Blitzar: The Legend (Obviously) Begins

Blitzar: The Legend (Obviously) Begins ("B1itzar: The Legend (Obviously) Begins" from 2000, originally titled "Blitzar: Rise of the Hero Nerd") is a 1998 Malichkan tokusatsu superhero action satirical comedy film directed by Timothy Ryder, produced by the film production division of RTVM, and starring Eric Hyles as the lead.

The film centers around Boris, a 16-year old Russian immigrant to Malichka, who is a tech geek and a child prodigy, who comes across a pair of headphones. When worn, the headphones turn Boris into an armored superhero named Blitzar with the power to generate supersonic sound waves that deafen his opponents.

Unlike most satirical films, the swearing and sexual elements are excluded, making the film suitable for all audiences. The film was rated PG. The film premiered on December 12th 1998, exactly a year before the Bicentennial celebrations.

Summary
In 2005 Malichka, Boris Petrov (Eric Hyles) is a 14-year-old Russian whose family immigrated to Malichka and are residing in Dvoreki. He is a child prodigy, skilled in all fields of technology, and being studious, perpetually gets grades along the lines of 9 in all his subjects, especially in mathematics.

Despite his nerdy attitude, he is a victim of bullying. Ryan Kobayashi, a 16-year-old El Kadsreian, is the leader of the same gang of bullies that picks on Boris and his friends the most. They ridicule Boris mainly for his straight 90+ grades, but Boris secretly knows Ryan is the class loser.

After another day of being bullies, Boris finally snaps and tells it to the teacher, who lets him bunk school. He tells his parents why he cut classes and tells them all that happened. The next day, Boris reports Ryan's cutting classes to the teacher after spying on him. At the cafeteria, he finds a pair of futuristic headphones. When he puts it on, it becomes irremovable, but he gets used to it. Suddenly he begins writhing in pain as he starts growing armor all over his body. He then feels super-strong and walks to the internet cafe where Ryan and his friends are staying at.

Ryan is confronted by Boris, who now calls himself Blitzar, and brings him to the principal's office of his school, where he is immediately sentenced to detention and school community service. Blitzar smirks at the sight of Ryan being forced to take the school janitor's place and declares this as his punishment for bullying him. The bullies begin feeling threatened and decide they will never pick on anyone again.

Blitzar decides to train his newfound powers by saving people in certain situations across Malichka: defending the town of Hribjagode from an avalanche, putting out fires in Sveti Jurij and breaking up a shooting in Dvoreki. Just 3 days into his superhero career, he receives word of a spree of kidnappings in the city. He spies on the kidnappers' activity by going undercover as a black gangster. He finds the kidnappers capturing a black grandmother and stops them. Just then he decides to blow his own cover and uses his arm, which he turns into a gun, to shoot at the kidnappers. He then turns his arm into a cell phone so he can contact the police and arrest the kidnappers.

At the exact moment, Ryan appears and admits to having used the kidnappers so he can find people to use as accounts for his online dating service, which he calls "ArrowHeart", to generate enough money so he can dominate the Internet industry. The service is shut down and Ryan is charged with pedophilia before being arrested. Boris is knighted the next day and is declared a member of the Order of the Lazuli for his act.

Cast (main characters only)
Eric Hyles as Boris Petrov/Blitzar

Steven Jorgen as Ryan Kobayashi

Anne-Marie Ryan as Lenka Petrov

Magnus Nielsen as Vladimir Petrov

Emilija Šerifović as Masha Petrov

Daniel O'Connor as Timothy Hibiki

Production
The idea was first devised in 1993 in the form of an incomplete script for a TV series' pilot episode, sent by director Timothy Ryder to the film division of RTVM. After it was marked for rewriting for lack of originality, he sent playwright Jeanne DeWitte to rewrite the script for him. After re-submission, they accepted the script and had to settle on a budget of 70 million Malichka dollars.

The project was put on hold for four years until 1997 when Ryder graduated from college with a Bachelor's Degree in Visual Arts. He became a film director and set up his production company, Ryder Films.

Filming
Filming scenes were at Dvoreki, London and suburban New York City. Production took place from January 3rd 1997 to May 5th 1998. To reduce risk of injury, they cut back on stunts, with stunt scenes being filmed in CGI.

Visual effects
To save money, they had to use more practical effects than CGI. Blitzar's costume was made by the RTVM Film Division's Special Effects Unit and took inspiration from Transformers and the 1997 El Kadsreian film Blitzivan: Born to be Reloaded. Some of the scenes were shot at soundstages in the RTVM Film Studios in Dvoreki. Blitzar's car form was provided by local automobile manufacturer Malichka Auto, one of the film's sponsors.

The CGI was made by 10 different local VFX studios. The CGI was limited to certain parts of the movie, some of which included shots of a near-future Dvoreki, as well as where Blitzar changes his arm into certain weapons, the scenes where stunts are usually performed, and Boris' transformations into Blitzar.

Box office
The film grossed 109,223,225 Malichka dollars (2,114,344 US dollars) worldwide in the third week. It grossed 40 million in the premiere and jumped to 72 million at the end of the second week, before landing at the final grossing of 109 million.

Critical reception
It was graded 95 by the Malichkan Film Evaluators' Co-Op Ltd and rated PG by the Media Regulations Board. Most critics gave it positive reviews, mainly praising it for the story and special effects. Rotten Tomatoes gave it an 80% approval rating and an average rating of 9.1/10 whilst Metacritic gave 79%.

Plagiarism controversy
After the film's release El TV Kadsre Films complained that the movie had infringed on the title and main character design of their movie Blitzivan: Born to be Reloaded which was released a year previously. As a result their parent company El TV Kadsre filed a lawsuit against RTVM. It was dropped in 2000 after it was found that the plots of the two movies had no relation whatsoever.

Sequels and adaptations
The series has spawned a franchise of 4 other films, a reboot film, a TV series which ran from 1999-2000 and a toy line, co-produced by RTVM and local toy manufacturer Bjergsen Toys, a toy company formerly owned by million-dollar tycoon and former president Brian Bjergsen.