series or its toyline. I doubt most casual viewers even knew it existed until it was too late.

Also the toys were pretty awful so they never sold well.

 

[Painted_Outlaw]

Saban.

They had nothing to do with the show, though; Adness made it.

 

[BLASTMATIC]

i dunno i tuned in and watched all of dragon knight i loved it

 

[MaskedRiderAsakura]

This is my theory too. There was no sense of fun in the show, everything was really serious. I would have loved to see the show be successful and spawn more KR adaptations but the chances of that happening again are slim

I do want to see more KR adaptations myself. Kabuto and W are in the running for me tbh.

But yeah, given that Kamen/Masked Rider adaptations don't have too great of a track record in the U.S., I don't think that will happen for a long time, if at all.

 

[MaskedRiderAsakura]

Some people didn't like using the name "Kamen Rider" since people always end up saying "Common Rider" instead. I remember hearing that Toei wanted to use "Masked Rider" for Dragon Knight, but Steve Wang didn't want people to think that the show was related to Saban's Masked Rider.

Actually now that I think about this, couldn't they have named it something different or would Toei have required it to be part of the Rider brand?

Maybe they didn't want to link it to Masked Rider, but could they have simply named it 'Dragon Knight' or something?

 

[TCJJ]

Whilst I can agree with Keith on it always being overly serious, I think it was an interesting choice for a children's show. Personally, I would have liked to have seen it aimed at teenagers instead, but that might have done even worse.

I think the marketing for the show was overall very poor, and - let's be honest here - being on CW4Kids was basically a death sentence for the show. They definitely got away with some things later on that 4Kids would not normally allow, but that still held back the show far more than I would have liked. I think the broadcaster WAS the biggest problem, albeit not the only problem.

Whilst I loved the show AND loved the fact that they used the name "Kamen Rider", I think it would have been nice if they at least explained the origin of the word "Kamen" (even if they made some crap up. It may be Japanese for "masked", but they could have pretended it was "Ventaran language" or something) so that children would be less confused. Then again, how necessary that is, I'm not sure, because whilst "Kamen" DOES mean something, it's not really vital to the show to know the translation of the word.

There are definitely some plot points that could have been handled a little better, but I think that it was overall a good show. Also Camo/Verde had actual screen time!

Overall, I like the show, and I still maintain that it's better than Power Rangers in general. I guess it doesn't help that everyone and their mother thought that Dragon Knight was a Power Rangers rip-off (and they totally missed their chance to say "Kamen Rider was a thing before Power Rangers or it's Japanese counterpart, Super Sentai", in a less cumbersome way, of course), but I think it's a shame that we won't be seeing any new Kamen Rider adaptions any time soon, because I think they could do a great job, especially if they got away from 4Kids. I mean, 4Kids flat-out refused to air the last two episodes and made them available on their website to US residents, which meant people had to rip them from the website just so we foreigners could watch the finale!

One thing we can all agree on, though, is that Kamen Rider Dragon Knight is much better than Masked Rider.

Actually now that I think about this, couldn't they have named it something different or would Toei have required it to be part of the Rider brand?

Maybe they didn't want to link it to Masked Rider, but could they have simply named it 'Dragon Knight' or something?

I believe Saban (or perhaps Disney at the time - I don't know if it was a property that changed hands alongside Power Rangers or not) still owned the rights to Masked Rider, so they couldn't have done much about it, but I believe Steve and co. did also want to distance it from that.... abomination. I'm sure Toei did probably want it to be part of the Rider brand, knowing Toei.

 

[MaskedRiderAsakura]

(and they totally missed their chance to say "Kamen Rider was a thing before Power Rangers or it's Japanese counterpart, Super Sentai", in a less cumbersome way, of course)

...

I believe Saban (or perhaps Disney at the time - I don't know if it was a property that changed hands alongside Power Rangers or not) still owned the rights to Masked Rider, so they couldn't have done much about it, but I believe Steve and co. did also want to distance it from that.... abomination. I'm sure Toei did probably want it to be part of the Rider brand, knowing Toei.

Actually, for the first part, that would be interesting to see. Maybe if they shared the same universe, or if DK was otherwise allowed to mention the Rangers, you could have a conversation play out like:

Kit: "Ahh, I get it. So the Riders are a lot like those guys with the techno colored spandex, right?"
Len: "Kinda. Except the Riders have been around a lot longer."

It would be a beautiful 'Take That!' without breaking the fourth wall.

I do think DK could have benefitted from not being on CW though. It could've thrived on a channel like Nick or Cartoon Network, who let shows get away with a lot more (especially on Cartoon Network's end). Normally, I'm against live-action shows on CN, but in this case, I wouldn't mind. And because a lot of teens watch CN for shows like Adventure Time and Regular Show, if Kamen Rider were written specifically for teens, it could have gained a decent enough audience. And it wouldn't be out of place on the channel considering the action-y, teen-y shows already on the channel, like Ben 10 or Generator Rex. You'd have ___ Rider on the CN end and Power Rangers on the Nick end. Would have been a pretty fun rivalry.

And if Toei demanded Rider in the name, I would have personally had Ventara Riders, or even Beast Riders if they planned to follow up DK with more sequels, which is a more generic name that gives them flexibility with their concepts.