Laser Squadron! Maskman!

One of the best things about growing up in the Philippines is getting entertainment from the East and the West. I watched those American cartoons alongside a lot of Japanese Anime, I know kids in the US had the same thing but we had more. A lot more. Not just anime but live action shows. One of these was Hikari Sentai Maskman.

We just called it Maskman as kids. Translated as "Taskforce of Light: Maskman", the Filipino dub called as the much cooler, "Laser Squadron: Maskman". Maskman was part of the long-running Super Sentai series in Japan, which made it into the US in the 90's as the wildly popular Power Rangers. We had the same thing in the Philippines in the 80's but it was the a straight-up dub of one of the shows.

Hit the jump for more stuff like words and videos!

 

FUN FACT: Comedy Trio Tito, Vic and Joey [Some other dude] sung the Filipino dub opening/ending songs

I still remember watching the show on a late Sunday afternoon/early evening. It used to be on Channel 13 and aired alongside Uchuu Keiji Shaider, Kamen Rider Black and Takeshi's Castle (I'll write about these shows in another day).

Not the first Super Sentai show to ever make it to Philippine shores, but one of the first to ever get a Filipino dub and a localized version of the opening and ending songs (which would be the first and last time). Super Sentai shows that aired previously in the Philippines were dubbed into english by Filipinos, which was common at the time and the same for anime.

 

Original Japanese Opening

There weren't many significant changes in the dubs of these shows. Only changes in the names of the lead characters such as Michael from Takeru, Leonard from Kenta, etc. As for plot, I haven't checked but I don't really think they would change much from the episodes since it was a kid's show and Filipinos really aren't as sensitive as Americans when it comes to violence on TV.

I know Maskman wasn't first Super Sentai in the Philippines but it was the one I grew up with. Older kids grew up with Choudenshi Bioman, or even Himitsu Sentai Goranger (yes, it aired in the Philippines, who knew?). This was my first exposure to Super Sentai and when Power Rangers came to the Philippines, I was like "WTF WHY ARE WHITE PEOPLE TURNING INTO JAPANESE SUPERHEROES WUUUUUUT?!!!".

Well, not really. We didn't see it differently compared to how we saw Super Sentai shows. We just saw them as super heroes fighting monsters and saving people. When you defeat a monster it becomes big and you have get your giant robot out to smack it around some more. It was great. It wasn't like the marketing blitzkrieg that Power Rangers was, we didn't need toys to pretend we were Maskmen. We had the greatest toys of all: Our imagination.

Man, that last paragraph was terrible. Disregard its cheesiness. I'm hungry now and I'll go make some lunch.