The History and Controversy of Captain Power
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- Опубліковано 24 лип 2024
- Join us as we explore the history and controversy of "Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future," the 1987 series created by Mattel.
We'll delve into the behind-the-scenes details of the show's production, including the involvement of Gary Goddard, Mark Ralston, Peter R. Brooke, and Michael Halperin, as well as the writing of Simon Furman.
We'll also discuss the groundbreaking use of interactive TV and the accompanying home video game component, which allowed viewers to play along with the show.
But we'll also delve into the controversy surrounding "Captain Power," including accusations of promoting video game violence and concerns about its appropriateness for children's television.
We'll also touch on the planned 2016 reboot of the series and the legal issues that ultimately halted its development. Whether you're a long-time fan of the series or just want to learn more about this fascinating and complex piece of animation history, this video has something for you!
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As a 13-year old in 1987, I was in love with this show. I owned one of the toys, had all of the episodes on VHS tape and would watch them over and over. The interactivity gimmick actually worked fairly well. I even made my own Captain Power board game and RPG.
I loved how the tone of the show was just a bit too mature for kids - perfect for someone who was starting to get tired of "kid's stuff" and wanted to branch out into more adult fare.
I never had the VHS tapes and the show was cancelled pretty quickly in my area. I really liked the toys, they went well with other lines of the time.
Were these the VHS tapes where it was like a cartoon flying mission that tried to be like a video game that you played with the toy ship?
Yes @@arturomail
I watched this show religiously. I was a wee little girl entranced by its science-fiction aspect and the very non-childish stories the series was telling. I’ve never forgotten looking up to the character of Pilot; she was smart and had a critical role in the team. I was impressed by her sense of duty and her strength. Without a doubt she was a role model to my young self. The show was ahead of its time in many different ways. Later, I’d fall in love with the show, Babylon 5. I guess JMS’ writing just speaks to me.
I didn't know that Dr. Lyman Taggart was Lord Dread's real name. Adult language was also included. But not foul language.
These parent groups ruin everything. This show was great.
Agreed.
She doesn’t look like she blinks very often.
Creepy.
Now its blue haired freaks and lesbian SJWs that do it.
Parents bitching too much
@@hia5235 It’s not as big of a problem as you like to pretend it is. Nice dog whistle though
Do you want to know the real truth what was problem with 80's cartoons and series?The real problem never was about money,but xanophobic brainwashing american propaganda,where americans are showed as the 'heroes' and anyone ellse as a 'villians'.You can se that hipocritical double standard in every 80's and 90' movies like,top gun,gost busters 2,superman,and captain power.One of the worsts things that i have se was in 80's cartoon He-Man and the masters of the universe,where they have treat that blonde girl shera as the dummest person,by telling her that its mans job,and you could get hurt.Two other things in the He-Man was upseting to,one is where He-Man gives 'good advices' on the end of the show,like report anyone who touch yours private parts,so picture a situation with proctologist,and gineconogyst,with yours child.And the other one is how he's never identified as princ adam,even so he never wears a mask when he's transformed in the He-Man.So it make you ask yours self,what the fuck is wrong with this cartoon characters,are they all retarded,or just blind that they never noticed that princ adam is one and the only He-Man.PS:Some of the 80' shows where good then and stay good today,my favorite was ulysses 31,sport billy,bluffers,asterix and obelix,and evoks.But true masters of good quality cartoons where japanese,and remain japanese.
I would like to point out that I liked the show when I was a kid and never had any of the toys.
Just saying.
I now know that this sci-fi series contains adult situations.
Finally somebody remembers captain power ,, i use too watch this every Saturday with my fighter jets
I wanted a fighter jet, but I never got one.
The Lord Dredd vehicle was better, because you could aim better. Or. At least, I could.
The Phantom Striker! It was my prized possession as a kid. It really worked with the show, and if you got shot too many times, the pilot would actually eject.
I had the bad guys' jet and tank. I used to love that show........and then video games got better.
I remember it working like crap
That CGI used to scare the living daylights out of me as a kid. I loved this series back then.
When I was a kid i only saw 3 episodes in colombia and to this day I never knew the name or what it was about cuz I knew no english...after decades of wondering what it was I finally found it!
Yeah... I do remember that the CGI characters scared the shit out of me... xD
This is so great. I completely forgot about Captain Power
BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED lol
I did a paper on this in college. Comparing Children's programs and the toy connection. Capt Power was the headliner of the paper. I got an A.
I'd read that.
This show was Sick back in the 80s.
I loved Captain Power And The Soldiers Of The Future. The show really was ahead of it's time. I'm surprised that it hasn't been rebooted as a movie yet.
Yes it for sure as hell was.
1990's kids shows. Captain power, Pirates of Darkwater, Exo Squad and others showed death and were pretty dark at times. So glad i got to enjoy all these as a kid.
And this is why I love my fellow Gen Xers! You fucking get it!
So loved exo squad, I wished they made a live action movie of pirates of the darkwater.
Captain Power was 80's, my friend.
Exo squad was awesome 👍👍👍
Loved Pirates of Darkwater
As a young girl, I loved this show. It was my favorite at the time. I had the ships and the figures and would always use them when the show came on. Soaron was my favorite baddie and I still own his figure and the ships. I had no idea there was a controversy over this show till now.
Soar-on was the first computer-animated character in a live-action TV series.
@@howardbeatman2820 Oh, that is very cool!
Ditto to many of the above... though I didn't own all of it. I owned the gun and a few figures.
Unfortunately the the toys didn't take off in Australia otherwise I would have wanted them. Especially Saoron because he looked so awesome.
But damn I loved the show. And even rented the pilot a couple of times on video.
Me either...I love the 📼 setup and my canopy ejecting all over the house
"If you loose all your points, your pilot gets ejected from you handheld spaceship gun," and is catapulted behind your TV. Where he will stay until your parents decide to move the furniture.
First world kid problems of the late 80's.
#Facts
lol ptsd flashback in coming.
Being a Latin American kid I watched the show and the action figures were just a sweet, sweet dream. I didn't even know the interaction between toys and the show until some 10 years ago (I'm 37 at the moment 2020) so the entertainment value sure was there. I still think is one of fhe best shows I've ever watched.
Ditto as a poor white boy. 36 in 2021.
I got a Captain Power figure on his base just few months ago (I'm 38). I love it so much.
2022, age 43, grew in Mexico City, loved the show -regardless of the shitty dubbing - and knew about the interaction back then and, forever hated a neighbor kid whose relatives got him the toys while on a "shopping trip" to the States yet he knew nothing about the show, he even used the "gun" to play "laser tag" vs my lil brother and moi... loathe him even more now for his not knowing back then the historic value of those toys, I mean, at age 10 I already knew my SW's and Joe's would be worth something someday XD
I'm 42 and watched this in Australia back then, and I never even knew there were toys for it, let alone laser games for TV and figures. But I still loved the show on its own. Annoyingly, most of my friends never even remembered it by our 20s and 30s. I still get blank looks now whenever I ask an Aussie my age if they ever saw it.
glad to see the interactive part wasn’t a part of my imagination 😂 great memories though
J. Michael Straczynski went on to produce Babylon 5 that had a average budget of $800,000 per episode. $200,000 less per episode than Capt. Power.
JMS was the best. Though not so much at finishing things though.
gonna tell my grand kids that this was The Mandalorian
It kinda was lol
Now that they have destroyed that show over wrong think political character assassination and de personing. You are correct. Your comment has aged like the finest Bourbon or wine or 🧀 or whatever you like. 👍
Shhh make sure to NOT tell them THIS is what inspired Babylon 5.
OMFG, did I let the pooty tat out of duh bag? Yes, I just did.
POWER ON!
❤❤❤😂😂😂
lol
@@ventarfield7115 imagine thinking Gina Carano made that show 😂 that’s mighty fine brainwashing, though, you regurgitate bullshit very well.
Pilot was one of my first crushes as a kid
@Cr6479 Very much the opposite.
...Jessica Steen, she also played in sci-fi series Earth 2 (1994)...
Nothing to do with that spandex I'm sure... ;) but yeah me too lol
I seem to recall there was an episode where Pilot sacrificed herself for her comrades. Pretty grown up for a kids show...it impressed me enough that ever since whenever I've seen Jessica Steen in anything I say "Oh yeah, I really liked her in Captain Power..."
and then super happy to see her in Armageddon threatening to kick Bear in the balls.
This show had surprisingly mature writing; I recognized that even as a kid when it aired. The Dredd Youth plotline, with Pilot, is still burned into my memory!
I watched this as a kid. I was "fascinated" when the flying robot (can't remember it's name) would digitize the enemy. Never got any of the toys but I definitely enjoyed the show. Too bad it was cancelled. It seemed ahead for the time.
I believe it was called the Soaron Sky Sentry. Apart from the show, "training" videos were produced which gave you practice with your PowerJet XT-7 and introduced you to the main enemies. The videos were immersive and I suspect a large budget was set aside for the incredible animated sequences. Look them up on UA-cam.
I vaguely remember a scene where a guy was digitized, then they brought him back but he was missing his arm... I was like Damn!
Loved this show when I was 10
@@KydNotorious The premise was that all of humanity was going to be stored digitally then downloaded into perfect robot bodies.
The twist was that Overmind wasn't storing the information. He felt humanity needed to be wiped out, he was just telling Dredd what he needed to hear to keep things going until it was too late.
The finale was going to require Captain Power and Dredd to team up to fight against Overmind.
Imagine that reveal to a kid.
"Yeah, remember how we were going to save everybody who was digitized? There's nothing to save. There never was."
Damn I wish they'd gotten more seasons.
Now man is digitizing himself
Bruh I was SO into this when it came out. I still talk about it to this day. Thanks for posting this! "Digitize them!" Also the included VHS training mission had some of the coolest anime inspired animation I've ever seen. Captain Power line is a forgotten classic.
I have different 4 tapes and loved playing them over and over .
I remember those training tapes as being mail-order optional. I had level 1, 2 and 3, but only had 2 toys. I’m probably remembering that wrong though. The animation was superb though. I watched the hell out of those.
The whole show is on DVD along with a great retrospective documentary. I can't recommend it highly enough. The show aged better than you would expect.
@@SpockvsEgon Actually I bet it did age well thanks to the great animation and timely themes. I'd love to watch this show again as an adult.
Ha - I just commented on the VHS tape, it was great!
I was 7 when this show came out and I can tell you it was my favorite show with the best toys. Such a great concept.
POWERRRR UP!
It didn't help that the jet was loud AF and the show came on at the butt crack of dawn on Sunday... my parents were not happy.
So that's what happened to Captain Power.
I never knew there was a controversy. I loved the show. My mom, grandma, and aunt who raised me never bought into that kind of crap (my aunt was a teacher, as well) and watched some episodes with me and thought it was great, so I never would have been aware of such a moral panic at 12 since they weren't part of it... of course, my grandma had three sons who grew up reading '60s Marvel comics, and my mom and aunt had absorbed their interest and become fans themselves and all of them read widely, so they were all pretty sophisticated about kids science fiction and comic books (my mom had even embroidered a frame of Agatha Harkness from an FF comic on a pair of jeans in the '70s.)
Although I had a very cool mom, grandma, and aunt who raised me we were quite poor, so we couldn't afford any of the toys except for a single Soaron figure, because I loved his crazy shiny CGI effects on the series so much and he was my favorite figure by far (and he made me think of Sauron from Tolkien, and I imagined Lord Dread as being like Melkor/Morgoth.) I was fortunate enough to finally get one of the Dread fighters a few years later when it had been relegated to a discount bin at a True Value and was *significantly* cheaper (I think mom got it for about 10 bucks for me as my big Christmas present in '89. It had lost some of its shine by two years later, but I still loved it, especially since she had remembered about it and looked for it just for me.) I always got stuff like Sectaurs and Air Raiders after they had gone to the discount bins, but they were still great.
That was awesome!
Thanks man, it seems like you had a good childhood full of joy and love, poverty-stricken is a mere fase, it build character.
you had a nice family, supportive on the hobby.
It was a pretty dope show...
Captain Power was one of my favorite tv shows when it aired. I had Lord Dredd and his Throne, Tank, Blastarr and Captain Power. One of my friends had Sauron, I was so jealous! Such great memories. 😊😊😊
I remember being so fascinated by this show as a child in Zimbabwe.
There were also 3 15 minute VHS tapes that had a live action intro followed by a animated sequence in which you would actually fly on missions with Captain Power. It was real cool stuff.
Little known fact: Motley Crue entered the Metal War as a response to Poison assassinating Franz Ferdinand, the Archduke of Austria (and also ironically a band).
How does this not have more likes?
But franz Ferdinand isn't anywhere near metal... For that matter neither are Poison and Stryper.
@@stephenjwarnecki7367 Stryper is a Christian Metal band. Poison is debatable. Franz Ferdinand I agree with, though. They're straight rock.
@@OtakuUnitedStudioI know that they're "cristian metal", but im very particular about how i classify Heavy Metal & Punk. Stryper are as Metal as Poison. I like both bands. I just wouldnt call them Metal
@@stephenjwarnecki7367 What are they called then?
*_"DIGITIZE THEM!"_*
I remember *_'CAPTAIN POWER',_* and how it seemed to just... _'disappear'_ from the airwaves after maybe six episodes. I might have caught some reruns, but had no idea it was a syndicated show, or that it might have moved to a different time slot. There where no announcements that I remember, the show just went away suddenly. I remember thinking maybe it was on hiatus, but it didn't come back. It certainly had potential, I'm not surprised to learn *J Michael Strazcinski* was a writer on the show. I turned twenty in 1987, so no, I didn't buy the toys either.
Freaking Karen's man, always ruining the everything.
This show was so cool back in the day.
"Power rangers toys are marketed towards children"
Me: *hides a newly bought Ninjazord* Um yeah. Children.
That's okay, I just bought 40 Star Wars figures online and got another two at the store. Are they for my nieces and nephews? Of course, when I die.
@Advant Garde Trust me, they have.
Me: _(Looks at the small army of painted Gundam models on my shelf I've accrued over the pandemic)_ Yeah. Haha. Children. What a bunch of morons.
I like that I get that callback! Wheeled Warriors, rocks!
Get enough moms together with nothing to do, they'll ruin everything!
Weeeeeeeeeeelllllll Kyle's mom's a bitch, she's a big fat bitch, she's the biggest bitch in the whole wide world......
the cartoons sucked though. nothing of value was lost. in fact it paved the way for cartoons becoming a broader art form instead of just commercials for kids.
The birth of the SJW was the 80s.
@@DVSnark lmao
That's what the left is all about.
"Believe it, short human!" I hope whoever wrote that got some sort of award lmao
He went on to write the dub for Naruto.
That kid was the oldest son in The Great Outdoors movie.
8:43 she thought that was bad let me introduce her to the microtransaction and lootbox.
8:44 I bet she wouldn't be complaining if Wheel of Fortune had a segment where viewers could play along using a game at home.
When I found this page a year ago I didn’t expect to learn about so many toys and his story behind them.
I was so overwhelmed by that futuristic looks and effects that I loved the show... First time I ever saw a full CGI character and environment... And I also watched it when it came out in our national tv chanel (in Portugal) and I rarely find anyone who remembers this... Cool to see that having people not remembering this show is not just my country's issue :)
One of my all time favorite shows as a kid. I was really disappointed when it was cancelled.
It's hip to be a Target Square.
Life's good when you're a -ninja block- target square.
So far ahead of it's time.
Netflix should pick this up would be awesome
What's likely holding it back is that due to how the digital effects were created its impossible to do present the show in HD, without re-rendering the special effects from scratch. Without an HD version, it's unlikely that it'll ever hit the streamers.
@@heroesytumbas Butthurt caucasoid says what?
Netflix is shit.
Peter Kuplowsky, the show was likely shot on a 16 mm film, back then a lot of the TV shows were made that way. You don't have to re-render something you can easily scan from the film negatives in HD quality.
It should be rebooted as a movie. With the visual effects and technology of today, a Captain Power movie could be awesome.
How does this channel only have 180k subscribers? It's so well produced and done, I wasn't even alive to care about half these toys but this is top level documentary quality, great job guys!
Captain Power was great. It was like Star Trek and Mech Assault in one. I did experience it getting rescheduled so it was impossible to keep track of episodes. Compared to the shows afterwards, the violence on Captain Power was minimal. Censorship really changed drastically during the 90s. Tank was my favourite and was always stoked to see him fight. Plus I loved the credits, imagining I was flying in a jet and memorizing the obstacles.
I got to product test this line in elementary school! me and some other kids met in a classroom after school with some people who gave us Captain Power, Playmobile Pirate sets, and..I don't remember anything else. not from being drugged, just from how I loved the cap power gimmick. got a jet when it came out and loved it. can't understand why it didn't hit, the price of course, you're right, but man it was a sweet concept. oh well.
mantis999999999 holy shit bro I got to test these too along with Inhumanoids n battlebeasts n u wanna hear some crazy shit I tested them in school too but I was in Catholic School they musta paid my school some good money cuz they're definitely not the type of toys that look like something Catholic priests n nuns would normally approve of lol
LOL, could never afford these but I loved Battle Beasts since you always got two.
I too was in a private school and was used as a tester. strange, maybe we were targeted because they thought our parents could afford the high toy price?
mantis999999999 no one assumed you were drugged nitwit
Zoes Dada what?
My brother got Captain Power and his jet fighter along with a VHS that allowed him to play along with it. I remember the show, it was one of my favorites. I was shocked when they killed off one of the main characters in the final episode.
I remember being sad the only female in the cast died.
Doesnt make it any less sad. That team all the men were also powerless to save her.
The saddest passing of a super hero. 😢 All she had to do was get out. 😭
spoiler alert
Yeah, that death was the first time I saw someone not win on TV, I think. A powerful moment.
This is one of my favorite channels! Sooooo many questions about what happened to my favorite shows as a kid are getting answered.
Thanks!
👍
Knight rider, captain power, super force, centurions, mask the ultimate weapons, silver hawk, he man...
My childhood is awesome!
Awesome video. My first job out of school was doing work for Landmark Entertainment (although it was more a less a shell of what Landmark had been in the 80s). I was chuffed to see that they still had Captain Power stuff all over their office. It was 2007.
I remember this. Captain Power was awesome. I wore the chest protector until I think my mom got tired and secretly threw it out lol
I loved Captain Power. I remember the misinformation going on at the time. My parents though the interactive toys my brother and I had were causing out ancient colour TV to degrade faster. There was so much BS released by advocacy groups about the show, which is really too bad because I still enjoy watching episodes and have toys squirreled away in boxes to this day. It was actually one of the happy memories I have with my now deceased younger brother.
What a great storyline this show had. i remember as a kid it was completely engrossing. it was like a little mini soap opera or drama for kids. J Michael Straczynski would go on to great things like Babylon 5 and writing legendary comics, but this is a series i wish could've continued.
This sounds like a really cool idea. Star Trek and Terminator meets HeMan and GI Joe
''Star Trek and Terminator meets He-Man And G.I. Joe'' sounds about right to me.
Captain Power was ahead of it's time. I think it should be rebooted as a movie.
That was probably the pitch meeting.
I loved Captain Power. It was way ahead of it's time. Awesome stuff. Just like the cartoon and toy line, Spiral Zone. Similar story line, post-apocalyptic, soldiers of the future. Toys, shows, and cartoons today, just are not as awesome as they were in the 80's.
I had a couple of those toys, like the giant uni-motorcycle cannon and a couple figures. Remember the cannon launched projectiles.
My brother and I collected a number of the toys in our childhood. Our house was a massive Trek and Star Wars fandom, and Captain Power fit right into our sci fi love. By 1993, we had every VHS released and watched them regularly. I've continued to be a fan, and have watched, read, and played everything I could get my hands on that is related to the show.
The bloopers and leaving them in was genius!! Hilarious
I'm gonna start saying "believe it, short human!" all the time.
Hello fellow human. I am not machine. Let us go do human things. Like eat food rations and drink water.
I'd love to see a reboot of Captain Power?
You seem uncertain about that.
So would I but why did you put a question mark at the end of the sentence?
Is that a question or are you uncertain that you would like to see a reboot?
This was way ahead of it's time. Great storytelling too, for it's day.
I absolutely love this show! I own the 2011 official Captain Power complete series DVD set and it’s glorious! I did my best to watch the show on Sunday mornings back when it originally aired. I owned the action figures and I only had one of the vehicles. The toys were really cool but the show is fantastic. The costume designs, make-up effects, the background sets, and all of the special effects are incredibly well done. The show looked 100 times better than any episode of Star Trek the Next Generation and Battle Star Galactica. I highly recommend this show to anyone who is a sci-fi fan. It’s a bit dated compared to today’s standards but if you like 80’s sci-fi action then you will love it!
I was forbidden from watching the show after they killed off Pilot. Little did my mom know that it didn't make it past that season lol.
Pilot died?! Dammit! Spoilers!!!
Yep, she was wounded when the bad guys found the secret base and sacrificed herself to (ostensibly) kill off one of the CGI robots (the flying silver one if I remember right).
Oh crap, spoiler alert.
I loved Captian Power. Thank you for the memories.
We were raised on sci-fi when I was a kid, we didn't have cable and lived out in the country. We'd rent Captain Power VHS tapes that had about 4 episodes per video, and they were awesome! We had the toys, (not the interactive ships) and we really dug the post-apacalyptic themes because we had been watching 80's sci-fi B movies for years. I'd love to see a reboot cuz it had a post-Max Headroom type message to it and I think we could use a bit of that these days. Great informative video, thanks!
JMS the creator of Babylon 5 was also behind this series. It never got the respect it deserved
isaac wilson this show actually birthed Babylon 5.
JMS was the story editor for this series and, since he was already a sci-fi fan, commissioned scripts which were far better than they had any right to be (one was the first cyberpunk story I ever saw on screen).
He was also behind the first season or 2 of Real Ghostbusters - you know, the GOOD episodes!
This show was actually a really cool watch.
This was my show!! Power on!
This channel gives me pre mid life crisis. Knowing and seeing everything I used to see as a kid. Growing and recalling everything from 85 on. When life was simple happy and not as all scary as it is now. When you could and would love to go outside and play until 10 at night. When cartoons and good time shows was on Friday nights and Saturday morning. There would be great movies every Friday right before Saturday cartoons. When I would go home and not give a care about how I spent my weekends. As long as Saturday morning Cartoons were able to be watched until 12. With captain crunch in hand.
When I was a kid in Portugal this show was called "soldiers of the future" and it was always on after "soldiers of fortune" which was the A-Team. I used to love watching those shows.
Which is ironic seeing as how the actor who played Captain Power (Tim Dunigan) also played the role of Templeton "Faceman" Peck on the pilot episode of "The A-Team". He was replaced by Dirk Benedict afterwards.
It's 2018. I wonder how long until the Metal War begin. I'm on Team Crue.
Steel Panther has pretty much got them all covered.
Captain Power was 100% my jam, and thanks to a yard sale find of one of their VHS tape (it was like a training mission for the viewer as the newest member of the squad), I kept going with it for years after the show ended, until the tape was eroded so much and the ship was so busted that it didn't work anymore.
“No, Peggy - You where the height of arrogance.”
Don’t forget to blink you, creepy lady. 😬👋🏻
A kid friend had a couple of those ships that shot at the screen... and I would pause the tv and score up pints when he would go to the bathroom... lol.. took him a few weeks to catch on.. but I was Capt power for a short time! Lol
Pause the TV, in the late 80’s? Sounds bullshit
I think I was the perfect age when Captain Power came out. I was still young enough to watch some kid's shows, but old enough to appreciate the more serious themes. Plus, I've loved dark futures populated by killer robots my entire life, so I guess I was the target demographic!
I still remember watching the last episode, and leaving the room so my parents wouldn't see me starting to tear up (if you've seen the episode, you know why).
I never owned any of the toys until much later when eBay became a thing. Picked up a lot of figures and a working XT-7, which I still have. Also got the whole series on DVD and the soundtrack on CD. The show is more than a little cheesy now, but has a ton of nostalgia value.
It's a fascinating world that I wish we'd gotten to see more of. I followed Phoenix Rising, and all wish it would get the green light.
I only remember wishing I could digitize my teacher, especially when it’s time to turn in my homework!
Took to 4:21 to realize we are talking about Captain Power not Captain Planet. I realize now those are two very different things.
Great channel!
Love the bloopers being included in the middle. Also I remember parts of Captain Power. My parents got me the toy but it didn't work well. We were all pissed.
I would love to see Captain Power adapted into a Japanese Tokusatsu series, like some kinda Metal Hero type show.
I know, right? It gives major Metal Hero vibes. If only toei would revive Metal Hero... Maybe they wil since Super Sentai is on it's last legs if Ryusouger fails, which toei is really worried about if that one TV Asahi guy warned on /krg/ a few months back.
@@TheMexicanLynx i would love to have the recent Kamen Rider Amazons feel if not the same team/production/writing do the adaptation
@@TheMexicanLynx Wait, it's on it's last legs? How did that happen?
@@scifiguy9000 TL;DR version is: Sentai hasn't pulled good numbers of Audience or Toy sales for a long while. Kyoryuger did good... in Korea, but not Japan itself. And the miserable failures of Neo Saban's Power Ranger efforts don't help matters either. According to a TV Asahi dude a while back who posted on /krg/ (among some info to check his identity was real), Ryusouger has to do "at least as good as ToQger" for Sentai to keep on going. And ToQger toy sales and audience numbers aren't exactly a high standard from what I gather.
I watched Captian Power, and owned some of the figures as some one who saw both Power rangers and Captian Power, Captian Power was MUCH BETTER!!! GIVE US CAPTIAN POWER BACK!!!
Diego S *captain
Power Rangers was a direct adaptation of the Super Sentai series. I used to watch Sentai turboranger long before power rangers debuted.
All i want is a Soaron figure!
Power Rangers come from Super Sentai. Super Sentai and Kamen Rider come from Spider Man. Bring them all together!
My mom bought the whole line of toys for me from a discount retailer when I was a kid. They included all the characters, the vehicles, etc. I scored HUGE that year, and was hooked. But by then, the line had been discontinued, and the show was impossible to catch. I still have parts of the Power Jet, and one of the Dread machine walkers... Don't know their name anymore.
Great concept. Wish it came back, updated.
** EDIT ** Yes! It was the Dread Stalker! I still have that!
When these were brand new I was mesmerized by them once I played with the Powerjet and TV that Wal-Mart had set up on an endcap. But it was too expensive. A little later on, my Mom also bought me the toys at a discount retailer (sort of like Big Lots) after the line had been discontinued. The show was hard to find on TV so I rented the vhs tapes at first, but soon thereafter I saw a used tape for sale at a local video rental store and bought that. I loved this toyline, the interactive technology, and TV show. It is so underrated and under appreciated.
I have such fond memories of Captain Power toys. I do also remember the bad feeling of knowing that this thing I loved was being mismanaged. The commercials made it seem way more interactive, that confused me as a child as well. The legend of Captain Power will always be with me. Imagine this was ancient times, I wonder if there were a bunch of hero stories that had one or two seasons and then people lost interest or the community said it was too scary for kids lol...
I had Captain Power, his ship, and a VHS tape. I watched the same tape with my ship, weekly. When I didn't have batteries for my ship. I would watch the tape and pretend that I, myself, was Captain Power flying the ship and shooting the bad guys. My parents never showed any concern. It was a good, clean fun.
That bird man .....Terrorised me!
The Captain Power jet was legit. One of my fondest memories of toys. I still have mine and it still works.
I loved Captain Power back when I was a kid. The show was dark and realistic, it always reminded me of a darker/better version of Flash Gordon. But most of my joy came from the action figures. The use of metallic paints and soft goods along with the nice articulation (for that time) was just awesome.
While certain parental concerns are indeed valid, and worthy of reasoned discussion, the problem with these loud, vociferous groups is that they eventually end up in a place where they rely heavily on distortion, hyperbole, and sometimes outright lies, in order to forward their agendas.
This particular instance has all the hallmarks of a type of moral panic, where sensationalism and hysteria walk all over logic and fact. The argument that you HAD to purchase the interactive vehicles in order to "properly" watch the show is, frankly, ludicrous, and it would have been laughable had it not been taken seriously. Even more laughable was the idea that the show and toyline would divide children up into classes of haves and have-nots. Were these parents as concerned over the cliquism based around clothes in an increasingly brand-heavy society? I don't think they were, and so the argument over Captain Power somehow creating another media social-divide ring very hollow.
Couple these issues with the oft-hypocritical argument about televised violence, and the scheduling conflicts that arose as part of the syndicated distribution, and its understandable why sales dropped, and Mattel was eventually forced to cancel the show and the toyline. And it really is a shame, because the show was definitely ahead of its time in a lot of ways, and pretty well-written to boot.
You were also quite right to point out how Mighty Morphin Power Rangers emerged just a few years later, with a condescending, ridiculous TV series propping up a merchandising juggernaut that refuses to be stopped to this day. Did the same people complain about the Power Rangers slaughtering the various Putty Patrols the way they complained over Captain Power destroying totalitarian robot soldiers? Somehow I doubt it.
Anyway, SUPERB segment. Thank you!
It’s really true. The TV show itself barely had any of the toy interactivity, I remember the main part you could get some play during was the end credits which featured a jet flying in the background. The show itself was quite good, legit sci-if adventure drama. It might have been better received without the toy line, and probably without the somewhat silly looking reflective metal costumes.
Pretty much all of this. Looking at it from a creative standpoint, this show took a lot of risk and innovated a lot of things that I give the team credit for. It was trying to create something new, something that required viewers to do more than just sit on their asses if they choose to but like so many good things, moral guardians come up and have to screech about it.
Here's something they failed to mention; it wasn't as if Captain Power was the only show aimed at kids on. If kids couldn't get the accessories for it...who cared? There were other shows they could enjoy and be apart of. It wasn't as if Captain Power formed some elite part or division and even if those cliques formed it wasn't as if it never happened before. Kids, and people in general, are going to have their own little cliques of what they like and for every Captain Power fan there were going to be kids who thought it was stupid and didn't like it. Shit like this happens; outright trying to stifle a series isn't going to put an end to it.
And as a final note, yes the same people complained about Power Rangers. They complained that even as heroic as they were they were still teaching kids to be violent because their fighting styles and weapons.
Never bow down to moral guardians. Their intent isn't to protect but to make their personal grievances everyone else's grievances. If their intent is to save children or whatever, they would have invested the time and money on making their own 'safe' brands to show just how right and powerful they were but they can't do that. They can't do that because they don't have the creativity and for the most part they have an inkling of an idea that kids aren't going to like what they like and they stand no competition against more popular series and brands, or at least they don't think they do and are too cowardice to take the risk to do it. You know; the same risks some of these series made to even get off the ground in the first place.
Yeah, it was gimmicky but I still give them points for at least trying for something new, something interactive but at the same time didn't depend 100% on the toy in order to be watchable. Imagine had this continued and other companies picked up. We would have had some misses as with every trend but something like this having the chance to evolve more and more would lead to some pretty cool ideas. You just need a dedicated team behind it I guess.
Or maybe they were spot-on, and only the failure of the show prevented those fears from coming true.
No they were not spot on. I had the ships and didn't even use them all the time. You could watch the show just fine without them. As for the "violence" some adults are too stupid to realize a lot of children don't think about that thing.
I remember Captain Power most fondly. I even remember to this day the episode where one of the team was killed in action (I think it was the pilot or movie?) That was so unexpected that I couldn't believe that one of the characters, even a comparatively minor one, was actually dead.
And then Transformers The Movie came out...
I had the toys and watched the show back in the day. I was super stoked for the reboot and hope it will actually come out some day.
I have been searching for this since childhood... Thank u for doing this show..
I found Captain Power's ship at a yard sale as a kid in the late 90s. Went years not knowing what it was from. Found out a few years ago and even managed to find a VHS tape of one of the episodes! Great concept, I love 1980s tech toys/products. Didn't really know that much about the show, especially how it was being marketed.
I still have the power jet, injector throne and the power-on energizer, I had Lord Dreads jet until I step on it and broke it.
Huge Larry DiTillio fan here! He also wrote some of the most important episodes of Beast Wars: Transformers. Perhaps that Captain Power stuff is alright. Until now I'd never heard of it.
Great work, guys!
Beast Wars was on point. That, Mighty Max, and ExoSquad were my go to weekday morning shows. I was "sick" a lot more than I should've been during that era.
The show was epic and far ahead of its time. The writing with great I thought the episodes were well done. Though the effects are dated I still think it holds up story wise. I thought Soaron was amazing and I was totally in love with Jessica Steen as pilot. I almost fell out of my chair when I went to go see the movie Armageddon and realize that she was the hot space shuttle pilot they all liked.
I was all in on this series... I had the 3 main vehicles, most of the figures and even the Power Base playset. When it came out kids at my school were excited about the show and toys, so there was definitely a buzz around the property. I clearly recall watching episodes and "playing along" with the different ships, but the best thing was the animated tapes that were purely you flying on a mission. I only had the Raid on Volcania one, but I watched it countless times. I can attest to how short lived it was though, the first time I saw a number of the toys was at a clearance store where they were being sold for a fraction of retail. Good for me and adding some cool toys, but not so great for Mattel.
I adored this line as a kid. I also liked the show. I had the XT-7, Phantom Striker, Power On Accelerator, Interlocker, and various action figures.
I used to have shoot outs with my friends back then and they were fun. It's a shame this failed...
No we weren't rich, just that both my folks had a job, my dad had good pay back then.
Remember Captain Power. Loved it.
Awesome research and quality presentation on this series. Thanks, guys.
I loved it: never missed an episode, had almost all of the toys.
I did have the ship, can’t recall where it is today. I also remembered the “Bird Android!” I used to play with those figures alongside with “He-Man”
I’ve been trying to remember the name of this show for 5 dam years
Should have just started shouting out generic random kid show title words. You would eventually hit the right combination.
Man this was incredibly informative great job guys
I used to love this!! I remember being so bummed out when - at about 8yrs old - figured out the VHS video and space ship laser gun were not actually interacting with each other and the laser blasts were recorded on the VHS. Could watch it without the gun and the same stuff happened. For about three runs through I thought I was awesome and had the coolest new video game. haha
The upper level of the outpost in the first episode is heavily influenced by the bridge section of the Macross from Macross/Robotech. Also, thanks to JMS, in one episode we get Tank mentioning Babylon 5.
Kate Nunyabizness when was tank mentioned?!?!
In the episode "Final Stand"Tank mentions that "..when I escaped Babylon 5..." ua-cam.com/video/HnnGOT-IBMo/v-deo.html
Kate Nunyabizness wow cool thanks
I remember this show and wanted the gun to play with the show, but my folks couldn't afford it. Did enjoy the show regardless
It really sucks how expensive it was. That was one of the big things my mom saved up for. Seems like I remember her spending about $200 on our set which is like buying a PS4 and a few games these days. I think she was hoping other kids we knew would get it so we could play it together (since a lot of their families had good money). The one other kid I knew that had it would never play it.
That was one of the main problems. The jet was really the main toy in the line but was so expensive. I managed to get it for a birthday present or something, then picked up the bad guy version when it was on the way out, drastically cut in price.
It wasn't a problem because you didn't need them to enjoy the show.
I still have the captain power ship with VHS tape.
Raid on Commando
I had them too. I seem to remember never being convinced it actually worked
I just played my vhs tape the other day and only the audio remained intact.
Thanks for this recap, I had forgotten about this interesting show!
Hmph. Between this, Babylon 5, Crusade, Jeremiah, and most recently Sense8, I'm amazed that JMS hasn't completely lost patience with TeeVee.