As some may know I work with a Japanese fansub group called TV-Nihon, in fact, they're probably pretty well known in the fansub community.  Anyways the show I work on, when my PC isn't being a jerk, is Ultraman Mebius.  If you haven't watched Mebius or the two completed Ultraman shows we've done, then what are you waiting around for!  GO DOWNLOAD ONE OF THE SHOWS OR A FEW EPISODES!!!!!!!!  You'll enjoy it especially if you enjoy watching Godzilla films.

Anyways, that's not the point of this post.  On January 21st, 2010, a movie, I've been really anticipating, will be released, it's called Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs Dai-Shocker, it's basically the most epic Japanese movie made.  This movie beat out Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on its opening weekend, AND the 12th Pokemon movie.  

The point is I was thinking about planning a "premiere" so to speak, for friends, when the guys at TV-Nihon release the movie with English subtitles.  I want to know if anybody would be interested in coming.  I'm asking so far in advanced, because the last time I tried having something similar nobody came due to having other plans, etc.  Even though I had the Facebook event setup, and the invites out more than a month before the party was to happen.

So yeah, this movie is huge.  If you want to know what the movie is about, it's about this guy named Kadoya Tsukasa, or just Tsukasa.  Tsukasa has amnesia, he's a photographer, whose pictures always comes out distorted, and is a superhero called Kamen Rider Decade.  Tsukasa is charged with the task of saving billions of lives by travelling to parallel universes. He travels to these worlds in the Hikari Photo Studio, which is run by Hikari Natsumi, and her grandfather Hikari Eijiro, and, after episode 3 of the series, Onodera Yuusuke, and alternate universe version of Kamen Rider Kuuga, a different version compared to the original Kuuga from his own show.

Anyways, in this movie Tsukasa and co. travel to a world controlled by an evil group called Dai-Shocker, there Tsukasa discovers that this is actually his home universe, and that Tsukasa himself, was the Great Leader of Dai-Shocker. With Tsukasa back, Dai-Shocker holds a tournament that spans multiple universes, and the events culminate into an epic all out final battle.

Here's a list of what good guys appear in this movie, the following list will have the name of the character, and the year their show was just so you can maybe see how awesome the movie is, seeing as how all of these character hadn't been seen since then:

Kamen Rider 1 (1971-1973)
Kamen Rider 2 (1973-1973), Rider 2 was in the original series, when the actor who played Rider 1 was injured in a motorcycle accident.
Kamen Rider V3 (1973-1974)
Riderman, a second Rider that appeared in KR V3 (1973-1974)
Kamen Rider X (1974)
Kamen Rider Amazon (1974-1975)
Kamen Rider Stronger (1975)
Kamen Rider Skyrider (1979-1980)
Kamen Rider Super 1 (1980)
Kamen Rider ZX, pronounced Zee Cross (1984)
Kamen Rider BLACK (1987-1988)
Kamen Rider BLACK RX (1988-1989)
Shin Kamen Rider (1992)
Kamen Rider ZO, pronounced Zet-O (1993)
Kamen Rider J (1994)
Kamen Rider Kuuga (2000-2001)
Kamen Rider Agito (2001-2002)
Kamen Rider Ryuki (2002-2003)
Kamen Rider 555, or Faiz (2003-2004)
Kamen Rider Blade (2004-2005)
Kamen Rider Hibiki (2005-2006)
Kamen Rider Kabuto (2006-2007)
Kamen Rider Den-O (2007-2008)
Kamen Rider Kiva (2008-2009)
Kamen Rider Decade (2009)
Kamen Rider W, pronounced as Double (2009-)

So, as you can see Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs Dai-Shocker, is a HUGE movie. So if you think this movie would be fun to see, and you think I should throw this party, then post a comment, or send me a message on Facebook, or IM me, or call me, or whatever.

P.S. If you do want me to have a party, and you want to come, and you would actually want to watch the Kamen Rider Decade TV series first then let me know, although I don't think it might be necessary to watch the show first because it hasn't been totally confirmed whether this movie takes place within the continuity of the show.  But watching the show would give you SORTA an idea of what the Heisei Era Riders (Rider shows beginning with Kuuga and onwards are Heisei Era) are like.

 Back in 1982, one of the BEST Star Trek movies ever, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, was in post-production, and a young film composer was given the task of making his big break film score in four and a half weeks.  He had the task of succeeding Jerry Goldsmith, who had composed the score for Star Trek: The Motion Picture just four years before.  That composer was James Horner who, at the time, was composing scores for B-Movies.  His score for Star Trek II, would establish him as a mainstream film composer.  After scoring Star Trek II, and a year later the score for the sequel, Star Trek III: The Search For Spock, Horner would go on to compose scores for blockbuster movies such as Aliens, Commando, and he composed the score for Titanic (for which he won both an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe.)  

Anyways, back to the soundtrack for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, originally Atlantic Records released an LP record containing 9 tracks, which totaled 44 minutes and 45 seconds of music out of a score for a movie running 116 minutes, and the tracks themselves were out of film order.  Then in 1991, GNP Crescendo released a CD version of Atlantic Records' 9 track LP.  This left many fans disappointed.  Before, the only way to get and hear the complete score for Star Trek II, was through obtaining bootlegs, which had inferior sound quality, and some tracks even had sound effects and dialogue from the movie in them.  That is until, July 20th, 2009, when Film Score Monthly released a digitally remastered version of the score for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.  This time containing the entire score of the movie totaling 67 mintues and 52 seconds plus a bonus track which brings the total to 75 minutes and 28 seconds.  The new music that's included, that was left off on the original LP are cues such as music that played when Kirk took command of the Enterprise, when the Enterprise snuck up on the Reliant and crippled her, when Spock died, and more.

This CD has been remastered using the original digital recording masters.  The people at FSM have done a really awesome job at restoring and remastering.  The music has never sounded better.  The CD comes with a nice 27-page booklet filled with tons of background info about the score with stuff from director Nicholas Meyer, and composer James Horner himself, and there's also some really fantastic photos.  All the music from the original LP/GNP CD is, of course, on this new CD, but one track, Track 17. Battle in the Mutara Nebula, is slightly different, but it's for the better.  In the original LP version, Battle in the Mutara Nebula, has a moment where it all dies down to silence and the picks up with a menacing version of Khan's theme as he surprises and attacks the Enterprise.  In the film, there is no dead silence for a few seconds, but what's described as a "wild" overlay of ambiance, which then goes into the menacing Khan theme.  That's right, what's presented on this new CD is the version that is presented in the movie with the "wild" overlay.  One cool addition to the CD is the bonus track, which, of course is the very last track after the Epilogue/End Credits track, the bonus track is the original version of the Epilogue and End Credits suite, which does not contain the piece of music where we all see Spock's casket intact on the Genesis Planet (which was a late addition), instead after the whole Kirk final monologue stuff, it goes straight to Horner's rendition of the opening part of Alexander Courage's TOS theme before going into Horner's own Star Trek theme which is the same as in the film version.  One of the nice things about this CD is that the music is presented in film order.  

If you're a Star Trek fan, who enjoys listening to film scores, or if you're a film score enthusiast like myself, or even if you're not a film score music, but just enjoy listening to classical music, then I highly recommend buying this CD.  It's not often, that out of the blue a company like Film Score Monthly releases something like this.  I hope that eventually one day all the scores for the rest of the Star Trek movies get a remastered complete score treatment.

I'm gonna give this CD a perfect score of 5 out of 5.  Go pick it up.  You can buy it at Screen Archives Entertainment  for $19.95, or with shipping included $24.30.

**EDIT** I forgot to add the track listings to both the original LP and the new CD for comparison.  So here it is:

Original LP/GNP CD Release
1. Main Title*
2. Surprise Attack
3. Spock
4. Kirk's Explosive Reply
5. Khan's Pets
6. Enterprise Clears Moorings
7. Battle in the Mutara Nebula
8. Genesis Countdown
9. Epilogue/End Title**

2009 FSM Release
1. Main Title *
2. Surprise on Ceti Alpha V ^
3. Khan's Pets
4. The Eels of Ceti Alpha V ^/Kirk in Space Shuttle ^ *
5. Enterprise Clears Moorings
6. Chekov Lies ^ *
7. Spock
8. Kirk Takes Command ^ */He Tasks Me ^
9. Genesis Project (Composed and Performed by Craig Huxley) ^
10. Surprise Attack
11. Kirk's Explosive Reply
12. Inside Regula I ^
13. Brainwashed ^
14. Captain Terrell's Death ^
15. Buried Alive ^
16. The Genesis Cave ^
17. Battle in the Mutara Nebula
18. Enterprise Attacks Reliant ^
19. Genesis Countdown
20. Spock (Dies) ^ *
21. Amazing Grace ^
22. Epilogue **/End Title *

Bonus Track:
23. Epilogue * ^/End Title *(Original Version)

* - Contains Original Series theme by Alexander Courage
** - Contains Original Series theme by Alexander Courage and dialogue by Leonard Nimoy
^ - Previously Unreleased

Hey folks, long time no post. My PC is still screwed up, so I'm not starting to post on a regular basis just yet. I went and saw Star Trek twice, and I loved it both times. It's such an awesome movie. I was gonna go see it again tonight, but plans changed. Me and my friend were involved in a car accident on the way to the theater. He was having a stressful cell phone chat, missed the turn to the theater, went down the next turn, and went to turn turn around in an empty lot, but instead of pulling in, he went and did one of those pull into the lot and do a U turn without yielding turns, all while on the cell phone. Needless to say, we got T-boned. Everybody, including myself are fine. The girl that T-boned us lost a headlight, and my friend has a nice huge dent in the backdoor of his car. The girl was shaken up, my friend has whiplash, and me? I just have friction burns on my side from the seatbelt. I consider myself to be very fortunate and blessed that myself, and everybody else involved in the accident were not seriously injured.

Folks let this be a lesson. DON'T EVER talk or text on a cell phone and drive at the same time. If you receive a call you either don't answer it, or if it's important, you PULL OVER to the side of the road or whereever you are, and take the call. DON'T take the call while driving.

Sorry for the lack of posts, but I've been trying to deal with the fact that my computer is dying.  It keeps locking up at random times.  Sometimes it'll have it's good moods where I can keep it on for about 5-6 hours, and then there will be times when it will lock up after being on for just a minute.  I really think it's a motherboard failure because sometimes when turning the PC back on, it doesn't even do the CMOS beep.  Anyways, I probably won't be posting too much until I can build a new PC.

Hey folks, sorry it's taken me awhile to do this week's Deadpool Friday, so in return, I'm gonna review three issues of Deadpool, starting with Deadpool # -1, then 0, and finally Deadpool #1.  Also, I'm gonna decieve you all and make it look like I posted this on Friday, when in fact, I posted it today (Wednesday, March 4th)  *Dude...what are you doing?*  I'm apologizing to my readers for being tardy with my Deadpool Friday review.  *But why are you telling them that you're gonna make this post look like it was made on time?  I mean...they wouldn't know unless you TOLD them, which you did.*  Shut up!  I'm the dominant personality, and I'll do what I want on MY blog.  *Fine.  Suit yourself...(mumbles) a$$ho-e*

Deadpool # -1

The story for this was interesting.  There was very little action.  *Damn!  That sucks!* There were no funny one liners. *That sucks even more!*  This story was actually a serious story.  *What is this crap?  Are we reading an X-Men comic!?* This was a story about Wade Wilson, and Vanessa (Copycat), set before Wade joined the second Weapon X Program, before he was diagnosed with cancer.  The story mostly focused on Zoe Culloden, an employee of Landau, Luckman, & Lake, as she tried to help prevent something happening to Vanessa that could keep Wade Wilson from becoming a hero.

The art was good details, there wasn't an anime look to the art, but the backgrounds had that single colored background that they had in the 90s.

This gets a 3.5 out of 5.

Deadpool #1

This is it folks.  After two hit miniseries, Marvel saw to it to give Deadpool his own comic book series in 1997.  So without further delay, here's the review for Deadpool #1 guest starring Sasquatch from Alpha Flight.

Unlike Deadpool # -1, the story for Deadpool #1 was great. *YES!* The one liners were funny. *YES! YES!*  The humor, period, was great.  *FREAKIN' A YEAH!* It was cartoony the way I think Deadpool should be, but it was also serious at the same time during parts.  The story for Deadpool #1, is that Landau, Luckman & Lake has once again forseen that Deadpool is to play a big part in bringing about a Golden Age for the galaxy.  To prove that Deadpool is the right person, Zoe, and her partner Noah, test Deadpool by hiring him to destroy a Gamma Reactor base in Antarctica, which also happens to be where former Alpha Flight member, Sasquatch, is there helping with the research going on there.  Needless to say, stuff gets blown up, and a heroic act is committed.  *Awesome!  That's all I care about.  I can read a comic where it's nothing but things exploding, and I'd think it's awesome*  You know...you really get on my nerves.  I'm trying to review something, and you keep interrupting.  *So?  Get over it.  What are you gonna do about?*  Nothing.  *Huh?  What are you gonna do about it, you sissy!* Nothing!  *What a wimp.*  (Drew hits himself with a frying pan, knocking out the alternate personality) *Ow.*  Ow.

The art for this story was interesting, the art was detailed, but not as much as the art seen in the first two Deadpool miniseries, and Deadpool # -1.  The art was simplified looking, it had an anime feel to it, if this were X-Men, or any other Marvel book, I'd say that was a bad thing, but Deadpool is so different from those books, it's almost like he's a cartoon character, so the art style fits with him.

I give this first issue of Deadpool, a 4 out of 5.  It's a good story, the art is nice.

Well folks, that's it for this edition of Deadpool Friday.  Next Friday, will be the review for Deadpool #2.  With Deadpool rescuing his pal, Weasel from the clutches of...The Taskmaster!?  Anyways, nighty night, my readers.  Have a good weekend.  *But it's Wednesday.*  Shhh, I know, but I have the date set, so that the post will read this past Friday.  *Ohhhhh.*

It's Thursday!  Which means it's time for this weeks Green Lantern review.  This week it's Green Lantern #s 1-3, which I don't know the exact name of the arc, but I'll call it, Return of the Manhunters.

Now that Hal Jordan has been brought back from the dead, it's time to bring back is old enemies.  This arc brought back the Manhunters, androids created by the Guardians of the Universe, prior to the formation of the Green Lantern Corps.  This time a new model of Manhunter is sent to Earth to destroy an obsolete model, while searching for it's "predescessor" it leaves behind a wake of destruction, killing a man and his girlfriend, and a bus full of people.

The story was good.  We see that Hal Jordan has decided to rejoin the Air Force, but throughout the arc he has to decide how he's gonna get back in the air, because of an altercation with an officer that led to Jordan being kicked out of the Air Force entirely.  And that officer is now in charge of admissions for a class that Hal Jordan must take in order to fly planes again.  We get to see a little bit of the day that Hal Jordan got the Power Ring from the dying Abin Sur.  We also find out that, the US Government has been funding, along with Wayne Enterprises, the reconstuction of Coast City, but has been having problems getting people to move there.  There was alot of character development.  And there was plenty of action.

The art was good, it was again done by Ethan Van Sciver.  The art had nice details.  The design of the Manhunters were cool.

I give this first arc in the relaunched adventures of Hal Jordan, 5 Power Rings out of 5.

Next Wednesday, will be a little different, instead of reviewing the next arc in Hal Jordan own series, I'm gonna review the miniseries, Green Lantern Corps: Recharge.  This is the story, similar to Rebirth, that shows the revival of the Green Lantern Crops, which was hinted that was about to happen in this arc I just reviewed.  So come back next week when I review the adventures of Green Lanterns: Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner, and Kilowog.

WARNING! THE FOLLOWING REVIEW WILL CONTAIN A SPOILER FROM THE SECOND EPISODE OF KAMEN RIDER DECADE. THE SPOILER WILL BE WHITED OUT FOR THOSE WHO HAVE DECIDED TO DOWNLOAD AND WATCH THIS SERIES FROM TV-NIHON!

When last we left Decade, he was fighting Kamen Rider Kuuga, who believed that Decade was a Devil, and that he was there to destroy Kuuga's World. Their fight was interrupted by Kamen Riders Kick Hopper and Punch Hopper who were transported to Kuuga's World from Kamen Rider Kabuto's World, presumably from the mysterious trenchcoat man.

Now, after the fight, Tsukasa (Decade), and Yuusuke (Kuuga) are both reprimanded by their female companions. Believing that they have stopped the Grongi's killing game from last episode, Detective Yashiro, takes the Anti-Unidentified Lifeform task force to Mt. Hitoki to kill "The Ultimate Darkness" who is now forever dormant, due to the interference in the Grongi's game. While at the Hikari Photo Studio, both Tsukasa, and Yuusuke argue, but are interrupted when the news reports that black smoke is coming from Mt. Hitoki. Knowing that Detective Yashiro and her team is there, Yuusuke rushes to Mt. Hitoki. There we discover that "The Ultimate Darkness" has awakened, and that the black smoke is actually killing those who breathe it in and turn them into raging Grongi. It's there that Decade shows up, and confronts "The Ultimate Darkness" and finds out that he was not suppose to have been revived at all, it is then that Decade is quickly taken out by "The Ultimate Darkness." With Detective Yashiro fighting for her life in the hospital, Tsukasa, and Yuusuke put aside their differences and team up to stop "The Ultimate Darkness" and save the world.



The story for this episode was good. It was action packed. It showed that the Riders aren't invincible. We also find out the TRUE reason why Yuusuke fights as Kuuga. This episode was mostly serious with very little comedic relief until the end of the episode. The ending was sweet, but also sad.



The action in this episode was great. It continued the cinematic quality trend that the last episode started, but the fight was also bigger, it's about what you would get in a Kamen Rider finale episode. We got to see more of Decade's abilities.



I'm gonna do something new with this review, and this is gonna carry over to the rest of my Kamen Rider reviews, and any other Japanese TV reviews. Since these are fansubs that I'm reviewing, I'm gonna also review the subtitles. The subtitles for this episode was understandable, they have an adequate amount of time for viewers to read. I'm not gonna grade how the translation was, because I don't know a lick of Japanese, plus translations differ between groups due to interpretations. I believe the grammar and spelling errors were minimal. But I do think that the subs for the newscasts should have been on top of the video instead of on the bottom where normal dialogue is.



This episode of Kamen Rider Decade gets 5 Rider Kicks out of 5. I hope you readers, have taken the opportunity to download and watch this show. It'd be nice to know, just leave me a comment. If you need to know where to get episodes of this show, other Kamen Rider shows, and other Japanese superhero shows, the link is right up there, just click on torrent on the page, and find the show. You might want to also check out Ultraman Mebius, this is a show I work on, as timer, for TV-Nihon. If you are a fan of Godzilla movies, or like the concept of Green Lantern, you'll enjoy Ultraman Mebius.



Well, that's it for tonight. Be sure to check in tomorrow night, for this week's Green Lantern review, Green Lantern #1-3.

Hey folks, just wanted to make an announcement on the here before I got to bed.  Since I haven't gotten only one vote other than my own on the poll I posted a few weeks ago, when I started blogging, I have decided on which retro Kamen Rider series I'm gonna start with sometime next week.  That show is...2001's Kamen Rider AgitΩ.  That's all.  Since I'm making this VERY early Wednesday morning post, I will be back in the evening with the review for the next exciting episode of Kamen Rider Decade.

Hey folks! It's Friday! And if you read this blog...you know what that means! It's...*DEADPOOL FRIDAY!!!!!!1!!!!!!11!!!!* Crap! Not you again. *That's right! I'M BACK! And I'm not going anywhere!* ...Grrreat.

The Deadpool review for this week is Deadpool: Sins of the Past. In this miniseries we get the first meeting between Deadpool, and Siryn, who Deadpool develops a crush for. *Awwwww! So sweet!* This miniseries also has the return of Black Tom Cassidy and Juggernaut. *I hate those guys!*

Basically, the story is that Black Tom is dying from some sort of virus that's turning him into a tree. *COOL! ...A tree!* And his cousin Sean Cassidy (the mutant known as Banshee) arranges to have a specialist try to cure Black Tom in a prison hospital. The Juggernaut shows up and breaks Tom out, and also takes the specialist with them. The specialist is Dr. Killebrew, the doctor that gave Deadpool his healing factor. In order to cure Tom, Killebrew needs a certain Merc With a Mouth. So Black Tom sends a bunch of soldiers to retrieve Deadpool.

The story was good. I felt sad for Deadpool a couple times, due to his disfigurement, especially when Siryn wanted to see what he looked like underneath his mask, and he refused. *Who could blame him I mean...he looks like he's been through a meat grinder!* But there were plenty of funny bits throughout the four part miniseries.

The art for the issue was good. It had nice details for the characters, the backgrounds were alright, they still suffered from having the same color, in some parts.

*That's it!? You're not gonna say anything else about the art?* No...that's all I have to say about the art.

For this miniseries, I'm gonna give it a 4 out of 5. *Heh...at least you didn't use that out of 5 Deadpools crap again.* Are you gonna keep busting me on that? *... ... Yup.*

I'd like to apologize for the tardyness of, I guess, both the Green Lantern Rebirth review, and this one. And hopefully to make up for it. I'm gonna post this series of clips, I found on YouTube from the Hulk vs Wolverine portion of the Hulk Vs animated movie. *Oh joy! Someone pass the popcorn!* Sorry...no popcorn. *AWWWWW! YOU SUCK!*

Anyways, enjoy the video.  I sure did.  And I hope all you readers have a good weekend.

Sorry, my readers, for the long delay.  I got caught up in watching a bunch of episodes of MythBusters last night, and I had just started reading the second issue of Green Lantern Rebirth when I posted my little message last night, and then decided to just finish reading and posting the review today, which means it's a special day today.  The review of GL Rebirth will be posted below, but check back in a few hours for Deadpool Friday, with my review of the second and final Deadpool miniseries, Deadpool: Sins of the Past.


Now in GL Rebirth #1, lots of things began to happen in relation to Hal Jordan.  Jordan's home city of Coast City mysteriously reappeared sans the buildings except for one, Hal Jordan's apartment building.  Not only was that happening, but Ferris Airfield was rebuilt like new, right down to the F-14, that were sitting around rusting.  Also, Guy Gardner's body was under going changes with the cause unknown cause.  Finally, Hal Jordan himself has been acting weird as The Spectre, God's Spirit of Vengeance.  Jordan was unusally cruel in delivering his punishment to a former nemesis of his known as Black Hand.  We also saw Kyle Rayner, the current active Green Lantern of Earth, who had crash landed on Earth, and is guarding a mysterious coffin.

Now onto Green Lantern Rebirth #s 2-6.  I have to say that GL Rebirth in its entirety, is one freaking awesome storyline.  And it's a huge event.  You know it's something major when you have the entire Justice League of America, the Justice Society of America, AND the Teen Titans all involved.  The first issue gave us a nice set up for issues two through six.  Issue 2 gives shows us some of Hal Jordan's past, specifically what happened to Jordan's father, we also get to see more of Batman being an a--hole in regards to Jordan, and we get the return of Guy Gardner, as a Green Lantern.  At the very end of Issue 2, and the beginning of issue 3 we discover who's coffin, Kyle Raynor has been safekeeping, as he's attacked by...Green Lantern member Kilowog!?  Issue 3 mostly deals with the revelation of what Parallax really is, and its not some identity that Hal Jordan assumed after supposedly going insane.  Issue 4 is where the story is going full speed.  While Kyle Rayner, and the Green Arrow fight, Hal Jordan's arch-nemesis, Sinestro at the Justice League's Watchtower.  Ganthet (one of the Guardians of the Universe) battles Kilowog, while John Stewart fights with the Justice League.  I'm not gonna spoil the entire miniseries, but this arc is awesome.  Geoff Johns seems to have a great understanding for all the Green Lantern characters, they're all different, for example, Guy Gardner, while Hal, John, and Kyle take the job seriously, Guy sorta takes the job lightly, making wisecracks, and stuff like that.  Johns' writing, imo, feels sorta cinematic, but that probably comes from the fact that Geoff Johns used to be an assistant to Richard Donner (the director of Superman: The Movie.)

Ethan Van Sciver's art for Rebirth is great, it's consistant throughout the miniseries.  The art is nicely detailed, and the drawn effects for the Green Lanterns featured in this is really cool.  I hope that the quality of the art carries over to The Flash: Rebirth (a miniseries that, just like GL Rebirth, also deals with the return of a Silver Age hero.  This one being Barry Allen, The Flash.)

The entire Green Lantern Rebirth miniseries gets a solid 5 Power Rings out of 5 Power Rings.  If you have a bookstore nearby, or a comic book shop, some place that sells comics, and if you have $15-$20 that you can spend, then I suggest checking out the graphic novel paperback version of Green Lantern Rebirth, which collects all 6 issues of the miniseries in one nice book.  It's a fantastic way to get into Green Lantern if you've never read the comics before, and it's a great miniseries to get back into the GL series.  And DC has been releasing pretty much all their comics in graphic novel format, once that particular story arc has been released, so if you do take my recommendation and start reading Rebirth, it won't be hard to get the rest of the GL books.

Alright folks, give me a couple hours and I'll be back for Deadpool Friday.  I got give my eyes a break from all the reading and typing.

Sorry folks, the review for Green Lantern Rebirth #2-6 is gonna be delayed a little bit.  I sorta got caught up in marathoning MythBusters on Netflix, and I'm now just starting to read Rebirth #2.

Hello my readers, it's Wednesday, which means it's time for a new installment of Kamen Rider Review. We're gonna continue with the current running series, Kamen Rider Decade, with the second episode titled, Kuuga's World.


When last we left, Tsukasa, Natsumi, and Natsumi's Grandfather, their world was being invaded by villains from the last ten years of Kamen Rider shows, and their and the nine other Earth's being destroyed due to the merging of all ten Earths. In the final minute of the premiere episode, Tsukasa and Co, embark on their mission to save the Earths. Their first stop, is Kuuga's World. The world of the first Heisei era Kamen Rider series.



Upon arriving in Kuuga's World in the first episode, Tsukasa witnesses police cars racing to a nearby incident where the Police are under attack by a Grongi, and one of the lead detectives on the scene radios for backup. That backup being Onodera Yuusuke, the wearer of the Arcle Belt, the belt that allows Yuusuke to transform into Kamen Rider Kuuga. After arriving in this alternate universe, Tsukasa finds himself dressed in a policeman's uniform. Unaware of what his objective is in this Earth, Tsukasa helps the police figure out why the Grongi are killing female police officers. The events in this episode all lead up to a fight between Tsukasa, and Yuusuke...Kamen Rider Decade vs Kamen Rider Kuuga.



While the first episode set up for the rest of the series, this episode introduces us to the concept of Kamen Rider Kuuga, for those who have never seen the series. We all see that Tsukasa has a sort of Quantum Leap sorta thing going on, with Kuuga's World giving him a policeman's uniform and badge upon arrival. We're also introduced to a very shady character dressed in a trenchcoat and hat with glasses. While the first episode felt rushed with less focus on character development and more on action, the opposite can be said about this one. There was more character development, we got to see what kind of a person Tsukasa is, a somewhat arrogant kind of person. We also got to see what kind of person Onodera Yuusuke is, a person who fights as Kuuga only for himself, according to himself.



The action in this episode was awesome. It had a cinematic quality to it, with the scenes going into slow mo for certain hits. We also got to see Decade's version of the Rider Kick, which has a mix of Rider Kicks from past Kamen Riders. We got to see all of Kuuga's forms, which looked good considering Kuuga was on back in 2000, and Kamen Rider costume design has advanced quite a bit since then. The only bad thing is...Decade is PINK!



Also, there is a pretty freaking awesome surprise in the final few seconds of the episode, with a special appearance from a couple characters. You'd probably freak out over who they are. (HINT: They're from a Heisei Kamen Rider series that begins with K and ends with O.)

I give this episode 5 Rider Kicks out of 5 Rider Kicks. The next episode looks like it'll be fun. Well that's it tonight. I'll be back tomorrow night for the review for Green Lantern Rebirth #2-6. I hope you all have a good evening.

It's Friday, which means what?  Absolutely nothing.  That is unless you read this blog, because Fridays are when I post a review of a Deadpool comic book.  Like with Green Lantern, I'm gonna review Deadpool by story arc instead of doing it all issue by issue until I'm caught up to the most recent issue. So anyways, like with the review of Rebirth #1, I'm gonna give a little history lesson, and then review the comic. *Although a bit differently.*  Yes, a bit differently, thank you.  So now, the lesson.

You're probably wondering, Drew, why Deadpool?  What the heck is a Deadpool anyways?  Well, I'll tell you.  Deadpool is one of, if not, the MOST hilarious and the craziest character Marvel Comics has.  And you're probably asking, "Why am I gonna review Deadpool comics now?"  *Didn't you just ask that earlier in the paragraph?*  Shut up.  Anyways, there's a reason, and the reason is X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  You see Ryan Reynolds is playing Deadpool in the Wolverine movie, and he's supposedly a big role in the movie.  So this is a good way for you X-Men movie fans to be introduced to the craziest character ever.  The Merc with a mouth, Deadpool.

Deadpool was a recurring villain in issues of The New Mutants and X-Force.  Deadpool's real name is Wade Wilson, who is a mercenary.  In his early years, Wilson developed terminal cancer.  Dying and desperate for a cure, Wade joined the second Weapon X program (The first program being the one that gave Wolverine his adamantium skeleton.)  In the program, scientists altered Wilson's mind and body on a genetic level.  They also gave him a copy of Wolverine's healing ability.  Doing this stopped the progression of Wilson's cancer and enhanced his physique.  However, the cancer interacted with the genetic process in unanticipated ways and initially failed, leaving him horribly disfigured *He looks like raw hamburger now!* Quiet!  It also left him a little mentally unstable *A little!? Try significantly mentally unstable!*  Hush, you!  Don't make me kill you!  *Can't do that without killing yourself!*  Hmm...you got a point.  Now where was I?  Right...eventually Wade Wilson earned the name Deadpool and escaped, after he washed out of the Weapon X program.  After escaping, Wilson took up assassination jobs, all those lovely assignments mercenaries take.  Eventually, Deadpool attempts to become a hero, but is more of an anti-hero now.

Deadpool: The Circle Chase is a four part miniseries that was published in 1993.  It picks up after events where a former employer of Deadpool's was killed. *By the merc with a mouth himself!* Tolliver, the ded *That's not how you spell dead* ...dead employer, left a will, which basically says to the last man standing you get the most powerful weapon in the world.  What ensues are different people going after Deadpool thinking he knows how to get to the so called treasure.

The story was actually pretty funny.  The action moments featured Deadpool running his mouth off nonstop.  *Yeah, like that one part where he goes off talking about G.I. Joe dolls and Ken dolls! ROFL!*  ...Yeah...that...  Although, this miniseries portrays Deadpool differently than the way he will when he gets his own monthly series.  But Deadpool still makes you laugh.  You're informed on stuff that has happened before.  You get to see a little bit of a Pre-Weapon X Deadpool, and alot of post-Weapon X Deadpool.  *Duh!*

The art for this miniseries was good, this is old school Marvel Comics art before they started going with a lazy less detailed art style in a lot of their comics.  It had details, but I couldn't help but think that the backgrounds were plain, but that's because I'm so used to the way comic book art is done now.  Although the issues I'm reading from are old, and show their age, with faded colors, and smeared ink and stuff, the art is still good.  *Art, schmart.  Who cares about art!  All people care about is story and how much violence there is.*  DUDE!  SHUT UP! WILL YA!?  *Ok...geez.  I guess I'll leave.*  Thank you!

On the meter I give this miniseries three and a half Deadpools out of 5. *Deadpools!?  That's the best you could come up with!?*  I'm tired, I couldn't think of anything.  Wait...did you say you were leaving?  *...I lied*  Well readers, that's all for tonight,  I don't have any thing planned for posting on here until Wednesday, but that doesn't mean nothing will be posted till then, so check back regularly.  I hope you all have a good weekend.  *You're not gonna wish your friends a Happy Valentine's Day?*  No.  *Why not?*  Because I think Valentine's Day is stupid.  Is that ok with you?  *Oh... well, bah humbug to you too.*  Well, later guys.

Alright, so maybe twice a week here or not, I'll be reviewing comics.  Thursdays (Today) will be Green Lantern reviews.  The other day will probably dedicated to reviewing my other all-time favorite comic book character, Deadpool.  I've decided that tonight's Green Lantern review will be the last single issue review until I'm completely caught up with the most recent issues of Green Lantern, and Green Lantern Corps, and any other GL related comic.  Until then, I'll be reviewing GL comics by story arc, that means next week's review will be Green Lantern Rebirth #2-#6.  So lets get started.

Let me tell you a bit about my history with GL.  I'm pretty new to GL comics.  Rebirth is where I started reading, and it's Rebirth that made me fall in love with Green Lantern series, and especially Hal Jordan.  It's after reading this story that I began to anticipate every new issue of GL.  So here we go with the review.

Rebirth #1 is the end of one event in Green Lantern history, and the beginning of a new one.  Back in 1994, during the famous Death and Return of Superman saga, Superman villains, Mongul and Hank Henshaw (Cyborg-Superman), teamed up to transform the Earth into Warworld.  To that they need four way stations for a giant engine that would transform the Earth.  One of the places chosen for one of the way stations was Coast City, Green Lantern of Sector 2814: Hal Jordan's homecity.  Mongol and Henshaw used a series of bombs (presumably nuclear bombs) to destroy Coast City, killing seven million people.  Feeling anguish over the loss of lives, Hal Jordan drained his Power Ring recreating Coast City, down to those that died, including his father, who actually died when Hal was a child.  With his ring drained, Jordan was notified by a Guardian of the Universe (the creators of the Green Lantern Corps) that he was in violation of one of the principal code of the Corps: Lanterns can not use their Power Ring for personal gain.  Jordan siphons the energy from the projection of the Guardian, and sets off to Oa (homeworld of the GL Corps.)  It is on Oa, where Hal Jordan kills all members of the Green Lantern Corps on Oa, his archnemesis Sinestro, and all of the Guardians of the Universe.  Jordan siphons all of the power from Central Power Battery, and emerges no longer as Hal Jordan, but as Parallax.  Jump forward two years later, during the Final Night storyline, the Sun in the Solar System (Sol) has been extinguished by the Sun-Eater, a living nebula.  People have begun to freeze to death has the Earth freezes.  With all efforts to reignite the Sun ending in failure, one last attempt is made by flying a spaceship to reignite Sol.  Ferro Lad, a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, steals the ship and is prepared to sacrifice his life to save the Earth, when at the last minute, he is saved.  His rescuer is none other than, Parallax, Hal Jordan.  It is Hal Jordan, who breaks through his Parallax persona long enough to sacrifice his own life to reignite the sun.  For his actions, Hal Jordan is given a hero's funeral.  Deceased, Hal Jordan has no place in Heaven or Hell, and is destined to remain in Purgatory, when he is chosen to be the new Spectre, God's Spirit of Vengeance.  Which brings us now to, Rebirth #1.

So we're given a very short little summary of the history of the Green Lantern Corps.  And we see a spaceship burst out of Sol (our sun), and heading...crashing towards Earth.  The ship crashes in an old abandoned Military base in New Mexico.  Two kids search the crash site, and finds an injured Kyle Raynor (Jordan's replacement after his fall into Parallax, and one of the few remaining Lanterns) who passes out next to a casket.

Rebirth #1 is basically set up for what's gonna go down in the rest of the miniseries.  Lots of weird things are happening in this issue such as Hal Jordan's old test plane appearing from nowhere, Guy Gardner's (a former Green Lantern) body rejecting itself, and even Hal Jordan himself being unusually cruel to one of his old enemies, as The Spectre.  In this issue we have appearances of the Justice League, and of the Justice Society.  As a Batman fan myself, I can't help but sorta hate him about the things he says about Jordan in one part in this issue.

There's not alot of story in this issue, like I said, it's setting up.  We get introduced (or in case of those who've been reading since way before Rebirth, reintroduced) to characters, such as Green Lantern: John Stewart, and former GL, Guy Gardner.  And alot of the dialogue exchanges between Stewart and Gardner are meant to inform new readers about themselves, and also inform readers on the kind of person Hal Jordan was.

The art in this issue is great, it's nicely detailed, it's not overly crowded, and it's not this anime look that quite a few comics are using nowadays (I'm looking at you Marvel.)

For a setup issue I give this issue 5 Power Rings out of 5 Power Rings.  For new GL readers, this is a great place to start reading.

Next Thursday will be the review for Rebirth #2-#6.  Hope you all will stick around, and continue reading these reviews.  And I might be back tomorrow, or sometime before Wednesday to give you all the first review of Deadpool (I haven't decided if I should start from the very beginning or go with the current series.)  Also, get in your votes for which previous Kamen Rider series I should start reviewing.  I have one vote for Agito, and one for Faiz.

Something I plan to do regularly on this blog are reviews. These reviews will not be on one topic. Wednesdays will be the weekly Kamen Rider review. Where I will review an episode from the current running Kamen Rider series at the time, in this case, Decade. I have a Retro Rider Review that'll be doing, but I'm gonna need help from you, the readers, by voting in the poll two posts down, before I can do that. If you need a bit of help about each series just read through my three large Kamen Rider 101 posts I posted to kick off this, hopefully, awesome blog. Without further delay, here is my first ever review!

WARNING!!!!!! THE FOLLOWING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!!!!





Kamen Rider Decade marks the 10th Anniversary of the Heisei Kamen Rider series. All I can say about this first episode is...WOW! The first episode of Decade begins with a bang. Right from the beginning we have a huge war, but not just an ordinary war with soldiers, but an all out Kamen Rider War. This war is HUGE. Those who have watched past shows will see some familiar Kamen Riders, some even from Kamen Rider movies. It's during this Rider War sequence, that we meet a girl with a fancy torn dirty white dress. In fact, alot of the action is going around with her right in the middle of it all. We have all these Kamen Riders fighting an unseen enemy. Eventually, we see all the Riders on the ground, dead. The only ones alive are the victor, and the girl. When everything settles, the girls sees the victor. A person floating among the carnage with the girl's only reaction being, "Decade..." Folks, this is all during the first two minutes of the show before the opening credits sequence starts.



I'm not gonna go too much into what happens in this premiere episode, where's the fun in that? You're gonna have to watch it all to see what happens. Basically, we're introduced to our main cast: Tsukasa Kadoya, Natsumi Hikari, and Natsumi's Grandfather. We also find out what Tsukasa must do. Like all Heisei Kamen Rider shows, Decade is like an episode of an serialized drama here in the US, such as Lost, 24, and Heroes. And like those shows we're left with alot of questions, some of which aren't gonna be answered in the next episode, but might be answered further down during the show's run.



For a Kamen Rider premiere, this was a very good start. Alot of these Kamen Rider shows take awhile to get going, but this episode picked up steam fast. Hopefully this show can maintain it's momentum.

There weren't alot to the action scenes to this episode, it was pretty much to show what Decade is capable of. There wasn't any hand-to-hand combat or any big stunts like there usually is. The best action was probably during the Rider War sequence.



The only bad thing I have to say is more of a design choice rather than about the episode. Why Toei? Why did you have to make Kamen Rider Decade PINK!?

All in all I liked this premiere episode, the fight scenes with Decade could have been better, but it was still good. Also, a word of wisdom, this show has a HUGE nostalgia factor. It's highly recommended for newcommers to Kamen Rider to watch a couple of the previous series in order to feel that a certain fanboy-gasm when a favorite Rider appears. But it's not required, because it's possible that Decade can be good for newcomers to see what all the shows are like, and you may even wish to decide to watch one of the past shows because of Decade.



Alright, time to give this episode a rating. I'm gonna rate this using a scale similar to a guy, whose blog I frequently read uses for his Doctor Who reviews, but instead of using Sonic Screwdrivers, I'm gonna rate them using Rider Kicks.  Kamen Rider Decade - Episode 1: Rider War gets Four out of Five Rider Kicks.

Hopefully, I typed up a good review.  Comments would be appreciated on how I can improve my reviews.  And I hope my friends, or any other readers, but especially my friends, that read this blog, will decide to give this show, or any of the other shows a chance, and watch them.

Alright, next Wednesday I will return to review, Kamen Rider Decade - Episode 2: Kuuga's World, but I will be back tomorrow with the first in my Comic Book Review series, with a review of Green Lantern: Rebirth #1 of 6, written by the brilliant Geoff Johns and art by Ethan Van Sciver.

Poll #1347637
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 2

Who would win in a fight?

Poll #1347635
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4

Which show should I start with for my Retro Kamen Rider Review?

Alright, last time I told you all about the Showa Era Kamen Rider shows.  Now for the last part of Kamen Rider 101, I will go over the Heisei era shows.  The Heisei Era Kamen Rider shows began in 2000, and is still going on strong today.  Last entry I said, I would not write as much, well that was sorta a lie because the Heisei era are the shows I have pretty much seen all of.  One of the differences between the Showa and Heisei eras were the addition of a bit more comedy into the shows to break up some of the sometimes depressing and serious plots  So, shall we get started?

Kamen Rider Kuuga (2000-2001) - This is the first of the Heisei era of shows.  Kuuga, and all the Heisei Riders are not cyborgs.  Rather, they are young men who stumble across the world of the rider and are given some sort of belt, or other transformation item.  Also gone, for the most part, in the Heisei Era shows are the evil organizations, instead are groups of monsters with different agendas.  Also, the Heisei Era shows are also not related to each other, and all take place in different universes with exception to a few shows.  Kuuga, follows Godai Yuusuke, a happy go lucky guy, who becomes bonded to the Arcle Belt, a belt made by an ancient tribe called the Rinto Tribe.  With the Arcle Belt, Godai is able to transform into Kamen Rider Kuuga to battle the evil creatures, the Grongi.  Kuuga is known as a Form changer.  He has 6 forms.  Each form has a different function.  Growing Form is Kuuga's weakest form, and the form Godai transforms into when he first uses the belt.  Mighty Form is Kuuga's default form when he uses the belt after the first transformation, and this form is evenly powered.  Dragon Form is a form Kuuga can transform into in order to be faster and more agile with the sacrifice of strength, this form has a weapon called the Dragon Rod, which can be created by grabbing any pole type object, like...a POLE, or a staff.  Then there is Pegasus Form, green in colored, the purpose of this form is to heighten Kuuga's senses.  The downside of Pegasus form is that it can't be sustained for long due to strain on the nervous system.  The weapon in Pegasus Form is the Pegasus Bowgun, which can be created by Kuuga using any gun.  Then there is Titan Form, a purple colored form that increases Kuuga's defense, the weapon for this form is the Titan Sword, which can be made using any sword-type weapon.  Finally there is Ultimate Form, Kuuga's most powerful form.  Ultimate Form is all black with gold trim, this form has the ability to let Kuuga use all the weapons associated with his previous forms.  Episodes of this show can be found at TV-Nihon, but we have only the first four episodes subtitled.

Kamen Rider AgitΩ (2001-2002) - Agito is a direct sequel to Kamen Rider Kuuga.  It's about Tsugami Souichi, and amnesiac with mysterious powers.  He is able to transform into the Kamen Rider called Agito.  Like Kuuga, Agito is a form changing Rider.  He has six forms.  The first is called Ground Form, and is Agito's default form, and it's evenly powered.  Unlike Kuuga, Agito's alternate forms have weapons that aren't created by using basic objects.  Storm Form, Flame Form, Trinity Form, Burning Form, and Shining Form are Agito's alternate forms.  Burning and Shining being his ultimate forms.  Agito also had 3 other Riders: Kamen Rider G3 (later G3-X), Kamen Rider Gills (a Rider similar in concept to Kamen Rider Amazon), and Another Agito (that's actually what he's called)  Agito is the first Heisei era show to have a theatrical film, this would be a tradition for all Heisei shows after Agito.

Kamen Rider Ryuki (2002-2003) - Ryuki is a seperate series and is not a continuation of Agito.  Ryuki involves 13 Advent Decks created for 13 Kamen Riders.  They form contracts with monsters from the Mirror World, a dimension opposite to our own in which the Riders can only exist.  The Riders draw on their monsters' strength in exchange for feeding them the life force of the creatures they destroy.  The Riders also fight each other to the death, for in the end, there can be only one Kamen Rider.  And the surviving Rider is granted a single wish.  Shinji Kido is one of those Riders, an intern at an online news service.  He is thrust into the war of the Kamen Riders.  Ryuki is notable for having the most Riders in a series.  It's also notable for being the first of what I call the Gimmick Riders (Riders that have some sort of gimmick to transform.)  In Ryuki, all the Riders have decks of cards and these decks would slide into that Rider's belt and they would transform.  The decks housed cards the Riders used to do certain attacks, especially their finishing attacks.  Ryuki is also notable for having the first Female Kamen Rider, although this would be the beginning of what's known as the Female Rider Curse.  Ryuki, notably, followed two main protagonists, Shinji/Ryuki and Ren/Kamen Rider Knight.  English subtitled episodes of this series can be found at TV-Nihon, it is currently an active project with the first 28 episodes released so far.

Kamen Rider 555/Kamen Rider Faiz (2003-2004) - Faiz is another seperate series.  In Faiz, the Riders transformed by dialing a three digit number into a specially made Cell Phone and connected the phone to the Rider's belt.  Faiz followed Takumi Inui as he fought the evil Corporation, Smart Brain, which was run by evolved humans called the Orphenoch.  Faiz was notable in that Faiz had 6 different characters use the Faiz Gear belt, some evil, and some good.  It's also notable for the Rider characters double crossing each other frequently, mostly by Kamen Rider Kaixa.  Faiz had two alternate forms, Accel Form which allowed Faiz to move at super speed, and able to kill multiple enemies simultaneously.  And there was also his Ultimate Form called, Blaster Form, which had a large rifle weapon that could be turned into a giant sword.  The entire series and the Director's Cut version of the theatrical film can be downloaded at TV-Nihon.

Kamen Rider Blade (2004-2005) - Another seperate show.  Blade returned the gimmick back to cards.  This time the cards were of different suits (Ace, Spade, Hearts, Diamond) All the Riders would either scan or slide a Category Ace card to transform.  Blade had 4 Riders total.  Blade represented Spades.  Garren represented Diamonds.  Chalice represented Hearts.  Leangle represented Clubs.  In Blade, the Riders battled creatures called the Undead, which were once sealed into cards, but were all released.  The Riders reseal the Undead into these cards, and use the cards that correspond to their suit to seal the rest of the Undead.  Blade is notable in that not just the main rider had an alternate form.  Both Blade and Garren had Jack Form.  And Blade and Chalice had a King Form.  All episodes of Kamen Rider Blade and the theatrical film can be downloaded subtitled at TV-Nihon

Kamen Rider Hibiki (2005-2006) - Perhaps the most radically different series of the Heisei Kamen Rider era.  The Rider designs in Hibiki were not based off of any insects.  The Riders also did not use belts to transform.  Hibiki would tranform using a special musical tuning fork.  Ibuki would tranform by blowing into a whistle, and Todoroki would transform using a bracelet with four strings on it that he would strum.  The creatures in this series,the Makamou, were only able to be defeated using pure sound that the Riders generated with their instrument weapons.  Each Rider had a specialty.  Hibiki was a drum type, and would attach his belt buckle to the Makamou forming a large Taiko drum, and drum on the creature till it exploded.  Ibuki used a Trumpet that also served as a machine gun.  Ibuki would fire special rounds into the Makamou, and then attach his buckle to the machine gun to form the trumpet.  Ibuki would then play the trumpet which caused the rounds he shot into the makamou to expand and explode causing the Makamou to also explode.  Todoroki, used a guitar that doubled as a sword,  he would impale the Makamou with the sword, and attach his buckle to the sword creating the guitar, and Todoroki would jam on it until the monster died.  Hibiki had 2 forms, Hibiki Kurenai (Crimson), an all red form that upped his strength, and Hibiki Soukou (Armed Hibiki) a form that gave Hibiki maximum power, and also gave him a look that looked more like previous Riders.  Hibiki is also notable for it's focus on character development and plot rather than action.  It's also notable in that the show was slower paced than previous shows. Also, Hibiki was known for it's writing staff shake up.  For some reason the original writing staff was fired, and the writing staff for Kamen Rider Blade came on, and took the show in a new direction.  About halfway through the series, Hibiki became faster paced, and more like the previous shows.  All of Hibiki and it's movie can be downloaded from TV-Nihon.

Kamen Rider Kabuto (2006-2007) - Kamen Rider Kabuto marked the 35th Anniversary of Kamen Rider.  Kabuto returned to the standard Heisei Kamen Rider formula from before Hibiki.  Kabuto was about Tendou Souji, a egocentric man, who mysteriously can become Kamen Rider Kabuto using technology developed by a group called ZECT, who designed the Kabuto Zecter to battle an invading extraterrestrial race called The Worm.  The Worm were aliens that arrived on Earth in 1999 when a meteor crashed in Shibuya, the meteor contained The Worm who were in hibernation.  The Worm mimiced humans whom they killed once mimiced.  The Worm have two stages, The Pupa Stage, and the Molted Stage.  In the Molted Stage, the Worm had the ability to Clock Up.  In Clock Up, everything around the Worm slowed down to a crawl, but the Worm was able to move at normal speed.  ZECT designed Kabuto to combat the Worm in Clock Up.  Later, more Riders showed up in the series, most of them were sent by ZECT to kill Tendou Souji as he was not a member of ZECT. 

Kamen Rider Den-O (2007-2008) - Another departure, so to speak, from normal Kamen Rider.  Den-O took a lighter tone with lots of comedic elements.  Den-O followed Nogami Ryoutarou, a young man with the worst luck imaginable.  One day, Ryoutarou is possessed by a creature called an Imagin, a creature who granted a person one wish, and in return that creature could travel to that person's past, usually to an event that caused the person to make that wish, like the day they lost their job, for example.  But the Imagin was different than the others, this one didn't truly care about granting wishes and destroying the future timeline.  This creature, later named, Momotaros, wanted to fight the Imagin for fun.  It's discovered that Ryoutarou is a Singular Point, a person who isn't effected by changes in time, who can become Den-O.  Throughout the course of the show Ryoutarou is possessed by 3 more Imagin.  Like Kuuga, and Agito, Den-O is a form changing Rider.  He has four forms, and two powered up forms.  Each form had different uses, and also corresponded to a different Imagin: Sword Form (Momotaros), Rod Form (Urataros), Ax Form (Kintaros), and Gun Form (Ryutaros).  The two powered up forms were Climax Form (where all four Imagin took over Ryoutaros and controlled a different part of his body), and Liner Form (a form Ryoutarou uses once it becomes impossible for the four Imagin to control his body while he's in the past).  Den-O is notable for being the most popular Kamen Rider series so far.  It is also notable for having multiple theatrical films, one that occured during the series, two that premiered after the series ended, and a fourth movie scheduled for release in April.  All episodes of Den-O, and for now, the first two movies can be downloaded from TV-Nihon.

Kamen Rider Kiva (2008-2009) - Kamen Rider Kiva returned to a more serious storyline, but still retained comedic elements.  Kiva was inspired by the Universal Movie Monsters (Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolf Man, Creature from the Black Lagoon.) Kiva was again a form changing Rider, each of his four basic forms were based off of said movie monsters.  Kiva fought monsters called Fangire, vampires who drained people not of their blood, but of their life energy.  The show is notable for following two main characters between two different times.  The show followed Wataru Kurenai in 2008, and Otoya Kurenai, Wataru's father in 1986.  The show switched back and forth between the two eras to tell the story.  One last thing, Kamen Rider Kiva takes place in the same universe as Kamen Rider Den-O.  All episodes of Kiva, and soon the movie, are available to download at TV-Nihon.

Kamen Rider DCD (2009-2009/2010?) - The current running show is Kamen Rider DCD, or Kamen Rider Decade.  This series marks the 10th Anniversary of the Heisei Kamen Riders.  And to mark that occasion, Kamen Rider Decade will have every Kamen Rider from Kuuga till now appear in the series.  The show follows Kadoya Tsukasa as he travels to nine parallel universes each dominated by the different past Riders in order to stop the worlds from merging and destroying his, and the nine other worlds.  Decade is a card themed Rider, this time using cards from the real life arcade card game, Kamen Rider Ganbaride.  Decade has ten Kamen Ride cards.  The first being the card he uses to become Decade, the other nine correspond to the nine previous main riders, by using those cards he can become those Riders (for example, using Kuuga's Kamen Ride card will make Decade transform into Kuuga)  Decade is currently running and has aired three episodes so far.  The first two episodes, and soon the third episode, are available for download in both Standard and High Definition at TV-Nihon.

I hope you guys enjoyed my history lesson, and I hope you'll decide to download and watch this great TV series.

Later today, or tomorrow, I will post my first review of: Kamen Rider Decade - Episode 1: Rider War.

I will also be doing a Retro Rider Review.  Where I'll review episodes of the past shows (Amazon, BLACK, Kuuga, Agito, etc.)

I'm bored so I've decided to continue my little lesson. I've gone over the original Kamen Rider, when it was made, who made it, and the basic formula of the series, and the plot of the original series. Now I'm gonna talk about each different show, but I'm not gonna go into it as much as I did Kamen Rider.

First, I'll list each series seperated by era.

Showa Era: Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider V3, Kamen Rider X, Kamen Rider Amazon, Kamen Rider Stronger, New Kamen Rider (or Kamen Rider: Skyrider), Kamen Rider Super-1, Kamen Rider BLACK, and Kamen Rider BLACK RX.

Heisei Era: Kamen Rider Kuuga, Kamen Rider AgitΩ (or Agito), Kamen Rider Ryuki, Kamen Rider 555 (or Faiz), Kamen Rider Blade, Kamen Rider Hibiki, Kamen Rider Kabuto, Kamen Rider Den-O, Kamen Rider Kiva, and Kamen Rider DCD (or Decade)

Now, I'll go through each series, and tell about the basic plots, and also differences the different shows had.

Kamen Rider V3 (1973-1974) - V3 is a direct sequel to Kamen Rider.  V3, follows Kazami Shiro, a man who witnesses the murder of a man by a new evil organization called Destron, this makes Shiro a target of Destron.  Shiro rescues a young woman who like him became a target of Destron because she found the location of their base.  Shiro takes her to his home.  Later, Destron sends a mutant after him and the woman he rescued.  Shiro returns in time to see his father, mother, and sister stabbed to death by the mutant and he, himself, attacked.  Shiro is saved by his Chemistry teacher, none other than, Takeshi Hongo, who transforms into Kamen Rider Ichigo (1).  After Shiro is saved, Shiro requests that Riders 1 and 2, turn him into a cyborg like them so that he could have revenge against Destron.  The two Riders refuse, telling him that it would be very hard and sorrowful to live as a cyborg.  Later, Riders 1 and 2 are trapped by Destron, and are about to be killed by a laser, when Shiro arrives and saves them, but he is mortally wounded by the laser.  To save his life, 1 and 2 have no choice but to turn Kazami Shiro into a cyborg.  The two Riders leave Shiro on the operating table to face the Destron mutant, Bazooka Turtle.  Overwhelmed, by the mutant, 1 and 2 are once again saved by Shiro, but this time in his guise as Kamen Rider V3.  As you may guess, V3 takes a more darker approach, as indicated by the murders of Kazami Shiro's family.  Also, the show is a little different in that Shiro is willingly turned into a Rider.  Even though his request was rejected by 1 and 2, it was requested in the end, when he was turned into V3 to save his life.  V3 is also notable for his many variations of his Rider Kick, whereas 1 and 2 had a standard flying kick.

Kamen Rider X (1974) - I really don't know anything about X.  Just that Keitaro Jin performs surgery on his son, Keisuke, to save his life after they are attacked by the group called GOD (Government Of Darkness).  Turning Keisuke into Kamen Rider X.  X is the first Rider to use a weapon.  This weapon called the "Ridol" could be used as a spear, rapier, or a club.

Kamen Rider Amazon (1974-1975) - I'm not gonna go over the plots too much any more, because they're all pretty much the same basically.  Amazon is a Tarzan-type character, who was raised in the jungle.  And a Incan medicine man performs a mystical surgical process to turn him into Kamen Rider Amazon.  Amazon fights the Granada Empire.  Amazon is notable for the fact that Amazon is not a cyborg unlike his predecessors.  He's also notable for his transformed state, which is an actual physical change.  Also, Amazon is noted for its violence, which contained lots of blood and gore, and bodily dismemberments.  Amazon is also not designed after a bug, but more after a lizard or fish.  Amazon is also the shortest Kamen Rider series produced, with only 24 episodes made.  This series can be watched by downloading episodes, subtitled in English, here, www.freewebs.com/hinotorisubs/downloads.htm

Kamen Rider Stronger (1975-1976) -  Stronger is noted for being the first Rider to have a powered up form.  Something that becomes very common during the Heisei Era shows.

New Kamen Rider/Kamen Rider Skyrider (1979-1980) - Skyrider is notable for being modeled after a moth, and for having the ability to fly.

Kamen Rider Super-1 (1980-1981) - The notable thing about Super-1 is that the main protagonist volunteers to become Super-1, and not for reasons of revenge.  Kazuya Oki, volunteers to be Super-1 for the Internation Spade Development Program, so that he can survive in space without the need of a bulky astronaut suit.  But that feature is never demonstrated due to the program being attacked by the evil group of the series.

Kamen Rider BLACK (1987-1988) - BLACK is notable for having the first Evil Kamen Rider in the form of Shadow Moon.  It's also notable for BLACK needing to do both of his finishing attacks to kill the mutant of the week, Rider Punch followed immediately by Rider Kick.  This show can be viewed by downloading the episodes, Subtitled in English, here: www.centurykings.com/downloads/

Kamen Rider BLACK RX (1988-1989) - You can probably guess what one of the things this show is notable for.  It is the first Kamen Rider series to have the same character as the main Protagonist.  This time Minami Kotaro is upgraded to BLACK RX when he is jettisoned out into space and towards the sun.  This series is also notable for RX being the only Rider to have both a superpowered motorcycle, but also a superpowered car.  BLACK RX is also the final Showa era Kamen Rider series.

That doesn't mean that there wasn't any Kamen Rider in the 90s.  There were 3 Kamen Rider movies.  The controversial Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue, and the two 45 minute length movies Kamen Rider ZO (pronounced Zett-Oh), and Kamen Rider J, but I won't be going into those. Just that you can download both Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue and Kamen Rider ZO, through TV-Nihon, who I work for.  Kamen Rider J can be downloaded at www.centurykings.com/2008/07/05/release-kamen-rider-j/.

Part 3 in awhile.  Since this is another lengthy post.  Part 3 will be the last lengthy post, well...at least until I start reviewing stuff.