Captain Power

I believe this series was created with the intention of selling a toy line, it was interactive tv, kids could buy the guns and figures and shoot the robot troopers that had flashing badges on their chests, sadly the toys were too expensive, didn't sell and the show got cancelled after one series, which is a shame since it was a damn fine series with some strong adult themes, and good characterisation thrown into the mix. The show was well cast with good likeable actors and well written by Michael Straczynski, creator of more famous Babylon 5.

It's basic premise was a group of futuristic freedom fighters, fighting literally against 'The Machine'. A post apocalyptic future where machine had overrun mankind and humans scavenged for survival. Led by Captain 'Jonathon' Power (played excellently by Tim Dunigan), his one man resistance forces goal was to free mankind from Lord Dredd and his Bio-dred empire. They were the soldiers of the future.

Earth. The 22nd Century. The evil Lord Dread has taken over the world, and with his machine empire seeks to eliminate the last traces of mankind and remake the world in the image of the machine. The only thing stopping him: a small resistance of humans, led by. . .Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future! A bit intense for Saturday morning, eh?

This was one of the best when I was a kid. Combining bits of "Star Wars," "The Terminator," and "Mad Max." And, unlike most shows from the 80's meant to sell toys, it actually had engrossing plots! It was the first TV series to use computer-generated special effects, and the first to have an interactive toyline. I tell you, science fiction doesn't get better than this.

As a child of the 80's, I grew up with all the toy/TV fads. GI Joe and Transformers were kings, but there were many claimants to the throne.

Captain Power was one. It had the whole package deal, action figures and vehicles, a TV show, video tapes, and even a tie-in magazine.

The show itself was kinda neat, the only live action children's sci-fi show I think there was in the 80's. Now, the effects were hokey, but I recall that the writing and story lines were actually halfway decent (the excellent J. Michael Stracynzki was responsible for the writing). The show ended up on what was presumably to be a cliffhanger, and I remember thinking that the entire episode was very, very dark for a children's show. Unfortunately they never got to resolve that cliffhanger.

The show broke new ground in it's use of CGI, back in the late 80's before it became ubiquitous in movies about 5 or 6 years later. The villain's two major henchmen were entirely CGI creatures.

There were 3 tie-in videotapes which were just a short intro sequence with the main characters at their base before moving along into an animated battle sequence that was interactive with the gun/ships. There wasn't animation for the battles in the show, but presumably they just used cartoons to save money for the tie-in tapes.

I even had a subscription to the tie-in magazine, which was a disaster. It had it's glossy, shiny opening issue which of course talked all about the show and it's world, with a few side-articles about sci-fi type things going on in the real world (the Biosphere II project and the debut of Star Trek: The Next Generation). By the second (bimonthly) issue Captain Power magazine merged with He Man magazine (a very dying franchise at the time) and production quality of the magazine dropped sharply from it's glossy premier. Then with the third issue it was only He Man magazine (with a short note that Captain Power magazine had been discontinued and the remainder of subscriptions would be serviced by He Man). Then for the 4th issue on the subscription He Man magazine folded and gave way to Muppet Magazine, and so on, as it fell between dying and fading children's entertainment franchises.

Unfortunately, the toys were the real let-down. I remember when Captain Power came out, at the same time as the Nintendo Entertainment System was in the US. Among all my friends, the two products were in direct competition. You could have fun being interactive with your TV by shooting it with light guns built as toy planes, or you could have video game cartridges. The toys themselves weren't exceptional either. I might have been spoiled by GI Joe, which had great figures with good sculpting, flexibility and variety. There were only 3 good guys and 3 bad guy figures (nevermind the variety of heroes and villains on TV), and 2 good-guy vehicles and 2 bad-guy vehicles. The interaction with the TV was glitchy at best (often taking hits when nothing on TV was shooting at you), and almost never scoring hits even when you get right up on the TV and hit it directly.

So, it was a decent show that might have had a shot of being successful, but the poor execution of it's tie-in lines doomed the brand.

I watched this TV show in early 90s when it was on TV in Russia for the only time ( I was 12-13 years old then). And I liked it very much then though I had no idea about the toys and the reasons why this show hadn't been continued. In our post-communist country we had no idea about it and for me it was just a fun to watch something new, something we'd never seen before. Now I am 30 and I suddenly remembered this show. Unfortunately I failed to buy an official DVD or Blue-ray issue in Russia, so I decided to watch it on YouTube. And I was stunned! Now when I'm not that young I can feel the importance of such things like friendship, courage, honesty and love. They are so rare things in our self-help time. And this film gives you all it. Forget about biodreads, forget about metal wars, forget about blusters. This film tells us that no matter how circumstances are tough, real friends should always stay together. And while they are united they are able to deal with the most difficult problems in this world. And machines and all nano-technologies that are so popular nowadays will never replace the basic things that always stay with us. But unfortunately we forget about them too often. Definitely this show is not for kids. I think the main problem of this show was that late 80s wasn't the right time for it. It was certainly too deep and serious for children but I think it wasn't actual enough for then adults. What else can I say? I can say that when I watched the last episode I was completely broken. However I think it was a great ending. Because sometimes we have to lose too much to understand the importance of the things we have.

Great film! I hope finally I will be able to buy it on DVD or Blue-ray.

I loved this show as a kid. Granted it is a bit short (20 mins per episode) but it was big budget and had some pretty mature themes for a "family" program (which made it appealing to children and adults).

Great fun even today, though it can be a bit campy at times. Unfortunately the VHS tapes are out of print, but you can trade them with other collector's on ebay (which is where I got some of mine). This was way ahead of its time, and fell out of favor because of stupid controversy (that it was "too violent" and that it somehow forced people to buy more toys.. ). In addition to the show there were "Training Episodes" made exclusively for the interactive home market. These tapes were basically shooting galleries much like the arcade rail shooters (a la "Area 51") featuring mostly animated effects.

It would be awesome (but somewhat unlikely) if the series was released in all its glory on lucious DVD (all 22 episodes, plus the gag-reel, character bios, interviews, and how about the Interactive Ship/Guns as an added bonus?).

The series ended on a rather dark note; a second season was planned but never aired. There was also a short "film" made using some stock footage for effects (since they were low on funds at this time) and supposedly new storyline (I haven't seen it). I have seen a PAL tape up for auction called "Dread's Revenge" that supposedly picks up where the last episode left off, but I don't know if this is any different than the "film" version of Captain Power that was posted on IMDB.

One of the biggest innovations of this tv phenomenon is that you could fire at the screen during the show at various "targets" (on the chests of the bad guys mostly) to score points, and when they fired back, you had to shoot their shots, or else you got hit. Even without the toys, the show rocked. It had humor, tons of action, and great special effects for the time. The show captured the post apocalyptic future very well.

Critics like Ebert gave it high marks. I think if the parent groups would have realized that the show was just a live action video game, no different than dozens of other shows out there (except for that fact that most of the others were all animated). The show was still great even without the toys (though the toys are great icing on the cake), and it often had good moral messages (war is hell, violence should be avoided if a peaceful solution is available, human lives are more important than machines, greed and lust for power leads to suffering, and about working together to solve problems). Finally, the characters were likeable, and the plots were interesting.

While the show owes much to the likes of Terminator, Star Wars, and Battlestar Galactica, it has influenced other science fiction movies and shows over the years, including Star Trek: the Next Generation (compare Lord Dread to the evil Borg), and RoboCop (does that armor not look familiar?). ; )

Still great after all these years...