Remembering MYSTIC KNIGHTS OF TIR NA NOG, the 1998 American Tokusatsu

In the 90’s, Haim Saban AND Shuki Levi they were living the dream with Fox Kids and bringing tokusatsu adaptation after tokusatsu adaptation to American kids. It started in 1993 with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers which used footage from Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger mixed with some original footage shot in the USA to create a beloved show celebrating its 30th anniversary. In the following years we got Masked knight based on Kamen Rider Black RX; VR troops based on Space Sheriff Shaider, Dimensional Warrior SpielbanAND Chojinki Metalder; AND The big bad Beetleborgs based on Juukou B-Fighter AND B-Fighter Kabuto. I have watched and loved each of these. However, there was an outlier then. In 1998, Mystical Knights of Tir Na Nog launched.

Mystical Knights it was in effect an original tokusatsu by Saban. The show does not use footage from a Japanese show or any other show for that matter. The team actually shot everything on location in Ireland and the kids were given about 50 episodes. The story takes a lot of inspiration from Irish mythology and it’s a show I rarely hear about, despite the fact that I love it. It used CG monsters, the cinematography was cohesive, and I liked the aesthetic. Instead of the futuristic armor as seen in most other tokusatsu shows that children were exposed to in this era, Mystical Knights it’s more medieval fantasy.

Here is the synopsis for IMDB:

The story is based on Celtic legends. When a tyrant queen from the land of Temra invades the peaceful land of Kells, King Conchobar must rely on an ancient legend that foretells an orphan who will find the mighty warrior Draganta and “bring peace to Kells for 1000 lives”. Legend also tells of the four mystical armors and Pyre the fire dragon. The recipients of the armors are Angus, something of a miscreant; Ivar, a Moorish prince; Deirdre, Princess of Kells; and Rohan, a fate-bound druid’s apprentice and the youth foretold in legend. They are joined by Aideen, a young fairy; Fin Varra, the king of Tir Na Nog; and Garrett, the eventual fifth Mystic Knight. Together, the five Mystic Knights continue to defend Kells from Queen Maeve and all of her evil magic.

Basically, you had four teenagers who get magical weapons from a magical being and have to stop the evil queen from taking over the kingdom. They then had to get magical armor, a dragon, and finally face and recruit an evil knight who was manipulated by the aforementioned evil queen. Sound familiar? Each knight was connected to an element and had a unique weapon which was awesome. Rohan was Fire with the Sword of Kells, Angus was Earth with Terra Sling Mace, Deirdre was Air with Whirlwind Crossbow, and Ivar was Water with Barbed Trident. Garrett (the Fifth Horseman) would eventually join them with his element being the forest and his weapon being the Twin Timber Axes. Interesting enough, each of these weapons had a ranged attack with the funniest one for me being that the mace could throw boulders.

The show starred Lochlann Ó Mearain like Rohan, Lisa Dwan like Deirdre, Justin Pierre like Ivan, Vincenzo Walsch like Angus, Stephen Brennan as King Conchobar, e Charlotte Bradley as Queen Maeve. It was unfortunate that the show only lasted one season. A second season that was titled Mystic Knights: Battle Thunder was originally planned, but was eventually canceled and its budget went to Digimon AND The Power Rangers have lost the galaxy. Last year, conventional relationships got to interviews Joel Barkov for which he worked as a writer Mystical Knights along with many of the similar titles and shed some light on some areas.

In the interview, Barkow explains it Mystical Knights it was born partly because Beetleborg it was canceled after its second season. What’s even crazier is this Beetleborg was only canceled because the tokusatsu series went “really to Teletubbies public,” and they really couldn’t use the footage for a third season. Toy sales for Beetleborg they were strong according to Barkow. Unfortunately, toy sales are the real reason why Mystical Knights would not get a second season. Barkow explains that part of the problem arose because Bandai made toys for things that weren’t part of the show and so kids and their parents didn’t buy them. Is hard. As mentioned above, this led to the show being canceled and labeled a flop.

This is a shame as we had an original show here that didn’t rely on another show for reshoots. Also, I wrote this article because my brother shared a link to watch the show on YouTube the other day (check at the bottom of the article). Mystical Knights it has never been released in the house and you can’t find it on any streaming service. In the conventional relationship interview, Barkow says this may be because it can be a bit of a mess trying to figure out who has rights. He mentions how Saban had the rights and then Disney bought them, but then Saban bought them back, and so it’s considered a bankruptcy, so why would anyone publish it? All of this to say that Mystic Knight of Spirit on YouTube uploaded the show in a twisted way. The uploads use German TVRips, but then Mystic Knight of Spirit replaced the audio with any English rips they could find. Sadly, some of the audio is poor quality, but it was fun to revisit Mystical Knights.

I went back to watch a few episodes and honestly, it’s not as bad as I expected. Sure, it’s crappy. It was a children’s show in the 90s in the same vein as Power Rangers. What do you expect? I don’t know if I’ll finish reviewing it, but I’d be interested in seeing someone repost it Mystical Knights on DVD and streaming with some video and audio cleaned up.

Do you remember watching Mystical Knights? What is your favorite moment or character? I loved Rohan and remember having his toy as a child.