How "Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger" Fixed "Mystic Knights Of Tir Na Nog" (Some Spoilers)

 

Yawn! Bored? I can't be sure. I was thinking about how No. 1 Sentai Gozyuger was overshadowed by Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger for two years. Right now, I have decided to write this post for fun. It's no secret that I've compared both Kamen Rider Saber and later King-Ohger to Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog. I looked into the show and thought about how Mystic Knights failed (and it was a huge, ambitious project) vs. how King-Ohger (25 years later) managed to fix things. In fact, it seems Toei had seldom made "pseudo-sequels" for Saban Entertainment sometime later.

Now, it's time to dig into the essay...

I. The technological era (the 1990s) mismatched the ambition of the Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog

There were some criticisms about Power Rangers being lazy or that Saban should create his own show. There are times I ride with that since I don't like Power Rangers. However, anyone who understands the basics of international marketing WOULD AVOID talking like a certain group that talk like a CERTAIN COP. The show itself was overly ambitious if it wanted to butt heads against Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: The Warrior Princess. Those two shows BELONG to an older demographic while Mystic Knights was a show designed to be some kind of RPG-ish show. The show itself had some kind of identity crisis. 

We need to think about the 1990s. One may want to recheck some original Power Rangers footage from the 1990s. It's clear as day that these effects were ON THE BUDGET. Many things like CGI graphics, green screens, etc., were still D*MN EXPENSIVE at that time. Any 1990s child would remember how Beast Wars was a huge step up -- but it was also SUPER D*MN EXPENSIVE TO MAKE. One may notice that Beast Wars had a lot of toys that NEVER showed up on television! The answer had to do with the BUDGET IN ITSELF! That would've been VERY EXPENSIVE TO PRODUCE BACK THEN. Mystic Knights was no different TBH.

I could be wrong, but Mystic Knights was probably more expensive to produce than a Super Sentai entry back then. Given the 1998 scenario -- it was Denji Sentai Megaranger. Megaranger was also the era when a PC was more expensive. In fact, Megaranger had scenes that showed how the electricity bill rose for their secret club. Now, for some comparisons on possible costing:

• Super Sentai was usually running on low-budget alternatives. Some blatant examples would be the use of rubber suit monsters (mostly meant to be unrealistic), STOP MOTION sequences for the Zords (and repeated use of stock footage for combinations), the infamous poseable doll on top of the Dragon Caesar in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, and the CGI was blatantly fake. These were all low-budget alternatives back then.
  
• Mystic Knights was probably throwing things too much. Going to film in Ireland could just be one costly alternative. Having to go for realistic castle sets was another. The use of CGI monsters was used during certain episodes of the series. The show even aimed for a 50-episode run -- hoping to get ANOTHER 50 episodes. However, that all crashed, and Saban Entertainment moved the budget to Power Rangers Lost Galaxy and the English Digimon dub -- presumably to recover from the losses. After all, Toei decided that "the show must go on" for the Power Rangers franchise and allowed Saban to dub Digimon. Saban had to recover the money and probably chose to let people forget that Mystic Knights ever existed.

II. Now, we can check on how King-Ohger practically FIXED the problem 25 years later

Much can change between 1998 and 2022, right? It was the time when the Legacy Virus Pandemic was starting to wane in 2023, and activities started to go back to normal. Basically, a lot of technological limits during the 1990s and beyond started to make dramatic leaps, such as:

• A PC used to be a luxury in the 1990s. Now, a PC has become more accessible than ever. A PC that cost a lot more (and crashed more) is now more affordable and efficient. I changed PCs several times, and each new PC I got over a course of 5-10 years, made me enjoy the power. My latest PC allows me to surf ADS INTENSIVE PAGES without much of a slowdown unlike my older PC, which I had to replace.
• Because PCs are no longer more of a luxury -- perhaps high-end PCs have become more accessible, allowing better CGI to be done at a LOWER COST. That would mean green screen technology has become cheaper to produce. 
  
• The early 2000s had Super Sentai switch Zord footage from stop-motion (the common practice) to CGI ever since.
  
• One may notice how Super Sentai villain suits are now more elaborately done these days!

However, technological upgrades weren't enough. Mystic Knights operated with the American TV show mindset in mind -- that is, a show can go for several seasons. The Japanese model tends to differ that it actually chooses to end a show ASAP. In some cases, a DIRECT SEQUEL would totally present a new protagonist and a new antagonist. A good example is how the Takara Trilogy in Transformers gave each installment a DEFINITE ENDING. You may notice that Transformers Masterforce and Trasnformers Victory are under what might be called the Minimal Continuity Approach -- where a show can be a direct sequel WITHOUT requiring you to watch the previous show to understand it. I culd watch Victory first and Masterforce next without getting lost!

Now, let's take a look at how King-Ohger fixed Mystic Knights' mess....

Using the less expensive approach of logstics and GREEN SCREEN, now that the technology has been REFINED and MADE MORE ACCESSIBLE

As I mentioned earlier, Mystic Knights went for the IRELAND approach. This was a logistics hurdle. Toei decided to keep King-Ohger in Japan. It would be 100% impractical of Toei went to Europe, perhaps go to Ireland or Holland, or do this and that to create the kingdoms of King-Ohger. King-Ohger had to learn how to take advantage of what Mystic Knights didn't have. Now, CGI has become easier to produce thanks to economies of scale.

There was always my desire to "make things authentic". I always joked about how King-Ohger would've been better if Toei had hired white people to play the characters. It's because the characters had VERY WESTERN SOUNDING NAMES. Gira HUSTY. Yanma GAST. Himeno RAN. Rita KANISKA, which sounds rather Indian though. Kaguragi DYBOWSKI, which sounds POLISH. Jeramie BRASSERIE. However, if Toei gave in to my ridiculous wish, it would be WAY TOO EXPENSIVE. For example, if Toei decided to hire Jacqueline Scislowski to play as Himeno -- that would mean paying for her JAPANESE LANGUAGE LESSONS and accommodation. Toei learned from the Battle Fever J incident when they had to arrange Diane Martin's graceful exit -- as the actress barely spoke Japanese! this was just one proper slap back to reality on my face!

The next step was taking advantage of CGI looking MUCH BETTER than it did back then. Trying to turn the scene above into an actual physical set would be more expensive than the use of castles in Mystic Knights. The solution was that everybody STAYS THE F*CK in Japan. Mystic Knights probably couldn't even create the CGI castle back then given the cost -- making going to Ireland probably all too necessary. Instead, King-Ohger did something similar to Vincenzo. Vincenzo didn't have to film in Italy -- they created an Italy set from GREEN SCREEN! This was what King-Ohger did -- create video game-type scenarios out of CGI! The CGI that was denied to Mystic Knights was now given what I'd call its pseudo-sequel King-Ohger!

In short, Toei used a combination of actual outdoor locations AND the CGI sets. It was because creating those backgrounds with actual materials would COST WAY TOO MUCH. 

Aiming to end the show within the year-long run

Mystic Knights was aiming for a second season. Saban Entertainment may have made some bad choices. However, it would look like leaving Mystic Knights hanging was the MORE FINANCIALLY SOUND thing to do vs. creating Mystic Knights Battle Thunder -- the proposed second season. Basically, it was cheaper to leave Maeve and Midler planning their plan and never coming to fruition. However, King-Ohger had a clearer direction. It was at this point that I thought that DugDEAD Dujardin could easily fit Mider's role. Mider was a small evil fairy who gave Maeve her weapons and probably even set up Nemain's downfall and restoration. DugDEAD's true form is some evil, insect-like, small creature. According to some sources, DugDEAD's body was actually that of a beheaded monarch and NOT a mecha. So yeah, talk about brutality that the show probably chose not to mention!

The show was composed of two separate halves within one year. Yeah, that one alone makes he hate the Nickelodeon schedule done by Power Rangers. It seems to be the way how Mystic Knights' two proposed plots could've been done in just one year -- get rid of Maeve in the first half, then introduce Mider as the main villain in the second half! King-Ohger episode 27 finally introduced DugDEAD, who was revealed to be the true "then the dark forces came bringing people endless pain". The Bugnarok's leader, Desnarak VIII, was betrayed by Kamejim. Kamejim was secretly serving DugDEAD and was part of the Five Jesters! The show got rid of the Bugnarok in favor of the real cause of the conflict -- the GALACTAINSECTS! DugDEAD shows up with the Five Jesters, who were effectively taking over the role of the Monster-of-the-Week (MOTW). Creating MOTWs during the second half could potentially create OVERCROWDING, and chose to focus on GETTING RID OF THE FIVE JESTERS IN PROLONGED COMBAT.

The second half can be said to be even gloomier than the first half. It's because the second half contains some REALLY depressing episodes. Even episode 27 can start off to be even gloomier than the first half! All these were, however, meant to go to a DEFINITE END WITHOUT PLANNING ANOTHER SEASON. Episodes that focused on solving past mysteries like Kaguragi's encounter with Iroki (where Iroki chose to kill herself by eating the poisoned rice and BURNING HERSELF WITH IT) or when Himeno finally meets her parents' true killer -- are just scary! All those important plots go together, proving how DugDEAD himself masterminded everything!

DugDEAD was given his just desserts! It was satisfying to to see how King-Ohger actually fulfilled what Mystic Knights failed to do. It's almost like that the 2,000 year conflict started from Earth done by Mider, Mider had people move to another planet, and well, I can create an incredibly convoluted fan theory that CAN NEVER FIT IN. However, I always have fun forcing Mystic Knights into this show just like my guilty pleasure of forcing all Super Sentai entries into ONE TIMELINE. Back on the topic, having the Six Kingdom Alliance FINALLY get rid of DugDEAD once and for all was indeed satisfying. There are no plans for King-Ohger Season 2, and that's the way it should be. That's why I usually skip American shows, and I don't rewatch Dragon Ball Z or any Japanese shows that try to imitate the typical American show format!

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Either way, it was indeed satisfying to see how King-Ohger was able to fix what the Mystic Knights couldn't. Mystic Knights was an interesting concept, but the circumstances didn't accommodate the ambition. As said, Mystic Knights should've been just ONE SEASO,N or could've made a first half-second half format instead. King-Ohger was able to carry out the ambitions by having the right technology AND the proper limits of its ambition.