Space Knights vs. Sequels

I've talked a fair amount about space knights as a concept in the past; now, with Siskoid drawing near the end of his Spaceknight Saturdays, this seems as good a time as any to revisit the notion briefly.

As observed in this post, it is interesting to note that the "sequel" Galadorian spaceknights (within the context of continuity, the third generation of spaceknights) are able to transform back and forth much as their Japanese cousins from the Tekkaman series do. (In Siskoid's words, "I guess Rom didn't want anyone to lose their humanity ever again. Those things are so easily mislaid, stolen or destroyed." Yes, it was a plot point of sorts.) Considering there appears to be a moderately significant anime influence on the art, it is possible that this was intentional; it could also just be the influence of series like Power Rangers. There's no way to know for sure.

Anyway, the 2000 Spaceknights series was generally considered to be a bomb of a series. It didn't do well, and the writer admitted the only reason he was involved in the project was because he wanted money to spend on his boat. As it happens, there was a similar issue (sequel fatigue, that is) with Tekkaman/Teknoman.

I should clarify-Tekkaman Blade/Teknoman was not a sequel to the original; it was more of a remake/spiritual successor. It certainly wasn't even close to being "in continuity" with its predecessor. No, we're talking about Tekkaman Blade's sequel, which was reasonably popular in Japan, but which most Western fans hated with a passion.

Here is a passage from Wikipedia, of all supposedly neutral places, which has remained unaltered for at least half a year, probably more, on the subject of Tekkaman Blade II.

He also appears to be less charismatic and less experienced in martial arts combat th[a]n he was in original Tekkaman Blade w[h]ere he defeats many elite fully-fledged Tekkamen including: "Tekkaman Axe" his Master Martial Artist instructor, "Tekkaman Lance" a Super Human Tekkaman, "Tekkaman Evil" his twin brother, and Tekkaman Omega his eldest brother who is a "Tekkaman Warlord". In this he is seen struggling to keep up with "Dead End" an enraged Transvestite who steals a Radam Tekkaplant and becomes a Tekkaman, he does not display the ability to become a Blaster Tekkaman anymore, but his former 30 minute time limit seems to have also expired.

If you can't detect the poorly concealed fanboy rage (bolded text added for some emphasis) in the above paragraph, you have no subtlety. It should also be noted that not one or even several of the various protagonists introduced within the OVA were able to defeat Dead End, and it ultimately still fell to D-Boy/Slade/Blade (the character the above passage is referring to) to win the battle. Not only that, but Dead End had a cheaty hax power: He could absorb Voltekkers/Teknobombs and use them to power up his own Voltekkers; this is a big deal, as the Tekkaman Blade Voltekkers are devastating. Furthermore, the trick didn't work twice; the next time Dead End used it on him, he copied the maneuver somehow, and totally blasted him with it.

It is rather interesting to note that, in both sequels, the problems they suffer seem to have much to do with disconnects between the "source" material and their own contents. (That, and in the case of Tekkaman Blade II, the weird obsession with sex, which when you consider the magical naked transformations and the high female proportion of the cast, was apparently inevitable.) Neither series had exhausted its idea potential (at least not completely); someone had just stopped caring in the board rooms.

-Signing off.