Captain Power

[Ladic]

wow, I just came across this site, http://www.captainpower.com/, I used to love it as a kid, good memories.

Who else watched this?

[Zentrandude]

that and used to have that light gun/ship thing. that show was dangerous since it like hurt my eyes back then.

[eriku]

I still have the Captain Power action figure. I loved the idea as a kid, but was never able to get the ship to shoot at the TV with. Looking at the figure now it's a real piece of crap.

[Skull Leader]

I used to have several of the toys, but they've long since met their end in garage sales. I still have two of the VHS game videos (volumes 1 and 3) and I have a tape of some of the TV episodes from the series. I loved it as a kid. Too bad the show didn't make it past season 1 (although the scripts were written for a good portion of a second season)

I'd get rid of my stuff if I thought there was any value or interest in it... as it is it will probably just sit there, lol

Edited September 6, 2005 by Skull Leader

[lord_breetai]

Oh wow Skull there is some interest I'd certainly pay for it (maybe not a lot).

I really love Captain Power, it's one of my favorite shows of all time.

I remember watching it every saturday as a kid. I mean come on think about it... It was american SENTAI!

And it was great.

[j_wong00]

I remember that show, loved watching it, and playing along since I had that white plane that was interactive with the show.

Wonder if it will be on DVD anytime soon...

[JB0]

I remember that show, loved watching it, and playing along since I had that white plane that was interactive with the show.

Wonder if it will be on DVD anytime soon...

326350[/snapback]

Not very likely.

I've seen someone selling it on CDs before, though.

And this thread is awesome. The show ruled.

...

I think. I was like 6.

I still have my Powerjet and Powersuit Energizer and both action figures(was bought one for the jet, and the energizer came with a custom Captain Power figure).

And my sister's Powerjet, actually...

Edited September 6, 2005 by JB0

[azrael]

God...that show takes me back....

[JB0]

There was some pretty dark stuff in that series.

As I understand thigns, it had a very strong adult following, especially for an alleged children's show.

There was uh... Power. The jet dude. The heavy tank guy. The token black guy and the blond chick who I think flew the plane.

Captain Power, Hawk, Tank(how very imaginative...), dun recall the other 2.

Token black guy was Scout. Chick was Pilot.

Power was the only one to use his real name.

*cut/paste*

CAPTAIN JONATHAN POWER

MAJ. MATTHEW "HAWK" MASTERSON

LT. MICHAEL "TANK" ELLIS

SGT. ROBERT "SCOUT" BAKER

CPL. JENNIFER "PILOT" CHASE

If I recall, Scout had holographic camoflauge, so he could look like anyone else. Hence he got to be a... well, a scout.

Just remembered... I used to have a Captain Power comic book.

Power was visiting his father's grave. Flashback sequence to explain how the story got from civilized world to post-apocalyptic with homicidal mecha hunting people and sucking them into computers.

Still do have all 3 of the cartoon videos, for what it's worth.

http://darkstar.st/captainpower/soaron.html

I know Soaron likely looks better in motion, but...

Man, this used to be cutting-edge special effects.

Edited September 7, 2005 by JB0

[Yohsho]

You know this thread comes up now, but this show was on the Space Channel up here in Canada for the longest time. IIRC the main badguy in the show was Captain Power's dads best friends or something.

[JB0]

You know this thread comes up now, but this show was on the Space Channel up here in Canada for the longest time. 

You guys have all the best shows!

GIVE IT BACK!

[salsaking]

My brother and I used to have "fights" with the toy jets, Power's X-Jet and the other, black one. He always beat me at it. The show was pretty good, I used to have a big crush on Pilot, I thought she was quite attractive. I also remember how cheesy the costumes looked, but I loved the jets.

[ComicKaze]

I have some great Captain Power pics I will try to find when I go home.

Do you guys remember the Captain Power anime? This was included on the VHS's that came with the toys. This was animated spectacularily by the same studio as Bubblegum Crisis, ARTMIC to a huge budget from Mattel.

I really wish they would be released on DVD minus the epilepsy effects.

[yellowlightman]

Watching your father get killed was big in the 80s I guess. Power watched his dad bite it. Misa watched her father get incinerated. I think in Captain Harlock, the kid watched his scientist dad get hosed down.

God I miss the 80s ( not the hair part though)

326370[/snapback]

Happened in Z Gundam as well, or was that that Kamille's mother? I forget.

Edited September 7, 2005 by yellowlightman

[ComicKaze]

You know this thread comes up now, but this show was on the Space Channel up here in Canada for the longest time.  IIRC the main badguy in the show was Captain Power's dads best friends or something.

326419[/snapback]

Lord Dredd is the coolest badguy of all time.

[JB0]

My brother and I used to have "fights" with the toy jets, Power's X-Jet and the other, black one.  He always beat me at it.  The show was pretty good, I used to have a big crush on Pilot, I thought she was quite attractive.  I also remember how cheesy the costumes looked, but I loved the jets.

326424[/snapback]

PowerJet XT7 and Phantom Striker.

I have some great Captain Power pics I will try to find when I go home.

Do you guys remember the Captain Power anime? This was included on the VHS's that came with the toys. This was animated spectacularily by the same studio as Bubblegum Crisis, ARTMIC to a huge budget from Mattel.

I really wish they would be released on DVD minus the epilepsy effects.

326425[/snapback]

Wait... Mattel actually paid someone to do a GOOD JOB on the cartoons?

*debates rewatching 'em*

And the tapes didn't come with the toys. They were sold seperately.

For the record, teh eppilepsy effects are badass.

How would you shoot stuff without the flicker?

[JELEINEN]

IIRC, J. Michael Strazynski (the guy who created Babylon 5) was one of the writers for Captain Power.

[wolfx]

This show rocked. I believe I was about 8-9 then when it showed. Almost 20 years down the road, I searched it up the internet and found out it got alot of flak from parents for depicting war and all that during the politically correct cartoons revolution. Under pressure and low ratings towards the end of season 1, they had to scrap the show. Pity. I think I cried when Power was in his ship flying off to safety as he reminisced the last Christmas he had with Pilot after the base exploded.

I think that and Optimus Prime dying in the movie was my most traumatic childhood experiences

[Druna Skass]

it got alot of flak from parents for depicting war and all that during the politically correct cartoons revolution.

I wonder how it would do now if they remade it.

[Zentrandude]

people might say its just another terminator copy.

[JB0]

This show rocked. I believe I was about 8-9 then when it showed. Almost 20 years down the road, I searched it up the internet and found out it got alot of flak from parents for depicting war and all that during the politically correct cartoons revolution. Under pressure and low ratings towards the end of season 1, they had to scrap the show. Pity. I think I cried when Power was in his ship flying off to safety as he reminisced the last Christmas he had with Pilot after the base exploded.

I think that and Optimus Prime dying in the movie was my most traumatic childhood experiences 

326464[/snapback]

I'd heard the big protest wasn't the violence and mature themes, but the merchandising.

It was at the time when shows-as-ads were just starting to pick up, and people were concerned about it.

And as Captain Power took it to new heights, you got people complaining that not only was the show a half-hour toy commercial, but that you HAD to have the toys to enjoy it fully.

...

Obviously they never watched it, but really, how many activist groups know crap about what they're bashing?

[JsARCLIGHT]

I remember seeing the toy commercials more than the actual show on television. I used to tape cartoons on my VCR while I was out and about and watch them later at night while doing my homework and I clearly remember fast forwarding through gobs and gobs of Captain Power toy commercials. The commercials bugged me so much that I made it a point to watch at least one episode of the show to see what all the marketing fuss was about. At the time the show only aired on early SUNDAY mornings where I was, what was commonly thought of as the "throwaway cartoon time slot". I set the VCR to tape it one morning and when I watched it I thought it was the biggest piece of crap I had ever seen.

The acting was horrid and wooden (typical live action kid's show fare for the '80s), the scripting was par for the course for a weak sci-fi construct (borrowing almost all their stuff from terminator) with the soul goal of the show to set the viewer up for an extended "play action sequence" that involved watching some blinking thing float around the screen... and the blinking!... the BLINKING! I bet people with photosensitive epilepsy LOVED that show.

In the end Captain Power was a boring show you have to wait through for a chance to use an expensive gimmick feature of poor quality toys. I'd rather spend my time playing Pops Ghostly on the Action Max... all the seisure enducing blinking and none of the annoying acting or weak '80s CG to wait through.

[lord_breetai]

Well I had a couple Captain Power toys, I never had the ships or any of the stuff that turned the show into a game ^^. And I enjoyed it pleanty.

[Crazy Canuck II]

Wow this takes me back! The show was actually shot in Toronto. My older sister was a storyboard artist for the computer graphics company that did the CG for the two robot badies (can't remember thier names) Anyway, I got to go on set and see the sets, miniatures, props and junk. I even got to meet Hawk, Tank and Pilot. Haven't thought about that in years... Good Times.

[JB0]

Wow this takes me back! The show was actually shot in Toronto. My older sister was a storyboard artist for the computer graphics company that did the CG for the two robot badies (can't remember thier names)

Soaron and Blastarr.

Anyway, I got to go on set and see the sets, miniatures, props and junk. I even got to meet Hawk, Tank and Pilot. Haven't thought about that in years... Good Times.

326586[/snapback]

COOL!

Edited September 8, 2005 by JB0

[Rider Faiz]

The show was cheese, but it was some good classic American Toku (before Power Rangers came along), and had (at the time) a quite revolutionary interactive toy line built into it.

I can remember watching the show w/ my plane every saturday morning and playing along w/ it.

Good times....good times.

-RF

[ComicKaze]

My brother and I used to have "fights" with the toy jets, Power's X-Jet and the other, black one.  He always beat me at it.  The show was pretty good, I used to have a big crush on Pilot, I thought she was quite attractive.  I also remember how cheesy the costumes looked, but I loved the jets.

326424[/snapback]

PowerJet XT7 and Phantom Striker.

I have some great Captain Power pics I will try to find when I go home.

Do you guys remember the Captain Power anime? This was included on the VHS's that came with the toys. This was animated spectacularily by the same studio as Bubblegum Crisis, ARTMIC to a huge budget from Mattel.

I really wish they would be released on DVD minus the epilepsy effects.

326425[/snapback]

Wait... Mattel actually paid someone to do a GOOD JOB on the cartoons?

*debates rewatching 'em*

And the tapes didn't come with the toys. They were sold seperately.

For the record, teh eppilepsy effects are badass.

How would you shoot stuff without the flicker?

326440[/snapback]

The tapes came with the jets.

[ComicKaze]

I remember seeing the toy commercials more than the actual show on television. I used to tape cartoons on my VCR while I was out and about and watch them later at night while doing my homework and I clearly remember fast forwarding through gobs and gobs of Captain Power toy commercials. The commercials bugged me so much that I made it a point to watch at least one episode of the show to see what all the marketing fuss was about. At the time the show only aired on early SUNDAY mornings where I was, what was commonly thought of as the "throwaway cartoon time slot". I set the VCR to tape it one morning and when I watched it I thought it was the biggest piece of crap I had ever seen.

The acting was horrid and wooden (typical live action kid's show fare for the '80s), the scripting was par for the course for a weak sci-fi construct (borrowing almost all their stuff from terminator) with the soul goal of the show to set the viewer up for an extended "play action sequence" that involved watching some blinking thing float around the screen... and the blinking!... the BLINKING! I bet people with photosensitive epilepsy LOVED that show.

In the end Captain Power was a boring show you have to wait through for a chance to use an expensive gimmick feature of poor quality toys. I'd rather spend my time playing Pops Ghostly on the Action Max... all the seisure enducing blinking and none of the annoying acting or weak '80s CG to wait through.

326516[/snapback]

Please don't judge the show from one episode. Much of it is not too great and they always had the burden of having to sell toys to fund the continuation of the show but there were truely amazing episodes and if you ignore all the flashing effects that paid for the show, it was very moving and epic at times with excellent writing by good sci-fi writers like J.M. Stracynski and Larry Ditillo who tried to go beyond the concept and succeeded several times and especially at the end. Captain Power is one of my favorite science fiction concepts and storylines if you can strip away the toy-selling gimmicks, there was much substance to the show.

I was moved to tears once or twice by the show. One where Lord Dredd flies to Dr. Stuart Power's grave and he sheds his own tears...and a lot at the tragic ending story arc of the series.

And yes, if you check out the animated episodes from the toy tapes, those are very good themselves. They really flesh out the bleak post-apocalyptic world as you fly through it at fast speeds from a first person point of view inside a XT-7 fighter cockpit. It's basically a rail shooter but animated by one of the great anime studios of the 80s. The detail and quality of animation is really high.

The animation mechanical designs for the show's vehicles and concepts were also really cool and remain some of my favorite mechanical designs of all time. The actual live-action show also had great model and miniature work for the Power Jets, the transport drop-ship, the Phantom Striker, Volcania, the Power Base, and the suits as well. They seem really good for American design.

Edited September 8, 2005 by ComicKaze

[Zentrandude]

My brother and I used to have "fights" with the toy jets, Power's X-Jet and the other, black one.  He always beat me at it.  The show was pretty good, I used to have a big crush on Pilot, I thought she was quite attractive.  I also remember how cheesy the costumes looked, but I loved the jets.

326424[/snapback]

PowerJet XT7 and Phantom Striker.

I have some great Captain Power pics I will try to find when I go home.

Do you guys remember the Captain Power anime? This was included on the VHS's that came with the toys. This was animated spectacularily by the same studio as Bubblegum Crisis, ARTMIC to a huge budget from Mattel.

I really wish they would be released on DVD minus the epilepsy effects.

326425[/snapback]

Wait... Mattel actually paid someone to do a GOOD JOB on the cartoons?

*debates rewatching 'em*

And the tapes didn't come with the toys. They were sold seperately.

For the record, teh eppilepsy effects are badass.

How would you shoot stuff without the flicker?

326440[/snapback]

The tapes came with the jets.

326689[/snapback]

mine didn't came with one unless I threw it away along with the packaging.

[ComicKaze]

My brother and I used to have "fights" with the toy jets, Power's X-Jet and the other, black one.  He always beat me at it.  The show was pretty good, I used to have a big crush on Pilot, I thought she was quite attractive.  I also remember how cheesy the costumes looked, but I loved the jets.

326424[/snapback]

PowerJet XT7 and Phantom Striker.

I have some great Captain Power pics I will try to find when I go home.

Do you guys remember the Captain Power anime? This was included on the VHS's that came with the toys. This was animated spectacularily by the same studio as Bubblegum Crisis, ARTMIC to a huge budget from Mattel.

I really wish they would be released on DVD minus the epilepsy effects.

326425[/snapback]

Wait... Mattel actually paid someone to do a GOOD JOB on the cartoons?

*debates rewatching 'em*

And the tapes didn't come with the toys. They were sold seperately.

For the record, teh eppilepsy effects are badass.

How would you shoot stuff without the flicker?

326440[/snapback]

The tapes came with the jets.

326689[/snapback]

mine didn't came with one unless I threw it away along with the packaging.

326692[/snapback]

Hmm, when I get my desktop computer working again, I'll grab some screencaps or maybe record some videos off my old VCR. I really love these. There were 3 tapes in total. You could buy them separately but I recieved one with my X-T7 Jet and I watched it religiously from 1987 until 1999 when I discovered ebay and was finally able to scrounge up the other two episodes.

[JB0]

My brother and I used to have "fights" with the toy jets, Power's X-Jet and the other, black one.  He always beat me at it.  The show was pretty good, I used to have a big crush on Pilot, I thought she was quite attractive.  I also remember how cheesy the costumes looked, but I loved the jets.

326424[/snapback]

PowerJet XT7 and Phantom Striker.

I have some great Captain Power pics I will try to find when I go home.

Do you guys remember the Captain Power anime? This was included on the VHS's that came with the toys. This was animated spectacularily by the same studio as Bubblegum Crisis, ARTMIC to a huge budget from Mattel.

I really wish they would be released on DVD minus the epilepsy effects.

326425[/snapback]

Wait... Mattel actually paid someone to do a GOOD JOB on the cartoons?

*debates rewatching 'em*

And the tapes didn't come with the toys. They were sold seperately.

For the record, teh eppilepsy effects are badass.

How would you shoot stuff without the flicker?

326440[/snapback]

The tapes came with the jets.

326689[/snapback]

mine didn't came with one unless I threw it away along with the packaging.

326692[/snapback]

Hmm, when I get my desktop computer working again, I'll grab some screencaps or maybe record some videos off my old VCR. I really love these. There were 3 tapes in total. You could buy them separately but I recieved one with my X-T7 Jet and I watched it religiously from 1987 until 1999 when I discovered ebay and was finally able to scrounge up the other two episodes.

326694[/snapback]

Mine and my sister's power jet were both tape-less.

Parents bought her "BioDread Strike Force" and me "Raid on Volcania."

We stumbled upon Future Force Training a year or 2 later in a dollar store. ... Only they weren't called dollar stores back then.

[JsARCLIGHT]

Please don't judge the show from one episode. Much of it is not too great and they always had the burden of having to sell toys to fund the continuation of the show but there were truely amazing episodes and if you ignore all the flashing effects that paid for the show, it was very moving and epic at times with excellent writing by good sci-fi writers like J.M. Stracynski and Larry Ditillo who tried to go beyond the concept and succeeded several times and especially at the end. Captain Power is one of my favorite science fiction concepts and storylines if you can strip away the toy-selling gimmicks, there was much substance to the show.

I was moved to tears once or twice by the show. One where Lord Dredd flies to Dr. Stuart Power's grave and he sheds his own tears...and a lot at the tragic ending story arc of the series.

And yes, if you check out the animated episodes from the toy tapes, those are very good themselves. They really flesh out the bleak post-apocalyptic world as you fly through it at fast speeds from a first person point of view inside a XT-7 fighter cockpit. It's basically a rail shooter but animated by one of the great anime studios of the 80s. The detail and quality of animation is really high.

The animation mechanical designs for the show's vehicles and concepts were also really cool and remain some of my favorite mechanical designs of all time. The actual live-action show also had great model and miniature work for the Power Jets, the transport drop-ship, the Phantom Striker, Volcania, the Power Base, and the suits as well. They seem really good for American design.

326691[/snapback]

I don't know about the rest of you guys but I saw the show as a teenager when it came out and thought it was just like everything else on TV for kids at the time... no darker or better or anything. The only "kids" show from back then to catch and hold my interest was Robotech (hence why I am here). Everything else on the dail was just mindless kiddie shows. If the show is as breathtaking as you guys are making it out to be then I'm glad you all love it... I myself only saw the shallow toy marketing.

[mikeszekely]

I had both jets, all three skill level tapes, and watched that show RELIGIOUSLY when I was a kid.

Man, this topic takes me back...

[Skull Leader]

For whatever it's worth, Jessica Steen (who played Jennifer "Pilot" Chase in the series) was also the female pilot ("Watts" I believe?) on "Armageddon". Not really a tongue-in-cheek thing, but definately a type-cast

(and yes Oscar, "Watts" IS really hot! )

Watts: "BEAR!"

Bear: "What?"

Watts: "DO we have a problem!?"

Bear: "No..."

Watts: "That's good... because I'm explaining how these things keep your ass on the ground. So, if I were to kick you in the balls..."

Rockhound: "oooooh"

Watts: "... and you don't know how to work them, what happens?"

Bear: "I float away?"

Rockhound: "and when do we begin training for THAT?"

(the deleted scenes between her and the cosmonaut were even better...)

Edited September 9, 2005 by Skull Leader

[JB0]

I had both jets, all three skill level tapes, and watched that show RELIGIOUSLY when I was a kid.

Man, this topic takes me back...

327044[/snapback]

We never DID get a Phantom Striker. Tried like 3 times.

...

Why did the badguys get the best vehicles? The Phantom Striker kicked the PowerJet's ass.

And the Interlocker was fully functional, whereas the Energizer wasn't even capable of doing anything but play target practice.