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

[Thunder025]

I think that's because 4Kids didn't know how to handle to series properly, huge hiatuses, multiple time slot changes, lack of merchandising you name it.

Here in Japan (being included in the Heisei Rider 10 year Celebration) and other parts of the world, like Latin America, for instance, the series was very popular though.

As for myself, I thought the series was brilliant (and also was the cause the Riders from W onwards are now romanised as "Kamen Riders")!

 

[Bigdog]

Easy. The show was kind of boring and should have been connected to Masked Rider. I could care less about the whole being an "abomination" so much as how MMPR by the same respects was an abomination of Zyuranger, Dairanger and Kakuranger. So let's please drop that cop out.

The real reason why Masked Rider did not catch on is not because of the quality [since MMPR was of questionable quality as well] but because there were no more series to adapt without going backwards.

-Lack of advertising and promotion of toys. The way how the show's toy-line was handled is a huge crux why the show bombed. If kids couldn't remember it , how could I? There was rarely any promotion that I forgot that it existed.

-The show was thoroughly unexciting. To me, it felt like the M.Night Shyamalan's take on Ryuki. It ripped off other shows like Power Rangers and didn't find a balance between Ryuki's Rider War and the one villain organization basis of the Showa period of Kamen Rider. Through being too serious and a lack of dynamism and humor, it did not do well at all to entice me from ditching it. The cliche alien conspiracy plot/ alien alternate world is thoroughly bland and at the last 12 episodes, essentially throws the entire of the story development for a plot that is disappointing to say the least. I ditched Revolution and others for similar reasons and for a first entry in a family oriented franchise, it stinks.

If it was on Cartoon Network or Nick, it would have done much better and allowed it to have much more exposure, regardless of the quality. For being the first entry, its flaws would have been forgiven and by now, and would have been in Kabuto. If on Nick....its too obvious but I'd rather it be on CN so Shada [Voice of Finn] could have been Kabuto.

 

[Toku Prime]

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.

I heard that Ishinomori saw Saban's Masked Rider and vowed that he'd never allow Kamen Rider to be licensed for a Western adaptation again. After he died his family had upheld that rule, so the Wang brothers had to go to Japan to appeal to them in person, showing them what they wanted to do with the show. I would guess keeping the Kamen Rider title probably played a part in that.

Disney bought the rights to all the Saban Entertainment properties, including their other toku adaptations. So they would have owned the rights to Saban's Masked Rider at the time, and I guess that could also have played into it. IIRC after Saban bought back Power Rangers, he did seperate (and much less publicised) deals to buy back all those other adaptations.

It's also worth pointing out that two weeks after Dragon Knight began, Decade started airing. There are official English language names for all the Rider shows, and Decade was the last show to have it's English title translated to Masked, with Double onwards keeping Kamen as part of their English names. So clearly there was a more general policy change happening about that time, possibly in response to Dragon Knight existing.

 

[Hell Kaiser Andy]

The real reason why Masked Rider did not catch on is not because of the quality [since MMPR was of questionable quality as well] but because there were no more series to adapt without going backwards.

Wasn't part of the reason also the fact that they had no more footage to use, since Masked Rider was based off RX?

 

[Herman the German]

Eh. I'unno, I really enjoyed Dragon Knight, personally, though the only way to watch it in Germany now is through some HD Anime pay TV channel. :B

 

[Dr Kain]

Aside from the poor acting, the reason DK did not work was its lackluster effects and music. Seriously, in a toku show, the effects and music are a big part of it. If you don't have visual effects that look spectacular, if you have sound effects that are barely noticeable, and a soundtrack that is not energetic at all, you just don't have anything to work with. The audience is left bored.

 

[Berty]

If I'd had my druthers, the title might have been "Mirror Knights".

 

[Amon]

Disney bought the rights to all the Saban Entertainment properties, including their other toku adaptations

From what I've been told, Saban rights to Masked Rider ended long before Disney bought Saban. That's why ABC Family never played re-runs of the Masked Rider team up or why Toon Dinsey never played re-runs of Masked Rider.

 

[MaskedRiderAsakura]

If I'd had my druthers, the title might have been "Mirror Knights".

That could've been good. Makes sense given the show's concept, but still highly milkable and surely you could find a way to make the other Kamen Rider shows work with it for possible sequels.