Centurions

Wow a great and wonderful hero cartoon. Teaches heroism. This was made in the early 80's, but got extended run in the early 90's from the cartoon network. This show was introduced to the 90's kids and it was epic. Ace, Jake and Max were POWER EXTREME.

Good plots, likable characters. Jake was the tough guys, Max was the leader with the 70's pornstache and Ace was the ladies man always trying to score with Crystal, who was their....hmmmm....their secretary of sorts but with a brain.

Fantastic stuff...kids of today miss.

I rate this a 10 but around season 2, they introduced 2 more members...I forgot their names, but the quality did suffer as they had too many characters and not enough time to dedicate to two more guys.

Awesome, must watch.....

For some reason cartoons made by Ruby Spears haven't done well outside of the 80s, mainly because they were truly a product of their time: fast and disposable fun for kids and young teenagers. Look at the line-up: Mr.T, Heathcliff, Rambo and Thundarr the Barbarian to name a few. None of these have survived outside the 80s and with good reason – they're not much better than the 15 second cartoons used to sell toys that were so popular back then. Centurions is basically that – a glorified ad for the toy line aimed squarely at boys under 16. Given to Sunbow or Lou Scheimer this would have done well but in the hands of Ruby Spears it's become something embarrassing after all these years.

Take He-Man, Transformers or G.I.Joe: what makes those cartoons so enjoyable after all these years is the time they took to distinguish the characters. Despite some huge casts they all managed to find a distinct, recognisable trait and voice for every star of the show. The late great Christopher Latta is instantly recognisable as Cobra Commander or Starscream and Alan Oppenheimer's Skeletor has the most marvellous villain's voice in cartoon history.

No-one ever took that kind of care with the Centurions. You'd imagine it would be easy to give the 3 leads some personality but they remain bland and lifeless, distinguished only by the colour of their suits. Every week their ineffective nemesis Doc Terror would hijack/brainwash/terrorise some research facility or city for some rare metal or source of energy and the Centurions would beam in, select an outfit and blast him back to Dominion. What made me laugh was that there was always a river or lake nearby for Max Ray to use his 'sea-weapons'. If you've seen the episode of the Simpsons where Bart dismisses 'Kinght Boat' you'll get the joke.

Time hasn't been kind to this show. I loved it as a kid because it worked as an ad for toys I wanted. I watch it now (I have all 65 episodes on VHS) after 20 years and I wind up fast-forwarding most of the episodes. For the sake of your childhood memories, don't try to watch this now as you'll find yourself floundering badly, wondering what on earth you saw in this show. Remember it as it was, part of that wild, glorious decade and leave it there.

This cartoon shaped my childhood. I looked at the episode titles and can still remember them. Wish I could find it dreaming somewhere. I would also give it more stars if that were possible.

I had such high hopes for Teletoon Retro to air this but instead of having shows such as this, ones that don't get the treatment that they deserve, they air things that I may have seen dozens of times before.

The Centurions was the highlight of my pre-teen years. I know that may seem a little bit clichéd but it's true. After Duke from G.I. Joe, Jake Rockewell is another one of those cartoon characters that I really had a crush on.

It's too bad that Teletoon Retro doesn't see it the same way people of my generation do. Otherwise Teletoon Retro would be a lot better than it is.

The Centurions is about the battle between the cyborg Doctor Terror, who is aided by his assistant Hacker, and the United Nations. The force dispatched to stop them is the Centurions who can have assault systems beamed to them from space. This show is just as good as it was in the 80's and is still enjoyable today. Anyone who likes 80's cartoons will love the Centurions. The animation is a little primative but the story lines are great and the show, overall, is a real treat to watch.