Hello, my name is Karen and I represent 50% of the women now guestblogging at Mightygodking while MGK is being a total pussy about his internet connection.
First, I’d like to confess that the idea of writing for a predominantly male readership freaks me out because I often talk about things like home decor, vaginas, and cute male celebrities and when posting on my own turf. Maybe we could come to an understanding: I will keep the vagina references to a minimum if you don’t insult my limited knowledge of the DC Universe. Deal?
Okay, deal. For the last few days, I’ve been trying to come up with a topic of discussion that would interest us both and it’s been really stressing me out. I decided to take a nap to clear my head. Now, I know a bit about psychoanalysis but there are some aspects of the subconscious that leave my perplexed. Like why did I suddenly have a dream about The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog after not watching the show for 10 years and never really being a fan of it in the first place? Wait a second…
Obscure action-fantasy television show from the 90’s? Check. Superheros that control the elements? Check. Characters and plot loosely based in mythology? Check. People running around with swords and crossbows? Check. Let’s do this.
It was 1998. Haim Saban and Shuki Levy were enjoying the success of Saban Entertainment, then one of the premiere independent television production companies specializing in childrens programming. With hits like Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, VR Troopers, and Big Bad Beetleborgs, Saban and Levy had the world at their fingertips.
“What next?” Levy asked Saban one night at his Beverly Hills mansion.
“I know just the thing,” Saban laughed, swirling a snifter of L’Esprit de Courvoisier, “Think Power Rangers meets Enya.”
“Solid. Fucking. Gold,” replied Levy.
And so the Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog was born. Set in a mythical Celtic otherworld, MKoTNN capitalized on the tail end of America’s pop cultural romance with all things Irish (God, I miss Claddagh rings). It was the only tokusatsu-style show in Saban’s roster to film its own fight scenes instead of cutting them directly from Japanese tokusatsu ala. Power Rangers.
Plot: a ragtag band of heroes―Rohan the druid-in-training, Angus the thief, Prince Ivor the token ethnic guy, and Princess Dierdre the wet blanket in a mini skirt―are charged with protecting the Kingdom of Kells against the evil Queen Maeve and her army of monsters. Luckily, the Mystic Knights have the power of the elements on their side and are able to call upon air, water, fire and earth―oh, and sometimes dragons―to get them out of a jam. They’re also trying to find a legendary hero, Draganta, who we eventually discover is one of their ranks.
Anyone familiar with MKoTNN can tell you it was not a good show, so why am I talking about it? Well, for one thing, it’s deliciously bad and can be found on YouTube. But MKoTNN represents the culmination of live-action tokusatsu-style programming from Saban Entertainment that was ever present in the afterschool television schedule of the mid-to-late 1990’s. The genre would die out with MKoTNN.
What became of the live-action tokusatsu-style fantasy series? Well, North America certainly lost interest, but so did Haim Saban. Saban Entertainment had merged with Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Kids Network in 1995 and in 1997 formed Fox Family Worldwide. This restructuring put Saban’s shows into 81 million homes. The Mystic Knights were an experiment in giving live-action tokusatsu a higher budget and a larger audience―and the experiment was a failure. MKoTNN was canceled after 38 lackluster episodes.
In 2001, Saban and Murdoch sold Fox Family Worldwide to Disney, a transaction that propelled Saban into the Forbes 400. Soon after, he formed Saban Capital Group and now spends his days buying foreign media conglomerates, spending millions on his Zionist political agenda, and dreaming of poorly-dubbed ninjas in colourful body armour.
And that, boys and girls (Hi Wendy), is how the man behind the Power Rangers and Samurai Pizza Cats became the 102nd richest person in America. So the next time your friends say that your lifelong dream of writing a tv pilot about kung-fu centaurs is futile, tell them to go suck on a Megazord.
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Not the Pizza Cats! Oh, BTW, Hello. 🙂
When you mentioned Mystic Knights, my first impulse was to type “fuck” thirty-seven times and then break a glass on my forehead. Fortunately, I remembered that both glasses cost money and years soda consumption have left me with the forehead of a newborn.
Jesus, that was an awful show, wasn’t it? It took a bunch of potentially interesting concepts from old fairy tales and then held a gun to their kids’ heads until they put on the monkey costumes and danced. Ironically, it probably would’ve been better if they just cut down the CGI effects and when for more low-budget Sinbad-esque action scenes, both with and without the foam costumes. Maybe replace “dragon” with “giant” and had some hobos in paper-mache suits duke it out on top of a 40K field. Would that have helped? Less throwing cheesy special effects at our heads and more characters doing stuff?
At Saban eventually gave us an American release of Sherlock Holmes In The 22nd Century. That soothed the burn.
Mmm, Sherlock was good.
Good post, Karen. Trust the subconscious. And though I can’t speak for the rest of my gender, vagina references are fine by me. My DC knowledge is also limited. Is there a way to do a quiz show to find who knows less? I probably absorb more than I realize from the three Morrison books.
I have no problems with references to genitilia and the freedom to express ones personality through Ikea. Just don’t fall to the darkside and embrace your inner collon, that’s my job.
I have a feeling there’s a sinister, dark side to vaginas we’d rather not hear the lurid details of.
I’m also ashamed to know the show being talked about. Why couldn’t you have talked about Roar instead? It would leave us all with slightly more dignity.
OMG, Mystic Knights of Tir na nÓg! Wow, what a trainwreck that show was. I remember catching about two minutes of it while idly channel-surfing, and asking myself, “What the hell? Isn’t that distinguished Irish stage actor Stephen Brennan, whom I last saw playing the role of Lucky in Waiting for Godot? What is he doing in this pile of garbage?”
Truly, the representation of my country in international television is dire indeed.
“Why couldn’t you have talked about Roar instead? It would leave us all with slightly more dignity.”
Not a whole hell of a lot, though.
First, I’d like to confess that the idea of writing for a predominantly male readership freaks me out because I often talk about things like home decor, vaginas, and cute male celebrities and when posting on my own turf. Maybe we could come to an understanding: I will keep the vagina references to a minimum if you don’t insult my limited knowledge of the DC Universe. Deal?
Tits or GTFO!
And that, boys and girls (Hi Wendy), is how the man behind the Power Rangers and Samurai Pizza Cats became the 102nd richest person in America.
If this didn’t end amid a backdrop of FOX obnoxiousness, I’d say it was an awesome “Happily Ever After” story. Ah well…
You could compromise and talk about superpowered vaginas.
OMG. I had suppressed the memory of that show. I remember getting excited about the concept. And then watching in horror.
But this thread reminded me of “Covington Cross” which was on American TV in the early 1990’s with Nigel Terry. That one was good, but I guess too many people were not ready for a medieval family drama.
What was the name of the one where there were 4 high school kids that mystically transformed into one giant knight. No zords, or borgs or voltron force… they just merged into one giant knight.
Hello Karen!
I wonder if the internets could handle us co-writing an article? What, I have no idea, but hey, we can always fall back to vaginas if nothing else works.
Not a whole hell of a lot, though.
Indeed, but I’d take the sliver gladly.
You could compromise and talk about superpowered vaginas.
I’m now having flashbacks to my old roommate with the complete run of Penthouse Comix and Men’s Adventure Comix…
I remember a toy for that show featuring “Frozen Lava fireballs”. Which I promptly replied “Wouldn’t that be a rock?”
My feeling is that you can never write too much about vaginas, whether they be normal, superpowered, or dark-sided.
(I do hope that doesn’t read as too pervy.)
Feel free to write about vaginas, home decor and cute male models. I for one wouldn’t mind. And yeah, that show was terrible. The black guy was so awkwardly slotted in as to be hilarious.
I’ve loathed Saban ever since I read that he had it in for (and ultimately brought about the cancellation of) the original Tick animated show because he had some stupid grudge against kid’s shows that adults could enjoy as well.