Marvel's Disastrous Power Pack TV Pilot
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- Опубліковано 3 вер 2022
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Power Pack was a successful new comic that ran from 1984 through 1990 at Marvel. It was about 4 pre-teen brothers and sisters gifted super powers and how they tried to do the right thing with them, which was tough because of how young they were. The comic dealt with issues of the time but then Marvel made a super-cheap live action TV version. It did not work. - Розваги
It's a real shame that Power Pack has never been adapted into a cartoon. It has all the elements for a fun animated series.
It would certainly work better as a cartoon. Live Action, you have to deal with actors aging etc
hehe, could have done a back door pilot through the X-Men series and re-enact that classic cover of Wolverine meets the Power Pack!
When Disney bought Marvel, I was hoping for a Pixar Power Pack
Dude you are 100% right, I never thought of that. Now I can see it!
@@crithon and then they could have Franklin Richards hang out with PP for the FF backdoor pilot lol
I believe Marvel released a free Power Pack comic addressing sexual abuse of children from a kids perspective. Always respected that from Marvel even as a kid.
They did, and I think I had it.
Honestly pre-disney Marvel was really bold with the subjects it would tackle. Sexual assault, drug abuse, mental illness. But with disney the all-mighty dollar is more important than integral story telling, everything just feels like a content-farm nowadays. I mean heck, say what you will about the OG xmen movies but the very first scene opens with the concentration camps, disney would never be so brave.
@@frofrozzty as a fan of mcu films I’ll have to agree
I always wondered if they were made to do those power pack sexual abuse ads after putting colossus in a relationship with too-young kitty pryde.
They did and I still have it. Also had Spider-Man in it.
Power Pack is a blast from the past. No idea there was a tv show.
Never knew this existed. Power Pack was my gateway to the larger Marvel Universe when I was a kid, which is probably exactly what was intended.
Not Chris in the other msg obvi
Yeah, Power Pack was one of the first series I collected religiously. I was so upset when it was cancelled and the fact that the characters still remain relatively obscure in the wider Marvel universe.
@@maximusprime3459 it's honestly so dumb that they don't have a series, marvel doesn't make anything for kids anymore
An episode on Louise Simonson would be fantastic. I’m such a big fan of hers and Walt Simonson.
Here X Factor is one of the few "X books" I enjoy. I may even prefer her to Claremont...😑
Agree 100%, love her work.
Weezy and Walter
One of my all-time favorite comics moments was when the kids had lost their powers, but while battling the Snarks (aliens) they started regaining them. But each power was going to each Power differently than before, depending on what power the Power needed in that moment. So Jack, the surly one, is the last to gain powers. And there is a narration about how the Snark he has pinned has done the math and realized that Jack now must have the power that would let him disintegrate matter (previously Katie's). And the narration talks about how terrified the Snark is that this most-likely-to-react-with-violence child now had such a deadly power!
Please Please Please do an episode on Weezie. I will always remember her for being the beautiful young woman catching Swamp Thing out of the corner of her eye for Bernie Wrightson's iconic cover. Few people in comics have had the career and personal life of Louise Simonson. She was brilliant editor for Conan, the Claremont X-Men, writer, model, collaborator with Walt Simonson and Jeff Jones, you name it Weezie did everything. This is one the greats of the comic book industry and should be celebrated.
But wouldnt that go against the narrative that there were no female comics writers before 2016? What the hell?
Just having fun, I think it would be a great idea.
"This gets a reaction about as extreme as noticing you grabbed three socks from your drawer instead of two."
Oh man, the jokes were good this episode.
I would love to see the Power Pack get a new adaptation. I think an animated series targeted at kids with mature elements, like Batman: The Animated Series, could really make the Power Pack name more noteworthy to the public.
Louise Simonson understood how to write kids. That’s why I enjoyed her run on New Mutants
I always pretend that the Steel movie just coincidentally shared the name of the DC character and wasn't an adaptation.
I'm baffled that they went with a live-action show instead of an animated one. Not just because I think that style would work better for Power Pack, but also because they wanted to generate max profit every quarter and Saturday morning cartoons are really good at selling action figures and other merch. Seems like a missed opportunity for a potential cash cow.
It was probably cheaper to do live action.
The Power Pack absolutely deserve their own animated series.
Their powers would be so much fun in animation c'mon
Yeah. Look at what a cash cow Power Rangers became a year later. Live action is so much better.
@@michaelleary9233 I feel like you said "yeah" like to agree and then argued with them lol
That introduction reminded me that I taped the Nick Fury TV movie starring David Hasselhoff and kept it for years. Didn't seem too bad at the time. Same with his Knight Rider 2000 movie.
The Nick Fury movie was definitely the most faithful adaption of all those listed, Hasslehoff looked the part!
Please do a video on Louise Simonson! I’ve met her twice at conventions. Always the best
experience. She loves talking to fans (which is an amusing contrast when she’s sharing a table with Walter who seems much more reserved and quiet) and doesn’t rush people through a line. Everyone is treated with kindness and respect. Wonderful woman and an important writer who deserves more recognition among the comic greats.
I had no idea this was a thing, lol. I love the comedic/sarcastic tone of your script, Chris. I know you usually have a lot of that in your videos anyway, but it's especially good when you're talking about something that isn't very good. Great video for a pilot that probably doesn't deserve the effort!
I might be speaking out of school here but I don’t think Marvel’s early failures with tv and movies were the fault of Marvel. I’m certain the issues were with the production company that had ZERO respect for the source material which is why we laugh at those early attempts.
The old Hulk tv series would’ve been disastrous if it wasn’t for a child and comic reader of one of the producers or director (I don’t quite remember) who got to see either some early scenes or got to be on set and informed the creators that their version of the Hulk was wrong. Initially Lou Farigno’s Hulk wasn’t even GREEN! In my estimation Hollywood of the 70s through the mid 90s didn’t take the source material (comic books) very seriously and now all those same individuals work for Sony (ZING!!).
Lastly, I may be smoking crack but doesn’t the actress playing the youngest sister the same girl that played the robot on that show “Small Wonder”?
That poor girl. She had to clean a bedroom, and then a kitchen, in real time, for a total of 10 seconds of showtime.
Your name is awesome 😂
And yeah, that poor kid. I wonder if she thought it was cool tho because of it being an acting gig.
Aelfyre Whitemane is way too cool of a character design to kill off in the first issue.
Wait, has anyone questioned as to whether or not Katie was played by an actual actress? In every scene she seems as realistic as a mannequin
It's hard to find a kid that young with acting experience. You'd have to get a small kid a few years older, like McKenna Grace in Gifted.
I loved the Power Pack when it first came out. It was great when they were involved in cross over stories. The Barry Windsor Smith Wolverine 'snow' issues with the youngest PP member, is the most memorable. Be well and be blessed my friend.
Hey Chris, stumbled across your channel last week & it's practically all over been watching ever since. Thanks for the great content!
THE FACTS: in case you weren't there. The only choices of Great Marvel Movie before 1998? Are Howard the Duck or The Punisher. Both I love unironically.
11:43 you missed the guillotine that almost cut their arms off
I downloaded this pilot over a decade ago. It's not that good, sure, but it still feels like there was a possibility to go somewhere with it. Especially if the pilot is more of a proof of concept than an actual first episode (a "look at what we can do with a budget, and the basic acting abilities of our cast" sort of thing). Really, it doesn't seem incredibly far off from the quality of some shows that actually got the green light in the 90s.
But this makes me think of another failed Marvel TV show pilot: Generation X. That one at least has more action and the like, but it does have a major pitfall of a lot of 90s sci-fi shows that Power Pack didn't--everything is so dark, you can't tell much of what's going on. That and, needing sets that aren't suburban, it gets more obvious that where they are at any time isn't real.
Not to mention making Chinese-American Jubilee into a white girl, which is some unfortunate implications. And one can expect it's because she's the main character, and so many people even today find it difficult to give leading roles to non-white actors. Also doesn't help that they left out a character of color when they decided not to include Synch. Husk and Chamber I understand, since their powers would require the most VFX and their small budget and already lackluster technology of the time would have made such unbearable to witness, but they could have had Synch still have his power from the comics, just get rid of his visible aura and just have him copy the powers of his teammates when near them.
Despite how bad Generation X's pilot is, I kind of have a soft spot for it, though. Part of me kind of wants to see Buff and Refrax show up elsewhere.
I aree with you, especially on the part with Synch. Penance was also cut from the pilot for budgetary/technological reasons well. Also, Mondo's powers were visibly limited as well. Generation X and Power Pack are two of my favorite comic book properties, and I seriously hope someone gives them proper adaptation treatment. They could be really good animated movies or series.
(The original music to Generation X was pretty good, though. Too bad Marvel never released the score)
@@WilliamTarver848 But at least they included Mondo. And why did I forget Penance? She's important.
And of course they didn't include Artie and Leech. My favorite Marvel character and his best bud have yet to be adapted properly into live action (the X-Men films may as well have not even tried, if they didn't want to get into Morlocks).
M was there to. I just felt Matt Frewer went a little overboard. I wonder if him and Jim Carrey ever worked together.....
America really needs a 7-11 live action TV show today.
Good video, Chris, I think that's Spider-Man 6 (1991, McFarlane run) with the Hobgoblin. Not the best comic choice. The Hobgoblin kidnaps a boy (and others), kills his mom, deforms the boy, and tries make him his sinner-killing disciple.
Yeah those darker story lines for Spider-Man is what got editors worrying about giving McFarlane full control of his own run which in turn got him fed up and start image with his other young artist friends like Jim Lee and Erik Larson
@@Shinmsl So, it basically worked out well for everyone in the end.
There was also a copy of an issue from the 'New Fantastic Four' run next to it in the drawer!
I really liked Power Pack back in the day and I would LOVE an episode focused on Louise Somonson!
Wow how (thank goodness) did I miss this? Yeeesh. Do Generation X next? I still have flashbacks to that abomination.
It may not have been the best, but I at least could tolerate watching the 89 Dolph Lundgren Punisher. And it's not like they didn't try to get the skull in.
Great vid as always. I think you accidentally called Julie “Katie” in her intro scene but whatever
All the Power Pack miniseries by Gurihiru were what introduced me to western comics, and I've always been surprised that Marvel doesn't take advantage of them.
Power Pack need more development in my opinion before they put it out on the in public.
Thanks for a great episode. It seems like you had a lot of fun with this one.
I love this channel so much. This is easily one of my most fav channels. Lol I had no idea this show existed.. or anything bout these characters and this story at all for that matter lol. It's rare that I haven't at least heard of something like this lol. Very interesting. Thank you for everything you do! You have helped me through really rough times with your vids my brotha.. Actually they're still helping me even now while I continue goin through a lot of crap.. You're awesome! Thank you for everything!
I’ve been asking for a Power Pack cartoon since before The Mouse bought Marvel. It would be like printing money.
I can see why this show never made it past the pilot phase. First time I've heard of it. Great syopsis. Still can't get past the fact David Hasselhoff played Nick Fury first.
Why not? He looked exactly like Fury had for every single year of his existence prior to the Hoff's casting.
I remember seeing ads for Power Pack comics and the TV show in the back of Spider-Man comics I'd get my mom to buy me at the supermarket when I was little in the early 80's. I remember thinking it would be cool to read about super heroes my age, but I never saw a Power Pack comic out in the wild. It was all Spider-Man, Superman and Batman.
LOL!!! Wait till they try and remake this. It will be a "Hold my beer!" moment.
Another great vid as always, Chris. Never fails to make my day better. Thanks for all you do!
I never knew they made this! I remember talk of this in the back pages of Comics Scenes magazine, but holy crap...
You're hitting these vids out of the park lately!
Fun fact : Rick Bennett who directed this pilot was the voice of Juggernaut in X men 92 the animated series.
I remember when the oldest Brother (Alex?) was a member of the New Warriors.
Oh please do one about the "Generation X" TV movie that aired on FOX. I know I'm not the only one who got super pumped & taped it and then tried to act like I wasn't disappointed
Alex Power joined the Fantastic Four's Future Foundation a few years ago in the comics. Julie Power also appears every so often, first in Runaways, then in some other titles. I feel like the other two siblings get forgotten by the creatots st Marvel.
This pilot was terrible. So was the Generation X pilot, starring Matt Frewer as the bad guy. It starred Caucasian Jubilee and a few other forgettable mutant teens. Have you seen that one?
I remember that pilot.. Wish I didn't. Weird that Generation X was that popular to receive an onscreen adaptation only a year or so after it launched.
I remember watching it when it aired. Kinda liked Matt Frewer but it was not a good adaptation.
Some of us are trying to forget the Generation X pilot with the dream dimension...
I am really shocked and surprised that there actually WAS a Power Pack project. The minute I heard that Marvel was merging with Disney back in the late 90s, I assumed it a no-brainer that Power Pack, kids with superpowers, would be one of the first Disney project as a film, animated tv show, or something. But I never saw it come to fruition. I never knew they actually DID try something!?! I would have supported it. If I ever saw a VHF or DVD bootleg I definitely would have brought it, even if only for laughs.
Excuse me - Caucasian Jubilee?!
I had no idea this happened and I want to erase it from my consciousness please.
I too love finding my shrunken son in the bathroom sink. I'm so shocked all I can do is sort of grimace
Power Pack tv show looks only slightly worse than the 2001 Avengers Milk commercial! Thanks for informing me about this show.
Kinda bad how they make the girl do all the cleaning. Her super power is apparently being a domestic servant.
Power Pack was the first title I collected starting with issue #1 until the very last issue. GI Joe was the first title I collected regularly but the first issue I picked up was #3. I thought it was ironic that you were wearing the GI Joe t-shirt. Power Pack introduced me to the New Mutants which ultimately became my favorite series and New Mutants got me invested into the X-men. Ultimately went and bought the back issues for most of the Claremont run. What great times for comics. I never knew about this pilot. If I did I probably repressed the memory. 😆
I left the video without clicking "like" and when I went home I was haunted by a bearded ghost and had to come back and hit the "like" button to free myself of the haunting. I'm "sohrry."
No fight scene?! No ratcheting up the stakes?! No villain monologue?! This series will never get picked up
Please do an episode for Louise Simonson. I love Power Pack, such potential.
The art in Power Pack was amazing. Loved it.
Loved your writing for this episode. The Power Pack vs crack dealers joke got me more than it should have lmao, I had to send the clip to my buddy.
I've been a fan of Power Pack since I got issue #14 back in the 1980s. I've never seen this pilot, only a few photos in Marvel Age decades ago. This show could've been good with some work, but it was probably for the best that NBC passed on this pilot because this is dreadful. I hope they get a cartoon or something someday. Fun fact: NBC passed on the Power Pack pilot and instead picked up the show Good Morning Ms.Bliss, which was eventually retitled Saved by the Bell and became a huge hit for the channel.
When I was a kid, I once bought a small Spider-man book that had short comic stories for kids and there was a 2 part story where Spiderman worked with the Power Pack. I honestly loved that story, but it’s weird that I never hear about the Power Pack these days. They really should make a major comeback and would be perfect for kids cartoon show.
9:00 holy crap tickets to pay for school lunch!!! Now that's a nostalgia bomb.
does anyone else feel that bit of the score from the opening narration sounds like Edward Scissorhands?
Honestly I'm pretty sure it is
Wait what!! This thing is just from equal distance in time from the start of the MCU in the past as we are now in the present? Jesus
This was a real good episode. I'd love to see you review the hulk TV show crossovers
Lol...Super Skrull is wearing a communication device from Space 1999. No way it's an accident because John Byrne got his start in the US drawing Space 1999 comics at Charlton. I bet no one ever noticed that before. The show even had a writer named Johnny Byrne for extra weirdness.
On the school books thing, this may be a regional thing. In my country, for example, we get the books up to two weeks before school begins, if we want to.
Also, as he said, Alex is a science nerd like on Big Bang Theory, so he could've carried an old textbook with him all the time even in the summer.
Could you do a video on Forbush Man? I discovered him in a collection that was bundled with an issue of Crazy Magazine many years ago (sadly almost certainly thrown out by now).
I saw this pilot episode at a Los Angeles convention not long after it had been made. The producers were looking for a syndication deal at the time. Guess they didn't sell it.
How was the audience reaction towards it?
@@Sauceyjames pretty tepid. Only a handful of people actually sat to watch it and others just were in and out of the screening room.
@@ueno1 oof
BTW New World Entertainment was the production company of the pilot. New World owned Marvel at this point so it was like an in-house production. Too bad the TV and comics people didn't talk to each other more.
1:03 I'm sorry David Hasselhoff as Nick Fury is perfect casting.
What a fantastic ep. Perfect energy. Thanks Chris!
A retrospective on Louise Simonson is a terrific idea. She's the greatest.
Power Pack could definitely come back EASY. Also just wanted to say your humor was super on point today, usually you crack me up but today was a riot! much love chris. Keep reading comics!!
“Sawry..” - Canada..
I think eventually the marvel artist just got tired of drawing people point guns at kids ..
This show definitely went over my head. What network was this shown.
Man, I wish I never had to buy textbooks for high school
Oh man, I LOVED Power Pack as a kid. I used to make my siblings pretend to be the Powers kids with me. I can't believe I never knew this existed.
I gave my four little cousins who are siblings the series, and now they do the same thing. They're about the right ages, but it's three girls and a boy.
I recently got a textbook several months before the class started. Of course, I’m a post-grad student, not an 11-year-old.
Power Pack was my favourite comic book as a kid and my gateway to comics in general. It's a good thing I never saw this TV pilot back in the day. It would have been soul-crushing. Louise Simonson's writing was so good with a keen grasp of children's psychology and a real grasp of how magical it would be for a child to grow up inside the Marvel universe. How did the team behind this TV show get it so wrong? I can't wait for your Louise Simonson video. She is awesome.
My only familiarity with Power Pack (comic version) back in the day was through Louise Simonson affilated books & crossovers...
But is there a reason why I remember Franklin Richards as being part of the group?
You are correct, Franklin joined in issue 16, but because he wasn’t a sibling he wasn’t in every issue.
His codename was Tattletale because he was pretty much just a precog at that point, and the symbol on his costume was an eye
Power Pack was the first comic I read. My dad had an issue where the Power Pack teamed up with the New Mutants to fight demons from Limbo.
Nothing like comic tropes and a cup of coffee on a Sunday morning ☕️👍
OH WOW, I love TV Pilots like this. Great video
Failed pilots are fun. Pilots in general were kind of a course of study for me.
"When I was in school they gave us the textbooks for free"
Me as a Singaporean: You guys get free textbooks?
We had to give them back at the end of the school year.
We didn't get free books. From first grade to 12 grade they gave us books but we have to return them when the semester was over.
Louise Simonson (Jones at the time) is also who Bernie Wrightson modeled the woman on the cover of Swamp Thing’s first appearance in House of Secrets 92 after.
One of my all time FAVORITE comics one day we will get a killer animated series
Considering they're planning to skip the origin story of Fantastic Four in MCU, that kinda works while doing that with Power Pack didn't work since they're not well known as Fantastic Four or Spider Man. Like many have said in the comments, this could have worked better as a cartoon show instead.
Looking forward to that Louise Simonson EP!!
The Power Pack pilot: Flops
Meet The Thundermans: Does a torture dance over Power Packs corpse many years later.
What!? No spoiler warning about that big twist? I’m shocked and dismayed.
I’m 28. When I was in middle school and high school we would pick up our textbooks the week before school started.
"except for one girl, who seems turned on"
Sir, why don't you have a seat right over here?
Say what yoo will about the 1989 _Punisher_ movie, it is the best cinematic adaptation of that character. Yeah, they messed with his back story and he never wears the skull, but the character acts exactly like the character from the comics and has the same nihilistic outlook as the _Circle of Blood_ miniseries. The only other time a live-action Punisher has been done well was in season 2 of _Daredevil_ (but they did make 2 mistakes during that season and worse yet, the writers of his solo series threw away everything they got right in Daredevil's series).
There's lot to like about the 2004 Punisher film w/ Tom Jane as well. But I can't disagree with the best being the Netflix series with Jon Bernthal.
@@DarrenJSeeley Jon Bernthal as he appears in season 2 of _Daredevil?_ Definitely! Jon Bernthal as he appears in the solo _Punisher_ series? Definitely not!
But while that's live-action, it isn't cinema. So the best _cinematic_ portrayal of the Punisher remains that of Dolph Lundgren in the 1989 movie - even despite all of the problems that movie has (and there are many).
And while Thomas Jane is great in everything else he's in (seriously, he's an extremely under-rated actor), his _Punisher_ movie is by far the absolute *_worst_* live-action adaptation of the character, mostly because its a poorly directed screenplay, but Travolta's performance definitely didn't help.
I’m curious, what were those two mistakes you mention?
@@victorchapa6307 The first one was in the first episode when he goes on a shooting-spree inside a hospital. Punisher has a big problem with people who aren't targets getting caught in crossfire (like his family). Maybe its too comic-booky for the show, but they should have had him repel down the side of the building with a bazooka instead.
The second was when he lets Kingpin corner him into doing his dirty work. If it were the comic book Punisher, the only way he would have agreed to it would be to save the life of someone he cares about and then say, "Okay, I'll do it. But understand, when this is over, yor dead." - which is actually what Dolph Lundgren's character did in the 1989 movie.
See what I mean? Those are two big mistakes, but they're forgivable because otherwise the character is written spot on and Berthal's performance is perfect.
...at least until he got a solo series where Bernthal was doing the best he could with the material he was given, but the material didn't understand the character in the least. And I don't just mean the writers of the solo series didn't understand comic version of the Punisher, I mean they didn't even understand the version from the _Daredevil_ series. For example, the solo series begins with Frank quitting being the Punisher, completely betraying the character they set up who tells a crowd of people that the reason he kills is because he loves killing.
Clearly the _Daredevil_ writers had read one or more of the following: _Circle of Blood, Born,_ or Jason Aaron's run on _Punisher Max_ (and obviously they ripped entire sequences off from Garth Ennis). The solo series writers probably only saw the John Travolta movie and thought the Punisher's motivation is revenge. The character's motivation in the comics is that he became addicted to killing people in Vietnam, and the only reason he ever _stopped_ was that the war ended and he went home to a family. He loved his family but also resented them from holding him back from doing the only thing he found fulfilling. Once his family was out of the way, he went right back to killing and never stopped (with added anger toward a world that allows criminals to do things like they did to the people he cared about). He is only barely conscious of the hypocrisy and futility of his actions, as evident from his inner dialogue in _Circle of Blood,_ and chooses to ignore the flaws in his philosophy because he doesn't know how to do anything else.
Season 1 of the solo series was trying to address the horrors of gun violence, but if the writers had read _Circle of Blood,_ they would have had covered that as well as just how messed-up people who sport Punisher skulls and think guns are cool actually are. Although it was written in the 80s it works extremely well as a condemnation of present-day domestic terrorist groups in America like the Proud Boys, Three Percenters, the Patriot Front, the thin blue line movement, and so on. Big missed opportunity.
Last time I put a comment here I got repeated fishing junk mail about how I had won a prize.
Don Francks - who provided the opening narration - also voiced Sabertooth in the 90's X Men animated series, and was a dead giveaway for the Canadian connection of this pilot from the get-go!
Honestly I’m surprised Disney hasn’t made a Power Pack animated series yet. Maybe get the creative team behind the Ducktales reboot, I think it would have potential.
Thanks for the recommendations Chris I'm currently reading All Star Superman.
Small pointless aside, when I was in highschool at least, we had to go to the school a week or so before classes started in order to get our books so we'd be ready on day one.
Same. There was an orientation for a day or two, like on the Friday before actual class
Dolph Lundgren’s Punisher movie is a good one, in my opinion. Great video as always.
The opening looks like a Twilight Zone reboot
I thought the same thing about that poor girl being stuck cleaning.
I am all for a Louise Simonson episode!
Boy that PP show was especially bad, I kinda like the captain america movie, at least he wore the suit and threw the shield around. I remember power pack stories came in as back up stories in the Brazilian comics. I honestly thought they were a fantastic four spinoff, like the blonde kid was Franklin Richards and the rest were just his friends...( Yeah I was really young at the time and mostly just looked at the pictures)
Never knew there was a show. I didn’t read their book, but it felt like they were always showing up in books I read.
Btw dude, thanks for your content it’s very enjoyable 👌⭐️🙏🏼
That painting looks like John Candy playing Orson Welles