An old picture, but I’ve been a bit distracted lately so I didn’t even think about a new one.
I live in Connecticut. That’s close enough to New York City that it still hits what happened that day. I was on my way to work, hearing reports of planes hitting the towers. During my shift I heard rumors from customers, reports on the radio from delivery vehicles, and then got caught up when I got home. (It was a part time job.) Now it’s 25 years later and though off-topic outside of the changes made to storytelling during and even after the event–like removing shots of the Twin Towers or buildings exploding to not trigger people for awhile–it’s still something I felt like taking time to highlight.
If this isn’t something you’re interested in we’ll be back to normal operations tomorrow and there’s plenty of on-topic content to hold you over. This just felt important today.
There are two superhero shows that came out recently. Actually three, but we’re going to compare these two. Sorry, Ultraman Teo. I want to compare Greenless Lanterns and Kamen Rider My-Th. Lanterns comes from an American creator, My-Th from Japan. Japan makes what we used to, but still in a style unique to Japan. Yesterday I reviewed My-Th because it looks so cool. I still haven’t touched Lanterns because it does not. There shouldn’t be that much difference beyond the two countries and yet it’s there.
Both shows have hinted at a mystery with serious questions. Both feature something trying to be different from the predecessors. Both feature superheroes…allegedly. And yet I was more excited for a brand new property with a character that didn’t exist in public discussion until a month ago (longer if consider how long it took to make the promotional materials), while the show allegedly based on a childhood favorite has failed to obtain my interest.
So why does the Japanese superhero succeed in one episode where four episodes of the American series based on a long-standing character fail so miserably? And which of their arguments is giving me flashbacks to one of my own superhero sci-fi comics…and not in a good way, because it means the young amateur’s failure cause me to learned more than the supposedly successful older professional?
I don’t understand what Toei Tokusatsu World is thinking, or if it’s higher up at Toei itself. They want to get Kamen Rider to the US, and they partnered with Shout Factory to get Kamen Rider ZEZTZ to YouTube via TokuSHOUTsu, but didn’t stop YouTube from covering the stream now and then with their ads. Plus watching it that way meant the potential of accidentally spoiling yourself if you came in on the wrong time because the replay started right after the previous broadcast ended, meaning coming in at the start was difficult. Eventually they put episodes by themselves, which was the right thing to do. Sadly this hasn’t included the movie that along with the final episode passes the torch to the next series in the line.
So with the next show, that came out a couple of weeks after the last Kamen Rider series (good luck getting US TV to even do seasons right anymore, 8 episodes over 16 weeks if you’re lucky) they decide to post it to their own channel 2 days after the Japanese airing rather than continuing the simulcast with Shout Factory. Word is that they’ll only have it up for about a month before taking it down. It seems they still don’t know how to use their YouTube channel to get their shows to a larger audience and take all the ad revenue (minus what YouTube takes).
The new show is Kamen Rider My-Th, a double pun due to the mythology of the zodiac (the Chinese one, I believe) and that the hero’s theme is based around mice, as the franchise dropped the bug motif a long time ago. I can post the first episode, “The Mouse Meister & The Young Lady”, but watch it fast as it will go away in four weeks. A full review follows, so this isn’t a Saturday Night Showcase. It’s a short-lived bonus showcase unless they’re kind to the international fans and keep it up. As it is it was delayed by the posting schedule, so we lost a couple of days. Since this isn’t the English streaming service you’ll need closed captions set to English (or your language of choice, I guess) to follow along.
Today is the 60th Anniversary of the original Star Trek making it past two pilots, a failed early pitch, and finally making it onto television. Airing for only three seasons on NBC, it only stayed that long to make syndicated reruns possible, and that still required a fan outcry. The show would gain more fans, lead to a failed new series that became Star Trek: The Motion Picture, whose opening song became the theme song for Star Trek: The Next Generation.
In between those events, NBC wanted more Star Trek, but turned to animation. The plan was to make an hour long series, but the network opted for a half-hour Saturday morning series to be cheap. Plus kids liked Star Trek. Partnering with Filmation, the show would bring back old writers, most of the cast (Leonard Nimoy fought for most of the cast when they just wanted him, William Shatner, and DeForest Kelley, but either didn’t fight for Walter Keening or couldn’t get him involved–so he wrote an episode instead), revisit some of their episodes, and chart new adventures for the crew of the starship Enterprise.
For reasons I’ve never heard, Gene Roddenberry didn’t consider it canon, and neither did Paramount for many years. I’m not even sure they do now, so I was surprised to see it show up in the tribute video. So did Lower Decks but if Prodigy was there I missed it. It doesn’t air on any other network or streaming option except for MeTV Toons, what the Boomerang network should have remained. None of the Pluto TV Star Trek or science fiction channels carry it, nor is it on demand there. I can watch all the pre-Kurtzman shows and movies, even the Abrams movies, but not Star Trek: The Animated Series.
I know Hollywood doesn’t care about animation. It’s either “kiddie crap” or subversive adult actual crap. However, they should get over their biases and this show is a good reason why. Since it’s also the animated show’s anniversary (we’re the same age!), allow me to explain.
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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on September 11, 2026 in Movie Spotlight, Streaming Spotlight and tagged commentary, Golden Axe, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2026 movie), Supergirl (2026 movie).
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