Kamen Rider Dragon Knight

Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight is an American television show that originally aired on The CW, as part of the CW4Kids programming block, from December 13, 2008 to December 26, 2009. It is an adaptation of the Japanese tokusatsu show Kamen Rider Ryuki and is the second installment in the Kamen Rider franchise to be adapted for American audiences after Saban's Masked Rider in 1995. The series was developed for television by Steve and Michael Wang and produced by Jimmy Sprague through Adness Entertainment.

The series had a sneak premiere on December 13, before its official premiere the following year on January 3, 2009. The series was dropped at the end of the year before its final two episodes aired. The final episodes were made available to watch on the 4Kids TV website from December 18, 2009 until the series was removed in 2012.

In 2010, Dragon Knight was nominated for and won the Daytime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Stunt Coordination", a category introduced to the Daytime Emmys that year.

## Plot

While searching for his missing father, Kit Taylor finds an Advent Deck—a special card deck that allows the carrier to transform into a Kamen Rider and utilize unique weapons and powers—and uses it to become Kamen Rider Dragon Knight. He butts heads with Len, who serves as Kamen Rider Wing Knight, but the pair join forces after Kit learns that an alien warlord named Xaviax is responsible for his father's disappearance and intends on abducting him and the entire human race to gain power and rebuild Xaviax's homeworld. Xaviax tricks people on Earth into working for him by promising them whatever they want, or in some cases, by exploiting their fears and desperation. Kit wonders why Xaviax has to trick them and why he doesn't just find bad guys to do the work for him. Len tells Kit that the decks were only made for one person, and that only a person with an exact DNA match to the original Ventaran rider could use it. This is why Kit is able to use the Dragon Knight Deck: he is the exact Mirror Twin of Adam, the original Dragon Knight, who betrayed the original team. One of the new Earth Riders, Chris Ramirez (serving as Kamen Rider Sting and tricked by Xaviax into believing he is working in a special ops government program to fight alien invaders), joins forces with Kit and Len when he discovers he has been deceived, but is Vented—a process which traps defeated Riders in the "Advent Void" between dimensions forever and removes their Advent Decks—along the way. Kit vents Albert Cho, brother of Danny Cho, in retaliation. This leads to a personal hatred between Danny and Kit, as Danny seeks to avenge his brother against Xaviax's orders.

Later, Kase, a fellow survivor of Ventara like Len, joins forces with Len and Kit to fight Xaviax. In addition to training Kit as a Kamen Rider, Len and Kase tell Kit all about the twelve Riders who banded together as the protectors of Ventara—a world opposite to our own—to take Xaviax down. However, due to the unintentionally–traitorous actions of Kit's predecessor, Adam, Xaviax vented most of the Riders. Furthermore, Xaviax continues to send out Riders who fight to eliminate Kit, Len, and the other Riders who oppose him. After Kit is Vented, Xaviax recruits Adam to once again become Dragon Knight. Unlike when Xaviax convinced Adam to 'betray' the Riders by playing to his desire to remain with the girl he loved, Xaviax now uses a combination of blackmail and using Adam's girlfriend as a hostage in order to force Adam to work for him.

Meanwhile, Len uses his Advent Deck to awaken the Advent Master Eubulon—who brings back the Ventaran Kamen Riders from the Advent Void—and Kit, who becomes Kamen Rider Onyx. He also brings back Kase, though Eubulon is forced to briefly reassign the Advent Deck to Maya Young while Kase is trapped in the Advent Void. Once Kase is better, Maya gives back the deck and the Riders head for Xaviax's base to destroy him. In the end, all the Ventaran Riders regain their decks, while all the Earth Riders (except Kit) have been released from the Advent Void & have their memories erased and returned to their normal lives, leaving Kit as the true owner of the Dragon deck after the previous owner Adam retires his deck thus officially becoming Kamen Rider Dragon Knight & the only active Earth Kamen Rider, leaving the Onyx deck inactive. But as the remnants of Xaviax's army and other dangers continue to threaten Ventara & Earth, Kit, along with Len, Kase and the other riders continue to protect both planets.

## Episodes

### Pre-show pilot

A pre-show pilot was filmed in 2006, featuring Matt Smith as Kit and Kandis Erickson as Maya. It was produced as a proof-of-concept piece to pitch the show to Toei and American networks. The pre-show pilot was eventually leaked online in December 2008.

## Cast

* Stephen Lunsford as Kit Taylor, Adam
* Matt Mullins as Len
* Aria Alistar as Maya Young
* William O'Leary as Xaviax
* Marisa Lauren as Lacey Sheridan
* Taylor Emerson as Trent Moseley
* Kathy Christopherson as Michelle Walsh
* Carrie Reichenbach as Kase
* Tony Moras as Richie Preston, Ian
* Christopher Foley as Drew Lansing, Chance
* Christopher Babers as Grant Staley, Van
* Scott Bailey as James "JTC" Trademore, Price
* Keith Scaduto as Brad Barrett, Cameron
* Michael Cardelle as Chris Ramirez, Quinn
* Mike Moh as Danny Cho, Hunt
* Tony Sano as Albert Cho, Chase
* Mark Cameron Wystrach (of country band Midland) as Vic Frasier, Nolan
* Jeff Davis as Frank Taylor
* James Patterson as Detective Grimes
* Jamison Jones as Agent Phillips
* Mark Dacascos as Eubulon
* Camila Greenberg as Sarah

## Production

### Development

In July 2006, producer Aki Komine received special permission from Toei to produce a pre-show pilot for an American production of Kamen Rider. Komine approached filmmaker and long-time Kamen Rider fan Steve Wang and his brother Michael Wang to help develop, write, and direct a pre-show pilot. Komine subsequently obtained the rights after Toei was pleased with the pre-show pilot. The show then received independent financing from Komine and his partner Fumio Sebata. According to early licensing information for the series, Adness Entertainment had intended to also film a feature-length movie for *Dragon Knight*. In an interview, Steve Wang stated that they had written a story for a film, but that Adness was now raising money to bring over another Kamen Rider for broadcast in the US rather than a film or a second season of *Dragon Knight*.

### Writing

Komine chose to adapt *Kamen Rider Ryuki* for merchandising purposes due to the amount of reoccurring characters and monsters the show had, including a female Rider. Steve employed his brother Michael and long-time friend Nathan Long to write the show. Long and the Wang brothers wrote the story and structure of the show to connect with the action/effects footage of *Kamen Rider Ryuki*, a technique done in previous Americanizations such as *Godzilla, King of the Monsters!*, *Power Rangers* and Saban's *Masked Rider*. Some key elements and minor characteristic traits from *Kamen Rider Ryuki* were kept but other elements had to be remade to meet the standards and practices for American children's programming. Bandai initially pushed the filmmakers to aim the show for five-year-old children but Steve wished to aim the show towards a young adult audience.

### Title

Toei has officially marketed the Kamen Rider franchise as "*Masked Rider*" for foreign markets. (It stopped using the *Masked Rider* brand for foreign exports since the release of *Kamen Rider W*.) However, Wang convinced Toei to keep the title of the show as *Kamen Rider* instead of *Masked Rider*, stating, "Growing up, I never watched ‘Masked Rider’… it was always KAMEN RIDER and seeing it called ‘Masked’ always felt strange. I’m just not a fan of using descriptions to name a character such as ‘Masked’. That’s like calling Darth Vader 'Armored Sith Lord'. It’s silly to me." This decision was also made to distance the series with Saban's earlier *Masked Rider* TV series (an adaptation of *Kamen Rider Black RX*).

### Filming

Akihiro “Yuji” Noguchi choreographed the action sequences of the show. Due to the show using a majority of the action/effects footage of *Kamen Rider Ryuki*, pre-planning was established so that the new footage matched the backgrounds and stunts of the Japanese footage however, the crew shot a majority of new footage to use less of the Japanese footage on some episodes. The suits for the Kamen Riders and monsters were re-fabricated and sent by Toei. The costume department was always on-set to have the suits camera-ready due to taking "abuse" not only from the American production but the previous Japanese production. The suit for General Xaviax was the only original design from the American production, designed by Steve Wang.

## International broadcasts

*Dragon Knight* was shown in Brazil on Rede Globo during its TV Globinho programming block before being replaced by a re-run of Dragon Ball in September 2009 (due to the early and daily exhibition); Brazil's Cartoon Network was then the only venue airing the show until it came back to TV Globinho as a part of its Saturday Morning timeblock in January, 2010. The show was aired in Mexico on Televisa and in Venezuela on Venevisión. It also aired in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein on RTL II. but RTL II cancelled the show after 17 episodes due to low ratings. The dubbed version of the series also aired on Indonesian's free-to-air TV channel Indosiar on Sunday mornings at 6:00 am (UTC+07:00). There were plans in 2009 to air the series in Colombia on Caracol TV, in Italy on Mediaset, in Latin America on Cartoon Network, and on other Cartoon Network affiliates in Southeast Asia, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, and Australia. On the Australian digital free-to-air channel 9Go! the show airs on Tuesday mornings at 7:30 am.. The Series Premired On Jetix (Toon Disney) On March 7, 2009 With The Last 3 Episodes Airing From January 2, 2010-January 16, 2010.

It was also broadcast in Japan on Toei's satellite subscription channel Toei Channel in the fall of 2009 as part of the Heisei Kamen Rider series 10th Anniversary project. Voice actors brought onto the project include Tatsuhisa Suzuki as Kit/Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, Hiroki Takahashi as Richie Preston/Kamen Rider Incisor, Hiroshi Kamiya as Chris Ramirez/Kamen Rider Sting, Hideo Ishikawa as Vic Frasier/Kamen Rider Wrath and Takahiro Sakurai as Danny Cho/Kamen Rider Axe. The dub was then aired again on TV Asahi in 2010.

Previous actors from the *Kamen Rider* franchise who lend their voices to the cast include:

* Rikiya Koyama (Joe The Haze in *Black RX*) as Frank Taylor.
* Satoshi Matsuda (Ren Akiyama/Kamen Rider Knight in *Ryuki*) as Len/Kamen Rider Wing Knight.
* Yuria Haga (Mari Sonoda in *555* and Mio Suzuki in *Kiva*) as Maya Young.
* Kōji Yusa (Urataros in *Den-O*) as Drew Lansing/Kamen Rider Torque.
* Tomokazu Sugita (Kivat-bat the 3rd in *Kiva*) as JTC/Kamen Rider Strike.
* Kenji Matsuda (Kamen Rider Zanki in *Hibiki* and Jiro/Garulu in *Kiva*) as Grant Staley/Kamen Rider Camo.
* Shouma Yamamoto (Takato Shiramine/Kamen Rider Rey in *Kiva: King of the Castle in the Demon World* and Taiga Nobori/Kamen Rider Saga in *Kiva*) as Brad Barrett/Kamen Rider Thrust.
* Ryouta Murai (Yusuke Onodera/Kamen Rider Kuuga in *Decade*) as Albert Cho/Kamen Rider Spear.
* Miyuki Sawashiro (Kiva-la in *Decade*) as Kase/Kamen Rider Siren.
* Hōchū Ōtsuka (Deneb in *Den-O*) as Xaviax.
* Tsuyoshi Koyama (Kamen Rider Odin / the Visor Voice in *Ryuki*) as Eubulon.

On TV Asahi affiliate broadcasts of the Japanese-dubbed *Dragon Knight*, the song "Dive into the Mirror" by defspiral, is used as the opening theme. The group also performed as Wilma-Sidr for *Kamen Rider W*. The song "ANOTHER WORLD", sung by Tatsuhisa Suzuki and Satoshi Matsuda under the pseudonym "Kit×Len", was used as the ending theme.

### International DVD releases

In addition to airing outside the United States, *Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight* is available on DVD in certain countries. In Brazil, 13 DVD Volumes containing all 40 episodes were released by PlayArte Home Video even though their site only lists the first two. In Germany, "Season 1 – Vol. 1" and "Season 1 – Vol. 2" were released on DVD by EuroVideo and m4e (Made For Entertainment) in February 2010, but no other volumes were released due to the show's cancellation over there. On July 21, 2010, Toei released the first DVD box set of *Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight* containing the first 20 episodes along with a DVD release of a Special Event that took place in January 2010 in Japan. Throughout the summer of that year, Toei released 10 DVD Volumes of all 40 episodes as well as a second box set with the last 20. In most parts of Asia, 10 DVD Volumes and 2 DVD box sets of all 40 episodes were released by MediaLink.

1. ↑ KASW Schedule. *Titan TV*. Retrieved on November 8, 2009.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Johnson, Bob. Kamen Rider Returns to US Television!. *Scifi Japan*. Retrieved on November 17, 2014.
3. ↑ Kamen Rider Dragon Knight. *Power Rangers Gateway*. Retrieved on November 17, 2014.
4. ↑ The story, as presented at the 2007 Licensing Show. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved on June 19, 2007.
5. ↑ Steve Wang interview of Way Above Top Secret (January 4, 2010). Retrieved on April 2, 2010.
6. ↑ 仮面ライダーが米国で製作中 新たな"クール·ジャパン"? – 日経トレンディネット. Retrieved on April 23, 2008.
7. ↑ Toei Official English Title List. *Scifi Japan*. Archived from the original on December 28, 2015. Retrieved on November 17, 2014.
8. ↑ Johnson, Bob. Kamen Rider Dragon Knight Wins the Emmy!. *Scifi Japan*. Retrieved on November 17, 2014.
9. ↑ Template:Cite news
10. ↑ Template:Cite news
11. ↑ Template:Cite news
12. ↑ Template:Cite news
13. ↑ Template:Cite news
14. ↑ Template:Cite news
15. ↑ Template:Cite news
16. ↑ Template:Cite news
17. ↑ Template:Cite news
18. ↑ Template:Cite news
19. ↑ Template:Cite news
20. ↑ 仮面ライダードラゴンナイト：「龍騎」原作の米ドラマ　日本語版にオリジナルの松田悟志も(まんたんウェブ) – 毎日ｊｐ(毎日新聞). Retrieved on September 1, 2009.
21. ↑ Kamen Rider vol.01 – Grupo PlayArte. Retrieved on December 25, 2009.
22. ↑ Kamen Rider vol.02 – Grupo PlayArte. Retrieved on December 25, 2009.
23. ↑ Kamen Rider Dragon Knight – m4e – made for entertainment. Retrieved on December 25, 2009.
24. ↑ EURVIDEO – That's Home Entertainment – Filme, Videos, DVDs, Blu-ray – Kamen Rider Dragon Knight. Retrieved on December 25, 2009.
25. ↑ EURVIDEO – That's Home Entertainment – Filme, Videos, DVDs, Blu-ray – Kamen Rider Dragon Knight. Retrieved on December 25, 2009.
26. ↑ DVD 「KAMEN RIDER DRAGON KNIGHT」特集. *Toei Video* (January 11, 2010). Archived from the original on January 24, 2010. Retrieved on January 12, 2010.
27. ↑ MediaLink\_Kamen Rider. Retrieved on September 8, 2010.