Kamen Rider Dragon Knight (pilot)

The unaired pilot episode of Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight was produced in 2006. It was later leaked online before being taken down in December 2008. It is noncanon to the finalized series, as many details were changed. Content-wise, it utilizes much of the same Kamen Rider Ryuki footage as the first two episodes of Dragon Knight, as well as assorted clips from other episodes for montages of the other Riders and Survive Modes.
==Synopsis==
Life gets truly strange for Kit Taylor when his missing father appears in a mirror to tell him to return home, where Kit finds a weird deck of Advent Cards. Suddenly monsters are appearing in every mirror and window and abducting people. Kit rushes to the aid of Maya—a reporter under attack by these mirror monsters—only to be pushed aside by a mysterious hero.
==Plot==
Kit Taylor appears in an empty city where everything is reversed while wearing a strange armor suit and gets chased by a giant bronze spider.
Earlier that day: Kit is celebrating his 18th birthday in Mrs. Mowry's foster home. When he blows out the candle, however, he finds himself on an abandoned rooftop, where his missing father's image on a nearby building's window-covered side tells him to "come home"; a red dragon jumps out at him and he finds himself back at the party. Afterwards, Kit returns to his dad's old apartment; he'd disappeared a year ago, and many other people had gone missing since. There Kit finds a blank Advent Deck; while standing on the balcony, Dragreder leaps out of a nearby reflection at him, but the Deck and its Seal Card deflect the dragon. Suddenly, Kit starts seeing humanoid creatures appearing around the city and grabbing people, pulling them into reflections. He goes to save a woman from several of the monsters, but she can't see them; he pulls her to a park, trying to fight off the monsters. The woman, Maya Young, pulls out a camera to photograph Kit fighting nothing, but he pulls her into the fight when one of the monsters goes after her, and she ends up ramming into one, giving her the ability to see them. It tries dragging her through a reflection, but a man on a motorcycle rides out and starts fighting them; the monsters disintegrate after he knocks them to the ground.
Kit and Maya run elsewhere, but the man, Len, catches up and demands the Advent Card Kit had found. Suddenly the world blurs, alerting them to another monster attack, a Dispider chasing Maya. Kit follows, but the Deck pulls him through a window and armors him to a blank Rider form, dropping him out onto a street; the Dispider turns its attention to him. Len transforms into Kamen Rider Wing Knight, riding his Advent Cycle to ram the Dispider away from Kit. Wing Knight uses Sword Vent and attacks the Dispider, prompting Kit to try his own Sword Vent card; Kit charges as Wing Knight is pushed back, but his sword breaks on the Dispider's leg and it knocks him away. Wing Knight uses Attack Vent to call Blackwing in to slash the Dispider with its wings before triggering Final Vent and destroying the monster.
Wing Knight explains that they're in the Mirror World before Dragreder returns and attacks them; Kit has to merge with it in order to stop its rampage. On top of that, the Dispider is regenerating itself into a new centaur-like form; Wing Knight attacks it again as Kit confronts Dragreder and lets it fly into him, Kit's suit turning red as he fully becomes Kamen Rider Dragon Knight. The Dispider knocks Wing Knight off a roof and Blackwing catches him, but they are snagged by its cable-like web and fall to the ground; it shoots spines at them, but Dragon Knight jumps in and knocks the spines away. Dragon Knight uses his new Sword Vent and attacks the Dispider, activating Final Vent and destroying it.
Kit and Len return to the real world as Len explains: as Kamen Riders, they have to fight the renegade General Xaviax, who was exiled from the Mirror World thousands of years ago by the Riders and whose minions kidnap people from Earth, like Kit's dad, to increase his power. The 12 Riders protected the Mirror World, but Xaviax returned and found their tomb, stealing their Advent Cards and leaving them helpless; only Len had been hidden elsewhere in case of an emergency such as this. Xaviax has begun distributing these Cards onto Earth, and Kit had found some of them. Len needs Kit's help to find and defeat any of the wrong people who may find the Cards; Kit agrees if Len helps him find his father. Together, they'll be stronger.
==Cast==
===Main Cast===
*Kit Taylor: Matt Smith
*Len: Matt Mullins
*Maya Young: Kandis Erickson
*Mrs. Mowry: Collette Delacroix
*Frank Taylor: JF Davis
===Supporting Cast===
*Bystander: Jimmy Sprague
*Transient Man: Johnnie Saiko Espiritu
*Minion #1 (suit): Reuben Langdon
*Minion #2 (suit): Aaron Toney
*Minion #3 (suit): Tadahiro Nakamura
*Kit Stunt Double: Matt Regetti
*Maya Stunt Double: Dorenda Moore
==Differences==
*The pilot features many notable production differences from the finalized premier and series:
**Some characters (like Mrs. Mowry) were dropped or replaced.
**Most returning characters (except Len and Frank Taylor) will be played by new actors.
**A different intro theme is used, and the opening credits replay those of Ryuki's Episode Final movie.
**In new footage, the backs of the Advent Cards have a new design, to be replaced by the original Ryuki one in all shots in the full show.
**The footsoldier monsters talk and have an original design not resembling any other Rider series' monsters.
**A different transformation sequence is used, involving floating in a dark area and calling out one's Rider name followed by "Initiate!".
***During this, Len makes the same fist pump as in Ren's transformation.
**The new footage Advent Deck and V Buckle props don't match the Ryuki versions as closely as the full series will.
**Different sound effects for the Visors and voice for the Vent announcements are used.
**A clear shot of Wing Knight's Attack Vent card from Ryuki footage still reads "Darkwing"; it will be digitally reskinned as "Blackwing" when this shot is used in the finalized first episode.
**What little is seen of General Xaviax's monster form is nothing like the final version.
*Many story differences also exist: (not counting various details that go unmentioned due to this only being one episode)
**Kit isn't habitually in trouble with the law.
**The term "Mirror World" is used instead of the name "Ventara".
**The Mirror World actually mirrors text like in Ryuki, unlike the finalized version.
**Len tells Kit he has to merge with Dragreder instead of trying everything to keep him from doing so.
**There is no Contract Card, Dragreder simply flies into Kit's body to become his Advent Beast.
**Xaviax's backstory is different, originating with the Mirror World and not another planet. He was also banished thousands of years instead of only decades ago.
**Len escaped Xaviax because he was kept in a location separate from the other 11 Riders, not because a fail-safe woke him.
**The Advent Cards and not the Advent Decks are what are described as being distributed, though both are still present.
**It's described as if the Cards are only finding their ways to people on Earth by chance instead of being chosen by Xaviax for being mirror duplicates of the original Riders or even any reason.
DK pilot Kit Taylor.png|Kit Taylor
DK pilot Mrs. Mowry.png|Mrs. Mowry
DK pilot Maya Young.png|Maya Young
DK pilot Advent Card back.png|Back of Advent Cards
DK pilot minions.png|Xaviax's Minions
DK pilot Henshin 1.png|Len transforming (arm motions)
DK pilot Henshin 2.png|Len transforming (armoring up)
DK pilot Xaviax (obscured image).png|blurry image of Xaviax's face
==See Also==
*Search for the Dragon, the finalized first episode of Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight
*The Secret Story's Birth, the first episode of Kamen Rider Ryuki
*, the pilot of 
*, the pilot of