Captain Power et les soldats du futur

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.

I was very young when this show came out, perhaps 5. I didn't really understand it then, nor did I take much of an interest in the toys (my brother and I had two of them, I remember). But a couple years later, at perhaps age 7, I unearthed the tapes I had and became absolutely enraptured.

I recently remembered this show and watched it all the way through, and it still hits me like it did so long ago. All of the things that interest me now when it comes to scifi: post-apocalyptic stories, high tech armor, women in lycra and metal chestplates (did I just say that out loud?) all appear in this show.

Many people have theories as to the inspiration for Captain Power. I cannot claim to know what the creators were thinking, but it does bear a striking resemblance to the Japanese "Metal Hero" programs, such as Space Sheriff Gavan. The idea of using a codeword and body language to change into an armored hero was not unfamiliar at the time, at least in Japan. But what makes Captain Power different from the metal hero shows is the seriousness of it. Metal Heroes were always laden with superhero bravado and tongue in cheek plots. Sure, Captain Power had it's share of camp, but it was still miles ahead of the Japanese programs.

I've also heard this show mentioned as an inspiration for Power Rangers. This is not true, as Power Rangers is simply Japanese Sentai shows adapted into new American series. Sentai series have been running since the early 70s, thus predating Captain Power.

In my opinion, Captain Power was crippled from the get-go by the tie-in toys. They were a good idea from a marketing standpoint, but this was not the show to test them on. Perhaps if this show had been marketed (and named) differently, sans-interactive toys, it would have lasted longer. A kids' show is still a kids' show to most people, no matter how well done it is.

This show had its share of television firsts, which of course are always ignored :

As far as I know the first completely CGI characters in a TV series. Sauron and Blastarr looked quite good, with the technology being so young at the time.

The first real "cyberpunk" reference in a TV series, in the episode "Flame Street".

And surely others I cannot recall at the moment.

It also contained a lot of very kid-unfriendly ideas, such as torture, drug use, and the sheer horrors of global war.

What makes the shame of this show's cancellation even greater is the depth of themes that were present. It of course had the very strong "War is hell" message in nearly every episode. These days this is quite common, but at the time it was nearly unheard of. Naturally it also dealt with the power of the human spirit, in the heroes' continued triumphs over Dread's often superior forces. This was also very uncommon at the time. And some specific episodes had some fantastic lessons to teach, such as "Freedom One", which tells of the use of the radio medium as a voice of defiance. Very powerful work for a supposed children's' show.

Watching this, recently, I often find myself forgetting that I am watching what was marketed as a children's' show. Nearly every episode is laden with rather mature material, such as the first episode, where Power's old lover is brought back to bait him, or the final episodes which are laden with suspense and darkness far above kiddie-levels.

To this day it infuriates me that a show with such great creative force behind it, and nearly unlimited potential, met an early demise due to what was essentially studio politics. Reasons given for the cancellation of Captain Power vary, from poor toy sales to parents' groups. Personally I think all these could have been avoided if the show had been properly (in my eyes) marketed to a broader audience. Any fan of sci fi in general would appreciate this show, although it was rather campy at times (that was to be expected). And besides, Pilot was my first crush ever (I doubt I was the only one).

Wow, this is older than I thought. I tried tracking down this show by looking up people who were in it, and for some reason I thought Colm Meaney played Hawk Masterson. Anyways, I finally did a search for "project new order" which was basically the only thing I remember of this show. I finally found out that the title was Captain Power.

Anyways, I thought this was a great show, but the ending kind of left you hanging, I mean I remember Power saying "project new order is finished" but the bad-guy and his computer orb were still alive, right? I dunno, it was a weird show, but it was cool.

Captain Power & his soldiers of the future may have been saddled with one of the worst titles for a t.v. series, but don't let that fool you. It was one of the most sophisticated sf shows of its time.With terrific scripts,some of which were written by Babylon 5 creator J Michael Straczynski,a wonderful cast, and some cutting edge computer animated special effects,all make this series memorable.While it was a Saturday morning kids show, it managed to be dark & edgey in its atmosphere.The adults acted as such, & there were no stereotypical cute kids,cute animals, or funny sidekicks to distract us from the intriguing plots.In an interview with JMS that I read years ago,he said that he & the other writers decided not to approach this show as being just another Sat morning show for the tiny tots.They were going to write as mature & cool a show as they could & not limit themselves under any labels.The result was one dynamic sf series.What a shame such a fine show was cancelled because the interactive toy associated with the it was not a huge seller.

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.