Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light

My IMDb handle is named after one of the characters of visionaries.So that should show some indication of my feelings toward this classic.

Though it lasted for only 13 episodes, visionaries remains as one of the best cartoon shows of the 80s! Its got great characters, nice animation , supercool weapons and powers as well as one of the most exciting theme tunes a cartoon could ever have.

The pilot episode alone was one of the best pilot episodes I've seen for any television show ever,live action or otherwise..

Visionaries follows that overused 80s formula of a team of baddies vs a team of goodies, but those goodies and baddies are so interesting and their powers are so unique and imaginative that it really doesn't matter.It would have been nice to see those goodies and baddies developed over the course of another series but alas, it wasn't to be .

This is a truly great show and if you haven't heard of it - check it out !

Of this series made, I just don't understand...

For once a Hasbro toy based cartoon with a decent plot and a great cast of Voice actors.

The planet Prismos a futuristic earth type world which is thrown back into a medieval type age when the planets suns a re-aligned causing there technology and energy sources to be rendered useless and an age of Magic begins.

Basically it's your same old Good Vs Evil story only both sides have magical totems which alow them to turn into Animals/Mammals/Insect and Beasts for a certin ammount of time, they are also given magical staffs each staff has a differn't power, Wisdom, Light Speeed, Knowledge, Strength, Decay, Destruction, Fear and Invunrability, Visionaries that did not have staffs found that they could magically power machines (which also had powers like the staffs)

The Voice where brilliant and Perfect for each of the parts.

Neil Ross (Springer/Slag (and various other voices) of Transformers Centurions and G.I. Joe) as the voice of Leoric.

The late Chris Latta (Starscream/Cobra Commander of Transformers and G.I. Joe) as the voices of Cravex and Darkstorm.

Peter Cullen (Voice Of Optimus Prime in Transformers) as the voice of Cindar

Roscoe Lee Browne (Voice of The Kingpin in the 90's Spiderman cartoon) as the voice of Merklyn/Reekon.

Jim Cummings (Winnie the poo and Tigger) as the voice of Witterquick and the Bearer of Knowledge.

Jennifer Darling (probably know for her role as Callahan in the six million dollar man series) as the voice of Virulina.

Bernard Erhard (Cy-kill's voice from the Go-Bots) as the voice of Cryotek (Cool name which was recently reused for the name of a repaint of Transmetal 2 Megatron toy (from the beast wars series) as a Robots In Diguise Toy)

The late Jonathan Harris (probably best know as Dr Zachary Smith from the 60's series lost in space (which also starred a young Bill Mumy of Babylon 5 fame) as the voice of Mortredd.

Michael McConnohie (Cosmos and Tracks voices from Transformers) as the voices of Ectar and Lexor.

Hal Rayle (Voice of Shrapnel and Snarl in Transformers) as the voices of Arzon and The Wisdom Owl.

Beau Weaver (Voice of Reed Richards (Mr Fantastic) from the 90's Fantastic four series and Octane from Transformers) as the voice of Feryl.

A great series which should along with G.I. Joe be brought into the 21st century by Hasbro by making a new series for it, granted it would'nt be the same without the likes of Chris Latta and Richard Harris but I'd love to see a Visionaries series remade possibly with CGI.

Or at least have the original episodes remasterd by Rhino and released on DVD.

Visionaries is one of those shows from my childhood that I remember vividly, it's been so good to rewatch it, and relive it, so many young memories brought back.

It holds up very well, it's nicely animated, with some fun characters, and plenty of action.

I had a job getting hold of the dvd, but so glad I did, one thing I've become aware of, and perhaps the reason it didn't last, is it did become a little repetitive quite quickly.

I seemed to remember this lasting for years, it was a real surprise to see that only one series was made. I only wish I'd kept hold of the figures.

With the current love for nostalgia, wouldn't it be great to see this brought back from the ashes, it really is a story of the good and bad guys fighting one another.

Catch it is you can, 8/10.

This was one of my favorite cartoons growing up the late 80's. It was on Saturday afternoons as part of the two-hour block consisting of "G.I. Joe," "Transformers," and "Jem." I was captivated by the adventures of the Spectral Knights as they battled those evil Darkling Lords, as they fought each other and the various magical elements of the planet Prysmos. I think this was one of the first cartoons to have recurring sub-plots. This cartoon is definatly a treasure worth seeking out. The tapes have become rather rare, so if you see one in your video store, snap it up and become 8 again.

So anyway, there I was today watching my just recently acquired (from a car-boot sale) VHS of Visionaries, and I suddenly realised that unlike so many kids series from the 80's, this one really held up. It had remarkably good animation for a Saturday morning cartoon, the plots were quite complex without being confusing, the dialogue was sophisticated and not cheesy at all and overall it was just a very imaginative, quality programme. Plus unlike say, He-man, it didn't have some patronising moral that was rammed down your throat at the end of every episode, which has got to be worth at least an extra 50 points in my opinion. Far superior than most of the dreck that gets passed off as children's entertainment these days, this comes highly recommended. It's hard to find though, so keep an eye out..